ABUSE TRACKER

GUAM
KUAM

by Jolene Toves

Guam – With recent controversies emerging within the Catholic Church, a new organization led by parishoners has formed to be the voice of the Catholic community. Catholics from parishes across the island have organized to form the non-profit group called Concerned Catholics of Guam to investigate recent controversies within the Archdiocese of Agana and its management.

President Gregory Perez told KUAM News, “A small group of individuals have been hearing complaints of mistreatment of the clergy and the laity mismanagement of finances and assets of the Archdiocese of Agana they have decided to organize an organization for the purpose of addressing these actions by the leadership of the archdiocese.” Over the course of a year there has been the removal of Father Paul Gofigan as the head of the Santa Barbara Church in Dededo, the removal of Monsignor James Benavente as rector based on allegations of financial mismanagement, there was also the closure of the church museum, and most recently accusations of sexual molestation against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

Believing that these are serious problems which warrant answers and truth the officers of the group Gregory Perez, president, David Sablan vice president, Stephen Martinez treasurer, and Evangeline Lujan secretary have vowed to be a formidable voice for the community.

Sablan said, “There are too many inconsistency too many untruths mistreatment too much pain inflicted especially among the elders who had taught us to keep the faith pray heal and to take care of one another our hope is to work with our leadership to find solutions and to rebuild and to restore our archdiocese.”

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.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Guam – John Toves is on his third attempt in demanding a meeting with Archbishop Anthony Apuron. This time, Toves says he’s not afraid to get arrested.

Toves is on a mission to have the Archbishop removed. He’s accusing the Archbishop of sexually molesting a relative back in the 80s. Toves has gone to the Chancery on two other occasions, both times he was denied a meeting with Archbishop Apuron.

Last week, Vicar General, Monsignor David Quitugua, indicated that he would call authorities the next time Toves visits the Chancery. But Toves took the invitation with open arms promising to return.

Before going to the Chancery, he visited the Hagatna Precinct to discuss the issue with police. He was advised, however, to take the matter up with the Attorney General’s Office instead.

“I did ask [the police] if I shortcut the Attorney General and go straight up then the scenario would be that if it was deemed harassment in nature in their perception then they would call [the police] and then they would have to come up and remove me. Either way I look forward to being removed,” announced Toves after meeting with authorities at the Hagatna precinct.

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OREGON
KGW

PORTLAND, Ore. — A Vancouver man was arrested on several sex abuse charges Sunday. Detectives fear he may have abused more victims through his volunteer work at two churches and a child abuse prevention center.

Police were called to a home in the Bonny Slope neighborhood Saturday to investigate reports of ongoing sexual abuse dating back to 2008, said Sgt. Bob Ray of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

A family member accused 44-year-old Christopher Joseph Gonzales of sexual contact with girls as young as 5 years old at a family member’s house.

Investigators learned that Gonzales had been a youth volunteer at Vancouver’s Crossroads Community Church from 2010-2014 and Freedom Community Church from early 2014 until recently, Ray said.

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OREGON
Columbian

By Stevie Mathieu, Columbian assistant metro editor
Published: December 8, 2014

A youth worker who volunteered at two Vancouver churches was arrested Sunday on suspicion of child sex abuse, and police are asking to speak with anyone who might have information about him.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office was alerted on Saturday to the alleged sex abuse. A family member of Christopher Joseph Gonzales, 44, of Vancouver said Gonzales had abused children at her home on several occasions since 2008, according to the sheriff’s office. The alleged victims include three girls as young as 5 years old, the sheriff’s office said.

Detectives with the agency’s Child Abuse division learned that Gonzales had volunteered since 2010 at the Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver and since early this year at the Freedom Community Church, which holds Sunday services at Salmon Creek Elementary School, according to its website.

On Sunday, Gonzales was booked into the Washington County Jail on suspicion of nine counts of first-degree sexual abuse. His bail was set at $750,000.

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OREGON
Oregonian

By Rebecca Woolington | rwoolington@oregonian.com
on December 08, 2014

A Vancouver man who volunteered at two churches and with a child abuse prevention group has been accused of sexually abusing three girls in Washington County, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Christopher Joseph Gonzales, 44, was arrested Sunday on nine counts of first-degree sexual abuse, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a sheriff’s office spokesman. He was lodged in the Washington County Jail with bail set at $750,000.

First-degree sexual abuse is a Measure 11 crime that carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of six years and three months. Ray said Gonzales is suspected of abusing at least three girls, the youngest being 5 years old. The abuse, Ray said, began in 2008 and continued over several years.

The girls were known to Gonzales, Ray said, but not connected to his volunteer work.

Detectives are concerned that there could be more victims because Gonzales had access to children through his volunteering.

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OREGON
KPTV

[with video]

WASHINGTON COUNTY, OR (KPTV) –
A volunteer at Vancouver churches, as well as a child abuse prevention organization, is accused of sexually abusing young girls in northwest Portland.

Christopher Gonzales, 44, of Vancouver, was arrested Sunday.

On Saturday, Washington County deputies responded to a home in the Bonny Slope community to investigate a complaint that Gonzales had inappropriate sexual contact with a girl.

Investigators said he had visited the home in question many times. The reported abuse began in 2008 and continued over the course of several years, deputies said.

The abuse has been confirmed with three different girls as young as 5 years old, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office reports.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Shawn Raymundo
Pacific Daily News

Catholics throughout the island gathered at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica to participate in the annual Santa Marian Kamalen procession around Hagåtña.

This year’s march comes amid an allegation of sexual molestation brought against Archbishop Anthony Apuron by a Guamanian visiting from California.

The archbishop’s accuser, John Toves, said when he was a 16-year-old altar boy, Toves’ relative and co-seminarian at a high school seminary on Guam was allegedly sexually abused by Apuron, who was a priest at the time.

Apuron has called the allegation a “horrible calumny” but declined to further respond to the allegation on the advice of his attorney because he’s planning a defamation lawsuit to defend the church.

Devout Catholics, such as Barrigada resident Pam DeVera, didn’t let the controversy stand in the way of yesterday’s tradition.

“I have no comment for that,” DeVera said in reference to the sexual abuse accusation. “I can only speak for my own personal belief, and I am still a faithful Catholic.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Cahir O’Doherty @randomirish December 03,2014

What did they do with the rest of their lives, all those absconded fathers? That question has been on my mind on and off in the months since I stood in a small field in Tuam, Co. Galway in Ireland at the start of this summer.

As the world now knows, that small field contains the final remains of 798 forgotten children. They were non-people from the moment of their conception and they have remained so in all the years after their deaths. There isn’t an official marker anywhere to record that they lived and died.

Instead, all the reporting focused on the experiences of the expectant mothers who had been treated like they were radioactive by the church and state. People were appalled to learn about what had happened to them.

But far less thought was given to all the absconded fathers, tens of thousands of them as it turned out, who had abandoned the women they impregnated (and the child that was the result) without any injury to their livelihoods or reputations.

The shame that fanned out to cover the women and their innocent children always ended at their feet, but the men escaped comment and condemnation, every time.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

A Twin Cities priest has been acquitted of criminal sexual conduct involving a female parishioner he was counseling.

A jury Monday found the Rev. Mark Huberty not guilty on one count each of fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The 44-year-old priest said in a statement that he’s relieved and that a lot of unnecessary harm had been done to the people of his parish and the complainant herself.

The complaint says Huberty and the woman met in 2008 when the woman came to him for counseling at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Maplewood. He has since resigned. Huberty was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with someone he was counseling and of groping her without consent.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

12/08/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

The Scots have the advantage over us when it comes to verdicts in criminal prosecutions, in that in addition to ‘guilty’ or ‘innocent’ a jury can also determine that a case is ‘not proven’, which is generally taken to mean ‘guilty, but we can’t prove it’. One wonders if the possibility of this verdict would have altered the decision taken in the case of Reverend Mark Huberty, which was decided in Ramsey County Court this morning.

The matter in question did not come to the attention of the Archdiocese until after I had resigned, so I have no personal knowledge of the case beyond the fact that I was aware that this is not the first time that such allegations have been made against Father Huberty. And, of course, I became aware of the other allegations (more affairs, pornography, profiles on ashleymadison.com) that prosecutors sought to have admitted as Spreigl/Rule 404(b) evidence.

The ‘not proven’ option would have provided an elegant solution to the legal dilemma that this case (and others like it) presented. For, there is no question that Father Huberty engaged in sexual activity with his accuser. The only question for the criminal court was whether she consented to the acts and whether that consent was valid (it would be invalid if she was found to have consented to sexual contact in the course of receiving spiritual guidance, counseling, or support). As such, trying to determine the validity of consent often involves discussion of religious doctrine and practices to the extent that such prosecutions are open to excessive entanglement and other First Amendment challenges. The fact that the other two prosecutions of Archdiocesan clergy on similar charges both resulted in guilty verdicts that were then overturned in whole or in part probably had as much to do with the verdict in the Huberty case as anything that was argued in court. It is juridically messy when the criminal courts are put in the quandary of having to determine whether a priest’s actions are criminal, or merely sinful.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Newsweek

BY AMELIA SMITH 12/8/14

Victims and whistleblowers of child abuse say that their calls for changes to be made to the way the Westminster paedophile inquiry is being carried out have consistently fallen on deaf ears at the Home Office, fuelling suspicion of a continuing major government cover-up.

Whilst an official inquiry into allegations of a so-called Westminster paedophile ring was launched in July, Phil Frampton, the former chair of the Care Leavers Association, and one of the most vocal critics of the inquiry, claims that the investigation has done little but “play” survivors by going through the motions of consulting victims for the benefit of public consumption, but failing to do anything about it.

“We are extremely concerned and angry at the disrespect the Home Office has shown to survivors, since the inquiry was announced, its use of obfuscation, manipulation, lack of transparency and

The inquiry made the headlines last week after an open letter was sent to home secretary Theresa May, slamming it as “not fit for purpose”. The letter, which had 28 signatories including Frampton, said that they would not resume co-operation until May removes the current panel, replacing it “on a transparent basis”, declares a statutory inquiry that can compel witnesses to give evidence, and extends the time period looked at by the inquiry back to 1945.

This was not the first letter sent to the Home Office criticizing the handling of the inquiry. On 28th July, Frampton and survivor groups from across England and Wales wrote to Theresa May, calling for an inquiry chair who had “a record of standing up to the establishment”, as well as a change that would allow the inquiry to “hear evidence from survivors of organised abuse, which would finally give them a voice and allow them to be heard and believed”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Robert Mickens | Dec. 8, 2014 A Roman Observer

ROME
A choir of voices has begun lauding Cardinal George Pell for cleaning up the Vatican’s money management operations. And the strongest notes in this hymn of praise come from the basso profondo of the Australian cardinal himself.

The 73-year-old Pell, who is officially the prefect of the Vatican’s recently created Secretariat for the Economy, gave a glowing progress report of his financial reform efforts in an 1,800-word article published last week in Britain’s Catholic Herald.

Modern and transparent with checks and balances

He made it clear that Pope Francis was mandated by “an almost unanimous consensus among the cardinals” to carry out financial reform. He said they were “well under way and already past the point where it would be possible to return to the ‘bad old days,’ ” even though much remained to be done. He added that the basic program for reform was drawn up by an “international body of lay experts” that the pope appointed and was based on the following three principles: first, the adoption of “contemporary international financial standards” and “accounting procedures”; second, transparency in producing annual financial balance sheets; and third, “something akin to a separation of powers” with “multiple sources of authority.”

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: William T. McIntyre was ordained a priest of the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus in 1943. He spent his entire career in Eskimo villages, retiring to Anchorage AK for a year in 1980, then to Seattle WA for two years until his death in 1983. According to January 2010 bankruptcy reorganization documents for the Fairbanks diocese, more than one person had claims pending of abuse by McIntyre.

Ordained: 1943
Died: Aug. 27, 1983

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 8

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 )

A Twin Cities priest has been found not guilty of sexually exploiting a women who sought counseling from him. We are disappointed in this verdict but proud of and grateful to the brave woman who helped police and prosecutors pursue this important case.

[Pioneer Press]

(Minnesota is one of 17 states in which it’s a crime for any clergy to have any sexual contact with congregants, adults or children).

A highly educated, allegedly celibate man who holds the revered title Catholic priest cannot ever have truly consensual sex with a congregant. Catholics have been raised since birth to believe priests are God’s representatives on earth, can forgive our sins, can turn wafers and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Priests always hold an exalted position, and when they have any sexual involvement with parishioners, it is always wrong and hurtful.

There is an inherent power imbalance between clergy and church members. It is much like a doctor-patient or therapist-client relationship, where any sexual contact is expressly forbidden. It’s Archhbishop John Nienstedt’s duty to help congregants understand this.

Nienstedt should now beg anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered misconduct by Fr. Fr. Huberty to contact law enforcement, using parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements. This isn’t rocket science. It’s common sense and common decency. Why, after decades of horrific clergy sexual abuse and misconduct by priests and continuing cover ups by bishops, do we have to prod Catholic officials to do even the most simple outreach to others who may be suffering in shame, silence and self-blame?

We seriously doubt this this courageous woman is the only parishioner that Fr. Huberty exploited. So it may be possible for Fr. Reinhart to be criminally prosecuted again for other crimes. If not, it’s possible that other Catholic employees might be prosecuted on charges of witness tampering, destruction of evidence, intimidation of victims, obstruction of justice, etc. Is this what Nienstedt fears? Is this why he’s not urging others who were hurt by Fr. Huberty to call police?

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MINNESOTA
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 08, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS — A Twin Cities priest has been acquitted of criminal sexual conduct involving a female parishioner he was counseling.

A juror Monday found the Rev. Mark Huberty not guilty on one count each of fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The 44-year-old priest said in a statement that he’s relieved and that a lot of unnecessary harm had been done to the people of his parish and the complainant herself.

The complaint says Huberty and the woman met in 2008 when the woman came to him for counseling at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Maplewood. He has since resigned. Huberty was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with someone he was counseling and of groping her without consent.

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

MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 12/08/2014

After little more than two hours of deliberation, a Ramsey County jury on Monday found the Rev. Mark Huberty not guilty of two counts of sexual misconduct.

Huberty, 44, was accused of having a pastoral relationship that became sexual with a female parishioner.

He was charged with fourth- and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The first charge alleges he had sexual contact with the woman while providing spiritual aid or comfort in private. Under Minnesota law, that is a felony for a clergy member.

When the verdicts were read aloud in court, Huberty wept and hugged his attorney.

In a prepared statement, he said he was relieved.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: CHAO XIONG , Star Tribune Updated: December 8, 2014

The Rev. Mark Huberty was charged with starting a sexual relationship with a married parishioner he was counseling.

Jurors on Monday acquitted the Rev. Mark A. Huberty of two counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly starting a sexual relationship with a married parishioner he had been counseling.

They returned the verdict after deliberating for about an hour Friday and another hour Monday morning, clearing Huberty on one count each of fourth and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

“I’m relieved,” Huberty said in a prepared written statement. “I never understood why the prosecution pursued this so aggressively. A lot of unnecessary harm was caused for a lot of people, including the people of my parish and the complainant herself.

“Now it’s time to heal.”

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk | Dec 8, 2014

It’s inside his own church, and here it is in a nutshell.

Last month, the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois released a report commissioned by Bishop Thomas Paprocki examining why attendance at Mass has fallen by 30 percent over the past 15 years. Produced by social scientists at Benedictine University, the report paints a striking portrait of a significant portion of parishioners turned off by unpalatable doctrines, lack of community, and bad priests.

In his response to the findings, Paprocki — one of the American hierarchy’s outspoken conservatives — unsurprisingly showed no interest in reexamining doctrine on such issues as birth control, the marital status of priests, and divorce/remarriage, each of which was cited by over 60 percent of disaffected Springfield Catholics as reasons for leaving or distancing themselves from the church.

To address the challenge of bringing them back, he instead pointed to a talk delivered by a Notre Dame business professor on “a strategy of resource-based analysis that has proved successful in both the business world and the not-for-profit sector” to a priests’ convocation on “Strategic Planning for Growth in the Church.” He also stressed the need to enhance evangelization by developing “communities of missionary disciples” and working to “make disciples of all nations.”

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UNITED STATES
Peter Borre

Overview

On December 3, 2014, the Vatican Information Service issued a Declaration “on the situation regarding the ex-nuncio Msgr. [Jozef] Wesolowski.”

The news hook was a meeting held that day between the Attorney General of the Dominican Republic and “the Promoter of Justice of the Tribunal of the Vatican City State.” The AG declared himself “satisfied” with cooperation from the Vatican which is keeping Wesolowski confined within the Vatican Walls, and plans to try him criminally.The Pope stated that it is important for “the truth to prevail always.”

The three-paragraph Declaration is attached to this post; worth reading for its careful phraseology.

For readers with short memories, Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski is the former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic, with the collateral duty of apostolic delegate to the Commonwealth of Porto Rico – a U.S. Territory (more on this later). A nuncio is the ambassador of the Holy See to the government of a country that has diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Wesolowski served as nuncio in the DR from 2008 until August, 2013 when he was “secretly recalled” to Rome (New York Times, August 23, 2014).

His prior diplomatic post as nuncio was to four of the Asian “Stans” (former Soviet Republics), from 2002 through 2008. There are detailed allegations against him of sexual abuse of minors in the DR, with on-the-record plaintiffs; also reports of his stash of porn involving minors, more than 100,000 pictures and videos. And he is wanted for questioning in his home country Poland, but per the Associated Press (December 1, 2014) the Polish authorities “cannot proceed…because the Vatican has refused to share the evidence.” …

And other countries where allegations may surface, perhaps the Stans, and the United States via his responsibility for Porto Rico.

Two associates of Wesolowski now in legal jeopardy, one in Poland and the other in the DR, who may flip and expand the story.

The distinct possibility of Wesolowski’s involvement with an organized international network of pedophiles, as reported by Italy’s newspaper of record, the Corriere della Sera, September 26, 2014.

Finally, the peculiar response of the Vatican to date, which raises the possibility of damage control verging on a cover-up.

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TEXAS
OA Online

A former youth pastor has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to felony sexual assault charges following a two year relationship with a 16-year old girl who was a church member. But authorities continue to investigate the husband and wife pastors of the church, for not reporting the offenses when they learned about them.

Angel De Los Santos, 26, a former youth minister at The Life Church in Odessa, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child, one count of indecency with a child and also one count of criminal solicitation of a minor on Nov. 17 and has been sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison.

But the investigation continues regarding co-pastors Donald and Gina Haislett who were arrested Tuesday for failure to report child abuse. According to the affidavit Donald and Gina Haislett learned of the improper relationship between De Los Santos and a 14-year-old victim on July 30. Yet according to a probable cause affidavit more than one victim may have been involved and received inappropriate text messages from De Los Santos. …

Amy Smith, spokesperson for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, said that internal investigations at churches regarding child abuse is a common practice.

“These types of crimes unfortunately are commonly handled by the church internally just like this church did,” Smith said. “That has the effect to continue to endanger more children. Typically they try to handle it internally thinking they are doing the best thing for the church but they are enabling that person to continue abusing children.”

“We really are glad and thankful for the police department there who are prosecuting this crime,” Smith said. “I think it will do a lot to protect kids and send a clear message to churches or other organizations who may hear an allegation of abuse and they will think twice about handling it on their own.”

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By CANDIDA MOSS AND JOEL BADEN

At first, it was easy to overlook. With all of his statements about caring for the poor, the disabled and immigrants, and all the fanfare surrounding his famous “Who am I to judge?” proclamation, Pope Francis seemed like a breath of fresh air for a church stuck resolutely in the past. The fact that he never commented on the long-standing marginalization of women in the Catholic Church, and asserted quite plainly that there would be no ordination of women, did nothing to dampen progressive enthusiasm for the new pope. There has been a hopeful sense that he would get around to it eventually.

He hasn’t, however, and there is reason to question whether he ever will. Instead of a more compassionate and understanding take on the standing of women in the church, Francis has repeatedly embraced the traditional Catholic view that a woman’s role is in the home.

Ten days ago, Pope Francis organized and addressed an interfaith colloquium on the subject of “The Complementarity of Man and Woman in Marriage.” The use of the doctrinal term “complementarity” signals the conservative underpinnings of Francis’ views on marriage. The religious teaching of complementarity holds that men and women have very different roles in life and in marriage, with men outranking women in most areas. Although Francis did acknowledge that complementarity could take “many forms,” he nonetheless insisted that it is an “anthropological fact.”

Last week, in chastising the European Parliament on the subject of immigration policy, Francis provided another alarming insight into his attitudes toward women, this time in his choice of metaphor. He described Europe as a “grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant,” but instead “elderly and haggard.” At 77 years old, presumably Francis still thinks himself relatively vibrant and useful to society. Women of his age, however, have apparently outlived their utility.

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NEBRASKA
World-Herald

POSTED: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014
By Steve Jordon / World-Herald staff writer

Creighton University is now part of a loosely connected but growing network of U.S. universities with economic teaching and research funded, in part, by Charles Koch, the Kansas billionaire and backer of conservative candidates and causes.

Critics of the new Institute for Economic Inquiry say it favors a brand of economics that contradicts long-established Catholic social thought, endorsed by Pope Francis and his predecessors. One Omaha priest accuses the Charles Koch Foundation of pushing its ideas “to the very doorstep of the Vatican.”

The institute is funded 50-50 by pledges totaling $4.5 million over five years by the Charles Koch Foundation and the family of Omaha trucking entrepreneur C.L. Werner.

Gail Werner-Robertson said she approached the university, her alma mater, last year about a new economics program because she thinks too few college students, including her own children, get information about the different economic systems at work in the world.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A former priest from Newcastle, County Down, has denied sexually abusing a boy in the 1990s.

Daniel Curran, 64, pleaded not guilty to charges of indecent assault and committing an act of gross indecency with or towards a male child.

It relates to a date unknown between 8 August 1990 and 7 August 1995.

A defence lawyer told the court he planned to ask the court to dismiss two further similar charges, later this week, through a no bill application.

He said he also plans to ask the court to stop the prosecution on the two charges that Mr Curran denied on Monday.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A woman who was second in charge at a NSW yoga ashram 30 years ago says she’s not “the monster” being portrayed by child abuse victims.

Shishy was in a position of power at the Mangrove Yoga Ashram in the 1970s and 80s, where children were emotionally, physically and sexually abused by Swami Akhandananda.

She had sex with an under-aged boy and former residents of the ashram have told the sex abuse royal commission she violently slapped children and even procured some for Akhandananda for sex.

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BELGIE
Knack

[Herman Cosijns, secretary general of the Episcopal Conference, said underage girls were not forced to give up their babies for adoption and that they had a choice. He made his statement Wednesday at a meeting of the Flemish parliament.]

De uitspraak van Herman Cosijns, secretaris-generaal van de Bisschoppenconferentie, dat het fout is om van “gedwongen adopties” te spreken in het geval van minderjarige meisjes die hun kind in katholieke instellingen voor adoptie opgaven, leidt tot “verbijstering” bij de groep Mensenrechten in de Kerk. De groep vraagt dat de kerkleiding afstand neemt van de uitspraak.

Cosijns deed zijn uitspraak woensdag, tijdens een hoorzitting in het Vlaams parlement over de gedwongen adopties. Het is fout om van gedwongen adopties te spreken, zo vond hij. “Er was een keuzemogelijkheid: zelf instaan voor de opvoeding van het kind of het kind afstaan voor adoptie”. De uitspraak zorgde voor ophef.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Mon, Dec 8, 2014

The Vatican’s controversial bank, IOR (Institute for Works of Religion), finds itself in the eye of yet another storm following Saturday’s revelation those who ran the bank between 1989 and 2009 are being investigated in relation to suspect real estate deals involving church property.

Senior Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi, on Saturday, said it had been the present management of the bank who had highlighted the current “problem” to the Vatican City state prosecutor’s office.

Media reports claim prosecutor Gian Piero Milano is looking into the sale of 29 church buildings between 2001 and 2008.

IOR itself issued a statement confirming that some months ago it had reported two former bank managers and one lawyer – former IOR president Angelo Caloia, former director-general Lelio Scaletti and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo. IOR added that the case underlined the management’s commitment to “transparency and zero-tolerance, even with regard to suspicious events from the past”. The suspicious dealings came to light in the last year, following an assessment of IOR’s 20,000 accounts by global risk-control group Promontory Financial.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 08, 2014

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

AN AUSTRALIAN woman was sexually abused with a loaded shotgun by an Indian yoga guru who also forced her to drink his urine as a form of contraception, a royal commission has heard.

The woman, identified only as Shishy, said that she later heard the founder of the international Satyananda yoga movement, Guru Satyananda Saraswati, apparently plotting to kill her as she was “a great danger to … the organisation.”

Giving evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Shishy said she was a “handmaiden” to another guru, Akhandananda, who was sent to Australia from India to found a yoga ashram north of Sydney in 1974.

Despite preaching abstinence himself, Akhandananda began having sex with Shishy at the age of 15 or 16, she told the commission. He would later use her to summon other women or girls from the ashram, with whom he would also have sex.

Over time, their relationship became more abusive, Shishy said. On a number of occasions, including after she had refused his orders, Shishy said she was told to fetch Akhandananda’s double-barrelled shotgun, which he loaded and used to rape her.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Archbishop Emeritus Paul Cremona spoke briefly during a Christ the King Mass in Valletta, but he was succinct: “The Church needs creative people who will lead the country through evangelisation.”

His words echoed those of Pope Francis who, in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, urged pastors and the faithful to be bold and creative when rethinking the goals, structures, style and methods of evangelisation in their communities.

Since its inception, the Church’s primary mission has always been evangelisation, or, as Pope Paul VI aptly put it: “She exists in order to evangelise.” It is with evangelisation in mind that Mgr Cremona called for a creative Church. …

The conduct of its priests, above all else, is pivotal to the Church’s success in a new and creative evangelising effort. The sex scandals, be they real or alleged, undermine the Church’s credibility in the community it is seeking to evangelise. Here in Malta, as abroad, the scandals have done the Church great harm. Compounding that harm is the revelation that the recent allegations of sexual abuse by a priest had been under investigation by the Church’s response team for over eight years.

Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna is promising to bring an end to this inertia and said last weekend that lengthy investigations into allegations of clerical sex abuse are now a thing of the past. This is most welcome news. The Church is replacing its response team with a Safeguarding Commission that would appoint individual investigators to look into every report received. Mgr Scicluna has expressed hope that every investigation would be concluded within a week.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

Sister Agnes Burrows (Diocesan Voices)

Do you remember the Garden song?

“Inch by inch, row by row – Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe… And a piece of fertile ground… Pull weeds and pick stones”

Seeds that were sown by the Diocesan Congress have to be nurtured in order to grow. The Diocesan Implementation Team is co-ordinating efforts to bring about an abundant harvest. What initiatives can we take at the parish level?

Two groups in the Glace Bay area are adding their efforts to the task: The Rebuilding Trust and Hope Group and the Joint Pastoral Parish Council of Holy Cross, St. Mary’s and St. Gregory’s

The Rebuilding Trust and Hope Group: As a recommendation of the Pastoral Plan of the Diocese of Antigonish 2013 -2018, parishioners throughout the Diocese were invited to participate in a process of reconciliation in their journey from brokenness to healing. In response to this invitation, Sister Martha Eileen and I invited parishioners from the Glace Bay area for a facilitated study of the book, “Healing the Church: Diagnosing and Treating the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis,” by Sister Nuala Kenny, MD. This was facilitated by David Nearing and Bryan MacDonald. We took time to discern factors contributing to the pain and brokenness, to seek ways to heal the wounds and to bring about constructive change. Through the breaking of the bread of our experience and the sharing in a caring community we were able to return to our lived reality with new learnings, a sense of hope for the future and for the healing of the legacy of unequal relationships.

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RHODEISLAND
Providence Journal

BY MICHELLE R. SMITH
Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The niece of a woman who gave more than $60 million to a now-disgraced Catholic order is asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court to let her sue so the money can go somewhere more deserving.

The court is due to hear arguments Tuesday over lawsuits brought by Mary Lou Dauray against the Legion of Christ, whose founder secretly molested seminarians and fathered three children. Dauray’s aunt, Gabrielle Mee, died in 2008 and left everything she owned to the Legion.

A Superior Court judge ruled in 2012 that Douray did not have standing to sue and threw out her lawsuits against the Legion of Christ and Bank of America, which Douray claimed breached its fiduciary duty as the trustee of Mee’s estate.

When Judge Michael Silverstein issued that decision, however, he wrote there was evidence that the Legion had exerted undue influence on the widow.

The Legion was founded in 1941 by the late Rev. Marcial Maciel. Documents show Vatican officials knew about his abuse for decades but looked the other way as the conservative order brought in money and vocations. The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 and launched a reform process which culminated this year with the election of a new government and approval of constitutions.
But priests and followers continue to leave the movement. The Legion announced in October that the college it owned in Smithfield, where Mee once lived as a consecrated member of its lay movement, would close next year.

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CANADA
Metro News

By Joe Lofaro
Metro

An Ottawa pastor who was charged last week with sex offences against a teenage boy has received more than 100 emails of support from his followers, said a priest filling in for the accused man during Sunday morning mass.

Ottawa police charged Father Stephen Amesse, 56, on Thursday, with two counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference. They allege he sexually assaulted a then-14-year-old boy at a west end church in 2008.

Police said they had been investigating Amesse since they received the complaint in February.

The Archdiocese of Ottawa said he was suspended from the ministry immediately after the arrest.

On Sunday at St. Patrick’s church where Amesse is a pastor, the congregation was united in disbelief.

Father Geoffrey Kerslake told a packed St. Patrick’s church Amesse received 128 emails by Friday morning and all but one were “positive.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A clergy abuse survivor says it is crucial the Attorney General does not sit on the case of a Hunter Catholic priest referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions six months ago.

A Special Commission of Inquiry, focussing on two dead Hunter Valley paedophile priests, recommended a senior church figure be referred to the DPP.

A confidential section of the Commission’s findings contained details about potential criminal proceedings against that church official.

The Premier Mike Baird says the matter is now back with the Attorney General.

Abuse survivor Peter Gogarty says he and others want answers.

“I think this has been going on for quite some months,” he said.

“A lot of people have become anxious about what is happening.

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OHIO
Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville – The Steubenville Register

The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Supreme Tribunal issued a sentence Oct. 30 dismissing Gary A. Zalenski from the clerical state.

This decision was communicated Nov. 17 to Diocese of Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Ken Briggs | Dec. 7, 2014 NCR Today

The Vatican’s summary report on the grueling investigation of U.S. nuns is just days away and my unsolicited and superfluous guess is that it will try to put the whole mess to rest by offering at least half an olive branch.

The ordeal has dragged on for five years at great expense especially to communities related to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, impugning their integrity and forcing them into a defensive position. Catholics of good will, including the preponderance of American lay people who support them, have been embarrassed again by their church’s bullying and demeaning of nuns and, by association, all women.

Nobody has won anything by these implications of disloyalty and the clamps placed on the LCWR have caused no small degree of outrage and despair.

So in that sense, the damage has already been done and the Vatican can feel free to covertly declare “problem solved,” heap a measure of disingenuous praise on nuns for the work their constituencies have stoutly rallied behind, and move on essentially with no change to the system of total male control. Add to that perhaps a means intended to allow sisters to save face. The status quo will probably remain intact, except that Rome has reasserted anew that it claims the right to monitor and intervene in sisters’ affairs.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis has a growing trust problem. Catholics increasingly have a deep seated problem trusting their leadership — in simplest terms, more and more Catholics now ask themselves and each other, this simple question: Why should I trust and support some seemingly corrupt and selfish bishops who ultimately seem indifferent to the rape of my children by some of their priest fundraisers or episcopal colleagues. Moreover, some of these bishops seem to many Catholics to use money raised by their priests at times as if it were the bishops’ own pocket change. Hence, the growing trust problem.

* Many Catholics now either want to change fundamentally, or even to leave, the Church. Without Catholics’ continuing support, bishops will eventually and inevitably lose both their financial security and political power.

* The solution to this trust problem is obviously more honesty, candor and transparency on the part of the hierarchy, including Pope Francis. Yet, hardly a week passes without another unsettling revelation about clerical child abuse or financial corruption, usually uncovered by a diligent reporter or tenacious lawyer. Further revelations then have to be pried out of Vatican officials, who too often try to spin the facts unreasonably and to excuse the failure to have made the revelations voluntarily. Even Pope Francis seems to fit this pattern far too often. Of course, he has already publicly “confessed” to being a “man of the Church”. He apparently has inhaled “pontifical secrecy fumes” for over a half century. Sadly, it shows.

* Unless Pope Francis and his staff start operating less secretly and coyly and more transparently and openly, it is hard to imagine how the Vatican will ever regain concerned Catholics’ trust that is needed for Vatican survival, it seems clear.

* A good example of the desire for change and the rising concern of Catholics about the secrecy that surrounds priest child child abuse is very evident from the recent talk to a Catholic group, and Q&A session that followed, with Kieran Tapsell. He is an ex-Catholic seminarian and an Australian barrister, as well as the author of the excellent new book, “Potiphar’s Wife: The Vatican’s Secret and Child Sexual Abuse”.

* The book describes the “cover-up” by the Catholic Church hierarchy, including through secretive and evasive canon law tactics, of priest child sexual abuse that has been occurring under the pontificate of six popes since 1922, when Pope Pius XI issued his secret decree, “Crimen Sollicitationis”. This papal order created a de facto “privilege of clergy” by imposing the “secret of the Holy Office” on all information obtained through the Church’s internal canonical investigations. This operates as a form of “Holy Omerta”. If the state authorities did not know about these crimes, then there would be no state criminal trials, and the matter could be treated as a purely canonical crime to be dealt with in secret in the Church courts. Pope Francis, for example, is currently pushing hard to prosecute Archbishop Wesolowski and numerous priests by comparable secretive proceedings, it appears. The explanation is often that this is how we “always operated”, similar to how many other absolute monarchies operated centuries ago. But this is the year 2014, not 1214!

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VATICAN CITY
La Nacion (Argentina)

Por Elisabetta Piqué

ROME.- “God is good to me, he has bestowed on me a healthy dose of unawareness. I just do what I have to do. From the start I said to myself, ‘Jorge, don´t change, just keep on being yourself, because to change at your age would be to make a fool of yourself'”.

These are some of the things Pope Francis said, as spontaneous as ever, during the exclusive interview with the argentine newspaper LA NACION almost 21 months after he was elected Pope.

Though he certainly does not look it, the former archbishop of Buenos Aires will be 78 next December 17. He said the reform of the Roman Curia will not be ready next year, as had been initially anticipated. He also admitted that ¨there still is a long way to go” to complete the cleansing work in the Vatican and spoke very naturally about the resistance he faces, which he said does not worry him.

“Certain resistance has surfaced; I think it´s a good sign when things are discussed openly and not secretly if people don´t agree. It´s good to discuss things openly, it´s healthy”, he said in a 50 minute interview last Thursday, in suite 201 of the second floor of casa Santa Martha, in the Vatican, his home ever since he ascended to the throne of St. Peter on March 13, 2013.

In spite of his very busy day, with appointments and audiences from early morning hours, Francis (who has not lost his accent or his typical Buenos Aires ways) was friendly, in a good mood and laid back.

He did not dodge any sensitive issue, such as the controversies of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family which took place last October. This General Assembly allowed in-house divisions to surface -differences in opinion about how to face certain challenges, such as the issue of catholics who have divorced and remarried, who the Pope defined as “excommunicated in fact”. “The German Cardinal Walter Kasper said we should look for hypothesis, that is, he paved the way. And some people got frightened”, he explained.

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CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
La Nacion (Argentina)

[English version]

Domingo 07 de diciembre de 2014

Por Elisabetta Piqué

ROMA.- “Dios es bueno conmigo, me da una sana dosis de inconsciencia. Voy haciendo lo que tengo que hacer.” “Una cosa que me dije desde el primer momento fue: «Jorge, no cambies, seguí siendo el mismo, porque cambiar a tu edad es hacer el ridículo».”

Ésas son algunas de las frases que, a punto de cumplir 21 meses de pontificado, el papa Francisco pronunció en una entrevista con LA NACION en su suite de la Casa Santa Marta, el jueves por la tarde.

Relajado y de buen humor, el ex arzobispo de Buenos Aires aprovechó la primera entrevista exclusiva con un medio latinoamericano para hablar, durante 50 minutos, de todo.

Conversó sobre su propia salud y sus viajes, y no evitó las definiciones acerca de los temas polémicos, como los gays, la situación de los divorciados vueltos a casar y el proceso electoral en la Argentina.

Cerca de cumplir 78 años, Jorge Bergoglio tampoco eludió uno de los temas centrales de su papado y, tal vez, el más anticipado desde el propio cónclave que lo eligió, el 13 de marzo de 2013: la reforma de la curia romana, tan cuestionada durante el pontificado de Benedicto XVI. Anticipó que no estará lista el año próximo. Y agregó que, en realidad, es “la reforma espiritual, la reforma del corazón”, la que más le preocupa en este momento.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Dec. 7, 2014 NCR Today

A new wide-ranging interview with Pope Francis was released Sunday, in which the pontiff talks frankly about October’s controversial Synod of Bishops, the demotion of U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, and the upcoming reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

The new interview, published in several parts by the Argentine daily La Nacion, also finds the pontiff revealing new personal details about himself and how he sees his papal ministry.

Saying that before his election as pope in March 2013 he was in the process of retiring, Francis even says in the interview that he was thinking about using his retirement to hear confessions at churches in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“When I came here [to Rome] I had to start all over again, all this was new,” says the pope. “From the start I said to myself: ‘Jorge, don´t change, just keep on being yourself, because to change at your age would be to make a fool of yourself.’ …

Francis’ baptismal name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

Asked about U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, who Francis recently moved from his former position as the head of the Vatican’s highest court to a position with the Sovereign Order of the Knights of Malta, Francis says he and Burke spoke about making the change together before the October Synod of Bishops.

On that issue, the pope states:

One day Cardinal Burke asked me what he would be doing as he had still not been confirmed in his position, in the legal sector, but rather had been confirmed donec alitur provideatur.

And I answered, “Give me some time because we are thinking of a legal restructuring….

I told him nothing had been done about it yet and that it was being considered. After that the issue of the Order of Malta cropped up and we needed a smart American who would know how to get around and I thought of him for that position.

I suggested this to him long before the synod. I said to him “This will take place after the synod because I want you to participate in the synod as dicastery Head.” As the chaplain of Malta he wouldn´t have been able to be present.

He thanked me in very good terms and accepted my offer, I even think he liked it. Because he is a man that gets around a lot, he does a lot of travelling and would surely be busy there. It is therefore not true that I removed him because of how he had behaved in the synod.

Asked about the synod itself, Francis says that the bishops at the synod did not talk specifically about same-sex marriage, but how to accompany gay people.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MetroWest Daily News

By Arthur McCaffrey
Guest Columnist
Posted Dec. 7, 2014

Dear friends, I am writing to you as a victim. Usually I write to you as friend, or neighbor, or fellow parishioner. But now I am writing as a victim of plunder and pillage because my home has been raided.

I don’t mean my home home, the place where I sleep and struggle with marriage and children and taxes, and having to take out the trash while NCIS is on. No, I mean my spiritual home: the place I go to get away from trash and taxes, the place where I think deep thoughts, wonder about my place in the universe, resolve to treat my family better, be a better person, and even pray for my boss to change his ways. I am of course talking about my personal oasis in Wellesley, my refuge from the daily assaults of life, the church of St. James the Great, out there on Route 9, 02482.

During the last 10 years, I have often written about this home in these pages, because certain forces have been conspiring to take my home away from me – bishops, cardinals, the Vatican, even the prelate who was just demoted by Pope Francis – Cardinal Ray Burke of St Louis – no, not a famous Bruins hockey player, but a tough opponent nonetheless who should have been whistled into the sin-bin long ago for unnecessary roughness. This guy has been the Supreme Court Justice on the Vatican Supreme Court (“Signatura”) during all the years that it was hearing the appeals from us parishioners in 02482 to have the Vatican stop our local cardinal, Sean O’Malley, from closing our patrimony and heritage, our beloved home-parish of St. James.

Long, long ago in 2004, in a Chancery far, far away, our newly appointed, tentative leader Sean O’Malley took bad advice from escapist Cardinal Bernard Law and his handlers that the only way to pay for all the excesses (spiritual, criminal, financial) of employees (priests) gone over to the dark side, was to close churches and use their property as an ATM to pay for the sins of the fathers. Well, on planet 02482, we thought differently, and spent the next 10 years trying to prove a negative – bad policy should be opposed by good remedies. We lost. Even though by 2011 the Archdiocese was admitting to the press that “closing parishes didn’t work,” so their latest buzzword was parish “mergers” instead of “closures.” Sadly, even the Peter principle applies in the Vatican (no, we don’t mean St Peter!), so O’Malley has become the go-to American guy for Pope Francis – which just goes to prove, better an ex-pat prophet than a bum rap in Boston.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

12/06/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

I am hearing concerning rumors that the investigation into the personal conduct of Archbishop Nienstedt is entering a new phase, whereby his personal attorneys are being given the opportunity to question the individuals who have made complaints without those individuals having the benefit of legal counsel or an explanation of their rights in the process.

The reports I am receiving are vague at this time. However, I wanted to post this notice so that any one who receives such a summons can be prepared. I strongly encourage those individuals to seek legal help prior to responding or appearing in response to such a request. Also, I would remind them that canonical processes are often documentary in nature. If you are asked to respond to questions, you can ask that the questions be sent to you in writing, and you may respond in kind after consulting with an attorney.

As I mentioned in a previous post, canon law is based on the civil law tradition rather than common law. As such, canonical processes are inquisitorial in nature rather than adversarial. In a canonical process, the questioning of witnesses is entrusted to the impartial turnus selected to adjudicate the matter rather than to opposing counsel. The attorney(s) for the defendant can certainly propose questions for the turnus to ask, and can object if the turnus declines to follow a particular line of questioning, but Perry Mason-esque cross examination is not a part of the canonical process.

I will post additional information as I receive it.

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VATICAN CITY
telesur

The three men are suspected of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings sold by the Vatican bank to mainly Italian buyers between 2001 and 2008.

The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See Father Federico Lombardi announced Saturday that three top former officials of the Vatican Bank are being charged with embezzlement.

Lombardi also said that bank assets of the former officials – totaling US$19.6 million – have been frozen following a ruling by the Vatican’s top prosecutor.

“The problem was presented to authorities of the Vatican court after an internal audit was conducted last year,” Lombardi said. “The accounts of the interested parties at the bank were seized as a precautionary measure a few weeks ago.”

Former Vatican Bank president Angelo Caloia, ex-director general Lelio Scaletti, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo, are suspected of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings sold by the Vatican bank between 2001 and 2008.

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CHILE
La Prensa Austral

[Thirty priests in Chile have been convicted by canon and civil justice in cases involving child abuse]

Hasta abril del año 2011, diecisiete casos de sacerdotes y un diácono vinculados a delitos graves contra menores de edad figuraban en el listado de sentencias que fueron dictadas por la justicia penal y canónica. La publicación de dicha nómina fue, en su momento, dada a conocer por el vocero de la Conferencia Episcopal de Chile, Jaime Coiro y en ella aparecieron mencionados cuatro clérigos que sirvieron en Magallanes.

Nombres de sacerdotes como Víctor Carrera Triviño, Jaime Low Cabeza, Marcelo Morales Márquez y Nibaldo Escalante aparecieron en el registro que los inhabilitaba para el ejercicio del ministerio sacerdotal. Entre ellos, también apareció consignado el ex párroco de la Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Fernando Karadima, cuyo caso remeció a todo Chile, generando un fuerte impacto tanto al interior de la Iglesia Católica, como fuera de ella.

Coincidentemente el año 2011, cuando el Vaticano determina la responsabilidad de Karadima en abusos a adolescentes, es que se gesta al interior de la Conferencia Episcopal el llamado “Consejo nacional para la prevención de abusos contra menores de edad y acompañamiento a las víctimas”. La instancia conformada por diez personas -nueve de las cuales desempeñan labores de voluntariado- tiene, entre sus objetivos, orientar, supervisar y evaluar las políticas de prevención de abusos sexuales de menores.

Dos de las integrantes del Consejo para la Prevención visitaron Punta Arenas, con el fin de impartir talleres dirigidos principalmente en colegios católicos. La psicóloga Josefina Martínez y la abogada María Celis, conversaron con El Magallanes, acerca de las motivaciones que guían el trabajo desplegado en la línea preventiva contra el abuso sexual, al interior de la Iglesia Católica. También participó Elisabeth Muñoz, coordinadora regional de la misma instancia.

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VATICAN CITY
Christian Today

Two former Vatican managers and a lawyer are being investigated over suspicions that they embezzled money from the sale of Vatican-owned property to their own bank accounts.

The Vatican’s top prosecutor has frozen 16 million euros in bank accounts owned by former bank president Angelo Caloia, ex-director general Lelio Scaletti, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo.

The move is part of an investigation into the sale of Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s, according to the freezing order and other legal documents.

Prosecutor Gian Piero Milano said he suspected the three men of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings sold by the Vatican bank to mainly Italian buyers between 2001 and 2008, according to a copy of the freezing order reviewed by Reuters.

The money in the three men’s bank accounts “stems from embezzlement they were engaged in,” Milano said in the October 27 sequester order.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Nick Cohen

There are two dangerous ways of looking at the attempts of Britain to come to terms with its buried history of child sex abuse: the conspiratorial and the despairing. They are not as far apart as they seem.

I can see why the victims of child abuse – of “child rape” as it is better called – are on edge. In their place I’d be losing my bearings too. Theresa May says that her inquiry into child abuse cases from 1970 on was “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to examine the scandals in Westminster, the BBC, children’s homes, churches and the NHS. If it is the last best chance to confront the past, Ms May has a funny way of taking it.

Astute readers may already be asking: why only examine abuse cases from after 1970? It might be worth knowing that 1970 was the year the Home Office transferred control of its children’s homes to the Department of Health. Whatever the inquiry finds, it cannot embarrass May’s department. No

To the disillusioned mind, her choice of investigators to sit on the independent panel inquiry into child sex abuse is as suspicious. May appointed Elizabeth Butler-Sloss to chair it. She was a distinguished lord justice of appeal. Unfortunately, she was also the sister of Michael Havers, a Conservative attorney general in the 1980s, when victims allege the legal system was burying scandals.

Her successor, Fiona Woolf, is an equally distinguished lawyer. Unfortunately again, the British establishment is a small world, and Ms Woolf was a friend and neighbour of Leon Brittan, home secretary when the Home Office received and lost a dossier on allegedly high-profile abusers raping children.

With both women gone, the proposed inquiry now has no one to chair it. As my colleague Daniel Boffey reports today, victims remain wary about two of the remaining panel members who will advise, when and if May can find a chair who will last more than five minutes.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Dec 06, 2014 21:07 By Keir Mudie

Child abuse survivors want the timescale of the inquiry into VIP paedophiles pushed back to the 1950s to avoid a whitewash.

Groups representing the abused also want a dedicated police unit to examine evidence uncovered during the probe to ensure no powerful culprits escape justice.

The calls came at a meeting earlier this week and one survivor, who did not wish to be named, said: “At the moment, the inquiry is ignoring the abuses that went on in the 1950s and 1960s.

“Its investigation is due to look at abuse from 1970 onward. There are lots of survivors from before that time. Is their suffering not worth anything?”

The survivor, who now works for a national charity, added: “I know it’s a large-scale inquiry as it is but if we are going to do it, it should be done properly.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Daniel Boffey, policy editor
Saturday 6 December 2014

Two members of Theresa May’s panel inquiring into child sex abuse are facing calls to resign after being accused of sending threatening or insulting emails to victims who had criticised the inquiry.

Lawyers for one abuse survivor have written to the home secretary to complain of a string of unsolicited communications, including an allegedly threatening email sent two days before an official meeting that both panellists and an abuse survivor were due to attend.

The victim, who is on medication for post-traumatic stress disorder, was left too anxious to attend the “listening meeting” in November. The development will be a huge embarrassment to May, who has already seen two chairs to the inquiry stand down since it was launched in July, both over conflicts of interest. A source close to the inquiry’s secretariat said the emails should not have been sent, leaving the fate of the panel members in doubt.

The inquiry has been set up to consider whether, and the extent to which, public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse in England and Wales from 1970 to the present day.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis faces increasing trouble from many of the world’s Catholics and some outside governments they influence. He is running out of time to avoid this as he soon begins his 79th year. He must promptly try to shift his current failing strategy for the good of the Catholic Church and, perhaps, his own good as well.

* While a handful of competing Cardinals, with their limited crusading conservative supporters, are part of the challenges Francis faces, many more Catholics of diverse viewpoints are rapidly losing fundamental trust in the Vatican under Francis with his failing strategy. This is a huge problem for all Cardinals as well as for Pope Francis. More and more Catholics are seeing that, under Francis’ shrewd Jesuitical hype, his strategy seems in substance a lot like his failed predecessors’ “hide and spin” strategy.

* A 24/7 media and Internet are amplifying daily worldwide the unending Catholic Church scandals, especially continuing child abuse and financial corruption ones. Catholics are now steadily losing hope, after almost two years, that this aging pope can eventually regain their trust. They view, correctly in my judgment, Francis’ current failing strategy as too focused on creative media management, rather than on implementing long overdue fundamental reforms.

* As Cardinal Pell moves into his plush new Vatican Bank office after he seemingly stumbled over hundreds of millions of dollars of “found” Vatican assets, two former Vatican Bank managers and a lawyer have had their accounts seized, surrounded by allegations of embezzlement. Slowly but surely, some of the real reasons behind the Vatican’s main emphasis on financial “reforms” seem to be revealed, no?

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy talks of millions of euro at the disposal of the Holy See that have not been recorded. Lombardi: “They are neither illegal nor badly administered”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
VATICAN CITY

“During the work on reforming Vatican finances we’ve discovered hundreds of millions of euros off the Vatican’s balance sheet”. These words by Australian Cardinal George Pell were the subject of much discussion. Pell is the prefect for the Secretariat for the Economy and a member of C9, who spoke about this in a piece on the historical weekly magazine Catholic Herald. The cardinal explained that because of these off-balance funds, the financial situation of the Holy See is better than it might have seemed after the approval of the advisory balance for the year 2013, which declared a deficit of 24 million euros.

Pell wrote that “Apart from the pension fund, which needs to be strengthened for the demands on it in 15 or 20 years, the Holy See is paying its way, while possessing substantial assets and investments”
. The prefect spoke of hundreds of millions of euros off the balance sheet: “Congregations, Councils and, especially, the Secretariat of State enjoyed and defended a healthy independence. Problems were kept ‘in house’ (as was the custom in most institutions, secular and religious, until recently). Very few were tempted to tell the outside world what was happening, except when they needed extra help.” The cardinal then affirmed that “for centuries unscrupulous figures took advantage of the Vatican’s financial naïvety and secretive procedures”

The events that took place few months after the election of Pope Francis are well known. There were changes at the top of the IOR and the council of cardinals, who help the Pope in the reformation of the Curia, decided firstly to address the question of the reorganisation of the management of the Holy See’s finances. Cardinal Pell’s words, who told Associated Press that he is symbolically moving his office to the IOR, hinted at the existence of slush funds.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Morgan Winsor

Bank accounts of two former Vatican Bank managers and an attorney representing them were frozen by a Vatican prosecutor, who suspects the three men were embezzling. The three are accused of stealing money while selling Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s, Reuters exclusively reported Saturday. Prosecutor Gian Piero Milano said the money in the men’s bank accounts, about €16.0 million ($19.7 million), “stems from embezzlement they were engaged in,” according to an Oct. 27 sequester order obtained by the news agency.

Milano accused the bank’s ex-president, Angelo Caloia, and former director general, Lelio Scaletti, of consistently lying about the sale prices of Vatican-owned real estate on the bank’s official books and then pocketing the difference between the recorded amount and the true sale price. Their legal consultant, Gabriele Liuzzo, allegedly received some of the money as well. A whopping €57 million were apparently swiped between 2001 and 2008, when the bank sold 29 buildings, according to the order obtained by Reuters.

Liuzzo, 91, told Reuters his accounts had been frozen, but said Milano’s allegations were “rubbish” and that the money from the sales had all gone to the bank. Caloia, 75, and Scaletti, 88, did not respond to the news agency’s requests for comment, according to its report.

Officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican Bank released a statement saying it had pressed charges against the three men in an “ongoing judicial enquiry.” Caloia, Scaletti and Liuzzo have not yet been charged, Reuters reported.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano

Sabrina Rubin Erdely
for Bigtrial.net

Before a writer for Rolling Stone ever made the mistake of believing an alleged gang-rape story told by a student named “Jackie,” she bought an alleged multiple-rape story told by a former altar boy named “Billy.”

On Nov. 19th, Rolling Stone published an article claiming that “Jackie,” a student at the University of Virginia, had been allegedly gang-raped by seven men at a fraternity party. [“A Rape on Campus; A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice At U-VA.”]

The fraternity was tried in the media and found guilty. Bricks were thrown through the windows of the frat house, the cops in Charlottesville were called in to investigate, and the university president shut down all fraternity and sorority events on campus.

Then, The Washington Post, citing factual discrepancies, cast doubt on the victim’s story. Rolling Stone rolled over almost immediately, issuing an apology that said their trust in Jackie had been “misplaced.”

There’s lots of irony here folks for readers of this blog. The writer of the story in question, contributing editor Sabrina Rubin Erdely, is from Philadelphia. Before she bought Jackie’s story, she fell for a story told by a former altar boy dubbed “Billy Doe” by a grand jury.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Articolo Tre

-Redazione- Il Promotore di Giustizia del Tribunale vaticano ha aperto un’indagine, estesa anche a l’avvocato Gabriele Liuzzo per concorso, nei confronti di due ex manager Ior. Si tratta dell’ex presidente Angelo Caloia e dell’ex direttore generale Lelio Scaletti. Lo fa sapere il portavoce della Sala stampa vaticana, padre Federico Lombardi. L’accusa per i due è di peculato per operazioni immobiliari risalenti al 2001-2008. I conti nella banca dei due sono stati sequestrati.

L’Istituto per le Opere di Religione ha quindi sottolineato l’impegno del Vaticano “a favore della trasparenza e della tolleranza zero, anche in relazione a sospetti su fatti del passato”. Le denunce presentate alle autorità vaticane, fa sapere l’Istituto, concernono fatti avvenuti tra il 2001 e il 2008 ed emersi nel quadro del processo di verifica interna avviato dell’istituto all’inizio del 2013.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Quotidiano

Roma, 6 dicembre 2014 – Il Promotore di Giustizia del Tribunale vaticano ha aperto un’indagine nei confronti di due ex-dirigenti dello Ior per un’ipotesi di peculato per operazioni immobiliari avvenute nel periodo 2001-2008. L’indagine è estesa anche a un avvocato per concorso. Lo fa sapere il portavoce della Santa Sede, padre Federico Lombardi. Secondo quanto hanno riferito fonti vaticane all’Ansa, gli indagati sono l’ex presidente dello Ior Angelo Caloia e l’ex direttore generale Lelio Scaletti, insieme all’avvocato Liuzzo.

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VATICAN CITY
Bangkok Post

AFP

VATICAN CITY – Two former Vatican bank managers and a lawyer have had their accounts seized as part of an investigation into allegations of embezzlement, the Vatican said Saturday.

The bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), said it had pressed charges against the trio some months ago and “the accounts held by the concerned individuals at the IOR have recently been seized”.

Italian media reports named the accused as former bank president Angelo Caloia, ex-director general Lelio Scaletti, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo.

While the IOR would not provide details on the case “given the ongoing judicial enquiry”, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told Italian media they were suspected of embezzling money.

Reports said they had siphoned off between 50 and 60 million euros ($61 and $73 million) while managing the sale by the bank of 29 buildings.

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VATICAN CITY
Europe Online

Rome (dpa) – Prosecutors are investigating two former Vatican bank managers for embezzling money during the sale of Vatican-owned real estate from 2001 to 2008, the bank said Saturday.

The investigation was launched against the two men and their lawyer several months ago after irregularities were discovered last year, Federico Lombardi, a spokesman for the bank, which is called the Institute for Religious Works, told Italy‘s ANSA news agency.

The men are suspected of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 Vatican-owned buildings to mainly Italian buyers. Their accounts have been frozen as part of the investigation.

“We are pleased that the Vatican authorities have responded in such a resolute way,” bank President Jean-Baptiste de Franssu said Saturday, adding that the case was an example of the bank‘s “commitment to transparency and zero tolerance.”

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Dec. 6, 2014 NCR Today

The Institute for Works of Religion, known as the IOR or the Vatican Bank, is pressing charges against two former managers and a lawyer suspected of embezzlement, a press release from the IOR this morning announced.

The press release doesn’t name the chargees, but an exclusive story by veteran Reuters correspondent Philip Pullella does.

The Vatican’s top prosecutor is investigating former bank president Angelo Caloia, ex-director general Lelio Scaletti, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo, for embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings sold by the Vatican bank to mainly Italian buyers between 2001 and 2008, according to a copy of the freezing order reviewed by Reuters.

Sixteen million euros in Vatican Bank accounts owned the three men have been frozen.

The IOR press release says that charges have been filed, but the Reuters’ story says “the men have not been charged.”

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VATICAN CITY
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says two former managers of its bank have been put under investigation by the Holy See for suspected embezzlement in connection with real estate deals from 2001-2008.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi gave no details in his statement Saturday. A separate statement by the bank said that the investigation of against the two ex-managers and a lawyer was launched months ago.

It described the probe as reflecting the bank’s resolve to achieve transparency as internal housekeeping continues, and gave no further details.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella December 6, 2014

The Vatican’s top prosecutor has frozen 16 million euros in bank accounts owned by two former Vatican bank managers and a lawyer as part of an investigation into the sale of Vatican-owned real estate in the 2000s, according to the freezing order and other legal documents.

Prosecutor Gian Piero Milano said he suspected the three men, former bank president Angelo Caloia, ex-director general Lelio Scaletti, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo, of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings sold by the Vatican bank to mainly Italian buyers between 2001 and 2008, according to a copy of the freezing order reviewed by Reuters.

The money in the three men’s bank accounts “stems from embezzlement they were engaged in,” Milano said in the October 27 sequester order.

Milano’s investigation follows an audit of the Vatican bank by non-Vatican financial consultants commissioned last year by the bank’s current management. The Vatican bank earlier this year also filed a legal complaint against the three men. The men have not been charged.

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VATICAN CITY
Instituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR)

IOR presses charges against two former managers

Vatican City, 06.12.2014 – The Istituto per le Opere di Religione (IOR) confirms it pressed charges against two former managers and a lawyer some months ago, underlining its commitment to transparency and zero tolerance, including with regard to matters that relate to a more distant past.

The charges submitted to the Vatican’s law enforcement authorities relate to circumstances recorded between 2001 and 2008 that have emerged in the internal review process initiated in early 2013.

The accounts held by the concerned individuals at the IOR have recently been seized by order of the Promoter of Justice.

“We are very pleased that the Vatican Authorities are taking decisive action,” said Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, President of the IOR Board of Superintendence.

Given the ongoing judicial enquiry, the IOR will refrain from further public statements.

Media Contact:
Max Hohenberg
Markus Wieser
Tel./Mob.: +39 06 698 85 910
Email: press@ior.va
For further information please visit us on: www.ior.va

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VATICAN CITY
news.com.au

Former Vatican bank managers accounts seized as they siphoned off cash and now paying for it

TWO former Vatican bank managers and a lawyer have had their accounts seized as part of an investigation into allegations of embezzlement, the Vatican says.

The bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), said it had pressed charges against the trio some months ago and “the accounts held by the concerned individuals at the IOR have recently been seized.”

While the IOR would not provide details on the case “given the ongoing judicial inquiry”, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told Italian media on Saturday the trio was suspected of embezzling money.

Reports said they had siphoned off cash while managing the sale by the bank of 29 buildings.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

Scicluna confirms TMIS story: Andrew Azzopardi signed Safeguarding Commission contract this week

Apostolic Administrator Charles Scicluna today confirmed that Andrew Azzopardi, who currently heads the English FA’s safeguarding team, will be appointed to lead the Curia’s new Safeguarding Commission, which will deal with alleged sexual abuse cases.

The Malta Independent on Sunday was the first to reveal that Mr Azzopardi will lead the commission last week.

Speaking on RTK, Mgr. Scicluna said Mr Azzopardi signed his contract with the Curia earlier this week and will start working with the commission once his completes his current contract with the FA. The other members of the team will be named shortly. The Bishop said Mr Azzopardi has the necessary background and experience in this field and said the Safeguarding Commission will start functioning in January.

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CANADA
Nanaimo Daily News

Laura Kane / The Canadian Press
December 3, 2014

TORONTO – Canadian director Terrance Odette’s new film “Fall” is based on a painful incident from his youth, when he says a Catholic priest “crossed a line” with him.

But rather than portray the priest at the centre of the movie as a flat-out villain, Odette chose to make him more ambiguous. As played by Michael Murphy, Father Sam is a mysterious, almost tragic figure, whose memories seem elusive and whose guilt is never certain.

“I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere by having a lynching. We’re not fixing any of these problems by doing this,” Odette said in a recent interview in Toronto.

“There should be a point where we’re going, ‘This is bad behaviour. It’s unacceptable behaviour.’ But is the person bad and unacceptable themselves, or do they need help? Or should they just be kept away? There’s all kinds of ways of looking at it.”

Creating a film that raised more questions than it answered was of utmost importance to Odette, the award-winning filmmaker behind 1999’s “Heater” and 2002’s “Saint Monica,” which also explored Catholicism.

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

2/05/2014

Jennifer Haselberger

In a week when much attention has been paid to the financial operations of the Holy See (mainly due to an article by Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat on the Economy, in the Catholic Herald), the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis took steps to reassure priests and donors that contributions to its annual campaign, the Catholic Services Appeal, would not be used to pay for litigation or abuse related expenses, but instead would support 17 ministries that, according to the fifty-four pages of material distributed at a meeting in New Brighton, have no other money to fund’ them (see materials below, page number 1).

Frankly, I don’t buy it.

The Archdiocese is clearly very intent on presenting the Catholic Services Appeal, its foundation, and the ministries it supports as something separate from the scandal-ridden and allegedly nearly bankrupt Central Corporation. Once again though, I think the Archdiocese’s statements in comparison to its actions demonstrate that this separation is little more than ‘smoke and mirrors’, and I will explain why.

First, the Catholic Services Appeal foundation is being presented as an independent tax exempt corporation, with the materials provided last week also stating that it is an ‘501(c)3 listing on [sic] the USCCB’ (materials, page 1). In other words, the Appeal Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 that receives its tax exempt status through the group ruling of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). However, the group ruling only applies to organizations that are ‘operated, supervised, or controlled’ by the Roman Catholic Church under which they are listed. In this case, that would be the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Prior to being included under the group ruling, an attorney must review the Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws of the organization to ensure that the necessary control is maintained by the diocese. In general, the control requirements are met through provisions regarding the appointment of members of the corporation, and through dissolution clauses and other provisions regarding operations.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln – Southern Nebraska Register

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The following pages of the Southern Nebraska Register contain a summary of the Diocese of Lincoln’s annual financial statement for the fiscal year completed on June 30, 2014. This statement is audited by an independent public accounting firm to ensure that it contains accurate information about the financial administration of the Diocese of Lincoln. I am very pleased to share this information with you, so that you can review and understand the financial stewardship of the Catholic Church in southern Nebraska.

The financial report addresses the central administration and ministry offices of the Diocese of Lincoln. It includes the Office of the Bishop, and the Offices of Vocations, Family Life and Evangelization, Education, Finance, Hispanic Ministry, and many others. This report does not include the financial information for related ecclesiastical entities such as parishes and Catholic schools, Catholic Social Services, St. Gregory the Great Seminary, or the Catholic Foundation. Each of these entities, which are administered separately from the Diocese of Lincoln, manage their finances individually, and are subject to the review of the bishop, the diocesan Finance Council, the Holy See, and, in some cases, to independent financial auditors.

I share this report with you because your generous financial stewardship makes the ministries of the Diocese of Lincoln possible. All of us—priests, seminarians, religious sisters, and lay Catholics—are responsible for the mission of the Church. There are more than 90,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Lincoln, and each of us is called to proclaim Christ, to witness to the Gospel, and to pray and support the ministry of the Church.

My vocation, as diocesan bishop, is to lead, to coordinate our apostolic activity, and to be a good steward of the responsibilities and the resources the Church has been given.

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NEBRASKA
Lincoln Journal Star

By ERIN ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

For the first time, the Diocese of Lincoln publicly released its annual finance report, revealing that more than half of its $21.29 million in reserve funds have been used to cover yearly expenses since 2008.

The statement, published in the Nov. 26 issue of the diocese’s newspaper, the Southern Nebraska Register, included a letter from Bishop James Conley, noting that the diocese is at “an important crossroads.”

At the crux of that crossroads is a $53 million capital campaign the diocese will launch in early January. Called Joy of the Gospel campaign, money will be earmarked to create more sustainable options supporting Catholic education, retired priests and seminarians, and help parishes and religious orders with needed building projects — without subsidies from budget reserves.

While dioceses across the country — including Omaha, Wichita and Denver — long have made financial reports public, the Lincoln diocese never has, said JD Flynn, special assistant to the bishop. By publishing the report, Conley hoped to tell the truth about the diocese’s financial position and demonstrate its need for creative fundraising and financial planning in the years to come, Flynn said.

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UNITED STATES
Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary

Mary E. Klassen

December 5, 2014

The Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary board of directors along with the president and administrative cabinet are taking steps to acknowledge institutional responsibility for the harm inflicted by John Howard Yoder’s sexual exploitation of women while employed at the seminary in the 1970s and 1980s, and for seminary leaders’ prolonged failure to intervene effectively.

An extensive historical account of Mennonite Church institutional responses to Yoder’s abuses will be published in the January 2015 issue of Mennonite Quarterly Review. With a desire to contribute to the larger church discernment process and to own the specific responsibility of the seminary, the AMBS board in their October 23–25 meeting approved a statement acknowledging the pain suffered by women who were victimized by Yoder:

As an AMBS Board, we lament the terrible abuse many women suffered from John Howard Yoder. We also lament that there has not been transparency about how the seminary’s leadership responded at that time or any institutional public acknowledgement of regret for what went so horribly wrong. We commit to an ongoing, transparent process of institutional accountability which the president along with the board chair initiated, including work with the historian who will provide a scholarly analysis of what transpired. We will respond more fully once the historical account is published. We also support the planning of an AMBS-based service of lament, acknowledgement and hope in March 2015.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Dec 06, 2014 By Ben Glaze

Theresa May snubbed sex abuse survivors yesterday and went to Brussels.

The Home Secretary skipped the emotional meeting where victims were demanding that the troubled historical abuse inquiry starts as soon as possible.

Campaigner Peter Saunders said top officials told them it may get a third chairman within weeks. Two have quit over their links to the Establishment.

Five more people have added names to a letter from 24 victims and professionals saying they have lost confidence in the inquiry.

They added their names to a devastating letter warning the Tory Minister the probe was “not fit for purpose”.

Abuse survivors met Mrs May’s officials and are understood to have said the inquiry must start hearing evidence as soon as possible if it is to have any chance of unearthing the truth and having any credibility.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Eugene E. Pierre was a Jesuit priest, born in 1914. His place of birth and ordination date are unclear. From 1961 on he was assigned to Port Townsend WA, Spokane and Seattle WA, Kabwe Zambia, and to Indian missions in Omak WA and Missoula MT. He died in 1979. Pierre’s name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Born: Nov. 21, 1914
Died: Aug. 17, 1979

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Guam – John Toves is on his second day of demanding to see Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

After being denied a meeting yesterday, Toves returned to the Chancery Office today to confront the Archbishop on allegations that he sexually molested his relative. But he was met once again by Chancellor Father Adrian Cristobal. It was clearly a tense confrontation for both as Toves demanded answers.

“Adrian Cristobal says that the attorney will call me to get in through an open door policy to get an appointment set to see the archbishop,” Toves told PNC inside the Chancery Office. “Oould you like to add to that?” Toves motioned Cristobal.

“I think our meeting is pretty much done,” Cristobal directed at Toves.

The exchange continued as Toves demanded to find out why the Archbishop’s attorney must contact him when a lawsuit has yet to be filed against him and Toves is a member of the general public. Cristobal did not respond to the question and simply told Toves that the Archbishop’s attorney would be in contact with him.

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CALIFORNIA
Mercury News

By Eric Kurhiekurhi@mercurynews.com
POSTED: 12/05/2014

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Victim advocates Friday called for the ouster of a psychiatrist and former priest who has practiced at El Camino Hospital for decades, citing accusations that he had molested two teenage girls years ago.

In 1988 Dr. Thomas Havel, now 77, was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl whom he had counseled before coming to El Camino, beginning when she was 13 years old. That lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds that too much time had elapsed — the woman was 34 when she came forward.

And according to personnel files of priests and nuns suspected of sexually abusing children while working for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Havel was accused in 2002 of molesting a girl between 1968 and 1973 while he was at a Pasadena parish. The files — which the Archdiocese released as part of a 2007 settlement that paid $660 million to more than 500 alleged victims — state that the Marianist Order settled that 2002 case and Havel petitioned to leave the priesthood in the late 1990s.

On Friday, Tim Lennon and Melanie Sakoda of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests went to the hospital to urge administrators to terminate Havel, file a complaint with the state medical board, and reach out to patients to let them know about the allegations.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Dec 5, 2014 (CNA/EWTN News).- In a recent article for the Catholic Herald, Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, shed light on the progress made in the reform of Vatican finances, which he is spearheading.

Cardinal Pell wrote in the Dec. 4 article that “three basic principles lay at the heart” of their work of reforming, and that these principles “are not original, and not exactly rocket science.”

First, the Vatican “should adopt contemporary international financial standards, much as the rest of the world does”. Second, “Vatican and procedures should be transparent, with financial reporting broadly similar to that of other countries, and the consolidated annual financial statement would be reviewed by one of the Big Four audit firms.” And third, “within the Vatican, there should be something akin to a separation of powers and that within the financial sector there would be multiple sources of authority.”

These principles have led to the drafting of a handbook of financial management, which rationalizes the accounting procedure of all the Vatican offices.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

[with audio]

(Vatican Radio) The Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ, offered a clarification on Friday in response to journalists’ questions regarding statements made by the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Cardinal George Pell, in connection with the ongoing financial review and reform efforts in the Vatican. In an exclusive piece for the new Catholic Herald Magazine (a preview of which appeared on December 3rd in the Herald’s online pages), Cardinal Pell wrote, “[S]ome hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular sectional accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet.”

Responding to journalists asking follow-up questions, Fr. Lombardi specified, “It should be noted that Cardinal Pell did not speak of illegal or mismanaged funds, but of funds that were not in the official accounts of the Holy See and Vatican City State, and of the existence of which the Secretariat for the Economy learned in the course of the ongoing process of study and review of the Vatican administrations, in order to achieve a more adequate [and] comprehensive understanding of [matters] with a view to the streamlining of operations.”

“This,” his statement continued, “is precisely the sign and fruit of constructive cooperation among the different institutions of the Vatican.”

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In ongoing efforts to strengthen the oversight of the Vatican’s finances, an auditor general will be appointed who will have the power to audit any Vatican agency and be a lay expert who is answerable only to the pope, said Cardinal George Pell.

The massive overhaul of the Vatican’s current accounting and budgeting procedures has also revealed that the Vatican’s economic situation is “much healthier than it seemed,” the cardinal said in an exclusive article for the London-based Catholic Herald magazine Dec. 4.

The brighter financial picture emerged after the secretariat discovered “some hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular sectional accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet,” he wrote.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, told reporters Dec. 5 that the money did not represent “illegal, illicit or badly managed funds,” but was money that was never included in the Vatican’s old system of budgeting and reporting.

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FLORIDA
Sun Sentinel

By Paula McMahon,
Sun Sentinel

Federal authorities are taking over the prosecution of a former Broward church and school official accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen boys in his care.

Jeffery London, 51, who was a youth mentor at Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale and dean of students at Eagle Charter Academy in Lauderdale Lakes, now faces a federal charge of using a cellphone to lure an underage boy into sexual activity with him. If convicted, he faces 10 years to life in federal prison.

The alleged victim in the federal case, filed this week, is one of the seven boys London was acquitted of sexually abusing after a two-week jury trial in Broward Circuit Court in April.

Legal experts said the new charge is not considered “double jeopardy” because it involves a different alleged crime and was filed in federal, not state, court.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS Los Angeles

SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — A Huntington Beach man was sentenced Friday to 36 years to life in state prison for sexually assaulting a disabled boy he was related to and producing child pornography.

Jeffrey Adam Tracy, 38, was found guilty on Oct. 16 of two felony counts of oral copulation of a child 10 years old or younger, four felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 and a felony count of using a minor for sex acts, U.S. Immigrations and Customs spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

A joint task force investigation of a suspect uploading child pornography videos on the Internet using various file sharing programs resulted in Tracy’s arrest on Sept. 27, 2013.

Tracy was described by federal officials as a church worship leader in Huntington Beach. Authorities declined to name the church Tracy attended.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Francis fired the uncompromising commander of his Swiss Guard. With more threats than ever on the Vatican, is the pontiff making a dangerous mistake?

VATICAN CITY — By now, news that Pope Francis has fired yet another Vatican big shot is hardly shocking. This is a pope who has been rolling heads since he came to power in March 2013. But the latest casualty in the reforming pontiff’s line of fire might prove risky for more than him.

According to a brief announcement in the Vatican’s daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Col. Daniel Anrig, the 40-year-old father of four who heads the elite Swiss Guard army is being relieved of his post effective Jan. 31, 2015. The Vatican has not issued an official word on just why the pope dismissed his army commander, but Vatican experts quickly pointed to the fact that Anrig was a heavy-handed leader who demanded that his forces stay in fighting shape despite the pope’s pleas to lighten up. There are secondary reports that an expensive renovation of his penthouse apartment above the spartan Swiss Guard barracks was the tipping point.

Considering the ample threats against Pope Francis by the likes of ISIS and others, discipline in one’s army would seem a strength, not a weakness. Anrig was a leading criminal investigator for the Swiss state police until he was recruited to the Vatican in 1992. He quickly moved up the ranks and was appointed in 2008 as commander by Pope Benedict XVI, who at the time said he “felt safe” knowing Anrig was in charge. But Francis has never shown much concern for his personal safety, once famously telling his bodyguards that the armored car was for them, not him.

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CALIFORNIA
Huntington Beach Independent

December 5, 2014

A Huntington Beach church leader was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison Friday for sexually assaulting a young male relative and creating child pornography.

A jury in October found Jeffrey Adam Tracy, 38, guilty of two counts of oral copulation of a child 10 or younger, four counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 and one count of using a minor for sex acts, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The federal Homeland Security Investigations unit and members of the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force began investigating Tracy in April 2013 after he uploaded child pornography videos on the Internet, officials said.

Tracy was arrested Sept. 27, 2013, at his Huntington Beach home. The district attorney’s office did not disclose the church where Tracy worked or when he had last worked there.

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OREGON
Mail Tribune

By Thomas Moriarty
Mail Tribune
Posted Dec. 5, 2014

A Talent man who worked as a church camp staff member is accused of molesting two teenage girls, though police said the abuse wasn’t related to his role at the camp and that neither victim was a camper.

Jeremiah Meadors, 20, is charged with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of second-degree unlawful sexual penetration, both Measure 11 crimes, and two counts of third-degree sexual abuse. The Measure 11 crimes carry minimum sentences of 75 months in prison without parole.

According to a probable cause affidavit written by Medford police Detective Diane Sandler, a 14-year-old girl told investigators in November that Meadors had molested her. A 12-year-old girl made similar allegations a day later. During interviews with police, Meadors allegedly admitted to some but not all of the crimes, telling investigators that he “needs to face his demons,” the affidavit said.

Meadors worked as support staff at Camp Latgawa near Lake of the Woods during the summer 2014 season. The camp, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, hosts a number of different retreats for children and families throughout the year. According to a letter sent by directors James and Lisa Marie Ryder to the families of campers Nov. 22, the camp’s internal reviews “found no information indicating that any camper was involved, and no incident happened at the camp.”

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CANADA
Metro

A Supreme Court jury returned a verdict of guilty Friday on one of three counts of sexual interference against a Glace Bay pastor.

The panel of six men and six women spent nearly five hours deliberating before returning with the verdict shortly after 7 p.m.

Pastor Robert Stewart Lawther, 62, of Reserve Street, was charged with three counts of sexual interference involving three girls under the age of 16. The offences were alleged to have occurred between 2006 and 2011, when two of the complainants were between the ages of six and 11 — they are now 14 — while the third was between the ages of two and seven, and is now 10.

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CANADA
Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY — A Supreme Court jury returned a verdict of guilty Friday on one of three counts of sexual interference against a Glace Bay pastor.

The panel of six men and six women spent nearly five hours deliberating before returning with the verdict shortly after 7 p.m.

Pastor Robert Stewart Lawther, 62, of Reserve Street, was charged with three counts of sexual interference involving three girls under the age of 16. The offences were alleged to have occurred between 2006 and 2011, when two of the complainants were between the ages of six and 11 — they are now 14 — while the third was between the ages of two and seven, and is now 10.

The jury found Lawther guilty on the count involving one of the 14-year-olds. She testified the man known in the community as Pastor Bob touched her on numerous occasions while in a swimming pool.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By JOEL RUBIN, RICHARD WINTON, KATE MATHER

A detective for the Los Angeles Police Department who once investigated sexual assault cases killed himself Thanksgiving morning after two relatives accused him of sexually abusing them, authorities said Friday.

The body of Dennis Derr, 52, a 17-year LAPD veteran, was found in his car in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Palmdale, law enforcement officials said. Derr died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Los Angeles County coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter.

Brian Hudson, a sergeant in the L.A. County Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau, confirmed two adults made sexual abuse allegations against Derr shortly before he committed suicide. Hudson declined to provide any other details about the investigation into Derr, but other sheriff’s and LAPD sources with knowledge of the case said the two accusers were relatives of Derr.

Although he said the investigation was in its early stages, Hudson said that at this time there have been no other molestation allegations made against Derr.

Philip Derr, the detective’s son, said in an interview that two adult men related to Derr recently confided in each other that Derr had molested them when they were teenagers. …

Over the last decade, Derr also served as a pastor or bible study teacher at two churches, his son said.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Smoking gun? Pope Francis’ critics cite new book in questioning his papacy

By David Gibson | Religion News Service December 5

NEW YORK — Was there a secret plot to elect Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the papal conclave last year?

Did Bergoglio — who became Pope Francis at that conclave — give the go-ahead to such a plan?

And does that campaign call his election, and his papacy, into question?

Such questions might sound like plot twists to a new Vatican thriller by Dan Brown, but they are actually the latest talking points promoted by some Catholic conservatives upset with the direction that Francis is leading the church.

The furor stems from a behind-the-scenes account of the March 2013 conclave, presented in a new book about Francis titled “The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.”

In the last chapter of the biography, which focuses on Bergoglio’s early life in Argentina and career as a Jesuit, author Austen Ivereigh delivers an insider account of how a group of cardinals who wanted a reformer pope quietly sought to rally support for Bergoglio in the days leading up to the conclave.

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VATICAN CITY
U-T San Diego

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
DEC. 5, 2014

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ economic czar is symbolically asserting his control over Vatican money by moving into the enormous office of the president of the Vatican bank.

Cardinal George Pell’s secretary, the Rev. Mark Withoos, confirmed the move Friday to The Associated Press. He said the space is vacant and the cardinal wants to use “Vatican space wisely.”

Pell was named in February to head the Secretariat of the Economy, a new finance ministry created to improve efficiency, accountability and transparency in the Holy See’s administration. It is tasked with overseeing all economic, administrative, personnel and procurement functions.

Pell’s authority over the Vatican bank, however, hasn’t been clear since the bank is governed by a separate commission of cardinals.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Article by: JEAN HOPFENSPERGER , Star Tribune Updated: December 4, 2014

An independent agency staffed by health professionals was hired to field the sensitive calls.

A new clergy abuse hot line staffed by mental health professionals from a Twin Cities nonprofit was announced Thursday by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The archdiocese partnered with Canvas Health to staff the 24-hour line, assess callers and refer them to appropriate services. It’s the first time an independent agency has been hired to handle these sensitive calls.

Until now, archdiocese staffers would field such calls and make the first contacts with victims, a process victims’ advocates say often resulted in abuse reports being discounted or stifled.

“We’re not sure how many people have not called because there wasn’t an independent option,” Tim O’Malley, the archdiocese’s director of ministerial standards and safe environment, said Thursday. “And we haven’t had the expertise that Canvas brings.”

The archdiocese has had a victims’ assistance program since 1992. However, it hasn’t been able to identify how many new victims have called the program in recent years, in part because call statistics may include duplicate calls by the same person, church officials said.

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VATICAN CITY
Fitsnews

By FITSNEWS || “The God I believe in isn’t short of cash,” U2 lead singer Bono once crooned. Neither is the Catholic Church, apparently.

Cardinal George Pell – selected recently by Pope Francis as the Vatican’s “Secretariat for the Economy” – announced this week that the church’s financial situation was “much healthier than it seemed.”

How so?

“Some hundreds of millions of euros were tucked away in particular accounts and did not appear on the balance sheet,” he said.

Wait … what?

That’s right. Hundreds of millions of euros were “tucked away.”

“Those in the Curia were following long-established patterns,” Pell said. “Just as kings had allowed their regional rules, princes or governors an almost free hand, provided they balanced the books, so too did the popes with the curial cardinals.”

Awesome … so what we have here is the Middle Ages meeting the modern mafia.

We wonder … does Johann Tetzel still have an account open? Possibly one bearing interest? After all, those indulgences really were selling like hot cakes back in the day.

“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

That was the expression, right?

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent 05 Dec 2014

Thousands of paedophiles who view child sex images online should be treated as patients rather than criminals, Britain’s most senior child protection police chief has said.

At least half of people viewing indecent images of children – up to 25,000 people according to police estimates – do not pose a physical risk to children, said Simon Bailey, the child protection and abuse lead for the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (Acpo).

Mr Bailey, the chief constable of Norfolk Police, told the Guardian his approach was based on “realism”, but admitted it could be “a very unpalatable response from a senior police officer”.

Paedophiles classed as “non-contact abusers” who view images but are unlikely ever to harm a child in the real world should face an “alternative solution” involving medical treatment rather than prosecution, he suggested.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4

Theresa May’s inquiry into historical allegations of child sex abuse is plunged into crisis after a number of alleged victims threatened to withdraw unless major changes were made.

In an open letter to the home secretary, the 23 signatories said the inquiry was not “fit for purpose.” The letter was sent ahead of a meeting today with groups representing victims of child sex abuse.

The inquiry is expected to examine how public bodies handled allegations and claims of child sex abuse in the past 40 years, up to the present day.

‘Toothless tiger’

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said there would be “no point” if Mrs May did not give additional powers to the inquiry.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Saunders said: “If it doesn’t turn into a statutory inquiry then there is no point. It becomes a toothless tiger.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Written by
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News

The Archdiocese of Agana’s second-highest official yesterday warned Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s public accuser that any further attempt to approach the archbishop “will be responded to appropriately and in accordance with law.”

John Toves has made numerous public allegations in recent weeks that a relative of his, a former high school co-seminarian of Toves on Guam, was allegedly sexually molested by Apuron when they were both altar boys three decades ago. Toves further alleged Apuron was a priest at the time.

The 50-year-old Toves went to the archdiocese’s Chancery office yesterday, the second time he did so in two days, in an attempt to confront the archbishop and urge Apuron to step down.

Monsignor David Quitugua, who, as vicar general, is the archdiocese’s second-highest official, wrote to Toves yesterday that Toves’ request to meet with the archbishop has been denied.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

December 5, 2014

Rachel Browne
Social Affairs Reporter

A former senior member of a yoga centre where children were allegedly sexually and physically assaulted described “violent discipline” as an acceptable part of ashram culture, a royal commission has heard.

A number of former child residents of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain left the hearing room as a former senior member, known as Shishy, gave evidence.

The commission has previously heard evidence from former child residents that Shishy allegedly subjected them to fierce beatings and summoned teenage girls for sex with the ashram’s leader, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.

Repeatedly breaking down in the stand, Shishy apologised for the pain and suffering she had caused, including the slapping of children, but said she could not recall some of the more vicious assaults described in evidence.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

‘It is the most shameful thing in my life’: Woman was forced by abusive leader to have sex with boy, 14, at yoga ashram

The partner of an abusive yoga master broke down in tears while admitting she had sex with a 14-year-old boy after her guru forced her to, an inquiry has heard.

The woman, known as Shishy, was the sexual partner and second-in-charge of Swami Akhandananda at the Satyananda Yoga Ashram on NSW’s Central Coast during the 1970s and 1980s.

Shishy, now in her mid 50s, told the child abuse royal commission on Friday that starting her sexual relationship with the young boy, known as APQ, was ‘the most shameful thing in my life’.

The former handmaiden was 25 at the time when she was instructed by Akhandananda to start initiating the boy the same way he had been having sex with underage girls on the ashram.
‘It’s one of the things I really resent Akhandananda for,’ Shishy said.

However, the commission heard Shishy continued the sexual relationship with the boy after she left the ashram in 1985.

The pair later had a child together and the boy lived in her house.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DECEMBER 06, 2014

Amanda Hodge
South Asia Correspondent
New Delhi

THE son of an elderly Sydney couple who run the NSW yoga school at the centre of child sexual abuse claims says he was aware there was a “bad apple” in the organisation “who hurt a lot of people”.

Brian and Mary Thompson (known as Vivekananda and Hridayananda) have refused to comment publicly on witness testimony this week on abuses at the Satyananda yoga school in the 1970s and 80s to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

But their son Charles Thompson, 53, told The Weekend Australian his parents were forced to return from India to “clean up the mess” after criminal allegations against the school’s yoga master, Swami Akhandananda.

“I met him. He was a bad apple,” Mr Thompson said by phone from Pune, 150km southeast of Mumbai. “From what I can understand, (Akhandananda) hurt a lot of people.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Anushka Asthana
Political Correspondent

Will the refusal of 28 survivors and campaigners to co-operate kill the Home Office inquiry into historical child abuse?

From what I am hearing, officials are determined to push ahead.

They believe they have tried hard to include victim groups in their thinking since Fiona Woolf became the inquiry’s second chair to step down.

While this news will come as a blow, they will focus on the fact that not all survivor groups have signed up.

Others also have similar misgivings but they want the inquiry to get going.

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CANADA
National Post

[with video]

Joseph Brean | December 5, 2014

Cornwall, Ontario — It is raining outside under heavy grey skies as a dozen elderly francophone Catholics gather for mass at dawn in the little parish of Ste.-Thérèse-de-Lisieux.

They pray aloud together as they wait for Father Claude Thibault, who lives in an adjoining house partly built by his late father, to put on his vestments.

Fr. Thibault, a genial and chatty man with a sly sense of humour, has attended this church all his life. He was baptized here. As a child, his family took up an entire pew. As a teenager, he read scripture. In July, he became its priest.

Part of his manipulation was protecting himself, by not only working at appealing to us, but also pushing others away, creating mistrust of others, sometimes in very subtle ways
Given what he has endured, though, it is a wonder he is here at all.

This was once the stalking grounds of a sexual predator, a priest at the right hand of the local bishop who abused the youth of this parish and the local high school, and kept them silent through what a judge described as the “spiritual manipulation of consciences.”

Fr. Thibault, now 54, was one of the victims. He was repeatedly molested by this priest, who was a false friend and mentor who encouraged his vocation to the priesthood, even formally vouched for his worthiness at his ordination as deacon, a ceremony spoiled by suppressed rage. When he tried to speak up, the cloistered Catholic hierarchy leapt to denial, and shuffled the abuser to other parishes, where the abuse complaints continued.

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MISSOURI
Berger’s Beat

December 5, 2014 1:11 pm | Author: berger

Boston’s premiere clergy sex abuse attorney Michael Garabedian (who will be played by Stanley Tucci in “Spotlight”, an upcoming film about the Catholic pedophile priest scandal, has released a list of 13 child molesting clerics. One of them is Fr. Irving “Jack” Klister who spent time at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Normandy in the 1960s.

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CANADA
National Post

[with video]

Cornwall, Ontario — It is raining outside under heavy grey skies as a dozen elderly francophone Catholics gather for mass at dawn in the little parish of Ste.-Thérèse-de-Lisieux.

They pray aloud together as they wait for Father Claude Thibault, who lives in an adjoining house partly built by his late father, to put on his vestments.

Fr. Thibault, a genial and chatty man with a sly sense of humour, has attended this church all his life. He was baptized here. As a child, his family took up an entire pew. As a teenager, he read scripture. In September, he became its priest.

Part of his manipulation was protecting himself, by not only working at appealing to us, but also pushing others away, creating mistrust of others, sometimes in very subtle ways
Given what he has endured, though, it is a wonder he is here at all.

This was once the stalking grounds of a sexual predator, a priest at the right hand of the local bishop who abused the youth of this parish and the local high school, and kept them silent through what a judge described as the “spiritual manipulation of consciences.”

Fr. Thibault, now 54, was one of the victims. He was repeatedly molested by this priest, who was a false friend and mentor who encouraged his vocation to the priesthood, even formally vouched for his worthiness at his ordination as deacon, a ceremony spoiled by suppressed rage. When he tried to speak up, the cloistered Catholic hierarchy leapt to denial, and shuffled the abuser to other parishes, where the abuse complaints continued.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: William T. Nash was a Jesuit priest of the Chicago Province, ordained in 1915. He was a high school and college teacher mostly in Chicago, with shorter stints in Omaha NE, Toledo OH and Detroit MI. He also served as a parish priest. Nash’s whereabouts after 1958 are unknown. Although not reflected in the Official Catholic Directory, Nash apparently spent some time in the Oregon Province; his name was included in 2011 on the Oregon Province’s list of its members who have been identified as perpetrators of sexual abuse.

Ordained: 1915

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Christmas miracles have come early this year, it seems. As Gaia Planigiani reports for New York Times yesterday, Pope Francis’s Vatican finance watchdog Cardinal Pell announced Wednesday that he has found hundreds of millions of euros “tucked away” in accounts that the Vatican had no notion it owned.

Isn’t that a lovely find? Hundreds of millions just “tucked away,” to be happened on by accident as one dithers with one’s bank books . . . . If I had a penny for every time this has happened to me, I’d be a much richer man, indeed.

A lovely find, especially as yet another U.S. archdiocese, the archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, announces it may have to declare bankruptcy as it faces claims from victims of clerical sexual abuse .

. . . Surely the Vatican will be inclined to share some of those lovely serendipitous millions, one would hope, with Catholics dealing with the horrendous consequences of childhood sexual abuse by Catholic authority figures, whose archdioceses keep sadly shaking their heads and claiming that they just cannot assist, due to lack of money.

As Colleen Baker says in response to Pell’s finding (Colleen posted this in a discussion thread responding to a National Catholic Reporter article by Michael Sean Winters about fixing the Vatican),

Do you honestly believe Pell? Do you honestly think hundreds of millions of Euros just magically appear? That no one knew anything about any of it prior to this discovery? I am much less naive. I want the names of the hierarchical types that go with all those suddenly appearing hundreds of millions of Euros.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 5 December 2014 (VIS) – The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., today issued the following declaration in response to requests for clarification regarding an article by Cardinal George Pell published in the Catholic Herald.

“It should be observed that Cardinal Pell has not referred to illegal, illicit or poorly administered funds, but rather funds that do not appear on the official balance sheets of the Holy See or of Vatican City State, and which have become known to the Secretariat for the Economy during the current process of examination and revision of Vatican administration, to acquire a more comprehensive knowledge of the latter in view of the planned rationalisation. It is indeed a sign and result of constructive cooperation between the various Vatican institutions.

“Moreover, it was known and had been previously explained, also publicly by the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, that the consolidated balance sheets of the Holy See and Vatican City State, presented every year to the College of Cardinals, do not in any way encompass the totality of the numerous administrations under Vatican auspices, but only the main institutions of the Roman Curia and the State”.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Psychiatrist accused of sexual abuse
At least three women say he violated them
One settled a lawsuit with his former employer
He’s a defrocked priest; abuse cases against him have settled
Hospital should not let him practice or see patients, group urges
And state medical board should review allegations soon, SNAP says

WHAT:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will hand-deliver a letter to the head of a local mental health center that employs a psychiatrist who has been accused of sexually abusing at least three girls. They will:

– Tell how the priest’s supervisors settled a sex abuse lawsuit with at least one victim, and
– Hand out copies of the former priest’s personnel file that outlined the abuse and settlement.

They will also:
– Demand that the psychiatrist be removed from his position at a local psychiatric facility,

– Beg hospital administrators to reach out to his current and former patients telling them about the allegations, and
– Urge the hospital to file a complaint against him with the California State Medical Board.

WHEN
Friday, Dec. 5 at 11:30 am

WHERE:
Outside of El Camino Hospital Behavioral Health Services, 2500 Grant Road (at North Drive), in Mountain View CA

WHO:
Two-three people who are members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), the nation’s largest support group for adults who were sexually abused as kids.

WHY:
Members of SNAP recently learned that Dr. Thomas E. Havel, a Mountain View psychiatrist and an ex-Los Angeles priest – has been accused of sexually abusing at least three women and girls and that the doctor’s former employer settled a lawsuit with at least one victim.

[El Camino Hospital]

Havel works at El Camino Hospital, where he has been a psychiatrist since the late 1980s. Previous to this, Havel was ordained Catholic priest in Los Angeles and worked there for several years. Then he joined a St. Louis-based Catholic religious order called the Marianists.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Two of Pope Francis’ key cardinals, George Pell, new Vatican financial czar, and Sean O’Malley, new Vatican anti-abuse czar, have now shown us why Francis’ reform efforts will falter fast. Pell has shown this by his “admissions”; O’Malley has shown it by his “omissions”. The fundamental procedural weakness, in effect, highlighted by both these Cardinals’ inadequate approaches, is the continuing unaccountable control over both these scandal prone areas by a “supreme and infallible pontiff”, a pope, and his secretively selected Cardinals and other cronies, it appears.

* Pope Francis may be doing the best he can, given his strong opponents. He seems to be; but it does not appear that this will be enough to save the Vatican, as discussed in detail below. And his successor will not likely be any more successful. It is now or never for the Vatican, from most indications. Recent reports indicate Francis was picked by one faction of Cardinals, but that may not have been enough to empower him to succeed over competing factions. Please see:

* [Catholic News Agency]

* First, Pell’s admissions, which are contained in a article Pell wrote (12/4) seemingly to try to “sell as the solution” the Vatican’s new financial management structure. Unwittingly, it appears that Pell’s sales pitch has instead shown why the financial “reforms” cannot succeed in effectively ending Vatican financial mismanagement and corruption. Please see Pell’s revealing article at:

* [Catholic Herald]

* Concerning why the Vatican has had so many notorious major financial scandals, Pell indicated: “Those in the Curia were following long-established patterns. Just as kings had allowed their regional rulers, princes or governors an almost free hand, provided they balanced their books, so too did the popes with the curial cardinals (as they still do with diocesan bishops).” So, it appears, the key problem is the papal monarchical structure. …

* It seems quite clear that Pope Francis is intentionally pursuing effective child protection reform measures very slowly, at best, and almost secretly with this new advisory committee (A) headed by Cardinal Law’s successor, Cardinal O’Malley, who is well experienced with “handling” abuse investigations secretively and slowly, and (B) aided now, as top staffer, by Fr. Robert Oliver, who has been successively Cardinals Law’s, O’Malley’s and Mueller’s predictable and seemingly pliable longtime canon lawyer. Fr. Geisenger now is serving now as the Vatican’s “top cop”, succeeding Fr. Oliver in that position. Priests presumably will like this “priest friendly” lineup more than innocent children and their parents will, I suspect.

* Twelve years after the Boston Globe Catholic priest child abuse revelations and almost 30 years after Father Thomas Doyle’s abuse report to Cardinals Law, Levada, Bevilacqua, Laghi, et al. and Pope John Paul II, for O’Malley to say on CBS we are looking into “protocols” is evidently a farce. And O’Malley seems to have gotten away with it with many in the media so far!

* I have to wonder, as an international lawyer, if O’Malley, Oliver and Geisinger, all presumably US citizens, were picked to work on the latest papal public relations ploys to “do little or nothing” to really curtail clerical abuse also because the US has not ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty.

* Since the ex-pope had already been a subject of a complaint filed with the ICC, it must have occurred to the Vatican and its lawyers that whomever handles these matters can expect to face a further complaint at the ICC, a very serious matter. It might be more difficult to prosecute them under the ICC Treaty as US citizens if they had returned to the USA when the ICC prosecutor finally pursues the Vatican again, as I am confident as an international lawyer she will.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Katie Lannan | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 04, 2014

RAHWAY — The former accountant for the Agape Family Worship Center has been indicted for embezzling more than $4 million from the church over a period of seven years, church officials said today.

Donald Gridiron, Jr., a certified public accountant licensed in California, was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday, according to a statement from the church.

The thefts were hidden in 900 separate transactions in which Gridiron would write checks to himself or arrange wire transfers, said Matthew Davis, a Texas-based attorney representing the church.

“Professionally, our former CPA violated the trust of the ministry,” said Lawrence Powell, Agape’s senior pastor. “And personally, I feel betrayed because this man used to be my friend. It hurts, but we serve a God who will get us through this.”

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