ABUSE TRACKER

GEORGIA/FLORIDA
First Coast News

[with video]

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On a mission to get Georgia’s Hidden Predator Act signed into law, a local man who says he was sexually abused as a child is speaking out. He and the bill’s sponsor, Republican State Representative Jason Spencer of Woodbine, say the bill is getting a lot of push back from some powerful special interest groups.

“Imagine summoning the courage to come forward. Most survivors come forward to protect other children, and they often come forward when they are at an age when they have their own children and want to identify the perpetrator, and being told there is nothing you can do,” said Justin Conway.

That is what Conway, 37, who is from Kingsland, Georgia says happened to him. It wasn’t until about 18 months ago that he says he broke his silence and went to authorities sharing a dark secret he says he had kept for decades.

“I’m a survivor of childhood sexual abuse,” said Conway. “Unfortunately the laws sets up now are set up to hide predators and the Hidden Predator Act is aimed at changing that.”

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

AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Salvation Army and Scouts Australia are among those who will give evidence on Friday to a royal commission examining a national compensation scheme for the victims of child abuse.

The hearing in Sydney is considering responses to a consultation paper published in January in which a $4.3 billion scheme funded by governments and non-government institutions was suggested.

The federal government has said running such a scheme would be too complex and cost too much.

During two days of hearings so far, that response has been criticised by support and advocacy groups representing survivors as well as by the commission and the Catholic Church.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jayne Margetts

A group representing children who were held in out-of-home care has told an inquiry they should be entitled to a separate compensation scheme.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is hearing submissions from nearly 40 government and non-government organisations about a national redress scheme for survivors.

Leonie Sheedy from the Care Leavers Australia Network said all forms of abuse should be recognised, not just sexual abuse.

“It is our view that the care leavers’ experience is so unique that it requires its own redress scheme,” she said.

“The time has come for the perpetrators and enablers of this abuse to pay for their crimes.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Thursday 26 March 2015

The Law Council of Australia has backed a national redress scheme for abuse survivors and says the commonwealth has the mechanisms to establish one.

Duncan McConnel, the president of the society which represents 60,000 Australian lawyers, says it is possible for the states and territories to refer power to the commonwealth.

In its response to the child sexual abuse royal commission, the federal government has said running a national scheme would be too complex and it does not have the power to set one up.

McConnel said the commonwealth had demonstrated the ability to develop and support a redress scheme through the establishment of the defence abuse response team. The defence force model provided a holistic approach incorporating reparation payments and restorative justice, he said.

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

AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

STATE governments and churches that ran children’s homes should not be allowed administer a redress scheme for child sexual abuse survivors, a royal commission has been told.

LEONIE Sheedy the chief executive of Care Leavers Australia Network (CLAN) said a national independent redress scheme needed to recognise all forms of abuse and neglect suffered by children in care.

“Past providers and governments that operated orphanages, children’s homes and other institutions should contribute to this national scheme but should have no say in how the redress in managed,” she said on Friday.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is hearing from governments and non-government organisations about a compensation scheme for tens of thousands of abuse survivors.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Southend Standard

Town halls have called for new powers to help them intervene to prevent children being groomed for sex.

The Local Government Association (LGA) said court-backed orders were necessary because officials were “powerless” to act if they suspected grooming but did not have enough evidence to prosecute.

Sanctions already in place were “too limited”, the association said, with Sexual Risk Orders available only to police for suspects posing a risk of sexual harm.

The call, backed by children’s charity Barnardo’s, comes in the wake of multiple child sex abuse scandals in towns including Rochdale, Rotherham and Oxford – for which police and councils have apologised over their failure to act.

Councillor David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “At present sanctions to prevent the grooming of vulnerable children are too limited and we need to make it easier to intervene earlier before harm is done.

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

SCOTLAND
The Tablet

26 March 2015

The stripping by Pope Francis of Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s rights and privileges of his office, coupled with an admission by his successor Archbishop Leo Cushley that his behaviour had made the Catholic Church in Scotland “less credible”, might not be enough, sadly, to bury this sorry affair and let healing begin. There were major allegations against O’Brien when he was Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The first was that he was a hypocrite when he outspokenly attacked the proposal for gay marriage. His exposure as a gay man who had made multiple unwanted sexual advances fatally undermined the Church’s message in what was already a tense debate. The reputational damage has been done; he has apologised and paid the penalty.

It is not so easy to lay to rest the allegation that he made some appointments in his archdiocese based on favouritism. That means the essential problem – abuse of power under the protection of the Church’s hierarchical structure – may still be present. But it is not confined to Scotland. There are several cases, most notoriously that of Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër of Vienna, where clergy knew of sexual irregularities in the past or present lives of senior church dignitaries, and did not know where to turn, or were not listened to. On a lesser scale, those who felt aggrieved by the behaviour of Bishop Kieran Conry, then of Arundel and Brighton, felt they had no obvious remedies except, eventually, to go to a national newspaper.

The victims of O’Brien’s sexual misconduct, mainly fellow clergy, suffered greatly. They felt trapped and powerless because of his seniority. It is still not clear how many there were – around 40 has been suggested – and though the new archbishop will need time to address all the issues, there is nothing in place so far that looks likely to give the victims justice. It is suggested that many of the 40 have not made formal allegations, though they are known to fellow victims. That indicates a lack of confidence in the Church’s procedures for dealing with such complaints.

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

CANADA
CTV

Almost a year after he was arrested, a former Grey County church leader known as ‘the prophet’ will stand trial for alleged crimes dating back to 1978.

Fred King was the leader of the now defunct Church of Jesus Christ Restored near Chatsworth, Ont.
Following complaints of assault from a former ‘church wife,’ he was arrest in April 2014.

A preliminary hearing wrapped up in Owen Sound on Wednesday, with Fred committed to stand trial.
He faces 24 charges including sexual exploitation, sexual interference, sexual assault and uttering death threats.

The incidents allegedly happenet at the Chatsworth-area church compound from 1978 to 2008.

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
WJON

By Dan DeBaun March 26, 2015

WAITE PARK – An investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Services says a former staffer with WACOSA in Waite Park allegedly sexually abused a vulnerable adult.

WACOSA provides training and employment support for those with disabilities.

The investigation report says the abuse happened on several occasions before December 29th, 2014. Both the vulnerable adult and alleged staff person involved in the abuse were not identified in the report.

In the report it says the staff person touched the vulnerable adult’s breast and genital area underneath clothing on two occasions while working at a church. During the investigation, another incident of the staff person touching the vulnerable adult’s breast was seen by another staff person.

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

VIRGINIA
WUSA

STERLING, Va.(WUSA9) — Officials are investigating an alleged sexual abuse that happened at the Calvary Temple Church in Sterling, Va., according to Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

“We understand the concerns of the public, and we want to ensure everyone that we take all allegations of abuse seriously and these crimes will be investigated to their fullest extent,” said Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman.

The is an ongoing investigation, officials said.

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

VIRGINIA
Patch

By CHRIS GAUDET (Patch Staff)

The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday confirmed that an investigation is taking place of alleged sexual abuse at the Calvary Temple Church in Sterling.

“Due to the fact this is an ongoing investigation, no further details can be released at this time,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“We understand the concerns of the public, and we want to ensure everyone that we take all allegations of abuse seriously and these crimes will be investigated to their fullest extent,” Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman said in the statement.

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

VIRGINIA
Fox DC

[with video]

By Marina Marraco, FOX 5 Reporter

STERLING, Va. –
A Loudoun County church is under investigation following allegations of years of sexual abuse.

Two accusers spoke exclusively with FOX 5 in hopes that others will come forward and abandon a church they say operates as a cult, brainwashes and has sexually abused minors.

26-year-old Chassidi Thompson says for more than a year she was sexually abused by her uncle, a man who also happens to be a deacon at Calvary Temple in Sterling.

“I thought that everything that I was experiencing was in my head. There was no proof of anything, there was no evidence. I would lay there at night: this is just a dream-this is just a dream, this is not happening to me,” said Thompson.

Thompson was only 12 when she says the abuse started. She says at 14 years old she was dumped with only the clothes on her back at a gas station, shunned and ostracized by the church.

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

OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY NOLAN ROSENKRANS
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Catholic church leaders are looking for other potential victims of a deceased priest who once served at St. Francis de Sales High School, and who, they confirmed, abused a minor 14 years ago.

The Rev. James H. Roth, 61, died Feb. 11 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio after taking a high dose of insulin. Though his death has not been confirmed as a suicide, he left a note admitting to the allegation, said the Rev. Ken McKenna, provincial of the Toledo-Detroit Province of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales.

The survivor, who was not a St. Francis student and is now an adult, reported the abuse to the Oblates in January. Father Roth, who at the time was working for a Catholic school board in Toronto, was immediately removed from his position, police were alerted, and an internal investigation begun, Father McKenna said.

Father Roth was in a drug study for diabetes, and the side effects of the drug included depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the Oblates. While co-workers had noticed mood changes, Father McKenna said it’s unclear whether the drugs impaired his judgment or if the revelation led to his death.

Father McKenna acknowledged that the note would give the impression that Father Roth killed himself because of the charge, but he said he was waiting for the coroner’s office to rule officially on the manner of death.

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

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

JOHN MEAGHER, MONTREAL GAZETTE

A former student at Collège St-Hilaire has filed a motion in Quebec Superior Court to authorize a class-action suit on behalf of individuals allegedly sexually abused by clergyman Jean-Paul Thibault, a former teacher and principal at the school.

Thibault, a Catholic brother with the Frères de Notre-Dame de la Miséricorde, was arrested March 17 for sexually assaulting the former student at the college in the 1980s.

Thibault, 72, is accused of indecent assault, sexual assault and incitement to sexual touching while in a position of authority.

The abuse began when the victim was 12 years old, said lawyer Robert Kugler of the law firm Kugler Kandestin, which filed a class-action suit to include the possibility there are other victims of Brother Thibault, who was released on $1,000 bail following his arrest.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 27, 2015

Mark Russell

A former Christian Brother who was part of a notorious paedophile ring involving the clergy in Ballarat has been jailed for a minimum of three years for abusing 20 young boys.

County Court judge Richard Smith said on Friday that Ted Dowlan, who changed his name by deed poll to Bales in 2011, had preyed on vulnerable boys as young as eight years old over a 14-year period at six different schools from the first year he became a Christian Brother in 1971.

Judge Smith said Dowlan had been in a position of authority and trust and believed he had “some right of entitlement” to abuse the boys in appalling circumstances because he had power over them and they were unable to resist him.

The judge described Dowlan’s offending as brazen and said he did not believe he was remorseful.

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

OHIO
NBC 24

by Christopher Burns

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Oblates of St. Francis De Sales received an allegation of sexual misconduct of a minor nearly 14-years after it occurred.

Fr. James Roth, who died in February of 2015 from a high dose of insulin which caused low glucose levels and brain damage, is being investigated by Catholic Church leaders. The leaders say the allegations of sexual misconduct from 14-years ago were confirmed true.

According to a statement on the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales website, Roth admitted to the allegations in a note written before his death.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

A Catholic priest dubbed the “fat vicar” is facing jail today after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy at a children’s home between 1979 and 1981.

Father Anthony McSweeney preyed on the vulnerable youngster while working at Grafton Close Children’s Home in Hounslow, west London.

McSweeney, 68, was also found guilty of making indecent images of children.

He preyed on the boy with his close friend John Stingemore, 72, who managed the care home and was found dead in January – weeks before his trial.

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

AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
27 MAR 2015

A pedophile priest who sexually abused 20 boys under his care at schools in the 1970s and 1980s has been jailed in Victoria for six years.

Edward “Ted” Bales, 65, pleaded guilty to 34 child sex abuse charges that he committed while a teacher, often disguising his crimes as disciplinary action.

Bales, who was jailed in the 1990s for child sex crimes when he was known as Edward Vernon Dowlan, changed his name to avoid publicity.

In the Victorian County Court on Friday, Judge Richard Smith said some of Bales’ victims were also abused by other offenders teaching at the schools with Bales.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
NBC 10

A state appellate court has rejected the appeal of a Roman Catholic priest who died in prison while serving time in a Philadelphia abuse case.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt insisted he was wrongly convicted at his 2013 trial.

The 67-year-old priest was serving a 6- to 12-year sentence. He died in November, weeks after his appeal was argued.

He died after a brief hospital stay that followed heart-related problems.

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.

ESPANA
El Pais

[The bishops lose one-year extension to register property.]

CARMEN MORÁN Madrid 26 MAR 2015

La reforma de la ley hipotecaria planteada por el PP en abril del año pasado eliminaba los privilegios de los obispos para poner a su nombre propiedades que no tenían dueño conocido. Pero les daba un año desde que esta modificación entrara en vigor para seguir haciéndolo. Ese año de prórroga fue eliminado el miércoles mediante una enmienda de los populares: la reforma de la ley en la comisión de Justicia del Congreso impedirá, nada más publicarse en el BOE, que la Iglesia siga con esta práctica que tanto rédito le ha dado. Se desconoce el número de propiedades —pisos, ermitas, catedrales, fincas, frontones, fuentes, plazas públicas— que los obispos han registrado a su nombre, sobre todo desde 1998, cuando el Gobierno de Aznar amplió esos privilegios, pero se sabe que son miles por toda España.

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.

ESPANA
El Pais

[The judge expects Vatican documentation in the ‘case Romanones’]

El Juzgado de Instrucción 4 de Granada, que investiga el caso sobre supuestos abusos sexuales cometidos presuntamente por varios sacerdotes del llamado grupo de Los Romanones, ha recibido ya la documentación que requirió a la Conferencia Episcopal, pero aún no tiene noticias de la que solicitó al Arzobispado de Granada y al Vaticano. Según fuentes del caso, la procedente de la Santa Sede tardará, puesto que debe mediar en ello el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores.

Concretamente, y después de que así lo instara la acusación particular —que representa al primer denunciante, un joven de 24 años que trasladó su caso hasta el Papa Francisco—, el titular del juzgado, Antonio Moreno, reclamó información al Vaticano sobre las actuaciones canónicas y de todo lo actuado en la jurisdicción eclesiástica en relación a los hechos denunciados y sobre las quejas, denuncias o reclamaciones de cualquier tipo que se hubiesen podido recibir respecto de los 10 sacerdotes presuntamente implicados, desde que fueron ordenados.

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

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 26

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

We applaud the two victims on the pope’s abuse panel who are speaking out against the promotion of a corrupt prelate. We call on Francis to reverse himself and out the Chilean bishop he just appointed.

Marie Collins and Pete Saunders are expressing concern over the elevation of Bishop Juan Barros who faces credible allegations of witnessing and concealing child sex crimes by Fr. Fernando Karadima.

[ABC News]

Rewarding wrongdoers encourages wrongdoing. In some ways, this pope differs from his predecessors. But with clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, he differs little. Francis is way more adept at saying the right things about predator priests and complicit bishops. But he steadfastly refuses to do the right things about them.

Actions matter, not words. And kids are endangered when those who ignore or hide child sex crimes are promoted. Barros’ elevation essentially signals to victims that their pain doesn’t matter to the church hierarchy and to bishops that protecting predators is still valued by the church hierarchy.

Pope Francis has made several unprecedented moves, like carrying his own luggage, cold-calling individuals, and washing the feet of Muslims. He should make a similarly but more significant and unprecedented move and oust this complicit bishop he just appointed.

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.

NEW JERSEY
Courhouse News Service

By CHRIS FRY

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (CN) – The Delbarton School faces five lawsuits from alumni of the preparatory school who say they were sexually abused 30 years ago.

The plaintiffs do not use their full names, with three of them using initials and two others simply going by John Does. Each filing involves allegations of abuse from between 1972 and 1984.

Delbarton, a Morristown preparatory school for grades seven through 12, opened in 1939.

While the complaints against the school do not any individuals as defendants, they do identify the priests who allegedly abused the plaintiff students as the Rev. Timothy Brennan, the Rev. Benedict Michael Worry, Father Donal Fox, the Rev. Justin Caputo and the Rev. Luke Travers.

The lawsuits each claim that each of these aforementioned men individually was a “pederast, frotteurist, pedophile and/or ephebophile or other sexual offender, with a habit of making sexual advances and/or engaging in unnatural sexual acts with children.”

Though each complaint tips the scales at 30 pages each, none cites specific instances of abuse or goes into detail about any misconduct. They all simply state that the plaintiffs were all “sexually assaulted and/or sexually abused” by the officials at the school while they were matriculating there.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

MATT GELB, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Thursday, March 26, 2015,

A state Superior Court panel upheld this week the prison sentences of a Catholic priest and former parochial-school teacher convicted of sexually abusing a 10-year-old altar boy from Northeast Philadelphia.

The Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero, a former St. Jerome teacher, were sentenced by a Common Pleas Court judge in June 2013 for abuse that occurred in the late 1990s.

Their lawyers appealed, contending prosecutorial misconduct and citing new evidence.

Engelhardt died Nov. 16, 2014, just weeks after his appeal was heard. He was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison for child endangerment, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault. Prosecutors said Engelhardt offered Communion wine to the boy, forced him to disrobe, and assaulted him at the church’s sacristy.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Mar. 26, 2015

During what one participant described as an “explosive” meeting, the San Francisco archdiocese’s Council of Priests in mid-February addressed Star of the Sea pastor Fr. Joseph Illo’s decision to phase out altar girls as well as the designation of the parish as an oratory-in-formation.

Retired Sulpician Fr. J. Michael Strange, who lives at St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco, “proposed this agenda item and raised the issue for discussion because many of his constituents and parishioners at St. Stephens and elsewhere have contacted him regarding Fr. Illo’s recently announced policy of admitting only altar boys at Star of the Sea Parish,” according to a draft of the Feb. 12 meeting’s minutes.

NCR obtained a copy of the minutes from an anonymous priest.

Strange told council members that “he found other aspects of Fr. Illo’s parish bulletin explanation [in regard to] this new policy troublesome, as was the fact that Fr. Illo did not consult his deanery to see if this was a wise and prudent move prior to implementing this policy, noting consultation is one of the purposes of a deanery.”

According to the minutes, Strange said he and other priests have had “to spend much time on the issue with parishioners.”

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

OHIO
Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo

The Diocese of Toledo has received a report from the Toledo-Detroit Province of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales (OSFS) which has deemed credible an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor by one of the religious order’s priests, the late Father James Roth (1953-2015). From 1976 to 1987 as a religious brother and 1995 to 2004 as a priest, Father Roth served at Saint Francis de Sales High School in Toledo Ohio as a faculty member/administrator, and from 1995 to 2004 assisted with weekend Masses and sacramental ministry at Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Church in Monroe, Michigan. Other assignments included educational ministry in Utah and Ontario, Canada. Father Roth died February 11, 2015.

All inquiries concerning this case should be directed to the provincial for the Toledo-Detroit Province, Father Kenneth McKenna, OSFS (419-724-9851). If you have something to report regarding this matter, please contact the Oblates’ victim assistance coordinator, Adrienne Rowland (888-308-6252). For more information: www.tdprovince.org.

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

OHIO
Toledo-Detroit Province, Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

In January the Toledo-Detroit Province received an allegation of sexual misconduct of a minor by Fr. James Roth (1953–2015). The abuse occurred 14-years ago.

The Province responds to allegations according to standards developed by Praesidium. Within hours of receiving the report, Fr. Roth was removed from ministry and law enforcement was informed. We convened the Praesidium-mandated Review Board and hired an investigator to investigate the accusation.

The Review Board, consisting of two social workers with extensive experience dealing with sexual misconduct, an educator, a psychologist and a Toledo-area judge, confirmed the allegation. They are now helping us learn of any other victims so we may offer a compassionate response.

If you or someone you know has been sexually abused by an Oblate, please click here to report sexual misconduct or call me at 419-724-9851.

On behalf of the Oblates, I want to apologize to anyone who has ever been injured, physically or emotionally, by any member of our congregation. We wish to help those in pain and we reaffirm our desire to play a role in the healing process.

Sincerely Yours,

Fr. Ken McKenna, OSFS
Provincial

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

OHIO
East Niagara Post

Rev. James H. Roth, O.S.F.S. passed away on February 11, 2015 at Hospice of NW Ohio, due to complications of diabetes.

Fr. Jim was born to Robert J. and Therese (Desjardins) Roth in Lockport, New York on March 10, 1953. In 1971 he graduated from DeSales High School, Lockport, NY. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Niagara University in 1976, a Masters in Religious Education degree from St. Michael’s University in 1984, a Masters in Education from the University of Toledo in 1985 and a Masters of Divinity from the Toronto School of Theology in 1995. Fr. Jim made his first profession as an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales in 1978 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1995.

After profession Fr. Jim taught at St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo, Ohio for 11 years followed by 5 years at Judge Memorial High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He returned to St. Francis High School in 1995 as teacher and guidance counselor. In 2004, he became director of the Oblate House of Studies as well as campus minister at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. From 2008 to his time of passing, he was the priest-in-residence for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board in Mississauga, Ontario.

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

OHIO
Toledo Blade

BY NOLAN ROSENKRANS
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Catholic church leaders are looking for other potential victims of a now-deceased priest who once served at St. Francis de Sales High School and who they confirmed abused a minor 14 years ago.

The Rev. James H. Roth, 61, died Feb. 11 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio after taking a high dose of insulin. Though his death has not been confirmed as a suicide, he left a note admitting to the allegation, said the Rev. Ken McKenna, provincial of the Toledo-Detroit Province of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales

The survivor, who is now an adult and was not a St. Francis student, reported the abuse to the Oblates in January. Father Roth, who was at the time of the accusation working for a Catholic school board in Toronto, was immediately removed from his position, police were informed, and an internal investigation initiated, Father McKenna said.

Father Roth was in a drug study for diabetes, and the drug warned of side effects that included depression and suicidal thoughts, according to the Oblates. Coworkers had noticed mood changes. Father McKenna said it’s unclear whether the drugs impaired his judgement, or if revelation of the abuse led to his death.

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.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
National Catholic Reporter

Mandy Erickson | Mar. 26, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO
In a packed auditorium at Star of the Sea School in San Francisco on Wednesday, parents told representatives of the archdiocese to remove the parish’s two priests.

After describing the changes that Fr. Joseph Illo, administrator, has instituted at the school since his arrival and the effects on their children, most of the parents concluded their talks by saying, “We respectfully ask that Fr. Illo and Fr. Driscoll be removed from Star of the Sea.”

The audience frequently clapped and cheered while Illo and associate pastor Patrick Driscoll faced the audience and the speakers. Auxiliary Bishop William Justice and Fr. Raymund Reyes, vicar for clergy, also attended the meeting. Reyes took notes; Justice said they would pass the parents’ comments on to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

Justice added that recently, the archdiocese has received a few, “not a lot,” of emails in support of Illo. He said those emails would be considered along with the parents’ comments.

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.

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
El Nuevo Herald

POR NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/26/2015

CIUDAD DEL VATICANO
Varios miembros de la junta asesora del papa Francisco sobre abusos sexuales manifestaron preocupación e incredulidad por su decisión de designar un obispo chileno a una diócesis pese a denuncias de que encubrió al pedófilo más famoso de Chile.

En entrevistas y correos electrónicos con The Associated Press, los expertos cuestionaron la intención del pontífice de responsabilizar a los obispos y garantizar la seguridad de los niños, dados los antecedentes del obispo Juan Barros en el caso del religioso Fernando Karadima.

Los cinco miembros de la comisión hablaron con la AP tanto profesional como personalmente pero destacaron que no hablaban en nombre de la comisión, que Francisco formó a fines del 2013 bajo la dirección del cardenal de Boston Sean O’Malley.

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

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

If the Vatican’s Abuse Commission was established merely for show, the members thereof do not think so. If Francis really wants the laity involved in cleaning up the Scandal, he’s getting what he asked for – and I’d wager he doesn’t like it.

Here’s an ABC News story on the situation in Chile that quotes a number of lay members of the Abuse Commission who are attempting to hold Pope Francis accountable for serious reform. It is ironic that the liberalists in the Church, for all their errors, are right about one thing in particular – the laity are members of the Church as much as the clergy are. Vatican II was adamant about that, and maybe that will begin to sink in.

Several members of Pope Francis’ sex abuse advisory board are expressing concern and incredulity over his decision to appoint a Chilean bishop to a diocese despite allegations from victims that he covered up for Chile’s most notorious pedophile.

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

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A native of Lafayette LA, Joseph J. Alexander joined the Benedictine order in 1955. He lived and worked as a religious brother at a monastery in KY, and was ordained a priest in 1973. Alexander left the Benedictines in 1984, returning to LA to serve as a priest of the Lafayette diocese. He was involved in education and parish work. In April 2002 Lafayette bishop Edward O’Donnell removed Alexander from active ministry after learning of an allegation that Alexander had “engaged in sexual impropriety” with a teenage boy in KY in the early 1960s. Alexander acknowledged the “impropriety.”

Joined Benedictine Order: 1955
Ordained: 1973

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.

CHILE
La Tercera

por Angélica Baeza Palavecino – 26/03/2015

Dos miembros de la Comisión Vaticana que asesora al Papa Francisco en el combate de abusos sexuales dijeron estar “preocupados y sorprendidos” por el nombramiento de Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno.

En entrevista con National Catholic Reporter, los miembros de la comisión indicaron que están considerando viajar a Roma para hablar con el Papa cara a cara sobre la materia.

“Yo sólo hablo por mí mismo o como un sub-grupo de trabajo de la comisión, todos estamos muy preocupados por lo que está pasando en Chile”, dijo Peter Saunders, un miembro de la Pontificia Comisión para la Protección de Menores y víctima de abuso sexual.

Monseñor Juan Barros Madrid se instaló el sábado como cabeza de la diócesis de Osorno, Chile, en medio de las protestas en la catedral. Sobrevivientes chilenos acusan Barros de encubrir el abuso por el padre Fernando Karadima, una vez reconocido líder espiritual y figura clave de la iglesia chilena que fue encontrado culpable por el Vaticano en 2011 de abusar sexualmente de menores de edad, cuando Barros era un sacerdote.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The President of the United States has requested to continue the dialogue he has begun with the Argentinian Pontiff, the White House announces

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROMA

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the First Lady will welcome Pope Francis to the White House on 23 September. It will be a visit in which Obama and the Pontiff will continue the dialogue they started during the President’s visit to the Vatican in March 2014, the White House has announced.

During the visit, Obama and the Pope will continue to discuss their shared values and commitments on a wide range of topics, including caring for those on the margins of society and the poor, the effort to promote economic opportunities for everybody, to be good custodians of the environment, to protect religious minorities and promote religious freedom in the world, and the acceptance and integration of immigrants and refugees into our communities. “The President is delighted to be able to continue his conversation with the Holy Father during his first visit to the United States as Pontiff”, the White House has said.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP

A pedophile priest who changed his name to avoid publicity after being jailed for sex crimes will be sentenced for more than 50 new child sex offences.

Edward “Ted” Bales, 65, is due to face the Victorian County Court after pleading guilty to the sexual abuse of boys in his care during the 1970s and 1980s.

Bales, a defrocked layman living in Thomastown, was formerly known as Edward Vernon Dowlan.

He spent five years in prison in the 1990s after being convicted of other historical sex offences.

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

CALIFORNIA
Beach Reporter

by Carley Dryden

A Manhattan Beach woman has filed a lawsuit against a former priest from American Martyrs Catholic Church, alleging he sexually abused her while she was setting up a Mass.

Kate Bergin also named the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the suit, announced Wednesday morning, claiming the church was negligent and failed to warn parishioners when it transferred the priest to another parish in Los Angeles late last year.

Bergin said she would drop the lawsuit if Father Nicholas Assi is removed from ministry.

“I don’t want to sue the church. I want to be able to go to church, but I can’t,” Bergin said through tears Wednesday outside American Martyrs. “It’s hypocrisy. They act like everything’s fine. It’s not. When something like this happens, they turn their backs.”

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.

SCOTLAND
The Catholic Register (Canada)

BY DOROTHY CUMMINGS MCLEAN

March 26, 2015

Edinburgh’s disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien was in the news again last week after he resigned his rights and privileges as a cardinal. The Vatican stated that “with this provision” Pope Francis “would like to manifest his pastoral solicitude to all the faithful of the Church in Scotland and to encourage them to continue with hope the path of renewal and reconciliation.”

Nevertheless, Mr. and Mrs. McLean of Edinburgh screamed at each other for half an hour, fighting hammer and tongs over whether or not Cardinal O’Brien had been hung out to dry by a coterie of gay priests because of his prominence in the Scottish battle to preserve traditional marriage.

One of the difficulties Edinburgh Catholics have in discussing the downfall of our former archbishop is that we don’t know what he did exactly. We know only that three active priests and one “former” priest told journalist Catherine Deveney that within a 33-year period, O’Brien made at least four “inappropriate approach[es]” to them. The youngest was 20, a seminarian, when the alleged impropriety occurred. The others were priests, adult men, when Father/Bishop/Cardinal O’Brien offended them.

The story broke on Feb. 23, 2013 and, like many other Edinburgh Catholics, I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t get my mind around the idea of our big, hearty Irish cardinal making sexual passes at men.

I run with a Church-centric crowd that is well-seasoned with urban sophisticates, and none of us had an inkling that the cardinal was gay or unchaste. Gossips opined only that he was no intellectual and was overfond of whiskey. They were embarrassed by his habit of singing “Mud, Mud Glorious Mud” at parties, but they had to admit it was a crowd-pleaser. The cardinal sang it even at the Edinburgh Festival.

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.

CHILE
Bio Bio

[Two hundred people returned Wednesday night to protest ordination of Juan Barros as bishop of Osorno.]

La noche de ayer miércoles cerca de 200 personas volvieron a protestar contra la investidura de Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno en el frontis de la Catedral San Mateo.

Con ello cumplieron con lo anunciado el sábado pasado, tras la caótica ceremonia de asunción del prelado, de no dejar de manifestarse hasta que Barros deje su cargo como líder del catolisismo en la ciudad.

En la ocasión, declararon como personas no gratas a el arzobispo de Puerto Montt, Cristián Caro, y el ex obispo de Osorno, René Rebolledo, debido a la defensa que realizaron de Barros.

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.

CHILE
Cooperativa

La irlandesa Marie Collins, víctima de abuso de parte de un sacerdote, pidió al Papa Francisco que remueva al recién asumido obispo de Osorno, Juan Barros.

De acuerdo a RTE (televisión nacional de su país), Collins dijo que acepta como veraces los dichos de una de las víctimas de Karadima, que acusa que el recién nombrado obispo Barros sabía de los abusos y los encubrió.

La información destacada por el sitio de la televisión pública irlandesa agrega que Barros asumió el pasado domingo como Obispo de Osorno en medio de protestas y con detractores entre los que se encuentran miembros de la Iglesia Católica y el Parlamento chileno.

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.

VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — Mar 26, 2015

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

Several members of Pope Francis’ sex abuse advisory board are expressing concern and incredulity over his decision to appoint a Chilean bishop to a diocese despite allegations that he covered up for Chile’s most notorious pedophile.

In interviews and emails with The Associated Press, the experts have questioned Francis’ pledge to hold bishops accountable and keep children safe, given the record of Bishop Juan Barros in the case of the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

The five commission members spoke to the AP in their personal and professional capacity and stressed that they were not speaking on behalf of the commission, which Francis formed in late 2013 and named Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to head.

“I am very worried,” said commission member Dr. Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist and author on child sex abuse. “Although the commission members cannot intervene with individual cases, I would like to meet with Cardinal O’Malley and other members of the commission to discuss a way to pass over our concerns to Pope Françis.”

Another commission member, Marie Collins, herself a survivor of abuse, said she couldn’t understand how Francis could have appointed Barros given the concerns about his behavior.

“It goes completely against what he (Francis) has said in the past about those who protect abusers,” Collins told AP. “The voice of the survivors is being ignored, the concerns of the people and many clergy in Chile are being ignored and the safety of children in this diocese is being left in the hands of a bishop about whom there are grave concerns for his commitment to child protection.”

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.

ROME
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 26, 2015

ROME
Two members of the new Vatican commission advising Pope Francis on clergy sexual abuse say they are both concerned and surprised at the pope’s decision to appoint a bishop in Chile who is accused of covering up abuse, even witnessing it while he was a priest.

Speaking in brief NCR interviews Thursday in personal capacities, the commission members also said some in their group are considering traveling to Rome to speak to the pope face-to-face on the matter.

Bishop Juan Barros Madrid was installed Saturday as head of the diocese of Osorno, Chile, amid protests in the cathedral. Chilean survivors accuse Barros of covering up abuse by Fr. Fernando Karadima, a once-renowned spiritual leader and key Chilean church figure who was found guilty by the Vatican in 2011 of sexually abusing minors, when Barros was a priest.

“I am only speaking for myself, but as a working sub-group of the commission, we are all very disturbed by what is going on in Chile,” said Peter Saunders, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a survivor of abuse.

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

OHIO
Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland

March 5, 2015

The Reverend Joseph Lieberth, formerly the pastor of Holy Family parish in Stow, Ohio, was placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Cleveland in April of 2002 based on an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor dating back to the 1980’s.

After appropriate due process according to canon (Church) law, the Most Reverend Richard Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland, has imposed on Father Lieberth “A life of prayer and penance.” Father Lieberth is no longer permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or administer the sacraments. He is not to wear clerical attire or publicly present himself as a priest. In a spirit of repentance, he has agreed to pray daily for the victims of sexual abuse as is mandated by the Essential Norms of the U.S. Charter for the Protection of Children.

Under canon law, “A life of prayer and penance” is imposed, for example, when a priest is of advanced age or is seriously ill. The process also includes regular periodic monitoring by Diocesan staff.

The Diocese of Cleveland continues its commitment to protecting children and helping to heal victims of abuse. We are deeply sorry for the pain suffered by survivors of abuse due to the actions of some members of the clergy.

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

AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 26 March 2015)

This Broken Rites article is the most comprehensive account available about how the Christian Brothers organisation concealed the crimes of Brother Edward Dowlan (now known as Edward Bales). From the start, they knew that he was committing criminal sexual assaults against Australian schoolchildren and, instead of dismissing him, the Christian Brothers kept transferring him to more schools, thus giving him access to more victims. When police finally charged him after 20 years, the Christian Brothers supported Dowlan, instead of supporting the victims. The victims eventually won (by getting him convicted in 1996 and again in 2014), but their lives have been damaged by the Christian Brothers— and at least one of Brother Dowlan’s victims ended up in suicide. Dowlan is being sentenced again (under the name Ted Bales) on 27 March 2015.

Twenty years after his first crime, Broken Rites arranged for one of Dowlan’s victims to have a private chat with detectives from the Victoria Police child-abuse investigation unit, who then interviewed some more of Dowlan’s victims. This resulted in Dowlan being jailed in 1996. After being released from jail in 2001, Dowlan changed his surname to “Bales” to avoid media scrutiny and, with help from the Christian Brothers organisation, he moved into a private residence of his own as Mister Ted Bales. In 2014, after more of his earlier victims finally contacted the police, Edward “Bales” pleaded guilty to some more of his crimes and was remanded in custody to await his next sentencing proceedings, which are scheduled to be completed by March 2015.

It was Broken Rites that first documented the Christian Brothers policy of continuing to support any criminal member in their ranks, even after a court conviction. A senior Christian Brothers official explained this policy in the Melbourne County Court in July 1996, when Brother Edward Vernon Dowlan faced charges for indecently assaulting boys in Victorian Catholic schools. A Broken Rites researcher was present in court, day after day, taking notes during the 1996 proceedings. The following article is based on those notes, together with further notes made in court in 2014 and 2015.

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.

MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate

By Ruth Thompson
rthompson@wickedlocal.com

Posted Mar. 26, 2015

SCITUATE
The fate of St. Frances X. Cabrini Church is now up to a judge.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston served the Board of Directors of the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini, Inc., with a summons to appear at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Friday, March 20 for a hearing on the archdiocese’s request for a preliminary injunction.

The archdiocese had until Tuesday, March 24 to file the proper deed to the 30-acre property located on Hood Road in Scituate with the Norfolk Superior Court, according to Mary Elizabeth Carmody, legal counsel for the Friends of St. Frances. X. Cabrini, Inc.

The Friends then had until Wednesday, March 25 to file a supplement, including a deed—at the Court’s request.

“Then the court will decide,” Carmody said. “We do not know how long the decision will take.”

The relationship between the archdiocese and the Friends has been rocky since 2004, when the archdiocese closed the St. Frances X. Cabrini church as part of its reorganization plan.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

March 26, 2015

Christopher Knaus
Reporter for The Canberra Times.

The alleged victim of a Catholic priest has denied making up evidence about the Sunday morning teas where she says she was molested.

Father Edward Evans, 85, is accused of repeatedly abusing the girl at his home in Braddon, near where he delivered German-language services, and while they were alone in a car outside Cooleman Court.

The complainant says Father Evans put his hands down her pants and touched her bottom three times, and digitally penetrated her twice during gatherings at his home after his 10am service on Sundays.

She said her family went to the home with Father Evans, who they called “Father Eddie”, on a near-weekly basis.

But, during cross-examination on Thursday, Father Evans’ barrister Steven Whybrow told the woman that Father Evans held a service at Page at 11.30am on three of the four Sundays of each month.

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.

SCOTLAND
The Tablet

26 March 2015 11:49 by Brian Morton, Christopher Lamb

The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh has described the actions of his predecessor, who has apologised for his sexual failings, as damaging the Church’s credibility and demoralising Catholics.

Archbishop Leo Cushley’s comments came after Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by five men, four of them priests, resigned the “rights and privileges” of a cardinal.

This week The Tablet spoke to one of the priest accusers of Cardinal O’Brien who said there were multiple incidents of sexual misconduct by the cardinal against seminarians and young clergy.

The priest, who is remaining anonymous, said he believed that at least 40 cases took place from 1985, the year the cardinal became archbishop, until 2010.

He described how the cardinal made an “unmistakeable” sexual advance to him at Archbishop’s House in Edinburgh in 1990 which the priest, who is not gay, said he rebuffed. He said that the cardinal acted afterwards “as if nothing had happened…he blanked it completely.”

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.

POLEN
Karibik News

Polens Priester Gil zu 7 Jahren Haft wegen sexuellem Kindermissbrauch in der Dominikanischen Republik verurteilt

Warschau, Polen.- Am Mittwoch wurde in Warschau der polnische Ex-Priester Wojciech Gil (Pater Gil) zu 7 Jahren Haft und einer Geldstrafe von 155.000 Zloty (rund 40.000 Euro) verurteilt. Kurz vor der Urteilsfindung bekannte sich Gil schuldig in der Dominikanischen Republik Kinder sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

Dadurch erreichte er mildernde Umstände und wurde nur zu 7 Jahren Haft verurteilt, sonst hätte man ihn bis zu 15 Jahre einsperren können. Weiter legten die Richter dem ehemaligen Priester ein Arbeitsverbot im Kreise von Jugendlichen für 15 Jahre auf und ebenso darf er sich nicht mehr den Opfern nähern.

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.

POLEN
20 Minuten

Ein polnischer Expriester ist wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger in der Dominikanischen Republik und Polen zu sieben Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt worden. Das Gericht in Wolomin bei Warschau befand den 37-Jährigen am Mittwoch für schuldig, in dem Karibikstaat zwischen 2009 und 2013 sechs und in Polen von 2000 bis 2001 zwei Jugendliche sexuell missbraucht zu haben.

Der Angeklagte hatte sich als nicht schuldig bezeichnet, aber eine siebenjährige Haft akzeptiert, um einen umfangreichen Prozess zu vermieden. Darauf liess sich Staatsanwaltschaft ein. Das Gericht wies den Expriester an, den Opfern 155’000 Zloty (40’000 Franken)zu zahlen.

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.

DEUTSCHLAND
Frankfurter Rundschau

[The apostolic administrator for the Limburg diocese said when he took over management of the diocese a year ago he found deep dear and distrust.]

Von PETER HANACK

Der ehemalige Bischof Tebartz-van Elst hat dem Bistum Limburg finanziell geschadet – dafür müsse er sich verantworten, sagt Weihbischof Manfred Grothe, der im Auftrag des Papstes das Bistum leitet. Einen Verabschiedung Tebartz-van Elst aus der Diözese hält er für wünschenswert.

Seit 26. März 2014 leitet Manfred Grothe (75) im Auftrag des Papstes das Bistum Limburg. Seit dem Tag, an dem der Papst den Rücktritt des umstrittenen Limburger Bischofs Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst angenommen hat. Anlässlich dieses Jahrestags lud Grothe, Apostolischer Administrator in Limburg und Weihbischof in Paderborn, ein Dutzend Journalisten zum Frühstück in den Konradinerkeller des Bischofshauses ein – also jenes Baus, dessen Kosten unter Tebartz’ Bauherrenschaft ins schier Unermessliche stiegen. Wir haben das Gespräch aufgezeichnet.

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.

POLONIA
El Comercio

Wolomin. Un tribunal polaco condenó el miércoles a siete años de prisión al ex sacerdote Wojciech Gil por abusar de menores en República Dominicana y Polonia.

Un tribunal de Wolomin, cerca de Varsovia, declaró culpable a Wojciech Gil de abusar de seis menores en la nación caribeña entre 2008 y 2013 y de dos en Polonia entre 2000 y 2001. Los cargos incluyeron posesión de pornografía infantil y posesión ilegal de un arma de fuego.

Gil, de 37 años, se declaró inocente, pero negoció los cargos y una sentencia de siete años de prisión, que le evitó un juicio prolongado.

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.

POLONIA
SDP Noticias

El exclérigo también fue acusado de posesión de pornografía infantil, un arma de fuego y demás municiones.

El exsacerdote Wojciech Gil abusó de dos menores en Polonia y seis en República Dominicana, entre 2000 y 20001 y entre 2009 y 20013, respectivamente, por lo que el tribunal de Wolomin, en Varsovia lo condenó con siete años de prisión, además de una indemnización de 43 mil dólares por cada niño.

Pese a que la defensa del acusado propueso la aceptación voluntaria de la condena, la sentencia también prohibe a Gil trabajar con jóvenes durante 15 años y, por supuesto, acercarse a las víctimas. Sin embargo, esta es apenas la mitad de la pena máxima a la que se enfrentaba el ‘religioso’, quien cometió también delitos como: posesión de pornografía infantil, un arma de fuego y demás municiones.

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.

POLAND
Dominican Today

Warsaw.- A court in Wolomin, Poland on Wednesday sentenced former priest Wojciech Gil to seven years in prison and fined 40,000 euros for abusing two children in Poland. He also faces charges of abusing six boys in Dominican Republic, EFE reports.

The ruling also bans Gil from contacting the victims and from working with young people for a period of 15 years.

In the first hearing on March 20 Gil’s defense plea bargained for a 7-year sentence, half the maximum penalty for a child abuse conviction and possession of child pornography.

The priest was also indicted on charges of molesting at least 7 seven between 2009 and 2013 during his tenure as parish priest in the town of Juncalito, in Dominican Republic’s highlands.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

YESHIVAH Melbourne’s senior rabbi allegedly told a congregant this week that he had no right to contact police without permission from a rabbi.

The congregant, who was a victim of child sexual abuse, has filed a claim against the Yeshivah Centre and Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Right Commission (VEOHRC).

The victim, who has been the subject of bullying and intimidation because he came forward to police, was granted an Interim Intervention Order (IIO) against someone within the Yeshivah Centre community.

On Monday, he told Rabbi Telsner about the IIO so that it could be enforced in synagogue.

“Rabbi Telsner then asked the applicant (victim) whether he had sought and received permission from a rabbi to have the order granted by the court,” the victim said in a statement to the VEOHRC.

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

CALIFORNIA
Univision

Una feligresa presentó una denuncia contra la arquidiócesis de Los Ángeles y uno de sus sacerdotes por un presunto abuso sexual ocurrido en abril del año pasado en la parroquia de American Martyrs Catholic Church, en Manhattan Beach, según la información judicial divulgada este miércoles.

La denuncia fue presentada ante la Corte Superior del condado de Los Ángeles y fue respondida por la arquidiócesis, que en un comunicado aseguró que el incidente había sido investigado ya por las autoridades que no hallaron pruebas de delito.

La presunta víctima, Catherine Bergin, acusó al sacerdote Nicholas Assi, párroco asistente de esa iglesia entre 2009 y 2014, de tocarla indebidamente y causarle angustia emocional el pasado mes de abril cuando ella hacía trabajo de voluntaria en la sacristía.

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

AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Catholic Church says it is disappointed the federal government has so quickly rejected a national scheme to compensate abuse survivors.

In its response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the church backed a national, fair, compassionate and independent scheme which would be run by the federal government with the participation of state and territory governments.

Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council (TJHC), told a national inquiry on Thursday that it was surprising that the Commonwealth had initiated the inquiry and “yet has so quickly discounted itself from one of the most fundamental issues we have to redress”.

“You would think that any government that was setting up a Royal Commission of this nature would know that a possible redress scheme would be one option,” Mr Sullivan said.

The commission has recommended a single national scheme and done modelling to show it would cost $4.3 billion and cover 65,000 survivors.

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

AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell
March 26, 2015

Redress funds for abuse survivors should be used to expand Medicare, a royal commission has been told.

Louise Roufeil, executive manager of the Australian Psychological Society (APS), said an overhauled Medicare system was essential to properly help thousands of people traumatised by childhood experiences in care.

Dr Roufeil said the doorway to services was very narrow and entry “very difficult and when you can get in, the capacity to fully provide treatment is limited”.

Her evidence on Thursday to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse came a day after the federal government knocked back a commission suggestion that Medicare be expanded.

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

CANADA
CBC News

The Tk’emlups Indian Band and the Sechelt Indian Band are fighting for compensation for First Nations children who attended B.C. residential schools but did not live there.

Lawyers representing the bands will be in court next month, arguing for the certification of a class action lawsuit launched in 2012 that seeks compensation for all day scholars who attended residential schools.

Tk’emlups Chief Shane Gottfriedson says the two bands will argue that day scholars — students who returned home every night — suffered the same abuse and mistreatment that many residential school students endured.

They also suffered the same loss in culture and language, the bands will argue, yet they were never compensated.

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

CALIFORNIA
Daily Breeze

By Carley Dryden, Daily Breeze
POSTED: 03/25/15

A Manhattan Beach woman has filed a lawsuit against a former priest from American Martyrs Catholic Church, alleging he sexually abused her while she was setting up a Mass.

Kate Bergin also named the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the suit, announced Wednesday morning, claiming the church was negligent and failed to warn parishioners when it transferred the priest to another parish in Los Angeles late last year.

Bergin said she would drop the lawsuit if Father Nicholas Assi is removed from ministry.

“I don’t want to sue the church. I want to be able to go to church, but I can’t,” Bergin said through tears Wednesday outside American Martyrs. “It’s hypocrisy. They act like everything’s fine. It’s not. When something like this happens, they turn their backs.”

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

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MARCH 26, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

A victim of child sexual assault by a Catholic brother has said the federal government “would prefer us to suffer in silence” after it critic­ised plans for a compensation scheme for the victims of such crimes.

The government also declined an invitation to appear at a public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to discuss the issue yesterday.

Commission chairman Peter McClellan said commissioners were “disappointed” the government had not backed the scheme, which was “overwhelmingly supported” by victims and many institutions, including the Catholic, Anglican and Uniting churches.

The proposals involve establishing an independent national body with powers to order instit­utions to formally apologise, pay compensation to and help with the medical costs of an estimated 65,000 victims, at a cost of about $4.3 billion.

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

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[Submissions on redress and civil litigation]

By Jessica Kidd

The Federal Government’s rejection of a proposal for a national compensation and support scheme for victims of child sexual abuse is surprising, the Catholic Church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council chief says.

Francis Sullivan appeared before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse this morning to present the Catholic Church’s proposal for a victim’s redress scheme.

Mr Sullivan said the church supported a national scheme administered by the Federal Government and funded by the institutions responsible for abuse.

But he expressed his surprise that the Federal Government disagreed with a national model, which was widely supported by most institutions and victim advocacy groups.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 26, 2015

Paul Bibby
Court Reporter

Victims of child sexual abuse are being “retraumatised” by inadequate Medicare-funded counselling services that are plagued by a shortage of properly trained practitioners, the head of the Australian Psychological Society has told the royal commission.

As the commission continued to examine the issue of redress for victims on Thursday, the executive manager of the Psychological Society, Louise Roufeil, said the maximum of 10 private counselling sessions provided for people with mental health issues under Medicare were nowhere near sufficient to support abuse victims.
.
“Commencing a therapeutic relationship with a survivor and offering hope and then not being able to carry the treatment to fruition represents a failure again for the survivors,” Dr Roufeil told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“The treatment response is itself retraumatising. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Dr Roufeil said there were very few counselling services in the country which had practitioners who were properly trained in assisting victims of child sexual abuse.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Adam Brereton
@adambrereton

The moment when things went wrong for victims of child abuse in Australia was a very precise one. In the 1990s, Jeff Kennett, then premier of Victoria, met with George Pell, who was at that stage the Catholic archbishop of Melbourne. According to Pell, Kennett told him to “clean this [child abuse] thing up and there won’t be a royal commission”.

Kennett told The Age last year that he was “reassured that George said ‘yes’, he’d get stuck into it … it’s not for me to sit in judgment … of whether the response was adequate or not”.

We know what the church’s action was: Pell took matters into his own hands and set up the Melbourne Response in 1996. In doing so, he went out ahead of the rest of the church which, we know from the commission, was in the process of developing a more integrated, national version of what would become its response to abuse, Towards Healing.

By being unconcerned with the quality of the church’s response and leaving it to its own devices, Kennett made a serious mistake.

His response laid bare a question that the commission is now grappling with: do we believe the state has a moral duty to care for its vulnerable citizens, or not? Of course, many don’t believe that governments should “sit in judgment” on matters that are properly the domain of the private sector, civil society, or the impersonal order of the market.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Intelligencer

P.J. D’Annunzio, The Legal Intelligencer
March 26, 2015

The state Superior Court has upheld the prison sentence of Charles Engelhardt, a priest convicted of indecent assault, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of a child.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel affirmed the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas’ sentencing of Engelhardt to six to 12 years in prison, to be followed by five years of probation.

Engelhardt, who was accused of raping D.G., an altar boy, stood trial on Jan. 14, 2013. Engelhardt was charged with one count each of indecent assault, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of a child, rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault, as well as four counts of criminal conspiracy, according to Judge Sally Updyke Mundy’s memorandum.

The indecent assault, corruption of minors, and endangering the welfare of a child convictions came on Jan. 30, 2013, Mundy said.

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

CALIFORNIA
KABC

[with video]

By Rob Hayes
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and a priest, claiming he sexually abused a woman at American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach.

Catherine Bergin claims Father Nicholas Assi sexually abused her last spring at the church.

“He pressed his belly against my back. He pushed me against the counter. He put his hand under my shirt, moving down my pants,” she said.

Bergin and her attorney have filed a lawsuit against Assi and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. She said the church is once again trying to hide sexual abuse problems, in this case by transferring Assi to a different parish – St. Basil’s Church in Koreatown.

“It’s hypocrisy. They act like everything is fine. It’s not. When something like this happens, they turn their backs,” Bergin said.

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

ALABAMA
New York Daily News

BY JASON SILVERSTEIN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Here’s a soul that might need some serious saving.

A Catholic priest and former TV host in Alabama has been accused of molesting his own underage son several years ago.

The accusation against David Lawrence Stone, 54, came in court papers he’s been waging with the mother’s child, Christina Presnell.

Stone was arrested and charged for the alleged sex assault in 2013, but the case had a second coming this week when the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a national child abuse monitoring group, started focusing on it.

The group’s outreach director, Barbara Dorris, told AL.com the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham is trying to obscure Stone’s sordid past.

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
KUAM

By Jolene Toves

Deacon Stephen Martinez is hoping Archbishop Anthony Apuron will take action. He’s written another letter to the head of the island’s Catholic church not only concerned about Father Luis Camacho’s recent arrest, but also about the Redempotoris Mater Seminary, where he learned to become a priest and its connection to the Neocatechumenal Way.

Fr. Luis was arrested last week after police found him with a 17-year-old girl parked at a beach in Agat. The girl was supposed to be in school at the time. According to Martinez, he alleges the two were engaging in cunnilingus.

Deacon Martinez used to be the Archdiocese of Guam’s sexual abuse response coordinator (SARC), but was removed seven months ago. According to Martinez, he’s not sure he why was suddenly ousted but two months prior to his removal he had brought up concerns regarding the church’s sexual abuse policy. Deacon Martinez, who did not want to be interviewed for television, said at that time – and even till now – he is extremely concerned that the policy is flawed and could cause financial distress for the archdiocese. He pointed out that the policy has the potential for a conflict of interest.

For example, he says, “If there is an allegation against the archbishop and he decides not to move forward, then the policy becomes meaningless.” In order to remedy this flaw Martinez had recommended that the policy be revised “allowing for a bishop from a different archdiocese to make the call.”

But aside from the policy, Deacon Martinez is going public because he wrote he is “gravely concerned with a growing pattern of sexual deviancy from Redemptoris Mater Seminary-trained priests and seminarians” .

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

[with video]

Written by Janela Carrera

These alleged disturbing details extend to other seminarians involved in the Neocatechumenal Way.

Guam – The saga continues in the priest sex scandal, this time more disturbing details are being alleged and not just with Father Luis Camacho, but with other members of the neocatechumenal way.

It’s the second letter Deacon Steve Martinez has written to Archbishop Anthony Apuron over Father Luis Camacho’s sex scandal involving a 17-year-old female student. Deacon Steve alleges that, based on his understanding, Father Luis and the student engaged in oral sex.

“This is a grave abuse of trust and a tendency which a proper psychological examination may have disclosed,” writes Deacon Steve.

He points out the irony in Father Luis’ case. He says Father Luis was a product of the teachings of the neocatechumenal way led by Father Edivaldo–teachings Deacon Steve says should be investigated.

For instance, he says on one occasion, Father Edivaldo warned young girls about boys, saying boys will treat girls like oranges, “sucking the sweet juice from them and when they are all dried up the boys will spit them out.” Other examples include public confessions in which seminarians would disclose personal struggles that include “excessive masturbation.”

The most recent, says Deacon Steve, was during mass at the Cathedral de Basilica in which Father Luis’ brother, Gabe Camacho, a seminarian at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, is alleged to have told churchgoers quote “I don’t know how many girls I’ve taken advantage of … I should maybe have two children, three children, not even with the same woman.” Again this quote is according to the letter written by Deacon Steve.

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

UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Last weekend, supporters of Pope Francis’ Chilean appointment, Bishop Juan Barros, incredibly tried to drown out the chants of protest against his ordination in Osorno Cathedral. This occurred despite Osorno’s close proximity to Argentina and Francis’ longstanding close ties to Chile. In Italy, Pope Francis and his media machine have since focused instead on pizza, relics, gossip, gender theory, etc. — anything but Chile, it seems.

Not so elsewhere. In Ireland, the prophetic abuse survivor, Marie Collins, who now with UK abuse survivor, Peter Saunders, advise Pope Francis on priest child abuse matters, has called on the pope to remove the recently-appointed Chilean bishop. The bishop is alleged by several credible abuse survivors to have covered up for Chile’s most notorious clerical abuser. Collins says she accepts as truthful the testimony of a male survivor that Barros watched him being abused, yet did nothing about it. See “Irish abuse survivor calls for removal of bishop accused of abuse cover-up”, with a brief but pointed video of Collins’ giving her no-nonsense statement, as well as of the unforgettable statement of the male survivor, here,

[RTE News]

In the USA, a perceptive and careful Catholic has carefully dissected the captive Catholic media’s shameful and inept attempt to spin the reports (confirmed by vivid videos) of the unprecedented revolt of thousands at the bishop’s chaotic installation. This suggests that Pope Francis may face considerable similar protests from outraged parents and grandparents when he visits Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC in several months. See “Catholics: Don’t Believe CNA’s Spin on Bishop Barros and the Situation in Chile“, here,

[Waiting for Godot to Leave]

Moreover, in the UK, where a major national investigation of church and other institutional child sexual abuse is just beginning, Peter Saunders, the pope’s other featured abuse survivor who now sits on the pope’s belated “go slow” abuse commission, is also bravely speaking out — evidently after now having seen up close what the abuse commission’s flawed approach to date has been. Saunders has reportedly said that proof of the Church’s seriousness in tackling the problem will be revealed by its action – or inaction – in cases like the one involving Barros in Chile.

If Francis fails to remove Barros promptly, will either Marie Collins or Peter Saunders or both of them resign from the seemingly ineffective abuse commission? As a Cathoilc grandparent, I hope they both do. As an international lawyer, I think they should. If Barros stays, they are then just being used, it appears.

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.

CONNECTICUT
Connecticut Law Tribune

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune
March 25, 2015

Jane Doe No. 2 v. Norwich Roman Catholic Diocese et al.: A Massachusetts woman who claims she was sexually abused by a priest in Norwich over the course of her entire childhood has settled her lawsuit against the diocese for $1.1 million. The woman, known only as Jane Doe No. 2 in court records, claims she was molested about 60 times from age 3 to age 18 by the Rev. Thomas Shea, a former parish priest in the Diocese of Norwich.

Years later she came forward and sued the diocese and its former bishop, Daniel Reilly.
At least 15 young girls claim to have been molested by Shea in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, according to Doe’s lawyers, Kelly and Robert Reardon, of the Reardon Law Firm in New London. Six other victims were prepared to testify that they had been molested by Shea and had complained to church officials but nothing was done about it.

The Norwich Diocese paid $1.1 million to another victim, known as Jane Doe No. 1, in late 2012. The Reardon lawyers represented that woman as well.

Kelly Reardon explained that Jane Doe No. 2 met Shea when he was pastor of St. Stephens Church in Quinebaug in eastern Connecticut. Though she was from Massachusetts, she had family members who were parishioners of the Connecticut church, as it was just over the state line.

Reardon said Shea began inviting himself over to Doe’s parents’ home in Webster, Mass. where he’d kiss and inappropriately touch the young girl. “Her earliest memories are of Father Shea touching her,” said Kelly Reardon.

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

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 26, 2015

Joanne McCarthy

Andrew Michael Nash was 13 when he died in his bedroom.

Other family members were in the Newcastle home, watching television and doing homework, at the time.

His death, in 1974, came after an apparently uneventful day at school where his class teacher was also a serial child sex offender.

More than 40 years later, his mother Audrey Nash, 89, wants that teacher, former Marist Brother Romuald to answer a devastating and heartbreaking question.

“I want him to tell me if he sexually abused my son,” said Mrs Nash, who still lives in the home where her son died.

“I’m 89 years of age. There’s no other reason why it happened, and I thought his conscience might be getting to him now.

“I believe Andrew was abused. I believe he committed suicide. I want him [Romuald] to tell me if he abused [Andrew]. That could put my mind at rest before I die.”

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.

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
on March 25, 2015

A national group that monitors allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy has focused attention this week on the Alabama case of David Lawrence Stone, a Catholic priest and former EWTN TV host who was arrested in 2013 and charged with sexual abuse of a minor under 12.

The minor he is charged with sexually abusing is his own son, now six years old.

Stone, 54, formerly known as Father Frances Mary Stone, was host of the TV program “Life on the Rock” on Eternal Word Television Network.

In court filings, Stone’s attorneys have argued that the allegation of child abuse is false. Stone has been in a lengthy custody battle with Christina Presnell, the mother of his child, according to Jefferson County Court records.

A spokeswoman for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was in Birmingham on Tuesday to discuss the case. She said Bishop Robert J. Baker, head of the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, should let people know about the allegation and that the priest still lives in Irondale.

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

IRELAND/CHILE
RTE News

An Irish abuse survivor who advises Pope Francis has called on him to remove a recently-appointed Chilean bishop, because he is alleged to have covered up for Chile’s most notorious clerical abuser.

Marie Collins says she accepts as truthful the testimony of a male survivor that Bishop Juan Barros watched him being abused, yet did nothing about it.

Last weekend, supporters of Bishop Barros tried to drown out the chants of protest against his ordination in Osorno Cathedral.

They accuse the new bishop of protecting Chile’s most notorious paedophile priest Fernando Karadima.

Four years ago he was found guilty by the Vatican of the serial abuse of teenage boys and banned from celebrating mass in public.

One of his victims testified that the newly-appointed Bishop saw Karadima molesting him.

But Bishop Barros has denied that he knew about the abuse: “I never imagined the serious abuses committed by this priest. I have never approved or participated in these gravely dishonest acts,” he said.

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

ILLINOIS
NBC Chicago

[with video]

By Regina Waldroup

A Cook County grand jury on Wednesday handed down an eight-count indictment against a prominent religious leader on charges of sex abuse and battery of a female school employee.

Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75, appeared in a Rolling Meadows courtroom filled with his supporters. The prominent Islamic scholar head of the popular Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin posted a $25,000 bond last month and remains free.

His attorneys, Raymond Wigell and Uma Rashid, entered a plea of not guilty.

“My client is holding up quite well,” said Wigell. “This is a big stress on him. He is a 75-year-old man. We are not in a hurry with this case. We want to do it right, but the judge is holding our feet to the fire and making us do work in an expeditious manner.”

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

ILLINOIS
WLS

ELGIN, Ill. (WLS) — The founder of a suburban Islamic school has pleaded not guilty to new charges involving the sexual abuse of an employee.

Prosecutors allege that Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 75, repeatedly hugged, touched and massaged a 22-year-old worker at the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin last April.

Because of these charges, three other women joined a civil suit against Saleem.

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

ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Barbara Vitello

An Elgin cleric on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment charging him with sexually abusing a 22-year-old employee at an Islamic school.

Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, a well-known Muslim cleric who founded and once headed the Institute of Islamic Education, an Elgin private school for students in sixth through 12th grades, appeared before Cook County Judge James Karahalios.

Saleem, 75, was accused last month of sexually abusing the employee from October 2013 through April 14, 2014.

He was indicted on charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery of a school employee, criminal sexual abuse and unlawful restraint.

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

ILLINOIS
Houston Chronicle

ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (AP) — The head of a suburban Chicago Islamic school has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal counts alleging he sexually abused an employee.

Seventy-five-year-old Mohammad Abdullah Saleem entered the plea Wednesday before a Cook County judge. The founder of the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin was indicted on charges including aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery of a school employee and unlawful restraint.

If convicted, Saleem could face up to five years in prison. He’s free on $250,000 bond.

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1EUpgLR ) Saleem’s 22-year-old accuser has claimed he repeatedly hugged, touched and massaged her against her will in her school office.

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.

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Lilly Fowler

CREVE COEUR • A St. Louis County Circuit Court judge ruled Wednesday that a sexual abuse case against a former Marianist cleric at the Chaminade College Preparatory School can proceed to trial.

“The Marianists and Chaminade attempted to have the case rejected on summary judgment for statute of limitations issues but failed,” plaintiff attorney Ken Chackes said in a press release.

The prep school is sponsored by the Marianist Province of the United States, a Roman Catholic religious order.

In addition to Chaminade and the Marianist Province, the lawsuit, filed in 2012, names Marianist leader, the Rev. Martin Solma.

Brother Louis Meinhardt, the former teacher and coach accused of abuse, is not named in the suit because he is deceased. The plaintiff is only known as “John Doe.”

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.

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Carol McPhail | cmcphail@al.com
on March 25, 2015

On Wednesday, a member of a victims’ rights group distributed flyers to parishioners entering the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception as they entered noon Mass.

Barbara Dorris, outreach director for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said she wanted to shine light on allegations made against a Mobile priest and the response by the Archdiocese of Mobile, as well as reach out to those who may have been affected.

Dorris, of St. Louis, Mo., said she handed out about 25 flyers entitled “Please help us protect kids.” The flyers urged Archbishop of Mobile Thomas J. Rodi to suspend an accused Mobile priest and to warn people about an accused Jesuit who had previously lived in Mobile.

“We’re concerned about the case with Father Savoie,” said Dorris, referring to an allegation that Rev. Johnny Savoie had sex with a teenager at St. Lawrence Catholic Parish in Fairhope more than a decade ago. The allegation, which Savoie has denied, surfaced during an unrelated lawsuit regarding bullying at St. Pius X Catholic Parish in Mobile, where he is pastor.

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
KUAM

By Jolene Toves

It turns out Deacon Stephen Martinez not only filed a report with Archbishop Anthony Apuron about information he’s received regarding allegations of sexual contact between Fr. Luis Camacho and a 17-year-old minor but has also written a letter about how he remains “gravely concerned with a growing pattern of sexual deviancy from RMS (Redemptoris Mater Seminary) trained priests and seminaries,” he wrote.

As we reported Fr. Luis studied at RMS. The priest was arrested last week after police found him in a parked car at an Agat beach with a 17-year-old girl. He was arrested for Custodial Interference. Police said the girl was supposed to be in school at the time she was found with Fr. Luis. Although little information was released about what they were doing in the car, in his report filed with the Archbishop and Child Protective Services, Deacon Martinez alleged there was sexual contact between the two.

In the follow up letter written by Deacon Martinez he is concerned about Fr. Luis’ connection to the NCW (Neocatechumenal Way), “It is my understanding that the girl whom Fr. Luis had cunnilingus with is a member of the NCW, and her parents as well. It appears that Fr. Luis used his position of authority as presbyter of an NCW community to take advantage of this child. This is a grave abuse of trust and a tendency which a proper psychological examination may have disclosed. Unfortunately this is not the only incident which raises alarm bells about problems within the RMS formation and screening process. I certainly hope the victim’s participation in the NCW, and that of her parents, was not exploited to convince them not to press charges against Fr. Luis. Prudence would dictate this is a question an independent investigator should follow up upon,” Martinez wrote.

The Deacon also alleged other disturbing actions by members of the clergy including Fr. Edivaldo. He alleged that in November 2013 the priest during a Eucharistic Congress at Ypao Beach warned young girls in attendance about boys, ” the boys will treat girls like oranges, sucking the sweet juice from them, and when they are all dried up the boys will spit them out,” he wrote in his letter to the Archbishop.

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

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune

By George Houde
Chicago Tribune

A prominent Islamic leader who was previously arrested in the alleged sexual abuse of an employee now faces additional charges after he was formally indicted.

Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, an imam who founded the Institute of Islamic Education in Elgin, appeared in court Wednesday, where an indictment was read charging him with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual abuse, attempted aggravated criminal sexual abuse, unlawful restraint and aggravated battery. Saleem, 75, had previously been charged with criminal sexual abuse and aggravated battery.

The older charges and Wednesday’s indictment all stem from allegations that Saleem forced a 23-year-old woman to sit on his lap and fondled her last April when the woman worked for the school.

“He’s a holy man, and these accusations are troubling,” said Saleem’s attorney, Raymond Wigell. He said he has not yet received a report on possible DNA evidence in the case. Prosecutors have said that a substance from the clothing the woman was wearing during the alleged abuse was determined to be semen, and they are running tests to determine if it matches Saleem.

Wigell noted that DNA evidence does not necessarily equate to guilt.

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

CALIFORNIA
The Jewish Journal

[Video: A Frum Survivor Tells Her Story Publicly – For the First Time]

by Tess Cutler

Meyer Seewald, the founder of the sexual abuse watchdog Jewish Community Watch (JCW), uttered the name of a local Chabad rabbi to a packed room during a March 22 community event hosted by L.A. Congregation Shaarei Tefila.

The room fell silent. One person gasped, then another. One woman leaned into her friend, restating the rabbi’s name to make sure she heard right.

“I’m not one to name abusers at events,” the New York-based Seewald told the group, but this was a special circumstance. Last month, JCW posted the rabbi’s name and photo on its Wall of Shame, following an 18-month investigation by the organization of “his alleged sexual abuse of a number of female minors,” according to its website.

The Journal is not printing the rabbi’s name because he has not been charged with these allegations in court, but among the Los Angeles audience during Seewald’s recent visit, the rabbi’s name was well known — so it goes in the close-knit Los Angeles Orthodox community.

Sima Yarmush, now 27, gave her own testimony to the community at the event, accusing this rabbi of numerous acts of molestation. She was 14 at the time.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

The state Superior Court has turned down Bernard Shero’s request for a new trial.

In a 36-page decision posted online today, a panel of three Superior Court judges ruled that seven appeals issues raised by Shero at a hearing last Oct. 28th “are either waived or devoid of merit.”

In their decision, the Superior Court judges affirmed the June 12, 2013 sentence imposed on Shero by Judge Ellen Ceisler. The judge sentenced Shero, 51, to 8 to 16 years in jail after he was convicted by a jury of rape of a child, attempted rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor, and indecent assault.

In its decision, the Superior Court judges did not address the appeal filed on behalf of Shero’s co-defendant, Father Charles Engelhardt, except in a footnote to say that the priest’s case is “currently pending before this court.” Judge Ceisler sentenced Father Engelhardt to 6 to 12 years in jail after being convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

The 67-year-old priest died in prison last November. In spite of his client’s death, defense lawyer Michael J. McGovern, and Engelhardt’s religious order, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, had vowed to continue the appeal, to clear the priest’s name. But the courts aren’t bound by such sentiments. When an appellant dies, a court can decide that since there’s no longer any controversy, the appeal is “abated.”

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

A day after they ruled against an appeal from Bernard Shero, a panel of three state Superior Court judges came to the same conclusion regarding the appeal of Shero’s co-defendant, the late Father Charles Engelhardt.

In a 25-page decision issued today, the Superior Court judges ruled that seven appeal issues raised by Engelhardt are “either waived or devoid of merit.” The judges then affirmed Engelhardt’s sentence of 6 to 12 years in jail after being convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

The 67-year-old priest died last November in jail after serving nearly two years of his sentence. In their opinion, the judges note “that appellant has passed away during the pendency of this appeal. However, consistent with our cases, we decline to dismiss this appeal as moot in its entirety.”

This was before the judges went through the appeal issues and dismissed them as “either waived or devoid of merit.”

In Engelhardt’s appeal, the defense had faulted Judge Ceisler for allowing Dr. Gerald Margiotti, a pediatrician, to testify as an expert witness to the jury.

Dr. Margiotti testified about the victim in the case, Billy Doe, saying that Billy’s boyhood complaint of testicular pain was consistent with sexual abuse suffered after the alleged attack by Engelhardt.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Spectator

Damian Thompson

[Update: On looking more closely at the list of priests, I’m astonished by some of the names I see there – clergy I wouldn’t have described as conservatives, let alone traditionalists. It reinforces my sense that vast numbers of priests, however much they admire Pope Francis, are worried about the direction of this pontificate – or, rather, its lack of direction.]

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has slapped down nearly 500 priests who signed a letter to the Catholic Herald expressing concern about the Synod on the Family this October, which is to debate sensitive questions of sexual morality. This is a significant blunder by the Cardinal that exposes both the inflexibility of his leadership style and – certainly in the case of some of the priests – lack of confidence in his stewardship of the Catholic Church in England Wales. Here’s today’s Catholic Herald report:

Priests should not conduct a debate about the October Family Synod through the press, Cardinal Nichols has said, following the publication of a letter signed by hundreds of priests, urging the synod to issue a ‘clear and firm proclamation’ upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, signed by almost 500 priests and published in this week’s Catholic Herald, they write: ‘We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.’

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

CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY COLLEEN PARK ON MARCH 25, 2015

A married Catholic woman is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and an assistant pastor after he allegedly touched her in an inappropriate way at a South Bay church last year.

Catherine Bergin filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, alleging sexual harassment, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified damages.

An archdiocese spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.

The suit states that the Rev. Nicholas Assi, the assistant pastor at St. Basil’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles, was assigned to American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach as an assistant pastor from 2009 until last May 2. Assi was known as Father Nick and he became a friend of the Bergin family while at American Martyrs, the suit states. He often brought Middle Eastern treats for Bergin’s children and “was always warm and friendly,” the suit states.

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

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By JEFF GOTTLIEB

A longtime volunteer at a Catholic church in Manhattan Beach has filed suit against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles alleging that a priest sexually molested her while she was arranging flowers in preparation for Sunday Mass.

Catherine Bergin filed the suit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging sexual harassment and sexual battery. It seeks unspecified damages.

Bergin, a mother of three who said she has taught religious education and served as a Eucharistic minister, alleged that she was approached from behind last April and touched inappropriately by Nicholas Assi, a priest at American Martyrs Church.

In an interview prior to the suit being filed, the archdiocese said it had investigated the complaint and that Assi had been placed on leave and then eventually reassigned to St. Basil Catholic Church in Koreatown. The archdiocese said Assi remained a “priest in good standing.”

Manhattan Beach police also investigated the allegations but no charges were filed. A detective who worked on the investigation said Assi refused to talk with police without an attorney present, and that police never met with him.

Bergin alleged that Assi came up behind her while she was trimming flowers in the sacristy and pressed his nose against her neck and began breathing deeply as he put his hand under her shirt.

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.

POLAND
The New York Times

By JOANNA BERENDT
MARCH 25, 2015

WARSAW — A former priest was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison on charges of sexually abusing eight children in Poland and the Dominican Republic, a spokesman for the regional court in Warsaw said.

The former priest, Wojciech Gil, who was charged with committing 10 crimes, eight of which related to the sexual abuse of boys under the age of 15, will also have to pay his victims compensation totaling about $43,000.

Mr. Gil, 36, who did not appear in the courtroom in Wolomin, near Warsaw, on Wednesday, avoided a full trial by offering on Friday to serve a prison term. Under Polish law, Mr. Gil, who led a parish in the Dominican Republic for nearly a decade, did not have to plead guilty. But the deal had to be accepted by the judge and the prosecutors who represented the Polish and Dominican victims, and the prosecutors had to present firm evidence of Mr. Gil’s guilt.

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

CALIFORNIA
Fox LA

Manhattan Beach, CA – (FOX 11 / CNS) A married Catholic woman is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and an assistant pastor after he allegedly touched her in an inappropriate way at a South Bay church last year.

Catherine Bergin filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court Tuesday, alleging sexual harassment, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. She seeks unspecified damages.

An archdiocese spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment.

The suit states that the Rev. Nicholas Assi, the assistant pastor at St. Basil’s Catholic Church in Los Angeles, was assigned to American Martyrs Catholic Church in Manhattan Beach as an assistant pastor from 2009 until last May 2. Assi was known as Father Nick and he became a friend of the Bergin family while at American Martyrs, the suit states. He often brought Middle Eastern treats for Bergin’s children and “was always warm and friendly,” the suit states.

But last April 17, while doing volunteer work in the sacristy, Assi came up from behind Bergin, put his arms around her and whispered, “Hi, darling,” the suit alleges.

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.

VATIKAN
Der Bund

[The pope met today with former Swiss home children who were abused in church-run institutions.]

Zeichen aus Rom: Der Papst empfängt ehemalige Schweizer Heimkinder, die in kirchlich geführten Institutionen missbraucht wurden. Im politischen Ringen um einen Wiedergutmachungsfonds ist dieses Signal wichtig.

Der heutige Mittwoch ist für Guido Fluri, einst selber Heimkind, ein besonderer Tag. Ein Tag, der ihm Hoffnung gibt, wie er sagt. Seit Jahren kämpft der Unternehmer für die Wiedergutmachung des Leids, das die Vormundschaftsbehörden mit Zwangsmassnahmen Tausenden von Menschen zugefügt haben. Bis 1981 wurden in der Schweiz Kinder ohne Gerichtsbeschluss den Eltern weggenommen und in Heime gesteckt, Frauen zur Sterilisation oder Abtreibung gezwungen und Jugendliche ohne Schuldspruch in geschlossenen Anstalten «versorgt».

Heute Mittwoch nun reist Fluri mit zwei 67-jährigen Geschwistern, die als Kinder in kirchlich geführten Heimen in der Schweiz misshandelt worden sind, nach Rom, wo die Gruppe bei einer Generalaudienz mit Papst Franziskus teilnehmen wird. «Die Einladung kam vom Vatikan selbst.» Fluri hatte den Papst vor Weihnachten schriftlich darüber orientiert, dass in Bern am 19. Dezember die Wiedergutmachungsinitiative eingereicht werde – das Volksbegehren verlangt einen 500-Millionen-Fonds zur Entschädigung der schweren Opfer fürsorgerischer Zwangsmassnahmen sowie die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung dieses «dunklen Kapitels der Schweizer Geschichte». Kurz darauf lud der Heilige Stuhl zur Audienz nach Rom. «Für mich war das ein Zeichen, dass für den Papst die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle ein persönliches Anliegen ist.»

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.

CHILE
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Catholic News Service posted Wednesday, 25 Mar 2015

Protestor accuse Bishop Juan Barros of protecting a priest accused of sexual abuse

A bishop being installed in his new assignment in southern Chile expressed disappointment with hundreds of black-clad demonstrators who interrupted the ceremony by marching into a cathedral and shouting at him to leave the diocese, saying he protected a priest accused of sexual abuse.

“You have to distinguish between showing a disagreement in a good way and this, because interrupting a Mass is a big shame,” Bishop Juan Barros said in reference to the demonstration organised against him on March 21 while he was being installed as new bishop of Osorno.

Witnesses described the scene inside the Cathedral of St Matthew as chaotic.

The New York Times reported that television images showed clashes between the bishop’s supporters, who carried white balloons, and demonstrators, carrying black ones.
The demonstrators, numbering about 3,000 inside and outside the cathedral, according to local media reports, included politicians and members of Congress. They held signs and called for Bishop Barros to resign.

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.

POLAND
Miami Herald

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
03/25/2015

WOLOMIN, POLAND
A Polish court has sentenced a former priest convicted of abusing minors in the Dominican Republic and Poland to seven years in prison.

A court in Wolomin, near Warsaw, on Wednesday found Wojciech Gil guilty of abusing six minors in the Caribbean nation between 2009 and 2013 and two in Poland in 2000-2001.

Gil had pleaded not guilty, but sought a settlement which avoided a full trial. That was accepted by prosecutors, who represent the Dominican and the Polish victims.

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

UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Kevin O’Brien

Conservatives are rightly angry at liberal bias in the media. There’s a lot of it.

But the game works both ways. There’s a huge conservative bias as well, and it follows a pattern.

The pattern is typically this. Someone in the Church does something horrifically awful and outrageously embarrassing, something that can’t possibly be defending or excused. For several days the truth is out there and none of my DC (Defensive Catholic) friends comment on it either here or on Facebook or elsewhere. An awkward silence falls and the truth is simply ignored.

Then (typically) the Catholic Defense League or an organization like Catholic News Agency pipes up with a defense of the situation that is a real stretch of the imagination, but that provides a handy template for the reactionaries to use, and suddenly comboxes are filled everywhere with the rank and file DCs who have swallowed the template whole, who run with it and who don’t look back.

With Bishop Finn, the lie that was being promulgated was that the priest’s crime at the center of the scandal was not child pornography at all, that the priest in question was utterly innocent, and that Finn did all he could in the situation, that he was being persecuted for being a vocally orthodox bishop who was firm on pro life issues, and that this is why folks in Kansas City were out to crucify him, the whole case against Finn being trumped up.

But the truth was just the opposite. In fact, not only (in that case) were the pictures in question child porn, but the perpetrator priest was sentenced to fifty years in prison for producing the hundreds of images, using his own parishioners as victims, some under the age of three. And for years prior, Finn not only refused to look into or even acknowledge any of the many complaints about this priest’s behavior, some of which came directly from the principal of the school that most of the victims attended, he also stonewalled once the child porn came to light, failed to inform or warn any of the families of the victims, gave the priest continued access to children, was complicit in the destruction of evidence, spent $1.4 million of diocesan money defending himself against two misdemeanor charges in court, only alerted the police when forced to, and, in short, put children at risk and failed to get the offending priest any serious help or counseling.

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.

SCOTLAND
The Tablet

21 March 2015 by Elena Curti

Pope Francis must hope that his swift, decisive action against Cardinal Keith O’Brien will draw the line under a scandal that done great harm to the Church in Scotland and beyond.

The Pope’s personal intervention lies behind the announcement last Friday that O’Brien is surrendering the duties and trappings of a cardinal and the repetition of his profound apologies for sexual misdemeanours. It is an appropriate sanction against the breathtaking hypocrisy of a church leader who made advances to seminarians and young priests yet nevertheless felt entitled to rail against homosexuality and gay marriage in the most blunt terms.

A story such as O’Brien’s is a reminder of the human weakness that is common to us all. It is hard to find it in our hearts to forgive someone who has betrayed our trust. As Christians we have to be merciful but it’s tough. Mercy must be accompanied by justice. Forgiving him does not mean the full implications of what he did should remain hidden.

We still don’t know whether O’Brien was someone who sporadically shed in his inhibitions when he’d had a few drinks and then felt profoundly ashamed or whether his was a pattern of coercive behaviour and abuse of power and patronage.

The quote from one of O’Brien’s accusers saying that the report prepared for Francis “is “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the Pope’s desk” suggests the latter but we cannot be sure without seeing this report for ourselves. The report was prepared by Archbishop Charles Scicluna, previously chief prosecutor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, someone who has the drive and determination to uncover the truth. That is apparent from his work in exposing the sickening corruption of Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

March 25, 2015

Christopher Knaus
Reporter for The Canberra Times.

A former Catholic priest told his alleged abuse victim to “move on” and stop living in the past when she asked for an apology during a covertly recorded phone call almost 20 years later, a court has heard.

Father Edward Evans, now 85, went on trial in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday over allegations he abused a young girl at his home on five occasions and at Cooleman Court on another.

The girl and her family attended his German-language church in Braddon, and were close with Father Evans, who was often referred to as “Father Eddie”.

The Crown, represented by Sara Gul, alleges the priest put his hands down the girl’s pants and grabbed her bottom three times, and digitally penetrated her twice in his kitchen.

It is also alleged he grabbed her breast while they sat alone in a car outside of Cooleman Court, before pulling her on top of him into a straddling position.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

by Madeleine Teahan posted Wednesday, 25 Mar 2015

The cardinal was responding to a letter signed by almost 500 priests

Priests should not conduct a debate about the October Family Synod through the press, Cardinal Nichols has said, following the publication of a letter signed by hundreds of priests, urging the synod to issue a “clear and firm proclamation” upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, signed by almost 500 priests and published in this week’s Catholic Herald, they write: “We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.”

In a statement, a spokesman for Cardinal Nichols said that the press was not the medium for conducting dialogue of this sort.

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

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Herald

[with list of priests who signed the letter]

by Madeleine Teahan posted Tuesday, 24 Mar 2015

Priests says that doctrine and practice must ‘remain firmly and inseparably in harmony’

Almost 500 priests in Britain have signed a letter urging those attending this year’s family synod to issue a “clear and firm proclamation” upholding Church teaching on marriage.

In the letter, published in this week’s Catholic Herald, the priests write: “We wish, as Catholic priests, to re-state our unwavering fidelity to the traditional doctrines regarding marriage and the true meaning of human sexuality, founded on the Word of God and taught by the Church’s Magisterium for two millennia.”

Last year’s extraordinary synod provoked heated debate on the question of whether remarried Catholics should be permitted to receive Holy Communion – a proposal presented by retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper.

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.

GERMANY
Washington Times

By – Catholic News Agency – Tuesday, March 24, 2015

MUNICH, Germany – A German cardinal has publicly opposed the words of two German bishops who have suggested that the nation’s Church can form its own policies without direction from Rome.

Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes published a letter earlier this month objecting to the pronouncements of prominent leaders of the Church in Germany that the nation’s bishops’ conference will pursue its own program of pastoral care for marriages and family regardless of the outcome of October’s Synod on the Family.

At a Feb. 25 press conference following the German bishops’ plenary assembly, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, who is president of the conference, stated, “We are not a branch of Rome. Each conference of bishops is responsible for pastoral care in its cultural context and must preach the Gospel in its own, original way. We cannot wait for a synod to tell us how we have to shape pastoral care for marriage and family here.”

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.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 25, 2015

ROME Pope Francis has asked Catholics around the world — at every level of the church — to stay away from gossiping about the upcoming Synod on the Family and to instead pray fervently that it will result in a church more committed to witnessing God’s love for all.

“There is not need of gossip!” the pope insisted strongly while talking about the synod during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square Wednesday. “Everyone — pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, religious, and lay faithful — we are all called to pray for the synod.”

Inviting those in the square and Catholics around the world to say such prayers “with holy insistence,” Francis asked that the prayers “may be animated by the compassion of the Good Shepherd for his flock, especially for persons and families who for various reasons are ‘troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.'”

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

UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet

24 March 2015 by Christopher Lamb, Abigail Frymann Rouch

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has rebuked the almost 500 priests in England and Wales who have signed a letter resisting any change to church teaching at the Vatican’s next Synod on the Family, saying that discussions around the Synod are “not best conducted through the press”.

The 461 priests were responding to two letters, seen by The Tablet and now to be published in the Catholic Herald, sent by a group of a dozen conservative-minded clergy. As The Tablet first reported, the first letter was a draft to be submitted for publication in the press, while the second, signed by the 12 clergy, set out the reasons for agreeing to the first.

The first letter urges those who will participate in October’s synod of bishops to end the “confusion” that was caused at last year’s gathering, where some bishops put forward ways for the Church to be more welcoming to gay Catholics as well as for remarried divorcees to receive Communion. The letter states fidelity to the Church’s traditional doctrines of marriage and sexuality, and affirmed the traditional discipline of the reception of the sacraments (which bars Communion for the divorced and remarried).

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.