ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho March 20, 2015

Today the Holy See announced that Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland has resigned the “rights and privileges” of being a cardinal. The news follows the conclusion of a Vatican investigation of allegations that O’Brien sexually harrassed adult men, including a seminarian, and carried on a long-term sexual relationship with a priest. O’Brien, once an outspoken critic of homosexuality, resigned as archbishop of Edinburgh in 2013, admitting that “many times” his sexual conduct had “fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop, and cardinal.” And he recused himself from the conclave that elected Pope Francis. Until now, O’Brien had been living in a seaside home apparantly enjoying the rights and privileges of a cardinal. Not anymore. He won’t be able to participate in any more conclaves, or act as an adviser to the pope. Still, O’Brien gets to keep his title, even if he’s permitted to wear his red hat and vestments only in private.

This is “an extraordinarily decisive act of governance that combines justice with mercy,” according to Gerard O’Collins. Andrea Tornielli called the pope’s decision “courageous.” It may be merciful and it’s certainly extraordinary (the last time a cardinal resigned was in 1927). But is it decisive? Courageous? I have my doubts.

First, the allegations against O’Brien surfaced nearly two years ago. Pope Francis did not appoint Archbishop Charles Scicluna–once the Vatican’s top abuse investigator–to look into the situation until 2014, well after the pope had ordered O’Brien to get out of Scotland for a few months. Of course, thorough investigations take time, and Scicluna is a busy man, but it’s not as though O’Brien’s accusers were unknown, or difficult to reach. They sent their initial complaints to the papal nuncio in late 2012 and early 2013. Why has it taken nearly two years to get to the bottom of this?

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NEW JERSEY
WABC

WYCOFF (WABC) — A New Jersey youth pastor was arrested on Thursday and charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

David Hayman, 37, of Oradell and former pastor of Cornerstone Christian Church in Wycoff, is accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual contact with youth members of the church.

Police say Hayman engaged in inappropriate sexual contact and exchanged explicit videos with two 16-year-old girls on multiple occasions.

Hayman is also accused of sending multiple sexually explicit text messages to three other girls.

Hayman was the Pastor of Youth and Children’s Ministries for nearly 10 years, where he was led a high school youth group and oversaw younger aged youth groups. He was fired from his position during the summer of 2014 when the church learned of inappropriate text messages he sent.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Noah Cohen | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 20, 2015

HACKENSACK — A former pastor at a Wyckoff church exchanged sexually explicit messages and videos with girls in a youth group he supervised and had sexual encounters with two of the teens, authorities said today.

David Hayman, 37, was arrested Thursday, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement. He was charged with two counts of sexual assault and five counts of child endangerment.

Hayman exchanged the videos with two girls in the youth group beginning when they were 16 years old and “engaged in inappropriate sexual activity,” with the teens, Molinelli said. He traded explicit text messages with two other girls when they were 15 and another when she was 16.

“All of the victims were members of a church youth group, of which Hayman was the pastor and for whom he had direct supervisory responsibility,” the prosecutor said.

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ROME
Wall Street Journal

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
March 20, 2015

ROME—A Scottish cardinal who admitted sexual misconduct has given up the right to vote in any future papal conclave following a Vatican investigation of his actions, in one of the most significant outcomes of the pope’s efforts to hold church leadership accountable.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who until 2013 presided over the archdiocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, gave up the “rights and privileges of cardinal,” including voting in a papal election—the most important power exercised by cardinals—and advising the pope on governance of the Catholic Church, the Vatican announced Friday.

The move, which the Scottish bishops’ conference called “unprecedented,” followed an investigation into claims that Cardinal O’Brien had had inappropriate sexual contact with seminarians under his authority in the 1980s.

No cardinal has experienced such a demotion since 1927, when French Cardinal Louis Billot resigned after friction with the Vatican over his involvement in French politics. Unlike Cardinal Billot, Cardinal O’Brien will retain his title. But he will lose the prerogatives ordinarily attached to it.

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GEORGIA
Savannah Morning News

By Jan Skutch
Former Roman Catholic priest Wayland Yoder Brown and two Savannah diocese bishops on Thursday were sued for alleged sexual encounters with a minor parishioner.

The suit, filed in the Court of Common Pleas in Jasper County, S.C. by attorney Mark Tate, alleges Brown took the plaintiff to Jasper County and had “multiple sexual encounters” with him between August 1987 and May 1988.

The plaintiff was a 13-year-old student at St. James Catholic School in Savannah at the time. He filed the suit in his own name, but the Savannah Morning News does not identify victims of sexual assaults.

The suit named Brown, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah, former Bishop Raymond Lessard and current Bishop Gregory John Hartmayer as defendants.

It is the third lawsuit naming Brown involving similar conduct.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

The former vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, now an advocate for clergy sexual abuse victims, has asked the judge in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy to investigate how the church funds its cemetery operations.

In a letter to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Susan V. Kelley, Fr. James Connell questions whether the archdiocese may have used its cemetery trust funds to subsidize its other operations, contradicting its assertion that the money can be used only for the perpetual care of its cemeteries. And Connell, a canon lawyer and certified public accountant, who previously sat on the archdiocese’s finance council, suggests she pull in the FBI to look into it.

It’s highly unlikely that the judge would do that, according to at least one bankruptcy expert.

But Connell’s concerns echo those likely to be raised by abuse victims if and when a pending lawsuit over the cemetery trust, which the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals refused last week to dismiss on religious liberty challenges, resumes in Milwaukee later this year.

James Stang, lead attorney for the creditors committee, which is composed of victims but represents all of the archdiocese’s creditors, declined to comment on Connell’s assertions. But he said the committee’s financial experts are reviewing his letter.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, March 20

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

A new clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuit has been filed against the Savannah Catholic diocese. It charges that a notorious serial predator – Fr. Wayland Brown – repeatedly assaulted a 13 year old boy in 1987-88 at St. James Catholic School in Savannah. The victim is represented by Savannah attorney Mark Tate, marktate@tatelawgroup.com, 912-484-1762

In an earlier civil case, a victim molested by Fr. Brown received a $4.2 million settlement.

Fr. Brown was ordained in 1977 but church records show that concerns about him go back as far as 1969. In 1986, for instance, at least one Catholic official knew Fr. Brown was being investigated for possible criminal child sex charges. But Fr. Brown was kept on the job and quietly shuffled around for years hurting children over and over again.

We applaud this brave, wounded man who is filing suit. It takes real courage to break his silence and expose the dreadfully reckless and callous actions Catholic officials took that repeatedly endangered innocent kids and helped a shrewd predator.

We hope this lawsuit will prod and inspire others who have been hurt by Brown and other clergy to call police, protect others and start healing.

When victims, whistleblowers and witnesses speak up, predators are exposed and children are protected. But when victims, whistleblowers and witnesses stay silent, predators walk free and kids are assaulted.

Brown once served prison time in Maryland for his crimes. We hope police and prosecutors are able to convict him again and keep this dangerous predator behind bars. But that will only happen if others who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes come forward.

We call on Savannah Catholic officials – including Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer – to use their vast resources to reach out to others who were assaulted by Brown and who are likely still suffering in shame, silence and self-blame. Church staff should use parish bulletins, church websites and pulpit announcements to prod others in pain to step forward.

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SCOTLAND
Spectator

Keith O’Brien stripped of the rank of cardinal – an extraordinary disgrace for the Scottish Church

Damian Thompson

Keith O’Brien, former Cardinal Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, was today stripped of the rank of cardinal by Pope Francis. Technically he has resigned. But the statement above leaves us in little doubt that O’Brien has had the red hat forcibly removed from him. He’s the first cardinal to lose his title since Louis Billot, a French Jesuit who resigned as cardinal in 1927 in protest at the Church’s condemnation of the far-Right anti-Semitic Action Française movement. Billot was the only cardinal to resign in the 20th century.

Full marks to the Tablet for setting out the background to this extraordinary move a few days ago (my emphasis):

Following public accusations by a number of priests and one former priest, and following the cardinal’s resignation, the Pope appointed Bishop – now Archbishop – Scicluna, to speak to all those involved and report back to the Vatican.

One of the men who have accused Cardinal O’Brien of inappropriate sexual conduct said that despite Archbishop Scicluna’s report being ‘hot enough to burn the varnish’ off the Pope’s desk, the Church was moving with ‘glacial’ speed when it came to making public its findings.

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CANADA
The Province

BY JENNIFER SALTMAN, THE PROVINCE MARCH 20, 2015

A former Abbotsford Hindu priest convicted of sex crimes against two teen girls was deported to India last month after being granted statutory release.

Karam Vir, 35, was found guilty in May 2013 of two counts of touching a younger person for a sexual purpose and one count of sexual assault. He was sentenced in September 2013 to 2-1/2 years in prison, minus four months of credit for time served.

The incidents that sent Vir to prison took place in 2009 and 2010 while he was employed at a Hindu temple on Walmsley Avenue. Vir made sexual advances toward the two victims, who were 17 years old, after befriending them at the temple. He had intercourse with one girl and attempted intercourse with the other.

In August 2014, Vir was denied day and full parole. In late January of this year he was granted statutory release, which is automatically given to most offenders after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Katholisch

[No investigation into abuse.]

Die Staatsanwaltschaft Köln weist Vorwürfe des Erzbistums Köln zurück, im Fall einer nach Missbrauchsvorwürfen entlassenen Erzieherin nicht zu ermitteln. Es gebe bislang keine tragfähigen Anhaltspunkte, die Ermittlungen rechtfertigen würden, sagte der Sprecher, Oberstaatsanwalt Ulrich Bremer, am Freitag der Katholischen Nachrichten-Agentur (KNA). Er verwies darauf, dass auch keine Strafanzeigen von Eltern vorlägen.

Das Erzbistum hatte eine Erzieherin an einer katholischen Kindertagesstätte in Elsdorf im Rhein-Erft-Kreis entpflichtet. Ihr wirft die Erzdiözese sexuellen Missbrauch in mindestens zwei Fällen vor. Weil die Staatsanwaltschaft nicht ermittelt, legte die Erzdiözese Beschwerde bei der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft in Köln ein.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

A change of judge was granted Thursday by Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joseph M. Cataldo for a prominent former imam and head of an Islamic school in Elgin who was charged last month with sexual assault.

Mohammed Abdullah Saleem, 75, of the 400 block of Jean Street in Gilberts, will next appear before Judge Kara Halios Wednesday, March 25, at the Cook County Courthouse in Rolling Meadows. No reason was given for the imam’s request for a different judge.

Saleem is currently charged only with the assault of a former secretary at the Institute of Islamic Education school he established in Elgin in 1989, but three other women have joined her in a lawsuit alleging they were sexually abused by Saleem as well while they were minors.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By DAMON LINKER
MARCH 20, 2015

Ask a devout, theologically literate ­Roman Catholic to describe the institution of the church, and you’re likely to be told that it was founded by Jesus Christ at the moment he gave his disciple ­Peter the “keys to the kingdom of heaven” and vowed that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.” This made ­Peter the head of the universal church, ­empowered to administer the sacraments, spread the Gospel, save souls and forgive sins until Christ’s return, as well as to pronounce with infallible authority on ­matters of Christian faith and morals. Christ also promised Peter that “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against the church — meaning that no matter how corrupt the institution might appear at any given moment of history, it will never be so consumed by evil that it ceases to be capable of fulfilling its God-appointed tasks.

Ask an informed historian or journalist about the history of the church — especially the Vatican and the papacy — and you are likely to hear a different story. On this telling, the church from the beginning has been an all-too-human institution that ­often follows a logic of self-interest, placing the good of its members ahead of those outside it, and the good of those in positions of ecclesiastical power ahead of the good of everyone else. To a greater or lesser extent, this has been true of most institutions throughout history, though it has been a particular problem in the 2,000-year history of the church, with its lack of democratic accountability and deep roots in the corruption-prone political culture of the Italian peninsula. The result has been a tension — and sometimes a blatant contradiction — between the church’s exalted claims for itself and its behavior.

Think of medieval popes waging the Crusades — raising armies, sacking ­cities and conquering territory — in the name of Jesus Christ. Or prelates torturing apostates and heretics during the Inquisition. Or Pope Pius V expelling Jews from the Papal States in 1569. Or Pope Pius XI signing the Reichskonkordat with ­Hitler, which, in return for winning a measure of freedom for German Catholics ­under the Nazis, assured silence from the Holy See over the forced sterilization of 400,000 people and then only the faintest of ­objections to the Holocaust. Or more ­recently, bishops and other church officials concealing widespread and repeated child sexual abuse by priests.

All of these and many other well-known acts of complicity with the ways of the world are touched on in Gerald Posner’s new book, but its main subject is a somewhat more arcane form of corruption. “God’s Bankers” provides an exhaustive history of financial machinations at the center of the church in Rome, from the final decades of the 19th century down to Pope Francis’ sincere but as yet inconclusive efforts to reform the church’s labyrinthine bureaucracy (the Curia) and the Vatican Bank (named Istituto per le Opere di Religione, or Institute for the Works of Religion, also known as the I.O.R.).

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GEORGIA
Fox 6

By Sean Evans
By Don Logana

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) –
WTOC has learned of a new complaint and lawsuit filed against the Catholic Diocese of Savannah alleging sexual abuse by a former priest.

The name of the priest is a familiar one, as he has been named twice before in similar suits and similar allegations. This complaint states 28 years ago, former priest Wayland Yoder Brown sexually abused a 13-year-old St. James Catholic School student. Brown allegedly took him into South Carolina where he forced him to perform sex acts.

The Diocese, Raymond W. Lessard, bishop at the time, and current Bishop Gregory J. Hartmayer are named as defendants. The complaint also contends the diocese knew about dangers involving Brown as far back as 1969. The Catholic Church removed Brown from active ministry in 1988 when allegations of child molestation first surfaced.

In 2003, Brown was convicted in Maryland on charges of child molestation. He served five years of a 10-year sentence. In 2004 he was defrocked from the priesthood. He remains on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry.

WTOC spoke to the victim’s attorney, Mark Tate, who said the diocese wanted his client to remain silent, like Brown tried to do 28 years ago. …

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, has followed cases involving Wayland Yoder Brown dating as far back as the late 1960’s. SNAP Outreach Director Barbara Dorris said, “We feel the Church has a moral obligation to warn people where this dangerous predator is, to exert and use every resource at their disposal to confine this man to a situation where he would have no access to children.”

The Diocese of Savannah released the following statement:

This matter is the subject of pending litigation. The Diocese of Savannah has confidence in the legal process and looks forward to its opportunity to address the allegations in Court. The Diocese of Savannah does not believe it appropriate to comment on the circumstances of the pending litigation in this forum.

The Diocese of Savannah does not tolerate the sexual abuse of children. The Diocese of Savannah had no prior knowledge that Wayland Brown had abused children at the time periods referenced over thirty years ago. In 1987, Wayland Brown was assigned to St. James Parish, and at that time there were no allegations of sexual abuse against him.

The Diocese of Savannah is adamant that the abuse of children will not be tolerated by anyone, especially church personnel. The Diocese of Savannah encourages anyone with knowledge of abuse to come forward and report such allegations to the Diocese of Savannah Office of Child Protection Services. The Diocese of Savannah will do everything in its power to protect children, to attempt to stop any alleged abuse, and to promote the healing of all the parties affected.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the disgraced former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has formally “resigned” the role of Cardinal – but keeps his title.

Pope Francis has ordered the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh – who stepped down two years ago after revelations that he made sexual advances to priests – to live a “strictly private life” of prayer and penance, banned from taking part in any future “public, religious or civil events”.

The Cardinal has been living in effective exile in England under arrangements agreed by the Vatican which bars him from setting foot in Scotland. His former archdiocese has bought a house in a quiet cul-de-sac in Northumberland for him to live out his exile.

In a short statement he said he was “deeply sorry” to his victims, remarking that his “sexual conduct” had “fallen below the standards expected”.

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VATIKAN
kath.net

[The Vatican has denied a press report that the home of former Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone was said to have been built by a contractor suspected of corruption.]

Vatikan hat Pressebericht dementiert, wonach die Wohnung von Ex-Kardinalstaatssekretär Tarcisio Bertone von einem unter Korruptionsverdacht stehenden Unternehmer ausgebaut worden sein soll.

Vatikanstadt (kath.net/KNA) Der Vatikan hat einen Pressebericht dementiert, wonach die Wohnung von Ex-Kardinalstaatssekretär Tarcisio Bertone von einem unter Korruptionsverdacht stehenden Unternehmer ausgebaut worden sein soll. Die Behauptung, die Firma des angeklagten Diego Anemone habe die Arbeiten für Bertone durchgeführt, sei «völlig falsch», hieß es am Mittwoch.

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CHILE
EPD

Chile hat einem wegen Kindesmissbrauchs verurteilten Pfarrer die Staatsangehörigkeit aberkannt. Der katholische Geistliche John Joseph O’Reilly war im Oktober wegen wiederholten Missbrauchs einer Fünfjährigen zu vier Jahren Haft verurteilt worden. Der 68 Jahre alte Ire, der seit 1984 in Chile lebt und 2008 chilenischer Staatsbürger geworden war, gehört dem Orden der “Legionäre Christi” an. Er verbüßt seine Strafe derzeit unter Hausarrest.

Die Entscheidung, O’Reilly den Pass zu entziehen, fällte der Senat des südamerikanischen Staates am Mittwoch einstimmig, wie die Tageszeitung “La Nación” berichtete. Die obere Parlamentskammer ist in Chile die einzige Instanz, die eine Staatsangehörigkeit verleihen oder aberkennen kann.

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CHILE
kath.ch

Santiago de Chile, 19.3.15 (kath.ch) Manche Beobachter sehen in dem Fall schon einen Härtetest für Papst Franziskus. Er hat in Chile einen Bischof weiter befördert, dem vorgeworfen wird, als junger Priester einen Missbrauchstäter gedeckt zu haben. Bischof Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid kämpft um seinen Ruf. Er habe bis 2009 nichts von den Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen den heute 84-jährigen Priester Fernando Salvador Miguel Karadima Farina, einen 2011 vom Vatikan verurteilten Missbrauchstäter, gewusst.

Tobias Käufer

Und er habe nichts zu vertuschen versucht, erklärte Barros in dieser Woche. Unterstützung erhielt der 58-Jährige von der Chilenischen Bischofskonferenz, die Barros zumindest formal den Rücken stärkte. In einer am Mittwoch (18. März) verbreiteten Stellungnahme der Bischöfe heisst es in drei dürren Absätzen, sie betonten «in einer Gesinnung des Glaubens und des Gehorsams» ihre Verbindung mit Papst Franziskus, «der Mons. Barros zum Bischof von Osorno berufen hat».

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CHILE
Katholisch

Bischof Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid kämpft um seinen Ruf. Er habe bis 2009 nichts von den Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen den heute 84-jährigen Priester Fernando Salvador Miguel Karadima Farina, einen 2011 vom Vatikan verurteilten Missbrauchstäter, gewusst. Und er habe nichts zu vertuschen versucht, erklärte Barros in dieser Woche. Unterstützung erhielt der 58-Jährige von der Chilenischen Bischofskonferenz, die Barros zumindest formal den Rücken stärkte.

In einer am Mittwoch (Ortszeit) verbreiteten Stellungnahme der Bischöfe heißt es in drei dürren Absätzen, sie betonten “in einer Gesinnung des Glaubens und des Gehorsams” ihre Verbindung mit Papst Franziskus , “der Mons. Barros zum Bischof von Osorno berufen hat”.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Religion

Boz Tchividjian | Mar 20, 2015

The horrors of child abuse not only extinguishes the innocence of childhood, but so often defines survivors who spend a lifetime struggling to process such devastating childhood trauma. When abuse is perpetrated in faith communities and is rationalized with scripture and distorted theology, most victims come to understand God as the ultimate abuser. All too often, these precious souls get weary of processing what seems to be a forever dark journey and simply give up hope.

Last year, I was privileged to come into contact with an amazing individual who is walking that journey and has given up hope more than once. The life of Trudy Metzger is one that is both deeply tragic and remarkably hopeful. She was the one beaten and left to die on the side of the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan. She is also the one pursued, embraced, and loved by the ultimate Good Samaritan. Trudy’s journey is not unlike the painful journey of so many others who are weary and who have or are giving up hope. Her life is a declaration that there is hope.

In order to share this hope with others, Trudy recently wrote a book about her journey entitled, Between 2 Gods. This amazingly honest memoir doesn’t hide the truth about the deep physical, emotional, and spiritual pains caused by childhood trauma. It also doesn’t hide the truth about a loving God who crosses the road and gets down into the dirt with the hurting and brutalized.

I hope that we can all find some comfort in Trudy’s words that have been formed out of a life that for all intensive purposes should have ended long ago. I’m so grateful God had other plan. – Boz

Boz: Can you tell us a little bit about your family background?

Trudy: I was the 12th living child, of what would eventually be 16, born into an Old Colony Russian Mennonite home. With a history of unaddressed abuse and violence in my father’s family, and murder and unacknowledged sexual abuse in my mother’s family, we didn’t stand much of a chance at escaping abuse. Intertwined with this were deeply rooted religious beliefs that presented God as volatile and harsh, rather than a kind ‘Abba Father’—or ‘Papa’—who loves us and understands our humanity.

Boz: What was it about the culture you grew up in that you believe contributed to an abusive environment?

Trudy: This topic would produce at least a chapter, but more likely a book, if covered with any kind of thoroughness. Certainly male dominance was a problem—and I say that as someone who believes all are created equal, with something of value to contribute in every situation—and this robbed women and children of any voice. Contributing to this was the ‘elders are to be respected view’ that required younger children to submit to older siblings, giving older siblings almost the same authority as parents. While these older siblings were not necessarily the abusers, the mentality very much affirmed ‘voicelessness’ and demanded submission and surrender to the wishes of anyone older. This is a set up for abuse throughout life.

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SCOTLAND
Religion News Service

David Gibson | March 20, 2015

(RNS) Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who was accused of sexually harassing several men in a scandal that exploded on the eve of the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, has renounced the “rights and privileges” of his office but gets to keep his prestigious title, the Vatican announced Friday (March 20).

O’Brien did not take part in the March 2013 conclave and now he will be barred from any future conclaves; at age 77, he would have lost his voting eligibility at age 80.

Francis had been under pressure to take some action against O’Brien since one of his victims revealed that an internal church report on O’Brien had been sent to Rome and was “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the pope’s desk.

At least five men – three priests, a former priest and a former seminarian – accused O’Brien of either sexually harassing them or pressuring them into sex, in allegations that went back to the 1980s. O’Brien was accused of being sexually active up through at least 2009.

Those were also the years in which O’Brien became increasingly outspoken in denouncing homosexuality and gay rights; he called homosexuality a “moral degradation” that was “demonstrably harmful” to gay people. In response, the gay rights group Stonewall crowned O’Brien “bigot of the year.”

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SCOTLAND
Gay Star News

20 MARCH 2015 | BY JOE MORGAN

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien has officially resigned today (20 March).

Pope Francis accepted the cleric’s resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal after he admitted to ‘inappropriate sexual misconduct’ with four priests.

Prior to the revelation, he had launched a ‘war’ on same-sex marriage in the UK. He likened it to slavery, child abuse and moral degradation.

But he was exposed as a hypocrite, with several priests coming forward to say O’Brien had made unwanted sexual advances towards them in the 1980s. It was also alleged he had a long-term secret boyfriend.

When O’Brien resigned and fled to live in self-imposed exile, the UK lost one of its most homophobic voices and ‘respected’ leaders against same-sex marriage. Without him, same-sex marriage undoubtedly had an easier ride to becoming legal in England, Wales and Scotland.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Polish priest Wojciech (Padre Alberto) Gil, charged with molesting several boys in the Dominican Republic and Poland, on Friday pleaded guilty to the charges to seek a reduced sentence at the court in Wolomin, Poland EFE reports from Warsaw.

The prosecution however has requested time to study the proposal by the defendant’s lawyers.

The Polish court set the next hearing for March 25, when the prelate could be sentenced, local media report.

“The defendant pleaded guilty and agreed to serve a seven year prison sentence,” said court spokeswoman Joanna Adamowicz.

Gil faces 10 charges, eight for child molestation and two for possession of child pornography and illegal weapons possession. If convicted he could spend up to 15 years in prison without taking into account its voluntary declaration of guilt.

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POLAND
Reuters

(Reuters) – A Catholic priest on trial for sexually abusing children in Poland and the Dominican Republic offered on Friday to serve a seven-year jail term, a court spokeswoman said.

The priest was suspended by his religious order in the rural Dominican parish of Juncalito last year after local residents accused him of molesting altar boys, according to the church.

He was arrested after returning to his native Poland and is on trial on 10 charges relating to child sex abuse and possessing pornographic images of children. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail.

“The priest filed for voluntary submission to a seven-year penalty,” said court spokeswoman Joanna Adamowicz. “The prosecutors will give their opinion on the motion on March 25.”

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POLONIA
Diario Social

[The Polish priest Wojciech Gil on Friday pleaded guilty to the charges of rape of minors in the Dominican Republic and has asked for a reduced sentence. The prosecution requested time to study the proposal. The court process will continue March 25.]

El sacerdote polaco Wojciech Gil se declaró este viernes culpable de los cargos de violación a menores y su defensa confía en que eso le permita beneficiarse de una reducción de pena, informó el tribunal de Wolomin (Varsovia), que juzga al religioso.

La Fiscalía ha solicitado tiempo para estudiar la propuesta de los abogados del acusado. El proceso continuará el próximo día 25 de marzo, cuanto se celebrará la siguiente vista y cuando, según especulaciones de diversos medios, podría dictarse sentencia.

Sobre Wojciech Gil pesan diez cargos, ocho por abuso a menores y otros dos por posesión de pornografía infantil y tenencia ilegal de armas (una pistola y municiones), lo que podría costarle hasta 15 ańos de cárcel si no se tiene en cuenta su declaración voluntaria de culpabilidad.

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POLSKA
TVN 24

Ks. Wojciech G., oskarżony o molestowanie nieletnich na Dominikanie i w Polsce, chce dobrowolnie poddać się karze – poinformował sąd. Prokurator poprosił o czas na zajęcie stanowiska w tej sprawie. Rozprawa, która odbyła się w piątek przed wołomińskim sądem, została odroczono do 25 marca.

– Oskarżony złożył wniosek o dobrowolne poddanie się karze w łącznym wymiarze 7 lat więzienia – powiedziała Joanna Adamowicz z zespołu prasowego Sądu Okręgowego Warszawa-Praga.

Adamowicz dodała, że prokurator poprosił o czas na zajęcie stanowiska.

“Chcielibyśmy usłyszeć prawdę od Wojciecha G.”. Rusza proces księdza oskarżonego o pedofilię
Prawie dwa lata… czytaj dalej »
O tym, że ksiądz G. chce dobrowolnie poddać się karze informowaliśmy wcześniej w tvn24.pl.

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POLAND
Yahoo! News

WOLOMIN, Poland (AP) — A Polish priest accused of abusing eight minors in the Dominican Republic and in Poland has sought settlement for a seven-year prison term, a court spokesman said Friday.

The priest, Wojciech Gil, has been under arrest since February 2014 on charges of abusing six minors at the Caribbean island between 2009 and 2013 and two in Poland in 2000-2001. The charges also included possession of child pornography and illegal possession of arms. He has denied the charges.

If convicted after full court proceedings, the 37-year-old could face up to 15 years in prison.

Court spokesman, Marcin Lochowski, told The Associated Press that the priest’s attorney made a motion for a settlement and a seven-year prison term for the priest at the start of the closed-door trial in the Polish town of Wolomin.

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POLAND
GlobalPost

Agence France-Presse March 20, 2015

A Polish priest accused of child sex abuse in the Dominican Republic has proposed a plea bargain to serve just under half of the 15-year jail term he is facing, a Warsaw court said Friday.

“The accused has forwarded a request to voluntarily submit to serve seven years in prison … but formally the priest did not plead guilty,” Warsaw court spokesman Marcin Lochowski told AFP.

Identified only as Wojciech G. for legal reasons, the accused priest whose trial began Friday faces up to 15 years behind bars on allegations of child sex abuse and possessing child pornography.

Polish prosecutors charged the 38-year-old priest last year with sex offences against eight children in both the Dominican Republic and Poland.

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CHILE
Crux

By Crux Staff
March 20, 2015

Crux received the following statement from three men abused by Chilean priest Fernando Karadima.

Our Statement Regarding the Appointment of Bishop Barros and the Responsibility of Pope Francis

Since his election we have put all our hope in Pope Francis. We have been encouraged by his words about sexual abuse when he told bishops: “We must continue to do everything possible to eradicate the plague of child sexual abuse in the church and open a path of reconciliation and healing for those who have suffered.” Furthermore: “Diocesan and superiors of congregations must verify that parishes and church institutions ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults.”

We know that the appointment of bishops is something Pope Francis takes very seriously. However, people in Chile and throughout the world are disappointed because of the appointment of Bishop Juan Barros as head of the Diocese of Osorno, Chile. A man we know and have accused of witnessing abuse, our abuse, and therefore encouraging the perverse dynamics of power. The Chilean Bishops’ Conference, aware of the facts concerning Barros, supported him in a statement.

The Archbishop of Concepción, Fernando Chomalí­, met with the Pope a few weeks ago and warned him that the Barros appointment was causing consternation in Chile, not only in the community of Osorno, but throughout the country. Pope Francis admitted to knowing the suffering of the victims of Karadima and the damage to the Chilean church. However — despite everything — the Pope, through the Nuncio in Chile, Ivo Scapolo, reconfirmed Barros without considering the facts and warnings of so many people, including priests and bishops. With pain we see that the faithful will have to accept and deal with Pope Francis’ decision. A pain and fear we know too well.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, March 20

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

Two full years after he admitted sexual misconduct, Cardinal Keith O’Brien has resigned. But as it has done with dozens of abusive prelates, the Vatican is disclosing nothing about O’Brien’s wrongdoing.

A year ago, Pope Francis said of sexual abuse and misconduct “The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility.” Yet there’s no transparency here. Not one Catholic official has disclosed anything of substance about O’Brien’s exploitive misdeeds.

And what of his clerical colleagues? Not one of them knew of or suspected that O’Brien was abusing others? That’s pretty hard to believe.

“But a Cardinal has resigned, isn’t that progress?” some will ask. Not really. Had Francis publicly denounced O’Brien and disclosed his wrongdoing, that would have been encouraging. Dozens of bishops have been caught abusing or admitted abusing and resigned. Pope Benedict ousted – belatedly and grudgingly and tepidly – the most powerful predator priest yet, Father Marcial Maciel of the Legion of Christ.

So slow and small Vatican steps involving predator clerics aren’t new. Clear and firm Vatican action against complicit bishops would be new. And it would help prevent future cover ups and crimes. But it still isn’t happening.

Top Catholic officials have long let clerics who commit sexual crimes and misdeeds step down. But they refuse to discipline, in any way, clerics who conceal and enable sexual crimes and misdeeds. And until they do, little or nothing will really change.

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MONTANA
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Mar. 20, 2015

In what U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Terry L. Myers called a “singular achievement,” a bankruptcy and reorganization plan for the Helena, Mont., diocese reached via mediation and negotiation rather than protracted litigation has been approved.

It will provide $21 million to compensate more than 360 sexual abuse claimants. Distributions averaging about $40,000 per claimant are scheduled to begin in April, attorneys for the diocese said.

During the three and a half years since the original lawsuit was filed, fewer than three hours were actually spent in court, according to lawyers involved in the case.

Approved by Myers on March 4 at proceedings in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the settlement officially went into effect Thursday following a mandatory two-week waiting period for potential appeals.

The plan, which also includes the restructuring of about $17 million in internal diocesan debt, received “nearly unanimous approval in voting by the sexual abuse victims and other creditors, and the confirmation order by Judge Myers resolves all outstanding sexual abuse claims against the Diocese of Helena,” according to a diocesan press release.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, March 20 – Pope Francis on Friday accepted a disgraced Scottish prelate’s resignation from cardinal status because of sex scandals. Msgr Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, had been accused by some priests of “inappropriate behaviour” and sex abuse. O’Brien, who stepped down from Saint Andrews in 2013, remains a priest and bishop, and retains the title of cardinal, but will have no more public duties and will be excluded from future conclaves to vote on the next pope, according to the Vatican. In a statement, the Vatican said the pope sent “to all the faithful of the Church in Scotland his pastoral concern and encourages them to continue confidently on the path of renewal and reconciliation”. O’Brien had been the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric at the time of his resignation, BBC reported on its website.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Carol Glatz Catholic News Service | Mar. 20, 2015

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis accepted Scotland Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s decision to renounce all “duties and privileges” associated with being a cardinal.

The former archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, who resigned in 2013 after admitting to sexual misconduct, will no longer exercise the role of a cardinal, including by serving as a papal adviser, a member of Vatican congregations and councils, and as an elector of a new pope, the Vatican press office said.

A written statement from the College of Cardinals, published Friday, said, “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a cardinal expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by his eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer.”

Passionist Fr. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman, told journalists the resignation was “not a punishment resulting from a process” or any formal proceedings against the cardinal, but rather it came from the cardinal himself after a long period of prayer and reflection “in dialogue with the Holy Father.”

While he will no longer be invited to attend consistories and other gatherings of cardinals, including an eventual conclave for the election of a new pope, Benedettini said, he retains his faculties as a priest and retired bishop.

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SCOTLAND
The Tablet

20 March 2015 12:23 by Christopher Lamb

Pope Francis has today accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien from the “rights and privileges” of being a cardinal.

The highly unusual move took place following a private discussion between the cardinal and the Pope and means that the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh can no longer take part in a future conclave or assist with the governance of the Church.

He does, however, retain the title of cardinal and is permitted to wear the red hat or vestments associated with the office in private.

Cardinal O’Brien was accused of sexual misconduct by five men, four of them priests, and stood down as archbishop in February 2013 after these allegations were made public.

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SCOTLAND
RTE News

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the disgraced Irishman who resigned two years ago as Archbishop of Edinburgh after admitting to sexual misconduct.

Scotland’s Catholic bishops have welcomed the unprecedented decision.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned as Archbishop two years ago following allegations by three priests and a former priest that he had behaved inappropriately towards them.

He admitted his sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of him.

In a statement today, he repeated his profound apology of two years ago and thanked the pope for “his fatherly care” of him and of those he has offended in any way.

Following the allegations, the Cardinal had failed to travel to Rome for the election of a successor to Pope Benedict the Sixteenth.

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SCOTLAND
Sky News

By James Matthews, Scotland Correspondent

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

It follows allegations that he had engaged in inappropriate sexual misconduct against junior priests.

He will now be stripped of the right to take part in any of a Cardinal’s key duties.

As Cardinal, he was the leader of Scotland’s Catholics but admitted in 2013 that his sexual conduct “had at times fallen beneath the standards expected of him.”

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

20 March 2015

O’BRIEN stepped down from the archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

DISGRACED Cardinal Keith O’Brien has again apologised for his “sexual conduct” after formally resigning from his role in a meeting with Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down from the archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

He issued an apology at the time, saying “there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me”.

He left Scotland and said he would play no further part in the public life of the Catholic Church in the country.

He will retain the title of cardinal, the church said, but has now been formally stripped of the “rights and duties” of the role after an investigation.

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SCOTLAND
The Guardian

Mark Tran
@marktran
Friday 20 March 2015

Pope Francis has accepted the decision of the former leader of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, cardinal Keith O’Brien, to step down from clerical duties over allegations of sexual misconduct.

O’Brien will retain his title, but he will be reduced to strictly private life. The resignation followed the decision by the pope to send a personal envoy, archbishop Charles Scicluna, to Scotland last year to investigate the allegations.

Francis reached his decision based on the inquiry. Its contents are only known fully know only to the pontiff and Scicluna. O’Brien’s decision followed a private discussion with Francis.

“I wish to repeat the apology which I made to the Catholic church and the people of Scotland some two years ago now on 3 March 2013,” O’Brien said in a statement. “I then said that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me. For that I am deeply sorry.

“I thank Pope Francis for his fatherly care of me and of those I have offended in any way. I will continue to play no part in the public life of the Church in Scotland; and will dedicate the rest of my life in retirement, praying especially for the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, for Scotland, and for those I have offended in any way.”

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VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald

VATICAN CITY (AP) A disgraced Scottish prelate who admitted to sexual misdeeds has resigned from his cardinal’s post.

The Vatican said Friday Pope Francis accepted 77-year-old Keith O’Brien’s resignation from “the rights and privileges of a cardinal.”

In 2013, O’Brien resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh and recused himself from the conclave of cardinals that elected Francis as pontiff two years ago.

Once Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic leader, O’Brien left the archbishop’s post after unidentified priests alleged in newspaper reports he acted inappropriately toward them. O’Brien eventually said his sexual conduct had “fallen below the standards” expected of a priest and apologized.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 20 March 2015 (VIS) – The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a Cardinal, expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, archbishop emeritus of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer. With this provision, His Holiness 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.

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SCOTLAND
Irish Times

Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien, who stepped down from religious duties over sexual misconduct accusations, is to lose all the rights and privileges of his office, the Vatican has announced.

Bishop Charles Scicluna was last year sent by Pope Francis to Scotland’s archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct there concerning Cardinal O’Brien.

The Vatican announced on Friday that O’Brien would be a cardinal in name only: he won’t be allowed to participate in public religious events or enjoy other privileges such as voting for pope.

A communiqué from the Dean of the College of Cardinals read: “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a Cardinal, expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Michelle Boorstein March 20

The Vatican announced Friday that a Scottish cardinal accused of sexual misconduct will lose all the rights and privileges of that high office following his resignation — the first time a cardinal has resigned since the 1920s.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien was Britain’s senior Catholic cleric until he stepped down from his regular duties in 2013 after allegations surfaced that he had made sexual advances to a number of priests. On Friday, the Vatican announced that O’Brien would retain the title of cardinal but would not be allowed to participate in public religious events or have the rights and privileges of a cardinal, such as voting for pope.

[Past coverage: Cardinal Keith O’Brien leaves Scotland under Vatican pressure]

Reaction from clergy abuse survivors to the arrangement, which came after unusual private meetings with Pope Francis, wasn’t immediately available. It also wasn’t immediately clear Friday whether Francis demanded O’Brien’s resignation.

The Tablet, a British Catholic publication, reported Friday that a church investigator’s report on the O’Brien case was “hot enough to burn the varnish” off the pope’s desk.

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KANSAS
KMBZ

MISSION, Kan. — For Peter Saunders of London it hits close to home. He’s an abuse survivor and sits on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Saunders told a British newspaper, if someone like Finn isn’t removed immediately, the panel would be a pointless exercise.

Finn was convicted in 2012 of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Bill Tammeus writes for the “Faith Matters” blog and the National Catholic Reporter. He tells KMBZ that Saunders’s statement could carry some weight.

“You get a little cautious about what’s actually gonna happen,” Tammeus said. “I think pressure is building and I hope it results in his removal soon.”

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MASSACHUSETTS/FLORIDA
PRWeb

Merrimack Valley Productions Has Announced The Documentary – BASTA – No pity – No shame – No silence, will be shown Sunday March 29th at The Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center as part of The Fort Myers Film Festival. (BASTA ~ “Enough!” in Italian).

Attempting to battle the cover-up, shame and silence of clergy sexual abuse, three survivors from Boston, Massachusetts travel to Rome reaching behind the secret walls of The Vatican. Their week long effort becomes a decade long mission that exposes mind blowing statistics and unexpected global response.

BASTA – No Pity – No Shame – No Silence is a film documenting the emotional journey taken by simple men detailing their attempts to reach behind and beyond the Vatican walls in search of help, hope & aid in healing a nation reeling from the effects of the clergy abuse crisis. A decade after starting on a personal journey for justice, one man finds that success isn’t always defined by achieving his goal, sometimes it’s defined by the attempt itself. And sometimes, in that attempt, you also find out who you are.

The unlikely film producer of BASTA is Gary Bergeron, 52, a carpenter by trade, who lives in the greater Boston area. Gary and his brother came forward to their parents in 2002 about their abuse at the hands of a Boston priest. Gary consequently discovered his 77 year old father had also been abused by his priest. “Finding out that two generations of my family had lived with this painful secret was a pivotal moment. I realized that not only was I a victim of clergy sexual abuse, I was also the brother of a clergy abuse victim and the son of a clergy abuse victim. I decided to do whatever was necessary to make sure that I would never be the father of a clergy abuse victim. Regardless of the consequences, the Vatican was the next step,” said Bergeron who was recently awarded “Best New Director” for his work on BASTA.

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SCOTLAND
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor March 20, 2015

A Scottish cardinal who stepped down as an archbishop in 2013 amid revelations of sexual misconduct now has renounced his rights and privileges as a cardinal, although he will retain the title, the Vatican announced Friday.

Though not quite unprecedented, the specter of a Catholic prelate all but losing his privileges as a member of the College of Cardinals is exceedingly rare, with the last such case coming in 1927.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, 77, originally quit his post as archbishop in February 2013 following accusations published in Scotland’s The Observer that he had engaged in sexual relations with four men, three priests at the time and one former priest, dating back to the 1980s.

One of the men, who was not identified in the newspaper reports, alleged that the degree of control a superior has over subordinate priests made it hard for him to refuse O’Brien’s demands.

“He [the bishop] has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold … he controls every aspect of your life,” the priest was quoted as saying.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Mar 20, 2015 / 05:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In a rare move, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien from the rights and duties of a cardinal, the Vatican announced on Friday.

“As most people are aware, Pope Francis is a good and prayerful man whose character embodies justice and mercy. I am confident therefore that the decision of the Holy Father is fair, equitable and proportionate,” Archbishop Leo Cushley of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh in a March 20 statement.

“Cardinal O’Brien’s behaviour distressed many, demoralised faithful Catholics and made the Church less credible to those who are not Catholic. I therefore acknowledge and welcome his apology to those affected by his behaviour and also to the people of Scotland, especially the Catholic community.”

Cardinal O’Brien stood down as Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh in March 2013 at the age of 74 amid media claims of inappropriate sexual behaviour with other men which allegedly took place in the 1980s.

After the claims surfaced that February, the cardinal’s request for retirement – originally submitted to Benedict XVI in November 2012 for reasons due to age and health – was accepted immediately by Benedict, going into effect Feb. 25.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien following a meeting between the two.

It is understood that he will be reduced to strictly private life and no longer perform the key duties of a Cardinal, it has been confirmed.

The Cardinal, had been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Vatican, after he was forced to resign in February 2013 after three serving priests and one former priest come forward with allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’.

In what is an unprecedented action, Cardinal O’Brien has now removed himself from the key duties that pertain to the office of Cardinal and the election of any future Pope.

In a statement Cardinal O’Brien, the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, echoed his sentiments from February 2013 when the allegations first emerged: “I wish to repeat the apology which I made to the Catholic Church and the people of Scotland some two years ago now on 3rd March 2013. I then said that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me. For that I am deeply sorry. I thank Pope Francis for his fatherly care of me and of those I have offended in any way. I will continue to play no part in the public life of the Church in Scotland; and will dedicate the rest of my life in retirement, praying for those I have offended in any way.”

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SCOTLAND
Belfast News Letter

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien has again apologised for his “sexual conduct” after formally resigning from his role in a meeting with Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Brien stepped down from the archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

He issued an apology at the time, saying ‘’there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me’’.

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SCOTLAND
Evening Times

Two years after he stood down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh after admitting sexual relationships dating back decades, Pope Francis has ordered the Cardinal no longer perform any public, religious or civil duties associated with the title.

The unprecedented move will be seen as a humiliation of the former leading cleric and will prevent him taking any future role in the selection of any new Pope.

The move has been welcomed by the Catholic Church in Scotland however, he will be allowed to retain in his Red Hat and is expected to stay in his temporary residence in north east England.

The sanction confirms the Vatican has now formally accepted the claims of the four priests who claimed Cardinal O’Brien’s had been guilty of inappropriate sexual conduct with them.

A further seminarian also launched a civil action against the church claiming Cardinal O’Brien had made sexual contact with him in the late 1970s.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a Cardinal, expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer. With this provision, His Holiness 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.

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SCOTLAND
STV

By Alastair Brian
20 March 2015

Disgraced cardinal Keith O’Brien has stepped down from his duties following a meeting with Pope Francis, the church has announced.

The cardinal’s resignation comes after allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” were revealed in 2013.

The Catholic Church in Scotland welcomed the decision and confirmed he had removed himself from the key duties of cardinal including the election of the Pope.

Cardinal O’Brien will also be reduced to a strictly private life with no further participation in any public, religious or civil events.

Archbishop Leo Cushley of St Andrews and Edinburgh said: “Cardinal O’Brien’s behaviour distressed many, demoralised faithful Catholics and made the Church less credible to those who are not Catholic. I therefore acknowledge and welcome his apology to those affected by his behaviour and also to the people of Scotland, especially the Catholic community.”

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic Observer

Confirmation from Church this afternoon the that former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will continue to lead a ‘simple’ and ‘quiet’ life he adopted—following an admission in 2013 of inappropriate behaviour and his official resignation—but retains his red hat

Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien following a meeting between the two.

It has been confirmed this afternoon that the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh will continue to observer the strictly private life he has lived since he resigned in February 2013 before the last Papal election. He will no longer performing the key duties of a cardinal —such as holding Pontifical Commission office or attending or participating in consistories or conclaves—but retains his ‘red hat.’

Pope Francis has asked Cardinal O’Brien (above) to keep living a simple and quiet life following the cardinal’s admission of behaviour unbecoming of his office.

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SCOTLAND
Catholic Herald

It is the first time a cardinal has resigned since 1927

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has renounced all the rights and privileges of being a cardinal, the Vatican announced today.

It is understood he will retain the title of cardinal but none of the powers associated with it.

A Vatican statement said: “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a Cardinal, expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of St Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer. With this provision, His Holiness 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.”

Following the Vatican announcement Cardinal O’Brien said: “I wish to repeat the apology which I made to the Catholic Church and the people of Scotland some two years ago now on March 3 2013. I then said that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me. For that I am deeply sorry.”

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia ai diritti e alle prerogative del cardinalato, espresse nei canoni 349, 353 e 356 del Codice di Diritto Canonico, presentata, al termine di un lungo itinerario di preghiera, da Sua Eminenza il signor Cardinale Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, Arcivescovo emerito di Saint Andrews and Edinburgh. Con questo provvedimento, Sua Santità manifesta a tutti fedeli della Chiesa in Scozia la sua sollecitudine pastorale e li incoraggia a continuare con fiducia il cammino di rinnovamento e di riconciliazione.

* * *

The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of the rights and privileges of a Cardinal, expressed in canons 349, 353 and 356 of the Code of Canon Law, presented by His Eminence Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, after a long period of prayer. With this provision, His Holiness 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.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Friday 20 March 2015

Gerry Braiden
Senior reporter

SHAMED Cardinal Keith O’Brien has been removed from all public life and forced into retirement, the Vatican is due to announce.

Two years after he stood down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh after admitting sexual relationships dating back decades, Pope Francis has ordered the Cardinal no longer perform any public, religious or civil duties associated with the title.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Standard

MARK ZIMMERMANN, Editor
Friday, March 20, 2015

Pope Francis on March 20 named Father Mario Eduardo Dorsonville-Rodriguez, 54, as auxiliary bishop of Washington, to assist Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl in the pastoral care of the 620,000-member archdiocese.

Bishop-elect Dorsonville serves as vice president of missions for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington and as director of the Spanish Catholic Center. Catholic Charities is the social ministry outreach arm of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Spanish Catholic Center offers medical and dental care, job training programs, English classes, a food pantry and case management services to immigrants from around the world.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Bishop-elect Dorsonville was ordained in 1985 as a priest of the Archdiocese of Bogotá. He was incardinated as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington in 1999.

The Archdiocese of Washington in a press release said that Cardinal Wuerl would introduce Bishop-elect Dorsonville to the media at a press conference that morning. His appointment was publicized in Washington that morning by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha nominato Vescovo Ausiliare di Washington (U.S.A.) il Rev.do Mario Eduardo Dorsonville-Rodríguez, del clero della medesima arcidiocesi, Direttore dello Spanish Catholic Center e Vice President for Mission of Catholic Charities a Washington, assegnandogli la sede titolare vescovile di Kearney.

Rev.do Mario Eduardo Dorsonville-Rodríguez

Il Rev.do Mario Eduardo Dorsonville-Rodríguez è nato il 31 ottobre 1960 in Bogotá (Colombia). Ha frequentato il Seminario maggiore dell’arcidiocesi di Bogotá, San José, ottenendo il Baccalaureato in Filosofia (1981) e in Teologia (1985). Ha ottenuto la Licenza in Teologia presso la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá (1991) e, poi, il D. Min. presso l’Università Cattolica d’America a Washington (1995).

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate

By Patriot Ledger

Posted Mar. 20, 2015

SCITUATE – A group of parishioners who have held vigil in a closed Scituate church for more than a decade have been ordered to appear in court after refusing to abandon the building earlier this month.

The group, which calls itself the Friends of St. Frances Cabrini, said it was served with a summons Thursday from the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston ordering it to appear in Norfolk Superior Court on Friday afternoon. The group said the archbishop is seeking a preliminary injunction against the group, which has refused to leave the Hood Road church it has been occupied for 10 years despite a threat of legal action from the archdiocese last month.

“The Friends stand ready and prepared to meet this next challenge,” the group said in a statement Friday. “The Friends intend to take advantage of every legal avenue and process available to them to fully defend this civil legal action brought against them by the Archbishop and Archdiocese of Boston. ”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Fox DC

By Emily Miller, FOX 5 Chief Investigative Reporter

WASHINGTON – The prosecution said in court Thursday that a D.C. police officer and pastor facing sex abuse charges was demoted in 2008 for sexually harassing women in the police department.

Speaking exclusively to FOX 5’s Emily Miller, a retired officer has accused Darrell Best of inappropriate conduct. And in a separate case, a retired sergeant said she was punished for reporting sexual harassment by a different superior.

Sgt. Nanette Harris and officer Valarie Eason worked for the D.C. Police Department for over 25 years before retiring.

Before being demoted, Best was Eason’s sergeant. One night he came up to her while she was alone at the station and made offensive comments, she told FOX 5.

“Stuff like, I would like to get in between your legs… You know, something like, I bet you can work your hips… I told him don’t talk to me that way,” Eason said.

After his arrest, Eason felt compelled to tell her story for the first time.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

There was a time when the Catholic Church knew exactly what to do when one of its clergy molested a child.

“A cleric or monk who sexually molests youths or boys is to be publicly whipped, his head shaved, spat upon, and kept in prison for six months in chains on a diet of bread and water,” wrote Basil the Great, the Greek bishop of Caesarea in the 4th century.

He also recommended the offender be watched and not let anywhere near young people once released.

Basil’s solution is extreme by today’s standards, but it leaves you asking how, 1600 years later, secrecy and cover-up became the Catholic Church’s modus operandi with errant clergy.

So overarching is the church’s operating style that it’s worldwide news when a Catholic archbishop in Australia – Philip Wilson of Adelaide – is charged with concealing the crime of child sex abuse.

NSW Police allege Wilson knew about it, yet failed to report priest Jim Fletcher for abusing boys in the 1970s, when both were working and sharing a house in the Maitland Diocese, near Newcastle.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Catholic priest who says he was interested in finding out “what makes young males tick” has been jailed for at least 10 months for possessing child pornography.

Fr Stanislaus Hogan, 70, had 1555 child pornography images, as well as magazines, videos and books, in his locked bedroom at the Jesuit St Ignatius College in Athelstone in Adelaide.

The former teacher pleaded guilty in the District Court to an aggravated count of possessing child pornography and to using a carriage service to access child pornography.

In jailing Hogan on Friday for two-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of 10 months, Judge Peter Brebner said the priest had assembled the child pornography collection over a long period.

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CHILE
IPS

By Marianela Jarroud

SANTIAGO, Mar 20 2015 (IPS) – Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Latin America are taking the first steps towards grouping together in order to bolster their search for justice – a struggle where they have found a new ally: filmmaking.

“Besides entertaining us, movies urge people not to forget, to memorise what is happening to us as a society,” Chilean filmmaker Matías Lira told IPS.

He added that, with respect to the sexual abuse committed within the Catholic Church, “the media has a pending task, and society has a duty.”

Based on this premise, Lira directed “Karadima’s Forest”, based on real events. The film, which comes out in Chile in April, tells the story of a priest who sexually and psychologically abused dozens of boys and young men, and who was one of the country’s most influential priests thanks to his enormous charisma and his reputation as a “saint” – which was even his nickname.

There is great expectation surrounding Lira’s film in Chile, a country with a highly conservative society where 67 percent of the population of 16.7 million identifies as Catholic.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY JOHN CASSIDY – 20 MARCH 2015

A seven-year-old boy fell victim to a paedophile priest after the clergyman went to his primary school and asked him to become an altar boy, a court has heard.

Disgraced former Catholic priest Daniel Curran will learn next week if he is to serve any more time in custody after he admitted sexually assaulting the boy at his family cottage in Co Down over 20 years ago.

Curran (64) of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to gross indecency and indecent assault at Downpatrick Crown Court.

The offences took place between August 1990 and August 1993. Prosecution QC David McDowell told the court that the victim was a pupil in north Belfast when Fr Curran asked his teacher if he wanted to become an altar boy at St Paul’s Church.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 20, 2015

Joanne McCarthy

In January 1996, as Hunter priest Philip Wilson prepared to be made the Bishop of Wollongong, a young police officer who would go on to become NSW Nationals leader, Troy Grant, interviewed senior Hunter Catholic priest Monsignor Patrick Cotter.

Grant wanted to know what Cotter knew of child sex allegations involving fellow priest Vince Ryan.

Individuals need to speak and act. That can only happen … where speaking and acting is not only supported but encouraged.

The late Cotter, who was 82 at the time, denied that anguished parents of boys as young as 5, 6 and 7 had told him in the early 1970s about serious allegations against Ryan. A 25-page transcript of the interview shows Cotter repeatedly declined to answer questions on legal advice. He told the then Senior Constable Grant, “I don’t wish to answer that”.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA/POLONIA
Univision

Wojciech Gil, acusado de abusar sexualmente de varios adolescentes en la comunidad dominicana de Juncalito

Este viernes arranca en una corte de Polonia el juicio contra el exsacerdote polaco Wojciech Gil, acusado de abusar sexualmente de varios adolescentes en la comunidad dominicana de Juncalito (norte) donde cumplía su misión pastoral, informó la Procuraduría General de República Dominicana.

Un comunicado de la Corte Regional en Wolomin remitido a la Procuraduría General de la República, se informó que la audiencia sobre Gil, conocido en Jucalito como padre Alberto, fue fijada para los días 20 y 25 de marzo y continuará el 10 y 24 de abril.

El procurador general de la República, Francisco Domínguez Brito; y la procuradora fiscal titular de Santiago, Luisa Liranzo, fueron notificados de la audiencia a través del Departamento de Cooperación Internacional de la fiscalía polaca, según la información de la PGR.

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POLSKA
TVN 24

“We would like to hear the truth from Wojciech G.”]

Prawie dwa lata po wybuchu afery pedofilskiej na Dominikanie z udziałem polskich księży, w Polsce rusza proces jednego z głównych bohaterów skandalu. Wojciech G. po raz pierwszy stanie przed sądem w Warszawie. Grozi mu nawet 15 lat więzienia. Prokuratura jest przekonana, że ksiądz jest winny.

– Mamy materiał dowodowy, który nie pozostawia żadnych wątpliwości, że doszło tu do przestępstw przeciwko wolności seksualnej – mówi Przemysław Nowak, rzecznik Prokuratury Okręgowej w Warszawie.

Oskarżenie nie ma wątpliwości

Ksiądz oskarżony o molestowanie nieletnich dłużej posiedzi w areszcie. Kiedy proces?
Sąd przedłużył… czytaj dalej »

Śledczy postawili księdzu dziesięć zarzutów. Kapłan jest oskarżony o wykorzystywanie seksualne sześciu chłopców podczas swojej posługi na Dominikanie i dwóch nieletnich w Polsce, przed wyjazdem na Karaiby. Akt oskarżenia mówi także o posiadaniu pornografii dziecięcej i nielegalnej broni.

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POLAND
The News

The trial of a Polish priest accused of sexually abusing children in Poland and the Dominican Republic began on Friday morning in Wołomin, near Warsaw.

Father Wojciech G. (full name withheld under Polish privacy laws) could serve 15 years in prison if found guilty at the district court.

The hearings will take place behind closed doors, with no access given to journalists.

In October 2014 the priest was charged with committing 10 crimes, 8 of which relate to the sexual abuse of boys below the age of 15.

Two acts were allegedly committed in 2000-2001 in Poland, the others at various times over the years 2009-2013, in the Dominican Republic.

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AUSTRALIA
Perth Now

What Archbishop Philip Wilson knew about paedophile priest James Fletcher in 1976 will be tested in court next month

MICHAEL MCGUIRE THE ADVERTISER MARCH 20, 2015

DANIEL Feenan was born in 1976. The same year a newly ordained priest by the name of Philip Wilson was living in Maitland, in country NSW, with another priest called James Fletcher.

Fletcher was a paedophile.

Through the 1970s Fletcher was a serial preyer on young, defenceless boys and was left to run unchecked by the Catholic Church.

By 1989, when Feenan was 12, Fletcher was still on the prowl and the young boy was to become just another in a long line of the priest’s victims.

The question is: Why wasn’t Fletcher stopped? Did the Catholic Church turn a blind eye to the monster in its midst or was it just oblivious?

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MICHIGAN
The Detroit News

Associated Press March 20, 2015

Detroit — The men who preach from the holy book want a closer look at the financial books.

Three priests lost an appeal this week in an effort to get more details about a pension fund at the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.

They wanted a Wayne County judge to order an accounting of the fund for priests. They’re concerned that it might not be healthy enough to pay benefits when they retire. But Judge John Gillis Jr. ruled in favor of the Archdiocese.

The Michigan appeals court agreed, saying the priests have no right to intervene in management of the pension fund. The court noted that the priests at least got access to years of financial data because of the lawsuit.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Loukas Founten

An Adelaide Jesuit priest and teacher found with more than 1,500 pornographic images of boys has been jailed for more than two years.

Stanislaus Hogan, 70, was found with books, magazines and videos of young and teenage boys, in his private quarters at Saint Ignatius’ College in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs in August 2013.

He was on the college staff at the time of his arrest.

Hogan told the Adelaide District Court he used some of the books and videos as a way to help understand both paedophiles and himself.

Judge Peter Brebner told Hogan the production of child pornography meant children were sexually exploited and his actions had helped create a market for such material.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Thursday, March 19, 2015

By: Erin Smith

The Archdiocese of Boston is facing another mounting financial crisis, with a staggering $74 million in unfunded pensions for priests — and a growing number of aging clergy heading into retirement, the Herald has learned.

The archdiocese currently has enough funds on hand to cover only about 37 percent of its more than $117 million in retirement obligations for priests, according to its fiscal 2014 financial filings for priest retirement benefits in the Clergy Health and Retirement Trust.

“It’s not a looming crisis. It’s happening right now,” said Charles Zech, director of the Center for Church Management and Business Ethics at Villanova University.

“The numbers jump out at you in Boston because they’re so large, but most dioceses are struggling with this,” Zech said. “Priests are living longer than anticipated, and they haven’t been as smart in investing as they should have been. The church investments haven’t been keeping up.”

In the past decade, the percentage of so-called “senior” priests receiving retirement payments from the archdiocese has jumped from 28 to 38 percent of the total clergy in the archdiocese, according to the trust.

In fiscal 2014, the average age of active priests in Boston was 58, and church officials estimated that 134 of the 392 active priests would reach retirement age within the next decade.

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CHILE
La Tercera

Víctimas de Karadima por Barros: “Con dolor tenemos que resignarnos ante esta decisión del Papa Francisco”

[Victims of Karadima by Barros: “With pain we must resign ourselves to this decision of Pope Francis”]

por A. Baeza – 19/03/2015

A través de un comunicado las víctimas de Fernando Karadima, James Hamilton, Juan Carlos Cruz y José Andrés Murillo, entregaron sus impresiones por ya la inminente asunción como obispo de Osorno de Juan Barros Madrid.

Desde su elección hemos puesto toda nuestra esperanza en el Papa Francisco. Nos ha animado con sus palabras respecto del abuso sexual cuando le dijo a los obispos que: ‘Hay que continuar haciendo todo lo posible para erradicar de la iglesia la plaga de los abusos sexuales a menores y abrir una vía de reconciliación y curación para quienes han sufrido abusos’. Llamó también a ‘los obispos diocesanos y superiores mayores de congregaciones, deben verificar que las parroquias e instituciones de la Iglesia garanticen la seguridad de los menores y adultos vulnerables”, indican.

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ROME
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent March 19, 2015

ROME — Despite protests that appointment of a new bishop in Chile allegedly linked to the country’s most notorious abuser priest undercuts a “zero tolerance” stance, the country’s bishops’ conference issued a statement on Wednesday pledging support for the controversial prelate.

“Given the various manifestations” that have surrounded the appointment of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid to the small Osorno diocese, the bishops said, they wanted to vow “a spirit of faith and obedience to Pope Francis.”

The prelates said they were close to the priests, deacons, consecrated, and lay people of the diocese, “called by Jesus to be disciples and missionaries, in communion with their shepherd.”

They expressed their commitment to continue praying so that the faithful and the bishop can walk together “being one in the Lord.”

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MINNESOTA
Bankruptcy Review

Parishes of Bankrupt Archdiocese Seek Greater Representation

Tom Corrigan
March 19, 2015

About 113 parishes of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis want their own voice as creditors in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case, a development that is “troubling” to victims of alleged clergy sexual abuse and their advocates, who say another creditors’ committee would effectively give the archdiocese a place on both sides of the bargaining table.

In papers filed Wednesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Paul, Minn., the parishes are seeking increased representation in their bid to reach a settlement with victims and to avoid future sexual abuse lawsuits. If their request is approved by a bankruptcy judge, any legal fees generated by a separate committee would also be paid by the archdiocese, sparing the parishes a significant expense….

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WUSA

[with video]

Bruce Leshan, WUSA March 19, 2015

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — The D.C. police officer accused of sexually assaulting two teenagers had twice been in trouble earlier for alleged sexual misconduct.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah McClellan says Officer Darrell Best attacked a 20-year-old police cadet at the police academy in 2007. He allegedly cornered her in a cloakroom, shut the door and fondled her breasts and buttocks. Then, in October 2008 at the Fifth District police station, Best allegedly told another officer he wanted to take her to a hotel room and give her a massage – and then hit her buttocks. In that case, police supervisors demoted him from sergeant to officer.

That was all years before the latest allegation that he attacked two teens in the last few months.

In court Thursday, Best waived his right to a preliminary hearing on four counts, including sexual assault of a minor while armed. The judge said he was admitting that prosecutors had probable cause to believe he had forced himself on a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old.

Best allegedly attacked the 17-year-old in his office at police headquarters and the 16-year-old in his office at a Southeast D.C. church where he serves as founder and senior pastor. The judge called him a danger to the community and refused to set bail that might get him out of jail pending trial.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

D.C. officer accused of sexually assaulting 2 teens is denied bail

By Paulina Firozi March 19

A D.C. police officer and pastor accused of sexually assaulting two teenagers has a history of sexual misconduct involving women, including improperly touching a female cadet at the police academy, a prosecutor said in court Thursday.

Prosecutors mentioned the incidents as they successfully sought to persuade a D.C. Superior Court judge to order that Darrell Lavon Best, 45, continue to be held without bond. Best also waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Best, who has been on the police force for 25 years, is accused of assaulting two teenagers — a 17-year-old inside police headquarters on Indiana Avenue NW and a 16-year-old inside his church in Southeast Washington — while wearing his badge and gun. He is charged with first- and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, first-degree sexual abuse while armed and third-degree sexual abuse with force.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
CBS DC

WASHINGTON (WNEW) – A pastor and D.C. police officer charged with sexually abusing minors is going to remain in jail without bond.

Darrell Best, 45, appeared in Superior Court Thursday.

He is accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls, a 17-year-old at MPD headquarters and a 16-year-old at the church he founded in Southeast.

In addition to those allegations, the prosecution says in 2007 and 2008 Best also made unwanted advances toward two female officers, including a cadet. Best was demoted as a result.

Metropolitan Police Department says Best is currently on paid administrative leave, pending the outcome of the investigation.

The prosecution suggested in court there may be more victims, saying Best contacted a third young female and asked her for erotic photos.

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SPAIN
Newsweek

BY FELICITY CAPON
3/19/15

A Spanish priest and an exorcist have been charged with gender violence and causing injury and mistreatment after the exorcist performed repeated exorcisms on an anorexic teenage girl.

A judge in Burgos has called for the arrest of exorcist Jesús Hernández Sahagún, the official exorcist of Valladolid, along with the girl’s priest, after she endured 13 exorcisms while still a minor.

The chain of events began in 2012, according to the Spanish newspaper El País, when the girl began to suffer from anorexia. Her parents, convinced that she had become possessed by a devil, decided to have her exorcised, and appealed to their priest for help. She was then tied up and had crucifixes hung above her bed, an ordeal which later led her to attempt suicide.

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MARYLAND
Baptist News

By Bob Allen

A mother who says her 3-year-old daughter was sexually abused at a prominent D.C.-area evangelical church urged Maryland lawmakers March 12 to extend the statute of limitations for bringing a civil suit against a child sexual abuser.

Pam Palmer — a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit alleging abuse and cover-up at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., and parent organization Sovereign Grace Ministries — told the Judicial Proceedings Committee of the Maryland General Assembly her case was dismissed in 2013, primarily due to the state’s current statute of limitations.

Currently the law requires victims of child sex abuse to file a lawsuit within seven years of turning 18. The problem with that, Palmer and other witnesses testified, is that because of the peculiar psychological impact of violation by a family member, minister or trusted neighbor, many victims never talk about it until later in life than age 25.

“Sex abuse survivors often face lifelong psychological trauma, unable to deal with it until their 30s, 40s or even 50s,” Palmer said. “Sex abuse survivors have a high incidence of psychological disorders and suicide attempts, often needing years of therapy. When the abuse is incestuous, there are complex family issues involved that can delay reporting. When there is pressure to not report from religious leaders, it can take decades for victims to break free from indoctrination and come forward.”

Palmer says when she learned her 3-year-old daughter was sexually abused in 1993 her pastors advised her not to call the police. Six months later, the dismissed lawsuit claimed, the child was re-victimized by a “reconciliation” meeting organized with her abuser “as if a 3-year-old was supposed to forgive the perpetrator.”

“I was absolutely terrified,” daughter Renee Gambi remembered last June while distributing fliers outside the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Baltimore. “As soon as I could, I crawled under my mom’s chair.”

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CANADA
CBC News

A former priest found guilty of sexually abusing children in Igloolik three decades ago was back in Nunavut court earlier this week to face outstanding charges from Alberta.

Eric Dejaeger was sentenced in February to 19 years of jail time for 32 sex crimes against boys and girls in Igloolik. Dejaeger was a priest in the Nunavut community between 1978 and 1982 when the crimes were committed.

Dejaeger is in court to face three sex-related charges stemming from a period in the mid-1970s, when he was studying at the Newman Theological College in Edmonton.

The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench agreed to move Dejaeger’s case to Nunavut, after he requested to have his Alberta charges heard in the territory.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

[with video]

By JOANNE McCARTHY March 17, 2015

COMMENT

THE charging of Archbishop Philip Wilson for allegedly concealing a child sex allegation against Hunter priest Jim Fletcher is significant for anyone who has been sexually abused as a child, whether in an institution or by a family member.

It says that no one is above the law. It says that child sexual abuse is a crime and is ultimately about the abuse of power.

And what we have seen so distressingly since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is that many, many children over many decades have reported that they were sexually abused, and many adults in many institutions beyond the Catholic Church have failed them.

It is fitting, if immensely saddening, that the most senior Catholic clergyman in the world to be charged with concealing the child sex crimes of another priest should be from the Hunter region.

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ALABAMA
School Bullying Council

Hallie Dixon … facing contempt motion.

Lawyers for a former St. Pius X School student who alleges that administrators failed to stop her severe bullying have asked a judge to hold Baldwin County’s district attorney in contempt for failing to appear at a deposition last week.

The judge in the case on Monday set a March 20 hearing to consider that and other motions.

The plaintiff’s lawyers subpoenaed Baldwin County District Attorney Hallie Dixon in order to ask her questions about a report she received regarding an allegation that the pastor had an improper relationship with a teenager when he was a priest in Baldwin County.

Dixon did not appear at the deposition. According to the request seeking sanctions, Chief Assistant District Attorney Rushing Payne sent an email nearly an hour after the scheduled start of the deposition informing lawyers that Dixon had a court hearing in a capital murder case and would not attend.

The attorneys wrote in their contempt motion that they offered to accommodate Dixon by rescheduling the deposition for later in the day. Payne sent a follow-up email indicating that Dixon did not intend to submit to the questioning.

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SPAIN
International Business Times

By Samantha Payne
March 19, 2015

An anorexic Spanish teenager endured 13 exorcisms because her religious parents were convinced her eating disorder had something to do with her being possessed by the devil.

The girl, who has not been named, attempted suicide after being subjected to the physical abuse, which involved her being tied up and having crucifixes positioned over her head, reported El País.

A judge in Burgos called for the arrest of Jesús Hernández Sahagún, the official exorcist in Valladolid, a city situated in Castile and Leon in northwestern Spain. The charges against the exorcist include gender violence, causing injury and mistreatment, during the series of exorcisms dating back as far back as 2012 reported El Diario de Burgos

According to El País, the girl’s parents were convinced she was under the control of the devil and arranged for the exorcisms. They told the court that the exorcist was aware that the young girl was having medical treatment for her eating disorder.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington

[with video]

A Washington, D.C., police officer charged with sexual assaulting two teen girls, one of them at police headquarters and the other at his church, now faces accusations from a third victim, prosecutors said Thursday.

Officer Darrell Best, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing

Best is facing multiple charges in connection with the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl at police headquarters and a 16-year-old girl at the church where he serves as pastor.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP

By WTOP Staff
March 19, 2015

WASHINGTON – A D.C. police officer and pastor charged with sexually abusing two teen girls waived his preliminary hearing Thursday and remains in jail without bail.

Darrell Best, 45 of Upper Marlboro, is on paid leave from the Metropolitan Police Department and is taking a sabbatical from the D.C. church, where he also worked as a pastor, since he was arrested Monday.

An assistant pastor is now running the God of a Second Chance Ministry Church in Southeast D.C.

Best appeared in court and whispered to his attorney during the short hearing, during which the defense requested that Best to be placed on house arrest. Best appeared annoyed when the judged ordered that he remained held in jail.

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CHILE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 19, 2015

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

We in SNAP are deeply grateful for every person who is joining us in opposing Bishop Juan Barros’ promotion to head the Diocese of Osorno in southern Chile – victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, politicians and Catholics. Barros faces “allegations that he helped cover up – and at times participated in – abuse against minors by his longtime mentor, a priest called Fernando Karadima.” (The Guardian)

All too often, public officials take a “hands off” approach when Catholic officials act in hurtful ways. And all too often, parishioners feel and act powerless when the church hierarchy makes hurtful moves. In this egregious case, we are encouraged to see so many concerned individuals and organizations stepping up and speaking out.

Regardless of what happens to Barros, for the safety of kids, the healing of victims and the sake of simple justice, it’s important that those who want to stop clergy sex crimes and cover ups take action. Sitting passively back and wishing things were different helps no one. We hope more people will speak out and contest Vatican officials’ continual and reckless promotion of wrongdoers.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 18, 2015

PHILADELPHIA – Mark Haynes, 56, of West Chester, PA, was indicted on March 12, 2015, on charges of child exploitation, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger. Haynes, a former parochial Vicar, is charged with using the Internet to entice a minor to engage in sexual conduct, transfer of obscene material to a minor, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography, and destruction or concealment of evidence.

According to court documents, around 2010, Haynes posed as a 16-year old girl named “Katie” on a teen dating website. As “Katie,” Haynes would meet minor girls online and allegedly request that they take and send sexually explicit pictures. Haynes is also charged with distributing other images and videos of children being sexually assaulted over the Internet in 2014, again posing as “Katie.”

If convicted of all charges, Haynes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison with a maximum sentence of life, possible fines, and at least five years up to a lifetime of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Chester County Criminal Investigative Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Rotella.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

An Indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

By C.T. Wilson
Maryland General Assembly

Senate Bill 668 would extend the statute of limitations for bringing a civil suit against a child sexual abuse

Child sexual abuse is a heinous crime. Maryland law, as is, protects those who destroy lives, families, and whole communities. It is a crime that will forever change and affect the lives of children who have been subjected to it.

Statistics show one in five girls, as well as one in 20 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18, according to data from the Crimes Against Children Research Center. Nearly three quarters of victims do not tell anyone about the abuse for at least a year, 45 percent of victims do not tell anyone for at least five years, and some never disclose it. In 56 percent of the cases the victim is abused by someone familiar to them, such as a family member or an acquaintance. This fact makes it difficult for the victim to come forward.

Many victims who have suffered through child sexual abuse experience long-term emotional and psychological effects. Many children who continuously endure extreme trauma in their childhood years struggle in certain areas of brain development and live with the weight of their trauma every single day. As time goes on, and life continues to move forward, many victims find it more and more challenging to cope with these issues. It is extremely difficult to say how much time victims will need to assimilate and work through these effects. Some may need a few years, while others may need an entire lifetime.

One thing is certain: In many cases, victims will need therapy, likely for the rest of their lives. A civil action against their abuser, if won, may help to lighten the economic burden of therapy and other necessary treatments to work through the issues they may be suffering through.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By R. Scott Moxley Wed., Mar. 18 2015

If you’re a liberal, Allan Bartlett most definitely holds an opposing political view, but the amicable Irvine resident and city finance commission chairman isn’t your typical, knee-jerk Orange County Republican. Sure, he’ll roll his eyes at the mention of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, but in a county in which partisanship almost always trumps principle, regardless of party affiliation, Bartlett is a rare breed. He’s a self-employed businessman and relentless political activist who is unafraid to challenge his own party and its characters, even powerful ones, when they screw up.
To read all of our OC People 2015 profiles, click here!

In 2012, Bartlett’s reasons for leading an underdog revolt on the local Republican Party central committee to deny GOP Congressman John Campbell an endorsement were twofold. He loathed Campbell’s vote for President George W. Bush’s 2008 plan to send taxpayer money to private, Wall Street companies that made lousy investments. Worse, in Bartlett’s view, was the wealthy congressman’s elitist attitude that resulted in shunning contact with residents.

“He didn’t want to get his hands dirty with us,” says Bartlett, who, incredibly, managed to gather the votes to block a sitting congressman’s endorsement. Campbell chose to not seek re-election in 2014. “He blamed not liking to take the trips back to D.C., but I like to think we had an impact on his decision.”

Other examples illustrate Bartlett’s independence. Though he grew up Catholic and graduated from Mater Dei High, he refused to remain silent about pedophile-priest scandals. Though a Republican, his libertarian leanings prompt him to loathe the Patriot Act and “NSA snooping” as sneaky assaults on freedom. Though an activist who supports real-estate development, he cherishes daily, 4-mile nature-trail walks near Irvine’s Shady Canyon. Though married to his gorgeous wife, Lynn, he isn’t alarmed by increasing legal protections for gay citizens. Though someone who gets misty-eyed looking at an American flag, he feels nothing but anger that “neo-conservatives” advocate a policy of “let’s go bomb people at the first sign of a problem overseas,” calling it “a colossal waste of lives and money.”

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CHILE
SS.CC

[Monsignor Juan Barros should resign.]

El nombramiento de Monseñor Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno nos ha dejado perplejos.

En primer lugar, porque no se ha tomado suficientemente en cuenta el hecho de que esté comprometido en las acusaciones de abusos realizadas en contra de Fernando Karadima; y, por tanto, su nombramiento no está en sintonía con la tolerancia cero que está queriendo instalar la Iglesia.

En segundo lugar, porque parece haber sido una decisión llevada adelante en solitario por el Nuncio Apostólico, sin el respaldo de la mayoría de los obispos de Chile. Cuesta entender cómo es posible que todavía se den este tipo de mecanismos, que llevan a una decisión con tan poco respaldo. Hay aquí algo disonante, que “desafina” en relación a los últimos nombramientos episcopales, que nos han parecido muy en la línea de lo que quiere el Papa Francisco. Nos cuesta creer que él confirmase este nombramiento si hubiese tenido todos los antecedentes sobre la mesa.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 19, 2015

Chris McGillion

Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide is not the Pope and he is not Cardinal George Pell. People need to remember this when digesting the news that he has been charged by NSW Police with concealing child sexual abuse while a priest in the Hunter region in the 1970s.

This is big news but not quite as big as many seem to be assuming and not for the same reasons.

Media coverage of the action against Archbishop Wilson has emphasised that he is the most senior Catholic prelate to have been charged by civil authorities in connection with child abuse anywhere in the world. That may be so but he is not the only senior Catholic prelate to have been hauled before the civil courts. In September 2012, for instance, Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph in the US state of Missouri was convicted of shielding an abusive priest in his diocese and given a two-year suspended sentence.

Ask any Australian Catholic who Bishop Robert Finn is and you will probably get a blank stare. Ask any American Catholic how much of an impact Finn’s conviction has had on his or her faith and the answer is probably “None at all”.

In many people’s minds the Catholic Church is defined by the bulk of its churches, schools, hospitals and assorted office blocks or by its rigid and highly public chain of organisational command. But the fact of the matter is that religious identity is deeply ingrained in culture and tradition and religious faith and practice is primarily a matter of intimate personal commitment.

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UNITED KINGDOM
London 24

Claims a ‘satanic cult’ in north London where peadophiles abused and murdered babies, drank their blood and wore shoes made from their skin have been dismissed by a High Court judge as ‘baseless’.

Mrs Justice Pauffley, who had been asked to investigate by Barnet social services, said detail of the claims has been circulating on the internet.

She said: “Specifically, it was said that babies were supplied from all over the world.

“They were bought, injected with drugs and then sent by TNT or DHL to London. The assertions were that babies had been abused, tortured and then sacrificed.

“Their throats were slit, blood was drunk and cult members would then dance wearing babies’ skulls (sometimes with blood and hair still attached”) on their bodies. …

Barnet Council had begun care proceedings in relation to the youngsters but Justice Pauffley said last September ‘lurid allegations of the most serious kind’ were drawn to the attention of police.

The two children, their mother and her partner said the father was the ‘cult leader’ – and other members included a headteacher, a priest, social workers and police.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

BY JOHN CASSIDY – 19 MARCH 2015

A disgraced former Catholic priest was will learn next week if he is to serve any more time in custody after he admitted sexually a young altar boy at his family cottage in Co Down over 20 years ago.

Reserving his decision today (Thursday) at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Piers Grant told Daniel Curran that he will pass sentence on Monday, March 23.

Curran (64), of Bryansford Avenue, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to one count of gross indecency towards a male child and also admitted a single charge of indecent assault on the same victim.

The offences took place between August 1990 and August 1993 at a cottage owned by his family in the seaside village of Tyrella, Co Down when the victim aged between seven and ten.

Prosecution QC David McDowell told the court that the victim was a pupil of a primary school in north Belfast when he was aged around seven years old.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 19, 2015

For more information: Melanie Jula Sakoda ( 925-708-6175 cell, melanie.sakoda@gmail.com ), Cappy Larson ( 415-637-2006 cell, cappy@rlarson.com ), David Clohessy ( 314-566-9790 cell, davidgclohessy@gmail.com )

Archbishop is “deceiving flock” group says

He’s been ousted and convicted of child sex crimes

Yet he’s started deceptive new website hiding those facts

SNAP: “Church officials should denounce him and warn congregants”

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Canadian Orthodox Church officials to order an archbishop who was convicted of child sex crimes to take down a deceptive new website. They are also begging them to publicly denounce the predator and warn their flocks about him.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) ruling body, the OCA’s synod of bishops, prodding them to inform church-goers that Archbishop Seraphim Storheim is “basically pretending he’s still head of the Canadian church.”

Last year, Storheim was convicted of sexually assaulting a boy who had come to visit him in Winnipeg in 1985. In October, his lawyer Jeff Gindin, said he’d appeal that verdict.

“According to Archbishop Seraphim’s new website, he is the ‘retired Archbishop of Ottawa,’” fumed Melanie Jula Sakoda of SNAP. “There is no mention of the fact that his retirement was the decision of the OCA’s synod and followed on the heels of his child sexual abuse conviction.”

“The site also omits telling its readers that in 2010 he was banned from administering the sacraments by that same synod,” added Cappy Larson, also of SNAP. “The archbishop even ignores the fact that the OCA has selected a new bishop for Ottawa!”

“When child predators are exposed, they do and say almost anything to maintain their power, prestige and access to kids,” said David Clohessy, the executive director of SNAP. “And when this happens, it’s crucial that other responsible adults share the truth and do everything possible to warn parents and the public about these dangerous and deceptive predators.”

SNAP wants the OCA to force Storheim to take down his website. They also want the bishops to publicly denounce the deception, and warn their members about the archbishop.

“Quite simply, Archbishop Seraphim’s site tries to legitimize him by listing him among the Orthodox bishops of Canada. He even positions himself at top of the list! The synod needs to put a quick end to this farce,” concluded Sakoda.

The URL for Storheim’s new website is http://archbishop-of-ottawa.org/

His list of Orthodox bishops in Canada can be found here: http://archbishop-of-ottawa.org/node/89

The text of SNAP’s letter, previously sent to the synod by email, is below, as is the list of hierarchs to whom it was sent.

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CHILE/ROME
The Guardian

Jonathan Franklin in Santiago and Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Tuesday 17 March 2015

Pope Francis’s vow to stamp out sexual abuse by priests – and the Catholic church’s decades-long cover-up of such scandals – is being tested following the appointment of a bishop in Chile who has been linked to a notorious abuse case.

Politicians and some church leaders in Chile have demanded the resignation of Juan Barros, the pope’s appointment as bishop of Osorno in southern Chile, following allegations that he helped cover up – and at times participated in – abuse against minors by his longtime mentor, a priest called Fernando Karadima.

The case has consequences far beyond Chile, given Pope Francis’s repeated promises to confront the abuse scandals. Victims’ rights activists are calling for the pontiff’s intervention in the case following an outcry by parishioners in the region.

So far, however, Barros appears to have the full weight of the Vatican behind him.

Priests in Osorno say the pope’s choice has left them “confused and irritated”.

In Santiago, the nation’s capital, Father Alex Vigueras, a priest in the congregation of the Sacred Hearts, said the appointment “is not attuned with the zero tolerance [policy on pedophilia] that is trying to be installed in the church”. …

Peter Saunders, a British abuse survivor who sits on a new papal commission to protect children, credits Pope Francis for being vocal about the abuse scandals. But he 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 in Chile.

Saunders has also been critical of the church’s handling of another case in Missouri, where Bishop Robert Finn has remained in power even after he was convicted of failing to report clerical child sex abuse.

“If we don’t see real change, if we don’t see the likes of Bishop Finn removed immediately and this case in Chile being resolved, then the committee will be a pointless exercise,” Saunders told The Guardian.

The Vatican declined to comment.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 19

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

A member of Pope Francis’ new child sex abuse panel is calling for the removal of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. It’s the first time a Catholic official is publicly and explicitly pushing for Finn’s ouster.

[The Guardian]

Peter Saunders of London was tapped by Pope Francis to be on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors . He founded and heads a charity for abuse victims called NAPAC (The National Association for People Abused in Childhood).

“If we don’t see real change, if we don’t see the likes of Bishop Finn removed immediately . . .then the committee will be a pointless exercise,” Saunders told The Guardian.

Many pundits, journalists, abuse victims and concerned Catholics have advocated for Finn’s removal. But this is the first time a church official has explicitly done so. It’s especially significant that Saunders has met with Pope Francis and was appointed to the Vatican abuse panel by Francis.

This month, however, marks two anniversaries. It’s the two year anniversary of Francis’ papacy. And it’s the 2.5 year anniversary of Finn’s conviction.

There are two travesties here. First, it’s a travesty that Francis has done nothing to discipline or even denounce Finn. Second, it’s a travesty that – in a world with thousands of Catholic bishops – no one in the Catholic hierarchy except Saunders, a lay person, has found the courage to publicly denounce Finn.

Let’s put this as simply and clearly as we can: With lightening speed, Francis ousted a German bishop who mismanaged church money.

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SCOTLAND
National Secular Society

Posted: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 by Alistair McBay

Why did the CPS abandon investigation into Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor?

As the full scale of the British Establishment’s cover-up of child sex abuse becomes apparent, Alistair McBay argues it is time for the Crown Prosecution Service to make public its reasons for dropping the investigation into Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor 12 years ago.

It’s hard to know where to begin in writing about the issue of child sex abuse in Britain. As Home Secretary Teresa May said earlier this month, the abuse is “woven, covertly, into the fabric of British society”. She warned that “what the country doesn’t yet appreciate is the true scale of that abuse” but might have added “or the scale of the cover-up.”

The almost daily revelations suggest collusion between the various arms of the Establishment to protect the great and the good from investigation, either for abuse or for covering it up – police, priests, politicians and performers are all implicated one way or another. Beyond the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is another arm of law enforcement that has some questions to answer. First, in the light of all that has been revealed in the intervening 12 years, why did it instruct Sussex police to drop a 2003 investigation into the head of the Catholic Church in the UK? And second, why did the CPS decide that its reasons remain confidential?

This case related to decisions made by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor when he was a mere bishop in the Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton in Sussex between 1977 and 2000, and centred on how he handled allegations of child rape by priests and the notorious Father Michael Hill in particular. At the time, the chairman of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, which was dealing with a number of claims against various orders of the Catholic Church, called Murphy-O’Connor’s role in the case “indefensible” and called for his resignation. According to a Catholic Herald report at the time, a CPS spokesman advised that the details of the advice given to Sussex police to abandon the case against the Cardinal were ‘confidential’. The article also claims that the Cardinal was never formally contacted by the police during their investigation, although the police had contacted the CPS at least twice for formal advice on how to proceed.

So, in short, here was a situation in which a high-profile figure implicated in a child abuse scandal was never contacted by detectives over several months, during which the police were asking the CPS for guidance on how to proceed. Eventually the CPS instructed the police to drop the case and declared their reasons for this decision not open to public scrutiny.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article posted 19 March 2015)

A member of the Catholic religious order of Marist Brothers in New South Wales — Brother Francis William Cable, known as Brother “Romuald” — was found guilty on 17 March 2015 of 13 serious child sex offences against two schoolboys after a jury trial in Sydney. Two days later, on March 19, he entered guilty pleas to offences against another 17 schoolboys. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on a later date. The offences, which occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, include buggery, plus multiple counts of indecent assault.

How the case began

In December 2012, New South Wales detectives (from Strike Force Georgiana, investigating historical child sex allegations) arrested Brother “Romuald” Cable (date of birth 3 May 1932) in a Canberra suburb (where he was living) after information from two former Marist Brothers school students in the Newcastle region. The detectives charged Brother Romuald with three indecent assault offences against the two students.

On 29 January 2013 Brother Romuald Cable appeared in Newcastle Local court, where the charges were officially recorded. The detectives increased the number of indecent assault charges to 23, and added two buggery charges. The number of alleged victims increased from two to six. After this court appearance, more former students contacted Strike Force Georgiana detectives.

On 13 March 2013 the case came up for mention again in the same court.The number of charges against Cable was increased to 33 and the number of alleged victims was increased to 12.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

The Seventh Circuit Injects Common Sense into Religious Liberty Debates with Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. Listecki

Marci A. Hamilton

There are times when I despair that the United States will never return to the common sense religious liberty principles established by the Framers and respected by the Supreme Court in its long line of First Amendment, free exercise decisions. From Reynolds v. United States through Employment Div. v. Smith and Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah, the Court has held the line on extreme demands for religious liberty rights. They—the Framers and the Court—have been responsible for creating a system of ordered liberty where believers are full-fledged members of the community, accountable to the laws that apply to everyone else, while having the ability to request legislative exemptions, which have been granted hundreds of times. It’s a system that has worked for centuries (including for the Native American Church members who lost in Smith).

Congress let loose the furies when it caved to demands for extreme rights with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) and its unfortunate “least restrictive means” test, which persuades believers (and courts) that the laws that apply to everyone else should be shaped specifically to a believer’s particular beliefs. This reasoning has opened a new and scary dialogue about carving back the public accommodations laws to permit believers to refuse service to those they disapprove, e.g., Arizona’s state RFRA, which was vetoed last year, and this year’s pending Indiana RFRA. The public rhetoric has been about the LGBTQ community and same-sex marriage, which is bad enough, but the principle equally applies to discrimination based on race, gender, and national origin. Such reasoning is poisoning the United States and threatening the Court’s careful and delicate balance between extraordinary religious diversity, the rule of law, and plain old common sense.

With these thoughts in mind, last week’s unanimous opinion by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit involving the Milwaukee Archdiocese bankruptcy is a much-needed breath of fresh air.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese Bankruptcy Is Filed to Avoid Compensating Survivors of Clergy Sex Abuse

As I discuss here, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee, set into motion the conflict between the Archdiocese and its creditors that culminated in the dispute decided last week. He engaged in scorched earth tactics in the few live clergy abuse cases, including pursuing extreme religious liberty arguments; blocked statutes of limitations reform with the argument that the Archdiocese would be “bankrupt” if it had to pay the victims for what it had done to them; he moved $55 million to a “trust” for purposes of avoiding compensating victims; and negotiated settlements with victims that were pennies on the dollar of what the victims deserved, in effect removing them from the pool of victims who could sue in the event of SOL reform or who would be part of a bankruptcy if it were ever filed.

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BOSTON (MA)
The Daily Beast

Luke O’Neil

The family of Shaun Harrison, the Boston English dean and reverend accused of shooting a student who went afoul of his alleged drug ring, may have helped cover up church sex abuse.

The story of Shaun Harrison—the Boston reverend, public school dean, and anti-violence community activist accused of the shooting of one his students, an apparent employee of his alleged drug-dealing operation—seems almost too outlandish to be true. Many have compared it to something out of a movie, but with its overstuffed combination of drugs, religion, public schools, and violence, it’s the type you’d likely walk out of on account of its heavy-handedness.

But the story got even more distressing this week, as the details of his son’s alleged molestation at the hands of a fellow youth minister resurfaced.

Many in the Boston community in which he worked have rightly asked how Harrison, who was arraigned in Roxbury Municipal Court on Monday on additional gun and drug charges stemming from a search of his home earlier this month, could have flown under the radar for so long. He pleaded not guilty.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sutton Guardian

by David Lindsell, Digital editor

Efforts to tackle child sexual exploition and abuse are progressing but they are still “too patchy” according to charity NSPCC.

Jon Brown, a qualified social worker and head of strategy for the NSPCC, made his comments on national child sexual exploitation awareness (CSE) day.

The Metropolitan Police and others have used today to highlight the work they are doing, including jailing 77 perpetrators, but also in training everyone from taxi drivers to pub and hotel staff to identify victims.

Mr Brown said: “Progress is definitely being made but it is patchy.”

He said: “It is a national issue and a national problem. That’s been reflected in recent cases. The response to that at local authority level continues to be patchy.”

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