ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
Tuesday 21 April 2015

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a bishop who was convicted three years ago of protecting a sexually abusive priest, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.

Robert Finn, of Kansas City diocese, had long been seen as the poster child of the Vatican’s failure to adequately address sex abuse. He was the highest ranking US church official to have been found guilty of an abuse-related crime, but had not been made by the church to suffer any consequences for that verdict.

The resignation was announced by the Holy See as Pope Francis came under intense pressure in a separate case involving Bishop Juan Barros of Chile, who has also been accused of shielding a paedophile priest.

The Vatican’s daily news bulletin, which revealed Finn’s resignation, said: “The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the diocese of St Joseph-Kansas City, Mo (United States) presented His Excellency Bishop Robert Finn.”

Finn will retain the title of bishop but will no longer lead the Kansas City diocese. Such abrupt resignations are exceedingly rare. Over the past decade, only one bishop among 200 in US diocese have resigned in a similar fashion, according to the National Catholic Reporter, a media outlet which closely follows the Vatican.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

April 21, 2015

Elissa Blake
Arts writer

Set in an exclusive Catholic boys’ school rocked by accusations of sexual abuse, a new play, Vice, which is about to open at the King Street Theatre in Newtown, is an investigation into the “blurring of borders”, playwright Melvyn Morrow says.

“It’s a frightful, delicate and tragically topical subject and when you read about these things happening, everybody feels like they are an expert on the subject because they went to school as well,” Morrow explains. “I thought it would be interesting to show what life is like in a school and how teachers deal with moments when they are, for one reason or another, compromised.”

Morrow, 73, is best known for his work on The Mavis Bramston Show in the 1960s and the scripts for the jukebox musicals Dusty and Shout!.

He is also a career teacher, having taught English and drama in Europe, England and Sydney at St Ignatius’ College, Riverview, which was recently subject to accusations of sexual abuse levelled by a former student dating back some 30 years.

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NIEDERLANDE
kath.net

[In the Netherlands, about 1,000 Catholic Churches are closing. The number of practicing believers has declined dramatically in recent years and makes this step necessary.]

In den Niederlanden stehen etwa 1.000 katholische Kirchen vor der Schließung. Die Zahl der praktizierenden Gläubigen hat in den letzten Jahren dramatisch abgenommen und macht diesen Schritt notwendig.

Die niederländischen Katholiken würden sich auf eine „Zukunft ohne Kirchen“ einstellen, berichtet Radio Vatikan. Kardinal Willem Eijk, der Erzbischof von Utrecht und Vorsitzender der niederländischen Bischofskonferenz, hat in seinem Hirtenbrief zur Fastenzeit angekündigt, etwa 1.000 katholische Kirchen schließen zu müssen.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Ein US-Bischof, der sich der Vertuschung von Kindesmissbrauch schuldig gemacht haben soll, tritt zurück. Wie der Vatikan am Dienstag mitteilte, hat Papst Franziskus den Amtsverzicht des 62-jährigen Robert W. Finn, Bischof von Kansas City–Saint Joseph, angenommen. Finn war 2012 zu einer Bewährungsstrafe verurteilt worden, weil er nach Erkenntnissen des Gerichts einen Priester gedeckt hatte, der kinderpornografisches Material besaß. Katholische Gläubige forderten wiederholt die Absetzung des Bischofs. Nach Angaben des „National Catholic Reporter“ fand im September 2014 eine vom Vatikan angeordnete Apostolischen Visitation statt, die die Vorgänge untersuchen sollte.

Der Papst nahm den Rücktritt des Bischofs an diesem Dienstag nach Paragraph 401 §2 des Kirchenrechts an. Das bedeutet, dass der Bischof „aus gesundheitlichen oder anderen schwerwiegenden Gründen“ die Leitung der Diözese aufgibt. Nähere Angaben wurden – wie bei Rücktritten üblich – nicht gemacht.

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VATIKAN
Tages Anzeiger

21.04.2015

Papst Franziskus hat den Bischof der US-Diözese Kansas-St.Joseph wegen Nachlässigkeit bei der Verfolgung von Kinderpornografie entlassen. Der Papst habe das Rücktrittsgesuch von Bischof Robert Finn akzeptiert, teilte der Vatikan am Dienstag mit. Der Geistliche habe sein Fehlverhalten eingeräumt.

Finn hatte die Polizei erst nach sechs Monaten darüber informiert, dass einer seiner Priester junge Mädchen aus den von ihm betreuten Gemeinden auf Hunderten obszönen Fotos abgelichtet und die Bilder auf seinem Computer gespeichert hatte. Der Mann wurde inzwischen wegen Kinderpornografie zu 50 Jahren Haft verurteilt. Die Opfer forderten aber auch eine Bestrafung Finns, der die Taten gedeckt habe.

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VATICAN CITY
International Business Times

By Suman Varandani @suman09 s.varandani@ibtimes.com on April 21 2015

Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, the U.S. bishop who had pleaded guilty in 2012 for not reporting a suspected child abuser, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The news comes as part of the first known case of a pope’s crackdown on a bishop who covered up for a pedophile.

Finn did not report for six months the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of pornographic images of children taken around churches where he worked, according to AP. Ratigan, who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in September 2013.

The 62-year-old Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for covering up for Ratigan, and was sentenced to two years of probation in 2012. Since then, local church-goers have pressurized him to step down and the case sparked outrage and fuelled anger among the victims over the delay being made to remove him from his position.

Finn offered his resignation under the code of canon law, which allows bishops to resign early because of an illness or due to some “grave” reason that makes them unsuitable to continue work, the Vatican said Tuesday, according to AP.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
JTHOMAS@KCSTAR.COM AND MARK MORRIS
04/21/2015

Bishop Robert W. Finn, whose nearly 10-year tenure as leader of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was marred by child sex abuse scandals, has stepped down.

Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation Tuesday, about a week after Finn made a short visit to Rome.

Finn offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office, the Vatican announced. The Vatican did not release a reason, if any, cited by Finn.

Finn is 62, some 13 years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.

“It has been an honor and joy for me to serve here among so many good people of faith,” Finn said in a statement released Tuesday by the diocese. “Please begin already to pray for whomever God may call to be the next bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.”

Kansas City in Kansas Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann will serve as apostolic administrator of the Missouri diocese until a new bishop is appointed, according to an announcement by the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.

Naumann, who was scheduled to spend Tuesday with staff at the Kansas City diocesan offices, will retain his Kansas duties.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | Apr. 21, 2015 Distinctly Catholic

The terseness of the official statement was in direct proportion to its gravity. This morning, as I do every morning, I went to the Vatican website, clicked on the daily bulletin, then clicked on rinunce e nomine and found this:

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Kansas City-Saint Joseph (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Robert W. Finn, in conformità al can. 401 § 2 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

There it was. The long nightmare that has engulfed the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is over. The people of that diocese, whose numbers have shrunk by one quarter since Bishop Finn took the reins of the diocese in 2005, can now begin healing the wounds his leadership caused and, by the grace of God, rebuilding the once vibrant local church.

This is no time for popping champagne. Everything about the situation – from Bishop Finn’s authoritarian manner to his conviction for failing to report child sex abuse to the years of inaction by the Holy See – all of it is the stuff of tragedy. But, it is tragedy of a specific kind. We say that a hurricane or a tornado, a force of nature or act of God that causes great harm and suffering, is a tragedy. But, this is more of a Shakespearean tragedy in which the central character has a fatal flaw that, as the plot unfolds, brings about his ruin. In this case, the fatal flaw was hubris.

As my colleagues Joshua McElwee, Brian Roewe and Dennis Coday report, when Finn took the reins in Kansas City, he began sacking long-time staff, shut down offices he did not like, and he vowed to increase vocations. As is typical of many Midwestern dioceses, Kansas City had a long tradition of lay involvement in the workings of the diocese, dating back long before the Second Vatican Council and its emphasis on the priesthood of the baptized. That tradition was ignored. Lines were drawn between the culture of the Church and the ambient culture. One wonders if +Finn was so isolated and insulated, he even knew how damaging his “bull in a china shop” methods were. Certainly, they did not build up the unity of the local Church which must rank high on any bishops’ list of priorities. But, he did not reverse course. He did not begin consultations. He sought and received the advice of people who already agreed with him. The isolation grew. The disaffection increased. Any loss in energy or numbers could be blamed on the forces of the ambient secular culture, the lack of catechesis in the previous generation, the lack of forceful leadership by previous bishops.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, April 21

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

Finally, more than two years after his conviction, Bishop Robert Finn has been ousted. This is a tiny but belated step forward.

After centuries of abuse and cover up done in secrecy, and decades of abuse and cover up done somewhat in public, one pope has finally seen fit to oust one bishop for complicity in clergy sex crimes. That’s encouraging. But it’s only a very tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror.

Finn’s departure will, in the short term, make some adults happier. By itself, it won’t, in the long term, make many kids safer.

Keep in mind that dozens of Kansas City Catholic employees are concealing or have concealed clergy sex crimes. So it’s irresponsible for anyone to get complacent. Protecting predators and endangering kids is a deeply-rooted and long-standing pattern in the Catholic hierarchy. It didn’t start with one man and won’t stop with one man.”

There were dozens of church staff who could and should have stopped Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s crimes by simply calling 911. But they protected themselves and their jobs by stayed silent. They too should be ousted by the Vatican.

But the scandal in Kansas City goes far beyond the Ratigan crisis. In the early 1990s, we declared that it was one of the most mean-spirited in the US regarding how it treats survivors, especially those who seek justice in court.

It still is. Finn continues to exploit several legal technicalities to protect child molesting clerics and deny victims their day in court.

Virtually no KC Catholic employee has had the courage to speak up when Finn

–-argues in court that he’s not responsible when a priest sexually assaults a child on private property (And Finn has won on this claim.)

[SNAP]

[Kansas City Star]

– let his priests try to violate the privacy of child sex abuse victims, witnesses, whistleblowers and advocates by subpoenaing personal mail and email going back decades.

[SNAP]

Virtually no KC Catholic employee has had the courage to speak up when

– in the weeks after the Fr. Ratigan crisis exploded, five other KC area clerics were accused of or suspended for alleged sexual misconduct. (Fr. Michael Tierney, Fr. James Urbanic, Fr. Bede Parry, seminarian Nicholas Pinkston and Msgr. Robert Murphy. All but Parry and Pinkston were in active ministry when they were accused.)

–it was disclosed that KC church official paid for a serial predator priest, Msgr. Thomas Reardon, to become a licensed counselor, even after several credible abuse allegations against him were made.

[SNAP]

Virtually no KC Catholic employee has had the courage to warn a single parent or parishioner about

–Fr. Thomas Cronin of Nevada, who is involved with a homeless women’s shelter in Nevada despite a pending civil lawsuit in Kansas City that charges him with sexually violating a young woman.

[BishopAccountability.org]

–-Bishop Joseph Hart of Wyoming who, as a priest in KC, molested at least six boys. (They have sued and those suits have settled.)

Virtually no KC Catholic employee spoke up when Finn

–kept Fr. Tierney on the job for six months even after he’d been named in two child sex abuse lawsuits,

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Tuesday 21 April 2015

A senior Catholic nun has admitted her response to allegations of physical and sexual abuse at a central Queensland orphanage was inadequate and exacerbated victims’ suffering.

The national head of the Sisters of Mercy, Berneice Loch, told a royal commission on Tuesday she was sorry she had not acted more compassionately towards former residents of the Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton.

Loch was the congregational leader of the Sisters of Mercy, which ran the orphanage between 1885 and 1978, when former residents came forward in the 1990s with claims they had been physically and sexually abused by nuns and priests.

The royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse heard that instead of speaking to complainants, Loch ran the claims by nuns who had worked at the orphanage and other former residents.

She also supported the legal defence of abuse victims’ compensation claims and organised the drafting of a press release (which was never sent out) that referred to “bitter and resentful” orphanage residents.

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VATICAN CITY
RTE News

A US Catholic bishop has resigned after he failed to alert authorities after child abuse images were found on a priest’s computer three years ago.

Robert W Finn, 62, of Kansas City was the only Catholic bishop to be convicted for not reporting suspicion of child abuse.

Groups representing victims of abuse by clerics had been urging Pope France to dismiss him.

Finn was the subject of a Vatican investigation that started last September into his leadership of the diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph, Missouri.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pitch

Posted By Justin Kendall on Tue, Apr 21, 2015

Bishop Robert Finn is finally out. Pope Francis has reportedly accepted Finn’s resignation. Finally.

In September 2012, Finn was convicted on a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse and received two years of probation. That conviction stemmed from Finn shielding priest Shawn Ratigan, who was found to be keeping sexual images of young girls on a laptop in 2010.

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph knew about the images for five months before sharing the information with law enforcement authorities. Instead of keeping Ratigan away from the flock, Finn placed him at an Independence mission house where he would be accused of victimizing a 12-year-old girl on Easter Sunday — the same girl whom he was accused of taking naked pictures of when she was 6 years old.

Ratigan pleaded guilty to several child-pornography-related charges in August 2012. His victims ranged in age from 2 to 12.

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VATICAN CITY
The Tablet (UK)

21 April 2015 12:10 by Abigail Frymann Rouch

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the only American bishop to have been convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse, the Vatican announced today.

The resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City–St Joseph “because of ill health or some other grave cause” took effect from Tuesday.

Bishop Finn, 62, was given a sentence of two years’ court-supervised probation for failing to report an instance of clergy sex abuse to the authorities.

Bishop Finn failed to inform the authorities when a computer technician discovered hundreds of indecent photos of underage minors on the laptop of a priest, Fr Shawn Ratigan. Finn sent him for therapy and ordered him to not be near children. But he continued to attend church events and take inappropriate photos of girls for five more months. Church officials reported him in May 2011, without Bishop Finn’s approval.

Although the bishop avoided jail, campaigners called for the Pope to discipline and remove him. And since the establishment of the Vatican’s Commission for the Protection of Minors a year ago, Bishop Finn’s situation has been seen as a test case for Pope Francis.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

By Chris Meggs, News Producer

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/AP) –
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn.

Finn was in charge of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in Missouri.

In 2012, Finn pleaded guilty to failing to report a priest who was suspected of abusing children.

The Vatican said Finn offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Finn waited six months before notifying police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan. Ratigan’s computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken around churches where he worked.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Herald (UK)

The Vatican has announced the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St Joseph.

In a statement released earlier today, the Vatican said that “the Holy Father has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert W Finn from the pastoral governance” of his diocese. The statement did not name a successor.

Bishop Finn was convicted in September 2012 of failing to report an accusation of child abuse. He waited five months before reporting that explicit images of young girls were found on the computer of one of his priests. He is, to date, the only US bishop to be found guilty of such a charge.

As a result of the conviction, Bishop Finn served a two-year suspended sentence and the diocese was fined $1.1 million.

The Vatican had previously been criticised for failing to remove the bishop from his post. Yesterday, Marie Collins, an abuse survivor and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, told CruxNow, she could not understand why Bishop Finn had remained in his position.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

Steve Kaut

A diocese press statement about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday stated Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas will serve as interim leader of the diocese until a new bishop is selected.

Finn has been under scrutiny for several years after being convicted in 2012 in Jackson County Court of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

VATICAN CITY | BY PHILIP PULLELLA

(Reuters) – Bishop Robert W. Finn of Kansas City, who was convicted of failing to alert authorities to a trove of child pornography found on a priest’s computer in 2012, has resigned, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Finn, 62, was the only U.S. Roman Catholic bishop to be convicted for not reporting suspicion of child abuse. Groups representing victims of abuse by clerics had been urging the pope to dismiss Finn.

The bishop was the subject of a Vatican investigation that started last September into his leadership of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

A Vatican statement said Pope Francis had accepted Finn’s resignation.

A court in Kansas City convicted Finn in 2012 of failing to report suspected child abuse after the child pornography was found on a computer of former priest of his diocese, Shawn Ratigan.

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VATICAN CITY
Sacramento Bee

BY NICOLE WINFIELD ASSOCIATED PRESS
04/21/2015

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected priestly child abuser in the first known case of a pope sanctioning bishops for covering up for pedophiles.

The Vatican said Tuesday that Bishop Robert Finn had offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office. It didn’t provide a reason.

Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, waited six months before notifying police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. …

Earlier this month, members of the pope’s sex abuse advisory commission came to Rome in an unscheduled session to voice their concern about Barros.

O’Malley subsequently told the pope that the Vatican must come up with “appropriate procedures and modalities to evaluate and adjudicate cases of ‘abuse of office'” when bishops fail to protect children.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

Vatican accepts resignation of Kansas [City] bishop convicted of sex abuse coverup but remained in office

By Michelle Boorstein April 21

The Vatican on Tuesday announced the resignation of a Kansas bishop who was convicted of a sex abuse cover-up but remained in office – a fact that particularly horrified abuse survivors and their advocates. Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation will be seen as a key achievement for Pope Francis, who has said his papacy would show more accountability for abuse within the church.

The Vatican announced the resignation of Finn, 62, in an unspecific, brief note in its daily bulletin:

“The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral government of the diocese of St. Joseph-Kansas City, Mo. (United States) presented His Excellency Bishop Robert Finn,” it read. Vatican Radio said the bulletin cited canon law 401, paragraph 2, which reads:

“A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

Particularly outspoken about Finn was Marie Collins, who sits on Francis’ advisory commission on abuse. Collins and others have helped keep Finn in the spotlight as a powerful symbol of what critics see as the church’s lack of accountability. He was the only U.S. bishop to be criminally convicted in an abuse cover-up. He received two years of probation in 2012 for not telling authorities after a computer technician found hundreds of images of child pornography on a priest’s laptop and told Finn. Finn remained in office for three more years.

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VATICAN CITY
USA Today

Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY April 21, 2015

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an American bishop who was found guilty of failing to tell police about a suspected pedophile priest.

The Vatican on Tuesday said the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.

The resignation was offered under the code of canon law that allows resignation for illness or a “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

In 2012, Finn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for failing to report suspected abuse after the Rev. Shawn Ratigan took hundreds of lewd images of children in Catholic schools and parishes.

Finn became the first U.S. bishop to be convicted in a criminal court of failing to take action over a suspected abuser and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

Ratigan pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

Kris Ketz

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The Vatican has just announced that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Robert Finn.

A release issued by the diocese says Finn offered his resignation under a code of Canon Law allowing bishops to resign early.

Finn was the highest-ranking U.S. church leader to be convicted for failing to take action in response to sex abuse allegations. He was charged in the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Diocesan officials waited six months before they notified civil authorities of the photos. Ratigan pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison.

The diocese said Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann has been appointed Apostolic Administrator until a new bishop is appointed.

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VATICAN CITY
Lethbridge Herald

BY NICOLE WINFIELD, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON APRIL 21, 2015.

VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected priestly child abuser in the first known case of a pope cracking down on a bishop who covered up for a pedophile.

The Vatican said Tuesday that Bishop Robert Finn had offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office. It didn’t provide the reason.

Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, waited six months before notifying police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Finn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of failure to report suspected abuse and was sentenced to two years’ probation in 2012.

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CHILE
La Vanguardia

[Much anger in southern Chile over bishop appointment – The Tribune]

[A Chilean bishop is protected by bodyguards and police dogs.]

SANTIAGO DE CHILE. (Ap).- Los feligreses de una diócesis del sur de Chile se reúnen allí donde aparece su nuevo obispo, pero su presencia no es el tipo de reunión que esperaría la Iglesia católica. En un mes que el obispo Juan Barros lleva instalado en Osorno, ha tenido que salir a hurtadillas por puertas traseras, ha tenido que llamar a la policía antidisturbios y protegerse con escoltas y la ayuda de perros policía.

El nombramiento de Juan Barros por el papa Francisco ha provocado una ola de protestas sin precedentes. Más de 1.300 feligreses, 30 sacerdotes diocesanos y casi la mitad del Parlamento de Chile han enviado cartas instando al Papa a reconsiderar su decisión.

¿El motivo? Se cree que el nuevo obispo protege al pedófilo más conocido de Chile.

Al menos tres hombres afirman que Barros estaba presente cuando sufrieron abusos sexuales en los años ochenta y noventa por parte del sacerdote Fernando Karadima. Este fue sancionado por el Vaticano en el 2011 y obligado a residir en un convento de monjas. Juan Barros dijo no saber nada del asunto.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Journal

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
First Posted: April 20, 2015

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is mounting a campaign to defend an 18th century Franciscan missionary who will be canonized by Pope Francis in the U.S. against protests from Native Americans who have compared his conversion of natives to genocide.

The Vatican is teaming up with the archdiocese of Los Angeles and the main U.S. seminary in Rome to host a daylong celebration May 2 at the North American College to honor the Rev. Junipero Serra, who introduced Christianity to much of California as he marched north with Spanish conquistadors. Francis will celebrate Mass in his honor.

For the church, Serra was a great evangelizer and a model for today’s Hispanics. Many Native Americans, though, say Serra helped wipe out native populations, enslaved converts and spread disease as he brutally imposed Christianity on them. They have staged protests in California and there is a move to remove his statue from the U.S. Capitol.

Vatican officials on Monday defended Serra’s record, saying it shows he worked in defense of Native Americans, often intervening to spare them from the more brutal colonial officials.

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VATICAN CITY
Malta Today

Robert Finn, 62, is the lone American bishop ever to be found guilty of a criminal charge for failure to report an accusation of child abuse.

21 April 2015

In what is likely to be hailed as major step toward accountability for Catholic bishops who mishandle sexual abuse allegations, the Vatican has announced the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The announcement came Tuesday in a brief statement in the Vatican’s daily news bulletin, released at noon Rome time. Finn, whose resignation is effective immediately, will remain a bishop, but no longer lead a diocese. It is up to Pope Francis to name his successor.

Finn, 62, is the lone American bishop ever to be found guilty of a criminal charge for failure to report an accusation of child abuse. His September 2012 conviction on a misdemeanor charge stemmed from Finn waiting several months before telling police that explicit images of young girls had been discovered on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, one of his priests.

Finn was sentenced to two years of probation, and the diocese received a fine of $1.1 million when an arbitrator ruled that it had violated the terms of an earlier settlement.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Holy Father has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Kansas City – St Joseph (USA), in conformity with canon 401, paragraph 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

Pope Francis on Tuesday also accepted the resignation of the Office of Auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara (Mexico), presented by Bishop José Trinidad González Rodríguez, in conformity with canon 401, paragraph 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Elise Harris

Vatican City, Apr 21, 2015 / 04:47 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Nearly two and a half years after being the first U.S. bishop convicted of a misdemeanor in failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest in his diocese, Kansas City-St. Joseph’s bishop has resigned.

The Vatican confirmed Pope Francis’ acceptance of Bishop Finn’s resignation according to Canon 104 Article 2 in the Code of Canon Law in an April 21 statement.

Article 2 of Canon 104, according to the Vatican’s website, refers to a situation when “a diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.”

Last September, two years after Bishop Finn’s trial and guilty verdict, an archbishop held a visitation on behalf of the Vatican and met with Bishop Finn.

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VATICAN CITY
NBC 29

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected priestly child abuser, answering demands of victims to crackdown on bishops who covered up for pedophiles.

The Vatican said Tuesday that Bishop Robert Finn had offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, waited six months before notifying police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

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CALIFORNA
SFGate

Kale Williams
April 20, 2015

A priest with the Archdiocese of San Jose was indicted by a federal grand jury on tax evasion and bank fraud charges after he allegedly deposited donation checks from parishioners into his own bank and failed to declare more than $1 million of income to the Internal Revenue Service, prosecutors said Monday.

Hien Minh Nguyen, 55, worked as a priest with the diocese for more than 20 years, said U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Abraham Simmons. He held multiple positions, including Director of the Vietnamese Catholic Center, for which he had sole signature authority of the center’s bank, Simmons said.

Between 2005 and 2008, Nguyen requested that parishioners make donations to the center, but then deposited at least 14 checks, totaling $19,000, directly into his personal account, Simmons said.

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CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

By Howard Mintz hmintz@mercurynews.com

A San Jose priest has been indicted on federal fraud and tax evasion charges, accused of abusing his position by diverting thousands of dollars in donations from parishioners into his personal bank account over a three-year period.

In an indictment made public on Monday, Hien Minh Nguyen, a priest with the Diocese of San Jose, is charged with 14 counts of bank fraud as well as failing to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in income between 2008 and 2011. The 55-year-old priest was arrested on Saturday in Florida and appeared in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Monday.

He is expected to eventually face the charges in San Francisco federal court, where a grand jury indicted him earlier this month.

In a statement, Bishop Patrick McGrath said the diocese could not comment on the charges, but disclosed that it has been cooperating with federal investigators since October 2012. Nguyen has been on personal leave from his position since December 2013, according to the diocese.

Nguyen has been a priest since 1994, holding various positions with the San Jose diocese, including director of the Vietnamese Catholic Center and Vicar for the Vietnamese ministry, according to the indictment.

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CALIFORNIA
KRON

By Molly Martinez
Published: April 20, 2015

SAN JOSE (BCN) — A Roman Catholic priest who formerly ran the Vietnamese Catholic Center for the Diocese of San Jose has been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Jose on bank fraud and tax evasion charges.

Hien Minh Nguyen, 55, was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday and made an initial appearance in federal court there today, according to Abraham Simmons, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for the Northern District of California.

An indictment charging him with 14 counts of bank fraud and four counts of tax evasion was unsealed following his court appearance today. The grand jury issued the indictment under seal on April 7.

The tax fraud counts allege that Nguyen underreported his income by a total of $1.1 million for the 2008 through 2011 tax years.

In the bank fraud counts, he is alleged to have deposited into his personal bank account 14 checks totaling $19,000 that were given to him by parishioners between 2005 and 2008 as donations for the Vietnamese Catholic Center.

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UNITED STATES
Headlines from the Catholic World

Washington D.C., Apr 21, 2015 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- There are tens of thousands of Catholic clergy in the U.S. – but there were fewer than 10 substantiated allegations of clergy sex abuse committed in the 2013-2014 audit period, according to the U.S. bishops’ latest report.

In addition, almost all clergy, laity and other workers and volunteers at Catholic institutions have undergone safe environment training.

Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Ky., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the bishops’ “first priority” is healing for victims and survivors of abuse.

“We join Pope Francis in his desire that the response of the Church be pastoral and immediate,” the archbishop said in the preface to the annual report on the implementation of the bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

“Though our promise to protect and heal made in 2002 remains strong, we must not become complacent with what has been accomplished,” Archbishop Kurtz said in an April 17 announcement from the U.S. bishops’ conference.

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WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Gazette

By David Clohessy

Justice comes rarely for victims of childhood sexual assault. When it does, it’s only after a painful legal process. This week in Charleston, an appeals court could make that already difficult process even harder for West Virginia victims who use civil courts to warn the public about predators.

Our group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has monitored cases involving child molesters in many denominations for more than 25 years. We’ve never seen one quite like this one from Martinsburg.

A dozen children and their parents are suing Mormon officials for allegedly enabling and concealing the heinous abuses committed by a now ex-Mormon, Christopher Michael Jensen. There’s no doubt about Jensen’s guilt — he was convicted of assaulting youngsters in both Utah and West Virginia.

But Mormon officials are fighting hard to defend themselves. In fact, they’ve convinced a judge to appoint a private lawyer to defend Jensen, a move that’s exceedingly rare in civil cases. Worse, they’ve persuaded that judge to force the victims to pay half of Jensen’s defense lawyers’ fees.

In the United States, we have a long and honorable tradition of making sure that every accused person, no matter how egregious his or her purported crimes, has legal representation. But no one is guaranteed an attorney in a civil matter. And very few, in a civil court, ever have to pay to help the opposing side.

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CHILE
The Tribune

BY EVA VERGARA
Associated Press
April 20, 2015

SANTIAGO, CHILE — Parishioners in a southern Chile diocese are gathering wherever their new bishop appears, but their presence is not the sort of assembly the Catholic Church would expect.

In the month since Bishop Juan Barros was installed in Osorno, the priest has had to sneak out of back exits, call on riot police to shepherd him from the city’s cathedral and coordinate movements with bodyguards and police canine units.

Such is the public routine of the bishop who is denounced by his opponents as having shielded Chile’s most notorious pedophile priest. For his part, Barros says relations are improving.

The appointment of Barros by Pope Francis has unleashed an unprecedented protest, with more than 1,300 church members, 30 diocesan priests and nearly half of Chile’s Parliament sending letters urging the pope to reconsider.

At least three men say Barros was present when they were sexually molested in the 1980s and 1990s by the Rev. Fernando Karadima. Karadima was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2011 for sexually abusing minors, ordered to live out his life cloistered in a nun’s convent. Barros has said he knew nothing of Karadima’s abuses. …

Barros, previously chaplain of Chile’s armed forces, has celebrated Mass a half-dozen times, including during Holy Week, but parishioners say attendance is down and the bishop must travel with a police escort to keep protesters at bay.

“You can feel something sour that transcends all kinds of church activities,” said Carlos Meza, a 43-year-old parishioner. “It’s not just during Masses.”

An April 8 meeting between Barros and parishioners fell apart when the bishop showed up with two body guards and police dogs, a move the parishioners said was unnecessarily aggressive.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor April 21, 2015

ROME — In what is likely to be hailed as major step toward accountability for Catholic bishops who mishandle sexual abuse allegations, the Vatican has announced the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The announcement came Tuesday in a brief statement in the Vatican’s daily news bulletin, released at noon Rome time. Finn, whose resignation is effective immediately, will remain a bishop, but no longer lead a diocese. It is up to Pope Francis to name his successor.

Finn, 62, is the lone American bishop ever to be found guilty of a criminal charge for failure to report an accusation of child abuse. His September 2012 conviction on a misdemeanor charge stemmed from Finn waiting several months before telling police that explicit images of young girls had been discovered on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, one of his priests.

Finn was sentenced to two years of probation, and the diocese received a fine of $1.1 million when an arbitrator ruled that it had violated the terms of an earlier settlement.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, Missouri, according to the Holy See Press Office.

In 2012, the prelate was found guilty of failing to report evidence of sexual abuse by a priest of his diocese.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 21, 2015

VATICAN CITY U.S. Bishop Robert Finn, the Catholic prelate in the U.S. heartland who became a symbol internationally of the church’s failures in addressing the sexual abuse crisis, has resigned. He was the first bishop criminally convicted of mishandling an abusive priest, yet remained in office for another three years.

The Vatican announced Finn’s resignation as head of the diocese of St. Joseph-Kansas City, Mo. in a terse note in its daily news bulletin Tuesday.

While the note did not provide any reason for the move, it is extraordinarily rare for bishops in the Catholic church to resign without cause before they reach the traditional retirement age of 75.

Finn, who is 62 and had led the diocese since 2005, was also neither assigned a new diocese or as yet given a new leadership role in the church.

Other than for reasons of health, only one other bishop among the some 200 U.S. Catholic dioceses and eparchies has resigned his role in such a manner in at least the past decade.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

Resignation of Bishop of Kansas City-Saint Joseph (USA)

The Holy Father Francis has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph (USA), presented by Bishop. Robert W. Finn, in accordance with can. 401 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law.

Rinuncia del Vescovo di Kansas City-Saint Joseph (U.S.A.)

Il Santo Padre Francesco ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Kansas City-Saint Joseph (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Robert W. Finn, in conformità al can. 401 § 2 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.

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WASHINGTON
Seattle PI

Posted on April 20, 2015 | By Joel Connelly

Pope Francis would have enjoyed Seattle Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, when he moved out of the bishop’s mansion, when he drove his sprawling diocese in an old VW bug, and when he preached a guileless Gospel.

The problem for Hunthausen came in that he embodied the reformist Second Vatican Council at a time (the 1980′s) when icy, careerist authoritarians were reasserting top-down control of the Roman Catholic Church.

In John McCoy’s excellent new book, “A Still and Quiet Conscience: The Archbishop Who Challenged a Pope, a President and a Church” (Orbis Books, $26), clashing views of Catholicism are captured in conversation.

McCoy was ideally situated to watch Hunthausen’s intended humiliation. The author served as religion reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and later communications director for the Seattle archdiocese.

Authoritarian Cardinal Josef Ratzinger rebukes Hunthausen for allowing the gay Catholic group Dignity to use St. James Cathedral. The Seattle archbishop replies by evoking John 8:11 in which the Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman caught in adultery and demand that she be stoned to death. Fireworks follow:

“Hunthausen was recounting the Gospel story when Ratzinger, his voice full of wrath, interrupted him. ‘Are you presuming to lecture me?’” he demanded.

“The archbishop paused, caught his breath and quietly continued. In regard to Dignity, he explained, ‘I tried to do what I thought Jesus would do. Jesus didn’t wait until people changed before he talked to them. He began a dialogue and I think that’s what they church ought to do with the gay community.’

“Infuriated, Ratzinger silenced him again. ‘Don’t preach to me,’” he said.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By Kristin Stoller

HARTFORD — For years, Marie Collins thought it was her fault.

Shortly after her 13th birthday in Ireland in 1960, Collins became ill and was admitted to a Dublin children’s hospital. She said her mother was pleased to find out that a hospital chaplain, a Catholic priest, had taken a special interest in her.

But soon, Collins said, that interest turned to abuse, as the priest subjected her to “indecent” photographs and touches.

“I had gone in [to the hospital] a very confident, happy child,” she said. “When I came out, I was a very different child.”

Collins spoke Saturday morning at the 2015 National Assembly of the Voice of the Faithful, a Massachusetts-based group formed after the priest sex abuse scandal broke more than 10 years ago.

The group is dedicated to supporting victims of abuse, and also says it supports priests of integrity and structural change within the church.

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UNITED STATES
PopeCrimes& Vatican Evils.

Paris Arrow

With news compilation

Many books have been written about Pope Francis as the “Great Reformer” but all those are pathological lies of the Vatican Opus Dei Beast PR Deceits Team. One of Pope Francis’ main reforms was the clean-up of the Vatican Bank where thousands of accounts were simply “closed” but in reality, they were merely transferred to the Vatican’s other secret banks in Switzerland, the other country the Vatican owns (run by Swiss Guard Army alumni) under the guise of “neutral country” that serves as the safest haven for the ill-gotten wealth of despots and American imperialists and European imperialists. The real reform – IF Pope Francis is to reform the Catholic Church – should begin in Chile and San Francisco where the laity or people themselves are asking him to oust two bishops to whom they refuse to submit themselves in blind obedience.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Child abuse inquiry: former MP ‘sensationalised’ abuse allegations at Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton, Sister Berneice Loch says

By Marlina Whop and William Rollo
April 21, 2015

A senior nun has criticised a former Queensland MP for “sensationalising” allegations of abuse at the Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton in State Parliament during the 1990s.

Sister Berneice Loch has testified today at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the central Queensland city.

Sister Loch was a senior member of the Sisters of Mercy when allegations of abuse at the orphanage first came to light in the 1990s.

In September 1996, then-Queensland minister for family, youth and community care, Kevin Lingard, told State Parliament that six calls had been made to the child sexual abuse hotline about former residents of the orphanage.

Mr Lingard planned to refer the matter to the then children’s commissioner.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

The clerical abuse scandal cost American dioceses and religious orders $119,079,647 between mid-2013 and mid-2014, according to a report released on April 17 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Only 59% of those funds were allotted to settlements ($62.9 million) and therapy for abuse victims ($7.7 million). The remaining funds were spent on attorneys’ fees ($28.8 million), support for offenders ($15.4 million), and other costs ($4.2 million), according to the 2014 “Report on the Implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.”

These expenses brought the total cost of the clerical abuse scandal to American dioceses and religious institutes between 2004 and mid-2014 to $2,895,629,230, according to the data in the current report and previous reports.

The report added that dioceses, eparchies, and religious orders spent an additional $31,667,740 for child protection efforts in 2013-14.

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NEW JERSEY
Houston Chronicle

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Jury deliberations will continue Tuesday in the federal case of an Orthodox rabbi accused in New Jersey of using brutal tactics to force unwilling Jewish men to divorce their wives.

The jury concluded its second full day of deliberations on Monday. They asked for a transcript of the testimony given by Rabbi Aryeh Ralbog, who was granted immunity by federal prosecutors.

Rabbi Mendel Epstein faces charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping with his son and two other Orthodox rabbis. Prosecutors say the rabbi’s team used brutal methods and tools, including handcuffs and electric cattle prods, to torture the men into granting divorces.

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NRE JERSEY
NJ.com

By MaryAnn Spoto | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on April 20, 2015

TRENTON — Jurors deliberating in the trial of a Lakewood rabbi accused of arranging beatings to force men to grant their wives religious divorces finished their second full day of discussions without reaching a verdict on Monday.

By the end of the day, jurors sent out a note requesting the transcript of the testimony of Rabbi Aryeh Ralbog, who testified against Rabbi Mendel Epstein in a kidnapping conspiracy trial.

Ralbog, who was granted immunity from prosecution by federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony, including his description of an investigation launched by a group of rabbis in Brooklyn into one of the alleged kidnappings.

Epstein, a prominent rabbi who specializes in divorce proceedings, was on trial along with his son, David “Ari” Epstein, and two other rabbis, Binyamin Stimler and Jay Goldstein, on conspiracy, kidnapping and attempted kidnapping charges that grew out of a federal undercover sting.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, April 20, 2015

Andy Gabel had represented the United States in three Olympics and won a silver medal in the 5,000-meter short track relay at the 1994 Lillehammer Games when he moved to Saratoga Springs to train for the 1998 Olympic trials. Gabel, then 33, was already an icon in the sport – especially to a local high school kid who hoped to compete against the world’s very best.

Bridie Farrell was 15 years old and a promising junior skater when Gabel moved to her hometown, and she admits she was “starstruck” by Gabel, especially after he took an interest in her budding career.

Gabel drove her to the practice rink at 5 a.m. every morning, taught her how to properly sharpen and align her skates and even gave her tips on technique, Farrell says. Gabel also repeatedly molested Farrell over the course of several months in 1997 and 1998 she adds a secret she kept for years. Gabel later acknowledged he had an “inappropriate relationship with a female teammate.”

“I didn’t think anybody would believe me if I came forward,” Farrell says. “He was getting ready for his fourth Olympics and I was a nobody and that was my mindset. It is a lot for a kid to carry.”

Farrell is unable to pursue criminal prosecution or a civil lawsuit against Gabel because New York statute of limitations on sex abuse cases bars victims from bringing charges after their 23rd birthday. That is why she will join other sexual abuse survivors and their advocates in Albany on Wednesday to lobby state lawmakers to approve the Child Victims Act.

The bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) calls for the elimination of criminal and civil statutes of limitations for future child abuse victims; it would also open up a one-year window for victims of past crimes to pursue criminal and civil cases. Markey has asked Pope Francis to meet with survivors of childhood sexual abuse when he visits New York in September. She’s also asked the pope persuade the New York Catholic Conference of Bishops to drop its opposition to her bill.

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NEW JERSEY
The Raw Story

ERIC W. DOLAN
20 APR 2015

A church in New Jersey is standing by its pastor after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman for several years, starting when she was 17.

Pastor James E. Simmons Jr., 64, of New Life in Christ Ministries turned himself in to authorities last week after he was charged with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Church elder Freddie Alexander told an applauding congregation on Sunday that the accusations against the pastor were the work of Satan.

“If Satan knew what he was doing to New Life, he wouldn’t have done it. Because what Satan don’t know, what he turn around and did is made New Life get closer… now, because of what Satan has done, he is bringing [us] together.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Foundation to Abolish Chile Sexual Abuse (FACSA)

April 20, 2015

URGENT, TIME SENSITIVE REQUEST:

There is possibility that PA House Judiciary Chairman Marsico may bring the proposed statute of limitations legislation before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow. This is likely NOT because he has changed his mind about the legislation, but rather likely some devious political move.

Please contact members of the House Judiciary Committee tonight or very early tomorrow (you can leave a message on their phone line).

MAIN MESSAGE:
Support these bills (HB 661, 951 and 655) to protect PA children now and that will be coming up for a vote in Judiciary Committee tomorrow.

BECAUSE:
* Child Sexual Abuse is an epidemic: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 5 boys will experience some form of sexual abuse before they are 18. Only 1 in 10 every tell.
* The longterm health-care and economic impact of child sex abuse is staggering and society has been picking up the tab for this for decades.
* Current SOL laws are arbitrary and have not been taken up in the Judiciary Committee for 10 years.
* SOL Reform laws have been introduced EVERY legislative session for the last 10 years and have been ignored, despite very strong recommendations from the first Philadelphia Grand Jury that investigated the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2005.
* Current SOL laws favor perpetrators who rely on the fear of children and teens to not report.
* There is a body of scientific, social and legal evidence that indicates it can take more than 20 years for adult victims to come forward thus aging out of the current SOLs.
* Predators do not retire. They cannot stop the compulsion to abuse children and teens.

Judiciay Committee Members and Harrisburg Office phone numbers:

Ron Marsico 717-783-2014
Todd Stephens 717-260-6163
Jim Cox 717-772-2435
Sheryl Delozier 717-783-5282
Garth Everett 717-787-5270
Glen Grell 717-783-2063
Joseph Hackett 717-260-6168
Barry Jozwiak 717-772-9940
Mark Keller 717-783-1593
Tim Krieger 717-260-6146
Tedd Nesbit 717-783-6438
Mike Regan 717-783-8783
Rick Saccone 717-260-6122
Marcy Toepel 717-787-9501
Tarah Toohil 717-260-6136
Mike Vereb 717-705-7164

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OREGON
Courthouse News Service

By JUNE SEATTLE

PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) – The Archdiocese of Portland, Ore. will pay $525,000 to settle 50-year-old allegations from an alleged victim of a pedophile priest.

The pseudonymous Martin Voe claimed the Rev. Maurice Grammond sexually abused him while presiding at St. Charles Church in Portland in the late 1950s.

The archdiocese issued an apology in 2000 and settled a lawsuit with 25 men who claimed Grammond had molested them. Grammond died in 2002.

Voe sued the archdiocese in 2008, three years after a claims bar date the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon set in January 2005, regarding existing claims against the archdiocese or archbishop.

The Archdiocese of Portland was the first Roman Catholic diocese in the nation to file for bankruptcy, in 2004, overwhelmed by costs arising from sexual abuse lawsuits.

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NEW YORK
Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 20, 2015

Assemblywoman Markey Asks Him to Meet with NY Legislators and Advocates for Reform of Child Sex Abuse Codes; Seeks Help to Convince NY Bishops to Align Their Policies with Vatican and End Their Opposition to Reform of State’s Archaic Statute of Limitations

Assemblywoman Margaret Markey has asked Pope Francis to schedule a meeting with New York survivors of childhood sexual abuse when he comes to the U.S. in September.

After news that the Holy Father has planned to visit New York City in September she wrote to him saying: “Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.”

She said that meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state “would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.“

The Assemblywoman has not yet received an official response to her request, but she said this visit is a unique opportunity for the Catholic Church to take leadership in addressing the crisis in how poorly New York treats victims of childhood sexual abuse. The state currently ranks among the very worst of all states in America in how it deals with victims of child sexual abuse crimes, right at the bottom of all 50 states along with Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Indiana, according to a survey by the Cardozo Law School.

Under current law victims of child sex abuse in New York must come forward to bring criminal or civil charges within five years of their 18th birthday or lose the opportunity to ever bring charges against their abuser. Many other states either have no or extended statute of limitations, including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Delaware and Connecticut.

The Child Victims Act of New York (A2872-Markey/S63-Hoylman) seeks to completely eliminate the civil and criminal statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse crimes. In addition, it would completely suspend the civil statute of limitations for one year in order to give older victims an opportunity to get justice and expose predators who have been hidden and remain free to abuse new generations of children. Assemblywoman Markey is hosting a Lobby Day in support of the Child Victims Act is in Albany on April 22 when advocates will reach out to legislators.

The New York Catholic Conference of Bishops has been among the most vociferous opponents of the Child Victims Act since it was first advanced in the State Legislature. The measure has been adopted in one form or another by the Assembly four times since 2006, but has never come to the floor of the State Senate.

In her letter to Pope Francis, the Assemblywoman said, “Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message… to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children…. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.”

She added, “In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York. In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the Bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.”

The national organization, the Catholic Whistleblowers, has targeted reform of New York’s codes was a priority in 2015. The group of canon law experts and religious leaders contends that all criminal and civil statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse should be removed so as to better protect children and to do justice. In a recent message to the Bishops of New York State, they point to changes in the church’s own statute of limitations concerning both the crime of sexual abuse of a minor and also actions to recover compensation for damages incurred because of the crime. The statement by the group’s Steering Committee said, “Now therefore, is the time for the Catholic Bishops of New York State to follow the example of Saint John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and voice support for the Child Victims Act to become Law in New York State.”

Following is the text of Assemblywoman Markey’s letter to Pope Francis:

His Holiness, Pope Francis, Apostolic Palace, 00120 Vatican City

Most Holy Father:

Those of us in New York who are battling the scourge of childhood sexual abuse were encouraged by your strong message of February 2, 2015, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. We took particular note of your call to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who have been abused and your reminder that there is no place in the ministry for those who abuse children.

Reports after the first meeting of the Commission said there was a strong sentiment for recommendations to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups or failing to prevent abuse. This is a view that resonates strongly in America, where there have been several notorious examples of cover-up over recent years that have revealed how abusers of children have been hidden by clergy and often remained free to continue their despicable crimes.

In New York, as in many states in America, the fight to address childhood sexual abuse has often revolved around reforming archaic statutes of limitations that restrict the ability of victims to get justice for the crimes done against them by abusers and the organizations that have protected them. Unfortunately, Catholic Bishops have been among the most vocal opponents of reform of these statutes in so many states, particularly in New York.

In fact, the opposition to reform of New York’s statutes of limitations has been largely mounted by the bishops of our own state. This opposition appears to directly contradict the reforms in the Church’s own changes in Canon Law in 2001, 2003 and 2010 relating to statues of limitations and as well as your own views on the subject expressed over the past several months.

We are all delighted to know that you will be coming to New York City in September. Some of us who have been outspoken in the struggle to provide support and justice for survivors of child sexual abuse would like to meet with you to ask for your help in convincing New York Bishops to bring their views in alignment with yours on the subject of abuse.

Meeting with key members of the New York State Legislature and representatives of organizations that are hard at work to update the laws of our state would provide a symbolic opportunity to the general public and New York clergy about the importance of this issue.

New York ranks among the very worst of the 50 American states in how it deals with child sex abuse crimes and opposition of New York Bishops continues to prolong the agony of victims, delay justice for them, and leave perpetrators free to continue their abuse.

Respectfully, Margaret M. Markey, Member, New York State Assembly

CC: Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, Chair of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
For media information, call Assemblywoman Markey’s Office, Mike Armstrong, 718-651-
3185, 518-455-4755, armmic@earthlink.net.
Contacts for the Catholic Whistleblowers: Rev. James Connell (414-940-8054); Sr. Claire
Smith, OSU (718-885-0893); Sr. Sally Butler, OP (718-237-0905)
For information about current statutes of limitations in states across the U.S. and various
local state initiatives to reform them see the website: SOL-Reform.com

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Betrayed By Silence: An MPR News investigation
Explore the full investigation Clergy abuse, cover-up and crisis in the Twin Cities Catholic church

Jon Collins · Apr 20, 2015

MPR News has received a Peabody Award for an investigative documentary examining the child sex-abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Peabody Awards are one of the highest honors in broadcast journalism.

The “Betrayed by Silence” documentary aired in July and examined how leaders within the archdiocese shielded priests who sexually abused children, despite decades of public assurances that the Catholic Church was safe.

The Peabody Awards website said the documentary uncovered how Archbishop Harry Flynn, who headed the committee that wrote the U.S. Catholic Church’s abuse policy “not only failed to follow it but participated in cover-ups.”

The documentary was reported by reporter Madeleine Baran, produced by Sasha Aslanian and edited by News Director Mike Edgerly. It was the result of an investigation by a team of MPR News journalists that began in 2013.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Minnesota Public Radio is taking home a Peabody Award for its documentary, “Betrayed By Silence,” which took an indepth look into the child sex-abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

It is the sixth time either MPR or its parent company, American Public Media, has received the prestigious award.

“The individual stories throughout the investigation were superbly reported and important, yet difficult because of the victims’ painful experiences,” said MPR’s news managing editor Chris Worthington.
“This final story was critical for a full understanding — it went beyond what happened to show how and why it persisted over decades and who could’ve stopped it.”

The coverage, led by Madeleine Baran, has already received wide recognition, including a Alfred I.duPont-Columbia University Award.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

April 20, 2015

(St. Paul, Minn.)–April 20, 2015– Minnesota Public Radio News today received a George Foster Peabody Award for its radio documentary “Betrayed by Silence,” an unflinching, deeply reported story that revealed how leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis over decades systematically shielded priests who sexually abused children while claiming they were national leaders in prevention. The award is the highest honor in broadcast media. Along with receiving the Alfred A. duPont Award earlier this year, MPR News’ reporting about the archdiocese has earned the top two national honors for broadcast journalism.

“We’re humbled and grateful to receive the award,” said Chris Worthington, MPR News managing director and the project’s editor. “The individual stories throughout the investigation were superbly reported and important, yet difficult because of the victims’ painful experiences. This final story was critical for a full understanding — it went beyond what happened to show how and why it persisted over decades and who could’ve stopped it.”

The documentary was reported and produced by Madeleine Baran and Sasha Aslanian. It was edited by Mike Edgerly, MPR News’ news director.

“I’m grateful to the abuse survivors and their families and everyone who came forward to help us tell this important story,” said Baran.

Journalists from MPR News will accept the award at a ceremony in New York May 31. MPR News is one of 40 winners that will be honored as the “Best of the Best” in television, radio, podcast and web programming in 2014. The awards ceremony will be filmed for broadcast to air on June 21.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

By Nick Woltman
nwoltman@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 04/20/2015

Minnesota Public Radio News on Monday received a 2014 George Foster Peabody award for “Betrayed by Silence,” its documentary about child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“We’re humbled and grateful to receive the award,” Managing Editor Chris Worthington said in a news release. “The individual stories throughout the investigation were superbly reported and important, yet difficult because of the victims’ painful experiences.”

The investigation, published in July, was reported by Madeleine Baran, produced by Sasha Aslanian and edited by news director Mike Edgerly. Worthington supervised the project.

The Peabody Awards, administered by Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, recognize excellence in broadcast journalism.

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CANADA
Calgary Herald

Child abuse investigators have charged a former pastor in connection with a sexual assault dating back to 1994.

The charges came after the victim contacted police to report a series of sexual assaults that allegedly occurred during counselling sessions with a pastor.

Wagdi Yousif Iskander, 52, of Calgary, is charged with sexual assault and sexual interference with a child under 14.

At the time the abuse allegedly occurred, Iskander was the pastor of the Arabic Baptist Church, which used space at the Cambrian Heights Baptist Church.

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CANADA
660 nEWS

Chris Bowen Apr 20, 2015

A man who was once a pastor at a northeast church has been charged with a sexual assualt dating back more than 20 years.

The Calgary Police Child Abuse Unit has charged 52 year old Wagdi Yousif Iskander with Sexual Assault and Sexual Interference with a child under 14.

The alleged incidents happened during counselling sessions in 1994.

At the time, the accused was the pastor of the Arabic Baptist Chruch, which used space at Cambrian Heights Baptist Church in the northwest.

No word on when he is due in court.

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NEW YORK
The Legislative Gazette

By MATTHEW D’ONOFRIO

April 20, 2015

In accordance with Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Month, Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, D-Maspeth, is inviting advocates for her Child Victims Act (A.2872/S.63) to join her at The Well on Wednesday, April 22 to meet with lawmakers in support of the legislation.

“There is no limit on what is a life-time of suffering and anguish for so many victims of child sexual abuse,” said Markey. “That is why there should be no limit on the ability of victims and society to prosecute abusers. Nor should there be any limit on holding accountable those institutions and organizations that have deliberately protected and hidden perpetrators. Their actions make it possible for pedophiles to continue to prey on new victims.”

Starting at 9:30 a.m. an informational exhibition, open to the general public all day, will be held covering the subject of child sexual abuse and the statute of limitations for those crimes. A press conference will follow at 1 p.m.

The supporting organizations expected to be present are Catholic Whistleblowers, Downstate Crime Victims Coalition, Prevent Child Abuse New York, Call to Action, Voice of the Faithful, Catholics of Conscience and Horace Mann Action Coalition. Two Buffalo child sexual abuse victims Vanessa DeRosa and Tino Flores, New York schools Horace Mann and Poly Prep Day School, as well as USA Speedskating star Bridie Farrell, will also be in attendance.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Dennis Coday | Apr. 20, 2015 NCR Today

Since late last week, rumors have been flying in Kansas City, Mo., that the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn is imminent. There is no hard evidence to support these rumors.

I did not plan to write about this, but I’ve been fielding phone calls and emails almost nonstop since the middle of last week. Much of what I am hearing is wrong, and for this reason, I decided I needed to write about it.

NCR learned last week that Finn was in Rome on April 14 after missing a previously scheduled confirmation service the day before. NCR did not report on this because that information by itself was not substantial enough to warrant a story. It is certainly not unusual for a bishop to visit Rome, and we did not have any hard evidence to suggest the meeting was tied to a resignation or removal.

Here’s what we do know:

Finn was the subject an apostolic visitation in September that looked into his leadership of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese. About two dozen people — supporters, critics and neutral people — were interviewed and a report was filed with the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops.

Finn has been the subject of a couple of petitions started by laypeople in the diocese asking that he resign. Those petitions stem from Finn’s 2012 conviction on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report suspected child abuse in a case involving the former priest of this diocese, Shawn Ratigan. …

Finn was to have presided at a confirmation ceremony at Presentation Parish in Lee’s Summit, Mo., on April 13. The parish was informed that afternoon that Finn would not attend and that the vicar general, Fr. Charles Rowe, would preside instead.

About midday on April 14 in Rome, NCR Vatican correspondent Joshua J. McElwee, saw Finn outside St. Peter’s Square near the Vatican Press Office. Finn and McElwee exchanged greetings and parted. Finn did not say what he was doing in Rome.

McElwee contacted the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese to ask why the bishop was in Rome and to place a formal request for an interview with Finn. The diocesan spokesman, Jack Smith, replied in an email that the bishop’s trip to Rome was for a “private visit” and that an interview would not be possible because by 4:30 p.m. Rome time, “the bishop is already supposed to have left Rome,” Smith told McElwee.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Inés San Martín
Vatican correspondent April 20, 2015

ROME — Although Pope Francis doesn’t arrive in Washington, DC for his US debut until late September, a Vatican spokesman said Monday the trip will actually begin more than four months earlier when the pontiff visits Rome’s main American seminary May 2.

Francis is heading to the Pontifical North American College (NAC) for a Mass in honor of Junipero Serra, an 18th-century Spanish Franciscan celebrated as the founder of the Church on the West Coast of the United States, but also derided by critics as the “Columbus of California” for his role in decimating the native population.

Francis will formally declare Serra a saint during his American trip, which will take him to DC, New York, and Philadelphia for a Vatican-sponsored meeting of families Sept 23-27. …

It may also be a preview of controversy likely to swirl when Francis canonizes Serra, a Franciscan priest who founded nine missions from San Diego to San Francisco during the 18th century. Native Americans and others claim that he imposed Christianity on the region, wiped out native populations, and enslaved converts to the faith.

During a press conference in Rome Monday, Church officials defined Serra as a man who made mistakes, but also a historical figure who defended natives from Spanish colonizers like no one else.

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CONNECTICUT
Crux

By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter April 20, 2015

HARTFORD, Conn. — The Vatican’s special commission on clergy sexual abuse has given Pope Francis a proposal on how to punish bishops who failed to protect minors from sexual abuse by clergy under their oversight.

Marie Collins, a member of the panel — formally known as the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors — and herself a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, said she couldn’t reveal details of the proposal, but that personally, she believes some bishops must be removed from office. Among those she cited was Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, convicted in 2012 of failing to report suspected child abuse to civil authorities.

“I cannot understand how Bishop Finn is still in position, when anyone else with a conviction that he has could not run a Sunday school in a parish. He wouldn’t pass a background check,” she said in an interview with Crux. “I don’t know how anybody like that could be left in charge of a diocese.”

Collins said her working group has discussed Finn’s case, as well as that of the newly installed Bishop Juan de la Cruz Barros Madrid of Osorno, Chile, who is tied to one of that country’s most notorious abusers.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 21, 2015

Sarah Elks
Reporter

The retired Catholic bishop of Rockhampton has told victims of child sexual abuse at a church ­orphanage that he feels “a terrible sense of shame and disgrace over what happened to you”.

Brian Heenan yesterday ­directly addressed the now adult survivors of abuse at Neerkol, the notorious orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy nuns for decades until 1975.

“(I have realised) how dreadful it must have been for (you),” Bishop Heenan told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I just want to say to (the survivors) again, my heart goes out to you and it’s been reinforced this week because of what you shared with us.

“I feel a terrible sense of shame and disgrace over what happened to you at Neerkol.”

The royal commission has been sitting in Rockhampton, in central Queensland, for a week, and has been told of horrific sexual abuse by priests and physical abuse by nuns at the orphanage.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Allentown Catholic Diocese begins process to defrock priest accused of fathering child.

August 31, 2010
By Devon Lash, OF THE MORNING CALL

When Mark Rozzi learned a young woman in his own Berks County neighborhood was allegedly involved in a sexual relationship with a priest, it seemed he was 13 again.

At that age, Rozzi said, he was sexually abused by his teacher and priest at Holy Guardian Angels outside Reading. It took decades for him to talk about the abuse. On Monday, joining a small group of protesters outside the Allentown Catholic Diocese headquarters in South Whitehall Township, he encouraged others like him not to wait so long.

“Bad stuff happens to good people,” said Rozzi, now 39 and living in Muhlenberg Township. “But you have to keep coming forward, because there are so many victims that are afraid to talk about this.”

The group, the Lehigh Valley chapter of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, urged diocesan leaders to seek out victims of abuse and, as recommended by the sign one woman hoisted, “do everything possible.”

The four demonstrators gathered in response to a lawsuit filed last week that claims a Reading priest, the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito, started a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student that led to her pregnancy.

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SCOTLAND
Christian Today

Mark Woods CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 20 April 2015

A Roman Catholic priest in Scotland who alleged there was a culture of sexual bullying in seminaries stretching back decades has been found guilty by a Church tribunal of injuring the reputation of the Church and its clergy.

The church of St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, where Fr Matthew Despard was priest.
Father Matthew Despard, who was suspended from his parish at St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, made the claims in a self-published book entitled ‘Priesthood in Crisis’.

The e-book has been removed from sale on Amazon’s Kindle service following legal threats by priests who said they had been defamed, but its description says that it is “a story of one priest’s experience in the priesthood and his efforts to live out his vocation honourably despite his awareness of corruption in parts of the Church that he loves”.

Fr Despard alleged that a “powerful gay Mafia” was at work. He said that as a trainee priest he was approached inappropriately and that other seminarians who spurned the advances of others were bullied.

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Decision reached on indictment of predator priest
Mother of alleged victim is told charges will be filed
Records are sealed, however, so outcome is unclear
Victims call on church & court officials to disclose ruling
SNAP: “Catholic bishop should aggressively seek out others who have been hurt”
Support group also releases list of 14 other “credibly accused AL child molesting clerics”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will

– discuss a grand jury’s decision about possibly indicting an accused predator priest,
– beg church and court officials, for the safety of children, to disclose that recent decision,
– prod others who were similarly abused to step forward so they can begin to heal, and
– urge Birmingham’s bishop head to disclose the identity and whereabouts of other credibly accused clerics who have lived or worked in the area

WHEN
Monday, April 20 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of St Paul, 2120 3rd Avenue, North (corner of 22nd Street N ) in Birmingham, AL

WHO
Two members of a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

WHY
A grand jury has reached a decision about indicting a Birmingham Catholic on child sex abuse charges. That decision is sealed but last week, the mother of the alleged victim was told by prosecutors that the grand jury has issued a “true bill” and the criminal case will proceed.

Almost 1.5 years ago, Fr. David Lawrence Stone (205-767-8384) was arrested in Jefferson County and accused of molesting a child younger than 12 years old. (Fr. Stone also goes by the name “Francis Mary Stone.”) The alleged victim is Fr. Stone’s child.

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VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot

By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
April 20, 2015

A victims advocacy group said last week it will again request that Roman Catholic leaders in southeast Virginia ask parishioners whether they were molested by a friar, once based in Norfolk, who had been linked to dozens of child assaults in other states.

The new request is triggered by media reports last week that three more victims of Brother Stephen Baker reached financial settlements with church-related groups. The three said Baker abused them in the 1990s while they were teenagers at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pa.

Baker, who committed suicide in 2013, was on the faculty of a now-closed Norfolk parochial school in the 1970s. His death sparked the advocacy group’s initial request for assistance by the Richmond diocese, which includes Hampton Roads.

Becky Ianni, the Virginia director for the national organization SNAP, Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, said she hopes that enough time has passed that anyone who might have been victimized by Baker will seek counseling.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Justice4PAKids

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
PRESS CONTACT: Maureen Cislo, 484-325-4092 info@justice4pakids.org

Justice4pakids is the only organization in the state of Pennsylvania to host a 5k/fun run for survivors of child sexual abuse. Slated for Saturday May 2 on the Chester Valley Trail in Exton, the family friendly event features an easy flat course for all runners or walkers.

“This is a day of hope, a day of empowerment, a day to be free—walking away from your predator and walking into a new future,” says Maureen Cislo, President of Justice4pakids.
This is more than a run against child sexual abuse- this is a day to honor survivors of child sexual abuse while bringing greater awareness to this health crises.

“1 in 4 girls and 1 in 5 boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. In 90% of reported cases, the child knows their perpetrator,” says Robert Nelson, a survivor and Chair of the Justice4pakids Board of Directors.

Many survivors will be coming out to participate and will receive a special certificate for completing the walk/run. DJ Danny Madonna’s Superior Sound will spin some fun tunes and a meaningful song will be played and dedicated towards survivors. Runners and walkers will also be able to write a message on their back of their T-shirt such as: “I am walking to support CSA survivor Joan.”

As one survivor who is signed up to walk sums it up: “This is amazing! You are providing a safe place to come together and have a positive impact in a bad situation. It has given me a place to have positive thoughts and be hopeful. This is not always easy – even after 35+ years. My story has always been so personal and I have kept it very much to myself and shared only when necessary. I feel much more empowered now and accepted. In this group, I am looked at as a survivor NOT a victim. This is very important.”

Join in the 3nd Annual 5K Run and 1Mile Walk on Saturday, May 2, at Chester Valley Trail Entrance, 140 Church Farm Lane, Exton. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. Timed race starts at 8 a.m. sharp. $25 fee on race day. Prizes for First, Second & Third Place! “Keep Your Body Safe” coloring books will be handed out to all children for free.

Justice4pakids is a 501 c-3 whose mission is to stop child sexual abuse by raising awareness through its education and prevention programs. Find out more at: www.justice4pakids.org

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Rich Calder
April 20, 2015

He lost a lawsuit against Yeshiva University’s prestigious all-boys school involving alleged decades-long sex abuse — so his parents are now trying to make an end-run at justice.

In what their lawyer calls a first-of-its-kind move in the state, Israel and Chaya Gutman are set to file a lawsuit Monday claiming that the embattled Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy in Manhattan is guilty of deceptive advertising by touting the high school as a safe place to send youths.

“This is the first case in which a parent has sued a school for deceptive practices based upon the school’s retention of known sexual predators,” said the Florida couple’s lawyer, Kevin Mulhearn, to The Post.

“This is a lawsuit brought by parents who suffered every person’s worst nightmare.”

According to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, “Most savvy Jewish educational consumers… would have never imagined that [the school], despite its glowing and positive impressions, would have permitted their son to endure an educational experience… that was consistently threatened, and often stained, by known sexual predators in high positions of authority.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

by Rachel Millard, Reporter

An inquiry into abuse at a boys’ home may provide clues to crack a 35-year-old unsolved murder, the man originally convicted of the killing has said.

Colin Wallace, who spent nearly six years in prison following the death of Brighton antiques dealer Jonathan Lewis, told The Argus questions remain unanswered over the 1980 mystery.

The now 72-year-old, who was cleared on appeal in 1996, was an Army intelligence office working in Northern Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s.

As well as working on secretive black propaganda missions at the height of the Troubles, Mr Wallace also blew the whistle on abuse at the notorious Kincora boys’ home in Belfast. Following his release from prison, investigative journalist Paul Foot suggested he may have been framed over the death in order to keep him quiet over his top secret work in Northern Ireland and what he knew about Kincora. An inquiry into abuse at the home is ongoing in Northern Ireland, and, speaking to The Argus from his home in Arundel, Mr Wallace said it may yet spark revelations about the Lewis case.

He said: “The whole thing, in my own mind, I link the two up but in reality I have to keep the two separate. The danger is I cannot prove anything.

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FIJI
Fiji Times

Luke Rawalai
Monday, April 20, 2015

VICTIMS of abuses are never responsible for what happens to them as such unspeakable acts are the fault of the perpetrator, says Australian author and social worker Doctor Marian Zaunbrecher.

Dr Zaunbrecher, who is also a reverend, said victims of any form of abuse had the right to be angry at their perpetrators.

She said for abuse to stop, women, children and men needed to be educated and told that they had a right to their own body.

“Also, they have the right to say no and not feel responsible for the abuse that they face because it is the problem of the perpetrator,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

April 20, 2015

Miranda Forster

A retired Catholic bishop who was slow to act on child sexual abuse allegations against members of his clergy says he feels shamed by what happened to abuse victims.

Bishop Brian Heenan told a royal commission on Monday he felt a “terrible sense of shame and disgrace” over what happened to former residents of the Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton.

Former orphanage residents last week told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse of the physical, sexual and psychological abuse they suffered at the hands of nuns and priests before the orphanage closed in 1978.

Bishop Heenan was the head of the local Catholic diocese in the 1990s when abuse victims came forward.

He publicly dismissed the allegations as “scurrilous” and allowed the priest at the centre of the claims to continue working in the church, including alongside children, for several years.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Child sex abuse inquiry: Retired Bishop sorry for sexual abuse of children at Queensland orphanage

By Marlina Whop and William Rollo

Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan apologises for the sexual abuse of children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol in central Queensland and for failing victims when they came forward.

Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan has apologised for the sexual abuse of children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol in central Queensland and for failing victims when they came forward.

“I apologise again for the harm and suffering of former [residents] at Joseph orphanage residents at the hands of the Catholic Church, priests and sisters and staff,” he said outside the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“I also apologise for the way in which I responded to these victims. I failed them and for that I’ll be forever sorry.”

Bishop Heenan was cross examined for the second day at the Rockhampton hearings over the church’s responses to the abuse allegations at the Neerkol orphanage from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Father Reg Durham, who was the administrator for the parish of Neerkol and had resided in the presbytery, was charged in 1997 with 40 sexual offences against five former residents and pleaded guilty to six counts of indecently dealing with a child.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Retired Queensland Bishop Brian Heenan ashamed of child abuse in Catholic Church, Royal Commission hears

MICHAEL MADIGAN THE COURIER-MAIL APRIL 20, 2015

A RETIRED Queensland Bishop has expressed deep sorrow about child sexual abuse inside the Catholic Church, and spoken of his own “terrible sense of shame and disgrace”.

Bishop Brian Heenan, appearing at the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse at Rockhampton, said listening to a week of evidence from victims had moved him deeply.

“I realised all over again how dreadful it must have been for them,” Bishop Heenan, appointed in 1991 and now retired, said.

“I just want to say, my heart goes out to you, and that has been reinforced this week because of what you have shared with us.”

The Royal Commission has heard evidence from victims of child sexual abuse in Rockhampton, including former residents of Neerkol Orphanage, west of the city.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Roman Catholic religious brother who worked for years in Pittsburgh is scheduled to go on trial today in Australia on charges of sexually abusing children there.

Brother Bernard Hartman of the Marianist religious order returned to Australia in 2013 to face 18 charges of sexually assaulting two girls and two boys in the 1970s and early 1980s, when he was assigned to a Catholic school in Melbourne.

Details about the trial are limited because the presiding judge has issued a “suppression order,” according to the Office of Public Prosecutions in the Australian state of Victoria.

Under Australian law, a judge can partially or entirely forbid the release or publication of details about a court case under certain circumstances, including those that might distress or embarrass alleged victims of sexual offenses, according to a Melbourne Law School study.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

By AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

A retired Catholic bishop says he’ll be “forever sorry” for the way he responded to former residents of an infamous central Queensland orphanage whose shocking stories of abuse were laid bare at a royal commission.

Retired Rockhampton bishop Brian Heenan told the sex abuse royal commission he felt “a terrible sense of shame and disgrace” at what happened to children at the St Joseph’s Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton.

Former orphanage residents told a public hearing last week of suffering regular sexual abuse by priests, and of frequent sadistic beatings and other punishments meted out by nuns.

Bishop Heenan conceded before the commission on Friday that he failed to adequately respond to victims’ allegations when they first emerged in the 1990s.

On Monday he addressed the victims directly in a statement outside the Rockhampton court house, where the public hearing is being held.

“I want to apologise again for the harm and the suffering of former St Joseph’s Orphanage residents at the hands of the Catholic Church, priests and sisters and staff,” he said.

“I also apologise for the way in which I responded to these victims.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Monday 20 April 2015

A retired Catholic bishop who was slow to act on child sexual abuse allegations against members of his clergy says he feels shamed by what happened to victims.

Bishop Brian Heenan told a royal commission on Monday he felt a “terrible sense of shame and disgrace” over what happened to former residents of the Neerkol orphanage, near Rockhampton.

Former orphanage residents last week told the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse of the physical, sexual and psychological abuse they suffered at the hands of nuns and priests before the orphanage closed in 1978.

Heenan was the head of the local Catholic diocese in the 1990s when abuse victims came forward. He publicly dismissed the allegations as “scurrilous” and allowed the priest at the centre of the claims to continue working in the church, including alongside children, for several years.

Heenan later formally apologised to victims. He told the commission that hearing the former residents’ stories again had reinforced to him their “dreadful” experience.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Lancaster Online

The LNP Editorial Board

THE ISSUE

State legislators and advocates for sexual assault victims lobbied last week for reforms to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations law. Adult victims of childhood sexual abuse only have until they’re 30 to bring civil action against their abusers. Bills in the state House and Senate would raise that to age 50. That would bring the civil statute in line with the criminal statute of limitations. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the public affairs arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania have lobbied against statute of limitation reform.

Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure the perpetrators of sexual abuse are held accountable. Pennsylvania should be on the side of making sure victims of sexual abuse who want their day in court get it.

Anything that doesn’t meet that standard is not good enough, no matter how the counterargument is cloaked or framed.

State Rep. Mark Rozzi is among those leading the charge to do what is right. He tells of being raped by his parish priest when he was 13. He tells the story of two of his childhood friends — sexually abused by the same priest — committing suicide.

It often takes years, even decades, for victims to report childhood sexual abuse. Rozzi says he was in his late 30s when he decided he “couldn’t take it anymore. I was done suffering in silence.”

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By The Associated Press
on April 19, 2015

SPOKANE — The former director of Morning Star Boys’ Ranch was reinstated as a Catholic priest last week after an internal review found sex abuse claims could not be substantiated.

The Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner, now 82, was removed from the ministry in 2006 amid a growing number of reports from people who said they were abused sexually or physically by him or his ranch staff.

As part of a broader process by the Diocese of Spokane, retired federal judge Michael Hogan investigated or reviewed charges against Weitensteiner, The Spokesman-Review reported. Last month, Hogan rejected the last four claims of sex abuse.

“One by one, each of those claims were denied or declared noncredible” by Hogan, according to the diocese.

A review of Hogan’s rulings by two diocesan advisory groups — the Diocesan Review Board, a group of mostly laypeople who are not employed by the church, and a panel of priests called the College of Consultors — led to the recommendation that Weitensteiner be reinstated.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Marlina Whop and William Rollo

Retired Rockhampton Bishop Brian Heenan has returned today to continue giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the central Queensland city.

The inquiry has been told that for more than three decades, children at St Joseph’s Orphanage at Neerkol, west of Rockhampton, were raped, molested and beaten.

Today’s hearing was due to begin at 10:30am but delayed because of webcast problems.

Bishop Heenan has been explaining the Catholic church’s response to abuse allegations at the orphanage from the 1940s to the 1970s, which was run by the Sisters of Mercy.

He allowed one of the main offenders, Father Reg Durham, to continue working for the Catholic Church for three years despite a woman alleging in 1994 he sexually abused her since she was a child.

It took Bishop Heenan three years to restrict Father Durham’s contact with children, and in 1999 he gave him a character a reference.

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AUSTRALIA
The Morning Bulletin

UPDATE 11.10AM: The Royal Commission has heard the Diocese of Rockhampton would have been prepared to pay for Fr Reginald Durham’s headstone after he died.

It’s not known if the church played any part in commissioning the headstone.

The solicitor for witness AYB submitted two photographs of Fr Durham’s headstone. One inscription on it reads “made up a royal priesthood to serve God”.

10AM: DAY FIVE of the Royal Commission hearing into child sex abuse at Neerkol Orphanage gets underway today with ex-bishop Brian Heenan continuing his evidence.

The commission last week heard how Fr Heenan wrote a positive character reference for his former priest Reginald Durham (deceased), when he was convicted of child sexual abuse offences.

We will update you with more information as it comes to hand.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Monday 20 April 2015

Jody Harrison
Reporter

A PRIEST who alleged that a “powerful gay Mafia” was behind sexual bullying in the Scottish catholic Church has been found guilty of defaming churchmen and parishioners.

Father Matthew Despard, of St John Ogilvie in High Blantyre, Lanarkshire, made the claims in a self-published book titled “priesthood in crisis”, claiming that sexual misconduct had been widespread in junior seminaries for decades.

He also said he had alerted church authorities, but that nothing had been done.

Father Despard will now be removed from his parish and will spend three months in penance after a church tribunal found him guilty of injuring the reputation of the church and its clergy.

In a letter to the priest, the Bishop of Motherwell, Joseph Toal, said: “The judges determined that of the 21 of the 26 charges brought against Father Despard, five were not proven.

“In the majority of cases, the tribunal ruled that Father Despard had injured the good reputation of a number of people, both lay and clergy.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Marie Collins, the tenacious Irish survivor of priest sexual abuse as a teenage hospital patient, and a charter member of Pope Francis’ sex abuse advisory commission, explained inspiringly and bravely on 4/18/15 to a Hartford (USA) group of Catholic reformers, including me, her sober strategy and modest expectations, especially in light of the commission’s limited mandate and inadequate funding. She spoke in detail of her commission experiences and concerns and hope at the national meeting of the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF). A senior VOTF representative indicated to me that Marie Collins’ very important address will be posted on its website here,

[VOTF]

She had just returned from her “non-meeting” with the pope. She wanted to discuss with Pope Francis his outrageous choice to make Juan Barros, who has been accused of helping shield a fellow priest abusing youths (including Juan Carlos Cruz), as the new bishop of Osorno, Chile. Barros’ bishop installion ceremony triggered unprecedented violent protests of thousands in majority Catholic Chile (see here, here, and here).

These protests are the beginning of the Catholic Revolution likely to erupt again soon in Philadelphia, or Philly, where Cruz, a top US communications executive and former journalist now lives. Philly was a key locale for the American Revolution that led to the downfall of many medieval monarchies. The papal monarchy will likely be the next and last to fall. Shocking disclosures from Philly criminal proceedings, of a top priest personnel aide to former Philly Cardinals Rigali and Bevilacqua, have already earned Philly a fair claim to be the USA’s Pedophile Priest Paradise over many decades, even though Bevilacqua’s video deposition remains hidden so far. The pope seems to think his media magic dust can cover over these disturbing facts. See my “… the Philadelphia Inquirer: A Time of Truth About Child Abuse”, here,

[Bilgrimage]

Marie Collins’ tenacity points to serious trouble after the Chile revolt for the pope’s upcoming visit to Philly, a key part of his evident and unfolding strategy to elect next year a “Vatican/US bishop friendly” right wing US president, with Jeb Bush the pope’s evident top choice. If the pope fails on curtailing child abuse, he becomes a US political liability. See my “Why Is Pope For A New US War That Aids Bush Neocons & BigOil Mainly?” here,

[Christian Catholicism]

Marie Collins has prudently decided, like Eleanor Roosevelt with her key role in the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to “light a candle, rather than to curse the darkness. Marie Collins has extensive experience in Ireland dealing with senior Catholic Church bureaucrats and government officials, on getting “blood out of a stone”!

Marie Collins understands fully the limited agenda, the slow pace and the limited funding that the pope has so far embedded in his “go slow” abuse commission. But she is bravely determined, it seems clear, to seize the narrow opportunity afforded her as a member to press forward, inch by inch, to make sure children are saved from the horrors she encountered.

Marie Collins acknowledges the pope’s commission has serious limitations, but also some potential opportunities as well that she hopes to pursue without illusion. She has already made clear that she will quit if she thinks insufficient progress is being made and that she will presss the pope whenever necessary. She pointed in he USA talk to the commission’s inadequate funding and staffing, pradoxically as the pope’s Vatican Bank’s financial consultants began with a reported $1 million front end retainer, and US bishops just announced they spent $150 million last year on containing the US abuse scandal and protecting bishops mainly. The pope needs to “put his money where his mouth is” on curtailing the abuse scandal.

The pope seems poised to distract further from the abuse scandal with an encyclical on climate change, often denied by Big Oil interests. The pope’s top financial advisor was reportedly for a dozen years Chairman of BP until the end of 2009. BP is enduring a regrettable 5th anniversary now. On April 20, 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and caused 200 million gallons of sticky black crude oil to spew into the ocean, setting off a devastating environmental disaster. Will Francis in his encyclical take on his Big Oil backers? Unlikely. Indeed, Francis has actively promoted population expansion, a key contributor to environmental degradation. Judging by the pope’s avoidance of the child abuse scandal, his environental encyclical is likely to be more of his mixed messaging and pious platitudes. See on the 2010 BP disaster Reuters’ new video, here,

[Reuters]

Pope Francis has evidently carefully avoided the Barros subject publicly, even though he reportedly was involved in Barros’ appointment and likely knows him. Please see the superb and relevant analysis, “Vatican Defends the Chilean Appointment” here, BishopAccountability.org .

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sudwest Presse

[Abuse allegations have been made against the Protestant Brethren Korntal involving 200 children. They are seeking 12 million euros in compensation.]

Die Betroffenen werfen der Brüdergemeinde vor, in den 50er bis 80er Jahren in den zwei Kinderheimen der Gemeinde sexuell missbraucht und gedemütigt worden zu sein. Die Brüdergemeinde schließt nach Angaben von Freitag jegliche Zahlungen aus. Der SWR hatte zuerst über die Forderung berichtet.

Die Brüdergemeinde ist nach Angaben eines Sprechers noch mit der Aufarbeitung der Ereignisse beschäftigt. Bei dem Gespräch, das den Betroffenen bei der Überwindung des Leids helfen soll, seien die Vertreter der Heimkinder beteiligt.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

[ Don Giovanni Desio, the 53 year old native of Milan and former pastor at Casalborsetti, who was arrested April 5, 2014 on charges of sexual acts on four children who were entrusted to him, has apologized with a letter and offered 100 thousand euro in total compensation to the families of the victims.]

È di 9 anni di reclusione la richiesta avanzata dal pm alla seconda udienza del rito abbreviato contro don Giovanni Desio, 53enne originario di Milano ed ex parroco di Casalborsetti, arrestato il 5 aprile 2014 con l’accusa di atti sessuali su quattro minori che gli erano stati affidati. L’udienza, avvenuta al Palazzo di Giustizia di Ravenna di fronte al gup Antonella Guidomei, segue quella del 9 marzo scorso, in cui si erano costituite quattro parti civili: due minorenni con i genitori, la Diocesi di Ravenna-Cervia e l’associazione ‘Dalla parte dei minori’, attiva sul territorio dal 2003. Non si erano costituiti, invece, il Comune di Ravenna e altri due ragazzini molestati.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WCNC

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — A former youth pastor at a church in Kannapolis is behind bars on charges of statutory rape and indecent liberties.

Benjamin Hollifield, 25, is being held on a $ 1 million bond.

Hollifield was fired from his position as youth pastor at Piedmont Baptist Church following the arrest.

The Pastor there released a statement saying Hollifield was “terminated for abusing a child and violating the church’s trust and policies.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A retired Catholic bishop who admitted to putting the church’s reputation before child sexual abuse victims is due to face more questions at a royal commission.

Bishop Brian Heenan is expected to return to the witness box when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse resumes in central Queensland on Monday.

Bishop Heenan was the head of the Catholic diocese in Rockhampton in the 1990s when former residents of the Neerkol orphanage came forward with historical child sexual abuse allegations.

The religious leader came under fire for initially dismissing the allegations as “scurrilous” and for failing to take action against the priest at the centre of the claims.

At the royal commission on Friday, Bishop Heenan conceded he had been more concerned with protecting the reputation of the Catholic church than with supporting abuse victims.

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
18 APR 2015

The Catholic Church in the US forked out $120 million to victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy and $30 million on pedophile prevention programs over 12 months, according to an annual report.

The bulk of the $150 million between June of 2013 and 2014 was spent on compensation, therapy and legal fees for victims, the report said, and the rest went to preventing the abuse from occurring, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said.

The US bishops conduct an annual study of sexual abuse allegations following a church scandal over pedophile priests came under the spotlight in 2002. In the fallout senior church officials acknowledged they had protected priests responsible for the sexual abuse of children.

The report said there were 657 allegations of underage sexual abuse by priests, of which 130 have been recognized and 243 are still under investigation and the rest unproven. Most allegations relate to events that took place years earlier.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mail on Sunday

By Martin Beckford and Paul Cahalan for The Mail on Sunday

The Director of Public Prosecutions was under growing pressure to stand down last night over her failure to put Lord Janner on trial for serious child abuse offences.

Alison Saunders’s position as the country’s top prosecutor looked bleak as she faced unprecedented criticism from the Home Secretary, police chiefs, crime tsars, prominent MPs – and even one of her predecessors.

Mrs Saunders said her job as head of the Crown Prosecution Service was to make the correct legal decisions in difficult cases, not the most popular ones. But she was accused of ignoring the rights of victims and of perpetrating Establishment cover-ups by deciding that Labour peer Lord Janner should not be charged – despite evidence of 22 offences against nine victims dating back to the 1960s.

Theresa May became the first Cabinet Minister to question the DPP’s judgment in ruling that the 86-year-old should not be prosecuted on the grounds that his dementia is now too advanced for him to have a fair trial.

The Home Secretary told the BBC: ‘I was very concerned when I heard about this decision. I have been very clear in everything I have said so far about the child sexual abuse issue… I expect to see justice done.’

Former DPP Lord Macdonald of River Glaven said it would have been better if Lord Janner had undergone a procedure whereby a jury can decide on the facts of a case without apportioning guilt and without a sentence being passed, if a suspect is unfit to plead.

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UNITED STATES
The Atlantic

ROSS DOUTHAT
APR 18 2015

In 1979, almost a year into the papacy of John Paul II, a novel called The Vicar of Christ spent 13 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. The work of a Princeton legal scholar, Walter F. Murphy, it featured an unlikely papal candidate named Declan Walsh—first a war hero, then a United States Supreme Court justice, and then (after an affair and his wife’s untimely death) a monk—who is summoned to the throne of Saint Peter by a deadlocked, desperate conclave.

Once elevated, Walsh takes the name Francesco—that is, Francis—and sets about using the office in extraordinary ways. He launches a global crusade against hunger, staffed by Catholic youth and funded by the sale of Vatican treasures. He intervenes repeatedly in world conflicts, at one point flying into Tel Aviv during an Arab bombing campaign. He lays plans to gradually reverse the Church’s teachings on contraception and clerical celibacy, and banishes conservative cardinals to monastic life when they plot against him. He flirts with the Arian heresy, which doubted Jesus’s full divinity, and he embraces Quaker-style religious pacifism, arguing that just-war theory is out of date in an age of nuclear arms and total war. (This last move eventually gets him assassinated, probably by one of the governments threatened by his quest for peace.)

Murphy’s book is mostly forgotten, but his hook, the idea of a progressive pope who sets out to bring sweeping change to Catholicism, has endured in the cultural imagination. The priest-novelist Andrew M. Greeley’s 1996 potboiler White Smoke, for instance, culminates in the election of a modernizing Spanish cardinal, whose conservative opponents are undone by the wily politicking of two Irish American prelates. Two years ago, Showtime shot a pilot for a series called The Vatican, in which Kyle Chandler (a k a Coach Taylor from Friday Night Lights) played a rising-star New York cardinal with progressive views—only to spike the show, perhaps feeling overtaken by events, 10 months after Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly resigned.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

Seven years ago, Cardinal Francis George testified about “the one egregious time” he said the Archdiocese of Chicago’s efforts to protect children under his leadership “failed to our great shame.”

He was talking about former priest Daniel McCormack.

McCormack sexually abused children on George’s watch while assigned to St. Agatha Parish on Chicago’s West Side. Arrested in January 2006, McCormack wasn’t removed from the priesthood until November 2007. He pleaded guilty that year.

“I had thought he was being supervised,” George said in a 2008 deposition. “And it wasn’t adequate.”

The cardinal’s handling of sex abuse allegations against McCormack and other priests in the archdiocese mar his legacy in the eyes of some.

“We would never wish anyone the kind of pain that we understand that he had to endure with his cancer,” Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said after George’s death Friday.

Still, she said the cardinal, who died Friday after years battling cancer, was “reckless” when it came to dealing with abusive priests.

“He left children at risk,” Blaine said, “even after he promised he wouldn’t do that.”

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CALIFORNIA
SFGate

By Kevin Fagan
April 18, 2015

All those praying that Pope Francis will take notice of their pleas and bounce Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone from his post in San Francisco had better settle in for a lot of time on their figurative knees.

Just about the last thing the Vatican ever does, experts say, is strip a bishop of his job because of political trouble in the pews — such as that being caused by a group of more than 100 local Catholics so upset about Cordileone’s conservative policies that they took out a full-page open letter in The Chronicle last week asking the pope to replace him.

“It’s so unusual for a bishop to be removed from office by the pope that there is a Latin term for it,” said the Rev. James Bretzke, professor of moral theology at Boston College. “It’s promoveatur ut amoveatur, which means, ‘Let him be promoted so that he can be removed.’

“That’s the way it’s been for centuries. And that’s the way it is now.”

Church watchers say that’s how St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke wound up being “promoted” to a legal post in the Vatican in 2008, four years after declaring that he would refuse communion to pro-abortion-rights presidential candidate John Kerry, among other provocations. And it’s reportedly how Bishop Joseph Martino was allowed in 2009 to gracefully retire at 63 — 12 years before the usual retirement age for bishops — after alienating his flock in Scranton, Pa., by espousing authoritarian views and closing nearly half the schools and parishes in his diocese.

“People are free to complain to the Vatican about bishops, but there is no formal process for removing them,” said Patricia Miller, an author who writes nationally on Catholic issues. “You can lobby it, and if you have the Vatican’s ear because you are a big donor or someone with big influence, you might get heard some. But the Vatican is not a democracy. It is literally a feudal court, a monarchy.

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ILLINOIS
My Suburban Life

By BOB OKON – bokon@shawmedia.com

Note to readers: The following story contains graphic descriptions of allegations of abuse by priests and may be offensive to some readers.

Steven Janik said he was an altar boy in the early 1980s being urged to consider the priesthood when the abuse began.

Janik was 13 or 14 at the time and was being interviewed by a priest who would determine whether he would be recommended for the seminary.

“When I was doing my one-on-one interview with him, one of the first questions he asked was, did I know what testicles were,” Janik said.

The next question was even stranger.

“He asked me if I knew what masturbation was. I did not. He took out a book and showed me,” Janik said.

Janik, who now lives in Wheaton, was among 14 men whose claims of sexual abuse against five priests in the Diocese of Joliet have been settled since July. Two law firms representing the men announced the settlements totaling $4.14 million last week.

Lawsuits filed on behalf of four of the plaintiffs tell similar stories of priests taking advantage of teenagers who were altar boys or interested in the priesthood.

One lawsuit alleges the abuse took place at the former St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Romeoville, a high school for boys interested in the priesthood.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 19, 2015

Cathy Kezelman

Another week and another school is under investigation for historical child sexual abuse.

Last Monday, Newington College, a private boys’ school in Sydney, was the latest school rocked by historic child sexual abuse allegations. The reports indicated that the school sent an email out to the parents of current and former students notifying them of an anticipated court case involving allegations of prior abuse at the school.

Two weeks earlier, another one of Sydney’s most prestigious private schools, St Ignatius College, Riverview, was forced to send a letter to parents informing them about child sexual abuse allegations made by a former student.

Both cases follow the chilling public inquiry into yet another prestigious private boys’ school, Knox Grammar, which was the focus of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse earlier this year. This particular case shocked the community – not only in relation to the reality of the three-decade history of child sexual abuse at the school, and the currency of the case up till 2012, but by the numbers of teachers charged.

The conduct of the school was especially disturbing. With the loss of records, and the former headmaster reportedly contradicting evidence that he gave earlier in the investigation, we saw evidence which suggested ongoing cover-ups, as well as the compounding impacts on victims. This public hearing is to recommence its inquiry, in late April.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WSOC

ROWAN CO., N.C. — A man was arrested Friday night and accused of sex crimes involving children, Rowan County officials said.

Benjamin Ross Hollifield, 25, is being held on a $1 million bond at the Rowan County Detention Center.

Hollifield is charged with indecent liberties with children and statutory rape/sex offense with a person aged 13, 14, or 15 by a person at least six years older.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WBTV

[with video]

By David Whisenant

SALISBURY, NC (WBTV) – A former Rowan County youth pastor is being held under a bond of $1 million, accused of sex crimes involving a child that attended his church. Sources tell WBTV that Hollifield was the youth pastor and outreach pastor at Piedmont Baptist Church in Kannapolis, NC.

Benjamin Ross Hollifield, 25, was arrested on Friday night and booked into the Rowan County Detention Center just after 10 p.m. on charges of taking indecent liberties with children and statutory rape/sex offense with a person aged 13, 14, or 15 by a person at least six years older.

Piedmont Baptist Church in Kannapolis released a statement Saturday on their website saying Hollifield was fired and that “The one known victim and their family are valued members of our church, and we are praying for and ministering to them during this difficult time. We would ask that you please respect their privacy.”

PBC went on to say that they screen anyone who works with children and “Piedmont Baptist Church reports all matters of potential child abuse to the authorities, as was done in this case by our senior pastor.”

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NORTH CAROLINA
Salisbury Post

By Jeanie Groh

A Kannapolis youth pastor has been charged with felony sex offenses with a 13-year-old church member.

Benjamin Ross Hollifield, 25, of the 1000 block of Buck Board Lane in Salisbury, has been charged with four counts of felony indecent liberties with a child and 10 counts of felony statutory rape or sex offense with a minor six or more years younger than himself.

The incidents took place between Feb. 15 and March 8.

Hollifield was the youth and outreach pastor at Piedmont Baptist Church, and has since been terminated from his position.

A statement on the church’s website said “Piedmont Baptist Church reports all matters of potential child abuse to the authorities, as was done in this case by our senior pastor.”

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NORTH CAROLINA
Charlotte Observer

BY JOE MARUSAKJMARUSAK@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM
04/18/2015

A Kannapolis youth pastor has been arrested and charged with sex offenses against a 13-year-old church member.

Benjamin Ross Hollifield, 25, of Salisbury, is in the Rowan County Detention Center on $1 million bail on charges of felony indecent liberties with a child and felony statutory rape or sex offense with a minor six or more years younger than himself, jail records show. He was placed in jail on Friday, records show.

The Salisbury Post reported the victim is 13. Hollifield was youth and outreach pastor at Piedmont Baptist Church, multiple media outlets reported.

In a statement on its website, the church said one of its employees was fired “for abusing a child and violating the church’s trust and policies.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Lexology

Bolt Burdon Kemp
Dino Nocivelli

United Kingdom
April 15 2015

Survivors of childhood abuse often feel that their lives were changed beyond recognition the first time their abuser started to groom and abuse them.

As the vast majority of child abuse survivors do not disclose their abuse for a number of years after the actual assaults, this causes a period of time where they often struggle to manage the emotional impact of the abuse and this then affects their relationships with family members, partners and friends. Often survivors will become disruptive in school and at home while it is also very common to see them start to drink excessively, take illegal drugs or self-harm in an effort to erase their feelings and memories of the abuse.

Below I have noted extracts from some of my current clients (their names have been anonymised for confidentiality, as have their abusers) who have had a number of different relationships affected due to childhood sexual abuse:

Parents

Peter’s family were practicising Roman Catholics and were parishioners in their local church. Their local priest, Father Steven, presented himself as a good standing member of society and therefore my client’s mother had no issue when Father Steven first asked her if Peter, who was still a child at this time, wanted to become an altar server and later on if he wanted to help out at the church. Peter was sexually abused by Father Steven at the church while he was carrying out these roles.

Peter’s mother noticed that he had started to misbehave at home and school while his school teachers had told her that he seemed unable to focus on his studies and his effort had decreased substantially. At the same time, Peter’s family continued to go to mass every Sunday and his mother even confided in Father Steven about the change in Peter’s behaviour as she was struggling to control him and she was becoming increasingly concerned.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic World Report

April 18, 2015
Ann Carey

A French journalist I know called me for help on an article she was writing about the reform plan for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) accepted April 16 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

She said she was confused by all the articles on the topic in the U.S. press and wanted to ask me “Who really won? The sisters or the Vatican?”

At first I was stunned by this win-lose terminology, and I wondered why she would have considered the doctrinal reform of a canonically-erected entity to be a conflict of some kind, with the outcome producing a winner and a loser.

My own impression of the outcome was that everyone won because the CDF had helped the LCWR to be a better organization for sisters by refocusing its role to be “centered on Jesus Christ and faithful to the teachings of the Church,” according to the final report.

Then I took time to read several media stories on the topic and discovered that some of the articles made it sound as if the CDF’s reform of the LCWR indeed was adversarial, akin to “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” or a new “Star Wars” sequel.

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ROME
National Catholic Register

by RICCARDO CASCIOLI 04/17/2015

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, 66, is troubled by the negative campaign that has been waged against him. Ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1995, the respected expert in canon law was called to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura before being appointed cardinal in 2010.

In recent months, critics have described him as an “ultraconservative fanatic,” “anti-Conciliar,” “in conspiracy against the Pope” and even ready for a schism should the upcoming family synod open up unwelcome changes.

The criticism has been so defamatory that in Italy several bishops have even refused to host his lectures in their dioceses. Where he has been allowed to give a conference — as recently in some cities in the north of Italy — there are invariably priests who oppose him and accuse him of spreading propaganda against the Pope.

“It’s total nonsense, I don’t understand this attitude. I have never said a single word against the Pope; I strive only to serve the truth, a task that we all have. I have always seen my talks and my activities as a support to the Petrine ministry. The people who know me well can witness to the fact I am not anti-papal. On the contrary, I have always been extremely loyal and wanted to serve the Holy Father, as I am doing now.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

by Rachel Millard, Crime reporter

The man who blew the lid on abuse at a notorious boys’ home said a flawed Sussex Police report led to others being let off the hook.

Former Army intelligence officer Colin Wallace tipped-off reporters about abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast, seven years before three members of staff were prosecuted in 1980.

Sussex Police officers were brought in two years later to investigate how the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) conducted its inquiries. A report, from the then chief constable of Sussex Police Sir George Terry, followed in 1983.

The report, Mr Wallace argues, was flawed and led to others not being investigated. He also claims an inquiry, which is currently being held into the abuse, has been weakened as a result of the report more than 30 years before.

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