ABUSE TRACKER

CINCINNATI (OH)
Enquirer

[Father Tarlton files – Jeff Anderson & Associates]

Dan Horn, dhorn@enquirer.com
May 9, 2015

Soon after the Rev. Allen Tarlton asked for a job with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 1969, church officials got a confidential letter about him from his abbey in Minnesota.

Tarlton had a problem, the letter said. He’d been treated a few years earlier at a facility that catered to priests with sexual issues, including those who sexually abuse kids.

Treatment was successful, the letter said, and Tarlton was ready to “prove his value as a priest.”

Archdiocese officials were convinced. They offered Tarlton a job – and a prayer.

“I join with you in praying that any past difficulty that Father Tarlton may have had may not manifest itself again,” an official in the chancellor’s office wrote back to the abbey.

That prayer would go unanswered. Tarlton, a Cincinnati native, spent the next several decades drinking heavily, flouting church rules and, by his own admission, engaging in sex with men and students.

Sometimes the sex took place in bath houses and public restrooms, Tarlton said in a statement he wrote in the early 1990s. Once, he said, he and another priest in Cincinnati had a “kind of orgy” with a 17-year-old boy from the church choir.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

[About 200 opponents of Bishop Juan Barros marched Friday through the center of the city to demand the resignation of the bishop because victims of priest Fernando Karadima accuse him of having witnessed and covered up the crimes of the former pastor.]

Cerca de 200 osorninos opositores al obispo Juan Barros, marcharon este viernes por el centro de la ciudad para pedir la renuncia del religioso, esto debido a que las víctimas de Karadima lo acusan de haber presenciado y encubierto los crímenes del ex párroco.

Con la convocatoria llamada la “Marcha de los paraguas negros”, los manifestantes, encabezados por el movimiento local de laicos, se reunieron cerca de las 20:00 horas en la Plazuela Yungay, trasladándose hasta el frontis de la Catedral de Osorno, instancia en la que aprovecharon de reunir firmas para solicitar la presencia de un visitador apostólico en la diócesis con el fin de revisar el caso.

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NEW YORK
Times Herald-Record

Editorial

Posted May. 9, 2015

Perhaps the most positive thing that can be said at this time about the removal of a priest in Pine Bush because of sex abuse allegations involving a 19-year-old male parishioner is that the Catholic Church appears to be dealing with it as a matter of serious public concern rather than an internal matter to be concealed, covered-up or denied.

Decades of secrecy by the Church regarding sex abuse of young males by priests have been exposed through thousands of allegations worldwide. A new pope has made it clear that, not only priests who are guilty of abuse, but also bishops who cover up for them will be held accountable, removed from their positions of trust. The message of Pope Francis is that there is no longer any room for prideful embarrassment, only definitive action to deal with the allegations openly and as swiftly as possible.

Did this happen in Pine Bush?

Certainly, the Archdiocese of New York has been more open and forthcoming with information on the allegations than in the past. Having removed Kevin Gallagher last summer from the Infant Saviour Parish in Pine Bush, following reports from friends of the young man, the archdiocese in February sent a letter to parishioners advising them that Gallagher – despite the strong recommendation from the archdiocese that he not do so – had returned to Pine Bush.

The letter said that Gallagher “does not currently have ‘faculties’ to serve as a priest – that is, he does not have an assignment, he is not permitted to publicly to function as a priest, and he should not present himself as a priest.”

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY DEBBIE L. SKLAR ON MAY 9, 2015

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said Saturday it had never heard of allegations by a man — who just sued the church over claimed sexual abuse by a priest — until the lawsuit was filed this week.

An Archdiocese spokeswoman, Monica Valencia, told City News Service today that the allegations are news to the church.

She said the priest named in the lawsuit — the Rev. Christopher Cunningham — was reassigned from his parish church in Covina “due to management issues not related to misconduct.

“The Archdiocese received allegations of improper conduct concerning Father Cunningham in August, 2005,” the spokeswoman told CNS. “According to Archdiocesean policy, an announcement concerning the allegations was made at the parish, informing the parish community.

“Father Cunningham took a leave of absence and has not been in the ministry since,” Valenica said.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Government – Attorney General’s Department

Job no: 492743
Work type: Full time
Location: Barton, ACT, Sydney, NSW
Classification: SES Band 2

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is undertaking an enquiry into how institutions with a responsibility for children have managed and responded to allegations and instances of child sexual abuse. The Commission’s role is to investigate where systems have failed to protect children, and make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse in institutions.

The Chief Executive Officer reports the Chair of the Royal Commission, and administratively to the Deputy Secretary, Civil Justice and Legal Services Group, with regards to the ongoing strategic and operational objectives to ensure that the six Royal Commissioners have the necessary support and resources available to enable them to meet the terms of reference established in the seven Letters Patent (Commonwealth and State issued).

The Chief Executive Officer performs a major and high profile role in providing ongoing support to the Commissioners and Senior Counsel, including through public and private hearings, and ensuring the efficient and effective running of the Office of the Royal Commission.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

It surely is a hectic time for NY’s Cardinal Dolan. Although demoted as a “power player”, in effect, by Pope Francis, he seems busy still. The lawyers defending his “burial” of the Milwaukee archdiocese’s excess cash in a cemetery trust appear to be seeking to terrorize further the desperate priest sexual abuse survivors there seeking some minimal justice. And Dolan’s former criminal subordinate from St. Louis, Bishop Robert Finn, has now been sacked by the pope.

Dolan is also busy pleasing his “low tax” billionaire donors by boosting the right wing US Republican election campaign’s push for another Middle East military invasion, advocated also by Pope Francis, to “protect Christians”. This includes Dolan’s hyping of convicted felon and Iraq War booster, Scooter Libby’s Hudson Institute’s latest seeming warmongering presentation. And busy Dolan has also recently confirmed his NY parish closing “cost cutting” plans, as he simultaneously spends almost $200 million on refurbishing his NY mansion and cathedral. He recently confirmed that his NY archdiocese’s parish closing program will shrink the number of NY parishes by over 20 % to 296 parishes from 368 recently. At the same time, NY Jesuit college students are protesting strongly Dolan’s plans to speak at their upcoming graduation, although he is welcomed to speak to cheering investment bankers at Goldman Sachs. What is wrong with this picture in the name of God?

Is Pope Francis watching this? Does he even care? Apparently not! Please see my pertinent remarks, “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?”. Meanwhile, Pope Francis will soon visit NY to bless Dolan’s “hardly Christian” efforts before moving on to the Philadelphia Archdiocese, evidently the USA’s Priest Pedophile Paradise, to bless Archbishop Chaput’s and Cardinal Rigali’s misdeeds there. Francis has also just signaled he will not wait for the Final Synod in October to reject changes in the Catholic Church’s unbiblical, unwarranted and harmful approach to women’s reproductive options. He will instead designate some priests to offer women forgiveness for daring to sin by trying to regulate the number of children the pope so often encourages them to breed. Thanks for nothing, Pope Francis! Keep up the guilt generation and control of poor women and couples, and watch another 30 million + US Catholics leave the Church, no?

Dolan and Pope Francis are not fooling everyone. Dolan is now facing his own coming USA revolt — just when the pope is getting ready for his visit to the USA in September. This USA revolt has already begun with brave Jesuit students, many opposed to priest child abuse and bishops’ cover-ups and homophobic crusades, at a New York Jesuit university, Le Moyne, with their petition here on Change.org (SIGN IT NOW PLEASE), and related anticipated civil disobedience seeking to reject prominent New York’s Cardinal Dolan as their graduation speaker, in light of his evident child protection and homophobic failures, see here, Catholics Revolt: Jesuit Grads Shun Dolan As Goldman Sachs Bankers Woo Him.

Lawyers representing Dolan’s former Milwaukee archdiocese in bankruptcy proceedings indicated that they will continue to play hardball to protect some or all of more than $55 million that the archdiocese under Dolan “buried in a trust fund” for the care of nine cemeteries it operates. Francis LoCoco, the lead lawyer for the archdiocese, reportedly indicated during a recent bankruptcy court hearing that if the bankruptcy judge decides against leaving the cash in the cemetery trust, as LoCoco indicated the abuse survivors want, the subsequent litigation could be even more protracted, and therefore even more expensive.

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NEW YORK
Wall Street Journal

By MELANIE GRAYCE WEST
Updated May 8, 2015

St. Thomas More, a Roman Catholic church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, won’t be closed by the Archdiocese of New York, a decision announced on Friday that marks a reversal from an earlier proposal.

The parish is one of about 40 in Manhattan, Staten Island, Westchester County and parts of the Catskills region that received final word on their future as part of a broad reorganization that church officials say is necessary to meet the modern needs of the church.

Most of the decisions on mergers and closures were announced in November, and those affected churches have begun combining or closing. Friday’s decisions finalized secondary proposals that had been in limbo for months.

In total, the archdiocese, which represents about 2.8 million Catholics, will shrink to 296 parishes from 368. Those remaining parishes will have 331 buildings used for Mass and sacraments.

In an interview on Friday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said there is sufficient time to complete all of the mergers by the Aug. 1 deadline. At that point, some parishes will stop holding Mass, he said.

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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

Parish List 1 – Masses and Sacraments celebrated at both churches
Parish List 2 – Masses and Sacraments to be celebrated at the designated parish church; the other church may be used on special occasions.

The Archdiocese of New York today announced the last decisions reached by Cardinal Timothy Dolan for the final 16 proposed parish mergers that have been under consideration and deliberation by the parish clusters and the archdiocesan planning board over the last year-and-a-half. These 16 proposals arose during the Making All Things New pastoral planning process, and in November the cardinal requested additional input and honest response of the clusters and the advisory committee before making any decisions about these parishes. After the clusters and advisory committee completed their work, the Priest Council of the archdiocese reviewed their responses and offered their own counsel to the cardinal for his consideration.

As a result of this long process of consultation and review, the cardinal has decided that 31 parishes will merge, resulting in 14 new parishes (some mergers involve more than one parish). In 11 of these 14 newly formed parishes, two church buildings will be used, with one church designated as the parish church and the other site used for Masses and sacraments. There will be six churches where Masses and sacraments will no longer be celebrated on a regular basis.

There were two other proposals, one each on Staten Island and in Harlem, where, following this period of consultation and review, the cardinal has decided there will be no merger.

Today’s announcement brings to a conclusion this phase of the Making All Things New pastoral planning process. Cardinal Dolan said, “From the beginning, this process has been about helping the archdiocese to better accomplish the work of evangelization and outreach, preach the Gospel, perform works of charity, and educate people in the faith, all of which is at the heart of the Church’s mission. For too long we have been in the business of maintaining buildings and structures that were established in the 19th and early 20th centuries to meet the needs of the people of that time, but which are not necessary to meet the needs of the Church and its people as it exists today.”

Because of Making All Things New, the archdiocese has also identified several potential areas for increased pastoral ministry and growth, including:

* The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal undertaking ministry in the Newburgh area to work with the underprivileged, and immigrants, in that area;

* The Claretian Fathers expanding their ministry in White Plains;

* Franciscan Friars, headquartered on Todt Hill on Staten Island, possibly taking on new ministry;

* A new church facility for Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini on Roosevelt Island that will allow all of their services to be centralized in one expanded location;

* Identifying areas for housing to serve people with autism and other disabilities;

* The need for an expanded church for Saint Mary Parish in Washingtonville;

* Careful evaluation of the need to move Saint Michael Parish to the Hudson Yards in Manhattan;

* An expanded apostolate and new facilities to minister to and with the Latino community in the archdiocese.

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NEW YORK
Crain’s

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York is merging 31 of its parishes into 14 new parishes as it concludes a reorganization process that has already seen dozens of churches shuttered.

Under the plan announced Friday, Mass will no longer be celebrated on a regular basis at six parish churches in Manhattan, the Bronx and Dutchess and Orange counties.

The archdiocese announced in November that 112 parishes were being consolidated into 55.

The latest round of mergers will take effect Aug. 1.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Lisa Black
Chicago Tribune

A priest who rebelled against his superiors in the Chicago Greek Orthodox Church by supporting his parish’s pursuit of a criminal investigation into another clergy member will leave his position at the end of June.

The Rev. Angelo Artemas, who formerly led Sts. Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church in Glenview, confirmed that he was recently released from his duties at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Milwaukee “after two years of frustration” and will join a parish based out of Atlanta.

“After two years of fighting for this parish … I have given up,” said Artemas, after informing congregants of his pending departure.

The priest said he and his congregation have been under intense pressure from leaders of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago since members of his Milwaukee church raised concerns in 2013 about their former priest, the Rev. James Dokos.

Dokos, who also served at Sts. Peter and Paul, was eventually charged with felony theft over his alleged mishandling of a $1.2 million trust fund that was left to the Milwaukee church. He is awaiting trial.

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UNITED STATES
The Open Tabernacle: Here Comes Everybody

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Betty Clermont

“The Vatican, a 10 billion euro treasure – Investments in property, stocks, gold, hard currency,” is the title and lede of an article published last July by Italian journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi, based on information obtained from one of the experts Pope Francis appointed to help him “reform” Vatican finance.

Pope Francis has verbally struck out against unfettered capitalism and the “idolatry of money.” Yet he has appointed immoral experts working on behalf of the global plutocracy to maintain and grow his treasure. He can do this without scruples because, like all bishops upon their elevation to cardinal, he swore to put the good of the Church above all else. “I, _____, of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal of _____, promise and swear from this hour hence as long as I live….to try in every way to assert, uphold, preserve, increase and promote the rights, even temporal, the liberty, honor, privileges and authority of the Holy Roman Church.”

After the Vatican’s last monarchical ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was defeated in World War I, Church leaders embraced fascism. Communism is atheistic and democracy is a dangerous ideology for prelates whose power depends on unquestioning obedience.

Since then, millions have suffered and died because the Church has protected, endorsed and provided financial support, services and cover to fascists and other right wing dictators, terrorists, politicians and financiers. The quid pro quo is that these secular leaders will advance the influence and wealth of the Church.

Pope Pius XI’s coffers were empty when Mussolini offered him the equivalent of a billion dollars in today’s money if the Catholic Church would enthusiastically back his dictatorship. More importantly, Il Duce also created a sovereign state placing the pope and his men outside and above all civil law.

Pius XI placed the windfall from his 1929 treaty with Mussolini in the hands of the financial genius, Bernardino Nogara. With the full knowledge of Popes Pius XI and XII, Nogara built an economic partnership with Mussolini and invested the pope’s money without regard to moral constraints such as a country’s culpability in World War II. So close was the Vatican to the Axis, the Allies intentionally fed the churchmen incorrect strategic information knowing it would reach the Italians and Germans. In addition to the Church’s direct involvement in the slaughter of Orthodox, Roma and Jewish Croatians, the Vatican’s investments and diplomatic support for the Axis made them participants in the deaths, misery and displacement of millions.[1]

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RHODE ISLAND
Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence

In January 2013, Reverend Barry M. Meehan, a priest of the Diocese of Providence, was removed from all active ministry after the Diocese received credible accusations regarding alleged sexual misconduct. A separate accusation involving sexual contact with a minor, also deemed credible, was received in July 2013.

In November 2014, Father Meehan was arrested and charged with five (5) counts of first-degree sexual assault.

Following a thorough review of the circumstances, the Holy See (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) has authorized Bishop Tobin to dismiss Reverend Barry M. Meehan from the priesthood.

In accord with the Church’s law and procedures regarding sexual misconduct by clerics, especially for violations described in the Code of Canon Law (Canon 1395, §2, and Canon 277), Bishop Tobin formally imposed that dismissal upon Barry Meehan, effective May 7, 2015.

Barry Meehan retains the right to appeal this action.

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RHODE ISLAND
WPRI

By Shaun Towne
Published: May 8, 2015

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Rhode Island priest charged with five counts of first degree sexual assault has been defrocked.

Barry Meehan was dismissed from the priesthood Thursday, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

Police said he was assigned to St. Mary’s in Cranston when one assault happened, then at St. Augustine’s in Providence when the others took place.

Meehan was removed from active ministry in 2013.

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
WRIC

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — New details are coming to light in the case prosecutors plan to present against former ROC pastor Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar. Aguilar faces 8 felony counts of sexual assault on two young girls in Texas when he was their youth pastor in the 1990s.

Ahead of Aguilar’s upcoming trial in Fort Worth next month, more accusations of sex with parishioners, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases have suddenly been revealed.

8News has learned the state of Texas is trying to introduce information about other alleged crimes and alleged wrong-doing in the trial against the former mega church pastor.

Aguilar’s attorney in Texas has filed a motion to exclude this newly-revealed information from the trial. She argues that unless the state can prove it, it’s not admissible.

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VIRGINIA/TEXAS
Christian Post

By Leonardo Blair , Christian Post Reporter

Already facing eight felony counts of sexual assault of two young girls in Texas, disgraced ex-pastor and founder of the Richmond Outreach Center megachurch in Richmond, Virginia, Geronimo “Pastor G” Aguilar, is alleged to have engaged in much more abuse of his young parishioners than previously reported including paying for abortions and passing on a sexually transmitted disease.

A WRIC report noted Monday that the state of Texas is trying to introduce the new information about these alleged crimes and wrong-doing in the trial against the former megachurch pastor expected to get underway next month.

“In one case, it’s alleged he (Aguilar) paid for a parishioner to have an abortion and be moved to Michigan. The court documents also state that he allegedly passed on a sexually transmitted disease during affairs with church members,” said the report.

It also noted that: “While serving as head of the ROC Church in 2010, newly-revealed accusations say Aguilar touched the breasts and genitals of a 16-year-old Richmond girl who was a babysitter for his children.”

More than 120 witness have been reportedly identified to testify against Aguilar. A pre-trial hearing was expected to happen on Friday to discuss the inclusion of the new details against the former pastor but his lawyer is fighting to have the information excluded.

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NEW YORK
The Long Island Catholic

Msgr. Charles A. Guarino, whose extensive priestly service found him repeatedly in important settings during historic moments for the Church, died on May 2. He was 74.

Born in Brooklyn on June 14, 1941, Charles Guarino was ordained to the priesthood on May 27, 1967. He was educated at Cathedral Prep and College, and completed his studies for the priesthood at St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester. …

Monsignor Guarino had been one of two canon lawyers sent by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to assist the Congregation in handling cases of clergy sex abuse from English-speaking countries.

“I am happy for the experience,” he told TLIC at the time, both for the opportunity to be able to help the Church deal with “this painful chapter in our history” and also for the “privileged moment” to be in Rome for two pontificates – those of John Paul II and Benedict XVI — “two pivotal moments in the history of the Church.” In fact, just before St. John Paul II’s death, Msgr. Guarino had made a pilgrimage to Poland “to walk in the footsteps” of the man he said would be remembered as “John Paul the Great.”

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CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

Stephanie K. Baer
POSTED: 05/08/2015

A former Covina priest who was removed from the church by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2004 because of his “emotional instability” allegedly sexually abused at least two children in the parish prior to his removal, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

The complaint alleges that the Rev. Chris Cunningham sexually molested a 12-year-old boy at St. Louise de Marillac Catholic Church from 2001 to 2002 and states that the Archdiocese failed to inform parishioners about the allegations.

Cunningham, the church and the Archdiocese are named defendants in the case. The plaintiff, who is now 25 years old, is not identified and was one of at least two victims of the priest’s sexual abuse, said Anthony DeMarco, an attorney for the plaintiff.

“The Archdiocese was especially sneaky in the way that they handled this case,” DeMarco said in a statement. “Despite all of their promises of transparency, Cardinal (Roger) Mahony refused to tell parishioners about the allegations in 2004.”

Then, in 2013, Archbishop Jose Gomez “quietly released” Cunningham’s name on a list of accused priests but neglected to notify the parishes where Cunningham had worked, DeMarco said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
JTA

(JTA) — Prosecutors have asked a Washington, D.C., Superior Court judge to sentence Rabbi Barry Freundel to 17 years in prison for videotaping dozens of nude women at a ritual mikvah bath.

Freundel, former spiritual leader of the prominent Washington Orthodox synagogue Kesher Israel, pleaded guilty in February to 52 counts of misdemeanor voyeurism. He is due to be sentenced May 15. In addition to prison time, Freundel could be ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

The rabbi, now 64, was arrested last October and charged with six counts of voyeurism after investigators found hidden cameras in the National Capital Mikvah’s shower room and in his home. He was fired from Kesher Israel, the congregation he had led for 25 years and which abuts the mikvah, soon after his arrest.

Bethany Mandel, who converted to Judaism under Freundel and has been outspoken about problems with Orthodox conversion oversight, told the Washington Post that the rabbi’s prison sentence should send a message to other would-be offenders.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Baltimore Sun

By Alison Knezevich
The Baltimore Sun

Prosecutors are recommending a 17-year prison sentence for a rabbi and former Towson University professor who admitted he secretly videotaped dozens of women at a Jewish ritual bath known as a mikvah.

Rabbi Barry Freundel is scheduled to be sentenced in D.C. Superior Court on May 15. In February, he pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism.

An attorney for Freundel could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.

Each of the voyeurism counts carries a maximum penalty of up to a year of incarceration and a fine of up to $2,500.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Friday, prosecutors recommend four months of incarceration for each count — a total of 208 months — calling that “reasonable and just punishment for this severe conduct that falls on the extreme end of the voyeurism spectrum.”

In the court filings, prosecutors describe in detail how Freundel allegedly abused his power and exploited women’s trust in him, causing deep trauma when the women learned of his actions.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NBC Washington

Prosecutors recommended a prominent Orthodox rabbi who pleaded guilty to 52 counts of voyeurism serve a 208-month sentence.

Bernard “Barry” Freundel is due in court for sentencing May 15.

In addition to his guilty plea, Freundel did not dispute prosecutors’ claims he taped an additional 100 women. He could not be charged in those cases because they happened earlier than the three-year statute of limitations.

The case stunned D.C.’s Orthodox community, particularly because the women were taped while taking ritual baths associated with rites of family purity and conversion at the National Capital Mikvah, a ritual bathhouse affiliated with Freundel’s former synagogue.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

Prosecutors seek 17-year sentence for D.C. Rabbi convicted of voyeurism

By Keith L. Alexander and Michelle Boorstein May 8

Prosecutors have asked a D.C. Superior Court judge to impose a 17-year prison sentence for Barry Freundel, the once-influential Orthodox rabbi who secretly videotaped dozens of nude women as they prepared for a ritual bath.

Freundel, 64, was arrested in October on charges that he videotaped six women in the nude while he was at Kesher Israel synagogue in Georgetown. Prosecutors said a review of his computer equipment revealed that many more women had been recorded by Freundel as they prepared for the bath known as a mikvah — used as part of a purification ritual by people converting to Judaism and by married women as a way to sanctify sex.

Freundel ultimately pleaded guilty to videotaping 52 women, and the punishment proposed by prosecutors would translate to four months for each victim. The longtime rabbi had recorded about 100 additional women, prosecutors have said, but those alleged crimes occurred outside the three-year statute of limitations. The videotaping occurred between 2009 and 2014.

Sentencing is set for May 15 before Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin, and dozens of the victims — including several who will fly in from Israel — are scheduled to attend. The judge can adopt or reject the prosecutors’ recommended sentence.

In a 25-page memo, prosecutors attacked Freundel’s credibility as a religious leader and said he lived a “double life.” Prosecutors said they found videos of the rabbi, who is married, having sex with several women.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 8, 2015

A group of U.S. clergy is circulating a statement addressed to the delegates who will meet in Rome in October for the Synod of Bishops on the family, urging them to “stand firm on the Church’s traditional understanding of marriage, human sexuality and pastoral practices.”

The statement was crafted by Credo Priests, a group organized by Fr. Jerry Pokorsky, pastor at St. Michael Catholic Church in Annandale, Va. Pokorsky did not return a phone call requesting an interview.

The Credo Priests are asking other U.S. priests, diocesan and those of religious orders, to sign the statement, which is available at www.credopriests.org. About 850 priests had added names to the website by Friday afternoon.

Among the signers are five U.S. bishops: Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Ill.; Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck, N.D.; Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Neb.; Bishop Robert Finn, formerly of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.; and Rene Gracida, retired bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas.

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VATICAN CITY
ABC News

VATICAN CITY — May 8, 2015

Associated Press

Pope Francis’ sex abuse commission has taken another step with the publication of its statutes outlining its mission to protect children from predator priests.

The statutes, signed by the Vatican secretary of state and made public Friday, make clear the commission’s aim is to propose new initiatives to Francis to compel bishops and religious superiors to better protect children. With that priority, the commission has been authorized to evaluate the effectiveness of existing child protection programs in individual parishes, dioceses, religious orders and national bishops’ conferences.

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MONTANA
KPAX

[with video]

MISSOULA –
A week ago, the Catholic Diocese of Helena posted the names of the priests and nuns accused of sexual and physical abuse in Montana from the 1930’s through the 70’s. It was part of a settlement made between the church and those who accuse it of years of abuse by its clergy.

The first name on that list was a priest who served around Western Montana for years. But it was his time as the priest in Philipsburg that still haunts a Missoula man.

The Catholic Diocese of Helena recently published the names of the priests and nuns accused of sexual and physical abuse in Montana from the 1930’s through the 70’s. It was part of a settlement made between the church and those who accuse it of years of abuse by its clergy.

“You know, it was something I was able to block out in my mind and life for so many years that when I do focus on it and everything, I revert back to that age,” the victim, Chuck, said.

Back to when he was 11 or 12 growing up in Philipsburg. He was one child in a large family being raised by a single mother. Back then, the church was there to help families like his, and Father James Barry was there to help.

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KENTUCKY
WLKY

FRANKFORT, Ky. —A former Roman Catholic priest serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse has lost an appeal of his conviction.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals this week upheld James Schook’s conviction on three counts of sodomy and one count of indecent or immoral practices. The charges stemmed from abuse suffered by a teenage boy in the 1970s.

Schook also lost a bid for an early release through shock probation in December. He had also sought several delays to his criminal trial because he is battling terminal skin cancer.

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CALIFORNIA
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

By Stephanie K. Baer, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune
POSTED: 05/08/15

A former Covina priest who was removed from the church by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 2004 because of his “emotional instability” allegedly sexual abused at least two boys in the parish prior to his removal, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

The complaint alleges that Father Chris Cunningham sexually abused a 12-year-old boy at St. Louise de Marillac Catholic Church from 2001 to 2002 and that the Archdiocese failed to inform parishioners about the allegations when he was reassigned to church in Ventura.

Cunningham, the church and the Archdiocese are named defendants in the case.

“The Archdiocese was especially sneaky in the way that they handled this case,” said Anthony DeMarco, an attorney for the unidentified victim, in a statement. “Despite all of their promises of transparency, Cardinal (Roger) Mahony refused to tell parishioners about the allegations in 2004.”

Then, in 2013, Archbishop Jose Gomez “quietly released” Cunningham’s name on a list of accused priests but neglected to notify the parishes where Cunningham had worked, DeMarco said.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

LUCIE MORRIS-MARR HERALD SUN MAY 09, 2015

FROM the outside, the red-brick St Alipius Presbytery, with its clean white metalwork and gothic features, looks pretty in that whimsical way many enjoy in historical properties.

But in just over a week, when the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse begins its public hearings in Ballarat, very far from pretty echoes of its past will be recalled.

We will learn anew that for many, perhaps hundreds, in Victoria this house is a haunting reminder of the terror, the vile and damaging abuse, inflicted on them within its walls.

It was the early 1970s. They should have been enjoying a carefree childhood. They should have been safe. Protected. And above all, cared for by the staff of the St Alipius school, church, and presbytery.

But instead, they were caught up in what turned out to be the worst paedophile ring cver recorded in Australia.

Many of them were raped, fondled and molested on a daily basis by four of the male teacher Christian Brothers.

And leading this twisted, abusive victory charge was the man their parents trusted the most: the Father of St Alipius Catholic Church, Gerald Francis Ridsdale.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, May 6

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

Now that he’s lost his appeal, convicted child molester Fr. James Schook should give it a rest, do his time, stop re-victimizing his victims and let them heal without more desperate, self-serving legal maneuvers.

[San Antonio Express-News]

And it’s time for Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz to cut off funds for the proven predator’s lawyers, if he hasn’t done so already.

(Just days ago, across the river, Springfield IL Bishop Thomas Paprocki admitted he’s paying the legal bills of a suspended, disobedient, credibly accused predator priest, Fr. Robert “Bud” DeGrand.

[Journal Courier]

Finally, it’s time for Kurtz and his priests to aggressively seek out and offer help to others who were hurt by Fr. Shook and are suffering in shame, silence and self-blame.

We hope this decision brings comfort to Fr. Schook’s victims. And we hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Schook or cover ups by his church supervisors will come forward, expose wrongdoers, call police, protect kids and start healing.

It’s also worth noting that a top Louisville Catholic official, Brian Reynolds, misled police about the Fr. Schook case:

[SNAP]

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Marie Rohde | May. 8, 2015

MILWAUKEE Lawyers representing the Milwaukee archdiocese in bankruptcy proceedings indicated that they will continue to play hardball to protect some or all of more than $55 million that the archdiocese shifted into a trust fund for the care of nine cemeteries it operates.

Francis LoCoco, the lead lawyer for the archdiocese, said during a bankruptcy court hearing Wednesday that if the judge rules against maintaining the cemetery trust as he said the other side wants, the subsequent litigation could be protracted.

“Let’s spend the money,” LoCoco said. “Let’s litigate the cemetery trust [issue] completely. Candidly, at that point it becomes cheaper, more efficient and easier to us to litigate every abuse survivor claim. … [Do] they want us to start sending dozens and dozens of notices to every single abuse survivor and their family members and their doctors?”

In March, a federal appellate court ruled that the cemetery trust fund was not protected by the First Amendment or the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy was filed nearly four and a half years ago and has accrued at least $16 million and perhaps more than $20 million in legal fees. A dozen lawyers representing the archdiocese, several insurance companies, the cemetery trust and Archbishop Jerome Listecki were in court for Wednesday’s hearing; nine other out-of-state lawyers joined via telephone conference call.

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA.com

A young man who alleges he was sexually abused by a pastor at the Catholic Church he attended in Covina sued the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The plaintiff, identified only as John CJ Doe, alleges child sexual abuse and negligence. The Los Angeles Superior Court suit filed Thursday also names as defendants the Rev. Christopher Cunningham and St. Louise de Marillac Church.

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

“Plaintiff is one of two known victims of Father Cunningham’s child sexual abuse,” the suit alleges.

A archdiocese spokeswoman did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

The suit states that the plaintiff was abused in 2001 and 2002 when he was 12 and 13 years old. Cunningham was 42 when he was reassigned to Assumption Catholic Church in Ventura in 2004, according to published reports at the time.

Supporters of Cunningham sent 8,000 letters to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles pleading not to oust their pastor, the prior reports state. They protested at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles and held meetings to come up with a plan to save Cunningham, according to the earlier media accounts.

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KENTUCKY
San Antonio Express-News

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest serving a prison sentence for sexual abuse has lost an appeal of his conviction.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals this week upheld James Schook’s conviction on three counts of sodomy and one count of indecent or immoral practices. The charges stemmed from abuse suffered by a teenage boy in the 1970s.

Schook also lost a bid for an early release through shock probation in December. He had also sought several delays to his criminal trial because he is battling terminal skin cancer.

Last week, the victim in the criminal case and another man sued Schook in civil court, though the allegations were sealed by a judge.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Vatican’s pervasive obsession with secrecy and spin, often tolerated by a mostly captive media that is dependent on Vatican sources for “news crumbs” and invitations to ride on the papal plane during exotic and unnecessary papal trips, requires Catholics seeking the full truth at times to try themselves to draw the most plausible inference from known facts. Put simply, official Vatican explanations and media apologists “analysis” of them are often misleading or incomplete, in my view as an experienced international lawyer. Once again, this Vatican’s media manipulation tactics were just confirmed, this time by longtime “Vatican insider journalist”, Robert Mickens, in his recent Letter from Rome . As Mickens indicates, the pope avoided a photo op with the world’s leading female archbishop, who is also Sweden’s Primate, a former Chicago theology professor, a Christian advocate for contraception access and acceptance of same sex marriage and a top expert on the moral implications of climate change. Yet the pope craftily exploits photo ops daily with the likes of the Harlem Globetrotters and other sports and Hollywood celebrities. Why the misogynistic papal discrimination? See my pertinent remarks, “What Do We Now Know About The Real Goal Of Pope Francis?”.

Why did Pope Francis really sack Kansas City USA Bishop Robert Finn in the manner and at the time the pope did? It is becoming clearer now that the pope’s priorities were mainly (1) to protect himself from the expanding revolt over his own blunder with Chilean Bishop Barros that was seized upon by at least four lay members of the pope’s “go slow’ abuse commission, and (2) to avoid undermining the pope’s strong push to help elect next year a “Vatican friendlier” US president, preferably another Bush and certainly not another Clinton! Francis evidently was not made pope by frightened cardinals to protect “expendable bishops” like Finn. But “who is to judge” which bishops or even cardinals are expendable? For important background on the pope’s urgent Chilean bishop mess and his ties to the broader Chilean priest sexual abuse situation, as well as his Chilean cardinal connections, please see intrepid Jason Berry’s comprehensive description, “Chilean cardinals close to pope stained by abuse cover-ups“, here,

[National Catholic Reporter]

Finn was a “somebody” among the US Catholic hierarchy. He had longtime key backers, thought once to be powerful in Rome, including his former St. Louis USA bosses, Cardinals Justin Rigali, Timothy Dolan and Raymond Burke. He also had his Opus Dei connections. That’s history now. Indeed, Dolan is facing his own coming USA revolt just when the pope is getting ready for his visit to the USA in September. This USA revolt has already begun with brave Jesuit students, many opposed to priest child abuse and bishops’ cover-ups and homophobic crusades, at a New York Jesuit university, with their petition here on Change.org (SIGN IT NOW PLEASE), and related anticipated civil disobedience seeking to reject prominent New York’s Cardinal Dolan as graduation speaker, in light of his evident child protection and homophobic failures, see here, Catholics Revolt: Jesuit Grads Shun Dolan As Goldman Sachs Bankers Woo Him .

Despite originally indicating reportedly that the lay abuse commission members would have access to the pope, the pope has apparently reversed himself. He has, in effect, jammed his lay members with his new “statutes” for his “go slow” advisory abuse commission headed by a weak O’Malley, and infamous Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver. Importantly, the commission’s new statutes (two years’ late incidentally) specify: “§ 3. Proposals submitted to the Holy Father by the Commission must be approved by a majority of two-thirds of the Members.” (emphasis mine). The commission’s clerical members, subservient to the pope, can now block, by a “one third plus one” vote, lay members’ access to the pope. Of course, the lay members can and likely will go public to the media as they think necessary in good conscience, as they already have. The commission’s “statutes” seem more for the continued “protection of bishops” than for the “protection of minors”, it appears! Predictable, no? We waited two years for this? Shameful! See here the full Statutes of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service – Rhymes with Relgion

Boz Tchividjian | May 8, 2015

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,you did it to me.’

Spending much of one’s life navigating the dark underbelly of Christendom can at times create a deep sense of discouragement and hopelessness. Perhaps that is why I always look forward to graduation.

This weekend, I have the distinct privilege of watching my seventh graduating class walk across the stage to receive their law degree on they’re way to becoming the new generation of lawyers. Though this means having to say many difficult “good-byes” to amazing students who I now call friends, it also is a sweet reminder from God that there is much hope in this next generation.

I am reminded that it is this next generation who is stepping forward to openly acknowledge and talk about the epidemic of child abuse and its devastating impact upon the abused. I am reminded that it is this next generation who is stepping forward to reject the deadly silence that for too long has defined Christendom’s approach and response to so many forms of abuse. I am reminded that it is this next generation who is no longer satisfied with just words when it comes to the safety of children and the comfort of survivors. I am reminded that it is this next generation who is crossing the road to give of themselves to the abused and the marginalized that lay alone and dying.

For the past seven years, God has given me a glimpse of how this next generation as I’ve spent my days teaching the lawyers of tomorrow. I am continuously amazed at their passion when it comes to issues related to child protection. Let me provide two small but powerful examples. For the past two years, my law students have sponsored and organized child protection symposiums during Child Abuse Prevention month, which bring together experts from various professions to focus on successful multi-disciplined approaches to combatting abuse both inside and outside of faith communities. These events have been some of the best attended symposiums ever held at our school with most of the attendees being students…the lawyers, police officers, counselors, pastors, etc. of this next generation. There is hope.

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ILLINOIS
Effingham Daily News

People have repeatedly asked me where I come up with the ideas for my column. I reply that I have no shortage of topics, thoughts, things to write about; that’s how my mind is wired. The problem is focusing on one particular thing; one specific topic.

I also have no shortage of suggestions for what I should write about. In the past year, numerous people have called me and stopped me to suggest a topic for a future column. “Hey,” they say, “why don’t you write about (fill in the blank)?”

Over the past year, and especially in the past few days, people have suggested I write about the events centering on the Catholic parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville. They want me to weigh in on the situation involving the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand.

On Saturday, Father Bud was permanently removed from his pastoral duties at those four parishes. The announcement was made by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki. I won’t go into all the details of why, and what brought it about; that has been well documented already. (See “Bishop permanently removes area priest as pastor,” EDN, May 4.)

It really is not my place to comment on the situation. I am not a parishioner at any one of those churches. I don’t attend any Catholic church. And, though I was baptized Catholic, I am not a practicing Catholic. I have my reasons.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Philly

BY CAROL GLATZ
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors received temporary approval of its first set of statutes.

U.S. Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston — one of the pope’s top cardinal advisers and president of the pontifical commission — had submitted a draft of the statutes, which were approved “by mandate of the supreme pontiff” April 21 by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.

The Vatican released a copy of the approved statutes May 8. Their approval is good for three years.

The four-page document outlines the structure, nature, activity and goals of the commission, which Pope Francis established in December 2013.

The commission, made up of 17 members in addition to the president and secretary, is “an autonomous institution” within the Holy See and serves as “an advisory body at the service of the Holy Father.”

Because “the protection of minors is of paramount importance,” the statutes said, the commission’s main purpose is to make recommendations to the pope on how best to promote “local responsibility in the particular churches for the protection of all minors and vulnerable adults.”

When drafting proposals, the commission will consult with staff and offices in charge of child protection at parishes, national bishops’ conferences and religious institutes as well as other Vatican offices when appropriate.

The president, secretary and members — who are all appointed by the pope — can serve for a three-year term, which can be renewed, the statutes said.

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CALIFORNIA
Think Progress

BY JACK JENKINS POSTED ON MAY 7, 2015

Pope Francis has been widely lauded as a champion of the oppressed, advocating for the victims of war and passionately declaring that “to discriminate in the name of God is inhuman.”

But in September, the pontiff is planning to canonize, or declare a saint, a man who some Native Americans say not only discriminated in God’s name, but also subjugated thousands of Indians along the West Coast using missionary tactics that effectively enslaved his Christian converts.

On Wednesday, the Vatican formally sanctioned plans to proclaim the saintliness of Junípero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan missionary who converted thousands of Native Americans to Christianity in California before his death in 1784. The Spanish priest is renowned by many Catholics for his devoutness, and Francis is scheduled to make his sainthood official in an elaborate outdoor mass during his papal visit to the United States this fall. The pontiff has expressed deep admiration for Serra, showering him with praise in a recent address to seminarians for exhibiting “generosity and courage” while “usher[ing] in a new springtime of evangelization in those immense territories, extending from Florida to California.”

“Such zeal excites us,” Francis said.

But many argue the impact of Serra’s “zeal” is more complicated than the pope suggests. Native American activist organizations such as Mexica Movement have staged several protests outside Catholic sites across California since January, when Francis first announced his intention to canonize Serra. On Monday, demonstrators gathered outside of Mission Dolores in San Francisco, making speeches condemning Serra and unfurling banners emblazoned with slogans such as “No Sainthood for Serra” and “Native Lives Matter.”

“My ancestors were directly enslaved at Mission Dolores here, and at Mission San Jose in Fremont, and I want to make sure that the Vatican knows that we, and Native people allies, do not agree with the canonization of Junipero Serra,” said Corrina Gould, a woman who claims Karkin and Chochenyo Ohlone ancestry, according to Indybay.org.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Stephen Betts, BDN Staff

Posted May 06, 2015
.
ROCKLAND, Maine — A state judge ruled Wednesday that a convicted sex offender did not violate probation by attending church where children were present.

Justice Daniel Billings issued his ruling in Knox County Unified Court, allowing 47-year-old Jason S. Simpson to be released. Simpson had been in jail since his arrest on March 26.

Simpson was arrested after his probation officer determined he had violated probation by attending a church service on March 22 in Augusta. A woman reported Simpson to the probation office, voicing concern her grandchildren were in church as well. The report by the probation officer indicates Simpson did not speak with any child while at the church.

Defense attorney Jeremy Pratt said he was pleased with the judge’s decision because his client had done nothing wrong by attending a religious service.

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ITALIA
Il Messaggero

[Priest Pascal Manca was already suspended for suspect child abuse but now he faces new charges.]

di Stefania Piras

Era stato già sospeso dalla Curia quando la notizia dell’indagine era circolata giorni fa. Ora don Manca è finito in carcere con l’accusa gravissima di pedofilia.

I primi abusi, secondo i carabinieri, risalirebbero a tre anni fa quando don Pascal Manca, ex parroco di Villamar prestava servizio a Mandas, due piccoli centri del Cagliaritano.

Nell’inchiesta coordinata dal pm Liliana Ledda emergono abusi su quattro ragazzini nel 2012 e nel 2014: due dodicenni nel primo caso, quando era ancora a Mandas, e due sedicenni a Villamar. Si parla di atti sessuali non completi. In tutte e due le comunità il parroco aveva a disposizione delle canoniche ed è proprio lì che si sarebbero consumati gli abusi. In alcune circostanze pare che abbia usato anche dei sonniferi per agire indisturbato.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Aachener Zeitung

[A priest from Krefeld, sentenced to six years in prisons for child abuse, has challenged the judgement.]

DÜSSELDORF. Ein wegen Kindesmissbrauchs in Krefeld zu sechs Jahren Haft verurteilter katholischer Priester hat das Urteil beim Bundesgerichtshof angefochten. Georg K., der früher auch im Bistum Aachen gearbeitet hat, habe Revision eingelegt und die Begründung fristgemäß eingereicht, sagten sein Anwalt und ein Sprecher des Landgerichts am Freitag.

Anfang Februar war der Geistliche wegen schweren sexuellen Missbrauchs schuldig gesprochen worden. Nach Überzeugung des Landgerichts hatte er zwei Brüder missbraucht.

In seinem Schlusswort hatte sich der Pfarrer bei den Opfern entschuldigt. Sein Verteidiger hatte in dem Prozess bereits für ihn erklärt: „Der größte Teil der Vorwürfe ist richtig.” Der Anwalt hält die verhängte Strafe aber für zu hoch. Der Seelsorger war im vergangenen Juli von Südafrika nach Deutschland ausgeliefert worden. Dort war wegen ähnlicher Vorwürfe gegen ihn ermittelt worden.

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VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

Etwa ein Jahr nach der Gründung der Päpstlichen Kinderschutzkommission hat der Heilige Stuhl an diesem Freitag die Statuten der Kommission veröffentlicht. Franziskus hatte das Gremium zum Schutz von Kindern und Jugendlichen vor sexuellem Missbrauch innerhalb der Kirche am 22. März 2014 eingerichtet. Es war das erste konkrete Arbeitsergebnis des neunköpfigen Kardinalsrates gewesen, der den Papst bei den Schritten zur Kurienreform berät.

Der Kinderschutz sei eine Frage „vorrangiger Bedeutung“, heißt es in den Statuten der Kinderschutzkommission. Das Gremium berate den Papst in Fragen des Kinderschutzes und schlage ihm diesbezüglich Maßnahmen und Initiativen vor, die Anwendung innerhalb der Weltkirche finden sollen. Die Kommission, die maximal 18 Mitglieder umfassen soll, habe die Form einer „unabhängigen Institution, die mit dem Heiligen Stuhl verbunden“ sei. Juristischer Sitz dieser Institution ist der Vatikanstaat, wo sich auch das Archiv der Kinderschutzkommission befindet. Wie die Kommission im Detail mit der Glaubenskongregation zusammenarbeiten soll, welche die Missbrauchsfälle aufarbeitet, und wie „unabhängig“ sie agieren kann, geht aus den Statuten nicht hervor. Bisher war immer von einer „engen Zusammenarbeit“ die Rede gewesen. Die Kompetenz der Glaubenskongregation in Fragen des Kindesmissbrauchs durch Kleriker werde durch die Kinderschutzkommission nicht beschnitten, hatte Kardinal Sean Patrick O´Malley, Leiter der Kommission, betont.

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For immediate release: Friday, May 8, 2015

It’s happened again today in Rome.

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

[Statutes of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors]

Some Catholic commentators will no doubt herald this latest tweaking as something big. It’s not. Maybe in other realms of church life, policies like this matter. In abuse and cover up cases, they do not.

Those who break church policies in child sex cases never really suffer consequences. So church decision-makers routinely ignore church policies. It’s irrational to expect otherwise.

Nearly every Catholic figure always has and still does act in nearly every case with one guiding principal: “What gets me out of this with as little time, disclosure and embarrassment as possible?”

Based on observing their behavior for 26 years, we see little evidence that church officials ask themselves: “What am I required to do, according to secular and church rules?”

The word that matters most here is “advisory”. Vatican officials are making it clear that the pope’s abuse panel has no teeth. All it can do is “advise”. As always, decisions about clerics who commit and conceal child sex crimes will remain with their clerical colleagues.

Consider this: There are more than 4,000 bishops on earth. Not one of them could summon the strength to publicly criticize – let alone take action against – even one of their complicit colleagues, not even convicted Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. No refining of words on paper will change this timid, self-serving clerical culture.

Today’s tweaking is signature Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Here’s what O’Malley virtually always does: say nice things in public, make symbolic gestures, hold healing masses, meet with a few victims, settle abuse and cover up lawsuits, and tweak nearly meaningless internal church abuse policies, then claim ‘a new day has dawned’. He makes smart financial and public relations moves while pretending they’re substantive reforms.

Here’s what O’Malley virtually never does: denounce, discipline or demote enablers, publicly release secret files, turn over abuse records to prosecutors, reform predator-friendly secular laws or take any meaningful steps that would stop current clergy sex crimes or prevent future cover ups.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 8 May 2015 (VIS) – To complete the publication of the Statutes, the Chirograph by which the Pope instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors on 22 March 2014 was also published today.

“The effective protection of minors and a commitment to ensure their human and spiritual development, in keeping with the dignity of the human person, are integral parts of the Gospel message that the Church and all members of the faithful are called to spread throughout the world. Many painful actions have caused a profound examination of conscience for the entire Church, leading us to request forgiveness from the victims and from our society for the harm that has been caused. This response to these actions is the firm beginning for initiatives of many different types, which are intended to repair the damage, to attain justice, and to prevent, by all means possible, the recurrence of similar incidents in the future.

For these reasons, and after having received the counsel of many cardinals and members of the college of bishops, together with other collaborators and experts in these matters, I decided to continue the work begun by my Predecessors by establishing a permanent Commission attached to the Holy See. The aim of the Commission is to promote the protection of the dignity of minors and vulnerable adults, using the forms and methods, consonant with the nature of the Church, which they consider most appropriate, as well as through their cooperation with individuals and groups pursuing these same objectives.

As I had the opportunity to highlight during an encounter with several victims of sexual abuse, I rely on the members of this Commission for the effective protection of minors and vulnerable adults, regardless of religion they profess, because they are the little ones on whom the Lord looks with love. To my collaborators in this work, I ask for all efforts possible to assist me in responding to these needs of these little ones.

The Commission’s specific task is to propose to me the most opportune initiatives for protecting minors and vulnerable adults, in order that we may do everything possible to ensure that crimes such as those which have occurred are no longer repeated in the Church. The Commission is to promote local responsibility in the particular Churches, uniting their efforts to those of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the protection of all children and vulnerable adults.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 8 May 2015 (VIS) – On 21 April, Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, approved by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, “ad experimentum” for three years, the Statutes of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the draft of which had been presented by Cardinal Sean O’Malley, president of the aforementioned Commission.

The Statutes will be published today in the Italian original and in English translation. The document is composed of six articles: Nature and Competence, Composition and Members, Plenary Assembly, Personnel, Working Groups, and General Norms.

The first part explains that the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is an autonomous institution linked to the Holy See with a public legal personality and has an advisory function in the service of the Holy Father. The protection of minors, the text continues, is of the first importance, and therefore it is the role of the Commission to propose initiatives to the Pontiff, following the modalities indicated in the Statutes, to promote the responsibility of the particular Churches in the protection of all minors and vulnerable adults. These proposals will have to receive prior approval by the majority of two thirds of the members of the Commission. For the elaboration of the proposals, when the matter falls within the competence of other ecclesial bodies, the president of the Commission, with the assistance of the secretary, will consult the competent entities for the protection of minors in the particular Churches, the episcopal conferences, the conferences of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as the dicastery of the Roman Curia competent in the matter. This consultation will take place in a transparent manner with the members of the Commission, based in Vatican City State.

The Commission, according to the second part, is composed of a maximum of eighteen members appointed by the Holy Father for a three-year period, which may be reconfirmed, and are selected from persons of recognised competence in various areas linked to the activity entrusted to the Commission. Both the president and the secretary are appointed from among the members by the Holy Father for a period of three years, a mandate that may be reconfirmed.

The plenary assembly, as explained in the third part, will be convoked twice yearly. Upon request by two thirds of the Members and with the consent of the president, an extraordinary plenary assembly may be convoked. For the plenary assembly to be considered valid, at least two thirds of the members must be present; they may participate via video conference.

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ROME
Commonweal

Robert Mickens

For the first time ever a woman bishop has been welcomed inside the Apostolic Palace for an official meeting with pope. But don’t expect to find any photos in the Vatican’s official newspaper. L’Osservatore Romano buried within its pages a brief, picture-less article of Pope Francis’ high-level meeting on Monday with Lutheran Archbishop Antje Jackelén of Uppsala, the first woman to head the Church of Sweden. It seems the Centro Televisivo Vaticano (CTV) and the Vatican’s You Tube channel also tried to prevent any widespread distribution of visual images of the gathering—especially of the pope and Archbishop Jackelén greeting one another. Holy See media that did provide photos for the event generally showed solo pics of the visiting female prelate, although one of Vatican Radio’s departments displayed a screenshot from the CTV footage that showed Francis shaking the archbishop’s hand. In his talk, he addressed her as “Esteemed Mrs. Jackelén, esteemed Sister.”

It should be noted that this was not the first time Pope Francis has had a close encounter with a mitred woman. Last autumn he briefly greeted Bishop Catherine Waynick of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis at the end of a general audience in St. Peter’s Square. There are photos of that event, too. But officials at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Kurt Koch, have downplayed such incidents. It could be that they, like those in the noli me tangere lobby inside the Vatican, are not comfortable with Francis welcoming people that popes usually don’t even meet. Or maybe they’re trying to protect the pope from being further attacked by the most extreme Catholic traditionalists. In any case, the Christian Unity folks followed the same strategy when Francis sent a homemade smartphone video to a conference of televangelists last year in the United States and when, some months later, he met a delegation of TV preachers at his Santa Marta residence.

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

By Sarah Fenske Fri., May 8 2015

Two people being sued by First Christian Church of Florissant and its pastor, Steve Wingfield, are firing back, with motions to dismiss the church’s lawsuit and a press release challenging the pastor’s claims.

As this week’s Riverfront Times cover story detailed, Dawn Varvil met with Wingfield in 2012 and shared her concerns about a youth minister at the church named Brandon Milburn.

Two years later, Milburn was arrested for molesting two boys he had met through the church — and a church member named Doug Lay prepared a report questioning what Wingfield knew about Milburn and whether he took appropriate action. The report focused in part on what happened at Varvil’s meeting with Wingfield.

Wingfield responded by suing both Lay and Varvil, as well as former members Titus and Kari Benton, who’d criticized him on Facebook.

Lay hired a lawyer almost immediately, and filed a response in late April. Thanks to a GoFundMe campaign, Varvil has also hired a lawyer.

That lawyer, Nicole Gorovsky, sharply criticized Wingfield and his legal action in a prepared release.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic World Report

Vatican City, May 8, 2015 / 06:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After meeting for the first time as a complete entity in February, the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors has published their formal statues, effective for three years.

“The effective protection of minors and a commitment to ensure their human and spiritual development…are integral parts of the Gospel message that the Church and all members of the faithful are called to spread throughout the world,” the Pope said in his chirograph for the commission.

Dated March 22, 2014, the chiropraph is the official papal document which established the foundation of the commission. It was published May 8 along with the statutes.

The statues were approved by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin April 21 by mandate of Pope Francis. They were published in the original Italian and in English.

Effective “ad experimentum,” meaning “to the test” for three years, the statutes serve as temporary, yet formal acting guidelines for the commission.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Statutes for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors were made public on Friday. They were approved by Pope Francis on April 21st, and will be in effect “ad experimentum” for three years.

The Commission was officially instituted last year, and is headed by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., the Archbishop of Boston.

The text of the statutes is below

♦ Statutes of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

Statutes

Chirograph of the Holy Father Francis for the Institution of a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of minors (22 March 2014)

On 21 April the Cardinal Secretary of State approved by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, ad experimentum for three years, the Statute of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the draft of which had been presented for approval by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., President of the same Commission.

The Statutes will then be published in the Italian original and in English.

To ensure the completeness of the documentation, the Chirograph of 22 March 2014, by which the Pope officially instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, will be published contemporaneously.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 8, 2015 Distinctly Catholic

The Holy See this morning published the statutes for the Commission for the Protection of Minors, giving that body canonical and juridical status within the Roman curia. Reading the statutes this morning, it may not seem like they are very earth-shattering or, in the event, Church-shattering, but they are.

First, there is the fact of a commission. One of the ways any bureaucratic body decides to highlight the significance of an issue is to create a section of the bureaucracy tasked specifically with addressing that issue. So, in the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter established the Department of Education, separating it from what had been the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, giving the new department its own staff and budget and focus. The new statutes do something similar for the Commission for the Protection of Minors. They members and staff of the commission do not have to focus on other issues, only this one.

In the 1990s, part of the initial problem with getting the Vatican to address the problem of clergy sex abuse was that no one knew precisely which dicastery had authority to address the problem. Eventually, it was decided to refer all cases to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then led by the uber-competent Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger rather than to the Congregation for Clergy, then led by the abuser-coddling Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. The latter congregation never got over the snub and, to this day, has resisted the efforts of the CDF to remove pedophiles from the clerical state. But, the Prefect, members and the staff of the CDF have many responsibilities, and while they will continue to handle issues relating to laicizing accused pedophiles, or meting out other judicial sentences such as a life of prayer and penance, they had never been authorized to work with episcopal conferences around the world to establish procedures and policies that help protect minors. Here is the second major change: The new commission specifically has the task of working with local churches, and coordinating efforts within the Roman curia, to deal with the scourge of clergy sex abuse.

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VATICAN CITY
Bolletino

[Italian]

Statutes

Chirograph of the Holy Father Francis for the Institution of a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of minors (22 March 2014)

On 21 April the Cardinal Secretary of State approved by mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, ad experimentum for three years, the Statute of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, the draft of which had been presented for approval by Cardinal Seán O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap., President of the same Commission.

The Statutes will then be published in the Italian original and in English.

To ensure the completeness of the documentation, the Chirograph of 22 March 2014, by which the Pope officially instituted the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, will be published contemporaneously.

Statutes

Art. 1

NATURE AND COMPETENCE

§ 1. The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is an autonomous institution attached to the Holy See, with public juridic personality (can. 116 CIC). The Commission is an advisory body at the service of the Holy Father.

§ 2. The protection of minors is of paramount importance. The purpose of the Commission is to propose initiatives to the Roman Pontiff, according to the procedures and determinations specified in these Statutes, for the purposes of promoting local responsibility in the particular Churches for the protection of all minors and vulnerable adults.

§ 3. Proposals submitted to the Holy Father by the Commission must be approved by a majority of two-thirds of the Members.

§ 4. In developing the proposals referred to in § 2, when the matter concerns the competence of other ecclesial bodies, the President of the Commission, assisted by the Secretary, shall consult promptly the offices responsible for the protection of minors in local churches, episcopal conferences, conferences of superiors of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, as well as the dicastery of the Roman Curia competent in the matter. This consultation will be shared in a transparent manner with the Commission Members.

§ 5. The Commission may require an account of the effectiveness of work carried out by the competent bodies mentioned in § 4.

§ 6. The legal seat of the Commission is in the Vatican City State.

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MALLORCA
El Diario

The Bishop of Mallorca has been held by a court to be vicariously liable for a priest accused of abuse of a minor.]

La titular del juzgado número 3 de Inca (Mallorca) ha impuesto una fianza de responsabilidad civil de 100.000 euros al expárroco de Can Picafort Pere Barceló, imputado por violar presuntamente a una menor, y ha declarado al Obispado de Mallorca responsable civil subsidiario.

El auto dictado por la jueza de Inca establece que la diócesis mallorquina habrá de responder con sus bienes de la parte de lo 100.000 euros que no pueda cubrir el expárroco, imputado por un delito de agresión sexual continuada y otro de abusos.

La finanza, a la que no se ha opuesto la Fiscalía, fue reclamada el pasado 18 de marzo por la acusación que representa a la mujer presuntamente violada cuando era menor por el sacerdote, que fue apartado hace dos años de sus responsabilidades religiosas por el Obispado mallorquín.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Catholic News

A Motherwell diocesan priest has been cleared by police after being falsely accused of sex abuse, but his family says he was denied ‘natural justice’ as he was unable to defend himself against the unfounded historic allegation.

While Fr Paul Morton, 55, formerly of St Bride’s Cambuslang, cannot return to active ministry until the Church concludes its own separate investigation, Bishop Joseph Toal of Motherwell said he now hopes the Church investigation will conclude as quickly as possible.

“We will all require to be patient during this process, which is the prescribed way to proceed,” the bishop said. “I pray that this case will quickly proceed to a just conclusion and we will be able to welcome Fr Morton back to active ministry.”

A statement from Fr Morton’s four brothers and two sisters says, though their sibling had been ‘completely exonerated,’ he was also subjected to a ‘damaging and distressing ordeal that lasted for eight months.’

“The traumatic events for him and our family began in October of the previous year when an allegation was made against him by an anonymous individual,” they say. “Paul was immediately removed from his parish duties and also asked to leave the parish house for a period of ‘administrative leave.’”

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
WHBL

MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A court hearing has finally been scheduled on a plan by the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese to get out of bankruptcy.

Judge Susan Kelley says she’ll hear arguments in November on the church’s plan to keep its 200-plus parishes and schools running, while compensating victims of previous sex abuse by priests.

The 10-county archdiocese originally proposed $4 million in compensation for 128 abuse victims — just over a quarter of the 575 victims who filed claims in the nearly four-and-a-half year old bankruptcy case.

The matter has been held up by legal issues — including the church’s effort to protect $66 million in church cemetery upkeep funds.

A federal appeals court reversed a judge’s ruling that the cemetery fund was off limits to the creditors — and the archdiocese now says it will set aside an undisclosed amount for the abuse victims.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville News

[with video]

Lyn Riddle, lnriddle@greenvillenews.com

Five abuse survivors held a silent vigil outside the main gate of Bob Jones University Thursday protesting what they called the university’s tepid response to a report that criticized the way faculty and staff counseled students who had been sexually abused or assaulted.

They said their biggest concern was that no action had been taken against Jim Berg, the former dean of students who handled most of the counseling, and Bob Jones III, who was president during the time most of the situations occurred.

Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, a non-profit independent organization that BJU contracted with to conduct the investigation, recommended personnel action against both men.

BJU President Steve Pettit said earlier this year that all of Berg’s writings had been studied and found to be biblically correct. He remains on the faculty; Jones remains chancellor, said university spokesman Randy Page.

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KENTUCKY
The Ledger Independent

CHRISTY HOOTS christy.hoots@lee.net

VANCEBURG | A former Vanceburg resident is facing charges of sexual abuse and has been extradited from his home in Indiana after being indicted by a Lewis County grand jury.

Kentucky State Police Master Trooper Joe Veeneman said Duncan Aker, 63, of Greensburg, Ind., was recently arrested and charged with five counts first-degree sexual abuse and four counts of sodomy, after an indictment was handed down against Aker in April.

A representative with the Greensburg, Ind. Police Department said Aker was arrested on May 3, on a warrant from Vanceburg, but no further information was available.

“The investigation into the incidents took about three to four months,” Veeneman said. “Then we had to wait on the extradition from Indiana.”

According to the indictment, Aker allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse and sexual contact through forcible compulsion with a male under the age of 12 between October 2007 and March 2010.

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MINNESOTA
WDIO

[with video]

A Hibbing priest is charged with five felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Twenty-nine-year-old Brian Michael Lederer was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon by the Hibbing Police Department and is being held in the St. Louis County Jail.

Formal charges were filed on Thursday, listing three victims. Two of the victims were under 13 years old, and one was under 16.

Lederer faces three counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree, which also list him as a being in a position of authority over the complainant.

In the criminal complaint, a victim said Lederer would pull on her bra strap and rub her butt. The complaint describes another incident in which Lederer allegedly touched one victim’s crotch through her underwear.

The complaint says one victim was “sobbing” while recounting the alleged incidents to police. Another told police she would “sweat very badly and have a bad feeling around (lederer).”

The alleged victims came forward this week, saying that the sexual abuse started about a year ago and happened on a school playground, by a drinking fountain there and in classrooms. The most recent incident, allegedly occurred while Lederer was a guest in a parishioner’s home for a family celebration.

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KENTUCKY
Lex18

A former Kentucky pastor has been returned to the Commonwealth to face sexual abuse charges.

Duncan Aker Jr., 63, served as pastor at the Vanceburg Christian Church until 2011 when he moved to Indiana. Police say he sexually abused a boy under 12-years-old between 2007 and 2010. According to the indictment, investigators say the abuse took place in a vehicle along the AA Highway, in Aker’s home, in an outbuilding he owned, and in the church.

Aker faces four counts of first degree sodomy and five counts of first degree sexual abuse. He was indicted last month and booked into the Lewis County Detention Center Monday.

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MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

A Hibbing priest was charged Thursday with five counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly inappropriately touching three girls in incidents starting last year and continuing through this week.

The Rev. Brian Lederer, 29, parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hibbing, faces up to 25 years in prison and $35,000 in fines for each of three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, and up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines for each of two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Lederer, who was arrested Tuesday and made his first appearance in court on Thursday, is being held at the St. Louis County Jail on $250,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court again next week.

Lederer also was involved with Assumption Catholic School associated with Blessed Sacrament Parish. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Duluth said Thursday that Lederer “has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the legal process. While on leave, he is not allowed to minister as a priest and or have contact with anyone under age 18.”

According to the criminal complaint:

On Tuesday, Hibbing Police Department investigators met with a woman who reported that her two daughters — one younger than 13, the other between the ages of 13 and 16 — had been sexually assaulted by Lederer.

The two girls were interviewed and each reported that Lederer had touched them inappropriately on multiple occasions over several months — at school, and most recently at their home on Sunday. Lederer, whom the older girl described as a close family friend, was at the home for a family celebration. The older girl told investigators that while playing checkers, Lederer extended his right hand out and touched her genital area over her shorts, and also made contact with her bare thigh. She said she cried and felt scared after the incident.

Lederer was arrested at his office later Tuesday and declined to give a statement to Hibbing police.

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MINNESOTA
Northlands News Center

[with video]

By Kevin Jacobsen

Hibbing, MN (NNCNOW.com) — A Hibbing priest accused of criminal sexual conduct with three minors could face life in prison, if convicted.

Father Brian Lederer made his first appearance before a judge in St. Louis County Court on Thursday.
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The criminal complaint paints a disturbing picture of the priest’s alleged actions over the past nine months.

Two of the victims came forward on Tuesday alleging they had been sexually assault by the 29-year-old, which led to the arrest of Lederer who has been a priest at Blessed Sacrament Church since 2012.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY CAITLIN GUILFOYLE AAP MAY 08, 2015

A COMMITTEE linked to an orthodox Jewish school organised for a “manipulative” headmistress accused of sexually abusing female students to fly overseas, a Melbourne court has heard.

FORMER committee member Mair Ernst admits his wife Hadassa arranged plane tickets for then Adass Israel School headmistress Malka Leifer, so she could leave for Israel in 2008.

“We had accusations only and very, very little information that Mrs Leifer had molested girls,” he told the Supreme Court of Victoria on Friday.

The school and Ms Leifer are being sued by an ex-student who says she was sexually abused up to several times a week from age 15.

Last August Ms Leifer was arrested in Israel and is facing extradition to Australia.

Mr Ernst said the committee met urgently when the allegations surfaced in 2008, and a “collective” decision was made to arrange flights for Ms Leifer and her family.

“She was manipulative and we wanted to do everything possible to protect these poor girls,” he said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Adass Israel School principal Malka Leifer helped by officials to flee from student sex abuse claims

SHANNON DEERY NEWS LIMITED MAY 08, 2015

AN ultra orthodox Jewish principal fled to Israel under the cover of night with the help of school officials after she was publicly accused of molesting students, a court has heard.

Just days after one of Malka Leifer’s victims first spoke out about the ongoing abuse at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick the principal boarded an early-morning flight to Israel.

Members of a committee closely linked with the school helped organise the tickets after a decision was made to sack Mrs Leifer.

Travel agent Tammy Konisarski told the Supreme Court today she was asked to arrange urgent tickets about 10pm on March 5, 2008.

She said she was told “people have to go to Israel urgently.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 8, 2015

Patrick Hatch
Reporter for The Age

A school committee conspired to fly its principal out of the country after allegations of child sex abuse were raised against her, a court has heard.

Malka Leifer fled to Israel on an early morning flight in March 2008, just days after allegations were made that she had abused students at Adass Israel School in Elsternwick.

Mair Ernst told the Supreme Court on Friday of an emergency meeting where the Congregation Adass Israel committee decided to sack Mrs Leifer and arrange for her and her family to leave Australia.

Mr Ernst said he then asked his wife Hadassa to arrange plane tickets through the eastern suburbs travel agents she worked for, owned and run by Tammy Koniarski.

Mrs Koniarski told the court how Mrs Ernst called her about 10pm on March 5, telling her she needed urgent tickets out of the country.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian Jewish News

MEMBER for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby has described child abuse as “a pernicious evil” adding that “anyone found responsible should face the full consequences of the law” after it was revealed yesterday that he had helped former Adass Israel principal Malka Leifer secure a visa allowing her to work in Australia.

A former student at Adass, who alleges Leifer sexually abused her over a number of years, has launched a lawsuit against the school and Leifer which is currently being heard in the Victorian Supreme Court.

Two letters written by Danby to the Department of Immigration in support of Leifer’s visa application before she took up her role at the ultra-Orthodox Melbourne school were submitted to the court on Thursday

Meanwhile, the former student gave graphic evidence to the court this week about the sexual assaults, which she said had resulted in “nightmares and anxiety and flashbacks” that have marred her life.

Questioned by barrister Dyson Hore-Lacy SC today on Thursday, the second day of the trial under Justice John Rush, she said she received psychological counselling for feeling “suicidal”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MAY 08, 2015

Dan Box
Crime Reporter
Sydney

The Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide allegedly concealed child abuse while he was in office, failing to reveal his knowledge of abuse committed by a priest before the abuser died, a court has heard.

Archbishop Philip Wilson did not appear in Newcastle Local Court yesterday for the first hearing in the case since he was charged in March. His lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Court documents show police allege he concealed the sexual assault of a 10-year-old boy by Hunter Valley priest Jim Fletcher in 1971, which took place in the Maitland area of NSW, where Fletcher and Archbishop Wilson worked as priests and lived together during the late 1970s and early 80s.

The documents allege Archbishop Wilson concealed Fletcher’s abuse from April 2004, three years after his appointment as archbishop, to January 7, 2006, the day Fletcher died. In May 2006, Archbishop Wilson was elected president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, making him one of the most senior clerics in the country. He remains the organisation’s vice-president, although on indefinite leave since being charged.

In December 2004, Fletcher was found guilty of raping and sexually abusing another teenage boy, and was jailed for 10 years. Police allege Archbishop Wilson knew “he had information which might be of material assistance to the prosecution” of Fletcher for the 1971 abuse but failed “without reasonable excuse” to provide that to detectives.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

By JC Reporter, April 29, 2015

A woman who claims she was sexually abused as a teenager by a strictly Orthodox teacher burst into tears in court as she described being ordered to “enjoy it” while she was molested.

The woman said she was attacked by Todros Grynhaus when she was aged between 14 and 15.
Mr Grynhaus, the son of a rabbi, was a respected member of the Charedi community in Salford.

It is alleged he inappropriately touched the girl in a hotel Jacuzzi on one occasion and on another forced her to perform a sex act on him, when he said: “It’s really not too bad. Give it a try.”

The woman described the attack to a jury at Manchester Crown Court this week where Mr Grynhaus is facing a retrial on five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault. He denies the allegations.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The JC

By JC Reporter, May 7, 2015

A Jewish teacher accused of molesting two teenage girls described one alleged victim’s tearful courtroom description of an attack in a Jacuzzi as “pure fiction”.

Todros Grynhaus, 50, denied that he touched the girls inappropriately when they were between the ages of 14 and 15, describing the claims against him as “horrific” and part of a “revenge plot”.

The father-of-10 is on trial at Manchester Crown Court charged with five counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault.

He denies the allegations.

Giving evidence on Thursday, he said: “I went into the Jacuzzi as it was my first experience. I had never been in one before and I can’t swim. I called her over. She hadn’t seen one before so it was an experience for her.

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ARKANSAS
KAIT

[with video]

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) – A longtime children’s pastor in Jonesboro has been charged with computer child pornography, according to documents filed in Jonesboro District Court Wednesday afternoon.

Tony Waller, 39, had tens of thousands of files of nude or scantily clad pubescent girls in his possession, according to the Jonesboro Police Department.

Detective Brandon King, who is investigating Waller’s case, said it is one of the largest child pornography cases he has ever seen.

According to the affidavit, Waller’s wife told police she found child pornography on a laptop she and her husband shared. She told police while looking for a file, she stumbled across folders she did not recognize, which turned out to be thousands of videos and pictures of little girls.

When Waller’s wife confronted him, he admitted to having a child porn addiction for more than 20 years. He turned over the laptop and two drives to her, which she then gave to police.

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ARKANSAS
The Raw Story

DAVID EDWARDS
07 MAY 2015

Arkansas youth pastor is facing child pornography charges after his wife reportedly found images of underage girls on his computer and turned them over to police.

According to KAIT, an affidavit filed in Jonesboro District Court on Wednesday alleged that 39-year-old First Assembly of God Pastor Tony Waller “had tens of thousands” of photos and videos of “nude or scantily clad pubescent girls” on a laptop that he shared with his wife, Angela.

Waller’s wife told detectives that she was searching for a file when she came across a folder that she did not recognize. The folder contained “thousands of images of prepubescent girls either completely nude or scantily clad,” the affidavit said.

When he was confronted by his wife, she said that he admitted having a child pornography addiction for more than 20 years.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan May 7, 2015

A federal judge today chastised the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for trying to reach sex-abuse victims through legal notices placed in newspapers.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel was not happy to hear that the archdiocese has relied on legal notices to inform abuse victims that they have until Aug. 3 to file a claim in the church’s bankruptcy.

The judge lamented that “no one reads the legal notices.”

Archdiocese attorney Richard Anderson said the church will address the judge’s concerns.

“He indicated he’d like to see broader ads in the general circulation part of the paper and we’re in the process of doing that,” Anderson said.

The archdiocese, abuse victims, insurers, parishes and other parties are now in mediation, trying to devise a plan that ensures the future of the archdiocese and compensates victims.

Kressel also approved the formation of a bankruptcy committee that will represent the interests of nearly 200 parishes.

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MINNESOTA
Hibbing Daily Tribune

HIBBING — The associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish has been formally charged.

Brian M. Lederer, 29, was arraigned before Judge Mark M. Starr in St. Louis County Court in Hibbing this afternoon. He was charged with three felony counts of sexual conduct in the second degree and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree.

He is accused of sexual misconduct with three persons under the age of 16.

Lederer remains in custody. Bail was set at $250,000.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune MAY 7, 2015

The 187 Catholics parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will have a greater voice in the church’s bankruptcy proceedings.

On Thursday U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel ruled that the court would appoint a creditors committee representing parishes.

Parishes aren’t adequately represented by the official creditors’ committee, which is composed of five clergy abuse survivors, argued Mary Jo Jensen-Carter, an attorney representing about 100 parishes.

Parishes have significant claims against the archdiocese, parish attorneys argued, including overpayments to its insurance funds and liabilities from clergy abuse of priests appointed by the archdiocese.

Rob Kugler, the attorney representing the creditors committee, argued against the appointment of a separate committee for parishes. He said it was a conflict of interest for parishes, as they are an arm of the archdiocese.

At the hearing Kressel also chastised the archdiocese for the relatively small legal notices is it running to notify clergy abuse victims of their Aug. 3 deadline to file a claim.

“Nobody reads legal notices,” said Kressel. “That’s not going to notify anyone. If that’s what you’re doing, that needs to change.”

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KENTUCKY
WSAZ

VANCEBURG, Ky. (WSAZ) — A former minister at a church in Lewis County, Ky. has been arrested after being indicted on sexual abuse and sodomy charges, allegedly involving a child under 12 years old.

Duncan Aker, Jr, 63, of Greensburg, Indiana, formerly of Vanceburg, is charged with four counts of 1st Degree Sodomy and five counts of 1st Degree Sexual Abuse.

Aker, Jr. was indicted on April 24, and returned to Lewis County on Monday.

He is being held in the Lewis County Detention Center and will be arraigned on the charges next week.

According to the indictment the alleged incidents took place between October 2007 and March 2010.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Patrick Hatch

A school principal used a student’s abusive home life as a way to groom and then sexually abuse her over several years, a court has heard.

A former student of Adass Israel Girls School, in Elsterwick, is suing the school for damages stemming from abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of former principal Malka Leifer.

The school sacked Mrs Leifer in March 2008 after allegations of impropriety came to light.

The Supreme Court heard on Tuesday that a member of the school’s committee arranged the plane tickets so Mrs Leifer could leave the country within two days of being sacked.

Mrs Leifer was arrested in Israel in August last year and extradition proceedings are underway to bring her to Victoria to face sex abuse charges.

The court heard on Wednesday that the former student’s abuse started in 2002, when she was 15, and as a result had suffered flashbacks, nightmares, persistent depression, post traumatic stress disorder and at one point was suicidal.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MAY 07, 2015

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

A woman suing an ultra-orth­odox Jewish school and the former principal for sexually assaulting her as a student says the school provided no sex education or pathways for reporting the abuse.

Mother of eight Malka Leifer and the Adass Israel school in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs are facing court action brought by the former student, who says Ms Leifer repeatedly ­assaulted her over four years in the mid-2000s.

Ms Leifer swiftly left the school when allegations concerning several students came to light in 2008, resigning after an internal investigation and flying to ­Israel with her family the next day. She has previously denied the allegations, but is not mounting a defence in the civil case.

There are ongoing court proceedings in Israel to extradite her to face criminal charges.

Her former student, who was 15 when the alleged abuse began, yesterday told the Victorian ­Supreme Court she initially felt “privileged” by Ms Leifer’s attention. “I trusted her, I trusted what she said to me,” said the woman, who is now 27.

“She would tell me that she loved me and that she really cared for me … (that) this was her way of showing how close she felt to me.”

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

Female school principal ‘sexually abused girl to prepare her for marriage’ at ultra-Orthodox Jewish school, court hears

By SARAH DEAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

The former principal of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school allegedly abused a 15-year-old student to ‘prepare her for marriage’.

Malka Leifer, the ‘strict’ former principal at Adass Israel School in Melbourne, was named in a negligence and injury lawsuit against the school by a former student who claims Leifer abused her and her two sisters over several years.

Leifer allegedly began grooming the student, using the girl’s physically abusive home life as a way to get close to her, Victoria’s Supreme Court heard this week.

‘She liked to hug me like a baby, and rock me. She said I should consider her like a mother who loved me, and that I was special,’ the woman told the court, the Herald Sun reports.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 07, 2015

A WOMAN suing an ultra-orthodox Jewish school over an explosive sexual abuse scandal says its former principal sexually abused her up to three times a week.

The woman, now in her 20s, says she was abused by Malka Leifer while she was principal at Adass Israel School in Elsternwick.

She said the former principal took a special liking to her before starting to molest her during private religious educations classes.

The woman told her Supreme Court trial today Ms Leifer assaulted her two to three times a week while she was a student.

The abuse, at Ms Leifer’s home, at the school and at school camps, continued after she started teaching at the school.

The court heard the woman started suffering flashbacks, nightmares and suicidal thoughts because of the abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 7, 2015

Steve Butcher and Patrick Hatch

One of three sisters allegedly sexually abused by the principal of the Adass Israel Girls School has told a court how the woman “begged” her to reveal “what was going on” before she was sacked and then flew to Israel days later.

The Supreme Court of Victoria heard earlier that Malka Leifer used one student’s abusive home life as a way to groom and then sexually abuse her over several years.

It was alleged in evidence on Thursday that four people once visited and harassed the student’s older sister in London to pressure her to pressure other family members to drop the “charges” against Mrs Leifer.

That former student of the Elsternwick school is suing it for damages stemming from abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of Mrs Leifer.

Justice Jack Rush heard this week that a member of the school’s committee arranged plane tickets to enable Mrs Leifer to leave Australia within two days of being sacked in 2008.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

MP Michael Danby unwittingly helped Jewish principal later accused of molesting children get her visa, court told

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 07, 2015

FEDERAL Labor MP Michael Danby helped an ultra orthodox Jewish principal accused of molesting a string of students secure a visa to work in Australia, a court has heard.

Two letters written by the Melbourne Ports MP in support of Malka Leifer were today tendered in a Supreme Court trial against the former principal and Elsternwick’s Adass Israel School.

However, Mr Danby, who was boarding a flight to Melbourne from the Ukraine today, said if the allegations against Mrs Leifer were true she should face criminal charges.

“Child abuse is a pernicious evil. Anyone found responsible should face the full consequences of the law,” he said.

The civil action has been brought by a former student, in her 20s, who says she was molested by Mrs Leifer up to three times a week over several years.

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AUSTRALIA
Forward

JTA

The former principal of a haredi Orthodox girls’ school in Melbourne who was extradited from Israel last year is on trial for allegedly sexually abusing a former student.

The trial began Tuesday in Australian Supreme Court against former principal Malka Leifer.

The mother of eight ran the Adass Israel girls’ school from 2001 to 2008, until she was fired amid accusations that she molested students. She fled to Israel some 24 hours after the allegations became public where she lived in the haredi Orthodox West Bank settlement of Emanuel until her arrest and extradition last year.

Leifer denies any wrongdoing.

The alleged victim said she was too scared to speak up about the abuse she described during the trial because of Leifer’s powerful position in the community.

The Adass Israel community is a small, ultra-orthodox Jewish group of about 150 families.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

MAY 08, 2015

Pia Akerman
Reporter
Melbourne

Labor MP Michael Danby intervened on behalf of an ­ultra-orthodox Jewish school to help seek a visa for a teacher who then allegedly abused several of her students.

One of the students, now aged 27, is suing Malka Leifer and the Adass Israel school in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, claiming Ms Leifer repeatedly assaulted her over four years in the mid-2000s.

The Victorian Supreme Court yesterday heard that Mr Danby — whose Melbourne Ports electorate covers suburbs with large Jewish populations — had written twice in support of Ms Leifer’s temporary residency.

The first letter, to the school, asked the Immigration Department to “favourably” consider the school’s request. Another letter, sent to the department two months later, again asked for the visa application to be granted, saying Adass Israel believed Ms Leifer had special religious expertise.

The court has heard Ms Leifer began abusing the former student within a few years of starting at the school, where she rose to become principal. She resigned in 2008 when the allegations came to light and left for Israel, where proceedings are under way to extradite her. She has previously denied the allegations, but is not mounting a defence in the civil case.

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AUSTRALIA
JTA

(JTA) — A former student at a Jewish girls’ school in Melbourne testified in a civil suit that she was suicidal after she was sexually abused by the principal at the time.

The student, now 27, sued the Adass Israel school over the alleged abuse by Malka Leifer, who fled to Israel in 2008 some 24 hours after the accusations that she molested students became public. Leifer, who lived in the haredi Orthodox West Bank settlement of Emanuel until her arrest, is awaiting extradition.

The court heard on Wednesday, a day after the trial began, that the abuse started in 2002, when the student was 15, the Age reported. The student said that along with feeling suicidal, the abuse spurred flashbacks, nightmares, persistent depression and post traumatic stress disorder.

The alleged victim said she was too scared to speak up about the abuse because of Leifer’s powerful position in the community.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Members of an orthodox Jewish community threatened a Melbourne woman with ostracism if her sister didn’t drop a civil sex abuse claim against a headmistress, the Victorian Supreme Court has heard.

The woman, whose two sisters made a complaint to police about alleged sexual assault at the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick Melbourne, was harassed and pressured shortly before her death from a heart attack at age 39, the court heard.

“They threatened her with her job, and her reputation and her children’s marriage prospects,” the woman’s sister, and the claimant in the civil matter, told the court on Thursday.

The Adass Israel School in Elsternwick Melbourne and its former headmistress Malka Leifer are being sued by an ex-student who says she was sexually abused up to several times a week from age 15.

Last August Ms Leifer was arrested in Israel, where she fled in 2008 when sex abuse allegations emerged, and is facing extradition to Australia.

Another sister, who also alleges sex abuse, told the court it was impossible for people to speak out against authority figures in the insular, orthodox community.

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MASSACHUSETTS
East Boston Times-Free Press

By John Lynds

A former East Boston deacon that once worked at two neighborhood parishes back in the 1980s pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three children and will serve four years in prison.

Deacon Ricardo Gonzalez pleaded guilty back on March 11 to sexually assaulting the three victims between the ages of 12 and 14 during the 1990s at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Eastie.

In all he pled guilty to 10 counts of Rape, Indecent Assault and Battery of a Child Under the Age of 14 and Unlawful Dissemination of a Matter Harmful to Minors. Subsequent to release, Gonzalez must stay away children under the age of 16, register as a sex offender, remain alcohol free and undergo a mental health evaluation to determine treatment.

Prosecutors recommended 10 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation. A judge sentenced him to seven and a half years in a house of correction followed by seven years of probation.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman, Jake Wark, for procedural reasons Gonzalez moved for a re-sentencing and was granted one on April 30. He got four years in a house of correction followed by five years of probation.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

KATHRYN POWLEY HERALD SUN MAY 07, 2015

ANOTHER elite Melbourne school has been rocked by revelations of sexual abuse.

A former student of St Kevin’s College in Toorak, now 60, has received a formal written apology and a settlement of his claim over sexual abuse by a teacher, Brother Maurice Howard, in 1969.

The man told the Herald Sun that Brother Howard touched him in the change rooms after cricket practice.

He said he knew of other victims of Brother Howard, who died in 1984, and is angry others have not been encouraged by the school to come forward.

The school did not respond to questions, referring the Herald Sun to Christian Brothers Oceania for comment.

The man said it was well known that Brother Howard, known as the Wombat, would get boys to pose alone in the art room so he could draw them, then touch them.

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CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

By Edmund H. Mahony

A once well-regarded Bridgeport priest who became a drug addict and large-scale distributor of highly-addictive methamphetamine, was sentenced to 65 months in prison during a legal hearing heavy with discussion of atonement and packed with 100 or more of his supporters

Suspended Bridgeport Monsignor, Kevin Wallin, who over 30 years as a priest was chief assistant to two Bishops, said his arrest two years ago saved him from almost certain death from drug abuse. In lengthy remarks to Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello, he said his sole remaining ambition is to repay family, parishioners and the church for their support and attempt to become again a productive clergyman.

“God was watching over me the day I was arrested,” Wallin, 63, said. “The ability to get out of that, I owe to the people in this room, to the people who have written to me, to others. The drugs, the shame that I experienced, the remorse, the embarrassment? That would have killed me. They saved me. They did this to me after what I did to them.”

Covello said he had not seen what he called such abundant and eloquent support for a criminal defendant in 22 years on the bench. But he said the law required Wallin to spend more time in prison, in addition to the 28 months he has served since his arrest.

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UNITED STATES
The Tablet (UK)

07 May 2015 by John Quinn

When Francis travels to the US in September he will canonise a Spanish Franciscan friar, Fr Junipero Serra (1713-1784), who founded the first missions in California that converted native Americans to Catholicism.

Last Saturday Pope Francis described Serra as “one of the founding fathers of the United States, and a special patron of the Hispanic people of the country”.

Meanwhile Fr Vincenzo Criscuolo, a Franciscan from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said Serra was “a man of his times”.

Neither of these statements necessarily contradicts suggestions that, as the San Francisco Chronicle put it, “the missions were little more than concentration camps where California’s Indians were beaten, whipped, maimed, burned, tortured and virtually exterminated by the friars”. But the paper’s claims might prove difficult to reconcile with Francis’ comments about Serra’s “holiness” and “saintly example”.

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SHARON (MA)
Patch

By DANIEL LIBON (Patch Staff)
May 6, 2015

Temple Israel has found their new senior rabbi after a vote at the annual Congressional Meeting.

Tuesday night, Ron Fish was appointed to the position

The vote ends a year-long search to replace Rabbi Barry Starr, who resigned in May 2014 amid controversy and accusations that checks made to the rabbi’s discretionary fund were compromised.

A graduate of Brandeis University, Fish was ordained in 1996 from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. According to his biography, He has served as the president of the Norwalk Clergy Association and was the first president of the Rabbinic Council of Norwalk and Westport. He was the driving force behind a number of crucial communal projects such as Taste of Torah, an evening of learning involving the entire community. Rabbi Fish also headed the organization of a communal basic Judaism course involving rabbinic educators from the entire religious spectrum.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Catholic

[The Father Lockwood letter]
[Letter from Jean Peters Baker, prosecutor]

I guess this is America.

The Jackson County Prosecutor has seen fit to write a letter directly to the parishioners of Christ the King Parish to counter the letter of the pastor, Fr. Gregory Lockwood, who wrote to them in support of Bishop Robert Finn.

Just wrap your mind around this, people. A pastor writes a letter to his flock, giving his opinion about a Church matter involving their bishop. First, SNAP wants him disciplined. Now, a county prosecutor uses the power of her office to attempt to refute him. Why? Because the Church cannot be allowed to support a faithful bishop against the secular power, no matter the reason.

You see, Fr. Lockwood has committed Thoughtcrime, and after the Ministry of Truth has stated it wants him thrown down the memory hole, we now hear from the Ministry of Love with a not-so-subtle shot across the bow.

This letter, and Fr. Lockwood’s original letter, can be read in full at the link above. But here are some key excerpts with my commentary. It begins this way:

“The recent letter sent out by your pastor laid out misinformation regarding State of Missouri v. Robert Finn. This letter is to address some of those misstatements.”

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CONNECTICUT
WFSB

[with video]

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB/AP) –
A suspended Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to 65 months in prison for operating a drug ring.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin faced a judge on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hartford. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possessing and distributing methamphetamine.

As part of his 2013 guilty plea, the 63-year-old priest agreed to a possible prison sentence of 10 to 11 years. He asked for four years in prison and 500 hours of community service.

Prosecutors wanted at least a 10-year prison sentence.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

By FEROZE DHANOA (Patch Staff)
May 7, 2015

A suspended Roman Catholic priest, who served as pastor of St. Peter’s Parish in Danbury has been sentenced to 65 months in prison for dealing crystal meth, the News Times reports.

Monsignor Kevin Wallin, 63, also known as “Monsignor Meth” was sentenced on Thursday in Hartford.

Wallin had asked for leniency from a judge asking for no more than 4 years followed by a year of home confinement and 500 hours of community service and drug treatment.

His public defender filed a sentencing request in March citing the priest’s charitable work and letters of support, including one from late New York Cardinal Edward Egan.

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KENTUCKY
Legacy

WHITLEY CITY – Carroll Dale Howlin, 81, died Tue. In accordance to Mr. Howlin’s wishes, his remains were cremated. Hickman-Strunk Funeral Home is serving the family.

Published in Lexington Herald-Leader on May 6, 2015

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, May 7

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

A notorious Joliet predator priest, whose case shows continuing recklessness by Catholic bishops about kids’ safety, has passed away.

[Legacy]

Repeated child sex abuse allegations in two states, deemed credible by law enforcement and church officials, were made over the years against Fr. Carroll Howlin. And repeated settlements were paid to his victims.

[Chicago Tribune]

Still, for years, Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon and his predecessors let Howlin live and work unsupervised in a remote, poverty-stricken part of eastern Kentucky where he reportedly used his influence with a social service agency to use food and gifts to manipulate desperate youngsters into sex acts.

Just yesterday, we urged the newly-installed bishop of Lexington to warn his flock about Howlin. Now, we urge him, and Conlon, to use their vast resources to seek out and help others who were sexually assaulted by this shrewd predator.

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KENTUCKY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

A prosecutor has disclosed that a now-imprisoned admitted serial child molester who is a Louisville native and worked in Louisville churches abused at least three Louisville kids.

We call on his former church supervisors and colleagues in Louisville at Southeast Christian Church to aggressively seek out others he may have assaulted. And we call on Louisville police to investigate whether any of those church supervisors or colleagues might be charged with ignoring, concealing or enabling his crimes.

[Riverfront Times]

A St. Louis newspaper is reporting that St. Louis County prosecutor Michael Hayes says Brandon Milburn molested three victims Louisville, Kentucky dating back to 2000, when Milburn was in his early teens and the three boys in preschool.

Last year, Milburn pleaded guilty to molesting two eleven-year-old boys in St. Louis. Hayes argued for the stiffest possible sentence for Milburn. In March, the offender got 25 years behind bars.

“Your Honor,” Hayes begins, “Mr. Milburn has plead guilty to the seven counts of statutory sodomy, first degree. These seven counts represent a pattern of abuse that took place over a period of years, from the summer of 2007 till the spring of [2009]. The defendant had ingratiated himself with the victims’ families and with the church that they all participated in.”

We strongly suspect there are others in Louisville who were hurt by Milburn and are now suffering in shame, silence, confusion and self-blame. It’s the duty of his former employer and co-worker to reach out to those vicctims.

As horrific as this case is, there are some heroes here. They are the brave men, women and teenagers in St. Louis who have exposed and are exposing an allegedly complicit church hierarchy. They are Dawn and Roger Varvil, Titus and Kari Benton, Jacob and Carrie Anderson, Doug and Tammy Lay, Sarah Thiele, Nathan Rayner, Scott Seppelt, and Lisa Womble. (Some of these are pseudonyms.)

We applaud them for their strength, courage and caring. We are saddened by their suffering. But we hope other victims, witnesses and whistleblowers like them emerge in Louisville.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

. .A St. Louis priest now working in Kansas City is creating controversy over his defense of his convicted colleague Bishop Robert Finn. Fr. Gregory Lockwood, in a letter to his parish, claims Finn pled no contest to a “politically motivated charge” filed by “an ambitious prosecutor with strong ties to the abortion industry.”

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ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register

By Chris Dettro, Staff Writer

Posted May 6, 2015

The director of a national support group for clergy abuse victims said he’s glad the Rev. Robert “Bud” DeGrand has been permanently removed as a pastor, but he wants Springfield Catholic Bishop Thomas John Paprocki to do more for victims and less for the priest accused of sexual misconduct.
“We’re glad that if Bishop Thomas Paprocki keeps his promise, Father Robert ‘Bud’ DeGrand won’t ever work in a parish again,” said David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

But Clohessy urged the bishop to stop using church funds to pay DeGrand’s attorney’s fees and to post notices about DeGrand and the credible accusations against him on the diocesan website and in parish bulletins. SNAP also wants Paprocki to personally visit each parish where DeGrand has worked to encourage “all victims, witnesses and whistle-blowers to call police.”

DeGrand is alleged to have sexually abused a minor while he was serving in Jacksonville in 1980, the same year he was ordained to the priesthood.

Paprocki met Saturday with parishioners of St. Michael the Archangel in Sigel, St. Mary of the Assumption in Neoga, St. Mary Help of Christians in Green Creek and Sacred Heart in Lillyville to inform them of DeGrand’s immediate removal.

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ROME
LifeSite News

Hilary White

ROME, May 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – For some time, observers have expected the final outcome for Bishop Robert Finn, former head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese, who was ordered by Vatican officials to tender his resignation last month. The predictable sides have lined up: either condemning and saying, ‘It’s about time,’ or defending him. With all the noise made, it may be difficult for most readers to tease out the truth, but an examination of the facts of the Finn case and that of another high-profile prelate may be enlightening.

If Finn, why not the many, and much worse, others?

With Finn’s 2012 conviction of the misdemeanor offence of “failure to report” a priest caught with images of children on his computer, some of which were judged to be pornographic, it has been expected by supporters and enemies alike that the bishop would be asked by Rome to step down. But while the mainstream secular and liberal Catholic press are triumphing, some very pertinent questions are being left unanswered, primary among which is, if Finn, why not others? All the others…all the many, many others?

Bishop Finn was removed from his diocese and is now being almost universally reviled as a “criminal” and a shielder of sex-abuse. But he never covered up molestation of young people by a priest, and has never been charged with that.

At the same time, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, after being shown to have personally covered for a man who for years had sexually assaulted his own nephew, has been allowed to retire honourably at the normal retirement age, from his position as the enormously powerful head of the archdiocese of Brussels, Belgium. Last year, Danneels was personally invited by Pope Francis to consult at the Synod of Bishops on the Family.

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BELGIE
HLN

[A priest who told a court he may have unconsciously abused minors during sleep was acquitted in court because the judge decided to give him the benefit of a doubt.]

Priester die “mogelijk onbewust tijdens slaap misbruikte” vrijgesproken

De correctionele rechtbank van Brussel heeft vandaag een priester vrijgesproken die ervan verdacht werd tussen 2010 en 2011 in een Brussels internaat minderjarigen seksueel te hebben misbruikt. De rechter besloot om de verdachte het voordeel van de twijfel te geven en stelde dat de bewijzen in het dossier onvoldoende waren.

De priester heeft de hem ten laste gelegde feiten altijd ontkend. Hij verklaarde onder andere dat indien hij effectief kinderen had betast tijdens zijn nachtdienst in het internaat, dat onbewust, tijdens zijn slaap, moet zijn geweest. Hij verwees naar de aandoening ‘sexsomnia’ waarbij een persoon gedurende zijn slaap seksuele handelingen stelt zonder zich daar nadien iets van te herinneren.

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ITALIA
La Stampa

[A priest in Cagliari, who has previous allegations of sexual abuse, has been arrested again for sexual violence against children.]

NICOLA PINNA
VILLAMAR (CAGLIARI)

Li seduceva promettendo regali e quando non bastava li sedava. Così don Pascal riusciva ad abusare dei ragazzini che frequentavano la parrocchia di Villamar: dodicenni e sedicenni che a lungo avevano subito le sue attenzioni morbose. Da quando è scoppiato lo scandalo lui ha sempre negato, ma questo pomeriggio i carabinieri lo hanno arrestato con l’accusa di violenza sessuale su minori.

L’ordinanza di custodia cautelare emessa dalla procura di Cagliari ricostruisce diversi episodi e si basa principalmente sul pericolo di reiterazione del reato. Perché don Pascal Manca, 43 anni, è già recidivo: le prime contestazioni risalgono al 2012, quando era parroco a Mandas, altro paese della provincia di Cagliari.

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ITALIA
Corriere del Veneto

[An 80-year-old priest has been indicted for putting his hands inside the underwear of two girls during

VICENZA Mani sotto la maglia e gli slip durante le confessioni e le chiacchierate a tu per tu con due giovani fedeli, due sorelle di tredici e quattordici anni. Il giudice di Vicenza Roberto Venditti ha rinviato a giudizio, con la pesante accusa di violenza sessuale aggravata su minore – violenza nella forma delle molestie – don Giovanni Baccega, più conosciuto come don Gianni, ottantenne originario di Fontaniva e ora in pensione in una parrocchia del Trevigiano.

All’epoca dei fatti che gli vengono contestati e che sarebbero avvenuti tra l’ottobre 2007 e la primavera del 2008, era parroco di Sant’Antonio del Pasubio, nel comune di Valli del Pasubio. Secondo l’accusa il sacerdote avrebbe abusato del suo ruolo di ministro di culto e approfittato dei momenti in cui rimaneva solo con ciascuna delle due ragazze per abbracciarle e accarezzarle, allungando le mani sotto la maglia per toccare i fianchi o sotto le mutandine per palpare il sedere. Accuse da cui il sacerdote dovrà difendersi in aula.

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OSTERREICH
Wien.orf

[A sacristan who was involved with oral sex with a 14-year-old in a Vienna church has been blackmailed. The boy’s cousin is said to have forced the 39-year-old to pay “hush money” and this was condemned in Vietnna on Thursday.]

Ein Mesner, der in einer Wiener Kirche Oralsex mit einem unter 14-Jährigen gehabt hatte, ist erpresst worden. Der Cousin des Burschen zwang den 39-Jährigen zur Zahlung von „Schweigegeld“. Dafür wurde dieser am Donnerstag in Wien verurteilt.

2013 und 2014 hatten sich die sexuellen Kontakte zwischen dem Mesner und dem anfangs unter 14-Jährigen in einer Kirche abgespielt. Davon erfuhr der 18-jährige Cousin, der sonst nichts damit zu tun gehabt hatte, und zwang den 39-Jährigen zur Zahlung von insgesamt 6.000 Euro.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Crisis Magazine

FRANK KESSLER

Two weeks ago, Bishop Robert Finn, the embattled bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph in Missouri, had his resignation accepted by appropriate authorities in the Vatican. Canon law accepts “graves reasons” other than things like age, infimity and so on as sufficient reason for the Church to accept a bishop’s resignation because of incapacity to continue as shepherd of a particular diocesan flock. Several commentators from the Catholic News Service, the National Catholic Reporter (based in Kansas City) and secular media like the Huffington Post said that Bishop Finn was ‘low hanging fruit” after his conviction of a misdemeanor failure to make a timely report of accusations of child endangerment against one of his priests to civil authorities in 2010. The term “low hanging fruit” is typically used to convey someone who is vulnerable in the lower branches of the vine. It implies you need to get the “low hanging fruit” so that you get to the higher ups. He was the most senior Catholic Church authority to be “convicted” in a matter involving sex and a Catholic priest.

Finn’s Early Days

When Finn was assigned as coadjutor bishop in 2004 I called my relatives in St. Louis County to ask if they knew anything about him. Since I had lived and worked as a full-time political science professor and advisor to the Missouri Western State University Catholic Newman Club, for over thirty years after coming to the St. Joseph, Mo. college as a newly minted Notre Dame Ph.D., I had seen the prevailing diocesan politico-religious culture and wondered how he would be received in Kansas City. Several of my extended family in St. Louis had been in parishes Fr. Finn served in Webster Groves and Florissant. They described a Fr. Finn as a “holy man” who was sought out as a confessor and spent countless hours regularly serving long lines of penitents. My spirits were raised by the news.

When it became clear he intended to emphasize youth ministry, evangelization and vocations, my hope for Newman Centers and the end of a vocation drought in the diocese were buoyed. It took very little time for me to realize, if there had been a welcome mat extended for him in Kansas City, it was pulled out from under him almost immediately. His views on the priorities of the church for the future in the diocese, like those of Pope St. John Paul II, who selected him, seemed almost diametrically opposed to a highly vocal segment of the laity and clergy in the diocese. Entrenched bureaucracies and long-standing cultural values do not lend themselves to a change in emphasis and priorities.

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