ABUSE TRACKER

SCHWEIZ
Luzerner Zeitung

MISSBRAUCH ⋅ In der Schweiz werden 172 Priester und Mönche des sexuellen Missbrauchs verdächtigt. Doch nur gegen 20 läuft ein Strafver- fahren. Opfer erheben nun Vorwürfe gegen die Kirche.
PHilippe Boeglin, SDA

Nur rund 20 Strafverfahren sind in der Schweiz seit 2010 gegen Priester und katholische Mönche wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs eröffnet worden obwohl die Kirche 172 mutmassliche Täter erfasst hat. Manche der erfassten Straftaten datieren aus den 1950er-Jahren; etliche Verdächtige sind inzwischen verstorben. Doch das ist nicht die einzige Ursache für die Differenz zwischen Verfahren und Anzahl mutmasslicher Täter: Andere Verdächtige hätten sich schlichtweg als «unauffindbar» erwiesen, teilte die Schweizer Bischofskonferenz der Nachrichtenagentur SDA mit. Man weiss also nicht, wo sie sich aufhalten und ob sie wieder Kontakt mit potenziellen Opfern haben.

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ITALIA
IVG

[A priest, 49, in Alassio was among those arrested today for possessing videos allegedly showing children under age 10 who were forced to have sex with each other and with animals.]

Alassio. C’è anche un sacerdote tra le quattro persone arrestate, questa mattina, dalla Polizia di Stato nell’ambito di una vasta operazione sulla pedofilia online. Il religioso, 49 anni, è stato arrestato ad Alassio con l’accusa di “cessione aggravata” di materiale pedopornografico: si tratterebbe di un salesiano piemontese, ospite in questi giorni dell’istituto Don Bosco. Al religioso vengono contestati gli articoli 600 e 602 del codice penale, ovvero aver trattato materiale “con minori di 16 anni” e in numero “maggiore di tre”.

Dalle prime ore di stamane gli agenti stanno eseguendo un’ordinanza di custodia cautelare emessa dal gip di Milano nei confronti di 29 persone dedite, secondo l’accusa, al traffico o all’acquisizione di video “hot” con minori su web. La Polizia Postale di Milano avrebbe infatti scoperto un diffuso smercio di materiale pedopornografico che coinvolgerebbe in totale 233 persone in 35 nazioni. La rete criminale era dedita, spiegano le forze dell’ordine, “alla diffusione e alla cessione aggravata di materiali pedopornografici che hanno ad oggetto anche pesanti violenze ed atti sessuali in danno di minori degli anni dieci e di altri minori costretti tra di loro o con animali“.

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UNITED STATES
Together We Heal

May 26, 2015 by Together We Heal

Sometimes, not always, I get so tired of fighting a battle with those who are supposed to be the one doing the protecting…

Sometimes, not always, I get so tired of losing said battles to churches, fundamentalist “Christians” and other so-called “people of faith” who seem only to care about the money in their church coffers and potential lawsuits against their precious denominations. Tragically and simultaneously these same folks don’t appear to give a rat’s ass about the innocence, lives and souls of children…

It feels like everyday we turn on the news and hear of another case. This week was no different with Josh Duggar from the TLC show, “19 Kids and Counting” and the news he admitted to sexually abusing at least 5 girls in his family.

It’s 6:24 am and I’m tired. No that doesn’t accurately describe how I’m feeling. In truth, I’m exhausted. Exhausted because I’ve been awake since around 4 a.m., due to screaming myself awake from ANOTHER nightmare of seeing Frankie Wiley’s face over mine and feeling him holding my childhood frame down while he sexually abused me over and over, just as he did for almost 3 years.

I have no doubt this was triggered from the reports of the Duggar family doing more to protect the offender than the victims. Much the same way I feel how the Southern and Georgia Baptist Convention treats myself and countless others who’ve fallen prey to predators they continue to protect.

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MINNESOTA
Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal

May 26, 2015

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has put four St. Paul properties up for sale as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

The Catholic Spirit newsletter reports on the move, which includes the archbishop’s residence and chancery offices at 226 Summit Ave., the Hayden Center at 328 W. Kellogg Blvd., and 244 Dayton Ave., where the Catholic Spirit is based. A vacant lot at 250 Dayton Ave. is also for sale.

Church officials said the cost for maintaining and improving the buildings exceeded the cost of leasing new space elsewhere, and that it wanted to raise capital.

The move had been expected; Minnesota Public Radio reported in February that the archdiocese had sought permission to sell the properties.

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AUSTRALIA
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Irish Catholics’ landslide rejection of Pope Francis’ key marriage position has shown that the pope’s media created worldwide popularity is superficial at best. The latest horrendous disclosures concerning the pope’s pick, Cardinal George Pell, as his top financial czar, that got Pell Vatican sovereign immunity protection from Australian prosecution, shows how cynicial and insincere the pope really is about protecting children from priest abusers.

Irish Catholics and Cardinal Pell, whose mother was a devout Irish Catholic descendant, have providentially and paradoxically combined to remove the curtain from the current Papal Wizard, Pope Francis. Irish voters overwhelmingly showed that the pope’s expensive and distracting public relations ploys (papal trips, photo ops, climate change encyclicals, celibate male “Family Synods”, etc.) cannot get Catholics to accept the Church’s corrupt status quo and irresponsible positions on sexual morality, including on same sex marriage, contraception and women’s equality. Many now expect Italy to be the next to reject the pope’s position after the Irish marriage vote . It is clear that an out-of-touch Vatican must now address its obsession with a ‘sexual morality’ that is biblically and naturally unsupportable.

Indeed, prominent Irish priests have described the marriage vote as an ‘unmitigated disaster’ for the Catholic Church. Influential Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin and many others have even publicly challenged Pope Francis to make a Vatican “Reality Check” .

And Pope Francis should also stop beating the Middle East war drums of right wing US Republican politicians and their “low tax” billionaire backers by ginning up a new “crusade” to save Middle East Christians from Islamic extremists. Over 1,000,000 Iraqis (Christians and Muslims) died as a result of the last US invasion under George W. Bush that was premised on removing non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Another unnecessary invasion would likely just kill more, including many Christians.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Allegation on Cardinal George Pell’s knowledge of crime of paedophile priest emerged earlier

PADRAIC MURPHY, LUCIE MORRIS-MARR HERALD SUN MAY 26, 2015

AN allegation of how much Cardinal ­George Pell knew about a serious crime committed by paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was heard in a court case last year.

The Herald Sun can reveal the significant allegation ­regarding Cardinal Pell’s knowledge of abuse in the early 1970s was raised in a case last year, but the cardinal’s identity was kept confidential.

The cardinal was never questioned or charged over the unconfirmed allegation, made by one person, because the matter in question was not ­officially considered a crime under Victorian legislation.

But with jailed child molester Ridsdale to be quizzed in public for the first time on Wednesday at the royal commission in Ballarat, those close to the case now hope the undisclosed allegation will be made public and “other key witnesses may come forward’’.

It comes as sources close to Victoria Police’s Sano Taskforce, which investigates child sex abuse cases, is considering reviewing material in its files regarding allegations about Cardinal Pell’s knowledge of abuse within the church.

Detectives are expected to personally attend what sources say will be “explosive’’ hearings.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN MAY 26, 2015

AUSTRALIA’s most prolific paedophile priest admitted in a chilling interview after his first conviction that he was unable to control his evil urges.

Gerald Ridsdale said that by the 1980s his decades-long catalogue of sex crimes against children was an open secret as the Catholic Church continued to shuffle him around Victoria.

In a series of letters and interviews published by the royal commission into child abuse sitting in Ballarat, it is revealed church authorities did little to curb Ridsdale’s offending ­except provide counselling and move him between parishes.

PELL CLAIM ‘EMERGED IN COURT LAST YEAR’

Talking to church investigators in 1994, Ridsdale said at one point while stationed at Mortlake in the 1980s there was no stopping him.

“It was no secret around Mortlake eventually about me and my behaviour; there was talk all around among the children, and one lot of parents came to me,” he said.

“I got out of control again. I went haywire there. Altar boys mainly.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 27, 2015

Timothy Jones

Listening to the horrific stories of abuse coming out of the royal commission’s investigations in Ballarat has led me, and many other Australians, to ask how these atrocities could been ignored for so long. One factor complicit in the silence about this abuse is the historic relationship between Catholic understandings of sin and psychology.

One of the most galling aspects of the Ballarat hearing is the repeated denials from Catholic authorities that they knew what was happening to these children. This has been repeated in many of the royal commission’s investigations and in the Victorian parliamentary inquiry that preceded it.

The scale, scope and severity of the abuse in Ballarat makes these denials hard to believe. Infamously, four of the brothers at the St Alipius boys’ school were abusing children while George Pell was the parish priest. Gerald Ridsdale, the school chaplain, has come to be known as one of Australia’s worst child sex offenders. He was eventually convicted of 138 sexual offences against children, only a fraction of his total offences, according to victim support group Broken Rites.

With offences of this magnitude, how could anyone not see? How could anyone turn a blind eye?

This state of denial is a problem I have been investigating for the past two years, including as a consultant to the royal commission. It is clear Church authorities were well aware of sexually offending priests and brothers. Why else was Ridsdale moved from parish to parish and sent for psychological treatment multiple times?

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 27, 2015

Former bishop of Ballarat Ronald Mulkearns needs to take some ­responsibility for the offending of pedophile Gerald Ridsdale, his former secretary has said.

Giving evidence to the abuse royal commission at Ballarat yesterday, Father Adrian McInerney said everyone needed to take ­responsibility but Bishop Mulkearns was “possibly the pivotal person”. He said Bishop Mulkearns knew of the complaints about Ridsdale but moved him from parish to parish. “In retrospect, let’s say he needed to remove people completely from ministry,” he said.

The decisions of where to move Ridsdale were made in meetings between various priests and the bishop. Father McInerney said he was not suspicious at the time about the continual movement of Ridsdale as sexual abuse of children was not in the public consciousness as it was now.

He agreed with counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, that the expectation was that there would be a full and frank discussion of topics and appointments in the meetings. He agreed that the expectation of everyone was that everything the attendees knew about the priests, good or bad, would be spoken of.

Father McInerney said the first time he heard of the allegations against Ridsdale was when he ­accompanied him to his sentencing submission hearing in 1993. He said he didn’t know the nature of the charges and “just took it that (Ridsdale) needed help”.

He said it was naive of him and he agreed it could be classed as reckless to speak on someone’s behalf without knowing the charges. He said Ridsdale had asked him to assist with a “minor matter”.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Michael Sean Winters | May. 26, 2015

The vote in favor of same sex marriage in Ireland was overwhelming. The Irish people, especially Ireland’s young people, turned out in large numbers to support a measure that was unthinkable ten years ago and unheard of twenty years ago. There is a palpable sense that the Catholic roots of Ireland are no more, that traditional marriage was not the only thing on the ballot this past weekend, but Ireland’s Catholic heritage.

There will be plenty of hand wringing in the days ahead. People will seek out a scapegoat. True, the clergy sex abuse crisis took an enormous toll on the moral credibility of the Irish Church. True, catechesis there, like catechesis here, has been weak the past few decades – although, in Ireland, most of those young people voting for same sex marriage went to Catholic schools. But, everyone, especially the leaders of the Church, should try to avoid making anyone or anything a scapegoat: The results point to a deeper reality.

Consider these comments from Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin in yesterday’s New York Times story on the referendum:

“The church needs to take a reality check,” Archbishop Martin said after the Mass, repeating a comment he had made Saturday. “It’s very clear there’s a growing gap between Irish young people and the church, and there’s a growing gap between the culture of Ireland that’s developing and the church.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

BY JACQUELINE LE AAP MAY 20, 2015

THE Victorian government is increasing the number of child protection workers it employs amid revelations of child sexual abuse from the royal commission in Ballarat.

MINISTER for Families and Children Jenny Mikakos says she is “absolutely horrified” by some of the evidence before the inquiry into abuse by clergy and other members of the Catholic Church in the Ballarat diocese.

Their stories highlight the work that still needs to be done to protect vulnerable children, Ms Mikakos told reporters on Wednesday.

“We need to learn from the royal commission to ensure we can put in measures to prevent those types of situations occurring.”

Victoria will hire an extra 111 child protection workers as part of a system-wide reform of child protection services, she said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jessica Longbottom
Updated 10 May 2015

The Victorian Government is yet to implement half the recommendations made in the landmark Betrayal of Trust report into sex abuse, a year after the previous government committed to them.

The report was handed down in 2013, following a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations.

The main concern of sex abuse survivors is the stalling of a redress scheme for victims, which would be funded by organisations accused of abuse, but run by the State Government.

At the moment, survivors must go back to the organisation where they were abused to receive compensation.

Survivor Andrew Collins said that system was not working.

“To say ‘okay if you want any sort of compensation, go back to the entity where you’re abused and throw yourself at their mercy and just hope and pray they’ll give you whatever scraps you can get’, there’s no justice, there’s no justice,” he said.

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VATICAN CITY
The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

When Cardinal Georgie Pell went to Rome to oversee the bank, Australians thought he was fleeing the pedophile scandals that plagued him at home. They still do.

VATICAN CITY—Last year was an exceptional one in the church business, if the Holy See’s balance sheet is any indicator. The 2014 annual report released Monday shows the Vatican’s bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works or IOR, turned a profit of more than $72 million—more than 20 times more than it made in 2013. And that sounds like good news, but there are several dark sides to this story.

The bank has been, for decades, embroiled in unseemly scandals that have run the gamut from allegations of money laundering to backchannel Mafia ties. The bank’s credit card capabilities were briefly shut down in 2012 due to noncompliance with European Union money laundering standards, which meant that tourists had to dole out cash to visit the Vatican museums or buy holy trinkets on the premises.

All that changed under Pope Francis, who vowed to clean out the bank’s dead wood and offer greater transparency. In the last year alone, 4,614 accounts were closed, either because they had been dormant for years or because the account holders didn’t meet the new standards set by IOR’s crack team of reformers. Another 2,000 accounts face closure this year.

“I want to know what it will take to keep you quiet.”

A lot of the profits made in 2013 went to external auditors who set up temporary shop in the bank’s medieval tower headquarters inside the fortified walls of Vatican City to comb through the murky bookwork. Based on the 2014 final report, it was money well spent. “The main focus is on fundamentally improving our overall client service standards and further professionalizing our asset management services,” IOR chief Jean-Baptiste de Franssu said in a statement.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

MARK COLVIN: A Ballarat parish priest has told the child abuse Royal Commission that the former bishop of the Diocese must bear some of the responsibility for the clerical abuse in the region.

Father Adrian McInerney gave evidence that Bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew that Father Gerald Ridsdale was abusing children but just moved him from parish to parish.

Father McInerney’s evidence has raised more questions about how much Cardinal George Pell knew about the sexual abuse of children in Ballarat in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The royal commission has heard evidence that the former Bishop of Ballarat, Ronald Mulkearns, knew that Father Gerald Ridsdale was sexually abusing children, and moved him from parish to parish any time complaints were made.

Today Bishop Mulkearns’ former secretary, Father Adrian McInerney, told the commission the now retired Bishop should take some responsibility for the child abuse in the diocese.

RONALD MULKEARNS: In retrospect, they’d say you needed to remove people completely from ministry.

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SWITZERLAND
swissinfo

MAY 26, 2015

Only around 20 criminal cases have been opened against priests and Catholic monks for sexual abuse in Switzerland since 2010, despite the church catching 172 alleged offenders.

Many of the recorded cases date back to the 1950s and some suspects have therefore died. However, that is not the only reason for the discrepancy – other suspects simply could not be tracked down, the Swiss Bishops Conference told the Swiss News Agency.

Joseph Bonnemain, secretary of the conference’s special commission on sexual abuse within the church, said the low prosecution rate was also down to the fact that the dioceses had provided “very sketchy” information, especially for the period between 1950 and 1980.

Many people close to abuse victims are convinced that certain clerics are protecting their colleagues.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Carroll Howlin was a priest of the Joliet diocese, ordained in 1961. He assisted at parishes in several Illinois towns and he was a teacher and spiritual director at St. Charles Borremeo Seminary High School and College in Lockport. In May 1977 Howlin requested and was granted permission to serve as a mission priest in Kentucky. From then on he was administrator at Good Shepherd parish in Whitley City. Although he worked in Kentucky, he remained a Joliet priest. In 1993 Howlin was accused of sexually abusing a St. Charles student in the 1970s; he was sent for a psychological evaluation and was allowed to stay in ministry. In April 2002 Howlin was removed from ministry after another former St. Charles student accused him of sexual abuse in the 1970s. That accusation was followed by another from a man who said Howlin sexually abused him in the 1970s when he was a boy, during a camping trip. In 2003 Howlin was again accused, this time of having sexually abused two Kentucky boys, who were brothers, in the 1990s. One of the boys committed suicide at age 17. Howlin has been the subject of a number of lawsuits. After his removal he went on to live for many years in a guesthouse of a four-acre compound belonging to “Hills and Hollers Ministries.” He was apparently unmonitored and continued to receive a pension from the Joliet diocese. He died in May 2015.

Born: April 6, 1934
Ordained: 1961
Died: May 5, 2015

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CANADA
Timmins Press

By Alan S. Hale, The Daily Press
Monday, May 25, 2015

TIMMINS – A group of nine survivors of the Bishop Horden Indian Residential School are hoping to set a legal precedent that could reopen hundreds of investigations into abuse at residential schools across Canada.

Lawyers for the former students and the Assembly of First Nations were in Ontario Superior Court last Wednesday, May 20, arguing that the federal Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs has an obligation under the compensation settlement with residential school survivors to search for evidence to corroborate claims of abuse outside of their own records. That includes sifting through decades-old police reports and court documents if need be.

The ministry is arguing that it has the discretion to choose how far it is willing to look for that evidence, and in this case, it felt that looking through the ministry’s archives and those of Library and Archives Canada was sufficient.

“They didn’t go and look in places where they would find things about abuse, including the RCMP or health records. The federal government is saying they’ve done enough,” said Timmins lawyer Suzanne Desrosiers, who is representing one of the survivors in the lawsuit.

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

Here’s how the Duggars’ patriarchal homeschool world teaches kids to shame sex abuse victims

WENDE BENNER, HOMESCHOOLERS ANONYMOUS
25 MAY 2015

The recent revelation that Josh Duggar admittedly molested five young girls as a teenager has taken over social media for the last two days. There has been a wide array of reactions and speculations. But, for many who were raised in the same Quiverfull and patriarchal homeschool world, this has been a time of reliving their own traumas brought about by that dysfunctional culture. Those who lived it know all too well how the teachings and attitudes that are part of the Duggar family’s life affect families, victims, and even offenders.

The Duggar family’s involvement in Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute (ATI) homeschool program adds complexities to this story which are unknown to the average person. The underlying principles and beliefs the Duggars have built their lives around actually help groom and shame victims, help hide grievous abuse, and even keep offenders from receiving needed help.

The lessons learned from birth in homes like the Duggar’s strip children of their voice and agency. Starting with blanket training babies and toddlers understand quickly that disappointing a parent leads to swift and painful consequences. As they grow, it becomes clear that simply doing what is expected is not enough. It must be done instantly and cheerfully. Children are even forbidden to seek out the logic behind the request, as kids are prone to do, because that is seen a making excuses or delaying obedience. The consequences of failing to meet these expectations are severe. Gothard and the Duggars believe that spankings are necessary to save a child from their inborn nature to do evil, and these are not just any spankings. The Duggars endorse the child abuse methods taught by the Pearls. Growing up in an environment of fear, where questions are seen as rebellious, eventually makes children unable to speak up for themselves. They become unable to trust their own judgment of what is right and wrong. These children are the perfect targets for abuse; they do not know how to advocate for themselves.

Also, from a young age the children are instructed in God’s plan for their gender. Strict gender roles are the foundation of a patriarchal system. Girls learn their role is to be wives, mothers, and keepers at home. Most people know that for the Duggar family this includes the expectation of having as many children as possible. Michelle Duggar is also outspoken about her beliefs on a wife’s subservient role and need to be sexually available to her husband. Children learn by watching their parents that men hold the power. This is detrimental for both boys and girls. Neither learns to have a healthy relationship without the power differential already in place.

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SWITZERLAND
The Local

Twenty criminal investigations have been launched into sexual abuse allegations in Switzerland against Roman Catholic priests and laymen working for the church since 2010, a media report said on Monday.

But this compares with 172 suspected sexual offenders from within the church reported by church authorities themselves, suggesting that many cases are not being actively pursued, the ATS news agency said.

Certainly, numerous suspects are already dead and cases go back as far as 1950.

But the Conference of Swiss Bishops (CSB) said that other suspects have shown themselves nowhere to be found.

It is therefore impossible to know whether possible offenders may be again in contact with potential victims, ATS said.

The low number of investigations being pursued — less than one in eight reported cases — can be explained by the fact that church dioceses have provided only “very incomplete” information for the 1950-1980 period, Joseph Bonnemain, a priest and member of a special commission set up by the CSB, is quoted as saying.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Colette Browne

26/05/2015

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is right that the Catholic Church needs a “reality check” in the wake of the landslide marriage equality referendum result, but the State also needs a reality check when it comes to its reliance on the church for the provision of education.

The notion that it took the decisive result of the marriage equality referendum for senior members of the church to grasp that it is no longer relevant in the lives of young people is a sad indictment of its remoteness from the lives of the people it purports to represent.

In truth, alarm bells should have been ringing for the church as far back as 1973, when the Supreme Court found married couples had a right to use contraceptives – even if the church and the State, which were then virtually indistinguishable, disagreed.

Instead, it has opted to ignore the massive societal changes that have occurred in Ireland in the intervening four decades, leading it to its current sorry impasse of irrelevance and decay.

The degree to which the influence of the church has waned is evident even in the lobbying style of its most enthusiastic supporters, the Iona Institute.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Tuesday 26 May 2015

A priest says he was shocked when he found out Father Gerald Francis Ridsdale was facing child sex abuse charges, but still gave character evidence for him in court.

Father Adrian McInerney said he accompanied Ridsdale to his first court appearance in 1993 and it was only in court that he found out that Ridsdale was charged with sex offences.

“I know how it looks but I’m saying I did not know,” McInerney told the child abuse royal commission in Ballarat.

“I just took it that he needed help and I was going to give it. I took him at his word that it was a minor matter, a small matter that he was going to court for.

“Up until then I have to confess that in certain areas I had some admiration for him because of his ability.”

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IRELAND
RTE News

A 76-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an investigation into child sexual abuse over a 13 year period.

The man is being detained at Terenure Garda Station pending an appearance at Dublin District Court later this morning.

The man, who worked in a lay position at a church in Dublin, is due to face more than 70 charges.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1990.

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NORTH CAROLINA
Sky Valley Chronicle

(NATIONAL) — Four home schooled brothers pleaded guilty Thursday to molesting their younger sister from the time she was 4 years old until she was almost 15.

Their parents and two other brothers still face charges related to the case, according to North Carolina’s WAVY-TV and local published reports.

The oldest brother confessed about what had been going on for years in December 2012 to a local pastor. That pastor, from the Baptist church in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contacted authorities the following day.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

May 26, 2015

Rory Callinan
Investigative journalist

Catholic Church superiors knew a remorseless paedophile priest was a self-confessed child abuser when they quietly shifted him to Sydney where he went on to prey on children around the southern beaches.

The cover-up involving former Victorian Father Gerald Ridsdale and his crimes in NSW in the 1980s has been detailed for the first time in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Now defrocked and considered to be Australia’s worst paedophile priest, Ridsdale has been convicted of abusing dozens of children in Victoria and faces further investigation relating to untold other assaults.

Statements, correspondence and interviews submitted to the commission, detail how the paedophile was able to maintain his criminal behaviour in New South Wales before being returned to Victoria and then quietly shipped off to a special clinic for sex-abusing priests in New Mexico in 1989.

They reveal Ridsdale had been transferred to the Catholic Enquiry Centre CEC then at Maroubra in 1982 despite his superior, Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, being aware of Ridsdale admitting to sexually assaulting a child in 1975. Other allegations had also surfaced in 1981.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

A Ballarat priest says pedophile Gerald Ridsdale took advantage of his naivety when he and George Pell accompanied the priest to court in 1993.

Source: AAP
26 MAY 2015

A fellow priest admired Father Gerald Ridsdale’s work with youth so much he hoped to emulate him, before realising it was all a ruse to trap and molest children.

Father Adrian McInerney maintains he did not know Ridsdale was sexually abusing children when he and now Cardinal George Pell supported the priest at his first court appearance in 1993.

“Up until then I have to confess that in certain areas I had some admiration for him because of his ability,” Fr McInerney told the child abuse royal commission in Ballarat.

“He had abilities in adult education and I even – this does sound preposterous – but I even had admiration for what he did for youth.”

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Paedophile Gerald Ridsdale had a way with kids, says priest now ‘horrified’ to learn of crimes

A PRIEST has shocked victims of sexual abuse by admitting he admired Australia’s most notorious paedophile Gerald Ridsdale, “for what he did for youth”.

But St Alipius parish priest Fr Adrian McInerney has denied any knowledge of Ridsdale’s offending.

Ridsdale has spent more than 20 years behind bars after admitting to molesting more than 50 kids, but it is estimated he assaulted more than 200 in an evil career that spanned decades.

He dished out much of his vile abuse to kids while based at St Alipius parish, Ballarat East, before being shuffled between Victorian parishes by Bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

Current St Alipius parish priest Fr McInerney told the royal commission today he had admired Ridsdale’s way with kids.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 26, 2015

The priest who accompanied pedophile Gerald Ridsdale to his sentencing hearing for child abuse says he didn’t know he had been charged with sex offences and “just took it that he needed help”, the Royal Commission has heard.

Father Adrian McInerney, the parish priest at St Alipius Parish in Ballarat East is giving evidence at the Ballarat hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

He told the commission this morning that in 1993 he accompanied Ridsdale to court after being asked to assist on a “minor matter”, and it was only once he was in court he found out that the priest had been convicted on sex offences.

“I know how it looks but I’m saying I did not know,” he said.

“Up until that time I have to confess that in certain areas I had some admiration for him because of his ability.

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AUSTRALIA
Radio Australia

Priest admits giving character reference for paedophile Gerald Ridsdale was ‘preposterous’

By Peta Carlyon

Giving prolific paedophile Gerald Ridsdale a character reference in court without asking what the nature of the charges were was “preposterous”, the parish priest of St Alipius in Ballarat tells a royal commission hearing.

Giving prolific paedophile Gerald Ridsdale a character reference in court without asking what the nature of the charges were was “preposterous”, the parish priest of St Alipius in Ballarat has agreed at a royal commission hearing.

Ridsdale is in prison for extensive sex crimes against young boys.

Father Adrian McInerney is giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat.

He told the commission he agreed to accompany Ridsdale to court after charges were laid, because Ridsdale told him it was in relation to “a minor matter”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 26, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns was the “pivotal person” responsible for failing to prevent widespread child sexual abuse at Catholic-run schools there, his former secretary has told a royal commission.

Father Adrian McInerney was Bishop Mulkearns’ secretary between 1973 and 1978, when disgraced serial paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was moved to numerous parishes amid allegations of child sexual abuse against him.

Asked on Tuesday to point out those responsible for the offending on Tuesday, Father McInerney said Bishop Mulkearns and all of the church should take “some responsibility” for the abuse.

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ILLINOIS
Journal-Courier

By Thomas John Paprocki Special to the Journal-Courier

Your publication recently reported about a letter from the Rev. Robert L. DeGrand regarding my removal of him as pastor of the parishes in Sigel, Neoga, Green Creek and Lillyville.

I wish to assure people that I have no animosity toward Father DeGrand. I am only following the required process for handling accusations of clerical sexual misconduct with minors and the zero-tolerance policy established in the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People and the Essential Norms for Diocesan Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons, adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops with the approval of the Vatican.

According to the Charter and Essential Norms, each diocese is to have a Review Board “to advise the diocesan bishop in his assessment of allegations of sexual abuse of minors and in his determination of a cleric’s suitability for ministry.”

Our Diocesan Review Board unanimously found that the allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor against Father DeGrand was credible and I accepted their finding.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

‘I know how it looks… but I did not know’: Priest who agreed to be a character witness for ‘Australia’s worst paedophile priest’ now says he had no idea about his vile crimes

By JOHN CARNEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

‘If someone could explain that to me now, I’d be a happier man.’

This was the weary response of the parish priest of St Alipius in Ballarat after he looked back on why he made the decision to be a character witness for predatory paedophile Gerald Ridsdale and accompany him to court in 1993.

Father Adrian McInerney was giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat on Tuesday.

ABC News reports that Father Adrian McInerney told the commission he agreed to accompany Ridsdale to court when he had to face child abuse charges, because Ridsdale told him the court appearance was only ‘a minor matter’ and that there was nothing to worry about.

‘I know how it looks… but I did not know,’ Father McInerney said.

‘But when you realised the horrendous crimes he’d been charged with, why didn’t you just turn around and walk away?” senior counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness SC, asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Father McInerney replied.

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AUSTRALIA
Red Flag

Louise O’Shea

We know that when Tony Abbott doesn’t approve of something, he is not backward in coming forward about it.

He’s made no secret, for instance, of his disapproval of refugees attempting to get to Australia by boat, Aboriginal people indulging their “lifestyle choices” in remote communities and women who access more than one maternity leave entitlement.

And that’s before we even get to the Islamic State, which Abbott has denounced as a “death cult” a whopping 346 times since last September.

But amid all this frenzied disapproval and moral righteousness, the abuse and sexual assault of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of children in Catholic schools, orphanages and churches, and the systematic cover-up of this abuse by the church hierarchy, fails even to rate a mention from that otherwise indefatigable moral crusader.

Asked whether he considered it morally sound for cardinal Pell to refuse to return to Australia to front the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, Abbott declined to express disapproval.

That Pell has been asked to face allegations that he offered bribes to silence sexual abuse victims, covered up priests’ crimes and failed to act on sexual abuse complaints appears to matter not a bit to Abbott who, in 2013, described the cardinal as a “fine human being” and “great churchman”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Tom Parmenter
News Correspondent

The Goddard Inquiry into child sexual abuse still hasn’t heard its first evidence, but it has already lost the trust of some survivors.

Esther Baker is one of them. In the early days she saw the inquiry as an opportunity to finally disclose her wretched childhood.

Being abused simply became part of her routine. She learnt to cope by repeating nursery rhymes or her times tables in her head as countless men took advantage of her.

The promises in recent months from politicians vowing to “uncover the truth” and “leave no stone unturned” gave her the hope that this time might be different.

She engaged with the process, took part in meetings and even received a letter from Home Secretary Theresa May thanking her for her “invaluable assistance”.

Ms Baker though has lost faith in the process.

Justice Lowell Goddard was the third choice to lead the inquiry and was brought over from New Zealand to ensure she was independent of the British establishment, which finds itself at the centre of many allegations of child abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By PATRICK BYRNE May 25, 2015

INSTITUTIONS at the centre of child sexual abuse should pay for victims’ support, but not provide it first-hand, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse was told on Monday.

Giving evidence to the Commission, psychiatrist Carolyn Quadrio said victims were angered by having to see doctors and psychologists who had been paid for by the institutions they were abused by.

“That’s one of the problems at attempts at redress made by the institutions,” Professor Quadrio said. “Maybe the institutions can pay the bill, but that’s all.

“They shouldn’t be providing the treatment. It’s a bit like psychiatric research run by drug companies … you know the results are going to be skewed and they are. It has to be separate from the money, otherwise it gets skewed.”

The psychiatrist said while private help was needed in most cases, victims should also seek the support of other survivors.

“Finding other people who have been through the same experience is a great comfort,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The Drum

OPINION

By Michael Bradley

The time has come for George Pell to forget about the legal strategies, the honour and assets of the Church, and his personal dignity. He needs to come back home, face up and tell the truth, writes Michael Bradley.

Immoveable object meets irresistible force.

Cardinal George Pell has engaged various tactics over the years in his response to the grave allegations regarding his part in the Catholic Church’s handling of sexual abuse victims, but the attitude has remained the same: impassive, righteous, unrepentant, unmoved.

In terms of his apparent personal motivation of protecting the Church’s reputation and assets, it’s been pretty successful. But Royal Commissions are powerful beasts; and a determined Royal Commissioner can break the toughest resistance to their mission of shedding light into the darkest places.

I have no opinion to express on the allegations levelled at Pell. They have not been tested, and we should not presume their truth or otherwise before that has been done. The Royal Commissioner, Peter McClellan QC, has been sending a very clear message that this is what he intends to do. It has set the scene for what could be a memorable showdown.

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FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH — Just the accusation that he had molested students at Rosarian Academy, Stephen Budd warned an accuser three years ago, would be all it took for him to end his career as a teacher.

Budd’s April 2013 arrest on child sexual battery charges appears to have succeeded in doing that, but in a Palm Beach County courtroom this week prosecutors will begin their attempt on ending the 53-year-old Budd’s life as a free man.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Gerry O Connor
Mon, May 25, 2015

The Same-sex Marriage Referendum was “an unmitigated disaster” for the Catholic Church in Ireland, Fr Brendan Hoban, co-founder of the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), has said.

“It was clear from the beginning that the bishops’ decision in policy terms to campaign for a blunt No vote was alienating even the most conservative of Irish Catholics,” he said.

The referendum result illustrated “the gap between the church and a significant number of its people… It is so out of tune with the needs of the people,” he said.

It was “another significant body-blow to the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland” and “a watershed in Irish history”.

Another ACP co-founder, Fr Tony Flannery, said “the day of doctrinaire Catholicism is over in this country. The people are no longer willing to listen to speeches and sermons on morality from the church.”

What was “ particularly sad was to see the bishops in total opposition to a mass movement of the younger generation”.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

It is inconceivable that church leaders would not ask why a priest was being moved from parish to parish, an abuse victims’ advocate says.

Anthony Foster, whose daughters were raped by a Melbourne priest, says more needs to come out about the widespread abuse in the Ballarat diocese.

The child sex abuse royal commission’s investigation has uncovered documents from meetings where it was decided to move Australia’s worst pedophile priest, Gerald Francis Ridsdale, between parishes.

“I find it inconceivable that somebody sitting in a meeting like that would not ask why. We want to know why,” Mr Foster told AAP in Ballarat.

He said a few lines in meeting minutes was an awfully long way from hearing the real story about the behind-the-scenes discussions.

“We need some of the clergy who are still around that were in on those discussions at the time to come clean for our sake, for their sake, for the sake of the victims.”

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UNITED STATES
Gawker

Jay Hathaway

Why were evangelical reality star and conservative political activist Josh Duggar’s parents Jim Bob and Michelle so slow to act on the revelation that their eldest son had molested his younger sisters—and, ultimately, so lenient? Documents about sexual abuse from the cult-like homeschooling program the family follows—which focus on public image and lay heavy blame on the victims of assault—may help answer the question.

You see, the Duggars aren’t just “Quiverfull” breeders and Bible adherents—they’re also adherents of the Advanced Training Institute, a Bible-based homeschooling program run by alleged cult figurehead Bill Gothard. Months before the family had to deal with the revelation of Josh Duggar’s past sexual abuses, they were coping with sexual abuse allegations against Gothard.

The Web Has Known About Josh Duggar for Years. When Did TLC Find Out?

In 2006, Oprah Winfrey canceled an appearance on her show by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, the…
Read more defamer.​gawker.​com

Gothard last year denied accusations that he had sexually harassed or assaulted 34(!) women, claiming “I have never kissed a girl nor have I touched a girl immorally or with sexual intent.” He was 79 years old at the time.

Although Gothard was forced to resign as the head of the Advanced Training Institute due to the accusations, the Duggars apparently still follow the organization’s teaching plans, which include lessons on how to deal with sexual abuse in the home.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

TESSA AKERMAN THE AUSTRALIAN MAY 26, 2015 12:00AM

Former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns allegedly hushed up pedophile Gerald Ridsdale’s ­offences and refused to step in because he was too busy with confirmation duties, according to evidence submitted to the abuse royal commission.

A former principal of a school in western Victoria said Bishop Mulkearns had told her in 1982 not to tell staff about Ridsdale’s abuse of students, there was not to be a meeting with parents and that “we could do nothing for the children”.

Bishop Mulkearns, then the most senior Catholic in Australia’s worst diocese for clergy sex offences, has also been accused in evidence tendered to the royal commission of having asked a nun to tip off Ridsdale that others knew about his offending, allegedly with the intention of stopping it.

Ridsdale is feared to have ­abused hundreds of children in the Ballarat diocese from the 1960s to the 80s. He is in jail convicted of abusing more than 50 children.

Bishop Mulkearns, who has since retired and is in ill health, ran the Ballarat diocese between 1971 and 1997 and was central to moving Ridsdale from parish to parish each time he was caught abusing schoolchildren.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The IOR, the Institute for Works of Religion, released its Annual Report for 2014 on Monday, showing a net profit of 69.3 million Euros, a substantial increase from the 2.9 million reported in 2013.

IOR media officer Max Hehnberg told Vatican Radio that 2014 was a positive year financially, but “within the norm” for what is widely known as the Vatican bank. The net gains, the Institute said, are the result of a reorganization of the accounts and “mainly due to an increase in the Net Trading Income from securities and a decline in extraordinary operating expenses.”

“The main focus is on fundamentally improving our overall client service standards and further professionalizing our asset management services”, said Jean-Baptiste de Franssu in a statement. “Next to providing seamless and reliable payment solutions this is at the core of our plan within the new regulatory framework introduced in the Vatican and given the recently signed tax agreement between the Holy See and Italy”.

The statement said further strengthening of IOR compliance culture and resources is a priority coupled with the establishment of new internal audit and risk management functions. In particular, the systematic efforts towards implementation of anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures under supervision of Vatican regulator AIF have continued and procedures are regularly monitored and further developed where necessary.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph

By Nick Squires, Rome 25 May 2015

Once tainted by scandal and intrigue, the Vatican bank has managed to increase its profits by more than 20 times since embarking on a comprehensive drive for transparency and accountability ordered by Pope Francis.

The bank announced on Monday that it earned €69.3 million (£49 million) in 2014 – up from €2.9 million the previous year.

Profits plummeted in 2013 as a result of a dramatic dip in the value of the bank’s gold reserves, two substantial write-offs and the cost of employing a team of forensic accountants to review the murkiest corners of its finances.

The outside consultants were brought in to bring the bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works, into compliance with tough anti-money laundering regulations.

“The gold price did not move in our favour (in 2013) and there were the extraordinary effects of two substantial write-offs, one on an investment equity fund made by the previous management of the bank and the other on a bond issue for a media company,” Max Hohenberg, a bank spokesman, told The Telegraph.

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VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
May 25, 2015

ROME—The Vatican bank said its 2014 net profit skyrocketed to €69.3 million ($77 million) from €2.9 million a year earlier, owing largely to a steep rise in net trading income and a decline in extraordinary operating expenses. The increase also reflected an exceptionally low net profit for 2013, largely from write-downs on legacy investments.

In its third annual report, released Monday, the Vatican bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, or IOR, also described its efforts to bolster compliance with international financial norms, as part of a continuing effort to repair its scandal-plagued reputation.

The 2014 profit will allow the bank to turn over €55 million to the Holy See, for charitable purposes at the discretion of the pope, an amount in line with previous years. Last year, the bank drew from its reserves to give the Holy See €54 million.

The bank has been reviewing accounts to ensure compliance with anti-money-laundering regulations and to make sure all its clients belong to one of four categories consistent with its mission to serve “works of religion”: Catholic institutions; individual clergy and members of religious orders; Vatican employees and pensioners; and foreign diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

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UNITED STATES
irreverin

May 22, 2015 by Erin Wathen

This is what comes of fundamentalism.

This week in the news, the Duggar family–made popular by their reality show, “19 Kids and Counting”–have been in the spotlight for a sex scandal. Though I seriously doubt they are calling it that, amongst themselves. No, where they come from, this is a youthful indiscretion; a series of inappropriate behaviors; evidence that we are “not a perfect family”… Etc.

But the news that the oldest son, Josh (now 27) repeatedly molested and sexually assaulted his younger sisters (and another unnamed minor) is beyond “inappropriate.” It is a crime. And one for which nobody is going to jail, given the 3 year statute of limitations in the state of Arkansas. (And in many states).

This is what comes of fundamentalism. And this is not about me railing against conservative brands of faith. Conservatism in belief does not always amount to abusive behavior. But when conservative beliefs (the Duggars are part of the Quiverfull movement) manifest in harmful, toxic systems that allow for–and even condone–systemic abuse, then you have fundamentalism. And it comes at a price. Most often, the price is human dignity. And most often, that price is paid by women.

Fundamentalism is how Jim Jones got a tragically large group of people to “drink the Kool-aid.” (I know that is a really derogatory thing to say now, but this is, most literally, where the saying originated). Fundamentalism is how Waco happened. Fundamentalism is how ISIS continues to grow at an alarming rate.

Fundamentalism is why so very many children have horrific stories of being abused by Catholic priests; and fundamentalism is why so few of those priests are in jail (so far).

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IRELAND
Newstalk

[with audo]

A remembrance ceremony will take place outside the Dáil today for babies who died at a mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

800 seconds of silence will be held in memory of the almost 800 babies who died at St Mary’s between 1925 and 1961.

One year on since the Tuam babies tragedy made global headlines, survivors say they are deeply disappointed by the lack of progress made in the inquiry.

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IRELAND
UTV

A remembrance service has taken place outside Government buildings for babies who died at a mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

A moving 800 seconds of silence was held at 12pm for some 800 babies who died at St Mary’s between 1925 and 1961 – one year on from the discovery of a mass grave which shocked the world.

The ceremony is organised by a coalition of mother and baby home survivors:

* The Bethany Home Survivors
* Adopted Illegally Ireland
* Beyond Adoption Ireland
* Castlepollard Mother & Baby home group
* Adoption Rights Now

Terri Harrison, from the ‘Mother to Mother Dublin’ group has called for the transparency in investigations into the homes.

She said: “As life givers in Ireland, we were cast aside, denied our basic human rights. Our loss hidden, our truth never told, our lives lived beneath a veil of deceit.

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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- Polish Prosecutor General Andrzej Seremet will visit six Dominican families whose under-age members were victims of sexual abuse by priest Polish pries Wojciech Gil (Padre Alberto).

Seremet and other Poland officials will visit midweek the highland town of Juncalito, Santiago province, where Gil molested at least six minors who were his altar boys when he was parish priest from 2008 to 2013, according to a statement from the Dominican Justice Ministry.

Gil, 37, was sentenced 25 March by a Polish court to a reduced sentence of seven years in prison for violations against six Dominican minors and two Poles.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Denise Calnan Twitter

25/05/2015

Special medical cards awarded to survivors of the Magdalene Laundries are still available to be claimed, Social Care Minister Kathleen Lynch has said.

The card will be given to women who have accepted a formal offer of compensation under the Restorative Justice Scheme.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald and Social Care Minister Kathleen Lynch said the “RWRCI Cards” will issue to the women in June and take effect from July 1.

It will entitle them to GP services, prescribed drugs, medicines, aids and appliances, dental, ophthalmic and aural services, home nursing, home support, chiropody or podiatr, physiotherapy and counselling.

“Just over 500 women, 512 women, already accepted the award,” Minister Lynch told RTE’s Morning Ireland.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Minister of State for Primary and Social Care Kathleen Lynch has said there is still time for women, who have not accepted the State’s Magdalene laundries redress scheme, to apply for the plan so they can avail of special medical cards.

From 1 July the Health Service Executive will make available, without charge, primary and health services for Magdalene survivors including GP services, prescribed drugs, dental services and home nursing.

They will begin receiving Redress for Women Who Were Resident in Certain Institutions (RWRCI) cards in June.

On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister Lynch said over 500 women will receive the special medical cards this summer.

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VATICAN CITY
Europe Online

Vatican City (dpa) – The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), a scandal-plagued body that serves as the Vatican‘s bank, reported Monday a sharp rise in profits and said it was making progress on cleaning up its finances.

The IOR made a profit of 69.3 million euros (76 million dollars) in 2014, compared with 2.9 million euros the previous year, thanks to more lucrative trading in securities and a reduction in operating expenses.

The institute said it would put its profits to use by donating 55 million euros to the main budget of the Vatican and by stashing 14.3 million euros in its retained earnings reserve.

The Vatican bank also said it was making a “great effort […] in addressing the abuse the Institute was subjected to in the past,” in compliance with tougher Vatican financial supervision standards and a recently signed tax agreement between the Vatican and Italy.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

The Vatican bank posted a sharp rise in net profit in 2014 after absorbing the costs of a clean up that hit earnings the year before as part of a wide-ranging drive to tighten financial governance and eliminate abuse, a statement showed on Monday.

The bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), has toughened regulatory standards and closed thousands of accounts, which were either inactive or deemed not to meet new standards required of clients.

Reforming the IOR has been one of the most sensitive issues facing Pope Francis as he seeks to overhaul the complex Vatican administration after years of scandal, ranging from allegations of financial malpractice to coverups of child sexual abuse by priests.

After 2013 results that were hit by heavy write downs on investments and a jump in operating costs to meet new anti-money laundering standards, net profit last year rebounded to €69.3 million from €2.9 million the year before.

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VATICAN CITY
Instituto per le Opere di Religione – Institute for Religious Works

A Business Review of 2014

a) Macroeconomic environment

The following gives an overview of the macroeconomic environment in 2014, with a particular focus on those markets and developments most relevant to explaining the IOR’s portfolio performance, given its conservative investment strategy.

Low inflation across developed economies became of particular concern in the Eurozone, raising fears that it might slide into Japan-style stagnation. In response, the European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates twice, initiated a programme of cheap four-year lending (TLTROs) and launched programmes to purchase covered bonds and asset-backed securities.

The divergence in monetary policy was clear: the Fed and Bank of England were expected to start raising interest rates over the next 12 months while the ECB and Bank of Japan (BoJ) remained firmly in easing territory. Emerging markets started to stabilise after their earlier volatility – but there was unease over the shadow banking sector in China. The world’s second-largest economy also showed signs of struggling to meet its government’s 7.5% GDP growth target for the year.

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VATICAN CITY
U.S. News

May 25, 2015

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican bank said Monday its profit soared by more than 20 times last year as it recovered from a trading loss and continued its reform process away from its scandal-marred past.

The bank, officially called the Institute for Religious Works, said it earned 69.3 million euros ($77.37 million) in 2014, up from 2.9 million euros the previous year.

Its net trading result jumped to 36.7 million euros from a loss of 16.5 million euros in 2013, when it lost money on investments and saw the value of its gold holdings drop.

Profits were also boosted by a drop in operating costs. In 2013, operating expenses jumped by some 8 million euros as it paid outside consultants to help review its client base and bring it into compliance with anti-money-laundering norms.

That review resulted in some 4,600 accounts being closed, either because they were dormant or because clients no longer fit the revised client base approved by the bank’s board, which include religious orders, Catholic institutions, clerics, employees or former employees of the Vatican, as well as embassies and diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

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AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Cardinal George Pell visited his old school in the Ballarat area, which came as a surprise to the CEO of the Truth Justice and Healing Council. (Vision courtesy ABC News)

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

AAP

Abuse victims hope Australia’s worst pedophile priest reveals what the Catholic Church knew about his offending when he appears before a royal commission.

Gerald Francis Ridsdale will give evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission’s Ballarat hearing for at least two days from Wednesday.

One of his victims, Stephen Woods, said it was important to hear from all sides to find out as much as possible about the institutional and systemic problems that facilitated the abuse.

“For a lot of people it will be very, very difficult, but this is a factor that has to be looked at,” Mr Woods told AAP.

Andrew Collins, who was abused by other clergy in the Ballarat diocese, said Ridsdale’s victims were positive about his appearance before the commission as they wanted the truth to come out.

“The church has traditionally covered everything up and I think if he will actually say what happened, that has the potential just to unlock a lot of those doors to get to those people who actually made those decisions,” Mr Collins told AAP.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 25, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

Lawyers for the Catholic Church insist they will not challenge survivors’ claims Cardinal George Pell tried to bribe one and ignored another’s abuse reports, even though they themselves are willing to be cross-examined.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is expected to make findings on the claims, and to ask for a full response from Cardinal Pell, who now manages the Vatican’s finances in Rome.

Lawyers for David Ridsdale and Timothy Green – Dr Martine Marich and Dr Kristine Hanscombe – told the commission on Monday that their clients were both willing to be recalled to give more evidence about their claims from last week, and to be cross-examined if required.

Dr Hanscombe, for Mr Green, said this was in response to an “inquiry”.

It is believed that Counsel Assisting the Commission Gail Furness, SC, made the inquiry.

Peter Gray, SC, has repeatedly declined to cross-examine Mr Ridsdale and Mr Green on their accounts of separate conversations with George Pell in 1993 and 1974 respectively, to avoid making their experience before the commission more difficult.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

It has been revealed Cardinal George Pell visited his old school, St Patrick’s College in Ballarat, on a private trip about two months ago, as calls for him to re-appear at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse continue.

The commission, which began hearing evidence in Ballarat last week, was told Cardinal Pell tried to bribe the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle.

Cardinal Pell has issued a statement denying the allegation, but is facing mounting calls to travel to Ballarat from his home at the Vatican to answer questions under oath.

A post on St Patrick’s College’s website showed Cardinal Pell visited the school in late March.

“He was particularly interested in meeting new headmaster John Crowley for the first time and taking a tour of the college to meet with staff and students and inspect new facilities,” the post read.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP

Victims’ advocates have questioned why Cardinal George Pell could make it back to Ballarat recently but not front up for the child abuse royal commission.

Cardinal Pell returned to his home town and visited his former school St Patrick’s College on March 27.

Truth Justice and Healing Council chief executive Francis Sullivan says he did not know Cardinal Pell was in Ballarat recently and it was obviously a private visit.

St Patrick’s College’s new headmaster, John Crowley, said Cardinal Pell was a proud Old Collegian who visited the school to meet him and view changes since his last visit.

There have been calls for Cardinal Pell to return from Rome to answer allegations about what he knew regarding widespread abuse by clergy in the Ballarat diocese.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – The Drum

OPINION

By Judy Courtin

Decades after the crimes, the victims of sexual abuse by clergy in Ballarat continue to suffer at the hands of the Church, the law and the federal parliament, writes Judy Courtin.

The Royal Commission into institutional child sexual abuse has completed its first week of public hearings in Ballarat. They have been heartbreaking, harrowing and revealing. The hearings are focusing on the Catholic Church’s responses to allegations of child sexual abuse and the impacts on the survivors, their families and the broader Ballarat community. The commission’s brief is vast.

The evidence from 17 survivors, as well as testimony from the mother of a young man who committed suicide following sex crimes by a Catholic priest, has exhibited a period of time in the 1970s and beyond in Ballarat that is memorialised as evil. Witness after witness painfully described the brutal bashings and sex crimes they experienced as young boys by trusted and respected Catholic clergymen.

Most of these children were raped by up to three paedophiles. These children were wittingly shared around by a bunch of depraved criminals. But more was to come – when these children tried to tell of their horrors, they were not believed and were severely punished for speaking so reprehensively about God’s holy representatives on earth.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Darlington and Stockton Times

‘Paedophile hunters could jeopardise investigations’ say police following Darlington incident

by Joanna Morris

ONLINE vigilantes risk jeopardising child sex investigations, police have warned.

Darlington Police have warned self-styled paedophile catchers to leave catching predators to the professionals.

The warning comes after a video was posted to Facebook on Friday (May 22) showing a man confronted in the street by individuals who posed as a teenager online in an effort to snare paedophiles.

Police say the pair undeniably acted with good intentions but are urging people not to follow in their footsteps.

Inspector Caroline Dawson said there was a real danger of such actions tipping off wrong-doers and alerting them to potential police activity.

She said posting such incidents online amounted to an early warning for those with something to hide, who may then go onto destroy vital evidence ahead of police involvement.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Source: AAP
25 MAY 2015

The Archbishop of Sydney has ordered a complete review of the archdiocese’s professional standards and safeguarding policies after a royal commission heard further shocking accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

Speaking of the shame and disillusionment felt by clergy and faithful after sex abuse accounts and allegations, Archbishop Anthony Fisher says he is determined to ensure it never happens again in the church.

“We may feel disillusioned, contaminated, ashamed,” he said in a letter to Sydney Catholics on Monday.

“I am determined that we will do all we can to ensure such things never happen again in our church; that those entrusted with the care of the young and vulnerable `care for the lambs’ and keep them safe; and that those already harmed are brought justice and compassion.”

He said he would soon make announcements about further improvements to the Sydney Archdiocese professional standards and safeguarding practices, and he wanted the “best contemporary testing and discernment” for seminarians, as well as improved protocols and responses to allegations and the needs of survivors.

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JAMAICA
Jamaica Observer

THE Westmoreland Police on Friday charged a pastor with having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 as well as grievous sexual assault.

Reports are that in 2014, the victim was sent to the pastor’s house to collect payment for goods, and she was assaulted and raped.

The matter was reported to the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse, and following an investigation, a file was prepared and sent to the Defender of Public Prosecutions who ruled that he should be charged.

He is to appear in court.

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IRELAND
The New York Times

By DANNY HAKIM
MAY 24, 2015

DUBLIN — The morning after Ireland learned it had become the first nation to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote, Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, looked out at the future of the Roman Catholic Church.

It could be found at St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral here, in downtown Dublin, as two rows of children awaited confirmation before him in the lofty, column-lined church.

“Boys and girls, I made my confirmation 60 years ago,” he told them, adding, “Your world is different from mine.”

Not far away, the streets were quiet after a long night of celebrating. Revelers filled the bars, beeped horns, waved rainbow flags and drank Guinness after the result was announced on Saturday. The size of the victory energized supporters, with the referendum affirmed by 62 percent of the electorate and passed in all but one of Ireland’s 43 districts.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 25, 2015

Jane Lee
Legal Affairs Reporter for The Age

People who have been abused as children live shorter lives than those who have not been abused, a psychiatrist has told a royal commission.

Dr Carolyn Quadrio, from the UNSW School of Psychiatry, said on Monday that children who have been abused have a life expectancy about 10 to 20 years shorter than those who have not.

“They don’t live as long as children who have not been traumatised,” she told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat.

Trauma produced both physical and psychological damage, affecting children’s development, including their personalities and sense of self.

Children’s brains and immune systems were also affected, making them more prone to a range of auto-immune diseases.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 25, 2015

Rania Spooner
Crime reporter

Cardinal George Pell visited Ballarat and a school at the centre of clergy abuse claims just weeks before the royal commission hearings began in the town.

The Cardinal is pictured walking the halls of St Patrick’s College with the school’s headmaster John Crowley in the April edition of the school’s magazine The Shamrock.

The development comes as public pressure builds on Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric to front the commission to answer explosive claims that he bribed a victim to remain silent about a notorious paedophile priest.

The March 28 visit to the school coincided with a “short vacation to Australia” for Cardinal Pell, a former St Patrick’s student, and involved talks of “an exciting new initiative” to promote excellence at the school, The Shamrock reported.

“Cardinal Pell has long been a strong and passionate advocate of St Patrick’s College and remains close friends with many of his former classmates from his time as a student here,” Mr Crowley told The Shamrock.

“It was a great thrill to be able to escort his Eminence around the College grounds and witness the way he interacted with staff and students alike.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher defends Catholic Church and Cardinal George Pell over response to child abuse claims

May 25, 2015

Kate Aubusson
Journalist

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher has defended Cardinal George Pell over his handling of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

In a letter to Catholic schools and parishes in the Sydney diocese, Archbishop Fisher rebuffed allegations that the church used legal manoeuvres to protect itself from victim claims for compensation and applauded Pell for his handling of the child sexual abuse scandal.

On Monday it emerged that Cardinal Pell visited Ballarat and a school at the centre of clergy abuse claims just weeks before the royal commission hearings began in the town.

“Many things are being said about the church at the moment, some of them fair, some of them not so fair,” Archbishop Fisher wrote in the letter, which he posted on Twitter.

“It is alleged, for instance, that we are engaged in self-protective legal evasions.

“In fact, my predecessor, Cardinal Pell, was the first Church leader in Australia to introduce a more contemporary process to confront this evil and he repeatedly apologized when mistakes were made,” he said.

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IRELAND
Catholic Herald (UK)

by Mary O’Regan
posted Monday, 25 May 2015

Secularism has filled the vacuum left by the decline of Irish Catholicism

Saturday’s vote for same-sex marriage in Ireland is one for the history books. It’s the first time a country has legalised gay marriage by popular vote.

The question on everyone’s lips is: what changed Catholic Ireland into a post-religious country where gay marriage has been enshrined in law by the will of the majority of people?

The vastly diminished role of the Church has left an elephantine emptiness in Irish life. One very important factor is how ashamed many Irish people feel about the sexual abuse crisis. Perhaps the people who ought to feel that shame are the guilty priests and nuns. But Benedict XVI was right, in his book-long interview with Peter Seewald, when he pointed out that most Irish families had a member who had a vocation either as a priest or a nun. Therefore most Irish people felt very deeply the disgrace caused by the revelations of clerical sexual abuse. This was the case even if the priest or nun in a family was totally innocent.

Growing up in Ireland, I saw this first-hand, when a friend or acquaintance who had a brother who was a blameless priest, they would feel embarrassed to say that their sibling was a good priest, for fear that people would think they were “covering up”.

Humiliation and regret have gone hand in hand, and increasingly in the past few decades, the Irish, who have, by an average margin of two to one, legalised gay marriage, convinced themselves that if the Church was wrong, then the opposite of the Church’s teaching must be right.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail

Uproar as pastor’s wife and mother of 11 suggests child-molester Josh Duggar was simply ‘PLAYING DOCTOR’ as a teenager – and should be ‘left alone to live a good life’

A pastor’s wife and mother of eleven has sparked outrage online after suggesting that 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar was simply ‘playing doctor’ when he molested young girls as they slept.

In a rant on a Quiverfull critic’s Facebook page, Carrie Hurd, the wife of Texas minister Patrick Hurd, also referred to Josh’s actions as ‘a little Christian misbehavior’ and said he should be ‘left alone’.

Using her husband’s account to address atheist Vyckie Garrison, she wrote: ‘When I was a kid, it was often called “playing doctor”, there were just as many girls initiating this kind of behavior as boys.

‘Most of those never went on to perp horrible things. The Duggars, who I have never watched – am not a fan, did it properly and the 14 year old boy should probably be left alone to live a good life.’

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UNITED STATES
The Raw Story

JOAN SHIPPS
24 MAY 2015

For more than a decade, Hobby Lobby billionaires provided substantial financial support to Bill Gothard, a politically influential religious leader who — among other things — founded the Institute in Basic Life Principles and the chain of Christian ‘treatment’ centers to which Josh Duggar’s parents sent him after he was caught molesting young girls.

“No one,” Gawker observed last year, “was more instrumental to [Gothard’s] now-controversial ministry than the family behind Hobby Lobby.”

Hobby Lobby founder David Green and his family are committed donors to evangelical Christian causes. Mother Jones reports that the Greens sold Gothard — for $10 — a 2,250-acre campus in Big Sandy, Texas, complete with landing strip and aircraft hangar. The Greens further gifted Gothard a 529,717-square-foot building Little Rock, Arkansas, and a campus in New Zealand.

In 2003, Josh Duggar took his son to the Basic Life Principles Training Center in Little Rock for counseling on Christian values and sexuality. Gothard resigned from the Institute he helmed in 2014 amid allegations by more than 30 women that he touched them inappropriately.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By court reporter Peta Carlyon

There is still a long way to go in understanding how best to help victims of child sexual abuse, which can shorten a person’s life expectancy and result in the shrinkage of their brain, a royal commission is told.

Psychiatrist Dr Carolyn Quadrio, an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales, appeared as a witness at a Ballarat hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Dr Quadrio told the hearing the sexual abuse of children damaged brain development and, at worst, resulted in shrinkage of the brain and a shortened life expectancy of 10 to 20 years.

“The child feels worthless, betrayed … they feel dirty, defiled … they blame themselves,” Dr Quadrio said.

“It’s extremely damaging for the child’s psychological development.

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UNITED STATES
People

BY MICHELE CORRISTON @mcorriston 05/24/2015

When allegations that 19 Kids and Counting star Josh Duggar molested five young girls resurfaced this week, fans of the TLC reality show were shocked. To the millions of viewers who’ve tuned in each week, the Duggars personified family values, from their strict rules about modesty to their dedication to religion.

The illusion was shattered Thursday, when Josh, 27, admitted he “acted inexcusably” as a teenager. But rumors of former Christian lobbyist’s past are nothing new: They first surfaced online eight years ago. As Gawker’s Defamer points out, a commenter called “Alice” recounted the allegations on a blog, ibiblio.org, in May 2007. Other sites such as FreeJinger.org have long cited Alice’s comments.

Eight years ago, Alice gave a thorough and detailed account of events that are nearly identical to those outlined in the police report that became public this week:

“In January, the whole family went to Chicago and taped Oprah Winfrey show… As you may have noticed, that show never aired and it never will,” Alice posted before delivering the bombshell that The Oprah Winfrey Show staffers had been told that Josh had molested five minor girls. Alice then wrote, “Yes, this is the truth … They have been investigated to some length…”

On the subject of Josh’s parents Jim Bob, 49 and Michelle, 48, Alice wrote “They have lied and lied about their son to protect him… In my eyes he is a CHILD MOLESTOR. HE SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM THE HOME.”

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A Catholic Church rule requiring celibacy of its clergy is not driving child abuse, an expert has told a royal commission.

University of NSW Associate Professor Carolyn Quadrio said while abuse occurs in every faith group, it seems to be more marked in Catholic institutions.

The issue of celibacy is important but not the driving cause, she said.

“I don’t think the celibacy drives child abuse,” she told the child abuse royal commission hearing into Catholic institutions in Ballarat on Monday.

Assoc Prof Quadrio said men who already had an orientation to be attracted exclusively to children as sex objects would feel more comfortable in the priesthood.

“The celibacy vow is not going to bother you if you’re not interested in having sex with other adults, so obviously that will be a more comfortable environment,” she said.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
May 24, 2015

Brian Michael Lederer, an associate pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Hibbing, was released from the St. Louis County Jail on Thursday after posting bond. He had been held on $250,000 bail since his arrest last week. He has request release without bail which was denied.

He was arrested and charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second degree, and two counts of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree. He is accused of inappropriately touching three girls — all under the age of 16 — in incidents starting last year and continuing until his arrest.

At present he is on leave , is not allowed to minister as a priest or not allowed to have contact with anyone younger than 18.

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UNITED STATES
People

BY MICHAEL MILLER @write_miller 05/24/2015

When Jim Bob Duggar became aware that his eldest son was allegedly molesting underage girls, the family decided to handle the incident privately instead of immediately reporting the accusations to police.

Sixteen months elapsed between the time Jim Bob learned of his son’s self-admitted “wrongdoing” and Josh Duggar’s official admission to Arkansas state trooper Cpl. Hutchins – who gave him a “very stern talk” but did not press charges, according to police reports obtained by InTouch but which have now been expunged.

Sometime between Josh’s confession to his father and his formal confession to police, Josh spent time at a facility called the Institute in Basic Life Principles Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, PEOPLE has confirmed.

The center claims to “strengthen individuals and families through sound Biblical teachings and character development opportunities and to demonstrate Christ’s love through serving,” as posted on their official website. Jim Bob would later tell police Josh was in the program from March 17, 2003 to July 17, 2003.

The methods employed by the institute have received numerous criticisms from alumni and online forums. John Krull, Executive Director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union has called the center “appalling” and a “shadow world, where these kids almost disappear.” The Institute in Basic Life Principles Training Center has been the subject of a local Child Protective Services investigation, and its principal, Rodger Gergeni, has denied allegations of maltreatment.

Last year, at 79-years-old, founder Bill Gothard was accused of sexually harassing or assaulting 34 women, and resigned his position at the institute.

The Duggar’s decision to send Josh to the program in lieu of contacting authorities could be explained by the family’s deep rooted connections to Gothard and his teachings.

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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

A child sexual abuse survivor, Peter Blenkiron, says a ‘phoenix must rise from the ashes’ of the royal commission. Survivors described physical and mental health problems, as well as difficulties maintaining relationships and employment. Speaking outside the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, he says, ‘There’ve been so many suicides and premature deaths.’ Blenkiron is one of almost 20 survivors who have given evidence into the abuse in Ballarat, Victoria.

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AUSTRALIA
Independent Australia

Michael Galvin 25 May 2015

Cardinal George Pell does not seem to know it yet, but last week his world changed. Once and for all.

LAST WEEK, in Ballarat, no fewer than 17 survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church told their stories. The horror and pain in each individual story was gut-wrenching, but the cumulative effect was far worse than that. What emerged was a dense and interconnected latticework of violence, and sexual crimes of young children on a large scale.

Always ready to defend himself, the pugnacious Pell issued an almost immediate statement. His statement was as predictable as it was irrelevant. What it showed was that Pell clearly does not realise this nightmare and his place in it has moved on to a new stage.

He still thinks it is about his personal actions and his personal innocence. What a proud, inflexible man he must be. And how blind he is — blind to the fact that this is not just about him, it is about an institutional failure so massive and so evil as to almost defy belief.

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ITALY
Telegraph (UK)

Andrea Vogt 24 May 2015

Ireland’s historic vote in favour of same sex marriage reverberated across Italy on Sunday, as Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s lieutenants came out in force to call for fast-track passage of a stymied civil partnership law.

Socially conservative Italy now is the only Western European country that does not recognize either same sex marriage or civil unions. But that the Irish referendum garnered an unexpectedly strong 62 per cent “Yes” vote in such a deeply Catholic country rallied backers of the Italian law, which has been languishing in parliament for months.

Several editorials on Sunday suggested that such a referendum in Italy would have a similar outcome, recalling the divorce referendum in 1974, when 60 percent of Italian voters went against the wishes of the Catholic church on a major social issue. …

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, described the vote against church teaching on gay marriage as “overwhelming” and said Catholic leaders needed “urgently” to find a new way to speak to the country’s young.

“It’s a social revolution,” he said. “The church needs to do a reality check right across the board.”

He said that some church figures who argued in the “No” camp came across as “harsh, damning and unloving, the opposite of their intention”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Scituate

By Jessica Trufant
The Patriot Ledger

Posted May. 24, 2015

SCITUATE – Parishioners who have occupied the closed St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate for more than 10 years will likely gather for at least one more Sunday service after a judge put on hold his order that they leave the church by May 29.

Late Friday afternoon, Judge Edward Leibensperger modified his ruling that the Friends of St. Frances must end their vigil and vacate the Hood Road church by May 29, and instead left the date as undetermined.

The effective date for the injunction barring the parishioners from entering the church will be determined once Leibensperger rules on their request that he suspend the order while they bring their case to the state Court of Appeals.

In order to enforce the May 29 date, Mary Elizabeth Carmody, a lawyer representing the parishioners, said Leibensperger would have to rule on their request before then.

“The judge needs more time, which is understandable,” she said Sunday. “I don’t want to speculate, but I’d assume that (the parishioners) would be able to be there next Sunday.”

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CANADA
Ottawa Citizen

MARK KENNEDY, OTTAWA CITIZEN

Canadians must acknowledge that for generations their public schools have fed them misinformation about aboriginal people, says the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Justice Murray Sinclair, whose commission has examined the history and abuses that took place in Indian residential schools, made the comment in a personal interview with the Citizen.

Sinclair’s commission has finished six years of hearings and research and will publicly release its findings in Ottawa on June 2.

The TRC’s report will provide a detailed account of how 150,000 aboriginals were stripped from their families starting in the 1880s and sent to church-run schools established by the federal government. The last residential school closed in the 1990s.

The report will chronicle the abuse many faced, and how the system scarred several generations of aboriginals, leaving their communities in shambles.

But Sinclair emphasized that one of the most important messages that will come from the report is that the consequences of the school system are far more wide-reaching than many realize.

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TEXAS
Divorce Minister

As promised in yesterday’s post on the Duggar situation, today I am covering another story that deals with pedophilia and the evangelical church. The focus of this post will not be on the pedophilia per se but on how The Village Church treated the (then) wife of the admitted pedophile when she decided to obtain a marriage annulment. It is illustrative of poor pastoral care and poor divorce theology at work in the evangelical world.

As the quote from Karen states above, the facts of this situation really are not in dispute as it comes to this former missionary couple (for further reading click here). Her former husband, Jordan Root, admitted the sexual appetite of a pedophile and gratifying that appetite by viewing child porn. In fact, their sending missionary organization, SIM, took this so seriously that they expelled Jordan Root from its membership.

How does The Village Church figure into the story?
Karen and Jordan Root’s home and supporting church was The Village Church in Dallas, Texas. The family came back from the mission field amid this story breaking about Jordan’s pedophilia. They were both members of this church.

For those who do not know, The Village Church is the flagship megachurch of the Acts 29 church planting network. It boasts 11,000 members with multiple campuses in Texas. Pastor Matt Chandler is a lead pastor at The Village Church and the pastoral personality that arguably helped this church explode in membership. He is a very gifted teacher, and I have appreciated learning from his teachings–i.e. online and in print–in the past.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

THE stories coming out of the Royal Commission into Institutionalised Responses to Child Sexual Abuse are horrific.

They are tragic stories of lost childhoods and damaged adulthoods.

But what tends to be forgotten are the secondary victims – the partners, the children, the parents … family members of those who were abused.

Today, Clare Linane bravely – and very honestly – tells what it’s like to be the wife of not only a survivor but a man who has made it his life mission to help other victims.

Clare is the wife of Peter Blenkiron, who has been leading the charge to not only stop the Ballarat victim suicides but to ensure the horrors of the past are never repeated.

She tells us of eight years of hell, during which the stress of dealing with her husband’s post-traumatic stress disorder nearly all became too much.

“It was like having eight years walking around next to someone neck high in mud. I was trying to keep him moving, keep him living but trying not to drown in the mud myself,” she said.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
May 24, 2015

The Minneapolis Tribune took time to look at the second anniversary to look at how it is going. The story was interesting for its overview, but there are areas that are worth looking at a little closer.

The headlines of the story were interesting. In the paper the headline was: Abuse law Triggers A Painful Awakening and in the internet version it was: Minnesota Child Victims Act continues to rock Catholic Church. The law didn’t start things. The abuse that has been hidden for years is what created the firestorm. The hiding is what caused the need for the law.

The numbers are interesting. There have been 50 plus lawsuits and notices of claims statewide against 100 different priests. There also has been a significant increase in the naming of disclosed pedophiles who were credibly accused. So far 180 Priest names have been made public by dioceses, archdiocese, and the St. John’s Abbey. This is almost double since this time last year.

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REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
20 Minutos

[Polish Attorney General Andrzej Seremet will visit six families of children who were victims of sexual abuse by Polish priest Wojciech Gil in the town of Juncalito. He was tried in Poland for the crimes and was sentenced to a prison term.]

El procurador general de Polonia, Andrzej Seremet, visitará a las familias de seis menores de edad dominicanos que fueron víctimas de abuso sexual por parte de un sacerdote polaco, informaron el domingo las autoridades de República Dominicana.

Seremet y otros funcionarios de Polonia acudirán a mediados de esta semana al montañoso poblado de Juncalito, 200 kilómetros al norte de Santo Domingo, donde el sacerdote polaco Wojciech Gil abusó sexualmente al menos de seis menores de edad que fueron sus monaguillos cuando fue párroco en esa localidad entre 2008 y 2013, adelantó la Procuraduría General dominicana.

Gil, de 37 años, fue condenado el 25 de marzo pasado por un tribunal polaco a una condena reducida de siete años de cárcel por las violaciones contra los seis adolescentes dominicanos y dos polacos.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Irish in the “Dark Ages” saved the Catholic Church from external “pagan barbarians”. Now the Irish are saving the Church from internal “hierarchical wrongdoers” who secretly abuse children, obstruct responsible family planning, pillage donations, intimidate honest opponents and disrespect women, divorced and gay Catholics.

Irish voters have declared a new reality in an open referendum that overwhelmingly rejected one of Pope Francis’ key positions on marriage. The Catholic Church is reeling after Ireland’s huge ‘Yes’ vote to changing, despite Pope Francis’ opposition, Ireland’s law on marriage .

All Irish political parties and their leaders stood up to and opposed Pope Francis and his Irish bishops. These political leaders rushed in to applaud the vote, as did UK Prime Minister David Cameron as well. Cameron tweeted: “Congratulations to the people of Ireland, after voting for same-sex marriage, making clear you are equal if you are straight or gay.”

Democratically elected political leaders worldwide, including US President Obama, had previously been fearful of standing up the media created “superstar”, Pope Francis, with the Vatican’s longstanding ties to billionaire media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and Carlos Slim. Yet an overwhelming majority out of almost 2,000,000 Irish voters have shown the pope’s popularity, despite the media hype, is mainly a superficial “feel good” reaction after the last two failed popes. Irish Catholics overwhelmingly have demonstrated that the pope’s public relations ploys cannot get Catholics to accept the Church’s corrupt status quo and irresponsible positions on sexual morality, including on same sex marriage and contraception.

Political leaders worldwide are noting the pope’s clearly demonstrated weakness after two years of high priced Vatican media image management. Even the Archbishop of Dublin has publicly and boldly challenged the pope indicating that the Catholic Church needs a “reality check” after the Irish marriage vote .

This is very bad news for the pope and his “low tax” US Republican billionaire backers with their “anti-gay marriage” crusade now underway for next year’s US presidential elections. Catholics in the U.S. — white, Hispanic, and otherwise — support same-sex marriage at about the same rate as the Irish voted. This reportedly despite some US fundamentalist Christian funding of the supporters of Ireland’s anti-gay marriage crusade .

As Mark Silk has noted, this Irish vote will resonate around the world, and perhaps even ring a bell with the two Irish Catholics on the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, who represent the swing votes on next month’s (June’s) decision to determine whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to be married in the United States.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Opinion: All Catholics must condemn child sex abusers much as we expect all Muslims to denounce extremists

KAREN BROOKS THE COURIER-MAIL MAY 25, 2015

ONCE more, the media is awash with reports, heated discussion and accusations about the role of the Catholic Church and specific individuals’ accountability in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sex Abuse.

The sense of deja vu is all-pervasive, as victims, after enduring years of shame, depression, denial and cover-ups by those in whom they placed their trust and faith, come forward to tell their stories publicly, only to have those they accuse play a game of denial or “I don’t recall”.

Cardinal George Pell’s statement in response to allegations by David Ridsdale, the victim of one of the church’s worst paedophiles, his uncle Gerald Ridsdale, is both predictable and frustrating.

Able to manage the finances of the sovereign nation of The Vatican, earn rank within the Catholic Church, presumably because he’s possessed of a good mind, ethics, strong faith and a decent moral compass, Cardinal Pell is still unable to recall facts when it suits him; but he is able to offer blanket sympathy from the comfort and distance of his home in Rome.

“I am committed to complete co-operation with the royal commission,” Pell wrote. “I will address in full all matters it wishes to raise in any statement requested from me before I make any further comment. I have the deepest sympathy for the victims of abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat for what they have suffered.

“Once again, I will answer allegations and criticisms of my behaviour openly and honestly.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Victims of the worst clergy abuse in Australia’s history want church leaders to be held accountable.

Lawyer and Monash University doctoral researcher Judy Courtin says the fact church figures who covered up abuse have not been held accountable adds to the harm to victims.

‘The ongoing response of the church, which is one of contempt or disdain, is causing ongoing harm to the victims,’ Ms Courtin told AAP in Ballarat.

Ms Courtin, who has worked closely with abuse survivors in the Ballarat diocese and conducted wider research into justice for clergy abuse victims, said survivors want the whole truth to come out that goes further than what the offenders themselves did.

‘It was much more important to have accountability of the hierarchy on the concealing than accountability of the offender,’ she said.

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IRELAND
New Zealand Herald

A top Irish Catholic leader said the Church needs a “reality check” as the predominantly Catholic nation voted to approve gay marriage.

“I think the Church needs to do a reality check right across the board … Have we drifted away completely from young people?” Diarmuid Martin, the Archbishop of Dublin, told national broadcaster RTE.

“It’s a social revolution that didn’t begin today,” said Martin, who voted ‘No’, arguing that gay rights should be respected “without changing the definition of marriage”.

“There’s a big challenge to see how we get across the message of the Church. We’re becoming a Church for the like-minded and a safe space rather than the Church that Pope Francis is talking about that is reaching out.” …

The Catholic Church once controlled virtually every aspect of Irish life but its clout has been vastly reduced by the impact of secularisation and a wave of child sex abuse scandals that discredited the clergy. Ireland has followed a more secular narrative in recent years, highlighted by Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s scathing attack in 2011 on the Vatican’s handling of clerical child abuse. Its inability to properly deal with the issue showed “the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism” of the culture at the Vatican, he said then.

Attendance at masses has dropped sharply in recent decades, though 84.2 per cent of the population still identified as Catholic in the last census in 2011. Despite their opposition to the referendum, bishops framed their arguments in a conciliatory manner, admitting that gay and lesbian people were treated in a harsh way by the church in the past. It follows similar comments from Pope Francis, who posed the question, “Who am I to judge?” when asked his views on homosexuality. He has since repeated his opposition to same-sex marriages.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

May 25, 2015

Steve Lillebuen

Exclusive

One of Australia’s most prestigious private schools has acknowledged, for the first time, that at least five students have been abused on school grounds.

In what’s seen as a breakthrough for abuse survivors and their advocates, Melbourne’s Scotch College has finally admitted it settled a handful of historical claims – most of which relate to sexual abuse –dating back to the 1960s.

The Presbyterian-run school, which educates young boys and manages several boarding houses, is now reaching out to others who may have been victimised through a letter sent to thousands of former students, known as Old Boys.

“We are concerned that throughout their lives, some Old Boys may have suffered trauma that continues to impact on their health and well-being,” the school’s statement read.

“Abuse, be it physical, emotional or sexual, may have occurred during childhood, adolescence or adulthood.”

The carefully-worded statement then asks those who suffered abuse “relating to their time at Scotch” to seek help by contacting the school’s psychologist.

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UNITED STATES
Liberal America

By Robert Franklin on May 22, 2015

The Statute of Limitations has expired and any chance of convicting Josh Duggar for his indiscretions is long past, so why is there so much fuss about the charges? Because it goes a lot deeper than a few teenage exploratory ‘touches.’

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have spent the last several years creating a wholesome image for their large family and for their often-criticized religious affiliation. The Duggars are members of a fringe sect of Christianity called “Christian patriarchy,” an extreme far-right philosophy that promoted and rigidly adheres to a variety of rules that stand in contention with average American viewpoints. Their principles include complete female submission, bans on dating, homeschooled education, rejection of higher education for women, and the shunning of contraception in favor of having as many children as possible.

The Duggar’s have used their fame as a means to bring their brand of conservatism to a nationwide audience. Thanks to the network formerly known as The Learning Channel, the Duggars have enjoyed the spoils of primetime cable television, giving their family frequent exposure and assisting in Jim Bob Duggar’s political ambitions.

However, a recent report found within the pages of In Touch has bolstered the national spotlight on Jim Bob, Michelle, and their family for another reason. Eldest son, Josh Duggar, has found his past racing back into his present, as a police report obtained by the publication detailed an investigation into allegations that Josh Duggar molested several underage girls, and his father, knowing of his son’s actions, did nothing about it for over a year.

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IRELAND
The Guardian (Nigeria)

AFP

The once-dominant Catholic Church in Ireland was trying to come to terms Sunday with an overwhelming vote in favour of gay marriage, saying it needed a “new language” with which to speak to people.

As jubilant “Yes” supporters nursed their hangovers after partying late into the night following Saturday’s referendum result, the faithful attended mass to hear their priests reflect on the new social landscape in Ireland.

“The Church has to find a new language which will be understood and heard by people,” Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, one of the Church’s most senior figures, told reporters after mass at the city’s St Mary’s Pro Cathedral.

“We have to see how is it that the Church’s teaching on marriage and family is not being received even within its own flock.”

He added: “There’s a growing gap between Irish young people and the Church and there’s a growing gap between the culture of Ireland that’s developing and the Church.”

The majority of Irish people still identify themselves as Catholic but the Church’s influence has waned in recent years amid growing secularisation and after a wave of clerical child sex abuse scandals.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Sun, May 24, 2015

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is of course correct. The Catholic Church does indeed need a reality check in the wake of the same-sex marriage referendum.

As the unequivocal result of the referendum became clear he said: “I think really that the church needs to do a reality check, a reality check right across the board, to look at the things it’s doing well, to look at the areas where we really have to start and say, ‘Look, have we drifted away completely from young people’?”

It’s not just young people. The people who voted for this referendum included tens of thousands of practicing older Catholics in the cities, towns and countryside of Ireland. People who will continue to practice their faith but who no longer accept that their gay sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, even their gay parents, are “objectively disordered” with a tendency to evil, as their Church teaches.

Rather, by voting Yes last Friday, they embraced their gay minority and trumpeted to the world “you are my son, you are my daughter, you are my brother, you are my sister, you are my grandchild, you are my mother, you are my father, you are my equal inlaw whatever the church may teach.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Ronan McGreevy

Sat, May 23, 2015

Gay priest Fr Martin Dolan has said he now feels accepted in Irish society following the Yes vote in the marriage equality referendum.

Fr Dolan, the parish priest at the Church of St Nicholas of Myra in Francis Street, Dublin, told his congregation on Saturday evening that the Irish public had heard the “pleas of desperation of a minority” from the LGBT community and had made the LGBT cause “as important as their own”.

He said he was proud to be Irish and thanked his parishioners for accepting him as a gay man. Fr Dolan first came out as a gay man in January when he urged his congregation to vote Yes in the marriage equality referendum.

Fr Dolan took issue with the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin’s comments that the Catholic Church needed a new language when dealing with young people.

“With great respect, it is not a new language that we need but a new way of being and living,” he said.

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IRELAND
BBC News

One of Ireland’s most senior Catholic clerics has called for the Church to take a “reality check” following the country’s overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage.

The first gay marriages are now likely to take place in the early autumn.

Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the Church in Ireland needed to reconnect with young people.

The referendum found 62% were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The archbishop told the Irish broadcaster RTÉ: “We [the Church] have to stop and have a reality check, not move into denial of the realities.

“We won’t begin again with a sense of renewal, with a sense of denial.

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UNITED STATES
Inquisitr

Josh And Jim Bob Duggar: Can Either Be Prosecuted Now In Sexual Molestation Case, Or Placed On A Sexual Offenders’ Registry?

Josh Duggar, now 27 and married with three children, with another on the way, was the subject of a police investigation in 2006. He was then accused of “forcibly fondling” five different girls when he was a teen, according to Hollywood Life. Four were his sisters. He recently admitted to the molestations.

When his father, Jim Bob, found out about Josh’s fondling other youngsters, he turned him in to Arkansas State Police, according to In Touch. Jim Bob allegedly caught Josh leaving a young girl’s bedroom and learned something inappropriate happened.

However, a strange sequence of events prevented police and prosecutors from completing their investigation and possibly prosecuting. Shortly prior to 2005, the state trooper who originally took the report about Josh failed to follow up. That state trooper was later convicted on child pornography charges and is serving a 60-year prison sentence. His name is Joseph T. Hutchens, according to the Daily Mail.

When that trooper had difficulties, someone from the Arkansas State Police alerted the Child Abuse Hotline about the Duggar situation that had been sitting inactive. Then, the Crimes Against Children Division and Springdale Police Department became involved. However, by that time, the three-year statute of limitations that then existed had passed. Therefore, it would not have been possible to prosecute Josh even if the allegations warranted such. The investigation was therefore discontinued. A source familiar with the case stated the following, according to In Touch.

Since that time, the statute of limitations has been lengthened. When questioned whether Josh or his father Jim Bob could now conceivably be prosecuted, a criminal defense attorney Jason Files stated the following, according to Hollywood Life.

“At this point, it does not appear that either man should be facing any criminal charge, based on the statute of limitations.”

The question also arose whether Josh should or could be placed on a sexual offenders’ registry, and attorney Files stated that he could not, as he was never convicted of a crime, and he stated the following, according to Hollywood Life.

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ITALIA
Rete L’Abuso

[Talucci summoned by police, Brindisi upset by omissions, plots and exorcisms: what is behind the pedophile priest]

Talucci convocato dai carabinieri, brindisini sconvolti da omissioni, intrecci ed esorcismi: cosa c’è dietro il prete pedofilo

di Giancarlo Sacrestano

Lunedì l’arcivescovo benemerito Rocco Talucci andrà a spiegare dai carabinieri cosa sapeva degli atteggiamenti morbosi di don Giampiero Peschiulli e se è vero che i genitori di due bambini violentati dal parroco gli avessero denunciato l’accaduto più di dieci anni fa senza che prendesse alcun provvedimento. Talucci è stato invitato a comparire come persona informata dei fatti nell’ambito dell’inchiesta sull’arresto dell’ex parroco della chiesa di Santa Lucia.

Dalla lettura dell’ordinanza di applicazione della misura degli arresti domiciliari, si percepisce a pelle, che siamo di fronte ad un intricato coacervo di interessi: i peggiori, i meno confessabili.

Tra preti omosessuali, pedofili, businessman della fede e quel che maggiormente conta, la presenza di vittime, troppe, che soffrono una condizione di prostrazione che andrà ben oltre ogni limite di condanna che sarà inflitta al loro aguzzino, il macello della Chiesa locale, una tra le più antiche e nobili dell’intero cristianesimo, vive un terremoto che la scuote sin dentro le ragioni fondative.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kath.net

[This topic of sexual abuse in the church must not just disappear again.]

Als vor fünf Jahren die schrecklichen Missbrauchsfälle in der katholischen Kirche bekannt wurden, war dies Titelseiten-Thema für Wochen. Hält man sich beim grünen Missbrauchsskandal zurück? Gastkommentar von Klaus Kelle

Berlin (kath.net/Blog ‘Denken erwünscht!‘) Im Berliner Landesverband der Grünen, der Alternativen Liste, hat es in den 80er und 90er Jahren eine große Zahl von Fällen sexuellen Missbrauchs an Kindern gegeben. Das sage nicht ich, sondern das dokumentiert ein Bericht, der im Auftrag der Partei erstellt und in dieser Woche veröffentlicht wurde. Das Entsetzen bei der Alternativen Liste ist groß.

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ITALIA
BRF

[A 43-year-old priest from Charleroi, Belgium, is said to have abused four minors, ages 12 to 16, in Italy. He was working at a church in Sardinia.]

Ein 43-jähriger Priester aus Charleroi soll in Italien insgesamt vier Minderjährige im Alter von zwölf bis 16 Jahren missbraucht haben. Er war erst seit kurzem Priester in einer Gemeinde auf Sardinien.

In Italien sitzt ein 43-jähriger Priester aus Charleroi wegen des Verdachts auf sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern in Untersuchungshaft. Er soll insgesamt vier Minderjährige im Alter von zwölf bis 16 Jahren missbraucht haben. Er bot seinen Opfern ein Getränk mit Schlafmitteln an, anschließend missbrauchte er sie. Auf seinem Computer fanden die Ermittler außerdem kinderpornographisches

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ITALIA
Panorama

[Pedophilia: 6 priests arrested in 5 months]

L’operazione Meeting Point alla stazione Termini di Roma

Sei sacerdoti in meno di 5 mesi. Un numero sconvolgente di preti sono finiti in carcere con l’accusa di pedofilia o di omicidio. Un numero impressionante, come impressionante è quello degli abusi che hanno commesso su decine di minorenni, bambini e adolescenti, che frequentavano l’oratorio o la parrocchia per la Prima Comunione e per la Cresima. Sacerdoti pedofili che si sono “spacciati” come esperti di massaggi sportivi per abusare di ingenui ragazzini in cambio di ricariche telefoniche oppure che hanno abusato di adolescenti ‘comprandoseli’ direttamente com’è accaduto alla stazione centrale della Capitale: sesso per 10 euro nei treni della stazione.

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ITALIA
L’Unione Sarda

[A priest accused of abuse said drugs he takes for Parkinson’s may have caused him to be hypersexual.]

I farmaci assunti da don Pascal Manca per la cura del morbo di Parkinson potrebbero avergli provocato degli scompensi sessuali: si è parlato anche di una ipotetica «ipersessualità» ieri mattina nell’aula al piano terra del Palazzo di giustizia dove, a porte chiuse, per circa due ore si è svolta l’udienza del Tribunale del riesame che entro martedì dovrà decidere se concedere gli arresti domiciliari all’ex parroco di Mandas e Villamar, come richiesto dagli avvocati Luigi e Pierluigi Concas.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

[A demonstration by citizens against Bishop Juan Barros of Osormo ended with police intervention and tarnished a confirmation ceremony of a dozen young people at the local cathedral.]

Una nueva manifestación ciudadana contra la labor de Juan Barros como obispo de Osorno terminó con la intervención de Carabineros y empañó la ceremonia de confirmación de una decena de jóvenes en la catedral local.

Aproximadamente 150 personas se mantuvieron gritando consignas en las afueras del templo católico acusando a Juan Barros de encubrir los abusos de Fernando Karadima, siendo monitoreados por personal policial mientras un número similar de personas presenciaba el ritual al interior del lugar.

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