ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Josh Halliday
Thursday 9 July 2015

Child sexual abuse charities have slammed a £2m Home Office fund, set up as part of Justice Lowell Goddard’s inquiry, labelling it a “stitch-up” that has left dozens of support groups facing closure.

The sexual abuse victim support fund was announced by Theresa May to help struggling charities cope with the huge number of victims coming forward to give evidence to Britain’s biggest ever public inquiry, which began on Thursday.

Money from the £2m fund went to 34 charities with scores missing out and £170,148 – the second biggest single award – going to the charity Missing People, which has recently launched a helpline for sexual exploitation victims but does not specialise in helping child abuse survivors.

“That was a scandal. I’m furious about it. That was our lifeline and now we’re all in crisis,” said Gillian Finch, founder of the Hampshire-based charity Cisters, which offers counselling to women who have been sexually abused by a member of their family in childhood.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Science Monitor

By Denise Hassanzade Ajiri, Staff writer JULY 9, 2015

Britain has launched a potentially years-long investigation into decades of alleged abuse in Britain’s schools, hospitals, and other institutions.

The independent inquiry will be spearheaded by New Zealand High Court Judge Lowell Goddard, who was brought in to chair the investigatory panel after previous chairs resigned due to potential conflicts of interest, the BBC reports.

The sweeping investigation could last until 2020, Justice Goddard said on Thursday, adding that the scope of the crimes could be much broader than is currently understood. One estimate, referenced by Goddard, suggests that as many as one in 20 children have endured some level of sexual abuse.

“No one, no matter how apparently powerful, will be allowed to obstruct our inquiries,” Godard said Thursday. “No one will be immune from scrutiny by virtue of their position.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Child sex abuse inquiry will be biggest ever established in England and Wales, says judge in charge

CAHAL MILMO Thursday 09 July 2015

The judge in charge of the public inquiry into child sex abuse vowed that “no-one, no matter how powerful” will be allowed avoid its scrutiny as it emerged that the wide-ranging investigation could take as long as a decade to complete.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge brought in to head the inquiry after her two predecessors resigned over concerns about their links to the Establishment, said it would be the “largest and most ambitious” public inquiry ever established in England and Wales. Its scope would stretch across five key areas of society from “the corridors of power in Westminster to children’s homes in the poorest parts of the country”, the judge said.

Speaking at the formal opening of the inquiry in central London, Justice Goddard said she would name individuals and institutions who were found to have been involved in or covered up the sexual abuse of children after concern from victims that highly-placed perpetrators of abuse or institutions would escape being held to account. Among the organisations the judge said could expect to be scrutinised were Internet Service Providers over the distribution of online child abuse imagery and insurance companies, who must answer claims that they historically obstructed admissions of liability in abuse cases.

The inquiry was announced last year by Home Secretary Theresa May following the unveiling of evidence of a high-level cover-up of historical abuse by public figures, including Westminster politicians. Its remit is to look specifically at public and private institutions and whether they responded correctly to allegations of sexual abuse – as well as those responsible for that abuse – rather than cases that occurred solely within families.

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LATIN AMERICA
Truthdig

By Roisin Davis

Pope Francis this week embarked on a seven-day “homecoming” tour of Latin America on his unstoppable quest to defend the planet and the poor.

The continent—the most unequal region in the world, and the Argentine pontiff’s home turf—will likely provide fertile ground for more of his legendary sermons on poverty and inequality. After addressing a crowd of a million in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Monday, Francis is scheduled to attend a meeting of grass-roots political activists and visit one of the continent’s largest prisons, in Bolivia, as well as a slum and a children’s hospital in Paraguay.

While he advocates for South America’s impoverished and disenfranchised, its prisoners, its indigenous peoples and its children, one group is unlikely to feature in Francis’ apparently radical agenda: its women.

Despite his efforts to champion his constituency—the world’s poor, of which the vast majority are women—the pope tends to overlook the feminized nature of poverty and inequality. …

Research shows that when women have access to contraception and are educated to make responsible choices, their income, employment and education levels rise, as do their children’s. As women’s choices expand, they have fewer unassisted labors and backstreet abortions, meaning maternal mortality is reduced, and, depending on the type of contraception used, life-limiting sexually transmitted diseases are contained.

But because the Vatican considers women second-class citizens, it goes without saying that the pope will not mention abortion or contraception during his South American tour.

Figures show that of the 4.4 million abortions performed in Latin America in 2008, 95 percent were unsafe, and about 1 million women are hospitalized annually for treatment of complications from such procedures. In this context, it should be noted that the pope has described the abortion-rights movement as a “culture of death” and has opposed Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s efforts to distribute free contraceptives.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, July 9

For more information:

David Clohessy (314-566-9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com), Barbara Dorris (314-503-0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org), Barbara Blaine (312-399-4747, bblaine@snapnetwork.org)

Three predator priests “outed” for first time
All worked in the Springfield Catholic diocese
They’re “credibly accused child molesters,” church admits
Long secret records about them were just released this week
More hidden documents will be disclosed in the months ahead
Two of them were in St. Louis area as recently as three & six years ago

Three Catholic priests who worked in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic diocese have been publicly identified for the first time as “credibly accused” child molesters and a victims group wants local church officials to “aggressively seek out and help” others who have been hurt by them.

[News-Democrat]

They are Fr. Thomas Meyer, Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald and Fr. Michael Charland.

“It’s very likely others who were hurt by these priests are still suffering in shame, silence and self-blame,” said David Clohessy of St. Louis. A Drury University graduate, he heads an international support group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Springfield’s bishop, other clerics and lay Catholics should do everything possible to find and console these wounded victims.”

According to the Official Catholic Directory, from 1998 to 1999, Fr. Meyer was pastor at St. Leo the Great Parish/IHM Parish in Mansfield. In 1987, Fr. Fitzgerald was pastor at St. William’s parish in Gainesville. From 1959-63, Fr. Charland attended seminary at Our Lady of the Ozarks in Carthage.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jason Berry | Jul. 9, 2015
30 years ago

Editor’s note: This story is part of a weeklong series dedicated to looking back on 30 years of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Read all parts of the series.

The reports I did on clergy child molesters in the Lafayette, La., diocese changed my life in ways that reverberate still.

The June 7, 1985, NCR, with my long report on Fr. Gilbert Gauthe’s sex crimes, Arthur Jones’ piece on cases elsewhere, and NCR’s editorial calling for lay review boards, laid the issue before a national media that held back for years.

My piece condensed three articles I had done for the Times of Acadiana, an alternative weekly in Lafayette, the hub city of the regional oil industry (population 90,000). Editor Linda Matys, whom I had known in New Orleans, had given me a special assignment; it didn’t pay enough for the looming time investment.

I was aware of NCR but had never seen an issue when I called Editor Tom Fox, explaining the availability of documents from proceedings underway. He agreed to a joint assignment, which made the work financially feasible, barely. I had hit a brick wall with pitches to The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and The Nation.

Laudato-Si_web.jpg Check out A Readers’ Guide to Laudato Si’, a free resource from NCR.
As a freelancer, I had been writing about oil waste dumping in Cajun country and was about to publish my second book, Up From the Cradle of Jazz, a history of New Orleans popular music. I was 35.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4

Opening the long-awaited inquiry into child sexual abuse, Judge Lowell Goddard pledges that “no matter how powerful”, no-one will be allowed to obstruct inquiries.

Admitting that the task ahead was “daunting”, Justice Goddard pledged that the inquiry panel would travel “from the corridors of Westminster to the poorest children’s homes in the country” to investigate historic abuse.

Promising to bring forward recommendations for future best practise, Justice Goddard said the inquiry would report “as soon as possible”, but acknowledged that its broad scope meant the inquiry would take time.

The inquiry will also investigate local authorities, the police, the crown prosecution service, the NHS, the media and the armed forces, and Justice Goddard vowed that “no-one, no matter how powerful, will be allowed to obstruct our inquiries into institutional failings” adding that “no-one will have immunity from scrutiny by virtue of their position.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
International Business Times

By Ewan Palmer
July 9, 2015

The government’s inquiry into historic child abuse has promised to investigate everywhere from the “corridors of power in Westminster” to children’s homes in the poorest parts of the country after it finally launched following an uneasy start.

Chair Justice Lowell Goddard said the “largest and most ambitious” inquiry Britain has ever seen has promised no one will be allowed to obstruct the investigation into child abuse and promised to name all individuals alleged to have been involved.

The inquiry has formally been opened just over a year after it was announced by home secretary Theresa May following a stuttering start due to the resignation of two previous chairs over concerns about their links to the establishment.

Goddard said as well as looking into allegations of a cover-up of a paedophile ring at Westminster, the inquiry will also look at religious organisation, schools and other education organisations, the police at other institutions such as the NHS and the BBC.

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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites

By a Broken Rites researcher (article updated 8 July 2015)

In 2015, an American Catholic Brother (Brother Bernard Hartman, 75) has been convicted in Australia for committing a series of sexual crimes against Australian children while he worked at a Melbourne school more than 30 years ago. He is believed to be the first Catholic clergy member extradited from the United States to face court in Australia. In July 2015 he is in court in Melbourne for pre-sentence proceedings.

Brother Hartman, born in the United States, is a member of an international Catholic religious order known as the Marianist brothers and priests. He worked in Australian schools in the 1970s and early 1980s.

In court in Australia he was charged with sexual assaults on two boys and two girls while he was working at St Paul’s College in Altona, a suburb in Melbourne’s west. (This was then a boys’ school, operated by the Marianist religious order, but now has become one of the campuses of the Catholic Church’s co-educational Emmanuel College.)

The attacks, on victims aged between six and 16, occurred between 1976 and 1982 when Brother Hartman worked at the school. The court was told that the alleged assaults occurred both at the school and at the victims’ homes.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the written submissions into the Satyananda Yoga Ashram public hearing on its website.

The public hearing inquired into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram located at Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, to allegations of child sexual abuse by the Ashram’s former spiritual leader in the 1970s and 1980s.

The submissions can be found on the Case Study 21 page on the Royal Commission’s website.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Labour MP Tom Watson has warned that an independent inquiry opening today will have to deal with an “epidemic” of historical child sex abuse.

Watson, who first called for investigations into an alleged Westminster paedophile ring in 2012, said the inquiry must “meticulously” investigate “failures” that contributed to the alleged abuse – not just in public services and child protection systems but also other institutions.

The inquiry will open today in Westminster, with chair Justice Lowell Goddard outlining how evidence will be taken, timescales and areas of public life that will be examined.

Victims’ representatives have complained about delays to the launch of the inquiry, which followed the resignations of two previous chairs, Baroness Butler-Sloss and Fiona Woolf.

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UNITED KINGDOM
South Yorkshire Times

The woman who blew the lid on the child sexual exploitation scandal in Rotherham is to begin working on a national inquiry into historical child abuse today.

Professor Alexis Jay, who published a report which revealed that 1,400 children had been groomed and abused by largely Asian men in Rotherham while authorities turned a blind eye, is on a panel of experts set up last year amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

Led by Judge Lowell Goddard, the inquiry has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence.

The inquiry’s terms of reference state that its purpose will include considering ‘the extent to which State and non-State institutions have failed in their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation’.

It will cover England and Wales.

Today Justice Goddard will outline how the inquiry will run, how evidence will be taken, timescales and areas of public life that will be examined.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

[with video]

The chair of a major independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse has warned of the “daunting” task ahead as it was officially opened.

Judge Lowell Goddard said the abuse of children had left “scars” on society as well as the victims.

The inquiry – which was set up last year amid claims of an establishment cover-up – has been beset by controversies and delays, including the resignation of two previous chairs.
The abuse of children has left “permanent scars on the victims and on society,” Justice Lowell Goddard said as she opened the independent inquiry into the matter.

The high court judge said “no one, no matter how powerful” they were would obstruct her investigation.

She added: “No one will have immunity from scrutiny by virtue of their position.

“The task ahead of us is daunting. We must difficult questions to politicians, faith leaders, headteachers, police officers and public officials of all kinds, and we will carry on putting those questions until we get the answers.”

Goddard also said:

* The inquiry will focus on England and Wales and further afield if relevant

* All victims will be anonymised and not made to feel like they are on trial

* A victim advisory board has been appointed to provide specialist advice

* Immunity from prosecution will be offered to ex-public servants who testify but not if they admit taking part in child abuse

* The inquiry is expected to last five years but has “no cut off” and regular reports and recommendations on its findings will be published

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

A year and two days after it was announced, the inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales has formally opened.

Inquiry chair Judge Lowell Goddard said the abuse has left “permanent scars” not only on the victims but society as a whole.

She said the inquiry “provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children”.

But she warned: “The task ahead of us is daunting.”

Justice Goddard told the inquiry there were suggestions that “one child in every 20 children in England and Wales has been sexually abused”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

As the long-awaited child sex abuse inquiry officially opens, Sky News asked people with a close interest in the process to tell us what they want it to achieve.

Siobhan Pyburn – Abuse survivor and founder of Young Survivor Network

I feel that the inquiry needs to focus on practical solutions rather than theoretical considerations, as all we seem to have right now are ‘guidelines’ and ‘protocols’ which don’t actually need to be followed by organisations that work with children as a matter of legal obligation.

Sadly, recent scandals have demonstrated that colleagues of perpetrators are not above turning the blind eye to protect their own interests; the bottom line is, no one seems to want to face the scale and severity of the problem.

As a brand new organisation, we’ve been struggling both to secure funding and reach out to young survivors for whom the experience is relatively recent.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Thursday 9 July 2015

The long-awaited independent inquiry into child sexual abuse opens on Thursday in London amid renewed warnings to the cabinet secretary, religious leaders and public bodies not to shred documents which might be needed in evidence.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge recruited as chair after two previous appointees resigned over their apparent links to the establishment, will open proceedings with an hour-long statement outlining the work ahead. She has written to Sir Jeremy Heywood, the head of the civil service and cabinet secretary, warning that there must be no “premature destruction of files or records that later become required as evidence”.

Goddard has issued similar warnings to religious leaders, chief constables, the NHS and local authority leaders and listed the types of documents she will be seeking as the inquiry continues.

These include reports, reviews, briefings, minutes and notes of correspondence relating to allegations about individuals, institutions, organisations and public bodies who may have been involved in or had knowledge of child sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Owen Bowcott
@owenbowcott
Thursday 9 July 2015

Justice Lowell Goddard’s child sex abuse inquiry will name individuals and organisations it concludes were involved in abuse, and pass on allegations for police to investigate.

It intends to search for patterns in the repeated failures that allowed serial offenders to exploit organisations working with children and will look at five key areas, including allegations of abuse by prominent people in public life.

At the opening of the hearing on Thursday, Goddard said she would also look at:

• Faith and religious organisations.

• The criminal justice system.

• Local authorities – including children’s services and children’s homes.

• National institutions such as the NHS and Ministry of Defence, including abuse of 16- and 17-year-olds in the armed forces.

Speaking at the beginning of the inquiry, Goddard said: “The task ahead of us is daunting. The sexual abuse of children over successive generations has left permanent scars not only on the victims themselves but on society as a whole.

“This inquiry provides a unique opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children, to confront those responsible, to uncover systemic failures, to provide support to victims and survivors in sharing their experiences and to make recommendations that will help prevent the sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the future.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Telegraph

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
09 Jul 2015

The sexual abuse of children has left “scars” on victims and society, the chair of the long-awaited independent inquiry into historical abuse has said.

Judge Lowell Goddard, formally opening the probe, said the inquiry “provides an opportunity to expose past failures of institutions to protect children”.

She added: “The task ahead of us is daunting.”

The inquiry was set up last year amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

One in 20 children may have been victims of abuse says chairman of abuse inquiry as she opens probe which will take five years

By RICHARD SPILLETT FOR MAILONLINE

The chair of the inquiry into child abuse has revealed fears that as many as one in 20 children in England and Wales may have been victims.

Judge Lowell Goddard gave a statement this morning as she launched the inquiry into the role of authorities in aiding or failing to tackle child abuse.

She said there were indications of systematic ‘under-recording and mis-recording’ of child sex abuse by the police and other agencies.

The New Zealand high court judge warned: ‘The true figures may be worse than the official figures estimate.’

The independent inquiry was set up last year amid claims of an establishment cover-up following allegations that a paedophile ring operated in Westminster in the 1980s.

But after a year of delays it was opened today and is expected to take up to five years to complete.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Salon

LONDON (AP) — A judge says Britain has been stunned by revelations about child sexual abuse, and the true scale of the crime may be worse than official estimates that one in 20 children has been a victim.

Justice Lowell Goddard opened a public inquiry into decades of abuse on Thursday, vowing that “no one, no matter how apparently powerful, will be allowed to obstruct our inquiries.”

In the past few years revelations of abuse have implicated everyone from taxi drivers to entertainers, clergy and senior politicians. There have been claims that police failed to investigate allegations of abuse for decades.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Today

Czarina Ong

09 July 2015

The Mennonite Church USA has bravely confronted its history of sexual abuse and offered apologies to victims whose wounds it failed to heal.

During its biennial convention, which culminated on Sunday, Mennonites offered a service of lament and a statement of confession regarding sexual abuse, according to Christian Headlines. And although his name was never mentioned, majority of them knew that they were addressing the sexual violations allegedly committed by one their most prominent members—the late theologian John Howard Yoder.

Yoder was known as one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century. Many of his books including “The Politics of Jesus,” which was first published back in 1972, are still being circulated today. However, the church leader allegedly used his status to prey on women—most of which were his students.

The sexual abuse raps started during the mid 70s, when Yoder suggested that Mennonites develop a new sexual ethic—one that allows intimate physical contact as an expression of non-erotic love among Christians. He sought the help of female students to demonstrate this ethic. There were some who declined his advances, but others allowed it.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A Catholic priest and part-time police chaplain has been charged with historical child sex offences in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

In February, police began an investigation into allegations against the Catholic priest, who is also a part-time police chaplain.

It is alleged the offences took place in the Lismore Diocese in the 1980s.

Police said the investigation was referenced at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail

EXCLUSIVE: ‘That man was hand-picked by God!’ What a six-year-old girl was told by a nun when she tried to report sexual abuse by a priest during CONFESSION

By EMILY CRANE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

A woman who allegedly suffered horrific sexual abuse by a Catholic priest when she was just six years old has finally broken her silence after almost 50 years.

Gina Swannell claims she was abused several times over a six month period by Father Charles Holdsworth when she was a student at St Francis Xavier’s boarding school at Urana, in south-west NSW, in 1966.

For decades she kept the abuse secret as her life spiraled out of control, but now the 55-year-old is suing the Catholic Diocese of Wagga Wagga, which oversees the church, and the Presentation Sisters who ran the school at the time.

Ms Swannell was placed into the St Francis Xavier boarding school with her elder sister Kerrie in 1966 when their mother Patricia was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and told she had six months to live.

The alleged abuse started shortly after when Ms Swannell, who was only six years old at the time, was required to attend confession with Fr Holdsworth to prepare for her First Holy Communion.

‘I was told to go into the confessional box and tell him the things I had done wrong,’ Ms Swannell told Daily Mail Australia.

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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Perth

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, the Catholic Archbishop of Perth, will launch a Safeguarding Project at the 11.00am Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral in Perth today, Sunday 05 July as a bold response to protect children and prevent further abuse. This is the first diocesan project of its kind to be established in the 28 dioceses of Australia’s Catholic Church.

“Child sexual abuse is a terrible problem,” said Archbishop Costelloe, “and it simply has to be dealt with.

“I believe there will be some very specific recommendations that will come out of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. But while we wait for these, we shouldn’t just sit back and do nothing. Children need to be protected today.

“The Safeguarding Project is at the heart of our determination to make sure the present and the future are completely different from the past.”

The Archdiocese of Perth’s Safeguarding Project, spearheaded by Andrea Musulin, Executive Officer of Protective Behaviours WA Inc and a police officer specialising in the areas of child protection, domestic violence, and school based policing, will establish at least two safeguarding officers in each of the Archdiocese’s 105 parishes. These officers will be at the heart of the local community and the first port of call for matters concerning the protection of children and any possible disclosure of abuse.

The project will educate parents, church personnel and members of the clergy. It will also instruct young children from age 4 to 18 years about sexual abuse and its prevention thereby seeking to significantly reduce future opportunities for sexual abuse to occur. This latter aspect of the project is believed to be a world first.

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ITALIA
Azzurra TV

[A priest is Italy was sentenced to six years for sexual abuse of minors but appealed. The judge reduced the sentence to four years in prison.]

Condanna a 4 anni in Appello per don Marco Rasia, il sacerdote accusato di violenza sessuale nei confronti di alcuni giovani (minorenni), che frequentavano l’oratorio di Castelletto Ticino dove prestava servizio come coadiutore. Il giudice ha ridotto di due anni la pena che gli era stata inflitta in primo grado dal Tribunale di Novara, a 6 anni.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Muetter Magazin

[Tteachers at a Catholic day care center in Mainz have been terminated but some are appealing. The day care center is subject to allegations of sexual abuse of children.]

Nach dem sexuellen Missbrauch unter Kindern an einer Mainzer Kita wurden die Erzieher gekündigt. Einige haben gegen ihre Entlassung geklagt. Sie wollen keinen Vergleich, sondern einen Prozess.

Der Streit über die fristlose Kündigung von sieben Erziehern, in deren Kindertagesstätte im Mainzer Stadtteil Weisenau es zu sexuellem Missbrauch unter Kleinkindern gekommen war, geht weiter. Sechs der Kinderbetreuer haben ihren bisherigen Arbeitgeber, das Bistum Mainz, verklagt und die fristlose Entlassung angefochten.

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MALLORCA
Radio Aleman

[The former parish priest of Selva in Mallorca must stand trial on suspicion of child abuse. The investigating judge made the decision Wednesday morning.]

Der ehemalige Gemeindepfarrer von Selva auf Mallorca muss sich wegen des Verdachts des Kindesmissbrauchs vor Gericht verantworten. Das entschied der Ermittlungsrichter in Inca nach einer Anhörung am Mittwochvormittag. Der Geistliche soll sich im Februar dieses Jahres an einem 12 Jahre alten Mädchen vergangen haben. Im Juni hatten die Eltern des Kindes Anzeige erstattet. Ärzte bestätigten, dass das Kind sexuell missbraucht worden war.

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OREGON
The Raw Story

BETHANIA PALMA MARKUS

atholic priest is under investigation after a parishioner found a camera hidden in the men’s restroom at his church. The camera disappeared after being reported to the priest – and it is still missing.

The device was found in April by a 15-year-old boy who noticed an electrical outlet in an odd place – at waist height next to the toilet in a bathroom near the church altar. He pulled out what appeared to be a camera and brought it to Father Ysrael Bien, who assured the boy and his parents that police would be called immediately, the Oregonian reports.

Instead of calling police, Bien later told investigators he put the camera in a drawer at St. Francis in Sherwood, Oregon. Later that day, when he went to retrieve it, the camera was missing. He told investigators that the camera had no memory card in it when the boy brought it to him.

Police weren’t called to investigate until nearly a month later, the Oregonian reports. They believe Bien either placed the camera there or helped the person who did it, but as of Tuesday he had not yet been named a suspect.

Instead of calling police as he promised, Bien continued to string the family along, telling them police had been called and were investigating. After two weeks of silence, the parents asked for an update. Reporting from a court affidavit, the Oregonian quotes a Facebook message sent to them by the priest, in which he seems to try and shake the parents off:

Sherwood police did not have enough to go with from the device. Two sets of fingerprints were found: mine and, by process of elimination, (your son’s). … They were hoping to find a third set of fingerprints to lead them to the perpetrator. But there was none. Not surprising because they said it is consistent with the modus operandi of the person they have in mind. The device – same style and model – is ‘affiliated’ with this person. Unfortunately, these are ‘circumstantial (sic). Because of insufficient and inconclusive evidence, they are not able to place the person they have in mind in our church bathroom. …

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill Chief Reporter
Published at 12:01AM, July 9 2015

Whitehall has been ordered not to shred, hide or lose any documents that could be relevant to the independent inquiry into child abuse.

Justice Lowell Goddard, the New Zealand judge who will formally open her inquiry today, has written to the cabinet secretary and leaders of more than 240 other bodies — including police, the NHS and churches — ordering them to search for and retain all material that may be of use to her.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The independent inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in England and Wales will open later [July 9], nearly a year after it was first announced.

It will examine how public bodies handled their duty of care to protect children from abuse.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who chairs the inquiry, will summarise how it will be run, including timescales and the areas of public life that will be examined.

The inquiry was first announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in July 2014.

It followed claims of a high-level cover-up of child sex abuse involving public figures, including politicians.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

By Tom Parmenter, Sky News Correspondent

A year and two days after it was announced, the inquiry into child sexual abuse in England and Wales will formally open later.[July 9]

At 10am New Zealand judge Lowell Goddard will outline the guiding principles that will shape what is expected to be the biggest inquiry ever seen in the UK.

It was set up by Home Secretary Theresa May following child abuse scandals that rocked various institutions including political parties, Government departments in Westminster, the police, churches, schools, children’s homes, the military and many others.

Survivors groups and individual survivors have been consulted and will give evidence as part of the process but the early stages have been dogged by in-fighting and controversy.

The first two women appointed to lead the inquiry, Dame Butler-Sloss and Dame Fiona Woolf, both had to step down because of their links to the British establishment which meant survivors could not trust them to be impartial.

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MICHIGAN
Macomb Daily

By Macomb Daily Staff

POSTED: 07/08/15

A man who worked as admissions director at a Catholic high school in Ray Township waived his right Wednesday to a preliminary examination on charges he sent sexually explicit email messages to a child.

As a result, Joseph Peter Sturza, of Macomb Township, now faces trial on multiple felonies, including child-abuse sexual activity, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison upon conviction.

Sturza also is charged with two counts of communicating with another person to commit a crime; and accosting children for immoral purposes.

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OREGON
KGW

Rachael Rafanelli, KGW News

SHERWOOD, Ore. — New information obtained by KGW News partner The Oregonian revealed a Sherwood priest failed for 24 days to report a hidden camera to police. Instead, documents said, he lied to parishioners that he notified police.

Record show Father Ysrael Bien of St. Francis Church said he put the device in a drawer at the church. Records show when he went back to get it later, it was gone. He said he didn’t contact police because he didn’t want to get in trouble for losing the device. But according to The Oregonian, records also show police believe Father Bien is either responsible for the camera, or is covering for the person who is responsible.

Back in April, A 15-year old boy found the hidden camera in the bathroom. It was disguised as an electrical outlet. He told the Father Bien, who said he would contact police.

But court records show that never happened. Over the weeks, the family repeatedly asked the priest for an update in the investigation, and documents show he repeatedly lied, even posting on Facebook that the investigation was over.

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MINNESOTA
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and representatives for several hundred alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse are at odds over a seven-minute video that victims want to play following Mass in all 187 of the archdiocese’s parishes.

The video, in which three alleged abuse victims appear, urges others to come forward and file claims against the archdiocese ahead of an Aug. 3 deadline. Filing formal claims is a critical step for those seeking to share a court-brokered settlement with the archdiocese and its insurance carriers.

Lawyers for alleged victims have asked Judge Robert Kressel of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Paul, Minn., to approve a motion that would send the video to all parishes and request that they play the video “in connection with each Mass service” on July 11 and July 12. The request stops short of asking the judge to explicitly order parishes to play the video.

According to victims’ lawyers, this is the first time any victims’ group has ever requested a diocese to include an outreach video during its weekend worship. The group’s filing says “a more personal, multimedia video presentation setting forth details of the relevant deadline in layman’s terms would greatly increase the likelihood of providing actual and effective notice to potential sexual abuse claimants.”

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Tova Dvorin

The well-known rabbi from northern Israel accused by multiple women of sexual abuse has denied the allegations against him on Wednesday, speaking just after a hearing which extended his detention by eight days.

Eight separate women have accused him of sexual abuse, but the rabbi would not be swayed or intimidated.

“All of that is nonsense,” he told Channel 2. “We will meet the same women in court, they will have to look me in the eyes.”

The rabbi added religious context to the upcoming trial.

“We’ll check everything on its merits,” he said. “The days between the 17 of Tammuz and 9 of Av are days that we work to improve on baseless hatred between people.”

The rabbi, who was the dean of a yeshiva, was arrested while trying to flee Israel at Ben-Gurion airport last week. On Friday, soon after his arrest, he was admitted to Ziv Hospital in Tzfat after feeling unwell; he was released Tuesday afternoon in apparent good health.

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ILLINOIS
Belleville News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat

Seven former priests, including five who once had ties to the religious order that operates the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows near Belleville, have been publicly named in Minnesota as “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors, according to a written statement from the national Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

“Credibly accused” is the standard language used by the Catholic Church to describe a member of the clergy who, after an investigation by a diocese or religious order, is believed to have molested a minor and is unfit for further ministry.

Release of the names was part of a settlement in a Minnesota lawsuit in connection to a former priest — the late J. Vincent Fitzgerald — in which the defendants agreed to “public disclosure” of the names of all Oblate priests in the United States “against whom there has ever been a credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor or possession of child pornography.” The lawsuit’s defendants were The Diocese of Duluth, the Diocese of New Ulm, Minn., and the Oblates. Other details of the settlement, such as monetary damages, were not released.

“The release of the names is as a result of the genesis of the Father Fitzgerald litigation,” said Patrick Wall, a paralegal with the Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm in St. Paul, which brought the legal action. Fitzgerald, who formerly was assigned to the Oblates in Belleville, had been accused in civil court of sexually molesting a number of young boys in several states, including on an Indian reservation.

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ILLINOIS//MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

FACT SHEET about credibly accused Oblate predator priests in IL & MO (7/8/2015)

Records about seven predator priests who worked in this area are being released as part of a lawsuit settlement. More litigation against their church supervisors is pending, so more information about them will be disclosed in the months ahead.

Six of them are being “outed” for the first time.
Each one was deemed “credibly accused” by his church supervisors.
Each also worked in Minnesota (largely in the dioceses of Duluth and New Ulm)
Each worked in several states.
Each belongs or belonged to a Belleville-based Catholic religious order known as the Oblates.

Each worked – sometimes for decades – in the St. Louis archdiocese, the Belleville diocese and/or the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese.

Six of them worked in the Belleville diocese: Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald, Fr. Thomas Meyer, Fr. Emil Twardochleb, Fr. Michael Charland, Fr. Orville Munie and Fr. Paul Kabat (More details below.)

Two of them worked in the St. Louis archdiocese:

–Fr. Robert J. Reitmeier (In 1982, he was pastor of Holy Guardian Angels Parish.)
–Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald (In 1969, he was at St. Michael’s Community in St. Louis.)

Two spent time in southern Missouri (in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau diocese).

–Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald (In 1987, he was pastor at St. William’s parish in Gainesville.)
–Fr. Michael Charland (From 1959-63, he attended seminary at Our Lady of the Ozarks in Carthage.)

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MISSOURI
KMOV

By Laura Shay

LAKE ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV.com) – The 26-year-old supervisor of an after-school program and youth pastor was charges with two felony counts of child molestation on Wednesday.

Cameron Patterson, an employee of Wentzville School District and Ballwin Baptist Church, is accused of sexually assaulting one victim while she was between the ages of 12 and 17. According to court documents, Patterson reportedly assaulted the victim hundreds of times over the course of five years.

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MISSOURI
Fox 2

JULY 8, 2015, BY JOE MILLITZER

LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – A 26-year-old man working for the Wentzville School District’s Chautauqua Program since November 2012 has been charged with two counts of child molestation. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Cameron Patterson works as a youth pastor at Ballwin Baptist Church and is a supervisor of a before-and-after school program. The school district says that the victim is not a student at their schools.

Prosecutor Tim Lohmar says that:

“The events that are alleged to have occurred between 2006 and 2011. If proven guilty, Mr. Patterson currently faces a maximum range of punishment of 15 years prison, and lifetime sex offender registration. Though the defendant regularly came into contact with children through his employment, we have no reason to believe that any of those children are victims of Mr. Patterson. Out of respect for the privacy of the victim, we cannot release any additional information about the victim’s identity. The investigation remains ongoing, and additional charges may be filed.“

Cameron was arrested at Piney Ridge Elementary School where he was working at summer school.

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MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

LAKE SAINT LOUIS • A 26-year old supervisor of a before-and-after school program who also works as a youth pastor was charged Wednesday with two counts of felony child molestation.

Cameron Patterson, of the first block of Quail Meadows Court in Lake Saint Louis, has worked for the Wentzville School District’s Chautauqua Program since November 2012.

A statement released by the district said that the allegations do not involve a student of the school district. Mary LaPak, a spokeswoman for the district, said Patterson had been placed on administrative leave.

Patterson also is a youth pastor at Ballwin Baptist Church, according to the church’s website. A church spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Survivors of Protestant residential institutions have urged the Mother and Baby Home Commission to ask the Government to include a Cork rescue home in its terms of reference.

The survivors have also asked the Commission’s chairperson, Judge Yvonne Murphy, to clarify why the majority of former residents of the Westbank Home in Co Wicklow are excluded from the investigation despite indications to the contrary from Tánaiste Joan Burton.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes between 1922 and 1998 was established last February following an outcry over the treatment – including the burial – of residents in an institution in Tuam, Co Galway which closed in the 1960s.

In a letter to Judge Murphy, Griffith College academic Niall Meehan highlights the exclusion of the now defunct Braemar Rescue Home for Protestant Girls in Cork City from the Commission’s terms of reference.

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MAINE
Ignatius Group

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Judge John A.Woodcock, Jr., presiding

8:30 a.m. / At Bankruptcy Court / Paul Kendrick expected to be cross examined by Plaintiffs’ Counsel.

2:30 p.m. / Court recesses for the day

We will publish a schedule of the next day’s witnesses by 6:00 pm each day.

Plaintiffs expect to present witnesses for two weeks, followed by one week for Defendant’s presentation.

Change of Venue Beginning
July 9 /

U.S. Bankruptcy Court
537 Congress Street
Portland, Maine 04101
207-780-3356

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OREGON
The Columbian

By Associated Press
Published: July 8, 2015

PORTLAND — Court records allege that a Catholic priest lied about a hidden camera that a boy found in his Sherwood church bathroom.

Capt. Ty Hanlon said Tuesday that 34-year-old Father Ysrael Bien is being investigated, the Oregonian reported. Police believe he was either responsible for the camera or knew how it ended up in the men’s bathroom at St. Francis Catholic Church.

According to an affidavit, a 15-year-old boy discovered what appeared to be a waist-high electrical outlet next to a toilet on April 26. He pulled the outlet, brought the camera to the priest and then told his father.

Bien allegedly lied to the boy’s family, saying that police were investigating the matter. Weeks passed before Bien, prompted by the family and the church deacon, admitted that he had never contacted police.

Records show the dad noted, “the information that Father was offering did not seem to make sense.”

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Week

07/08/15
Hannah Dreyfus
Staff Writer

Two months after the sentencing of mikvah-voyeur Rabbi Barry Freundel, the Orthodox community’s leading rabbinical council has released what it calls the new “gold standard” for preventing rabbinic abuses of power during the conversion process.

The 22-page report was prepared by a special committee chosen last fall, made up of 11 members, including five women – two of whom are converts to Judaism. It seeks to improve the Rabbinical Council of America’s Geirus Protocol and Standards (GPS) conversion process that, ironically, was implemented by Rabbi Freundel in 2007. Though the GPS process initially sought to standardize and centralize conversion procedures, it allowed breaches in the system to go unchecked, the report notes.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking the crime was just about the cameras,” said Bethany Mandel, a convert and one of the members of the review committee. “Freundel was abusing his power long before that.”

Aside from his crimes of voyeurism, the rabbi employed seemingly arbitrary benchmarks for assessing a candidate’s readiness for conversion, and was vague about how long the conversion process would take. The report found that Freundel was not alone in causing potential converts to feel unsettled about a lack of precise requirements and timetables.

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WISCONSIN
WHBL

DULUTH, MN (WTAQ) – A former Wisconsin priest accused of child sexual abuse had his name released for the first time Tuesday.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic missionary order, announced the names of Michael Charland and 6 other former priests in a lawsuit settlement with an abuse victim.

Charland once led a program in Superior called “Teens Encounter Christ.” He and 4 of the other priests worked in the Diocese of Duluth Minnesota at one time.

An attorney for the diocese tells the Duluth News-Tribune it has no record of alleged sexual abuse to minors by any of the 5 priests except for James Fitzgerald, the subject of the victim’s lawsuit.

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Marie Rohde | Jul. 8, 2015
Milwaukee bankruptcy

Lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a federal appellate court ruling that a $55 million-plus cemetery trust fund is not shielded in bankruptcy court by the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the First Amendment.

Chances that the court will accept the case are slim. Of the more than 10,000 requests, the Supreme Court only accepts about 80 a year. A key factor in deciding what cases to accept is whether there are contradictory opinions on the key issues among the 13 federal appellate courts.

“That split does not exist,” said Marci Hamilton, a law professor at the Cardozo School in New York*, where she specializes in cases involving the religious freedom act. “The 7th Circuit wrote a complete and virtually unassailable decision in the Milwaukee case.”

Timothy Nixon, a lawyer for the cemetery trust fund, disagreed. In a written statement, he said:

“The 7th Circuit decision encroaches on religious freedom and curtails the protection in the First Amendment for the free expression of religion. The 7th Circuit decision is also directly at odds with previous decisions rendered by at least three other federal appeals courts in different parts of the country.” ...

James Stang, a lawyer representing the claimants in the Milwaukee case, said a number of states have local laws similar to the federal RFRA that allow some cases to be handled at the state level.

“In states that do not have these laws, bankruptcy is seen as a way of shielding assets from creditors,” he said. “This decision means they can’t hide under RFRA anymore.”

Hamilton agreed but added that if the Supreme Court takes the case and rules in favor of the archdiocese, it could have another impact: It could affect same-sex marriage, particularly in the 20 states where it had not been legal until the high court ruled last month that it was legal in all states.

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MINNESOTA
Grand Forks Herald

By Tom Olsen on Jul 7, 2015

DULUTH — A Catholic missionary order on Tuesday released the names of seven former Minnesota priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse — a list that includes five clergymen who worked within the Diocese of Duluth.

The list, made public through a settlement agreement between the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and an abuse victim, includes previously unreported priests who worked at parishes throughout the county, including in Duluth, Superior, International Falls and Northome.

All seven were members of the Oblates, and five worked within the Diocese of Duluth at some point: James Vincent Fitzgerald, Michael Charland, Robert J. Reitmeier, Thomas Meyer and Paul Kabat who worked in Grand Forks from 1969 to 1970.

Several of the accused priests worked with children, including Reitmeier, who was principal at St. Jean’s School in Duluth, and Charland, who led “Teens Encounter Christ” programs in Superior and International Falls.

Only Fitzgerald, who was the subject of the lawsuit that prompted the release of the names, was previously included on the Duluth diocese’s list of credibly accused priests.

“We’ve conducted an exhaustive review of diocese files and there are, to my knowledge, no allegations of sexual abuse of minors that have been raised regarding any of the five, other than Fitzgerald,” said Susan Gaertner, an attorney for the diocese. “Simply put, the other four are essentially news to us.”

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Five local predator priests are “outed” for first time
All worked in Duluth but bishop claims to know nothing about them
Group calls on current & ex-church staff to “come clean” about abusers
Their direct church supervisors admit each of the men is “credibly accused”
Long secret records about them were released yesterday; More are on the way
Sirba’s “continuing secrecy” puts “kids in harm’s way,” support group contends
It wants diocese to “stop spending donated dollars on lawyers to keep secrets secret”

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

–the newly-outed five predator priests who have worked in Duluth,
–the just-released and soon-to-be-released secret records about them, and
–provide their photos and work histories.

They will also
— prod anyone who was hurt by the priests to speak up and get help, and
— prod Catholic officials in Duluth and across Minnesota to “come clean” with more information about the priests and aggressively seek out their victims.

WHEN
TODAY, Wednesday, July 8 at 1:30 p.m. (rain or shine)

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Duluth diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 2830 E. 4th St. in Duluth

WHO
One-two individuals who belong to a support group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), including a Duluth man who was himself molested as a boy by a cleric

WHY
Records about seven Minnesota predator priests are being released as part of a lawsuit settlement. Five of them worked in the Duluth area: Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald, Fr. Michael Charland, Fr. Robert J. Reitmeier, Fr. Paul Kabat and Fr. Thomas Meyer.

Duluth Catholic officials claim they know virtually nothing about these clerics and their tenure in Duluth. SNAP leaders do not believe this.

SNAP is calling on current and former church employees to “come clean” about these predators and share what they know, suspect or have heard about them with police, prosecutors and journalists.

The group also wants Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba to quit fighting to protect clergy who sexually abuse children. SNAP says the diocese “is spending tens of thousands dollars, donated by the faithful, to keep hidden their files on proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clergy.”

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Thomas G. Plante
July 8

Thomas G. Plante is is the Augustin Cardinal Bea, S.J. University Professor at Santa Clara University, Clinical Adjunct Professor in Psychiatry at Stanford University, and author of several books on clergy sexual abuse including, “Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church: A Decade of Crisis, 2002-2012.”

News of an FBI raid at the Indiana home of Subway spokesman Jared Fogle stunned the public on Tuesday. No charges have been filed against Fogle and authorities have remained mum on what they’re looking for, though a “shocked” and “very concerned” Subway said in a statement that it believes the search “is related to a prior investigation of a former Jared Foundation employee” — the organization’s executive director was arrested on federal child pornography charges this spring. The sandwich chain also announced the end of its relationship with Fogle.

After evaluating and treating clerical sex offenders in the Catholic Church, as well as treating a variety of men troubled with pornography and other sexual problems for about 30 years, I find myself saddened but certainly not shocked by such investigations.

The public typically maintains a highly stereotypical and largely inaccurate view of pedophiles, defined as adults or teens 16 and up who are sexually stimulated by pre-pubescent children (typically 11 and under). We imagine pedophiles as creepy men with shifty eyes, stubble and a trench coat. We think they lurk around schools and playgrounds, waiting to snatch children. We think of these men as despicable lowlifes whom we can spot when we meet them, which is why news of sex crimes against children are invariably met with disbelief. “Stunned” parents and community members say the same thing: “He never seemed like that type of person.” In my three decades working with many men who sexually violate children and teens, I’ve never met one person who fit “that type.”

Pedophiles come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. Some are rich and others poor; some are highly educated while others aren’t; some are very socially skilled and delightful conversationalists and some more reticent. So often we hear that people would never in a million years expect so-and-so to harm children, be a pedophile or engage in child pornography because they’re charming, clean cut, fun to be around, successful in their careers, have a nice family life, and so forth. We wonder how such a winner could be a pedophile.

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BELLEVILLE (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Six predator priests “outed” for first time
All worked in Catholic dioceses Missouri or Illinois
They’re “credibly accused child molesters,” church admits
Long secret records about them were just released this week
More hidden documents will be disclosed in the months ahead
Two of them were in this area as recently as three & six years ago

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will
–disclose the names of six predator priests who’ve never been “outed” here before,
–discuss just-released and soon-to-be-released secret records about them, and
–provide their photos and work histories

They will also

— prod anyone who was hurt by the priests to speak up and get help, and
— prod Catholic officials in St. Louis, Belleville and Springfield to “come clean” with more information about the priests and aggressively seek out their victims.

WHEN
TODAY, Wednesday, July 8 at 2:00 p.m. (rain or shine)

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Belleville diocese headquarters (“chancery office”), 222 South Third St. in
Belleville, IL

WHO
Three-four individuals who belong to

–a support group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), and/or
–a Catholic reform group called Faithful of Southern Illinois (FOSIL)

WHY
Records about seven predator priests who worked in the St. Louis area are being released as part of a lawsuit settlement. Only one of the priests has been publicly exposed in this area as credibly accused child molesters until now. One lived in Belleville as recently as 2012. Another was there until 2009. Two of them also spent time in the St. Louis archdiocese and three were in the Springfield-Cape diocese.

One of them spent seven decades as a priest in this area. From the 1940s until six years ago, Fr. James Vincent Fitzgerald split his time between six states including assignments in at least three towns in Illinois towns and two in Missouri.

The two who worked in St. Louis archdiocese are Fr. Robert J. Reitmeier (at Holy Guardian Angels Parish) and Fr. Fitzgerald (at St. Michael’s Community).

The five priests who worked in the Belleville diocese are:

Fr. Thomas Meyer worked in Belleville, Alton and Mansfield, MO.
Fr. Emil Twardochleb was in Belleville and Henry, IL.
Fr. Michael Charland was in Belleville, Sparta, Godfrey, and Carthage, MO.
Fr. Orville Munie was in Belleville, Toluca, Mendota, Bethany and Campus, IL.
Fr. Paul Kabat worked in Belleville.

More details about each of the predators and their specific work histories in Missouri and Illinois (including dates, parishes and photos) will be provided at the news conference and/or is available at AndersonAdvocates.com

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AUSTRALIA
Armidale Express

By LYDIA ROBERTS July 8, 2015

VICTIMS of child sex abuse perpetrators have decided to speak out.

They want their story told in this ongoing debate about child sex abuse in Australia; how such abuse has impacted their lives and those of their families.

At least three victims have written of their experiences; others are reluctant to give voice to painful memories.

Allan Keith Huggins, 68, who worked at Earle Page College, O’Connor Catholic School and The Armidale School during the 1980s has been found guilty of sexually assaulting seven boys in his care 25 years ago.

Two victims tell their stories of child sexual abuse at the hands of another perpretatrator.

The first wants to remain anonymous and Peter Jurd reflects on his brother Damian’s tragic suicide after being a victim of abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

SHANNON DEERY HERALD SUN JULY 08, 2015

A CATHOLIC brother who molested young kids would have a tough time in jail because he’s American, a leading psychologist has warned.

In a submission that raised the eyebrows of County Court Judge James Parrish, forensic psychologist Patrick Newton said today that if jailed, American paedophile Brother Bernard Hartman would be a soft target because he was different.

“Anyone who’s different attracts unwanted attention,” Dr Newton said.

A member of the order of the Marianists, Hartman was stationed in Melbourne in the 1970s and 1980s before the order closed its Australian operations.

He returned to the US in 1983 where he continued work as a schoolteacher until reports of sexual misconduct were made to his superiors.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas P. Doyle | Jul. 8, 2015
30 years later

Editor’s note: This story is part of a weeklong series dedicated to looking back on 30 years of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Read all parts of the series.

This essay is adapted from a speech by Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle at the 2014 annual convention of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. It has been edited here for length. The full text of the speech appears in a recently published biography, Whistle: Tom Doyle’s Steadfast Witness for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse, by Robert Blair Kaiser and now available at Amazon and Kindle.

A letter sent by the vicar general of the diocese of Lafayette, La., to the papal nuncio in June 1984 was the trigger that set in motion a series of events that has changed the fate of the victims of child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and clergy of all denominations.

The letter informed the nuncio that the Gastal family had decided to withdraw from a confidential monetary settlement with the diocese. It went on to say the family had obtained the services of an attorney and planned to sue the diocese.

This began a long process that has had a direct impact on much more than the fate of victims and the security of innocent children and vulnerable persons of any age. It has altered the image and role of the institutional Catholic church in Western society to such an extent that the tectonic plates upon which this church rests have shifted in a way never expected or dreamed of 30 years ago.

I cannot find language that can adequately communicate the full import of this monstrous phenomenon. The image of a Christian church that enabled the sexual and spiritual violation of its most vulnerable members and, when confronted, responded with institutionalized mendacity and utter disregard for the victims cannot be adequately described as a “problem,” a “crisis” or a “scandal.” The widespread sexual violation of children and adults by clergy and the horrific response of the leadership, especially the bishops, is the present-day manifestation of a very dark and toxic dimension of the institutional church.

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NEW YORK
Riverdale Press

Despite scandal, Rabbi Rosenblatt returns

By Shant Shahrigian
Posted 7/7/15

Riverdale Jewish Center’s (RJC) Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, whose congregation is sharply divided over revelations he took boys to a sauna naked over a period of years, will remain head of the synagogue — at least for now.

The rabbi announced his intention to resume his role after a return from a sabbatical at the end of June. During an emotional speech before hundreds of congregants at the 3700 Independence Ave. synagogue on June 24, he also attributed his habit of taking boys to the sauna during the 1980s and 1990s to a lapse of judgment in which he thought he was forming bonds by momentarily shedding the role of rabbi.

“I still love being a rabbi. I still believe I have contributions to make and surely, with God’s grace, I am ready to serve you. And with yours, I am ready to continue to serve you,” he said during a roughly 17-minute-long speech that drew strong applause at the end.

The speech came as RJC’s President Samson Fine continued negotiations with the rabbi, who is represented by high-profile attorney Ben Brafman, about how to resolve the crisis prompted by a May New York Times article. The story said the rabbi habitually played racquetball with boys and led them nude into the sauna. While there was no account of sexual touching — and dozens of Rabbi Rosenblatt’s former mentees have signed a letter of support for him — the Bronx District Attorney’s office has asked people who may have suffered at the religious leader’s hands to come forward. In a phone interview Monday, a DA spokeswoman declined to state whether anyone has done so, but added people are still welcome to.

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MAINE
Maine Public Radio

By PATTY WIGHT

PORTLAND, Maine – An advocate for alleged sexual abuse victims in Haiti is on trial for defamation in Federal District Court in Portland.

Paul Kendrick is accused of making “false and heinous” allegations that Michael Geilenfeld sexually abused boys at the orphanage he founded in Port-au-Pince.

Kendrick says the trial will finally give the alleged victims of abuse their day in court, “albeit through the defamation trial,” he says. “There are seven men from Haiti who will testify in different ways. Five of them will testify via video depositions that were taken in Port-au-Prince. Two of them live in the Boston area, and they will come here to testify.”

Geilenfeld was cleared of allegations of abuse by a Haitian judge. But the country’s justice minister says the verdict was improperly reached and there will be additional proceedings.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WRAL

By MICHAEL BIESECKER, Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — A lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh over an allegation of child sexual abuse against a priest can move toward a trial, a three-judge panel ruled Tuesday.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals rejected arguments made by lawyers representing Bishop Michael F. Burbidge and the Raleigh diocese that allowing the lawsuit to advance would violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

The case involves allegations that the Rev. Edgar Sepulveda of Santa Teresa Mission in Beulaville engaged in sex acts with a 16-year-old boy who spent a night in his home. The priest, who traveled between several small parishes in the southeastern part of the state, also stayed overnight with the boy’s family, according to court documents.

Sepulveda, 52, denied the accusations. Records show he was arrested in 2010 and charged with second-degree sexual offense and sexual battery, but Brunswick County prosecutors dropped the case two years later citing a lack of evidence.

Efforts to reach Sepulveda by phone and email on Tuesday received no response.

Billy Atwell, a spokesman for the Raleigh diocese, would not comment on Sepulveda’s whereabouts, other than to say he is still in the state but not living on church grounds. The priest is also prohibited from visiting any parish or school.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Chao Xiong Star Tribune JULY 7, 2015

It took 13 years, but Joe McLean finally felt vindicated Tuesday when the priest whom he said sexually abused him decades ago was publicly named as a “credibly accused” predator.

Former Oblates of Mary Immaculate priest Michael Charland and six other priests credibly accused of sexually abusing children were identified publicly Tuesday by attorney Jeff Anderson as part of a settlement reached earlier this year with the Catholic religious order.

It’s the first time the Oblates publicly named Charland as a credibly accused perpetrator, even though McLean shared his story with officials at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 2002.

“It’s a huge relief,” McLean said of identifying the priests. “For so long it’s been very difficult, because you feel so alone.”

McLean, 51, of Minneapolis, said it was especially important to publicly identify Charland because he works as a psychologist at Affiliated Counseling Center in Woodbury.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Catholic Archbishop Jerome Listecki on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on a key issue of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy: whether the First Amendment and a federal law aimed at protecting religious liberty can be used to shield an estimated $70 million held in trust for the care of its cemeteries.

Lawyers for Listecki, who serves as sole trustee of the fund, filed a writ of certiorari asking the high court to review a March ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In that decision, a three-judge panel ruled that neither the First Amendment nor the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act could be used to keep the funds out of the bankruptcy estate, where they would be used in part to fund a settlement with sex abuse victims.

The writ filed Tuesday argues that the 7th Circuit ruling is at odds with decisions in at least three other federal courts around the country.

Timothy Nixon, the attorney who represents the trust, said a Supreme Court review is needed to resolve those so-called circuit splits and to restore protections intended by the framers of the Constitution and by Congress.

“The 7th Circuit decision encroaches on religious freedom and curtails the protections in the First Amendment,” Nixon said in a statement provided to the Journal Sentinel. “Our request is that the Supreme Court agree to review this case so that the substantial protections that are being threatened can be protected.”

Marci Hamilton, the First Amendment scholar representing the creditors committee, called their arguments “slim pickings for a certiorari brief,” and she said it was unlikely the Supreme Court would take the case so soon after last year’s Hobby Lobby decision, which also turned on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
The New York Times

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JULY 7, 2015

MILWAUKEE — The Archdiocese of Milwaukee asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to weigh in on whether an estimated $70 million held in trust for the care of its cemeteries is off-limits in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy case.

Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who serves as sole trustee of the fund, asked the court to review a March ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The appeals court said the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which protects religious organizations from government interference, doesn’t protect the money because creditors seeking a share of the fund aren’t the government.

But the archdiocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2011 to address its sex abuse lawsuit liabilities, argues the ruling is at odds with decisions in at least three other federal courts, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1KLZj6H ) reported.

Attorney Timothy Nixon, who represents the trust, said a Supreme Court review is needed to resolve those so-called circuit splits, and to restore religious protections.

“The Supreme Court’s intervention is urgently needed to protect the religious freedoms the Seventh Circuit decision threatens and to restore the free exercise of religion protections the decision rolls back,” Nixon said in a statement.

Marci Hamilton, a First Amendment scholar representing the creditors committee, called the archdiocese’s arguments “slim pickings” and said it was unlikely the Supreme Court would take the case so soon after last year’s Hobby Lobby decision, which also turned on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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OREGON
The Oregonian

By Emily E. Smith | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on July 07, 2015

In the 24 days he waited to report that a boy had found a hidden camera in a men’s bathroom at his Sherwood church, Father Ysrael Bien pacified parishioners with a tall tale about a nonexistent police investigation, according to court records.

Police believe Bien, 34, was either responsible for the camera or aided and abetted whoever was, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Washington County Circuit Court.

The Catholic priest “is a part of the investigation,” Capt. Ty Hanlon said Tuesday, though police have not named him as a suspect.

A 15-year-old boy found the camera April 26 at St. Francis Catholic Church, the affidavit says. He discovered it in a bathroom with a single toilet and a door to the vesting room, where altar servers and the priest prepare for Mass.

The teenager noticed an electrical outlet affixed to the wall at waist-height next to the toilet, the records say. He thought that was a strange place for an outlet, so he pulled it from the wall and brought it to the priest. The fixture appeared to be a disguised camera.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Brother Bernard Hartman, who has pleaded guilty to abusing children while teaching at a Melbourne school, was a brazen offender who grossly abused the trust of his victims, the Victorian County Court has heard.

Brother Hartman, an American who taught at St Paul’s College in Altona North more than 30 years ago, is now 75 years old.

He was extradited to Australia to face trial over the sexual assault of two girls in their homes and the molestation of a male student at the all boy’s college.

Hartman pleaded guilty to four charges relating to the two female victims, and three charges relating to the male victim, including indecent assault, acts of gross indecency and assault dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.

The court heard one of his victims was five years old.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 8, 2015

Mark Russell

A paedophile Catholic brother who preyed on three children in Melbourne before returning to America was ordered by his Marianist religious order to undergo psycho-sexual therapy 26 years before being charged by Victoria Police.

Bernard Hartman, 75, was also required to sign a ‘safety plan’ in 1997 after the Marianist order became aware child sexual abuse allegations had been made against him in Australia.

The safety plan meant Hartman was not allowed to go anywhere alone.

Hartman, who had been a teacher at St Paul’s College in Altona between 1972-1983, appeared in the County Court on Wednesday for a pre-sentence hearing after pleading guilty to four charges of indecently assaulting two girls aged between five to 11 during the 1970s.

He was found guilty by a jury in May 2015 of one count of indecent assault and two counts of assault involving a male student between 1981-1982.

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OHIO
WFMJ

By Michelle Nicks, Reporter

YOUNGSTOWN (AP) –
A non-profit group that seeks to help victims of sexual abuse is calling on the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to begin a criminal investigation into Brother Stephen Baker.

The group Road to Recovery says they have information that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office is already investigating Baker, who is suspected of sexually abusing more than 100 children in several states including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Baker committed suicide at his Pennsylvania monastery. The same monastery recently raided by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

Robert Hoatson, Ph.D., the Co-Founder & President of Road to Recovery, Inc. says, “What we would like Attorney General DeWine to do is to open up a criminal investigation of not only Brother Stephen Baker, but his supervisors. THe people who knew for decades about the sexual abuse.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s Office says they can not launch a criminal investigation unless the law enforcement agency where the crime allegedly happened requests their help.

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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The effort to reach more victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic church is stepping up.

Lawyer Jeff Anderson revealed Tuesday more names of clergy who he says have been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

One of them is Michael Charland, a former priest.

Joe McLean says Charland sexually abused him in 1981.

He brought his claims to the archdiocese 12 years ago and says he was dismissed.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Fox 6

JULY 7, 2015, BY KATIE DELONG

MILWAUKEE — In March, an appeals court ruled a $55 million cemetery trust fund is fair game in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s bankruptcy case, and now, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s “Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust” has filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court — asking that they review the appeals court decision relating to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in May that the fund created by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan when he was archbishop of Milwaukee is not covered by the federal law that protects religious organizations from government interference.

Attorneys for clergy sexual abuse victims say Dolan created the fund to hide money from their clients. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

Hundreds of victims have since filed claims against the archdiocese.

Timothy Nixon, an attorney representing the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust issued the following statement:

“There are compelling reasons for the U.S. Supreme Court to take up this critical case. The Seventh Circuit decision encroaches on religious freedom and curtails the protections in the First Amendment for the free expression of religion. The Seventh Circuit decision also is directly at odds with previous decisions rendered by at least three other Federal appeals courts in different parts of the country. Indeed, the Seventh Circuit expressly acknowledged in its ruling that its decision creates a split with another Federal Court which reached precisely an opposite conclusion. Further, the Seventh Circuit also accepted that the decision places a significant burden on the free expression of religion.

The Supreme Court’s intervention is urgently needed to protect the religious freedoms the Seventh Circuit decision threatens and to restore the free exercise of religion protections the decision rolls back.

At the same time, the country now has different federal courts offering conflicting opinions on these important Constitutional questions. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can clear up a deepening split on this important First Amendment issue and the free exercise of religious beliefs. …

SNAP, the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests has issued this statement:

“Making good on their verbal threat in open court to “spend down” the remaining money left in their estate to prevent 575 victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from receiving restitution, lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to overturn a Federal 7th Circuit’s decisive ruling that a fraudulent “Cemetery Trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now Cardinal of New York, was not “protected” by federal religious laws or the first amendment and can be used to compensate survivors.

A few weeks ago the archdiocese had already started carrying out its threat by randomly deposing and, of course, re-traumatizing victims, putting survivors through hours of questioning by church lawyers fishing for reasons to file yet more pointless briefs and run up expensive bills. So far, lawyers’ fees and court costs are soaring near $20 million dollars while Listecki has begrudgingly offered $4 million dollars, total, for all rape victims, less than $7,000 dollars per survivor.

In today’s filing, Listecki again legally howls the discredited excuses of “religious freedom” and “first amendment rights”. Clearly these rights are not enshrined in our constitution for bishops, or anyone else, to cover up sex crimes, as if child rape is no one’s business but their own. What matters is not winning the brief (they won’t). What matters is that it will be expensive, create more delays, and pile up legal fees so there is no money left for survivors. You might as well move the Sunday collection plate over to the lawyers’ offices or, perhaps, the country club. The later location might be easier since, as Listecki wrote in a recent column in the Catholic paper, he will be getting in as much golf in as he can this summer. In the meantime, hundreds of victims are languishing through years of bankruptcy without help, much less justice.

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CALIFORNIA
Turlock Journal

By Sabra Stafford
Crime Desk sstafford@turlockjournal.com 209-634-9141, ext. 2002
POSTED July 7, 2015

A Turlock man who volunteered at a local church has been convicted of multiple accounts of sexually abusing children.

Eduardo Arellano Sanchez, 37, entered no contest pleas Monday in Stanislaus County Superior Court to two charges of continual sexual abuse of a child and one count of committing lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years, said Deputy District Attorney Merrill Hoult.

As part of the plea deal the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office agreed to drop six other charges against Sanchez, including two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a minor.

Hoult said the plea deal stipulates Sanchez will be sentenced to 28 years in prison and following that will be on parole for 20 years and six months. He’ll have to register as a sex offender for life and the conviction counts as strikes against him.

Sanchez was arrested in December 2012 after a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church grew suspicious about the attention Sanchez was giving to two young boys at the church. Based on his suspicion, the priest spoke to the boys separately and they both stated Sanchez had been sexually abusing them for some time.

Arellano had been a volunteer at Sacred Heart Catholic Church for five years. He volunteere

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MINNESOTA
WDAZ

By Tom Olsen, Forum News Service

DULUTH — A Catholic missionary order on Tuesday released the names of seven former Minnesota priests who have been accused of child sexual abuse — a list that includes five clergymen who worked within the Diocese of Duluth.

The list, made public through a settlement agreement between the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and an abuse victim, includes previously unreported priests who worked at parishes throughout the county, including in Duluth, Superior, International Falls and Northome.

All seven were members of the Oblates, and five worked within the Diocese of Duluth at some point: James Vincent Fitzgerald, Michael Charland, Robert J. Reitmeier, Thomas Meyer and Paul Kabat who worked in Grand Forks from 1969 to 1970.

Several of the accused priests worked with children, including Reitmeier, who was principal at St. Jean’s School in Duluth, and Charland, who led “Teens Encounter Christ” programs in Superior and International Falls.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Oxford theology student ‘raped two vulnerable teenage girls he groomed while working as a pastor for children’

By ARTHUR MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

An Oxford theology student used his role as a children’s pastor at a church to groom and rape two vulnerable teenage girls, a court heard yesterday.

Timothy Storey spent years manipulating girls who attended bible studies at his church by sending them flattering messages over Facebook before allegedly launching his attacks. Such was his hold over them that the girls felt they had no choice but to submit to his depraved demands, it was said.

Both girls finally contacted the police when they saw an article in the Daily Mail which described Storey’s convictions for a string of sexual offences against children under the age of 16.

In May last year he was convicted of seven counts of inciting children to engage in sexual activity and two counts of making indecent images of a child.

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IRELAND
Yahoo! News

By Mark Vincent Healy | TheJournal.ie

This day last year I arrived in Rome Fiumicino airport. I was invited to Vatican City as the first Irish male survivor of clerical child sexual abuse to meet with His Holiness, Pope Francis. I was accompanied by the first Irish female survivor. The gender balance was most appropriate. Four other survivors were included, two from the UK and two from Germany.

What seems little known or appreciated is that over 80% of Irish clerical child sexual abuse was same sex abuse perpetrated on male children, young boys by priests, ministers of God in the Catholic faith. I had been sexually abused from the age of 9 to 12 by two priests of the Holy Ghost Fathers, a.k.a. the Spiritans, whilst a student at St. Mary’s College Rathmines. St. Mary’s College has much to be proud of and it is such a pity that so few could tarnish the good name of others.

I took my papal audience with the greatest sense of duty and respect

I prepared as well as I could for this historic and initial meeting. I felt I owed that much to the many others who might have wanted such an opportunity. I was especially mindful of the traumatised 15,000 survivors of child abuse by 18 religious congregations following the publication of the Ryan Report of 2009.

In audits to date covering six tranches by National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), there have been 2,744 abuse allegations raised against 1,069 priests for which only 64 of them were held to account. Justice that demands acknowledgement and restitution of that wrong has eluded too many survivors and their families.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
July 7, 2015

Today a list of 7 Oblate priests with one or more credible claims of sexual abuse of minors was released. All of the seven named at some point were assigned in Minnesota:

ORVILLE MUNIE

ORVILLE MUNIE ASSIGNMENT TIMELINE
8/10/1908–Date of Birth
1931–St. Henry’s Seminary, Belleville, IL
1931–St. Peter’s Novitiate, Mission, TX
1933–Major Seminary, DeMazenod Scholasticate, San Antonio, TX
6/6/1937–Ordained
1939–Professor, St.Henry’s Seminary, Belleville, IL
1940–Vocation Director, St. Henry’s Seminary, Belleville, IL
1959–Chaplain, State Training School for Boys, Red Wing, MN
1961–Pastor, Immaculate Conception Church, Waubay, SD
1963–Pastor, St. Joseph’s Parish, Arkansaw, WI
1964–Pastor, Sacred Heart, Campus, IL
1971–Pastor, St. John the Baptist, Egg Harbor, WI
1972–Pastor, St. Anne’s Parish, Toluca, IL
1972–Pastor, Holy Cross Parish, Mendota, IL
1972–Pastor, St. Isidore, Bethany, IL

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Madeleine Baran Jul 7, 2015

Attorney Jeff Anderson released the names of seven priests deemed “credibly accused” of child sex abuse on Tuesday, as part of a settlement with a Catholic religious order.

The men served in the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate — a Catholic order of priests and brothers — and worked in various parishes and organizations in Minnesota. Five of the men are dead, and the other two men are no longer priests, according to Will Shaw, a spokesperson for the order.

One of the men had already been included on a list of credibly accused priests released last year by the Diocese of Crookston.

The disclosure was part of a settlement reached between an alleged victim of an Oblates priest and the Oblates. The man, identified in court records as Doe 30, had sued the Oblates and the New Ulm and Duluth dioceses for alleged abuse by the Rev. Vincent Fitzgerald, an Oblates priest who died in 2009. The portion of the lawsuit against the two dioceses hasn’t been resolved.

As part of the settlement, the Oblates agreed that Anderson’s law firm could release the names of the men the Oblates have deemed credibly accused of child sexual abuse, Shaw said.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Archbishop Listecki filing expensive and pointless appeal to US Supreme Court, deposing victims, and piling up the legal fees

Statement by Peter Isely, SNAP Midwest Director (Milwaukee)
CONTACT: 414.429.7259

Making good on their verbal threat in open court to “spend down” the remaining money left in their estate to prevent 575 victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse by clergy of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee from receiving restitution, lawyers for Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki have filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to overturn a Federal 7th Circuit’s decisive ruling that a fraudulent “Cemetery Trust” created by former Archbishop Timothy Dolan, now Cardinal of New York, was not “protected” by federal religious laws or the first amendment and can be used to compensate survivors.

A few weeks ago the archdiocese had already started carrying out its threat by randomly deposing and, of course, re-traumatizing victims, putting survivors through hours of questioning by church lawyers fishing for reasons to file yet more pointless briefs and run up expensive bills. So far, lawyers’ fees and court costs are soaring near $20 million dollars while Listecki has begrudgingly offered $4 million dollars, total, for all rape victims, less than $7,000 dollars per survivor.

In today’s filing, Listecki again legally howls the discredited excuses of “religious freedom” and “first amendment rights”. Clearly these rights are not enshrined in our constitution for bishops, or anyone else, to cover up sex crimes, as if child rape is no one’s business but their own. What matters is not winning the brief (they won’t). What matters is that it will be expensive, create more delays, and pile up legal fees so there is no money left for survivors. You might as well move the Sunday collection plate over to the lawyers’ offices or, perhaps, the country club. The later location might be easier since, as Listecki wrote in a recent column in the Catholic paper, he will be getting in as much golf in as he can this summer. In the meantime, hundreds of victims are languishing through years of bankruptcy without help, much less justice.

When filing for bankruptcy over four and a half years ago Listecki urged victims to come forward for “restitution, healing and resolution.” Since then, however, he has claimed that none of these 575 victims, not a single one, has a legitimate case. Isn’t it pretty clear by now that Listekci filed the bankruptcy in utter bad faith and breech of promise to victims? Rather, the bankruptcy was filed to prevent restitution to victims by deploying the federal bankruptcy system and so called “religious freedom” to shield Listecki, Dolan and dozens of child sex offenders from the consequences of their criminal conduct and cover-ups.

Dolan wrote to the Vatican when he sought permission to create his bogus cemetery trust that he was creating it to prevent US courts from compensating victims of priest sex abuse. Since then, it has been shown the archdiocese has at least $300 million dollars available for victim restitution. But so far the archdiocese appears to have found a means to buy their way of justice, in plain sight, for everyone to see. Again.

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LA CROSSE (WI)
La Crosse Tribune

The names of three priests who served in the La Crosse Diocese decades ago were among seven identified Tuesday as being credibly accused of sexual abuse, although none is alleged to have occurred in Wisconsin.

The priests were members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and one now is a therapist in the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury. Their names were announced during a press conference at the law offices of Jeff Anderson and Associates in St. Paul, Minn., as part of a settlement in a suit that a victim identified as Doe 30 filed against the order and the dioceses of Duluth and New Ulm, Minn.

They are:

* Michael Charland, who was pastor of St. Thomas More Newman Center and director of Catholic Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and pastor of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Big River in 1984. He left the order that year, the Vatican laicized him in 1989, and he now is a therapist in Woodbury.

* Emil Twardochleb, who was pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Arkansaw in 1955, died in 1976.

* Orville Munie, also pastor of St. Joseph in Arkansaw in 1963, died in 1993.

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MINNESOTA
KFGO

ST. PAUL, MINN. (MNN) – The identities of seven priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate accused of abusing children are released to the public.

St. Paul law firm Jeff Anderson and Associates held a news conference Tuesday where they named the seven priests who served in Minnesota for part of their careers.

The names include Vincent Fitzgerald, Michael Charland, Orville Munich, Thomas Meyer, Robert Rotmeier, Emil Twardochleb, and Paul Kabot.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Wall Street Journal

By TOM CORRIGAN
Updated July 7, 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in on a dispute over whether the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee may shield a $55 million cemetery maintenance trust from hundreds of alleged clergy sexual-abuse victims seeking compensation.

A lawyer for the cemetery trust said Tuesday that the trust filed a petition asking the Supreme Court for a final ruling on the fate of the cemetery funds. The move aims to appeal a March ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that a trust created to maintain the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s cemeteries isn’t subject to federal laws protecting religious freedoms.

The appeals court’s ruling “leaves religious freedoms vulnerable to encroachment by federal laws asserted in private litigation,” lawyers for the cemetery trust wrote in the petition. “And it forces the scores of religious organizations that file under chapter 11 each year to choose between sacrificing their religious freedoms or facing financial ruin.”

If the Seventh Circuit’s ruling stands, it could help more than 500 victims of alleged sexual abuse by the archdiocese’s clergy argue that the funds should be included in the compensation they will receive as part of the archdiocese’s long-running bankruptcy.

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MINNESOTA
International Falls Journal

Three priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children served in some capacity in International Falls.

A fourth priest had connections to Northome and surrounding areas.

The names and assignment histories of seven priests were released publicly for the first time on Wednesday as part of a settlement in a lawsuit by the St. Paul law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates.

The following are the names of the priests and their terms in the International Falls area:

Thomas Meyer, served as parochial vicar, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, 1999 to 2007.

Michael Charland, 70, staffed weekends as spiritual director for Teens Encounter Christ, leading programs and retreats for school teens and college students at Rainy River Community College and in Fort Frances, Ont., in 1977.

Paul Kubat, 82 or 83, who served from 1967 to 196, at St. Thomas, International Falls.
A fourth preist, James V. Fitzgerald, deceased at age 95, worked as pastor at St. Micheal, Northome, and Effie Mission, Big Fork, in 1957; Our Lady of Snows and Effie Mission, Big Fork, 1961; pastor Holy Cross Church, Orr, 1963; pastor St. Micheals Church, Northome, 1968, 1973.

The release of the names is part of a settlement reached in a civil lawsuit brought by “Doe 30” against the Oblates, the Diocese of Duluth and the Diocese of New Ulm. The settlement was reached in April 2015 between Doe 30, and defendant Oblates. The other defendants in the case – the Diocese of Duluth and Diocese of New Ulm – were not part of the settlement, and Doe 30’s case against them is still pending in Ramsey County District Court.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

(STMW) — Two new lawsuits were filed Tuesday alleging sexual abuse by convicted child molester and former priest Daniel McCormack.

The plaintiffs, two men identified only as John J. Doe 4 and John L. Doe 5, filed the suits Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Archidiocese of Chicago and the Catholic Bishop of Chicago.

John Doe 4 alleges he was abused by McCormack when he attended the after-school “SAFE” program at Our Lady of the Westside Catholic School, according to the suit. He claims the abuse began when he was 8 years in 2002 and continued until 2006.

John Doe 5 claims in his separate suit that he was abused by McCormack while attending St. Agatha’s Catholic Church and playing basketball on the parish team. He claims the abuse began when he was 10 years old in 2003 and continued until 2006.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register

BY JUDY ROBERTS 07/07/2015

ATLANTA — For Nancy Nohrden and other consecrated women in Regnum Christi, the scandal involving their once-revered founder forced them to examine why they had joined the movement and to seek their answers from God, not themselves.

“It was a lot of soul-searching in my personal prayer,” said Nohrden, director of consecrated women for North America, “and having Our Lord himself confirm what was essential to why I was here, which was belonging totally to him in the consecrated life and giving him the initiative to just confirm the call that this is the specific place he was calling me to live out that particular vocation.”

Nine years after the scandal broke and after much reflection, members of the movement are beginning to see signs of restoration.

As the movement, which includes the Legion of Christ, a religious congregation founded in Mexico in 1941, goes through a renewal process recommended by the Vatican, lay and consecrated members and priests say a stronger, more balanced organization is emerging from a period that many describe as a purification.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted July 07, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — Opening arguments began Tuesday in the civil suit against a Freeport man sued in 2013 for defamation by a former Catholic brother from Haiti and his nonprofit organization.

Attorney Peter DeTroy described his client, 63-year-old Michael Geilenfeld, the former Catholic brother, as “a remarkable person … fueled by a dream to found a home for the cast-out, lost boys of Haiti.”

DeTroy then told the jury in U.S. District Court in Portland that Paul Kendrick, 65, of Freeport, an outspoken advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse, waged a “campaign of vicious, unrelenting and merciless attacks” on Geilenfeld that left him and Hearts with Haiti, the North-Carolina nonprofit for which he works, unable to raise money to rebuild orphanages following a 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

David Walker, who represents Kendrick, argued that his client was raising public awareness about alleged abuse of children. He told the jury Tuesday, “This case is about one thing, and that’s the sexual abuse of children.”

Walker on Tuesday ran through a list of allegations of sexual abuse by Geilenfeld that Kendrick’s attorney said began in 1987. He said evidence would show that board members of Hearts with Haiti met repeatedly about the issue, ultimately hiring a former Federal Bureau of Investigations official to investigate Geilenfeld before declining to release their report.

Both attorneys said they would present the jury with testimony from young men who lived in the orphanages that would support their cases.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By MICHAEL MELCHIOR, MANNY WAKS \ 07/07/2015

Recently we were exposed to yet more revelations regarding how the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community and in particular its leadership respond to allegations of child sexual abuse.

In an exposé in Yediot Aharonot it was revealed that many rabbis advise and encourage victims and survivors of child sexual abuse and their families to not report these crimes to the police. Alternatively, they believe that allegations of child sexual abuse should be addressed internally, led by the rabbi. This was the view expressed by the vast majority of the rabbis interviewed.

In trying to dissuade the victims from going to the police, excuses in defense of the perpetrators often include “he has a wife and children so why make his entire family suffer?”, “the abuse happened many years ago,” “it was a moment of weakness,” “he’s a righteous, God-fearing person,” “you’ll be bringing shame on you, your family and our community,” “you’ll ruin your marriage prospects,” and so on.

That this misguided and morally reprehensible attitude still exists on the part of rabbis is of grave concern.

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MAINE
Winston-Salem Journal

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A lawyer in a Maine defamation case says his client was a hero for children in Haiti who was devastated by a Maine activist’s unsubstantiated claims of sex abuse.

Both sides presented opening statements Tuesday in a civil lawsuit brought by orphanage founder Michael Geilenfeld and Raleigh, North Carolina-based Hearts with Haiti. Attorney Peter DeTroy says Paul Kendrick made reckless allegations that hurt fundraising and damaged reputations.

Kendrick’s attorney told the jury he’s looking forward to the alleged victims getting to tell their story in court.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Archdiocese of Chicago is facing two more sex abuse lawsuits, the latest in a series of allegations against former priest Daniel McCormack.

Two men claim McCormack sexually abused them while they were students at Catholic schools in Chicago.

One man said the alleged abuse started when he was about 8 years old and continued from 2002 to 2006, while he was a student at Our Lady of the Westside Catholic School. He said it happened while he attended an after-school “safe” program.

The other man said the alleged abuse started when he was about 10 years old and continued from 2003 to 2006, while he attended Saint Agatha’s Catholic Church and played basketball on the parish’s team.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WXII

RALEIGH, N.C. —A three-judge panel has ruled that a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh over an allegation of child sexual abuse by a priest can move forward.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected arguments made by lawyers representing Bishop Michael F. Burbidge and the Raleigh diocese that allowing the lawsuit to advance would violate the Constitutional separation of church and state.

The case involves allegations that the Rev. Edgar Sepulveda of Santa Teresa Mission in Beulaville engaged in sex acts with a 16-year-old boy. Sepulveda was criminally charged in 2010, but Brunswick County prosecutors later dropped the case.

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MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

7/7/2015

The names and assignment histories of seven priests of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (“Oblates”) who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children were released publicly for the first time on July 7, 2015. The priests all worked in Minnesota for part of their careers. Other locations at which the priests worked include Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., North Dakota and Canada.

The release is part of a settlement reached in a civil lawsuit brought by Doe 30 against the Oblates, the Diocese of Duluth and the Diocese of New Ulm. The settlement was reached in April 2015 between Doe 30, the plaintiff, and defendant Oblates. The other defendants in the case – the Diocese of Duluth and Diocese of New Ulm – were not part of the settlement, and Doe 30’s case against them is still pending in Ramsey County District Court.

The lawsuit stems from Doe 30’s sexual abuse by Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald, an Oblate priest, in 1978 when Doe 30 was a minor.

Orville Munie Assignment Timeline
Michael Charland Assignment Timeline
James Vincent Fitzgerald Assignment Timeline
Robert Reitmeier Assignment Timeline
Emil Twardochleb Assignment Timeline
Paul Kabat Assignment Timeline
Map of Oblate Assignments in MN 7-7-15
Oblates’ Statement of July 6, 2015
Oblates’ list – July 6, 2015

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A priest accused of sexually abusing two boys told one of them he was “preparing” him for a girlfriend, a court has heard.

The Reverend Christopher Howarth, of Rocks Park Road in Uckfield, East Sussex, is accused of 20 offences against the boys, now aged 19 and 20.

Hove Trial Centre heard the former teacher paid money to the boys for his own sexual gratification.
He denies 19 of the charges which include six counts of sexual assault.

However, he has pleaded guilty to one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Freethinker

Jehovah’s Witness leader Tony Morris III, above, who recently became an international laughing stock for blaming homosexuals for popularising skinny jeans, has again gone on the offensive against gays in a video that sets out to show how ‘proactive’ the cult has been in its efforts protect children from abuse.

“Tight Pants Tony” used the July 2015 episode of JW Broadcasting to address the issue of abuse, seemingly in response to the onslaught of negative publicity Watchtower has faced in recent years.

According to John Cedars, who runs the JWSurvey site, the Watchtower bigwig:

Unleashes an astonishing swipe at gay people in an apparent attempt to scapegoat homosexuals as being the main perpetrators of child abuse.

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MICHIGAN
WNEM

By Clayton Cummins

MT. PLEASANT, MI (WNEM) –
A priest was suspended from his ministry on Monday.

The Catholic Diocese of Saginaw announced Father Denis Heames, of Central Michigan University’s St. Mary’s University Parish, had been suspended.

Heames worked as a parochial administrator for more than two years at the parish.

Bishop Joseph Cistone placed Heames on administrative leave for “boundary violations.”

TV5 called the diocese to get clarification on the reasoning behind Heames leave, but the diocese would not comment.

Cistone released a statement on the diocese’s website that said priests deal with weaknesses like anyone else and it’s distressing that someone was harmed by a minister of the church. …

TV5 also spoke with David Clohessy. He is part of a survivors’ network of those abused by priests.

“We’re glad Father Heames is no longer at a parish, at least temporarily, but we’re upset that the bishop is being so secretive. We think the bishop owes it to his flock to be more forthcoming about this case,” Clohessy said.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, July 7

Statement by Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (312-399-4747, bblaine@SNAPnetwork.org)

A veteran Catholic editor is disclosing his own childhood suffering at the hands of a Catholic priest. We applaud his courage, shown not just now through his revelations but also shown through his decades of diligence exposing this continuing crisis in the church.

[National Catholic Reporter]

No publication on the planet has worked longer and harder to shed light on the Catholic church’s massive and alarming cover ups of heinous crimes against children than the tenacious and independent National Catholic Reporter. And much of this diligent, painful work has been written or guided by a courageous and compassionate journalist, Tom Fox.

In the 1980s, very few reporters pursued child molesting clerics and their complicit church supervisors. Tom did.

Some journalists who did investigate and write about this scandal succumbed to church pressure. Not Tom. Other reporters who covered this burned out or gave up. Not Tom.

Some journalists often choose to re-hash court records and largely refused to hear or include survivors’ perspectives. Not Tom.

Other reporters accepted bishops’ superficial pledges of reform and moved on. Not Tom.

For decades, Tom has been tireless in his fair but firm work to uncover what legions of Catholic officials and defense lawyers and public relations professionals worked even harder to conceal.

At least 19 US bishops are accused of abuse. That’s a testimony to Tom’s persistence and effectiveness.

Over 3,000 civil abuse and cover up cases have been filed in the US. That’s a testimony to Tom’s persistence and effectiveness.

Nearly 4,000 names of accused bishops, nuns, brothers, deacons, seminarians and priests have been made public in the US. That’s a testimony to Tom’s persistence and effectiveness.

US bishops now admit 6,427 priests are accused of abuse. That’s a testimony to Tom’s persistence and effectiveness.

(Four other sources estimate the real figure is between 9,768 and 10,969.)

(These are solid figures See “Data on the Crisis” on the home page of BishopAccountability.org)

Our hearts ache for Tom and his loved ones. We hope he is deluged with support, admiration and gratitude. We hope his bravery will inspire others who are suffering in shame, confusion and self-blame to break their silence, end their isolation and get support. We hope his example will prod others to speak out about this still widespread cancer so that it can be stopped and its victims can be healed.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

Vatican trial for Józef Wesołowski’s sexual abuse charges a pivotal moment for Pope Francis

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor July 7, 2015

While Pope Francis is wowing vast crowds on a triumphant homecoming to Latin America this week, one of the pivotal moments of his papacy is set to begin back in Rome on Saturday with the opening of a criminal trial for former papal diplomat Józef Wesołowski on charges of sexual abuse of minors.

Ultimately, it’s the threat of criminal sanctions from Vatican tribunals that underlies new accountability measures Francis has created to face the two most chronic sources of scandal he inherited when he was elected in March 2013 – sexual abuse and financial misconduct.

The Wesołowski trial is the first major test of that criminal justice system under Francis. And it will have a great deal to say about whether this pontiff’s celebrated vow that there will be no “daddy’s boys” on his watch, meaning clerics able to remain above the law, actually has teeth.

Now 66, Wesołowski was born in Nowy Targ, Poland, in 1948, and ordained a priest by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła of Krakow, the future St. John Paul II, in 1972. Wesołowski served as a papal diplomat in a variety of nations in the late 1990s and 2000s, eventually being named the nuncio, or ambassador, to the Dominican Republic in 2008, holding the rank of archbishop for papal envoys.

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MAINE
Portland Press Herald

BY ERIC RUSSELL STAFF WRITER
erussell@pressherald.com | @PPHEricRussell | 207-791-6344

The attorney for an Iowa man who has sued Paul Kendrick of Freeport for defamation said Tuesday that Kendrick launched a “campaign of vicious, merciless and unrelenting attacks” against his client based on discredited information.

Peter DeTroy, attorney for Michael Geilenfeld, told jurors in U.S. District Court during opening statements that Kendrick’s claims that Geilenfeld sexually abused boys at an orphanage in Haiti were unfounded.

Geilenfeld, his attorney acknowledged, has been dealing with allegations of abuse dating back to the 1980s but has been exonerated numerous times.

DeTroy said Kendrick didn’t care whether the allegations were true.

“His goal was to destroy this man,” the attorney said.

Kendrick’s attorney, David Walker, countered in his opening statement that sexual abuse allegations involving Geilenfeld have swirled in Haiti and beyond for years. He said Kendrick, a longtime activist against child sexual abuse, was simply asking Haitian authorities to aggressively investigate those allegations and challenging a nonprofit group, Hearts with Haiti, which provided funds for Geilenfeld’s orphanage, to look into them as well.

Walker also told jurors that he planned to offer testimony from seven people who claim that they were sexually abused by Geilenfeld.

The trial is expected to last up to three weeks.

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CHILE
National Catholic Reporter

Austen Ivereigh | Jul. 7, 2015

SANTIAGO, CHILE Back home among his own in Latin America this week, Pope Francis is evangelizing from the peripheries, challenging the world from the standpoint of the disenfranchised and the marginalized.

Yet to a small diocese 500 miles south of the Chilean capital, Santiago, the pope’s gestures and words ring somewhat hollow. The priests and laypeople of Osorno, a remote town not far north from Puerto Montt, remain reluctant to criticize Francis openly, preferring to believe he has been badly informed. But there is no doubting their anger and bewilderment at the way their local church has been steamrollered and their appeals ignored.

This week, three delegates of the Organization of Lay People of the diocese, which has just 23 parishes, are traveling to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in the hope of presenting a letter to Pope Francis during the World Meeting of Popular Movements, which Francis is to address Thursday.

They have been protesting since January, when it became clear that the Vatican would press ahead with the installation of Juan Barros Madrid as Osorno’s new bishop, a move as unpopular with Chile’s other bishops as it was with the clergy and laypeople of the diocese.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas C. Fox | Jul. 7, 2015
30 years later

Editor’s note: This story is part of a weeklong series dedicated to looking back on 30 years of the abuse crisis in the Catholic church. Read all parts of the series.

We published our first major exposé on the abuse of minors by clergy in our June 7, 1985, issue, just days before the U.S. bishops were to gather at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., for their annual June meeting. Our coverage comprised a long piece out of Louisiana by Jason Berry about a young priest-pedophile in the Lafayette diocese; an equally long report on other predatory priests around the nation by Arthur Jones, our Washington bureau chief; and an editorial written by Jones that scored the bishops for their cover-ups. “Keeping the affair quiet has usually assumed greater importance than any possible effect on the victims themselves.”

Berry and Jones have pursued careers in the best traditions of American journalism — to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable — for the common good of their communities, and often of the entire nation. They do solid journalism. I am proud to have been the editor that provided space and protection for this kind of reporting — two parallel stories within the clergy abuse scandal: the obscene molestation by priests of pre-pubescent and pubescent children, and the enabling cover-ups by their bishops.

We saw these dual patterns from the start. It took years for us to fill out the picture — and we had to do it pretty much on our own. Other Catholic publications wouldn’t touch the story. Most were controlled by bishops who had little or no desire to say anything bad about the church. The secular dailies back then, including The New York Times, seemed unwilling to confront the Catholic church. …

Meanwhile, I had become a polarizing figure; some Catholics, in print and elsewhere, called me “the son of Satan.” Our critics were convinced NCR had set out to “tear down the church.” It was a frequent cry. We’d often print their letters. We lost hundreds, if not thousands, of subscribers.

Charges against our news judgment came home when one NCR board member, Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fichter, called for my resignation. When he received no other support, he resigned from the board.

Looking back at another part of this story, I’d like to share something I have rarely told anyone outside of family and the inner ranks at NCR. I have had special empathy with sex abuse survivors because I am one of them. A Catholic priest molested me when I was 12. The priest (as he died in 1999 and so cannot defend himself, I will not name him) was a friend of the family when he invited me to join him on a three-day vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. My parents happily consented. He molested me the first night in the hotel. It was one of the most frightening nights of my life.

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MICHIGAN
The Morning Sun

By Rick Mills, The Morning Sun
POSTED: 07/07/15

A nationwide support group for people abused by priests says Catholic Church officials should provide further details about a Mt. Pleasant priest suspended for improper behavior.

Parishioners need to know the nature of what the Rev. Denis M. Hearnes did and releasing the facts could also ensure that any potential crimes are investigated, said David Clohessy, director of the Missouri-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“Saginaw’s bishop owes parishioners and the public more information about a just-suspended priest,” Clohessy said in a press release. “We hope the local Catholic hierarchy will be more honest about the allegations.”

Hearnes, priest at St. Mary’s University Parish in Mt. Pleasant, was put on administrative leave for inappropriate behavior related to his ministry, Bishop Joseph R. Cistone of the Saginaw Diocese said Monday.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

This week, National Catholic Reporter is publishing a week-long series of articles looking back at the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic church. I highly recommend this series to you. I was particularly moved by hearing Barbara Blaine’s story of how she (and others) came to found the group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. I’m not sure I had ever heard all the details of her own painful, liberating story — certainly not in her first-person narrative.

What stands out for me in this account:

1. After she was repeatedly sexually abused by her parish priest Father Chet Warren (who violated at least 21 other girls, to Blaine’s knowledge) from her early adolescence up to her graduation from high school, when she went to confession and told a priest about all of this on a senior retreat, the priest told her,

“Jesus could forgive anything,” instead of, “You did nothing wrong. We have to call the police and your parents.”

2. Reading an NCR article by Jason Berry in the summer of 1985 when she was working at a Catholic Worker house in Chicago, which told of Father Gilbert Gauthe’s sexual abuse of altar boys, was a triggering experience for Blaine. She had a panic attack as she read the article, and then entered a state of personal crisis from which she emerged as she began to share her story of abuse by Father Warren with others.

3. Repeatedly and naively (and like me, when Belmont Abbey College ended my career as a Catholic theologian for never-explained reasons in 1993 and I turned to the bishop of Charlotte, North Carolina, for assistance and pastoral counsel), Blaine naively trusted the pastoral officials of the Catholic church to do something to assist her and other victims of childhood and adolescent sexual violation by priests. But this is what she experienced over and over again, instead:

While claiming they would, church officials refused to help me.

4. And so this led her to begin networking with, listening to, reaching out to connect with other victims of abuse, whose stories were painfully similar to her own. And SNAP was born . . . . As Blaine says, while church officials have been, for the most part, an unyielding obstacle to victims of abuse seeking justice and healing, thousands of lay Catholics who care about victims have rallied to their cause, and have assisted with supporting SNAP and other survivor groups.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Barry Roche

The recent Berkeley tragedy which claimed the lives of six young people highlighted the central role that priests can play in providing comfort and solace for the bereaved, a bishop has told the ordination mass of a priest in Co Cork.

Bishop William Crean of Cloyne said that it was encouraging to see a positive portrayal of priests in the midst of the tragic loss of life in Berkeley after years of negative media portrayal of the clergy because of the child sex abuse scandals.

“The recent tragic deaths of the young people with the collapse of the balcony in Berkeley California led to a natural outpouring of sympathy for their families as they mourned the loss of their son or daughter in the springtime of their lives.

“Hope and aspiration gave way to the sense of huge loss and despair that such a tragedy brings to life. We remember them in our prayers as we also remember so many whose lives and dreams are being shattered by war and terror.

“I recall this tragic event and its aftermath for the presence of so many priests who at various moments were available and willing to minister to these families at a time of desolation for them and sought to bring some consolation by being with them in their hour of need.

“Given the very negative media portrayal of the priesthood because of the abuse scandals it is heartening to read a journalist – Kathy Sheridan in The Irish Times – acknowledge that positive face of priesthood.”

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UNITED STATES
Forward

July 7, 2015

By Bethany Mandel

Last year I discovered that my rabbi, Barry Freundel, filmed me naked while I was in the mikveh bathroom preparing to convert (during a “practice dunk”) and while converting to Judaism. After outrage and sorrow, I felt fear. Fear for the integrity of my conversion with his name at the top of my documents.

At 2 am several days later I woke up and penned a now infamous blog post on my phone in the dark next to my sleeping husband. When he woke up I told him I would throw it up on the Times of Israel and gave him a basic gist of the contents. It was a Bill of Rights for converts and those would finish the conversion process. He is a fantastic editor, and I normally have him at least proofread what I write, but I didn’t think many would even bother to read this. By the time he got to the office it was on the front page of the Times of Israel, and to date has been shared over 15,000 times on Facebook alone. I didn’t think anything that I had to say was particularly groundbreaking. Most of my close friends knew what I went through in order to convert to Judaism, and I thought that my experience was fairly normal. I discovered afterwards that what converts go through is not well known in the wider Jewish community.

As surprised as I was for that post to go viral, I was equally surprised to hear from Rabbi Mark Dratch, Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). The RCA were putting together a committee to evaluate protocols and best practices for RCA conversions going forward, and he asked me to be a part. By the time I spoke to him I had already regretted writing my piece for the Times of Israel, as I had previously liked to keep my status as a convert as close to the chest as possible. At this point I knew that there was no real going back; when you Googled my name, the first thing that popped up was the Times of Israel piece. When you and put “Bethany Mandel” into Google the first suggested autocomplete is “conversion.” Despite being loathe to be the poster child for conversion, I knew I had an opportunity to help make a difference, to make it better for future converts, and I accepted his offer.

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CHILE
La Tercera

[This morning the Apostolic Nunciature in Chile reported that Pope Francis appointed Santiago Silva Retamales as military bishop. This is the position formerly held by Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno.]

Esta mañana la Nunciatura Apostólica en Chile informó que el Papa Francisco nombró obispo castrense a Santiago Silva Retamales, hasta ahora obispo titular de Bela y obispo auxiliar de Valparaíso. Así pasará a ocupar el cargo que fue de Juan Barros, actual obispo de Osorno.

“La representación de la Santa Sede en nuestro país ha comunicado además que Mons. Claudio Verdugo Cavieres seguirá en el cargo de Administrador del Obispado Castrense hasta el día de la toma de posesión canónica de dicha Sede de parte del nuevo Obispo”, sostiene la Iglesia mediante un comunicado.

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MALTA
Malta Today

Tim Diacono 7 July 2015

No accounts have been filed since 2011 by tele-evangelist Gordon John Manché’s ‘Nations for Christ’ with the Commissioner for NGOs raising questions on its financing model of requesting tithes from followers.

Some ardent followers of evangelical fellowship River of Love donate 10% of their salary to the group, in accordance with an ancient biblical belief.

A teacher at pastor Gordon-John Manche’s Nations for Christ Bible College – which has courted controversy in the past over alleged ‘gay conversion’ claims – told MaltaToday that the “tithe” principle features extensively in the Bible, from Abraham donating one-tenth of his war-spoils to a high priest, to its inclusion in the Law of Moses.

“Not once in the Bible does it state that the tithe has been abolished,” Marius-Richard Cilia said. “There are biblical principles about money and paying taxes, just as there are biblical principles about love. The tithe is a belief, an agreement between a person and God, and some people at River of Love abide by this principle.”

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

By Shlomo Pitrikovksky
First Publish: 7/7/2015

The Nazareth District Court rejected Tuesday an appeal by a well-known rabbi from northern Israel facing sexual abuse allegations, after the Magistrates’ Court decided to allow his name to be published.

Following the appeal, however, the rabbi’s identity will not be revealed until Wednesday at 4:00 pm, in order to allow the rabbi’s defense attorney to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

The defense argued that the rabbi has no criminal record, and that publication of his name may cause irreversible damage.

On the other hand, the prosecution argued that the law states that a suspect’s name is to be published within 48 hours of an investigation opening, and that revealing of the name is necessary to collect witnesses and further the investigation.

The judge noted in the decision that the evidence against the rabbi is heavy.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Leanne Nicholson
Deputy editor, WAtoday

Dozens of victims of abuse meted out by Christian Brothers at West Australian facilities have resettled their claims following a review sparked by a royal commission into child abuse in institutions.

Almost half of the 130 requests submitted by abuse victims for the Christian Brothers to re-examine their outcomes have been resettled.

The reviews were being held after the Christian Brothers gave an undertaking at the royal commission last year to re-examine “demonstrably unjust” and “unreasonably low” settlements.

Following the undertaking, 130 requests were made to review settlements connected with abuses carried out at the Christian Brothers’ WA facilities at Tardun, Bindoon, Clontarf and Castledare.

Christian Brothers Oceania provincial leader Brother Peter Clinch said 64 re-examined cases were finalised and new settlements had been reached.

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