A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 14 September 2015 (VIS) – This morning the eleventh meeting of the Holy Father with the Council of Cardinals began. The work of the “Council of Nine” will continue until Wednesday 16 September.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
ABC News
The process used by the Catholic Church in Melbourne to handle abuse claims discouraged victims from going to the police in some instances, the royal commission into child abuse has found.
In 1996 then archbishop George Pell introduced the Melbourne Response, as the church’s process to deal with people sexually abused by priests and others within the Archdiocese.
It allowed anyone making allegations of abuse to have what the church called an “independent commissioner” to investigate their claims and make findings.
Compensation from the scheme was originally capped at $50,000 before being lifted to $75,000, with the cap a subject of contention among victims and their advocates.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse found independent commissioner Peter O’Callaghan QC provided advice to two victims, Paul Hersbach and Mr AFA, that discouraged them from going to police.
Mr Hersbach was groomed and abused by Father Victor Gabriel Rubeo — who also abused Mr Hersbach’s father and brother — the royal commission heard.
Mr AFA gave evidence he was sexually abused by Father Michael Glennon three times when he was about 15.
Mr Hersbach and Mr AFA went through the Melbourne Response, and were advised by Mr O’Callaghan in 2006 and 2011 respectively.
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SCOTLAND
Daily Record
14 SEPTEMBER 2015
BY STUART MACDONALD
A PARISH priest has been removed from his post after a complaint was made to church bosses that he harassed a former altar boy online.
Father Frank King was rebuked by the Bishop of Motherwell Joseph Toal over a series of messages he sent on Facebook to Tony Moore.
The 29-year-old yesterday told how he was stunned when King, 50, started bombarding him with messages asking to meet up.
The priest contacted him online and repeatedly asked him to go out for dinner or meet up at his house.
When Tony, a hairdresser, didn’t reply to the messages, the priest at St Aidan’s church in Wishaw, Lanarkshire, tried to call him several times.
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SCOTLAND
KaleidoScot
A Catholic priest has been suspended from his post after the church received a complaint that he harassed a former altar boy.
Father Frank King, 50, who has been serving as the parish priest at St Aidan’s Church in Wishaw, was reproached by the Bishop of Motherwell after Tony Moore, now 29, alleged he received a number of inappropriate messages via social media.
Moore claimed that Father King “bombarded” him with messages requesting him to go out for dinner or meet at his house. He also claimed that the priest had tried to phone him several times and that the messages were “inappropriate and provocative”.
Moore, who now works as a hairdresser, recently met with the Bishop to formally complain about Father King’s behaviour. During the meeting, the Bishop was shown evidence of the messages and has taken immediate action.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
SCOTLAND
Premier
Mon 14 Sep 2015
By Desmond Busteed
A Catholic priest in Scotland has reportedly been disciplined by his diocese after being accused of harassing a former altar boy on Facebook.
Hairdresser Tony Moore, 29, claims Father Frank King of St Aidan’s church in Wishaw, Lanarkshire bombarded Mr Moore with ‘inappropriate’ messages.
“When he first added me on Facebook I wasn’t really sure who he was,” said Tony Moore to the Herald Scotland.
“He sent me a couple of messages just asking how I was which I replied to just to be polite.
“But then I got a message from him asking me to come to his house to have a drink. I thought it was a bit strange and I didn’t reply.
“I found it really creepy and I couldn’t believe I was being pestered like this by a priest. I had given absolutely no indication that I was interested in meeting up with him.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
By Elizabeth Mohr
emohr@pioneerpress.com
POSTED: 09/13/2015
A victim of sex abuse and a priest convicted of child molestation have formed an alliance with a noble goal: to create a hub of resources for victims of sexual abuse and those fighting to stop it.
The pair is raising funds and hope to buy the Chancery building of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has an assessed value of about $6 million.
The building, in the shadow of the St. Paul Cathedral on Summit Avenue, is the administrative epicenter for the Roman Catholic archdiocese. The archdiocese placed the building on the market, along with other properties, as part of its bankruptcy process.
Susan Pavlak and Gil Gustafson envision a rebirth of the Chancery as a Christian-based center for “all those affected by sexual abuse.” The building would become home to the Gilead Project, which they describe as an effort to address the systemic change needed to help victims and people of faith heal from the sex abuse crisis, and also to prevent abuse.
The programming would include training for churches and clergy or child-protection professionals, research grants and development of publications.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CALIFORNIA
Pokrov
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (9/13)- On the cusp of Pope Francis’ first-ever visit to the US, as parishioners leave mass, abuse victims handed out fliers to church goers. The leaflets list the names of 36 publicly accused child molesting child molesting Catholic clerics in the San Francisco Archdiocese, and urges Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to:
* disclose the names of other proven, admitted or credibly accused predators, and
* post all church predators’ names on his diocesan website and in church bulletins (like 30 US bishops have done).
The fliers also urge Catholic church members to
* question loved ones about these child molesting clerics (“Did any of these clerics ever hurt you?”) and
* prod anyone who has “seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes of cover ups to call law enforcement.”
For the safety of parishioners, SNAP wants Pope Francis to “defrock, demote or discipline” bishops who continue to “protect predators and endanger kids,” especially by keeping names of child molesting clerics secret.
For more than 25 years, SNAP has repeatedly urged bishops to “aggressively seek out and help” the thousands of victims “still trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.” But bishops refuse to do anything but the most minimal moves, the group contends.
So now, SNAP is prodding rank-and-file Catholics to take this step. Specifically, the organization is asking parishioners to circulate lists of publicly accused predator priests in their dioceses and ask loved ones if any of them were hurt by any of the priests.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2015
Eryk Bagshaw
Education Reporter
The Cranbrook school council has praised the testimony given by the school’s headmaster at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
On Monday the school’s board, lead by prominent businesspeople Helen Nugent and Roger Massy-Greene, emphatically re-affirmed their support of the headmaster, Nicholas Sampson.
“The headmaster continues to have the full support of the school council,” the board wrote in a letter to parents.
“Further, council commends the candid and reflective approach taken by the headmaster in providing his testimony to the Royal Commission.”
The endorsement came after Mr Sampson admitted that he paid a teacher at his former institution, Geelong Grammar, to retire early to avoid any formal complaints of child sex abuse being made against him.
After he suggested the teacher, Jonathan Harvey, retire in 2004, Mr Sampson wrote handwritten notes to him praising his “outstanding service” and for his “friendship and kindness towards my family”, before authorising a payment of $64,348 for the next year in which Harvey did not work.
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AUSTRALIA
Sky News
South Australian Attorney-General John Rau has labelled the child abuse royal commission a ‘Johnny-come-lately’ for recommending a national redress scheme when states are already tackling the issue.
Mr Rau says the value of a nationwide scheme is questionable given many states and territories, including SA, have established compensation programs for child abuse victims.
‘The royal commission are basically a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys poking their noise into space in which they can be all care and no responsibility because they don’t intend paying any of the bills,’ he told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
AAP
A national $4.3 billion redress scheme run by the federal government is the best option to provide justice for child abuse survivors, a royal commission says.
In a report published on Monday the child abuse royal commission made final recommendations for a national scheme, to cover compensation and ongoing support for more than 60,000 abuse victims.
Even though its preferred scheme – one administered by the federal government – was resolutely opposed by Canberra earlier in the year, the commission said on Monday it was the best way forward.
Under that scheme, which would be funded by the churches, schools, charities and other government and non-government institutions where children were abused, survivors would be entitled to payments between $10,000 and $200,000.
And if the institutions could not pay, federal and state governments should come up with the money, as funders of last resort so that all survivors were treated equally.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2015 –
Jane Lee, Rachel Browne
Up to 60,000 people sexually abused as children in institutions should have access to a $4 billion redress scheme as early as 2017, a royal commission has found.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has stood by its call for the federal government to establish a single national redress scheme.
Compensation would largely be funded by institutions where abuse occurred, including schools, religious groups and government organisations, with federal, state and territory governments paying for any shortfall.
The commission’s long-awaited report on redress and civil litigation on Monday estimated “last resort funding” would cost $613 million, about 15 per cent of the total cost of redress. It left it open to both levels of government to negotiate how much they would contribute to this.
It also recommended that states and territories pave the way for survivors to be able to sue institutions for child sexual abuse which care and supervise children including churches, schools and disability and health services from now on.
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AUSTRALIA
The Guardian
Helen Davidson
@heldavidson
Sunday 13 September 2015
Society has failed to protect multiple generations of children from sexual abuse, and a single, national redress scheme is needed to ensure justice and fair compensation for survivors, the royal commission has recommended.
The Australian government should announce its willingness by the end of the year, the royal commission said.
The findings come in a final report on redress and civil litigation (pdf) by the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, which took submissions from more than 250 organisations and individuals.
The commission is currently holding its 28th public hearing into a case study of an Australian institution in which devastating child sexual abuse occurred.
“Because of the nature and impact of the abuse they suffered, many victims of child sexual abuse have not had the opportunity to seek compensation for their injuries that many Australians generally can take for granted,” the report said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Sarah MacDonald
PUBLISHED
14/09/2015
The head of the Catholic Church’s safeguarding watchdog has criticised the absence of a compassionate response to survivors of abuse in some religious orders.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Teresa Devlin, CEO of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, said the provincials of some of the female religious orders had expressed regret and distress to her over the harshness of the regime that their orders oversaw.
“They all knew it was rough and dreadful, particularly in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, where kids were treated like objects, not children,” she said.
Ms Devlin also expressed concern over the low conviction rate of religious accused of child sexual abuse in the civil courts.
Following the publication of 43 safeguarding reviews last week, covering eight male orders and 35 female orders, Ms Devlin appealed to the church authorities to investigate alleged abusers.
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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au
A CONTROVERSIAL scheme introduced by George Pell to deal with complaints of sexual abuse actually discouraged victims from going to police, the child abuse Royal Commission has found.
In a major blow for Melbourne’s Catholic Archdiocese, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse today released its report into Cardinal Pell’s Melbourne Response.
As well as finding the scheme worked to stop victims taking complaints to authorities, the commission also hit out at the Vatican hierarchy saying it worked to obfuscate the removal of paedophiles in its ranks.
Introduced in 1996 by then Melbourne archbishop George Pell, the Melbourne Response was one of the Church’s first schemes to offer redress to victims of paedophile priests.
But in its report released today, the royal commission found compensation model’s independent commissioner discouraged victims from taking complaints to police.
“Advice about the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should have been left to the police” the commission said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail
AAP
The Catholic Church’s much-criticised Melbourne Response is not independent, is overly legalistic and should leave it to the police to advise abuse victims about potential charges, an inquiry has found.
The child abuse royal commission has found the Melbourne Response scheme is not sufficiently independent of the Archdiocese of Melbourne, and its independent commissioners, Carelink counselling and compensation panel are not necessarily independent of each other.
They also share the same lawyers as the archdiocese, creating a potential for conflict and difficulties with maintaining confidentiality, it said.
“We consider that a scheme that is heavily dominated by lawyers and traditional legal process is unlikely to provide the most supportive environment for complainants,” its report released on Monday said.
It found an independent Melbourne Response commissioner, Peter O’Callaghan QC, discouraged two abuse victims from going to the police by providing advice about the process.
“Advice about the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should have been left to the police,” the commission said. “They were the body with all of the relevant information.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
SCOTLAND
Daily Record
Campaigners calling for the re-instatement of a Cambuslang priest who was suspended over unfounded allegations of historic sexual abuse have delivered a 2037-signature petition to the Chancellor of the Diocese of Motherwell.
Representatives of the ‘Bring Back Father Paul Morton to St Bride’s Cambuslang’ campaign handed over the petition to Father Jim Grant almost a year after the priest was removed from his home and parish following the anonymous claims.
Father Morton was cleared on any wrongdoing early this year after being falsely accused in 2014.
Many worshippers at St Bride’s now want him reinstated and have criticised the Catholic Church for dragging their heels on the issue.
There was no public reaction from Joseph Toal, the Bishop of Motherwell, who ordered the priest’s suspension in the first place. When delivering the petition to the Chancellor, campaigners again highlighted their objections to the bishop’s silence.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
NEW YORK
Independent Journal
BY KATIE LAPOTIN
According to Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham, the priests involved in the various child molestation scandals throughout the Catholic church over the last few decades aren’t entirely to blame.
Instead, the Post-Standard reports, Bishop Cunningham says the victims share some of the guilt as well.
During a 2011 deposition as part of a federal lawsuit filed by a man who was allegedly abused by a priest within the Syracuse diocese, the Catholic leader was asked whether or not the church believes a child molested by a priest has committed a sin when he said:
“The boy is culpable.”
When asked to elaborate, he responded:
“Well, I mean, without knowing the circumstances completely, did the boy encourage, go along with in any way.”
The Bishop later acknowledged he couldn’t judge if a young man “had any culpability” when provided more background on the situation, but by that point the damage was done.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
September 14, 2015
Lucy Battersby
The Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne’s process of assisting people sexually abused by its priests or members discouraged victims from contacting police, according to a study by the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The commission noted several problems with the Melbourne Response – a program set up by Cardinal George Pell in late 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne – in a report released on Monday.
The case study identified 12 systemic issues, including the role of the Catholic Church in determining its own redress, and the “relationship between those delivering or coordinating counselling and pyschological care and those making decisions about the abuse and compensation”.
In particular, the commission expressed concern that the church’s own law firm was instructing both the independent commissioner and the archdiocese about the same cases, noting “Corrs’ position as lawyers responsible for the Melbourne Response, as well as solicitors for the Archdiocese, raises a clear potential for conflict. It also raises difficulties with confidentiality.”
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UNITED STATES
Daily News Service
by Matthew Hynds – Sep 14, 2015
A Roman Catholic priest is to be put on trial for abusing children in Honduras during missionary trips.
Joseph Maurizio Jr., from Pennsylvania, is accused of molesting three boys and possessing child pornography. He denies the charges.
Meanwhile, a Catholic archbishop Josef Wesolowski has been found dead in Vatican City before he could stand trial, also for the abuse of boys and the possession of child pornography. Had he lived, and been found guilty, he could have spent 35 years in prison.
In Aurora, Colorado, the Reverend John C. Holdren is facing historic sex abuse allegations relating to one child, and other potential victims are being urged to come forward.
This is just a selection of three cases, ongoing at the time of writing, on a typical day.
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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
14 September, 2015
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse’s report on redress and civil litigation was released today.
In the report, the Royal Commission recommends that ‘in order to provide redress under the most effective structure for ensuring justice for survivors, the Australian Government should establish a single national redress scheme’.
The Redress and civil litigation report contains 99 recommendations aimed at providing justice to victims of child sexual abuse in institutions.
“We became aware early on that redress was a matter of priority to survivors of child sexual abuse,” said Royal Commission CEO Philip Reed.
“Many people have been profoundly harmed by their abuse; their injuries are sometimes severe and can last a life time. Current and past systems have not provided justice for many,” he said.
The report contains recommendations in relation to the provision of effective redress for survivors through the establishment, funding and operation of a single national redress scheme and the provision of a direct personal responses to survivors by institutions.
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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
Read The Report of Case Study No. 16 – The Melbourne Response (PDF 1.1MB).
14 September, 2015
The Royal Commission’s report of Case Study 16 – the Melbourne Response was released today. The Melbourne Response is the Archdiocese of Melbourne’s process for responding to those who have been sexually abused by priests, religious and lay persons within the Archdiocese of Melbourne. It was announced by the then Archbishop Pell in 1996.
The report of Case Study 16 follows a public hearing into the Melbourne Response held in August last year.
At the public hearing the Royal Commission heard evidence from a number of people with direct experience of the Melbourne Response including Christine and Anthony Foster, whose daughters Emma and Katie were sexually abused at the Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Oakleigh. The Fosters gave evidence of their experience with the Melbourne Response from 1997 and the approach taken by the Archdiocese to legal proceedings the Fosters instituted after becoming dissatisfied with the Melbourne Response.
The Royal Commission also heard evidence from Mr Hersbach and Mr AFA who went through the Melbourne Response in 2006 and 2011 respectively.
Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Hart gave evidence that the three components of the Melbourne Response – the Independent Commissioners, Carelink and the Compensation Panel – operate independently of the Archdiocese and each other.
The Royal Commissioners found that the Melbourne Response is not sufficiently independent of the Archdiocese of Melbourne in its operation and each element is not necessarily independent of the others.
The legal advisers to the Archdiocese also provided services to the Independent Commissioner, Carelink and the Compensation panel. Documents created as part of the Melbourne Response were held by the lawyers who acted for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
The Commissioners state in the report that this raises a clear potential for conflict and difficulties with confidentiality.
The Commissioners are satisfied that Mr O’Callaghan QC, one of the Independent Commissioners of the Melbourne Response, provided advice about the police process to Mr Paul Hersbach and Mr AFA that discouraged them from going to the police.
The Commissioners expressed the view that advice on the approach that the police might take to any prosecution, and the likely outcome, should be left to the police.
Cardinal Pell told the Royal Commission that while he was developing the Melbourne Response, he was aware that work was also being undertaken through the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the National Committee for Professional Standards to develop Towards Healing – a national response.
Cardinal Pell accepted that introducing the Melbourne Response when he did had the effect that Towards Healing, which was approved a few weeks later, was not a national response.
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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com
By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on September 13, 2015
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Roman Catholic bishop of Syracuse issued a public letter today clarifying a 2011 deposition in which he said child victims of priest sexual abuse were partly to blame.
Bishop Robert Cunningham sent the letter in response to a story on Syracuse.com and in The Post-Standard that cited his deposition in a federal lawsuit.
“Victims of abuse are never at fault!” Cunningham wrote.
“Depositions are difficult by their nature,” he wrote. “The line of questioning varied between the specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession.”
He said he was trying to explain that he didn’t know what went on in a person’s heart and mind.
“I tried my best to answer questions and I must admit gave responses that I wish were different,” he wrote. “It saddens me to read the article and to realize that my words gave the wrong impression to victims, their families and the people of the diocese that I believe the victims of abuse are at fault. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
In the deposition, Cunningham said,”the boy is culpable” and later referred to victims as accomplices.
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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Louis Wayne Ladenburger was ordained a Franciscan priest of the Province of Santa Barbara CA in 1963. He worked in parishes, high schools and retreat centers in dioceses including Stockton, Oakland and Sacramento CA, Phoenix AZ, Portland OR, El Paso TX (in NM), Spokane and Seattle WA, and Reno-Las Vegas NV. He earned a doctorate degree in divinity from the University of California at Berkeley and became a licensed marriage and family as well as chemical dependency therapist. Ladenburger was treated twice in the 1980s for what the Franciscans called “inappropriate professional behavior and relationships.” He was was allowed both times to return to ministry. In 1993 his order restricted Ladenburger’s ministry after they had him undergo another psychological evaluation due to “heightened concern and new awareness of abuse issues.” Ladenburger refused the restrictions and went on leave of absence. He asked for a dispensation of his vows and was laicized by the Vatican in March 1996. He was hired as a therapist in September 2006 by an Idaho school for high-risk teenage boys. In May 2007 he was fired after two boys accused him of sexual abuse, including fondling and oral sex. He admitted to abusing one of the boys. He was arrested in June and charged with three counts of sexual battery of a minor between the ages of 16 and 17. In a plea agreement in November 2007 Landenburger pleaded guilty to to one count of felony sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to up to 5 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after 6 months.
Ordained: 1963
Laicized: 1996
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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Sunday, Sept. 13
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)
New York Cardinal Tim Dolan should harshly, publicly and immediately denounce two Syracuse bishops for blaming victims of pedophile priests for their victimization.
In a 2011 deposition, Bishop Robert Cunningham was asked a clear, simple question: “did the (abused) boy commit a sin?” He made a clear, simple reply: “The boy is culpable.”
Shame on him.
And his predecessor, Bishop James Moynihan, told abuse victim Charles Bailey ‘The age of reason is 7, so if you’re at least 7 you’re culpable for your actions.’
Shame on him too.
And shame on any and every Catholic official who ignores – and thus essentially endorses – these mean-spirited remarks.
Dolan, as the “metropolitan” bishop over all of New York, has a particular duty to speak up loudly and clearly here unless he wants to deepen the pain of thousands of abuse victims and deepen the victim-shaming and victim-blaming church culture that still persists.
These are inexcusable, irresponsible comments from powerful, smart men. They will deter others who were raped and sodomized from reporting criminals and protecting kids.
This warped, self-serving view – that a child is to blame for his or her victimization by a priest – stems from the exalted and ‘superior’ status clerics give themselves. Bishops think this way because they’ve been indoctrinated since childhood to believe that the ordained are ‘above’ the common folk.
Bishops often talk of “the dignity of every person.” But deep down, many of them are convinced that they really are better than the rest of us, which is why many of them almost compulsively blame others when clerics commit crimes.
We hope Syracuse Catholics will be so disgusted by these mean-spirited remarks that they stop donating to institutions that hide abuse and give instead to agencies that fight abuse.
We also hope that US bishops will harshly and publicly denounce him, so that hurtful comments like this are deterred. They’ve pledged (starting in 2002) that they will “fraternally correct” their colleagues who endanger kids, protect predators, conceal crimes and otherwise mishandle this continuing crisis. Now is the time for them do so.
And we hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes or cover ups in Syracuse will find the courage to speak up, expose wrongdoers, protect kids, seek justice and start healing, by first seeking independent sources of help and NOT reporting to corrupt, self-serving Catholic officials.
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NEW YORK
WSYR
[with video]
[Child victims partly to blame in priest sex-abuse cases, Syracuse bishop testified – Syracuse.com]
Syracuse
Bishop Robert Cunningham is clarifying his views on victims who were abused as children by catholic priests.
The bishop released a long statement on Sunday, responding to an article on the front page of the Post-Standard with the headline: Bishop: Priests’ Victims Share Blame.
“Allow me to be clear: I in no way believe a child is responsible for being abused by any person,” Cunningham stated. “I also believe and have clearly stated that a priest who abuses a child is wrong as is any adult who takes advantage and harms a child.”
The defense comes in response to reporter John O’Brien’s review of a 2011 deposition, filed as part of a federal lawsuit accusing a priest in the Syracuse diocese of sexually abusing a man when he was a child.
Initially, it appears that the questioning was general, not in reference to a specific case.
Cunningham is quoted as saying “The boy is culpable”, in response to a question about whether the church feels a child has committed sin if they have been molested by a priest. He’s then quoted asking if the child did “go along with (it) in any way”.
“The plain and simple fact is that depositions are difficult by their very nature. The line of questioning varied between specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession,” Cunningham explained in his statement this weekend. “I was trying to explain that in general I do not know what is on the minds and hearts of individuals and failed to state clearly what I believe, particularly as it pertained to the case at hand.”
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NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Many of you have awakened this morning to read an article in the Syracuse Newspapers stating that I blame victims for being sexually abused. Allow me to be clear: I in no way believe a child is responsible for being abused by any person. I also believe and have clearly stated that a priest who abuses a child is wrong as is any adult who takes advantage and harms a child.
The article cites passages from a deposition in 2011. I tried my best to answer questions and I must admit gave responses that I wish were different. It saddens me to read the article and to realize that my words give the wrongful impression to victims, their families and the people of the diocese that I believe victims of abuse are at fault. There is nothing further from the truth. Victims of abuse are never at fault!
The plain and simple fact is that depositions are difficult by their very nature. The line of questioning varied between specific and generic scenarios concerning the Sacrament of Confession. I was trying to explain that in general I do not know what is on the minds and hearts of individuals and failed to state clearly what I believe, particularly as it pertained to the case at hand. It is obvious that my choice of words should have been better. Bottom line is, I cannot go back and change my words but I can assure you that I did not believe the individual involved in the case was at fault. I clearly stated the priest was at fault. No child is responsible for being abused. A priest or any other adult who abuses a child is wrong.
Child sexual abuse in the Church is painful for all of us. It never should have a place in our Church. However, we have and are continuing to address this issue with fervor. We are committed to ensuring that child sexual abuse does not happen in the Catholic Church and that all children remain safe. Since 2002, we have established a Diocesan Review Board made up of professionals who bring their skill set to assist in determining credibility of old allegations. Our diocesan policy mandates that all clergy, religious, employees and those volunteers whose ministry puts them in the presence of children complete a criminal background check and child and youth protection training. We also have an Office of Victim Assistance which serves as the point of contact for those who feel they have been harmed and serves as a liaison to assist in providing support for spiritual and emotional healing. It bears repeating from my other letters that there is no member of the clergy serving in the diocese who has a credible allegation of child sexual abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ROME
The Independent (UK)
Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst: Germany’s ‘Bishop of Bling’ in new scandal over penthouse flat in Rome
MICHAEL DAY Author Biography ROME Sunday 13 September 2015
Germany’s “Bishop of Bling”, who was removed from his post in Limburg by Pope Francis after spending extravagant amounts of church money on home improvements, including €350,000 (£257,000) on walk-in wardrobes, is now living the high life in Rome, it is claimed.
Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was summoned to the Vatican for a dressing down in October 2013, when it emerged he’d spent €31m on renovations.
A spokesman for the Holy See then announced that the high-spending clergyman would go on a “period of leave from the diocese”.
But earlier this year it emerged that the German Bishop had been given an impressive-sounding job in Rome as “delegate for catechesis” at the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.
And according to a report this weekend in a local paper, The Italian Insider, Bishop Tebartz-van Elst is enjoying suitably luxurious accommodation to go with his new job – a 200sq m penthouse close to Rome’s most famous and celebrated central square, Piazza Navona.
The apartment, with a large terrace, is only yards away from the five-star Hotel Raphael, where the notoriously corrupt former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi commandeered an entire floor before fleeing the country in disgrace in 1994.
The Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told The Independent that he did not wish to comment on Bishop Tebartz-van Elst’s new accommodation. “I don’t know anything about this. It’s nothing to do with me and I don’t wish to comment on this gossip,” he said.
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CHILE
Christian Today
Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 13 September 2015
The Catholic Church has been drawn into a new scandal after senior clerics conspired to block a survivor from joining the Pope’s sex abuse advisory board, accusing him of “lies”.
Emails between the Archbishop of Santiago and his predecessor, leaked to Chile’s top online newspaper El Mostrador, show how they blocked Juan Carlos Cruz from the Holy See’s advisory board, set up by the Pope last year to help create a climate of greater accountability.
Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz were both concerned that if details of the abuse emerged the Church would be damaged as a result. “I hope we can prevent lies from finding space between those who belong to the same church,” Cardinal Ezzati wrote to Cardinal Errazuri.
Cruz was one of many boys abused by Father Fernando Karadima, one of the Church’s most notorious paedophiles. Karadima, who ran a parish in Santiago for six decades, has been ordered to spend the rest of his life in penance and prayer for his depraved abuse of young boys.
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IRELAND/CHILE
Irish Times
Pamela Duncan, Elaine Edwards
Sun, Sep 13, 2015
Abuse survivor Marie Collins has described as “sickening” apparent attempts to block an abuse survivor’s nomination to the Pope’s child protection commission.
Ms Collins, who is a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, last year nominated Chilean abuse survivor Juan Carlos Cruz, to become a member.
Last week leaked emails between two senior Chilean Church members – the Archbishop of Santiago, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and his predecessor Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz – were published by Chilean newspaper El Mostrador.
The emails appear to show that the two men lobbied to block Mr Cruz’s nomination over fears it could damage the Chilean Church.
Cardinal Ezzati has since claimed that he was quoted out of context.
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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC Radio 4
It’s alleged there was a ‘backroom deal’ between the CPS, the police and Church of England to avoid a damaging trial of a senior Bishop for indecent assault and gross indecency in the 1990’s. This week Bishop Peter Ball plead guilty to a series of historic sex offences against 18 young men between the 1970s and 90s. William Crawley asks why the original charges were dropped and where it leaves the Church today.
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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A retired bishop who has admitted sex offences against young men, should have faced charges 22 years ago, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has admitted.
The CPS said a caution given to Peter Ball in 1993 was wrong as there was sufficient evidence to prosecute.
However, it said its approach to sexual abuse has changed and such a decision would not be made today.
On Tuesday, Ball, 83, pleaded guilty to 18 charges of sex abuse involving men in the 1970s and 1990s.
He also pleaded guilty to the offence of misconduct in public office between 1977 and 1992.
Ball was Bishop of Lewes between 1977 and 1992 and Bishop of Gloucester from 1992 until his resignation the following year.
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UNITED KINGDOM
Christian Today
Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 13 September
The disgraced former Bishop of Gloucester Peter Ball should have been prosecuted 22 years ago when his sex abuse crimes first came to light, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.
There was sufficient evidence then to mount a prosecution and the decision merely to issue a caution was wrong, BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme revealed.
Last Tuesday, more than two decades later, Ball pleaded guilty to 18 charges to sex abuse involving young men and to further charges involving misconduct in public office, going back 35 years. He will be sentenced next month.
Solicitor David Greenwood, who represents several of Ball’s victims, told Sunday that offenders such as Ball – who was Bishop of Lewes before his elevation to Gloucester – who had risen to a position of power, tended to feel they were working in a culture where they could “get away with it” without being caught. “It seems that Peter Ball has been able to do that,” he said.
The officer in the case said Ball had used a “cloak of fraudulent Christianity” to deceive and groom his victims. Many of the victims were aspiring priests and he would offer to support them through their ordination.
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AUSTRALIA
Broken Rites
A boy complained about being sexually abused by a Catholic priest, but the church merely transferred the priest to a new parish, thus giving him access to more children, a Sydney court has been told. Many years later, one of the victims contacted Broken Rites, which advised him to speak to detectives. Police then charged the priest, Father Robert Flaherty, now retired (aged 72), who eventually pleaded guilty regarding his assaults on two boys, committed in Sydney parishes in the 1970s. On 7 September 2015, a jury found Flaherty guilty of assaulting a third boy. Flaherty will be sentenced soon.
Robert Francis Flaherty (born 14 June 1943) was a priest in the Sydney archdiocese.
Broken Rites first heard of Father Robert Flaherty in 2012, in a phone call from one of Flaherty’s victims. Broken Rites arranged for this victim (“Dwayne”, not his real name) to contact a Detectives Office of the New South Wales Police. In the police files, the detectives found a previous complaint from another boy in one of Flaherty’s other parishes. While conducting their investigation of Flaherty in 2013, the detectives found another victim in another parish.
In 2013, police charged Flaherty regarding three boys, aged between 11 and 15, who lived in parishes where Father Flaherty worked, in three suburbs (St Marys, Richmond and Blacktown — all to the west of Sydney).
The offences occurred between 1971 and 1982 in western Sydney or during visits to this priest’s holiday house (inherited from his parents) at Mollymook, 220 miles from Sydney on the New South Wales south coast, near Ulladulla.
* In 2014, Flaherty appeared in Sydney’s Parramatta District Court, where he pleaded guilty regarding two of the boys (one incident per boy). He is awaiting sentence regarding these two victims.
* Originally, Flaherty pleaded not guilty to two charges (“indecent assault of a male”) regarding a third boy, aged about 12. On 7 September 2015, after a trial conducted by Judge R. Cogswello, a jury returned a verdict of “Guilty” on these two charges regarding the third boy (the official number of this court case was 2013/00201461).
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AUSTRALIA
The Courier Mail
September 13, 2015
Nigel Hunt
The Advertiser
THE physical and sexual assault of dozens of young homeless boys at the Salvation Army’s former Eden Park home in the Adelaide Hills will be the subject of a public hearing next month.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will sit in Adelaide from October 6 — with abuse victims, Salvation Army officials and former state government welfare workers to give evidence.
Several former Salvation Army officers have faced the courts charged with physical and sexual abuse of children at Eden Park during the 1960s and 1970s. One of them, William John Ellis, has been jailed for 16 years for raping four boys between 1960 and 1971.
Another former worker, John Richard Kerslake, committed suicide last November while awaiting a verdict on charges that he systematically abused five boys in the 1970s. A third, Captain David Osborne, was convicted of assault last year, but the jury could not reach a verdict on sexual assault charges.
Duncan Basheer Hannon lawyer Matt de Gregorio said the public hearing would “be an appropriate forum for light to be shone on the brutal practices “that had been common at Eden Park’’.
“It was a brutal regime of violence, often coupled with sexual assault of the many young boys who were living there,’’ he said.
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UTAH
Fox 13
[with video]
BY FOX 13 NEWS AND ZACH WHITNEY
SPRINGDALE, Utah — A documentary film investigating the actions of FLDS Church Leader Warren Jeffs made its southern Utah premiere Friday night, and those involved in the film said they hope it raises awareness of the alleged illegal activity going on in Hildale and Colorado City along the Utah-Arizona border.
Hundreds of people gathered in Springdale to see the telling documentary film. It’s called “Prophet’s Prey”, and the film’s principal storyteller, Sam Brower, said he hopes it inspires others to take action for a community he says is suffering.
“We need to stop Warren S. Jeffs from destroying families,” a voice says during the documentary film.
“Prophet’s Prey” has already been shown at all over the world, and now it has come to southern Utah.
he people here are the ones who had the guts and courage to come out and talk about it.”
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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
September 12, 2015
IMOGEN ELLIOTT
Mercury
THE Anglican Bishop of Tasmania, John Harrower, says he will remember Tasmania as a place of great hospitality and hopes it can do more to help refugees.
Bishop Harrower yesterday officially retired after 15 years as the state’s 11th bishop.
Using his role to call for an inquiry in to child abuse in the church, speak out against domestic violence and challenge the Government’s stance on gambling and refugees, Bishop Harrower was an active member of the community that invited change.
He made headlines when he used his debut media conference to apologise to victims of sexual abuse.
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UTAH
The Spectrum
Kevin Jenkins, kevin@thespectrum.com September 12, 2015
Ben Thomas, a former work manager for Hildale’s Phaze Concrete, watched with some discomfort Friday night as he was projected on the big screen at Springdale’s O.C. Tanner Amphitheater during the DOCUTAH film festival’s premiere showing of “Prophet’s Prey,” a documentary on the local polygamist community.
“I thought it went really well. … It was really well done,” Thomas said prior to being invited onstage at the film’s close for a question and answer panel.
“But it was really hard to watch,” he said. “My brother-in-law runs (Phaze) now – as far as I know. They feel like I threw them under the bus” by deciding to appear in the documentary.
A few hundred people made the trek to the outdoor amphitheater on the doorstep of Zion National Park to see the insiders-on-the-outside accounts of life under Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the film’s name. DOCUTAH officials estimated about 800 more filled Dixie State University’s Cox Auditorium nearly to capacity Saturday for the film festival’s final-day showing.
Among those viewing the film for the first time were a number of the film’s participants, such as Thomas. Thomas’ role included talking about how he monitored the contractor’s large commercial concrete jobs from Seattle to New Mexico and helped funnel money to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints under the direction of Jeffs’ religious hierarchy.
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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PHILADELPHIA — The pipe organ thundered during Sunday morning Masses as worshipers gathered inside the grand Basilica Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in central Philadelphia.
Outside in the hot August sun, artists and others were busily preparing an eyeful for Pope Francis’ visit here in late September.
Their project: building a makeshift grotto and displaying tens of thousands of strips of cloth in which individual visitors have written their prayers, many in English or Spanish, asking for the welfare of their families, friends, immigrants, the homeless and the hungry.
“Hopefully this will give voice to those who otherwise may not have a voice,” said Meg Saligman, the local artist coordinating the project, who said some 30,000 prayers have been contributed.
And some of those prayers are for the Catholic Church in Philadelphia — which by all accounts will need it, and not just amid the bewildering logistics of hosting the largest public events of Francis’ first visit to the United States. Francis’ appearances will include an outdoor festival on Sept. 26 and an outdoor Mass the following day.
Philadelphia is one of the cradles of American Catholicism, an immigrant gateway that weathered deadly anti-Catholic rioting in the 19th century and became home to the first American parochial school system and pioneering saints Katharine Drexel and John Neumann.
But more recently, the city became the dateline for some of the most devastating revelations of sexual abuse by priests in the world.
Grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011 found that cardinals and other clerics shifted numerous known abusers from one unsuspecting parish to another. A priest in the archdiocese’s hierarchy is behind bars for his conviction for keeping a known abuser in a parish setting where he could and did molest again.
Compounding the archdiocese’s troubles were an embezzlement conviction in 2012 of a chief financial officer involving nearly $1 million.
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NEW YORK
Syracuse.com
[with excerpt from the deposition]
By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com
on September 13, 2015
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The victims of child-molesting priests are partly to blame for their own abuse, the bishop of Syracuse said in a sworn deposition that revealed his views on the church’s sex abuse scandal.
Bishop Robert Cunningham testified in a 2011 deposition in response to a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said a priest in the Syracuse diocese sexually abused him as a child.
The man’s lawyer asked Cunningham whether, in the eyes of the church, a child molested by a priest has committed a sin.
“The boy is culpable,” Cunningham said Oct. 14, 2011, according to a transcript of the deposition.
His sworn testimony provides rare insight into the thoughts of the highest-ranking Catholic in Syracuse about one of the most troubling chapters in the church’s history.
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MALTA
Malta Independent
‘I cannot remain silent when faced with the murder of a human being’ – Gozo Bishop Mario Grech
Kevin Schembri Orland
Sunday, 13 September 2015
Gozo Bishop Mario Grech took a strong stand against abortion during an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, adamant that human life must always be at the forefront.
He explained that this is especially true in cases where a human being is defenceless. “I think, in my ethical opinion, this is non-negotiable. This doesn’t mean I am going to interfere with the state or tell the legislature what to do. However, as a citizen, I cannot remain silent when faced with the murder of a human being. If we believe that from the moment of conception there is life, then every intervention that can weaken, put in peril or remove life, is ethically wrong.” …
‘When I hear about an allegation regarding abuse of minors, I call the priest and limit his ministry as a precaution’
Turning to Dominic Camilleri, a priest who was recently defrocked over allegations of child abuse that drew media attention, the Bishop was asked about the allegation that Dominic Camilleri held mass privately while under suspension from doing so.
“When I hear about an allegation regarding abuse of minors, I call the priest and limit his ministry as a precaution. My predecessor did the same, I think, and in fact, I think he went further and suspended all his ministries. This means that the priest will not be able to hold mass, let alone hear confession. It was reported that in 2013 he held private mass – what does that mean, in a private home? One would not have control over that, but if were in a public place, then yes, that would fall under the responsibility of the Bishop. However, this doesn’t appear to have happened and, in fact, the opposite did. There were a number of occasions when he, for a family reason, would need to administer his ministry and would always seek permission. Many times, that permission was not given.” The Bishop explained that before 2013 there was a very personal matter where the priest was granted permission. After May 2013, however, he was not granted permission for any such requests.
He spoke of the alleged uproar that occurred within the Gozitan Church regarding the handling of Dominic Camilleri’s case, Bishop Grech said he wasn’t aware of it. “Not to say that I completely deny it, but I am not aware of it.” He also said that he wasn’t aware of the letter sent to the Cardinal and copied to the Pope. He said that he hadn’t been contacted by the Holy See or the Apostolic Nuncio, but rather to the contrary. When he saw the first report in the papers, he contacted the Apostolic Nuncio who told him to continue business as usual and not to consider what is being said in the papers.
The media report read that the letter held a number of strong allegations including that he was considered to be a bully. Bishop Grech said that “It’s not for me to describe myself, but I can assure you I try to do everything but bully. One of my secretaries once told me – ‘Priests come here and always leave smiling after a meeting. It’s not in my nature to bully. I’m aware that I’m a bishop. Everyone is human and has his or her own shortcomings; however, I try to be careful to be meek and gentle.”
Turning to the issue of child abuse, the Bishop explained that the Church in Malta and Gozo, in 1999, set up what was called the ‘response team’. “Later it changed name, but not substance. Today, it is known as the Safeguarding Commission. I was on the Commission that created the policy, as well as on the team. I am aware of our responsibilities. I have to say this, however: whenever there was a case involving a Gozitan priest, I would excuse myself, as, being from Gozo, I lived with them and did not wish to judge them. When I was made Bishop, the Holy See organised a course for baby bishops. Once appointed, I was no longer on the response team and I remember that Central European bishops were not even aware of abuse by priests on children, or perhaps they didn’t want to be aware. In the UK, however, their mentality was like ours. This was the situation in 2006. In Italy, for example, they wouldn’t even mention the issue and would continue to handle it like they did before. Seven years prior, we had set up the response team. The Safeguarding Commission is competent for both the Archdiocese in Malta and Gozo and Mr Andrew Azzopardi is both the Archbishop and my delegate, so such cases are in the hands of the Commission.”
On the length of time such cases take to conclude, the Bishop believes it is not fair on either the alleged victims or the alleged perpetrator. “Only when the final decision is made, truth is established, so until then the priest is always presumed guilty. It’s not fair on anyone. It was taking too long and this is why we changed policy, but this length of time is not only evident in Malta, but also in Rome. I think it’s a matter of manpower. The more case load one has, the slower the process.”
The Bishop was asked if any preventative policies exist, rather than tackling cases after they occur. “We check the register and if they are not there, then there is no reason to withhold them. Nowadays, during their Priestly formation we do deal with this issue and speak with our students regarding the gravity of such acts and their responsibilities as men of the Church. The policy for cases of sexual abuse has a preventive section as well.
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SCOTLAND
Daily Record
13 SEPTEMBER 2015
BY MARION SCOTT
A PARISH priest has been suspended over abuse allegations.
Father Tom Shields has been ordered to stand down from his duties while police probe the claims.
The Catholic Church called in police after the allegations emerged against Shields, the priest at St John the Baptist church in Perth.
Church authorities say they found no evidence of any crime but the priest remains under suspension.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Dunkeld said: “Following a historical allegation against Father Tom Shields, he has been temporarily removed from his parish of St John’s, Perth and from his diocesan duties while national safeguarding protocols are followed.
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IRELAND
Irish Independent
Bill Carney was linked to a suspected paedophile ring but his death leaves unanswered questions, writes Maeve Sheehan
Maeve Sheehan
PUBLISHED
13/09/2015
The odious former priest Bill Carney died in the Midlands Prison last Saturday week, apparently without a word of remorse or apology to his many victims.
He was awaiting trial on 34 charges of sexually abusing eight boys and two girls over 20 years up to 1989, having pleaded neither guilty nor not guilty, his day of reckoning delayed because of his bad health.
According to his anonymous friend of 35 years who contacted Joe Duffy’s radio show last week, Carney was suffering. He had been beaten up by other prisoners and looked unwell, with swollen legs from a kidney complaint.
These were the last days of a serial paedophile who spent decades of his life as a priest stalking children’s homes for prey, selecting the vulnerable ones and bullying and manipulating his way into their lives. He was foul mouthed and obnoxious towards those who got in his way. On the many occasions when they complained to his Catholic superiors, he bleated self-serving denials which were accepted in order to avoid scandal.
His death from a heart condition in his prison cell last Saturday week robbed his many victims of the chance to see him judged before his peers for a lifetime of crimes against children.
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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Jamie Manson | Sep. 11, 2015
A little over a week ago when Pope Francis announced that all Roman Catholic priests will be given the power to absolve women from “the sin of abortion” during the Holy Year of Mercy, some Catholics declared it as another win for church reform and renewal.
“I have met so many women who bear in their heart the scar of this agonizing and painful decision,” Francis said. “What has happened is profoundly unjust; yet only understanding the truth of it can enable one not to lose hope.”
In the wake of the announcement, several critiques of the pontiff’s words have been published in major media outlets. One of the most compelling pieces comes from Karen Barbato, posted the website of Cosmopolitan magazine. …
Barbato says that she and many other Catholic women do not feel that they need forgiveness for their decision to have an abortion. She points to several studies that suggest that very often it isn’t the abortion that causes women emotional distress, but rather “perceptions of stigma, need for secrecy, and low or anticipated social support for [their] decision.” …
An op-ed in the New York Times this week by lawyer and journalist Jill Filipovic expands on Barbato’s point.
Filipovic concedes that some women do feel regret and guilt about their abortion.
“But,” she writes, “women primarily feel guilty when they experience stigma and a lack of support for their choice. In telling women that they can be forgiven during this one year, the pope plays on the ambivalence and embarrassment that can come from silence around abortion.”
Filipovic also analyzes how the pope’s decision plays into the larger strategy of the anti-abortion movement:
“While the pope’s announcement has been hailed as evidence of the church’s new, softer approach, it’s actually the latest example of the modern anti-abortion strategy: Portray women as victims who need to be protected from themselves with laws that restrict abortion rights.”
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UNITED STATES
Talking Points Memo
By SARAH POSNER | SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
On May 21, the gossip magazine In Touch published an explosive, career-crushing report about a beloved figure in the religious right: Josh Duggar, the oldest child of the ultra-conservative Christian family of TLC’s hit reality show 19 Kids and Counting, had, as a teenager, sexually abused five minor girls.
“Bombshell Duggar Police Report: Jim Bob Duggar Didn’t Report Son Josh’s Alleged Sex Offenses for More Than a Year,” blared the instantly viral online headline. The cover of the tabloid that would sell at supermarket checkouts across the country was even more lurid: “House of Horrors,” a reference to In Touch’s discovery that four of Josh’s victims were his younger sisters.
At the time of the In Touch revelations, Duggar was a 27-year-old married father of three with another on the way, and the executive director of a leading Christian right advocacy group, Family Research Council Action. He promptly admitted to acting “inexcusably” and resigned his post.
But a mystery remained at the heart of the tabloid drama. The Duggars’ explanations for how they handled their son’s confessions elided some crucial details, and Josh Duggar’s did as well. In a statement issued to People magazine just hours after the In Touch report was published, he said, “We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling.”
What Josh Duggar didn’t say—and what his parents and two of his sisters didn’t say in interviews with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly a few weeks later—was what, precisely, that counseling entailed. Although none of the Duggars has ever publicly identified it as such, the facility where Josh was sent in Little Rock is owned and operated by the Institute in Basic Life Principles, an insular and authoritarian evangelical homeschooling ministry whose charismatic founder, former followers say, sexually harassed female employees, blamed rape victims for provoking their attackers, and subjected young disciples to grueling physical labor for little or no pay.
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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas C. Fox | Sep. 11, 2015
Some 500 Catholic activists from around the globe will converge on Philadelphia for a three-day conference Sept. 18-20 to press for women’s rights in the church. They will meet one week before Pope Francis is set to step foot into the city.
The U.S.-based Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is hosting the Women’s Ordination Worldwide meeting. The Women’s Ordination Conference formed 40 years back, in 1975, after a group of women’s ordination advocates met in Detroit. Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW), an assembly of international groups supporting women’s ordination, formed in 1996; the U.S. group is a member.
The three-day gathering will assess the place of women in church and society and develop plans to advance their Gospel-based justice agendas. Delegates will also assess advances and setbacks within the movement since the 1970s.
Among the speakers at next week’s gathering will be veteran Catholic feminists Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Mary Hunt, Mercy Sr. Theresa Kane and Loretto Sr. Maureen Fiedler. Delegates will also hear from:
Theologian and archeological researcher Dorothy Irvin;
British theologian Tina Beattie;
Australian historian Paul Collins;
Patricia Fresen, expelled from her order following her illicit ordination in 2004;
Kristina Keneally, a liberation theologian who writes on women’s issues;
Ursula King, who writes on women’s spirituality.
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OHIO
YouTube
Uploaded on Oct 11, 2008
Beth Ann Rocker starts her story of her sexual abuse between the ages of 8 and 12 years old by her Steubenville parish priest .
[ http://www.steubenvilletruth.org/ ] If you wish to connect with this survivor, contact: snapsteubenville@gmail.com
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OHIO
YouTube
Uploaded on Oct 11, 2008
Beth Ann Rocker concludes her story of her sexual abuse between the ages of 8 and 12 years old by her Steubenville parish priest.
[ http://www.steubenvilletruth.org/ ] If you wish to connect with this survivor, contact: snapsteubenville@gmail.com
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BOSTON (MA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
They challenge pope to demote bishops
SNAP: “Church officials refuse to do aggressive outreach”
So group asks parishioners to “search for wounded survivors”
“Post names of proven predators on church websites,” victims say
What:
On the cusp of Pope Francis’ first-ever visit to the US, as parishioners leave mass, abuse victims will hand out fliers urging church goers. The leaflets list the names of 256 publicly accused child molesting Catholic clerics in the Boston Archdiocese, and urges the local bishop to
–disclose the names of other proven, admitted or credibly accused predators, and
–post all church predators’ names on his diocesan website and in church bulletins. Boston Archdiocese has done this, but we fear the list is incomplete.
The fliers also urge Catholic church members to
–question loved ones about these child molesting clerics (“Did any of these clerics ever hurt you?”) and
–prod anyone who has “seen, suspected or suffered clergy sex crimes of cover ups to call law enforcement.”
WHEN
Sunday, Sept.13 at noon.
WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 1400 Washington Street, Boston
WHO
Five-six adults who was abused as kids by clerics (and their supporters) who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org),
WHY
While Catholic officials pretend that the on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis is waning, thousands of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests are living among unsuspecting neighbors with little or no supervision. (Several hundred are on sex offender registries but most are not. And most have not been defrocked.)
Some, in fact, are still in church jobs:
For the safety of parishioners, SNAP wants Pope Francis to “defrock, demote or discipline” bishops who continue to “protect predators and endanger kids,” especially by keeping names of child molesting clerics secret.
For more than 25 years, SNAP has repeatedly urged bishops to “aggressively seek out and help” the thousands of victims “still trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.” But bishops refuse to do anything but the most minimal moves, the group contends.
So now, SNAP is prodding rank-and-file Catholics to take this step. Specifically, the organization is asking parishioners to circulate lists of publicly accused predator priests in their dioceses and ask loved ones if any of them were hurt by any of the priests.
SNAP also wants church-goers to push bishops to post these names on church websites. More than two dozen prelates have done this, including Boston, but we fear the Boston list is incomplete:
Contact:
Dave O’Regan 434-446-6769, worcestersnap@gmail.com, David Clohessy 314-566-9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com
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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
LAST UPDATED: Saturday, September 12, 2015
The former Archbishop Wood High School basketball coach fired last year for his presence at an attack on a gay couple in Center City filed notice Friday that he will sue the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, alleging slander.
The notice of the impending lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court by Francis McGlinn against Archbishop Charles J. Chaput; the archdiocese; and its spokesman, Kenneth A. Gavin.
The legal notice to sue does not include the complaint, which would outline the reason for the lawsuit, but it clearly involves statements made by Gavin last September after three graduates of Wood were arrested in the Sept. 11, 2014, attack on two men.
Gavin was quoted in the Philadelphia Daily News confirming McGlinn’s termination as an assistant basketball coach at Wood, in Warminster, where the 25-year-old Warrington man once played basketball.
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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Paul Peirce
Friday, Sept. 11, 2015
A Honduran man told a federal jury Friday that he was molested by a Somerset County Catholic priest six years ago when he lived in an orphanage in Honduras. He said he also saw the priest having sex with another teenage orphan in a church at the mission later in the day.
The man, now 22, testified on the second day of the Rev. Joseph Maurizio’s sex trial in U.S. District Court in Johnstown. His testimony about both incidents was corroborated by a second Honduran who lived at the mission in 2009 when Maurizio visited.
Prosecutors allege that Maurizio used money from a foundation he established while pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Central City, Somerset County, to benefit the ProNino orphanage in Honduras. They allege he traveled there to molest and have sex with homeless boys who lived in the orphanage from 2003 to 2009.
The alleged victim, who was 16 years old, testified Maurizio specifically asked the orphanage administrators in March 2009 that he and two other orphans accompany him on a drive to a warehouse where food and clothing donated by the priest’s self-run Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries were stored. They were going to take the goods back to the mission.
“Every March he would come down (from Pennsylvania) and bring gifts and chocolates,” the man testified under questioning from U.S. Justice Department attorney Amy E. Larson.
As they were loading goods from the warehouse into a truck, the man said, he and Maurizio were alone inside the facility and the priest grabbed his genitals.
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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser
DARYL MCLURE GEELONG ADVERTISER SEPTEMBER 07, 2015
GEELONG featured in national newspapers, television and radio news bulletins throughout last week as the heartbreaking stories of sexual abuse of young children at one of Australia’s most prestigious schools, Geelong Grammar, were detailed at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Once again, as was the case with the Catholic Church, it seems the Anglican Church/school, failed to act on reports from students being abused, continued to employ offenders at the school and seemed more interested in protecting its reputation than the children in its care.
This has been a common pattern with church institutions in which child sexual abuse has taken place, but offenders in several of the cases heard last week have been dealt with by the courts and the school has also made restitution in a number of instances.
On the other hand, lawyers did warn last week that while Geelong Grammar had settled legal action taken by at least four people abused as children, it could face more claims or a class action.
The Catholic parish priest of St Mary of the Angels Basilica, Father Kevin Dillon, gave another moving sermon on Sunday week in relation to the lack of Christian compassion and leadership shown by his church’s leaders in relation to the sexual abuse of children over several decades.
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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat
By Randy Griffith
rgriffith@tribdem.com
A 22-year-old man identified only as Erick said he was loading supplies for the Honduras orphanage he called home when the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. touched him in a sexual manner.
“I got scared,” Erick testified through an interpreter Friday during Maurizio’s trial in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
Later the same day in 2009, he said, Maurzio touched him again while the two were in a pickup truck. That time, Maurizio asked him to masturbate for him.
“Father Joe” gave him money after each incident, Erick testified.
Maurizio, 60, is accused of using his charity, Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries Inc., and its funds to travel to the ProNino complexes in Honduras to prey on children. Federal counts include possession of child pornography and engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.
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CALIFORNIA
YouTube
Published on Sep 11, 2015
Joelle Casteix, the leading national “in the trenches” expert on the prevention and exposure of child sex abuse and cover-up, uses her own experiences to illustrate how to move past the trap of victimhood by taking responsibility.
Joelle Casteix is author of the upcoming book THE WELL-ARMORED CHILD: A PARENT’S GUIDE TO PREVENTING ABUSE. She is also the leading national “in the trenches” expert on the prevention and exposure of child sex abuse and cover-up. A successful writer and blogger, her other books include THE COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE: HOW TO HELP AND EMPOWER THE ADULT VICTIM OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE and YES, MY SON, WINE IS ONE OF THE FIVE FOOD GROUPS. Since 2003, Joelle has been the volunteer Western Regional Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Joelle took the TEDxPasadenaWomen audience through her own experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse and how it has shaped the work she does now.
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SCOTLAND
Catholic World Report
September 11, 2015
Dorothy Cummings McLean
On August 18, 2015, the McLellan Commission released a report entitled “A Review of the Current Safeguarding Policies, Procedures and Practise within the Catholic Church in Scotland”. The work was commissioned by the Scottish Catholic Bishops, and the committee was headed by Dr Andrew McLellan, a former Moderator of the Church of Scotland. A short summary of the 87-page document was released to the Scottish media, whose coverage showed little evidence that it had read the report in its entirety.
The McLellan Commission was convened in 2013, the year Edinburgh’s archbishop Cardinal Keith O’Brien resigned amid allegations he had made sexual advances to priests. In 2013, allegations also surfaced that boys had been physically and sexually abused by Benedictine monks at their school at Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire before it closed in 1993. The Commission was not asked to research Scottish Catholic clerical misconduct, but to examine the measures the Scottish Catholic bishops had already put in place to protect children and vulnerable adults.
Instead the Commission has produced a badly constructed, meandering document, the first two chapters providing a turgid and repetitive preamble which offers generalities and platitudes about abuse and Catholic shame instead of offering information. Very little context regarding the Catholic Church in Scotland is provided. It is not until Chapter 3 (paragraph 3.49) that the reader is told how many Catholic priests serve in Scotland’s 500 Catholic parishes (590). Never is the reader told how many priests in Scotland have been found guilty of sexual abuse.
In Chapter 2, however, we are told that there were 45 allegations of abuse between 2006 and 2012. “More than half” were claims of sexual abuse. Seven of these resulted in prosecution. (The Commission does not disclose the verdicts.) In 2013, a further 15 allegations of abuse—the Commission does not specify the kind—were made, six relating to events before 1990. Two of those cases are currently before the public prosecutor, and three clerics have been removed from ministry.
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DEUTSCHLAND
kathweb
[Causa Tebartz: Limburg will “respect” Vatican decision.]
Bonn, 11.09.2015 (KAP/KNA) Nach dem Vatikan-Bescheid zu Bischof Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst hat sich der Pressesprecher der Diözese Limburg, Stephan Schnelle, in einem Pressegespräch um Schadensbegrenzung bemüht. Sowohl der Limburger Apostolische Administrator, Weihbischof Manfred Grothe als auch sein Ständiger Vertreter, Domkapitular Wolfgang Rösch, wollten das Votum aus Rom “respektieren”. Schnelle räumte ein, dass es in der Diözese doch auch deutlich Missfallen an der römischen Entscheidung gibt.
Durch die Entscheidung muss sich Bischof Tebartz-van Elst um seine finanzielle Zukunft keine Sorgen machen, denn die Diözese Limburg kann ihn nicht vor einem vatikanischen Gericht auf Schadenersatz verklagen, wie die Bischofskongregation im Vatikan entschied. Doch wie schon häufiger im Fall Tebartz-van Elst bleibt auch diesmal vieles unklar. Erwartet wird deshalb, dass sich bei der traditionellen Limburger Kreuzwoche, die am Sonntag beginnt, Kritik artikulieren wird. Schnelle geht jedenfalls davon aus, dass die jüngste Entscheidung bei den Veranstaltungen der Kreuzwoche “sicher” ein Thema sein wird.
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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche
Kommentar von Matthias Drobinski
Am Anfang stand der bittere Skandal um die sexuelle Gewalt von Priestern und Kirchenmitarbeitern, der die katholische Kirche im Jahr 2010 in den Abgrund blicken ließ. Und als es um die Frage ging, was nun anders werden müsste in dieser Kirche, folgte die Erkenntnis: Die Bischöfe und das Kirchenvolk mögen die gleichen Gebete sprechen – doch sie reden aneinander vorbei, dass sich dem Heiligen Geist die Federn sträuben müssten, sollte er wirklich eine Taube sein.
In dieser Not hatte Robert Zollitsch, damals Vorsitzender der Bischofskonferenz, eine Idee: Man müsste mal reden mit dem Volk. Schon vor fünf Jahren zog dieser Gesprächsprozess einigen Spott auf sich. Das Kirchenvolk? Es trafen sich die Bischöfe mit ausgewählten Vertretern aus den Pfarreien und Verbänden, der Priester und Ordensleute. Und worüber reden, wenn doch nichts entschieden werden kann? Der konservative Kölner Kardinal Joachim Meisner zum Beispiel machte bei sich daheim im Erzbistum schnell klar: Übers Beten können wir gerne sprechen, über Veränderungen nicht.
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SCOTLAND
The Times
Paris Gourtsoyannis
Published September 12 2015
The University of St Andrews has been criticised by victims of sexual abuse after it dismissed a request to remove an honorary degree given to Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
Cardinal O’Brien, once the most senior Roman Catholic clergyman in Britain, has been accused of making a string of sexual advances towards priests during his 25 years as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.
One of his alleged victims has claimed Cardinal O’Brien was a sexual “predator” who used confessions from priests and seminarians to groom them.
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CHILE
el Nuevo Herald
[Marie Collins of Ireland, member of the pontifical commission on sexual abuse, on Friday expressed displeasure at the attitude of two Catholic cardinals in Chile. Emails released this week indicate they attempted to block survivor Juan Carlos Cruz from membership on the commission.
“I am personally disgusted by the attitude displayed by these leaders, she said.
Crus said it is sad to hear two cardinals talk like that or treat a person like that but more serious they were interfering in an appointment to be made by the Holy Father. He likened it to going back to the “days of the Borgias.”]
POR EVA VERGARA
Associated Press
SANTIAGO, CHILE
Una integrante de la Comisión Pontificia de Previsión de Abusos Sexuales expresó el viernes su disgusto por la actitud de dos cardenales de Chile hacia esa entidad católica y una víctima de un sacerdote chileno pedófilo.
Los cardenales Francisco Javier Errázuriz y su colega y actual arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, intercambiaron una serie de correos electrónicos en 2014, en los que se pusieron de acuerdo para hablar con prelados en el Vaticano para frenar el nombramiento del periodista Juan Carlos Cruz en la comisión papal.
Los correos fueron publicados por el diario electrónico El Mostrador, que no reveló cómo los obtuvo y que recibió críticas por publicar correos privados. El Arzobispado de Santiago reconoció la autenticidad de los correos.
La irlandesa Marie Collins, que propuso a Cruz para integrar la comisión papal, dijo en exclusiva a The Associated Press que el grupo deberá abordar el asunto. “Personalmente estoy disgustada por la actitud mostrada por estos líderes” respecto a la Comisión y a un sobreviviente de abuso.
“Es muy triste oír a dos cardenales hablar de esa forma y tratar a una persona así, pero lo más grave es interferir en un nombramiento que iba a hacer el Santo Padre”, dijo a la AP Cruz. “Interferir de esa forma, como en la época de los Borgia”.
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UNITED STATES
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
By BY JOSIE MUSICO
A-J MEDIA
A famed Christian leader makes his living telling others how to live, preaching daily about right versus wrong.
Then, mixed reactions emerge from the public when the leader is caught in a shocking extramarital affair or fraud case.
From Josh Duggar to Ted Haggard to Jim Bakker, it’s becoming a familiar scenario.
Are those Christians hypocrites?
Yes, suggested one of Lubbock’s own Christian leaders.
“You are requiring something of someone that you are not doing,” Charles Stephenson, chairman of Lubbock Christian University’s department of biblical studies, said of those examples. “Rightly so, they are considered hypocrites.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad people. Like private citizens who make mistakes, they’re still human.
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UTAH
KUTV
BY MEHUL ASHER AND LARRY CURTIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH 2015
(KUTV) An man self-reported sexual abuse of children to Pleasant Grove police after he was confronted by LDS church leaders who learned of the abuse from an alleged victim.
The man, Andrew Bishop, is 33-years-old and is accused of abusing five victims in a 10-year period according to police. When leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints confronted Bishop,he was told he needed to call police or church leaders would, according to Lt. Britt Smith with the Pleasant Grove police.
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SCOTLAND
Scotsman
CHRIS MARSHALL
Friday 11 September 2015
THE Scottish Government has been accused of “betraying” survivors of historical abuse over plans to lift a time bar on legal action.
The government is currently consulting on removing a three-year bar on bringing civil actions in abuse cases.
The move would allow survivors of historical physical and sexual abuse to seek compensation from those responsible for their suffering in cases dating back to 1964.
But survivors are angry that legislation needed for the move was left out of the Scottish Government’s “Programme for Scotland”, which was published earlier this month.
The Scottish Government said that a draft bill would be brought forward before the end of the current parliamentary session.
Alan Draper, a spokesman for In-Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), said: “The time bar is the key issue for survivors, so its scrapping is the litmus test for the government’s commitment on this issue. They issued a consultation document for feedback, but then not to find anything in the proposed legislation . . . you can imagine how we’re feeling.
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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
By Matt Coker Fri., Sep. 11 2015
UPDATE, SEPT. 11, 4:59 P.M.: Newport Beach’s Joelle Casteix, Western regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), has issued a statement regarding the arrest of Ryan Joseph Seider.
We salute the brave young victim for speaking out about her abuse. We applaud her parents who listened and immediately contacted law enforcement. Because of their quick action, they have helped saved other potential victims of sexual abuse.
Bishop Vann must now do the right thing: reach out to anyone and everyone who may have had contact with Ryan Joseph Seider or anyone who uses their position of power to abuse and exploit children.
We hope that Seider does not have other victims, but our experience tells us this is probably not the case. We urge anyone with information about Seider or anyone who has hurt children or covered up abuse to alert the Orange County DAs office.
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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Whistleblowers
On Wednesday, September 16, 2015, the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee will submit to Pope Francis’ newly-established Vatican tribunal cases of abuse of office against Cardinal Justin Rigali for his behavior in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO, and in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, PA, and Cardinal Raymond Burke for his behavior in the Diocese of La Crosse, WI, and the Archdiocese of St. Louis, MO.
What
A press conference sponsored by the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee which will announce the filing of cases against both Cardinal Rigali and Cardinal Burke to the newly-established Vatican tribunal that investigates and holds accountable bishops who abuse their office in matters of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.
When
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 11:30 am
Where
St. John Chrysostom Albanian Orthodox Church, 237 N. 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Who
Members of the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee: Rev. James Connell, retired priest of the Milwaukee, WI Archdiocese and canon lawyer; victims’ advocate Sister Maureen Paul Turlish of New Castle, DE, and Philadelphia, PA; former Newark, NJ, Archdiocesan priest Dr. Robert M. Hoatson, who will represent and speak on behalf of Carol A. Kuhnert, whose brother, Fr. Norman H. Christian, deceased of the St. Louis, MO, Archdiocese, sexually abused children before and during his years as a priest; and Arthur Baselice, father of Arthur Baselice III, who was sexually abused by a priest in Philadelphia and took his own life as a young adult.
Why
The efforts of the Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee to hold bishops accountable for the mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse have been affirmed by Pope Francis and his June 6, 2015 establishment of a new Vatican tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to investigate (and discipline) bishops who have harmed people by abusing their power and authority in matters related to clergy sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults.
But, the new tribunal will not function if people do not bring to the attention of the tribunal those bishops and the circumstances of the problems. The Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee is bringing to the tribunal the cases of Cardinal Justin Rigali and Cardinal Raymond Burke for their culpable negligence regarding matters of clergy sexual abuse.
“Culpable negligence” is a key term in the Church’s Canon Law. It is not simply that a bishop did something or did not do something that harmed people; he should have known better and behaved better; his negligence was culpable.
The Catholic Whistleblowers Steering Committee is seeking a specific “just penalty” for Cardinals Rigali and Burke: removal from the College of Cardinals and all other offices; and, as to provide reparation, that Cardinals Rigali and Burke be required to listen to those harmed, provide any and all information sought by those who were harmed, and publicly apologize for using ecclesiastical power and authority in such a way that through their culpable negligence, their actions have harmed persons.
It’s all about protecting children, young people, and vulnerable adults, and holding the culprits accountable.
Contacts
Rev. James Connell, J.C.D., Milwaukee, WI – 414-940-8054
Sr. Maureen Paul Turlish, SNDdeN, New Castle, DE – 610-212-2770
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., West Orange, NJ – 862-368-2800
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CHILE
Fox News
Associated Press
SANTIAGO, Chile – The Catholic Church in Chile has been rocked by another scandal surrounding its most infamous pedophile.
Leaked emails between the archbishop of Santiago and his predecessor show how they conspired to block a well-known abuse survivor from being named to Pope Francis’ sex abuse commission, fearing it would damage the church.
Local newspaper El Mostrador this week published the email exchanges between the current archbishop, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, and his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz. The Santiago archdiocese confirmed their authenticity.
In the emails, dated 2013 and 2014, the two men discussed the key Vatican cardinals they needed to consult to try to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz from being invited to speak at a meeting of Anglophone bishops on sex abuse.
“I hope we can prevent lies from finding space between those who belong to the same church,” Ezzati wrote to Errazuri.
Cruz was sexually abused by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a charismatic preacher whom the Vatican sanctioned to a lifetime of penance and prayer for having abused young boys.
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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register
BY LOUIS CASIANO JR. / STAFF WRITER
More possible victims of an 18-year-old Mission Viejo church volunteer, who is suspected of molesting a child, are being sought, the Orange County District Attorney said Thursday.
Ryan Joseph Seider of Lake Forest was a volunteer at St. Kilian Catholic Church when is believed to have molested a young girl, the DA said. Seider was supervising a group of children on Aug. 22 when he was playing with the girl, who was under 10 years old.
After getting her alone, Seider put the girl on his lap and molested her, the statement said.
The girl reported the incident to her family, who then contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Seider was arrested on Aug. 25.
St. Kilian church officials, when reached by phone, were not available for comment Thursday evening.
Seider was charged with felony lewd act upon a child under 14 years old. He was released Aug. 26 on $100,000 bail, according to jail records.
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CALIFORNIA
Patch
By PAIGE AUSTIN (Patch Staff)
An 18-year-old Lake Forest man was charged today with molesting a young girl at a Roman Catholic church in Mission Viejo.
Ryan Joseph Seider was charged with a felony count of lewd act on a child younger than 14. Seider, who has posted $100,000 bail, was scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 23.
Seider volunteered at St. Killian Catholic Church in Mission Viejo and supervised a group of children, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office. He allegedly played with a girl younger than 10, until he was alone with her. According to prosecutor’s, Seider had the girl sit on his lap and then committed a lewd act upon her. The victim reported the alleged crime to her family ,who then contacted OCSD. OCSD investigated this case.
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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
By Matt Coker Fri., Sep. 11 2015
An 18-year-old volunteer at St. Kilian Catholic Church is facing charges of molesting a young girl at the Mission Viejo parish, according to prosecutors.
Ryan Joseph Seider of Lake Forest was supervising a group of children at the church on Aug. 22 when he found himself alone with the girl, who is under age 10, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
“The defendant is accused of having Jane Doe sit on his lap and committing a lewd act upon the victim,” says the OCDA, adding the girl informed her parents, the parents contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and, after an investigation, Seider was arrested.
He was charged Thursday with one felony count of lewd act upon a child under 14, and he could go to state prison for eight years and have to register as a sex offender for life if he is convicted, the OCDA says.
Seider, who made his $100,000 bail and is out of custody, is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 23 in Newport Beach.
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NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent
Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., Sept. 9, 2015
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com
GALLUP – Past environmental damage may sabotage the sale of one of the Diocese of Gallup’s commercial properties slated for auction later this month.
As part of its bankruptcy case, the Gallup Diocese has agreed to auction off a number of parcels of real property in Arizona Sept. 12, and New Mexico Sept. 19. One of the Gallup properties scheduled to be sold is a vacant lot on the northwest corner of Aztec Avenue and Fourth Street, currently being rented by the city of Gallup as a parking lot for municipal vehicles.
During a recent downtown revitalization workshop, community members raised the idea of the city purchasing the property as a site for a multi-floor library with an underground parking garage.
However, reports recently obtained by the city indicate the property sustained soil and groundwater contamination from underground storage tanks belonging to a service station once located on the site. That environmental damage, which has not been fully remediated, may cause potential buyers to think twice about purchasing the downtown lot.
Environmental report
“Because of the environmental problems and alternative options open to the city of Gallup, City Council has instructed us not pursue it further,” City Attorney George Kozeliski said in an email Aug. 31. Kozeliski said the city had been researching a possible purchase of the property.
Kozeliski was contacted about the terms of the city’s lease agreement with the Diocese of Gallup and was asked for documents regarding environmental damage to the property. Kozeliski and City Clerk Alfred Abeita provided a copy of the lease agreement, and Kozeliski also provided a copy of the inspection of public records request he submitted to the New Mexico Environment Department Aug. 25.
The lease agreement, signed by Bishop James S. Wall and former City Manager Dan Dible in July 2012, acknowledged the property was once the site of a service station and had soil contamination, and stated the diocese was working with state officials regarding remediation efforts.
On Sept. 1, Kozeliski confirmed documents about the environmental damage and cleanup efforts had just arrived from the state and from attorneys for the Diocese of Gallup, and he made those documents available for inspection.
The most recent quarterly groundwater monitoring report, dated June 14, was prepared for the New Mexico Environment Department’s Petroleum Storage Tank Bureau by Advanced Corrosion and Environmental Services of Farmington.
The report refers to the property as the Downtown Conoco Site at 400 W. Aztec Ave., while in U.S. Bankruptcy Court documents the property is listed as Item 38, Parcel No. 2-106-088-088-110, and is referred to as Ralph’s Shell Station.
Reduced contamination
According to the report, the good news is contamination at the site has seen a “huge reduction” over the past six years. The bad news is some contamination still exists, particularly in one section of the property, and ongoing monitoring and remediation efforts are recommended.
The initial hydrocarbon release that caused the contamination is believed to date back to 1989 or earlier. The service station’s three underground storage tanks were the source of the contamination.
After the initial environmental investigation, groundwater monitoring wells were installed on the property. In addition, a major corrective action took place in August 2006, when 2,500 cubic yards of hydrocarbon contaminated soil was removed from the site.
The report states recent groundwater monitoring shows the “cleanup of the groundwater was achieved in the center of the soil excavation area but one small area continues to show elevated dissolved hydrocarbon contamination” near where the old underground storage tanks were located.
The report also noted there was an increase in hydrocarbon concentration levels in the groundwater during the most recent testing, and it attributed this to “the rise of the water table to a level that old soil contamination in the subsurface is encountered.”
“Overall the hydrocarbon plume at this site has been reducing as a result of ongoing natural processes such as contaminant dispersion effects and the natural attenuation activities,” the report concluded. However, in the property section that continues to be contaminated, the report recommended additional investigation and possible installation of an active remediation system.
Unpublicized damage
According to the report, local businessman Joe DiGregorio owned the service station, and he and the diocese receive copies of the environmental monitoring reports.
Soon after the Diocese of Gallup filed for bankruptcy in November 2013, the diocese included DiGregorio’s name in a court document as someone it might have a claim against. To date, the diocese has not filed any such claim against DiGregorio in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
DiGregorio did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The Diocese of Gallup has not publicized the property’s environmental damage in its auction marketing efforts nor has it included any information about the contamination in any of the auction documents filed with the court.
Todd Good, whose company Accelerated Marketing Group is publicizing the upcoming property auctions, did not return phone messages Tuesday.
Lyn Carter, chief investigator for the New Mexico Real Estate Commission, said state law generally requires sellers to disclose environmental damage to potential buyers. However, when property is sold in auctions, he said, the requirements sometimes vary depending on the auction circumstances.
“It gets a little murky,” Carter said, explaining some property auctions are public, others are private, some feature voluntary sales and others are forced by foreclosure or bankruptcy.
All buyers should do their own due diligence, he added, and research property before purchasing it.
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NEBRASKA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 10
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, davidgclohessy@gmail.com,SNAPclohessy@aol.com)
For more than a dozen years, Lincoln Catholic officials have violated the weak, vague and ineffective US church abuse policy. So it’s hard to get excited that Bishop James Conley is belatedly complying with one part of that policy.
If Conley really wants to protect kids, he’ll do what 30 of his colleagues have grudgingly and belatedly done: post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics on church websites. He’ll visit each parish where a predator priest worked, begging victims, witnesses and whistleblowers to call law enforcement. He’ll turn over every single document he has about these predators to police and prosecutors.
He’ll scour priests’ personnel files and demote or discipline every cleric who concealed crimes or suspected crimes by another cleric. He’ll join with victims in advocating, not opposing, better secular child safety laws.
Today’s move is a tiny and ineffective one, designed, we suspect, to generate positive public relations more than to make a real difference.
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TEXAS/ALABAMA
Baptist News
By Bob Allen
An Alabama judge has revoked the bond of a former youth pastor awaiting trial for sex crimes after media reports he was serving at a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church in Texas.
Advocates for survivors of child sexual abuse by clergy protested Sept. 10 outside First Baptist Church of Bedford, Texas, after it came to light that Kyle Adcock, the church’s 32-year-old worship pastor, was indicted last year on 29 counts of rape and sodomy involving a girl younger than 16.
Adcock, former youth minister at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals, Ala., stands accused of molesting a girl in his former youth group over two years beginning when she was 14. He pleaded not guilty and is seeking dismissal of his indictment, which his lawyers claim is legally flawed.
Arrested in August 2014, Adcock got out of jail in Alabama last October on $500,000 bail, with the understanding that he would be supervised by his parents, who live in Garland, Texas. The Alabama Media Group reported Sept. 11 that a Colbert County judge revoked the bond, finding that his new church job violated a condition that he not have unsupervised contact with minors.
Controversy built during the week as media in both Texas and Alabama followed up on a Sept. 8 report by Fox4News that parents became concerned after learning on Facebook that an accused child molester could find work as a minister even before his case even came to trial.
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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Friday, Sept. 11
Statement by Amy Smith, Dallas co-leader of SNAP (281-748-4050, watchkeepamy@gmail.com)
It’s heartbreaking to see that a minister facing credible allegations of ignoring or concealing suspected child sex crimes is being given a place of prominence in a church conference.
After several years of adopting a lower public profile, Rev. C.J. Mahaney of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Ky will speak at the biennial Together for the Gospel conference next spring in Louisville, Ky.
Mahaney was one of several officials of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network, named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit for allegedly not reporting alleged sexual and physical abuse of kids.
This is wrong for at least two reasons.
First, it rubs salt into the wounds of the families whose lives were devastated by dreadful child sex crimes and cover ups within Sovereign Grace.
Second, it encourages wrongdoing. Giving roles of prominence, prestige or power to those accused of hiding possible crimes encourages others to hide possible crimes.
Men like Mahaney should be ostracized, not elevated, by church colleagues and in church circles.
For the safety of kids, we call on every person who is organizing or planning to attend this conference next April to publicly denounce this move. Otherwise, cover ups of suspected crimes will be encouraged, not discouraged.
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MISSOURI
Moberly Monitor-Index
By Atina Roberts/Connie Duvall
Posted Sep. 11, 2015
An end to a chapter has come for one man.
David Clohessy formally filed charges after alleged abuse at the hands of Father John Whiteley while Clohessy attended St. Pius X in 1991. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City recently reached a settlement with Clohessy.
According to statements by Clohessy, “he was intimidated into silence because of his trust in Whiteley, his belief that Whiteley was a close family friend, his perception of Whiteley’s greater physical strength, and his young age. He also alleges that the abuse caused him to repress the incidents so that he was unable to know or perceive that he was a victim of sexual abuse or that he suffered injuries from that abuse.”
Clohessy shared he began to realize in 1987 that Whiteley had abused him. It wasn’t until later in Clohessy’s life he was able to connect both his physical and emotional injuries to the abuse he says Whiteley caused.
A story “Former Rolla priest facing sex charges,” first appeared in the Daily News in Rolla in 1991.
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ALABAMA
AL.com
By Crystal Bonvillian | cbonvillian@al.com
on September 11, 2015
A Colbert County judge has revoked the bond of a former Muscle Shoals youth pastor who, while facing 20 counts of rape and nine counts of sodomy in Alabama, has been hired by a church in Texas.
Assistant District Attorney Angela Hulsey on Thursday filed a motion seeking to revoke the bond of Charles Kyle Adcock, 32, who is accused of repeatedly raping a young girl between 2010 and 2012, while he was a youth pastor at Woodward Avenue Baptist Church in Muscle Shoals. The girl was 14 years old at the time the alleged abuse began.
Indicted in January, Adcock was out on bond, a condition of which is that he not have unsupervised contact with minors.
“The state has received information that the defendant is employed by First Baptist Church in Bedford, Texas as a worship pastor, which would allow him unsupervised contact with minors,” Hulsey wrote in her motion. “This type of employment is a violation of the conditions of the defendant’s release on bond.”
The judge granted the motion, ordering that Adcock be taken into custody.
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SCOTLAND
Fife Today
Lindsey Alexander
lindsey.alexander@jpress.co.uk
Friday 11 September 2015
The University of St Andrews has confirmed it will not revoke an honorary degree it awarded to Scotland’s disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien in 2004.
The University’s Senate Business Committee (SBC) yesterday (Thursday) dismissed a request from a member of staff who had called publicly for the degree to be rescinded.
After discussion, committee members agreed there was no case to recommend to Senate that the degree be revoked, and that it considered the matter closed.
A spokesperson said: “SBC recognises that universities award honorary degrees in good faith on the basis of evidence available to them at a point in time, that revocation cannot change or ameliorate the wrongs of the past and that, notwithstanding the very real hurt and loss caused by the actions of the honorand, it would be no more than an empty gesture.
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SCOTLAND
The Courier
By CRAIG SMITH, 11 September 2015
St Andrews University has confirmed it will not revoke the honorary degree it awarded to Cardinal Keith O’Brien.
There had been calls for the disgraced former head of the Catholic church in Scotland to be stripped of the honorary doctorate in divinity he received from Scotland’s oldest university back in 2004, after he admitted sexual misconduct two years ago.
However, the university’s senate business committee has now dismissed a request from a member of staff who had called publicly for the degree to be rescinded.
“After discussion, committee members agreed there was no case to recommend to Senate that the degree be revoked, and that it considered the matter closed,” the University said in a statement.
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SCOTLAND
BBC News
An honorary degree awarded to Cardinal Keith O’Brien by St Andrews University will not be revoked.
The former head of the Catholic Church in Scotland stepped down in disgrace two years ago after admitting sexual misconduct.
The university’s senate business committee dismissed a request from a member of staff who had called publicly for the degree to be rescinded.
Cardinal O’Brien was awarded a doctorate in Divinity in 2004.
The committee said it recognised that “universities awarded honorary degrees in good faith on the basis of evidence available to them at a point in time, that revocation cannot change or ameliorate the wrongs of the past and that, notwithstanding the very real hurt and loss caused by the actions of the honorand, it would be no more than an empty gesture”.
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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland
St Andrews University has said it will not strip disgraced cardinal Keith O’Brien of his honorary degree.
The university considered revoking the 2004 award following a request from a member of staff.
Cardinal O’Brien resigned from the Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh in 2013 after several priests accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
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NEBRASKA
Catholic News Agency
By Kevin J. Jones
Lincoln, Neb., Sep 11, 2015 / 07:31 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Lincoln will now take part in the U.S. bishops’ audit of the implementation of the youth protection charter – a move it says adds to a well-functioning system of safeguards against abuse.
“I believe it will demonstrate clearly that the Diocese of Lincoln does an excellent job creating safe environments for children,” Bishop James Conley said in his Sept. 11 column.
Bishop Conley said his diocese already complies with all church laws and civil laws on child abuse reporting and child protection. He said the audit can help bishops hold themselves accountable and provide transparency as “an assurance that the Church takes child protection seriously.”
In 2002, in response to the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy dating back decades, the U.S. bishops adopted the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The charter made voluntary recommendations to bishops, including an audit to ensure compliance.
The Lincoln diocese participated in the first audit in 2003, but then-Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz declined to participate again.
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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register
COMMENTARY
by BISHOP JAMES CONLEY 09/11/2015
The Catholic Church is a supernatural community, united together in Christ Jesus, protected and sustained by the Holy Spirit. But the Church is also a community of human beings, of ordinary people, who are capable of great love, and of great sinfulness.
Sin — especially the most grave sins — can have profoundly hurtful consequences for other people, and for the community of the Church. The laws and policies of the Church help to ensure safety and freedom, particularly for children, and for those most vulnerable to being harmed.
Since they were passed in 2002 by the Catholic Bishops of the United States and approved by the Holy See, the Diocese of Lincoln has followed a set of Church laws called the “Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons.” These norms are concerned with ensuring that child abuse has no place in the Church — that there is no room for it to take place, and that is not tolerated, under any circumstances, if it does take place. The Lincoln Diocese has also participated in most of the recommendations of the voluntary Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which is published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) as a guide for bishops to help maintain safe environments in the Church. Additionally, the Diocese of Lincoln observes every civil law regarding child abuse protection and reporting.
Among the recommendations of the USCCB’s Charter is that every diocese be audited each year to ensure that it has done all it can to help create safe environments. The purpose of the audit is accountability. It is not intended to be punitive or invasive, but instead to help dioceses create safe environments. The Diocese of Lincoln voluntarily participated in the audit when it first began in 2003. At that time, the process was still being worked out and it needed refinements. Legitimate questions were raised about its purpose and methodology. For that reason, the Diocese of Lincoln elected not to participate in subsequent audits. I believe that was a prudent decision.
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
September 11, 2015
Nino Bucci and Chris Johnston
As many as 4000 Victorians are sharing child abuse images online at any moment, police have revealed.
The Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team estimated the figure after conducting a 90-day snapshot of child abuse files that were being shared, using the data of internet service providers, earlier this year.
Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana mentioned the alarming figure in an opinion piece, published by Fairfax Media, that outlines his horror at viewing a video showing the abuse of a young girl.
Mr Fontana also revealed that 31 people had been recently charged in Victoria after police had executed 38 warrants, finding thousands of child pornography images. A number of investigations are still ongoing.
“Late last year I made myself watch a movie file,” Mr Fontana wrote.
“I didn’t want to. But I sat there and watched. To see for myself the horror caused through child exploitation and understand what some of our police members are being exposed to almost every day.
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MISSISSIPPI
WDAM
By Eddie Robertson, Reporter
By Amanda LaBrot, Reporter
JONES COUNTY, MS (WDAM) –
A former Jones County priest is behind bars for allegedly sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy.
“Now you see here a priest, a man of the cloth, has violated a young child,” Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge said. “We know for a fact that the 12-year-old boy, on two different occasions that we know of, was engaged in a sexual act with this man. You think ‘Well how did that happen?’ You’ve got a grown man who’s influenced this 12-year-old kid to allow the priest to perform sexual acts on him. Sick.”
Sheriff Hodge said 36-year-old Jose Vazquez was charged with two counts of sexual battery of a minor, and had his bond set at $100,000 cash bond due to him being a flight risk.
“He just recently returned from Mexico,” Hodge said. “Certainly have no reason to think that he wouldn’t go back, so thankful for a $100,000 cash bond. Obviously you think, ‘well it needs to be higher,’ but we have to stay within the parameters of the law.”
According to the Diocese of Biloxi, Vazquez has worked as the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Wiggins and St. Lucy Mission in Lucedale since Jan. 15, 2014. He was the parochial vicar or associate pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Laurel about four years ago, according to Sheriff Hodge, and has also worked at Sacred Heart Parish in Hattiesburg.
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ILLINOIS
Catholic Culture
The Appellate Court of Illinois has ruled that a letter written to a priest does not fall under the purview of the clergy-penitent privilege.
A pastor in the Diocese of Rockford received a letter from a parish volunteer alleging that one minor had sexually abused another minor. The mother of the accused minor filed a defamation lawsuit in which she alleged that the accusation was false and that her child had become “isolated and ostracized in the community, including the parish community.”
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MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For Immediate release Thursday, September 10
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)
We are grateful for many things in the Jones County case involving a priest and a young boy.
We are grateful that the father of the young boy had the wisdom to call the police rather than contact church officials.
We are grateful that police immediately responded and arrested Father Jose Vazquez.
We are grateful that civil authorities will investigate further and attempt to bring other charges.
[WJTV]
We encourage anyone who has been harmed by Vazquez to come forward and begin to heal. We beg witnesses and whistleblowers to remember that charges are not a conviction. That church officials often hire high powered defense attorneys so that even if found guilty the priest will spend little time in jail and then once again pose a risk to children. So now more than ever it is imperative that anyone with information no matter how old or insignificant they feel it is to come forward and talk with civil authorities.
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CANADA
Toronto Star
Many of the high-profile movies at TIFF this year involve seekers of the truth, who want to get to the bottom of a story that can’t be told via a Facebook post or 140-character tweet.
By: Peter Howell Movie Critic, Published on Thu Sep 10 2015
My ink-stained heart is gladdened that one of the early talking points at TIFF 2015 is Spotlight, a film about journalists unmasking Roman Catholic Church corruption.
Tom McCarthy’s engrossing procedural on the Boston Globe’s 2002 pedophile priest exposé was the film I heard mentioned most often at a pre-TIFF party Wednesday night, the “Critical Drinking” bash hosted by the Toronto Film Critics Association and sponsored by the Star.
You’d expect journalists to be captivated by a film like Spotlight, but there were also many non-journos at the event who expressed great interest in seeing it. The cast includes Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo and John Slattery, all in top form as they depict the real reporters and editors who doggedly unearthed a Boston Archdiocese coverup, one with global implications, of the widespread sexual abuse of minors by supposedly holy men.
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CANADA
The Globe and Mail
SIMON HOUPT
The Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Sep. 10, 2015
Talk about kicking folks when they’re down. For the past decade or so, reporters and their ever-suffering bosses have had to come to terms with the fact that most people don’t seem to want to pay for journalism. And now comes word that people don’t even want to pay for movies about journalism.
In an interview at the Venice Film Festival last weekend, where Spotlight, his thrilling new film about The Boston Globe’s 2001 investigation into the Catholic Church’s sex-abuse scandal, had its world premiere prior to a bow at TIFF next Monday, director Tom McCarthy told the trade paper Variety that the film “kept falling apart,” as the producers tried to raise funds. “It was brutal,” he said. “It was dead three times.”
Through all the tumult of the Great Disruption that has laid waste to North America’s newsrooms, journalists have been able at least to draw some succour from movies that celebrated our life’s work, that made us out to be the heroes we are in our own minds: say, Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon; or last year’s well-received Rosewater, about the Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari. But, like newsrooms themselves, newsroom dramas rarely make money. If the genre dries up, how will we make ourselves feel better? Is there really that much Scotch in the world?
Spotlight is one of two American indie films about the news trade, both based on a true story, that are appearing at this year’s TIFF. The other, called simply Truth, is about television news rather than my ink-stained colleagues in the newspaper biz, and is therefore far more glamorous. Premiering Saturday afternoon, Truth stars Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes, the 60 Minutes producer who steered that program’s ill-fated 2004 report about George W. Bush’s questionable Vietnam War-era National Guard service. Robert Redford, who played Bob Woodward in the ur-journo-drama All the President’s Men, is Dan Rather, the veteran CBS Evening News anchor who retired in early 2005 amid a tsunami of criticism over the Bush report.
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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat
Posted on Sep 10, 2015
by Dave Sutor
Testimony began in a Central City priest’s sex abuse trial Thursday.
And, with a jury seated, attorneys in both sides of the case began trial by painting two far different images of the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr.
Prosecutors said Honduran orphans knew Maurizio as the “Money Man” – someone who used donations from home as power to satisfy his sexual urges.
But defense attorney Steven Passarello described Maurizio as a man who dedicated nearly 20 years to helping Honduras’ impoverished youth and expanding their campus-like charity before baseless accusations in the troubled country branded him a pedophile.
A jury of seven men and five women was selected Thursday morning to hear what could be weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses, including three young men allegedly abused by Maurizio as boys.
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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org
Summary of Case: Joseph F. Byrne was ordained for the Boston archdiocese in 1969. He assisted at parishes in Dorchester, Quincy and Weymouth MA until he was named pastor of a parish in Waltham in 1994. Among his many involvements were the Archdiocesan Office of Vocations, Project Rachel, and the Office of Spiritual Development. He was also a police and hospital chaplain in Quincy for 10 years. From 2002-2008 Byrne’s status was “unassigned.” He pleaded guilty in 2005 to embezzling more than $135,000 from his Waltham parish and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation. Despite being unassigned, Byrne reportedly moved to Falmouth MA in 2003 where he helped out as a fill-in at a parish. He also lived for a time in 2012-2013 at a parish in Arlington MA. In May 2012 Byrne was placed on leave after an allegation emerged that he sexually abused a child in the early 1970s. He was reinstated in May 2013 after the archdiocese found the allegation to be “unsubstantiated.” Byrne was again removed from active ministry in February 2014 when a second allegation was made that he had sexually abused a child, also in the early 1970s. He died June 18, 2014.
Born: 1943
Ordained: May 21, 1969
Died: June 18, 2014
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CHILE
El Mostrador
[Marie Collins of Ireland, member of the pontifical child abuse commission, verified she had sought appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz to the commission.]
Tenía 13 años, acababa de confirmarse y a la vulnerabilidad de la adolescencia, sumaba otro factor: estaba enferma y hospitalizada.
En ese contexto comenzó a recibir todas las tardes la visita de un sacerdote para acompañarla con lecturas católicas. Aunque no fueron solo esas lecturas la que la acompañaron de por vida, sino también los abusos de los que fue víctima. Quedaron registrados en su mente y en su cuerpo. Alimentaron su aislamiento y la sensación de sentirse sucia. “Este constante sentimiento de culpabilidad me llevó a una profunda depresión y a problemas de ansiedad suficientemente serios como para necesitar tratamiento médico cuando tenía 17 años. Después vinieron largas hospitalizaciones”, comentó a la prensa hace algunos años.
La irlandesa Marie Collins, uno de los íconos en el mundo que demuestran el daño de los abusos sexuales contra menores cometidos por sacerdotes, comenzó una batalla interminable para establecer que el problema no era ella, sino su agresor y la protección que le entregaron los superiores de la Iglesia a su victimario. “Lo mejor de mi vida comenzó hace quince años cuando mi agresor compareció ante la justicia. Durante esos años trabajé con mi diócesis y con la Iglesia Católica en Irlanda para mejorar la protección de los menores. Mi vida ya no está destrozada. Tiene sentido y valor”, señaló.
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CHILE
El Mostrador
Organización de Laicos y Laicas de Osorno dicen que hay un poder revestido de religión en la Iglesia Católica
[The organization of laity in Osorno in a statement have rejected the email exchange between Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and Francisco Javier Errazuiz. The email revealed that the cardinals are exercising power within the hierarchy and secondly they were serious about blocking appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz to the Pontifical Commission for the Prevention of Abuse.]
Por medio de un comunicado, la Organización de Laicos y Laicas de Osorno manifestó su rechazo al intercambio de correos electrónicos entre los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz.
“Los correos revelan dos noticias, a saber, por un lado la lógica poco cristiana de ejercer el poder dentro de la jerarquía eclesiástica, y por otro, la seria consideración del Vaticano para que Juan Carlos Cruz integre la Pontificia Comisión para la Prevención del Abuso”, dice la nota.
“Consideramos de gran magnitud que uno de los principales testigos de la reprochabilidad del obispo Juan Barros haya sido postulado a esta comisión. Es un reconocimiento a la verdad de sus dichos que impone una carga más al actual obispo de Osorno cuando intente desdecirlo. El hecho que los cardenales de la Iglesia Católica hayan realizado gestiones y confabulaciones exitosas en su contra, no hace sino presumir que su verdad era un peligro para muchos”, agregó.
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MISSOURI
The Rolla Daily News
By Summer Ballentine
Associated Press
Posted Sep. 10, 2015
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.
A Missouri advocate who says he was sexually abused by a priest as a teenager said Thursday that he received $40,000 from the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City.
A spokesman for the diocese, Deacon Dan Joyce, confirmed Thursday that the diocese provided $40,000 to David Clohessy, who serves as the national director of an advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse. The diocese did not provide further details about the out-of-court settlement.
Joyce said that staff met with Clohessy earlier this year after he contacted them regarding his allegations of abuse by the Rev. John Whiteley.
Joyce said Bishop John Gaydos later wrote to Clohessy “to extend to him an apology for the abuse that he reported.” Joyce said the diocese last month gave Clohessy money to “help him with his needs for healing.”
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
[with video]
Sex abuse inquiry: Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek apologises to sexual abuse victims
September 11, 2015
Henrietta Cook
Education Reporter at The Age
Geelong Grammar failed its students who suffered “traumatic and terrible” sexual abuse at the hands of teachers, its headmaster says.
Stephen Meek, who became headmaster in 2004, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that he was “unreservedly” sorry and that the school had failed its duty of care.
Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek says he was told about a sexual assault allegation at the school on his first day in the job
Geelong Grammar principal Stephen Meek says he was told about a sexual assault allegation at the school on his first day in the job Photo: Eddie Jim
“As students they had every right to attend a school where they were looked after and where their safety and well-being were assured. This did not happen, the school failed in its duty of
The Geelong Grammar community has been rocked by shocking accounts of child sexual abuse that took place on all its campuses from the late 1950s until 2007. The public hearing, which has run for two weeks, has focused on the school’s response to five teachers who have all been convicted of child sexual abuse.
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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
11 September, 2015
The Royal Commission directions hearing in relation to Case Study 33 listed in Sydney at 10:00am AEST on Monday 14 September 2015 has been vacated and will no longer proceed.
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CHILE
Terra
Dos cardenales en ojo del huracán por nuevas filtraciones sobre conspiración
[Two Chilean cardinals are now in the eye of the storm after the release of a new exchange of emails that reveals efforts to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of sexual abuse by an influential Chilean priest, from appointment to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Emails published Wednesday by El Mostrador show that Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati and Francisco Javier Errauriz apptempted to stop appointment of Cruz.]
Dos cardenales chilenos están hoy en el ojo del huracán tras la difusión de un nuevo intercambio de correos que revelan gestiones para impedir que una víctima de abusos sexuales por parte de un influyente expárroco chileno formara parte de la Comisión Pontificia para la Protección de los Menores.
Los correos electrónicos, publicados este miércoles por el medio digital El Mostrador, revelan la intercesión de los cardenales Ricardo Ezzati y Francisco Javier Errázuriz para imposibilitar el nombramiento de una de las víctimas del expárroco Fernando Karadima, condenado por abusos sexuales por El Vaticano, como miembro en una institución pontificia.
En uno de los correos, cuya autoría no ha sido desmentida por la Iglesia chilena, enviado a Errázuriz, Ezzati intentaba disuadir al cardenal de nombrar a Juan Carlos Cruz, víctima y denunciante de los abusos de Karadima, como miembro de la Comisión Pontificia.
“Espero que (el nombramiento) no sea así, sería demasiado grave para la Iglesia de Chile. Significaría, entre otras cosas, dar crédito y avalar a una construcción que el Sr. Cruz ha construido astutamente (…). Espero que pueda hacer luz con quienes tienen responsabilidades de este nombramiento”, dice el correo enviado el de 28 de junio de 2014.
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TEXAS
Watch Keep
Amy Smith
Earlier this week, FOX4 News in Dallas broke the story locally of a Baptist minister indicted on 29 counts of rape and sodomy of a child in Alabama who is now working at a church in the Dallas area. First Baptist Church Bedford hired Charles Kyle Adcock about 8 months ago as a music minister. Pastor Steve Knott apparently was aware of Adcock’s charges when he hired him. Church leaders spoke with Elizabeth Dinh of CBS11 yesterday saying that they spoke with Adcock and believe his story that he is not guilty. We know about this story now because concerned parents spoke out.
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“We think it’s incredibly irresponsible and reckless to have hired him in the first place,” says Amy Smith, who works with SNAP: Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Smith say she took to twitter to blast First Baptist’s pastor for hiring Adcock, and says she was immediately blocked from the church’s feed. Smith and another supporter staged a hastily arranged protest outside the church this afternoon. And although they were outnumbered by press, she insists it doesn’t take a crowd to warn parents.
“What we know about predators is they rarely have just one victim” says Smith, “and they’re very manipulative and often will find places like churches to have a position of trust. That word ‘minister’ signals to most churchgoers that he is safe.”
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
September 11, 2015
Adam Cooper
A former Geelong Grammar housemaster, who was also renowned among Australia’s arts community, has been jailed for seven-and-half-years for sexually abusing six boys in his care more than three decades ago.
As the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse continued its focus on the prestigious school in the Victorian County Court building on Friday, John Hamilton Buckley sat in another court room as judge Jane Patrick condemned his “disgraceful” and “predatory” offending.
Buckley sexually abused six boys aged between 10 and 13 between 1980 and 1983, when he was a teacher and housemaster at Geelong Grammar’s junior school Glamorgan in Toorak.
Among his victims were two brothers, another boy who was indecently assaulted while in the sick bay and another who was told to pretend Buckley was Bo Derek and to “make love” to him.
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Buckley used pornographic material, dinners outside the campus and a card game similar to strip poker to manipulate the boys before offending.
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MICHIGAN
The Arab American
DEARBORN HEIGHTS — An Orthodox bishop has been placed on leave after allegations of sexual misconduct.
Dearborn Heights Archbishop Nathaniel Popp announced on Tuesday that his auxiliary bishop the Right Rev Irineu Duvlea, is under investigation.
In a statement, Popp said Duvlea, 53, is presumed innocent but will remain on leave and be prohibited from working during the investigation. Duvlea served as the bishop of Dearborn Heights and auxiliary bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of America.
Popp did not disclose any information about potential victims and called the investigation highly confidential.
“No one should discuss the investigation with anyone,” Popp said in the announcement.
In a statement, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, commended Popp for making the investigation public.
However, Cappy Larson of SNAP Orthodox said the church should supply more information.
“Did the misconduct involve a parishioner?” Larson asked in the statement. “If so, was the victim a child, an adult, a male a female? How many victims have come forward? More complete disclosure can help to jog memories and reassure other survivors, producing additional testimony and evidence.
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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com
By Timothy R. Rice
As I rounded Lombard Street the other day, heading west in Philadelphia, I was greeted by a lifesized, cardboard cutout of Pope Francis on a balcony at Second and Lombard Streets. His arms were outstretched and he was wearing a shirt with the word “Hope” on his chest. My first thought was: Does this poor soul know what he is in for in Philadelphia?
As our pope continues to preach tolerance, forgiveness, and humility, the Catholic Church in Philadelphia escalates its ground war against such crazy notions. The local archbishop, Charles J. Chaput, rules with a fist clenched in a velvet glove. Cloaked as a man of God, his message is simple: Follow all rules or leave the Church; we have no need for dissent or diversity in our ranks.
Judging from some of his email replies to the faithful, he is less than kind about delivering the message. Lately, he has taken off his gloves and started delivering bare-fisted body blows. Some days it seems he is auditioning to be a modern-day Rocky Balboa in clerical garb, pounding away on a side of beef at a slaughterhouse at the Italian Market.
On Tuesday, Rocky Chaput pronounced that all parents of Catholic school students must sign a loyalty pledge, acknowledging allegiance to Church doctrine and to him as their supreme moral authority. Parents, who often work two jobs to afford a Catholic education for their children, are being lectured that Catholic education is a privilege, not a right. If they don’t agree with every Church doctrine, they should head for public school. His edict comes only a few years after he shuttered dozens of Catholic schools, often without consulting parents, and after Catholic bishops have been targeted for concealing sexual abuse of children by clergy.
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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
[with video]
September 11, 2015
Eryk Bagshaw
Education Reporter
Parents and students at Sydney school Cranbrook fear that the career of their headmaster may be over after damaging revelations at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
On Thursday the school’s headmaster, Nicholas Sampson, admitted he paid a teacher at his former institution, Geelong Grammar, to retire early to avoid any formal complaints of child sex abuse being made against him.
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The commission also heard that Mr Sampson allowed the teacher, Jonathan Harvey, to remain at the school teaching maths for a further six months after the allegations were raised and that he failed to report the matter to Victorian Police and the Victorian Institute of Teachers.
After he suggested Harvey retire, Mr Sampson wrote handwritten notes to him praising his “outstanding service” and for his “friendship and kindness towards my family”, before authorising a payment of $64,348 for an extra year in which he did not work.
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UNITED STATES
Baptist News
By Bob Allen
A speaker sidelined two years ago by a sexual abuse scandal at his former church is back at center stage for an upcoming conference featuring prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention.
C.J. Mahaney, senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Ky., joins Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler and International Mission Board President David Platt as scheduled speakers at the biennial Together for the Gospel conference scheduled April 12-14 in Louisville, Ky.
Mahaney, who in 2006 along with Mohler and two others founded the confab popular among young Calvinists, sat out the last conference in 2014, saying he didn’t want publicity over a high-profile lawsuit alleging a cover-up of child abuse at his former church to subject the other founders to unfair criticism. Criticism nevertheless followed, after a photo taken at the gathering showed Mahaney seated alongside conference headliners on the front row.
Mahaney was one of numerous leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries, a church-planting network he helped start in the 1980s, named in a class-action lawsuit for allegedly failing to report alleged sexual and physical abuse of children. The lawsuit was dismissed due to statute of limitations, but in 2014 a volunteer at Mahaney’s former church was convicted on criminal charges similar to acts alleged in the civil suit.
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ZAMBIA
Daily Mail
MUBANGA NONDO, Ndola
A MEDICAL doctor at Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital in Ndola has told Ndola principal resident magistrate Obbister Musukwa that her medical examinations on a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly defiled by her pastor were consistent with allegations of sexual abuse.
The doctor was testifying in a case in which Joseph Kaindu, 43, pastor of Faith Deeper Understanding Church, is alleged to have defiled a teenage member of his church.
Masengu Chilenge, 35, a medical doctor of Mukuba Flats, told Mr Musukwa that the victim’s hymen was torn, although there were no fresh lacerations on the genital area.
“The general condition of the victim when she was brought to the hospital on June 30 this year was stable, so I focused on the genital area. My findings were that there were no fresh wounds or lacerations, but what I saw were multiple bruises which had healed.
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