ABUSE TRACKER

ISRAEL
YouTube

[note: This video is in Hebrew but English subtitle can be read by clicking onto the closed captioning icon.]

Published on Mar 27, 2016

Israel Channel 2 released this shocking report of child sexual abuse and cover-up in The Haredi community in Israel.

Please Share and LIKE JCW on Facebook to expose and combat child sex abuse in our community. https://www.facebook.com/JewishCommun…

***In Israel, ALL adults are mandated reporters. Anyone with a reasonable suspicion of a child being abused or endangered (or having been abused in the past, if the victim is still under 18) is legally obligated to report it to the authorities, either directly or via a reliable third party professional or agency.

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NEW YORK
Columbia Spectator

BY CATIE EDMONDSON AND J. CLARA CHAN | SPECTATOR SENIOR STAFF WRITERS | MARCH 28, 2016

Hailed for its powerful depiction of investigative journalism, the film ‘Spotlight’ tells the story of how the Boston Globe’s investigative team uncovered the continued sexual abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Church.

The team’s coverage of the scandal—a series of 600 articles spanning a period of two years—won them a Pulitzer Prize. But the film, which won the Oscar for best picture, served as a high-profile ode to the power of local, investigative reporting at a time when large-scale layoffs in newsrooms have become unsurprising, with expensive investigative teams being the first to go.

At the heart of the story are the journalists and editors on the Spotlight team themselves—among them, Sacha Pfeiffer, currently a columnist and reporter for the Globe and Walter ‘Robby’ Robinson, the Globe’s editor at large. Pfeiffer and Robinson sat down with Spectator on Friday to talk investigative journalism, the importance of outsiders, and whether journalists can really have friends.

On how the Catholic Church investigation changed how they approach reporting:

Robinson said that the experience made him realize that more time needed to be devoted to looking for victimized populations who have been run over by institutions.

“Those are the kinds of stories you don’t really need a whistleblower to find—you can just walk out the door literally and just look around you and you find those types of stories,” Robinson said. “I think we’re sort of more sensitized after dealing with so many people in the case of the church that had been victimized, more sensitized to the fact that often, journalists are the only voice for the people when they’re getting swooped.”

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MINNESOTA
Fox 9

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) – For the Twin Cities Catholic community, this Easter Sunday wasn’t just about the resurrection of Jesus. The appointing of a new leader signifies hope and opportunity for the future of the archdiocese.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda presided over Easter services Sunday at the Basilica. His message was one of forgiveness and re-birth. And with bankruptcy proceedings underway and lawsuits claiming sexual abuse, it’s been a rough couple of years for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis.

“Even though we were sinners, even though we were lost, even though we were fallen, Our God loves us so much that he wants us to share in the inheritance of his son.”

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LIBERIA
The New Dawn Liberia

Believer Authority Christian Church in Ganta where the crime allegedly occurred Pastors, Imams and leaders of religious bodies are not only to preach to their flocks, but equally under obligation to live exemplary and morally upright. However, when a “man of God” decides to sexually abuse a 12-year-old girl as the Head Pastor of the Believer Authority Christian Church [BACC] in Ganta, Nimba County has been accused; the congregation he leads is left dumbfounded.

Pastor John Bestman, 38, allegedly raped his 12-year-old victim in his office at the church located in the Public Work Yard community in Ganta last Thursday, 24 March, and subsequently arrested the following day by police.

According to police charged sheet, Pastor Bestman has been charged with rape and sent to the Ganta Magisterial Court for trial. His wife, Madam Annie Bestman, who happens to be Mother of the Church, has also been arrested and jailed for allegedly attacking state security officers who had gone to arrest her husband at the Believer Authority Christian Church compound.

Families members told our Nimba County correspondent Pastor Bestman and the victim live in the same yard where he sent her in the church room to wash his drinking glass, and subsequently followed her into the room with 150 Liberian Dollars offer before allegedly committing the ungodly act.

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OHIO
Slate

By Nora Caplan-Bricker

n the early 1990s, Brian Williams, a youth pastor at Delaware Grace Brethren Church in Ohio, allegedly tried to put his hand down the pants of a teenage girl named April Jokela. Years later, Jokela’s mother testified in court that when she complained to church officials, they told her, “Let’s just keep this quiet to protect our brother.”

In the early 2000s, Williams allegedly told 18-year-old Robin McNeal, during a meeting in his office, that “most men view women as a thing to be fucked.” She said he also told her that “he probably could get away with having sex with me right then and there in his office.” The woman, whose married name is Robin Weixel, testified that she reported Williams to church officials but that they made no record of it.

In 2004, the leadership of Delaware Grace started a second church, Sunbury Grace Brethren Church. They chose Williams to be its senior pastor.

In 2008, according to court testimony, Williams forced 15-year-old Jessica Simpkins to perform oral sex during a counseling session in his office. Then he blocked the door and vaginally raped her. Williams subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Like many sexual assault victims, Simpkins also pursued a civil suit against the church. In a criminal case, “the perpetrator is only going to be held accountable to the state, not the victim,” says Joanne Doroshow of the Center for Justice and Democracy at New York Law School. “Sometimes, the civil justice system is the only way for a perpetrator to be held directly accountable to the victim for the trauma and the pain that they’ve caused.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Peter Hall
Of The Morning Call

Bill to revive sex abuse victims’ right to sue likely to spawn court fight

A movement to revive the legal rights of older sexual abuse survivors in Pennsylvania is gaining momentum in Harrisburg in the wake of new charges that Catholic Church officials conspired to hide sexual predators in their midst.

Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, has been fighting for four years to pass legislation that would create a two-year window for sexual abuse survivors to file lawsuits against pedophiles and the institutions that harbored them, no matter how long ago they suffered the abuse. The current law in Pennsylvania requires victims to file civil lawsuits by age 30 and criminal charges by age 50.

Rozzi is calling for legislation similar to statute of limitations reform passed in eight other states. If it is successful, it will set the stage for a court fight over whether it violates the state Constitution.

Opponents, including the group that represents Catholic dioceses and bishops in Pennsylvania, say such a measure would illegally strip those accused of wrongdoing of a defense they’re entitled to under the state Constitution. The bill would change the rules by adding more time to the clock after it had already run out, they say.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Virgin Islands Daily News

By PETER SMITH Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Even as the leadership of a Hollidaysburg, Pa.-based Franciscan province is called to account in criminal court for its handling of a sex offender, the case is raising a broader question:

Just how accountable are male religious orders for following the U.S. Catholic Church’s zero-tolerance policy adopted in 2002?

Such orders are typically authorized by the pope and consist of priests and brothers who make specific vows, typically to poverty, chastity and obedience, with some orders having additional vows.

While dioceses, their bishops and priests are usually the most public face of a church in a given community, religious orders frequently provide the personnel to work in parishes, schools, hospitals, social-service agencies and retreat houses.

The orders have overlapping jurisdictions and hierarchies from regular dioceses and bishops. That has created conflict for centuries at times — such as with the reluctance of missionary orders to turn over the keys of the churches they started to ordinary bishops once they’re up and running. With brothers answering to their superiors but needing bishops’ authorization to work in a diocese, such crossed lines of authority can complicate a coordinated response to a predator.

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NEW JERSEY
Observer-Tribune

The Rev. Monsignor Kenneth Lash, a priest of the Diocese of Paterson, will accept the “Servant Leader Award.”

Ordained in 1962, Lasch retired as pastor from St. Joseph Church, Mendham in 2004 after 21 years of pastoral care. He also was pastor of St. Therese Parish, Paterson, from 1976-1978.

Lasch first met the Sisters of Christian Charity, sponsors of Assumption College for Sisters, while a student at Bayley –Ellard Regional High School in Madison. Lasch went on to complete degrees from Seton Hall University and Immaculate Conception Seminary, South Orange, , as well as earning a Doctorate in Canon Law from St. John University, Rome, Italy.

Enjoying an active retirement, Lasch serves as the weekend associate priest at St. Luke Parish, Long Valley. He is the co-founder of Road to Recovery, founded in 2008 as an advocacy initiative for victims for clergy sexual abuse. He is also a member of Catholic Whistleblowers, a support organization for those who experienced abuse, since 2013. Additionally, Lasch volunteers as a pastoral counselor to HIV-positive clients at Hope House, Dover.

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IRELAND
The Sunday Times

JP O’Malley Published: 27 March 2016

WOMEN housed by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Waterford packaged board games for the global toy franchise Hasbro in return for “pocket money” as recently as 2012, The Sunday Times can reveal.

Many of the women packaging popular Hasbro board games such as Mouse Trap, KerPlunk and Buckaroo! in Waterford had previously worked in a Magdalene laundry run by the religious order and continued to live in sheltered housing after it closed in 1996.

“In the 1980s, Hasbro entered into an agreement with the Good Shepherd Sisters in Waterford to provide materials for packaging by our residents,” said the Good Shepherd Sisters in a statement. “The residents who participated in this activity were regularly given what was then known as their ‘Hasbro money envelope’. ”

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IRELAND
Newstalk

Women resident in the Good Shepherd Sisters convent in Waterford were given ‘pocket money’ in exchange for packing board games as recently as 2012, the Sunday Times reports.

The paper says many of these women are survivors of Magdalene laundries who continued to live in sheltered housing after their closure.

Between the 1980s and 2012, multinational toy manufacturer Hasbro provided materials for packaging and residents involved would receive payment in return.

Several women who packaged the games and spoke to the Sunday Times, said payment was as low as 50p per week, often with long working hours.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Laura Herzog | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEWARK — Following the unexpected Minnesota placement of the presumed future archbishop of New Jersey’s largest archdiocese, Newark Archbishop John J. Myers could now remain in his post past age 75 — the canon-law age at which bishops must submit their resignations.

This isn’t “unusual,” according to religious experts.

According to canon law, bishops are asked to submit their resignation at age 75, but it is up to the pope to determine when he accepts that resignation. But, Newark Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said, bishops can no longer be active in their posts after age 80.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda, a well-regarded canon lawyer with degrees from Harvard and Columbia universities and ample experience in Rome, was named Coadjutor Archbishop of the Newark Archdiocese in September 2013. This essentially meant he was set to succeed Myers when he turned 75 in July.

Instead, Pope Francis surprised members of the Newark Archdiocese Thursday when he announced he was appointing Hebda Archbishop in Saint Paul and Minneapolis. In June, in light of a sex scandal that rocked the Twin City Archdiocese, Hebda was named the interim leader, but he said at the time that he thought the post was temporary.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Caroline Wyatt
Religious affairs correspondent

Rarely has a pope been more popular with the people.

A survey of Pope Francis’s standing around the globe shows that he is seen positively by well over half the world. Some 54% say their opinion of him is favourable and just 12% see him unfavourably.

That means that his overall rating in the WIN Gallup International poll, or net score, this Easter is 41% (with rounding taken into account) – higher than any secular world leader. …

Honeymoon over

Within the Curia, the Pope has polarised opinion, much as he has done between more conservative and liberal Catholics, even though he has not changed Catholic teaching and remains a staunch and vocal opponent of abortion, recently terming it a crime and “an absolute evil”.

While his focus on mercy and interpreting the gospel with compassion have been welcomed by many, not all of Pope Francis’s reforms are proving so popular and some are encountering stiff internal resistance. Any honeymoon period within the Curia for this pope is long since over. …

Outside the Curia, some – especially those on the more liberal side of the Church – say that more substantial and concrete progress will be needed in Francis’s fourth year in office on the main challenges facing this papacy if there is truly to be a “Francis Revolution”.

They cite the four most pressing issues as:

* reforming the Curia

* dealing with the long and shameful history of cover-up of child abuse within the Church
trying to ensure financial rigour at the Vatican

* shaping the Church’s approach towards homosexuality in a way that alienates neither the growing Church in the developing world, nor the faithful in much of the developed world where same sex marriage is legal and increasingly unremarkable

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By TIM CONNELL
March 27, 2016

ONE of the Hunter’s top Anglicans has used Easter to back the alleged victims who will testify at Royal Commission hearings into sexual abuse in the church.

The Bishop of Newcastle, the Right Reverend Greg Thompson, told an Easter Sunday congregation at Christ Church Cathedral to resist “fence-sitting” and to “bear witness” to society’s wrongs.

“In the time of the Royal Commission, it is our role to listen to the survivors,” Bishop Thompson said.

“To seek to understand the journey they have taken to come and tell their story.”

With the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse due to hold public hearings in Newcastle this year, Bishop Thompson said it was part of the Christian ethos to “stand with those who need help”.

“Really, to witness is more than being a bystander,” he told the congregation.

“We are asked to walk the talk.”

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SINGAPORE
The Straits Times

Lydia Lim
Associate Opinion Editor
PUBLISHED MAR 27, 2016

In a culture of consumption, the idea of service to something greater than oneself could go out the window

As we stepped out of the cinema, a colleague exclaimed: “I want to go back to reporting.”

We had just watched Spotlight, this year’s winner of the Oscar for Best Picture and a fine film on the power of journalism to uncover the truth. Like many of us, this colleague had started out as a reporter with The Straits Times but has since been promoted to another role in the paper.

The film Spotlight centres on the true story of a team of investigative journalists at The Boston Globe newspaper, who in 2001 and 2002 exposed the Catholic Church in Boston’s cover-up of child sexual abuse by priests. They later won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism.

So inspiring is the film that after watching it, newspaper journalists around the world have felt affirmed in their choice of profession – despite grave financial pressure from the Internet that has cost many their jobs and ongoing pressure from other sources, including politicians.

One journalist wrote to Mr Martin Baron, The Boston Globe editor who pushed for a fuller investigation into the matter and went to court to secure the release of crucial documents, to say “the story that inspired the movie serves as a wonderful, wonderful reminder why so many of us got into this business in the first place and why so many stayed despite all the gloom and doom and all the left hooks that landed squarely on our chins along the way”.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
SCNow

Posted: Sunday, March 27, 2016

Don Kausler Jr. Editor

When an editor’s battery is running low, words from Pulitzer Prize winners are a great way to recharge. In a recent four-day period involving two trips to Columbia, anecdotes from journalists that won three prizes were perfect antidotes.

At a program during the S.C. Press Association’s annual meetings, a threesome from the Post and Courier in Charleston shared inside stories of “Till Death Do Us Part,” an in-depth look at South Carolina’s domestic violence problem. That preceded an entertaining talk by 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist Kathleen Parker.

But the highlight was a talk at the University of South Carolina journalism school by Walter Robinson.

Who? He’s better known as “Robby” Robinson.

Who? Michael Keaton portrayed him in “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning movie about The Boston Globe’s 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning series about child sex abuse by Catholic priests in the Boston area.

Robinson was the leader of the four-person team that exposed the abuse and the church’s cover-up. His inspirational speech spotlighted the movie and investigative reporting.

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ROME
Crux

By John L. Allen Jr.
Associate editor March 27, 2016

ROME – For more than a quarter-century, from 1978 to 2005, St. John Paul II was one of the most popular figures in the world, with high poll numbers and adoring crowds. To this day, his funeral Mass eleven years ago is considered the most-watched broadcast event in the history of television.

Yet as is always the case with strong leaders, he was also sometimes polarizing inside the institution he led.

In particular, more liberal Catholics often charged that too much power accumulated in the Vatican on John Paul’s watch, and that the Church had become too rigid and dogmatic. Yet because it’s buried deep in Catholic DNA to hesitate to criticize a pope outright, a sort of lexicon developed to allow people to make these points in oblique fashion.

If you heard a given theologian or bishop talk about the importance of “collegiality,” for instance – referring to the idea that all the bishops should govern the Church together as a college, rather than an absolute monarch in Rome – it often meant they were on the liberal side of arguments about John Paul II. The same went for calls for the Church to be more “pastoral,” usually meaning not quite so stringent about doctrine and discipline.

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UNITED STATES
A Room with a Pew

3/27/2016

Paul Fericano

One of the healthiest and most powerful ways to address the seemingly endless folly of organized religion is to use the tools of social and political satire to reveal it. When the Catholic church, for example, attempts to make the problem of clergy sexual abuse invisible in its own history, it not only confounds everyone’s ability to see the problem in the present, but it holds itself up to be mocked. For years religious leaders and their attorneys have played hardball with victims in an attempt to spin the truth and rewrite the moral narrative. On this issue alone the sovereign farce that has become church practice and policy toward survivors has trumpeted the arrival of its own court jesters.

Throughout history, satire has always provoked curious and uncomfortable laughter while attempting to deflate and expose the pompous and duplicitous. At the same time, it has often managed to entertain and offend just about everyone in the process. The offending comes with the territory. It’s a big reason why this type of humor is one of the most misunderstood art forms. History is riddled with the self-righteous and indignant bodies of satire’s often difficult targets, as well as with those who’ve rushed to defend them. But illuminating dark secrets often comes at a great price. Satirists have risked everything, including bodily injury and death, to follow the advice of Horace and “tell truth with a laugh.”

Today, as the number of victims worldwide continues to grow at an alarming, but unsurprising rate, some would feign offense by arguing that such humor ridicules and trivializes the pain and suffering of victims of clergy sexual abuse. It’s a specious argument at best. But more to the point, it’s an argument that serves to enforce the church’s unwritten body politic that states: if we don’t acknowledge a problem it doesn’t exist.

Keeping itself concealed and mysterious while dressing itself in bright and colorful vestments is one of religion’s greatest illusions. Anyone who has ever been hurt by the church understands this.

The real issue is not about making fun of clergy sexual abuse. It’s about making sense of it. This is no easy task. If I were a stand-up comedian I’d be the guy dressed in Franciscan robes wearing a shoulder holster (“He’s in the bell tower! And he’s got an altar boy!”).* The problem is that the clergy in charge who claim to be sensible are often men who make little or no sense at all. Pope Francis doesn’t escape this criticism. His canonization of Pope John Paul II in 2014, conveyed one of the most disturbing messages that any religious leader could send to victims of clergy abuse. By making a saint of a pope who deliberately turned his back on and helped perpetuate the worst modern crisis in Catholic history, Francis appeared to join the ranks of those who talk and act like they get it, but really don’t.

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CHICAGO (IL)
The Daily Beast

Brandy Zadrozny

A prominent preacher on Chicago’s South Side has been charged with sexually abusing a minor—but he’s still in the pulpit this Easter.

Prominent pastor Rev. George Waddles Sr. will be preaching Easter Sunday at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side—as he has for the last 29 years—despite evidence that he may have sexually molested a young girl in his office during counseling sessions.

Waddles has pleaded not guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a felony that carries a potential seven-year prison sentence.

According to Cook County prosecutors, who laid out their case during a bond hearing in September 2015, the 67-year-old Rev. Waddles had known the alleged victim since she was a toddler. The girl—whom The Daily Beast is not naming because she is a minor and an alleged victim of sexual abuse— and her family had dutifully attended services multiple times a week and her mother even taught Sunday school at Zion Hill.

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JAMAICA
The Gleaner

March 27, 2016

Edmond Campbell

The leadership of the local Seventh-day Adventist Church has vowed that they will not cover up instances where their members are involved in illegal activities, such as molesting children or abusing their spouses.

For decades, the Christian community has been accused of shielding members involved in criminal acts, with the Catholic Church in particular being accused of covering up instances where senior members have molested children.

But president of the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Everett Brown, says under his administration pastors and congregants have been instructed not to cover up crimes, especially against children.

“We have told our pastors that, listen, the time for hiding is over – you have a legal responsibility to do this,” Brown stated during a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last Wednesday.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Examiner

Posted by Mike Bryant
March 26, 2016

Time is running out. Survivors of sexual abuse have until May 25th, 2016 to seek justice against their attackers. The Window is limited by the statute of limitation that was expanded by the Child Victims Act. Anyone who was sexually abused by an employee of the diocese, or who believes the diocese is liable for their abuse have until May 2016.

Those with claims must act within that time.

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

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COLORADO
Daily Camera

By Jeb Barrett
POSTED: 03/26/2016

I was elated when the award-winning movie “Spotlight” receive the Best Picture Oscar. This movie faithfully exposes one of the most heinous crimes — the sexual violation of thousands of children by Catholic clerics and the widespread cover-up of these crimes by Catholic officials.

The film shows, in a moving and suspenseful way, what the investigative team at Boston Globe did: uncover the systematic concealing of abuse by secretly moving predator priests without warning congregations, communities, or civil authorities. As a society, we have naively trusted institutions that exercise illicit influence over police departments, courts and legislatures — something that needs to end wherever it still exists. Thanks to brave survivors in Boston, and now throughout the world, coming forward with the support of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and others, we know this is a worldwide problem, a pervasive crime against humanity.

Some say that I am so passionate and vocal about this issue because of serial abuse and molestation I suffered as a youngster by authority figures. However, my concerns today are not about my own pain. I’m worried about the tens of thousands of victims who have never had chance that I’ve had to expose their perpetrators and the corrupt institutions and unhealthy cultures that protects pedophiles, hebephiles and ephebophiles, rather than our most vulnerable.

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FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

Paul Brinkmann
Orlando Sentinel

Orlando pastor declares he is unable to pay $16 million in debts

Questions are growing about $16 million in debt racked up by Orlando Baptist Church’s former pastor, David Janney, who resigned in February amid a sex scandal.

A former member of the church, Arlene Miranda, filed suit Dec. 10 accusing the church of forcing her to shut up about her sexual encounter with Janney, who is married.

Three days after Miranda’s lawsuit, Janney filed for personal bankruptcy in federal court. Most of the debts date to 2007 or 2008, and they include some large foreclosures filed by banks.

New lawsuits are being filed against Janney this week. On March 22, a financial company filed a claim in the bankruptcy seeking to deny Janney his chance at washing his hands of at least $3.6 million. Miranda also filed a second lawsuit, this time aimed at church officers, alleging that they tried to cover up her alleged affair.

“When I saw how much money he owes, I thought, ‘How can a pastor of a church have that much debt?'” said Miranda’s attorney, Mayanne Downs. “And also, where did it all go? There appears to be a pattern of irregular financial activity, coupled with the sexual abuse that we’ve alleged.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 27, 2016

Rory Callinan
Investigative journalist

Victims of some of the worst sexual abuse perpetrated by the Catholic Church are being denied access to a vast archive of clergy crime, as the church continues to ensure the offending is kept secret, despite the files being handed over to the royal commission.

The nearly 2000 files – which include evidence about at least 63 offenders – have been amassed by the church’s insurers, but the church appears intent on paying millions of dollars in victims compensation settlements to ensure the documents are not made public.

Angry victims and their lawyers have called on Catholic Church Insurance Ltd to make the archive public to enable investigation of potential criminal cover-ups and to assist victims in dealing with their abuse and to seek compensation.

The information was collected in the 1990s as the insurance company took steps to manage the risk posed by an increasing number of victims coming forward to claim compensation.

The insurer’s inquiries aimed to determine exactly when church authorities were first alerted to a paedophile behaviour by clergy. The dates were vital as the insurer did not have to provide coverage for crimes committed after the date church authorities had official “knowledge” an individual was an abuser.

Such information is also of extraordinary value to victims seeking to find out what the church knew about their alleged abuse and subsequent liability, as well as for criminal investigations into the concealment of crimes.

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ITALY
Deutsche Welle

Father Alberto Paolo Lesmo has been stripped of his duties as parish priest in the Milan neighborhood of Muggiano by Cardinal Angelo Scola (photo), according to a statement issued by the archbishop’s office in Milan on Saturday.

“Cardinal Scola and his colleagues express their distress and their pain, and pray for the victim, those close to him and for Father Lesmo,” according to the church statement.

The church said Lesmo had been under police investigation since 2013 but that he hid that information from the archdiocese. The church has launched its own investigation into the allegations.

The alleged abuse occurred between 2009 and 2011. The alleged victim was a teenage boy who prostituted himself to fund his cocaine addiction.

The Cardinal appealed to parishioners for “unity” during these troubled times.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

By JOANNE MCCARTHY
March 25, 2016,

A NSW Supreme Court judge has rejected a Catholic Church application to suppress the names of senior church officials with knowledge of a notorious Hunter paedophile priest, in a woman’s case that the church should have stopped him from raping her from the age of five.

Justice Desmond Fagan criticised Maitland-Newcastle diocese for providing the woman with church documents about paedophile priest Denis McAlinden with the names of church officials blacked out, including a 1976 letter from the late Monsignor Patrick Cotter in which the monsignor acknowledged McAlinden’s “inclination… towards the little ones”.

In the letter Cotter told incoming Bishop Leo Clarke that McAlinden had “an inclination to interfere with young girls”. Cotter told the bishop he put the allegation to McAlinden who “agreed it is a condition that had been with him for many years”.

Cotter’s letter included that McAlinden held a strong wish to depart for Geraldton “because it would afford a good cover-up for his resigning the parish”.

The woman suing the estate of the late Leo Clarke and the trustees of Maitland-Newcastle diocese alleges she was sexually abused by McAlinden between 1974 and 1984, from the age of five.

“This letter, given its date towards the beginning of the period in which the (woman) complains she was sexually abused, is very close to the heart of the (woman’s) case,” Justice Fagan said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish News

Bimpe Archer
26 March, 2016

A PRIEST who left his west Belfast parish amid accusations he had a two-year relationship with a woman is to return after Easter.

Fr Ciaran Dallat “stepped aside” from ministry a year ago to seek “spiritual guidance and counselling”, promising to “repair the hurt and damage that I have caused” ahead of an anticipated return.

It followed revelations of the affair with a Co Down businesswoman in her forties.

There was some surpise on Thursday when the cleric appeared in full robes at the Chrism Mass in St Peter’s Cathedral to take part in the service where priests renew and reaffirm their vows and commitment to the bishop and wider church.

One parishioner who contacted the Irish News expressed disappointment that the parish had not prepared them with an announcement ahead of Fr Dallat’s inclusion in the ceremony.

Fr Dallat was a popular priest and, following his temporary departure last year, a group of parishioners mounted a campaign for his return.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Deborah McAleese
PUBLISHED
26/03/2016

The Catholic church is facing a backlash after it “quietly” reinstated a priest who had a sexual relationship with a parishioner.

Fr Ciaran Dallat, who stepped aside last year following an affair with a woman who allegedly became pregnant, has resumed his duties after “spiritual guidance and counselling”.

Parishioners were unaware of the decision to bring Fr Dallat back, until they spotted the west Belfast priest taking part in the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday at St Peter’s Cathedral.

A statement from the Diocese of Down and Connor said yesterday that after he voluntarily stepped aside in March last year, Fr Dallat had undertaken “a time of reparation, spiritual guidance and counselling” in the hope that he would be able to “resume the exercise of priestly ministry”.

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UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Bennett “Ben” Colucci was ordained for the Capuchin Franciscans in 1957. He spent his career in Washington DC, Pittsburgh PA, the dioceses of Arecibo, San Juan and Ponce in Puerto Rico, Denver CO, and Salina KS. Colucci was removed from ministry in Denver in 1993 for “reported misconduct” and was transferred to KS. He retired in 2005. In 2015 a woman reported to the Capuchins that Colucci sexually abused her in the 1980s when she was a student at Marycrest High School in Denver, where Colucci was working. The Order deemed the allegation credible.

Ordained: 1957
Retired: 2005

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IRELAND
New Ross Standard

PUBLISHED
26/03/2016

The third annual Flowers for Magdalene’s memorial ceremony took place in St. Stephen’s Cemetery, New Ross, recently drawing people from across the region.

A large crowd gathered despite the inclement weather conditions to lay flowers in homage to women who died behind the walls of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry. With the demolition of St Aidan’s Industrial school, which formed part of the Good Shepherd campus in New Ross, in December 2015, the communal grave in St Stephen’s cemetery offers the only visual reminder of the Magdalene legacy in New Ross.

It is estimated that at least 1,663 former Magdalene women are buried in cemeteries across Ireland, many of them in unmarked graves.

The memorial marked International Women’s Day and was held in unison with commemorations at other Magdalene locations throughout the country. This year a flag designed by Nancy Rochford-Flynn for the commemoration was raised by laundry survivor Maureen Sullivan, to place Ireland’s once anonymous daughters within their rightful position in society.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Focus

Schwere Vorwürfe in Würzburg: Eine 44-jährige Frau beschuldigt den ehemaligen Missbrauchsbeauftragten des Bistums des Missbrauchs. Der Mann soll sie zum Oralverkehr gezwungen haben.

Der Fall soll sich bereits 1988 ereignet haben. Damals soll der Geistliche das Mädchen im Kloster Himmelspforten missbraucht haben. Das berichtet der „Spiegel“.

Der Beschuldigte streitet den Missbrauchsvorwurf ab, der heutige Missbrauchsbeauftragte, Kriminologe Klaus Laubenthal, hält diesen laut „Spiegel“ jedoch für „plausibel“.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[A woman raises abuse allegations against a former abuse officer of the diocese of Würzburg. The church holds the situation secret after consultation with the accused. The former commissioner for abuse in the is suspected of sexually abusing the woman in 1988 at the Himmelpforten monastery. Now 44, she was the daughter of a deacon. Klaus Laubenthal, the present abuse officer of the diocese, considers the allegations plausible. He wrote in a report to the Bishop of Wurzburg, Friedhelm Hofmann, there were “several indications” that the woman was a victim of sexual violence. It appears from church documents that the vicar general decided together with the accused not to notify the public prosecutor.]

Eine Frau erhebt Vorwürfe gegen den früheren Missbrauchsbeauftragten des Bistums Würzburg. Die Kirche hält den Fall geheim – nach Rücksprache mit dem Beschuldigten.

26. März 2016

Der ehemalige Missbrauchsbeauftragte des Bistums Würzburg steht in Verdacht, 1988 eine Frau sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Die 44-Jährige Tochter eines Diakons beschuldigt den Mann, sie im Kloster Himmelspforten zum Oralsex gezwungen zu haben.

Klaus Laubenthal, der heutige Missbrauchsbeauftragte des Bistums, hält den Vorwurf für plausibel. Er schrieb in einem Gutachten an den Würzburger Bischof, Friedhelm Hofmann, es gebe “mehrere Anhaltspunkte”, dass die Frau “Opfer sexueller Gewalt wurde”.

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ITALY
The Daily Star (Lebanon)

Agence France Presse

ROME: The archbishop of Milan has suspended a 46-year-old priest charged with paying a teenage boy for sex, a statement said Saturday.

Cardinal Angelo Scola appealed to parishioners for “unity” as he announced he was suspending Father Alberto Paolo Lesmo from his duties as parish priest in the Milan neighborhood of Muggiano.

“Cardinal Scola and his colleagues express their distress and their pain, and pray for the victim, those close to him and for Father Lesmo,” it said.

It said it had only recently learnt that the priest was the subject of a probe launched in 2013 as he had hidden it from his superiors.

The alleged abuse occurred between 2009 and 2011. The alleged victim, a cocaine addict, was a teen at the time and prostituted himself to fund his habit.

The archdiocese has opened its own investigation.

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ILLINOIS
Herald & Review

THERESA CHURCHILL H&R Senior Writer

“Spotlight” may have been the best picture of 2015 according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but you wouldn’t know it by the amount of buzz the film generated in Decatur.

It never played here, as far as I know, except for the special showing the Avon Theatre gave to Herald & Review employees and their families earlier this month.

Sad to say, the audience for a movie about public service journalism is dwindling, especially if you’re counting the number of print journalists working these days.

I admired the tenacity of the Boston Globe’s investigative reporters, as depicted in the film, as they worked long hours to uncover the systematic child sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests in the Boston Archdiocese.

Their series of reports won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.

More importantly, the story caused hundreds of other victims around the country to come forward about similar crimes committed against them, often while they served the church as altar boys.

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WASHINGTON
Q13 Fox

MARCH 25, 2016, BY JAMIE TOMPKINS

SEATTLE — A Burlington woman is speaking out, no longer afraid to share a painful childhood secret of sexual abuse.

Mary Lynch says a priest named Father Michael Cody sexually molested her when she was 8 years old. She never told a soul, until a Sedro-Woolley woman came forward in May of 2015, accusing Cody of sexual abuse. The Archiodecese payed her $1.2 million to settle.

“I didn’t think anybody else had been victimized by him because I’d never heard his name before,” says Mary.

With the help of her attorney, Michael Pfau, Mary, along with 7 other women, were awarded a settlement of over $9 million from the Seattle Archidiocese.

The archdiocese says Michael Cody abused all 8 girls between 1968 and 1974 at churches in Burlington, La Conner, Swinomish and Bellingham.

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CHICAGO (IL)
CBS Chicago

(STMW) — A new lawsuit was filed Friday alleging sexual abuse by convicted child molester and defrocked priest Daniel McCormack and the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The plaintiff — a man identified only as John J. Doe — filed the suit Friday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The man claims in the suit that McCormack engaged him in sexual and abusive relationships from 2003 to 2004 while the priest was a basketball coach at St. Agatha’s Parish on the West Side.

McCormack was removed from the priesthood in November 2007 and pleaded guilty that year to abusing five other children at St. Agatha’s. He was sentenced to five years in prison and has been staying at a state-run mental health facility since his release from prison in 2009.

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TEXAS
San Antonio Express-News

These remarks were delivered March 19 at a memorial Mass at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church for Father Virgilio Elizondo, who died March 14. The Bexar County medical examiner listed the cause of death as suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The large crowd gathered here this morning is only a fraction of the thousands and thousands of people whose lives were touched by Father Virgil, our brother. On behalf of his family, I thank all of you here and everyone who is mourning his loss with us — including his many friends and colleagues at the University of Notre Dame and the people he served at his various priestly assignments, including this parish community, whom he served for 20 years.

I thank Father Juan Alfaro, Father Jorge Campos and the parishioners of Santa Rosa de Lima. I also thank his family for sharing “Uncle V” with us.

Since Monday, many people — especially my brother priests and bishops — have been sharing stories about him with me. While there are not words enough to memorialize him now, three characteristics stand out in these stories.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Manchester Evening News

26 MAR 2016

BY NEAL KEELING

Legal action brought by Former students of St Bede’s College was stopped without reaching any conclusions, out of court settlement or apologies

Legal action against Salford Diocese by alleged victims of sexual abuse has been dropped.

Former students of St Bede’s College in Whalley Range, Manchester, were suing church bosses over claims they were sexually abused by Catholic priests.

But the court process has now been discontinued without any out of court settlement or apology.

Although a lawyer for the former pupils says she is in the process of negotiating a formal apology.

The decision to stop the legal case comes despite three ex-pupils waiving their right to anonymity in January to talk publicly about their suffering at the hands of senior staff.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Mar. 25, 2016

WORCESTER – A former church elder who took about $3.4 million from about 25 people in a Ponzi scheme from 2010 to 2014 entered a plea deal this week with a federal prosecutor that calls for 24 to 41 months in prison and more than $1.6 million restitution.

Charles L. Erickson of Uxbridge waived the indictment and pleaded guilty to wire fraud Thursday in U.S. District Court.

Mr. Erickson, who will be sentenced June 28, faced up to 20 years’ incarceration. He is also subject to 36 months of supervised release, according to terms of the plea agreement in the court.

The criminal complaint by FBI Special Agent Bryan McKay in September said Mr. Erickson began collecting money around 2010 from investors for trading futures contracts. Those are contracts between two parties to buy or sell an asset for a price agreed upon today, with delivery and payment occurring at a future point, the delivery date.

Mr. Erickson recruited investors, many from Connect Community Church in Ashland, where he was a church elder. He said he believed the Holy Spirit gave him a proprietary system for day trading a particularly volatile futures contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WJAC

[U.S. District Attorneys File Motion to Restrain Assets of Fr. Joseph Maurizio]

JOHNSTOWN — Federal prosecutors want a judge to freeze the assets of Central City priest who owes $70,000 in fines and restitution after he was convicted of sexually assaulting poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras.

According to documents filed Friday, prosecutors say Joseph Maurizio transferred 42 acres of land to his niece in November, after he was convicted, and has continued trying to transfer his assets to her in a phone call from jail since his March 2 sentencing. Maurizio was also ordered to spend more than 17 years in prison.

The judge has not ruled on this motion.

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PENNSYLVANIA
KSN

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Federal prosecutors want a judge to freeze the assets of a Pennsylvania priest who owes $70,000 in fines and restitution after he was convicted of sexually assaulting poor street children during missionary trips to Honduras.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 71, transferred 42 acres of land and his home for $1 to his niece in November, after he was convicted, and has continued trying to transfer money from his financial accounts to her since his March 2 sentencing, according to the motion filed Friday by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Haines.

But defense attorney Thomas Farrell said in an email that Friday’s motion “shows a lack of common courtesy” because the transfers are being made so the niece — who is the priest’s power of attorney — can pay the penalties.

Farrell, one of two attorneys representing the priest on appeal, said the attorneys are to blame for not providing clearer instructions to the niece “on when and how the payments should be made” and said she has been making arrangements to pay the penalties.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, March 25, 2016

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

We applaud prosecutors who are trying to keep a convicted predator priest from illegally protecting his wealth. We hope they succeed.

[Tribune-Review]

According to the Tribune-Review, “The U.S. Attorney’s office asked a federal judge in Johnstown Friday to freeze the assets of Fr. Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for molesting boys at a Honduran orphanage, alleging he is transferring his property to relatives.

Shame on Fr. Maurizio’s niece, Christine Shaulis, for her selfish and deceitful involvement in these illegal financial transfers. And shame on Fr. Maurizio’s Catholic supervisors for letting him create a self-run “charity” in the first place.

Sadly, bishops let many priests set up their own unaccountable ‘charities’ and then act surprised when the priests are exposed as predators who commit both sexual and financial crimes. Altoona Catholic officials owe their flock explanations, apologies and real reforms to prevent priests from amassing private wealth they can use to attract victims and conceal crimes.

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ITALY
GlobalPost

AFP

Tens of thousands of faithful bearing candles prayed at an Easter ritual at Rome’s ancient Colosseum on Friday, where they and Pope Francis were told of the suffering of rejected migrants, sexually abused children and slaves.

Security was tight at the former gladiator battle ground, where a small group of believers carried a cross between 14 “stations” evoking the last hours of Jesus’s life during the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession.

Francis, 79, sat under a red canopy next to a large cross as he listened gravely to a lengthy meditation written by Italian Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti. …

The archbishop also denounced “the wounds of children desecrated in their intimacy” through paedophilia, and the fate of women who become “objects of exploitation”.

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AUSTRALIA
Latin American Herald Tribune

SYDNEY – Australian former bishop Geoffrey Robinson said on Friday the Catholic Church has lost “almost all credibility” due to the cases of pedophilia and called on Pope Francis to demand the resignation of every bishop who failed to properly address child abuse cases.

“Every bishop who has ever been responsible for the abuse of a child, because he did not do what he should have done, should be asked to resign,” said the author of books like “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church” in an interview with Australian ABC Radio.

Robinson, who was a key player in the Australian Catholic Church’s response to child sexual abuse cases by members of clergy between 1994 and 2003, stressed the need of “death and resurrection” in the Church during Easter.

He also added that the church needs to “get rid of obligatory celibacy” and demanded a role for women in the church. Catholic teaching must rethink about their teachings on sexuality, which should include a new look on homosexuality and “the concept of what is natural.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sexueller Missbrauch durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche im Bistum Trier
– ein Blog von Claudia Adams

Werter Bischof Ackermann,
werter Beauftragter der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz für Fragen sexuellenMissbrauchs Minderjähriger im kirchlichen Bereich,

Als sich am 29.01.2016 die Betroffene aus dem Bistum Würzburg an mich wandte, wusste ich noch nicht, dass es sich hierbei um einen Skandal handeln sollte, der die von Ihnen versprochene „Aufklärung“ sexuellen Missbrauchs durch Angehörige der katholischen Kirche auf einzigartige Weise widerlegen würde.

Erst im Laufe der Recherche wurde die Dimension einer absolut heuchlerischen Vorgehensweise der Katholischen Kirche offensichtlich. Kircheninterne Akten, die belegen, was die Katholische Kirche unter dem Begriff „Aufklärung“ versteht.

Der SPIEGEL enthüllt in der heutigen Ausgabe das, was dem Leser zugemutet werden kann.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

[Chronologie – Wurtsburg diozese]

[A woman has accused the former abuse officer of the Wurtzburg diocese of sexual abuse when she was a teenager.]

Eine Frau beschuldigt ausgerechnet einen ehemaligen Missbrauchsbeauftragten als Missbrauchstäter. Interne Akten der Kirche zeigen, wie der Mann geschont wurde.

Ein Spät­som­mer­tag im al­ten Zis­ter­zi­en­ser­klos­ter Him­mels­pfor­ten. Das Bis­tum Würz­burg hat ka­tho­li­sche Fa­mi­li­en am Wo­chen­en­de zu Kur­sen und ge­müt­li­chem Bei­sam­men­sein ein­ge­la­den. Auch Alex­an­dra Wolf und ihre El­tern sind ge­kom­men. Die 17-Jäh­ri­ge ging ih­rer Er­in­ne­rung nach ge­ra­de ei­nen Flur des jahr­hun­der­te­al­ten Ge­bäu­des ent­lang, da sprach sie ein Pries­ter an und bat sie in ein Be­spre­chungs­zim­mer. Der Geist­li­che Fried­rich Stein(*) woll­te mit der Ju­gend­li­chen über ihre El­tern re­den, über ih­ren Va­ter vor al­lem, der sich auf die Wei­he zum Dia­kon vor­be­rei­te­te.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Southtown

Erin Gallagher
Daily Southtown

Protecting Roman Catholic children from sexual predators is a full-time job for this Chicago Heights native.

As the newly-appointed Archdiocese of Chicago’s director of the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth, Mary Jane Doerr has a candid, but optimistic view of the challenges she faces.

“We know we are working for the dark side of the church, but we are the ones shining light on it,” Doerr said.

Doerr, 62, oversees three offices within the archdiocese, including the Assistance Ministry Office, which provides support for victims of sexual abuse and their families. She encourages people who have been victims to come forward, because “it’s never too late,” she said.

“The archdiocese wants to hear their stories and support their health and wellness,” Doerr said. “That’s an important part of this ministry.”

Workers in the office have served more than 500 victims and their families and “they are very good at it,” she said. Taking the ministry in a new direction, they are helping victims rejoin the church, a process they call “helping them find a place in the pew.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

BY PAUL PEIRCE | Friday, March 25, 2016

The U.S. Attorney’s office asked a federal judge in Johnstown Friday to freeze the assets a Roman Catholic priest from Somerset County who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for molesting boys at a Honduran orphanage, alleging he is transferring his property to relatives.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie L. Haines alleges the Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., 70, has been liquidating his assets since he was sentenced March 1 by turning over the property to relatives.

In the four-page motion she said the priest already has deeded 42 acres in Paint Township and Windber, Somerset County, to relatives for $1 and has had made plans in telephone discussions with his niece, Christine Shaulis, to transfer his bank accounts, “leaving those accounts with a zero balance.”

The conversations were captured on audio recordings from the Cambria County Prison in Ebensburg where Maurizio is being held, Haines said.

“Accordingly, the United States requests an order restraining the sale, transfer or dissipation of assets for a period of 60 days …,” Haines states.

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VATICAN CITY
America

Vatican Dispatch

April 4-11, 2016 Issue
Gerard O’Connell

Continuing his reform of Vatican finances, Pope Francis issued a decree on March 4 approving new norms relating to the administration of the “goods,” mainly money, of the causes for beatification and canonization of saints in order to ensure full transparency and accountability in this area.

He took this decisive step after the commission he set up in July 2013 concluded that there was little or no oversight on how the considerable sums of money collected for a particular cause were spent. The commission’s report revealed that the system approved by St. John Paul II in 1983 lacked effective oversight and failed to prevent abuses. John Paul II beatified 1,138 persons and declared 482 saints, and it was known in Rome during his pontificate that money had been an important factor in advancing some of them.

In early August 2013, Francis received alarming reports from the commission on this matter, and he immediately ordered the blocking of some 400 accounts of the postulators of the causes of beatification and canonization held at the Institute for the Works of Religion (commonly called the Vatican Bank). That was but the first step; the new norms are the latest.

That there were abuses in the system was long known. It became public knowledge when two Italian journalists, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, drawing on the commission’s leaked report, published books that revealed that while hundreds of thousands of euros were collected for a particular cause, there was little or no control over how this money was spent. The average cost for a beatification was around 500,000 euros (US $550,000). Fittipaldi, for example, highlighted the high costs for the cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Most of the 450 postulators are religious, but Nuzzi cited the report as revealing that two lawyers (laypeople, both named) handled a disproportionate share of the 2,500 causes, with 90 cases each. Moreover, the family of one of them was among the three printers given contracts by the congregation to print the position papers (sometimes several volumes) for the causes.

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AUSTRALIA
Gympie Times

Daniel Burdon | 26th Mar 2016

POPE Francis has been urged to ask for the resignation of all Catholic bishops who have failed to properly address child sexual abuse cases.

Australian Roman Catholic Bishop Geoffrey Robinson made the call yesterday in an effort to restore “trust and credibility” in the Church.

Bishop Robinson told ABC Radio National every bishop who was responsible for the abuse of a child “because he did not do what he should have done” should be asked to resign.

If Pope Francis was to act on Bishop Robinson’s urging, hundreds of bishops worldwide could resign.

Bishop Robinson said the church had lost “almost all its credibility” and had to be seen to be confronting the problem.

He also called for more women to be allowed involvement in the Church at senior levels and an end to the Catholic rule of mandatory celibacy for priests.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 25, 2016

Beau Donelly

A retired teacher who tried to stop a paedophile priest from assaulting her students has returned to her old school to pay tribute to the victims of clerical sex abuse.

Former Holy Family teacher Carmel Rafferty led a group of people back to the Doveton parish adjoining her old primary school on Friday to tie colourful ribbons to the fence in a mark of respect to survivors.

“The church is paying attention to the suffering of Jesus on Good Friday, but we’re paying attention to the abused,” Ms Rafferty said.

“We’re sending a message of recognition,” she said.

“This is a way we can show our heartfelt concern to the victims, survivors, their families, and to those who have never disclosed their suffering to anyone.”

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ITALY
ANSA

(ANSA) – Milan, March 25 – Milan prosecutors have indicted Father Alberto Paolo Lesmo, accusing him of paying with cash and drugs for sex with a minor, ANSA sources said on Friday.

Prosecutors said that between 2009 and 2011, Lesmo paid a boy aged between 14 and 17 for sex, at times also paying with illegal drugs.

Another person not connected to the Church has also been indicted in the case, and prosecutors said that on one occasion that suspect raped the minor involved.

A preliminary hearing date has not yet been set.

Milan Archbishop Angelo Scola suspended Lesmo on Friday from his duties as parish priest at Santa Marcellina Church in the Milan neighborhood of Muggiano, as well as deacon of the neighboring Baggio district.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Stephen Naysmith / Thursday 24 March 2016

Charities, churches and other institutions where child abuse took place should be required to pay into a fund to help support victims, according to an MSP.

Labour’s Graeme Pearson said institutions in which child abuse is known to have taken place could help provide the fund for survivors of abuse while an inquiry into what happened to them takes place.

The Scottish Government has announced a £13.5m survivor support fund, which will prioritise the needs of older historic child abuse victims, some of whom are not expected to live to see the end of the four year inquiry.

As the Herald reported yesterday, the inquiry has already cost more than £600,000 and the final cost will run into the tens of millions of pounds.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has defended the decision to name former Bishop of Chichester George Bell as an alleged paedophile.

The Church of England settled a civil claim made by a woman who says she was abused by the late Rt Rev Bell in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Archbishop Welby said he was a “great hero” for his wartime actions but the abuse claim apology was “correct”.

Bishop Bell’s supporters have criticised the church’s investigation.

‘Appalling shock’

Bishop Bell was well known for championing the people of Germany during World War Two and made a speech in the House of Lords in February 1944 opposing Churchill’s policy of saturation bombing.

Archbishop Welby told BBC Radio Kent: “He did extraordinary work during the Second World War, and in the run up to the war and in the years after the war, but someone came forward who said that they had been abused by him.

“On the balance of probability, at this distance, it seemed clear to us after very thorough investigation that that was correct and so we paid compensation and gave a profound and deeply felt apology.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

March 25, 2016

This article is written by a female survivor of child sexual abuse in an institutional setting in the Australian Jewish community.

Dr. Michelle Meyer is CEO of Tzedek, an advocacy service for survivors of child sexual abuse, is promoting her voice, both as an opportunity for her to tell her story but also in the hope that it will encourage others to speak up. And whilst this story took place in the Australian Jewish community, it is also an international story.

A victim tells her story:

The Catch 22 of Case 22.

Established in 2013, the work of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse continues throughout the nation. As it does so, my community struggles to find its feet on the shifting sands.

In the wake of the Royal Commission’s case study #22 – its probe of the the Yeshivah/Beth Rivkah community – rabbis have stood down, boards have been dissolved and reconstituted, committees were appointed and policies and procedures have been revisited and reviewed. New legislation and safeguards have also been implemented.

But as the fallout continues and the school and community hasten to recalibrate, a number of issues have been overlooked, two of which are: the lack of the female voice in the narrative, and the cultural stigma attached to having been sexually abused.

The lack of the female voice in the narrative

With all due respect to the Royal Commission and with high regard to the tight parameters and terms of reference that it must work within, the absence of female witnesses leaves the investigation of events at the Yeshivah-Beth-Rivkah schools incomplete.

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UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

3.24. 2016 Written By: Gordon Houser and Hannah Heinzekehr

In a March 20 letter to congregants, the staff and board of elders of Lindale Mennonite Church, Linville, Va., acknowledged that staff have been aware of reports of an abusive relationship with congregation member Luke Hartman since August 2014.

On Jan. 8, Hartman was charged with solicitation of prostitution. Hartman’s trial was due to start March 15, but, according to WHSV news in Harrisonburg, Va., new information was received from Virginia State Police, and the trial was rescheduled for March 29. Hartman served as Vice President for Enrollment at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, a role he resigned from on Jan. 12. He was also a frequent speaker at Mennonite Church USA conventions.

The Lindale letter states that a member of the congregation responded to a Jan. 11 statement from the Anabaptist-Mennonite chapter of the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests (SNAP Menno) inviting any individuals who may have experienced abusive behavior from Hartman or others within Mennonite Church USA to report the behavior to police, local crisis centers, civil attorneys or independent survivor groups like SNAP.

“Someone from our congregation contacted SNAP about an abusive relationship that was brought to our attention in August 2014,” said the Lindale letter. The letter states that pastors have been in contact with both the victim and Hartman and that “there were disciplinary measures set in place and professional counseling was provided.” No further details about these measures were provided in the letter.

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MINNESOTA
St. Catherine University

Today is an exciting day for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis! Together with the entire St. Catherine University community, I am delighted to welcome Archbishop Bernard Hebda to his permanent appointment as Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis! Our excitement and happiness on learning this news must reach all the way from Rome, where St. Catherine students, campus ministry leaders, Chaplain Fr. John Forliti, and I are celebrating Holy Week at the liturgies of our Holy Father, Pope Francis.

We look forward to welcoming Archbishop Hebda to our cities on a permanent basis and to working with him as spiritual leader of our Archdiocesan and University faith communities.

Already encouraged by his intelligent and wise engagement over the past months, the University looks forward to many fruitful years of engagement with our new Archbishop. Since his arrival in our Archdiocese some months ago, Archbishop Hebda has worked tirelessly to address the many challenges we face and has been an enthusiastic, pastoral and thoughtful supporter of our mission at St. Catherine and of my service as president. Notably, Archbishop Hebda has encouraged St. Catherine’s commitment to social justice, and offered me counsel and direction as we work to strengthen our Catholic identity.

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ARIZONA
Fox 13

[with video]

BY MARK GREEN AND LAUREN STEINBRECHER

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Two members of the Navajo Nation have sued The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, alleging the church placed Native American children in Mormon foster homes where they were sexually abused and that LDS leaders did not take adequate steps to protect those children.

The lawsuit, filed in Navajo Nation District Court on March 22, names The Corporation of the President of the LDS Church, The Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church, LDS Family Services and the LDS Church itself.

The allegations stem from a foster care program formerly carried out by the LDS Church and its subsidiaries called the “Indian Placement Program” or the “Lamanite Placement Program” (LPP). The two plaintiffs, a brother and sister, state they and another sibling experienced abuse while in the program in Utah from 1976-1983.

“It was kind of a series of ongoing sexual abuse situations of varying degrees while in this program,” said Craig Vernon, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

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ARIZONA
Gephardt Daily

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., March 24, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Two Navajo siblings have filed a lawsuit against the LDS Church alleging they were sexually abused decades ago as children while they were in a church program that placed them with Mormon foster families.

The lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seeks unspecified damages; changes in church polices regarding reports of sexual, including the practice of telling leaders not to testify in cases involving abuse; the creation of a task force to address social and cultural harm to Navajos who were in the Indian Student Placement Program; and a written apology.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Navajo Nation court.

Attorney Billy Keeler said the brother and sister, his clients, told at least two leaders about the abuse, but nothing to protect the children while they were in the program, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

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MINNESOTA
The Catholic Spirit

Maria Wiering | March 24, 2016

Auxiliary Bishop Cozzens calls appointment ‘an early Easter’

“Brilliant.” “Humble.” “Holy.” The words were used repeatedly by leaders in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to describe Archbishop Bernard Hebda, whom Pope Francis named their archbishop March 24.

Father Charles Lachowitzer, the archdiocese’s moderator of the curia, said the news brought him “great joy.”

“As we were going around doing the listening sessions a few months ago, the archbishop’s relationship with the people and his graciousness, his kindness, his humility, his faith, all of these things were immediately responded to by many of the people, saying ‘Can we keep you here?’” he said. “From those first listening sessions it was obvious that if he were selected by the Holy Father to be our next archbishop, we couldn’t have done any better.”

Since June 2015, Archbishop-designate Hebda has been serving as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator, a position he assumed was temporary, as he was previously named coadjutor archbishop of Newark and expecting to lead that archdiocese upon the retirement of Archbishop John Myers.

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MINNESOTA
National Catholic Reporter

Brian Roewe | Mar. 24, 2016

Bernard Hebda woke up Tuesday morning a prelate with two temporary titles — apostolic administrator to the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese and coadjutor archbishop in Newark, N.J. — attached to his name. By the day’s end, a third replaced both: archbishop-designate of St. Paul-Minneapolis.

“I am humbled once again by Pope Francis’ confidence in me in calling me to this local church, which has been so influential and important in the upper Midwest,” he said during a press conference held inside the Cathedral of St. Paul.

The announcement Thursday morning of Hebda’s appointment as the 11th archbishop of the Twin Cities answered one question: Who would succeed Archbishop John Nienstedt who resigned last June under the shadow of an ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal and related bankruptcy filing and criminal charges. But the announcement raised another: Who will Hebda, no longer just a passerby in the historically important archdiocese, become as a now-rooted resident?

“How will he present himself as an archbishop, now that he’s got the powers of office and permanence?” asked Charles Reid, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis whose said his initial impressions of Hebda have been fairly positive, viewing him as careful and conciliatory. “Will he change now that he’s an archbishop?”

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Times

By Calkins Media

The news couldn’t have been more sickening or disgusting. A grand jury report recently accused two former Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese bishops of covering up or failing to act swiftly enough on sexual abuse claims against more than 50 priests from 1966 until 2011.

The report says the late Bishop James Hogan and former Bishop Joseph Adamec kept filing cabinets with 115,042 secret documents detailing victims’ abuse claims. It tells how church officials transferred the accused priests to other parishes, and intervened when local and state police made inquiries, starting in the mid-1960s.

Three ex-leaders of a Franciscan religious order have been charged in connection with the investigation for allowing a friar who was a known sexual predator to take on jobs, including a position as an athletic trainer at Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, which enabled him to molest more than 100 children.

The news brought back memories of similar scandals in Boston and Philadelphia, which shocked and outraged Catholics and non-Catholics alike across the country. Catholic Church officials were quick to apologize for the grand jury report, expressing their deep concerns for the victims of abuse.

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FRANCE
Crux

By Amicie Pelissie Du Rausas
Special to Crux March 24, 2016

PARIS – While the French Church does not always live harmoniously with its anti-clerical state and culture, it has been mostly spared the accusations of financial mismanagement and sexual abuse that the Church in other European countries has known.

Our régime of laïcité — a strict separation between Church and state, in which the public square is declared religion-free — has meant, for example, close state supervision over Catholic educational facilities.

Yet as a third case of clerical sex abuse came to light last week in the Archdiocese of Lyon, French Catholics have been wondering if they are not so different after all.

Proceedings opened Jan. 27 against Father Bernard Preynat, charged with “sexual aggression and rape of minors” between 1986 and 1991 at Lyon’s Saint-Luc parish, where he ran a large Catholic Scout group over two decades. (See a French op-ed in La Croix and a report in Le Monde.)

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ILLINOIS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Gerald “Fr. Jerry” Simonelli was ordained for the Joliet diocese in 1990. He assisted at parishes in West Chicago, Bolingbrook and Glen Ellyn, then pastored parishes in Romeoville, Addison and Bloomingdale. He was removed from ministry in May 2010 after a 21-yr-old man accused him of “inappropriate conduct” that occurred more than two years previously. Bishop Sartain stated Simonelli’s removal was due to “homosexual activity” and that he was “unfaithful to his vows on more than one occasion.”Simonelli’s name appears on the diocese’s June 24, 2015 list of “Diocesan Priests With A Credible Allegation(s) of Sexual Abuse of Minors Made Against Them While Serving in the Joliet Diocese.” The list notes there to be a continuing canonical process.

Ordained: 1990

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEWARK — News that Archbishop Bernard Hebda has left New Jersey for good has left Catholics in the Garden State wondering who will eventually lead the state’s largest Archdiocese.

“I was devastated,” Fr. Alex Santora of Our Lady of Grace in Hoboken said of how he felt when he learned of Pope Francis’s decision Thursday to appoint Hebda the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

“I think I can speak for a lot of priests that I’ve talked to who feel that (Hebda) raised the expectations for what could be in our Archdiocese.”

Hebda came to New Jersey in 2013, when Pope Francis named him Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, and successor to current Archbishop John J. Myers, who is expected to retire in July.

Hebda’s personality and style, Santora said, instilled a “sense of excitement” amongst local clergy members about the impending “transition” to Hebda’s leadership. “Now, that has been dashed.”

Last year, while still serving in Newark, Hebda was appointed to also serve as Apostolic Administrator in the Twin Cities. Hebda was brought in amidst a sex scandal in Minnesota that saw the resignation of former Archbishop John Nienstedt. The appointment led to speculation that Hebda would not remain in Newark, though he assured local Catholics that the post was temporary.

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AUSTRALIA
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

VCAT REFERENCE NO. J144/2015

CATCHWORDS
Application by Legal Services Commissioner pursuant to s 4.4.13(2) and (3)(a) of the Legal Profession Act 2004; Two charges of professional misconduct pursuant to s 4.4.3(1)(a) or alternatively misconduct at common law pursuant to s 4.4.3(1), Guilty Plea to unsatisfactory professional conduct only, Statement of Agreed Facts. Professional misconduct proven.

APPLICANT
Victorian Legal Services Commissioner

RESPONDENT
Alex Lewenberg

WHERE HELD
Melbourne

BEFORE
Judge Jenkins, Vice President

HEARING TYPE
Hearing

DATE OF HEARING
15 March, 2016

DATE OF ORDER
23 March 2016

CITATION:
Victorian Legal Services Commissioner v Lewenberg (Legal Practice) [2016] VCAT 439
ORDERS

PRELIMINARY ORDER

Pursuant to s 17 of the Open Courts Act 2013, the Tribunal orders that any material or information arising from this proceeding which could reasonably lead to the identification of the name of the Complainant, also referred to as AVB, shall not be published or broadcast or be made available to the public. In making this Order the Tribunal is satisfied that it would be contrary to the public interest for the name of the Complainant to be published.

FINDINGS

The Tribunal finds Alex Lewenberg guilty of Charge 1, namely, that he engaged in professional misconduct within the meaning of s 4.4.4(a) of the Legal Profession Act 2004, in that the conduct of Alex Lewenberg on 6 September 2011 at the Magistrates’ Court of Victoria at Melbourne, namely, uttering certain words to which he admitted, constituted conduct consisting of a contravention of Rule 30 of the Profession Conduct and Practice Rules 2005.

The Tribunal finds Alex Lewenberg guilty of Charge 3, namely, that he engaged in professional misconduct within the meaning of s 4.4.4(a) of the Legal Profession Act 2004, in that the conduct of Alex Lewenberg on 6 October 2011 at 340 Little Lonsdale Street in Melbourne, namely, uttering the words in a telephone conversation, to which he admitted, was conduct consisting of a contravention of Rule 30 of the Profession Conduct and Practice Rules 2005.

The hearing is adjourned to 6 April 2015 to hear submissions in respect of determinations.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

An Australian bishop has called on Pope Francis to request the resignation of every bishop who has failed to properly address cases of child sexual abuse.

Roman Catholic Bishop Geoffrey Robinson said there needed to be “death and resurrection” in the church this Easter to restore trust and credibility.

“Every bishop who has ever been responsible for the abuse of a child, because he did not do what he should have done, should be asked to resign,” Bishop Robinson, now retired, said in an interview with ABC Radio religion specialist Noel Debien.

His suggestion would mean the resignation of hundreds of bishops worldwide.

“The church has lost almost all credibility,” he said.

“It has got to be seen to be confronting anything and everything which has contributed.”

Bishop Robinson also said the church must “get rid of obligatory celibacy” and called for a shift in the role of women in the church.

“Women must be brought into every level of the church in a far, far greater way than they are,” he said.

He also said Catholic teaching on sexuality must be “looked at again from the beginning” — including homosexuality.

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NEW YORK
Shawangunk Journal

Editorial

I finally saw this year’s Oscar-winning Best Picture, Spotlight, all about the Boston Globe’s lengthy and airtight investigation into the predator priest scandals that have racked the Catholic Church, and especially the ways in which dioceses were part of a systemic cover up. One leaves the theater reminded of the continuing importance of journalism as a key tool of not only democracy, but the maintenance of human decency. But also of the difficulties involved in the job.

Three things shone through for me and others I know who are in this business. First, the frustrations involved in getting things right when dealing with truly serious stories. Sometimes you have to hold on to smaller pieces of information, and keep working one’s material to get at something bigger. Other stories happen which force one to put the story dearest to one’s heart on hold. And thirdly, we are all human, and all prone to letting big news connections slip by us because we don’t recognize their importance, or can’t handle them at certain points in our lives. Yet with work and honesty, they do find the light of day, eventually.

In other words, finding and telling truths is an ongoing process. It takes time.

All of this reminds us of some of the bigger stories that have surfaced around here in recent years, as well as some that need the attention of a full investigative team… or at least enough time and smarts to make them work. And how with each of these stories, there are subjects that look forward, as well as those that if followed overturn our shared pasts. And convoluted presents.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jessica Mazzola | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

NEWARK — A papal appointment to a post halfway across the country has got local Catholics questioning who the next leader of the state’s largest archdiocese will be.

Pope Francis announced Thursday his appointment of Archbishop Bernard Hebda as the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Hebda had previously served as the Coadjutor Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, and was scheduled to replace Archbishop John J. Myers when he retires.

In a statement released Thursday, Myers said he was surprised by the appointment.

“Our Holy Father Pope Francis has often said that our God is a God of Surprises,” Myers said in a statement. “Today is surely a perfect example of that.”

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GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

Archdiocese of Agana Statement

The Department of Land Management issued new Certificate of Titles on March 15, 2016, once again confirming that the legal and sole owner of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam in Yona (former Hotel Accion property) is the Archbishop of Agana.

The Department of Land Management issued Certificates of Title Nos. 136387, 136388, 136389 and 136390 for the purpose of memorializing the Declaration of Deed Restriction recorded on November 22, 2011 to the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary of Guam and the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Theological Institute. As part of this formal process, the Director of Land Management and Registrar of Titles, Michael Borja, determined that the proper way to proceed with this memorialization was to cancel the former Certificates of Title Nos. 135922, 135923, 135924 and 135925, which did not include the Declaration of Deed Restriction, and issue new Certificates of Title. The issuance of the new Certificates of Titles did not change the Department of Land Management’s certification of ownership; the Archbishop of Agana is the owner of the property, and the certification is dated March 15, 2016.

While dissenters and opposers of the Archbishop have claimed that the now cancelled certificates of title were “bogus”, the Department of Land Management diligently acted to address the concerns over the memorialization. According to Monsignor David C. Quitugua, Vicar General, “The release of these new certificates did not change the ownership of the Seminary Property, but more accurately describes all the pertinent information recorded; the owner of the Seminary property is the Archbishop of Agana, A Corporation Sole; that has not changed since the day the property was acquired for the seminary.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com March 25, 2016

The Department of Land Management’s cancellations and issuance of new certificates of title for a former hotel didn’t change the property’s ownership, according to the Archdiocese of Agana in a recent statement.

The statement was released in connection with the former Accion Hotel, which once was valued at between $40 million and $57 million before it was donated to the Archdiocese of Agana and turned into a seminary.

“While dissenters and opposers of the archbishop have claimed that the now canceled certificates of title were ‘bogus,’ the Department of Land Management diligently acted to address the concerns,” according to the March 18 archdiocesan statement.

“The Archbishop of Agana is the owner of the property, and the certification is dated March 15, 2016,” according to the archdiocesan statement.

The March 18 statement from the archdiocese is in response to recent concerns raised by Robert Klitzkie, a former part-time judge and former two-term island senator.

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WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org)

The settlement of more clergy sex abuse and cover up cases in Seattle shows how little is changing in the Catholic hierarchy. Deeply-held secrets about clerics who commit and conceal sexual violence are pried loose and made public only when brave victims seek justice in court. Without continuous pressure from determined outsiders, prelates like Archbishop Peter Sartain continue to sit on secrets that could make kids safer, expose the truth and bring real healing.

We hope the courageous women who were sexually assaulted by Fr. Michael Cody feel some long-overdue, sorely-needed and well-deserved comfort for their achievement: pulling back more of the on-going, destructive secrecy that still pervades the Catholic hierarchy. We applaud them for finding the strength to report their suffering and having the wisdom to seek justice in court.

It’s worth noting that Catholic bishops have claimed, in hundreds of horrific cases, that they put predator priests back on the job because therapists told them they could.” The Cody files show that this isn’t always true.

We hope that every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions – especially in Seattle – will protect kids by calling police, get help by calling therapists, expose wrongdoers by calling journalists, get justice by calling attorneys, and get comfort by calling support groups like ours. This is how kids will be safer, adults will recover, criminals will be prosecuted and cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Tim Harlow and Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune staff writers MARCH 24, 2016

The Rev. Bernard Hebda has been named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials announced Thursday morning.

Hebda has been the acting leader of the archdiocese since June 15, after Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in the wake of a clergy sex abuse scandal, a series of related lawsuits and investigations, and a bankruptcy filing.

Hebda, 56, was appointed Thursday morning by Pope Francis.

Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

Hedba has been splitting his time between the Twin Cities and Newark, N.J., where he was on track to succeed Archbishop John J. Myers this year. Instead, Hebda will oversee the Twin Cities archdiocese.

In a news conference Thursday morning, Hebda said when he flew into the Twin Cities Tuesday he had no idea he would be named archbishop designate today. “I would have brought a better suit and made sure I had haircut,” he joked.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda greeted parishioners after celebrating his first mass at the St. Paul Cathedral Sunday July 12, 2015 in St. Paul.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda greeted parishioners after celebrating his first mass at the St. Paul Cathedral Sunday July 12, 2015 in St. Paul.

He said his nine months as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese has helped him appreciate the archdiocese’s influence and importance in the Upper Midwest, “as well as a taste of those challenges that have molded its recent history.” …

“This is a disappointing choice for an archdiocese that deserves better and by a pope who knows better,” wrote David Clohessy, director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).

“Just weeks ago, Hebda stayed silent and did nothing while [former archbishop Nienstedt] quietly moved out of state and resumed ministry, causing a firestorm of justifiable outrage and controversy.” Nienstedt had been asked to help a parish priest in Michigan, but left after his connection to the Twin Cities abuse scandal was revealed.

“He will do little or nothing to better protect kids and expose those who commit or conceal sex crimes and misconduct in Minnesota,” Clohessy said.

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PITTSBURG (PA)
Tribune-Review

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Pittsburgh native who has been the interim leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been officially appointed to the position, the Vatican announced Thursday.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, 56, has been overseeing the archdiocese since Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned last year, after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from a priest later convicted of molesting two boys. Nienstedt denied wrongdoing in that case and was not charged.

Hebda’s installation Mass is scheduled for May 13.

David Zubik, Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said in a statement, “As a native of the church of Pittsburgh, Bernie is much loved and admired by the faithful, the religious, the deacons, and the priests of the diocese. He will lead the Church of St. Paul-Minneapolis with great pastoral zeal and with a huge loving heart.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been under fire since 2013, when a former church official went public with concerns about its handling of abuse cases. That same year, a state law opened a three-year window for victims of past sex abuse to file lawsuits. The archdiocese has declared bankruptcy and more than 400 victims have come forward.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

“Physical and sexual abuse on an industrial scale… remained unchecked for decades” at children’s homes in south London, a report by victims says.

The report detailing allegations by 600 people will go before the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

At a preliminary hearing earlier, the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association was given “core participant status”.

Its leader Raymond Stevenson said child abuse in the Lambeth Council-run homes had been a “reversal to the dark ages”.

The abuse had resulted in the “shedding of thousands of tears”, he said, and called it a “shame on the establishment” and “institutionalised evil”.

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MINNESOTA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, March 24

Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com)

The new Twin Cities archbishop is a slightly friendlier version of the old Twin Cities archbishop.

This is a disappointing choice for an archdiocese that deserves better and by a pope who knows better.

Just weeks ago, Hebda stayed silent and did nothing while his corrupt predecessor quietly moved out of state and resumed ministry, causing a firestorm of justifiable outrage and controversy.

Just three months ago, we urged Hebda to reach out to victims of a predator priest whose conviction was upheld. He ignored us:

[SNAP

And consider these developments from just six months ago in Hebda’s home diocese:

[Star Tribune]

Consider Hebda’s depressing defense of a corrupt colleague’s opulent and expensive home:

[NorthJersey.com]

Consider his obsession with public relations and with promoting complacency:

[SNAP]

Hebda’s the consummate insider, a savvy politician. He’s a typical Francis appointee – a glad-handing milquetoast who toes the party line with a smile instead of a scold. He benefits from being judged by the extraordinarily low bar set by Archbishop John Nienstedt.

But he will do little or nothing to better protect kids and expose those who commit or conceal sex crimes and misconduct in Minnesota.

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FRANCE
Telesur

The Cardinal has been caught up in a scandal over abuses that took place 25 years ago, long before he became archbishop of Lyon in 2002.

A French cardinal accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests apologized to victims during a mass, his diocese said Thursday .

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, quoting Pope Francis, said Wednesday he was “obliged to assume all the evil committed by some priests and personally apologize for the damage they have caused by sexually abusing children.”

He said he apologized even though he was not in power in the diocese “when the abominable acts took place”.

Barbarin has been caught up in a scandal over abuses that took place 25 years ago, long before he became archbishop of Lyon in 2002.

A priest in his diocese, Bernard Preynat, was charged in January after victims came forward with claims he had sexually abused Scouts between 1986 and 1991.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 23 March 2016 – The director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., in response to questions from journalists, confirmed this morning that for some time Pope Francis has expressed his intention to open up for consultation the Vatican archives relating to the period of dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). This naturally presupposes the cataloguing of the material.

This task is proceeding in a regular fashion and it is expected to be completed during the coming months, after which the times and conditions for consultation may be studied, in agreement with the Argentine Episcopal Conference. So far, Fr. Lombardi explained, the intention is to respond to specific legal questions requested by rogatory or matters of a humanitarian nature.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Mar 24, 2016 / 07:48 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has named Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda as the new head of the Minneapolis-St. Paul archdiocese – a surprise move for the archbishop, who was expected to take over the diocese of Newark in July.

In a March 24 press release, Archbishop Hebda said that he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence.”

He also said he was honored to serve in a diocese with such a “rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

Archbishop Hebda has been serving as apostolic administrator for the Minneapolis archdiocese since June 15, 2015, when the former archbishop, John C. Nienstedt, stepped down after the diocese was charged with mishandling cases of child sexual abuse.

On June 5, 2015, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was charged with six counts of failing to protect minors, specifically with regard to the actions of the now-former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five year prison sentence for sexually abusing two minors and possession of child pornography.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

March 25, 2016

Meredith Doig

Religious groups are not taxable. No wonder there’s no transparency in how their billions of dollars are spent.

Whether or not you are a practising Christian, Easter is a time to think about religious traditions.

The ongoing proceedings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse​ and the cover-ups so long perpetrated within religious institutions are added reason to do so this year. So, too, is the trial at the Vatican of two investigative journalists for accessing secret Vatican documents about financial corruption and incompetence.

There’s a lot to reflect on here, for the religious and the non-religious alike. Right now, we are also embroiled in the politics of the forthcoming federal budget and no issue is more important or more entangled in obfuscation than that of tax reform. The confluence of these things is worth considering, because the tax-exempt status of religious organisations in this country is a much-neglected topic and one which ought finally to be seriously addressed.

I believe in the application of reason to public policy, as distinct from the application of lobbying by special interest groups. But the application of reason requires considerable transparency. Special interests work hard to shield their interests from the public gaze and lobby behind closed doors.

Religious organisations are among such special interest groups. Under Australian law, religious organisations are exempt from taxation. This exempts something of the order of $30 billion a year from taxation. The Catholic Church accounts for half of that. It is bigger than all the others combined, pulling in about $16 billion annually.

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UNITED STATES
Baptist News

OPINION

BILL LEONARD | MARCH 24, 2016

“This was like God showing up.” That’s how one victim of clergy sexual abuse in the Boston archdiocese described his family’s response when a priest came to visit. He added fatefully, “When a priest paid attention to you it was a big deal.” Unfortunately, in this case and hundreds like it, such attention was actually a way of “grooming” Catholic children for abuse.

Those stories come tumbling out in the Oscar-winning motion picture Spotlight, an account of a group of investigative reporters at the Boston Globe who uncovered multiple cases of clergy abuse and the efforts of certain members of the church hierarchy to cover up the practices year after year. It is a lesson in ecclesiastical evil, individual and institutional, with implications for all Christian communions.

Spotlight is the name of the Globe’s four-person research team. Lapsed Catholics all, they were charged by the paper’s new editor, Marty Baron (Liev Schreiber) with in-depth research into accounts of clerical abuse surfacing in the Boston area. The reporters, led by Walter (Robby) Robinson (Michael Keaton), initially resisted, suggesting that it was only a case of “a bad apple” priest or two. They warned the new editor that his willingness to sue the archdiocese in order to secure church records would be political suicide in a Catholic town like Boston. And indeed it was. In one of many powerful scenes, Baron visits with Boston prelate Bernard Cardinal Law (Len Cariou), who gives the Jewish editor a copy of the Catechism and tells him: “This city flourishes when its great institutions work together.” To which Baron responds that newspapers are at their best when they “stand alone.”

Ultimately, the Spotlight team digs in, documenting case after case of serial child molestation by multiple priests, most moved from parish to parish, or sent to church-based half-way houses, “protected” by church officials. Small cash settlements were provided, paid after pledges of secrecy from the families. In the end, their Pulitzer Prize winning story was released in 2002, detailing the extent of the abuse and tracing protectionist actions all the way to Cardinal Law. Forced out of his archbishopric, Law was transferred to Rome and installed as Archpriest at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, an office he holds to this day.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 24, 2016

VATICAN CITY
Pope Francis has appointed a new leader for a Catholic archdiocese in the American Midwest where mismanagement of clergy sexual abuse cases led to the dual early resignations of the former archbishop and an auxiliary bishop last June.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda will now lead the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, canceling his former appointment to take over the archdiocese of Newark, N.J., in July.

Hebda, a Pennsylvania native, had been serving as the apostolic administrator of the Minnesota archdiocese since Archbishop John Nienstedt’s resignation in June 2015.

Nienstedt resigned alongside Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piché ten days after prosecutors in his archdiocese brought criminal charges against the archdiocese “for its failure to protect children.”

Hebda’s new appointment comes as a bit of a surprise. He had previously been appointed as the coadjutor archbishop in Newark, meaning he would have automatically replaced current Newark Archbishop John Myers as head of the archdiocese at his retirement, expected to come when he turns 75 in July.

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MINNESOTA
KSTP

Dave Aeikens

Bernard Hebda will stay as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Pope Francis on Thursday morning appointed Hebda, who has been Apostolic Administrator of the archdiocese since June 15, according to a news release from the archdiocese.

Hebda, who had been a Coadjutor Archbishop in New Jersey, came to Minnesota after the resignation of Archbishop John Nienstedt after criticism of how the archdiocese handled allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Hebda’s installation Mass is planned for 2 p.m. May 13 at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

When Hebda arrived he had to rebuild trust among those he served. He conducted his first mass in July and he met with the priests in Minnesota.

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MINNESOTA
KARE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Pope Francis announced Thursday morning that Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda has been appointed as Archbishop of the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Hebda has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese since June of 2015, since former Archbishiop John Nienstadt stepped down in the midst of a clergy sex abuse scandal. The appointment was intended to be temporary, but the Vatican apparently believes Hebda is the man

In a news release Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pop Francis’ confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

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NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com

BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER

The priest who had been expected to take over the archdiocese of Newark has been appointed by the pope to become the next archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Bernard A. Hebda had been appointed coadjutor or assistant archbishop of Newark in late 2013. It was believed he would take over the Newark archdiocese when the current archbishop, John J. Myers, reaches the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Hebda wrote a letter to his new archdiocese, where he had served as apostolic administrator about nine months ago while Pope Francis mulled over the naming of a new archbishop there.

“The Pope and the Holy Spirit evidently had different plans for me than I had anticipated, and I am humbled and honored to be named your shepherd,” Hebda said.

It wasn’t immediately clear who would take over Newark’s archdiocese.

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MINNESOTA
Beaumont Enterprise

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The interim leader of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has been officially appointed to the position, the Vatican announced Thursday.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda, 56, has been overseeing the archdiocese since Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned last year, after prosecutors filed criminal charges against the archdiocese for failing to protect children from a priest later convicted of molesting two boys. Nienstedt denied wrongdoing in that case and was not charged.

Hebda’s installation Mass is scheduled for May 13.

The archdiocese has been under fire since 2013, when a former church official went public with concerns about its handling of abuse cases. That same year, a state law opened a three-year window for victims of past sex abuse to file lawsuits. The archdiocese has declared bankruptcy and more than 400 victims have come forward.

“I know from my nine months in the Archdiocese that there is much work yet to be done to overcome the significant challenges we continue to face, but I am firm in my conviction that the Lord is truly present here, even in our struggles,” Hebda said in a letter to congregants. “The exceptional staff and leadership team at the Archdiocese, along with our strong priests, committed religious (order members), and dynamic lay leaders are all reasons for great hope.”

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MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation

03/24/2016

Jennifer Haselberger

In announcements sent out early this morning, temporary administrator Bernard Hebda informed the priests and faithful of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis that he has been given the job of Archbishop permanently. The decision of the Holy Father was made while the Archdiocese continues its meanderings through bankruptcy, while the Archdiocese is battling criminal charges against it as a corporation, and in the wake of several concerning decisions by Hebda including his failure to prevent Archbishop Nienstedt from assuming a ministerial position at a parish in Michigan, the delayed removal of a priest under investigation for possible possession of child pornography, his decision to return Reverend Paul Moudry to ministry, and his being caught off guard when criminal charges were filed against the Franciscans.

Here is Archbishop Hebda’s statement to priests:

Dear Brothers,

Please pray for me as I prepare to begin my service as the next Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. I am humbled by the Holy Father’s confidence in me and pray that I will be able to be a shepherd who imitates the One who “came to serve rather than to be served,” as we will remember at this evening’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper. I particularly hope and pray that I as bishop will be able to be the “father, brother and friend” that Saint John Paul envisioned in Pastores Gregis

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has often said that our God is a God of Surprises.

Today is surely a perfect example of that.

I have been both privileged and blessed to have worked closely with Archbishop Bernard Hebda here in Newark over the last two and a half years. And I also can say that I have been doubly blessed because of our strong personal relationship that began when he was a Seminarian at the Pontifical North American College.

For more than two decades we have shared many common ministries – from service to the seminarians at the Pontifical North American College and on the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome, to our roles as Shepherds of dioceses and members of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is a great Priest, and a great Bishop.

While it may have been difficult for him at times to manage the travel and commitments of serving in two large Archdioceses these past months, he embraced this call from the Holy See willingly and prayerfully. His tireless, positive approach to dealing with the challenges presented him will be one of the graces that he will share with the people of the Twin Cities.

In our many conversations about what we had both assumed would be a temporary assignment in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Archbishop Hebda has always spoken with great affection and admiration for the people of St. Paul-Minneapolis – his new local Church. The parishioners and general community of the Twin Cities have experienced what the people of Newark already have come to know – a happy spiritual leader who loves people, loves priests and Religious, and who loves God and His Church.

The people of this local Church of Newark are truly grateful for all that he has done here since 2013, and he will be missed. At the same time, we pray that God will continue to bless him as he enters this new chapter in a life of service to the Church as the new Shepherd of this local Church of St. Paul-Minneapolis.

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

Today at 6:00 a.m. local time, Pope Francis formally announced Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda’s appointment as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Archbishop Hebda has been serving as Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese since June 15, 2015. During that time, he has also been serving the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, as Coadjutor Archbishop, and was scheduled to replace Archbishop John J. Myers when he is expected to retire in July.

Upon being told of his appointment, Archbishop Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous Religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

In addition to serving the Archdioceses of Newark and Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Hebda was Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan and has served at the Vatican and in parishes in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Archbishop Hebda’s Installation Mass is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, May 13, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, at the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

Because today marks the beginning of the solemn time of the Triduum in the Catholic Church, Archbishop Hebda will hold a brief news conference at 9:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, located at 239 Selby Avenue.

For more information on Archbishop Hebda’s appointment and background, go to www.archspm.org/newabp and www.thecatholicspirit.com.

Read the Statement of The Most Reverend John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark, On the Appointment of The Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda As Ninth Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2016

Source: Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Archbishop-Designate

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

When I arrived in Minnesota for the first time last June, I was but a visitor — assigned as Apostolic Administrator to help with the operations of the Archdiocese until Pope Francis named a new Archbishop. In the nine months since then, I have been blessed to witness your deep faith and your commitment to Christ’s Church, His people, and the Eucharist. I consider many of you friends.

That is why it is with joy that I tell you of Pope Francis’ decision to appoint me as the next Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The Pope and the Holy Spirit evidently had different plans for me than I had anticipated, and I am humbled and honored to be named your shepherd.

I know from my nine months in the Archdiocese that there is much work yet to be done to overcome the significant challenges we continue to face, but I am firm in my conviction that the Lord is truly present here, even in our struggles. The exceptional staff and leadership team at the Archdiocese, along with our strong priests, committed religious, and dynamic lay leaders are all reasons for great hope. You all seem to work tirelessly to serve Christ and His people no matter where they are found and for that I am most grateful.

It has already been an honor serving you and I very much look forward to continuing to serve you and this vibrant community for as long as the Lord sees fit.

Now more than ever, I will be counting on your prayers and support. Be assured of my prayers for you, your families, and this local Church.
Sincerely in Christ,

Most Reverend Bernard A. Hebda
Apostolic Administrator and Archbishop-Designate
Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Tim Harlow Star Tribune MARCH 24, 2016

The Rev. Bernard Hebda has been named archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, church officials announced Thursday morning.

Hebda has been the acting leader of the archdioceses since June 15, 2015 after Archbishop John Nienstedt resigned in the wake of a clergy sex abuse scandal, a series of related lawsuits and investigations, and a bankruptcy filing.

Hebda, 56, was appointed Thursday morning by Pope Francis.

Hebda said he was “humbled by this expression of Pope Francis’s confidence and honored to serve this Archdiocese with its rich history and its long tradition of extraordinary priests, zealous religious and empowered laity, all working to put their faith into action.”

Hedba has been splitting his time between the Twin Cities and Newark, N.J., where he was on track to succeed Archbishop John J. Myers this year. Instead, Hebda will oversee the Twin Cities archdiocese.

Hebda joined priesthood in 1989 when he was ordained at the St. Paul Cathedral in his native Pittsburgh. In 1996, he was appointed to work in the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts in Rome, which is responsible for the interpretation of the church’s laws, especially the Code of Canon Law. He served in that position until 2009 when he was named as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Mich., by Pope Benedict XVI.

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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

[Victorian Legal Services Commissioner v Lewenberg (Legal Practice) [2016] VCAT 439 (23 March 2016)]

March 23, 2016

Shannon Deery Herald Sun

A VETERAN lawyer who told a child sexual abuse victim that Jews shouldn’t help police prosecute other Jews, regardless of their crimes, has been found guilty of professional misconduct.

In a damning judgment handed down by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal yesterday Alex Lewenberg’s conduct was slammed as “truly shocking”.

The finding could lead to career-ending sanctions for the controversial lawyer who has previously had his practising certificate cancelled for unprofessional conduct.

VCAT acting president Judge Pamela Jenkins said comments made by Mr Lewenberg constituted a most serious breach that had no place in 21st century law.

“For (Mr Lewenberg), as a legal practitioner, to suggest that members of the Jewish community or indeed any community or religious affiliation, should close ranks and decline to assist in the prosecution of charges of this nature is truly shocking,” she said.

“If such a position had been adopted by other Jews, it not only would have had the capacity to hamper the prosecution of a child sex offender but, also, previously, to have allowed Mr Cyprys’ offending to continue for longer than it might otherwise have done.

“It is discreditable for (Mr Lewenberg), practising law as he does in a 21st century secular society, to nevertheless proselytise his misguided concept of religious or cultural solidarity, thus effectively allowing such views to take precedence over his professional obligation to uphold the principle of equality before the law.

“I draw the only reasonable inference that (Mr Lewenberg) not only espouses such views but that he practises law in accordance with them.”

Mr Lewenberg admitted two charges of misconduct at common law, but unsuccessfully contested charges of professional misconduct at a VCAT hearing last week.

It took Judge Jenkins just a week to find him guilty of the charges.

On two separate occasions: the first while in court; and the second during a covertly recorded phone conversation, Mr Lewenberg told a child sexual abuse victim that Jews shouldn’t help prosecute each other.

The Jewish victim had helped police in their prosecution of notorious Jewish paedophile David Cyprys, who Mr Lewenberg was representing at a bail application hearing in 2011.

Cyprys was jailed for the abuse of a string of children aged seven to 17 in the 1980s and 1990s.

During the bail hearing, Mr Lewenberg turned to Cyprys’s father and said: “It is most disappointing when a person who has nothing to do with the case and being a fellow Jew does wilfully seek to hinder another Jew in his defence of criminal charges.”

In a subsequent conversation with the victim, Mr Lewenberg, fresh from representing Cyprys, reiterated that: “I am not exactly delighted that another Yid would assist police against an accused, no matter whatever he is accused of. There is a tradition, if not a religious requirement, that you do not assist against (the people of Abraham).”

Mr Lewenberg did not dispute making the comments, but said they were taken out of context.

The matter will return to court next month to hear submissions in relation to appropriate sanctions for Mr Lewenberg.

In 1989, Mr Lewenberg was fined $3000 and his practising certificate was cancelled for unprofessional behaviour.

A Supreme Court judge found while there was no suggestion Mr Lewenberg had gained financially from the behaviour, he could not be trusted in his dealings with other solicitors.

Mr Lewenberg had behaved disgracefully and dishonestly, had shown no remorse, and was unfit to be a solicitor, the judge said.

But on appeal, the cancellation of Mr Lewenberg’s certificate was reduced from three years to two years.

shannon.deery@news.com.au

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WASHINGTON
Washington Post

[with copy of the letter from a psychiatrist]

Justin Wm. Moyer March 24

After being sued by eight women who alleged they were molested by a priest four decades ago, the Seattle Archdiocese has settled for $9.1 million.

The settlement, reported by the Seattle Times, came Wednesday after a damning psychiatrist’s letter, among other documents, surfaced last year reporting Michael Cody, the priest at the center of the suit, was a pedophile who needed to “be removed from parish work as soon as possible.” The letter, part of correspondence among church officials expressing concerns about Cody, was written in 1962; the women were abused between 1968 and 1975.

“He told me that he was suffering from an abnormal sexual attraction toward young girls,” psychiatrist Albert M. Hurley wrote. “… He has molested at least eight girls twelve years of age or younger. As you know, there have been complaints about his hostility and temper in the various parishes where he has served. He also complains of feelings of severe depression, during which time he prays that God will allow him to die rather than continue this behavior.”

Hurley was explicit about his diagnosis, saying Cody was a pedophile who showed “sadistic tendencies” to boys he knew and talked of killing others and himself.

“It is likely that if external controls on his acting out are made, and this cycle of aggression and depression sufficiently interrupted, then he can once again assume a useful and productive life,” the psychiatrist wrote.

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IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

BOONE, Iowa —A Boone pastor has resigned after meeting with church leaders about allegations from a former member of the church’s youth group.

The pastor has not been criminally charged in connection with the case, but Ames police told KCCI that they are actively investigating what was reported to them and looking for him.

Police said that on Monday a 19-year-old woman came forward about her relationship with Grace Community Church’s Youth Pastor Joel Waltz.

“We believe the misconduct happened over a several year time period. We believe the victim was a minor when some of the acts occurred,” said Ames police spokesman Commander Jason Tuttle.

The girl, whose name has not been released, also reportedly described the relationship in detail to church leaders, saying it started when she was in youth group and continued after she graduated.

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SCOTLAND
The National

MARCH 24TH, 2016

JANICE BURNS

SURVIVORS of historical child abuse have been urged to come forward and share their experiences as a four-year investigation into allegations surrounding youngsters in care launches a call for evidence.

Susan O’Brien QC, chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, together with other panel members Glenn Houston and Professor Michael Lamb, made the announcement in Glasgow yesterday and outlined how it will take evidence.

They have already heard from a small number of seriously ill or very elderly survivors but the invitation has now been extended to all victims.

Those who suffered abuse as children in residential or foster care and who wish to provide evidence to the inquiry are being urged to make contact by email, post or, from Tuesday March 29, through freephone number, 0800 0929 300.

O’Brien also confirmed that survivors providing evidence in this way would become known as “applicants”, with the first private evidence-gathering meetings taking place from late April. The word “applicants” has been chosen because these are survivors who have applied to assist the inquiry.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

THE public inquiry into child abuse in state care is set to become the biggest and most expensive in Scottish history.

It was revealed yesterday that Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry (CAI) had already cost more than £600,000 in just two months and is predicted to dwarf previous high-profile hearings by millions of pounds.

Launching the first official call for evidence for the inquiry, chairwoman Susan O’Brien QC said: “Be clear from the outset that this is a complex inquiry and it will be expensive.”

One of Scotland’s largest inquiries, investigating C. difficile infections in the Vale of Leven Hospital, cost £10.7 million, while the Penrose inquiry into contaminated blood products cost over £12m.

With estimates based on inquiries elsewhere suggesting there may be more than 50 million pages of evidence to sieve through, a source close to the CAI predicted costs during the hearing’s four-year lifespan will eclipse all that have gone before.

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SCOTLAND
Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

The Chair of the Inquiry today launched the Inquiry’s first formal call for evidence, inviting survivors of abuse to come forward and share their experiences.

Those who suffered abuse as children in residential or foster care and who wish to provide evidence to the Inquiry are being asked to make contact by email, post or, from Tuesday 29 March, through a dedicated Freephone number, 0800 0929 300.

Survivors who provide evidence in this way will be known as “applicants”. The description “applicants” has been chosen because these are survivors who have applied to assist the Inquiry. The first private evidence gathering meetings will take place from late April.

Applicants will initially have the opportunity to have their evidence heard in private and recorded anonymously by experienced and specially trained lawyers. There will also be public hearings and names can be public if applicants want them to. Rules providing for applications for anonymity have also been published on the Inquiry’s website.

The Inquiry expects public hearings to begin in November 2016, with the first looking at the current provision of psychological support for abuse survivors in Scotland.

Ms O’Brien aims to provide an interim report on the first public hearings next year as that may enable the Inquiry to make recommendations that could improve the situation for survivors before publication of the Inquiry’s final report. It is likely that interim reports will be published for subsequent public hearings.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY PAUL WARD

SUSAN O’Brien QC says investigation will address seven decades of abuse of children in faith-based organisations, children’s homes, foster care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

THE inquiry into the abuse of children in care is not just to provide answers for survivors but to protect “some Scottish children yet to be born”, its chair said as she launched a call for evidence.

Susan O’Brien QC described the scale of the inquiry as “huge” as it aims to look over seven decades of abuse of children in faith-based organisations, children’s homes, foster care, long-term hospital care and boarding schools.

Some elderly and ill witnesses have started giving evidence to the inquiry team but a formal call for evidence was launched in Glasgow on Wednesday.

Those who wish to provide evidence are being asked to make contact by email, post or through a dedicated freephone number – 0800 0929 300 – from March 29.

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WASHINGTON
KIRO

SEATTLE —
The Archdiocese of Seattle announced Wednesday a settlement has been reached with eight women sexually abused as children by Michael Cody, a priest who served in parishes in Whatcom & Skagit counties between 1968 and 1974.

The eight cases were settled for $9.1 million.

From Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Archbishop of Seattle >>

“I deeply regret the abuse by Michael Cody against these victims and I hope this monetary settlement, and the counseling we have provided them, will bring healing and give them a measure of closure so they can move forward. It also is my hope that these individuals will accept my offer to meet with me so I can offer them my personal apology.”

Cody, now deceased, was ordained in 1958 and has not served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Seattle since 1979. He was a parish priest throughout Western Washington.

The women who participated in the settlement were abused while Cody served at the following parishes:

St. Charles Parish, Burlington;
Sacred Heart Parish, La Conner;
St. Paul Mission, Swinomish; and,
The Church of the Assumption, Bellingham.

Anyone with knowledge of sexual abuse or misconduct by a member of the clergy is asked to call the hotline at 1-800-446-7762.

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WASHINGTON
KOMO

SEATTLE (AP) – The Seattle Archdiocese will pay just over $9 million to eight women who were sexually abused as children by a former priest in Whatcom and Skagit counties.

The abuse occurred between 1968 and 1974 at churches in Burlington, La Conner, Swinomish and Bellingham, according to a news release from the archdiocese.

Lawyers for the women said in a news release Wednesday they hope the resolution will be part of the healing process.

“I feel privileged to have helped represent these women and to have experienced their courage and determination,” attorney Rand Jack of Bellingham said. “They have stood up for themselves and other victims of sexual abuse.”

Archbishop J. Peter Sartain said in a statement Wednesday he deeply regrets the abuse by Michael Cody, a former priest who died last year.

“Our first priority is the protection of children and healing for past victims,” Sartain said. “It is my firm commitment to build on the good efforts of the past and continue to take steps that will truly help victims of clergy sexual abuse to heal. This $9 million settlement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to acknowledge and address the devastating impact of clergy sexual abuse, and to encourage victims to come forward.”

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UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By ERIN ALBERTY | The Salt Lake Tribune

The Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday said a polygamous sect’s charitable trust can be held liable for Warren Jeffs’ role in forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry.

The ruling sends the case back to a lower court where the former child bride, Elissa Wall, may seek up to $40 million.

“As trustee … Jeffs was called upon to administer the trust in accordance with the doctrines and principles of the FLDS church. Those doctrines and principles, according to [Wall’s] allegations and evidence in the record, included the arrangement of plural, underage marriages,” Wednesday’s ruling states. “Thus, as abhorrent and troubling as this may appear to be, there is a basis in the record for the conclusion that Jeffs’ acts were aimed in part at advancing the interests of the trust as he perceived them.”

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