ABUSE TRACKER

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

JASON MAGDER, MONTREAL GAZETTE

Only about a dozen people, gathered around John Edward Sullivan’s open casket Saturday afternoon in a small room on the second floor of the Magnus Poirier funeral complex on Sherbrooke St. E., near Langelier Blvd.

Standing at the door of the visitation room was a family member who told a journalist he was not welcome to speak to any of the well-wishers, and sternly asked the journalist to leave the funeral home. The priest officiating the funeral services declined to comment about Sullivan.

Sullivan, who died on Easter Sunday at age 90, is a convicted sex offender; his crimes dating back to the 1960s.

His obituary, which was published in the Montreal Gazette, said Sullivan “carried out his priestly ministry in various parishes throughout the Diocese until his appointment to the Matrimonial Tribunal.”

He was in the spotlight this past week, when the Sault Ste. Marie Diocese settled a lawsuit filed by a man who said the church covered up years of sexual abuse suffered at Sullivan’s hands, and moved him from parish to parish, knowing full well he had molested children.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Bill White

Lobbying over child sex abuse bills reaches church bulletins

“We were dismayed to find this letter inserted in our church bulletin this past Sunday,” wrote a local Catholic who contacted me last week about a letter from Allentown Diocese Bishop John Barres.

Barres’ letter outlined the diocese’s child sex-abuse prevention efforts — and then lobbied against state legislation that would change the statutes of limitations for such cases, asking parishioners to contact their legislators about its “detrimental effects.”

This appeal to a captive audience fits right in with the church’s furious lobbying effort, largely focused on blocking bills that would open a two-year window for civil suits by victims who are blocked by the state’s restrictive statutes. Such a window has been recommended by the Pennsylvania grand juries that exposed decades of rampant child sex abuse and official cover-ups within the church.

I wrote recently that the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, which has played a big part in keeping statute-of-limitations legislation bottled up for years in legislative committees, spent $3.5 million on lobbying in Harrisburg between 2010 and 2015, according to Department of State records.

The Catholic Conference’s website now includes an Action Alert with a proposed email you can send to your legislators, urging them to oppose the proposed two-year window. It includes standard talking points, including complaints that sovereign immunity statutes unfairly shield public entities such as public schools.

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AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

April 9, 2016
DANIELLE LE MESSURIER
PerthNow

SCRAPPING the time limit on when sex abuse victims can sue for compensation has won Barnett Government support.

The move could open the floodgates for scores of massive damages claims.

Under the statute of limitations, survivors of child sexual abuse are unable to claim damages after six years from the date of the alleged offence.

A private member’s Bill proposed by Liberal MP Graham Jacobs seeks to remove the limitation period completely for personal injury, including psychological injury suffered by victims of child sexual abuse.

Attorney-General Michael Mischin said the Government was sympathetic and supportive of the aims of the Bill.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Sharon Herald

By JOHN FINNERTY CNHI Harrisburg Correspondent

HARRISBURG – Amid outrage over hundreds of cases of child sex abuse committed by priests, lawmakers are now divided over how much time victims should have to seek justice.

A proposal to lift the time limit for prosecution of sex-abuse crimes, in current form, only looks to the future but does nothing for victims of long-ago crimes.

Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, calls it a “slap in the face.”

Rozzi, himself a survivor of sex abuse by a priest, has led efforts to eliminate statutes of limitations. He plans a proposal to allow victims of old crimes to sue their abusers, he said, which will bring forward victims “from every corner of the state.”

Debate is unfolding in the aftermath of a grand jury’s finding that priests in the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese abused hundreds of children, over four decades – actions that were covered up by church leaders.

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UNITED STATES
International Business Times

BY JULIA GLUM @SUPERJULIA ON 04/09/16

When David Clohessy was young, his Roman Catholic priest would regularly take him on overnight trips to go camping, skiing or canoeing in Missouri. And then, once the sun had set and Clohessy was sleeping, the priest would assault him.

Decades later, Clohessy doesn’t want any child ever to be in that situation. That’s why he’s fighting for justice as the director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, nicknamed SNAP, and that’s why he was so frustrated Friday morning after reading the newest statement from Pope Francis.

In keeping with his modern image, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church issued a 264-page document called “Amoris Laetitia,” or in English “The Joy of Love,” urging church leaders to be more welcoming toward followers who may be gay, lesbian, divorced or remarried. But there’s one group of people still waiting for that kind of recognition: clergy abuse survivors. They said Francis, who’s been hailed for tackling everything from climate change to Cuban diplomacy, again skipped over the international scandal that’s implicated thousands of suspects in sex crimes and cover-ups. Before writing policy documents, they argued, he needs to solve the ongoing crisis in the church.

“It’s very tough for us to understand how seemingly every other issue takes precedence — especially because on everything else, the pope really is powerless,” said Clohessy, who lives in St. Louis. “But instead of taking real action that makes a real difference, he’s content to do, and, in fact is masterful at, these meaningless feel-good gestures that are essentially public relations maneuvers.”

“Amoris Laetitia” mentions the word “abuse” only six times. It’s linked with the church once, to say that “the sexual abuse of children is all the more scandalous when it occurs in places where they ought to be most safe, particularly in families, schools, communities and Christian institutions.” The Catholic Church’s sex scandal is otherwise left out.

The worldwide crisis includes more than 17,200 Americans who have alleged they were abused by more than 6,400 clerics from 1950 to 2013, according to a review of data by BishopAccountability.org, a website and nonprofit that tracks reports of sexual misconduct in the church. An award-winning 2002 Boston Globe investigation is widely credited with exposing the U.S. part in the scandal, which resurfaced this past November with the release of “Spotlight,” a movie that showcased the reporting process and recently won the Oscar for Best Picture.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Category: A. Cases That Have Been Concluded Canonically, Either By Dismissal or Sentence to Life of Prayer and Penance, or Criminally, Either By Plea or Conviction.

Year Of Ordination: 1976
Status
Dismissed (2016)

Assignment History:

Administrative Leave
10/24/12

Pastor
Saint Helen Mother of the Emperor Constantine
Norwell 09/10/01 – 10/24/12

Pastor
St. Jeremiah
Framingham 03/30/98 – 09/10/01

Temp. Parochial Vicar
St. Joseph
Needham 02/01/98 – 03/30/98

Priestly Renewal Program
01/16/97 – 02/01/98

Temp. Parochial Vicar
St. Thomas Aquinas
Bridgewater 06/04/96 – 01/12/97

Parochial Vicar
St. John Evangelist
Canton 06/15/89 – 06/04/96

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Maura Grunlund | grunlund@siadvance.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A former Midland Beach pastor will not face charges from the Manhattan district attorney’s office after child pornography was allegedly found on his computers.

The Rev. Keith Fennessy was barred from priestly ministry and booted from his position as pastor of St. Columba’s R.C. Church in Manhattan on June 15, 2015, by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.

An archdiocesan review board determined that Father Fennessy had images of minors on his personal and office computers that violated the church’s Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Dolan accepted the board’s recommendation that Father Fennessy no longer be allowed to serve as a priest, according to Catholic New York and Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the archdiocese.

The archdiocese referred Father Fennessy’s case to the district attorneys’ offices in both Staten Island and Manhattan. A Staten Island source with knowledge of the investigation said that the case was handled by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

“This matter was referred to our office in mid-2015,” said Joan Vollero, director of communications for the Manhattan district attorney’s office. “The investigation has concluded and no criminal charges were brought.”

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Editorial Board Star Tribune APRIL 8, 2016

Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis finally have the intelligent, healing leadership they deserve in newly named Archbishop Bernard Hebda, who, after first serving as interim, has been appointed to the post permanently by Pope Francis.

Hebda’s formal installation mass next month will mark a new chapter in a community that has suffered deeply in recent years, both from the botched handling of numerous cases of priest-involved child sex abuse and from the bitter and costly fight over same-sex marriage launched by the previous archbishop.

Hebda brings skills that have served him well in the nine months since his arrival. At 56, he has a broad, sophisticated worldview shaped by degrees in political science and law from Harvard and Columbia, and by years spent practicing law before he became an ordained priest at age 30. He has served at many levels in the church — as a parish priest, a diocesan leader, an interpreter of canon law at the Vatican and, finally, as a coadjutant archbishop for Newark, N.J., where he had fully expected to return as archbishop. That Francis instead redirected him to St. Paul and Minneapolis speaks to the depth of the crisis in this archdiocese and the urgent need for a new vision.

Those who have worked with him as an interim administrator say Hebda’s interest in people and diverse viewpoints, his humor, and his incisiveness have been warmly welcomed in a church community wearied to exhaustion from the struggles of the last decade. “He is very attentive and approachable, and wants to hear from everyone, not just people with one point of view,” said Paula Ruddy of the Catholic Coalition for Church Reform. “I am very hopeful that he will be able to bring people together and heal the divisions we’ve been experiencing.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
hpd

From Evelin Frerk

[Break the walls of silence. Zero tolerance against sexual abuse in area church as well as in the global Catholic Church is the objective of Peter Wensierski. He is putting his footprint in Germany with his journalistic work. His scope is impressive.]

Von Evelin Frerk

8. APR 2016

BERLIN. (hpd) “Null-Toleranz” gegenüber sexuellen Missbrauch im Raum der Kirchen, auch der weltweit agierenden katholischen Kirche, ist das formulierte Ziel von Peter Wensierski. Mit seiner journalistischen Arbeit setzt er dazu in Deutschland seinen Fußabdruck. Seine Beiträge leistet er selbstverständlich und ohne jeden Wirbel. Der Umfang ist beeindruckend.

Die Besonderheit seiner Arbeit ist hier referiert anhand der Anzeige von Alexandra Wolf: Am 26. März 2016 macht der Spiegel die Anzeige ihres Missbrauchs erstmals öffentlich. Zugrunde liegt die Recherche von Peter Wensierski. Die ging an den Behörden nicht vorbei, die Staatsanwaltschaft Würzburg nahm am erst möglichen Arbeitstag nach der Veröffentlichung ihre Ermittlungen auf.

In dem Missbrauchsvorwurf gegen den von 2002 bis 2010 im Bistum Würzburg eingesetzten Missbrauchsbeauftragten hatte zuvor die Katholische Kirche ihre Akten geschlossen. Das Signal dazu kam aus Rom von der Kongregation für die Glaubenslehre am 12. Dezember 2015 mit der Begründung: “Der Missbrauch könne nicht bewiesen werden.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Abuse allegation in the Diocese of Würzburg: An exchange of words.]

Karl-Peter Büttner ist der Vorsitzende des Würzburger Diözesanrats. In der aktuellen Ausgabe des „Würzburger Katholischen Sonntagsblatts“ ist sein Leserbrief abgedruckt. Er habe ihn als Privatmann verfasst, er sei an den „Spiegel“, die „Main-Post“ sowie an den Bayerischen Rundfunk gerichtet.

Büttner habe sich veranlasst gesehen, zum „Spiegel“-Artikel „So ein bisserl liebevoll“, der am Ostersamstag, 26. März, erschienen ist, Stellung zu nehmen. Darin erhebt die 44 Jahre alte Alexandra Wolf aus dem Raum Würzburg schwere Vorwürfe gegen den ehemaligen Missbrauchsbeauftragen der Diözese. Er habe sie 1988 in einem Raum des Exerzitienhauses Himmelspforten in Würzburg zum Oralverkehr gezwungen (wir berichteten).

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY KENNETH LOVETT NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, April 9, 2016

ALBANY — Disgraced ex-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was all about pay to play — and sexually abused kids were the ones to pay the price.

Silver stopped pushing for a bill to aid victims of predators after the state Catholic Conference hired his former long-time aide as a lobbyist, says a controversial former lawyer who has taken on the Church.

John Aretakis, of upstate Troy, made the alarming charge in a scathing letter he sent to a judge who in May will sentence Silver on an unrelated federal corruption conviction.

“Mr. Silver met with and looked into the eyes of many victims of clergy sexual abuse, and he promised his continuing support. … As soon as money lined his pockets, or the pocket of his trusted and loyal allies, he dropped us,” he wrote.

Aretakis, who as a lawyer and victim’s advocate represented a host of clients who sued the Catholic Church over abuse cases, wrote that Silver had been a supporter of a bill to extend the age that an adult who was sexually abused as a kid could bring a case.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 9, 2016

Gerard Henderson
Columnist

I write in defence of the memory of the Australian Jesuit priest Patrick Stephenson and in support of my friend Charles Moore’s campaign to honour the life of the British Anglican bishop George Bell. Both men have been accused, decades after their deaths, of sexual impropriety with unnamed ­minors.

I knew, but did not like, Father Stephenson (1896-1990) when I was a student at Xavier College, Melbourne, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I always regarded the Irish-born “Stevo”, as we all called him, as a bit of a snob with undue admiration for judges, surgeons, lawyers, doctors and the like. Moreover, he was a truly dreadful teacher. Stevo’s geography classes, which we termed “townography”, consisted of teaching and learning the names of countries, states, cities, rivers and so on throughout the known world. They are accurately, and wittingly, described in Paul Henderson’s 2005 book Xavier Behaviour.

Yet, unlike some of his Jesuit colleagues, Stephenson was a gentle man. He was committed to good works focusing on the less successful Xavier students as well as the poor and the oppressed outside the college’s gates. Perhaps because he was neither a scholar nor a sportsman, Stephenson devoted his life on the Xavier campus to counselling students. He invited students to his room for discussions about how they were faring and showed genuine interest in them and their families.

I have never been into “deep and meaningfuls” with priests or psychologists and soon ignored Stephenson’s invitations “to come up and see me sometime, boy”. What’s more, I did not much like the fact that he sat on a chair and grabbed the top of my knee during the discussions.

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MISSOURI
Riverfront Times

By Doyle Murphy on Fri, Apr 8, 2016

Dojo Pizza owner Loren Copp arrived handcuffed and shackled at the ankles on Friday in federal court for his first appearance since his arrest on child pornography charges.

His attorney had dropped him overnight. Some of his strongest supporters have backed away now that the FBI says it has photographic proof he sexually abused a girl over the course of several years, starting with a stomach-churning snapshot of the two of them in a sex act when she was just twelve years old. …

Tauna Cowin, whose two oldest daughters lived with Copp most of their lives, says she cried all night after reading the newly revealed allegations.

“If he did do this, I hope he rots in jail,” she told the Riverfront Times. “I’m sorry, but I hope he rots in jail.”

Cowin knew Copp, a former pastor, through her kids’ school and church. When she was losing her home about a decade ago, she sent a son and the two girls to live with him and his wife at the time. The boy eventually moved on, but the girls stayed and began calling Copp “Dad” even though he wasn’t their biological father.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

By the time Mike Berkery was in high school, Stanley Gana, then a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, had raped him hundreds of times.

Gana, a spectacled man of 300 pounds, began grooming Berkery in 1978 when the boy, whose family attended Ascension Church in Philadelphia, was in eighth grade.

Gana sodomized the boy repeatedly, forcing him to have oral and anal sex in locations around Philadelphia and New Jersey, and as far away as Disney World, Notre Dame University, New York and Canada.

In textbook grooming, Gana alienated Berkery from his friends and family. He bought him gifts and gave him money, and put him in charge of the animals at his farm in northeastern Pennsylvania. By the time Berkery was 16, Gana had given him the keys to a new car.

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RHODE ISLAND
GoLocalProv

Friday, April 08, 2016
GoLocalProv News Team

St. George’s School sent out a letter to the school community this week announcing that a faculty member under investigation had been placed on administrative leave back in January, prompting victims’ lawyer Carmen Durso to ask why the school took so long in disclosing the move.

The communication marks the latest development in the ongoing investigation into claims of sexual abuse at the Middletown prep school. In December, GoLocal reported “St. George’s…which reports assets of over $200 million, has admitted that after decades of denial that at least 23 students were molested by multiple faculty and staff.” In January, Rhode Island State Police Colonel Steve O’Donnell told GoLocal that the State Police investigation was expanding although he would not comment on the number of individuals being investigated for sexual assault.

The letter sent by St. George’s on April 6 states that “longtime faculty member Bob Weston has been on leave from his position as Associate Head for External Affairs since January of this year” — and Durso raised questions as to why the letter was just sent out.

READ: See the letter from St. George’s to the school community BELOW

“Back in January we received info that Weston, who had once been a dorm parent, had been removed from that position because there were complaints that he would come into girls’ rooms when they were in a state of undress,” said Durso. “This is what we got, and along with that, he at some point was removed from that position.”

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ISRAEL
The Daily Beast

SHIRA RUBIN

The case of Malka Leifer, accused of molesting eight girls in Australia and holded up in a religious community in Israel, is just one of many.

TEL AVIV — A years-long delay in the extradition of an ultra-Orthodox educator, who fled to Israel from Australia after being accused of abusing her female students, has child protection advocates worried that Israel has become a haven for international sex offenders.

Malka Leifer, a dual Israeli-Australian citizen who from 2003 to 2008 served as principle of the Adass Israel Girls School in Melbourne, was accused of sexual abuse eight years ago. Only hours after the first accusations came to light, Leifer reportedly received funds and logistical help from members of her insular ultra-Orthodox community in Melbourne, which enabled her to fly to Israel in the dead of night along with her husband and five children.

Miriam Friedman, the director of Magen, an NGO which defends children at risk of sexual abuse in religious towns in Israel, said that alleged sex offenders from the international Jewish community have for years been taking advantage of Israel’s reputation for lax extradition practices.

“When an investigation is opened or suspicions start to circulate, abusers suddenly make aliyah—Jewish immigration to Israel—and Israel’s law of return makes it easy for them to pass under the radar, because nobody asks questions about why they are coming,” said Friedman. Since 1950 the law has entitled every Jew worldwide to apply for Israeli citizenship.

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INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 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)

A suicide note strongly suggests that a high profile accused predator priest who worked at Notre Dame is guilty of child sex crimes.

[Daily Mail]

[SNAP]

According to the Daily Mail Online, Father Virgilio Elizondo “left a chilling suicide note in which he claims he took his own life as ‘a final gift’ to anyone he ‘might have hurt.’” The publication says the note “appears to be a veiled admission of guilt.”

A child sex abuse and cover up lawsuit filed in San Antonio, where Fr. Elizondo also lived and worked, says Fr. Elizondo sexually assaulted a boy when the boy went to him to report abuse by another priest, Father Jesus Armando Dominguez, a fugitive from justice believed to be in Mexico.

We agree with Thomas J. Henry, the lawyer representing Fr. Elizondo’s alleged victim, who says Fr. Elizondo’s not is “self-serving and manipulative.” It’s also hurtful to victims, many of whom will almost certainly think “Why speak up? Predators always duck, dodge and deny, right up until the end, and many still think they’re innocent.”

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions – especially at Notre Dame – to 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, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on April 08, 2016

Man also says he told priest in confession of sexual incidents

A former Mount Cashel orphanage resident broke down this morning in testimony at Newfoudland Supreme Court as he shook and covered his face.

“I don’t know why I am doing this,” said the 77-year-old Avalon Peninsula man, who is retired from the military.

The man had said he loved band, but when his lawyer Geoff Budden began asking him about the band instructor, the witness stopped and began shaking.

Subsequently in his testimony in the Mount Cashel civil trial, he said he was molested one night by the bandleader, a Christian Brother he initially liked.

The man is the fourth claimant among four test cases that have been brought before the civil court, representing about 60 former residents at the orphanage from the 1940s to the 1960s. They say the RC Episcopal Corp. of St. John’s should be held liable for the sexual and physical abuse of boys by certain Christian Brothers during that period.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A judge has rejected a bid to overturn a decision to exclude the Kincora Boys’ Home in east Belfast from a child abuse inquiry at Westminster.

Mr Justice Treacy told Belfast High Court the timing of the judicial review was wrong.

He said: “The court considers that the application is premature and misconceived. Therefore the application for judicial review must be dismissed.”

There have been allegations of a paedophile ring linked to British intelligence services at Kincora.

The legal action was taken by Gary Hoy, a former resident abused by two men who were subsequently convicted.

He was challenging the decision not to bring Kincora under the remit of an independent inquiry established by Home Secretary Theresa May and chaired by Justice Lowell Goddard, which covers England and Wales and has the power to compel witnesses.

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GEORGIA
Surivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 2016

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)

Atlanta’s top Catholic official is misleading his flock instead of protecting it.

He refuses to post predator priests’ names on church websites. He’s making deceptive claims about his dealings with pedophiles. And despite repeated pledges to be “open” about predator priests, he’s refusing to answer questions about six of them who were “outed” for abuse elsewhere but worked or spent time in his archdiocese.

Two days ago, in response to questions from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) Archbishop Wilton Gregory claimed “Our archdiocese has one of the most stringent safe environment policies in the country, including zero tolerance for abuse.” We challenge him to prove this. We strongly believe this isn’t true.

We’ve asked Gregory twice to protect kids by warning his flock about these predators and posting their names on church websites. We’ve asked him to aggressively reach out to anyone else they may have been hurt, because many victims are suicidal, agoraphobic, addicted, depressed and trapped in silence, shame and self-blame.

Gregory ignores us. And when the AJC asks him questions about these child molesting cleric, he rebuffs them.

And honestly, even if Gregory’s archdiocese does have stronger policies, that’s virtually meaningless. Church abuse policies are rarely followed. Bishops adopt them for selfish reasons, because church public relations staff and defense lawyers and insurers tell them they’ll look good with written abuse protocols on the books.

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MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 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)

KC Catholic officials keep holding self-serving “healing” events when they should be focused on protecting vulnerable kids, not winning back upset parishioners. (There’s one set for April 21.)

Their priorities are backwards.

[Kearney Courier]

Such services are nothing more than public relations. They don’t protect a single child, expose a single predator, punish a single concealer or deter a single cover up.

Notice the slogan or tag line for this program: “Healing our Parishes Through Emphathy.” That’s their goal: restoring parishioners faith in church officials. Not stopping abuse. Not helping victims. “Healing parishes.”

Instead, Bishop James Johnston should take tangible steps so that the church no longer will need to hold such events. The goal should be no more victims.

For example, 30 US bishops have posted names of predator priests on their websites. That both protects the vulnerable, heals the wounded and deters the cover ups. That’s what Bishop Johnston should do.

Victims can heal from clergy sex crimes with or without bishops’ words. Kids, however, cannot protect themselves from predator priests without bishops’ actions. Johnston should warn parents, parishioners, police, prosecutors and the public about two priests who molested in Kansas City are still priests now but live out West, unsupervised, among unsuspecting families.

They are

–Fr. Thomas Cronin of Nevada, who is reportedly involved with a homeless women’s shelter despite a civil lawsuit in Kansas City (now settled) that charges him with sexually violating a young woman.

[BishopAccountability.org]

–-Bishop Joseph Hart of Wyoming who, as a priest in KC, molested at least six boys. (They have sued and those suits have settled.)

Johnston should take immediate steps to alert police, prosecutors, parishioners, parents and the public about Cronin and Hart. These two predator priests could be assaulting kids and young people today. They could be in Kansas City today or this weekend, visiting old parishioners and hurting their kids.

With real outreach by Johnston, Cronin and Hart might even be prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned, sparing others decades of devastating pain.

Presumably, Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation was intended to bring healing to Kansas City Catholics and victims. But wounded adults can heal themselves, with or without action by bishops. Innocent kids and vulnerable adults, however, cannot protect themselves from predators without action by bishops.

Johnston should put announcements in every parish bulletin at the first opportunity, begging those who saw, suspected or suffered crimes by Cronin or Hart to step forward and call police.
No matter what church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions to 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, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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MARYLAND
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 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)

It’s heartbreaking that a Maryland legislator has been betrayed three times, first by a pedophile, then by a predator-friendly justice system and now by his timid colleagues.

We commend Maryland Delegate C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) for his courage and compassion. We are very sad that his hard, brave work to help protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded has ended in vain, at least for now.

We’re even more sad because more Maryland children will be hurt in the months and years ahead because lawmakers won’t stand up to the self-serving lobbying efforts of corrupt Catholic officials and enable more child sex abuse victims to expose child molesters in court.

We urge Mr. Wilson to continue his battle. We are confident that he will succeed, hopefully sooner than later.

No matter what lawmakers or church officials do or don’t do, we urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions in Maryland to 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, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 2016

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Orange County, SNAP volunteer western regional director, 949 322 7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

We are glad that an archbishop is forcing his corrupt predecessor to withdraw from a church service. And we are deeply grateful to concerned parishioners who are speaking out against honoring a prelate who ignored and concealed heinous sex crimes against kids.

[Signal SCV]

Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez is reversing himself and not letting Cardinal Roger Mahony preside over confirmations at Saint Kateri Catholic Church on April 29.

This is a step forward. But the broader question is why do Catholic officials let their disgraced and complicit colleagues keep ministering in public and ignore their horrific and deceitful wrongdoing? Why do they let men like Mahony keep rubbing salt into the already deep and still fresh wounds of thousands of clergy sex abuse victims and hundreds of thousands of betrayed parishioners?

Gomez could and should have done more sooner to prevent Mahony from presenting himself in churches as an honorable person. Still, we are glad Gomez is acknowledging the pain of St. Kateri Catholics by removing Mahony.

Disciplining those who conceal child sex crimes deters others from concealing child sex crimes. But it takes courage to do this, and sadly, precious few in the Catholic hierarchy seem to be able to summon such courage.

We urge every single person who saw, suspected or suffered child sex crimes and cover ups in Catholic churches or institutions in the LA area 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, cover ups will be deterred and the truth will surface.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

APRIL 9, 2016

Dan Box
Crime reporter
Sydney

The victims of a pedophile Catholic priest have told a court he was protected by the church, who accused the children of lying about their abuse, allowing him to keep committing crimes.

John Joseph Farrell, also known as ‘‘Father F’’, appeared in Sydney’s District Court yesterday, after being found guilty of 62 offences involving sexual ­assaults on 12 victims during the 1980s.

Farrell operated “with complete immunity as an ongoing representative of, and with the protection and facilitation from, the Australian Catholic Church”, one victim told the court. “In fact, the church denied the allegations against Farrell, protected Farrell … and stated the allegations were completely preposterous and outright lies.

“I was made to feel as if it was all my fault. Meanwhile, I had lost my innocence, my youth.”

The majority of those Farrell assaulted were altar boys in the Moree parish in northern NSW, the court heard.

Farrell left the parish after senior church officials were warned of his behaviour and was appointed as a priest elsewhere. In the early 90s, he was appointed to a parish in western Sydney, where he abused an altar boy.

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SCHOTTLAND
cath.ch

[A Scottish monk was sentenced to seven years is prison for sexual abuse of minors.]

London, 8.4.16 (kath.ch) Ein vorbestraftes Mitglied des katholischen Männerordens der Schulbrüder (»De-La-Salle-Brüder») ist in Schottland unter anderem wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs von Jungen zu sieben Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt worden. Wie die BBC und schottische Zeitungen (8. April) berichteten, war der als Bruder Benedict bekannte Michael Murphy Lehrer am St. Joseph’s im schottischen Tranent nahe Edinburgh, einer Schule for straffällige Jungen.

Der 82-Jährige wurde vom Obersten Gericht in Edinburgh wegen insgesamt 15 Fällen von Körperverletzung und sexuellem Missbrauch an acht Jungen in der Zeit von 1971 bis 1981 verurteilt.

Damalige Opfer, die heute 40 oder 50 Jahre Jahre alt sind, beschrieben den Angaben zufolge, wie Murphy Jungen Elektroschocks versetzte und dabei gelacht habe. Dabei habe ein Junge Verbrennungen an den Händen erlitten; ein anderer sei in Ohnmacht gefallen, hiess es. Ein Jugendlicher wurde den Angaben zufolge von Murphy und einem Komplizen in der Dusche vergewaltigt. Dem Teenager wurde gedroht, er würde seine Eltern nie wiedersehen, wenn er jemandem von dem Missbrauch erzählte.

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FRANCE
L’Obs

[Lyon: The sexual abuse cases that poison the diocese.]

Celine Rastello

“On a ouvert une boîte de Pandore”, estime le président de l’association “La Parole Libérée” François Devaux, victime présumée, comme d’autres, du père Bernard Preynat quand il était enfant. Depuis la révélation des accusations de pédophilie visant cet ancien chef scout de la banlieue huppée de Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, les affaires s’enchaînent. Plusieurs prêtres du diocèse de Lyon sont mis en cause -ou l’ont été- dans différentes affaires d’agressions sexuelles. A la tête de l’évêché depuis 2002, le cardinal Philippe Barbarin, entre autres responsables, est accusé d’avoir eu connaissance de faits et de ne pas les avoir dénoncés. On lui reproche aussi d’avoir maintenu des prêtres dans leurs fonctions. De quelles affaires parle-t-on ? Où en sont-elles ? “L’Obs” fait le point.

Barbarin, le cardinal qui aimait la lumière

1. L’affaire Preynat

Révélée par des victimes du père Bernard Preynat, cette affaire est celle par laquelle tout commence. Fin janvier, l’ancien chef scout est mis en examen pour agressions sexuelles sur mineurs de moins de 15 ans pour des faits présumés entre 1986 et 1991, puis placé sous contrôle judiciaire. En garde à vue, il reconnaît les faits, ainsi que trois viols, pour lesquels il est placé sous le statut de témoin assisté. “La Parole Libérée” assure avoir reçu une soixantaine de témoignages de victimes sur la période allant de 1970 et 1991, quand l’abbé encadrait les jeunes scouts. Sur la quinzaine de plaintes déposées, une dizaine reposent sur des faits trop anciens, d’emblée prescrits.

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FRANCE
France 3

[A priest in the Lyon diocese who sexually assaulted a young adult in 2008 was simply moved to another parish before being sentenced in 2010 to a six-month suspended sentence.]

Un prêtre du diocése de Lyon qui avait commis à Longes (Rhône) une agression sexuelle sur un jeune majeur en 2008 a été simplement déplacé dans une autre paroisse avant sa condamnation en 2010 à 6 mois de prison avec sursis.

C’est une nouvelle affaire embarrassante pour le diocèse de Lyon. L’un de ses prêtres s’en prend dans la nuit du 10 au 11 janvier 2008 à un jeune majeur que nous appellerons Thomas, afin de préserver son anonymat ..

Les faits se déroulent à Longes (Rhone). Il est fait état “d’une atteinte sexuelle commise par surprise ou sous la contrainte” sur le jeune homme, des faits établis par la justice. Thomas en sort très perturbé. Il dépose une plainte que la justice va mettre deux ans à instruire.

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OSTERREICH
Bischofs Konferenz

[Austrian bishops at their spring plenary assembly at St. Polten have decided on further regulations regarding sexual abuse allegations and said concern for victims must come first.]

Frühlingsvollversammlung der Bischofskonferenz in St. Pölten beschließt Schaffung österreichweiter Regelungen – Sorge um Opfer muss an erster Stelle stehen

Wien, 5.3.10 (KAP) Österreichs Bischöfe wollen mit zusätzlichen Maßnahmen einen noch wirksameren Umgang der kirchlichen Verantwortungsträger mit Fällen von sexuellem Missbrauch sicherstellen. Bei ihrer Frühlingsvollversammlung in St. Pölten wurde von der Bischofskonferenz daher eine österreichweite innerkirchliche Regelung in Auftrag gegeben, wird in einer am Freitag veröffentlichten Presseerklärung mitgeteilt.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Allegations of child sexual abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home in Belfast will remain part of the Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry in Northern Ireland, a judge has ruled.

An application by a Kincora victim for a judicial review was dismissed by the High Court in Belfast as “premature and misconceived”.

The challenge was taken by Gary Hoy against Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and the HIA inquiry.

A separate independent review in England and Wales is led by Justice Lowell Goddard.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (UK)

[with copy of the suicide note]

By EMMA FOSTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A Catholic priest who shot himself in the head after he was accused of molesting a young boy left a chilling suicide note in which he claims he took his own life as ‘a final gift’ to anyone he ‘might have hurt’.

In the note – which appears to be a veiled admission of guilt – Father Virgilio Elizondo, 80, said he had lived a life ‘totally dedicated to serving others’.

The Notre Dame professor left it near where his body was found, at his San Antonio, Texas, home.

Apparently unconcerned by the feelings of his alleged victim, he thanked God for his entire life – ‘especially’ his 52 years of priesthood – during which time his accuser claims Fr. Elizondo sexually assaulted him when he went to him to report abuse by another priest.

The letter – obtained by Daily Mail Online – goes on to describe how Fr. Elizondo felt ‘fatigued and empty’ and was suffering various ailments affecting his kidneys, eyes and knees.

Only in the last paragraph of the carefully typed-out note – discovered on a table just yards from where Fr. Elizondo committed suicide – does the priest ‘beg forgiveness and mercy from those he has hurt or offended.’

Last night the lawyer representing Fr. Elizondo’s alleged victim called priest self-serving and manipulative.

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ROME
ANSA

(ANSA) – Rome, April 8 – Prosecutors on Friday requested a 14-year prison sentence against a priest they say repeatedly abused a little boy who had been entrusted to him by his parents.

Vito Beatrice, 71, is a priest at Sant’Alessio Church in Rome’s tony Aventino neighborhood.

The priest is charged with sexual assault on a child aggravated by abuse of authority while he was the alleged victim’s spiritual tutor between Easter 1995 and October 2004.

The alleged victim, now 28, tried to kill himself by jumping out a nightclub window into a river in February 2010. He then told his girlfriend and his parents about the abuse, finally reporting the priest in 2011.

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SCOTLAND
East Lothian Courier

A CATHOLIC monk who carried out a catalogue of brutality and degrading abuse against pupils at a residential school during “a regime of fear” has been jailed for seven years.

Michael Murphy, 82, was jailed this morning (Friday) following a hearing before Lord Uist at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The pervert, was known as Brother Benedict or Brother Ben to children in his care at St Joseph’s List D School in Tranent, where he perpetrated indecency and violence against youngsters.

Irish-born Murphy denied a string of charges against him during his trial at the High Court.

He said: “I should not be here in this court at all.”

But a jury convicted him on Thursday of 15 charges of assault and indecent assault involving eight boys spanning the decade up to 1981. Murphy was acquitted of a further two charges.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Alan Erwin
PUBLISHED
08/04/2016

An abuse victim has lost his High Court battle to have claims that senior politicians, businessmen and high-level British state agents connived in a paedophile ring at a notorious Belfast care home examined by a Westminster inquiry.

Dismissing Gary Hoy’s bid to judicially review the decision to keep the probe into the Kincora scandal within the remit of a Stormont-commissioned body, Mr Justice Treacy said: “The present application is premature and misconceived.”

Mr Hoy’s lawyers had argued that the ongoing Historical Instiutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry sitting in Banbridge is powerless to properly scrutinise a “closed order” surrounding the home.

With MI5 accused of covering up the sexual abuse throughout the 1970s to protect an intelligence-gathering operation, it was claimed that the current arrangements cannot compel the security services to hand over documents or testify.

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NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

Gary Rosenblatt
Editor And Publisher

After an often-contentious four-and-a-half hour congregational meeting on Wednesday night, the membership of the Riverdale Jewish Center voted overwhelmingly in favor of a board-recommended retirement agreement for Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt. He will end his 31-year-tenure as spiritual leader of the Modern Orthodox synagogue next week.

The vote was 352-75 in favor of the rabbi stepping down from the pulpit. He will be compensated with a retirement package spread out until 2032 and valued at about $2.1 million. As a private citizen he will have no title in the synagogue, where he will be given a life membership.

It is believed that it will be at least a year before a new rabbi is hired.

Rabbi Rosenblatt (no relation) has been the center of controversy for his unusual practice over the years of inviting teenage boys, and later young men, to engage in close conversation with him unclothed in the sauna after playing racquetball. Critics said such behavior was highly inappropriate, though not illegal, and unbefitting a rabbi; defenders insisted his reputation was being unfairly tainted for an innocent, if odd, means of seeking to connect as a mentor to young men.

Some members of the congregation opposed the deal because they supported the rabbi and wanted him to remain in his post until his contract ends in August 2018. Others opposed the deal for a different reason; they wanted the rabbi out but felt he was being overly compensated, especially since the synagogue’s membership and reputation have been adversely affected.

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MARYLAND
World Magazine

The day before Easter, members of Covenant Life Church learned police had arrested one of their former children’s ministry volunteers on charges of child sexual abuse. The news cast a familiar pall over the Gaithersburg, Md., congregation already struggling under the cloud of past child sex abuse allegations within its membership.

On March 16, Montgomery County, Md., authorities charged Larry Ellis Caffery, 66, with nine counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of false imprisonment. His arrest comes as the threat of a new class-action lawsuit looms over Covenant Life Church (CLC) founder C.J. Mahaney and leaders within Sovereign Grace Churches (SGC,), formerly Sovereign Grace Ministries, over allegations they covered up accusations of child sexual abuse involving church members decades earlier.

A 2012 civil lawsuit alleged Mahaney, CLC, SGC, and others covered up sexual abuse in SGC churches, including CLC, the former flagship church of the SGC coalition, of which it is no longer a member. A Montgomery County judge dismissed the case in 2013 on technical grounds but did not rule on the merits of the case. Mahaney denied the charges against him. In 2014, a Maryland jury convicted former CLC youth ministry volunteer Nathaniel Morales on five counts of sexual molestation related to events in the 1980s and 1990s.

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ILLINOIS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, April 8, 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)

A former Chicago minister who was attacked last week by bystanders while molesting a child, has been charged with child sex crimes and is accused of abusing three boys.

[Raw Story]

He is Rev. Willie Lee Bell Jr., who was a youth pastor at New Covenant M.B. Church in Chicago from 2009 to 2014. He is also CEO of WILBE Productions, LLC in Chicago. He also reportedly worked in Jackson, Tennessee from 2008 to 2010.

[Facebook]

Bell has been a youth minister at First United Methodist of Cedar Hill Texas since November 2015. He was reportedly let go from his job at the church the day after his arrest.

Bell, now 29, is accused of sexually assaulting two little boys behind their apartment in the Dallas area in February. And last week, he was reportedly caught in the act of molesting a third boy. The mom says bystanders attacked Bell to stop him.

In a statement, First United Methodist Church said it has no knowledge of any criminal acts happening at the church,” according to Fox 4 News. But that, in our view, is designed to breed complacency when just the reverse – vigilance and action – are needed now.

Every current and former church employee or member who spent any time at either church – in Chicago or Dallas – should be beating the bushes and shouting from the rooftops, finding anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Bell’s crimes and begging them to call police.

Now is the time for Methodist staff and congregants in Illinois and Chicago to step up and resist the natural but irresponsible temptation to be passive.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

Mandy Wiener

JOHANNESBURG – A fugitive rabbi, who has repeatedly evaded arrest in South Africa, has finally been taken into custody in Johannesburg.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland has been on the run from Israeli authorities for four years.

He is wanted for sex offences.

Eyewitness News understands that the 80-year-old rabbi was finally arrested by police yesterday after being hospitalised.

He has twice evaded arrest in South Africa, once last year when police raided his hideout at a hotel in Midrand and also during a high-speed car chase.

He has been spotted in several countries, including Zimbabwe, Switzerland and the Netherlands, always accompanied by a group of extremely devout followers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Independent

Siobhan Fenton @siobhanfenton

An urgent inquiry must be launched into the sexual abuse of Jewish children following an investigation by The Independent, campaigners have said.

Kol v’Oz,a global organisation dedicated to preventing abuse of Jewish children, has formally written to the UK’s investigations body for child abuse urging action. In a letter to the Independent Inquiry for Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), Chief Executive Manny Waks wrote: “The IICSA notes that it will investigate a wide range of institutions, including those who fall under the category of ‘other religious organisations’. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the IICSA to seriously consider including at least a segment of the Jewish community in its investigations.

“In the past few years there have been numerous reports of troubling incidents within the Jewish community; more specifically, within the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in the UK, including a series of reports by The Independent which note that child sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred in illegal Jewish ultra-Orthodox schools and that authorities turned a blind eye to these schools due, in part, to the fear of being accused of anti-Semitism,” Mr Waks added.

An investigation by The Independent revealed that thousands of Jewish children are missing from full time education records in the London borough of Hackney and are feared to be attending illegal, ultra-strict faith schools. The schools teach only religious scripture and all lessons are in Yiddish; meaning that many children with no qualifications and unable to speak English. Physical beatings and sexual abuse is also alleged to take place at some schools.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Kol v’Oz

On 7 April 2016, Kol v’Oz sent the following letter to the UK Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse:

Hon. Dame Lowell Goddard DNZM
Chair
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse
contact@iicsa.org.uk

Dear Dame Goddard,

Firstly, I would like to commend the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse(IICSA) for its ongoing work in addressing the issue of child sexual abuse in England and Wales.

The IICSA notes that it will investigate a wide range of institutions, including those who fall under the category of ‘other religious organisations’. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage the IICSA to seriously consider including at least a segment of the Jewish community in its investigations.

While child sexual abuse occurs in every segment of society, the context of the abuse, the response by the institution and community, and other factors differ to some degree.

In the past few years, there have been numerous reports of troubling incidents within the UK Jewish community; more specifically, within the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community there. Some examples include:

* In 2016, in a series of reports, The Independent noted that child sexual abuse is alleged to have occurred in illegal ultra-Orthodox schools and that the authorities turned a blind eye to these schools due, in part, to the fear of being accused of anti-Semitism.

* In 2015 Todros Grynhaus was convicted and jailed for sexually abusing two children. A number of unique aspects were raised in this case such as the Israel’s Law of Return, the high regard in which a rabbi and the son of a rabbi is held, and the ostracisation the victims encountered by their communities as a result of coming forward.

* In 2013, Menachem Mendel Levy was convicted and jailed for sexually abusing a child. The victim and her family were ostracised (including being driven from their synagogue and kosher shops refused to serve them) and rabbis ignored her suffering, advised her not to go to the police and publicly supported the perpetrator.

* In 2013, the Channel 4 Dispatches program aired an undercover investigation that revealed that ultra-Orthodox rabbis forbade or discouraged alleged victims of child sexual abuse from going to the police.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Crain’s Chicago Business

The Archdiocese of Chicago has tightened its belt considerably over the past few years, but the Catholic Church’s central operations here still report a negative net worth of more than $45 million, according to its fiscal 2015 report.

Its finances reflect the church’s myriad challenges, including funding underattended parishes and schools, increased pension obligations for retired priests and the ongoing cost of settling sex abuse lawsuits.

The archdiocese said its main services division reported a $4.6 million ongoing operating loss for its fiscal 2015. The division, called the pastoral center, includes administrative functions for the archdiocese and financial support to needy parishes in the city and suburbs.

The archdiocese’s 351 parishes, which span Cook and Lake counties and report their budget separately, recorded a combined $58.8 million loss in 2015, up from a $49.9 million loss in 2014. Parish collections declined slightly in 2015, to $214.4 million, from $215.9 million in 2014.

(See the reports below.)

The pastoral center loss has narrowed significantly over the past several years. In 2012, the ongoing operating loss was $75.6 million.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Joshua J. McElwee | Apr. 8, 2016

VATICAN CITY
In a radical departure from recent pastoral practice, Pope Francis has asked the world’s Catholic clergy to let their lives become “wonderfully complicated” by embracing God’s grace at work in the difficult and sometimes unconventional situations families and marriages face — even at risk of obscuring doctrinal norms.

The pontiff has also called on bishops and priests globally to set aside fears of risking moral confusion, saying they must avoid a tendency to a “cold bureaucratic morality” and shift away from evaluating peoples’ moral status based on rigid canonical regulations.

In a substantial and already hotly debated document addressing church teaching on family life, Francis says that Catholic bishops and priests can no longer make blanket moral determinations about so-called “irregular” situations such as divorce and remarriage.

Writing in his new apostolic exhortation, titled Amoris Laetitia (‘The Joy of Love’), the pope strongly advocates for the worth of the traditional, life-long Christian marriage but speaks respectfully of nearly all models of family life.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION AMORIS LAETITIA OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS TO BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND DEACONS CONSECRATED PERSONS CHRISTIAN MARRIED COUPLES AND ALL THE LAY FAITHFUL ON LOVE IN THE FAMILY

DOWNLOAD PDF

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Thomas Reese | Apr. 8, 2016

If you are a layperson and want to read the pope’s apostolic exhortation on the family, skip the first three chapters and start with chapter 4. If you are a priest, moral theologian, or divorced Catholic, read chapter 8.

The 263-page exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”) was released at noon today at the Vatican, 6 A.M. Eastern Time.

The opening chapter is a scriptural reflection, but frankly it comes off as a collection of Scripture references that don’t really hang together well.

It is not that the chapter is bad; there are some good passages. For example, it is nice to see a positive exegesis of Genesis’s description of Eve as a helper fit for Adam. Later in chapter 4 he deals with St Paul’s wives “be subject to your husbands.”

The second chapter examines “the actual situation of families, in order to keep firmly grounded in reality.” This chapter, like the first chapter of the pope’s encyclical on the environment, reflects the pope’s insistence that facts matter.

I think it gives a realistic description of the state of family life, but there are few surprises.

One remarkable feature of this chapter is its call for “a healthy dose of self-criticism” in the church.

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RHODE ISLAND
Boston Globe

By Bella English GLOBE STAFF APRIL 08, 2016

A top administrator at the embattled St. George’s School has been on paid leave since January pending an investigation of allegations about “boundary issues” with students, headmaster Eric Peterson and board chair Leslie Heaney told the St. George’s community in an e-mail on Wednesday.

Robert Weston, the associate head for external affairs, served along with his wife as longtime “dorm parents” in a girls’ dormitory. “The Board of Trustees and the Administration were advised of second-hand allegations concerning Mr. Weston observing appropriate boundaries with students,” the letter said. “These allegations relate specifically to his work as a dorm parent at St. George’s in the late 1990s.”

Through his lawyer, Weston rejected the allegations and expressed frustration with what he had thought would be a brief leave. Lawyer Paul V. Kelly told the Globe that Weston “served as dorm parent at the school for 16 years — without a single student complaint or expression of concern.”

“He was a loyal and good soldier for the school and agreed to what he understood would likely be a very short period of administrative leave while the independent investigator reviewed the specious allegation against him. It has now been four months, and unfortunately he is still in limbo,” Kelly said.

Since December, more than 40 alumni of the elite Episcopal prep school in Middletown, R.I., have told lawyers that they were victims of sexual abuse there from faculty or other students, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s. In January, Martin Murphy was appointed by the board and the victims to investigate abuse allegations.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Philly

BY MATTHEW GAMBINO

Archbishop Charles Chaput led about 150 Catholic school children in an event Thursday, April 7 observing April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month and explaining the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s work of abuse awareness and prevention.

The students and the archbishop displayed the blue and silver pinwheels, which he called “symbols of a carefree childhood,” at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in center city Philadelphia.

Due to expected rain in the morning, the event was moved inside but organizers for the archdiocese plan to display the pinwheels publicly outside the center’s doors on 17th Street.

In his remarks Archbishop Chaput noted that all children in Catholic schools and Parish Religious Education Programs in the Philadelphia Archdiocese receive safe environment training, which can enable them to spot potential child abusers and guard against abusive behavior.

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MARYLAND
Washington Post

By Petula Dvorak Columnist April 7

For the second year in a row, he put it all out there: the shame, the fear, the self-loathing, the pain, the dark details of his horrific, repeated rape.

An Army veteran and attorney, Maryland Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) stood before his colleagues in Annapolis, confessed that he “really, really” didn’t want to be there and told them why he doesn’t sleep much at night. Why he hoped his children would never be boys. Why he knows he is “a monster on the inside.”

Petula is a columnist for The Washington Post’s local team who writes about homeless shelters, gun control, high heels, high school choirs, the politics of parenting, jails, abortion clinics, mayors, modern families, strip clubs and gas prices, among other things. View Archive

And for the second year in a row, lawmakers in the state legislature put all that in a drawer. And closed it.

“It’s usually the case when we tell our stories,” Wilson said. “Nobody wants to hear this. And we want to be heard.”

Wilson wants his fellow delegates to understand what the adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse endure. And what recourse they have years and years later. And for two years, he has sponsored legislation aimed at helping them.

As it stands, a criminal case against an abuser can be pursued anytime, no matter how long ago the abuse happened.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Church Times

by Hattie Williams

Posted: 08 Apr 2016

THE Bishop of Crediton, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, has said that she has been given a “clear and un­­am­biguous mandate” from the Arch­­bishop of Canterbury to make significant changes in the Church’s response to survivors of sexual abuse.

Bishop Mullally, who is leading the C of E’s implementation of the safeguarding reforms, was speaking on Monday at a meeting with “Joe” (not his real …

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CALIFORNIA
Signal SCV

By Martha Garcia
Faith Editor

Posted: April 8, 2016

After heightened media attention and backlash from the community, the L.A. Archdiocese has replaced retired L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony at Saint Kateri Catholic Church’s April 29 confirmation ceremony.

Auxiliary Bishop Alexander Salazar, who conducted the ceremony at Our Lady of Perpetual Help last week, will conduct the ceremony, Saint Kateri officials said.

“We want to focus on the confirmation candidates and celebrate the rite of confirmation,” explained Renee Fields, Director of Operations at Saint Kateri. “We want them to have a joyous experience as they complete their initiation into the Catholic Church.”

Some parishioners were outraged over Mahony’s proposed involvement in the ceremony.

As the head of the L.A. Archdiocese for many years, Mahony was one of the Catholic Church officials at the center of the molestation and sexual abuse allegations over many decades. While he did not take part in the abuse he often protected the priests doing the abusing, gaining the ire of many parents and Catholics alike.

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VATICAN CITY
news.va

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Friday published Pope Francis’ eagerly-awaited Apostolic Exhoratation on the family, drawing together almost three years of consultations with Catholics in countries around the world.

The lengthy document, entitled ‘Amoris Laetitia’, or The Joy of Love, affirms the Church’s teaching that stable families are the building blocks of a healthy society and a place where children learn to love, respect and interact with others.

At the same time the text warns against idealizing the many challenges facing family life, urging Catholics to care for, rather than condemning, all those whose lives do not reflect the teaching of the Church.

In particular the document focuses on the need for “personal and pastoral discernment’” for individuals, recognizing that “neither the Synod, nor this Exhortation could be expected to provide a new set of general rules, canonical in nature and applicable to all cases”.

The text of the official summary of the Apostolic Exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia’ or The Joy of Love can be found below. The full, unabridged text, can be found here on the Vatican website.

Summary of Amoris Laetitia: On Love in the Family

It is not by chance that Amoris Laetitia (AL), “The Joy of Love”, the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “on Love in the Family”,was signed on 19 March, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph. It brings together the results of the two Synods on the family convoked by Pope Francis in 2014 and 2015. It often cites their Final Reports; documents and teachings of his Predecessors; and his own numerous catecheses on the family. In addition, as in previous magisterial documents, the Pope also makes use of the contributions of various Episcopal Conferences around the world (Kenya, Australia, Argentina…) and cites significant figures such as Martin Luther King and Erich Fromm.The Pope even quotes the film Babette’s Feast to illustrate the concept of gratuity.

Introduction(1-7)

The Apostolic Exhortation is striking for its breadth and detail. Its 325 paragraphs aredistributed over nine chapters. The seven introductory paragraphs plainly set out the complexity of a topic in urgent need of thorough study. The interventions of the Synod Fathers make up [form] a “multifaceted gem” (AL 4), a precious polyhedron, whose value must be preserved. But the Pope cautions that “not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium”. Indeed, for some questions, “each country or region … can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs. For ‘cultures are in fact quite diverse and every general principle… needs to be inculturated, if it is to be respected and applied’” (AL 3).This principle of inculturation applies to how problems are formulated and addressed and, apart from the dogmatic issues that have been well defined by the Church’s magisterium, none of this approach can be “globalized”.In his address at the end of the 2015 Synod, the Pope said very clearly: “What seems normal for a bishop on one continent, is considered strange and almost scandalous – almost! – for a bishop from another; what is considered a violation of a right in one society is an evident and inviolable rule in another; what for some is freedom of conscience is for others simply confusion.”

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Rosie Scammell in Vatican City
Friday 8 April 2016

Pope Francis has called for the Catholic church to revamp its response to modern family life, striking a delicate balance between a more accepting tone towards gay people and the defence of traditional church teachings on issues such as abortion.

In a landmark papal document entitled Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love), Francis outlined his vision for the church on family issues, urging priests to respond to their communities without mercilessly enforcing church rules: “Each country or region, moreover, can seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local needs,” he wrote.

The apostolic exhortation concludes a two-year consultation that saw bishops twice gather in Rome to debate issues affecting the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.

In comments likely to be welcomed by some LGBT organisations, Francis urged the church to “reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence.”

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OKLAHOMA
Texoma Homepage

STEPHENS COUNTY

A retired pastor and principal who police say is facing charges for sexually abusing a child has been released from a Stephens County Jail on $100,000 bail.

71-year-old Jody Hilliard is charged with two counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child.

According to the Duncan Banner, Duncan Police began investigating Hilliard on March 11.

A few days later, they received an incident report out of Cole County, Missouri in which a 10-year-old girl told officers that Hilliard had touched her and made her touch him.

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INDIANA
Times Herald

Mike Grant
Times Herald

A minister accused of abusing a young member of his church presented his tearful version of the events that led to his arrest. Armando Bruno Morales, 56, of Washington is on trial on two counts of Class A felony child molesting and two counts of Class C felony child molesting in Daviess Superior Court.

The second day of testimony opened with Washington Detective Daniel Christie on the stand. Christie had testified about his investigation into the case that reportedly began in 2008 when the victim was 8 years old.

During cross examination by the defense a 30-minute recording of a interview Christie conducted with the boy who was the alleged victim in the case was presented. During that interview the boy again detailed events surrounding his abuse.

“I was scared,” the boy said during the interview. “He would come to my bed at night and would do it to me.”

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CALIFORNIA
My News LA

POSTED BY HOA QUACH ON APRIL 7, 2016

A former pastor of a non-denominational Christian church in Buena Park is expected to receive a life sentence Friday for molesting an 8-year-old female friend of his daughter’s and possessing videos and images of child pornography on his computers.

Christopher Raymond Olague, 44, who was also convicted Nov. 3 of kidnapping the victim to commit a child molestation and attempting to dissuade a witness from cooperating with authorities.

Olague was acquitted of lewd acts on another victim, who is a relative, and using a minor for sex acts. Jurors also found true a sentencing enhancement for kidnapping a victim during a molestation, but denied a sentencing-enhancing allegation of multiple victims.

Just before the trial began, charges related to a third alleged victim were dropped because she did not want to testify, Deputy District Attorney Lexie Elliott said.

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INDIANA
The Observer

Catherine Owers | Friday, April 8, 2016

Notre Dame faculty, staff and students gathered in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart for Thursday afternoon for a Mass in memory of theology professor Fr. Virgilio Elizondo, who died March 14 in San Antonio.

Elizondo, the University of Notre Dame professor of Pastoral and Hispanic Theology, is widely considered the founder of U.S. Latino theology and received the 1997 Laetare Medal. University President Fr. John Jenkins celebrated the Mass, and Fr. Daniel Groody, director of immigration initiatives for the Institute for Latino Studies, delivered the homily.

Groody said Elizondo was a man who was devoted to relationships, gave generously and “greeted people with open arms.”

“Wherever he went, he often could be found around a table, gathering people together, forming new relationships, discussing new ideas,” he said. …

In his homily, Groody spoke on the allegations of sexual abuse made against Elizondo last year.

“In May of last year, a man came forward with allegations that he was sexually, repeatedly abused by a priest more than 30 years ago. If such allegations are true, it’s an egregious injustice against this human being. That priest, however, was not Virgil Elizondo,” he said. “These allegations [were] against another priest who fled the country and was never heard from again. Virgil later became connected to the allegations through one disputed incident of the plaintiff, which Virgil completely denied. He was brought into this case not because he was a serial abuser, but because he was a highly visible, accomplished, respected cleric. … This one accusation put the spotlight entirely on Virgil.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

By Caleb Cluff and Matthew Dixon
April 8, 2016

Ronald Mulkearns will be the first Ballarat bishop not to be interred in the crypt of St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Ballarat Diocese Vicar-General Justin Driscoll said it was not appropriate in light of the revelations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to grant Bishop Mulkearns a position inside the Cathedral.

“That is correct; he will be the first bishop not to be placed in the crypt. It really is a direct response to the revelations of the Royal Commission. It was not appropriate for the former bishop to be buried there,” he said.

During his time as bishop, numerous paedophile priests were moved across the region while they were abusing children.

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AUSTRALIA
Cairns Post

AAP

Pedophile NSW ex-priest awaits sentence

A disabled girl repeatedly raped by a pedophile priest thought the abuse was “OK with God”.

The girl was one of 12 children groomed and molested by former Catholic priest John Joseph Farrell, 62, in a decade-long period of abuse at Moree and Tamworth, in NSW’s north, during the 1980s.

She was abused from the age of 10 by Farrell, who had been moved from one parish after a “scandal that he had been sexually abusing the altar boys”, the victim, who can’t be identified, said in a statement tendered to Sydney’s District Court on Friday.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Karl Hoerr

Victims of a former Catholic priest who sexually abused children in northern New South Wales in the 1980s have described the devastating impact of his crimes in statements read out in court.

John Joseph Farrell, 62, is awaiting sentencing for 62 offences involving 12 victims.

One victim said in his statement, which was read by his mother, the abuse was compounded by the fact that when he reported what happened to him, he was not believed.

“I felt completely abandoned by the institution I had put so much faith in,” his statement said.

The victim said he had enjoyed a happy childhood until the age of 11.

“When I met Farrell, all of that changed,” he said in his statement.

He said the Catholic Church merely protected Farrell.

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AUSTRALIA
Bay 93.9

A former priest convicted of 62 child sex offences involving the sinister abuse of 12 victims targeted kids in a church, a pool and during car trips.

A disabled girl repeatedly raped by a pedophile priest thought the abuse was “OK with God”.

The girl was one of 12 children groomed and molested by former Catholic priest John Joseph Farrell, 62, in a decade-long period of abuse at Moree and Tamworth, in NSW’s north, during the 1980s.

She was abused from the age of 10 by Farrell, who had been moved from one parish after a “scandal that he had been sexually abusing the altar boys”, the victim, who can’t be identified, said in a statement tendered to Sydney’s District Court on Friday.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY MICHAEL O’KEEFFE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, April 8, 2016

Kevin Braney went through hell in the basement of a church rectory.

Braney says he was a devout 15-year-old altar boy when Msgr. Charles Eckermann first raped him in a rectory storage room at St. Ann’s Church in Manlius, a suburb of Syracuse. Braney says Eckermann assaulted him at least a dozen times in 1988 and 1989 on a mattress the priest had stashed in the storage room.

“I was taught to trust and believe priests because they were the closest thing to God on Earth, and he told me if I defied him, I was defying God,” Braney said. “He said he had a divine right to abuse me.

“He told me he would put my genitals in a vise if I resisted,” added Braney, now an executive at a mental health agency in Boulder, Colo., and an advocate for sexual abuse victims. “He said he would kill me if I said anything.”

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CONNECTICUT
Norwich Bulletin

By Dave Collins The Associated Press

Posted Apr. 8, 2016

HARTFORD — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford is taking its dispute with an insurance company to trial, seeking reimbursement of more than $1 million in payments made to settle sexual misconduct cases involving priests and minors.

The case is one of many around the country in which insurance companies have balked at paying claims related to lawsuits against church officials seeking to hold them responsible for sexual assaults of minors by clergy — accusations that in many instances date back decades and involve priests who have since died.

A key issue in the Connecticut case and others is whether insurance companies can deny claims under assault and battery exemptions in liability policies. Many policies don’t cover intentional acts, but church officials have argued that they did not know about the alleged assaults.

A bench trial in the Hartford case is scheduled to begin Friday in federal court in New Haven before Judge Janet Bond Arterton.

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ILLINOIS
Daily Southtown

Ted Slowik

I see parallels in the case of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and the sexual abuse of children by priests. As Hastert faces sentencing, a judge must weigh whether the damage to Hastert’s reputation resulting from the revelations of alleged sexual abuse is punishment enough.

I have to choose my words carefully, because Hastert isn’t charged with sexually abusing children, and he hasn’t admitted to it. As part of a plea deal, he’s pleaded guilty to a bank structuring charge for withdrawing large sums. When federal authorities confronted him about the withdrawals, he allegedly lied about it. But that charge was dropped as part of the plea deal, in which he also admitted paying about $1.7 million to someone.

The federal investigation and a Tribune report revealed the reason for Hastert’s alleged hush-money payments. The recipient of Hastert’s illegal bank withdrawals was a student and wrestler in the 1970s at Yorkville High School, where Hastert taught and coached. The individual is one of four men who accuse Hastert of sexually abusing them when they were teens, the Tribune found.

My past work as a journalist includes extensive investigation of sexual abuse of children by priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet. Most of the stories I wrote were about men who were abused as boys during the 1970s and 1980s. As I related heartbreaking tales from abuse survivors, I often wondered how the criminal conduct occurred in the first place, and why it remained secret for so long.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

BY PATRICIA MILLER APRIL 6, 2016

e Catholic Church has been trying desperately to suggest that the days of rampant sexual abuse of minors by priests and subsequent cover-ups by bishops are a thing of the past and that the church has moved into a new, more transparent future. But to paraphrase a classic mob movie, just when they think they’re out, they get pulled back in.

First, it was Spotlight’s focus on the Boston-area abuse scandal that proved to be the tipping point for public awareness of widespread abusive priest-shuffling. It also reminded people of just how hard senior Vatican officials like Cardinal Bernard Law worked to keep the church’s complicity covered up.

And just when the publicity over Spotlight’s Academy Award dies down, now comes a hard-hitting report chronicling 50 years of abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese in Pennsylvania. A state grand jury report determined that hundreds of children had been abused by at least 50 priests. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Hundreds of children were molested, raped and destined to lasting psychological trauma by clerics whose abuses were covered up by their bishops, other superiors and even compliant law-enforcement officials in Blair and Cambria counties.

It’s the conspiracy nature of the long-running pattern, with both church officials (including two consecutive bishops, and local authorities, including police, judges and district attorneys) colluding to cover up abuse, that led the authors of the report to call the whole mess “soul murder.”

One state legislator is calling for a RICO investigation of the conspiracy, calling it “nothing less than organized crime.”

Despite the pledges by Pope Francis and other Vatican officials to take a zero-tolerance position on abuse and to make a full reckoning of sins of both omission and commission, it appears that the church is still dedicated to protecting its power and privilege over seeking justice for abuse victims. The New York Times reports that lobbyists for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference have been working overtime to quash a move to open a “window” that would allow previous abuse victims to sue under a bill moving through the legislature that would remove the statute of limitations for sex abuse crimes and allow victims to sue past the current limit of their 30th birthday.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, April 7, 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)

A newspaper is reporting that an ex-priest who was convicted of child sex crimes is now at a North Carolina “spiritual center.” We think, this is a dangerous move and we urge his colleagues and supervisors to oust him.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

The Atlanta Journal Constitution spoke recently with William Groves, a now-defrocked priest who pled guilty to felony abuse and sheltering “runaway Indian and Hispanic kids and giving them drugs and alcohol.” In June 2015, he was vice treasurer at the Spiritual Light Center in Franklin, North Carolina. Two local citizens told us they began to be suspicious when Groves repeatedly offered to set up a children’s program at the Center even though there were few children among the members there.

[Spiritual Light Center]

The AJC says he’s now an office manager there.

In our view, “reformed” alcoholics don’t seek jobs in bars. Likewise, a purported “reformed” child molester who hurt kids in a church shouldn’t seek employment with youth.

And he shouldn’t be given such a position. Child predators shrewdly use any role or responsibility or job or title to help persuade parents that they are trustworthy. So officials at the Spiritual Life Center, by giving Groves any job or position, are making it easier for him to win the trust of unsuspecting families and sexually violate more kids.

Groves was also named as a predator in two clergy sex abuse and cover up cases in Colorado. Those suits settled for $175,000. (His victims were represented by Ft. Lauderdale attorney Adam Horowitz.)

Previously, Groves worked in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas and allegedly got abuse counseling at a center in Atlanta in the 1990s.

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NEW YORK
Buffalo News

By Mary Jo Noworyta

When I hear the media report a pastor’s sexual sin as an “affair,” it awakens a deep well of despair within me, remembering my own “brush with the devil.” Simple, lax descriptions such as, “falling from grace,” or “an act of indiscretion,” completely miss the mark on what is happening to religious communities throughout the world.

After my “indiscretion” with my pastor, I learned it was not an affair. There was no consent. It was merely an illusion of a consensual relationship when once we understand who is responsible to keep appropriate boundaries and why.

In every helping profession, the helpers are responsible to keep healthy boundaries between themselves and those they serve. One can argue that religious leaders are held to an even higher standard when you add the element of spirituality. By their very nature, they are representatives of God and hold a most sacred, trusted position.

An overwhelming majority of these leaders counsel those in their congregations. Those seeking help are the hurting, the confused, the broken, the lost; people without an answer looking for direction. The leader is fully accountable, working with the vulnerable and wounded. His sole purpose is to help. Never should he take advantage of the person under his care.

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BELGIE
The Post

[The Catholic Church in Belgium goes unpunished.]

Het spraakmakende onderzoek naar misbruik van minderjarigen door katholieke geestelijken in België lijkt geen straffen op te leveren. Alle misdrijven in de zogenoemde Operatie Kelk zijn verjaard, liet het federaal parket dinsdag weten.

Dat zou betekenen dan niemand meer kan worden vervolgd. De rechtbank in Brussel buigt zich op 28 april over de zaak.

Operatie Kelk begon in juni 2010 met huiszoekingen bij onder meer het aartsbisdom in Mechelen en de privéwoning van kardinaal Godfried Danneels, die van tientallen misbruikzaken op de hoogte zou zijn.

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BELGIE
kernet

Wat voorafging Sinds het federale parket het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk coördineert, vanaf september 2010, hebben in totaal 261 slachtoffers rechtstreeks contact gehad met een magistraat van het federaal parket.

In het dossier Kelk werden tussen augustus 2010 en december 2012 in totaal 83 klachten met burgerlijke partijstelling neergelegd.

In het voorjaar van 2012 werden in het dossier Kelk een aantal huiszoekingen uitgevoerd onder meer bij alle bisdommen.

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SOUTH AFRICA/ISRAEL
Forward

(JTA) — An Israeli rabbi who has been on the run to avoid extradition back to Israel on sex abuse charges has been arrested in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Rabbi Eliezer Berland, 78, has been hiding out in South Africa for the past nearly eight months with several of his followers. Since the accusations in 2012, he has also hidden in Morocco, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe.

Berland’s followers confirmed to the Israeli media that he had been arrested this week by South African police. He reportedly had been hospitalized in Johannesburg and may have been arrested there.

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ISRAEL/SOUTH AFRICA
Haaretz

Three years after fleeing Israel, the head of the Shuvu Banim community, Rabbi Eliezer Berland has been arrested this week in Johannesburg, South Africa, his followers told Haaretz.

Berland was on the run for three years from Israeli police, skipping across three continents since 2013, among Canada, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Holland and elsewhere.

He is suspected of commiting sexual offenses, especially against women who were a part of his community, Shuvu Banim. Some complainants had been inside a room with him seeking advice or a blessing.

Berland’s lawyer Sharon Nahari confirmed his arrest and said Israel has filed a request for extradition.

“We are preparing to leave for South Africa and deal with the [extradition] request in court. Like we released him from detention in the Netherlands, we will fight now,” Nahari said.

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SOUTH AFRICA/ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

Chief Rabbi of South Africa Warren Goldstein has warned the local Jewish community against cooperating with Berland or his followers

Fugitive Rabbi Eliezer Berland was arrested in South Africa on Thursday and is expected to face extradition to Israel, where he is wanted on suspicion of carrying out sex crimes.

Berland’s attorney Sharon Nahari on Thursday confirmed his client’s arrest, and said Israeli authorities had filed a request to extradite him.

Nahari vowed that he would fly to South Africa and contest his client’s extradition, as he did last year after he was arrested in Amsterdam. Nahari also represented Israeli underworld boss Yitzhak Abergil ahead of his extradition to Israel in January 2014.

Followers of Berland said that he underwent surgery a week ago and that local law enforcement may have pounced on the opportunity to arrest him.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (UK)

Rosie Scammell in Rome
Thursday 7 April 2016

Pope Francis is likely to disappoint Catholic reformists on Friday with the publication of his views on family life, which observers predict will not change church doctrine on divorcees and gay people, despite presenting a more open approach.

The Amoris Laetitia (Joy of Love) document, known as an apostolic exhortation, follows a two-year consultation with bishops to determine how the church should address the challenges facing modern families.

Francis is expected to adopt a positive tone and welcoming approach to Catholics who do not fit the nuclear family model; but in keeping with the outcome of the bishops’ synods, there is unlikely to be a dramatic shift in church teachings.

The pontiff is not expected to grant divorced Catholics who remarry the right to take holy communion, though he is likely to acknowledge that they should play an active role in church life and not be sidelined.

A similar stance will be taken on gay Catholics, whose relationships will continue to be described as “intrinsically disordered”. The focus instead will rest on the respectful engagement between the church and gay people.

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NEW JERSEY
Road to Recovery

Leaders of the Salesian Priests and Brothers have refused to settle a childhood sexual abuse claim against one of its priests, Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB, causing the victim, who was abused in Indiana, to be re-victimized. The victim is being denied justice.

Fr. Timothy Zak, SDB, a leader of the Salesian Priests and Brothers, based in New Rochelle, NY, told advocate Dr. Robert M. Hoatson during a recent demonstration at a New Jersey church that the Salesians were settling the claim from a Salesian seminary in Indiana, but there has been no settlement and no settlement talks

At the “Will and Anthony” concert at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, New Jersey, the Salesian Priests and Brothers will have another opportunity to keep their promise by announcing to concert-goers that they intend to settle the credible sexual abuse claim from Indiana against Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB

What
A demonstration alerting high school parents, the media, concert-goers and the general public that the Salesians of Don Bosco, a religious order of men, have refused to settle the credible claim of sexual abuse in Indiana by a man who was promised a timely and fair resolution. Thus far, it has not happened.

When
Saturday, April 9, 2016 from 6:00 PM until 7:30 PM before the “Will and Anthony” concert

Where
On the public sidewalk across from the main entrance of Don Bosco Preparatory School, 492 North Franklin Turnpike, Ramsey, New Jersey 07446

Who
Members of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey that assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, including its co-founder and President, former Archdiocese of Newark priest, Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D.

Why
A few weeks ago, Fr. Timothy Zak, SDB, a member of the leadership team of the Salesian Priests and Brothers of Don Bosco, approached Dr. Robert M. Hoatson at a demonstration at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Orange, NJ, and told him that there was no need for a demonstration outside Our Lady of the Valley Church or any Salesian parish or school (like Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, NJ) because the Salesians were “in settlement talks” with two men who were sexually abused, one by Br. George Sheehan, SDB, and the other by Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB. Fr. Timothy Zak was incorrect. While the sexual abuse victim of Br. George Sheehan received a settlement, the sexual abuse victim of Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB, did not and has not received a settlement yet. No settlement talks have taken place in months, and no settlement has been reached. Demonstrators will demand that the Salesian Priests and Brothers do what they promised.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc., 862-368-2800

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer Posted Apr. 7, 2016

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Saint George’s School placed an administrator on leave in January as an independent investigation into systemic sexual abuse at the elite Episcopal school was getting under way, the school said in a letter to alumni Wednesday. The widening investigation involves allegations against half a dozen former faculty members and several students, largely in the 1970s and ’80s.

The allegations against Bob Weston, current associate head for external affairs, stem from his conduct as a dorm parent in the 1990s, and concern “Mr. Weston observing appropriate boundaries with students,” the letter from Headmaster Eric F. Peterson and Board Chair Leslie B. Heaney says.

The school’s letter, obtained Thursday by The Journal, states, in part:

“As you know, the independent investigation into sexual abuse at St. George’s led by Martin F. Murphy is underway and fully supported by the School. While that inquiry proceeds, we are committed to keeping our community informed on these important matters.”

After the board and the administration received the allegations, “the decision was made to place Mr. Weston on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation, and the appropriate authorities were informed,” the letter states. “Since the independent investigation was beginning at this same time, we asked Mr. Murphy and his team, whose work is ongoing, to include this matter in their inquiry.”

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HAWAII
Hawaii Tribune-Herald

By JOHN BURNETT Hawaii Tribune-Herald

A high-ranking Catholic Church official arrested last August in Kona for drunken driving had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal threshold for intoxication.

According to court records, Cardinal William Joseph Levada had a blood-alcohol level of 0.168 when he was stopped at about midnight Aug. 19 on Hina Lani Street in Kailua-Kona.

According to a police spokeswoman, Levada was driving a 2015 Nissan Altima and was alone in the car when he was pulled over after a patrol officer saw him swerve while driving northbound on Queen Kaahumanu Highway north of Kealakehe Parkway.

Through his attorney, Levada pleaded no contest and was fined $300 on Jan. 25 in Kona District Court.

The 79-year-old Levada, who lives in Menlo Park, Calif., wasn’t required to appear at the hearing and was not present.

Levada’s driver’s license was revoked for a year and he was ordered to pay $162 in various fees in addition to the fine. He also was ordered to undergo substance abuse assessment and to follow any recommended treatment.

A proof of compliance hearing was set for 8:30 a.m. July 8. Levada will not be required to appear and his Honolulu attorney, Howard Luke, will be allowed to participate by telephone.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Church Militant

by Joseph Pelletier • ChurchMilitant.com • April 7, 2016

Archdiocese has paid out $140 million in clergy sex abuse settlements

CHICAGO (ChurchMilitant.com) – The archdiocese of Chicago’s financial situation is being described as “unstable” amid sharp declines in parish and school attendance and a growing number of clerical sex abuse settlements.

In a financial statement released Tuesday the finance team for Chicago Abp. Blase Cupich admitted the archdiocese faces “continued financial pressure” and despite “recent progress, some of [their] parishes and schools have low parishioner and/or student counts, unstable operating results and unsustainable capital repair needs.” The 2015 report reveals a decrease of $1 million in parish collections compared to the prior year and a near $5 million loss at the diocesan parish center. Expenses at diocesan schools alone exceeded the tuition and fee intake by $40.2 million last year; the archdiocese of Chicago has nearly 250 elementary schools, seminaries and universities.

A further burden on the archdiocese’s wallet are the continually multiplying allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of diocesan clergy. Over the past 30 years the church in Chicago has shelled out over $140 million in abuse-related court settlements, with auditors reporting $10.8 million of that sum having been paid since June 2015. The number could also increase drastically in the near future, as a Cook County judge ruled in February an abuse victim will be allowed to petition for punitive damages on top of compensatory damages, paving the way for other victims who had previously settled to demand further recompense.

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UNITED STATES
WBUR

The critically acclaimed film, “Spotlight”, tells the story of the Boston Globe’s 2002 investigation of what later became the world-wide clergy sex abuse crisis.

We’ve talked to members of the original Globe team, to a lawyer, and a priest. Now, we hear from someone who represents the most important group of people in this story: the survivors.

This conversation originally aired on Nov. 6, 2015.

Guests

Phil Saviano, founder of the New England Chapter of SNAP, the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests.

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BOSTON (MA)
Poynter

By Benjamin Mullin • April 7, 2016

The Boston Globe on Thursday became the latest newspaper to announce it’s undertaking a major reassessment of its strategy and coverage priorities to keep pace with the ongoing tumult of the digital age.

The announcement, an internal memo from Globe Editor Brian McGrory, tops 1,000 words and touches on several major aspects of The Boston Globe’s operation. Among other things, it calls into question the viability of longstanding editorial processes at the newspaper:

There are important issues to raise and explore in what I’ll call a reinvention initiative: Do we have the right technology? Do we train staff in the right way? Should we remain in the current print format that we have now, same size, same sections? Do we have the right departments? Is our beat structure outdated? How can our work flows improve? Do we have too many of XX and not enough Ys? Should we publish seven days a week? Do print and digital relate in the right ways?

The questions could go on and on. They could become bolder still. …

At The Boston Globe, the changes come during an era of simultaneous pride and newsroom austerity. The dramatization of its investigation into the Catholic Church, “Spotlight,” recently won an Oscar and brought the Globe a measure of Hollywood fame. But The Globe has executed multiple rounds of staff cuts in recent years, once in 2014 through voluntary buyouts and again in 2015 through layoffs.

Meanwhile, the owner of The Boston Globe, billionaire Red Sox owner John Henry, has presided over a company on a mission to build standalone publications focused on specific coverage areas. STAT, a Globe publication that covers the life sciences, launched last year. The Globe also launched vertical focused on coverage of the Catholic Church, Crux, that it relinquished after failing to find enough advertising support.

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VATICAN CITY
Crux

By Ines San Martin
Vatican correspondent April 7, 2016

ROME – Pope Francis’ highly anticipated document on the family will be unveiled on Friday. Called “Amoris Laetitia, on love in the family”, it’s expected to touch on several hot-button issues, including Communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

The text, said to be close to 250-pages long and divided in more than 300 points, will be presented by Cardinals Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, at a press conference in Rome.

Set to begin at 11:30 Rome time, the news conference be broadcast live through the Vatican’s Television Center.

Secrecy surrounding the document is greater than usual, with no copies leaked in the media as of 24 hours before its unveiling. Vatican sources say the final version of the document hasn’t yet left the pope’s inner circle.

Some bishops have expressed their frustrations via Twitter over the fact they haven’t yet seen the text, including Archbishop Mark Coledrige, of Brisbane, Australia.

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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune APRIL 7, 2016

Bankruptcy court judge Robert Kressel approved a $3.3 million bid for the headquarters of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis on Thursday.

The chancery and the archbishop’s residence has been on the market since last year, when the archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a flood of child abuse claims.

The $3.3 million bid was submitted by the Minnesota firm 1777 Bunker Lake Blvd NW LLC. Donald Regan, chairman of Premier Bank is listed as the firm’s manager in state documents.

Premier Bank , which has 19 bank branches across the state, has not commented on the purchase. Court documents do not mention any specific plans for the property.

The firm was the top bidder at an auction for the property held Monday. It tops the previous high bid of $2.75 million by Minneapolis-based United Properties.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

Joseph Serna

An Orange County religious nonprofit that prosecutors have linked to a former pastor accused of molestation has denied any ties to the suspect, the organization said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Orange County prosecutors announced that Douglas Dale Whinery, 80, had been arrested and accused of molesting two girls for years after he met them in Tustin in 2011. The girls are now 8 and 10, according to prosecutors.

Authorities said that Whinery had remained active at Olive Crest in Santa Ana, the Foothill Family Church in Foothill Ranch and the Grace Church in Yorba Linda until his arrest last week.

But an Olive Crest spokeswoman on Thursday said the faith-based nonprofit, which works with at-risk youths, has no record of Whinery working or volunteering with the group.

“Olive Crest is dedicated to guarding the safety and well-being of the children we serve,” the agency’s statement read. “Given our commitment to the safety of children, Olive Crest does not take allegations of this kind lightly. Our organization is always available to assist the District Attorney’s Office and other law enforcement entities. We have offered them our complete cooperation in this case.”

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

A Catholic monk has been found guilty of a catalogue of abuse to pupils at an East Lothian residential school during “a regime of fear”.

Michael Murphy, 82, was known as Brother Benedict at St Joseph’s List D School in Tranent.

Irish-born Murphy denied a string of charges against him during his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

A jury convicted him of 15 charges of assault and indecent assault involving eight boys over the decade up to 1981.

Murphy was acquitted of a further two charges on Thursday.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

BY DAVE FINLAY

MICHAEL Murphy, 82, was known as Brother Benedict or Brother Ben to children at St Joseph’s List D School in Tranent where he perpetrated indecency and violence.

A CATHOLIC monk carried out a catalogue of brutality and degrading abuse against pupils at a residential school during “a regime of fear”.

Michael Murphy was known as Brother Benedict or Brother Ben to children in his care at St Joseph’s List D School in Tranent, in East Lothian, where he perpetrated indecency and violence against youngsters.

Irish-born Murphy, 82, denied a string of charges against him during his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh claiming: “I should not be here in this court at all.”

But a jury convicted him of 15 charges of assault and indecent assault on Thursday involving eight boys spanning the decade up to 1981.

Murphy was acquitted of a further two charges.

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CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet
Published on April 07, 2016

Mount Cashel civil trial enters third day

Courtroom No. 2 at Newfoundland Supreme Court in St. John’s was gripped this morning with a soft-spoken man’s testimony of marriage that he says failed because of his abuse experiences at Mount Cashel and a once-promising career derailed by alcoholism.

The man, now in his 70s, spent 11 years at the infamous St. John’s boys orphanage, run by the Catholic lay order Christian Brothers.

It was an eerie atmosphere when the witness softly sang to the court one chilling song that a taunting fellow resident who disliked him would recite about him being a teacher’s pet and wanting to be coddled by the Brother that he now claims was fondling him in his bunk many nights.

But the witness said he never told of the abuse to other boys and initially denied it to police decades later.

The man said he might have had a normal, happy life — not one of drinking, depression and boarding houses — had it not been for the abuse. Instead he said while he married and had a son, his wife eventually left him for another man because of his inability to perform sexually.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Herald Express

A MAN who taught at a Devon school for three decades is to appear at trial where he will face more than 60 charges in connection with the alleged sexual and physical abuse of children.

Paul Kelly, aged 63, is one of five men accused of a series of assaults and indecent assaults between 1970 and 1983 at St Ninian’s School in Falkland, Fife.

The Roman Catholic school was run by the Irish Christian Brothers organisation until it closed in the 1980s.

The men – Kelly of Glade Close, Plymouth, John Farrell, aged 73 of Motherwell; Michael Murphy, aged 76 from Dunfermline; William Don aged 62 from Leven and Edward Egan, aged 78 from Altrincham – face a total of 131 charges involving more than 40 alleged victims.

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ITALIA
Molisedoc

[The bishop of Cassino defends himself and said allegations of sexual harassment are unfounded.]

April 07, 2016

Oggi arriva – forse – la parola fine rispetto alle accuse, direttamente dalla procura della Repubblica di Cassino.

Il vescovo della diocesi di Cassino-Sora, monsignor Gerardo Antonazzo, sarebbe indagato – secondo quanto riporta l’Agi – per presunte molestie sessuali a carico di 8 seminaristi.

Sabato il vescovo aveva parlato di “totale infondatezza delle accuse” attribuitegli. Antonazzo ha preso possesso anche della diocesi di Cassino, dopo che quella di Montecassino è stata sciolta per volere del Papa (un atto questo preso anche per altre realtà abbaziali italiane e dunque neppure qui c’è un collegamento diretto con fatti di cronaca). Oltre alla confessione scritta, la polizia ha ascoltato tutti i ragazzi che avrebbero subito molestie da parte del vescovo.

Titolare del procedimento è il procuratore capo Luciano d’Emmanuele che nei giorni scorsi avrebbe concluso le verifiche per poi procedere con la richiesta di rinvio a giudizio dell’alto prelato.

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NEW YORK
New York Times

By KATE TAYLOR
APRIL 6, 2016

A group representing parents and former students at ultra-Orthodox yeshivas accused the de Blasio administration on Wednesday of dragging its feet in investigating their schools, out of fear of alienating a constituency that the mayor has assiduously courted.

In July, 52 parents, former students and former teachers sent a letter to New York City’s Education Department saying that 39 yeshivas were violating state law by not providing students, particularly boys, an adequate education in secular subjects like English, math and science. The Education Department said then that it would conduct an investigation of the yeshivas, located in Brooklyn and Queens.

But on Wednesday, the group behind the letter held a news conference in front of City Hall to express its frustration with the lack of any apparent progress in the investigation.

“It’s eight months later, and there’s no sign of a serious investigation taking place,” Naftuli Moster, the leader of the group, Young Advocates for Fair Education, said. “In fact, all indications are that the D.O.E. is just stalling us. In the meantime, tens of thousands of boys — we estimate around 30,000 — are not getting a basic education.”

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Lateline

Somewhere in an ultra-Orthodox enclave of Israel, former Melbourne school principal Malka Leifer continues to evade extradition to face criminal charges in Australia. Now one of her alleged victims speaks out for the first time.

By Sophie McNeill

Malka Leifer’s role in Melbourne’s Adass community was all-powerful.

As head of the Adass Israel School from 2003 to 2008, she was highly regarded in the community, running day-to-day operations at the school and teaching Jewish studies.

Leifer is now under house arrest somewhere in the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Bnei Brak in central Israel, where she fled in 2008 — allegedly with the help of senior members of Melbourne’s secretive Adass community.

She is wanted by Victoria Police to face prosecution for 74 child sex offences involving the abuse of girls at the Adass Israel School.

For almost two years, she has managed to evade extradition proceedings and her latest hearing scheduled for today has been postponed to an unknown date.

Outraged at the failure to extradite Leifer, one of her several alleged victims, who we will call Rebecca, is speaking out for the first time.

“It’s still extremely difficult for me to go into detail in regards to what happened to myself and the other victims,” she told Lateline.

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FRANCE
Oest France – Religions

[Sexual abuse of minors: The Church in France must speak the truth.]

Les signataires de cet appel publié dans Le Monde, le 7 avril 2016, demandent que “la pleine lumière soit faite sur la pédophilie. Même sur les actes couverts par la prescription. L’institution doit appeler les coupables à se dénoncer et les victimes à témoigner.”

“A l’heure où nous écrivons cet appel, les versions s’opposent à propos des affaires d’abus sexuels sur mineurs qui touchent le diocèse de Lyon. Nous nous garderons bien d’empiéter sur le travail d’enquête en cours. Nous disons simplement que la justice doit passer.

“Mais elle ne doit pas seulement dire le vrai dans telle ou telle affaire particulière. Nous sommes persuadés que de trop nombreux cas d’abus sexuels de la part de membres de l’institution se sont produits dans notre pays depuis des dizaines d’années.

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FRANCE
Catholique 95

[After raising a controversy over the concept of sin in pedophilia, Bishop Stanislas Lalanne, Bishop of Pontoise, said that on Thursday, April 7 on RCF that the priority in these cases is the victims.]

Après avoir soulevé une polémique sur la notion de péché dans la pédophilie, Mgr Stanislas Lalanne, évêque de Pontoise, a rappelé ce jeudi 7 avril sur RCF que la priorité dans ces affaires, ce sont les victimes.

S’exprimant jeudi 7 avril 2016 sur RCF, l’évêque de Pontoise a tout d’abord demandé pardon à ceux qui auraient pu être blessés par ses propos, qu’il estime avoir été mal compris. “Si jamais mes propos ont été maladroits, j’en demande pardon à tous ceux qu’ils ont pu choquer” a-t-il tout d’abord déclaré, précisant que “ma première attention est d’abord et avant tout pour les victimes” d’abus sexuels au sein de l’institution religieuse.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Bishop Stanislas Lalanne argued that pedophilia was a “bad” but not necessarily a sin.]

Marie Malzac, le 06/04/2016

Interrogé, mardi sur RCF, Mgr Stanislas Lalanne a soutenu que la pédophilie était « un mal » mais pas forcément « de l’ordre du péché », entraînant la condamnation du collectif de victimes La Parole libérée et l’incompréhension à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de l’Église.

Qu’a dit Mgr Lalanne ?

« La pédophilie est un mal. Est-ce que c’est de l’ordre du péché ? Ça, je ne saurai pas dire, c’est différent pour chaque personne. Mais c’est un mal et la première chose à faire, c’est de protéger les victimes ou les éventuelles victimes ». Ces mots, prononcés mardi 5 avril par Mgr Stanislas Lalanne, évêque de Pontoise, sur les ondes de RCF, ont soulevé très vite une polémique. D’autant que plusieurs auditeurs étaient revenus en direct sur ces propos pour les contester.

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FRANKREICH
katholisches

[The French Bishop Stanislas Lalanne said that pedophilia “evil,” but he “could not say” whether pedophilia is a sin. The statements of the bishop challenged the protest of a victim organization. The words of the bishop were “embarrassing” and for the victims “degrading”.]

(Paris) Der französische Bischof Stanislas Lalanne erklärte, daß Pädophilie „ein Übel“ sei, er aber „nicht sagen könnte“, ob Pädophilie eine Sünde ist. Die Aussagen des Bischofs forderten den Protest einer Opferorganisation heraus. Die Worte des Bischofs seien „peinlich“ und für die Opfer „erniedrigend“.

Diese Worte sagte der Bischof dem Radiosender RCF, einem Zusammenschluß von 63 christlichen, französischsprachigen Radiosendern.

Bischof Lalanne nahm an einer Sendung zum Thema „Die Kirche von Frankreich und die Pädophilie“ teil. Die Sendung fand angesichts der Vorwürfe gegen Kardinal Philippe Barbarin, den Erzbischof von Lyon statt, gegen den die Staatsanwaltschaft wegen des Verdachts ermittelt, einen Priester seiner Diözese nicht rechtzeitig wegen sexueller Gewalt angezeigt zu haben.

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BELGIQUE
CathoBel

[The hierarchy of the Belgian Catholic Church should not be prosecuted for culpable abstention in cases of sexual abuse in the context of a pastoral relationship. The federal prosecutor said that the facts were prescribed.]

La hiérarchie de l’Eglise catholique belge ne devrait pas être poursuivie pour abstention coupable dans les dossiers d’abus sexuels dans le cadre d’une relation pastorale. Le parquet fédéral a estimé que les faits étaient prescrits.

Débutée en juin 2010, l’opération « Calice » avait défrayé la chronique et provoqué un vif émoi au sein de l’Eglise belge. Il faut dire que dans une même journée, le juge d’instruction Wim De Troy avait ordonné des perquisitions au siège de l’archevêché à Malines (au moment même où se tenait une réunion de la Conférence des évêques), à la cathédrale Saint-Rombaut (où l’on fit ouvrir des tombes), au domicile privé du cardinal Danneels (qui fut entendu une journée entière), au siège de la commission dirigée par le pédopsychiatre Peter Adriaenssens (qui se penchait alors sur les faits de pédophilie au sein de l’Eglise), ainsi qu’aux Archives générales du Royaume.

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BELGIQUE
7 Sur 7

[Information about abuse in the Catholic Church obtained through Operation Chalice is beyond the statute of limitations for prosecution.]

L’ensemble des faits visés par l’Opération Calice, l’enquête du parquet fédéral chargée de faire la lumière sur des faits d’abus sexuels présumés commis au sein du clergé et la tentative d’étouffement de ces affaires par la hiérarchie catholique, sont prescrits et plus personne ne peut être poursuivi, selon le point de vue que défendra le parquet fédéral dans son réquisitoire final devant la chambre du conseil de Bruxelles. Cette dernière doit se pencher sur l’affaire le 28 avril prochain.

Le parquet demande ainsi de constater l’extinction de l’action publique étant donné la condamnation antérieure de 4 prévenus pour les faits dénoncés, les décès de 37 suspects et la prescription de presque tous les autres faits. En ce qui concerne les accusations d’abstention coupable, le parquet constate de même que les faits concernés sont manifestement prescrits.

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TEXAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Victims prod church to “take action”
Youth minister was arrested last week
He’s accused of molesting three children
SNAP: “Parents, ask your kids if they were hurt”
Group wants Methodist officials to “do outreach”

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

–blast local church officials for their public comments in a pending child sex abuse case,
–urge them to “do aggressive outreach” seeking other “victims, witnesses and whistleblowers,”
–beg parents in the congregation to “ask their kids if they were hurt,” and
–prod anyone who may have “seen, suspected or suffered” crimes by the minister – or cover ups by his colleagues or supervisors – to “protect kids by calling law enforcement immediately.”

WHEN
Thursday, April 7 at 11:00 am

WHERE
Outside First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill, 128 North Roberts Road in Cedar Hill, Texas

WHO
Three members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s Dallas-area director

WHY
Willie Lee Bell Jr., a youth pastor at this church, is accused of sexually assaulting two little boys behind their apartment on East Little Creek Road in February. And last week, he was reportedly caught in the act of molesting a third boy. The mom says bystanders attacked Bell to stop him.

Bell, 29-years-old, was arrested in West Oak Cliff.

[Raw Story]

In a statement, First United Methodist Church of Cedar Hill said it has no knowledge of any criminal acts happening at the church,” according to Fox 4 News. That’s designed to breed complacency, SNAP says, when just the reverse – vigilance and action – are needed now.

“Every current and former church employee or member who spent any time at this church should be

Beating the bushes and shouting from the rooftops, finding anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered Bell’s crimes and begging them to call police,” said Amy Smith of SNAP. “Now is the time for United Methodist staff and congregants to step up and resist the natural but irresponsible temptation to be passive.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
WESA

By MARY WILSON

The state House is poised to consider major changes to the statutes of limitations on child sex abuse cases in Pennsylvania, one month after the release of a grand jury’s findings that the clergy of the Altoona-Johnstown Catholic Diocese covered up child sex abuse allegations for decades.

The bill, passed by the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, would eliminate the time limit for bringing criminal charges in a child sex abuse case. It expands the timeframe for bringing civil suits, giving victims until they’re 50 years old, instead of 30.

Rep. Mark Rozzi (D-Berks), who has renewed his public crusade for statute-of-limitations reforms since the Altoona-Johnstown case was made public, said the plan should also include a two-year period when even expired cases can be brought by law enforcement and victims, since so many weren’t ready to confront their abusers until well after the statute of limitations had expired.

“When we talk about the hundreds of victims that have been abused,” said Rozzi, “this bill does nothing for them.”

He plans to amend the bill when it reaches the House floor.

Opponents of the two-year retroactive window for prosecution and civil suits said it’s unconstitutional and would create problems for insurers.

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

April 6, 2016 Joelle Casteix

Yeah, even I was surprised.

Parishioners at Los Angeles Archdiocese’s St. Kateri Church were not pleased when they were informed that disgraced Cardinal Roger Mahony was going to perform their parish confirmations.

From the Santa Clarita Valley Signal:

Brooke Bambrick is among the outraged. Growing up Catholic, her father was a deacon at St. Monica’s. When he found out about the widespread coverups and Mahony’s failure to hold abusers accountable and protect the abused, he decided the family should leave the Catholic Church.

“He thought it was hypocritical of the church,” said Bambrick. “Mahony protected the priests and shuffled them around, that’s a crime, and a crime against kids.”

Now that Mahony is coming to Saint Kateri, she is outraged and believes the church should request another Bishop for the ceremony.

“It is an atrocity that he is able to step foot in a church,” she said. “He ignored the facts and allowed people to do atrocious things to children. The Catholic Church didn’t handle it correctly and he shouldn’t officiate at such a large church here in the valley.”
But instead of just “taking it,” parishioners decided to do something.

Reports are now saying that the parish filed a formal complaint with Archbishop Gomez and that the Los Angeles prelate approved the removal of Mahony from their services.

Good job. Now it’s time to remove him from everything else. I wonder if there is a formal complaint form for that issue.

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CALIFORNIA
Signal

By Martha Garcia
Signal Staff Writer

Sex abuse and molestation charges have rocked the Catholic Church for decades. Amid the allegations, one man whose career was tarnished by the scandals was retired L.A. Cardinal Roger Mahony.

On April 29, Mahony will confer the sacrament of confirmation to the teen class at Saint Kateri Catholic Church, and many parishioners and community members are outraged.

Brooke Bambrick is among the outraged. Growing up Catholic, her father was a deacon at St. Monica’s. When he found out about the widespread coverups and Mahony’s failure to hold abusers accountable and protect the abused, he decided the family should leave the Catholic Church.

“He thought it was hypocritical of the church,” said Bambrick. “Mahony protected the priests and shuffled them around, that’s a crime, and a crime against kids.”

Now that Mahony is coming to Saint Kateri, she is outraged and believes the church should request another Bishop for the ceremony.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

UTAH
KUTV

BY CHRIS MILLER WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6TH 2016

The movie “Spotlight” won the Academy Award this year for Best Picture. It shined a light on sexual abuse and the importance of exposing it.

The film was based on the real life experiences of Phil Saviano, who was in Utah Wednesday, to attend a screening of the movie at the Salt Lake City Library and to encourage other victims to come forward.

“I’m finding that a lot of people want to talk to me and I do have some interesting stories to tell,” says Saviano, whose business card describes him as a “survivor” and “whistleblower”. “I was molested, assaulted repeatedly when I was 11 and 12-years-old.”

Saviano first told his story to the Boston Globe in 1992 and worked with investigative journalists for a decade to expose widespread allegations of sexual abuse within the clergy of the Catholic Church.

“I gave them names of 13 priests in Boston and another 14 priests in the next diocese over, who I knew were child molesters, but whose names had never appeared in the newspaper,” he says.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

Martin Moylan Apr 6, 2016

A private firm has bid nearly $3.3 million to buy the chancery of the bankrupt Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, offering about $500,000 more than a previous offer from United Properties.

Archdiocese attorneys plan to ask a federal judge on Thursday to approve the new offer.

The firm that made the higher bid is managed by Donald B. Regan, the founder and chairman of Maplewood-based Premier Banks.

If the deal goes through, proceeds would top $8 million, said Paul Donovan, who’s helping to sell church properties.

Once the chancery is sold, the church still will have to sell two more St. Paul properties: a vacant lot and a two-story building used for offices, both on the 200 block of Dayton Avenue near the St. Paul Cathedral.

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RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal

By Associated Press

Posted Apr. 7, 2016

MIDDLETOWN, R.I. (AP) — An elite Rhode Island boarding school embroiled in a sexual-abuse scandal said an administrator has been placed on leave over allegations concerning his conduct as a dorm parent in the 1990s.

St. George’s School said in a letter sent to alumni Wednesday that associate head for external affairs Bob Weston was placed on leave in January pending the outcome of an independent investigation. The Middletown school said it received “secondhand allegations” regarding Weston’s “boundaries with students.”

Weston’s lawyer Paul Kelly denied Wednesday that his client had done anything wrong, saying the allegations stem from a disgruntled former employee. He said no student has ever accused Weston of wrongdoing.

Kelly called claims that Weston violated students’ boundaries “dated and utterly specious,” adding that Weston has a 26-year unblemished record. He said Weston agreed to the temporary leave to allow the investigation to move forward and to handle a serious family matter.

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RHODE ISLAND
Patch

By MARK SCHIELDROP (Patch Staff) – April 6, 2016

MIDDLETOWN, RI—Alumni of the elite St. George’s School in Middletown were notified Wednesday that Bob Weston, associate head for external affairs, was placed on leave after the school received “secondhand allegations” about his “boundaries with students.”

Weston was placed on leave in January, the school said. It is not clear why alumni were notified about three months later in April.

A school spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.

St. George’s has been mired by a sex abuse scandal since December scandal after dozens of former students came forward with tales of being raped and sexually assaulted by former athletic trainer Al Gibbs in the 1970s, former chaplain Rev. Howard W. White Jr., in the 1970s and 80s along with about five other former employees of the school.

A total of about 40 victims have since come forward reporting abuse dating back to the 1960s.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.