ABUSE TRACKER

AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

Carey Lodge CHRISTIAN TODAY JOURNALIST 10 August 2016

An Australian bishop was reduced to tears over having to defrock a priest accused of sexual abuse because he was worried about the “effect it would have on the parishioners”, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is currently hearing evidence from an abuse survivor identified only as CKH. He described his abuse as “a gross abuse of trust, selfish and thoughtless.”

He told the committee hearing that after a church body investigated his allegations against a number of clergy, including the former Dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence, it was recommended that Lawrence and two others, church deacon Andrew Duncan and priests Bruce Hoare, be defrocked.

However, CKH said then Bishop Brian Farran visited him in 2012 and cried over the situation.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Press Association
Tuesday 9 August 2016

A former children’s home worker and Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to sexual assaults against children in the 1970s. Philip Temple, 66, admitted 27 counts of non-recent sexual assault committed against children in his care and two counts of perjury, according to the Metropolitan police.

The force said Temple, of no fixed address, appeared at Woolwich crown court in south-east London on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to seven counts of non-recent sexual assault. He also appeared at Croydon crown court on Wednesday 6 April, where he pleaded guilty to 20 counts of non-recent sexual assault and two counts of perjury.

Police added that he pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecent assault. He is due to be sentenced on Wednesday at Woolwich.

Scotland Yard said Temple was employed by Wandsworth borough council where he worked at Woking Close and Hertfield House between 1972 and 1974. He was also employed by Lambeth borough council between 1974 and 1977 where he worked at Rowan House in Shirley Oaks, Croydon.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic News Agency

Philadelphia, Pa., Aug 9, 2016 / 04:45 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There will be drama in Philadelphia.

A landmark case involving Catholic officials’ response to sex abuse is planned for retrial May 1 of next year. The accused is a monsignor who was the first Catholic official convicted for his supervisory actions regarding a priest accused of abusing children.

But claims of new exonerating evidence and a court’s decision to throw out the monsignor’s previous sentence make the situation more complex.

Monsignor William J. Lynn, 65, was released from Pennsylvania state prison Aug. 2 on $250,000 bail. He had served 33 months in prison on a conviction that was overturned in late 2015.

The monsignor was sentenced to three to six years in prison after a 2012 trial.

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NEW YORK
Slate

By Nora Caplan-Bricker

Fordham Preparatory School, a prestigious Jesuit boys’ school in the Bronx, has deemed a former student’s allegations that a teacher sexually abused him in 1984 “credible,” the New York Times reported Monday.

The assault took place shortly after graduation according to the former student, Michael Meenan, who says that he decided to spend the night at a house where he’d been celebrating with peers and awoke to find religious studies teacher Fernand Beck performing oral sex on him while he slept. Meenan says he reported the assault not long after it occurred with no apparent effect.

He was inspired to do so again, at least in part, by some of the real-life people behind the Academy Award-winning movie Spotlight—and by the conversation about sexual abuse that the movie, about the Boston Globe’s early 2000s exposé of child sexual abuse by Catholic priests, has helped create. One of Meenan’s former Fordham classmates, the actor Neal Huff, played victim’s advocate Phil Saviano in the film. Huff put Meenan in touch with the actual Mitchell Garabedian, the take-no-prisoners victims’ attorney portrayed in the movie by Stanley Tucci, and Garabedian contacted Fordham in March on Meenan’s behalf, according to the Times. Now, Fordham says Beck is no longer on its faculty, though it won’t specify whether he was fired or resigned.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE
Providence Journal

By Karen Lee Ziner
Journal Staff Writer

Posted Aug. 9, 2016

CONCORD, N.H. — An alumnus of St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, has accused the Rev. Howard W. “Howdy” White Jr. of sexually abusing him during White’s time there between 1967 through 1971, the school confirmed Tuesday. White served as a chaplain and teacher at the prestigious Episcopal boarding institution.

White, who subsequently became assistant chaplain at St. George’s School in Middletown, is one of a half-dozen former staff members who figured in a sex-abuse scandal at St. George’s. A Rhode Island State Police investigation, concluded in June, found no prosecutable criminal misconduct against any of the alleged perpetrators, or the school, in part due to statutes of limitations.

St. George’s announced a confidential settlement last week between the elite Episcopal prep school and up to 30 alumni whose abuse claims reach back to the 1970s. Those sex-abuse claims include allegations against White, whom the school fired in 1974 for admitted sexual misconduct but never reported to authorities.

In Concord, St. Paul’s rector Michael G. Hirschfeld wrote to alumni Aug. 5 of the recent allegation against White. Hirschfeld said the school had hired former Massachusetts attorney general Scott Harshbarger “to lead our investigative efforts and pursue any complaints” following the St. George’s allegations.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg

AUGUST 9, 2016

The scandal of sexual abuse in the Church has been painful. What we know now is that sexual abuse impacts every aspect of society and every profession. Some of you may have been impacted personally by this crime; we pray that the light of Christ will aid in your healing.

If anyone in this Parish has been or is being hurt by the sexual misconduct of any priest, deacon, religious brother or sister, seminarian, employee or volunteer of the Catholic Church, the Diocese of Harrisburg would like to know about such abuse, so that we can help the victim in his or her healing process and, if necessary, remove the offender from all public ministry.

To make such a report, the person should call the toll-free Pennsylvania Childline at 1-800-932-0313. To contact the Diocese for assistance in healing, the person should also call the Diocesan toll-free Hotline at 1-800-626-1608 or email ReportAbuse@hbgdiocese.org .

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Ivey DeJesus | idejesus@pennlive.com

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg on Tuesday was in the news amid a report regarding child sex abuse within its ranks.

A report by The York Daily Record indicated that the diocese named 15 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children and who had worked in the 15-county diocese.

The YDR report specifically names the Rev. Raymond Prybis, who once served at St. Joseph’s in Dallastown. Prybis was accused of abuse during his time at a Boston-area parish before he was transferred to York County. The report cites a personnel file released by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in January 2015. Prybis did not have a credible allegation of abuse against him while at St. Joseph’s, the YDR reported.

Many of the clergy members’ names cited in the YDR report have appeared in reports by PennLive and The Patriot-News, both of which have over the years published reports regarding allegations of sexual abuse against priests from the diocese – as well as the respective response from the diocese to those allegations.

Those reports include accounts involving:

* Guy Marsico, a former priest assigned to St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Rohrerstown, Lancaster County. (No criminal charges were ever leveled against Marsico).

* The 2004 report from the diocese confirming it had received credible reports of sexual abuse of 64 minors by 22 priests since 1950 and had spent $1.9 million in settlements, legal fees and counseling. None of the 22 priests were in active ministry at the time.

* In April 2002 the diocese received a “credible allegation” of sexual misconduct with a minor against John Allen, senior pastor at St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Church in Penbrook. The allegation stemmed from an incident more than 20 years earlier. Allen resigned from the priesthood within 12 hours. Prosecution was not possible because the statute of limitations had expired.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Tuesday, Aug. 9, 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)

Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer and his staff are putting kids in harm’s way by continuing to hide the names and whereabouts of predator priests. Shame on them.

After decades of pledges by Catholic officials to be “open” about clergy sex abuse and cover up cases, they still being secretive. As a result, who knows how many unsuspecting families live near or individuals work with predator priests?

About 30 US dioceses post names of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests on their websites. Gainer, however, refuses to take this simple, inexpensive, practical step to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth. Shame on his employees who are complicit in this reckless secrecy: Joseph Aponick, Msgr. William King and other current and former church staff.

We urge Harrisburg Catholics to donate elsewhere until their church officials stop hiding child molesting clerics.

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NEW YORK
The Paper

Fordham Offers “No Comment” To Allegations of 1960’s Clergy Abuse

by Peter Mullin
Co-Sports Editor
with Bill Donahue
Co-Editor-in-Chief

In April of 1994 an 18-year-old freshman walked into the office of the Dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, a place that, according to the University’s mission statement, concerns itself with fostering an “environment that celebrates and protects the dignity of the human person.” Inside the confines of that office the young woman started the process of protecting that dignity. She told the Dean a story of how, after a night of drinking in the city, her philosophy professor took advantage of her in his office. By the end of the semester, her professor had resigned.

Ten years later that scene would come to national attention in an article by Joseph Feuerherd published in the National Catholic Reporter. The story detailed the alleged 1994 sexual misconduct of Deal W. Hudson, a top advisor to George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election campaign, while he was a tenured professor of philosophy at Fordham.

That July, Fordham spokeswoman Elizabeth Schmalz issued a statement to NCR saying, “Sexual Harassment is not tolerated at Fordham University.” It continued, “Fordham followed its policy rigorously in this case and initiated an investigation into the matter upon receipt of the student’s complaint.”

The Dean in the NCR article, described as “sympathetic” and giving “every indication that he believed [the girl’s] story,” was Father Joseph M. McShane, S.J., Fordham University’s current president. In 1994, it appears that he listened intently to the aggrieved student and quickly iniated actions to remove Mr. Hudson from his position. And in 2004, Father McShane presided over the University when it publicly and explicitly denounced sexual harassment after the allegations against Mr. Hudson surfaced in the media.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former children’s home worker and Catholic priest has pleaded guilty to a string of historical child sex abuse charges.

Philip Temple, 66, admitted seven charges committed in the 1970s when he appeared at Woolwich Crown Court.

He pleaded to 20 similar charges and two of perjury at Croydon Crown Court in April.

In all, he admitted abusing 12 boys and one girl while working in south London care homes and a north London church.

He also admitted lying on oath in the 1990s when he was cleared of child sex abuse charges following accusations by a teenage boy from his church.

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HARRISBURG (PA)
Diocese of Harrisburg

By Very Rev. Robert M. Gillelan, Jr.
Secretary for Clergy and Consecrated Life

[This letter from a diocesan official was posted on the website of St. Joseph’s parish in York PA. It refers to articles by reporter Brandie Kessler that appeared in the York Daily Record:
– 15 priests accused of abuse had ties to Harrisburg diocese
– List: Accused priests with ties to Harrisburg diocese

See also our overview of diocesan and religious order lists of accused.]

I am writing to alert you to a newspaper article that we expect will be published in the York Daily Record soon. It will address several specific cases of sexual abuse by clergy in the Diocese of Harrisburg. Some cases were well publicized previously, so they may be familiar to you already; others had a lower profile. We made the decision to confirm the cases presented by the reporter in the interest of accuracy and transparency.

There are many viewpoints concerning the disclosure of information about instances of abuse, particularly of deceased clergy who cannot now defend themselves. This is one of the reasons it has been the longstanding policy of the Diocese not to publish names. However, the names to appear in the article were obtained independently and are to be published with or without our cooperation. Therefore the Diocese decided to provide accurate information in the interest of transparency and healing.

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UNITED KINGDOM
This is Local London

A former children’s home worker and Catholic priest has admitted 27 counts of historical sexual assault committed against children in his care and two counts of perjury.

Philip Temple, 66, of no fixed address, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court today, August 9, where he pleaded guilty to seven counts of non-recent sexual assault.

He previously admitted 20 other counts of sexual assault and perjury at Croydon Crown Court on August 6.

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AUSTRALIA
Anglican Communion News Service

[ACNS, by Gavin Drake] The deans of Australia’s cathedrals have expressed grief at hurt and trauma caused by clergy and church workers after hearing reports about the country’s Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and the newly established Royal Commission into the Child Protection and Youth Detention Systems of the Northern Territory.

The deans had gathered at St James’ Cathedral in Townsville, North Queensland, for their annual conference. In a statement, issued at the end of their gathering, the deans strongly condemned any form of abuse. The statement said that the deans – the senior clergy person in charge of a cathedral – had “reported on safeguarding measures in their own cathedrals, affirmed the importance of public acknowledgement and repentance for past wrongs, and the need for transparency and openness of conversation to enable a process of healing and the prevention of future abuse.

“Our national Church needs to do more and move quickly on issues of redress for victims, recognising that we are one Body of Christ and therefore together are responsible,” the Dean of Darwin, the Very Revd Keith Joseph, said. “We give thanks for the work of the national Royal Commission and commend the newly appointed Royal Commission looking into issues in the Northern Territory.”

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

Roger Herft, now Anglican Archbishop of Perth, regularly met church officials to discuss “brown envelopes” containing details of priests’ child abuse allegations, yet the group often decided to do nothing, a royal commission has heard.

At the time Archbishop Herft was bishop of Newcastle, in NSW, one of those in the meetings was the dean of the city’s cath­edral, Graeme Lawrence — later defrocked for having group sex with a teenage boy — the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.

A former trustee of the diocese, Keith Allen, told the commission yesterday he also took part in twice-yearly meetings, before Archbishop Herft moved to Perth in 2005.

About 27 “brown envelopes” detailed claims of child abuse, Mr Allen told the commission: “My memory is either (former diocese registrar) Mr Mitchell brought them in or maybe Bishop Herft brought them in.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Mark Totaro, victim assistance coordinator for the Diocese of Harrisburg, says the Catholic Church will do its best to take care of clergy abuse victims, though “they might never have closure.” Chris Dunn, York Daily Record

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
9 Aug 2016

A MAN whose complaints against the former dean of Newcastle Graeme Lawrence and three other priests led to their expulsion or suspension from the clergy told his story to the Royal Commission on Tuesday afternoon.

Given the psuedonym CKH, the 51-year old recounted a tale of grooming by priests that began in 1980 when a priest, Andrew Duncan, performed oral sex on him at the age of 14.

As well as Duncan and Lawrence, he would go on to have sex with Lawrence’s partner, teacher Greg Goyette, and two other priests, Bruce Hoare and Graeme Sturt.

The commission heard of his encounters with these men until 1985, when he began to reassess the situation and made him believe he had been “duped” and that experiences he had originally believed he was in control of were “in the nature of abuse”.

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AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

-​​Since its appearance before the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse one and a half years ago, the Yeshivah leadership has tried to manufacture an image that things have changed. The reality is that very little seems to have changed. Some of the same leaders whose conduct was exposed at the Royal Commission, remain in positions of authority at Yeshivah. Despite the representations made by Yeshivah to the Royal Commission, attacks on Yeshivah’s victims and advocates continue unabated and with the implicit support of the Yeshivah leadership. Unsurprisingly, some of the attacks have come from the family members of paedophiles and those who helped protect them.

Last Friday (5 August), an e-mail from a frustrated member of the Yeshivah community was sent to around 100 other community members, complaining of the behaviour of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, the son of the late Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner (the founder and director of the Yeshivah Centre during much of the period of the abuse and cover-ups there). Rabbi Groner was one of the trustees of Yeshivah who essentially led it to the Royal Commission. Despite the promise that all trustees would resign their leadership of Yeshivah following the Royal Commission, Rabbi Groner was recently appointed by the Trustees (i.e. including himself) to the Board of Yeshivah for life as part of the ‘new’ Yeshivah governance structure.

The email in question referred to stonewalling by Rabbi Groner and communications which the author had with various media outlets. Now, I know from personal experience, that people rarely involve the media without first trying to resolve things internally. Before I went public with my story of abuse through The Age, I repeatedly tried to engage with the Yeshivah leadership (Rabbi Groner senior) but they refused, leaving me with no alternative. Even after the initial media coverage, I repeatedly tried to engage with the Yeshivah leadership, but again they refused. Had I not gone to the media, the huge strides forward in child protection that have occurred in recent years in the Jewish community – in Australia and beyond – would not have happened. It goes without saying that the only people that really fear media exposure are those with something to hide.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

Megan Gorrey

Two former Marist College Canberra teachers have been committed to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court for allegedly sexually abusing boys at the school in the 1980s.

Ex-Marist brothers John William Chute, 84, and Gregory Joseph Sutton, 65, were among four men police charged with fresh offences as part of an ongoing investigation into historical child sexual abuse in ACT schools.

Chute, also known as Brother Kostka, is facing six charges of indecent assault and two acts of indecency for offences allegedly committed against two students over several years from 1980.

He taught at numerous Marist Brothers high schools and colleges before he moved to the Pearce college in 1976, according to a police statement of facts tendered in court.

The documents said the abuse against one of the alleged victims began when Chute touched the boy’s genitals from behind as the child patted the teacher’s labrador at school one day in 1980.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

By Colin Moynihan
August 8, 2016

[Note: See the letter discussed in this article. Fr. Eugene J. O’Brien, S.J., Mr. Beck’s superior for many years at Fordham Prep, has also been accused of sexual abuse, as has another Jesuit, Fr. Roy A. Drake, S.J., who taught at the Prep during Beck and O’Brien’s tenure.]

The gathering, in June 1984, was like many others involving recent graduates of Fordham Preparatory School, a Jesuit all-boys secondary school in the Bronx. It took place at a home in Westchester County, where many of Fordham’s students lived. Most of those at the party drank and several ended up spending the night, according to a former Fordham Prep student, Michael Meenan.

That night, Mr. Meenan said, a Fordham Prep teacher who had driven him to the party performed oral sex on him while he slept in a room along with others. When he woke up and pulled away, sliding beneath a coffee table, Mr. Meenan said, the teacher grabbed his leg and tried to drag him back.

Mr. Meenan said that he had told the school’s headmaster about the episode not long after it happened, but that it appeared no action was taken. The teacher remained on the faculty.

Now, 32 years after the episode, Fordham Prep has acknowledged Mr. Meenan’s account of abuse as credible and said the teacher he accused would not return to the school.

“We received an allegation from a Fordham Prep alumnus of the class of 1984 that religious studies teacher, Mr. Fernand Beck, sexually molested him shortly after he graduated,” the school’s president, the Rev. Christopher J. Devron. wrote in a letter dated Aug. 5. “While Mr. Beck has denied this allegation, an investigation led by an independent counsel retained by Fordham Prep determined that the allegation is credible.”

Mr. Beck could not be reached for comment on Monday. Although Father Devron did not identify the person who had lodged the complaint, Mr. Meenan said that it was him and that he had also recently reported the 1984 episode to the Westchester County district attorney’s office. (This reporter also attended Fordham Prep during the same period but did not then know Mr. Meenan or have classes with Mr. Beck.)

“What Beck did was criminal,” Mr. Meenan said during a recent telephone interview. “The school should have fired him long ago and he should have gone to prison.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

By Clive Coleman
Legal correspondent, BBC News

Wanted: highly respected chairman or chairwoman, available for up to 10 years, robust in the face of press scrutiny, and with no ties to the British establishment – it is becoming the most toxic job description in public life. Finding the right person to chair this vast, complex and crucial public inquiry is proving all but impossible.

The departure of Dame Lowell Goddard has plunged the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) into crisis.

And what makes that so bitterly ironic is that she was precisely the person appointed to be the steadying hand on an inquiry that many felt had lost its way before it had even started.

The first chairwoman, Baroness Butler-Sloss, a hugely experienced retired judge, stood down after a week because of concerns relating to the fact she was the sister of the late Lord Havers. He was attorney general at the time of some of the abuse that was to be examined.

Why that had not been considered, or thought to be important, before her appointment remains a mystery.

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CHILE
Publimetro

[The Vatican orders canonical trial against John O’Reilly for sexual abuse.]

El sacerdote fue condenado a cuatros años y un día de libertad vigilada por abuso sexual contra una menor.

La Congregación de los Legionarios de Cristo de Chile informó que el Vaticano, específicamente la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, instruyó un juicio canónico en contra del padre John O`Reilly.

Este juicio, según detalla un comunicado publicado por al congregación, se da a partir de “acusaciones presentadas en sede eclesiástica” contra el religioso. El juicio tendrá competencia y determinación exclusiva del Tribunal Eclesiástico en Roma.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

By Michael Gartland
August 8, 2016

A popular religious studies teacher at a private all-boys school in The Bronx won’t be returning next semester after an investigation found accusations of sexual molestation three decades ago “credible,” officials said Monday.

Fernand Beck, who taught at the Fordham Prep for 47 years, is departing just months after a former student leveled the accusation near the end of the 2015-16 school year.

“We received an allegation from a Fordham Prep alumnus of the class of 1984 that religious studies teacher Mr. Fernand Beck sexually molested him shortly after he graduated,” said a letter that the school sent to parents and alumni last Friday.

“While Mr. Beck has denied this allegation, an investigation led by an independent counsel retained by Fordham Prep determined that the allegation is credible.”

The letter — signed by school president Christopher Devron and principal Joseph Petriello — said the school immediately reported the allegations to law enforcement, the archdiocese and the school’s board.

Devron acknowledged Monday that the allegations aren’t being investigating by law enforcement “since the statute of limitations had long expired.”

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 09, 2016

By Krystal Paco

They were established two years ago amid the growing division in the local Catholic Church. The Concerned Catholics of Guam organization recently elected new officers and announced their work plan moving forward.

Under the leadership of their president-elect David Sablan and vice president Andrew Camacho, the group will prioritize the removal of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, the restoration of Monsignor James Benavente and Father Paul Gofigan back to their parishes by a chancery decree, prioritize assistance for alleged victims of sexual abuse by church clergy, support and assist fellow church groups, promote financial transparency, and return the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona back to the Archdiocese of Agana by legal means.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Fr Seán McDonagh
PUBLISHED
09/08/2016

In recent times, I have been writing about climate change and how Ireland is not living up to its obligations. The situation is very serious. Scientists are telling us that 2015 was the hottest year on record and that 2016 is expected to be even warmer.

The issue will lead to the death and displacement of millions of people, but unfortunately our media and politicians have been slow to grapple with it in an effective and competent way. It is only very recently that the leadership of the Catholic Church has begun to take the environmental degradation of the planet seriously.

In June 2015, Pope Francis published an extraordinary encyclical on the care of creation, entitled ‘Laudato Si: On Care For Our Common Home’.

So could it be that Ireland and the Catholic Church might finally be discussing this document in August 2016? Alas, no.

But in the social and economic sphere, we also face other serious challenges today. Research by Oxfam Ireland has pointed out that the share of income going to workers has fallen as the size of the global economy more than doubled over the past three decades.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Anna Nolan
PUBLISHED
09/08/2016

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin is not happy with how the Maynooth seminary is being run, so he has decided to send his trainee priests to the Irish College in Rome. Other bishops don’t seem too

By the sound of things, there seems to be a few shenanigans going on in Maynooth. Not only is there alleged use of dating sites, you naughty boys, but they’re all ratting on each other through anonymous letters and blogs.

“Dear Vocations Director, I was doing my weekly wash in the laundry room when out of the corner of my I saw Brother Whatsisname swipe right. No, he wasn’t swatting a fly, he was on dating site Grindr.

“I would like to bring this to your attention because, if Bro-ther Whatsisname is on Grindr, why can’t the rest of us? Yours sincerely, Brother Anonymous.”

OK, I’ll be serious for a moment. From the age of 19 to 22 I trained with the Loreto sisters. In my first year as a postulant, I trained in Mount Argus with about 12 other trainee nuns and priests. We had people from Mercy, Daughters of Charity, Franciscan orders. Young men and women. All there to learn the ropes. We were a sweet, young, innocent group who were filled with enthusiasm and vocation.

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NEW YORK
Forward

Josefin Dolsten
August 8, 2016

A rabbi who made headlines for taking young male congregants on sauna trips has found a new job as a spiritual advisor in a health center in Westchester, New York.

Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt is providing spiritual and psychological counseling at Scarsdale Integrative Medicine, a medical center that combines traditional Western medicine with alternative treatment according to its website.

The health center lists Rosenblatt as a counselor and makes no mention of his controversial past, but states he has a wide range of counseling experience.

“Rabbi Rosenblatt has deep experience across a broad spectrum of challenges: coping with serious illness and bereavement, stressful family relationships, parenting challenges, life transitions, loss of a sense of meaning and direction, workplace conflicts,” reads Rosenblatt’s biography on the Scarsdale Integrative Medicine.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

List: Accused priests with ties to Harrisburg diocese

Watch: Clergy abuse victim wants priests publicly named

Watch: Clergy abuse and the Harrisburg diocese

FOR THE FIRST TIME, DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT 15 PRIESTS WITH TIES TO THE HARRISBURG DIOCESE WHO HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING CHILDREN.

Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com

The Diocese of Harrisburg has acknowledged by name 15 priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children and who at one time worked in the diocese — including one who served in Dallastown in 1989-90.

The Rev. Raymond Prybis was accused of abuse during his time at a Boston-area parish before he was transferred to York County, according to a personnel file released by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis in January 2015. The Harrisburg diocese said he did not have a credible allegation of abuse while at St. Joseph’s.

A list of 15 priests, compiled by the York Daily Record, was provided to the diocese on June 14. On July 21, after multiple requests by the Daily Record, the diocese responded to each name on the list. It is believed to be the first time the Harrisburg diocese has confirmed a list of accused priests, including details on where and when they served, and how the diocese responded when the allegations were made.

In 2007, the diocese said publicly that it had received allegations against 24 priests since 1950, but it did not name them. As of Aug. 8, it had not responded to a request for information on all accused priests with ties to the Harrisburg diocese.

The Daily Record’s investigation was spurred by grand jury findings in the neighboring Altoona-Johnstown diocese. That report revealed more than 50 accused priests and hundreds of victims. The YDR’s effort to account for the scope of clergy abuse in the Harrisburg diocese has resulted in findings that include:

* Fifteen priests identified as having been accused of abusing children, including eight never named publicly through the diocese or media.

* In some cases, the Harrisburg diocese’s response to the list of 15 did not say whether an accusation was credible, even if it said action was taken against a priest. The diocese did not provide details in response to follow-up questions from the York Daily Record.

* The diocese continues to hear from – and offer help to – survivors of priest abuse. The effort includes an office within the diocese that has a limitless budget earmarked for survivors.

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MICHIGAN
WOOD

Ken Kolker and 24 Hour News 8 web staff
Published: August 8, 2016

WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — Kim James said she was a 12-year-old missionary kid — an MK, as they were called — when the sexual abuse started at a Baptist mission camp in Bangladesh.

“I am out to tell the world after all these years,” James told Target 8, speaking publicly about the allegations for the first time. “The truth must be known.”

Her alleged molester, Dr. Donn Ketcham, came from a church in the city of Wyoming. Then 58, he was a surgeon, family doctor and religious leader at the mission compound in a Bangladesh jungle.

He has admitted to “perverted sin” with her.

James was the first woman to come forward with allegations of sexual assault against the missionary doctor in 1989. Twenty-two more women would follow her example. Many of them call James a hero.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A man has told a royal commission’s public hearings he was 15 years old when he was first sexually abused by the defrocked former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence.

The man, who can only be identified as CKH, has given evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

It is examining the ways the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle responded to child sexual abuse allegations by clergy and lay members of the church.

The man said he became a member of St Alban’s Anglican Church at Griffith around 1979, and was 14 years old when church deacon Andrew Duncan had sex with him during a family holiday on a houseboat in 1980.

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GUAM
RT

When the Catholic Church learned that a priest working at the US island territory of Guam abused some 20 children, the only suitable response it found was to advise him to pray, the cleric, now based in Minnesota, has revealed in an interview.

Reverend Louis Brouillard, 95, admitted to repeatedly molesting boys while serving and teaching at Guam from the 1940s to the 1970s. Guam is an island in the Pacific known for housing a US Naval base.

After confessing his crimes to a local priest, Brouillard was not specifically told to stop, he told the AP. In fact, Brouillard was simply advised by other Church members to “do better” and repeat Hail Mary prayers.

When Brouillard was pressed on about how many boys he abused, he replied: “I have no idea. Maybe 20.”

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KOSOVO
Christian Today

James Macintyre 09 August 2016

A British former Catholic priest wanted on historic child sex abuse charges should not be extradited to the UK because the crimes were committed too long ago, a court in Kosovo ruled on Monday.

Laurence Soper was detained in the western town of Peja – where he had lived for abour five years under the name Andrew Charles Kingston – in May on an international arrest warrant. He is accused of sex offences while he was a teacher in Britain. Soper allegedly committed the offences at St Benedict’s School in Ealing, where he was a teacher in the 1970s and 1980s.

The former abbot, now in his 70s, reportedly jumped bail in 2011 and a European arrest warrant was issued in 2012.

“British citizen Andrew Charles Kingston Soper should not be extradited because offences he has been charged with exceeded the statute of limitations,” a spokeswoman at the Basic Court, the first instance court in Peja, said.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

AUGUST 9, 2016

By Annette Blackwell
AAP

An Anglican bishop baulked at having to defrock an influential senior cleric for sexual misconduct even though a church hearing had recommended he do so, a royal commission has been told.

The commission has been hearing complex and startling evidence on how the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle allegedly took a “do nothing” approach for decades to allegations of widespread child sex abuse by its clergy.

On Tuesday, abuse survivor CKH told how Bishop Brian Farran met him in 2012 and cried over the difficult decision he faced – whether to defrock the former dean of Newcastle Cathedral, Graeme Lawrence.

Bishop Farran was in charge of the dioceses from 2005 to 2012 and will give evidence at this hearing.

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PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record

Watch: Clergy abuse victim wants priests publicly named – video

Brandie Kessler, bkessler@ydr.com August 9, 2016

A five-month investigation by the York Daily Record found evidence of allegations of sexual abuse against 15 priests with ties to the Harrisburg diocese.

Their names were provided through news reports, court documents, information from the Harrisburg diocese, interviews with attorneys and others, or from www.BishopAccountability.org, a website that tracks reporting and public documents about accused clergy.

The Harrisburg diocese said survivors of clergy abuse should report the abuse to law enforcement, the state ChildLine number at 1-800-932-0313, and to the diocese at 1-800-626-1608.

Here are details about each of the priests identified by the York Daily Record’s investigation:

* In April 2002, John G. Allen was “confronted by the Diocese with a credible accusation” from an incident 23 years earlier, the diocese said. Allen was pastor at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Harrisburg at the time of the accusation, and he resigned. He was removed from all active ministry, the diocese said, and is now laicized, a term that means he made a request to be removed from the priesthood. According to “The Official Catholic Directory,” Allen was the director of Catholic Youth Activities for the Harrisburg diocese from 1976 to 1977 and from 1979 to 1980.

* Alleged abuse by John Bostwick III took place during 1980 to 1982 and was reported to the diocese in 1996, the diocese said. By then, it said, Bostwick had been reassigned to the Diocese of Richmond, which was notified, and Bostwick was removed from ministry. The Harrisburg diocese said Bostwick had been assigned to Mount St. Mary’s College by the Richmond diocese and helped on weekends with Masses at St. Catherine Laboure Parish in Harrisburg. The Rev. John R. Bostwick III is listed as a contact for Coventry at Horseshoe Mountain in Roseland, Virginia, on the Nelson County, Virginia website. Bostwick could not be reached for comment.

* Gerald Bugge was assigned to St. Anthony of Padua in Lancaster from Aug. 19, 1986, until April 19, 1988, according to the Harrisburg diocese. Bugge was named on a list of priests issued by the Archdiocese of Baltimore in September 2002. The list included priests who had served in the archdiocese and who had been accused, in their lifetimes, of child sexual abuse. The archdiocese posted on its website that, “In 1985, Father Gerald Bugge admitted to engaging in inappropriate sexual activities with a minor in 1985. These allegations were reported to the Redemptorists, and Father Bugge’s faculties were removed.” The Harrisburg diocese said there is no record of a credible allegation against Bugge while he was assigned to the diocese. Bugge is dead.

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BRAZIL
The Tablet

09 August 2016 | by Catholic News Service

A Brazilian priest mentioned in the credits of the Oscar-winning film Spotlight about historic sex abuse in the US committed suicide in a prison cell after being arrested again for suspected child sex abuse, authorities in Minas Gerais state, just north of Rio, said today.

Local authorities said that Father Bonifacio Buzzi hanged himself with bed sheets in his prison cell on Sunday a day after he was re-arrested.

In 1995 he was found guilty of abusing several youngsters in a psychiatric hospital and sentenced to four years of house arrest. In 2004, he was found guilty of molesting an 11-year-old boy but fled before authorities could detain him. He was arrested in 2007 and imprisoned until 2015.

Buzzi, 57, was arrested again in early August in the southern state of Santa Catarina and was taken back to Minas Gerais, where he had been charged with molesting another youth.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, Pacific Daily News August 9, 2016

A former priest who admitted to sexually abusing altar boys in Guam decades ago took photographs of about 50 boys and their private parts in the 1950s, according to a lawyer representing alleged victims of clergy abuse.

The Rev. Louis Brouillard, now 95, said he’s seeking forgiveness from former altar boys he sexually abused in Guam, where he was a priest from the late 1940s to 1981.

Other alleged victims of Brouillard, now in their 70s, have come forward to talk about the photographs, said attorney David Lujan, who represents several people who have accused local clergy, including Archbishop Anthony Apuron, of sexual abuse and rape.

Brouillard, who now lives in Minnesota, said he does not remember the names of the boys, including Leo Tudela, who publicly accused Brouillard as one of three church members who abused him as an altar boy in Guam, starting in 1956.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

John Weafer

Thousands of Irishmen have entered through the gates of Maynooth College with the intention of becoming diocesan priests, and while most of them subsequently decided against priesthood or left following ordination, most of them entered the seminary as idealistic young men, believing they were responding to God’s call. By the time they left the seminary, many had become disillusioned and critical of the seminary system.

For example, priests who were students before Vatican II criticise the seminary because of its regimented nature and ‘pernickety’ rules, which reflected the strictly hierarchical Church and cultic priesthood that prevailed in Irish society at the time.

While the seminary became less restrictive following Vatican II, and the servant-leader model of priesthood had effectively replaced the cultic model, nevertheless, many priests ordained following Vatican II believe that the seminary did not prepare them for the priesthood or life as an adult. Ironically, in recent years, the seminary has been criticised by younger students who perceive that it has become too liberal and that it lacks an ‘authentic faith base’.

Seminary life can be difficult at the best of times, and especially if you are a young man, struggling with your sexuality, be it heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, and you feel that you are part of a ‘soap opera/reality show’, where people get to comment on your life and judge you without knowing you or understanding your life.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The trustees of St Patrick’s College Maynooth are to meet before the end of August to address the crisis at the seminary.

It is understood the Catholic primate Archbishop Eamon Martin, who is away, has been in contact with Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and St Patrick’s College president Msgr Hugh Connolly.

The college has been at the centre of controversy for more than a week since it emerged Archbishop Martin was no longer going to send Dublin seminarians to it because of the “poisonous” atmosphere.

He said students were accessing gay dating apps and anonymous letters were being circulated accusing seminarians of misconduct.

The college trustees are the four Catholic Archbishops in Ireland and 13 diocesan bishops.

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ISRAEL
Frum Follies

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, David Lau issued a public statement about child abuse. As far as I know it is his first to date.

Below is a translation of its flowery language gracefully executed by *Danny Wool. An image of the original in Hebrew is at the end of the article.

It is addressed to religious educators. I suspect it was written in response the arrests of yeshiva teachers last week. See, 6 Alleged Offenders, 22 Children (Ages 2-10), Over 11 Years in Tel Aviv Belz School.

It is interesting that he managed not to make public statements about other sex abuse scandals involving prestigious religious teachers such as Motti Elon, Ezra Sheinberg, Naftali Maklev, Meir Pogrow, Elimelech Meisels, Eliezer Berland, Ben Tzion Sobel, and Matis Weinberg. Lau doubtlessly knows of many others who escaped public exposure, criminal prosecution, or any sort of consequences.

But he has finally spoken, so let’s read it and then evaluate it.

Tammuz 29, 5776

August 4, 2016

To All Who Work Educating the Children of Israel in Good Faith

Greetings,

Re: Awareness of Injuries Caused to Students

Much to my regret, terrible incidents occurring in our courtyards and domains have recently been made public. Cases in which boys and girls alike have been hurt in their homes or educational institutions have taken place recently, shocking anyone with a heart. How painful it is to hear that those very places, which should be a support, a stronghold, and a source of succor for our children and youth have turned into a nightmare and source of terror for them.

At this time, it is incumbent on parents, educators both male and female, family members, and anyone else involved in the sacred work of education to open their eyes and assist anyone who needs help insofar as possible. Turning away is not an answer to these difficult and painful issues, and everyone must know that they bear responsibility, even if the matter does not affect them directly.

I do not want to go into detail about matters for which modesty is preferable, and I am disgusted by the very fact that we must refer to them at all. Nevertheless, it has become a necessity for which there is no shame. All of you in particular for whom pure education is your greatest priority, and that is where you have turned, have been laden with the great burden of opening your eyes and paying maximum attention so that you can identify phenomena that might harm the delicate souls of our young.

Under no circumstances should these matters be swept under the rug, nor should people avoid dealing with these harsh phenomena, which, if not stopped, could lead many more people to be hurt. Heaven forbid that we stand by in silence. Instead we must increase awareness and continue teaching in the way of modesty, in the way of the Torah, toward values deeply rooted in the ways of Israel’s ancestors.

May you be strengthened in your teaching out of love,

David Lau
Chief Rabbi of Israel

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VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

The process of choosing an appropriate firm was “flawed” they say
Mennonite committee apologizes to victim for excluding her
Survivors applaud this “rare public stand” by church leaders

Statement by SNAP Leader Barbra Graber, 540-214-8874, mennonite@snapnetwork.org, August 8, 2016

Today, a church panel ended their involvement in an investigation into a former Mennonite university vice president accused of sexual abuse, stalking and making violent threats. We applaud their compassionate move. We hope that officials will still take the Panel’s original recommendation of GRACE as the chosen investigating group or go back to the drawing board and this time be genuinely inclusive.

In August of 2014, Lauren Shifflett reported the crimes she suffered by church member Luke Hartman, to Lindale Mennonite Church officials. Instead of reporting it, church officials and possibly other Mennonite agencies covered it up.

In January of 2016, Hartman was arrested for solicitation of prostitution.

Through out this time, since 2011, he was vice president of enrollment at Eastern Mennonite University.

Under pressure, Mennonite officials agreed to launch an outside investigation into the church’s response to these and other reports of misconduct in the Mennonite community of Harrisonburg, VA that soon went beyond Hartman’s misdeeds against Lauren Shifflett.

After research and deliberation, the church-appointed Panel for Sexual Abuse Prevention recommended Boz Tchividjian’s GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) as their top choice for the job. Mennonite survivor groups OurStoriesUntold and the Anabaptist Mennonite Chapter of SNAP agreed. So did Lauren Shifflett.

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ISRAEL
JTA

August 8, 2016

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli chief rabbi David Lau published an open letter calling on educators to deal seriously with every report of child abuse of any kind.

The rabbi released the letter Sunday evening at a conference of haredi Orthodox rabbis. It was first reported on the haredi Orthodox Kipa news website.

“To my great pain we’ve recently witnessed horrific cases of abuse in our midst; cases in which children were hurt in their houses and their schools. How painful it is to hear that the very places which are supposed to provide a security and strength for our children, have become places of fear,” the letter read.

“At this time, parents, teachers, relatives and all those engaged in the holy work of education must keep their eyes open and assist those who need it in any way possible. Burying our heads in the sand is not the answer to these difficult and painful issues, and everyone must take responsibility, even if these things do not affect him directly,” Lau wrote.

The letter comes amid several new investigations and indictments of child sex abuse in the haredi Orthodox community.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

His letter comes in the wake of several indictments in recent months against members of the haredi community for sexual assault against children.

Chief Rabbi David Lau has issued a letter to educators in the haredi sector calling on them to report suspicions of child abuse to the authorities and not to sweep such claims under the carpet.

His letter comes in the wake of several indictments in recent months against members of the haredi community for sexual assault against children.

Last week, an indictment was issued against six teachers in a hassidic elementary school in Tel Aviv, while another indictment was issued in May against a well-known haredi rabbi for raping three of his nieces hundreds of times over several years.

In July, an indictment was issued against a leading Breslov rabbi, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, for sexual assault involving a minor.

In Lau’s letter, written last week and made public on Monday, the chief rabbi noted that “of late, terrible phenomena have become known in our court and our sector,” in incidents in which “children have been harmed at home or in educational institutions.” Such cases had been incredibly painful to hear of, he wrote.

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GEORGIA
WTOC

By Don Logana, Anchor

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) –
An effort is underway to reach out to victims of clergy abuse in Savannah.

We caught up with Michael Corbett, the local director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), to learn more about the newly formed group’s mission.

Last month, Catholic Diocese of Savannah paid out a record $4.5 million for a priest abuse case involving a child. Not all victims can afford lawsuits. Victims and advocates we spoke to say many victims of clergy abuse suffer in silence alone, and even money doesn’t heal the wounds.

“Money can help provide some necessities, relieve some anxieties, but it can’t bring back your childhood or all the years we lost in the meantime,” said Corbett.

Corbett lives and works in Savannah, but he was a 17-year-old teenager in Boston when he was sexually assaulted by a Catholic Priest, Father Robert Gale. His story – along with many others – was told in the Academy Award-winning movie, Spotlight, which is based on the award-winning expose on child sex abuse in the Boston Archdiocese.

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ARIZONA
Arizona Republic

A minister at Grace Fellowship Church in Buckeye was held on suspicion of voyeurism and unlawful recording after a mother demanded the cellphone from a man bending down in front of her daughter’s changing room at a local store, according to court documents.

The mother said she observed a man holding a cellphone under the door of a changing room her daughter was using at a store near Watson and Yuma roads. She confronted the man, asking him to give her his phone. The woman saw video footage of the girl on the phone, according to court documents.

A Buckeye police officer took possession of the phone after he was called to the store about 10:45 a.m. Saturday, documents said.

Christopher David Santos, 31, admitted to officers that he activated the recording feature and put his cellphone under the changing room door and planned to view the footage for his sexual stimulation, according to court documents.

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ARIZONA
ABC 15

[with video]

BUCKEYE, AZ – Police say an employee from a Buckeye church has been arrested after being caught tape recording a young girl in a dressing room at a department store.

Christopher Santos, currently employed at Grace Fellowship Church, was taken into custody on Saturday after he was caught taking video on his phone of a 14-year-old female changing in a dressing room.

Officers were called to the scene near Watson and Yuma Roads on a report of a male subject who had been caught videotaping persons inside the store’s dressing rooms.

The victim’s mother caught him in the act and demanded his cell phone, the device the suspect was using to record. She then called police and handed his cell phone over to upon arrival. They found the video of the victim on the phone and it has been impounded for evidence.

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ARIZONA
12 News

BUCKEYE, Ariz. – A youth pastor was arrested Saturday after he was caught recording video of a teenage girl in the Bealls Outlet’s changing room.

According to police, 31-year-old Christopher Santos was seen holding his cell phone under the store’s changing room door while a 15-year-old girl was in there.

The girl told police she wasn’t aware she was being recorded and was only wearing her underwear at the time.

The teen’s mom saw Santos bending over with his phone underneath the changing room door. She confronted him and her daughter took his phone.

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GREECE
Tornos News

A 52-year old Orthodox priest is facing investigations after making sexual advances to a 15-year old girl from Larissa, Greece. The priest, who according to reports serves in a parish outside Greece, met the minor through Facebook, and what started out as an innocent friendship in April with comments on various issues, gradually turned into a sexual attraction on his part for the 15-year old student.

The priest, who used his real name on his Facebook profile, started messaging the young girl indecent images and making clear sexual advances and suggestions to the minor. His obsession with the girl resulted in him traveling to Larissa in an effort to persuade the her to abandon her home and follow him abroad.

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GEORGIA
Savannah Now

Aug. 9. The confidential support group – for both religious sex abuse victims and for their families – will be at 7 p.m. Aug. 9. The location is not being made public in order to protect the privacy of the participants. SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) has no affiliation with any church organization and is open to victims hurt in any denomination. Those interested in attending should contact Savannah SNAP Director Michael Corbett at 508-207-7418, Savannah@SNAPnetwork.org or SNAP National Outreach Director Barbara Dorris at 314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org for meeting location.

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UNITED STATES
The Mennonite

The Mennonite Church USA Panel on Sexual Abuse Prevention has terminated its participation in the investigation into the handling of reports of sexual abuse at Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, Va., Virginia Mennonite Conference and Lindale Mennonite Church, Linville, Va. On Aug. 2, EMU announced that it had contracted with D. Stafford & Associates (DSA) and Mennonite Church USA, VMC and Lindale were in contract negotiations with the group.

On Aug. 3, in a statement to The Mennonite (and published on the MC USA website Aug. 8), the panel wrote, “We cannot affirm the process that resulted in the selection of D. Stafford for EMU, or any process that does not involve Lauren Shifflett…We are sorry for the ways in which we have been complicit in this, and view it as a missed opportunity. Now we are choosing to support Lauren, victims and survivors over this flawed process.” Read the full statement.

On April 12, Shifflett posted an online account of her experience of abuse by Luke Hartman, former vice president of enrollment at EMU, followed by an April 21 blog written by her sister, Marissa Buck, listing her concerns about the handling of these reports by Lindale and EMU.

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LOUISIANA
Louisiana Law Review

Oct. 22, 2014

By Julie Love Taylor, Senior Associate

By now, most Americans are familiar with the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal, in which the Church has been criticized for its handling—or rather, mishandling—of priests who sexually abused minors.[1] Recently, Catholics in Louisiana were reminded of this scandal but with a slightly different twist. In April 2014, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued a decision involving alleged sexual abuse—not by a priest, but by a church parishioner—and a priest’s failure to report that abuse.[2] The Supreme Court’s holding potentially opened the door to a sticky situation: Can a court compel a priest to break the seal of confession when the penitent is a minor alleging sexual abuse.

I. The Supreme Court Case: Parents of Minor Child v. Charlet

In 2008, 14-year-old Rebecca Mayeux reached out to Fr. Jeff Bayhi, a priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, through the Sacrament of Confession. According to the petition, Mayeux revealed to him that George J. Charlet, Jr., a 64-year-old fellow parishioner, sexually abused her.[3] Charlet, a well-known and active parishioner of Our Lady of Assumption in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, allegedly sent Rebecca emails “laced with seductive nuances” and ultimately kissed and fondled her.[4]

Rebecca met with Fr. Bayhi on three separate occasions, confiding in him that Charlet “inappropriately touched her, kissed her, and told her that ‘he wanted to make love to her.’”[5] Fr. Bayhi allegedly told Rebecca that the situation was “her problem” and to “[s]weep it under the floor and get rid of it.”[6] Subsequent to Fr. Bayhi’s dismissal of Rebecca’s pleas, the abuse allegedly continued.[7]

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BRASIL
El Nuevo Herald

EFE

BRASILIA
El sacerdote brasileño Bonifacio Buzzi, quien el pasado viernes había sido detenido por segunda vez por un supuesto abuso sexual de menores, fue hallado sin vida en su celda, al parecer víctima de un suicidio, informaron hoy fuentes oficiales.

Buzzi, de 57 años, había ido a prisión en 2007, condenado a veinte años por pederastia, pero obtuvo la libertad condicional siete años después por buena conducta.

Sin embargo, la semana pasada fue acusado de abusar sexualmente de dos niños en la localidad de Tres Coraçoes, en el estado de Minas Gerais, y un juez ordenó que regresara a prisión.

Según las autoridades de Minas Gerais, Buzzi fue detenido el pasado viernes y este domingo fue encontrado sin vida en una celda que sólo él ocupaba.

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BRAZIL
Reuters

A Brazilian priest mentioned in the Catholic clergy sex abuse film “Spotlight” was found dead in a prison cell after he was arrested again for suspected pedophilia, authorities said on Monday.

Father Bonifacio Buzzi, 57, hanged himself with a sheet in a jail in the state of Minas Gerais where he was taken after his arrest on Friday, the state government said in a statement.

A decade ago Buzzi was convicted of abusing a 10-year-old boy in Mariana, Minas Gerais and jailed from 2007 to 2015. He was arrested last week following criminal complaints that he had molested two boys aged 9 and 13.

Buzzi was cited among the pedophilia cases listed at the end of “Spotlight,” the Oscar-winning 2015 film based on the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigation of sexual abuses by Catholic priests and efforts by the Boston Archdiocese to cover them up.

Allegations against Buzzi first emerged in the 1990s in his home state of Santa Catarina. In 1995 he was convicted of molesting two boys in his parish near Mariana after their parents accused him of performing oral sex on their children.

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LOUISIANA
The Times-Picayune

By Emily Lane, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Former First Baptist Church of New Orleans youth minister Jonathan Bailey was sentenced Monday (Aug. 8) to serve 10 years in prison after admitting to sexual misconduct involving a member of the church who was 13 when the abuse began.

Prosecutor Bonycle Thornton read a statement in court from the young woman who Bailey victimized, describing how while serving then as her youth minister Bailey “worked hard to get me to trust him instead of my family.”

The victim’s father testified that the family agreed to the plea deal despite the notion that no sentence seemed long enough, in order to prevent further abuse and protect his daughter.

Bailey pleaded guilty to six counts of molestation, five counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile and one count of obstruction of justice. Though he was sentenced to 27 years total, the plea agreement allows him to serve the sentences at the same time, meaning he will serve a total of 10 years in prison. He must also register as a sex offender, Orleans Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman noted.

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NEW ZEALAND
Otago Daily Times

Editorial

What a shambles. The supposedly august and sweeping Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales appears increasingly tenuous after the departure of its third chairwoman in two years.

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced last week that New Zealand judge Dame Lowell Goddard had resigned from the inquiry, which was established in 2014 in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal and tasked with investigating how state and other institutions handled their duty of care to protect children.

Dame Lowell had been in the job for 18 months. The announcement appeared to have come out of the blue and no explanation was given. Dame Lowell later made a public statement in which she commented about the inquiry’s “legacy of failure” which had been “hard to shake off”. It appeared very much as if she was simultaneously admitting defeat and laying blame.

That “legacy” is certainly hard to ignore. The two previous chairwomen (retired English judge Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and lawyer and former Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf) had been forced to resign (after only a week and two months in the job respectively) after revelations they had close links with establishment figures.

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SCOTLAND
The Courier

by Aileen Robertson
August 8 2016

A survivor of sex abuse has held a vigil outside St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow.

Dave Sharp, 57, organised the event, during which candles were lit and a piper played a lament to remember victims.

Before the event, he told The Courier he intended to invite church leaders to pray with him for those who had lost their lives to abuse.

Mr Sharp, who has been campaigning for justice for abuse victims, raised banners claiming victims like himself had been “abandoned” by the Catholic Church.

He said: “We need the Scottish public to help us to get the Scottish Government and the church leaders to stop turning their backs on us and to come out and talk to us about what they are doing about helping all those people who continue to suffer in isolation and addiction.”

Mr Sharp gave evidence to police as part of a recent investigation into historic abuse at St Ninian’s School in Falkland.

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IRELAND
Irish Mirror

8 AUG 2016
BY CORMAC O’SHEA

The former pupil said smashing the skull of a Christian Brother gave him ‘satisfaction’ after abuse he suffered

A former pupil at a Christian Brothers school has described how he took revenge for classroom abuse by digging up a Brother’s grave and smashing their skull.

The man said he had been beaten with a leather strap in front of his classmates when he was a pupil at the school in Ireland.

Giving his name only as ‘Dave’, he told Niall Boylan on Classic Hits 4fm, how he later gained revenge for the treatment he received.

He said: “When I was about 15 or 16 a few of the lads went up to an orchard, and in the orchard there used to be a graveyard and you could see half of the coffins.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

Reading reports in the Herald about the royal commission’s probe into child sexual abuse in the Newcastle Anglican diocese has made Topics feel sick to the stomach.

The reports about top brass in the clergy knowing nothing and not recalling crucial events were shocking to say the least.

“I Can’t Recall,” the Herald’s headline said last Friday, preceded by “I Knew Nothing” the day prior.

This is serious stuff, no doubt. But this amnesia has an almost absurd comic aspect to it.

This is why the headlines made Topics immediately think of Sergeant Schultz. Anyone who watched the TV show Hogan’s Heroes would remember Schultz – the portly prisoner-of-war camp guard at Stalag 13.

John Banner played the big-hearted Schultz in the show, which ran from 1965 to 1971.

Afraid of being entangled in trouble, Schultz often turned a blind eye to the prisoner’s tricky transgressions.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The Anglican Archbishop of Perth warned two youth leaders they would face legal action if they continued to complain about ­alleged child abuse committed by a senior priest, a royal commission has heard.

Archbishop Roger Herft “was more interested in standing up for (the alleged abuser) than listening to the issue,” one of the youth leaders said in a witness statement tendered to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Robert Wall told the commission he met Archbishop Herft in about 1994-95, when he was the bishop of Newcastle, in NSW, to report the allegations against Graeme Lawrence, the dean of the city’s cathedral.

Mr Lawrence, who was ­defrocked in 2012 after having group sex with a teenager, has been identified in evidence to the commission as part of a “Gang of Three” church officials who protected serial paedophile priest Peter Rushton.

The commission yesterday heard a note of a 2015 meeting with former diocesan trustee Keith Allen records him saying “the biggest concern in the Newcastle diocese was Bishop Roger Herft”. The file note records Mr Allen “indicated that Herft will be in trouble”, counsel assisting the commission Naomi Sharp said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Huffington Post

Will Black
Writer with a background in anthropology and mental health care

A day in the life of a child can be very long, intense and memorable. Hopefully most readers can remember some wonder-filled days from their childhood. Special days out with family or adventures with friends, these hours become indelibly imprinted on our minds. They become part of us.

Unfortunately, it is the same with bad experiences. Experiences of child abuse, for example, can remain with the individual for life, casting a shadow over the world. These experiences can also have a detrimental impact on relationships – with relatives, oneself and with society itself – including social institutions that are meant to be trusted.

Therefore, when survivors of abuse have courageously disclosed their experiences (often to then be dismissed), campaigned relentlessly and repeatedly returned to horrific events in a quest for justice, being let down by a public inquiry is a betrayal. But this is exactly what has happened, again and again and again.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), was finally established as a statutory inquiry in early 2015, after decades of allegations about children abused within institutions. After the death of BBC presenter and prolific paedophile Jimmy Savile, in 2011, there was a flood of reports of his crimes and those of other abusers in positions of influence. As well as allegations about individuals, a broad range of institutions were accused of failing to protect children and covering up abuse. Politicians were among those accused of abusing children and aiding cover-ups.

When it emerged that more than 100 files pertaining to abuse by ‘VIPs’ had gone missing from the Home Office, then prime minister David Cameron made the outrageous suggestion that those alleging abuse and a cover-up are ‘conspiracy theorists’, Theresa May, home secretary at the time, was less dismissive, stating: “There might have been a cover-up. I cannot stand here and say the Home Office was not involved in a cover-up in the 1980s, and that is why I am determined to get to the truth.”

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ISRAEL
Haaretz

Yair Ettinger Aug 08, 2016

The multiplicity of investigations and indictments against sex offenders in recent weeks, primarily involving the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community, has spurred Israel’s chief Ashkenazi rabbi, David Lau, to take the unusual step of speaking out on the issue.

Lau issued a call to Haredi parents and educators to take seriously any stories of sexual assaults of children and to increase awareness of and vocal opposition to any such incidents.

“It is absolutely forbidden to sweep these things under the rug and to evade dealing with these difficult phenomena which, if they are not stopped, could cause numerous other souls to be hurt,” Lau wrote, in a letter to a conference of Haredi teachers.

The letter was written during an especially turbulent time, during which every few days a new horrifying story has emerged or an indictment filed on suspicion of sex crimes against women or minors in family frameworks and educational institutions alike.

Among other developments, charges have been filed against six teachers in a Talmud Torah school in central Tel Aviv; a man from a famous rabbinical family has been indicted for allegedly abusing his daughters; and charges have been filed as well against a senior rabbi at a Jerusalem yeshiva, who is accused of serious sexual assaults, including rape, over a period of years, of members of his family since they were young girls – a case that may mark a turning point in the Haredi public’s approach to sex crimes.

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LOUISIANA
Think Progress

Jack Jenkins

It was 2008, and Rebecca Mayeux was living a nightmare.

Just 14 years old at the time, she was being sexually harassed and abused by a member of her church, 64-year-old George Charlet Jr. According to Mayeux*, Charlet bombarded her with emails “laced with seductive nuances” over the course of a summer, slowly escalating his inappropriate advances before ultimately kissing and fondling her.

As if the abuse wasn’t enough, Mayeux had to sit in the same pews as Charlet every Sunday at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church, a tiny country parish about 35 miles north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Shaken and afraid, Mayeux, like so many children who endure sexual abuse, felt too ashamed to tell her parents about her ordeal, fearing they would judge her.

Instead, she fled to the person she thought she could trust the most: Father Jeff Bayhi, her parish priest.

Mayeux says she visited Bayhi on three occasions to reveal intimate details about her abuse, always meeting under the context of Catholic confession. She says she told him about her unsettling experience, which included an avalanche of suggestive emails, “obsessive” phone calls, and Charlet saying he “wanted to make love to her” before inappropriately touching her.

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KOSOVA
Today

PRISTINA – A former priest wanted on child sex abuse charges from the 1970s and 1980s should not be extradited to Britain because the crimes were committed too long ago, a court in Kosovo ruled on Monday.

Lawrence Soper was detained in the western town of Peja, where he had lived for 4-5 years under the name Andrew Charles Kingston, in May on an international arrest warrant. He is accused of sex offences while he was a teacher in Britain.

British media said the former abbot from Ealing, west London, now in his 70s, had jumped bail in 2011 and a European arrest warrant was issued.

“British citizen Andrew Charles Kingston Soper should not be extradited because offences he has been charged with exceeded the statute of limitations,” a spokeswoman at the Basic Court, the first instance court in Peja, said.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Aug 08, 2016

By Krystal Paco

It’s become a Sunday ritual. Dozens of Catholics picket in front of the Hagatna Cathedral before Sunday morning mass. Their signs demand for to have Archbishop Anthony Apuron defrocked as well as question the actions made by Guam’s interim archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai. Archbishop Hon was appointed to Guam from the Vatican amid allegations of molestation made against Apuron.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

[with video]

Political Reporters Lauren Novak and, The Advertiser
August 8, 2016

THE release of the Nyland Royal Commission on Monday is the latest in a series of reports into the state’s child protection system.

Over the past 10 years there has been a litany of inquiries into the Government’s failure to protect children, including three high-profile inquiries also led by former Supreme Court justices.

They repeatedly found a culture of secrecy, unwieldy bureaucracy, lack of resources and a failure to put children first.

As South Australians begin to digest the 260 recommendations made by Margaret Nyland, the Government faces continued criticism for not having implemented the hundreds of proposals already put forward.

Advocates and victims are already warning this latest blueprint for change must not “sit on the shelf”.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian

MICHAEL OWEN
SA Bureau ChiefAdelaide
@mjowen

VERITY EDWARDS
ReporterAdelaide
@VerityEdwardsau

An initial $200 million over four years will be spent by the Weatherill government to begin implementing wideranging reforms based on 260 recommendations of a 850-page final report of a royal commission into South Australia’s troubled child protection system.

Premier Jay Weatherill has today apologised for failings amid findings one in four children in the state is subject of some form of notification to authorities.

“It is true that we’ve failed … the commissioner doesn’t apportion blame,” Mr Weatherill said.

In her report, Commissioner Margaret Nyland said problems with child protection systems were not unique to South Australia, although the state had the “dubious distinction” of caring for a higher proportion of infants and young children on a rotational basis, by commercial shift workers, than anywhere else and relied on this form of care more than any other jurisdiction.

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IRELAND
Donegal Now

The scandal at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth is set to take another twist this week and deepen even further as a former trainee priest will reportedly make a written statement to Gardaí claiming that he was sexually harassed by a member of staff.

The staff member is still employed at the college, according to the Mail On Sunday, and they have not been contacted by Gardaí at this stage either.

The news comes on the back of allegations that suggested a trainee priest was posting partially nude pictures of himself of the gay dating app Grindr, while Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will no longer send trainee priests from his dioceses to Maynooth to study because of the toxic atmosphere there.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The trustees of St Patrick’s College in Maynooth are to meet within the next five weeks to decide their response to the current controversy at the institute.

The announcement by Primate of All Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin, comes hours after Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, publicly expressed surprise that a trustees’ meeting had not yet been called to address the ongoing crisis.

Yesterday, on RTÉ’s This Week, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin defended his unprecedented decision to move his three seminarians studying at Maynooth to Rome’s Irish College.

He described the climate of anonymous allegations about inappropriate sexual behaviour in the main national seminary as “dangerous and poisonous” saying there was “a strange atmosphere of innuendo” which was “unsettling” for his students and that he had to do something for their futures

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NIGERIA
Christian Times

Chiqui Guyjoco
07 AUGUST, 2016

Protesters demanding for the dismissal of an allegedly corrupt Anglican bishop have interrupted the Anglican Church from convening its synod in Nigeria. The said protesters also clashed with authorities which resulted with five people injured.

According to the Anglican’s official website, protesters surrounded St. John’s Anglican Church in Amukpe recently and blocked the clergy and delegates from entering the church to participate in the scheduled synod. The protesters held placards and demanded the resignation of Rt. Rev. Blessing Erife­ta, the bishop of Sapele.

The vicar of St. John then reportedly called the who were soldiers positioned to protect an oil pipeline nearby and requested them to clear the church building of the demonstrators. The clergy prayed at a school nearby as the authorities and protestors clashed. The incident resulted in injuries among four women and a youth.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

IAN KIRKWOOD
8 Aug 2016

A SOLICITOR and former trustee of the Anglican DIocese of Newcastle has admitted tearing up the original 1990 resignation of paedophile priest Stephen Hatley Gray, which was then replaced with one dated the day before Gray was charged with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy.

Central Coast solicitor Keith Allen, who began giving evidence to the Royal Commission on Friday, was again subjected to an intense examination by the commission’s chairman, Peter McClellan, and counsel assisting, Naomi Sharp.

The resignation letter of the disgraced priest Gray has featured in several segments of evidence so far.

In evidence last week, retired former Newcastle assistant Bishop Richard Appleby insisted he was instructed by his bishop, Bishop Holland, to drive to the Central Coast to obtain the resignation after a wild party at the church rectory.

But in Mr Allen’s evidence, it emerged that the letter discussed by Bishop Appleby in evidence – and shown to the commission as being hand-written on church letterhead – may not have been the original letter.

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AUSTRALIA
Guardian News

IAN KIRKWOOD
8 Aug 2016

THE Royal Commission has heard sensational evidence about a secret filing system of “brown envelopes” used in the Newcastle Anglican church under former Bishop Roger Herft.

The commission heard there would have been more than 20 cases detailed in the brown envelopes. Detail of the history of child sexual abuse at the church’s Morpeth seminary were also said to be held in the church archives, stored at the University of Newcastle.

Detail of the brown envelopes emerged when the royal commission showed solicitor and former “ear to three Bishops”, Keith Allen, a file note of a meeting held in early 2015 with the diocesan business manager John Cleary.

The file note also revealed Mr Allen believed the church had influence over the police until quite recently and that the former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, would be a focus of the royal commission and any police investigation and that Lawrence would ‘’bring others down’’.

Counsel assisting Naomi Sharp quoted from the file note: “Cleary records you saying that the biggest concern in the Newcastle diocese was Bishop Roger Herft. He indicated that Herft will be in trouble. This was mainly because of Herft’s handling of the Brown envelopes through Herft’s Brown envelope advisory/review committee”.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

Beau Donelly and Chris Vedelago

The Catholic Church has housed a string of paedophile Christian Brothers on the same inner-city property it rents out as a family-friendly function centre.

A Fairfax Media investigation has revealed the Christian Brothers have been housing child sex offenders next to the Treacy Centre wedding and conference facility in Parkville since it opened three decades ago.

Past residents include notorious paedophiles Robert Charles Best and William Stuart Houston, who are both now serving lengthy jail sentences for historic sex crimes.

The Christian Brothers have refused to disclose how many known abusers are currently living in the complex, citing privacy concerns.

“Any Brother who has a substantiated claim of child sexual abuse against them is subject to appropriate but strict monitoring including restrictions in relation to children,” a spokesman said.

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UNITED STATES
Charisma News

8/4/2016
JESSILYN JUSTICE

A Mormon Australian film director was charged with more than 50 counts of sexual assault for his alleged conduct with 15 boys, according to reports.

Scott, who directed films Spirit of the Game and The Playbook, allegedly molested the children when he coached soccer in Australia during the 1990s, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The abuse occurred while Scott was a high-ranking member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Reports of child abuse within the group are not uncommon.

Late last month, attorneys subpoenaed LDS President Thomas S. Monson about the church’s sordid history with abuse, particularly about Navajo children in the church’s Indian Student Placement Program.

“What President Monson knew or didn’t know about this and child sexual abuse within this program in general, is relevant. If President Monson claims no knowledge, that too is relevant to what the church knew or should have known about Lee and his ability to lead this program within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and protect Indian Placement Program’s children from sexual harm,” victims’ attorney Craig Vernon said.

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

The Anglican Archbishop of Perth Roger Herft had a ‘brown paper envelope’ system to deal with child sex abuse complaints when he was bishop in a NSW Anglican diocese where abuse was widespread.

The envelopes containing information about child sex abuse allegations and other matters brought to the attention of the diocese of Newcastle were dealt with by a review committee.

They were created as a more secret filing system by Bishop Herft, solicitor Keith Allen told a child sex abuse royal commission on Monday.

Mr Allen, a former trustee of the diocese, was questioned about advice he gave the church in 2015 in readiness for the royal commission hearing which began last week.

In that advice, recorded by the current business manager of the diocese, John Cleary, Mr Allen suggested Archbishop Herft would be in trouble over the brown paper envelopes.

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AUSTRALIA
Guardian

Australian Associated Press
Sunday 7 August 2016

A solicitor has denied he advised a former bishop of a New South Wales Anglican diocese to say he could not recall any knowledge of paedophile priests when giving evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission.

Keith Allen, who had been a member of several boards in the Anglican diocese of Newcastle for 40 years, returned to the witness stand for a second day at a commission hearing into how the diocese handled abuse allegations over 30 years.

Allen answered “no” five times when asked if a file note by John Cleary, the business manager of the diocese, was an accurate record of him saying he would advise bishop Alfred Holland to say he could not recall any knowledge of paedophile priests when he appeared before the commission.

In another extraordinary day at the commission sitting in Newcastle, Allen was questioned about acting for the church while also advising a victim’s solicitor.

He was also asked about arranging a fraudulent record for a sexual predator so he could get work elsewhere.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Susan Wyndham

In researching her biography of Daniel Mannix, the Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years, Brenda Niall was surprised to find how liberal his views were on most issues: he opposed World War I conscription, capital and corporal punishment, and the White Australia policy; supported the church reforms of Vatican II; and called for more openness in teaching children about sex.

“I can’t say whether sexual abuse was going on his time but it probably was,” Niall says. “He lived to be 99 and his attitude to sex education was way before its time. If it had happened, children might have talked to their parents … He was against the silence.”

Niall’s biography, Mannix, has won the $25,000 National Biography Prize for its nuanced and personal portrait of a complex man who was Archbishop until his death in 1963 and is mostly remembered as a fierce anti-communist cold warrior of the 1950s and ’60s.

“He is a biographer’s nightmare,” Niall says, partly because he left instructions for all his letters to be burnt after his death. Only a few were saved by B.A. (Santamaria) for a biography he was writing.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Dan Cox

A Newcastle lawyer and Anglican Church official has said he did not go to police with allegations of abuse against priests because he was trying to protect the church.

Former trustee and Newcastle Diocesan Council member Keith Allen has spent the entire day giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The case study in Newcastle is looking at the past and present systems, policies and practices within the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle for responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Mr Allen discussed the church’s handling of sealed “brown envelopes”, which contained matters of concern to the diocese including criminal allegations against priests.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Philly.com

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, Staff Writer

Msgr. William J. Lynn returned to a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday, four years older and a lot thinner than when he left to serve three to six years in prison for his conviction in the Catholic Church clergy sex abuse scandal.

Two Pennsylvania appeals courts have erased Lynn’s child endangerment conviction, although they are powerless to give back 33 months in prison.

But for the 65-year-old former secretary for clergy – the first Catholic Church official in the nation convicted for the way he supervised pedophile priests – freedom on $250,000 bail is the only clearing in a legal cloud that has shadowed him since 2002.

Still ahead, on May 1, is another public trial in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, on a charge of child endangerment, and the potential of another conviction and return to custody.

After Lynn was released Tuesday, defense lawyer Thomas A. Bergstrom criticized District Attorney Seth Williams for revisiting the case against Lynn.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Sarah MacDonald
PUBLISHED
08/08/2016

A former seminarian at St Patrick’s College in Thurles has told of the severe physical and mental abuse he endured while studying at the seminary.

‘James’ told the Irish Independent of the bullying he endured at the seminary – including one incident where he had a bucket of dirt thrown over him by two people wearing balaclavas.

Outlining for the first time in full his experiences of physical and mental abuse almost 25 years ago in the seminary, as he embarked on what he thought was the path to priesthood, he said, “As I now recall that year, I feel so much pain and horror for what I experienced.”

“When I entered [the] seminary, I was living with over 100 students and priests and lecturers.

“These priests were there to guide us on our journey to ordination and help us discern what we truly wanted out of life. They would be our leaders, spiritual directors and brothers within whom we would place our trust and always be confident that they cared for our wellbeing,” he said.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Luke Byrne

PUBLISHED
08/08/2016

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin’s long-term ambition for the capital’s trainee priests is to take them out of seminaries altogether and put them into communities.

Speaking over the weekend, the archbishop advocated “a very different form” of training for the priesthood.

It comes as the controversy over his decision not to send prospective priests to Maynooth, over an apparent gay subculture there, rumbles on.

“A seminarian going on a dating site, there’s something wrong there,” he said, in an interview with RTÉ’s ‘This Week’.

Archbishop Martin spoke about the church’s teaching on human sexuality, calling it something that is “more difficult to get across to people.” He suggested that this was one reason why it might be better to take priests out of seminaries.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

By Annette Blackwell – AAP on August 8, 2016

A solicitor has denied he advised a former bishop of a NSW Anglican diocese to say he could not recall when giving evidence to the child sex abuse royal commission.

Keith Allen who had been a member of several boards in the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle for 40 years has returned to the witness stand for a second day at a commission hearing into how the diocese handled abuse allegations over 30 years.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

7 AUG 2016
BY BEN ROSSINGTON

Theresa May was warned not to look outside the UK before choosing the New Zealand judge who quit the national child abuse inquiry this week, it was claimed.

The Prime Minister, as Home Secretary, appointed Dame Lowell Goddard last year. She is the third chairwoman to quit.

A legal source said: “The PM was advised by very senior people not to look outside because of the need for an intricate understanding of British law and the establishment.

“It’s a difficult balancing act, you want someone who gets it but isn’t part of it. There were questions about whether Justice Goddard had the level of knowledge needed.”

In hearings at the High Court last week the performance of the judge, 67, came under fire. She quit after it was revealed she spent 74 days abroad working or on holiday.

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ISRAEL
Times of Israel

Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau on Sunday said members of the ultra-Orthodox community had an “obligation” to treat cases of child abuse and said the issue must not “be swept under the rug.”

In an open letter, the chief rabbi implied that such crimes should be reported to the authorities, but stopped short of explicitly calling for police involvement.

“Under no circumstances may these awful matters be swept under the carpet or be ignored. If they are not stopped, they can cause damage to many other people,” Lau wrote.

“At this time, it is an obligation for all parents, teachers, family members and anyone working in education, to keep their eyes open and to offer as much help as possible to those in need. Burying one’s head in the sand is not the [correct] response to these difficult and painful topics,” Lau wrote.

In his letter, the chief rabbi referred to recent cases of abuse within the Haredi community, which he termed “truly shocking.”

Last week, indictments were filed against six teachers at an ultra-Orthodox school run by the Belz Hasidic sect in Tel Aviv for alleged severe physical abuse of students. One of the six educators was also charged with sexual abuse. Some 22 students are suspected of having suffered physical abuse from the ages of 3-4 to 10-11.

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ISRAEL
Jerusalem Online

After six teachers at a Tel Aviv Hassidic school were indicted this week for abusing their students, Rabbi Benny Lau wrote in an open letter to educators that he was “disgusted” by the revelation and urged them not to keep such incidents a secret.

Aug 7, 2016

Omri Ariel

Amid allegations of sexual abuse made against six teachers at a Tel Aviv Hassidic school, Israel’s Chief Rabbi Benny Lau published on Sunday an open letter to educators in the ultra-Orthodox community, urging them to keep their eyes open and to assist students who may be going through similar experiences.

“To hear that these places, which should have served as a stronghold and a safe haven to these children, became places of nightmare and fear, was extremely painful,” Rabbi Lau wrote. “All of us – parents, teachers and everyone who takes part in the sacred work of education – must now keep our eyes open and assist as much as we can those who need us.”

The ultra-Orthodox community has long been under scrutiny for tending to cover up cases of sexual assault occurring within its schools or homes. Often, even parents who find out about it refrain from involving the police for fear of being cast out or put to shame.

“Turning a blind eye is never an answer to such difficult issues,” Rabbi Lau added. “Each of us must be aware that he or she carries responsibility, even if it doesn’t involve them directly.”

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ISRAEL
Arutz Sheva

Chief Rabbi David Lau published an open letter to educators this evening (Sunday), in which he calls for them to “open their eyes” and deal with any and every instance of child abuse of any kind.

“To my great pain we’ve recently been witness to horrific cases of abuse in our midst,” the Chief Rabbi opened, “cases in which children were hurt in their houses and their schools. How painful it is to hear that the very places which are supposed to provide a feeling of safety and security for our children, have become places of fear.”

Rabbi Lau called for all parents and educators to open their eyes and observe what is happening around them. “Burying our heads in the sand is not the answer in these difficult and painful matters. Every individual must know that he bears responsibility for what goes on around him, even if it doesn’t involve him personally.”

The Chief Rabbi noted that while he chose not to go into the details of the recent cases of sexual abuse in his letter, it is nonetheless important for people to talk about these matters. “I feel disgusted by the very fact that we have to address these matters, but address them we must.”

“As those who dedicate their lives to providing better education, you bear an even greater responsibility to look around and devote your full attention to anything that might damage the souls of our precious youth.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

Niall O’Dowd @niallodowd August 07, 2016

Delusion is among the most damaging mental states of all, allowing individuals to enter fantasy worlds where they can pretend their delusions are reality.

We currently have an outstanding examples of delusionary behavior in the Irish Catholic Church who are pretending there is no gay crisis in their main seminary at Maynooth.

The bishops of Ireland have agreed en masse (with one exception) to deny and to protest the findings of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin that the main seminary in Maynooth has essentially become a hotspot for gay seminarians and very likely should be shut down.

There is evidence of gay dating sites being widely used, of cover ups reaching the higher echelons, of straight novices being shunned if they report any such incidents, of a heterosexual student fired when he reported two seminarians having sex in bed – the list goes on and on.

There has been a gay culture predominant in Maynooth seminary for decades according to experts who know.

Now Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has called it into the open. He stated about Maynooth seminary that there is “an atmosphere of strange goings-on there”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Martin Evans

7 August 2016

Professor Alexis Jay, who exposed the Rotherham sex abuse scandal, has emerged as the favourite to take over the Government’s chaotic child sex abuse inquiry.

The former social worker, who currently sits on the inquiry’s panel, is understood to be willing to consider taking on the role if approached by Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary.

Professor Jay is widely respected among survivor’s groups and having been brought up in a tenement in Edinburgh, by a single parent, has none of the establishment links that have tripped up previous heads.

The entire future of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was thrown into doubt last week, when Dame Lowell Goddard became the third chairman to quit amid criticism over her commitment to the role.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
7 Aug 2016

FORMER Newcastle Anglican Bishop Brian Farran will be questioned this week about why he told a church board he was placed in an “unnecessary and unfortunate pressured environment” after it made defrocking recommendations against four priests public.

The priests included former Newcastle Anglican Dean Graeme Lawrence.

NSW Local Court magistrate Colin Elliott after professional standards hearings in 2010 into child sex allegations against Lawrence, his partner and teacher Greg Goyette and Hunter Anglican priests Andrew Duncan, Bruce Hoare and Graeme Sturt.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing into Newcastle Anglican diocese was told last week that Mr Elliott will give evidence criticising Bishop Farran’s handling of the matter and subsequent changes to the professional standards board’s powers.

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IRELAND
RTE News

[with audio]

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has said the National Seminary in Maynooth needs to come forward to show that its house is in order and procedures are “robust”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, he said procedures need to be shown as accessible and are being used.

His comments follow anonymous allegations of homosexual activity, the use of the dating app Grindr, and other allegations of misconduct at the seminary.

Archbishop Martin said there have been “misunderstandings” from some bishops over his decision to transfer three trainee priests to Rome.

He said many bishops did not agree with his move but he said he defended his position to them because not taking action on the matter would have been “very foolish”.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tomás Heneghan
PUBLISHED
07/08/2016

The Archbishop of Dublin has said his long-term ambition following the recent scandal at Maynooth is to set up a new form of community training for seminarians.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said he wishes to take men training to become priests in Ireland away from the closed environment of a seminary.

The cleric was speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme on Sunday afternoon.

He told the show he made his decision to remove three seminarians from St Patrick’s College at Maynooth in June, following various reports and blogs.

He explained: “I have an obligation, if I feel there is an atmosphere that is unsettling for my students I have to take action.”

He said that despite the decision of other bishops not to remove their seminarians from the college, he did not believe he was overreacting.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Ciarán D’Arcy

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has linked the issue of gay activity involving seminarians to the treatment of sexual abusers in the Catholic Church, and has challenged authorities to show that Maynooth “has its house in order”.

Dr Martin stood over comments he made last week that a “poisonous” atmosphere had prevailed at the national seminary, and said the decision not to send three seminary students from the Dublin Archdiocese there was taken in June.

Controversy erupted last Monday when allegations of homosexual activity, sexual harassment and the use of gay dating apps among seminarians at Maynooth surfaced.

“I believe when I see something that I am not happy with, that I would be very foolish not to take action about it,” he told RTÉ Radio’s This Week programme.

“One of the things that I constantly recall in the child sexual abuse, which is another matter but it’s linked to this, is on how many occasions something happened and then somebody said ‘well everybody knew there was something wrong there’ and nobody came forward,” he said.

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IRELAND
Journal

THE ARCHBISHOP OF Dublin has called for a new community-based system for training priests.

Diarmuid Martin was speaking to RTÉ’s This Week programme today after a week of media activity around alleged gay culture in place at St Patrick’s College in Maynooth, Ireland’s national seminary.

Anonymous allegations had been made that seminarians had been using Grindr, a gay dating app.

Martin had on Tuesday confirmed to the Irish Times that he would not be sending three student priests from his diocese to the seminary, describing “an atmosphere of strange goings-on”.

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GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, August 8, 2016

An international self-help organization for men and women who were molested by religious leaders will hold its first confidential support group meeting in Savannah on Tuesday, August 9th.

Michael Corbett, who is the Savannah director for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), explained why he is starting a local support group.

“SNAP was there when I needed it. The other members understood what I had been through, because they had had similar experiences. Sharing my story with them helped me tremendously on my healing journey, and I want to share that gift with others.”

In 1993 Corbett was a 17 year old Boston teenager when he was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest, Father Robert Gale. In 2001, the Savannah SNAP leader was interviewed by the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team for their Pulitzer Prize winning exposé of the cover up of child sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese. Gale was convicted as a result. The Globe’s investigation was the subject of the movie Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for best picture earlier this year.

Barbara Dorris, the long-time National Outreach Director for SNAP, will be on hand to help launch the new support group, and she also commented on the launch.

“We hope that by starting these meetings we can reach out to local victims who are still suffering in silence. We urge both survivors and their supporters to join us on Tuesday. By sharing their truths people realize that they are not alone, and they can begin to heal.”

The confidential support group – for both religious sex abuse victims and for their families – will be held at 7:00 pm. on August 9th. The location is not being made public, in order to protect the privacy of the participants. Those interested in attending should contact Corbett (508-207-7418, Savannah@SNAPnetwork.org) or Dorris (314-503-0003, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org) for the location of the meeting.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

A child sex abuse survivor will tell a royal commission two Anglican priests had group sex with him while another priest watched and stroked a 17-year-old boy who was so drunk he passed out.

The evidence on Monday from a man given the pseudonym CKH follows shocking revelations last week about a network of pedophiles in the Anglican diocese of Newcastle who targeted children in a church-run boys home.

CKH is expected to say he was 14 years old when priest Andrew Duncan had oral sex with him and the sexual abuse continued for years. During his involvement with Duncan, CKH alleges he was groomed to have sexual encounters with three other priests, Graeme Lawrence, Bruce Hoare and Graeme Sturt.

He will also say he was 19 when the group sex incident happened in a motel room after a Riverina diocese clergy function in 1984.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sue Berelowitz

The resignation of Lowell Goddard as chair of the official inquiry into historical child sex abuse is an opportunity for us to now focus on the really critical issue. For the inquiry to be credible the whole purpose must be to learn the lessons from past institutional failures so that children now and in the future are effectively protected.

The inquiry I chaired into child sexual exploitation in gangs and groups found extensive evidence of professionals and institutions refusing to see the signs and hear the voices of abused children. This was institutional denial by those whose job is to protect children from rape and sexual violation.

There is a dangerous belief that the sexual abuse of children is a “historical” phenomenon, that it’s about a few rotten apples in high places or recognised positions of power. Let’s look at the reality. The new crime survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) tells us that 11% of all females and 3% of all males aged 16-59 have disclosed that they were sexually abused as children.

This translates into at least 600,000 girls in England today who are, have been or will be victims of sexual abuse by the time they are 18. The figure for boys would be at least 150,000. These figures are profoundly shocking and yet I am not in the least surprised by them for they fit the known evidence, including that most people were abused by someone known to them such as a friend, acquaintance or family member.

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GUAM
The Freethinker

A while back, Anthony Sablan Apuron, above, then Catholic Archbishop of Guam warned that the introduction of marriage equality to the South Pacifiic island that belongs to America would ‘destroy the basic fabric of society’ and put Guam on the ‘road to a totalitarian system’.

Apuron and Guam’s Catholic archdiocese are now embroiled in a $2-million lawsuit that alleges that Apuron abused boys in 1970s.

According to this report, three former altar boys and the mother of another filed the libel and slander lawsuit, saying they were called liars when they accused Apuron of sexual abuse.

The lawsuit appears to have forced a 95-year-old Catholic priest – the Rev Louis Brouillard – into the open. After he was identified as an abuser during a hearing this week in the Guam Legislature, he stepped forward to confess abusing boys on Guam. He said he had confessed his sins to other priests on the island at the time but none told him to specifically stop.

Instead, the other priests told him to “do better” along with regular penance, such as saying Hail Mary prayers.

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VATIKAN
derStandard (Osterreich)

The Vatican has placed an employee on leave until further notice because he allegedly sought intimate contact with a minor. This was confirmed by the Vatican spokesman Greg Burke on Sunday.]

7. August 2016

Mann soll sich einer 13-Jährigen unangemessen genähert haben

Vatikanstadt – Der Vatikan hat einen Angestellten bis auf weiteres beurlaubt, weil er intimen Kontakt zu einer Minderjährigen gesucht haben soll. Das bestätigte Vatikansprecher Greg Burke am Sonntag auf Anfrage, wie die Nachrichtenagentur Kathpress berichtete.

Burke betonte zugleich, der Fall sei außerhalb des Vatikan angesiedelt. Er widersprach damit der Darstellung der italienischen Tageszeitung “Il Mattino” (Sonntag), die den Beschuldigten in das Umfeld von Papst Franziskus und dessen Residenz Santa Marta rückte.

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CITTA’ DEL VATICANO
Il Mattino

[Another scandal at the Vatican. An employee has been accused of pedophilia.]

Città del Vaticano. I guai non finiscono mai. Ancora una volta Papa Francesco si trova a fronteggiare un caso parecchio imbarazzante. Un’altra grana da risolvere, un altro dispiacere. Stavolta a dare grattacapi è un dipendente che ogni tanto si intravedeva a Santa Marta, anche se era impiegato in un altro settore. In questi giorni è stato allontanato dal Vaticano con accuse pesanti: adescamento di minorenni via chat, materiale pedo pornografico. Il ragazzo, un laico di cui non sono note le generalità – è stato denunciato alla autorità giudiziaria vaticana in attesa che si completino le opportune verifiche per poi procedere la vicenda in tribunale. Tutto è nato a causa di alcuni filmati che giravano in rete e che sono stati intercettati dai gendarmi. Papa Francesco, saputo dell’accaduto, c’è rimasto male. Sbalordito e addolorato.

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AUSTRALIA
The Austrlian

MICHAEL MCKENNA
ReporterBrisbane
@McKennaattheOz

Child protection advocates are calling on Australian states to widen reforms of litigation laws so abuse victims forced into compensation settlements can launch new legal action.

Queensland, Western Australia and the ACT are about to join Victoria and NSW in abolishing the statute of limitations that ­effectively blocks victims from having their cases heard in court.

In Queensland, victims have had until their 21st birthday to sue institutions over their abuse.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse last year recommended states reform laws to allow people to sue regardless of when alleged abuse happened.

However, so far legislative changes have excluded victims who have already taken action and been forced into settlements after the time limit defence was used against them. Some victims received as little as $10,000, a fraction of what churches, schools and governments now face in court-ordered damages.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

A religious order of priests and brothers, the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province, based in midtown Manhattan, refuses to help a woman who is a childhood sexual abuse victim of Fr. Paul A. Walsh OFM, a/k/a Fr. La Salle A. Walsh, OFM, a priest who served at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church and Preparatory School in Kingston, Jamaica

Woman who was sexually abused at approximately the age of ten (10) in approximately 1962 by Fr. Paul A. Walsh, OFM, a/k/a Fr. La Salle Walsh, OFM, wants the Franciscan Friars to pay for the cost of her therapy, resolve her clergy sexual abuse claim, and help her try to heal

What
A demonstration and leafleting regarding the Franciscan Friars’ Holy Name Province refusal to help a childhood sexual abuse victim of a Franciscan Friar, Fr. Paul A. Walsh, a/k/a Fr. La Salle A. Walsh, from Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church and Preparatory School in Kingston, Jamaica

When
Sunday, August 7, 2016 from 8:45 am until 12:30 pm (before and after Sunday Masses)

Where
At the rear entrance to St. Francis of Assisi Parish on West 32nd Street, Manhattan, between 6th and 7th Avenues.

The address of St. Francis of Assisi Parish is 135 West 31st Street, New York, NY 10001
212-736-8500

Who
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Co-founder and President of Road to Recovery, Inc., a non-profit charity based in New Jersey which assists victims of sexual abuse and their families, and members of Road to Recovery, Inc.

Why
A woman who was approximately ten-years old in the 1960s and sexually abused by Fr. Paul A. Walsh, a/k/a Fr. La Salle A. Walsh, OFM, at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church and Preparatory School in Kingston, Jamaica, wants the Holy Name Province of the Franciscans to pay for her therapy, resolve her claim, and help her try to heal. Demonstrators will demand of the Holy Name Province of the Franciscans that it help the woman who was sexually abused as a child by a Franciscan priest try to heal by paying for her therapy and resolving her clergy sexual abuse claim in a timely and just manner.

Contacts
Robert M. Hoatson, Ph.D., Road to Recovery, Inc. – 862-368-2800 – roberthoatson@gmail.com

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

South Australian Parliament should be recalled so recommendations from the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission can be implemented as soon as possible, the State Opposition says.

The final report by Commissioner Margaret Nyland contains 260 recommendations and is 850 pages long, Child Protection Reform Minister John Rau revealed today.

It was delivered to Governor Hieu Van Le at Government House on Friday afternoon, but the contents will not be made public until after a State Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the document could not be properly scrutinised because Parliament had risen for the winter break.

He said it should be recalled so that legislative changes prompted by the report are not delayed.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Kim Bielenberg

PUBLISHED
07/08/2016

The catechism of the Catholic Church explicitly states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”.

The Vatican warns that under no circumstances can a gay lifestyle be approved, but that has not stopped rumours and scandals reaching to the very heart of the institution.

This has not just happened over years and decades, but over centuries, leading to inevitable accusations of hypocrisy.

According to several accounts, which are hard to verify 1,000 years later, Pope John XII from the 10th Century had sex with men and boys and was accused of transforming his palace “into a whorehouse”.

The 14th Century Pontiff Boniface VIII, who reigned from 1294 to 1303, was said to have declared to a prospective male lover that two men having sex was “no more a sin than rubbing your hands together”.

Historical rumour records that Paul II passed away while having sex with a page boy, and that he was succeeded by Sixtus IV, who appointed his lover, Petro Riario, who happened to be his nephew, a cardinal at the age of 17.

While recent popes have been free of gay scandal on a personal level, the rumours and stories of liaisons among the clergy continue to be a feature of Vatican life and are regularly reported in the Italian press.

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