ABUSE TRACKER

A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.

November 13, 2016

BACKLASH TO NY FUND COMPENSATING SEX ABUSE VICTIMS

NEW YORK
Church Militant

by Stefan Farrar • ChurchMilitant.com • November 12, 2016

Critics claim it’s the archdiocese’s attempt to circumvent Child Victims Act

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) – The New York archdiocese is implementing a program to compensate victims of sexual abuse, as long as they promise never to sue the archdiocese. The program is receiving backlash from all quarters.

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program will allow victims with credible allegations of abuse to apply for compensation, with payment handed out within 60 days of the claim. Victims must also sign a confidentiality agreement as well as a release freeing the archdiocese of any litigation over related claims in the future.

“I wish I would have done this quite a while ago,” said Cdl. Timothy Dolan in early October. “I just finally thought: ‘Darn it, let’s do it. I’m tired of putting it off.” Dolan claimed it was Pope Francis’ announcement of the Year of Mercy that inspired him to launch the compensation fund.

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

Yakima bishop gets pushback on possible committee appointment

WASHINGTON
Yakima Herald

By Jane Gargas
jgargas@yakimaherald.com

Bishop Joseph Tyson of the Yakima Catholic Diocese is one of two bishops nominated to head the Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“Tyson is honored to be nominated,” said Monsignor Robert Siler, chancellor of the Yakima Diocese. “He does not view the other candidate as an opponent but a fellow bishop who is dedicated to the protection of children and youth, as is he.”

The other nominee is Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, Ind.

Not everyone is pleased with Tyson’s nomination, however.

The world’s largest group of clergy sex abuse victims, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling for Tyson to withdraw.

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

November 12, 2016

Pastor accused of sexual abuse of two girls formally charged

TEXAS
TXK Today

By Field Walsh – November 12, 2016

A Texarkana pastor accused of sexually abusing two girls has been formally charged with nine felonies and a misdemeanor by the Miller County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

David Wayne Farren, 41, was arrested twice in August for allegedly abusing two girls who had participated in church youth groups where Farren worked as a member of the clergy. He is currently free on a total of $40,000 bond.

This week a criminal information was signed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell charging Farren with nine felonies and one misdemeanor. Counts one through seven allege Farren had sex with a minor, “and was in a position of trust or authority over the victim and used the position of trust or authority to engage in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity,” with the girl. All seven counts of first-degree sexual assault allegedly occurred beginning in April 2013 and continuing through August 2013. Count eight alleges Farren engaged in sexual contact with the same girl beginning in April 2012 and continuing through August 2013.

Count nine accuses Farren of engaging in sexual contact with a second girl in 2007. The tenth count alleges Farren violated a law which requires him as a member of the clergy to report child abuse. Farren is accused of knowing a child had been abused in 2012 and failed to notify authorities.

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

Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s property transfers spur lawsuit

NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Olivier Uyttebrouck / Journal Staff Writer
Saturday, November 12th, 2016

A new lawsuit alleges that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has transferred “virtually all” its parishes and real property into a trust since 2012 to shield the assets from possible creditors, including survivors of clerical sexual abuse.

The allegations are included in one of two lawsuits filed this week by two New Mexico men who allege they were abused as children by former priests in the archdiocese.

Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall is asking a 2nd Judicial District judge to rule that the properties transferred into trust remain available to help pay court judgments against the archdiocese.

Hall has filed more than 60 clerical abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese since 2012, most of which have since been settled for undisclosed amounts.

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

Abuse Victim: “Spotlight Continued Church Denial”

NEW YORK
Hudson Valley News Network

Posted on: November 11, 2016.

Jay Behrke

MIDDLETOWN – In this extension of Thursday’s breaking story, Lex Filipowski – abused at the hands of his childhood priest at Holy Cross Church in South Centerville – goes into more detail on the issues troubling him since he was too young to fully comprehend them.

“I have been attempting to get justice for what happened to me from the Catholic Church for 25 years,” said Filipowski, 52, who says he was abused by Father George Boxelaar from 1971-1974. “And I’ve been dismissed for the last 25 years by some of the most arrogant and self-righteous people that have no care for what happened to me, or thousands and thousands of other children who were sexually abused by priests.”

Father Michael Kissane, Prior Provincial of the Carmelites in Middletown, acknowledged that there were several credible accusations of abuse against Boxelaar that were made public in the early 1980s; and that Boxelaar was “removed from ministry” at that time, moving back to his native country, the Netherlands, where he died in the early 1990s.

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

SNAP to Yakima bishop: Withdraw from bid to lead USCCB’s child protection committee

WASHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Nov. 11, 2016

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests have asked Yakima Bishop Joseph Tyson in a Nov. 10 letter to remove himself from “his race for chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People.”

SNAP charged that Tyson had “done virtually nothing to undo the damage” done by past clerical sex abusers in the Yakima diocese and those who shielded them. A diocesan official on Nov. 11 responded that “almost without exception, our people express gratitude for the increased awareness they have gained, information that most are not receiving anywhere else” on sex abuse.

In an email to NCR, Msgr. Robert Siler, Yakima chancellor and moderator of the curia, wrote: “We have beefed up our training program this past year, introducing live Virtus abuse prevention trainings in English and Spanish that take 2-1/2 to 3 hours. We have trained more than 1,000 employees and volunteers. I have personally conducted 80 percent of those trainings.”

In a news release, SNAP says that when Tyson was installed in 2011 it “publicly expressed hopes that he would ‘take immediate steps to warn Mexican families and officials about [Deacon] Aaron Ramirez and tell the full truth about allegations against Fr. [Darell] Mitchell.'”

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

Pastor of New Orleans Baptist church arrested after girls accuse him of sexual abuse

LOUISIANA
New Orleans Advocate

BY DELLA HASSELLE | DHASSELLE@THEADVOCATE.COM NOV 10, 2016

The pastor of Second Zion Baptist Church in Central City was arrested Wednesday after two young girls and two women accused him of sexually abusing them in the church, according to the New Orleans Police Department.

Police arrested 59-year-old Gary Lee Curtis and booked him on five counts of sexual battery after investigating a case that was first brought to the department on Sept. 21, according to arrest records.

The NOPD’s Special Victims Section began investigating after a woman reported a single incident of sexual abuse involving a 12-year-old girl, the police report said.

The report said NOPD Detective Bianca DeIrish then met with another person described in the report as a “concerned elder,” who told her that the pastor touched young girls “on their buttocks” while they were at the church at 2929 Second St.

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

Priest back in WC to face charges

PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne Independent

By Kevin Kearneykkearney@wayneindependent.com

HAWLEY – A Roman Catholic priest has been extradited from New Jersey to face 40 felony counts of sexual abuse of children in Wayne County, District Attorney Janine Edwards said yesterday.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta, 54, of Mahwah, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Bonnie Carney in Hawley and placed in county jail on $1 million cash bail.

The defendant faces 20 counts of dissemination of child pornography and 20 counts of possessing the pornography related to illegal computer activity at his part-time residence in Gouldsboro.

Gugliotta is scheduled to appear in Central Court in Honesdale at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

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

Priest denies sex assault of schoolboy

Saturday, November 12, 2016
IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Liam Heylin

An elderly priest on trial for the alleged sexual assault on a schoolboy during sex education instruction in a school office testified yesterday, “I never touched him sexually, improperly — never.”

The complaint said he was in third year in school, in the mid-1970s, when he was called to the priest’s office for sex education. He said the priest masturbated him.

The defendant, who is not named for legal reasons, told Judge Gerard O’Brien and the jury at Cork Circuit Criminal Court it did not happen.

Tom Creed, defending, said, “You have heard the allegations that you sexually molested him.” He replied, “I never molested Mr (name)”.

Mr Creed put it to the defendant about where the complainant said the office was located. The defendant said the room had another name and was for storage of mattresses and sports gear. “That room was never dignified with the name of office,” he said.

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

Statement from The Most Reverend Paul J. Swain

SOUTH DAKOTA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls

November 10, 2016
Memorial of Saint Leo the Great

Regarding the Reinstatement of Reverend Joseph T. Forcelle to Public Ministry

On September 21, 2016, Reverend Joseph T. Forcelle was placed on leave after the Diocese of Sioux Falls received notice from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that an allegation of child sexual abuse had been made against him. The alleged abuse took place while Father Forcelle was ministering in the Archdiocese. In accord with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young Persons, Father Forcelle’s leave was standard procedure and is threefold in its purpose: to ensure the safety of all children, to allow for an impartial investigation to be undertaken, and to protect the rights of Father Forcelle as defined in both civil and Church law.

Since his arrival to the Diocese in 1984, no prior accusations of child sexual abuse involving Father Forcelle had been received by the Diocese. In addition, there have been no allegations received since public announcement of his leave from public ministry was made.Subsequent to being notified of the accusation, law enforcement in Minnesota indicated that a criminal investigation would not be initiated. Therefore, a private investigator was appointed to conduct an investigation. In the Diocese’s effort to seek the truth, the investigator was charged to search for facts that would support the accusation.

After having been presented the findings of the investigation, the Diocesan Review Board concluded that the facts asserted do not substantiate this allegation. I accept the counsel of the Diocesan Review Board. Therefore, I have restored Father Joseph Forcelle’s faculties and reinstated him to public ministry with the fullest confidence in him as priest and minister of the Church. His pastoral ministry at Saint Leo the Great Parish, Tyndall and Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, Springfield will resume on November 15, 2016.

As bishop and on behalf of the Church, I renew my encouragement of all victims of child sexual abuse to come forward to local authorities or to the Diocese so that they might be offered assistance.

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

Area Priest Cleared Of Abuse Allegations

SOUTH DAKOTA
Press & Dakotan

Posted: Friday, November 11, 2016

BY RANDY DOCKENDORF randy.dockendorf@yankton.net

A Catholic priest serving two Bon Homme County parishes has been exonerated from a decades-old child sexual abuse allegation in Minnesota and will resume his ministry next week.

Next Tuesday, the Rev. Joe Forcelle will return to his pastoral ministry at Saint Leo Church in Tyndall and Saint Vincent Church in Springfield.

Bishop Paul Swain of the Diocese of Sioux Falls announced Forcelle’s full reinstatement in a statement posted Thursday on the diocesan website.

Swain placed the priest on administrative leave Sept. 21 as standard procedure following an allegation that came forward through legal proceedings involving the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese.

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

November 11, 2016

Guam clergy thanks pope for Byrnes’ appointment

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 11, 2016

Clergy with the Guam Catholic Church this week sent letters to Pope Francis to thank him for appointing during a “difficult time” a coadjutor archbishop — the Rev. Michael Jude Byrnes, who has rights to succeed the embattled Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron.

Apuron, 71, is facing a canonical trial at the Vatican over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in Agat during the 1970s.

The Archdiocese of Agana, in a statement Friday afternoon, said priests and deacons joined Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai in a gesture of appreciation and support to the pope and Byrnes. They wrote a letter after meeting last week.

“On behalf of the people of God on Guam, we would like to express to you our sincerest gratitude for sending to us Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes in a difficult time,” the clergy wrote to Pope Francis. “We are tracing in trials and tribulations the path Christ trod in His lifetime, where divisions and hurts were widespread.”

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

Senator is skeptical of church’s plan to compensate abuse victims

NEW YORK
The Legislative Gazette

By TOM READ, Gazette staff writer on November 11, 2016

Sen. Brad Hoylman, prime sponsor of the Child Victims Act (S.7296), is responding with skepticism to a recent announcement that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York will create a child sexual abuse compensation fund.

“I’m glad the Archdiocese of New York is taking responsibility for the untold number of crimes against New York City children committed by its clergy,” Hoylman said. “It should also be acknowledged that this is a canny legal strategy devised to reduce the Archdiocese’s liability for decades of crimes and cover-ups.”

The Independent Reconciliation and Compensation Program was introduced by the Archdiocese of New York last month. The funds will go to individuals who were sexually abused as minors by clergy members working for the Archdiocese.

It will be headed by nationally recognized mediator Kenneth Feinberg and will have an oversight committee, whose members include former New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

While other dioceses have instituted similar programs to compensate victims of abuse, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said, “It is unique in that we’re asking an outside, independent acclaimed source to do it.”

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

Brouillard: Church officials knew

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

At least one of the civil lawsuits filed in the Superior Court of Guam last week on Nov. 1 by abuse victims Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton and Leo Tudela included written testimony from an abuser and former priest of Guam that states that archdiocesan officials knew about child sex abuse being committed by priests and did little to address it.

Of the four complainants, Sondia, Quintanilla and Denton have accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of sexually abusing them as children when they served as altar boys at the Agat parish that Apuron ministered in the 1970s.

Tudela, 73, came forward in August of this year to give oral testimony in favor of Bill 323-33, which would remove the statute of limitations for civil litigation for cases involving child sex abuse, and disclosed details of abuse that he endured as a child while attending Catholic school on Guam in the 1950s. He named two individuals, Fr. Louis Brouillard and a “Brother Mariano” as church officials who ministered at parishes of the Archdiocese of Agana, as his abusers.

Bill 363-33 was signed into Public Law 33-187 on Sept. 24 by Gov. Eddie Calvo, opening the door for civil litigation against individuals, organizations and aiders and abettors who permitted the sexual abuse of children. Last week’s filing marks the first such suits to make use of the provisions of the new law.

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

Estos WhatsApp le mandaba un sacerdote a Leidy Laura

MéRIDA (MEXICO)
Debate [Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico]

November 11, 2016

By Zulma Morales

Read original article

Padres descubrieron que su hija de 14 años sostenía relaciones sexuales con el párroco del pueblo

Villahermosa, Tab.- “Con cuidado en todo, nada más eres mía”, es uno de los mensajes de WhatsApp, que los padres de Leidy Laura, una adolescente de 14 años encontraron en el celular de su hija, el remitente: el sacerdote del pueblo.


Juan García Pascual se salvó de haber sido linchado por los vecinos de la joven. En ese momento los padres de Leidy le estaban reclamando en su domicilio el haber sostenido relaciones sexuales con su hija y los vecinos se aglutinaron a las afueras de éste, llenos de ira y rencor en contra del párroco quisieron lincharlo, pero la Policía detuvo el acto.

Los hechos ocurrieron el día de ayer en el municipio de Macuspana, cuando los padres de la menor encontraron, gracias a una conversación de WhatsApp, que Leidy Laura sostenía una relación íntima con el hombre de 44 años.
Los padres que ya sospechaban de la menor, sin que ella se diera cuenta tomaron su celular y encontraron la conversación con el padre, quien le enviaba mensajes con alto contenido sexual y bastante comprometedores, incluso, en uno de ellos le propuso un encuentro al cual la menor accedió.

En uno de los mensajes García Pascual le recomendaba a la menor:

“Con cuidado en todo, nada más eres mía”.

A lo que la joven respondía:

“‘Claro amor, siempre tengo cuidado. Y siempre cuido lo tuyo. Sólo tuya amor, de nadie más”.

El sacerdote respondía con emoticones de corazones agregando un “Juntos para siempre”.
Leidy Laura ratificó: “Sí amor, juntos por toda la vida. Sólo tú y yo. Y próximamente nuestro bebé, amor. Familia feliz y perfecta, amor”.

En otro mensaje, la adolescente avisa al cura que ya se iba a su casa y éste le responde: “Ok nena. Yo aquí confesando en la parroquia”.

Y ella replica: “Qué bueno, amor mío. Te amo”’.

Las cosas reventaron el día de ayer, cuando el sacerdote llevó a a casa a la joven, para ese entonces los padres de Leidy Laura ya estaban dispuestos a enfrentarlos a ambos. Al ingresar a la casa en la calle Roberto Madrazo en la colonia Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, le reclamaron con la evidencia en mano, hasta que el párroco terminó por aceptar que había tenido relaciones con la joven, quien también lo admitió.

Los vecinos se enteraron de lo ocurrido por los gritos en la acalorada discusión, por lo que rápidamente todos se reunieron afuera del domicilio. 


La ira subió de tono y los vecinos amenazaban con entrar al domicilio y agredir al hombre, pero la policía llegó antes y sacó esposado al sacerdote y lo pusieron a disposición de la Fiscalía General del Estado, impidiendo que la gente lo linchara.
Los padres de la menor exigen que se ejerza todo el peso de la ley en contra del García Pascual.

Por su parte las autoridades ecleseásticas de la Diócesis de Tabasco, advirtieron que si el cura resulta culpable será destituido de su cargo.
Asimismo, el presbítero Roberto Sánchez Cabrera, enlace de Comunicación Social de la Diócesis, recordó que:

“El Papa ha dicho que la persona que comete pedofilia es irreversible y lo que procede es la destitución del cargo eclesiástico o la separación del ministerio, independientemente de las sanciones que por la vía legal se establezcan”, manifestó.


Por lo que la iglesia tiene sus formas de proceder pero que a ciencia cierta no se sabe si el padre cometió el ilícito, por lo que esperarán el resultado de la investigación para determinar su proceder.
Con información de Proceso.

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

Christian women in India take steps to address clerical abuse cases

INDIA
National Catholic Reporter – Global Sisters Report

by Jose Kavi Nov. 10, 2016 in Equality

First-hand perspective from the meeting:

• The power of religion over women in India

Hyderabad, India

After efforts to persuade the Catholic church in India to deal with sexual abuse of women by clergy, and upset over the church’s slow progress, a group of Christian women, mostly Catholics, announced steps for addressing the issue on their own.

“We should move outside the church to seek answers to abuse cases. We should treat this problem as a crime and take recourse to the law,” said Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, a lay woman theologian.

Gajiwala, who heads the women’s collective Satyashodak (meaning “seekers of truth”), made these remarks at a recent national seminar that studied the impact of religion and culture on the empowerment of women from an Indian perspective.

About 50 people, including a few men, attended the Sept. 23-26 meeting in Hyderabad, the capital of the southern Indian state of Telangana. The meeting was organized by Streevani (“voice of women”), an NGO managed by the Holy Spirit nuns, along with Satyashodak and three other groups engaged in women’s empowerment.

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

Archdiocese reaches settlement with Florissant parents who say son killed himself over abuse by priest

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Joel Currier St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • Pat and Dan Harkins, who say their 21-year-old son killed himself in 2009 because of sexual abuse by a St. Louis priest years before, told reporters Thursday they hope his story inspires others to find help before it’s too late.

As for the Catholic church, the Harkins believe there’s little left to say.

“I still believe in God,” Pat Harkins said. “I don’t believe in the Catholic church. How could I?”

Outside Rosati-Kain High School in St. Louis, the Florissant couple were joined by officials from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests to speak out about the settlement of their lawsuit against the St. Louis Archdiocese.

The amount of the settlement, reached in September, is confidential.

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

Child abuse healing service: Canberra-Goulburn Archbishop’s absence ‘appalling’, advocates say

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Advocates for victims of child abuse have hit out at the Archbishop of the Canberra-Goulburn region over his absence at a healing service at Marist College, labelling his decision “appalling”.

Last night, the all-boys Catholic school in Canberra’s south held a liturgy for abuse survivors, at which its headmaster and the Provincial of the Marist Brothers apologised for abuse that took place at the school, and subsequent failures to deal with it effectively.

Many instances of abuse committed by Marist staff in the 1970s and 1980s were examined during hearings at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse.

“The fact that the Archbishop had better things to do last night is appalling,” anti-child abuse advocate and former Marist student Damian De Marco said.

“He is in charge of the safety of every child in his archdiocese, he is responsible for the Institute of Safeguarding.”

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

MO–Wrongful death lawsuit vs. archdiocese settles; SNAP news conf. 11:15 a.m.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Wrongful death suit vs. archdiocese settles
Parents of young man who died by suicide to speak for 1st time
His death led to first “assisted suicide” trial in MO in 100 years
Abusive cleric was convicted of molesting another boy & did jail time
Now defrocked, he lives in St. Charles Co. and is reportedly married

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, parents of a young St. Louis man who died by suicide will speak for the first time about

–his tragic death and
–their recent settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit against the St. Louis archdiocese that employed the priest who molested the boy.

They’ll be joined by a few clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters. The group will urge anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered the priest’s crimes to get help and call police

WHEN
Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016 11:15 a.m.

WHERE
Outside Rosati-Kain High School, 4389 Lindell (corner of Newstead) in the Central West End, St. Louis

WHO
The parents, Dan and Pat Harkins of Florissant, and two-three child sex abuse victims who belong to a self-help group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org)

WHY
An unusual civil lawsuit has been settled. In it, a St. Louis couple charged that a now-convicted priest – who still lives and works in the St. Louis area – raped their 13 year old son and that archdiocesan officials are responsible for their son’s 2009 death by suicide.

In 2009, the boy, Alex Harkins (then 21), made a suicide pact with a friend, Jacob Runge (then 22) of St. Peters. In May of that year, Harkins shot himself at St. Stanislaus Park in Hazelwood. Runge, however, did not follow through. Days later, Runge led Harkins’ parents to Alex’s body, and in June 2009, Runge was charged with “assisted suicide,” the first such case in Missouri in 100 years. He was acquitted.

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

The Italy of the Primate of Italy Is a Bit Less Catholic

ITALY
Chiesa

The followers of other religious confessions are on the rise in the country where the pope resides. But the most numerous are not the Muslims. They are the Orthodox and Protestants. And there are those who are turning Buddhist

by Sandro Magister

ROME, November 11, 2016 – In addition to being bishop of Rome, Jorge Mario Bergoglio is also primate of Italy. And in spite of the very small number of pastoral visits that he makes to Roman parishes and Italian dioceses, the Church that is in Italy and Italy itself have become his natural habitat.

Not only that. The social phenomenon that lies closest to Pope Francis’s heart is undoubtedly that of migration, to such an extent that he has reserved for himself – and for himself alone – the management of the office in the curia that deals with it, within the newly constituted dicastery “for integral human development.”

Well then, it is precisely migration that is notably changing the human and religious landscape in Italy.

In the religious field, the Catholic Church no longer has that uncontested monopoly which it had for centuries, until a few years ago.

Catholicism remains by far the dominant religion in Italy. But alongside it are growing other Christian confessions and other faiths. Not only on account of immigration, but also, to a lesser extent, through conversion.

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

Archdiocese adding millions to clergy abuse compensation

MINNESOTA
KARE

MINNEAPOLIS – The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is adding more money to its compensation plan for clergy abuse victims.

Our partners at Minnesota Public Radio News report the compensation fund will jump from the original $65 million dollars to more than $100 million.

MPR reports Archdiocese attorneys say settlements with insurers and creditors are making more money available for the fund, with settlements have been reached with all but two insurers.

Attorneys for the victims have long said the insurers and the church could afford to contribute more money to the fund.

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

Obinim charged with physical abuse of 2 teenagers

GHANA
Graphic

EMMANUEL EBO HAWKSON 11 NOVEMBER 2016

The Leader of the International God’s Way Church (IGWC), Bishop Daniel Obinim, and two of his pastors were yesterday granted bail by the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly abusing two teenagers during a church service.

Bishop Obinim, Pastor Kingsley Baah and Pastor Solomon Abraham were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000, with one surety, by the court, presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku.

The case has been adjourned to November 24, 2016.

Bishop Obinim has been charged with physical abuse contrary to the Domestic Violence Act (732), while the two pastors have been charged with abetment of crime.

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

Rev. Bill Moloney suspended as school chaplain too in Peterborough

CANADA
Peterborough Examiner

By Joelle Kovach
Friday, November 11, 2016

A Peterborough Catholic priest who is under police investigation for sexual misconduct has been suspended from his pastoral role at three local schools, said the director of education.

Rev. Bill Moloney is on administrative leave from his job as priest at Immaculate Conception Church on Rogers St. in Peterborough.

He’s under OPP investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct going back to the 1980s at Camp Northern Lights, where he was the long-time director.

Because Moloney is not currently the priest at Immaculate Conception Church, he’s not attending to pastoral duties at area schools, either.

Michael Nasello, the director of education at the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board, said Moloney used to help with tasks such as leading in-school religious services at St. Peter Secondary School, Immaculate Conception School and Monsignor O’Donoghue School.

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Jury finds local youth mentor accused of molestation guilty of 11 counts of child sex abuse

OKLAHOMA
Fox 23

Hector Mejia
Updated: Nov 10, 2016

A jury has reached a verdict in the trial of a man accused of sexual abuse while working as a youth mentor through a local church.

They found Timothy Cato guilty of 11 counts of child sex abuse. They found him not guilty in one count of child sex abuse and one count of possession of child pornography.

The jury recommended 215 years in prison.

During closing arguments, Cato’s defense said the state demonized him by painting him as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” They said that he should be punished for only one count, but given the chance for redemption.

However, prosecutors said Cato built his reputation as a caretaker and church youth mentor to prey on children, who were either from a shelter or didn’t have a father figure. They claimed Cato groomed the five boys to believe it was okay for him to watch them shower and later cuddle with them during sleepovers.

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Former church worker is finally behind bars after 40 years of abuse

IRELAND
Herald

Sonya McLean and Fiona Ferguson – 11 November 2016

A former lay worker with the Church of Ireland has been jailed for 13 years for the rape and molestation of 14 young boys over the course of 40 years.

Patrick O’Brien (76) pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 48 sample counts of indecent assault and three of sexual assault of the boys.

O’Brien, of Knocklyon Road, Templeogue, Dublin, received a one-year suspended sentence in 1989 for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy, leaving him free to continue a litany of horror crimes for another 24 years.

The offending took place between 1974 and 2013 at numerous locations, including Kildare, Westmeath, and at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, where he worked as a volunteer.

He would abuse his victims in various locations, including:

* Bringing boys to his yacht.
* Taking them for driving lessons or to the office where he worked.
* He abused one boy once a week in a car wash after they were hidden from view when the vehicle was covered in foam.
* He organised games of hide and seek to be alone with a victim.
* He abused a boy in a kitchen while the child’s parents and grandmother were in the sitting room.
* Another boy was abused in the electrical room of St Patrick’s Cathedral while people were in the body of the church.

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St. Louis Archdiocese settles sexual abuse lawsuit

MISSOURI
KSDK

Christina Coleman, KSDK November 10, 2016

FLORISSANT, MO. – A Florissant couple who lost their son to suicide after alleged abuse by a priest reached a settlement with the St. Louis Archdiocese.

Dan and Pat Harkins said their son, Alex, was sexually abused at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary between the ages of 12 and 14.

Alex’s parents say he changed dramatically after church camp.

Initially, he was very spiritual and wanted to be come a priest. However, after the camp he was depressed and attempted suicide six times.

He didn’t tell his parents about the alleged sex abuse until he was 20-years-old. He took his life in May of 2009 when he was 21-years-old. His parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in October of 2013.

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Archbishop chose not to attend Marist healing ceremony, prompting anger

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Christopher Knaus

Canberra’s Catholic archbishop did not attend a healing ceremony for Marist child sexual abuse survivors because it was “Marist-specific”, and because he wanted to wait for the royal commission to conclude so the archdiocese could hold its own event.

Marist College Canberra apologised to former students who were abused by its staff on Thursday night, conducting a ceremony and unveiling a plaque that will stand as a permanent reminder of the school’s abuse crisis.

On Friday, it emerged that Archbishop for the Canberra-Goulburn region, Archdiocese Christopher Prowse, had been invited to the healing ceremony, but had not attended.

A spokeswoman said on Friday that the archbishop had wanted to wait for the royal commission to conclude.

She said the event was more “Marist-specific”, and that the Catholic church would hold its own healing ceremony at the conclusion of the commission.

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Former Guam priest admits abuse, says church knew

GUAM
Radio New Zealand

A retired priest in Guam says the island’s Catholic Church leadership has known for decades about sex abuses committed by clergy since the 1950s.

Louis Brouillard, who is a confessed abuser, made his comment in a statement released in connection with civil lawsuits filed by several former altar boys, who allege sexual abuse at the hands of Guam priests decades ago.

Pacific Daily News reports Mr Brouillard saying his only form of punishment for molesting at least 20 boys at the time was to say prayers – as instructed by the then Archbishop Apollinaris Baumgartner.

Mr Brouillard, who is now 95 and living in Minnesota, said his sexual contact with children was known to other priests, including the Archbishop Baumgartner, who led the church on Guam for 25 years from 1945.

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November 10, 2016

St. Louis Archdiocese Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit

MISSOURI
KMOX

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – A wrongful death lawsuit filed against the St. Louis Archdiocese is settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

David Clohessy with the survivors group SNAP, says the suit was filed by the parents of a Florissant man who committed suicide years after he was allegedly abused by a Catholic priest.

“I think the very last thing in the world Archbishop Carlson wants or needs at this point, is to have a grieving couple in open court, explain how much was known about Father Kuchar and how little was done to protect kids from him,” Clohessey says.

Father Bryan Kuchar was found guilty in 2003 of sexually assaulting another boy in 1995 at Assumption Catholic Church in south St. Louis County.

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I-Team: Abuse Survivor Slams Cardinal Dolan’s Victim Compensation Plan

NEW YORK
NBC 4

By Chris Glorioso and Evan Stulberger

When Cardinal Timothy Dolan unveiled a plan to pay settlements to victims of priest sexual abuse, he touted the new victim compensation fund as a way to seek reconciliation with those who have been harmed by the church.

For at least one survivor of priest sexual abuse, the settlement fund has had the opposite effect.

“I felt victimized once again, extremely angry,” said Lex Filipowski, a former altar boy at Holy Cross Church in South Centerville, New York.

In his first interview using his real name, Filipowski says he called the New York Archdiocese to inquire about the victim compensation fund, only to learn he was ineligible because his abuser was a priest of a religious order – the Carmelites.

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Youth pastor accused of raping girl in Orange County home may have more victims

FLORIDA
WFTV

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A youth pastor was arrested Tuesday on charges of raping a girl under the age of 12, and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is concerned that she might not be the only victim.

Arrest records said Samuel Pierre, 35, abused the child while he was supposed to be taking her to a youth group event.

Pierre faced a judge Wednesday on charges of sexual battery against a child and kidnapping.

An arrest report said Pierre picked up a young girl in August to take her to a youth group gathering for Tabernacle Prayer and Miracles International church.

The girl told investigators that he drove her to a home, where she fell asleep after drinking a glass of water that Pierre gave her.

“We’re dealing with children here. They’re the most vulnerable in our community,” said sheriff’s office Detective Michael Kleinfelt. “He assumed a role of responsibility or a role of somebody that a child would look up to, and he took advantage of that.”

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Arrested youth pastor was accused of inappropriate conduct in 2009

FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

Gal Tziperman Lotan
Orlando Sentinel

A youth pastor accused of kidnapping and raping a girl from his church had been arrested on charges of lewd or lascivious battery in 2009, records show.

Prosecutors ended up dropping the charges against Samuel Pierre in 2012.

The case was similar to the one brought against Pierre this week: Both involved girls of similar ages he knew through a church. In both cases, the girls thought that Pierre was taking them to meet other friends, but ended up alone with him, records show. Both girls said Pierre told them not to tell anyone.

The 2009 case was dropped because of witness statements, state attorney spokeswoman Angela Starke said. She did not immediately know what the statements were because the related files were in a warehouse.

Orange County deputies arrested Pierre, a youth pastor at the Prayer and Miracles International church on South Rio Grande Avenue, on Tuesday. They believe there could be other victims, Det. Michael Kleinfelt said during a press conference on Thursday.

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WA–Victims oppose Yakima bishop’s bid for national office

WASHINGTON
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016

For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, Barbara Dorris 314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.ordg

Victims oppose Yakima bishop’s bid for national office
SNAP to prelate: “You shouldn’t even be on child sex abuse panel

The world’s largest group of clergy sex abuse victims wants Yakima’s top Catholic official to withdraw from his bid to head a national church abuse panel next week and instead focus on “protecting the vulnerable and healing the wounded” in Washington.

[Catholic New York]

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests is writing Bishop Joseph Tyson asking him to abandon his race for chair of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. The election is Nov. 14 in Baltimore.

“You have done virtually nothing to undo the damage that your predecessor did when he protected clergy who abused children. You have also done virtually nothing, above the legally required bare minimum, to safeguard kids.” said,” SNAP in a letter sent today to Tyson (bishop@yakimadiocese.org). It’s also signed by Robert Fontana, who founded the central Washington chapter of Voice of the Faithful.

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Parents settle wrongful death suit with archdiocese

MISSOURI
WGEM

ST. LOUIS (AP) – The parents of a young man who killed himself years after sexual abuse by a priest are hopeful that settlement of a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of St. Louis will prompt other victims to come forward.

The suit filed by Dan and Pat Harkins of Florissant, Missouri, was settled in September, but it wasn’t announced until Thursday. Officials with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests say it’s at least the third wrongful death suit settled by the archdiocese.

Messages left with the archdiocese were not returned.

Alex Harkins committed suicide at age 21 in 2009. His parents say Alex had struggled emotionally since abuse by the Rev. Bryan Kuchar about eight years earlier.

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Yeshivah, Yeshiva recalled to Royal Commission

AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

THE Yeshivah Centre, Melbourne, and Yeshiva College in Sydney have been recalled to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse only one week before the nominations close for the new Yeshivah–Beth Rivkah (YBR) board.

The Royal Commission has announced it will hold a public hearing into the current policies and procedures in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including how Yeshivah and Yeshiva respond to allegations of child sexual abuse, in February.

“This hearing is expected to include consideration of factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse in religious institutions and factors that may have affected the institutional response of religious institutions to child sexual abuse,” the commission said in a statement last week.

“This hearing may also examine the responses of named institutions to relevant case study report(s).”

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Heftige Kritik an Staatsakt für Missbrauchsopfer

OSTERREICH
der Standard

Innsbruck / Vienna – On 17 November, the Republic of Austria, together with the Roman Catholic Church, invites the victims of abuse in state as well as church institutions to anhistoric meeting at Parliament.]

STEFFEN ARORA, KATHARINA MITTELSTAEDT
8. November 2016

Republik und Kirche veranstalten kommende Woche einen Staatsakt im Parlament. Doch viele Opfer wollen Taten sehen

Innsbruck/Wien – Am 17. November lädt die Republik Österreich zusammen mit der römisch-katholischen Kirche die Opfer von Missbrauch in staatlichen sowie kirchlichen Einrichtungen zu einem Staatsakt in den historischen Sitzungssaal des Parlaments. Nationalratspräsidentin Doris Bures (SPÖ) initiierte die Veranstaltung unter dem Titel “Geste der Verantwortung” auf vielfachen und seit langem geäußerten “Wunsch der Betroffenen”, heißt es aus ihrem Büro. Doch nicht alle ehemaligen Opfer sind von der Idee angetan, und an der geplanten Umsetzung gibt es viel Kritik.

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“Plötzlich Schreikrämpfe. Der Mund schief”

DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[Between 1950 and 1970, children were not only abused and abused in German children’s homes but drug tests were also carried out on them.]

Von Silke Hoock

Das katholische Franz-Sales-Haus in Essen ist schon im Jahr 2010 für seine Grausamkeit bekannt geworden. Ordensschwestern hatten die jungen Heimbewohner mit und ohne Behinderungen bis in die 1970er Jahre brutal gequält. Nun kam heraus, dass es neben den folterartigen Züchtigungen mit Stromkabeln oder heißen Bügeleisen und neben sexuellem Missbrauch auch regelmäßig “Betonspritzen” oder “Kotzspritzen” gab, wie die Heimkinder sie nannten. Also Medikamente, mit denen sie künstlich ruhig gestellt wurden oder die einen permanenten Brechreiz auslösten.

Doch nicht nur in Essen, bundesweit sollen in Deutschland Tausende Heimkinder zwischen 1950 und 1970 Opfer von Medikamententests geworden sein. Impfstoffe, Psychopharmaka und Libido hemmende Präparate habe man ihnen verabreicht. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt die Krefelder Pharmazeutin Sylvia Wagner in ihrer Doktorarbeit. Wagner hatte an der Universität Düsseldorf 50 Studien von Pharmaunternehmen sowie historisch, wissenschaftliche Fachzeitschriften ausgewertet. Die meisten Tests seien ohne Einwilligung der Eltern erfolgt, sagt die Forscherin.

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Tony Whitlam, ABC settle defamation suit

AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP on November 8, 2016

Former Federal Court judge Tony Whitlam has settled a defamation suit against the ABC over a Four Corners report about pedophile priest John Farrell.

Mr Whitlam, son of former prime minister Gough Whitlam, had accused the public broadcaster of portraying him as a “stooge” who took money from the Catholic Church to rig an inquiry and cover up Farrell’s crimes.

A Federal Court order on Tuesday confirmed the two parties had reached a settlement and that a previous referral to mediation would be dismissed.

Mr Whitlam, 72, lodged the defamation suit in response to the Four Corners report broadcast in May when Farrell was jailed for 29 years for 79 child sex offences.

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Marist College pledges ‘never again’, apologies for abuse, betrayal of trust at healing ceremony

AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

Daniel Burdon

As the light faded from the Canberra sky, the families and friends of victims of past child sexual abuse at Marist College gathered for a long-awaited healing ceremony on Thursday night.

At once an acknowledgement and apology for the abuse suffered by college students during the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, and the failures to act at the time, the ceremony also marked a College plea for forgiveness and a public pledge that such events would “never happen again”.

The ceremony also saw a plaque unveiled in remembrance of the students abused and committing the school to the “healing process”, with a reading from psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path”.

It followed calls from survivors of abuse at the college for a permanent memorial, including one as early as 2012 by former student Nicholas Quaine, as well as the findings of the royal commission that the Marist Brothers Catholic order failed to intervene and remove offending brothers John Chute and Gregory Joseph Sutton.

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New Cardinal Close By, But Still No Red Hat For Philly Archbishop

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The appointment of a new leader for the nearby Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey is causing some ripples in church politics as far south as Philadelphia.

Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin is coming from Indianapolis and he’s the first cardinal to ever lead the Newark Archdiocese – just across the river from New York.

Tobin will be formally elevated to the college of cardinals at the end of November.

But missing from that latest class of cardinals is Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput.

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Priest facing child porn charges extradited to Wayne County

PENNSYLVANIA
Times-Tribune

STAFF REPORT / PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 10, 2016

HONESDALE — A New Jersey priest arrested there last month on numerous child pornography charges was extradited Wednesday to Wayne County.

According to an arrest affidavit, The Rev. Kevin A. Gugliotta, 54, Mahwah, New Jersey, uploaded 20 files depicting children engaged in sexual activity to internet chat rooms between July 9 and Aug. 29 from his apartment in Lehigh Township, Wayne County.

He faces 40 felony counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography.

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Amarillo priest stirs controversy again

TEXAS
Amarillo Globe-News

[Statement from Bishop Patrick J. Zurek]

By LAUREN KOSKI
lauren.koski@amarillo.com

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo has launched an investigation into Father Frank Pavone, a priest belonging to the Diocese who is one of 34 Catholic leaders advising President-elect Donald J. Trump, in response to a Facebook Live video featuring a fetus posted Sunday morning to Pavone’s Facebook page.

“Father Frank Pavone has posted a video on his Facebook page of the body of an aborted fetus, which is against the dignity of human life and is a desecration of the altar,” said Amarillo Diocese Bishop Patrick J. Zurek.

“We believe that no one who is pro-life can exploit a human body for any reason, especially the body of a fetus. The Diocese of Amarillo deeply regrets the offense and outrage caused by the video for the faithful and the community at large. The action and presentation of Father Pavone in this video is not consistent with the beliefs of the Catholic Church.” …

According to Amarillo Globe-News files, Pavone entered into the authority of the Amarillo Diocese in 2005 when Bishop John W. Yanta, Bishop for the Diocese at the time, promised Pavone he could work full-time for the pro-life movement.

In 2011, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek suspended Pavone due to concerns over PFL’s use of financial donations.

The Vatican Congregation of the Clergy ruled against his suspension, but said that Pavone still needed permission from Zurek to participate in pro-life events.

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Canberra’s Marist College apologises for sexual abuse of students by staff

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Marist College in Canberra’s south has held a service apologising to past students who suffered sexual and physical abuse at the hands of staff at the Catholic school.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse heard that several Brothers at the all-boys school had abused students in the 1970s and 1980s.

Other abuse allegations date back decades further.

On Thursday evening the school held a liturgy attended by about 200 people, apologising to students and holding prayer in hope of healing the damage caused.

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Bullard man sentenced to 35 years without parole on child sex abuse charges

TEXAS
Tyler Morning Telegraph

A 26-year-old Bullard man pleaded guilty to a series of sexual assault to a child charges on Wednesday after prosecutors said he used his position in a church and school to lure boys to his home.

Thomas Scroggins, age 26, of Bullard pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The victims, whose names will be withheld, varied in ages but were all younger than 14 years old at the time of the offenses, according to the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office.

Separate from his plea of guilty, Scroggins also agreed to surrender a vehicle used to transport some of his victims and some remote-controlled airplanes which the state alleged were used to lure his young male victims into vulnerable situations.

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Documents detail sexual molestation by priest

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Nov 10, 2016

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

Documents filed in the church sex abuse scandal on Guam reveal explosive details – and information about a video that Father Louis Brouillard recorded on October 3 at his home in Minnesota.

Brouillard is one of the defendants accused of sexual molestation when he was a priest in Guam several years ago. The victim is Leo Tudela. According to court documents Fr. Broullard he said that he made the video to reach out to the parishioners of the Archdiocese of Guam and anyone he may have harmed to ask forgiveness for his actions many years ago.

He confessed that sex education talks while at Santa Teresita he touched the penises of some of the boys and some of the boys did perform oral sex on him. Fr. Brouillard added that some of the incidents took place in Mangilao at the church’s rectory. He said that he didn’t’ remember the dates or name of the boys involved, but did say that there may have been 20 or more boys may have been involved. He also confessed that there were other locations where the sexual contact may have happened at the San Vicente and Father Duenas Memorial Schools.

“I did believe that the boys enjoyed the sexual contact and I also had self-gratification as well,” he said. He also acknowledged his abuse of Tudela and apologized on the video.

Additionally Fr. Brouillard said that his actions while on Guam were discussed and confessed to area priests as well as the Bishop Apolinaris Baumgartner at the time. He said the bishop talked to him and told him to try to do better and say prayers as penance. “I believe the Catholic Church should be honest and truthful regarding what happened on Guam during my time there,” he said.

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The power of religion over women in India

INDIA
National Catholic Reporter – Global Sisters Report

by Virginia Saldanha Nov. 10, 2016 in Equality

News about the meeting:

• Christian women in India take steps to address clerical abuse cases

Men have been dominant as recipients, interpreters and transmitters of divine messages, while women have largely remained passive receivers of teachings and ardent practitioners of religious rituals. Attitudes developed around patriarchal interpretations of religious belief have defined and shaped the social and cultural contexts of Indian women resulting in their disempowerment and second-class status.

In India, where politics uses religion as a tool to manipulate the masses, women bear the brunt of the consequences of cultural attitudes and the impact of religion and politics in their particular milieu. Recognizing the influence of religion and culture on Indian women’s lives, Streevani (which means “voice of women”) took the initiative to organize a national consultation on the theme “Impact of Religion and Culture on Women’s Empowerment – An Indian Perspective.” About 50 people — women and men religious, theologians, professionals and a diocesan priest — attended the September 23-26 meeting in Hyderabad, India.

Within the overarching framework of patriarchy in the religious and social sphere, the core issues that emerged were: one, violence against women and, two, sexuality and the politics of gender.

“Women have internalized patriarchal Christianity. They are comfortable with just a little space that is given to them,” said Presentation Sr. and theologian Shalini Mulackal. The language, symbols and culturally conditioned interpretation of religious scriptures have evolved a practice that alienates women and even influences exploitation and violence towards them.

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Retired priest: Catholic church knew of Guam sex abuses for decades

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

[with video]

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 10, 2016

Guam’s Catholic church leadership has known for decades about clergy sex abuses that happened as early as the 1950s, a retired priest said in a signed statement released Nov. 1. He said his only form of punishment for molesting at least 20 boys at the time was to say prayers.

Retired priest Louis Brouillard, now 95 and living in Minnesota, said his sexual contacts with children when he was on Guam were known to other priests, including Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner, the highest Catholic leader on Guam from 1945 to 1970. Brouillard served as a priest on island from the late 1940s to 1981.

Brouillard said Baumgartner approached him to talk about the “situation.” Baumgartner, who died in 1970, is Guam’s first residential Catholic bishop.

“I was told to try to do better and say prayers as a penance,” Brouillard said. “I believe the Catholic Church should be honest and truthful regarding what happened on Guam during my time there.”

Brouillard made a video at his Pine City, Minnesota, residence and signed a written statement dated Oct. 3 in support of a former altar boy’s Nov. 1 lawsuit against him for allegedly sexually abusing him six decades ago.

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November 9, 2016

Public hearing into Anglican Diocese of Newcastle to resume in Sydney

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

10 November, 2016

The Royal Commission will continue its public hearing into the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle (Case Study 42) in Sydney on 16 November 2016.

It will sit from Wednesday 16 November to Friday 18 November and from Wednesday 23 to Thursday 24 November. The hearing commenced in Newcastle in August 2016.

This hearing is inquiring into the experiences of survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and lay people involved in or associated with the Anglican Diocese of Newcastle.

Continuation of public hearing into Anglican Diocese of Newcastle:

* Dates: Wednesday 16 November – Friday 18 November 2016, Wednesday 23 November – Thursday 24 November 2016
* Hearing times: 10:00am – 4:00pm AEDT
* Location: Hearing Room 1, Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney
Hearing times may be subject to change.

The hearing will be streamed live via webcast on the Case Study 42 page.

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Church youth pastor arrested on rape, kidnapping charges

FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel

Christal Hayes
Orlando Sentinel

A youth pastor was arrested Tuesday after Orange County sheriff’investigators said he raped and kidnapped a young girl.

Samuel Pierre, 35, works at Tabernacle of Prayer and Miracles International church on South Rio Grande Avenue.

The girl’s mother told police Samuel picked up her daughter, who is younger than 12, to go to the youth group in August. He was also supposed to pick up several other kids, an arrest report states.

Several months later, she confronted her daughter because “she had been acting different” ever since she went with Samuel, according to the report.

Deputies said the girl told her mother Samuel never picked up any other children and instead drove to a home where Samuel and his aunt live.

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Youth pastor arrested for sexual battery, kidnapping, police say

FLORIDA
Click on Orlando

An Orlando youth pastor has been arrested on charges of sexual battery and kidnapping, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

The mother of the child involved told police that her child had been acting different since after her first attendance at the Tabernacle Prayer and Miracles International youth group under youth pastor Samuel Pierre.

She confronted her child about the incident, and deputies came to speak with the child on Nov. 3.

The mother said Pierre told her that he would come to pick up her daughter along with other youth group kids to go to the church and that Pierre would bring back her daughter to her grandmother’s home after it was done.

The child told her mother about an incident on Aug. 8 where Pierre did not pick up any other children for youth group and the pair went to Pierre’s aunt’s home, the report said.

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KS–Church officials must help law enforcement, victims say

KANSAS
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 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)

Catholic officials now admit that a Kansas priest engaged in sexual misconduct. But that’s not enough.

[Kansas City Star]

Catholic officials recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained and brought Fr. Anthony Kiplagathere. The police are investigating him. So it’s not enough for Archbishop Joseph Naumann to say “Well, he flew back home,” act powerless and clam up.

Naumann must use church bulletins, parish websites and pulpit announcements to seek out anyone who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Fr. Kiplagat or cover ups by his supervisors. He must remind his flock that women in Kenya, where Fr. Kiplagat reportedly is now, are even more vulnerable. And he must insist that anyone with knowledge or suspicions about his wrongdoing have a civic duty to help law enforcement investigate him.

If Naumann won’t do this, his staff and his priests should do this.

Fr. Kiplagat was in Kansas for years. Common sense says he likely has other victims. Common decency says they need help. Yet Naumann refuses to use his vast power and resources to find and help them. That’s shameful.

Months ago, Naumann admitted that two of his priests are accused of sexually exploited adults: Fr. Kiplagat and Fr. George Seuferling, who faces multiple allegations, was suspended more than four years ago, and now is reportedly being defrocked (a process that involves the Vatican and often takes years).

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Texas diocese investigating priest over political video of fetus, altar use

UNITED STATES
Catholic Philly

By Rhina Guidos • Catholic News Service • Posted November 9, 2016

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, said in a statement it is investigating the incident of a pro-life priest who placed “the body of an aborted fetus” on an altar and broadcast it on Facebook Live to get people to vote for Republican Donald J. Trump, causing “the desecration of the altar.”

“We believe that no one who is pro-life can exploit a human body for any reason, especially the body of a fetus,” said Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek in a Nov. 8 statement. Its use for political purposes by one of the diocese’s priests was “against the dignity of human life,” he added.

Pro-life supporters in the Catholic Church denounced activist Father Frank Pavone for what he said was an “emergency situation” on the eve of the U.S. presidential election.

“What did he do?” wrote Ed Mechmann, a public policy director whose areas of concern include pro-life issues, in a blog for the Archdiocese of New York. “He used a dead aborted baby, laying naked and bloody on an altar, as a prop for his video.”

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Will Mother and Baby Homes Commission advertise to the hidden Irish diaspora?

UNITED STATES
Irish Times

James Smith in Boston

Earlier this year, I wrote for The Irish Times about the passing of a Magdalene survivor who lived here in the United States. She suffered ill health in her final years. Friends had lobbied on her behalf for health care entitlements offered through the State’s Magdalene restorative justice scheme. Unfortunately, those benefits never materialised.

But, in her last months she appreciated the help received from a social worker affiliated with an Irish immigration centre in the mid-west. I had reached out to Boston’s Consul General, who in turn contacted her colleague in Chicago, who in turn reached out to that city’s Irish Immigrant Support group, who made the social worker available, despite the fact that the she lived out of state.

He helped the survivor to identify a supplementary health insurance policy. And, that insurance policy proved crucial in covering significant end-of-life medical expenses and protecting her modest nest-egg-the balance of the lump-sum redress payment she had received from the Irish State, and ear-marked to pay for the repatriation of her ashes for burial in her mother’s grave back home.

Not long after she passed, I was invited to speak about the Magdalen Laundries to the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centers’ (CIIC) social services subcommittee, comprised of social workers with vast experience serving Irish immigrant communities in Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and New York. Two facts stand out from that conversation.

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Archbishop Wilson ordered to give evidence on pedophile priest

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

November 10, 2016

DAN BOX
Crime reporterSydney
@DanBox10

The Catholic Archbishop of ­Adelaide, Philip Wilson, has been ordered to give evidence in court about his knowledge of child abuse committed by one of the church’s worst pedophile priests.

Senior cleric Brian Lucas, who was recently ­described before a royal commission as one of “the architects of the church’s ­response” to child sex abuse, has also been issued with a similar subpoena by the NSW Supreme Court.

Both men have been ordered to attend a hearing this month and to provide documents relating to discussions with or about the late Denis McAlinden, a priest of the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle who abused dozens of children between the 1950s and 1980s.

Both have also been the subject of recent police inquiries ­relating to their knowledge of other pedophile priests.

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New Coadjutor Archbishop – New Chapter

GUAM
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agana

November 8, 2016

Congratulatory Message from Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, SDB

At the vigil of All Saints’ Day, the Holy See made public that His Holiness, Pope Francis, appointed the Most Reverend Michael Jude Byrnes, Coadjutor Archbishop, with Special Faculties, of the Archdiocese of Agaña. The Catholic faithful are grateful to the Holy Father for this appointment and also to Archbishop Byrnes for his acceptance.

I have spoken by phone with Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes and on behalf of all the Catholic faithful in Guam, the clergy, religious, and laity, I convey our heartfelt congratulations on his appointment as well as our warmest welcome, assuring that he will certainly be in our prayers.

As instructed, Archbishop Byrnes has all the Faculties, Rights, and Obligations of the Archbishop of Agaña, civilly and ecclesiastically, without any exception.

One is never a bishop on one’s own, but always and only in the College of Bishops. Moreover the latter cannot be enclosed in the time of a single generation. The interweaving of all generations, the living Church of every epoch, is part of collegiality. It is the mission of a bishop to preserve this Catholic communion. In this regard, the Lord made St Peter and his Successors responsible for being the visible foundation and center of this communion.

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Hon: Archbishop Byrnes not an outsider

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com November 9, 2016

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai said newly appointed coadjutor archbishop for Guam’s Catholic church, the Rev. Michael Jude Byrnes, should never be considered an “outsider” as some people consider him to be.

“Archbishop Byrnes may not be given, in one instance, ‘infused’ knowledge of every detail of our island but he is generally informed about the current situation of the local Church and is ready, as expressed humbly by himself, to learn more from the people of God on Guam, whether they be clergy, religious, or lay,” Hon said in a Nov. 3 congratulatory message to Byrnes.

As coadjutor archbishop, Byrnes has rights to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is facing a canonical trial at the Vatican over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in Agat in the 1970s.

Pope Francis appointed Byrnes on Oct. 31. Up until his appointment as coadjutor archbishop, Byrnes was auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

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Sex abuse royal commission: Geelong Grammar put reputation before student welfare

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Timna Jacks

Geelong Grammar valued its reputation over the welfare of students, according to a blistering submission to the Royal Commission.

“There was a culture at Geelong Grammar which valued the reputation of the school over the welfare of the students,” said David Lloyd, counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in findings published on Wednesday.

Stephen Meek, principal of Geelong Grammar since 2004, told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexua Abuse that he was contacted about a sexual assault allegation on his first day in the job.

“The system did not protect and promote the interests of the students.”

The prestigious school has been accused of allowing Philippe Trutmann to work as a live-in boarding house assistant from 1985 and 1996, even though school authorities were told about allegations of improper conduct in 1985.

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PRESENTAN DOCUMENTAL “SILVESTRE” EL SACERDOTE PEDERASTA CLERICAL

MEXICO
Prensa Libre Chiapas

[To kick off the campaign against child sexual abuse, activists and Patricia Cristina Sada Salinas Chandomí they presented the documentary “Silvestre” which is about the clerical pederast priest in Oaxaca.]

Para dar inicio a la campaña contra el abuso sexual infantil, las activistas Cristina Sada Salinas y Patricia Chandomí, presentaron el documental “Silvestre”, el sacerdote pederasta clerical en Oaxaca.

Documental que fue presentado ante estudiantes universitarios, en el centro cultural “Museo Café”, en donde recalcaron que es necesario prevenir este problema para evitar se sigan cometiendo más abusos contra niños y niñas.

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Child sexual abuse survivors reflect on appearing at Royal Commission

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

1233 ABC Newcastle

By Robert Virtue

Peter Russ

Peter Russ was abused as a child in the 1970s.

He said he originally intended to speak to the Royal Commission under a pseudonym, but later changed his mind.

“Usually I’m the sort of person that just sits in the corner and doesn’t say anything,” he said.

“But for some reason [there was a] bolt out of the blue and I thought that was the way I want to go, and I’m glad I did do that.

“I’d got over the whole ‘shame’ thing.

“When I walked up there, I certainly wasn’t at all afraid; it was really powerful … it was the best thing I ever did.”

Mr Russ has been a teacher in the Catholic school system for over 35 years, and has only recently returned to work.

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Toowoomba bishop speaks at major European conference

AUSTRALIA
Catholic Leader

TOOWOOMBA Bishop Robert McGuckin has returned from Monaco after representing Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania at an international conference.

Bishop McGuckin spoke at the Council of the Conferences of the European Bishops.

“Unlike our plenary assemblies, on the whole it was mainly the presidents of European bishops’ conferences that are involved in the plenaries,” Bishop McGuckin wrote in address to the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. …

“The issue of sexual abuse by clergy and religious has been highlighted in Australia with the present Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse,” he wrote.

“This has not only done great damage to the lives of the many victims, but calls for positive steps to put our house in order. This is happening but great damage has been done.”

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Cambridge students build a ‘lawbot’ to advise sexual assault victims

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

“Hi, I’m LawBot, a robot designed to help victims of crime in England.”

While volunteering at a school sexual consent class, Ludwig Bull, a law student at the University of Cambridge, was inspired to build a chatbot that offers free legal advice to students. He enlisted the help of four coursemates, and Lawbot was designed and built in just six weeks.

The program is still in beta, but Bull hopes it will help victims of crime, at Cambridge and beyond, to get justice. “A victim can talk to our artificially intelligent chatbot, receive a preliminary assessment of their situation, and then decide which available actions to pursue,” he says.

Sexual harassment at university: ‘I felt terrified to say anything’
Read more
Bull explains that he was motivated by the alarming figures on sexual assault in the UK, where it is estimated that two thirds of offences go unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). The problem is especially urgent at universities, with the scale of abuse recently likened to the cases of Jimmy Savile or the Catholic church.

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Ballarat diocese backs national redress scheme for sex abuse victims

AUSTRALIA
Border Mail

Melissa Cunningham
@MeljCunningham

The Catholic Diocese of Ballarat has publicly declared its support for the federal government’s national redress scheme for clergy sexual abuse victims.

Ballarat Catholic diocese vicar-general Father Justin Driscoll said the diocese would fully participate in the scheme.

“We welcome the many components of the scheme, including the monetary redress payments, but also other areas of psychological and emotional and well-being trauma informed counselling,” he said.

However, unanswered questions remain on whether the Ballarat diocese would continue to provide ongoing care for victims, including reimbursement of medical and other critical living expenses, after survivors received redress.

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November 8, 2016

Priest in KCK archdiocese engaged in misconduct with adult, church reveal

KANSAS
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

A Kenyan priest on assignment in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas has engaged in unprofessional conduct with an adult, the archdiocese has revealed.

In a statement issued in the Nov. 4 edition of The Leaven, its official newspaper, the archdiocese said it made the finding after completing an internal investigation of the Rev. Anthony Kiplagat, who left the country earlier this year.

The investigation found that Kiplagat “had engaged in unprofessional conduct and violated clerical continence,” the statement said.

Kiplagat, a priest of the Diocese of Eldoret in Kenya, since July 2012 had been assigned to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Osage City, Kan., and St. Patrick Catholic Church in Scranton, Kan. The woman who lodged the complaint was not a member of either parish, the archdiocese has said. Kiplagat’s previous assignments included St. Agnes in Roeland Park and Prince of Peace and St. Paul in Olathe.

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Geelong Grammar put reputation 1st: lawyer

AUSTRALIA
7 News

AAP on November 9, 2016

There was a culture at the prestigious Geelong Grammar School that valued its reputation over students’ welfare, the child abuse royal commission has been told.

Counsel assisting the royal commission said the school knew about an allegation of improper conduct by live-in Highton boarding house assistant Philippe Trutmann in 1985 and failed to take any action.

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Submissions for public hearing into Geelong Grammar published

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

9 November, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the written submissions for the public hearing into the experiences of former students of Geelong Grammar School, Victoria.

The public hearing inquired into the response of the Geelong Grammar School Council, Principals and other members of staff to concerns of inappropriate conduct and child sexual abuse related to the behaviour of teaching and non-teaching staff towards students.

The public hearing also examined the past and current practices, policies and procedures in place at Geelong Grammar School in relation to raising and responding to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse.

The public hearing took place in September and October 2015 in Melbourne and Sydney.

The submissions can be found on the Case Study 32 page.

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Archdiocese’s child protection director teams with retired detective to launch new effort on keeping kids safe

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Standard

By Richard Szczepanowski, Catholic Standard
Tuesday, November 08, 2016

The Archdiocese of Washington has further strengthened its child protection efforts by creating a new outreach for teachers, educators and others on how to identify and promptly report suspected child abuse.

“With this (new program), we are getting the message out that everyone in the Archdiocese of Washington has the ability to be informed on how to protect your children and your community,” said Courtney Chase, the archdiocesan director of Child and Youth Protection.

The new initiative is a discussion and question and answer presentation developed with a law enforcement officer that outlines the archdiocesan Child Protection Policy, educates participants on how to recognize child abuse, and outlines the process for reporting suspected abuse to civil authorities.

“We were asked by the cardinal to put together educational training for new priests and seminarians, and to strengthen the importance of this initiative, we brought in a law enforcement expert,” Chase said. “And, now we offer it to everybody.”

Tony Giovacchini, a retired detective who investigated child abuse and sex crimes for the Montgomery County Police, has joined with Chase in presenting the program.

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Lowell Goddard refuses to give evidence to MPs on child sex abuse inquiry

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
November 8 2016
The Times

The former head of the public inquiry into child abuse has refused to appear before a Commons select committee in a move described as “astonishing” bythe chairwoman of the committee.

Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in August and has been accused of serious misconduct during her 18 months in charge, told the home affairs committee she would not give oral evidence in person or via videolink.

The New Zealand judge said she had been subjected to “malicious defamatory attacks” in the British media and did not want to appear before a hearing where some of those “false allegations” could be repeated under parliamentary privilege.

Dame Lowell said she was “disappointed that there has been no government defence of me in England”. She said she had provided detailed written evidence to the committee and she was “not aware of any matter which remains unanswered”.

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Friends, colleagues describe Archbishop Byrnes as ‘man led by the Spirit’

MICHIGAN
Catholic Philly

By Mike Stechschulte • Catholic News Service • Posted November 8, 2016

DETROIT (CNS) — Ever since Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes was a newly minted associate pastor at St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores, Deacon Tom Strasz knew he had the qualities of a natural leader: good listener, excellent teacher, calm under pressure.

But more than any of those traits, Deacon Strasz said one thing stands out when he thinks about his longtime friend and mentor.

“He has the heart of an evangelizer,” said Deacon Strasz, who is in ministry at St. Joan of Arc and who for the past five years has been Archbishop Byrnes’ secretary at his regional office at St. Francis of Assisi-St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish in Ray Township. “He wants you to have the Lord and he wants you to see the Lord and hold the Lord in your heart. Everything he does goes toward that.”

Even still, Deacon Strasz — nor anyone else, for that matter — could have guessed those qualities would take Archbishop Byrnes halfway around the world as he takes on his next assignment as coadjutor archbishop of Agana, Guam.

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Influential cardinal now heads the Newark Archdiocese | Faith Matters

NEW JERSEY
Jersey Journal

By Rev. Alexander Santora/For the Jersey Journal
on November 08, 2016

As cardinal-elect Joseph W. Tobin entered the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart for his press conference on Monday, you couldn’t help but notice that he is a hulk of a man akin to a fullback with a broad, strong face. And this physical trait might have served him well as the oldest of 13 children.

It might also have convinced his high school homeroom teacher back in Detroit not to recommend him for entrance into the Redemptorists because he believed he was a “hoodlum,” according to Tobin. And that’s more incredible knowing that he rose to become the General Superior of the worldwide community in Rome from 1997 to 2009 with over 6,000 priests and brothers serving in 77 countries.

Now he has become the sixth Archbishop of Newark and the first ever as a Cardinal, which is quite intriguing since usually New York and Philadelphia always overshadowed New Jersey. Until now. He is certainly cut from the same cloth as Pope Francis, and Tobin admitted they had become friends for over ten years when they both served on a Vatican Synod back in 2005.

Admitting that Francis did not talk with him before the appointment, he did say of Francis, “He is a bishop. He is my teacher.” And, one of the key reasons he may have come to New Jersey is because it is part of the media capital of the world. He can and will certainly articulate Francis’ policies and vision, especially to a U.S. hierarchy mostly reluctant to embrace Francis’ ecclesiology.

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Israeli community protects religious victims of sexual harassment and abuse

ISRAEL
Jewish Journal

by Eliana Rudee
Posted on Nov. 7, 2016

As Rabbanit Malka Puterkovsky addresses members of the press, her smile lights up the room and one almost forgets the dark subject about which she speaks. Puterkovsky is the founder and director of Takana, a forum that provides alternative ways to report sexual assault within Israel’s religious community. While Israel’s mainstream victims of sexual assault report directly to the police, religious victims prefer more discretion in reporting sexual crimes so that their names and photographs are not attached. To many in small and close-knit communities, anonymity is more important than reprimanding the attacker, as being assaulted and raped is often stigmatized, sometimes even more for the victim than the attacker. While in the general public, an estimated 15 percent of sexual harassment cases are brought to the police, for the religious community, the figures are drastically lower. While Takana may succeed in supporting Modern Orthodox victims of sexual assault, some argue that they also protect the abusers by taking a “soft” approach.

Puterkovsky, with other Torah scholars, religious educators, jurists, and social workers, founded Takana in 2003 within the Orthodox feminist framework that is growing in Israel. “All of the deep stream changes happening in Israeli society have to do with Orthodox feminism,” says Member of Knesset Rachel Azaria, an Orthodox feminist herself. “This is a real revolution that is happening, and one of the first issues that started Orthodox feminism is realizing that there is sexual abuse in the schools and places nobody [previously] thought.” However, mainstream politicians are slow to follow suit. Azaria claims she is one of the only Israeli political leaders calling for the resignation of Etzion Bloc Mayor Davidi Perl, who was accused of sexual abuse over the past few years. Many followers of sexual abusers deny that their leader is capable of abusing children and students. Some associates of accused individuals have even gone so far as to threaten Takana members. In 2010, Takana Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein received death threats from an associate of Rabbi Mordechai Elon, saying he would “hurt him in any way he could.”

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Media Release: Royal Commission to conduct further public hearing into Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi

AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks

8 November 2016

Manny Waks

​I welcome the recent announcement by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi will be called to a further public hearing in February 2017.

This public hearing will focus on the current policies and procedures of these institutions in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse. This hearing is also expected to include consideration of factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse in religious institutions and factors that may have affected the institutional response of religious institutions to child sexual abuse. This hearing may also examine the responses of these institutions to relevant case study report(s).

At a previous public hearing held in February 2015, victims and survivors gave evidence of their sexual abuse and the cover-ups perpetrated by the Yeshiva/h institutions. Evidence was also given of the bullying, harassment and demonisation which we, and our families, experienced at the hands of Yeshivah Melbourne and the Chabad community – in Australia and beyond – as a result of seeking justice for the crimes committed against us. It was shown that the religious and lay leadership of Yeshivah Melbourne were responsible for the failures which led to the sexual abuse of dozens of children in their care and that the more recent attacks against us were led by some of those leaders and members of their families. Members of the Orthodox Rabbinate and the Rabbinical Council of Victoria were also involved in attacks against us and our families.

I acknowledge that there are good people within Yeshivah Melbourne who are doing what they can to effect change. In some cases, they too have come under attack by Yeshivah Management. I also acknowledge and appreciate the recent personal apology that I received from Yeshivah. It is also important to note that Yeshivah has made some changes in response to the Royal Commission, although I consider that these have been mostly superficial and intended to address public perceptions as opposed to genuine reform.

Regrettably, in the two years since that public hearing, victims have continued to experience bullying, harassment and ostracism within Yeshivah Melbourne. Despite several incidents having been reported to Yeshivah Management, the institution has failed to deal with the perpetrators.

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CT–Victims asks AG to investigate “cult-like” group must take action in abuse case

CONNECTICUT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 8, 2016

Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

The second-in-command of a Connecticut-based scandal-plagued religious group has been accused of child sexual abuse in a local civil lawsuit filed last week.

[The Daily Beast]

The priest, Fr. Luis Garza, has been accused of sexually abusing a child and trafficking the teen across international borders.

It is time for the George Jepsen and the Connecticut State Attorney General’s Office to take action and investigate the Legionnaires. No organization that cares for children and teens and enjoys nonprofit status should also be allowed to facilitate international child sex trafficking and cover up. The cult-like group has also been accused of financial misdeeds. It is time for law enforcement to use the power of the tried-and-true criminal justice system to stop these crimes.

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GA–Archbishop must reach out to potential victims of accused international priest

GEORGIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release, November 8, 2016

Statement by Joelle Casteix, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), (949) 322-7434, jcasteix@gmail.com

A priest who worked in Atlanta in 2012 and was the second-in-command of an influential international religious group—founded by another priest who molested up to 100 children—has now also been accused of child sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed in CT last week.

[The Daily Beast]

We are sad, but not surprised. The Legionnaires of Christ was a religious order founded by a man, Marcial Maciel Degollado, who devoted his career to molesting children. It makes perfect sense that he would attract and recruit men like his second in command, Father Luis Garza.

Garza spent years defending Maciel. Now, he has been accused himself. Garza traveled the world forcing Maciel’s victims into silence with “private vows”—telling them is was a mortal sin to tell anyone that Maciel had sexually abused them. We fear that there could be more Garza victims worldwide forced into the same kind of vows of shame and silence.

Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory must immediately reach out to every parish, home, retreat center, and organization where Garza worked and stayed. There may be victims in Atlanta who have no idea where to turn for help and accountability now that Garza is out of the country. Garza has been sent to the Philippines.

We applaud the brave victim in this case. Coming forward to talk openly about child sexual abuse and demanding accountability is never easy, but it is the only way to ensure that sex crimes against children and the cover-up of those crimes stop. We encourage anyone who has been sexually abused to come forward and get help. It is safe to report and find healing.
We also urge anyone who has seen or suspected abuse by Father Garza or anyone to call law enforcement immediately. We fear that there may be men and women in Atlanta who have information about Fr. Garza, but may not have known whom to tell. Even the smallest of information can help a victim and save a child.

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PA–Victims blast Philly-based nuns in abuse case

PENNSYLVANIA/NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 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 )

A Philadelphia-based group of nuns is refusing to admit that it ran an orphanage where a man says he was both sexually and physically abused as a child. We call on these nuns to stop ducking and dodging and start helping this victim. If they continue to stonewall, we call on Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to insist that they step up, “come clean” and help this struggling survivor.

[New York Daily News]

New York City Catholic officials insist that St. Michael’s Home for Children on Staten Island was run by the Philadelphia-based Sisters of Mercy (Mid-Atlantic branch). That’s where an unnamed man charges he was beaten and molested years ago.

But the nuns’ group refuses to confirm or deny they operated the orphanage, or even respond to a reporter’s phone call about this, leaving the victim in a painful limbo. That’s mean-spirited. And it contradicts the hundreds of promises by hundreds of Catholic officials to be “open” about child sex crimes in the church.

Shame on Sister Patricia Vetrano, the president of the Sisters of Mercy Mid-Atlantic Community (610-664-6650, http://www.sistersofmercy.org/mid-atlantic/) and on every other nun, defense lawyer or public relations staffer in the church who is stonewalling this brave, wounded victim, especially now during Pope Francis’ supposed “Year of Mercy.”

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Australian Catholics torn over allegations against their cardinal

AUSTRALIA
Washington Post

By A. Odysseus Patrick
November 8

SYDNEY — Like many of their brethren around the world, Catholics in Australia have been rocked in recent years by evidence of systemic child abuse in the church.

One big question remains, though, for the country’s 5 million Catholics: Was one of their top clerics complicit?

Last month, George Pell, now a cardinal and senior Vatican official, was questioned in Rome by Australian police after public allegations in July by two former students that he had inappropriately touched them in a swimming pool back in the 1970s.

“The cardinal does not wish to cause any distress to any victim of abuse,” his office said in July. “However, claims that he has sexually abused anyone, in any place, at any time in his life are totally untrue and completely wrong.”

Pell had faced earlier allegations that he had failed to act on reports of child abuse when he was an up-and-coming priest in the 1970s in the regional city of Ballarat.

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Abused free to sue despite payouts under new Queensland law

AUSTRALIA
The Australian
..
MICHAEL MCKENNA
ReporterBrisbane
@McKennaattheOz

Child abuse victims forced into meagre compensation settlements will have the chance to launch new legal action for the first time in Australia under legislation passed in the Queensland parliament.

Opposition and crossbench MPs secured passage last night of the pioneering reforms to abolish time limits on child abuse legal action.

The minority Palaszczuk government had introduced the legislation in response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to allow people to sue regardless of when alleged abuse happened.

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

But the Labor government had refused calls to extend the bill to children outside institutions, those who suffered physical and psychological abuse, or to pave the way for victims to take legal action if they had already ­received compensation.

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Laws removing child sexual abuse limitation periods passed

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Felicity Caldwell

Victims of child sexual abuse will be able to pursue civil legal action in Queensland, regardless of when or where it happened, after new laws passed in parliament.

Previously, survivors could only pursue civil action within three years of their 18th birthday.

The LNP also had a win during the debate, with one of their amendments passing – despite the government opposing it.

Labor MPs did not call a division after losing a vote to amend the bill, meaning victims will be able to apply to courts to reopen past deeds under the amendment proposed by the LNP.

It is understood the government may not have had the numbers in the House to win a division to oppose the amendment to the bill.

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Priest who cares for homeless youths dismissed from Franciscan order for ‘insubordination’

MALTA
The Malta Independent

Neil Camilleri
Tuesday, 8 November 2016

A well-known priest who was dismissed from a Franciscan order says this was the result of dislike harboured against him by the Provincial Minister.

Fr Adrian Cachia, 71, was told by the church authorities that he was being dismissed by the Order of Friars Minor and that he is not allowed to celebrate mass in the archdiocese of Malta. The friar is still currently tied to the OFM and has appealed the decision.

Contacted by The Malta Independent yesterday, Fr Cachia said the Provincial Minister, Fr Richard Stanley Grech, “had it in for him” ever since he was appointed to the post two years ago. “He just doesn’t like my way of doing things. I have always acted out of initiative instead of waiting for someone to tell me what to do.”

The priest said he has been helping troubled youths for over three decades. Rather than staying in some convent, he has spent many years providing shelter, food and company for homeless youths at a Rabat home he converted for the task with his own hands. He says he has lately been helping youths who are discharged from Mount Carmel Hospital but have nowhere to stay. “This is how I have always worked. I have always been close to people and lived with them. I take care of these youths, cook and clean for them and help them find a job or go back to school.”

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Child abuse payout scheme comes with glaring flaw

AUSTRALIA
The Age

Editorial

The royal commission into child sex abuse has been a gruelling though enormously important process. It has been shocking and disturbing to learn the extent of institutional abuse of children. But we look back at history to learn from it, and it must be hoped that the work of the commission will lead to systemic changes and checks and balances that ensure this appalling abuse can never happen again.

Another crucial goal is of course support and justice for the survivors of abuse, and with this in mind it is welcome news that the federal government is launching a compensation fund for child victims of abuse. But there is a glaring flaw in the scheme.

The national scheme, a key recommendation from the royal commission, will compensate victims of child sexual abuse with payments of up to $150,000, cutting much of the existing red tape. But it will be opt-in only. Those states, churches and charities that do not want to contribute financially won’t have to, dodging their responsibilities.

Spruiking the news last week, Social Services Minister Christian Porter said important features of the scheme included that it would offer specialist psychological support to victims as well as allowing them, if they wish, to have direct contact with senior representatives of the institutions that were responsible at the time of their abuse. These initiatives have been welcomed by abuse survivors and advocacy groups. Having the truth of their experiences validated is a powerful part of the process of working towards healing.

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Erneut Missbrauchsvorwurf gegen Bischof

DEUTSCHLAND
NDR

[In Germany another allegation of sexual abuse has been made against the late Bishop Heinrich Maria Janssen. The abuse, which involved immoral touching, is said to have happened in the late 1950s to the beginning of the early 1960s.]

Das Münchner Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung (IPP) untersucht im Auftrag des Bistums Hildesheim die Missbrauchsvorwürfe eines ehemaligen Messdieners gegen den verstorbenen Bischof Heinrich Maria Janssen. Janssen soll Ende der 1950er- bis Anfang der 1960er-Jahre den Jungen regelmäßig sexuell missbraucht haben. Nun hat sich ein mögliches zweites Opfer an die Forscher gewandt. Ein Sprecher des IPP in München bestätigte dem NDR, dass sich ein Mann gemeldet habe, der in dem Fall Angaben machen wolle. Man werde mit dem Mann Gespräche führen. Was der Mann den Gutachtern bei der ersten Kontaktaufnahme gesagt hat, wollte das IPP nicht kommentieren. Die “Hildesheimer Allgemeine Zeitung” berichtet in ihrer Ausgabe vom Montag, dass sich der Mann auch an die Redaktion gewandt habe.

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Yvette Cooper blasts Dame Lowell Goddard for ‘disgraceful’ refusal to give evidence about child abuse inquiry

UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper MP has called Dame Lowell Goddard’s refusal to give oral evidence about her resignation from the national sexual abuse inquiry “disgraceful.”

Dame Lowell, 67, wrote in a letter which appeared in the media this morning, that she had volunteered detailed written reports instead of oral testimony in a bid to “maintain judicial independence.”

Dame Lowell also wrote: “I am disappointed that there has been no government defence of me in England, despite the fact that information refuting some of the more serious allegations has been held by the Home Office and your committee since the time of my initial recruitment.”

Responding to the letter, Ms Cooper said this was unsatisfactory and an “astonishing response” from a public servant. She added that child abuse survivors “have been let down by the extremely rocky start to this inquiry.”

“Dame Goddard has been paid significant amounts of public money to do an extremely important job which she suddenly resigned from, leaving a series of questions about what has been happening over the last 18 months and why the inquiry got into difficulties,” Ms Cooper said.

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Child abuse inquiry judge: I will not give evidence

UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

Dame Lowell Goddard has refused to give evidence about her resignation from the child abuse inquiry and rounded on the Government for failing to defend her.

The New Zealand judge has refused to speak in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee because it would be “unacceptable” for allegations against her to be aired in public, where those who make them are protected from prosecution.

In a letter to the committee, Dame Lowell said she had been the “subject of malicious defamatory attacks” in the UK media and had informed the committee of “the falsity of these and their apparent purpose”.

She added that were she to give evidence via video link from New Zealand she would not be afforded freedom from prosecution in any allegations she might need to make in her defence.

She also heavily criticised the Government for failing to robustly defend her against the allegations of racism and poor treatment of colleagues. Dame Lowell has always denied all the claims made against her.

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Lowell Goddard branded a ‘disgrace’ after refusing to appear before MPs over her resignation from child sex abuse inquiry

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Michael Wilkinson, political correspondent
8 NOVEMBER 2016

Dame Lowell Goddard, the former chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, is refusing to answer questions from MPs about her resignation.

The former High Court judge from New Zealand resigned from the beleaguered inquiry on August 4, less than 18 months into the role.

In her post, Dame Goddard received £360,000 a year plus allowances and flight homes to New Zealand, while a committee of MPs heard that she had also secured an £80,000 pay-off.

She is now refusing to answer MPs’ questions about her departure, either by flying back to London or by videolink.

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Dame Lowell Goddard disappointed there was ‘no government defence’ of her in the United Kingdom

NEW ZEALAND
Stuff

JOHN EDENS

Kiwi judge Dame Lowell Goddard says it was disappointing there was “no government defence of me in England” when she resigned as chair of the historical sex abuse inquiry.

Goddard quit in August as head of the United Kingdom inquiry (IICSA) into cases of historical sex abuse.

In a letter sent to the UK Home Affairs Committee, Goddard effectively ruled out appearing in person before British MPs and referred to “malicious defamatory attacks” by some media.

In a foreword from her husband Christopher Hodson QC, he said the letters and documents were being released as a final step.

The cache of letters and correspondence was sent to media on Tuesday. The most recent relates to the committee’s oral evidence hearing request to Goddard, who has been providing written correspondence after leaving London and returning to New Zealand.

In a letter dated November 7 to the head of the select committee, Yvette Cooper MP, Goddard writes:

“I wish to make it very clear that I have never declined to provide oral evidence to your committee.

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Lowell Goddard: Home Office failed to defend me over racism claim

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Eleanor Ainge Roy in Dunedin and Alan Travis
Tuesday 8 November 2016

The former chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has accused the British government of failing to defend her when she was accused in the press of racism.

Dame Lowell Goddard, a former high court judge from New Zealand, resigned from the inquiry on 4 August after less than 18 months.

In her resignation letter, Goddard cited the inquiry’s “legacy of failure” in her decision to step down. Goddard was the inquiry’s third chair to resign since it was established in July 2014.

However, in a letter to the chair of the home affairs select committee, Yvette Cooper, Goddard went further, saying she was “disappointed” the British government had not defended her against “malicious defamatory attacks in some UK media”.

But her refusal to appear before the committee prompted further criticism, with Cooper saying it was “disgraceful” and an “astonishing response” from a paid public servant.

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Limitation period for non-institutional child sex abuse may be removed

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

Felicity Caldwell

The Queensland government has flagged its support for changes that would remove the statute of limitations for children sexually abused outside of institutions.

Parliament is debating two bills on Tuesday that would remove limitation periods for victims to seek civil legal action.

Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said she noted the non-government members of the parliamentary committee which considered the bills recommended the limitation period also be removed for child sexual abuse in non-institutions.

“Subject to considering the wording of that amendment, the government indicates its in-principal support,” Ms D’Ath said.

Ms D’Ath said it was important to have bi-partisanship when it came to tackling the issue of child sexual abuse.

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Queensland to extend laws for victims of child sexual abuse

AUSTRALIA
The Courier-Mail

Jessica Marszalek, The Courier-Mail
November 8, 2016

NEW laws to make it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their attackers will likely be extended after the Palaszczuk Government indicated its in-principle support for Opposition amendments.

A Bill introduced by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was to drop the three-year statute of limitations for victims of institutional abuse, as recommended by the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse.

It will amend current laws that mean a victim has only three years until after their 18th birthday to commence proceedings.

But Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath today indicated the Government was willing to go further following calls from the Opposition and survivors to extend the laws to victims of all child sexual abuse in all settings, including by family.

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Child abuse campaigner ‘livid’ about Queensland bill to end time limits on civil claims

AUSTRALIA
The Guardian

Joshua Robertson
@jrojourno
Monday 7 November 2016

A child abuse victim named by the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, as a friend and key inspiration for her government’s push to end time limits on civil claims has attacked her proposed legislation as a betrayal of many victims.

Allan Allaway says he is “absolutely livid” the the bill, which is due to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, excludes survivors of physical and psychological abuse.

When introducing the bill to parliament in August, Palaszczuk singled out Allaway for thanks and acknowledged his advocacy, describing him as “a friend for many years and whose personal stories have touched my life”.

But Allaway, 76, who suffered serious physical abuse at Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton after being taken from his mother as a baby, said the legislation abandoned him and thousands of other victims because their abuse was not sexual.

The bill would retrospectively abolish the need for victims of institutional child sexual abuse to file lawsuits by the age of 21.

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Redress scheme for abuse victims is a good start

AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Francis Sullivan | 07 November 2016

The announcement late last week by the Turnbull government that it will establish and run a national redress scheme for the survivors of institutional child sexual abuse is a great decision that has the potential to be one of the most significant social policy reforms in recent history.

Child with teddy bear observed by threatening adultFriday’s announcement has the potential to benefit tens of thousands of people now and into the future who have suffered the most damaging and tragic abuse — institutional child sexual abuse.

The estimates are jaw dropping, more than 60,000 children abused in hundreds of different institutions across Australia for many decades into the past.

But the new scheme will only be truly effective if all institutions and all governments accept their responsibilities and commit to participating.

The Catholic Church has a lot to answer for. For decades up to the 1990s and in some cases beyond, it systematically covered up child sex abuse by members of our clergy. It consistently put the interests of the church as an institution ahead of the welfare and safety of children. Their suffering has been compounded and for many, their lives shattered.

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Tragic pastor Davey Jones’ stalker jailed after online smear campaign

UNITED KINGDOM
Express and Star

A disgruntled traveller who drove a gypsy pastor to kill himself after a two-month online smear campaign has been jailed for 26 months.

Jamie Jones, 42, uploaded 23 menacing videos to YouTube targeting head minister Davey Jones (no relation) of the Life and Light Christian gypsy church in Union Street, Willenhall, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

The clips, posted between May and July last year, accused Davey Jones of covering-up a child sexual abuse scandal at a Romanian orphanage, of corruption over charitable funds, and of being homosexual, Mr Howard Searle prosecuting said.

The pastor, 60, was later found dead in a hotel car park in Walsall on July 11 last year after a ‘meltdown’ caused by abuse attributed to the videos, the court was told.

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French bishops hold day of prayer, fasting for sex abuse victims

FRANCE
Deutsche Welle

The French Catholic Church pleaded for forgiveness after months of revelations of sexual abuse by priests. A commission has been set up to determine the extent of abuse.

French priests and bishops took part in a day of prayer and fasting Monday to plead for forgiveness for the “sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church over the previous months.

Bishop Luc Crepy, who gave the homily during a Mass at the Rosary basilica, said his fellow members of the church will play their part in “this fight against scandalous and criminal actions.”
Crepy, who was appointed as the head of a church panel regarding pedophilia earlier this year, announced a series of measures to fight sexual child abuse in the church. “We had to end the guilty silence, which lasted too long, of both the church and wider society and hear the suffering of the victims…we must have the courage to take every measure possible so that the church becomes a safe place,” said Crepy.

Included in the measures passed by the French Catholic Church was a dedicated, secured email address for victims to report abuse. About 100 emails have been received since the email address was set up in April. Some emails detail abuse dating back as far as the 1960’s. The church said meetings about pedophilia would be held in Lourdes, as well as Masses around the country.

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French bishops beg forgiveness from pedophilia victims

FRANCE
Inquirer (Philippines)

AFP

LOURDES, France — French bishops pleaded for forgiveness Monday for the “guilty silence” of the Catholic Church following months of damaging revelations over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The church has been rocked by allegations that the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, covered up the abuse of scouts and failed to remove a priest despite being aware he had sexually abused the boys a quarter of a century ago.

The scandal was the worst to hit the Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a pedophile priest.

Barbarin, who has protested his innocence, remains in his post, but the scandal has tarnished the image of one of the church’s most media-friendly figures.

Archbishop of Paris Andre Vingt-Trois told worshippers at a “time for prayer and penitence” during the bishops’ autumn conference in the southwestern pilgrimage town of Lourdes on Monday that the Church had failed in its duty to victims of abuse.

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Sudbury sex scandal resolved

CANADA
The Sudbury Star

By Harold Carmichael, The Sudbury Star
Tuesday, November 8, 2016

A $4.25-million lawsuit filed against a former St. Charles College teacher, the Basilian Fathers of Toronto and the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie has been settled.

A now 67-year-old man brought the case against the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Sault Ste. Marie, the Basilians and the now-deceased William Hodgson Marshall.

It dismissed without costs at a Superior Court of Justice pre-trial meeting.

Had the case not been settled, it would have started Monday at the Sudbury Courthouse, said Rob Talach of Beckett Litigation Lawyers in London, Ont.

“The family was involved,” he said in an interview. “There was a lot of fatigue, psychological fatigue. It was resolved at the pre-trial.”

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November 7, 2016

Search warrant served on Catholic Diocese of Erie

PENNSYLVANIA
Erie Times-News

Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General agents descend on offices of Erie-based diocese

By Dana Massing Erie Times-News

Special agents from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General descended Monday on the offices of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, serving a search warrant related to a state probe of clergy sex abuse.

The Erie-based diocese, which covers 13 counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, issued a three-sentence statement: “The Diocese of Erie was served with a search warrant by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General this morning. Attorney General police were on the premises of St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie just before noon. Bishop Lawrence Persico asked all employees to cooperate with the search, which is part of an ongoing statewide grand jury investigation into past cases of sexual abuse in several Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania.”

A diocese spokeswoman read the statement, which was handwritten because employees at the center weren’t being allowed access to computers at the time.

An Attorney General police truck and an SUV were parked in front of St. Mark Catholic Center, 429 E. Grandview Blvd., as men in shirts proclaiming them to be a “special agent” or “police” went in and out of the building Monday shortly before noon. None was available for comment.

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Search warrant served on Diocese of Erie in statewide sexual abuse investigation

PENNSYLVANIA
Go Erie

[with video]

Published 11/07 2016

ERIE, Pa. — The Diocese of Erie was served a search warrant by the Pennsylvania office of the attorney general on Monday.

Attorney General police were on the premises of St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie just before noon, according to a news release by the diocese.

Bishop Lawrence Persico asked all employees to cooperate with the search, which is part of an ongoing, statewide grand jury investigation into past cases of sexual abuse in several Catholic dioceses across the state.

Persico was subpoenaed on Sept. 1 to give any information related to past and present allegations of sexual abuse of children in the Diocese of Erie.

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Arraignment set for SF high school football coach charged with murder

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Examiner

By Jonah Owen Lamb on November 7, 2016

An Archbishop Riordan High School assistant football coach arrested on suspicion of murder last week is set to appear in court Wednesday for allegedly killing a man in Visitacion Valley last month, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Salevi Levi, 22, was booked into San Francisco County Jail on Thursday along with co-defendant Dennis Paulo-Tufono.

Levi was hired earlier this year to work as an assistant coach for the private Catholic school’s football team, but Levi did not come to work Oct. 31 and as of last week, he “no longer” works for Riordan, Mike Brown, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, previously told the San Francisco Examiner

Levi and Paulo-Tufono are accused in the killing of 36-year-old Giovanni Hernandez, a San Francisco resident, who was shot around 4 p.m. Oct. 1 near 26 Burr Ave.

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New Jersey meets its new, and first, Catholic cardinal – and vice versa

NEW JERSEY
Religion News Service

By David Gibson

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) New Jersey’s first cardinal knew he was walking into the global media spotlight and, as Pope Francis’ personal choice for the next archbishop of Newark, into a post that has suddenly taken on unusual significance for the future of American Catholicism.

But at a news conference on Monday (Nov. 7) introducing him to his new flock, Cardinal-designate Joseph Tobin, 64, handled it all with the grace, straight talk and self-deprecating humor that have characterized his varied church career and made him beloved in the places he has served.

“Sometimes I think Pope Francis sees a lot more in me than I see in myself,” Tobin, who has been archbishop of Indianapolis, told reporters who repeatedly asked him why Francis had chosen him last month to be a cardinal and then promoted him to the Newark archdiocese.

Tobin repeatedly said he wasn’t sure why he was moved from his relatively small Midwestern diocese to this more prominent East Coast post, but it became apparent during his inaugural news conference — he took every question and stayed long afterwards to accommodate any interview requests — why he could be such a breath of fresh air.

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French Catholic Church asks forgiveness for ‘guilty silence’ on paedophilia

FRANCE
France 24

French bishops pleaded for forgiveness Monday for the “guilty silence” of the Catholic Church following months of damaging revelations over the sexual abuse of children by priests.

The Church in France has been rocked by allegations that the Archbishop of Lyon, Philippe Barbarin, covered up the abuse of Scouts and failed to remove a priest when he became aware he had sexually abused the boys a quarter of a century ago.

The scandal was the worst to hit the Church in France since 2001, when a bishop was given a three-month suspended jail sentence for failing to inform authorities about a paedophile priest.

Barbarin, who has proclaimed his innocence, remains in his post, but the image of one of the French Catholic Church’s most media-friendly figures has been tarnished by the scandal.

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Pope names Indiana archbishop to lead Newark Archdiocese

NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MONSY ALVARADO AND MARY JO LAYTON
STAFF WRITERS | THE RECORD

NEWARK — The newly appointed spiritual leader of The Archdiocese of Newark said Monday he will promote joy, transparency and freedom.

“I intend to be in regular and effective communication with people of this Archdiocese, city and state,” said Cardinal-elect Joseph W. Tobin, during a press conference before a throng of reporters, priests and nuns at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. “I will promote policies that recognize that we preach the Gospel not only with words but with actions.”

Pope Francis on Monday appointed Tobin to succeed retiring Archbishop John J. Myers.

Tobin said he grew up in a multicultural neighborhood of southwest Detroit and was little jealous of classmates who spoke different languages at home.

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NJ–Victims urge vigilence with new NJ Catholic official

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Nov. 7, 2016

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

There are 50 publicly accused Newark predator priests. Warning parishioners and the public about them – and keeping kids away from them – should be the top priority of newly-appointed Cardinal Joseph Tobin.

Retiring Newark Archbishop John Myers has been among the very most reckless, callous and deceptive Catholic officials in the US. As recently as three years ago, he withheld information from prosecutors about a predator.

[NJ.com]

But kids won’t necessarily be safer with Myers’ retirement. Tobin has shown no leadership whatsoever in the church’s continuing abuse and cover up scandal.

Just last year, we begged him to do outreach about an Indianapolis predator, Oscar Vasquez-Guzman. We see no sign that he responded or took any helpful action. http://www.snapnetwork.org/in_victims_push_indy_archbishop_to_act_on_abuse

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