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.

December 20, 2016

Assignment Record– Rev. Donald Stavinoha, O.M.I.

TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Donald Stavinoha was ordained for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in 1970. He served mostly in parishes in the dioceses of Corpus Christi, San Antonio and Galveston-Houston TX. In the late 1970s-early 1980s he was assigned to San Pedro Huamelula in Oaxaca, Mexico, in the Tehuantepec diocese.

In May 1986, Stavinoha was caught by a police officer in Galveston performing oral sex on a young boy in a church van. The boy said similar incidents had happened before. After he was arrested, Stavinoha was suspended from ministry and sent to treatment in San Antonio and New Mexico. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January 1988 to to nine years and nine months in prison and fined $10,000. The boy’s mother sued and received a settlement before trial. After serving just one year and two months in prison, Stavinoha was returned under supervision to his order in San Antonio. In 2002 he was known to be living at a Missouri treatment center. He died in Houston March 27, 2007.

Born: January 10, 1943
Ordained: 1970
Died: March 27, 2007

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.

Editorial: Tort reform law needs a fix

Ohio
The Columbus Dispatch

An Ohio Supreme Court ruling reducing damages a jury awarded to a child raped by her church pastor is a sickening miscarriage of justice: But the fault lies not with the justices, whose job is to determine whether laws are constitutional, not second-guess laws. Instead, this is a case of the Ohio legislature using too broad a brush.

It’s hard to believe that the General Assembly and Gov. Bob Taft intended to protect a predator when they enacted tort reform in 2005. The law aimed to curb frivolous lawsuits and runaway jury awards over things such as defective medications, unsafe cars and slip-and-fall accidents — massive civil damages that Republican lawmakers and the insurance industry said were chasing businesses out of Ohio, hurting the economy.

At the time, minority Democratic House members introduced a bill to exempt sexual-abuse victims from the damages cap, but that never passed.

Now is a good time to revisit this amendment.

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.

Ohio ‘tort reform’ helps protect rapists

OHIO
Cincinnati.com

Marc Pera December 20, 2016

Marc G. Pera is a Cincinnati attorney and Anderson Township resident.

More than a decade ago, the state of Ohio ushered in “tort reform.” Since then, countless Ohioans have been victimized by its needless caps on damages. Because these caps only apply to non-economic damages, those individuals who are hurt the most by “tort reform” tend to be children, the elderly, stay-at-home moms (and dads), the disabled, and the unemployed. In other words, those who have been hurt the worst by negligence tend to be hurt the most by “tort reform.”

A case decided Dec. 14 by the Ohio Supreme Court demonstrates this fact. According to the ruling in Simpkins v. Grace Brethren, an entity that knowingly hires sexual predators is protected by a $350,000 cap on damages, irrespective of the harm a minor child may suffer as a result of multiple sexual assaults. Simply put, “tort reform” protects rapists.

In Simpkins, a pastor repeatedly raped a minor at the minor’s church. The church knew of previous complaints against the pastor, but still hired and continued to employ him. Given these facts, Simpkins and her father sued the church. After hearing the facts, an impartial Ohio jury held the church responsible for $3.6 million in damages. The church appealed, citing Ohio’s “tort reform” laws. The Ohio Supreme Court, after analyzing and applying Ohio’s hurtful “tort reform,” reduced the verdict from $3.6 million to $350,000.

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.

La fiscal reveló detalles de la investigación contra el Padre Rosa

ARGENTINA
La Gaceta Salta

[The prosecutor revealed details of the investigation against Father Rosa.]

El escándalo por los supuestos abusos sexuales en los que estaría involucrado el padre Agustín Rosa, de la parroquia de la Santa Cruz, junto a sacerdote Nicolás Parma tendría novedades en los próximos días a partir de la declaración de nuevos testigos.

La fiscal a cargo de la causa, María Luján Sodero, busca establecer los hechos denunciados y entre las medidas judiciales que dispuso fue la ubicación y declaración de testigos mencionados por las supuestas víctimas de los abusos.

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.

Salen a la luz denuncias por abuso sexual contra el sacerdote Agustín Rosa, que había sido apartado de la Santa Cruz

ARGENTINA
El Tribuno

Hace poco más de un año, una comitiva del Vaticano había llegado a Salta para investigar a Rosa. Se lo apartó de la Iglesia Santa Cruz, por supuesto desmanejo de fondos y drogas. Hoy se conocieron dos denuncias de abuso sexual.

Escándalo en la Iglesia Católica por denuncias de abuso sexual en Salta. Se trata de dos denuncias que salieron a la luz en un informe de Todo Noticias en contra del sacerdote Agustín Rosa, quien había sido apartado de la Iglesia de la Santa Cruz en octubre del año pasado. En aquella oportunidad una comitiva del Vaticano, encabezada por el obispo emérito de Quilmes, Luis Stöckler, había llegado a nuestra ciudad para investigar el caso. La situación se había manejado con mucho hermetismo, incluso medios nacionales habían asegurado que se lo apartaba por causas vinculadas al desmanejo de fondos y a las drogas, pero en su momento Stöckler lo había desmentido.

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.

Malos hábitos: dos historias de abuso que desatan un nuevo escándalo en la Iglesia

ARGENTINA
TN

[Bad habits: two stories of abuse that unleash a new scandal in the church. [The Vatican has intervened in investigation of about 25 complaints against the founder of a religious congregation that started in Salta, Argentina, and expanded into Chile, Mexico and Spain.]

Por Miriam Lewin y Nicolás Tillard. Unas 25 denuncias canónicas y 2 penales detrás del fundador y otros sacerdotes de una congregación que nació en Salta, se expandió por Chile, México y España; y fue intervenida por la Santa Sede. Los relatos de Yair, abusado por dos curas; y de Valeria, una exmonja, que se atrevió a hablar de todo.

Publicada: 19/12/2016

“Te voy a partir en 8”, “te voy a comer la boquita”. Yair tenía miedo cuando el padre Felipe se acercaba. “Tenés que perdonarlo”, le dijo el fundador de la orden, el padre Rosa, cuando el chico le contó del abuso. A él nadie lo contradecía. Algunos lo consideraban un santo. Por miedo, hacían lo que él quería. Yair confió en el hombre que luego sería su segundo abusador.

Valeria fue la mano derecha del padre Rosa, confió en él y hasta llegó a contarle que sabía que había “muchos abusos dentro de la comunidad”. Él no la escuchó: “Es un chusmerío”. Cinco años más tarde, ella sufrió en carne propia.

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.

Malos hábitos: el cura acusado de abuso sexual juró por Dios ser inocente

ARGENTINA
TN

[Bad habits: the priest accused of sexual abuse swore by God to be innocent. TN.com.ar traveled to Salta, the Finca La Cruz , 32 kilometers from the provincial capital, where the priest – Agustin Rosa – lives since the Holy See intervened in investigation of the Disciples of Jesus of San Juan Bautista Religious Institute. Rosa was founder and director. He and other priests of the congregation have two criminal complaints and 25 canonical complaints against them, including sexual abuse of minors, economic corruption and enrichment, psychological violence and reducing other to servitude.]

Por Miriam Lewin y Nicolás Tillard. Agustín Rosa negó conocer las acusaciones en su contra. Aseguró que la Justicia nunca lo llamó ni tampoco lo citaron por las denuncias canónicas.

Publicada: 19/12/2016

TN.com.ar viajó a Salta, a la Finca La Cruz, a 32 kilómetros de la capital provincial, donde vive el Padre Agustín Rosa desde que la Santa Sede intervino el Instituto Religioso Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista que fundó y dirigió. Él y otros sacerdotes de la congregación tienen dos denuncias penales y 25 canónicas que incluyen abuso sexual de menores, corrupción económica y enriquecimiento, violencia psicológica y reducción a la servidumbre.

Ante la pregunta, Agustín Rosa negó conocer alguna acusación de abuso sexual de menores.”No se quién pudo haber dicho eso porque nunca fui acusado”. Admitió saber quién es Yair, uno de los denunciantes, pero dijo ignorar los cargos: “la Justicia nunca me preguntó nada”. De los cargos formulados por la exmonja Valeria, dijo lo mismo: “Pregúntele a ella”, se atajó.

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: Documenting Australia’s shame

AUSTRALIA
BBC News

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

In Australia, a boy of 10 is raped by an Anglican clergyman, who cuts his victim with a small knife and smears blood over his back in a twisted ritual to symbolise the suffering of Christ.

This happened in the 1960s in Cessnock, a former mining town in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, but only now has this and other decades-old stories of sexual violence and degradation been heard, catalogued and, crucially for many victims, believed.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is an unprecedented investigation into an epidemic of depravity across Australia.

The far-reaching inquiry began in 2013 and has heard from thousands of survivors of paedophiles who worked, or volunteered, in sporting clubs, schools, churches, charities, childcare centres and the military.

It has the power to look at any private, public or non-government body that is, or was, involved with children. The Commission’s task is to make recommendations on how to improve laws, policies and practices to protect the young.

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.

Dallas Morning News offers well-rounded look at Bishop Burns, arriving from Juneau

TEXAS
GetReligion

Julia Duin

Every so often, you run across an article that sings. The Dallas Morning News’ front-page piece on the area’s incoming Catholic bishop was one of them. And we’re talking smack-in-the-middle, above-the-fold placement.

Having recently lived in Alaska, I cannot imagine having to move 3,422 miles from lovely, isolated Juneau, where bald eagles are everywhere and king crab gets sold from the city dock (at least when my family lived there) to flat, hot Dallas.

Yet, this is the fate of Dallas’ new bishop. And the writer gets to the story through an amusing anecdote that could have only happened via good reporting and interviewing. …

There’s a few small things to suggest in improving the piece. First, the scathing letter by the sexual abuse victims group SNAP –- albeit mentioned by the Dallas paper -– should have gotten a bit more ink, as the group criticizes Burns for doing “nothing more than the bare minimum” in helping victims in the church. For instance: Why Burns didn’t post the predators’ names for the Juneau diocese, as 30 other bishops have done?

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

December 19, 2016

Assignment Record– Rev. Walter Dayton Salisbury, S.S.J.

UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: A Josephite priest ordained in 1959, Salisbury was a college chaplain, teacher, and Alderian psychologist in Houston for many years. He served on the Galveston-Houston diocese’s Priests Senate and chaired continuing education for priests. He was transferred in 1979 to Washington D.C., where he was a counselor at St. Joseph’s Seminary, and in 1983 he was moved to a parish in the Mobile AL diocese. After two years he was back in D.C., where he was in residence at two parishes, consecutively.

Along the way, Rev. Salisbury was twice convicted of child sexual abuse and accused at least one other time. In 1978 he was charged with indecency with a child; convicted in June 1979 after pleading ‘no contest,’ he was given three-years’ probation. Per news reports, Salisbury was also accused of child molestation in Alabama. It wasn’t until he molested a boy in his Washington D.C. rectory in 1993 that Salisbury was removed from ministry. In that case, he pleaded guilty and was given a one year prison sentence, suspended, and a year of probation. The Josephites sent him to treatment and prohibited him from presenting himself as a priest.

In approximately the mid-1990s, Salisbury relocated to his native Bar Harbor ME. He served for many years on the town’s housing authority board, but resigned under duress in 2010 after his criminal convictions came to light. He had been listed as “Father” W. Dayton Salisbury on the housing authority’s web page.

Ordained: June 6, 1959

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.

Rabbi charged with rape, sexual assault, sodomy against a minor

ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

By JEREMY SHARON \ 12/18/2016

According to the indictment, Harrison, now 58, initiated direct contact with the complainant after he was her substitute teacher at Beit Shulamit in December 2009.

In an indictment sheet of horrifying allegations, Rabbi David Harrison, who taught at the Beit Shulamit religious girls high school in Jerusalem, was charged with dozens of counts of rape, sodomy, sexual assault, assault and intimidation through threats against a former pupil, who was a minor at the time.

The complainant, a woman now aged 21, filed a charge of rape and other allegations against the rabbi at the beginning of the month claiming that they took place over a period of several months when she was 14.

Harrison has spent his career as a teacher and educator, and has also worked extensively performing wedding ceremonies for couples without a personal connection to a rabbi. Harrison began work at Beit Shulamit, in the Ramot neighborhood, as a part-time teacher in September 2007 but was fired in June 2010.

According to the indictment, Harrison, now 58, initiated direct contact with the complainant in December 2009, after he was her substitute teacher at Beit Shulamit.

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.

Federal documents reveal more about priest-teen weapons case

CONNECTICUT
Journal Inquirer

By Alex Wood
Journal Inquirer

After law enforcement officers found silencers, material for making pipe bombs, and other contraband on the East Windsor property where teenager Kyle Bass lived in 2013, Bass told them that his priest, the Rev. Paul A. Gotta, had paid for several of the items, including a gun.

He said the gun and thousands of rounds of ammunition were hidden in a bin beneath the stairs of the rectory of St. Phillip Church on South Main Street, one of two Roman Catholic parishes in East Windsor that Gotta served as administrator.

Agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and East Windsor police subsequently visited the rectory and received consent to search it. Gotta denied ever receiving a gun from Bass, and the agents found nothing beneath the basement stairs, although they saw scrape marks on the floor, indicating that something heavy had been dragged across it.

A few days later, ATF received a call from Gotta’s lawyer, who said he wanted to give them something. They returned to the rectory and were given a bin identical to the one Bass had described, weighing several hundred pounds.

Gotta said nothing about the contents of the bin and didn’t even give the agents a key to it. When the agents broke the lock, they found a .357-caliber handgun, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a survival guide.

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.

Malos hábitos: dos historias de abuso que desatan un nuevo escándalo en la Iglesia

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
TN Todo Noticias [Buenos Aires, Argentina]

December 19, 2016

By Miriam Lewin y Nicolás Tillard

Read original article

Por Miriam Lewin y Nicolás Tillard. Unas 25 denuncias canónicas y 2 penales detrás del fundador y otros sacerdotes de una congregación que nació en Salta, se expandió por Chile, México y España; y fue intervenida por la Santa Sede. Los relatos de Yair, abusado por dos curas; y de Valeria, una exmonja, que se atrevió a hablar de todo. 

“Te voy a partir en 8”, “te voy a comer la boquita”. Yair tenía miedo cuando el padre Felipe se acercaba. “Tenés que perdonarlo”, le dijo el fundador de la orden, el padre Rosa, cuando el chico le contó del abuso. A él nadie lo contradecía. Algunos lo consideraban un santo. Por miedo, hacían lo que él quería. Yair confió en el hombre que luego sería su segundo abusador.

Valeria fue la mano derecha del padre Rosa, confió en él y hasta llegó a contarle que sabía que había “muchos abusos dentro de la comunidad”. Él no la escuchó: “Es un chusmerío”. Cinco años más tarde, ella sufrió en carne.

En 1996, el padre Agustín Rosa fundó el Instituto Religioso Discípulos de Jesús de San Juan Bautista que depende del Arzobispado de Salta. Veinte años después, el cura fue expulsado y vive recluido en Finca La Cruz. Tanto Rosa, de 64 años, como Nicolás Parma, otro sacerdote de 38 años de la misma comunidad, están denunciados por abuso sexual.

TN.com.ar publica el testimonio del exnovicio Yair Gyurkovitz, que denuncia a los dos sacerdotes por abuso sexual simple; y el de la exmonja Valeria Zarsa, que sufrió el abuso del fundador del Instituto. Estos testimonios se convirtieron en denuncias en la justicia penal. La primera es la de Yair y está radicada en la fiscalía número 2 de delitos contra la integridad sexual de Salta, a cargo de María Luján Sodero. La segunda causa, iniciada por Valeria en la Oficina de Orientación a la Víctima, está radicada en la misma fiscalía. Ella denuncia al padre Rosa por amenazas coactivas, reducción a la servidumbre y abusos sexuales reiterados contra su persona y otros miembros de la comunidad e incluye una petición de prohibición de acercamiento. La declaración, que ya tiene trece páginas, será ratificada y ampliada el 21 de diciembre.

La orden, que nació en la Parroquia de la Santa Cruz en Salta, se convirtió en una comunidad con representación en todo el país, Chile, México y España. El instituto tiene a cargo parroquias, hogares de ancianos, conventos de clausura y casas para la formación religiosa. En esos lugares, conviven hermanos y hermanas que, según los preceptos del derecho canónico, deben consagrar su vida a la oración y respetar los votos de obediencia, pobreza y castidad. La orden, que hoy tiene 150 miembros, llegó a contar con más de 47 sedes.

“Te voy a partir en 8”

Yair tiene 21 años y vive en La Plata. Cuando tenía 16, estaba en la casa que la comunidad tiene en Puerto Santa Cruz, en la provincia del mismo nombre. Allí sufrió el primer abuso por parte del cura Nicolás Parma, cuyo nombre religioso es Felipe. “Era una persona violenta”, recuerda Yair. En 2012, el padre lo invitó a su habitación y ocurrió lo que hoy prefiere olvidar. 

Estaba lejos de su familia y sin poder hablar con nadie. En Santa Cruz, al principio, Yair soportó la soledad y el olvido de Felipe. Hasta que algo cambió. Empezó a tenerlo en cuenta. “Te voy a comer la boquita, te voy a partir en 8”, le decía. Le tenía miedo. “Me llamó una vez a su pieza, me pidió que duerma la siesta con él, yo le dije que no. Me dijo que me acueste en su cama. Él estaba tapado y yo estaba vestido. Empezó a besarme el cuello y a acariciarme la espalda y las piernas. Mientras hacía eso, se masturbaba. Sentía cómo se movía y cómo gemía”.

Su hermanito de 12 años fue a vivir con él a la comunidad. Lejos de tranquilizarlo, su presencia le sumó más angustia. El chico confiesa que intentó suicidarse más de una vez. Cuando todo esto pasó, le escribió una carta al Padre Agustín Rosa para contarle su infierno. Confió en que lo cambiarían de casa. Volvió con su familia hasta que, inesperadamente, recibió el llamado de Rosa. Para él fue toda una sorpresa: para sus padres, la palabra del cura era la palabra de Dios. Lo invitó a regresar al Instituto pero en su sede, en Salta. Allí fue abusado al menos otras cinco veces por el fundador de la orden.

Para muchos, Rosa es un santo; para otros, es el hombre que les destruyó la vida. “Me volvió a pedir que nunca dijera nada de lo ocurrido y que cuidara el nombre del padre Felipe”, dice Yair. Rosa le pidió que perdonara la debilidad de su colega y empezó a acercarse más a él. 

“Para abusar de los hermanos, el padre Agustín era muy astuto”, asegura Valeria. “Se acercaba a ellos, les decía que había querido tener hijos y les decía que él los quería como tales. Después (les decía) ‘tu familia no te contiene, yo te contengo’; o ‘tu papá te abandona, yo no’”. Yair relata lo mismo: “Me decía que mi papá no había estado en mi infancia y que él era mi nuevo papá”. Yair y Valeria coinciden en el modus operandi de Agustín: “Le decía a los hermanos que tenían varicocele y les pedía que se bajaran los pantalones para revisarlos”.

“Quedate quieta”, el peor momento de Valeria

Valeria es una exmonja de la comunidad, tiene 43 años y vive en Salta. También denuncia que fue víctima del padre Rosa. Trabajó durante 10 años a su lado: fue su asistente personal y encargada de los retiros que hacían los hermanos. Varios de ellos le confesaron haber sido víctimas de abusos sexuales, acosos o manoseos por parte de algún miembro de la comunidad.

En 1997, con la creación del Instituto Religioso, ingresa a la comunidad por invitación de una amiga. Quería ser hermana misionera. Conoció al padre Agustín y, al poco tiempo, se convirtió en su preferida. Debía resolver sus problemas y hasta incluso hacerle masajes en los pies. También coordinó retiros para los hermanos y fieles. Esa tarea la compartía con Sergio Salas, el padre Josué.

A fines de 2005, Valeria ya conocía situaciones de abuso porque los hermanos confiaban en ella y le contaban lo que sabían. Pero no le decían quiénes habían sufrido el abuso ni por parte de quién. Decidió transmitírselo al padre Agustín. Él le pidió nombres que ella no tenía. “Bueno, entonces esto es un chusmerío. No quiero saber más nada”, le contestó. 

Ese mismo año, Valeria viajó a México luego de que el Instituto decidiera abrir una nueva sede en Toluca. El padre Agustín la visitó en esa ciudad y, dos días antes de que retornara a la Argentina, le dijo que se tenía que quedar allá. La noticia tomó por sorpresa a Valeria, pero aceptó. 

Allí, en Toluca, cinco años más tarde, recibiría nuevamente la visita de Rosa y se desataría un episodio que hoy forma parte de su denuncia judicial. Valeria denuncia cómo fue que el padre abusó de ella luego de una reunión: “Con las mujeres sentía rechazo y aversión, pero en una ocasión estábamos en una habitación de un convento en Toluca, Estado de México. Estando mi Superiora, la hermana María Luz, de nombre civil Daniel Mónica Olmos, el padre Rubén Agustín Rosa Torino me dijo que quería probar si a las monjas le quedaban mejor los cinturones que los cíngulos (cordones que se usan alrededor de la cintura) y en el momento en que mi superiora entra al baño de esa habitación, él se saca su cinturón y lo pasa por detrás de mi espaldadiciendo: “Quedate quieta”. Mientras lo hacía, hundió su rostro en mi pecho, en clara actitud sexual intimidatoria, abusando de su poder”. 

“Yo le grité asustada: ‘No, ¿qué hace Padre?’, le dije y lo retiré, con esfuerzo, de encima mío. Los minutos posteriores no los puedo recordar. Sólo sé que me subí a la camioneta y arranqué mientras mi superiora me decía una y otra vez por celular que vuelva, que el pobre Padre estaba tenso, que lo entendiera, que estaba solo, que los hermanos le habían hecho muchísimo desprecio. Regresé, pero no quise subir de nuevo a su habitación. Me quedé en el comedor del convento, mientras la hermana María Luz permaneció con él en su habitación”, detalla Valeria en su presentación ante la Justicia. 

En octubre de 2010, volvió a la Argentina por pedido de su superiora para descansar tres meses, pero terminó quedándose. Al poco tiempo, la aislaron, no tenía permiso para hacer nada ni contacto con sus hermanas. Un médico clínico le recetó pastillas y sus superiores la trataron de loca. En 2014, logró conseguir un permiso para viajar a España para conocer a su sobrina y su hermana le dijo: “No sos ni la sombra de lo que eras”. Así Valeria empezó a abrir los ojos y en menos de un año abandonó el Instituto.

Las denuncias ante la justicia canónica

En agosto de 2015, el Vaticano designó a un comisario canónico para analizar las 25 denuncias recibidas por canales eclesiásticos de miembros de la comunidad sobre las irregularidades dentro del Instituto. 

Las conductas que debería analizar ese enviado papal, Monseñor Luis Stockler, obispo emérito de Quilmes, incluían abuso sexual de menores, corrupción económica y enriquecimiento, violencia psicológica y reducción a servidumbre.

Tres veces no

TN.com.ar viajó a Salta, a la Finca La Cruz, a 32 kilómetros de la capital provincial, donde vive el Padre Rosa desde que la congregación fue intervenida por la Santa Sede. El sacerdote, muy tranquilo y con una sonrisa, juró ante Dios ser inocente. Se defendió y confió que en el juicio tendrá la oportunidad de que se sepa la verdad. Hoy en Telenoche, el descargo completo del cura denunciado.

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.

Pope target of unprecedented smear attack by cardinals

ROME
The Times (UK)

Philip Willan, Rome
December 19 2016
The Times

The Pope is facing an unprecedented smear campaign designed to undermine his three-year pontificate. It has been orchestrated by cardinals angry about his sympathy for homosexuals and divorcees.

The campaign, spearheaded by conservative forces within the Vatican, amounts to “a subterranean civil war” within the church, Marco Politi, an expert on the Holy See, said. He added that the smear campaign included books, articles and letters contesting, in particular, the Pope’s teaching that divorced and remarried Catholics can “in certain cases” be allowed to take communion.

Mr Politi said that the criticisms of the Pope from within the Vatican constituted a direct and personal attack that was unprecedented in modern times. He cited the pontiff’s progressive reforms, including his advocacy of a more merciful approach to marital breakdown.

In an article published by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper to mark the Pope’s 80th birthday on Saturday, Mr Politi said: “It’s a systematic campaign of delegitimisation, which questions the very authority of the pontiff and the rightness of his guidance.”

Mr Politi, a veteran observer of Vatican affairs and author of the book Pope Francis among the Wolves, said that the ideological battle resembled the one fought over the modernising reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

While Vatican factions have traditionally fought among themselves, they still accepted the role of the Pope as referee, he said. “It’s absolutely new that the attacks should be levelled directly at the Pope now.”

Last month four cardinals, including the conservative American Raymond Burke, wrote to the Pope asking him to clarify his guidance on this point, which was published in a footnote to Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), a teaching document issued last April.

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.

Malta’s knights ‘at war’ over Chancellor’s sacking

ROME
Malta Today

Matthew Vella 18 December 2016

Civil war has broken out among the Knights of Malta, after Grand Master Fra Matthew Festing threatened disciplinary action against any member criticising his expulsion of senior Knight Albrecht Boeselager, the Grand Chancellor.

The international Catholic weekly The Tablet said the move has sparked “open warfare” inside the Church’s oldest and most illustrious military order, founded in the 11th century during the crusades and which ruled over Malta between 1530 until their expulsion by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.

Boeselager, who as Grand Chancellor was the number three in the Order, told friends he had been accused of not following the Church’s teaching on the distribution of condoms in Africa. Festing denies this claim, saying Boeselager tried to conceal problems concerning his stewardship of the Order’s charitable work.

The Order’s patron and Vatican liaison, the arch-conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke – a critic of Pope Francis – was present when Festing asked Boeselager to resign.

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Ongar resident Teresa Cooper reacts to report into abuse at Church of England run Kendall House

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Local London

A GRANDMOTHER who was drugged and sexually abused in a children’s home has welcomed a church report on the scandal – but is still waiting for a formal apology.

Teresa Cooper, who now lives in Ongar, says the harrowing report about the Church of England-run Kendall House won’t ever erase the scars she will carry around for the rest of her life.

Now 49, she was just 14 when she was sent to the home, where she was locked in isolation and physically, emotionally and sexually abused in the institution that “normalised” cruelty.

Below, Teresa Cooper aged 14 while in Kendall House. She says the effects of the drugs made her look like an ‘old woman’

After spending the best part of 30 years tirelessly fighting for justice, she is single-handedly responsible for bringing what happened to light and the release of the report.

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Priester soll elf Kinder sexuell missbraucht haben

DANEMARK
Spiegel

[A pastor at the Free Church in Denmark has been accused to sexually abusing several children.]

Gegen den früheren Priester einer Freikirche in Dänemark ermittelt die Polizei wegen des sexuellen Missbrauchs mehrerer Kinder und Jugendlicher. Den Ermittlern in Mittel- und Westjütland sei der Geistliche aus dem Städtchen Silkeborg bereits seit Längerem verdächtig gewesen, teilte eine Polizeisprecherin mit.

Der Beschuldigte mit dänischem und amerikanischem Pass halte sich zurzeit in den USA auf, wo er laut der dänischen Polizei in einer anderen Sache angeklagt ist. Worum es dabei genau geht, ist unklar. Die Anklage in den USA wollen die Ermittler zunächst abwarten, bevor sie womöglich einen Antrag auf Auslieferung stellen.

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Vatikan bestätigt Missbrauchsvorwürfe

DEUTCHLAND
BR

[Vatican confirmed allegations of abuse. Heinrich M. (80), retired from Würzburg, can no longer serve as a priest and he is also forbidden to stay in the parishes of of Bad Kissingen where he was most recently employed.]

Das hat die Pressestelle des Ordinariats Würzburg mitgeteilt. Die vatikanische Glaubenskongregation hat die Vorwürfe wegen sexuellen Missbrauchs geprüft und in letzter Instanz bestätigt. Der Priester hat demnach vor mehr als 40 Jahren während seines Wirkens in Polen eine Minderjährige über mehrere Jahre hinweg sexuell missbraucht.

Bistum hatte schon reagiert

Würzburgs Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann hatte dem Ruhestandspfarrer im Landkreis Bad Kissingen bereits im Mai verboten, als Priester zu wirken. Außerdem muss der Geistliche aus dem Pfarrhaus ausziehen. Bischof Hofmann hat den Geistlichen aufgefordert, das Dekanat Bad Kissingen zu verlassen. Gegen den Ruhestandspfarrer läuft seit November 2015 eine kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchung.

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Wegen Missbrauchs: Dekret gegen Pfarrer bestätigt

DEUTSCHLAND
inFranken

[Because of abuse: decree against German pastor is confirmed.]

Die römische Glaubenskongregation hat das Ergebnis der kirchenrechtlichen Voruntersuchung jetzt offiziell bestätigt.Damit sind die von Bischof Friedhelm Hofmann im Dekret vom 25. Mai 2016 verhängten Maßnahmen gegenüber dem Ruhestandspfarrer im vollem Umfang wirksam, teilte das Bischöfliche Ordinariat Würzburg am Montag mit. M. ist damit jedes öffentliche Wirken als Priester in Seelsorge und Liturgie verboten. Weiter ist ihm der Aufenthalt in den Pfarreien des Dekanats Bad Kissingen untersagt. Dort hatte er zuletzt gewirkt.

Die kirchenrechtliche Voruntersuchung wurde am 11. November 2015 eingeleitet und schließlich im Bischöflichen Offizialat Würzburg durchgeführt. Ergebnis war, dass M. vor mehr als 40 Jahren während seines Wirkens in Polen eine Minderjährige über mehrere Jahre hinweg sexuell missbraucht hatte

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Vatican trial finds three El Salvadoran priests guilty of sex abuse

EL SALVADOR
RTE News (Ireland)

A Vatican court has found three El Salvadoran priests – including a prominent monsignor – guilty of sexually abusing minors and has suspended them from their priestly duties, the country’s senior archbishop has announced.

Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar said Monsignor Jesus Delgado, the biographer and former secretary to the martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero, was among those convicted by the church court.

Last year Monsignor Delgado was among the three church representatives who announced in the Vatican that Pope Francis was promoting the late Archbishop closer to sainthood by giving him the title “Blessed”.

The late Archbishop’s assassination in 1980 by a state-sponsored death squad has been officially acknowledged by the civil authorities and led to last year’s beatification ceremony in San Salvador which was attended by a quarter of a million people.

The promotion was a highpoint in Pope Francis’ pontificate as he had personally “unblocked” the process of investigating Romero’s “cause” after conservatives in the Vatican had suggested it would be imprudent to promote a man who was closely associated with radical movements in the Church.

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IN–Abuse victims challenge newly-elected bishop

INDIANA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Monday, Dec. 19, 2016

For more information: David Clohessy 314 566 9790 cell, 314 645 5915 home, davidgclohessy@gmail.com, Barbara Dorris314 503 0003 cell, bdorris@SNAPnetwork.org

Indiana bishop wins bid for national office

Victims challenge him to “do more to protect kids”

Last month, a top Indiana Catholic official won his bid to head a national church sex abuse panel. Now, a victims group that supported him is urging him to “do more to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth about clergy who commit and conceal child sex crimes.”

[SNAP]

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, backed Bishop Timothy L. Doherty of Lafayette over Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima for the chairmanship of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People. Doherty won that election.

“Doherty is taking over a committee that’s done very little for a very long time. We hope he’ll take immediate, concrete steps to safeguard kids,” said David Clohessy of SNAP.

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Oscar Romero’s Aide Guilty Of Child Sex Abuse, Vatican Inquiry Concludes

EL SALVADOR
Christian Today

Ruth Gledhill CHRISTIAN TODAY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 19 December 2016

Two Catholic priests and a bishop from San Salvador have been removed from the priesthood after being found guilty of sexual abuse.

The Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar, confirmed that the well-known Bishop Jesús Delgado and priests Francisco Gálvez and Antonio Molina have been deposed from clerical orders, “totally and definitively” losing all priestly functions, La Prensa reports.

“From now on, they can not exercise any office or priestly function according to canon 292 of the Code of Canon Law. These resolutions of the Holy See have already been communicated respectively to each of the aforementioned priests.

“We have also communicated it to the victims, to each one of the cases respectively, and today we make it known to all,” said Archbishop Escobar.

Bishop Jesús Delgado was removed last year from his post as third in command of the Catholic Church of El Salvador.

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Rabbi disbarred for alleged sex offences is still practicing — report

ISRAEL
Times of Israel

A rabbi who was disbarred by the Chief Rabbinate after accusations of sexual assault still presents himself as a rabbi and counselor, according to a Channel 2 investigative report aired Sunday.

Rabbi Shimon Garelick had his rabbinic license revoked in August at the recommendation of the rabbinic disciplinary committee after accusations that he committed a spate of sexual crimes over many years.

Garelick served as a neighborhood rabbi in the northern city of Nahariya, as a kashrut supervisor, and as a chaplain at the city’s hospital.

Accusations against Garelick have come from girls, boys, women and men, according to Channel 2. Some date back many years, while some are recent.

Police have closed all cases against him because the complainants were minors and there was not sufficient corroborating evidence to prosecute him.

Channel 2 found that he still serves as the head of a synagogue in his neighborhood. A reporter also went to the rabbi for counseling and secretly filmed him.

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Young People Feel Unsafe in Residential Care

AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Monday, 19th December 2016

Wendy Williams, Journalist

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse released the findings of a study on Monday exploring the experiences of children and young people in residential care.

The report, the first of its kind in Australia to explore the issue from the perspective of young people, found most young people in residential care felt they were at risk of physical violence, sexual threats from their peers and from outsiders, and of ongoing bullying and harassment.

The study also found that children’s experiences of harm were often under-reported, and that children and young people could provide unique observations on the experience of abuse in residential care as well as how best to support children and young people in care.

Lead researcher Dr Tim Moore from the Institute of Child Protection Studies (ICPS) said the study highlighted that adult’s views about children’s safety, did not always “match up” with what children and young people felt they needed to be safe.

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Catholic Knights of Malta remove top official amid questions over fidelity to Church teaching

ROME
LifeSite News

ROME, December 15, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) — The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, an organization of professed Catholic knights overseen by the Vatican, have removed a top official amid an alleged flap over the distribution of condoms in the developing world, and allegations of infidelity to Church teaching.

As the controversy reaches the public, the Order says it is now between them and the Vatican, which means it will involve Cardinal Raymond Burke, whom Pope Francis appointed as patron of the Order in 2014.

The Prince and Grand Master of the Order on Wednesday appointed Fra’ John Critien as Grand Chancellor ad interim to replace Albrecht von Boeselager after he was removed from his post last week on the grounds that he violated his promise of obedience.

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Fra’ John Edward Critien appointed Grand Chancellor of the Sovereign Order of Malta

ROME
Order of Malta

The Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Fra’ Matthew Festing, with the deliberative vote of the Sovereign Council, has appointed Fra’ John Edward Critien to the office of Grand Chancellor ad interim

The Sovereign Council met on December 14 at the Grand Magistry in Rome.

Fra’ John E. Critien, after taking the oath, has officially entered today into the fullness of his powers. Within the Government’s structure of the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Grand Chancellor is both the Foreign Minister and the Minister of the Interior. He is the head of the chancery and its related offices, and is responsible for relations with the national Associations of the Order. He is also the Order’s representative in dealings with third parties, and the implementing of policy and of internal administration of the Order. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he is in charge of all diplomatic missions of the Sovereign Order of Malta in the world.

John E. Critien, born in Sliema, Malta, on 29 September 1949, is the younger son of the late Major Frank Edward Critien, and the late May Grech.

After graduating Bachelor of Arts at the Royal University of Malta, John E. Critien continued his studies in Italy at the University for Foreigners of Perugia and the State University of Pisa. John E. Critien then settled in Pisa for 22 years where he taught English Language and Literature.

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The current situation between the Order of Malta and Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager

ROME
Order of Malta

Because, unfortunately, some details of the events of last week are being circulated and discussed in an unbalanced manner, the Grand Master of the Order, HMEH Fra’ Matthew Festing, would like to communicate the following. On Tuesday, December 6, an extremely grave and untenable situation became apparent concerning Albrecht von Boeselager’s position as Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta, and the Grand Master called Boeselager for a meeting in presence of the Grand Commander, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein and Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke as the Holy Father’s representative to the Order of Malta.

In the meeting the Grand Master said that the situation called for Albrecht von Boeselager to resign as Grand Chancellor, which is especially regretful because of his service to the Order for so many years. After Boeselager refused this, eventually the Grand Master had no choice but to order him, under the Promise of Obedience, in presence of the Grand Commander and the Cardinal Patronus, to resign. Boeselager refused again. Thus, the Grand Commander, with the backing of the Grand Master and the Sovereign Council and most members of the Order around the world, initiated a disciplinary procedure after which a member can be suspended from membership in the Order, and thus all Offices within the Order.

The reason for his removal as Grand Chancellor was due to severe problems which occurred during Boeselager’s tenure as Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta, and his subsequent concealment of these problems from the Grand Magistry, as proved in a report commissioned by the Grand Master last year.

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Grand Chancellor of Knights of Malta removed

ROME
Herald Malaysia

By Robert Mickens

The Knights of Malta made the surprise announcement last week: that the mandate of their Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager (pic), has come to an abrupt end only halfway through the German nobleman’s five-year term.

No reason was given in the short news item that was posted December 8 on the Sovereign
Military Hospitaller Order’s website.

The Order’s Prince and Grand Master, Matthew Festing, was just as vague in a letter (which La Croix International has seen) that was sent to the Knights’ national priors and other leading officials.

While Festing expressed “regret” that Boeselager “no longer holds the position of Grand Chancellor”, he added that the former official also would not have “any other position in and on behalf of the Order”.

Some saw that as a clear sign that the 67-year-old German, a Knight of Malta since 1976 and one of its top international officers since 1989, had been pushed out.

Festing said this was “with immediate effect” and added that members would “be informed as soon as possible” of the man who would temporarily fill the extremely important post of Grand Chancellor, basically the Order’s head of foreign affairs and the interior.

Sources close to the Knights of Malta, but who wished not to be identified, said it was suspected that Cardinal Raymond Burke played a role in sacking Boeselager.

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Across region, outdated sex abuse laws have loopholes

NEW ENGLAND
Boston Globe

By Todd Wallack, Jonathan Saltzman and Jenn Abelson GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 19, 2016

Laura and Antonio Siracusa were horrified when then discovered their teenage daughter was in a sexual relationship with her Spanish teacher from Cardinal Spellman High School in Brockton seven years ago. The daughter and teacher denied they were a couple, the Siracusas said. But the parents eventually found evidence they couldn’t ignore, including a hotel receipt and graphic photos of the teacher taken with their daughter’s phone.

The Catholic school fired the teacher after administrators saw the photos, according to the Siracusas and their attorney. But the teacher refused to stop seeing the Siracusas’ daughter.

Yet, when the parents contacted a lawyer and police to intervene, they got an ugly surprise: There was nothing authorities could do. In Massachusetts and some other states, it turns out, it’s legal for a teacher to have sex with a high school student, as long as the student is at least 16 and consents.

“It was unfathomable to us,” recalled Laura Siracusa, who told her story to state legislators last year in an unsuccessful effort to persuade them to change the law. “We couldn’t get our arms around the fact that we had no legal options.”

Attorneys, police, and child welfare advocates say the age of consent law in Massachusetts is just one example of how outdated statutes and regulations sometimes enable educators in both public and private schools to exploit students with impunity.

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Archbishop Byrnes heads back to Detroit, will return to Guam in January

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Dec 18, 2016 1

By Krystal Paco

Guam’s new coadjutor archbishop has returned home for the holidays. Archbishop Michael Byrnes left early Friday morning for Detroit. He’s scheduled to make the permanent move to Guam late-January.

Archbishop Byrnes was appointed by the Vatican on October 31 and given full authority over the Archdiocese of Agana.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Anthony Apuron faces a canonical trial in Rome for accusations of child molestation.

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Lawsuit: Archdiocese still pays Brouillard

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com December 19, 2016

A lawsuit alleges that the Archdiocese of Agana still sends regular retirement payments to former Guam priest Louis Brouillard, who is accused in seven of the 13 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far against the archdiocese and current and former Catholic priests on Guam.

Brouillard has publicly admitted to sexually abusing at least 20 boys while he was on Guam, from the late 1940s to 1981. Brouillard was ordained as a priest at the Archdiocese of Agana in 1948.

“Despite the prolonged and egregious sexual abuse, spanning a period of several decades, neither the Agana Archdiocese nor the Roman Catholic Church ever formally disciplined Brouillard, and in fact have paid and continued to pay up through present time, sums of money to Brouillard on a regular basis, ostensibly under the guise of a retirement stipend,” states the Dec. 16 lawsuit filed against Brouillard, the Archdiocese of Agana and up to 50 other unnamed people who may have helped, abetted, concealed or covered up Brouillard’s sex abuse of minors.

Rape allegation against another priest

The latest clergy sex abuse lawsuit alleges that Brouillard repeatedly sexually molested and abused James A. Bascon in or about 1968 or 1969 , when Bascon was an altar boy at the San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj and a member of the Boy Scouts of America.

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December 18, 2016

El Salvador church fires 3 priests for sex abuse

EL SALVADOR
Fox News

December 18, 2016 Associated Press

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – El Salvador’s Roman Catholic Church has separated three men from the priesthood after they were found guilty by church officials of sexually abusing children.

One is Rev. Jesus Delgado, one of the country’s best-known priests and a former top official in the San Salvador archdiocese.

Delgado served as a private secretary to assassinated Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero and wrote his biography.

Romero was killed in 1980 by a gunman linked to the military government of the time.

The archbishop of San Salvador identified the other two as Rev. Francisco Galvez and Rev. Antonio Molina.

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Research finds that children in residential care feel unsafe

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

19 December, 2016

The Royal Commission has released a new research report exploring children and young people’s views about their safety in residential care. Most of the children and young people who participated in the research described feeling unsafe in residential care due to bullying, harassment and the threat of sexual assault.

In Australia, residential care is considered to be a placement of last resort for children and young people requiring out-of-home care and is used in circumstances where other types of out-of-home care are unsuccessful or unavailable. In 2015 there were 2394 children in residential care in Australia.

The Royal Commission contracted researchers from the Institute of Child Protection Studies, Australian Catholic University, Queensland University of Technology and Griffith University to examine what safety means to children and young people in residential care and how children can be best protected and supported if safety issues arise.

The research was informed by a literature review and interviews with 27 young people who were living in, or had experience of living in, residential care. Children and young people also reported that younger and more vulnerable children should ideally be kept out of residential care altogether, or alternatively placed in units with others of a similar age and background.

Other key findings of the report include:

* Children felt safest in residential care when it felt like home, for example when they were in a clean and welcoming environment, where they were able to celebrate events, and were well supervised by adults;

* To be safe, participants needed their residential care to offer stability and predictability. Many of the young people interviewed described their time in residential care as chaotic, found it difficult to feel settled and spoke of the high turnover of staff;

* Children were provided with a sense of safety when their residential care provided routine, fair rules and the ability to be heard during decision-making;

* Residential care felt most safe when adults and institutions took children and young people’s safety seriously and had proactive strategies in place to protect children from harm.

Young people also reported that in order to feel safe in residential care, they needed workers to realise that it was their home and that it was the workers who were visiting their space, not vice-versa.

Royal Commission CEO, Philip Reed, said the research makes an important contribution to what is known about children and young people’s experiences of safety in contemporary residential care.

“The research adds to the growing consensus that children and young people need an opportunity to participate in decisions about their own safety, and to be taken seriously,” he said.

“It also highlights the need for stable placements so that children and young people can develop trusting relationships.”

Mr Reed said the research will directly contribute to the Royal Commission’s final report and may inform any recommendations that may be made in relation to residential care or out-of-home care.

Read the full report.

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Iglesia destituye a tres sacerdotes salvadoreños por abuso sexual de menores

EL SALVADOR
El Espectador

La Iglesia católica destituyó a tres sacerdotes salvadoreños tras ser encontrados culpables de abuso sexual de menores, aseguró este domingo el arzobispo de San Salvador, José Luis Escobar.

“Hemos concluido los procesos penales eclesiásticos en contra de los sacerdotes acusados de abuso sexual de menores. Los tres sacerdotes procesados fueron encontrados culpables en sus respectivos juicios, por lo que en los tres casos se impuso la pena de dimisión del estado clerical”, señaló Escobar en una rueda de prensa tras la misa dominical en la catedral.

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Vatican trial finds three El Salvadoran priests guilty of sex abuse

EL SALVADOR
Reuters

Three El Salvadoran priests have been found guilty of sexual abuse against minors at a Vatican ecclesiastical trial and suspended from their priestly duties, San Salvador’s Catholic Church announced Sunday.

Archbishop Jose Luis Escobar of San Salvador said Francisco Galvez, Antonio Molina and Jesus Delgado, the biographer and former secretary of murdered Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, were expelled after a criminal trial held at the Vatican found them responsible for sex crimes committed between 1980 and 2000.

No criminal charges have been brought against the three men by the Salvadoran government.

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Assignment Record– Rev. Dennis L. Peterson

TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Dennis L. Peterson was a priest of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, ordained in 1973. He served in a number of Houston parishes as an assistant and, for a time, was pastor of one. A master’s level social worker, Peterson founded the Houston Community Youth Center prior to ordination, in 1969. He was long-time director of Diocesan Youth Services and chaplain of of the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center. He also served on the diocesan Priests Personnel Committee.

In 1999 Peterson was placed on leave after he was accused of having sexually abused four children. One accuser claimed his abuse began in 1987 when he was age 14, and that it continued over a 10-year period. His parents had taken the boy to Peterson for counseling related to previous abuse by a Catholic Boy Scout leader. The other three were siblings – three boys and a girl – who said Peterson was a family friend in the 1970s and that he would wrestle with them in their living room and give them “wedgies.” They said they were afraid because Peterson was a deputy constable and had a large collection of guns. All of Peterson’s accusers said he plied them with alcohol and drugs.

Peterson’s accusers sued, but were unsuccessful because the statute of limitations required those claiming abuse as minors to file suit before age 20. Peterson died in July 2007.

Ordained: May 5, 1973
Died: July 12, 2007

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Editorial | Unsealed abuse case shows court’s role in scandal

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

The attorney general’s investigation of child sexual abuse across the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese unveils two terrible truths.

Priests and others within the church had been assaulting countless children for decades.

And church leaders and law enforcement professionals were not prosecuting the offenders, instead choosing to seal up cases and move priests from parish to parish, allowing for more children to become victims.

The Tribune-Democrat has vowed to help break down both cultures, and last Sunday – with help from both the Cambria courts and the diocese – we took a big step forward with a report on how the case of Monsignor Francis McCaa was mishandled by those trusted with protecting our communities and pursuing justice.

Thirty years ago – on Dec. 11, 1986 – the McCaa abuse case was sealed in Cambria County court by now-retired Judge Gerard Long.

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Archdiocese of Agaña enters a new, troubling era

GUAM
Sunday Post

By Neil Pang | For the Sunday Post

With Apuron’s canonical trial underway and a slew of civil lawsuits filed in Guam, the Catholic Church confronts new crises here and at the Vatican

With the Archdiocese of Agaña facing 13 lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse – and the real potential for additional suits to follow – the Catholic Church is preparing for what could be a drawn out and highly publicized exposure of alleged abuses and cover ups, as well as court ordered payouts possibly adding up to millions of dollars.

At the center of the current tumult are two interrelated events: the allegations of child sexual abuse leveled against local archdiocesan clergymen and the passage of Bill 326-33 into Public Law 33-187 that eliminated the statute of limitations in cases involving child sexual abuse.

Years of controversy

Contention and controversy were not new to the Archdiocese of Agaña prior to the May 17 statement made by Roy Quintanilla that alleged child sexual abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

For at least six years prior to Quintanilla’s accusation, Apuron often found himself the subject of news stories that intimately connected him to instances of alleged cover-ups of priests accused of abuse.

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December 17, 2016

Paedophiles views to be taken into account in child sex abuse inquiry

UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By JON ROGERS
Sat, Dec 17, 2016

The troubled £100 million inquiry, currently chaired by Professor Alexis Jay has unveiled her delayed review after a series of crises have hampered the government investigation.

However the review has already been met with outrage from various victims’ support groups as it was revealed that the public inquiry would talk to convicted paedophiles.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) states: “In addition we will carry out qualitative research with convicted sexual offenders to understand how child sexual exploitation networks are formed and sustained.”

Andi Lavery, who runs White Flowers Alba, a group of victims abused in the Catholic Church, said: “Interviewing paedophiles is wrong. It is demeaning. It is turning this into an experiment and it makes us survivors feel like laboratory rats. I am not being treated like a human being by Jay. They are using us as research.”

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Syracuse woman accused of sending child porn to All Saints defendant

NEW YORK
Syracuse.com

By John O’Brien | jobrien@syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — A federal grand jury has indicted a Syracuse woman on charges of producing child pornography of a 10-year-old girl then texting it to another child pornographer.

Kerry Smith, 41, was indicted on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and distributing child pornography.

She was accused in April of sending multiple photos of a naked 10-year-old girl to Jason Kopp, including pictures of her genitalia, according to the indictment.

After Kopp was arrested in March, he told investigators he’d received sexually explicit images of a child from a woman he knew only as “Kerry B,” according to an affidavit of FBI Special Agent Alix Skelton.

Investigators determined the woman was Smith by examining Kopp’s phone, the affidavit said. They confronted her and she admitted she’d produced the photos and texted them to Kopp, Skelton wrote.

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.

Government child sex abuse inquiry to interview paedophiles as victims hit out at ‘insulting’ decision

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Robert Mendick, chief reporter
16 DECEMBER 2016

Child sex abuse victims have condemned as “insulting” the decision to consult paedophiles as part of the Government’s £100 million national inquiry.

Professor Alexis Jay, the inquiry’s chairman, yesterday unveiled her long-awaited review following a series of crises that have dogged the abuse investigation, admitting its progress had been “too slow”.

But campaigners have accused Prof Jay of watering down victims’ public evidence sessions while adding an extra research project that will conduct interviews with convicted paedophiles.

The review states: “In addition we will carry out qualitative research with convicted sexual offenders to understand how child sexual exploitation networks are formed and sustained.”

But victims’s groups said it was outrageous that paedophiles would be ‘consulted’ by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and said it was evidence that Prof Jay, an eminent social worker, was attempting to ‘theorise’ crimes committed over decades by predatory abusers.

Raymond Stevenson, founder of the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, who was the victim of abuse in a children’s home in south London, said: “This is pathetic. You will not learn anything from speaking to paedophiles. They just lie anyway. It is a waste of public money.”

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“It will never end for me’

CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet/The Telegram

The last days of the Mount Cashel civil trial weren’t the only ones when the sordid details of abuse were rehashed and the effects on lives debated, but they have been powerful torment for the one John Doe who has most frequently attended court.

“I thought a couple times of leaving the courtroom. I was getting aggravated,” Doe said Friday outside court of the previous day’s developments — the beginning of the church’s closing arguments on why it should not be held liable.

The case involves four test case John Does who say the Roman Catholic Church should be held liable for abuse the boys suffered at the hands of certain Irish Christian Brothers at the orphanage from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.

The church’s arguments ended Friday, with Doe sitting forward on a wooden bench and listening to what he remarked later were “half-truths.”

None of the four test case John Does in the trial can be named, but this Doe, a retired teacher, has also had to wear the fact people who know him have seen him coming and going from the courthouse.

“It will be good to not be stuck out in public. I find that hard to take, too. There’s a shame comes with this you can’t shake,” he said, acknowledging he is looking forward to the end of the court proceedings for him and his family.

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Pastor accused of child molestation still held without bond

GEORGIA
News4Jax

By Elizabeth Campbell – Reporter
December 16, 2016

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Pastor Ken Adkins, has been in the Glynn County Jail for nearly four months since he was accused molesting a teenage boy, will remain locked up after another bond hearing Friday.

Adkins, 56, pastor of the Greater Dimensions Christian Fellowship, was denied bond in September on child molestation charges, was indicted by the Glynn County grand jury last month on three counts of child molestation, five counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of enticing a child for indecent purposes and one count of influencing a witness.

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, a young man told investigators that Adkins molested him in 2010 when he was a member of Adkins’ church as a boy under the age of 16.

Adkins’ lawyer, Kevin Gough, filed a new motion for bond and in reaction to the indictment said, “Having already demanded a speedy trial, and eager to clear his good name, Pastor Kenneth Adkins and his family look forward to his day in court.”

During Friday’s hearing on the motion, Gough called three people to the stand: a Waycross pastor, the GBI special agent on the case and a longtime friend of Adkins from Waycross. The pastor and friend said that Adkins does not pose any flight risk or risk to the community.

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Brevard County youth director accused of having sex with teen

FLORIDA
WESH

[with video]

Dan Billow
Reporter

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. —
A Cocoa church youth director has been charged with the sexual molestation of a girl he met through the ministry. His alleged illegal relationship with her resulted in charges of 14 instances of lewd or lascivious battery.

Jon Schils, 27, was arrested shortly after investigators recorded a phone call between him and the 14-year-old alleged victim, in which a police report said Schils told the girl not to talk to her mother about having sex. Detectives said they found evidence of sex at or near the Canaveral Groves ballfield where the two allegedly met. At first, the report said, the meetings were innocent. But before long, the alleged victim told detectives, the two had sexual intercourse 14 times.

“We charge everything the law will permit us to charge. Certainly, there’s also, before we make any charging decision, we’re also in consultation with the victim,” prosecutor Gary Beatty said.

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Ex-Parishioner Sues Over Harassment, Excommunication

ILLINOIS
Courthouse News Service

JEFF D. GORMAN

(CN) – An Illinois woman says in a defamation and assault lawsuit that she was branded a “witch” and cast out of her church for refusing sexual advances from her former pastor.

Araceli Guevera made the allegations against Manfred Malagon, International Christian Fellowship and United Pentecostal Church International in a Cook County Circuit Court complaint filed Thursday. She also sued Malagon’s wife Sarai.

Malagon was pastor of the organizations’ church in Elgin, Ill., which Guevera says she attended from 2008 to May 17, 2016.

Guevera claims Malagon send her texts in March of this year showing, “(1) a monkey with its hands and feet spread, exposing its penis; (2) a dog with its legs spread to show its genitalia; and (3) a woman with her breasts and buttocks exposed.”

In the ensuing weeks, Malagon allegedly asked Guevera to send him photos and videos of her nude.

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December 16, 2016

Lawyers for Msgr. Lynn seek dismissal of retrial for prosecutorial misconduct

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

DECEMBER 16, 2016

by Joseph A. Slobodzian, STAFF WRITER

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn – the archdiocesan official who served 33 months in prison before winning a new trial for his role in the Catholic church sex abuse scandal – have asked a Philadelphia judge to dismiss the case because of prosecutorial misconduct.

In a motion this week, defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom contended prosecutors withheld evidence that might have cleared Lynn in his first trial in 2012.

Lynn was not accused of sexually molesting children. Instead, the child endangerment charge involved his supervisory role as Philadelphia’s secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. In that role, he was responsible for investigating allegations against priests and recommending action to the archbishop.

The defense motion also challenged Lynn’s retrial as selective prosecution, noting that the county grand jury that recommended charges against Lynn also was “highly critical” of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and his successor, Cardinal Justin Rigali but they were not charged by Williams.

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Retired priest guilty on 5 charges stemming from restroom incidents with boys

IOWA
Omaha World-Herald

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The Rev. Paul Monahan has been found guilty by a judge of all five counts of invasion of privacy.

In a ruling released Friday afternoon, Associate Judge Gary Anderson said that he found the testimony of five male high school students who said the retired priest looked at their genitals in a public restroom “entirely credible” and that his actions violated their “reasonable expectation of privacy.”

“The activities of the defendant, Paul Andrew Monahan, were clear cut and lead to the inescapable conclusion that the defendant on that afternoon intentionally violated these boys’ reasonable expectations of privacy for the purpose of satisfying his sexual desires while the boys were in a state of partial nudity,” Anderson wrote in his decision.

In Iowa, invasion of privacy is an aggravated misdemeanor, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or a fine between $625 and $6,250.

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Brentwood church rape suit shows challenges in cases with young kids

TENNESEE
The Tennessean

Holly Meyer and Dave Boucher , The Tennessean December 16, 2016

Allegations of sexual misconduct, including the rape of a 3-year-old boy, at a Brentwood church have been “resolved,” says an attorney for the church.

“The only comment that I have is that statement that the parties have resolved their differences in both cases,” said Minton Mayer, an attorney for Fellowship Bible Church.

A lawsuit filed in December 2015 accused a teenager who was working in a Sunday school class of raping a 3-year-old child in August 2014. Although the lawsuit says the teen pleaded guilty to criminal charges, records of the case are not publicly available because he is a juvenile. Williamson County prosecutors declined to speak about any specific proceedings.

$37.5M sexual assault suit filed against Fellowship Bible Church

The circumstances highlight issues surrounding child care and safety within churches across the country, and the challenges law enforcement face in trying to investigate and pursue actions against possible perpetrators.

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Mount Cashel civil trial nearing the end of arguments

CANADA
The Telegram

Barb Sweet/The Telegram

By the end of today, the Mount Cashel civil trial could be done with arguments and in the hands of Justice Alphonsus Faour to decide.

Weather has hampered closing arguments this week but lawyers were back in court Friday. It’s possible they could finish up today or may have to sit for part of Saturday. The Catholic Church is represented by Toronto lawyers.

Faour’s decision will not come until sometime in 2017.

The case involves four test case John Does who say the Catholic Church should be held liable for abuse the boys suffered at the hands of certain Christian Brothers at the infamous orphanage during the era late 1940s to early 1960s.

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Hazel Green children’s minister arrested for child sex abuse

ALABAMA
WSFA

HAZEL GREEN, AL (WAFF) –
A Madison County children’s minister is charged with the sexual abuse of a child less than 12-years-old.

39-year-old James Vernon McNeal was arrested on Thursday.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office confirms NcNeal was the children’s pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church Hazel Green.

The church confirms McNeal was employed for six years and has since been fired.

A prayer service is scheduled for 6:00pm Saturday.

Investigators report there is one victim at this time. The exact age of the child has not been released.

It’s not clear where the alleged crime took place.

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Priest’s sentencing delayed as judge balks at hearing on sex charges

CONNECTICUT
Journal Inquirer

By Alex Wood
Journal Inquirer

The priest who formerly served East Windsor’s two Roman Catholic parishes was to be sentenced Thursday for providing gunpowder to a juvenile parishioner, and federal prosecutors wanted to use the occasion essentially to put him on trial on accusations that he had sexually assaulted the boy as well.

But Judge Robert N. Chatigny torpedoed the plan, causing more delay in the sentencing of the priest, Paul A. Gotta, in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

In July 2013 Gotta was placed on leave from his post as administrator

of St. Philip Church on South Main Street and St. Catherine Church on Windsorville Road as a result of sexual abuse allegations by the boy, Kyle Bass, who had been arrested on firearms charges.

The issue the judge faced Thursday is a result of federal sentencing procedures in which a judge who is sentencing a defendant for a crime can also consider other misconduct by the defendant.

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Judge finds retired priest guilty on all five counts of invasion of privacy

IOWA
Daily Nonpareil

By John Schreier
jschreier@nonpareilonline.com

The Rev. Paul Monahan has been found guilty by a judge of all five counts of invasion of privacy.
In a ruling released Friday afternoon, Associate Judge Gary Anderson said he found the testimony of five male high school students who said the retired priest looked at their genitals in a public restroom “entirely credible” and that his actions violated their “reasonable expectation of privacy.”

“The activities of the Defendant, Paul Andrew Monahan, were clear cut and lead to the inescapable conclusion that the Defendant on that afternoon intentionally violated these boys’ reasonable expectations of privacy for the purpose of satisfying his sexual desires while the boys were in a state of partial nudity,” Anderson wrote in his decision.

In Iowa, invasion of privacy is an aggravated misdemeanor, which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence and/or a fine between $625 and $6,250.

Monahan, 83, a former principal at St. Albert High School and veteran priest in southwest Iowa, did not take the stand during his three-day bench trial, which ran from Nov. 28-30.

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Alabama minister accused of sexually abusing child

ALABAMA
AL.com

By Ashley Remkus | aremkus@al.com

An Alabama children’s minister has been arrested on an accusation he inappropriately touched a child.

James Vernon McNeal, 39, is charged with sexual abuse of a child younger than 12, a Class B felony. If convicted, McNeal faces two to 20 years in prison. He was released from the Madison County Jail after posting $30,000 bail on Thursday.

McNeal, a children’s minister at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hazel Green, is accused of abusing a child from the church, said Madison County sheriff’s Lt. Brian Chaffin.

“We’re still investigating,” Chaffin said. “But, we don’t expect there are any other victims.”

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Children’s minister in Madison County arrested, charged with sexual abuse of a child

ALABAMA
WHNT

MADISON COUNTY, Ala. – A children’s minister from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hazel Green has been arrested on two charges of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12. The church has confirmed to WHNT News 19 James “Javie” McNeal was arrested yesterday.

Lon Ostrzycki, lead pastor of the church, says “McNeal has been terminated and isn’t allowed on the property.”

Church leaders are working with the families involved.

Ostrzycki called the situation a bad mistake and says McNeal will suffer the consequences. He also says the church will continue to preach Jesus and they will pull together as a church family and pray.

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Kardinal: Missbrauch bei Regensburger Domspatzen aufgeklärt

DEUTSCHLAND
T-Online

Der ehemalige Regensburger Bischof und jetzige Kurienkardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat den Vorwurf zurückgewiesen, die Aufklärung des Missbrauchskandals bei den Regensburger Domspatzen verschleppt zu haben. Der “Passauer Neuen Presse” (Freitag) sagte er: “Der Versuch, einen früheren Bischof von Regensburg gegen den jetzigen auszuspielen, scheitert angesichts der Tatsachen.” Nach Bekanntwerden des Skandals habe er ab Frühjahr 2010 “den Aufklärungsprozess initiiert und strukturiert”. Er sei froh und dankbar, dass sein Nachfolger Rudolf Voderholzer dies fortsetze.

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Kardinal Müller hält Fälle für aufgeklärt

DEUTSCHLAND
BR

Der ehemalige Regensburger Bischof und jetzige Kurienkardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller hat den Vorwurf zurückgewiesen, die Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandals bei den Regensburger Domspatzen verschleppt zu haben. Er habe “den Aufklärungsprozess initiiert”.

Der “Passauer Neuen Presse” sagte Müller: “Der Versuch, einen früheren Bischof von Regensburg gegen den jetzigen auszuspielen, scheitert angesichts der Tatsachen.” Nach Bekanntwerden des Skandals habe er ab Frühjahr 2010 “den Aufklärungsprozess initiiert und strukturiert”. Er sei froh und dankbar, dass sein Nachfolger Rudolf Voderholzer dies fortsetze.

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Kardinal Müller offenbar zu Gesprächen mit Opfern bereit

DEUTSCHLAND
Passauer Neue Presse

[Cardinal Müller apparently is ready for talks with victims.]

Der Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, ist offenbar zu Gesprächen mit Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs bei den Regensburger Domspatzen bereit. Das deutete er im PNP-Interview an. Eine entsprechende Frage beantwortete er mit dem Hinweis, persönliche seelsorgerliche Gespräche blieben “ihrer Natur nach vertraulich”. Solche Gespräche waren von Opfervertretern gefordert worden. Müller nahm in dem Interview auch Stellung zum Umgang mit wiederverheirateten Geschiedenen und zur Forderung des Papstes nach einer synodalen Kirche.

Herr Kardinal, im Rahmen der Reihe “MENSCHEN in EUROPA” in Passau werden Sie im November 2017 auf den EKD-Ratsvorsitzenden Heinrich Bedford-Strohm treffen. Das Reformationsjubiläum wird dann schon Geschichte sein. Sehen Sie das Lutherjahr als Anlass zu ökumenischer Freude oder eher als ein Ereignis, bei dem die Spaltung zwischen den Konfessionen besonders deutlich wird?

Kardinal Müller: Die Spaltung der Christenheit widerspricht dem Willen Jesu Christi und schmerzt uns bis ins familiäre Leben hinein. Das protestantische Reformationsfest wird 2017 nicht mehr wie in den vorhergehenden Zentenarien in konfessionalistischer Selbstabgrenzung begangen. Hoffentlich gibt es so wenig wie möglich politische Vereinnahmungen des Christentums als eine Art Zivilreligion, die man jenseits des Wahrheitsanspruchs der Kirche nur als gesellschaftlichen Kitt braucht. Angesichts des sich ausbreitenden Säkularismus, d.h. des Lebens und Denkens “als ob es Gott nicht gebe”, wollen wir als katholische, evangelische und orthodoxe Christen gemeinsam Zeugnis geben von all dem, was Gott für uns getan hat in Jesus Christus, seinem WORT, das unser Fleisch angenommen hat (Johannes 1,14). In diesem Geist der Gemeinsamkeit können wir dann auch über die Unterschiede und die noch vorhandenen Lehrgegensätze z.B. im Verständnis der Mission und des Wesens der Kirche und der Sakramente sprechen.

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Domspatzen-Missbrauch: Müller will Aufarbeitung unterstützen

VATIKAN
Radio Vatikan

[The Prefect of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Congregation, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, wants to support the processing of the abuse cases at the Regensburg Cathedral in Germany.]

Der Präfekt der Glaubenskongregation, Kardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, will die Aufarbeitung der Misshandlungs- und Missbrauchsfälle bei den Regensburger Domspatzen unterstützen. Bei dem weltberühmten Regensburger Knabenchor war es zwischen 1953 und 1992 in Hunderten Fällen zu körperlicher und sexueller Gewalt gekommen. Er wolle mit Rechtsanwalt Ulrich Weber zusammenarbeiten, der im Auftrag des Bistums Regensburg die Missbrauchsfälle untersucht, sagte der frühere Regensburger Bischof der „Passauer Neuen Presse“ am Freitag. Der Kurienkardinal erklärte, was er zur Aufklärung der Straftaten beitragen könne, das werde er Weber mitteilen.

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Kardinal Müller nennt Vorwürfe mangelnder Missbrauchs-Aufklärung bei Domspatzen ,postfaktisch’

DEUTSCHLAND
Wochenblatt

[The former Regensburg bishop Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Mueller has rejected allegations that the he could have acted on the abuse scandal at the Regensburger Domspatzen.]

Der frühere Regensburger Bischof Gerhard Ludwig Kardinal Müller hat Vorwürfe zurückgewiesen, die Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandals bei den Regensburger Domspatzen verhindert zu haben.

In einem Interview mit der Passauer Neuen Presse (Druckausgabe vom 16. Dezember) wies Müller die Vorwürfe, die auch von Insidern der Regensburger Domspatzen gegenüber dem Wochenblatt getätigt wurden, zurück, er habe die Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandal bei den Domspatzen verhindert oder verzögert. Wörtlich sagte Müller der PNP: „Die gezielt verbreiteten postfaktischen Behauptungen, ich hätte die Aufklärung sogar noch drei Jahre über das Ende meiner Amtszeit am 1. Juli 2012 hinaus verzögert und sogar verhindert, sind schlichtweg falsch, weil sie den Tatsachen widersprechen. Man muss die Zuständigkeiten und die entsprechenden Amtszeiten klar voneinander trennen.“

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Erzbischof zieht sich nach Pädophilie-Skandal zurück

AUSTRALIEN
news.de

[Anglican Archbishop Roger Herft has resigned because of his failure to properly handle sexual abuse allegations by clergy.]

Im Zuge eines Skandals um Kindesmissbrauch in Australien hat der anglikanische Erzbischof von Perth angekündigt, vorzeitig in den Ruhestand zu gehen. Roger Herft werde sich im Juli 2017 und damit ein Jahr früher als geplant zurückziehen, teilte die anglikanische Diözese der westaustralischen Großstadt mit. Bis dahin werde der 68-Jährige seinen angesammelten Urlaub in Anspruch nehmen.

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Childhood Trauma Effects Often Persist Into 50s and Beyond

UNITED STATES
Next Avenue

By Emily Gurnon
Health & Caregiving Editorchildhood trauma

The responses to an open-ended online survey question were heart-wrenching.

“Those five years ruined everything. My self-identity is sad, melancholic, shy, retiring and angry… never content or at peace.”

“It has hampered me all my working life.”

“Problems with relationships with the opposite sex my whole life made me think something was wrong with me.”

“I will never know the person I could have become….”

Lasting Scars of Childhood Sexual Abuse

All of those comments were made by adult men who had experienced sexual abuse at the hands of clergy, particularly priests, when they were children. Collected as part of a 2010 survey, they illustrate the insidious harm that can follow individuals throughout their lives when they are badly hurt — physically or emotionally — as children.

A study of more than 21,000 child abuse survivors age 60 and older in Australia found they reported a greater rate of failed marriages and relationships.
(See below for a video of one such man.)

Childhood sexual abuse is just one type of early trauma that can affect one’s life for decades — even into middle age and beyond. Research has shown that childhood trauma, ranging from parents’ divorce to alcoholism in the home, increases the odds of heart disease, stroke, depression, suicide, diabetes, lung diseases, alcoholism and liver disease later in life. It also increases risky health behaviors like smoking and having a large number of sexual partners. And it contributes to “low life potential,” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

One more thing: those traumatized as children die earlier.

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MS–New bishop named; Victims are skeptical

MISSISSIPPI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Friday, Dec. 16, 2016

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

A new bishop is coming to the Biloxi Catholic diocese. Though we know little about him, we’re skeptical that Louis Kihneman will make Mississippi’s kids any safer.

[Catholic News Agency]

We’re troubled by his involvement in a Corpus Christi child sex abuse and cover up case. He’s accused of essentially ignoring or white-washing a so-called church “investigation” into allegedly improper sexual advances on a child by a deacon who became a priest named Fr. John Feminelli. Kihneman also reportedly swore the alleged victim and his mother to secrecy.

[BishopAccountability.org]

He also comes from Texas, a state with particularly predator-friendly laws that make it very hard for victims to file lawsuits to expose those who commit or conceal child sex crimes. So we know far less about the church’s abuse and cover up scandal in Texas than in many states.

When new bishops take office, many Catholics bend over backwards to give them the benefit of every doubt. We hope that doesn’t happen here. Complacency protects no one. Only vigilance protects the vulnerable. So we hope Mississippians will make Kihneman earn their trust. We hope they’ll be just as cautious with their kids around clergy as they were under Bishop Roger Morin.

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Sex abuse victim questions Seattle archdiocese transparency

WSHINGTON
National Catholic Reporter

Dan Morris-Young | Dec. 16, 2016

A woman who won a $950,000 judgment against the Seattle archdiocese last month for negligence related to her 1983 rape by a janitor at a Seattle Catholic grade school, has issued a public rebuke of how the settlement was portrayed to parishioners.

Referred to as “A.W.” to protect her identity, the woman was a 10-year-old fifth grader at the time of the attack at St. John the Evangelist School.

In a Dec. 14 statement released through her attorneys, the victim charges that a message to St. John parishioners and school families was misleading and “makes it sound like my claim had no merit.”

A Nov. 17 “message to the parish and the school” signed by Fr. Crispin Okoth, pastor, and Bernadette O’Leary, principal, expressed regret for the incident, hope for the victim’s healing, and assurance that the school is committed to “a safe environment for all children in our care.”

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National child sex abuse inquiry will not be scaled back

UNITED KINGDOM
East Lothian Courier

The national child sexual abuse inquiry will retain all of its investigations after an internal review concluded it should not be scaled back.

Chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay rejected suggestions that the remit of the probe is too broad to succeed – describing its scope as a “virtue”.

She said she plans to make recommendations in an interim report in 2018 and spoke of her determination to make “substantial progress” by 2020.

However, no final completion date has been given for what is the largest public inquiry ever established in the UK.

There have been suggestions that it could last for up to a decade.

On Friday, Professor Jay published a review of the troubled inquiry, which she announced in August after being named as its fourth head since it was launched in 2014.

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Former Oxted priest now facing 24 indecent assault charges as trial date set

UNITED KINGDOM
Surrey Mirror

Two more people have come forward with sex abuse allegations against a retired priest who is already facing a string of indecent assault charges, Guildford Crown Court was told on Friday (December 16).

It brings the number of complainants prepared to testify against the former Rector of Oxted, Guy Bennett, from 10 to 12, it was revealed.

Bennett, 83, of Lewes Road, East Grinstead, appeared to face a new indictment containing a total of 25 counts – 24 of indecent assault against complainants who were under the age of 16 at the time, and one of outraging public decency.

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Alexis Jay: I can’t put a date on when inquiry will be complete

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

16 DECEMBER 2016

The national child sexual abuse inquiry will retain all of its investigations after an internal review concluded it should not be scaled back.

Chairwoman Professor Alexis Jay rejected suggestions that the remit of the probe is too broad to succeed – describing its scope as a “virtue”.

She said she plans to make recommendations in an interim report in 2018 and spoke of her determination to make “substantial progress” by 2020.

However, no final date has been given for what is the largest public inquiry ever established in the UK.

There have been suggestions that it could last for up to a decade.

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Independent Inquiry publishes Internal Review into its work

UNITED KINGDOM
Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse

16 December

The Review refocuses the Inquiry and lays out a detailed schedule of work for 2017. It recognises that the Inquiry has two equally important tasks: unravelling institutional failures of the past and making meaningful recommendations to keep children safe today and in the future. It concludes that the Inquiry’s work needed rebalancing to make sure sufficient attention was paid to making recommendations for the future.

The Truth Project, research and analysis and public hearings remain central to the Inquiry’s work and its terms of reference also remain the same. All 13 of the existing investigations will continue.

The Inquiry is also proposing changes to the scope and timing of the public hearing for the investigation into the institutional responses to allegations of sexual abuse involving the late Lord Janner of Braunstone.

The nature and breadth of the Inquiry’s terms of reference require it to make recommendations across an unprecedented range of institutions. The Inquiry’s research and analysis programme is essential to help it understand today’s child protection challenges. The review therefore announces an expanded programme of research and analysis for 2017/18.

To support this, a series of seminars will be held in 2017/18 to gather information and views about significant issues relevant to child sexual abuse. This will help the Inquiry identify areas for further investigation and scrutiny. They will hear from victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, institutions, practitioners in the field of child protection and leading researchers. In 2018, the Inquiry will publish a preliminary report containing recommendations.

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Independent inquiry into child sexual abuse ‘will not be scaled back’

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The chair of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has rejected calls for it to be scrapped or scaled back, saying its scope is “a virtue”.

Prof Alexis Jay said the broad nature of the inquiry would allow it to recommend “fundamental changes”.

None of its 13 separate investigations will be dropped, a report said, but it may stop short of examining whether the late peer Lord Janner abused children.

The inquiry has announced it will only hold four public hearings next year.

The announcements were made in a report following an internal review, ordered by Prof Jay after her appointment in August.

The report also set the troubled inquiry’s timetable for 2017.

The child sexual abuse inquiry so far
Visible progress needed in inquiry
Who is Prof Alexis Jay?

Prof Jay said she planned to make recommendations in an interim report in 2018 and vowed to make “substantial progress” by 2020.

However, IICSA officials refused to say when the inquiry would end.

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Child abuse inquiry to cut number of public hearings

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Sandra Laville
Friday 16 December 2016

Public inquiry style hearings into key institutions in the national child abuse investigation are being reduced to speed up the process and refocus on preventing abuse now and in the future.

In an internal review published on Friday, the inquiry chair, Prof Alexis Jay, says she is committed to pursuing all 13 investigations into non-recent abuse within institutions. But in some cases, the review reveals, there will only be one public hearing into a key area or institution, although the single hearings are likely to last days or weeks.

The apparent move away from a public inquiry in the mould of the Leveson and Bloody Sunday inquiries may anger some participants and their lawyers, who pressed the then home secretary, Theresa May, for a statutory public inquiry in which witnesses would be forced to answer questions under oath.

In 2017 four public inquiry-style hearings will be held: two on child migrants, one on abuse within the English Benedictine congregation of the Roman Catholic church, and one on Knowl View school in Rochdale, which was linked to abuse by the late MP Cyril Smith.

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Rev. Msgr. Louis F. Kihneman, III named Fourth Bishop of Biloxi

MISSISSIPPI
Gulf Pine Catholic

DECEMBER 16, 2016

Pope Francis has named Msgr. Louis Kihneman, a priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, to serve as the fourth Bishop of Biloxi. The appointment was announced today, December 16 in Washington, D.C. by the papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre.

Bishop-elect Kihneman, the new chief shepherd of the 58,000 Catholics in South Mississippi, succeeds Bishop Roger Morin, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 on March 7, 2016. Bishop-elect Kihneman will be introduced and speak to the media at a news conference today, Friday, December 16, at 10:30 a.m. at the Pastoral Center of the Diocese of Biloxi, located at 1790 Popps Ferry Rd. The event will be live streamed on the diocesan website: http://www.biloxidiocese.org

Bishop Morin called the appointment of Bishop-elect Kihneman “a wonderful early Christmas gift from Pope Francis” for the people of the Diocese of Biloxi.

Bishop-elect Kihneman, no stranger to the Gulf Coast region, said he is both honored and humbled by the Holy Father’s appointment.

“It is with great joy and deep humility and faith that I accept the appointment by our Holy Father to be the next Bishop of the Diocese of Biloxi. I have been deeply touched by the welcome and hospitality that I have already received, especially from Bishop Morin and my brother priests,” he said. “As a son of a family of the Gulf Coast I have fond memories of summers and summer camp as a boy in the area and thus I feel as if the Lord has lead me full circle in some ways back home. I look forward to getting to know you and growing with you in the love of Jesus Christ and together sharing that love with all our brother and sisters. We have a deep call to share the Word of God, the Good News with all and to bring them to Christ. I look forward to building on all the good work that has already been done. May our loving God bless us as we build up his kingdom together.”

Bishop-elect Kihneman was ordained to the priesthood on November 18, 1977 at the Corpus Christi Cathedral by Bishop Thomas J. Drury. Presently, Bishop-elect Kihneman serves the Diocese of Corpus Christi as Vicar General & Moderator of the Curia while also serving St. Philip the Apostle Parish as Pastor.

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Other Pontifical Acts, 16.12.2016

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bulletin

The Holy Father has appointed:

Msgr. Louis F. Kihneman as bishop of Biloxi (area 24,992, population 815,494, Catholics 59,745, priests 84, permanent deacons 38, religious 66), United States of America. The bishop-elect was born in 1952 in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States of America, and was ordained a priest in 1977. He carried out his ecclesiastical studies in the St. Mary Seminary, Houston, obtaining a Master’s degree in religious pedagogy and in theology from the University of St. Thomas, Houston. He has served in a number of roles, including: vicar of the parish of St. Isidro Labrador, mission of the diocese of Corpus Christi in Arteaga in Mexico; diocesan director of religious education and parish vicar in Robstown and in Corpus Christi; parish priest in Alice; member of the Priest Personal Board; director of priestly vocations and director of the St. John Maria Vianney house of studies; adjunct vicar for the clergy (1988-1995); parish priest in Rockport; diocesan chancellor; and member of the presbyteral council. In 1990 he was named Chaplain of His Holiness. He is currently vicar general and pastor of the St. Philip Parish in Corpus Christi. He succeeds Bishop Roger P. Morin, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese was accepted by the Holy Father.

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New Biloxi bishop humbled, joyed by his appointment

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

by Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Dec 16, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday the Vatican announced that Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Roger Morin of Biloxi, and appointed Louisiana native Msgr. Louis Kihneman as his successor.

A priest of the Diocese of Corpus Christi for 39 years, Msgr. Kihneman, 64, said in a Dec. 16 press release announcing his appointment that he accepts the Holy Father’s nomination with “great joy and deep humility and faith.”

“I have been deeply touched by the welcome and hospitality that I have already received, especially from Bishop Morin and my brother priests,” he said.

Born in Lafayette, La. Feb. 17, 1952, Msgr. Kihneman grew up in various places along the Gulf Coast, including Corpus Christi, Texas, where he was ordained a priest Nov. 18, 1977.

As a son of a family from the Gulf Coast area, Kihneman said he has “fond memories of summers and summer camp as a boy in the area,” and feels that in some ways “the Lord has lead me full circle…back home.”

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Suit: Elgin pastor accused of sexual assault, battery

ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times

Sara Freund

A northwest suburban pastor is being sued by a church member who claims that for months she was sexually harassed, defamed and then excommunicated from the congregation by him.

The lawsuit was filed Thursday against pastor Manfred Malagon, his wife, the United Pentecostal Church International and the International Christian Fellowship in Cook County Circuit Court. The International Christian Fellowship church holds services at 240 Standish Street in Elgin and is operated by the United Pentecostal Church International.

In March, Malagon began sending the woman lewd text messages, which included photos of monkey and dog genitalia and a naked woman, the lawsuit stated. He offered to send nude photos of himself and requested nude photos and videos of the woman.

A few months later, the suit alleges, the woman was sexually assaulted when Malagon kissed, hugged and fondled the woman under a set of stairs in the church. When the woman would come for services on Thursdays and Sundays, the pastor would repeat this unwanted sexual behavior many times. On another occasion, he forced her into a room in the church, sexually touched her and pressed his hips against her body, according to the lawsuit.

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13th lawsuit filed against Archdiocese for sexual abuse claims

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

James Bascon is the seventh victim to come forward with allegations that Father Louis Brouillard sexually assaulted him.

Guam – Another sexual abuse victim has come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the Archdiocese of Agana in a lawsuit that was filed Friday.

This latest lawsuit comes from James Bascon who accused former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard of sexually assaulting him in the 1960s when Bascon was between 12 to 13 years old.

Bascon is the seventh former altar server to file a civil suit against Brouillard and the church. The other six are Anthony Vegafria, Vicente San Nicolas, Norman J.D. Aguon, Leo Tudela, Bruce Diaz and Vicente Guerrero Perez.

Four others have filed lawsuits against Archbishop Anthony Apuron who’s currently facing a canonical trial in Rome on the similar allegations. They are Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, Walter Denton and the Estate of Joseph “Sonny” Quinata who revealed his decades-long secret to his mother on his deathbed 11 years earlier.

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St Patrick’s College in Maynooth seeks new president

IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Catholic bishop trustees of St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, have advertised for a new president. The trustees are the four Catholic Archbishops in Ireland and 13 diocesan bishops.

The new president will assume office next summer for a five-year term,“which may be renewed or extended for one further term”.

He will succeed Msgr Hugh Connolly, a priest of Dromore diocese, one of only two Catholic dioceses that are wholly within Northern Ireland. Msgr Connolly became president at Maynooth in 2007.
His period as president has not been without incident.

Following publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports in 2009 the Vatican initiated apostolic visitations (investigations) of the Irish church. In 2011, a visitation team, led by the Cardinal Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan, inquired into Ireland’s seminaries. The Cardinal was said to be concerned about what he felt was laxity in theological formation at Maynooth.

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Australian Lawyers Alliance challenges sex abuse royal commission on proposed bills

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

Innocent people could be wrongfully jailed under reforms put forward by the child sex abuse royal commission, with the Australian Lawyers Alliance describing the proposal as “dangerous”.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has released draft bills which would allow more details about an accused person’s past, known as tendency and co-incidence evidence, to be put before a jury.

In releasing the draft bills, royal commission chief executive Philip Reed said tendency and co-incidence evidence as well as joint trials, involving a number of alleged victims of the same defendant, could be significant in child sex abuse cases.

“Where the only evidence of child sexual abuse offences is the complainant’s evidence, it is likely to be more difficult for the jury to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offences occurred because the jury is effectively considering the account of one person against the account of another,” he said.

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Members Revealed for National Redress Scheme

AUSTRALIA
Pro Bono Australia

Friday, 16th December 2016

Wendy Williams, Journalist

A broad group of specialists from across Australia have been appointed to advise the national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, creating “a unique opportunity to show survivors that they have been listened to and heard”.

The 15 member Independent Advisory Council on Redress, named on Friday, includes survivors of institutional abuse, representatives from support organisations, legal and psychological experts, Indigenous and disability experts, institutional interest groups and those with a background in government.

Former solicitor and Western Australian Attorney General Hon Cheryl Edwardes AM, who has had a long career in victim advocacy and support, will chair the council.

President of Blue Knot Foundation Dr Cathy Kezelman AM said the broad representation of the council was “critical” to the creation of a fair and equitable scheme.

“The establishment of a national redress scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse creates a unique opportunity to show survivors that they have been listened to and heard – that what happened to them mattered,” Kezelman said.

“The harm done to them has been acknowledged and they will receive support and some compensation.

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Clergy abuse victims will also vote on bankruptcy payment plans

MINNESOTA
Bemidji Pioneer

By Richard Chin / St. Paul Pioneer Press on Dec 15, 2016

ST. PAUL—Competing bankruptcy payment plans drawn up by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and victims of clerical sexual abuse will go to the victims as well as parishes, vendors and other creditors for a vote.

Judge Robert Kressel, presiding over the archdiocese’s case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Minnesota, ordered lawyers on both sides Thursday to start preparing documents and ballots that will be sent to creditors in the case, including hundreds of survivors of clergy sexual abuse. The vote is expected early next year.

The archdiocese plan calls for a proposed trust fund for claimants of about $150 million, the bulk of which will come from settlements with insurance carrier groups. The archdiocese would also contribute about $14 million in direct cash and other assets from the church to the trust fund, and $500,000 for a counseling fund for victims of sexual abuse.

The competing plan developed by the survivors’ committee calls for the archdiocese to pay about $80 million of its own money or money it would raise through borrowing. The plan developed by lawyers for about 450 victims also would allow the victims to pursue claims against the insurance companies which survivors’ lawyers believe will exceed the amount being offered in the archdiocese plan. The victims’ plan also would allow the survivors to continue to seek claims in lawsuits against individual parishes.

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LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST ELGIN MINISTER ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE

ILLINOIS
ABC 7

By John Garcia
Thursday, December 15, 2016

ELGIN, Ill. (WLS) — A lawsuit has been filed against a minister in Elgin, Ill., who is accused of sexually abusing a woman.

The alleged victim, a former member of his church, said the pastor sexually abused her on numerous occasions, harassed her with text messages and then called her names in front of the congregation during his sermons.

One church in Elgin is home to a small congregation of members of the International Christian Fellowship, which rents space for worship led by their pastor Manfred Malagon.

The lawsuit states where the victim claims that Malagon sexually abused her.

“In the church building, he grabbed her and put her into a closet and abused her, put her under the stairs and abused her,” Richard Gordon, the alleged victim’s attorney said.

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13th victim to accused clergy of sex abuse comes forward

GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Dec 16, 2016

By Krystal Paco

60-year-old James Bascon is the 13th victim to surface and sue Guam’s Catholic church. The Inarajan man alleges he was around 12 or 13 years old when he fell victim to Father Louis Brouillard. According to court filings, Bascon was an altar boy at San Isidro Catholic Church and a Boy Scout when the priest repeatedly sexually molested him.

Court papers also describe swimming trips with Father Brouillard, who would swim completely naked and instruct the boys to do the same before he molested them.

Father Broiullard, who now lives in Minnesota, has been accused of being a pedophile priest by former altar boys Norman J.D. Aguon, Leo Tudela, Bruce Diaz, Vicente Perez, Vicente San Nicolas and Anthony Vegafria.

Former altar boys that have accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of sexual molestation are Walter Denton, Roland Sondia, Roy Quintanilla, and the Estate of Joseph “Sonny” Quinata. And former altar boy Paul Joseph Borja alleges he was abused by now-deceased priest of the Chalan Pago church Father Antonio Cruz.

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Child sex abuse inquiry head to reveal schedule for 2017

UNITED KINGDOM
Sky News

The head of the troubled child abuse inquiry will attempt to get the process back on track later when she outlines its schedule for the coming year.

Professor Alexis Jay, who is the inquiry’s fourth chairwoman in only two years, will try to draw a line under a year that has seen a victims’ group withdraw and several lawyers leave.

A leading barrister told Sky News the inquiry has been “so badly managed from the beginning”.

Michael Mansfield QC said: “It is a rather dismal exercise and I am not surprised that groups of survivors have had enough because they’ve been waiting in some cases 20-25 years to see justice in their cases.”

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Bankruptcy judge may allow vote on two Archdiocese settlement plans

MINNESOTA
Fox 9

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) – A federal bankruptcy judge has indicated he may allow all parties to vote on two competing clergy abuse settlement plans against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

In a packed courtroom filled with clergy abuse victims and attorneys, Federal Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel heard arguments on the disclosure statement in the case.

Attorney Richard Anderson representing the Archdiocese told Judge Kressel that they have now settled with all of the Archdiocese’s insurance carriers on dollar amounts. He did not disclose the new amount, but on Nov. 15 the Archdiocese announced they had reached an agreement with 11 of 13 insurance underwriters to increase their settlement fund to $133 million.

Bankruptcy judge may allow vote on two Archdiocese settlement plans
Victims’ attorney Robert Kugler argued that the Archdiocese settlement is not reasonable. Kugler told the judge that he believes more money is available from the insurance companies and that survivors could not evaluate the settlement disclosure without the full knowledge how much could be paid out. Additionally, Kugler suggested that the Archdiocese could borrow $38 million, hold a fundraiser, and assess parishes for settlement fund money.

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December 15, 2016

Submissions for public hearing into disability service providers published

AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

16 December, 2016

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published the written submissions for the public hearing into disability service providers on its website.

The public hearing was held in Sydney in July 2016. It inquired into the responses of the following disability service providers to allegations of child sexual abuse:

1. Mater Dei School located in Camden, New South Wales;
2. Gold Coast Family Support Group (now FSG Australia);
3. The Disability Trust and Interchange Shoalhaven.

The public hearing also examined the current systems, policies, procedures and practices for preventing, receiving, investigating and responding to allegations of child sexual abuse within institutions providing services to children with disability.

The submissions can be found on the Case Study 41 page of the Royal Commission’s website.

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Perth Archbishop Roger Herft resigns in royal commission fallout

AUSTRALIA
PerthNow

Nick Butterly, PerthNow
December 15, 2016

THE Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft, has resigned after admitting to a royal commission earlier this year he let down survivors of child sexual abuse.

The resignation makes Archbishop Herft the highest-ranking casualty of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

In a statement last night, the Church revealed that Arch-bishop Herft, who had stood aside in October, would not return.

Victims’ advocacy groups had demanded his resignation after he gave evidence to the royal commission in August showing how he had failed to act on warnings of priests abusing children in Newcastle when he led the Church there between 1993 and 2005.

“The Archbishop of Perth, The Most Reverend Roger Herft, informed the Diocesan Council today of his decision to retire a year ahead of schedule, namely 7 July 2017,” the Church statement said.

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OH–Abuse victims blast OH court ruling & appeal to lawmakers

OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For immediate release: Thursday, Dec 15, 2016

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

We’re very disappointed that Ohio’s Supreme Court arbitrarily insists that damage caps apply even in horrific cases of child sexual abuse by clergy. Had the court sided with innocent kids and wounded victims, instead of with powerful employers, Ohio kids would be safer today. Instead, those kids are more vulnerable because those who ignore or hide child sex crimes have essentially gotten a reprieve from the state’s highest court.

[Sandusky Register]

Severe wrongdoing stops when wrongdoers are severely punished. But this ruling does just the opposite – it enshrines a clear, low ‘cap’ that will do little to prod wrongdoers to stop doing wrong.

So tomorrow, an Ohio cult could hire a convicted, serial child molester after his release from prison. No matter how egregiously they all act and no matter who’s hurt how much, the cult and its insurers would never have to pay more than $350,000. That’s shameful.

Ohio’s predator-friendly statute of limitations helps wrongdoers by giving them clarity – “all we have to do is hide these child sex crimes until the deadline for lawsuits elapse.” Now, this predator-friendly ruling also helps wrongdoers by giving them more clarity – “even if we’re caught, the most we’ll ever have to pay is $350,000.”

We hope Ohio lawmakers remedy both of these injustices, no matter how hard powerful institutions and lobbyists fight.

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Perth Archbishop Roger Herft resigns after admitting to let down sex abuse survivors

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

One of the country’s most senior church figures, the Anglican Archbishop of Perth Roger Herft, has resigned after admitting he let down survivors of sexual abuse.

Reverend Herft had been Archbishop of Perth since 2005, but stood aside in October this year to “focus my attention on the royal commission’s ongoing inquiry into the Diocese of Newcastle”.

He gave evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in August, and finished his testimony with an apology to the people of Newcastle, where he served as bishop between 1993 and 2005.

“I let them down badly.

“[I have] let down the survivors in a way that remorse itself is a very poor emotion to express.”

Archbishop Herft thanked the royal commission for holding him “personally accountable” during the hearing, which stretched over two weeks in the New South Wales city.

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Assignment Record– Rev. Robert C. Ramon

TEXAS
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Ordained for the Diocese of Galveston-Houston in 1983, Robert C. Ramon assisted in parishes in Houston, Port Houston and Dickinson, and was briefly lead priest at parishes in Houston and New Caney. He spent two years early on as a student at Catholic University in Washington D.C.

In 1991 Ramon was accused of sexually abusing a minor female. The diocese investigated and determined there was no evidence. Per the request of the girl’s family, the diocese provided counseling. The sessions ended after a few months, and the family threatened to sue. They filed a civil lawsuit in 1993.

Ramon is not indexed in the Official Catholic Directory beyond 2002. He died in August 2014.

Ordained: 1983
Died: August 13, 2014

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Judge rejects claim that stalled diocese bankruptcy case

NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal

By Associated Press
Thursday, December 15th, 2016

GALLUP, N.M. — A New Mexico diocese is a step closer to resolving its bankruptcy case after a federal judge rejected a claim that had stalled the proceedings.

The Gallup Independent reports (http://bit.ly/2hpni2F ) that the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament filed a claim against the Diocese of Gallup as it was concluding its Chapter 11 reorganization case.

Attorneys for the diocese say the claim wasn’t filed in a timely matter. The Sisters’ attorney says the organization did not know of the diocese’s bankruptcy case until December 2015, more than two years after its Chapter 11 petition was filed, but the attorneys for the diocese say the Sisters were sent legal notices at the time the claim was filed.

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Statement of Clarification Regarding Confidentiality Agreements with Alleged Victims of Sexual Abuse

MINNESOTA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis

Date: Monday, December 12, 2016

Source: Tom Halden, Director of Communications

From Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda

As part of the July 19, 2016, Amendment to the Settlement Agreement with the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis agreed to not “enter into confidentiality agreements regarding allegations of sexual abuse of minors unless requested by the victim and noted in the text of the agreement”. In addition, the Archdiocese agreed to release “any victim of alleged sexual abuse from any confidentiality obligation that may exist in any settlement agreement [previously] entered into with the Archdiocese”.

My hope is that, in some way, these provisions will reflect our ongoing commitment to transparency concerning our failings and our desire to be helpful to those who may have been harmed and sensitive to their needs.

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Judge Allows Two Proposed Reorganization Plans in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis Bankruptcy Case to Proceed

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

For the first time in a Diocesan or Religious Order bankruptcy case, two competing plans will go to vote

(Minneapolis, MN) – In a hearing today in United States Bankruptcy Court in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis Bankruptcy case, the Honorable Robert J. Kressel ruled that two proposed reorganization plans will move forward. One plan was submitted by the Archdiocese and the other plan was submitted by the Creditors’ Committee.

“We are pleased that the court is going to allow the survivors’ voices to be heard,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson. Both plans are drastically different and this is the first time that two competing plans will go to vote in a Diocesan or Religious Order bankruptcy case.

The plan submitted by the Archdiocese proposes that the Archdiocese contribute $20 million of its own funds, that all insurance issues are settled for unreasonable amounts, and that all parishes will be released from the case without contributing a penny. The plan submitted by the Creditors’ Committee proposes that the Archdiocese contribute $80 million of its own funds, and that all survivors retain their rights to pursue the insurance companies and any claims they may have against the parishes.

A status conference is scheduled for January 12, 2017, to finalize the disclosure statements and determine a procedure for the forms and ballots to be sent to sexual abuse survivors and other creditors in the bankruptcy proceeding.

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.817.8665
Contact Mike Finnegan: Office/651.227.9990 Cell/612.205.5531

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Crisis comes to the megachurch in Steppenwolf’s The Christians

ILLINOIS
Chicago Reader

By Albert Williams

Lucas Hnath’s intriguing 2014 drama The Christians, now receiving its Chicago premiere in a finely acted production at Steppenwolf Theatre, is unlike any play I’ve ever seen about religion. There’s no nun boldly overstepping her authority to expose a suspected pedophile priest; no charismatic hypocritical preacher bilking the gullible faithful; no philandering phonies or self-hating homos, preaching traditional family values while pursuing their own illicit lusts. Instead, The Christians concerns a basic question that might seem better suited to a scholarly lecture: Is God’s love for humanity so great that it encompasses everyone, not just Christians?

This is the question that the play’s protagonist, Pastor Paul, proposes to his flock on the particular Sunday morning on which Hnath’s 80-minute one-act takes place. Paul is the leader of a modern American megachurch, which he has built over two decades from a small storefront into a sprawling complex thanks to the prayers—and donations—of his thousands of followers. Now, having paid off the debt incurred erecting this magnificent edifice, Paul preaches a sermon of “radical change.”

Speaking softly and humbly into his handheld microphone, Paul explains that after having a heart-to-heart talk with the heavenly father, he now sees that Christians must break down barriers separating them from the rest of a world torn by violence. He recounts the story of a non-Christian boy in an unnamed foreign country who gave his own life to save his sister from a terrorist attack. Should that boy not receive salvation just because he hasn’t been baptized as a Christian? Should belief in the divinity of Jesus determine whether one goes to heaven or to hell? And then Paul drops the other shoe: there is no hell.

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Prayer day for abuse victims set

NEW ZEALAND
NZ Catholic

By Rowena Orejana – December 16, 2016

New Zealand’s Catholic bishops have designated the first Friday of Lent next year as a day of prayer and penance for victims of abuse and violence in New Zealand.

In 2017, this day will fall on March 3, the Friday after Ash Wednesday.

The president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishop Patrick Dunn, said New Zealand has an alarmingly high incidence of domestic violence. This day would acknowledge the impact of such abuse and violence, both by members of the Church family, but also everywhere it occurs throughout New Zealand.

NZ Catholic understands it is likely the first Friday of Lent will become a permanent day of prayer on this topic.

Bishop Dunn said Catholics often undertake devotions like the Stations of the Cross during Fridays in Lent, so the bishops’ conference thought that a Friday in Lent would be suitable.

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Archdiocese counsel issues FOIA request

GUAM
Guam Daily Post

Neil Pang | Post News Staff

Sen. Frank Blas Aguon Jr. released a statement Tuesday where he raised questions concerning a Freedom of Information Act request by Archdiocese of Agana legal counsel John C. Terlaje for any and all opinions of the legislative counsel regarding Bill 326-33.

According to Aguon, Bill 326 was a highly publicized piece of legislation that garnered wide media coverage and comprised three scheduled public hearings where numerous community members attended and offered oral and written testimony in support of the legislation that was eventually passed by a unanimous vote and signed into law by Gov. Eddie Calvo on Sept. 23.

Aguon pointed out, “At no point during this legislative process did the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Agana, a Corporation Sole, voice any concern or objection to the legislative process or the bill.”

Aguon stated that he had no qualms with the inquiry made at the behest of Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, but added, “I have to wonder where these concerns were during the legislative process.”

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John Does seeking nearly $8 million in Mount Cashel abuse suit

CANADA
The Telegram

Lawyers for four John Does have asked the Supreme Court of Newfoundland for damages of nearly $8 million for abuse suffered at the hands of certain Christian Brothers at Mount Cashel.

The four test-case John Does say the church, through the Episcopal Corp., should be held liable for physical and sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of certain members of the lay order of Irish Christian Brothers. The Does — all orphanage residents several decades ago — represent about 60 clients who were at the orphanage during the late 1940s to early 1960s.

The amounts for the other 60 claimants who could be affected by the outcome of this trial will be determined in the future based on whether the four John Does win their cases.

The church insists the lay order Irish Christian Brothers ran the orphanage and were independent of the archdiocese.

The trial, during many of its 31 non-consecutive days this year, contained disturbing testimony concerning the experiences of the four John Does at the orphanage several decades ago, as well as personal details of their lives since then and various expert opinions on child sex abuse and its impacts.

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Ohio Supreme Court Says No Exception For Child Sex Crime Victims In Caps On Jury Awards

OHIO
Statehouse News Bureau

[with audio]

By KAREN KASLER

The Ohio Supreme Court says a state law capping damages in certain cases is constitutional. That means a 15-year-old Delaware County girl raped by her pastor in 2008 will get a quarter of a million dollars – not the $3.5 million the jury awarded her family.

The girl’s lawyer had argued the $250,000 cap is unconstitutional, especially when it comes to underage victims of sex crimes. But a majority of the court agreed those caps on non-injury cases passed by state lawmakers in 2005 are constitutional. In her majority opinion, Justice Judith French wrote evidence showed the girl played sports, had good grades and hasn’t sought mental health treatment. So she wrote in this case the non-injury cap applies. In their pointed dissents, Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote that tort reform has ensured child rapists will not have to pay the full measure of damages, and Bill O’Neill wrote – quoting here – “Shame on the General Assembly”. The pastor, 54-year-old Brian Williams, just finished serving an eight year sentence for sexual battery.

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Lessons From Australia

UNITED STATES
The Jewish Press

By: Dr. Michael J. Salamon
Published: December 15th, 2016

A plague of childhood sexual abuse of students by teachers over many years at yeshivot in Australia, and the prodding of Manny Waks, a victim who as an adult became an advocate, led to the appointment several years ago of a Royal Commission to study the situation. Although preliminary findings were issued two years ago, the final commission reports were just released.

Cover-ups on the part of school administrations, rabbis, and the community as a whole were placed under the scrutiny of an objective outside panel of experts who interviewed a wide range of people – rabbis, teachers, victims, professionals, advocates, etc.

The results are scathing.

One of the reports made it clear that children were, in fact, regularly abused. When attempts were made to stop the abuse, the schools failed to act, abusers were protected – and when families attempted to confront the abusers and their protectors, they were victimized all over again.

Additionally, the commission found that the organizational culture at the yeshivot perpetuated a climate that was “conducive to the perpetration of child sexual abuse.”

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New members appointed to IOR Board of Superintendence

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Radio

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican on Thursday announced the Cardinals Commission of Vigilance of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, has appointed Mr. Scott C. Malpass, Javier Marín Romano and Georg Freiherr von Boeselager as members of the IOR Board of Superintendence, bringing the total number of members to seven.

Mr. Malpass, from the United States, has held various prestigious positions and has served for over 25 years as Chief Investment Officer for Notre Dame University in the United States, where he works in the field of investment in conformity with the social doctrine of the Church, and teaches courses in the field of investment research at the same University.

Mr. Marín, from Spain, enjoys a wealth of experience in banking and in particular has held various positions for Banco Santander, including Chief Executive Officer and as Head of the Private Banking, Asset Management and Insurance Division.

Mr. von Boeselager, of German nationality, has worked for many years in the private banking field and presently holds the position of Head of the Supervisory Board of Merck Finck & Privatbankiers AG, in Munich.

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News Release: Hearing Tomorrow in Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis Bankruptcy Case

MINNESOTA
Jeff Anderson & Associates

St. Paul, MN) – A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, December 15, 2016, at 1:00PM before Hon. Robert J. Kressel in United States Bankruptcy Court in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis bankruptcy case. Several issues will be addressed at the hearing and Judge Kressel may decide whether the proposed bankruptcy plans filed by the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis and the Creditors’ Committee, will move forward.

Honorable Robert J. Kressel
Courtroom 8 West
United States Courthouse
300 South 4th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55415

Contact Jeff Anderson: Office: 651.318.2650 Cell: 612.817.8665

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Yeshiva, Chabad boards urged to take action

AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

THE new boards of Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Schools Ltd (YBRSL) and Chabad Institutions Victoria Ltd (CIVL) were urged this week to “act decisively and expeditiously to address those issues emanating from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse … so that the community can truly move forward from this stain”.

The elections of the boards – the first ever held, after a new constitution was adopted this year – are seen as a move towards transparency in the wake of the scathing findings of the Royal Commission, which slammed the way key Yeshivah leadership figures handled the crisis.

Welcoming the conclusion of the election process, child sexual abuse victims’ advocate Manny Waks called for the new boards to “take immediate and decisive action to end their association” with three individuals in particular, who he claimed had failed the victims: Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner, who resigned as the Yeshivah Centre’s senior rabbi last year after admitting that his conduct towards victims and their families had not been in line with the values of Yeshivah, but who still performs religious leadership functions; Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, the only member of the former board who did not resign and who holds a seat on both of the new boards; and Nechama Bendet, the former Yeshivah general manager and board member who remains in a senior management role.

Responding to Waks’s call, Bendet yesterday told The AJN, “I vehemently deny that I breached any legal or moral obligation to victims of child sex abuse.

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Media Release: Victims respond angrily to comments by former Yeshivah leader Nechama Bendet

AUSTRALIA
Manny Waks
​15 December 2016

​​Victims of child sexual abuse at Yeshivah Centre Melbourne are outraged and appalled at comments by former Yeshivah General Manager and Trustee Mrs Nechama Bendet to the Australian Jewish News (16 December 2016 – see below from print version, may not be viewable from mobile devices).

Responding to calls for her to be stood down from Yeshivah’s senior management in the wake of the recent findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Bendet was quoted in the newspaper as follows: “I vehemently deny that I breached any legal or moral obligation to victims of child sex abuse. The Royal Commission made no such findings about me”. Bendet went on to say that she had “personally apologised and reached out to victims of child sexual abuse”.

Following the Commission’s public hearing into Yeshivah in February 2015, Bendet stated that she would resign as a Trustee of Yeshivah, which she eventually did, but has remained a member of its senior management.

The findings of the Commission, handed down in October 2016, included:

* ‘that there was a marked absence of supportive leadership for survivors of child sexual abuse and their families within Yeshivah Melbourne. Halachic principles were stridently – even if incorrectly applied. Criticism of those that spoke out was forceful’;
* ‘The leadership did not create an environment conducive to the communication of information about child sexual abuse. If anything, the mixed messages were likely to have produced inaction’; and
* ‘If the Yeshivah Melbourne…had shown leadership, survivors of sexual abuse and their families and supporters might have received a very different response from the members of the Yeshivah Melbourne community’.

The Commission heard evidence that Bendet had personally labelled two victims of abuse as mosers, a derogatory term for a Jew who informs on other Jews to secular authorities. Bendet gave evidence that she could not recall using that term.

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