ABUSE TRACKER

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler
Mar 22, 2017

Three weeks have passed since Marie Collins resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM), complaining that the group’s work has been thwarted by resistance from within the Roman Curia. A few days after her public announcement, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF)—which was the main target of Collins’ criticism— defended his office and denied any foot-dragging on the abuse issue. Collins quickly shot back, rebutting the cardinal’s arguments. Since, then, silence.

Where do we stand? Is this special papal commission really acting under restraint? Or do its members have unrealistic expectations? Is there evidence that the Vatican has adopted a tough new attitude on abuse, or is it all talk and no action? Let’s review the available evidence.

Bear in mind that the announcement of Collins’ resignation was not a bolt from the blue. She had frequently shown signs of impatience with the work of the PCPM. Nor was she the first member of the commission to leave. Peter Saunders—who, like Collins, is an abuse victim—had been asked to resign last year, after issuing a series of angry comments; he refused to resign, but was placed involuntarily on an indefinite “leave of absence.” Then another member, Claudio Papale, resigned last September without any public explanation.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

Edward Pentin

VATICAN CITY — The resignation of Marie Collins from the Vatican’s commission helping to protect minors from clerical sex abuse is being seen as another wake-up call for the Vatican in how it deals with such cases.

One of just two clerical-abuse survivors appointed to the 17-member Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors when it was established in 2014, Collins resigned as a member March 1, citing a “lack of cooperation” by the Roman Curia as a principal factor.

In her March 1 resignation statement, she criticized the Vatican for a “lack of resources” and “inadequate structures,” as well as “slowness” and “cultural resistance.” She also cited the failure of the Vatican to distribute the commission’s template for safeguarding guidelines to national bishops’ conferences.

An Irish native, Collins added that the “most significant problem” was reluctance in some of the Curia to implement the commission’s recommendations, despite the Pope’s approval. Specifically she lamented the refusal of one dicastery “to ensure all correspondence from victims/survivors receives a response.”

“I have come to the point where I can no longer be sustained by hope,” Collins wrote. “As a survivor, I have watched events unfold with dismay.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A former Santa Barbara Catholic School student has alleged that a former priest sexually abused him inside a room at the Tumon Catholic Church when he was a young boy.

Jive Lee Kaai, 45, filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Guam accusing former priest Raymond Cepeda of sexual abuse when he was 12 or 13 years old.

According to the lawsuit, between 1981 and 1982, Kaai was attending school at Santa Barbara Catholic School in Dededo and Cepeda was a priest at the Dededo parish and appeared to be in charge at the school.

Court documents state the Catholic school students were taught to honor and respect not only the nuns, but also the priests and do whatever they told them to do.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE

PITTSBURGH —
A priest in the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese will be allowed to retire after the Vatican was unable to prove that he sexually abused a child, the diocese said Wednesday.

The Rev. John P. Fitzgerald, 68, was most recently the pastor at Our Lady of Peace in Conway, Beaver County. He has been on leave since July 31, 2014, because of the abuse allegation.

“It could not be determined with certainty whether the abuse did or did not occur,” the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said, according to the diocese.

The sex abuse was alleged to have happened in the late 1990s and was reported to the diocese in 2014. The diocese said it also brought the allegation to the district attorneys in Allegheny and Lawrence counties.

“Father Fitzgerald has maintained his innocence throughout. At the same time, the person who brought the allegation has maintained that the abuse did occur,” the diocese said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

NATASHA LINDSTROM | Wednesday, March 22, 2017

A Beaver County priest accused two years ago of child sexual abuse will retire following a Vatican ruling that the allegation “has not been proven,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Wednesday.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith decided there was not enough evidence to prove the Rev. John “Jack” P. Fitzgerald abused a child in the late 1990s.

“It could not be determined with certainty whether the abuse did or did not occur,” the Pittsburgh diocese said in a statement.

Fitzgerald, 68, whose last assignment was pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Conway, has been on administrative leave and prohibited from administering sacraments or identifying himself as a priest since July 31, 2014.

Bishop David Zubik now has granted the retirement request from Fitzgerald, who once served as chaplain at Pittsburgh International Airport and an Air National Guard station.

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INDIA
BLive

Kannur: Three more co-accused, including two doctors, in the Kottiyoor rape case in which priest Robin Vadakkancheril is accused of sexually exploiting and impregnating a minor girl, were arrested by the police in Kannur today. The co-accused gynaecologist Sister Tessy Jose, paediatrician Dr Hydrali and hospital administrator Sister Ancy Mathew surrendered before the Kannur Circle office around 630 this morning.

With the arrest of these three co-accused, the number of people nabbed by the police has gone up to eight. Those already arrested include the prime accused priest Robin. Two more nuns are still absconding and search is on to nab them, police said.

The sex abuse victim, a plus one student at a school in Kottiyoor, had given birth to a child on February 7 at a private hospital.

The co-accused helped priest Robin in hiding the newborn in the orphanage at Vythiri and the doctors and hospital authorities failed to report the incident to the police, government or Child Welfare Committee (CWC) then.

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FLORIDA
Florida Record

TALLAHASSEE — Bruce Charles Fehr, who was admitted to the Florida Bar more than 20 years ago, was disbarred from practicing law in Florida by the state Supreme Court on Jan. 29 after he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography.

According to an report by TV station WSAV, Fehr was working as an Episcopal priest in the Savannah, Georgia area when he was arrested for downloading the child pornography. Fehr will serve three years in prison for the criminal conviction after making his plea on Nov. 18, 2015 in U.S. district court in Georgia, according to court documents. A plea agreement was accepted on Nov. 30, 2015. Fehr was sentenced on March 30, 2016, and surrendered himself to a federal prison on April 29, 2016, to serve his sentence.

The attorney’s conduct violated the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar Rule 4-8.4(b), which states that “a lawyer shall not commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.”

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Jewish News

MORE than 18 months after Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Telsner resigned as the Yeshivah Centre’s senior rabbi, admitting that his conduct towards child sexual abuse victims and their families was not in line with the values of Yeshivah, he is still being paid “his regular salary”.

The stunning revelation came to light when The AJN asked the Yeshivah boards, including the Chabad Institutions of Victoria Limited (CIVL) board, questions to mark 100 days since they were elected.

“He is receiving his regular salary,” CIVL said.

“Until now, there has not been a governing body with authority to address this.

“It should be noted that his employment contract allows for certain financial compensation should his position be vacated. His official position has been in suspension since the resignation letter.”

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UNITED STATES
These Stone Walls

POSTED BY FR. GORDON J. MACRAE ON MARCH 22, 2017

Ever so slowly awakening across America is a long-suppressed awareness of an ugly part of history that keeps repeating itself. There are prophets arising among us who are finding the courage to speak truth to power – in this case the power of mob justice. One of them is columnist Michelle Malkin whose recent article, “Fighting for the Falsely Accused” was sent to me last month.

Michelle Malkin tells the gruesomely familiar tale of former Fort Worth, Texas police officer, Brian Franklin. Convicted of the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in 1995, he spent the last twenty-one years in prison for a crime he had nothing to do with. As Ms. Malkin describes, “There were no witnesses. There was no DNA.” There was just one person’s word against another’s, and the jury – after lots of media hype – was conditioned to bring no skepticism to the heavily coached testimony of a distraught teen.

The sole evidence was a medical report of a physical examination concluding that the girl had in fact been sexually assaulted. That, and a claim that the assault occurred in the backyard of her biological father who was a friend of the police officer-suspect, was enough to satisfy prosecutors and a jury.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PETER SMITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
petersmith@post-gazette.com
MAR 22, 2017

A Roman Catholic priest is retiring and will not participate in public ministry after a Vatican investigation found it could not determine whether a single allegation of past sexual abuse by him could be proven.

Bishop David Zubik granted the Rev. John P. Fitzgerald’s request for immediate retirement, the diocese said in a statement Wednesday.

Father Fitzgerald, 68, had most recently served as pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Conway, Beaver County. He was placed on leave in July 2014 after the diocese received an allegation he had sexually abused a minor in the 1990s.

“It is the only allegation against him ever brought to the Diocese of Pittsburgh,” the diocese said in a statement. “Father Fitzgerald has maintained his innocence throughout. At the same time, the person who brought the allegation has maintained that the abuse did occur.”

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INDIA
The News Minute

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The three co-accused who allegedly helped Kottiyoor priest Robin Vadakkumchery in hushing up the rape of a child, after which the minor gave birth to a baby, surrendered before the investigation officer on Wednesday morning.

Dr. Tessy Jose, a nun and gynaecologist at Christu Raj Hospital Thokkilangadi, who delivered the survivor’s child, Dr. Hyderali, paediatrician in the hospital and Sr Ancy Mathew, nun and hospital administrator, surrendered before the Peravoor Circle Inspector Sunil Kumar after the Kerala High Court rejected their anticipatory bail plea.

As of now, including the prime accused Robin, eight accused have surrendered in the case.

Former Wayanad Child Welfare Committee (CWC) chairman Fr. Joseph Therakam, Sr. Ophilia, the Superintendent of Holy infant Mary orphanage at Wayanad, where the infant of the survivor was taken to immediately after the delivery and another nun Sr. Betty of CWC had surrendered last week.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WPXI

CONWAY, Pa. – A Beaver County priest accused of sexually abusing a minor in the late 1990s will be allowed to retire, the Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Wednesday.

The Rev. John Fitzgerald, 68, has been on administrative leave since July 2014. His last assignment was at Our Lady of Peace parish in Conway.

The diocese said Wednesday that the Vatican’s congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the accusation against Fitzgerald “has not been proven.”

“It could not be determined with certainty whether the abuse did or did not occur,” the diocese said in a news release.

The congregation directed Bishop David Zubik to take appropriate action that provides for the welfare of all parties involved, including the welfare of the public, the diocese said.

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CALIFORNIA
CBS SF Bay Area

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) — A Roman Catholic priest who once ran the Vietnamese Catholic Center for the Diocese of San Jose was convicted in federal court Tuesday of 14 counts of bank fraud for diverting parishioners’ donations into his personal bank account.

Hien Minh Nguyen, 57, was found guilty by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman of San Jose, who conducted a nonjury trial on the charges in February.

The donations, which were made between 2005 and 2007, were intended for the Vietnamese Catholic Center and totaled $19,000.

Nguyen previously pleaded guilty before Freeman in August to four additional counts of evading taxes for the tax years 2008 through 2011.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Brattle Theater

Trinity
at 12:00 PM
SINGLE FEATURE • DCP • NO BRATTLE PASSES •

Director: Skip Shea
Screenwriter: Skip Shea
Cast: Sean Carmichael, David Graziano, Aurora Grabill, Lynn Lowry
2016 | USA/Italy | DCP | 85 min.

A man accidentally bumps into the priest who abused him when he was a child, sending him on a twisted journey through his past.

In his first feature, Massachusetts’ own Skip Shea plumbs the depths of loss, trauma, and guilt through the story of Michael, a stoic artist (Sean Carmichael) who stops for coffee only to encounter the priest (David Graziano) who once sexually abused him. What would you do if you came face-to-face with the man who ruined your life?

Trinity explores that moment as a dreamlike journey through time past, a route that carries the troubled Michael in and out of churches, a dimly lit bathroom stall, and the tables of tarot card readers. We meet Father Tom’s other victims, most memorably the haunting Angel (Aurora Grabill), and a cadre of Michael’s chatty adulthood friends who seem to discuss the tenets of Catholicism as others casually discuss their theories about Westworld. Their removed, academic dissections rarely consider that the scars of abuse do not always fade with time. The experiences continue to strangle and suffocate the victims long after they’ve left the physical proximity of their tormentors.

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FRANKREICH
Profil

[A group of French investigator journalists laid open systematic abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in France.]

Von Ines Holzmüller ( 22. 3. 2017 )

Eine Gruppe französischer Investigativjournalisten legte systematischen Missbrauch in der römisch-katholischen Kirche in Frankreich offen.

Das französische investigativjournalistische Portal “Mediapart” legte am Dienstag einen großen Missbrauchsskandal in der französischen römisch-katholischen Kirche offen. 25 Bischöfe, von denen fünf noch heute im Amt sind, sollen über Jahrzehnte sexuellen Missbrauch durch 32 Priester systematisch gedeckt haben. 339 Kinder sollen diese seit den 1960-Jahren mindestens missbraucht haben.

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FRANCE
Rutube

[This is the complete Cash Investigation program that appeared on French television on Tuesday night.]

[For nearly a year, journalists have investigated one of the best kept secrets of the Church of France, revealing that religious condemned for pedophilia are still active, sometimes even in contact with children.]

Pendant près d’un an, des journalistes ont enquêté sur l’un des secrets les mieux gardés de l’Église de France, révélant ainsi que des religieux condamnés pour pédophilie sont toujours en activité, parfois même au contact d’enfants…

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com March 22, 2017

A former student at Santa Barbara Catholic School in Dededo said a former priest sexually abused him while two other students were told to wait outside an office of a Tumon parish in 1981 or 1982.

Jive Lee Kaai, now 47, said he was only 12 or 13 and a student at Santa Barbara Catholic School when former priest Raymond Cepeda sexually abused him at St. William’s Catholic Church in Tumon. The church is now the Blessed Diego de San Vitores.

Kaai, represented by attorney David Lujan, is the 32nd man to file a Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam, and it demands a minimum $5 million in damages and a jury trial.

In a complaint filed Wednesday afternoon, Kaai said the sexual abuse happened after he and several other Santa Barbara students were given detention for getting into trouble at school. Part of their punishment was to clean around the campus, the lawsuit says.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Derryn Hinch wants to set up a parliamentary committee to inquire into how the recommendations from the child sex abuse royal commission are implemented.

The crossbench senator will move on Thursday to establish the joint committee to inquire into the implementation of recommendations by governments and the relevant not-for-profit organisations.

It would also inquire into the operation of the federal government’s redress scheme and support of survivors, presenting a final report by December 2018.

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IRELAND
The Cork

22 March 2017
By Tom O’Sullivan
tom@TheCork.ie

Sinn Féin TD for Cork East Pat Buckley has called on the Government to support a Sinn Féin motion to establish a Truth Commission to investigate conditions at Mother and Baby Homes across the state following the revelations of mass graves at a home which had operated in Tuam. He said that the full truth being revealed was the only way to address the stain on Irish society caused by the scandal and to allow healing for survivors.

Deputy Buckley said:

“If one thing is clear about how we must proceed with addressing the shameful scandal of abuse, neglect and imprisonment represented by the Mother and Baby Homes which operated in this state, it is that we must as a principle accept the word of and believe the survivors of these crimes.

“I believe the survivors of places like Bessborough and Bethany and others.

“I believe them when they describe a kind of existence which if perfectly honest I don’t want to believe. However, I know from their dignity and resolve and from the catalogue of already exposed outrages, that these horrors they speak of are true and that they must be brought out into the light.

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AUSTRALIA
Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission will hold a public hearing to inquire into the current policies and procedures of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi in relation to child-protection and child-safety standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The public hearing will commence 23 March 2017 at the Royal Commission’s hearing rooms in Sydney.

Location
The hearing will be held at Level 17, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place, Sydney.

The scope and purpose of the public hearing is to inquire into:

1. The current policies and procedures of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi in relation to child protection and child-safe standards, including responding to allegations of child sexual abuse.
2. Factors that may have contributed to the occurrence of child sexual abuse at Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi.
3. Factors that may have affected the institutional response of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi to child sexual abuse.
4. The responses of Yeshivah Melbourne and Yeshiva Bondi to relevant case study report(s) and other Royal Commission reports.
5. Any related matters.

The purpose of this public hearing is not to inquire into individual sets of facts or particular events as has occurred in previous Royal Commission case studies.

Leave to appear

The Royal Commission may invite selected individuals or organisations to speak to, or give evidence about, the submissions they have previously provided, however it is not proposed that leave to appear will be granted to these individuals or organisations, on the basis that they are speaking or giving evidence in this capacity.

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NORTH CAROLINA
WSPA

By Brianna Smith
Published: March 21, 2017

RUTHERFORD Co., NC (WSPA) – Word of Faith members accused of beating a former member could go on trial in May.

In 2015, five church members were indicted on kidnapping and assault charges after deputies say Matthew Fenner was beaten because he was gay.

Justin Covington, 20, of Rutherfordton; Brooke Covington, 56, of Rutherfordton; Robert Walker Jr., 26, of Spindale; and Adam Bartley, 25, of Rutherfordton have been indicted on one count each of second-degree kidnapping and simple assault.

Sarah Covington Anderson, 27, of Rutherfordton, faces the same charge and one count of assault inflicting physical injury by strangulation.

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FRANCE
Franceinfo

[VIDEO. “Cash Investigation”. Pedophilia: A global network for those who have survived abuse of priests.]

D’après une étude commandée par l’Eglise catholique américaine, 4% des prêtres ont commis des agressions sexuelles sur mineurs. Ces victimes se sont réunies à Chicago, aux Etats-Unis, pour le congrès annuel de leur association, le Snap (en anglais), le Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, un acronyme pour le Réseau de celles et ceux qui ont survécu aux abus de prêtres.

A la tribune, Phil Saviano, cofondateur : “Je pense qu’on est encore plus nombreux que l’année dernière. C’est une bonne nouvelle. Combien d’entre vous sont là pour la première fois ?” demande-t-il. Face à la forêt de bras qui se lèvent, il précise : “Presque 40% !”

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FRANCE
LCI

[SEXUAL ABUSES – Earlier this week, “Cash Investigation” and Mediapart revealed that 25 French bishops had covered 32 pedophile priests for years, evoking in particular a vast system of international exfiltration. An implacable observation even though since April 2016, the church of France has stepped up its fight against pedophilia.]

ABUS SEXUELS – En début de semaine, “Cash Investigation” et Mediapart ont révélé que 25 évêques français avaient couvert 32 prêtres pédophiles pendant des années, évoquant notamment un vaste système d’exfiltration internationale. Un constat implacable même si depuis avril 2016, l’Eglise de France a intensifié sa lutte contre la pédophilie.

L’enquête a fait l’effet d’une bombe. Selon les investigations menées conjointement par Mediapart et Cash Investigation, 25 évêques français – dont cinq toujours en poste – ont couvert pendant des années 32 prêtres auteurs d’abus sexuels sur des mineurs. Des prêtres français qui ont laissé derrière eux 339 victimes présumées sans en informer la justice. Dans un documentaire diffusé mardi soir, l’équipe d’Elise Lucet a en outre révélé que plus de 90 prêtres impliqués dans des affaires de pédophilie ont été déplacés par l’Eglise de par le monde afin de leur permettre d’échapper à la justice.

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FRANCE
L’Express

[While Cash Investigation came to supplement the revelations of Mediapart on pedophilia in the church, the representatives of the French bishops attack the methods of the journalist.]

Alors qu’un numéro de Cash Investigation est venu compléter les révélations de Médiapart sur la pédophilie dans l’Eglise, les représentants des évêques de France s’attaquent aux méthodes de la journaliste pointant une émission à charge.

La ténacité d’Elise Lucet et les séquences désormais cultes où la journaliste court après grands patrons, ou hommes politiques dérangent. Cette fois, c’est l’Eglise catholique française qui s’attaque aux méthodes de l’ancienne présentatrice du 13 heures de France 2.

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FRANCE
20 Minutes

[VIDEO. “Cash Investigation”: Élise Lucet challenges Pope Francis on pedophilia and impresses Twitter.]

Marie de Fournas
Publié le 22.03.2017

Thug Life. Mardi soir, l’émission Cash Investigation dévoilait une enquête menée depuis un an sur la gestion par l’Église catholique de prêtres mis en cause dans des affaires de pédophilie. Alors qu’une enquête de Mediapart vient de diffuser la liste de 32 prêtres accusés de pédophilie qui auraient été couverts par des évêques, France 2 s’est intéressée de très près au pape François. Selon l’émission, il aurait, lorsqu’il était archevêque de Buenos Aires, « tenté de faire innocenter un prêtre jugé pour pédophilie ». Pourtant réputé pour sa tolérance zéro vis-à-vis de ces agissements, le Saint-Père aurait transmis à la justice en 2010, une contre-enquête à décharge avant le procès en appel de l’accusé, le père Julio César Grassi.

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FRANCE
Europe 1

[Bishop Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesman for the Conference of French Bishops (CEF), said on Wednesday he was determined to act against pedophilia in the Church after the accusations of cover-up by bishops in the Mediapart and Cash Investigation television program.]

Mgr Olivier Ribadeau Dumas dénonce par ailleurs une enquête “uniquement à charge et qui ne met pas en valeur tout ce qui a été fait depuis un an.”

Le porte-parole de la Conférence des évêques de France (CEF), Mgr Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, a dit mercredi sa “honte” mais aussi sa “détermination” à agir contre la pédophilie dans l’Église, après les accusations de Mediapart et de l’émission Cash Investigation.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

An offender advocating child sexual abuse has been stopped from attending church in Sydney, an inquiry into the Anglican Church has heard.

Dozens of other child abusers or people deemed to be a potential risk to children are allowed to worship in the Anglican Church but are monitored under safety plans, the child sex abuse royal commission has heard.

The Diocese of Sydney is managing 32 people on safety plans but its professional standards director Lachlan Bryant says two offenders have been deemed unsuitable to attend parishes.

“One of them is an offender who was essentially proselytising child sexual abuse,” Mr Byrant told the royal commission on Tuesday.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Rebekah Ison – AAP on March 22, 2017

Sydney’s Anglican archbishop has delivered a public apology to the mother of an abuse victim, whose untimely death has sparked a new protocol in his name.

Wayne Guthrie, 47, died in December 2015, the month before he was supposed to give evidence at the royal commission about his abuse at the hands of Church of England Boys Society leader Simon Jacobs.

Archbishop Glenn Davies said Mr Guthrie’s mother should have been able to expect the St Ive’s CEBS group, which her son joined in 1979, was a safe environment.

Mr Guthrie’s abuse came to the attention of the local church leadership in the early 90s but nothing was done, he said.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Megan Neil – AAP on March 22, 2017

Confession should not be used to cover up child sexual abuse, a senior Anglican official says as the church affirms that confessions are invalid if an abuser will not go to the police.

Unlike the Catholic Church where the seal of confession cannot be broken, the Anglican Church in Australia’s position is that there is scope to disclose child sexual abuse.

The Anglican Church’s general synod in September will be asked to abolish any church rule that would require a member of the clergy to keep a confession of child sexual abuse confidential, its Professional Standards Commission chair Garth Blake SC says.

The unanimous view among the bishops is that is an appropriate way for the church to move, Mr Blake told the child abuse royal commission on Wednesday.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Main Post

[Eight new abuse allegations within one year.]

Christine Jeske
21. März 2017

Vor zwei Wochen wurde bekannt, dass Professor Klaus Laubenthal nicht mehr der externe Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Diözese Würzburg sein möchte. Auf den Tag genau sieben Jahre – bis zum 18. März, nahm er diese Aufgabe wahr. „Diesen Jahrestag habe ich zum Anlass genommen, meine Aufgabe abzugeben“, informierte Laubenthal.

Am Montag übermittelte der Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Kriminologie und Strafrecht an der Uni Würzburg seine letzte Jahresbilanz an Bischof Hofmann und Generalvikar Thomas Keßler. Im Zeitraum vom 11. März 2016 bis 18. März 2017 wurden acht Vorwürfe wegen sexualbezogener Missbrauchshandlungen und Grenzüberschreitungen unterhalb der Schwelle der Strafbarkeit übermittelt, teilte die Pressestelle des Bistums mit. Sie richten sich gegen zwei Priester, zwei männliche und eine weibliche Ordensangehörige sowie einen kirchlichen Mitarbeiter.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop has expressed his ‘profound disappointment’ at what he says are less than robust child protection systems in some of the country’s dioceses.

Archbishop Glenn Davies told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse not all of the nation’s 23 dioceses had implemented policies suggested by the church.

“I take it there are some (dioceses) that don’t have robust systems?” counsel assisting Gail Furness SC asked him in Sydney on Wednesday.

“That would be true,” Archbishop Davies replied.

The royal commission has previously heard a persistent culture of diocesan independence has hampered the nationwide implementation of a consistent Anglican misconduct regime.

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IOWA
Des Moines Register

Linh Ta , lta@dmreg.com March 21, 2017

A former Boone pastor was arrested after allegedly sexually exploiting a teenage girl at Grace Community Church and “grooming” her for several years, according to court documents.

Joel Waltz, 47, of Boone, was charged with sexual exploitation by counselor or therapist on March 13. He was booked into Story County Jail and posted bail on March 20.

According to court documents, Waltz and the victim first met at Grace Community Church while he was the youth pastor. The victim was 11 and in foster care at the time.

The victim told police that Waltz would pick her and her sister up from foster care and take them to lunch. She said he was “extremely nice” to her, and she began to trust and confide in him.

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IRELAND
The Journal

FINE GAEL’S EDUCATION Minister, Richard Bruton has said that there are no “plans” to reopen the State’s redress scheme for new entrants in light of the Tuam Baby scandal.

However, with the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes underway, it is important to start thinking about the process of redress that is likely to be set up after the investigation is completed.

Looking back at the experience of survivors incarcerated in Industrial and Reformatory Schools in applying for redress from the Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB), we can identify what a redress process should and shouldn’t look like.

I interviewed 25 men and women about their experience of applying for redress from the RIRB, and this is what they had to say about the process.

Re-traumatisation

A major issue for most survivors was that by the time the redress process was over, they felt re-traumatised. An inquiry should seek to limit this trauma; however, this is not possible in its current format because of the legalistic overtures that characterise the process.

First, many were dissatisfied with the way their solicitors dealt with their claims, and felt that the legal system had benefitted financially from their trauma. The Redress Board’s Annual Report (2008) stated that “the average costs and expenses paid to an applicant’s solicitor at the end of 2008 amounted to €10,845 per application, or 16.9% of the award”.

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

No evidence of suspicious deaths has so far been uncovered at the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home site, according to the Department of Justice. As a result, there is no criminal investigation taking place at the site, although Gardaí are continuing to liaise with the Coroner’s Office.

“In the course of any coronial investigation, it is open to a coroner to call on the support of the Gardaí and any other authorities as he may deem necessary,” stated a spokesperson for the Justice Department.

The spokesperson added that “a critical part of the role of a coroner is to determine as far as possible, the cause of a death reportable to him by law, particularly in the case of deaths that may have occurred in a violent or unnatural manner.”

The Coroner would not normally be involved in conducting an investigation “where a person has died naturally and a death certificate from an attending doctor was provided.”

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IRELAND
Galway Independent

Calls have been made to set up a ‘Truth Commission’ following the revelations that human remains have been found on the site of the former Tuam Home.

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire has published a motion which will be debated in the Dáil this week calling for a Truth Commission to establish the facts about Mother and Baby Homes.

A Truth Commission, if set up, would be tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoings and its results would go some way to resolving issues of the past. Truth Commissions have previously been set up in El Salvador, Congo, Kenya, and other countries. As part of it, the Truth Commission can hold public hearing where survivors can share their stories.

The revelations of recent weeks at Tuam, and subsequent reports regarding the records and treatment of children, and their mothers, have shocked and angered Irish people, said Deputy Ó Laoghaire.

“The suffering and mistreatment of children and mothers in these institutions is a matter of national shame and, in many respects, there are many questions unanswered, and those responsible have yet to be brought to account.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Marie O’Halloran

The commission of investigation into mother and baby homes established two years ago is not fit for purpose and has “only scratched the surface” in dealing with what happened to women and children there, the Dáil has heard.

Sinn Féin spokesman on children Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire said its terms of reference and the model were “utterly inadequate” and survivor groups had criticised the behind-closed-door hearings and lack of transparency.

He said they had to ensure that the system established for survivors “is something they can engage with and have trust in”.

In the wake of the discovery earlier this month of significant human remains in the mother and baby home in Tuam, Mr Ó Laoghaire was introducing a private members’ motion to introduce a truth commission based on best international practice of other countries such as South Africa and Colombia.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
Irish Central

Cormac McConnell @IrishCentral March 22, 2017

Here is a heartwarming true story from about 20 years ago which began on the pages of the Irish Voice. I am deliberately recalling it now in an effort to slightly balance that dreadful discovery in Galway recently of the bodies of scores of infants secretly buried in septic tanks on the grounds of a home for unmarried mothers and their babies run by an order of nuns for decades up until the late fifties.

That horror from our immediate past will now be fully investigated but, in the meantime, here is the story of a lovely woman called Mary Kowalski from New Jersey as far as I can remember, whom I met because I read in the Irish Voice that she was coming over from the U.S. to Co. Clare to try and contact her birth mother. I will never forget Mary, and if perchance she reads this I hope she is as happy today as she was the last time I saw her.

Mary’s mother became pregnant outside marriage, you see, and in the priest-ridden Ireland of the time there was a great stigma and shame attached to that. The homes run by orders of nuns were about the only refuge there was apart from flight to England forever.

It is now known clearly that both the state and the religious orders failed to live up to their responsibilities on that front. There were many abuses at every level, and this was reflected in a mortality rate for the poor babies which was thrice the level of other infants.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Nicole Chettle

Child abusers used the Anglican Church as a “safe haven” because their activities would not be monitored and they would be offered “cheap forgiveness”, a royal commission has heard.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse that laypeople were the main perpetrators of abuse.

He said that in the past, offenders were given access to youth groups and other church-run organisations too easily.

“Perpetrators or potential perpetrators seek a safe haven where their activities will not be monitored,” Dr Davies said.

“Inadequate screening of our laypeople in past years allowed people with corrupt motives to abuse young boys, in particular, but also girls.”

He said complaints were made against 17 clergy since the 1960s, and were sustained in four cases.

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UNITED STATES
Verdict

22 MAR 2017 MARCI A. HAMILTON

The latest sex abuse scandal in the headlines paints USA Gymnastics in as bad a light as you can imagine. Indeed, it is so bad the successful president of the organization, Steven Penny had to resign. This scandal, amidst a series of other sports scandals, has pushed the U.S. Olympic Committee to create a new board to investigate claims of sex abuse, SafeSport, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, with bipartisan support, to introduce the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act. The latter mandates that anyone who suspects abuse in a National Governing Body (NGB) of an Olympic sport must report the suspected abuse to the authorities, extends the statute of limitations for civil suits against perpetrators, bans one-on-one time between coaches and athletes, and imposes other specific requirements on NGBs.

These are important developments that we can only hope will make elite sports safer for children, a need I discuss here. At the same time, bells should be ringing. We have been here before. These Olympic sports-related developments should bring to mind the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Dallas Charter, which established a new “zero-tolerance” policy for abuse in the church following a scandal of huge proportions. The same is true for the Boy Scouts and countless of other organizations. As each of these silos of abuse has been disclosed, organization-specific policies have sprouted.

It is now time to connect the dots between the scandals.

When Sex Abuse Was Not Reported and the Perpetrators Were “Mr. Stranger Danger”

There was a time when sex abuse was rarely reported. It is impossible to measure how much of the silence was due to denial and how much ignorance, but to be sure the combination kept it buried, and the victims were locked away in a closet of silence. No one, least of all the media, wanted to discuss it. Those stories that made it into the newspapers were literally unavoidable, like the prosecution of Fr. Gauthier in Louisiana for the sex abuse of numerous boys in the early 1980s.

With the reporting of sex abuse being sporadic at best, it was nearly impossible to see the patterns of cover up within various organizations. The mass assumption was that the Gauthier case was unusual, and so were the few other cases that bubbled up into the media on occasion. These were distinct data points and there was no reason to suspect that anyone was responsible for the abuse other than the perpetrator, who was a lone wolf monster preying on children. We were so uninformed that we even called the predators “Mr. Stranger Danger,” signaling he was outside the child’s circle of family, school, and extra-curricular activities.

The Organizational Scandals Appear on the Horizon

Then there was the Spotlight investigative team at The Boston Globe and other reporters like Marie Rhode at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who started to dig into the issue in the Roman Catholic Church. A diocesan-based pattern surfaced in 2002 as these hard-working reporters connected the dots. Here is what they saw to their horror: the perpetrators were not acting alone. Rather, bishops covered up seriatim sex abuse by their priests. Then there was Penn State and Jerry Sandusky, with striking similarities. Once the paradigm was visible, the same dynamic was seen at work in many other organizations as well

The response was outrage, from those inside the organization to prosecutors to the general public. How could these trusted leaders let this happen? Everyone agrees this is the most despicable of crimes and that anyone who allows it to happen is no better than the direct perpetrator. They also agree that this must be excised from our social fabric. But how? For most, the answer has been: just make it stop. Now. It’s as though we discovered someone we knew maliciously beating a stranger and all we needed to do was pull him off and then we could just walk away, whistling in the wind.

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Rachel Browne

Not every Anglican diocese has robust child protection measures, with Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies telling a royal commission the lack of national consistency is “extremely disappointing”.

In the final day of a public hearing into how Anglican institutions have responded to child sexual abuse, Archbishop Davies acknowledged that not all the country’s 23 dioceses had rigorous mechanisms in place.

“There has been a failure of the national church to have consistency across the board but it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are a number of robust systems in place in most dioceses,” he told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Counsel assisting the commission Gail Furness, SC, asked: “I take it there are some that don’t have robust systems?”

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AUSTRALIA
Sky News

Archbishop Glenn Davies told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse not all of the nation’s 23 dioceses had implemented policies suggested by the church.

‘I take it there are some (dioceses) that don’t have robust systems?’ counsel assisting Gail Furness SC asked him in Sydney on Wednesday.

‘That would be true,’ Archbishop Davies replied.

The royal commission has previously heard a persistent culture of diocesan independence has hampered the nationwide implementation of a consistent Anglican misconduct regime.

Australia’s most senior Anglican cleric, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier, said he would be interested to know more about Archbishop Davies’ concerns, adding that he thought all dioceses were committed to child protection.

– See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/national/nsw/2017/03/22/dioceses-accused-of-lack-of-child-protections.html#sthash.DgB0xVyT.dpuf

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PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

By: Amanda VanAllen

A church leader in Berks County spoke out Tuesday, one day after a man surrendered to detectives on child sexual assault charges.

Authorities said the man was doing technical work at a church function in 2006 when he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl.

“In the fall of this past year, a member of my congregation came to me with a phone call that she was confused and concerned over,” said Pastor Richard Moore, St. John’s Lutheran Evangelical Church in Sinking Spring

Moore said that phone call was from the mother of a young girl who said she had been sexually assaulted at a church function in 2006.

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AUSTRALIA
Western Advocate

Eighteen complaints made in the Bathurst Diocese are included in a report released on Friday into child sex abuse complaints in the Anglican Church in Australia.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse Analysis of Complaints of Child Sexual Abuse Received by Anglican Church Dioceses in Australia report breaks down the complaint figures in each diocese.

It details child sex abuse complaints received by each diocese between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 2015, though the alleged abuse does not have to have happened during that specific time period.

The report shows that of the 18 complaints in the Bathurst Diocese, 22 per cent involved alleged physical abuse.

It also shows 75 per cent of the complainants in the Bathurst Diocese were male and 25 per cent were female.

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INDIA
The New Indian Express

KOLLAM: A vicar under Punalur diocese was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor boy who had pursued theology in his seminary.

Thirty-year-old Fr Thomas Parekala a native of Kannur and vicar of St Mary’s Church at Puthoor, near here, had earlier slipped from police custody. He was nabbed from Usilampatti, near Madurai in Tamil Nadu by the special team with the Kollam Rural SP. According to Puthoor police, the incident took place in July 2016 at Holy Cross church seminary at Pullamala, Thevallapuram where Fr Thomas Parekala was the teacher.

According to police, the victim was subjected to unnatural sex by the priest for about one year after he joined the seminary to pursue theology. The boy has revealed that the priest had also abused two other boys during the period.

The incident came to light only last week when the parents of the 14-year-old boy approached the Child Welfare Committee at Thiruvananthapuram.

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AUSTRALIA
Mercury

PATRICK BILLINGS, Mercury
March 21, 2017

TASMANIA’S Anglican Diocese has paid out $2.23 million to victims of child sex abuse, according to a new report.

The report by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse shows the payments were made to 34 victims.

Overall the diocese has received 56 complaints related to 34 perpetrators.

Six of the complaints related to Anglican schools while 10 were connected to the Church of England Boys Society (CEBS), which was examined by the Royal Commission last year.

The commission’s lawyers have alleged that a far-reaching paedophile ring was active within CEBS, a Scout-like offshoot of the Anglican Church.

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CALIFORNIA
MyNewsLA

POSTED BY TONI MCALLISTER ON MARCH 21, 2017

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has settled a lawsuit brought by a 29-year-old man who alleged he was forced to read verses from the Bible while being sexually molested in the 1990s by his head parish priest who has since died.

The alleged abuses affected the plaintiff’s education and he did not graduate from high school, his court papers stated. He also began drinking and taking drugs at age 14 and attempted suicide in 2010, his court papers stated. He has remained sober since March 2014, according to his court papers.

Despite the settlement, the Archdiocese did not confirm the plaintiff’s allegations.

The plaintiff did not tell anyone about the alleged molestation until he was 25 years old and spoke with a therapist in February 2013, when he realized there was a connection between the abuses and the damages he suffered as an adult, his court papers stated. The suit was filed in October 2014 and the settlement papers were filed last week.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Jive Kaai is now the 32nd alleged victim to file suit against the Archdiocese of Agana.

Guam – Another sexual abuse lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana, naming, once again, defrocked priest Raymond Cepeda as the alleged perpetrator.

The lawsuit was filed by Jive Lee Kaai, 47, who was a student at the Santa Barbara Catholic School back in the early 1980s./ Kaai alleges that when he was 12 or 13 years old, he and two other school boys were ordered to clean around the campus as punishment but Cepeda had the boys join him in dropping off boxes to the Tumon parish.

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UNITED STATES
Slate

By Mike Mariani

In 1826, the bishop of the Boston diocese, Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, approved the construction of the Ursuline Convent school on a 24-acre property on a hilltop overlooking Boston Harbor. With financing from wealthy Boston families enthusiastic about the prospect of giving their daughters a private education to rival those of affluent boys, a lavish three-story brick house was built on a sprawling estate. But late into the night on Aug. 11, 1834, spurred by rumors that a nun named Elizabeth Harrison was being held at Ursuline against her will, an angry mob of Protestant men laid siege to the school, setting it ablaze with tar barrels. As the school burned to the ground, the nuns and students absconded out a back entrance.

The United States in the 1830s was a time of nativism and deepening anti-Catholic resentment. The country was experiencing a massive influx of Irish immigrants, almost all of whom were Catholic. Protestants in New England and New York became wary, even paranoid, of the threat of the country tipping toward the Roman Catholic Church. Puritanism was one of the driving forces behind the American Revolution just a few decades prior, and Protestants cherished and would aggressively defend its independence from Rome. The idea that “popery” might be seeping into the states, taking a multitude of insidious forms, was a cause for alarm.

Incipient nationalist movements took advantage of this widespread fear, disseminating conspiracy theories suggesting that the Irish were smuggling in a “foreign Catholic menace” that would not only usurp Protestantism but eventually topple American democracy. It was this wave of anti-Catholic bigotry that made something as heinous as the Ursuline school burning possible, as Protestant newspapers and demagogues preyed on people’s suspicions that parochial schools were run by the Vatican. Everyone involved in the convent burning was eventually acquitted of wrongdoing, further underscoring the grip of anti-Catholic sentiment.

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ARGENTINA
24 Horas

[Argentine priest accused of child abuse condemned to 15 years in prison. The Argentine Supreme Court confirmed the sentence to 15 years of jail against the priest Julio César Grassi, 60, for the crime of sexual abuse of minors. In a unanimous decision, the ministers rejected today the appeals presented in the case.]

21 MARZO 2017

La Corte Suprema argentina confirmó la sentencia a 15 años de cárcel contra el sacerdote Julio César Grassi, de 60 años, por el delito de abuso sexual de menores.

En un fallo unánime, los ministros rechazaron hoy los recursos presentados en la causa que tiene como imputado al sacerdote y ex presidente de la Fundación Felices Los Niños del país trasandino

Grassi está acusado como autor reiterado de los delitos de abuso sexual, agravado por resultar sacerdote, encargado de la educación y cuidado del menor-víctima.

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NEW YORK
BishopAccountability.org

Summary of Case: Michael D. O’Herlihy was a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, ordained in 1961. Early in his career he assisted at parishes in Livingston Manor, New Brighton, and the Bronx. For most of his career he was a teacher, 1970-1980 at Cardinal Hayes High School and then at Cardinal Spellman High School 1980-1992.

O’Herlihy was placed on an unexplained leave of absence in 1992. In 1993 he was laicized. His name was included in 2002 on a list of New York archdiocesan priests with complaints of child sexual against them. The archdiocese gave the list to the District Attorney; no charges were filed.

In a 2004 lawsuit O’Herlihy was accused of having sexually abused a Cardinal Hayes’ student in 1980. According to the lawsuit, O’Herlihy told the student he had heard that he was being sexually abused by a Catholic youth group leader. When the boy acknowledged the rumor to be true, O’Herlihy allegedly went on to also sexually abuse him, plying the boy with alcohol and pornography. The suit claimed that other Cardinal Hayes students were abused as well.

O’Herlihy was found in 2009 to be teaching at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day High School.

Ordained: 1961
Laicized: 1993

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FRANCE
Zoomdici

[The Bishop of Haute-Loire in the sights of “Cash Investigation”.]

Ce mardi à 21h, l’enquête de Cash Investigation “Pédophilie dans l’Eglise : le poids du silence” sera diffusée sur France 2. Lors de la promotion de l’émission, la journaliste Elise Lucet a sous-entendu que l’évêque du Puy couvrait un homme soupçonné d’actes pédophiles dans son diocèse. L’Eglise dénonce les méthodes de l’émission.

La Haute-Loire a fait une brève irruption dans l’émission “C à Vous” du lundi 20 mars sur France 5. Sur le plateau, alors que les journalistes Elise Lucet et Edwy Plenel font la promotion d’une enquête conjointe sur la pédophilie dans l’Eglise, apparaît le nom de l’évêque du Puy, Mgr Crepy.

Un religieux résidant en Haute-Loire soupçonné d’agression sexuelle

Le chef des catholiques de Haute-Loire dirige également la cellule de lutte contre la pédophilie dans l’Eglise. Il a donc logiquement été interviewé par Elise Lucet. Et, d’après elle, il pourrait couvrir un homme soupçonné d’actes pédophiles dans le diocèse du Puy. La journaliste dévoile une partie de l’interview. “Quand je lui ai dit, à un moment, est-ce que vous pourriez, vous, l’Eglise de France, vous porter partie civile dans le procès de ce prêtre, qui est dans votre diocèse, il ne sait pas quoi répondre. Il dit “non, franchement je ne sais pas, a priori c’est non.””

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FRANCE
L’Eveil

[France 2, Cash Investigation presented by Elise Lucet reveals Tuesday evening the presence in Haute-Loire of a priest suspected of pedophilia 20 years ago in Africa.]

L’émission de France 2, Cash Investigation présentée par Elise Lucet, révèle mardi soir la présence en Haute-Loire d’un prêtre soupçonné de pédophilie, il y a 20 ans, en Afrique, et réfugié dans une communauté religieuse du bassin du Puy-en-Velay. Le prêtre aurait depuis quitté les lieux et la Haute-Loire. Une enquête est ouverte par la justice.

Cash Investigation a enquêté en Afrique, en Guinée Conakry, où le frère Albert aurait commis des viols et des agressions sexuelles sur plusieurs enfants, notamment dans un club de football. Les faits remonteraient à une vingtaine d’années. L’émission de télévision a retrouvé un jeune homme qui témoigne de viols et d’agressions pendant six ans.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

AAP

Australia’s most senior Anglican will face a royal commission to answer for what the church is doing to prevent a repeat of its “shocking” failure to tackle child sexual abuse.

Primate and Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier says the church is determined to adopt a uniform national approach to protecting children.

Archbishop Freier says since apologising in 2004 for its child abuse failures, the church has invested a great deal of energy in seeking to understand the nature and cause of its failings and has made improvements in many areas.

“We are not trying to make excuses for failures past or present,” he said on Friday as the child abuse royal commission’s final hearing into the Anglican Church began.

Newcastle Bishop Greg Thompson, who is resigning after being harassed and feeling threatened for being a public face for child abuse victims, has told the inquiry vested interests in the 23 Anglican dioceses are still undermining efforts to get a uniform national response.

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CANADA
APTN National News

March 21, 2017

Jorge Barrera
APTN National News

Two Ontario law firms allegedly failed to produce documents in their possession that could have helped their Indian residential school survivor clients during compensation hearings for abuse suffered at a notorious institution known for using an electric chair on students, according to a document filed with an Ontario court.

The two firms—Nelligan O’Brien Payne and Wallbridge, Wallbridge—are named in a request for directions filed with the Superior Court of Ontario as part of ongoing litigation related to the handling of St. Anne’s Indian residential school abuse claims by the Independent Assessment Process (IAP).

The IAP was created by the multi-billion dollar Indian residential school settlement agreement to set compensation payouts for abuse claims.

A hearing on the case is scheduled for Friday in Toronto.

The request for directions, filed by St. Anne’s residential school survivor Edmund Metatawabin and another survivor known as K-10106, seeks to have the court investigate whether the non-disclosure of documents constituted a breach of the settlement agreement. The court action also seeks to compel Ottawa to disclose remaining documents related to previous St. Anne’s related litigation and settle several other matters related to the IAP and the handing of hundreds of abuse claims by survivors of the institution.

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ROME
America

Gerard O’Connell
March 21, 2017

“The impression that Pope Francis is not hard enough on perpetrators is wrong. The general line of judgment and sentence has not changed,” Hans Zollner, S.J., president of the Centre for Child Protection at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, told America in this interview in which he explains what the pope and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors (PCPM) are doing to combat child abuse and ensure the protection of children in church institutions worldwide.

There has been much discussion about the need to hold bishops accountable. The PCPM recommended the establishment of a special tribunal to deal with negligence, and gained the pope’s approval. The Vatican announced in June 2015 that this tribunal would be established, but this never happened. Father Zollner explains why.

Pope Francis established the PCPM on March 22, 2014, and appointed Father Zollner as one of its founding members together with Marie Collins—the Irish survivor whose recent resignation from it sent shock waves through the church. In this interview, the German Jesuit not only explains the work the commission is doing to train Vatican officials and bishops’ conferences worldwide about safeguarding children; he also comments on Marie Collins’s resignation.

The following is a slightly edited version of the interview:

Some have alleged that Pope Francis talks a lot about combatting child abuse in the church but is soft on perpetrators. What do you say to such charges?

First of all, the impression that he is not hard enough on perpetrators is wrong. The general line of judgment and sentence has not changed. He has introduced some measures so that even in cases of appeal the decision is reached faster; survivor-victims and the accused know earlier what is the final decision. Contrary to public opinion, the motu proprio “Like a Loving Mother” (June 4, 2016) has an effect, because it clarifies and strengthens procedures that were already there to be fulfilled if needed.

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INDIA
The News Minute

A Kerala Catholic priest was arrested on Tuesday from Madurai, after he managed to escape following charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy.

Catholic priest Thomas Parakulathil, 32, was arrested by the Kerala Police on Tuesday morning from Madurai, after he ran away when the police reached the church in Puthoor during Mass on Sunday, a top official involved in the case told IANS.

“He has now been brought to Kottarakara and the police are doing their job,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

The arrest occurred after the boy along with his parents hailing from the capital city approached the Poovar police last week saying that he was molested by Parakulathil last year.

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SCOTLAND/CANADA
BBC News

By Reevel Alderson
Home affairs correspondent, BBC Scotland

Moves are under way to extradite a retired priest from Canada to Scotland in connection with child abuse claims.

The Crown Office has been granted a petition warrant for the arrest of Father Robert MacKenzie, who lives in Cupar, Saskatchewan.

Fr MacKenzie, 84, taught at the former Fort Augustus Abbey School before moving to Canada in 1988.

Papers are now being prepared in the Crown Office to submit an extradition request to the Canadian authorities.

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AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph

DANIELLE GUSMAROLI, The Daily Telegraph
March 20, 2017

FORMER Wallabies prop Tony Daly has revealed his ­relentless mission to become a World Cup-winning Aussie rugby star was fuelled by pent-up rage after he was sexually abused as a young boy by a Marist brother at one of Sydney’s most prestigious schools.

The 41-cap Australian front-rower lifted the lid on his abuse as an 11-year-old by a Catholic brother at the elite rugby nursery, St Joseph’s College, after detailing what happened at two assessment interviews with the Royal Commission.

The abuse revelations come as Daly avoided jail yesterday for petty thefts and driving offences — part of a rampage of drug and booze-­fuelled robberies sparked by the demons of shame ­unleashed after his sporting career.

His spiral of self-loathing also included two failed marriages and the FBI frogmarching him off a plane in Los Angeles, after he allegedly stole a wallet and sunglasses from a passenger in 2009.

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AUSTRALIA
Daily Mail (UK)

By Daniel Peters For Daily Mail Australia

A former Wallaby star has revealed he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at an elite Sydney boys’ school when he was just 11 years old.

Tony Daly, now 51, represented Australia in 41 test matches as a stocky and gutsy prop – but the horrors of his past tormented him through life after rugby union.

In two interviews with the Royal Commission, Daly detailed the two years of sexual abuse inflicted by a Marist brother while he was a young boy at St Joseph’s College.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Daly said he felt ‘shame for years’ after enduring ‘fondling’ by the priest.

‘This bastard robbed me of my innocence and normal life,’ he told the publication.

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FRANCE
20 Minutes

[Pedophilia in the Church: The four revelations of the program “Cash investigation” broadcast tonight. What is astonishing in this documentary is the silence around the priests faced with accusations of sexual abuse of children.

Mediapart reveals that 25 bishops, including five still in office, methodically covered for 32 years the perpetrators of pedophile acts.

Explanation: the denunciation passes after the law of God. “We have a duty of charity in relation to a brother priest. He must be given a chance to repent and make amends,” said a witness who wished to remain anonymous. In short, the church prefers forgiveness rather than legal action.

Geographical solution: moving the priest away from business. The church has found a way to stifle the scandals: to prevent priests who are guilty of sexual abuse from becoming entangled in legal proceedings. They move them to another diocese where the case is unknown.

The church assures that priests who have committed pedophilic acts no longer work in relation to minors. Cash investigation shows that it is a wishful thinking: Example with Father Didier, sentenced to six years in prison for sexual assaults on ten victims in the 1990s. When the journalists met him, he was still practicing in a parish in Lyon, in the daily contact of faithful of all ages. Same concern for Father Emmanuel, suspected of rape in Bertoua in Cameroon. MOved to Bologna, Italy, he lives in the community of St. John, in the same premises as a children’s theater education course. Priests and apprentice actors under the age of 18 meet in the corridors every day.]

Lucie Bras

Mediapart et la société de production Premières Lignes ont enquêté pendant un an pour comprendre comment l’Eglise française fait face aux affaires de pédophilie de ses prêtres. Silence, secret et mutations à l’autre bout du monde, les journalistes ont décortiqué ces processus grâce à une enquête d’un an. 20 Minutes a eu accès à ce documentaire en avant-première. Voici ce que nous avons retenu de l’émission diffusée ce mardi soir à 21h sur France 2.

La loi de Dieu plutôt que celle des hommes

Ce qui étonne dans ce documentaire, c’est le silence autour des prêtres concernés par des accusations d’abus sexuels sur enfants. Mediapart révèle que 25 évêques, dont cinq toujours en poste, ont méthodiquement couvert pendant des années 32 auteurs d’actes pédophiles.

Explication : la dénonciation passe après la loi de Dieu. « Nous avons un devoir de charité par rapport à un frère prêtre. Il faut lui donner une chance de se repentir et de faire amende honorable », explique un témoin qui a souhaité rester anonyme. En bref, l’Eglise préfère le pardon plutôt que l’action en justice.

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FRANCE
Linternaute

[Tonight in Cash Investigation, a study that is reminiscent of Boston Globe journalists’ 2003 report. Elise Lucet’s team joined Mediapart’s journalists to uncover one of secrets of the church in France: pedophilia which undermines religious institutions. You will understand it is a magazine that should make a big noise that you can discover on France 2 from 9pm. In the United States, this Boston case earned a Pulitzer for journalists at the Boston Globe and a film was dedicated to them: Spotlight, Oscar for best movie 2016.]

Ce soir dans Cash Investigation, une enquête qui n’est pas sans rappeler celle qu’avait réalisée les journalistes du Boston Globe en 2003. L’équipe d’Elise Lucet s’est jointe aux journalistes de Mediapart afin de percer à jour un des secrets de l’Eglise en France : la pédophilie qui met à mal les institutions religieuses. Vous l’aurez compris, il s’agit d’un magazine qui devrait faire grand bruit que vous pourrez découvrir sur France 2 dès 21h. Aux Etats-Unis, cette affaire a valu un Pulitzer aux journalistes du Boston Globe et un film leur a été dédié : Spotlight, Oscar du meilleur film 2016.

Résumé de l’émission : Pendant près d’un an, l’équipe d’Elise Lucet, en partenariat avec Mediapart, a travaillé sur l’un des secrets les mieux gardés de l’Eglise de France, le fléau de la pédophilie, qui fait vaciller l’institution. Des religieux, condamnés, seraient toujours en activité, parfois même au contact d’enfants. L’enquête révèle que des hauts responsables de l’Eglise ont couvert certains agissements et protègent des prêtres accusés d’agressions sexuelles sur mineurs en les déplaçant de pays en pays, notamment en Afrique. Cash Investigation a cartographié ces exfiltrations internationales. L’équipe s’est rendue au Vatican, à la rencontre du pape François.

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FRANCE
Le Point

[Pope Francis and Clergy Sexual Abuse in Argentina Including a Database of Publicly Accused Argentine Clerics – BishopAccountability.org]

[Has Pope Francis tried to cover a pedophile priest? An Argentinean judge admits having been pressured by the church to find innocent a priest accused of sexual abuse in 2010 while the pope was archbishop of Buenos Aires. According to Mediapart, while he was still archbishop of Buenos Aires Jorge Bergoglio actively participated in the defense of a famous South American priest who was accused of pedophile acts – Father Grassi. The case was revealed in 2002 by the program Telenoche Investiga and Julio Grassi is accused of assaulting minors of the foundation he created Felices Los Ninos. One of the victims, Gabriel, raped at the age of 15, reports that he has been threatened as a result of his testimony as Father Grassi is considered a real star in Buenos Aires. Father Grassi was finally sentenced to 9 years in prison in 2009. But for the lawyer of the victims, “the pope’s attitude … facilitated Grassi’s impunity”.]

Une enquête menée par Mediapart et Cash Investigation révèle que plusieurs grands noms de l’Église catholique ont couvert ou défendu des prêtres accusés de pédophilie. Alors que l’Église catholique est régulièrement sur la sellette à la suite de différentes affaires de pédophilies découvertes ces dernières années, le Pape François semble faire preuve de la plus grande fermeté sur le sujet. Et pourtant c’est bien lui qui est visé par cette enquête.

Selon Mediapart, alors qu’il était encore archevêque de Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio a activement participé à la défense d’un célèbre prêtre sud-américain, accusé d’actes pédophiles, le père Grassi. L’affaire est révélée en 2002, par l’émission Telenoche Investiga, et Julio Grassi est mis en cause pour agression sur des mineurs de la fondation qu’il a créée Felices Los Ninos. L’une des victimes, Gabriel, violé à l’âge de 15 ans, raconte avoir subi des menaces à la suite de son témoignage, le père Grassi étant considéré comme une véritable star à Buenos Aires. Le père Grassi sera finalement condamné à 9 ans de prison en 2009. Mais, pour l’avocat des victimes, « l’attitude du pape […] a facilité l’impunité de Grassi ».

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FRANCE
France 24

Twenty-five French bishops have been covering up scores of cases of sexual abuses by Catholic priests, French media revealed on Tuesday in a report reminiscent of the Spotlight investigation into clergy sex abuse.

Investigative reporters from the Mediapart website have identified 32 individuals, including 28 priests, who have been accused of committing sexual abuses from the 1960s up to today.

“Out of these 32 cases, 25 bishops, including five still in place, decided not to report them to judicial authorities after being alerted about these sexual abuses. In total, there are 339 suspected victims, forgotten by the French Church,” writes Mediapart.

‘The mechanics of silence’

Reporters say they have compiled hundreds of documents, press clips, letters, testimonies and judicial reports to back up their claim.

A book about the alleged cover-up, Eglise, la mécanique du silence (“Church, the mechanics of silence”) is going to be released on March 22.

Most of the abusers have subsequently been charged and some of them sentenced over these sex crimes, Mediapart say.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Pedophilia, the Church of France denounces the methods of “Cash investigation”.]

Recueilli par Marie Malzac, le 20/03/2017

ENTRETIEN – À la veille de la diffusion de l’émission « Cash investigation » sur la pédophilie dans l’Église, mardi 21 mars, Vincent Neymon, porte-parole adjoint de la Conférence des évêques de France, explique à La Croix son refus de participer au débat qui suivra le documentaire, comme annoncé dans un communiqué.

La Croix : Comment la Conférence des évêques de France (CEF) a-t-elle été sollicitée par l’équipe de « Cash investigation » pour cette enquête ?

Vincent Neymon : Nous avons eu des échanges avec Élise Lucet et son équipe dès le mois d’octobre 2016, quelques semaines avant l’Assemblée plénière des évêques de novembre à Lourdes. Ils ont menacé de venir sous le nom d’un autre média si nous refusions de les accréditer, ce que nous avons perçu comme une sorte de chantage. Nous avons toutefois décidé de jouer le jeu médiatique. Nous avons correspondu avec Martin Boudot, le réalisateur du documentaire, qui a demandé de nombreuses précisions, que nous avons essayé de fournir.

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FRANCE
La Croix

[Following an interview with La Croix by Vincent Neymon, deputy spokesman of the French Bishops’ Conference, explaining his refusal to participate in the debate that will follow the documentary on the pedophilia of “Cash investigation” broadcast Tuesday, March 21, The editor of the show, Emmanuel Gagnier reacts. Here is their release.]

À la suite de l’interview à La Croix de Vincent Neymon, porte-parole adjoint de la Conférence des évêques de France, expliquant son refus de participer au débat qui suivra le documentaire sur la pédophilie de « Cash investigation » diffusé mardi 21 mars, le rédacteur en chef de l’émission, Emmanuel Gagnier réagit. Voici leur communiqué.

« Nous découvrons avec surprise les déclarations de Vincent Neymon, porte-parole adjoint et directeur de la communication de la Conférence des évêques de France dans les colonnes de La Croix.

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FRANCE
Kath.ch (Suisse)

[The French Catholic Church finds itself once again at the heart of revelations concerning cases of pedophilia. Since the 1960s no fewer than 25 bishops have ignored sexual assaults committed by their priests,reports a survey of the Mediapart website and TV Cash Investigation magazine . The Conference of French Bishops (CEF) denounces breaches of journalistic ethics of the program.]

21.03.2017 par Maurice Page

L’Eglise catholique française se retrouve une nouvelle fois au coeur de révélations concernant des affaires de pédophilie. Depuis les années 1960, pas moins de 25 évêques auraient passé sous silence les agressions sexuelles commises par leurs prêtres, préférant les ‘exfiltrer’ de leur diocèse, rapporte une enquête du site Mediapart et du magazine TV Cash Investigation. La Conférence des évêques de France(CEF) dénonce des manquements à la déontologie journalistique de l’émission.

Les chiffres publiés attestent de la gravité du scandale: depuis les années 1960, 25 évêques, dont cinq sont toujours en exercice, auraient ‘couvert’ les abus commis par 32 prêtres sur 339 victimes dans 17 diocèses en France, mais aussi au Canada, en Suisse et en Guinée-Conakry. Parmi les victimes recensées, 288 étaient mineures au moment des faits. 165 seulement ont été entendues par la justice. La moitié des prêtres auraient commis leurs agressions après l’an 2000.

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FRANCE
Franceinfo

[After the investigations of Mediapart and Cash Investigation on the extent of pedophile affairs in the Church of France, the president of the association La Parole Liberee, François Devaux, reacted Tuesday March 21 on franceinfo. He was surprised at the extent of these revelations about abuse and cover-up in the Catholic church. His association had previously denounced the sexual assaults committed by Father Preynat in Lyon.]

Après les enquêtes de Mediapart et Cash Investigation sur l’ampleur des affaires de pédophilie dans l’Eglise de France, le président de l’association La Parole libérée, François Devaux, réagit mardi 21 mars sur franceinfo. Il se dit surpris de l’ampleur de ces révélations. Son association avait dénoncé les agressions sexuelles commises par le père Preynat à Lyon.

franceinfo : Comment avez-vous réagi face à ces nouvelles révélations de Mediapart et de Cash Investigation ?

François Devaux : On pensait pas du tout que cela prendrait cette ampleur, mais on s’est vite rendu compte qu’il y avait de profonds dysfonctionnements. Cela fait un an et demi qu’on a mis en péril beaucoup de nos équilibres personnels pour faire ces révélations. On est très content que des équipes professionnelles aient pu consacrer autant de temps et d’énergie pour plébisciter notre action qui vise à remettre un peu de conscience morale au sein de notre société. Car cela restera quand même un des grands fléau de notre civilisation et de l’histoire de France.

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FRANCE
Franceinfo

[The archbishop of Besançon who is challenged by Mediapart will speak Wednesday, March 22 after the broadcast of the program “Cash Investigation” which denounces the silence of the church during cases of sexual assaults committed by priests.]

Par Sophie Courageot
Publié le 21/03/2017

Selon une enquête de Médiapart, 25 évêques français, dont cinq sont toujours en poste, ont couvert pendant des années 32 prêtres auteurs d’abus sexuels sans que la justice en soit informée. Parmi eux est cité Mgr Jean-Luc Bouilleret aujourd’hui en poste à Besançon.

L’émission Cash Investigation diffusée ce mardi 21 mars à 21h50 sur France 2 se penchera sur le silence de l’église.

La conférence des évêques de France (CEF) n’a pas souhaité faire de commentaires avant la diffusion de l’émission. Elle n’y participera pas.

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FRANCE
Franceinfo

[France 2, “Cash Investigation” returns Tuesday night on the pedophilia cases that shook the Church of France, notably the Diocese of Lyon.]

L’émission de France 2, “Cash investigation” revient mardi soir sur les affaires de pédophilie qui ont ébranlé l’Eglise de France, notamment le diocèse de Lyon. Le reportage d’Elise Lucet a été réalisé avec 3 journalistes indépendants qui ont enquêté sur “les agresseurs couverts par l’Eglise”
Par Ph.Bette avec l’AFP et Mediapart

Publié le 21/03/2017

L’émission de France 2 diffuse à 20h55 un film documentaire de Mathieu Boudot intitulé “Pédophilie dans l’Eglise : le poids du silence”. On y voit notamment Elise Lucet interpeller en chemin le cardinal Barbarin sur les affaires de pédophilie qui ont secoué le diocèse de Lyon et qui lui ont valu d’être entendu par la police. Le dossier a été classé sans suite par la justice.

“Cash investigation” révéle pourtant que dans le diocèse de Lyon, “des prêtres condamnés pour des actes pédophiles sont toujours en poste. Comme père Didier, reconnu coupbale d’agressions sexuelles sur dix victimes”

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FRANCE
Franceinfo

[Pope Francis and Clergy Sexual Abuse in Argentina Including a Database of Publicly Accused Argentine Clerics – BishopAccountability.org]

In 2010, Pope Francis, then archbishop of Buenos Aires, tried to help a priest condemned for pedophilia. The case of Fr Julio Grassi caused an enormous scandal in Argentina, the birthplace of the sovereign pontiff.]

En 2010, le pape François, alors archevêque de Buenos Aires, aurait tenté de faire innocenter un prêtre condamné pour pédophilie. L’affaire du père Julio Grassi a provoqué un énorme scandale en Argentine, pays natal du souverain pontife… Elise Lucet attend ce dernier place Saint-Pierre, à Rome, pour lui poser des questions. Un extrait du magazine “Cash Investigation” diffusé le 21 mars.

“Cela n’est jamais arrivé dans mon diocèse”, dit le pape François à la page 64 de son livre d’entretien Sur la terre comme au ciel (Robert Laffont) à propos des prêtres pédophiles. Est-ce la stricte vérité ?

Dans son pays natal, l’Argentine, le pape est très critiqué pour sa gestion du cas d’un prêtre condamné pour pédophilie. En 2010, archevêque de Buenos Aires, il aurait tenté de faire innocenter un homme d’Eglise. C’est l’affaire du père Julio Grassi, le plus grand scandale de pédophilie dans l’Eglise en Argentine.

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ITALIEN
Katholisch

[The sexual abuse of infants and small children is growing according to the Italian child protection association “Meter”. The association, founded by the Sicilian priest Don Fortunato Di Noto, published its annual report on pedophilia and pedophilia on the internet.]

Der sexuelle Missbrauch an Säuglingen und Kleinkindern wächst nach Angaben der italienischen Kinderschutz-Vereinigung “Meter”. Die vom sizilianischen Priester Don Fortunato Di Noto gegründete Vereinigung veröffentlichte am Montag ihren Jahresbericht mit Dokumentationen über Pädophilie und Pädopornografie im Internet, wie der katholische Nachrichtendienst SIR berichtete. 2016 habe “Meter” den Behörden knapp 9.400 URLs gemeldet, mehr als 200.000 Videos (76.000 im Vorjahr) und knapp 2 Millionen Fotos (2015: 1,1 Millionen Fotos) identifiziert. Davon hätten sich 9.900 Fotos und 2.900 Videos auf Kleinkinder im Alter von 0 bis 3 bezogen, heißt es in dem Bericht.

“Es gibt wirklich einen immens hohen Prozentsatz an Neugeborenen. Das geht so weit, dass sogar ein Portal eingerichtet worden ist, das Neugeborenen gewidmet ist und in dem Material hochgeladen wird, das abscheulichste Missbrauchsvergehen zeigt,” sagte Di Noto Radio Vatikan. Dieses Material stamme aus der ganzen Welt und somit lasse sich das Problem nicht auf eine Nation oder einen Ort einschränken, so der Geistliche aus Avola bei Syrakus. Das Material werde durch Einzeltäter, aber vermehrt auch durch kriminelle Vereinigungen und Gruppen produziert.

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FRANCE
Le Monde

[New accusations of sexual abuse in the church. Mediapart and the “Cash Investigation” program, which will air Tuesday night say that 25 bishops have covered 32 sexual assailants.]

Après la mise en cause du cardinal Barbarin à Lyon, la gestion par l’Eglise catholique de prêtres mis en cause pour des actes de pédophilie est l’objet de nouvelles accusations, en France et jusqu’au Vatican.

Avec moins de 0,5 % de prêtres accusés d’abus sexuels sur mineurs, la France semble moins touchée que les Etats-Unis, où les accusations de pédophilie ont visé 4 % des prêtres entre 1950 et 2002, et que l’Australie, où ces soupçons en ont concerné 7 % entre 1950 et 2010.

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FRANKREICH
Katholisch

[Members of the French Bishops’ Conference have refused to participate in a TV debate on clergy abuse. A Cash Investigation TV program revealed that 25 French bishops are known to have covered-up abuse.]

Die Französische Bischofskonferenz nimmt nicht an einer Fernsehdebatte zum Thema Missbrauch am Dienstagabend teil. Grund für die Verweigerung seien die Interviewmethoden, die die Journalisten für eine Fernsehsendung zum Missbrauch in der Kirche an den Tag gelegt hätten, teilte die Bischofskonferenz am Montag in Paris mit. Die Journalisten respektierten ethische Standards nicht und die Sendung beschäftige sich mehr mit Anschuldigungen als dem Willen zur Erklärung, heißt es in der Pressemitteilung der Bischofskonferenz.

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AUSTRALIA
7 News

Two West Australian boys who allegedly sexually abused a nine-year-old boy are no longer attending school while the education minister looks into options for continuing their learning.

The mother of the boy has expressed outrage his alleged abusers, aged 12 and 17, have been allowed to continue going to school, although it is not the same school her son attends.

New Education Minister Sue Ellery agreed it was unacceptable.

“There are ways to provide those children with an education outside the school environment,” she told 6PR radio on Tuesday.

Ms Ellery said the two boys did not attend a public school so she would discuss the case with non-government school providers and would also look at protocols for addressing such situations in future.

Catholic Education WA said it did not comment publicly on matters regarding individual students, in the interests of child safety and child protection.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV

Nottingham is set to host the country’s biggest ever event to tackle child sexual exploitation today.

The current head of the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Professor Alexis Jay will address social services, the police and community groups at the two-day conference hosted by East Midlands based charity NWG.

It comes after the group were backed with over £1.24million of Government money enabling them to double their staff and launch the national child sexual exploitation response unit to support those who come across child sexual exploitation.

The charity’s chief executive, Sheila Taylor MBE, who was a key participant in a Downing Street child sexual exploitation summit and has previously helped Derbyshire police track down and convict two gangs of paedophiles, said:

“It’s great to see so many people coming together to help tackle this horrendous crime but of course we’d like so many more to join with us and access support. In order to end the suffering of children we all have a part to play – we need to encourage people to speak out and we want to bring these issues out into the open. We want the world to unite against child sexual exploitation and we aim to highlight the issues surrounding CSE; encouraging everyone to think, spot and speak out against abuse and adopt a zero tolerance to adults developing inappropriate relationships with children.”

– SHEILA TAYLOR MBE.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The alleged victim said he was punished for bringing food to the retreat that was held at Cocos Island back in 1986.

Guam – In the latest sex abuse lawsuit filed against the church, a former confirmation class student says defrocked priest Raymond Cepeda sexually assaulted him during a weekend retreat at Cocos Island as a form of punishment.

The complaint, filed by 45-year-old James Mafnas, states that when Mafnas was 15 years old and a student of confirmation classes at the Barrigada parish, students were required to go on a retreat to Cocos Island as a requirement for confirmation class.

Mafnas says students were told not to bring food with them and that they were required to purchase food from a resort at Cocos Island. But Mafnas said his family couldn’t afford to purchase food at Cocos Island so Mafnas secretly packed some food with him to the retreat. When he got caught, Mafnas says he was sent to Cepeda’s bungalow. At the time, Cepeda was the parish priest of the Barrigada church.

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MICHIGAN
WBKB

The Presque Isle County Courthouse was a full courtroom today, as the Obwaka case continued.

Residents from all over the county were present in the courtroom for Reverend Sylvester Obwaka’s arraignment hearing. The former Saint Ignatius priest is being accused of assaulting a 28–year–old male, in February of this year.

We later learned that the victim is also a priest. Last week, the victim testified in court claiming that he was assaulted while sleeping at the reverend’s home. Today in court, Obwaka pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“We have reviewed the charges in reading…He entered a plea of ‘not guilty on all accounts,” Honorable Scott L. Pavlich stated during Monday’s hearing.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By Yoav Gonen March 20, 2017

City officials are dragging their heels on a politically-sensitive probe of whether Hasidic schools provide their students with a secular education, advocates charge.

The Department of Education launched a probe more than 18 months ago after advocates submitted a list of dozens of Orthodox Jewish schools that provide little or no English, math, social studies or science — most notably for boys in yeshivas.

But advocates say the probe is moving at a snail’s pace because Mayor de Blasio fears riling the powerful Hasidic community.

“There’s really no explanation to why the mayor would turn a blind eye other than the fear of upsetting this powerful bloc vote led by these powerful [Jewish] lobbyist groups,” Naftuli Moster, founder of the group Yaffed, told The Post.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Aodhan O’Faolain

A Co Galway man seeking information about his infant sister who may have died in the Tuam mother and baby home has secured leave from the High Court to bring an action against Tusla.

Peter Mulryan’s sister Marian Bridget Mulryan is believed to be among the 796 children recorded as having died in the home.

He brought proceedings against Tusla, the child and family agency, in order to get any information that may exist about her.

Tusla says it has provided all information it is aware of and has also offered to allow Mr Mulryan, of Derrymullen, Ballinasloe, to inspect materials in its possession concerning the Tuam home.

Previously, the court heard Mr Mulryan went with his mother to the Tuam home just days after his birth in July 1944. His mother later appeared to have gone to a Magdalene institution and he was “boarded out” at the age of four.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

By Juno McEnroe
Political Correspondent

The Government is set to oppose an opposition motion this week advocating a truth commission to investigate mother and baby homes.

TDs will this evening debate Sinn Féin proposals for a truth commission, modelled on those of other countries, that would hear from survivors groups.

The motion proposes allowing such an inquiry “unfettered” access to documentation. It would also examine how people were treated in Magdalene laundries and industrial schools and allow for public or private hearings.

All mother and baby home sites would come under its remit and the inquiry would consider the State’s role in placing people there and in other institutions.

The motion, led by Cork TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, is expected to be opposed by Government.

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CANADA
Anglican Church of Canada

Dear Senator Beyak:

Not only in the Red Chamber on Parliament Hill, but across the country, many people – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – were dismayed by your remarks. You said “I was disappointed in the TRC’s Report and that it didn’t focus on the good,” associated with Residential Schools. Had you, Senator, made these remarks within a discussion of the TRC’s Report, your comments might have been less shocking.

Senator Beyak, you are quite right in saying that for a small minority of survivors, their personal experiences of Residential School were “good”. But in much greater numbers, the personal experiences of children who were housed in those schools were “bad” – very bad in fact. One only needs to have attended a local, regional or national event hosted by Canada’s Truth & Reconciliation Commission to know this. The Commissioners listened to the personal stories of thousands of students – of survivors – all of which bore witness to the horrific experience they had.

There are hundreds of students who went to Residential Schools administered by the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). They have told their stories at our church’s National Native Convocation and at Sacred Circle Gatherings. We have been rendered speechless by what we heard. We have hung our heads in shame and raised them with remorse over the pain our church inflicted upon those children.

There was nothing good about a federal government policy of forcibly removing children “from their evil surroundings”, housing them in schools with the intent of “killing the Indian in the child…and turning them into a civilized adult”. It was an attempt at cultural genocide, an attempt whose failure bears witness to the courage and resilience of those children and their communities. As elder Barney Williams of the Survivors’ Society has so often said, “We were all brave children.”

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CANADA
Anglican Journal

BY ANDRÉ FORGET ON MARCH, 20 2017

Canadian Anglican leaders have upbraided Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak for her assertion that the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was overly negative in its representation of the Indian Residential Schools system.

In an open letter published March 20, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald and General Secretary Archdeacon Michael Thompson said they were “dismayed” by Beyak’s comments, and stated there was “nothing good” about the residential schools system.

In a March 7 speech to the senate, Beyak had criticized the TRC for letting the negative aspects of the Indian Residential Schools system—which its report concluded constituted “cultural genocide”—overshadow the “good deeds” of “well-intentioned” teachers.

Beyak made similar remarks during a recent meeting of the Senate’s Aboriginal People’s committee (of which she is a member), saying she was disappointed the TRC’s report “didn’t focus on the good” done by Christian teachers.

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CANADA
APTN National News

March 20, 2017

Willow Fiddler
APTN National News

Senator Lynn Beyak says she will meet with leaders and residential school survivors this summer to discuss their “very real” concerns.

Beyak was invited to meet with a Truth and Reconciliation committee from Sioux Lookout after she made comments about residential schools in the Senate almost two weeks ago. The committee, created last year by the municipality in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action, said the senator’s remarks hinders healing and relationship building.

Garnet Angeconeb, a residential school survivor who sits on the committee, said he was disappointed and surprised to hear Beyak’s comments which included stating that the remarkable works and good deeds of residential schools are often overshadowed by the negative reports and mistakes.

“We’ve been talking about the issue for so long now, over the last 20 years and there’s been some really high level processes in this country that have done good work to address this issue,” said Angeconeb last week in response to the comments. “So those kinds of views and comments coming from somebody at that level is why I was disappointed and quite frankly surprised.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
GoErie

By the Editorial Board

Transparency, accountability and checks and balances of power are woven into American identity. Not so the Catholic Church, which only began its slow, welcome and necessary pivot to the modern world with the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

So it is encouraging news that Bishop Lawrence Persico of the Catholic Diocese of Erie has not only been following abuse-reporting protocols instituted following the emergence of the global clergy child sex abuse scandal in 2002, but is pushing beyond them to improve transparency, as detailed by Erie Times-News reporter Ed Palattella.

Bishops and other church officials are now required by the church and the law to immediately report child sex abuse allegations to police and other authorities.

Persico is going beyond that to make public the names of disciplined or defrocked clergy. From now on, he will publicize the names of priests who have been dismissed permanently from the priesthood by the pope for disciplinary reasons or removed from active clerical duty for reasons related to serious wrongdoing.

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CANADA
National Post

Tristin Hopper | March 20, 2017

In response to Senator Lynn Beyak’s assertion that Canadians ignore the “abundance of good” that happened in residential schools, one of the system’s primary operators issued a statement Monday saying “there was nothing good.”

“There was nothing good about children going missing and no report being filed. There was nothing good about burying children in unmarked graves far from their ancestral homes,” reads a statement co-signed by the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, archbishop of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Although the majority of Canada’s residential schools were operated by Roman Catholic dioceses, about a third fell under the purview of Anglican organizations.

“There are hundreds of students who went to Residential Schools administered by the Anglican Church of Canada … we have hung our heads in shame and raised them with remorse over the pain our church inflicted upon those children,” said Monday’s statement, which detailed the various abuses of the system that were “nothing less than crimes against humanity.”

“We cannot speak about the Residential Schools without acknowledging these truths.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive

By Eric Veronikis | everonikis@pennlive.com

The Berks County District Attorney’s office has filed statutory sexual assault charges against a man who is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl during a church function in Sinking Spring more than 10 years ago.

Police filed charges against Jonathan Scott Buchanan, 34, Thursday.

In October, detectives within the DA’s office launched an investigation after receiving a sexual assault complaint left on an abuse hotline and a report filed with the Berks County Department of Children and Youth Services.

Detectives learned that a 15-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in October of 2006, as she participated in a show production put on by her church, the DA’s office said.

Buchanan, who was about 25-years-old at the time, assisted with a dress rehearsal the day the incidents occurred, according to the DA.

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TEXAS
JD Supra Business Advisor

3/20/2017
by David Fowler Johnson | Winstead PC

In First United Pentecostal Church of Beaumont v. Parker, a church hired an attorney to defend it against sexual abuse allegations. 2017 Tex. LEXIS 295 (Tex. March 17, 2017). During the same time, the church also engaged the attorney to assist in a hurricane/insurance claim. When the insurance company offered to pay over $1 million to settle the claim, the attorney generously suggested that the church leave those funds in the attorney’s trust account to assist with creditor protection. The attorney then withdrew those funds in 2008 and used them for his personal expenses and the expenses of his firm. The attorney had a contract attorney working with his firm. The contract attorney did not know about the improper use of the money at the time that it was done. Rather, he learned about it in 2010, but failed to disclose that information to the client. Eventually, the contract attorney did disclose the information and sent a letter wherein he repented and admitted to breaching his fiduciary duty. The original attorney fled to Arkansas, but was later caught. He pled guilty to misappropriation of fiduciary property and received a fifteen-year sentence.

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CANADA
CBC News

By John Paul Tasker, CBC News Posted: Mar 20, 2017

Leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada have penned a strongly worded letter to Lynn Beyak, the Conservative senator who recently mounted a defence of the Indian residential school system, to denounce her remarks and take ownership of the atrocities committed in the church-run schools.

In a letter sent Monday, church leaders said they were “dismayed” that Beyak would try and shed a positive light on the system, telling her, rather, “the overall view is grim. It is shadowed and dark; it is sad and shameful.”

“Senator Beyak, you are quite right in saying that for a small minority of survivors, their personal experiences of residential school were ‘good.’ But in much greater numbers, the personal experiences of children who were housed in those schools were ‘bad — very bad in fact,” the letter, written by the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz, the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Right Rev. Mark MacDonald, the national Indigenous Anglican bishop, and the church’s general secretary, Michael Thompson, said.

The church leaders note children were forcibly removed from their homes, subjected to exacting punishment for speaking their native tongues and were subjected to “rampant” physical, sexual and mental abuse.

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SOUTH CAROLINA
Live 5

[with video]

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) –
The Salvation Army is facing a lawsuit after two girls claim they were sexually abused for years while attending Sunday School at the Salvation Army’s West Ashley location on Highway 61.

According to the McLeod Law Group, the Salvation Army hired a known sexual predator.

The lawsuit names Armando Gonzalez, who according to jail records, was arrested in December 2015 for criminal sexual conduct with a minor under 11 in connection to the assaults.

Lawyers say the Salvation Army did not take any steps to protect the victims entrusted in its care and supervision.

The lawsuit claims the girls were sexually assaulted over five years starting at the age of 4.

According to lawyers, when one of the victims reported the abuse in October of 2015, Gonzalez confessed to years of sexual abuse at The Salvation Army and was subsequently charged and arrested.

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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times

Alexandra Back

It was the morning of June 20, 2012, and the phone call, from a former Daramalan College student to the headmaster at Marist College Canberra, came out of the blue.

The headmaster, Richard Sidorko, had been the former student’s boarding master at an interstate school in the 1980s, and they had come to know each other quite well during that time.

The conversation that day had moved from general chat chat, to talk about another former student, who had recently died. The student then asked the headmaster about a sexual abuse case at Marist College, which had been generating attention.

“He then said, ‘you know, I’ve been abused too’,” Mr Sidorko told the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, at the trial of the student’s alleged abuser. “My response was surprised, but not surprised.

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AUSTRALIA
Catholic Leader

March 21, 2017

By Mark Bowling

INDEPENDENT Member for Cairns Rob Pyne has attacked the Catholic Church as “a law unto itself” as he introduced a private member’s bill dealing with child abuse into Queensland Parliament.

The bill would legally require priests and other ministers of religion to report cases of abuse.
Mr Pyne said if a member of the clergy had knowledge of a crime, they should be obliged to report it.

“Child abuse is even more damaging when the offender holds a position of trust. Abuse by ministers of religion is a life-scarring betrayal,” Mr Pyne tweeted on Tuesday March 20, the day before he tabled his bill.

Mr Pyne’s bill would make it mandatory for religious ministers to report abuse, including child sexual abuse, to the Department of Child Safety.

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AUSTRALIA
Deniliquin Pastoral Times

A legally-blind, self-described “witch” who abused two teenage girls will never have authority in the alternative Catholic church he attends, the church leader says.

Robin Fletcher was jailed in 1998 for using hypnotism and mind-altering techniques to prostitute two 15-year-old girls, while working as a drug abuse and sexual guidance youth counsellor.

He was released in 2006, but lived under supervision orders for the next decade before a court this month allowed him to roam freely.

Australian Church of Antioch Archbishop Frank Bugge says he has known Fletcher for more than 30 years and allows “the very well qualified” man to teach theology once a month.

Fletcher also attends mass each Sunday at the Alphington church – a three-minute walk from a children’s playground – but the archbishop strongly disputed any notion the convicted sex offender preaches or holds authority.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Sister Maureen
www.catholicwhistleblowers.org

For decades, the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has covered up the sexual abuse of children while transferring errant priests from parish to parish, place to place, year after year. In this, it is not unlike other dioceses in Pennsylvania, including the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Three grand juries investigated the Philadelphia archdiocese, resulting in the release of scathing grand jury reports in 2005 and 2011.

Now, a year after the 2016 release of an equally scathing grand jury report on the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, an “independent oversight board” is being created to “protect diocese children from sexual abuse in the church.”

Had it not been for that grand jury report, the cover-up would likely have continued as business as usual in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese as it has in many states across the country.

Keep in mind that the Altoona-Johnstown Memorandum of Understanding is just that, a memorandum, an agreement between Bishop Mark Bartchak and acting U.S. Attorney Soo Song. It has no power in law.

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AUSTRALIA
news.com.au

MARCH 21, 2017

By Rebekah Ison
Australian Associated Press

A persistent culture of independence within Anglican dioceses is delaying a long-awaited misconduct regime that would deal with allegations of child sexual abuse, a royal commission has heard.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse on Tuesday heard there still isn’t a consistent national approach to professional standards 13 years after the church’s General Synod enacted a model ordinance on the issue in 2004.

Data released at the start of the hearing revealed 82 people who made complaints to the church were first abused as children between 2000 and 2015.

Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald on Tuesday said it was “almost inexplicable” to outsiders that the church had not put aside “relatively minor differences” to arrive at a common approach to professional standards.

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AUSTRALIA
Camden Courier

Rachel Browne
21 Mar 2017

The Anglican church has failed to achieve a nationally consistent approach to child sexual abuse due to lack of consensus between its 23 dioceses, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry into how the church has responded to child sexual abuse was told a national body was established to develop child protection standards that were enacted by the general synod in 2004.

Not all dioceses have adopted the Professional Standards Commission’s models or have only partially implemented them over the past 13 years, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse heard.

Garth Blake SC, a Sydney barrister and chairman of the church’s Professional Standards Commission, told the hearing the inaction left him “deeply” troubled.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen GLOBE STAFF MARCH 20, 2017

The only way you got Breslin out of New York was at gunpoint or with a good story.

Jimmy Breslin, who died Sunday, was the best newspaper columnist in the world and he was the first one to tell you that. But he would also tell you he had good material, and it was almost always in New York. …

Breslin spent some time in Boston researching his 2004 book about the coverup of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, “The Church That Forgot Jesus.”

He wanted to figure out Cardinal Law, why Law would enable so many priests to abuse kids.

“What’s this Law like?” he asked.

I told him that when Law was a young priest in Mississippi, he told others that he was going to be the first American pope.

“That’s not so bad,” Breslin replied.

I told him Law insisted that his staff refer to him as Your Eminence.

“That’s it,” Breslin chirped. “That’s what I needed to know.”

In Breslin’s world, being ambitious was admirable; being pompous was a venal sin.

Breslin zeroed in on one of Law’s assistants, Bishop William Murphy, who had protected abusive priests in Boston. Murphy was rewarded for his loyalty, made bishop of Rockville Centre, on Long Island.

Breslin found out Murphy had kicked some nuns out of their convent so he could turn it into a palace for himself. Breslin nicknamed him Mansion Murphy and made his life miserable, though not as miserable as the lives that Murphy helped ruin by protecting criminals in Roman collars.

Breslin loved good priests and nuns. He just thought there weren’t enough of them, and that it was the big shots running the church who were to blame.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon |For The Guam Daily Post Mar 21, 2017

A 45-year-old man filed a lawsuit in the District Court alleging he was sexually abused as “penance” to get confirmed in the Catholic Church.

James A. Mafnas, of Barrigada, filed a lawsuit against the Archbishop of Agana, alleging he was abused by former priest Raymond Cepeda when he was attending confirmation classes at San Vicente Ferrer-San Roke Catholic Church in Barrigada. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, confirmation is a sacrament of initiation in the Catholic Church where a baptized person is “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

In 1986, Mafnas and other confirmation students attended a weekend retreat at Cocos Island Resort. Students were instructed that all food had to be purchased at Cocos Island from the resort store, but Mafnas’ parents couldn’t afford to give him extra money for food so he packed bread, spam and corned beef to take with him to the retreat, court documents state.

Mafnas recalled that he was caught with the food and was told to report to Cepeda’s bungalow. Cepeda yelled at him telling him he would not get confirmed and made him recite 20 rosaries, the lawsuit states. Instead of returning to the other students, Mafnas was made to sleep on the floor in Cepeda’s room.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com March 21, 2017

A man alleged a former priest sexually abused him on Cocos Island in or around 1986 as penance so he could get confirmed.

James A. Mafnas, now 45, is the 31st man to file a Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana, priests and others who may have helped or covered up the abuse.

Mafnas, in his complaint, said former priest Raymond Cepeda sexually abused him when he was about 15, during a weekend retreat on Cocos Island, as a requirement for confirmation class.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Guam, says Mafnas packed some bread, Spam and corned beef to take to the retreat, even though students were instructed to not bring food or snacks.

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CROATIA
Balkan Transitional Justice

Croatia has been threatened with a lawsuit if it doesn’t support victims of the WWII fascist Ustasa movement in their claims for reparations – although one expert doubted Zagreb would back the case.

Sven Milekic BIRN Zagreb

US lawyer Jonathan Levy said on Monday that he will lay charges against Croatia if it fails to back claims against the Vatican Bank made by victims of the Croatian WWII fascist Ustasa movement.

Certain people in the Vatican allegedly sponsored the exiled Ustasa government after WWII and helped to transfer parts of its treasury – partly created from wealth taken from Serbs, Jews and Roma – to the Vatican Bank.

Levy took the ‘Ustasa treasury’ case to the US courts, but lost in 2010, with judges concluding that they had no jurisdiction over the matter.

He has now appealed to the Croatian government’s newly-formed Council for Dealing with Consequences of the Rule of Non-Democratic Regimes, asking it to support the Ustasa victims.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The High Court has granted leave to a Co Galway man seeking information about his sister who may have died in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home to bring an action against Tusla, the child and family agency.

The case has been brought by Peter Mulryan, whose infant sister Marian Bridget Mulryan is believed to be among 796 children recorded as having died there, has brought proceedings against Tusla aimed at getting any information that may exist about her.

Permission to bring the action was granted by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys, following an application by Deidre O’Donohoe BL instructed by solicitor Kevin Higgins for Mr Mulryan.

Previously the court heard that Mr Mulryan went with his mother to the Tuam home in July 1944, his mother later appeared to have gone to a Magdalene institution and he was sent away at age four.

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