ABUSE TRACKER

SOUTH AFRICA
Herald Live

April 19, 2017

Hendrick Mphande, Shenaaz Jamal, Johnnie Isaac and Sibongile Mashaba

Congregant’s allegations of abuse and ‘blessing’ add to sex-crime claims

A young Port Elizabeth woman has claimed she is among a group of victims allegedly molested by a popular Durban pastor who is being investigated by the Hawks for suspected sex crimes.

Social media has been abuzz with the claims against the widely celebrated pastor in the wake of a TV feature in which the allegations were made by a number of women who have had contact with him during his ministerial work.

The 25-year-old Port Elizabeth woman alleges she was molested at the age of 14 during an incident in Durban. She alleges she was summoned into an office where the pastor rubbed himself against her.

While police are not looking for the 58-year-old pastor as yet, the Hawks say they have been investigating a number of alleged sexual violence cases against him for months now.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Donna De Jesus

There are 52 victims who have filed sex abuse lawsuits against the church.

Guam – The latest victim, using the initials M.S., claims he was sexually assaulted by former priest and Boy Scout Master, Father Louis Brouillard, in the early 1970s.

M.S., through his attorney Kevin Fowler, states in his complaint that Brouillard started abusing him when he was 14 years old. M.S. was a member of Boy Scout Troop 24 of San Isidro Parish in Malojloj, where Brouillard was assigned. He claims Brouillard would sexually abuse him on Boy Scout camping trips. M.S. also claims that the Archdiocese knew about Brouillard’s actions but did nothing to protect the boys.

Meanwhile, a Federal Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan has ordered those who filed complaints at the district court using only initials to reveal their identities, which will be filed under seal.

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UNITED STATES
Courier-Journal

Arthur McCaffrey, Guest Contributor April 18, 2017

I have just completed an extensive, comparative review of international cases of child abuse, revealing common trends and historical patterns shared across countries. These similarities also extend to the recent case of abusive mistreatment of a passenger by United Airlines, which demonstrates many of the typical features usually associated with clergy abuse of children.

For instance, a common feature of abusive environments is an asymmetry of power, often involving institutional authority figures– priests, teachers, gymnastics coach, football coach, airline cabin crew, airport security– who wield their authority to overwhelm the victim. The different means used differ only stylistically: while a priest may woo and groom his target, in the United case airport police took a more brutal, direct approach. The end result is the same: an unconscionable attack on the dignity of the human person.

Next, you have the availability of hapless, powerless, vulnerable victims who are preyed upon–an innocent 10-year-old altar boy, or a foreign-looking passenger who may not know enough English to protest.

Then comes the abuse, either sexual in the case of Catholic children, or physical in the case of the United passenger. In either case, the powerful rape the powerless, often with an almost reckless sense of invincibility, confident that it would be too risky and costly for their umbrella institution (Church or corporation) to blow their cover. One might label this the Sandusky Syndrome, after the notorious case of pedophilia at Penn State University involving assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Vivienne Clarke

The Sisters of Charity’s failure to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims is a separate issue from the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, the man charged with negotiating the move has said.

Kieran Mulvey, who brokered the deal between the Sisters of Charity and Holles Street hospital for the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital, said the order would have no day-to-day involvement in the running of the hospital.

The Sisters of Charity were the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group which the Department of Health said would be the “sole owner of the new hospital” which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

On RTÉ radio Mr Mulvey said the redress question was a matter of historic concern that “should be addressed elsewhere in an appropriate forum”.

He said it was an imperative that Holles Street moved as early as possible to the St Vincent’s campus.

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IRELAND
My Uplift

Campaign created by
Denise Kiernan

Sign and share this petition to prevent the Sisters of Charity becoming ‘sole owners’ of the hospital. Show the state we will not allow the abuse of our babies, children, and women to be swept under the rug. Demand a formal apology from Sisters of Charity and demand they pay their share of the redress scheme.

Why is this important?

The Sisters of Charity is one of 18 residential institutions that is highlighted by the Ryan report 2009 to have been responsible for child abuse. They still owe €3 million to the redress scheme for its survivors. The Sisters of Charity, along with three other religious congregations, were responsible for the management of Magdalene Laundries. In 2013 they stated they would not be making ANY contributions to the State redress scheme to the women who had been subject abuse in the Magdalene Laundries. The Department of Health now want to give ‘sole’ ownership of the new €300 million State-funded National Maternity Hospital.

Deny them ‘sole’ ownership. Demand they formally apologise and pay redress.

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IRELAND
The Journal

[the petition]

MORE THAN 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Sisters of Charity to be prevented from becoming the owner of the national maternity hospital.

Yesterday, TDs and councillors were among those to criticise the fact a religious group which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress scheme for institutional abuse survivors is to be the owner of the new hospital.

The Sisters of Charity own the land at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4 where the new hospital is being built.

A petition seeking to prevent the group becoming the sole owner of the hospital has, at the time of publication, been signed over 20,000 times.

Emily Duffy of Uplift, the group behind the petition, said: “This is an issue that people in Ireland are clearly outraged about.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

An online petition to block The Sisters of Charity from owning the new national maternity hospital has got thousands of signatures overnight.

18,000 people have added their names to the protest, set up after the religious order was revealed as the new owner of the facility due to be built in Dublin.

Emily Duffy, spokesperson for Uplift who are behind the petition, said it was rare for such a petition to get so much attention so quickly.

“ This is an issue that people in Ireland are clearly outraged about – it’s rare we see a petition go viral so rapidly, and it shows that people are deeply troubled by the State’s utter disregard for the many victims of abuse which took place in institutions run by orders such as the Sisters of Charity.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
SR

[The prosecutor’s office has closed her fourth investigation against former Freisen pastor M. The pastor was investigated for possible child abuse.]

Die Staatsanwaltschaft hat ihr viertes Ermittlungsverfahren gegen den ehemaligen Freisener Pfarrer M. eingestellt. Sie hatte zuletzt den Verdacht auf Missbrauch eines Kindes geprüft.

Der Fall um den Freisener Pfarrer M. soll über 20 Jahre zurückliegen und wäre somit verjährt. Zuvor hatte die Staatsanwaltschaft bereits in drei weiteren Missbrauchs-Verdachtsfällen gegen den Priester ermittelt und die Verfahren ebenfalls eingestellt.

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MASSACHUSETTS
YouTube

Published on Apr 18, 2017

Panel discussion about the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Investigation into Catholic clergy child sex abuse, and the subsequent Academy Award winning film “Spotlight.” Panelists are Boston clergy abuse survivors Phil Saviano and Joseph Crowley, Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, and attorney Eric MacLeish. Moderators are Philadelphia plaintiff attorneys Slade McLaughlin and Paul Lauricella. The “Spotlight” Plenary took place on September 20, 2016 at the National Center for Victims of Crime’s annual National Training Institute, held that year in Philadelphia, PA. This is PART 1 of a two-part videotape. Look for Part 2 of the program hosted on this same Phil Saviano Channel here on YouTube.

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MASSACHUSETTS
YouTube

Published on Apr 18, 2017

This is PART II of a panel discussion about the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Investigation into Catholic clergy child sex abuse, and the subsequent Academy Award winning film “Spotlight.” Panelists are Boston clergy abuse survivors Phil Saviano and Joseph Crowley, Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer, and attorney Eric MacLeish. Moderators are Philadelphia plaintiff attorneys Slade McLaughlin and Paul Lauricella. The “Spotlight” Plenary took place on September 20, 2016 at the National Center for Victims of Crime’s annual National Training Institute, held that year in Philadelphia, PA. This is PART 1 of a two-part videotape. Look for Part I of the program hosted on this same Phil Saviano Channel here on YouTube.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For the Guam Daily Post

The archdiocese’s recent announcement of the establishment of a Hope and Healing program has come under criticism by attorney David Lujan, who represents several dozen victims of clergy sexual abuse.

“It’s a scam. The institution that knows about scams, there’s no greater institution than the Catholic Church. They’ve mastered the art of deception and deceit,” Lujan told The Guam Daily Post.

Two weeks ago, the Archdiocese of Agana announced the formation of the Hope and Healing program as part of its efforts to reach out to victims of clergy sexual abuse by establishing a victim’s settlement fund. The fund would develop as the archdiocese raises money through a liquidation of assets and resources. California-based attorney Mike Caspino was named the director of the independent group that will administer the settlement fund for victims and said, during a media conference, that the program aims to help ease the pain caused by the abuse.

“It already shows that they’re not operating in good faith. We will never agree to anyone that is related to the church,” Lujan said.

Lujan confirmed he met with Caspino two weeks ago and there was never mention of the California lawyer being the director of the program. The Guam attorney accuses Caspino of having an ulterior motive. “It’s not a fair mediation. He charges the church by the hour. Of course, his loyalty is to the church, not to (victims),” Lujan said. “He’s here to pick our pockets.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com April 19, 2017

Three new lawsuits filed Wednesday detailed former priest Louis Brouillard’s alleged sex abuse of children in the 1950s and 1970s on church premises and during Boy Scouts of America activities.

A man identified in court document as M.S. filed his suit in the Superior Court of Guam, while Thomas A. Cepeda Sr. and a man identified as M.W. filed theirs in the U.S. District Court of Guam. The federal cases each ask for $10 million in damages. Their lawsuits bring to 54 the total number of Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed so far in local and federal courts.

Brouillard is being sued in 31 of the cases, and is accused, but isn’t being sued, in three others. The latest lawsuits named the Archdiocese of Agana, Brouillard and the Boy Scouts of America and its Aloha Council Chamorro District as defendants.

M.S. accused Brouillard of sexually abusing him many times when he was about 14 around 1972, in a church rectory, in a tent during Boy Scouts camping trips and during rides in Brouillard’s vehicle. M.S. is now 59 and lives on Guam.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

“Jesus Christ, he represents the church. We might as well deal with Archbishop Byrnes.” — Attorney David Lujan

Guam – Attorney David Lujan is slamming the Hope and Healing fund saying they are misleading the public into thinking that they are here to help victims of sex abuse. Lujan represents a majority of the 52 alleged victims who have sued the archdiocese so far while the Hope and Healing fund is being run by an attorney hired by the church.

“I think it’s a scam, really. It’s all one-sided,” Lujan argued.

Last week, at a press conference, the church announced that stateside Attorney Michael Caspino would be the executive director of the Hope and Healing Guam program. But according to Lujan, at a meeting with Caspino two weeks earlier, that was never revealed to him.

“That’s new to me and I would never agree to him being a part of the program. Jesus Christ, he represents the church. We might as well deal with Archbishop Byrnes,” Lujan lamented. “Let me deal with the real McCoy.”

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IRELAND
Irish Post

THOUSANDS of people have signed a petition to halt the Sisters of Charity, who once ran one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, from running an Irish maternity hospital.

The Sisters of Charity is one of 18 religious congregations who managed residential institutions for children investigated by the Ryan Commission and was party to the 2002, €128million indemnity agreement with the State.

After the Ryan Report in 2009, the Sisters of Charity offered to contribute a further €5million towards the €1.5billion redress costs incurred by the State involving former residents of the institutions.

But according to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report last month the Order have contributed just €2million of their 2009 offer.

The Department of Health said late last year the National Maternity Hospital, at Holles Street in Dublin and St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group – of which, the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder – agreed a new governance structure, creating a new company to be established called The National Maternity Hospital at Elm Park.

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IRELAND
Dublin Live

BY BARRY ARNOLD
19 APR 2017

Two Dublin politicians have slammed the decision to grant The Religious Sisters of Charity group “sole ownership” of the new National Maternity Hospital.

North Inner City councillor Eilis Ryan believes the decision presents a “nightmare scenario” for women who will depend on the €300 million hospital.

The Worker’s Party councillor has called into question whether, if the 8th amendment repealed, the new legislation would be “implemented fully in a hospital wholly owned by the Catholic Church”.

Councillor Ryan said: “The decision to grant ownership of the National Maternity Hospital makes a mockery of the supposed neutrality of the Citizens’ Assembly.

“Do any of us really believe that, if and when the 8th amendment of our constitution is repealed, any new legislation for abortion will be implemented fully in a hospital wholly owned by the Catholic Church?

“Every week another story emerges of the extraordinary harm done to women by the church, with state complicity, in this country.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

By Catherine Shanahan
Health Correspondent

The State’s investment in the proposed €300m national maternity hospital will be protected and it will be free of religious interference, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

The Master of the National Maternity Hospital (NMH), Rhona O’Mahony, said the hospital will “be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy”.

Mr Harris and Dr O’Mahony’s comments follow reports that the Sisters of Charity will be sole owners of the hospital when it transfers from its current site at Holles St to St Vincent’s University Hospital campus at Elm Park.

The notion of the Sisters of Charity having sole ownership of a State-funded hospital sparked outrage among those angered that the order has not fulfilled commitments to survivors of institutional abuse.

The order had pledged an additional €5m after the 2009 publication of the Ryan Report which inquired into child abuse in religious-run institutions — but €3m remains outstanding.

However, the State has not “gifted” sole ownership to the nuns; the land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by St Vincent’s Healthcare Group of which the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder. This does not mean the nuns could dispose of the hospital on a whim because the minister, who holds a “golden share” in the company set up to run it, can withhold his approval.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Allison Bray
April 19 2017

Survivors of the Magdalene Laundries are appalled that the controversial Sisters of Charity order that ran the notorious workhouses will still own the new National Maternity Hospital – even if it is independently run.

Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, issued a statement last night insisting that the new €300m hospital at Elm Park in south Dublin, will be “operated by a new company with an independent board and will be clinically and operationally entirely independent in line with national maternity policy”.

But Steven O’Riordan, chair of Magdalene Survivors Together, said rather than the State paying the order for the land, the nuns should be required to hand the proceeds back to the State and have nothing to do with the hospital.

Survivors are infuriated that the order still hasn’t lived up to its legal and moral responsibilities to pay millions of euro in compensation to victims of institutional abuse – despite agreeing to do so more than 15 years ago.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Minihan

An Independent TD who frequently supports the Government has said the religious congregation that will own the new national maternity hospital has a “moral duty” to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims.

Michael Harty, who is a Clare GP and chairman of the Oireachtas health committee, was referring to the Sisters of Charity, the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

“The Sisters of Charity have a moral duty to honour their commitment to pay the balance of the €3 million due given the value of their share [IN THE]St Vincent’s site especially given their status as a religious order,” he told The Irish Times.

The religious congregation is to be the owner of the new €300 million State-funded national maternity hospital, which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The former chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission has said monies owed by the Sisters of Charity order to a redress scheme did not feature during negotiations to move the National Maternity Hospital to the St Vincent’s campus.

The land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder in the group, which will own the new hospital.

Kieran Mulvey acted as a mediator between Holles Street and St Vincent’s hospitals during the negotiation process.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Mr Mulvey said he empathised with victims but the issue was separate to the one he had been dealing with.

He said his terms of reference were to deal with the relocation of Holles Street and to put in appropriate arrangements for all concerned.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 19, 2017

By Krystal Paco

The 52nd plaintiff files suit for clergy sex abuse. “M.S.” filed his complaint in the Superior Court of Guam on Wednesday naming the Archdiocese of Agana and the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council as defendants.

His alleged abuser is Father Louis Brouillard. According to the plaintiff, he was a parishioner of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Inarajan. Because the parish didn’t have its own Boy Scouts troop, he joined the Malojojo troop led by Father Brouillard.

The complaint states that the priest would get naked and fondle the plaintiff while other boy scouts were forced to looked at photographs of naked boys. On other occasions, M.S. was on camping trips when the priest would come into his tent and sexually abuse him.

His local attorney is Kevin Fowler who believes others are likely to come forward with allegations against the priest.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 19, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Filed in the District Court of Guam were two more cases of clergy sex abuse. Thomas A. Cepeda Sr. and M.W. both allege they were sexually molested by Father Louis Brouillard.

Cepeda, who is 71 years old today, lives in Washington, but grew up in Mangilao. He says he was abused by the priest in the late 1950s through the early 1960s. Brouillard allegedly instructed him to remove his pants so he could conduct a physical examination but the priest measured his penis and groped him before telling the boy to bend over so he could rub his privates.

M.W. says he was molested by the priest in Malojojo. The priest allegedly had the boys stay after mass to clean, but would give them leftover wine to drink before sexually molesting them.

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UTAH
Deseret News

By McKenzie Romero
@McKenzieRomero
Published: April 17, 2017

PROVO — A flood of criticism is flowing in about a Provo judge’s handling of a sexual assault case.

Constant calls have police evaluating how to keep the judge safe. The defendant’s attorney is arguing statements from the bench are being taken out of context. And a victim in the case is calling the judge’s comments a painful obstacle for others who have been sexually assaulted.

Fourth District Judge Thomas Low has made international headlines for his apparent praise of a former LDS bishop as he sentenced the man to prison last week for sexually abusing two women while they stayed at his home.

As he ordered Keith Vallejo, 43, to spend at least five years and potentially life in prison, the judge called Vallejo “an extraordinarily good man.”

As Low’s comments spread online — with news organizations including the New York Daily News, Washington Post, Associate Press, Huffington Post and others picking up the story — Utah State Courts spokesman Geoff Fattah said a steady string of calls have come in from people voicing criticism or disappointment about the judge.

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INDIANA
Kokomo Perspective

Devin Zimmerman Apr 18, 2017

(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories concerning Temple Baptist Church Kokomo. In the coming weeks, multiple victims will tell their stories of alleged abuse – physical, mental, and spiritual – while attending the church and the church’s school, Temple Baptist Academy.)

It all began when Dawn Price posted a video to YouTube on Feb. 27, 2017.

Through a heartfelt reading of a letter she wrote to her parents at the behest of a counselor, Price detailed her painful childhood while choking back tears. In just under 15 minutes, she described the alleged sexual abuse she claims to have endured at the hands of her father, Donald Croddy, who sources say served in various capacities around children at Temple Baptist Church.

Adopted at the age of 5, and now 45, Price claims her father began grooming her shortly after she and her brother were brought into the Croddy home in Kokomo.

“You made naptime and playing house with daddy normal,” said Price in her video. “You took away my innocence. No child should know about sex or orgasms. You have no idea how you screwed up my sexual development.”

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TENNESSEE
The Tennessean

Joey Garrison , USA Today Network – Tennessee Published April 18, 2017

Nashville will name a one-block overpass bridge on Jefferson Street after Bishop Joseph Walker III, one of city’s most prominent pastors, following action from the Metro Council on Tuesday.

The council voted 30-0, with an unusually high eight abstentions, to honor Walker, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, with the distinction. The overpass crosses the interstate between 11th and 12th avenues on Jefferson Street near one of Mt. Zion’s three churches.

The honorary name, pushed by At-large Councilman Erica Gilmore, has caused a hubbub in the council. Some have questioned whether it’s appropriate to name civic structures after people who are living. Council members Sharon Hurt and Tanaka Vercher have said other pastors besides Walker are also worthy of being honored.

Councilman Scott Davis told colleagues Tuesday that the real “elephant in the room” is previous allegations made against Walker. He was referring to 2012 lawsuits led by a woman parishioner that accused Walker of sexual abuse. A judge dismissed the complaints because of the statute of limitations.

Davis said he would let his own daughter attend programs at Mt. Zion and said the allegations against Walker aren’t true.

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SOUTH AFRICA
ENCA

Wednesday 19 April 2017

JOHANNESBURG – A manhunt for a pastor accused of sexually molesting his congregants is likely to be over soon.

Police said in a statement they had made contact with pastor Tim Omotoso and his arrest was being arranged.

Omotoso, a Nigerian national, is the leader of the Jesus Dominion International in Durban.

Girls have accused him of luring them into his house to molest them.

Most of the church’s members are young people, who say he has betrayed their trust.

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UNITED STATES
WSIU

[with audio]

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

In the early 2000s, investigative reporters at The Boston Globe helped uncover cases of child sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church in Boston, a story that was recently told in the movie “Spotlight.” Since then, the church has implemented some changes to make children safer. That might not have happened without Joe Crowley. He was one of the first men to talk about his abuse to reporter Sacha Pfeiffer.

Joe Crowley died this past Sunday at age 58, and this morning in The Boston Globe, Pfeiffer wrote a tribute to Crowley. She’s with us now. Sacha Pfeiffer, welcome.

SACHA PFEIFFER: Thanks for having me.

MCEVERS: How did you first meet Joe Crowley?

PFEIFFER: I was introduced to him through a network of lawyers and advocates. And we met at a cafe, and I remember thinking that he was so smart and funny and articulate. But he was also really insecure and very nervous. And he clearly was still recovering from what had happened decades earlier just emotionally and psychologically. And we stayed in touch ever since.

MCEVERS: What happened to him?

PFEIFFER: When Joe was growing up, he lived in an extremely unstable family. His mom had schizophrenia. His dad was mostly out of the picture. There were five siblings total. They actually spent a few years in a children’s home, sort of the equivalent of an orphanage.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home

Crowley — Joseph Anthony of Brookline, April 16, 2017. Beloved son of Annamae (Grealish) Crowley and the late Edward F. Crowley. Devoted brother of Monica Crowley of Jamaica Plain, Regina and Bill Evans of Boston, Anne Marie Crowley of Cambridge and Edward Crowley of Boston. Also survived by his aunts, uncles, cousins, his fellow survivors and friends from the AA community.

Visiting hours in the Robert J. Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home 1803 Centre St., West Roxbury, on Saturday, April 22, from 3:30 to 5:30pm. Followed by a Vigil Service at 5:30pm. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Interment Private.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Joe’s memory to SNAP, www.snapnetwork.org or to P.O. Box 56539 Saint Louis, MO 63156 or to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay 75 Federal St., 8th Fl.,
Boston, MA 02110
www.lawlerfuneralhome.com

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MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

BY JUDY L. THOMAS
jthomas@kcstar.com

A lower court was correct in dismissing defamation and other claims against a national Catholic organization by a former altar boy whose sexual abuse case was part of a $10 million settlement with the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, a federal appellate court has ruled.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Jon David Couzens waited too long to file the lawsuit.

The case, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court in 2013, named as defendants the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; its president and CEO, William Donohue; the KC Catholic League; and two Kansas City men who were officers of the now-dissolved local organization.

Couzens said that Donohue published false statements about him in news releases, on the Catholic League’s website and in documents distributed to churches. Couzens also accused the defendants of invasion of privacy and inflicting emotional distress.

The New York-based Catholic League successfully got the lawsuit moved to U.S. District Court. That court dismissed the case in 2015 after agreeing with the Catholic League that the material was first published in New York and because of that, the statute of limitations had expired.

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CANADA
Ottawa Sun

BY ANDREW DUFFY, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2017

An Ottawa man says he was sexually abused in August 1979 by Bishop John Beahan, who was then one of the most powerful figures in the Archdiocese of Ottawa.

The man, now 52, has launched a $2-million lawsuit against the Catholic archdiocese. It represents the first time that Beahan, once the second-highest-ranking member of the Ottawa clergy, has been named in a sex abuse lawsuit.

The allegations also raise a potential motive for Beahan to dismiss sex abuse claims made against fellow clergy members in the 1970s and 80s.

Appointed auxiliary bishop in May 1977, Beahan also served for 12 years as vicar general — essentially, the archdiocese’s chief administrative officer — until he suffered a fatal stroke in March 1988. In his role as vicar general, Beahan would have been responsible for managing complaints lodged against abusive priests

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IRELAND
Newstalk

18 Apr 2017
Jack Quann

A Government minister says he is “sure” Health Minister Simon Harris will clarify ownership of the new National Maternity Hospital.

There has been widespread criticism of plans to award ownership of the hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

The group are to be the sole owner of the new hospital, as a major shareholder in the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

In a statement, the Department of Health said: “The new company will have clinical and operational independence in the provision of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services, without religious, ethnic or other distinction, as well as financial and budgetary independence.

“This independence will be assured by the reserved powers which are set out in the agreement and which will be copperfastened by the golden share which will be held by the Minister for Health.”

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IRELAND
The Cork

18 April 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie

Cork North Central Solidarity TD Mick Barry this morning voiced strong opposition to plans to make the Sisters of Charity the sole owners of the new National Maternity Hospital.

Deputy Barry is a member of the Dail’s Committee on the Future of Healthcare which is due to issue its report next month.

He said that the Sisters of Charity were in “serious breach of commitments given to the State regarding payments for redress for survivors of institutional abuse and should not be rewarded by being made sole owners of the new 300 million euro National Maternity Hospital.”

Mick Barry said “the Sisters of Charity have a 3 million euro debt outstanding on a 5 million euro payment pledged after the publication in 2009 of the Ryan report and have yet to transfer ownership of the Sacred Heart Centre in Waterford to the State as agreed in 2002 as part of the indemnity deal. The Sisters of Charity refused to make any contribution to redress for survivors of those Magdalene Laundries it was responsible for.”

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IRELAND
Irish Sun

By Megan Roantree
18th April 2017

THE Religious Sisters of Charity Ireland are set to be given “sole ownership” of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The €300million facility will be located at St Vincent’s Hospital grounds at Elm Park in south Dublin.

Proceeds from the sale of Holles Street maternity hospital will go towards funding the new one which is due to start being built in 2021.

The Religious Sisters of Charity organisation still owes €3million to the State redress scheme for victims of institutional abuse, agreed to in 2002 after the Ryan commission investigation.

In 2009, the organisation agreed to pay €5million to former residents of religious institutions.

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IRELAND
The Journal

HEALTH MINISTER SIMON Harris has said that the new National Maternity Hospital will have “clinical and operational independence”, without “religious, ethnic or other influence”.

Severe criticism was levelled at the involvement of the Sisters of Charity in the new hospital, which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress for institutional abuse survivors.

The Department of Health confirmed that St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which the Sisters of Charity is a major shareholder, owned the land that the site of the hospital would occupy, but Simon Harris has sought to play down the religious group’s involvement.

In a statement, the Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dr Rhona Mahony, also sought to reassure of the independent nature of the new hospital facility.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Mary Minihan

Minister for Health Simon Harris has insisted his “golden share” in the new €300 million State-funded national maternity hospital means the public interest will be protected and the facility will operate independently.

Opposition politicians have been critical of the fact that a religious congregation is to be the owner of the hospital, which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

The Sisters of Charity, a congregation which has failed to date to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims, are the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG).

Mr Harris tweeted on Tuesday: “New maternity hospital will have full clinical, operational, financial & budgetary independence, free of any religious or ethnic influence.”

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

Survivors of child abuse in residential institutions have expressed shock at the fact that the sole owner of the new National Maternity Hospital in south Dublin will be the the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group, of which the Sisters of Charity are the shareholders.

The Sisters of Charity have yet to fulfil their commitments under the 2002 indemnity agreement, under which they and 17 other congregations that ran residential institutions for children agreed to pay the State €128 million towards redress costs.

They have also to meet commitments they made in 2009 to pay a further €5 million towards redress,€3 million of which remains outstanding.

The congregation is one of four that managed the Magdalene laundries in Ireland, all of which explicitly refused in 2013 to contribute anything to the State redress scheme for women who had been in the laundries.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Roman Catholic priest for three rural parishes in northwestern Saskatchewan is on trial this week for sexual assault.

Father Javier de los Angeles Cortazar, 48, was charged after an incident at a cabin near Goodsoil, Sask., more than two years ago.

Shortly afterward, a fellow priest went to police, alleging Cortazar had sexually assaulted him. The victim’s name is subject to a publication ban.

The trial is set to run all week at Court of Queen’s Bench in Meadow Lake, Sask.

After he was charged, Cortazar continued to preside over weekly services and sacraments for parishioners in Goodsoil, Loon Lake and Pierceland.

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GHANA
Peacefmonline

Rev. Josh Laryea of ICGC has become the most talked about Ghanaian man of God in the last few days–for having been suspended for an alleged sexual affair with a woman who is not his wife.

Following his suspension, Ghanaian musician-Mzbel came out to say the suspension vindicates her and that when the same Josh Laryea “molested” her and she complained later, the church covered it up.

Interesting, Mzbel and Josh Laryea have been friends for long.

In fact, Josh Laryea was the pastor who officiated the naming ceremony of Mzbel’s son, Aaron at ICGC.

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SOUTH AFRICA
Times Live

Shenaaz Jamal‚ Sibongile Mashaba And Julia Madibogo | 18 April, 2017

The Hawks say they are investigating allegations that a popular televangelist molested several girls‚ but say the preacher is not on the run.

SABC’s Special Assignment carried an expose on the pastor in which several victims spoke of the alleged abuse. The programme claimed the pastor who leads a church in Durban‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ was on the run from authorities. Hawks spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Netshiunda said they were already investigating the allegations months prior to the Special Assignment feature.

“Even before the matter was reported we were already investigating it and speaking to victims‚” said Netshiunda.

He said the SABC had “exaggerated the matter” when it claimed the Hawks were searching for the man‚ saying he was not on the run.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A new civil complaint filed in the District Court of Guam alleges a former priest sexually abused a boy – who had a mental illness – while the boy was an altar boy and a Boy Scout.

The lawsuit, filed by Public Guardian Marcelene C. Santos, on behalf of an individual using the initials “G.B.,” alleges when the boy was 12, he was sexually molested and abused by Louis Brouillard, who was the parish priest at the time at the Nuestra Señora de las Aguas Catholic Church in Mongmong.

The complaint accuses Brouillard of sexually abusing G.B. when the victim was an altar boy at the Mongmong parish in 1973 and later when he was a Boy Scout. The alleged sexual abuse occurred during swimming outings. G.B. alleges he was sexually molested and saw other boys being groped and fondled by Brouillard.

The lawsuit also alleges that Brouillard “misappropriated” limosna, or church offerings, from parishioners for his “evil campaign” to abuse young boys and reward them with food from restaurants. G.B.’s parents were unaware the church exposed their son to a priest who was molesting their son, court documents state.

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UNITED STATES
Minnesota Public Radio

Bob Collins April 18, 2017

If not for people like Joe Crowley, the Catholic Church’s chronic problem of sexual abuse might never have found its believers.

Crowley was [edit] among the the first victims to come forward publicly when the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team resisted all the pressure the Boston Archdiocese could muster to stop the investigation.

“Joe took an incredible risk coming forward,” said Barbara Dorris, national managing director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “And when one survivor does it, it’s like giving the rest of the survivors permission to tell. We’ll never know how many people came forward because Joe did, and how many people had hope because Joe did it.”

Dorris, who noted that some clergy sexual abuse victims have committed suicide, added of Mr. Crowley: “He’s probably saved lives.”

He suffered from alcoholism, depression, anger, and unemployment, a familiar trajectory for the victims of priests, the Globe says.

He was a Boston College High School student when a priest raped him, then passed him on to other priests.

Ultimately, people began to believe what Crowley, played by Michael Cyril Creighton in Spotlight, courageously tried to tell them through the Globe’s team of reporters.

He died on Sunday.

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INDIANA
The Mennonite

Erin Bergen, a former student at Goshen (Indiana) College, has filed a complaint through Goshen’s federally mandated Title IX process. Last fall, she filed a report with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), claiming discrimination on the basis of sex. In December 2016, the OCR contacted Bergen to inform her that they would investigate her complaint against Goshen College.

In an April 12 post on the website Into Account, Bergen, who was sexually assaulted while a student, describes her experience in filing the complaint after seeing patterns during her two years as a Goshen student. Bergen writes that “a survivor’s story and experience are minimized” and that “when a survivor does come forward they are met with skepticism.”

According to the Clery Act, colleges must report statistics of crime on their campuses. Nationally, 23.1 percent of all female undergraduate students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence, or incapacitation according to RAINN, a national anti-sexual violence organization. Goshen, however, reported zeros on its Clery Act statistics from 2013-2015.

Bergen writes: “This does not reflect the actual number of sexual assaults that have occurred on campus. Students have brought forward concerns to the administration for years with little to no change taken by the powers that be.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 18, 2017

By Sabrina Salas Matanane

The island’s Public Guardian, Marcelene Santos, files the latest complaint of childhood clergy sexual abuse on behalf of an individual identified as “G.B.” Santos was appointed the legal guardian of G.B. in 2009.

According to the complaint filed in federal court, GB was an altar boy at the Catholic Church in Mongmong. When he was around 12 years old Father Louis Brouillard sexually abused him while he was altar boy and while he was a boy scout.

The Public Guardian and GB are suing the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America. They are represented by attorneys David Lujan and Gloria Rudolph.

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ROME
Settimo Cielo

Sandro Magister

For April 29, a meeting has been scheduled in Rome of the Council Complete of State among the Professed Knights, the organ that according to statute will proceed with the election of the new Grand Master of the Order of Malta.

As is known, the previous Grand Master, Fra’ Matthew Festing of England, delivered his resignation on January 24 into the hands of Pope Francis, in obedience to his command.

Since then, the supreme authority of the Order has been represented, in the capacity of interim lieutenant, by Grand Commander Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein.

On February 4, however, Pope Francis also placed over the Order his own Special Delegate and “exclusive spokesman,” de facto endowed with full powers, in the person of Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute secretary of state.

The following letter is glaring proof of the exercise of these full powers.

In the name of the pope, Becciu prohibits the former Grand Master from taking part in the election of his successor. Not only that. He even forbids him to go to Rome on the occasion of the conclave.

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MARYLAND
People

BY ADAM CARLSON•@ADAM_A_CARLSON

POSTED ON APRIL 17, 2017

Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik, a 26-year-old nun and teacher in Baltimore, vanished in 1969. Her body was found about two months later, but her death has never been solved.

How did she die? And why?

Cesnik’s story is now getting the Netflix true crime treatment, PEOPLE can exclusively reveal.

Following Making a Murderer and a documentary on the Amanda Knox case, the streaming service is releasing The Keepers, a Netflix original seven-part docuseries examining Cesnik’s life, the lives of the many people she touched and the broader web of hidden stories and lies in Baltimore that may be connected to her death.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The new National Maternity Hospital to be built on the St Vincent’s Hospital campus in Dublin, will have full clinical, operational, financial and budgetary independence, the Minister for Health has said.

The land on which the new hospital will be built is owned by the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group and the Sisters of Charity are a major shareholder in the group, which will own the new hospital.

Simon Harris said it would be free from any religious or ethnic influence and the independence of the hospital will be copperfastened by reserved powers and a golden share held by the Minister for Health of the day, as part of an agreement reached last November, brokered by Kieran Mulvey who acted as a mediator, between Holles St and St Vincent’s hospitals.

Proceeds from the sale of the current Holles Street Hospital will go toward the cost of the new facility, which was originally put at €150 million but is expected to cost significantly more.

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IRELAND
The Journal

TDS AND COUNCILLORS have criticised the news that a religious group which has failed to deliver its full share to the redress for institutional abuse survivors is to be the owner of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The Department of Health confirmed that the Sisters of Charity would own the land that the new hospital is being built on.

The National Maternity Hospital is being moved from Holles Street to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin 4, with a large development taking place there at an estimated cost of €150 million.

The move to St Vincent’s was agreed last November, when issues arose between officials from St Vincent’s and Holles Street over who would govern the hospital.

Now, the Department of Health has confirmed that the new unit will be solely under the ownership of the Sisters of Charity, who are the major shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

UPDATE 2.35pm: The Health Minister, Simon Harris, has said there won’t be any religious influence on the governance of the new national maternity hospital.

The land on which the hospital will be built is owned by The Sisters of Charity.

However Minister Simon Harris says the hospital will have full clinical, operational, financial and budgetary independence.

His comments come after after opposition parties claimed there could be a conflict of interest between medical decisions and Catholic principles.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

A religious congregation which has failed to date to provide its share of funds to a redress scheme for institutional abuse victims, is to be given ownership of the new €300 million State-funded National Maternity Hospital.

The Sisters of Charity are the shareholders of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group which the Department of Health said will be the “sole owner of the new hospital” which is to be built on a site at Elm Park in south Dublin.

The relocation of the hospital from Holles Street to the St Vincent’s hospital campus involves the largest single investment ever made in maternity services in the State. Proceeds from the sale of Holles Street will go towards funding the new maternity hospital.

A department spokesman said the “autonomy of the national maternity hospital board will be underpinned by reserved powers to ensure clinical and operational independence, and the Minister for Health will hold the power to protect those reserved powers”.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Sacha Pfeiffer GLOBE STAFF APRIL 18, 2017

No one taught me more about the incalculable damage of sexual abuse, and the surprising resiliency of the human spirit, than Joe Crowley.

I met Joe in the fall of 2001, when my Spotlight Team colleagues and I were searching for people who had been molested by Catholic priests. Through a network of lawyers and advocates, I contacted Joe, then 42. He was smart, funny, and articulate, but also nervous, insecure, and still trying to recover emotionally from what had happened to him decades earlier.

Joe grew up in Dorchester in the 1960s and ’70s in an extremely unstable family: his mother struggled with mental illness, his father was mostly out of the picture, and he and his four siblings spent years living in a children’s home.

As a teenager, Joe suspected he was gay, which is why he wound up being “counseled” by Father Paul Shanley, a long-haired, denim-clad Boston priest who created a “ministry to alienated youth’’ for runaways, drug abusers, and adolescents confused about their sexual identity.

Of all the abusive priests I covered, Shanley was the most insidious, because he deliberately surrounded himself with vulnerable, troubled teenage boys. For 15-year-old Joe and many others, the “counseling” they received culminated in coerced sex, often in Shanley’s private apartment in the Back Bay.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 18, 2017

A group of Catholics seeking Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron’s removal and defrocking said it’s supporting a program that offers professional counseling, treatment, spiritual healing, compensation and justice to Guam clergy sex abuse victims.

“The quicker we can bring healing and justice to the victims of clergy sex abuse, the better,” David Sablan, Concerned Catholics of Guam president said Monday, referring to Hope and Healing Guam.

Sablan said Concerned Catholics believes the program is an alternative to trying the clergy abuse cases in court, which he said have limitations in helping abuse victims heal emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

“The archdiocese is moving in the right direction in initiating the program and having an independent body administer it,” Sablan said.

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MARYLAND
International Business Times

By Jane Clayton @jane_tvhunter on April 18 2017

While viewers are waiting for “Making a Murderer” season 2, Netflix is bringing in “The Keepers,” another murder series. The upcoming show will feature the 1969 real story of a murdered nun.

Baltimore nun Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik will be the center of the forthcoming Netflix seven-part docuseries titled “The Keepers.” The 26-year-old nun and teacher in Baltimore went missing nearly five decades ago.

Cesnik’s body was found about two months later by hunters in a dump outside of town. Her body showed signs of violence. The investigators concluded she was murdered but no one was ever charged, and her death remains unsolved.

Sister Cathy Cesnik taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School. She was one of the most popular teachers in the school. Apparently, Cesnik’s students compared her to Maria von Trapp from “ The Sound of Music.”

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NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Ben Botkin Las Vegas Review-Journal
April 17, 2017

CARSON CITY — The Assembly backed legislation that extends the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse to sue their perpetrators.

Assembly members voted 38-0 on the bill on Monday, with four lawmakers absent.

Assembly Bill 145 extends the statute of limitations from 10 years to 20 years. The clock on the statute of limitations would start after a victim turns 18 or discovers an injury was caused by the abuse, whichever comes later.

The vote will support victims and give them the courage to come forward, said a bill sponsor, Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner, R-Reno.

“For far too long, these victims have hid in the shadows because of shame or fear,” Krasner told lawmakers before the vote.

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MARYLAND
Vanity Fair

by HILLARY BUSIS
APRIL 17, 2017

Once upon a time, Making a Murderer’s intense focus on a fishy-seeming murder case—one that invited viewers to serve as both judge and jury—led scores of people to compare the show to Serial, the hit podcast generally credited with spurring the recent true-crime revival. Now, though, the Netflix series’s own success—and the long gap between its first season and its second, which still hasn’t premiered—has left fans and commentators hungry for another show to compare to Making a Murderer itself. Was Netflix’s Amanda Knox documentary the next Making a Murderer? (No, it was a one-off movie.) What about Discovery Channel’s Killing Fields? (Nah, reviews were mixed, and it never really captured the zeitgeist.) Will an upcoming adaptation of The Von Bulow Affair do the trick? (Maybe, though if it’s airing on Investigation Discovery, probably not.)

It’s possible, of course, that there is no “next” Making a Murderer. Perhaps, though, we’ve just been waiting all this time for The Keepers, an upcoming seven-part (ding) series on Netflix (ding) that investigates the “unsolved murder of a nun and the horrific secrets and pain that linger nearly five decades after her death” (ding ding ding).

We don’t yet know much else about The Keepers, beyond its premiere date (May 19) and the fact that it’s directed by Ryan White—whose bona fides include marriage equality doc The Case Against 8 and 2016’s Serena, a portrait of one of history’s greatest tennis players. (Not to be confused with 2014’s Serena, that Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence movie you forgot existed until just now.) We do know, though, that according to Netflix, the series “will have everyone asking the question ‘who killed Sister Cathy?’ “ That tagline indicates the series will investigate the curious case of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a Baltimore nun whose decades-old unsolved murder could be connected to a church sexual-abuse scandal. In other words: sign us up.

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TEXAS
Baptist News

BOB ALLEN | APRIL 17, 2017

A second Southern Baptist state convention in a month has been slapped with an ascending liability lawsuit over alleged child sex abuse involving an affiliated ministry.

A lawsuit filed April 5 in Tarrant County, Texas, seeks to hold the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention liable for alleged physical and/or sexual abuse and neglect of seven children placed by the state in foster care at Texas Baptist Home for Children.

Meanwhile, First Baptist Church in Terrell, Texas, filed a legal response April 11 to a lawsuit filed March 8 in Oklahoma holding the congregation, another Baptist church and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma responsible for the reported rape of a 13-year-old girl last summer at the BGCO-owned Falls Creek Conference Center.

The girl was part of a youth group from Terrell invited to share a cabin with Country Estates Baptist Church of Midwest City, Okla., for a weeklong church camp last June. While there, she met 35-year-old Benjamin Petty, an adult volunteer brought along as a cook by Country Estates Baptist Church. During the week, according to the lawsuit, Petty forcibly raped the teenager after days of grooming and manipulation either unnoticed or ignored by camp counselors.

Based in Waxahachie, Texas, Texas Baptist Home for Children was founded in 1908 by the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas, a group formed after a split within the Baptist General Convention of Texas in the 1890s.

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AUSTRALIA
Liverpool City Champion

18 Apr 2017

A man, 66, has been charged after allegedly sexually assaulting a girl under 10 he met at a south-western Sydney church. Detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad started an investigation following reports the young girl had been assaulted in the church facilities.

Following extensive investigations, detectives arrested the alleged perpetrator at a home at Ashcroft last Wednesday, April 12. He was taken to Cabramatta police station and charged with having sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

Police allege he sexually assaulted the girl at a gathering after church on Sunday, April 9. He was refused bail to appear in Liverpool court last Thursday.

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UTAH
Associated Press

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Complaints keep pouring in about a Utah judge who called a convicted rapist a “good man” during his sentencing hearing. But the chances of the judge being punished appear slim because his remarks don’t seem to fit within any of the five forms of judicial misconduct that would trigger reprimands, one expert said.

At least four of these categories of misconduct don’t apply to Judge Thomas Low’s remarks, Paul Cassell, a professor of criminal law at the University of Utah, said Monday. The fifth category would only apply if officials determined that his comments were damaging to the administration of justice, which is difficult to prove, Cassell said.

Last week, Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo, a former Mormon bishop, to up to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape.

The judge is now facing a deluge of complaints after saying during the hearing, “The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man …. But great men sometimes do bad things.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 18, 2017

Former priest Louis Brouillard allegedly used church monetary offerings, or limosna, to reward boys he would later sexually abused, according to the 51st Guam clergy sex abuse lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Brouillard allegedly sexually abused a man identified in court documents as G.B., when G.B. was around 12 and an altar boy and member of the Boy Scouts of America in 1973, the complaint says. Brouillard was a scoutmaster at the time.

“During the period in which he was a Boy Scout, G.B. was sexually molested and abused by Brouillard,” the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Guam says. G.B. also served as an altar boy at the Nuestra Señora de las Aguas Catholic Church in Mongmong.

The lawsuit states G.B.’s parents attended Mass at the Mongmong parish regularly and faithfully gave limosna as a demonstration of their trust and support for the Catholic Church, unaware the church exposed their son to a priest who was molesting their son.

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MARYLAND
Huffington Post

Mat Whitehead
Entertainment Reporter

Netflix has announced their latest addition to its true crime docuseries offerings with a seven-part documentary “The Keepers”.

After the success of “Making a Murderer” and “Amanda Knox”, the streaming platform will take a look at the unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik. Murdered in 1969, the Baltimore nun’s killer was never found, however several women who were close to Cesnik believed she was killed to cover-up an alleged underage prostitution and molestation ring occurring in the Catholic school where she was a teacher.

While her body was discovered in November 1969, Cesnik’s case returned to the public eye in the 90s when a woman who was only identified as “Jane Doe” came forward to share her experience of sexual abuse at the hands of the school’s chaplain.

In a The Huffington Post investigation from 2015, “Jane Doe” was identified as Jean Wehner, who told the harrowing tale of being driven to a garbage dump near the outskirts of the city by the chaplain. It was there she reportedly saw the body of the missing nun, where the priest whispered in her ear, “You see what happens when you say bad things about people?”

At the helm of the series is Ryan White, who directed other documentaries such as “The Case Against 8”, “Serena” and “Good Ol’ Freda”. White said: “We never set out in making this to solve a murder, but what has happened through making it is it has drawn people out in a way that wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t going to be such a scrutiny or risk of exposure.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Wrap

Ross A. Lincoln | April 17, 2017

Joseph Crowley, a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic Priest who went public about his experiences as part of the Boston Globe investigation that served as the basis for the film “Spotlight,” died on Easter Sunday, the Boston Globe is reporting. He was 58, and had long suffered from heart and respiratory ailments.

Actor Michael Cyril Creighton, who portrayed Crowley in the Oscar-winning film, paid tribute to him in a post on Facebook. Crowley, said Creighton, was “a strong man, a resilient man,” who “bravely spoke about his abuse in order to help others, and never spent a moment feeling sorry for himself.”

This is long and rambling, but I am heartbroken and processing. Yesterday we lost a wonderful man who impacted my life…
Posted by Michael Cyril Creighton on Monday, April 17, 2017

Crowley was a high school student when he was raped by Paul Shanley, priest and educator at Boston College High School, where Crowley was a student. Shanley would later be defrocked by the church for an unrelated instance of sexual abuse, but was not reported to the authorities.

Crowley kept the experience a secret for most of his life, but came forward during the Boston Globe’s investigation into systemic sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and efforts by Church hierarchy to cover it up. He would later become one of the first victims of clergy sexual abuse to make his name public. After Shanley was convicted in 2005 for indecent assaults and the rape of a male minor, Crowley became an advocate for other victims.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

The man is now under the care of the Public Guardian Marcelene Santos.

Guam – Another lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana today naming former Guam priest Father Louis Brouillard, but this time, the alleged victim is an individual with a mental disability.

The lawsuit was filed by Guam Public Guardian Marcelene Santos on behalf of a man with the initials G.B. who is now in his 50s. The lawsuit says Brouillard sexually molested G.B. when he was about 12 years old in 1973 during outings with the Boy Scouts. Brouillard at the time was the scout master and while on swimming trips with other boy scout members, he allegedly groped and fondled several of the boys under water.

It’s not clear if G.B.’s mental disability is the result of the sexual abuse, but the lawsuit does seem to suggest it, saying “G.B. has suffered harm to a child’s physical health or welfare … because G.B. was the victim of a sexual offense.”

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MAINE
WLBZ

[with video]

Samantha York, WLBZ April 17, 2017

CASTINE, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Neal Gumpel was allegedly sexually assaulted by a priest at Maine Maritime Academy is 1974 — it took him decades to open up about the incident, but now he is seeking justice and an advocacy group from New Jersey is helping.

”We’re looking for more victims of a professor of Maine Maritime who abused children” Robert Hoatson said as he passed fliers out to everyone that walked and drove by him in downtown Castine. Hoatson is the president of Road to Recovery — an organization dedicated to helping sexual assault victims seek justice and find peace. Now he is doing his part to help Neal Gumpel — who says he was molested at Maine Maritime Academy 44 years ago. Those allegations are against Father Roy Drake.

“We’re appealing to Maine Maritime and the Jesuits, especially of New England, to do something right for a change” Hoatson said.

Hoatson believes spreading the word — even all these years later — can motivate other victims to come forward. Gumpel was afraid to talk about his alleged assault for decades — he stated it is the root of his depression and substance abuse problems. Now he protests in front of the Jesuit headquarters in New York and even hired a lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, a couple of years ago and met with Jesuit officials. Gumpel claims they refused to publicly apologize or settle with him. They have settled with another of Drake’s victims.

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CONNECTICUT
Patch

By Rich Scinto (Patch Staff) – April 17, 2017

NEW HAVEN, CT — A prominent rabbi in New Haven was accused by a second man of longstanding sexual abuse starting when he was a child.

Aviad Hack said during a deposition that sexual encounters with Rabbi Daniel Greer started in the early 90’s and continued through 2004 at a number of different properties, according to the New Haven Independent. Greer has denied the allegations.

Hack said he was afraid to tell anyone because Greer and Hack’s family had worked together to revitalize a neighborhood and create a religious community and school. Hack is now an administrator

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Bryan Marquard GLOBE STAFF APRIL 17, 2017

Day after day in 2005, Joe Crowley sat in a courtroom while a jury heard testimony and evidence about Paul Shanley, a defrocked priest who had sexually abused him when he was a teenager.

“I was sitting 10 feet away from the man who’d raped me, pimped me, and stole my innocence,” Mr. Crowley recalled in a 2012 interview with the Globe. “Watching Shanley answer to criminal charges was the real beginning of my recovery.”

In the years after Shanley was convicted, Mr. Crowley publicly revealed details of what had happened to him and he became a prominent voice for victims of clergy sexual abuse. He even was portrayed by name in the Academy Award-winning film “Spotlight,” which recounted the Globe’s investigation of the scandal.

His health fragile for years, partly due to the drinking and smoking that had helped him subdue memories, Mr. Crowley died in his sleep and was found in his bed Easter Sunday in his Brookline residence, his family said. He was 58 and had suffered from respiratory and heart ailments.

“Every time somebody speaks up about this, every time one of us speaks up and talks about this, it’s going to be more difficult for someone to rape a child, to rape any person,” Mr. Crowley told the Globe last year, after “Spotlight” won the Oscar for best picture. Mr. Crowley watched the broadcast from a Brookline rehabilitation hospital because of ill health.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

KENNETH LOVETT
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 17, 201

ALBANY — The sponsor of a bill to make it easier for child sexual assault victims to seek justice as adults is pushing for a state Senate hearing on the issue.

Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and the seven other Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the panel’s chairman, John Bonacic (R-Orange County) petitioning for the hearing.

The letter could put the Senate GOP, which has blocked passage of the Child Victims Act for years, in the position of either agreeing to hold the hearing or publicly voting to reject it.

According to Senate rules, a hearing must be held if one-third of the members of a committee petition for it — “unless a majority of the members of the committee reject such a petition.”

“We trust this will not be the case, and the Committee will schedule a hearing … as soon as practicable,” the letter says.

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MARYLAND
The Baltimore Sun

David Zurawik

The unsolved murder of Sister Cathy Cesnik, a 26-year-old Baltimore nun who disappeared in 1969, will be the subject of a seven-part Netflix docuseries launching May 19, the streaming service announced Monday.

Titled “The Keepers,” the series will also explore “the horrific secrets and pain that linger nearly five decades after her death” in the Baltimore area, according to Netflix.

The series is produced by Tripod Productions and Film 45. It is directed by Ryan White, who made “The Case Against 8,” a powerful documentary about the effort to overturn a California ban on same-sex marriage.

Cesnik taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School, and was one of the school’s most popular faculty members.

A priest, who was also on staff at the school, has been considered a suspect by police and some who were students at the time of Cesnik’s disappearance.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

“I can’t imagine I was the only one who Father Camacho abused. I was a little girl and he didn’t stop until I started crying.” – “T.G.”

A woman has come forward alleging she was sexually abused by Father Juan Camacho in the early 1970s when she served as a receptionist at the Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo.

The lawsuit, which identified the accuser as “T.G.” to protect her identity and privacy, alleges that while working at the church when she was 14, Camacho took her into his office, locked the door and sexually abused her until she resisted and began to cry.

The 59-year-old woman said she filed the complaint in hopes to help other abuse survivors come forward.

“I can’t imagine I was the only one who Father Camacho abused. I was a little girl and he didn’t stop until I started crying,” “T.G.” stated. “The only way to hold the church accountable is for all of us to come forward so that everyone understands what happened and how it happened.”

Camacho is the brother of Monsignor Zoilo Camacho who was mentioned in a separate civil suit filed several weeks ago by Anthony Flores. In that case, Flores alleged that Monsignor Camacho ignored him when he complained that he and other boys were being abused by Father Louis Brouillard and said he was told to “be quiet and get out of my office.”

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Mindy Aguon | For The Guam Daily Post

A tribunal from the Vatican has conducted the Guam part of its multi-jurisdiction investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, but officials are “reaching out” to two of the former Guam Catholic leader’s accusers from the island.

“There’s still a potential for the others to testify at the canonical trial,” attorney David Lujan told The Guam Daily Post.

In February, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, the judge of the tribunal, and other participants of the Vatican justice system came to Guam to investigate allegations of sex abuse filed against the suspended archbishop.

The tribunal’s visit was part of the canonical trial for Apuron, who faces penal charges in connection with allegations that he sexually abused altar boys decades ago when he was a priest.

During the visit, Lujan objected to his clients’ participation in the depositions as he was not allowed to be present and he wasn’t clear on the canonical trial procedures and rules and whether his clients’ interests would be protected.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Editorial

New York and Connecticut are neighboring states. Yet in the way they allow people victimized as children to pursue their abusers, they are far apart.

An exhaustive report by an elite Connecticut boarding school helps explain why.

The examination by an investigator working for the board of trustees at Choate Rosemary Hall detailed decades of sexual misconduct by faculty and staff.

Going back more than five decades, it names a dozen former educators who engaged in a broad range of sexual misconduct, including rape.

Nothing was reported to police. In some cases, school administrators let perps slide by with glowing recommendations — enabling them to find soft landings at other schools.

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UTAH
10 News

Chris Jones, KUTV , WTSP April 16, 2017

(KUTV) The fallout over comments made by a Utah County judge who praised a convicted sex offender continues.

The group, Restore Our Humanity, is working to file a complaint against Judge Thomas Low of Utah’s 4th District.

Low, moments before sentencing a former LDS bishop Keith Vallejo for sexually assaulting two relatives, gave glowing praise to the convicted sex predator.

“The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,” Low said. “But great men, sometimes do bad things.”

“It was appalling,” said Mark Lawrence, head of the civil rights organization, Restore Our Humanity. He said the judge’s remarks were insensitive, and re-victimize the victims.

“This judge was clearly showing he was not independent here, is clearly showing favoritism towards the perpetrator,” Lawrence said.

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UTAH
Standard-Examiner

STANDARD-EXAMINER EDITORIAL BOARD

After a Utah jury found a former Mormon bishop guilty of rape and 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse, the judge called him a good man.

An “extraordinarily good man.”

A “great” man.

No, your honor. He isn’t.

He’s a rapist. A sexual predator. A criminal.

He abused two women.

And you just held him up as a model of moral conduct.

No wonder Utah finds it so difficult to address the horror of sexual violence.

Julia Kirby lived at Keith Robert Vallejo’s house when she attended Brigham Young University in 2013. She’s related to the former LDS bishop.

Kirby, now 23, said Vallejo repeatedly groped her. Another woman also said she was abused at Vallejos’ home in 2014, when she was 17. After a Provo jury convicted Vallejos in late March, Judge Thomas Low allowed him to remain free on bail until his April 12 sentencing.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com Published April 17, 2017

The number of priests accused of sexually abusing children on Guam decades ago, reached 10 on Monday after a woman sued, saying she was sexually abused by the now-deceased Father Juan Camacho when she was 14, around 1972.

The Guam resident, named as T.G. in court documents, said the priest asked her to serve as a receptionist at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo. At one point, she alleged, Camacho took her into his office, locked the door behind her, asked her about her school work and whether she had any boyfriends, and then sexually abused her.

T.G., 59, alleges Camacho continued to force himself on her after she resisted, and only stopped when she began to cry.

At the time, the priest assured T.G. and her parents that she would be able to do her homework while working as a receptionist, the complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam states.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

Joanna Morris, Reporter (Darlington) / jomorrisecho

LANCASHIRE police have refused to answer a series of questions relating to reported abuse by priests at St Joseph’s Catholic seminary.

In 2006, the force was told of allegations suggesting Father Michael Higginbottom and other priests had abused a pupil at the college in West Lancashire.

Despite Higginbottom being based in Darlington at the time the initial reports were made, Durham Constabulary could find no record of having been informed of the allegations facing him and of having a suspected sex offender living on their patch.

The initial police investigation was eventually dropped, with the Catholic Church paying the alleged victim £35,000 in an out of court settlement.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Priests may have been covering up for one another. This according to the latest victim to file suit against the Church.

Father Juan Camacho is accused of making sexual advances on a 14-year-old girl in the early 1970s. Father Camacho was a priest at Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo and also brother to Monsignor Ziolo Camacho. The plaintiff, only identified as 59-year-old T.G., alleges the priest asked her to serve as a receptionist for the Church, but behind closed doors, he fondled her breasts and ran his hands up her thighs. The abuse only stopped when the girl cried.

In a press release from her attorney, Kevin Fowler, he states, “We have heard from a number of plaintiffs who allege they told priests that they were being abused and were ignored. T.G. initially came forward because she believes Father Juan Camacho likely abused other girls given how aggressive he was with her. But her story raises serious questions about whether Monsignor Camacho ignored complaints about Father Louis Brouillard abusing children because he knew his own brother was abusing children.” T.G. marks the 50th plaintiff to file suit.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

He’s a named plaintiff in four civil suits in the District Court of Guam for clergy sex abuse. But what’s the status with Archbishop Anthony Apuron’s canonical trial in Rome?

One Apuron accuser met with the group charged with the investigation and they report the end could be near.

Rewind to last summer, where Walter Denton announced publicly, “I was raped by Anthony Sablan Apuron, who at that time was a priest in Agat. I shouted out to father Anthony to stop. I kept shouting and I tried to move but all I could feel was him on top of me. It seemed like forever father Anthony stayed on top of me. I was crying out to him asking him to please stop.”

And fast forward to today, Archbishop Apuron’s accusers could see closure as early as this summer. “They’re hoping the canonical trial will be over early summer, probably around July timeframe,” said Denton.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Apr 17, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Defense counsel for the Archdiocese of Agana is asking the Court to consolidate 37 lawsuits against the Church. All 37 lawsuits were filed by Attorney David Lujan. The motion was made to streamline the process, seeing as each of the cases has identical legal issues and similar facts.

As reported, the Church is challenging the constitutionality of Guam law that was changed to lift the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. The Church also intends to challenge the individual causes of action pleaded by each complaint as being legally defective on various grounds. The motion to consolidate further states “all of these issues should be decided through one law and motion proceeding, and not by briefing and arguing the same issues through repetitive and identical motions in each case.”

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Janela Carrera

Walter Denton met with Cardinal Raymond Burke and two others to provide his testimony.
Guam – Some of the alleged victims who accused Archbishop Anthony Apuron of sexual abuse have already provided their testimony to a tribunal leading the canonical trial of the suspended archbishop. We spoke Walter Denton who was among the first to share his emotional story of surviving sexual assault.

Denton, along with three other people, came out to share their story of sexual abuse at the hands of none other than the shepherd of Guam’s archdiocese, Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The details were disturbing but each of them wanted to share their story to expose the leader of Guam’s church. It was their very public statements that paved the way for what is now the canonical trial of Apuron.

Denton tells PNC that he provided testimony to a Vatican tribunal exactly a month ago. He met with Cardinal Raymond Burke, a canon lawyer who’s leading the investigation into sex abuse allegations against Apuron, and other members of the tribunal at the Archdiocese in San Francisco.

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Donna De Jesus

Latest victim names former Santa Barbara parish priest, Father Juan Camacho.

Guam – More victims are accusing the church of child sexual abuse. The 50th lawsuit to be filed was the second by a female victim and the first to name Dededo priest, Father Juan Camacho.

The latest victim accusing the Archdiocese of child sexual abuse, who is now 59 years old, claims that Father Juan Camacho, who is the brother of Monsignor Zoilo Camacho, sexually abused her when she was 14 years old in 1972 under the pretense of having her work as a receptionist at Santa Barbara Church in Dededo. In court documents, the victim, using only the initials T.G., alleges that Father Camacho would take her into his office, lock the door, and force himself on her, and only stopped when she began to cry.

This is the only incident documented in the complaint, but T.G.’s counsel, Atty. Kevin Fowler, said “T.G. initially came forward because she believes Father Juan Camacho likely abused other girls given how aggressive he was with her. But her story raises serious questions about whether Monsignor Camacho ignored complaints about Father [Louis] Brouillard abusing children because he knew his own brother was abusing children.” In a complaint filed over a month ago, abuse victim Anthony Flores claimed that Monsignor Zoilo Camacho ignored his complaints about altar boys being victimized by Brouillard, telling Flores to “be quiet and get out of my office.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Visiter

BY NEIL DOCKING
17 APR 2017

The Catholic church has expressed its “profound sorrow” to a man who, as a boy, was repeatedly sexually abused by a paedophile priest.

Father Michael Higginbottom, 74, was last week jailed over the sickening abuse, which he carried out while working at St Joseph’s College, in Up Holland, near Ormskirk.

The sexual assaults took place in the 1970s.

A statement released by the church said: “The diocese expresses profound sorrow for the terrible crimes of child abuse committed by Father Michael Higginbottom and offers a heartfelt apology to the victim who should have been afforded and expected utmost care from someone in such a position of trust. There can be no excuses.

“Our thoughts are with the victim and his family at this time.”

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MAINE
Road to Recovery

JESUIT PRIEST; COLLEGE PROFESSOR AND RESEARCHER; AND, SERIAL CHILD ABUSER, FR. ROY DRAKE HAD ACCESS TO THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN DURING HIS SEVERAL YEARS LIVING AND WORKING IN NORTHERN MAINE TOWNS AND CITIES – ORONO, CASTINE, AND BUCKSPORT (APPROXIMATELY 1971-1977)

FR. ROY DRAKE RECEIVED A DOCTORAL DEGREE IN EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, ORONO, AND LIVED IN ORONO, MAINE, FOR AT LEAST PART OF THE 1971-1977 PERIOD OF TIME WHEN HE ALSO CONDUCTED A STUDY OF LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS

FR. ROY DRAKE WAS EMPLOYED AS A PROFESSOR AND PROJECT DIRECTOR AT MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY IN CASTINE, MAINE, FROM APPROXIMATELY 1974-1977, WHERE HE SEXUALLY ABUSED INNOCENT CHILD NEAL E. GUMPEL WHO WAS VISITING MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY IN APPROXIMATELY 1976

FROM 1974-1976, FR. ROY DRAKE, WHILE EMPLOYED AT MAINE MARITIME ACADEMY, WAS THE PROJECT DIRECTOR OF A GRANT PROGRAM AT A BUCKSPORT, MAINE, PAPER MILL, THAT ESTABLISHED A FAMILY LEARNING CENTER AT THE PAPER MILL FOR EMPLOYEES AND THEIR FAMILIES

What
A leafleting of two towns, Castine, Maine, and Bucksport, Maine, whose children were or may have been victims of serial pedophile and Jesuit priest, Fr. Roy Drake, who was a professor at Maine Maritime Academy and directed a project in Bucksport, Maine, during the period of approximately 1974-1977

When
Monday, April 17, 2017

Where
Bucksport, Maine – from 9:00 am until 11:00 am
Castine, Maine – from Noon until 2:00 pm

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

Why
Fr. Roy Drake is a deceased Jesuit priest and serial pedophile. He was involved in towns and cities of northern Maine for approximately six years (1971-1977). Fr. Roy Drake lived and/or worked in Orono, Castine, and Bucksport, Maine, during that approximate six-year period and sexually abused at least two innocent children during that time. The leafleting of the towns of Castine and Bucksport will alert residents, businesses and the general public of the sexual abuse of children by Fr. Roy Drake and urge those who may have been sexually abused by Drake of anyone else to come forward and begin to heal.

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

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IRELAND
Newstalk

15 Apr 2017
Aidan McKelvey

This week the government published the second interim report from Judge Yvonne Murphy’s Commission of Investigation in Mother and Baby Homes. Murphy recommended that the redress scheme for institutional child abuse be extended to some of those who lived in the Mother and Baby Homes. But the government has said no, because they estimate that the cost could run to 1 billion euros.

Would financial compensation at this point make any difference to the damage done? And if not money, then what can be done to undo the harm?

To discuss this week’s Talking Point Sarah was joined by:

Gerry O’Regan – Columnist with The Irish Independent
Patsy McGarry – Religious Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Times
Susan Lohan – Co-founder Adoptions Rights Alliance

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CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary

April 15, 2017 Joelle Casteix

That’s today’s lesson for Claretian priest Fr. Tony Diaz.

He’s the organizer of San Gabriel Mission’s May 25 Build the Dreams Scholarship Fundraising Dinner. His fatal error was deciding to honor admitted child molester Bruce Wellems along with actor Edward James Olmos. Wellems is a priest of questionable standing who has been banned from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, removed from ministry in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and told he may not act as a priest by his own order, the Claretians.

In fact, he couldn’t even answer a reporter’s question as to whether he is still a priest at all.

Why? Wellems admitted to molesting a seven-year-old before he became a priest, is being sued for abuse, and has allegedly admitted to other misconduct.

When a reporter from the Pasadena Star News asked Fr. Tony Diaz about the May 25 event, Diaz stated that he had full permission of the Archdiocese of LA to honor Wellems.

What did the Archdiocese say?

[A] spokesman for the Archdiocese, said no such permission was given.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Daily Times

Christine Flowers, Delaware County Daily Times

Last weekend on my radio show, I had the distinct honor of interviewing Angela Liddle, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, a heroic organization based in Harrisburg that lobbies on behalf of children who are in danger of being abused, or who have already suffered abuse. During our hour-long conversation, this native of York, Pa., did what so many of us have failed to do, blinded by our politics and our passions: Find real solutions to protect the most vulnerable among us.

People who have read my column in the past know full well that I have very strong opinions on child abuse, whether physical or emotional, and whether the abuser is part of a church, a secular institution or the nuclear family. I’ve railed against what I’ve viewed as disparate treatment in the courts and the legislatures, and I’ve been very outspoken about what I see as an unfair focus on the Catholic archdioceses, both nationally and in our own neck of the woods. As recently as last week, I wrote about proposals in Harrisburg which would level the playing field between public and private institutions, legislation that has created a great deal of controversy between those who care more about their pocketbooks than about due process.

Angela, and her organization, are above the partisan bickering. The PFSA doesn’t care about who can sue, and who can be liable for past harm. Well, perhaps it does at some level, but the focus of this organization is not to avenge but, rather, to protect. While a lot of the focus on child abuse has been on who can get their pound of flesh or their righteous reward (depending upon your particular, partisan point of view,) the PFSA is concerned with one thing only: Making sure that children are raised in a safe and nurturing environment. For this exceptional group of people, success is not measured in how many lawsuits can be filed and how many people can be prosecuted. It is determined by how many children grow up without ever knowing what the word “abuse” means. Prevention, not punishment, is the central focus of PFSA. Or, as the vision statement carried on its website proclaims, “Every child deserves to grow and thrive free from abuse and neglect.”

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 16, 2017

A former Agat altar boy and the mother of a now deceased altar boy testified before a Vatican tribunal for the canonical penal trial of Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is accused of raping and sexually abusing four altar boys in the 1970s.

Walter G. Denton, who accused Apuron of raping him during a sleepover at a church rectory when he was 13 in 1977, said he gave his testimony to the Vatican tribunal led by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke on March 17 at the Archbishop’s Residence in San Francisco, California.

“I have waited a long time to tell people my story. Telling my story to the tribunal was like telling my story to the Pope. I feel that these Vatican officials are representing the Pope himself. I wanted everyone to hear my testimony. I just wanted to tell someone who would listen to what happen to me,” Denton told Pacific Daily News.

Denton said the tribunal is hoping that Apuron’s canonical trial would be completed sometime early summer, based on information he got from the Rev. Justin M. Wachs. Wachs serves as the Vatican court reporter for the Apuron trial.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Northern Echo

Joanna Morris, Reporter (Darlington) / jomorrisecho

DISGRACED Catholic priest Michael Higginbottom was at the centre of a wider paedophile ring involving other clergymen, it has been alleged.

As former Darlington parish priest Higginbottom is jailed for 17 years over the abuse of a teenager, allegations have been uncovered suggesting that boys at St Joseph’s seminary were preyed upon by perverted priests.

At least four Catholic priests have been accused of abusing children at the facility in West Lancashire, with several pupils having reported horrifying mistreatment at the hands of clergymen.

Lancashire Police and the Catholic Church have issued apologies via the media to Higginbottom’s victim but maintained their lengthy silence in relation to allegations of wider abuse at St Joseph’s.

The authorities refused to address claims that a number of priests were involved in the abuse of youngsters at the seminary, including Father Ernest Sands, who killed himself last year as he was due to face charges of indecently assaulting five boys while a music teacher at the college.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Twenty years now, and in those twenty years, the story that perhaps more than any other characterizes the Roman Catholic church and has come to brand it in the eyes of the public is the crisis caused by clerical sexual abuse of minors and the cover-up of such abuse by church pastors. In continuation of the theme I began on Palm Sunday, I’m sharing with you now a letter I sent Bishop William Curlin of Charlotte on 10 September 1997 — some twenty years ago — speaking about the abuse crisis before it had even broken out in American Catholicism via media reports (with the exception of Jason Berry’s ground-breaking coverage), and about what I could foresee it would mean, when news of it did really reach the world. This letter builds on the 1 September letter I posted here on Holy Thursday. It refers to Mother Teresa because Bishop Curlin has regarded himself as a close personal friend of Mother Teresa and brought her to Charlotte.

Here’s my letter from 10 September 1997:

Dear Bishop Curlin:

Soon after I wrote you on September 1, I received the September 5 issue of the National Catholic Reporter. That issue has news about the pedophilia trial in Dallas, on which my September 1 letter commented.

Since this news is deeply disturbing to me, and has bearing on my story in the Charlotte diocese, I am writing again to comment on the latest revelations from the Dallas case.

As you may know, the NCR article indicates that the bishop of Dallas has met secretly with “a group of powerful laymen” to plan “an aggressive legal and public relations campaign designed to discredit … the … verdict in the Rudolph Kos sex abuse case.” Notes from the meeting contain evidence of possibly unethical communication between the judiciary slated to hear a motion in the case, and an attorney present at the meeting.

The meeting notes also show that the diocese plans a public relations campaign designed to assure Catholics of the diocese’s “compassion,” while suggesting that the trial was unfair. According to these notes, at least one of the “powerful men” present at the meeting observed, “We can control the media.” The notes identify “protection of assets” as a key diocesan objective.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Premier

Sat 15 Apr 2017
By Aaron James

A diocese has apologised after one of its priests was jailed for 17 years for repeatedly abusing a boy.

Fr Michael Higginbottom, 74, was convicted of four counts of buggery and four counts of indecent assault, committed during his time at St Joseph’s College in Upholland, Lancashire, in the 1970s.

The college, now shut, was for boys exploring becoming priests. Higginbottom’s victim attended St Joseph’s for six months when he was 13 and 14.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the victim also claimed two other priests at St Joseph’s abused him, however both have now died.

The lawyer defending Higginbottom said since he’d committed the offences he’d led a “positive” life ministering as a parish priest.

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

[The ultra-Catholic Fraternity of St. Pius X is accused of having covered up sexual abuse by some clergy.]

De ultrakatholieke Priesterbroederschap Sint-Pius X wordt ervan beschuldigd seksueel misbruik van enkele geestelijken te hebben toegedekt. Dat beweert het tv-programma Uppdrag Granskning van de Zweedse publieke omroep SVT.

Drie priesters en een vrijwilliger zouden zich in verschillende landen in totaal aan twaalf kinderen hebben vergrepen. Aanwijzingen voor het misbruik zouden niet aan de burgerlijke autoriteiten zijn doorgegeven. De vrijwilliger, werkzaam bij de broederschap in de Amerikaanse staat Idaho, is inmiddels tot levenslang veroordeeld voor het misbruik van zeven jonge kinderen.

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BELGIGUE
CathoBel

[The Arbitration Center is competent to deal with cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Belgium. From 2012 to 2016, the Center granted 507 requests for victims of priests or religious, for a total amount of 3 million euros.]

Le Centre d’arbitrage est compétent pour traiter des dossiers d’abus sexuels dans l’Eglise, en Belgique. De 2012 à 2016, le Centre a fait droit à 507 demandes de victimes de prêtres ou religieux, pour un montant global de 3 millions d’euros. C’est ce qui ressort du rapport du Centre publié ce jeudi 13 avril par le Parlement fédéral.

Après la découverte, en 2010, des abus sexuels présumés commis par Roger Vangheluwe, l’Eglise en Belgique a vraiment pris conscience de l’ampleur de ces abus, commis pour 80 % des cas il y a plus de 30 ans. Cette année-là, le parlement fédéral a mis en place une Commission spéciale, présidée par Karine Lalieux (PS). Cette commission mènera des auditions et recommandera la création d’un Centre d’arbitrage pour indemniser les victimes de faits prescrits depuis longtemps.

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OSTERREICH
Nachrichten

[“There is nothing to see from the elucidation of mass abuses in the Catholic Church, dear Holy Father, for enlightenment would mean, among other things, to bring victims and perpetrators to a table,” writes the Steyrer.]

STEYR. Das, was Karl-Heinz Lindlgruber vor mehr als 30 Jahren als Kind im Erziehungsheim Steyr/Gleink erleben musste, verfolgt ihn immer noch.

Schläge, Misshandlungen und sexueller Missbrauch durch seine Mitzöglinge habe er ertragen müssen, berichtet der heute 46-Jährige. 15.000 Euro Entschädigung wurden ihm mehr als drei Jahrzehnte nach diesen Vorfällen von der Klasnic-Kommission zugesprochen.

Nun wandte sich Lindlgruber in einem Offenen Brief an Papst Franziskus und findet klare Worte: “Von Aufklärung der massenhaften Missbräuche in der katholischen Kirche ist weit und breit nichts zu sehen, lieber Heiliger Vater, denn Aufklärung würde unter anderem auch heißen, Opfer und Täter an einen Tisch zu bringen”, schreibt der Steyrer.

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OSTERREICH
religion@orf

[After the allegations of violent and sexual assaults in a Salesian’s upper Austrian boarding school in the 1970s, another man has reported he was ill-treated in the ’80s. However, the Order of Salesians now considers a counter-accusation against the first man because the accusation is “not tenable.”]

Nach den Vorwürfen der gewalttätigen und sexuellen Übergriffe in einem von Salesianern geführten oberösterreichischen Internat in den 1970er Jahren, hat sich ein weiterer Mann gemeldet. Er gab Misshandlungen in den 80er Jahren an.

Ein ehemaliger Schüler gab vor einigen Tagen körperliche Züchtigung und erzwungenen Oralverkehr von Seiten zweier Padres an. Er erkrankte im Alter von 22 Jahren an Kehlkopfkrebs und hat Klage auf Schadensersatz eingereicht. Am Freitag meldete sich laut einer Aussendung der Plattform Betroffener kirchlicher Gewalt ein weiteres Opfer: Der heute 50jährige gibt an, in den 80er Jahren massiver körperlicher Gewalt von Seiten zweier Padres ausgesetzt gewesen zu sein.

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CANADA
CTV

Henry Clarke’s past is coming back to haunt him.

The retired Meadow Lake pastor, who’s still living in the Saskatchewan community, was recently hand-delivered a letter from a BBC reporter stating he was publicly named in a Northern Ireland government inquiry into historical institutional abuse.

The inquiry reports Clarke sexually abused three boys while working for Bawnmore and Firmount children’s homes in the 1970s and at his parents’ home in 1968, according to the letter. The BBC was hoping to speak with Clarke about the report.

“You can’t walk away from it. It’s always part of you. There’s something always there reminding you of what you’ve done,” Clarke told CTV Saskatoon. “What I did, I did. I’m very ashamed of that.”
He did speak with BBC, and last week the broadcaster published several stories on Clarke and the abuse cases. CTV sat down with him Wednesday afternoon.

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UTAH
Huffington Post

By Hayley Miller

A sexual assault survivor was forced to hear a judge call her convicted rapist “an extraordinarily good man” before sentencing him to prison this week.

Utah Judge Thomas Low allegedly held back tears as he sang the praises of Keith Vallejo, a former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints found guilty of sexually abusing two women in separate incidents dating back to at least 2013, reports local news channel KUTV.

“The court had no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinarily good man,” Low told the courtroom Wednesday moments before sentencing Vallejo. “But great men, sometimes do bad things.”

Julia Kirby, who was 19 years old when her brother-in-law assaulted her, said she was appalled by Low’s decision to offer a glowing character assessment of Vallejo.

“That judge shouldn’t have done that,” Kirby told KUTV. “For him to say that in a court room in front the victim who was abused and raped by this man, that he is a great person, to me was unacceptable and unprofessional.”

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ROME
Reuters

By Philip Pullella | ROME

Pope Francis, presiding at a Good Friday service, asked God for forgiveness for scandals in the Catholic Church and for the “shame” of humanity becoming inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants.

Francis presided at a traditional candlelight Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) service at Rome’s Colosseum attended by some 20,000 people and protected by heavy security following recent attacks in European cities.

Francis sat while a large wooden cross was carried in procession, stopping 14 times to mark events in the last hours of Jesus’ life from being sentenced to death to his burial.

Similar services, known as the Stations of the Cross, were taking place in cities around the world as Christians gathered to commemorate Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

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UTAH
KSL

By Hallie Golden – Associated Press | Posted Apr 14th, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — A Provo judge is facing a deluge of complaints after calling a former LDS bishop convicted of rape an “extraordinary, good man” who did something wrong, a judicial oversight organization said Friday.

The criticism of Judge Thomas Low began when he let Keith Robert Vallejo out of custody after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape, said Jennifer Yim, executive director of the Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission.

Then at sentencing earlier this week, Low said: “The court has no doubt that Mr. Vallejo is an extraordinary, good man. But great men sometimes do bad things.”

Yim said 75 complaints made by a combination of emails, voicemails and Facebook messages arrived Thursday and Friday.

The volume is “pretty rare,” Yim said. Many wrote they were survivors of sexual assault who felt re-victimized by the judge’s comments.

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ROME
Associated Press

BY FRANCES D’EMILIO
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ROME (AP) — Thousands of people, including nuns, families with toddlers, and young tourists, endured exceptionally tight anti-terrorism checks to pray at the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum, where Pope Francis expressed shame over humanity’s failings.

Francis, wearing a plain white coat, presided over the traditional, evening Way of the Cross procession from a rise overlooking the popular tourist monument as faithful took turns carrying a tall cross and meditations were recited to encourage reflection on Jesus’ suffering and crucifixion.

After the 90-minute-long procession ended, Francis, in a quiet voice, read a prayer he composed that alternated expressing shame for humanity’s failings and hope that “hardened hearts” will become capable of forgiving and loving.

With Easter two days away, Francis said faithful look to Christ “with eyes lowered in shame and with hearts full of hope.”

Such shame, he said, derives from “all those images of devastation, destruction, shipwrecks, that have become routine in our lives.” Hundreds of thousands of migrants have endured hardships at the hands of human traffickers to try to reach Europe, which has increasingly been rejecting them, and thousands of them have perished at sea during the last few years.

Evoking wars and conflicts, as well as attacks on Christian minorities, Francis also voiced shame for “the innocent blood spilled daily by women, children, immigrants, and persons persecuted because of the color of their skin, or for the ethnic or social group they belong to, and for their faith” in Jesus.

The pontiff also made a reference to clergy’s handling of sex abuse of minors, saying: “shame for all those times that we bishops, priests and other clergy scandalized” the church.

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UTAH
Associated Press

BY HALLIE GOLDEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PROVO, Utah (AP) — A woman says she is shocked by a Utah judge’s comments in which he called a former Mormon bishop convicted of sexually assaulting her a “good man” during his sentencing hearing.

Julia Kirby said Friday that Judge Thomas Low appeared to care more for her attacker than he did about her.

“He only cared about the person he was convicting, and I think that is really kind of despicable,” said the 23-year-old Kirby, who has given The Associated Press permission to publish her name

Low sentenced Keith Robert Vallejo to up to life in prison this week after a jury found him guilty of 10 counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of object rape.

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ROME
International Business Times

By Ananya Roy
Updated April 15, 2017

Expressing shame over the failures of the Church and humanity in protecting the dignity and lives of innocent people, Pope Francis called for the almighty’s forgiveness during his Good Friday speech at Rome’s Colosseum.

Wearing a plain white coat, he presided over the traditional evening Way of the Cross procession and later addressed the 20,000 people gathered at the place amid extremely tight security.

The pontiff said that their eyes were “lowered in shame” and hearts were “full of hope” because of “all those images of devastation, destruction, shipwrecks, that have become routine in our lives”. He specifically mentioned the sexual abuse allegations against several Catholic Church clergymen and said that the shame was also “for all those times that we bishops, priests and other clergy scandalised” the church.

Referring to the migrant crisis in Europe, he said that hundreds of thousands of displaced people have endured hardships at the hands of human traffickers in attempts to reach European countries, but these nations have increasingly been rejecting their asylum pleas. He expressed grief over the loss of hundreds of lives lost while sailing to Europe through risky sea routes.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com

A new program that the Archdiocese of Agana initiated seeks to resolve dozens of Guam clergy sex abuse cases by summer’s end, offering an alternative to years of court litigation, according to the attorney in charge of the program.

Attorney Michael W. Caspino, executive director of the non-profit organization Hope and Healing Guam, said the independent program seeks to offer professional counseling, treatment, spiritual healing, compensation and justice to clergy abuse victims.

The program is two-pronged:

* Professional counseling has started for those who have already called the Hope and Healing Guam hotline, 1-888-649-5288. This will be followed by rehabilitation and long-term treatment as needed, and guidance from a spiritual director.

* Individual review of each claim for compensation, along with referral for investigation, once an independent board is formed, as early as next week.

Caspino, of California, said similar programs in other states could be administered by the diocese. But in Guam’s case, Hope and Healing is acting independent of the Archdiocese of Agana, whose only role is fund the program in the millions of dollars.

That’s partly because the suspended Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, who is among those facing clergy sex abuse cases in court and is undergoing a Vatican canonical penal trial, is still technically an archbishop, Caspino said.

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