ABUSE TRACKER

PHILIPPINES
The Gulf Today

By Manolo B. Jara August 01, 2017

MANILA: The influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday ordered the suspension of a 55-year-old parish priest, also the president of a Catholic-run college, who was arrested by the police for allegedly soliciting the services of a 13-year-old girl.

In a statement, the CBCP also announced in its website, it would conduct a separate but parallel investigation with the police on the case of Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos who was arrested on Friday by the police in suburban Marikina City in Metro in Manila in the company of the girl aboard a vehicle on their way to a motel.

The CBCP named Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, its former president, to conduct a separate inquiry which, if found guilty, would lead to his dismissal from priesthood.

His suspension also meant Lagarejos was stripped of his priestly duties like celebrating mass, according to CBCP.

Earlier, Lagarejos was likewise relieved of his post as the president of the Cainta Catholic College in the town of Cainta, Rizal province in Southern Luzon where he was the concurrent parish priest.

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PHILIPPINES
The Manila Times

BY NEIL ALCOBER, TMT ON JULY 31, 2017

MARIKINA City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro on Monday gave assurance that the truth will not be concealed in the investigation of Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos, who was caught with a 13-year-old girl while on the way to a motel in Marikina City.

“There will be no whitewash on the case. No pressure [from the Catholic church],” Teodoro told The Manila Times in a phone interview.

He also urged parents to monitor their children’s use of social media, citing the growing incidence of sex crimes in the country associated with the popularity of Facebook and other social sites.

Senior Supt. Roger Quesada, Marikina police chief, said Lagarejos had brought the girl twice to a motel on separate dates and paid her P2,500 each time.

The priest is now detained at the Marikina City jail and facing charges for violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By: Tina G. Santos – Reporter / @santostinaINQ

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz has started investigating the case of Taytay priest Msgr. Arnel Lagarejos who was arrested while bringing a 13-year-old girl to a motel in Marikina City on July 28.

Cruz told reporters that Antipolo Bishop Francisco de Leon had assigned him to look into the “pedophile case.”

“This case is considered the gravest violation of the commandments, abuse of minors… I don’t know [how long the investigation would take], it depends on how fast I could gather evidence … how fast I could get my testimonies,” he said.

Cruz explained that once the Vatican has decided on the priest’s case, it would forward its ruling to De Leon.

Lagarejos, the parish priest of St. John the Baptist in Taytay, Rizal, was arrested in an entrapment operation after the girl and her mother went to the police for help.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

By Jennifer Huxley

An exclusive Brisbane girls school has revealed it received a formal complaint of historical sexual assault, dating back 40 years.

Mt St Michael’s College, an all-girls Catholic high school in the inner suburb of Ashgrove, has written to former students about the allegations.

The letter, signed by principal Sharon Volp, said the abuse allegedly occurred between a student and a former staff member in the 1970s.

“With great sadness, I need to confirm that we have received a formal complaint regarding an allegation of sexual abuse in respect to one of our students and a former staff member going back to the period 1976-1978,” the letter reads.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Keloland

June 29, 2017

Angela Kennecke reports:

Sioux Falls, SD

Our Eye on KELOLAND Investigation has uncovered allegations of sexual harassment in a Sioux Falls parish against its priest.

The alleged incidents happened back in 2014. We’ve brought you the story from the victim’s point-of-view, who told us what happened and that her job was threatened for continuing to push the matter. We agreed to keep her identity hidden and change her name and voice.

“And when Matt (Althoff) said to me, that I will lose my job if I say another report and when Twila said, ‘This is not good for you. Maybe you should look for another job,’ it hurt me very badly because I went in there so they could help me. And it looks like they wanted to get rid of me,” Cindy said.

Months after she reported it and the diocese first tried to save the working relationship and establish professional boundaries between Cindy and Fr. Justin Wachs, Fr. Wachs resigned from the parish and went on medical leave.

But it’s what happened next that caused someone to threaten the diocese with going public with the matter, which they eventually did.

The Sioux Falls diocese told KELOLAND News that anonymous person who alerted KELOLAND Investigates to this incident is trying to hurt the church. The writer didn’t agree with Fr. Wachs’ “reassignment.” Fr. Wachs’ spoke to us only through his attorney who says his new assignment was in the works before he was accused of sexual harassment.

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SOUTH DAKOTA
Keloland

June 27, 2017

Angela Kennecke reports:

Sioux Falls, SD

A Sioux Falls woman says she was sexually harassed while on the job. Her boss? A priest.

While she reported his behavior to leadership in 2014, she now takes issue with the way the Sioux Falls Catholic Diocese handled it.

As this investigation unfolds, you may be surprised by what happened to this priest as well.

In the Roman Catholic religion, priests are viewed as a direct line of communication to God.

A church employee, whom we are calling “Cindy,” agreed to come forward to talk about her allegations of sexual harassment against Fr. Justin Wachs on the condition we don’t show her face and have someone else say her words.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WNPV

July 31, 2017

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro continues to remind citizens that child sex abuse is often carried out by predators who know how to get to their victims.

Shapiro recently commented on this fact after another catholic priest was arrested in Western Pa. for allegedly sexually abused a 10 year old boy in the early 1990’s. Shapiro urges victims to get in touch with the Attorney General’s office.

“If anyone has information regarding child sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church here in Pennsylvania, please contact, the Attorney General’s Clergy Abuse Hotline at 1-888-538-8541.

Retired priest John Thomas Sweeney was arrested in the Western, Pa case. The sex abuse allegedly happened during the 1991-92 school year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Exclusive — Nigel Hunt, The Advertiser
July 31, 2017

FORMER Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide Ian George is at the centre of a major SA Police investigation over the role he played in disgraced St Peter’s College priest John Mountford fleeing Australia in 1992.

In a shock development in the St Peter’s College abuse case, detectives are investigating if any of those involved in Mountford’s rapid exit from Adelaide perverted the course of justice or impeded an investigation into his activities.

They are also investigating if former St Peter’s headmaster Richard Burchnall, his deputy Ray Stanley or Dr George breached the Child Protection Act by not immediately reporting the sexual abuse of a student by the then Reverend Mountford to police.

The revelation comes after former Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, appeared in a Melbourne Court last week on historic child sex charges and as current Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson prepares to fight a charge in Newcastle Local Court of concealing child sexual abuse.

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AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser

Nigel Hunt, The Advertiser
July 31, 2017

FOR the past 25 years, Helen has been fighting for justice for her son, David.

At first it was against disgraced priest John Mountford, the man who sexually abused her son while he was a student at St Peter’s College. Once that avenue was exhausted, she took on the school that allowed the abuse to occur by employing the paedophile priest and allowing him to prey on the school community.

And once that fight was won, with a compensation settlement for her son, she turned her sights on not just those in charge of the school, but the head of Anglican Diocese of Adelaide at the time — Dr Ian George.

Helen, who does not wish to be identified, wants Dr George and the school to be held accountable over the role they played in Mountford’s rapid departure from Adelaide after he confessed to abusing a student.

While this occurred in June, 1992, she only became aware of the facts surrounding it in May, 2004, when an independent Board of Inquiry into the Adelaide diocese’s handling of sexual abuse allegations report was released.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains why Cardinal George Pell will not be able to secure a fair trial in October:

If it weren’t for Cardinal George Pell, it would not matter a whole lot to the Catholic League if a free nation like Australia decided to emulate the totalitarian regime in North Korea. But he does matter, and that is why we are concerned. He has been the target of character assassins for a very long time, and will appear in a Melbourne court on October 6. Judging from recent events, it seems near impossible for him to get a fair trial.

Queensland, Australia’s second largest state, declared war on Christian children last week: they have been told to stop talking about Jesus in the school yard. Christmas cards that refer to the birth of Jesus have been banned, as have creating Christmas tree decorations. Beaded bracelets that share “the good news about Jesus” have also been prohibited.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, July 31, 2017

A former Catholic priest has launched a High Court action aimed at stopping his trial on a charge he indecently assaulted a young boy more than thirty years ago, writes Ann O’Loughlin.

The man who has been sent forward to face trial before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court claims he is at risk of not getting a fair trial.

It is the man’s case the DPP has allowed an unexplainable delay to occur in the prosecution of the case. The case, he also claims, has not been dealt with in an expeditious manner.

He claims he was charged with the offence more than three years after a complaint was made to the Gardaí.

It is also claimed that the man cannot get a fair trial because certain documents and records which the man had sought were destroyed.

He also claims that he has been denied fair procedures.

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ROME
Commonweal – Letter from Rome

By Robert Mickens
July 31, 2017

Some five years ago I was invited to speak at the City Club of Cleveland, Ohio.

“Since 1912, the City Club has served as one of the (United States’) oldest, non-partisan and continuously operating free speech forums,” says the organization’s website.

The topic of my talk was the Vatican implosion and, as a result, the long and gradual collapse of the Catholic Church’s monarchical structure of governance and ministry.

I argued that as the last absolute monarchy in the West (and most anywhere else in the world), the organization of the Roman Church has become an anachronism. It made sense when monarchies were a fundamental feature of human society. But no longer.

This outdated model of the Catholic Church’s structure no longer incarnates the reality of the lived experience of believers, the staggering majority of whom live in societies that are becoming more and more, and to varying degrees, participatory and representative democracies.

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PHILIPPINES
Philippine News Courier

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) spoke in connection with the priest who was arrested Friday night, July 28 in Marikina City for attempting to sexually abuse a 13-year old girl. The suspect was arrested in an entrapment operation, after the victim’s mother reported to the Marikina City police’s women and child protection department.

“As Christians, we are bound to forgive those who sin against us as we ask God to forgive our sins. So much so if the sin was not really committed.” Outgoing CBCP President Socrates Villegas said during his mass in his hometown Lingayen, Pangasinan, Sunday morning. He will be replaced by Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles this coming December 1.

And although he did not mention the name of Rev. Msgr. Arnel F. Lagarejos, who was arrested while he was on his way to a motel along with a pimp, Archbishop Soc Villegas reminded everyone that even priests are also tempted to commit sin. “No one is excuse for committing sins, even we priests are prone to commit mortal sins.” He added.

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ROMA
Corriere della Sera

di Massimo Franco

S i va delineando un Vaticano ad interim nelle sue strutture economiche. L’uscita di scena in rapida successione del supervisore generale Libero Milone e del superministro delle Finanze, il cardinale George Pell, ha portato alla nomina di personaggi di transizione. E entro l’estate potrebbe essere sostituito anche Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, presidente dello Ior, la cosiddetta «banca del Vaticano». Nominato nel luglio del 2014, il francese de Franssu da tempo si sente esautorato. Avverte una freddezza crescente nei suoi confronti dopo la controversa nomina a direttore generale di Gianfranco Mammì, avvenuta alla fine del 2015: una scelta personale di papa Francesco, che si presentò nella sede dello Ior e disse che l’incarico sarebbe toccato a Mammì. Ormai, de Frannsu va a Roma soltanto un paio di giorni a settimana.

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ROME
Crux

One of Italy’s most respected political journalists wrote on Saturday in “Corriere della Sera,” considered the country’s paper of record, that the “shock therapy” Francis tried to impose on Vatican finances has yielded “thin results.” Massimo Franco also suggested things are drifting back toward what Vatican insiders call “normality,” meaning the situation prior to the initial reforms three years ago, and that another key figure in the pope’s attempted reform may soon be gone.

Perceptions of setbacks and power struggles, the recent exits of two key financial officials, and a Vatican trial for misappropriation of funds in which a cardinal at the heart of the affair has not been charged or even investigated, all have prompted some observers to start writing obituaries for the pontiff’s plans for a sweeping reform of Vatican finances.

One of Italy’s most respected political journalists didn’t go quite that far on Saturday, but writing in Corriere della Sera, considered the country’s paper of record, Massimo Franco declared that the “shock therapy” Francis imposed on Vatican finances has yielded “thin results,” and that things are drifting back toward what Vatican insiders call “normality,” meaning the situation prior to the initial reforms three years ago.

In particular, Franco said that the Secretary of State, the Vatican’s powerful central coordinating department, is reacquiring its traditional supremacy with regard to financial management. Curbing that domination originally was considered among the pillars of Francis’s reforms.

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UNITED STATES
ReseachGate

[with download]

Article · July 2017

1st David Katzenstein
New York University

2nd Lisa Aronson Fontes
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract
Child sexual abuse remains an underreported crime throughout the world, despite extensive research and resources dedicated both to improving investigative techniques and helping children disclose their experiences. The discovery of rampant cover-ups within the Catholic Church has exposed some of the ways religious and cultural issues can impede reporting to authorities. This article examines specific factors that contribute to the underreporting of child sexual abuse within Orthodox Jewish communities. It also explores ways in which these communities have handled child sexual abuse reporting in the past and describes recent progress. Implications are offered for CSA prevention, detection, and recovery in Orthodox Jewish communities as well as other minority religious groups.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, July 31, 2017 Conall Ó Fátharta and Noel Baker

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission investigation of Bessborough mother-and-baby home will not be affected by the planned sale of the site.

The Irish Examiner recently revealed that the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have put the site up for sale. It is likely to fetch a multimillion-euro sum.

The campus now houses the Bessborough Centre, a charity that works with vulnerable families. It offers therapeutic care and education.

The cemetery and remembrance site are not included in the portfolio, and any sale will be on condition that a new building is put in place to house the continuing work of the Bessborough Centre.

The sale is subject to several conditions, including that the buyer provide a new facility for the present service, which involves residential and community-based family assessment and support services.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

In a chilling letter in the Sunday Independent a man has thanked his mother for not allowing a priest, who was later found to be a serial child abuser, to bring him and his brother for a drive.
The letter is part of the Letter I wish I’d Sent series running in the Sunday Independent.

The man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, penned a letter to his mother and thanked her for the loving environment he and his siblings were raised in.

He went on to say that his mother declined the offer from Fr Brendan Smyth to take he and his brother for a drive.

“I feel that your refusal saved both your sons a lot of grief and abuse and allowed us to continue growing up having a great childhood in a great family in a great little town,” he said.

The letter in full reads:

Dear Mam,

After reading the ‘Letter I Wished I’d Sent’ on page 10 of the Sunday Independent of July 23, I turned to page 14 and there staring at me was a picture of Brendan Smyth, the serial child sex abuser, below. You and Dad created a loving environment for our large family, in our small West of Ireland town.

How fortunate my younger brother and myself were, when aged 10 and 12 as Mass servers during a week’s Retreat by the said Brendan Smyth, you were strong enough as a very religious woman to decline Smyth’s offer on two different evenings when he called to our house to take my brother and myself out for “a drive to the neighbouring town”.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By: Aie Balagtas See – Reporter / @ABalagtasSeeINQ

Friday night was not the first time Taytay, Rizal parish priest Msgr. Arnel Lagarejos had booked a 13-year-old girl through her pimp who was also a minor.

“They had met before. According to the girl, [Friday] would have been the third time,” Marikina police chief Senior Supt. Roger Quesada told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Sunday.

The 55-year-old Lagarejos, parish priest of the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Taytay, Rizal, was arrested by authorities on Friday night as he was taking the girl to a motel in Marikina City in his sport utility vehicle.

“The girl went with the priest because there was money involved. She said the priest paid her P2,500 per booking,” Quesada said.

According to him, Lagarejos met the girl through the 16-year-old pimp who was her friend. The police, however, have yet to establish how and when the priest met the pimp.

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AUSTRALIA/ISRAEL
Australian Jewish News

MEMBER for Caulfield David Southwick has presented Israeli politicians with a petition calling for the extradition of alleged child sexual abuser Malka Leifer.

The Victorian MP met with Likud Member of the Knesset (MK) Sharren Haskel, Labor MK Michal Biran and director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Yuval Rotem while in Israel last week.

“I am confident the petition I presented to the Israeli Knesset on behalf of the victims and the Victorian Jewish community will build momentum to have Malka Leifer extradited to face allegations of sexual abuse,” Southwick said.

“I thank all of those 17,000 people who signed this important petition and supported the victims’ fight for justice.”

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NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand Herald

By Chris Morris

A paedophile priest’s picture has been removed from the wall at Dunedin’s Kavanagh College after a group of old boys complained.

But the group’s call for the Catholic college to consider a name change, to end another association with the priest’s dark past, has been rejected.

The situation emerged after Dr Murray Heasley and 12 other old boys of the college and its predecessor, St Paul’s High School, wrote to college principal Tracey O’Brien to raise concerns.

Heasley said he was horrified to discover a picture of former priest and convicted sex offender Magnus Murray on display at the college when he visited earlier this year.

Murray was jailed for five years in 2003, after admitting 10 charges of sexual offending against four young boys between 1958 and 1972.

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CANADA
Windsor Star

TREVOR WILHELM

The London diocese has settled lawsuits from three victims of an accused pedophile priest who died before facing justice in a criminal trial.

Lawyer Robert Talach said the three victims of Linus Bastien settled for a total of less then $400,000, but the money wasn’t the point for them.

“Beyond the money they got acknowledgment and they got confirmation that the evidence overwhelmingly leads to the conclusion that Bastien did this,” said Talach, with Beckett Personal Injury Lawyers in London. “Just because the criminal part didn’t get to the end of the road, I think what this process allowed is these guys got acknowledgment that there’s no doubt in either side’s mind here that Bastien did what they say he did.”

The London diocese couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday night.

The three victims were altar boys in their early teens at St. Paul Parish in LaSalle when they were allegedly abused in the 1970s. The lawsuits were settled last week. Beckett Personal Injury Lawyers has another five lawsuits from Bastien victims that are still ongoing.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Kathy Armstrong
July 30 2017

A priest who was falsely accused of sexually abusing a child has called the ordeal “years of hell” and said he received no official support from the Catholic church.

Father Tim Hazelwood said that factors such as years of scandals involving the church and an increased workload are putting our clergymen at an increased risk of suicide and he is encouraging them to reach out if they are under strain.

In 2009 he said he was informed that an anonymous complaint about child abuse had been made against him to the diocese.

The individual never came forward and the complaint was forwarded to the HSE and the gardaí.
The man then proceeded to send anonymous letters and threatening phone-calls to the priest directly Fr Hazelwood said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
WITF

(Harrisburg) — Last Monday, the State Attorney General announced charges against another priest accused of sexually abusing a child.

The alleged abuse happened two-and-a-half decades ago.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the case against retired priest John Thomas Sweeney outside the Westmoreland County Catholic school where the alleged abuse occurred in the 1991-92 school year.

In outlining the accusations, Shapiro noted that it is often decades before such abuse allegations surface, due to misplaced shame and confusion in the young victims.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Domradio

[“We have a monarchical system in the Church.”]

Mit Entsetzen wurde fast einhellig auf den Bericht über den Missbrauch bei den Domspatzen reagiert. Wolfgang Beck erklärt im domradio.de-Interview, was schief lief und warum die Skandale eine Chance für die Kirche sind.

domradio.de: Das waren deutliche Worte, die Sie da am Samstag gewählt haben. Sie sind selbst Priester. Hat Sie das schockierende Ausmaß des Missbrauchs und der Misshandlungen auch von Amtskollegen überrascht?

Pfarrer Wolfgang Beck (Professor für Pastoraltheologie an der katholischen Hochschule in Sankt Georgen): Nein, man muss auch sagen, dass man als katholischer Christ schon einiges in den letzten Jahren gewohnt ist. Der Aufarbeitungsprozess in Regensburg dauert auch schon einige Jahre an, sodass klar war, dass der Bericht sicherlich vieles enthalten würde, was noch mal für Erschrecken sorgt. Was dann aber auch wichtig ist, sind zwei unterschiedliche Ebenen: Das eine ist die Aufarbeitung, die geleistet werden muss und dass man sich um die Opfer kümmert.

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GERMANY
La Croix

“The idea that the Church, the Christian faith, and even the Bible message would be harmed if one openly discusses the problems and calls a spade a spade has become too deeply rooted in Catholic circles,” Fr Wolfgang Beck said.

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

A young Jesuit theologian has called on the wider public to force Germany’s bishops into investigating Church structures that foment clerical power and lack of transparency, elements he said are directly linked to abuse of minors.

“Please help to keep up the pressure,” Fr Wolfgang Beck said on July 23rd while making one of his frequent appearances on the widely viewed “Word for Sunday” program on German state television’s flagship channel.

The 43-year-old pastoral theologian spoke about the shame he felt after the reading the recently published Regensburg Domspatzen report, which revealed that more than 500 choir boys had been physically and sexually abused.

Fr Beck, who teaches at the Sankt Georgen Jesuit University and seminary in Frankfurt, said some commentators had described the report as a “glimpse of hell”.

“When one thinks of what the victims went through and the sluggish reaction of those responsible in the Church, I can only say once again that words fail me. As a citizen I am horrified and as a priest deeply ashamed,” he said.

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OSTERREICH
News

[Georg P. is a church abuse victim in Austria, recognized by the responsible commission, but not by his own family – for his own brother is a Catholic dignitary. The commission of the Catholic Church had no doubts about the police protocols and psychological expertise: Georg P., an agriculturist from the Innviertel and now 41 years old, was abused by a Benedictine priest named Berthold between his 10th and 15th years. The abuse happened regularly, systematically and brutally. The man of God is now even classified as a “dangerous criminal” and is considered to be mentally ill. Too late for Georg for Father Berthold passed away eight years ago without ever being accountable before an earthly court.]

Georg P. ist ein kirchliches Missbrauchsopfer, anerkannt von der zuständigen Kommission, nicht aber von der eigenen Familie – denn der eigene Bruder ist katholischer Würdenträger

Für die von der katholischen Kirche eingesetzte Opferschutzkommission bestanden nach Einsicht in die polizeilichen Protokolle und psychologischen Gutachten keinerlei Zweifel mehr: Georg P., Landwirtschaftstechniker aus dem Innviertel und heute 41 Jahre alt, war zwischen seinem zehnten und 15. Lebensjahr von einem Benediktinerpater namens Berthold missbraucht worden. Regelmäßig, systematisch und brutal. Kirchenintern wird der Gottesmann mittlerweile sogar als “gefährlicher Krimineller” und “hochgradig psychisch kranker Mensch” eingestuft. Zu spät für Georg, denn Pater Berthold verstarb vor nunmehr acht Jahren – ohne je vor einem irdischen Gericht Rechenschaft abgelegt zu haben. Und ohne etwas von der Strahlkraft eingebüßt zu haben, die er in all den Jahren zuvor auf Georgs Familie ausgeübt hatte.

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PHILIPPINES
The Manila Times

TAYTAY (Rizal) parish priest Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos will be removed as priest and stripped of all his Church duties if proven guilty of human trafficking allegations involving a 13-year old girl, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“Abuse of minors is very grievous offense. If he is proven grievously immoral for abuse of minors, he will be removed as priest. He will be stripped of all his rights and duties as priest,” former CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz told The Manila Times.

“Molestation of minors is the most grievous offense that can be committed by a cleric. That is a serious matter that will be dealt with appropriately by Church authorities,” Cruz said.

He has been designated by Antipolo Bishop Francis de Leon to lead the Diocese of Antipolo’s panel of investigators that will determine the veracity of the accusations against Lagarejos.

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AUSTRALIA
Center for Research on Globalization

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Global Research, July 29, 2017

“The world is watching.” – Cathy Kezelman, Blue Knot Foundation president, The Washington Post, Jul 25, 2017

The show on Wednesday was grim, busy, crowded. Cardinal George Pell, the highest Vatican official thus far to be brought within the legal fold of accusation and accountability for historical crimes of sex abuse, fronted for the briefest of shows at a lowly Magistrates Court in Melbourne.

There was much chatter prior to his arrival on Wednesday morning as to what would happen. For one, a taster was provided that the number of police was simply not enough to contain matters. Ringed by the boys and girls in blue, he seemed in a floating daze, though officially committed to the task at hand.

The other point was that the media outlets seemed indifferent to the linguistic differences of “historic” and “historical” in terms of designating the alleged crimes. Would historical sex abuse charges become historic in due course?

A bigger court room, one that would have enabled more spectators to sit, was not in the offing. An ordinary magistrates setting seating up to 80 was going to supply distinct shock treatment, a cold shower of immensity far from the plushness of the Vatican setting. Some journalists grumbled that a more expansive setting should have been provided.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Altoona Mirror

JUL 29, 2017

SEAN SAURO
Staff Writer
ssauro@altoonamirror.com

A retired Catholic priest with ties to Saint Francis University turned himself in to police Wednesday in Fairfax County, Va., where he is accused of having inappropriate contact with a 15-year-old girl.

Gervase Cain, 86, a retired priest living in Loretto, has been charged with taking indecent liberties with a child for an alleged 2003 incident.

In 2003, Cain — then 72 years old — allegedly touched a 15-year-old girl inappropriately during a “consultation” at her Fairfax home, according to a Fairfax County Police news release.

The incident was first reported to police in 2004, but the complaint was later withdrawn, police said.

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ROME
L’Espresso – Settimo Cielo

Sandra Magister

The classic communist parties had their “organic intellectuals.” But Pope Francis has them, too. Their names are Antonio Spadaro, Marcelo Figueroa, Víctor Manuel Fernández.

The first is an Italian and a Jesuit, director of “La Civiltà Cattolica.” The others are Argentine, and the latter is not even Catholic but a Presbyterian pastor, and in spite of this Francis has put him at the head of the Buenos Aires edition of “L’Osservatore Romano.”

Spadaro has turned “La Civiltà Cattolica” into the organ of Casa Santa Marta, meaning of the pope. And together with Figueroa he put his name to an article in the latest issue of the magazine that slammed into the United States like a hurricane, because it accused both Catholic and Protestant conservative circles of acting in that country “with a logic not different from that which inspires Islamic fundamentalism,” none less than that of Osama bin Laden and the Caliphate.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Crime Online

by Lawrence Bonk
July 29, 2017

Paul Shanley, a priest convicted of multiple counts of child rape, has walked free, as reported by FOX8.

Shanley, 86, has spent the last 12 years behind bars after being convicted in 2005 of two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and two counts of rape and abuse of a child, according to the sex offender registry.

The Massachusetts man now begins 10 years of supervised probation, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement.

Shanley was one of a number of Catholic priests convicted of child rape, the fallout from an infamous Boston Globe investigation which was chronicled in the critically acclaimed film Spotlight.

His release, however, has sparked a backlash. Barbara Dorris, managing director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spoke to reporters and said that pedophiles rarely change their gruesome appetites.

“Age, a change of title or location doesn’t change a pedophile,” she said. “For now, I just hope the officials who housed him, employed him, and protected him have an obligation to make sure this never happens again.”

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PHILIPPINES
GMA News

Published July 30, 2017

The Diocese of Antipolo in Rizal on Sunday said it is “looking into” the arrest of a priest, who was caught with a 13-year-old girl while while on his way to a motel in Marikina City.

“The Dioecese of Antipolo is looking into the matter involving the arrest of Msgr. Arnel F. Lagarejos as allegedly identified as a suspect in [an] entrapment operation in Marikina City,” the diocese said in a statement.

It asked the public to “refrain from issuing unnecessary comments that might worsen the situation.”

Lagarejos was arrested on Friday night while in the company of the girl, who was allegedly pimped out by a 16-year-old friend.

The alleged pimp was also arrested by the police.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

The priest arrested last Friday while allegedly on his way to a motel with a 13-year-old girl is being kept with ordinary detainees at the Marikina police headquarters, radio reports said.

Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos, 55, of the Diocese of Antipolo, spent Saturday til Sunday morning at the Marikina City jail after going through inquest proceedings for trafficking in persons.
READ: Priest nabbed ‘en route to motel’ with 13-year-old girl

While no VIP treatment was being accorded to the priest, security was tight with police strictly screening his visitors and preventing media from speaking to him, according to a report of radio dzMM.

Radio reports said colleagues of Lagarejos had been constantly visiting him since his arrest early Friday night near Blue Wave Mall along Sumulong Highway in Marikina City.

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MEXICO
Aristegui Noticias

[Priest Pedro Gutiérrez Farias was identified in the media as the alleged perpetrator of physical, sexual and psychological abuse against minors at the Ciudad de los Niños shelter.]

Pedro Gutiérrez Farías fue señalado en medios de un presunto abuso físico, sexual y psicológico en contra de menores, en el albergue Ciudad de los Niños.

El sacerdote católico Pedro Gutiérrez Farías presentó una denuncia penal de hechos en contra de quien o quienes resulten responsables por los presuntos delitos de “difamación y calumnia” contra la institución de la Ciudad de los Niños y el propio presbítero.

Bajo la carpeta 76301 en la Agencia Siete del Ministerio Público de la Ciudad de Salamanca quedó asentada la denuncia que personalmente presentó el religioso este jueves, señaló Julián García, asesor jurídico de la Ciudad de los Niños y del sacerdote católico.

“Es una denuncia por hechos, hechos que fueron publicados en los medios, todo en torno a que hay delito de trata de personas y otros donde se atreven a pronunciarse sobre esos hechos, esos delitos sin que haya pruebas y esto le originó un agravio a la institución y al sacerdote para efecto de que ante la autoridad correspondiente, que es el ministerio público que es el que se encarga de investigar los delitos, concluirlos y resolver sobre los mismos, no otras personas…es una denuncia por hechos a la difamación, calumnia a la institución y a la persona del padre Pedro” indicó.

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MEXICO
Proceso

POR VERÓNICA ESPINOSA , 26 JULIO, 2017 ESTADOS

GUANAJUATO, Gto. (apro).- Adolescentes desaparecidas, otras embarazadas como producto de violaciones cometidas presuntamente por uno de los responsables del albergue, recién nacidos entregados en adopción a parejas estadunidenses de manera irregular y a cambio de dinero, son algunas de las graves anomalías que se acumulan a los hallazgos detectados en los centros de asistencia de la organización Ciudad del Niño de Salamanca, fundados y manejados por el sacerdote Pedro Gutiérrez Farías.

Testimonios de vecinos, profesores, e incluso de adolescentes que escaparon de la Ciudad del Niño y la Ciudad Juvenil –ambos centros manejados por el sacerdote católico y con domicilio en Salamanca- fueron recabados en un informe del Centro de Promoción de los Derechos Humanos de Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes, NIMA, en el que se ratifican además las omisiones cometidas por distintas autoridades, desde el DIF municipal, el Sistema DIF estatal, la Procuraduría de Protección a Niños, Niñas y Adolescentes, la Procuraduría de Justicia del estado y la Procuraduría de los Derechos Humanos del Estado.

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MEXICO
La Jornada

Ciudad de México. Los abusos sexuales y físicos ocurridos contra varios menores de edad en el albergue religioso la Ciudad de los Niños fueron posibles no sólo por la ineficiencia de las autoridades para vigilar lo que ocurre en este tipo de centros, sino también por la complicidad entre los directores de los mismos y grupos políticos, afirmaron especialistas en derechos de la infancia.

Nashieli Ramírez, coordinadora general de la organización civil Ririki Intervención Social, consideró que lo ocurrido en los albergues del sacerdote Pedro Gutiérrez Farías es una muestra de la falta de capacidad del gobierno para monitorear y supervisar lo que ocurre en las estancias infantiles, tanto públicas como privadas.

Dicha falla representa una violación a la Ley General de los Derechos de Niñas, Niños y Adolescentes, pero también a diversos convenios internacionales en materia de protección a menores de edad, sobre todo aquellos que se encuentran sin cuidado de sus padres o de algún adulto.

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MEXICO
Mexico News Daily

Mexico News Daily | Thursday, July 27, 2017

Physical and sexual abuse of children by their caregivers at an orphanage in Guanajuato is the result of collusion between the Catholic church and the government of Guanajuato, a non-governmental organization has charged.

The orphanage and shelter called Ciudad de los Niños (City of the Children) in Salamanca was founded 40 years ago by Catholic priest Pedro Gutiérrez Farías, who has registered 134 children as his own before local authorities.

A report compiled by the children’s rights advocacy group Nima claims that the mothers of the children registered by the priest were teenage girls raped within the orphanage’s premises.

Institutionalization and Violence in the City of the Children gathered witness accounts of individuals that survived the violence. The babies of other raped girls “were given up for adoption by people in the United States,” said the report, declaring that it is necessary to review the legality of all such procedures undertaken by the shelter.

Father Gutiérrez’ alleged abuse of the children was such that they began calling him him El Castigador (The Punisher), continued the report.

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PHILIPPINES
The Manila Times

BY FRANCIS EARL CUETO, TMT ON JULY 29, 2017

A PARISH priest was arrested in Marikina City Friday evening, after he allegedly abused a 13-year-old girl while on their way to a motel.

Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, Eastern Police District director, identified the priest as Msgr. Arnel Lagarejos, 55.

He was arrested at around 6:30 p.m. while inside his gray Ford explorer with plate number TGO 350 at the parking area of Blue Wave Mall along Sumulong Hi-way, in Barangay Sto. Niño, Marikina City.

If proven guilty, Lagarejos will be charged with violation of the anti-trafficking in persons act.

A report by the Marikina police said Lagarejos allegedly booked the minor, also an out-of-school youth, through 16-year-old “ARB,” who served as pimp. They were reported to be meeting at the Blue Wave Mall.

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PHILIPPINES
Philippines Lifestyle News

POSTED BY: M G MARTIN JULY 29, 2017

A Catholic priest pulled a gun on police after being discovered at a Motel with a 13-year-old girl.

Monseigneur Arnel Fuentes Lagarejos, aged 55, was caught during a crackdown on children being pimped via social media in Marikina City yesterday (Friday, July 28).

Officers said they were “shocked” to discover a priest involved in the crime.

The priest’s superior today issued a statement, urging parishioners to “pray that the truth may come out”.

Antipolo Bishop, Francisco de Leon, wrote: “The Diocese of Antipolo is looking into the matter involving the arrest of Monseigneur Arnel Fuentes Lagarejos as allegedly identified as a suspect in an entrapment operation in Marikina City.

“Thus, we assure the public that we respect the necessary procedures as provided by law in order to further investigate the matter.

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PHILIPPINES
Rappler

Paterno Esmaquel II
@paterno_ii
July 29, 2017

MANILA, Philippines – A 55-year-old priest from a parish in Taytay, Rizal, was arrested for allegedly “booking” a 13-year-old girl with the help of a 16-year-old pimp, the Marikina police said.

Monsignor Arnel Lagarejos was detained immediately after his arrest in Santo Niño, Marikina City, on Friday evening, July 28.

Because of this, Antipolo Bishop Francisco de Leon said in a message on Saturday evening, July 29, that Lagarejos has been relieved of all his designations in his diocese.

Lagarejos was president of Cainta Catholic College (CCC). He was also parish priest of Saint John the Baptist Parish in Poblacion, Taytay, Rizal.

Lagarejos holds a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and a licentiate in theology from the Loyola School of Theology in Quezon City, according to his profile on the CCC website.

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PHILIPPINES
ABS-CBN

MANILA – The superior of a priest who was allegedly caught bringing a 13-year-old girl into a motel urged the faithful on Saturday to “pray that the truth may come out.”

Police have filed a human trafficking complaint against Msgr. Arnel Fuentes Lagarejos, 55, who was arrested in an entrapment in Marikina City late Friday.

“Let us refrain from issuing unnecessary comments that might worsen the situation,” Antipolo Bishop Francisco de Leon said in a statement.

“The Diocese of Antipolo is looking into the matter involving the arrest of Msgr. Arnel Fuentes Lagarejos as allegedly identified as a suspect in an entrapment operation in Marikina City,” he said.

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PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

Chuck Biedka
Tribune Content Agency

A Hollywood movie helped motivate a former Lower Burrell man to come forward with allegations he was sexually assaulted by a priest in the 1990s.

Former priest John Thomas Sweeney is accused of abusing a 10-year-old boy sent to him for misbehavior at St. Margaret Mary Church’s school in Lower Burrell, outside Pittsburgh, during the 1991-92 academic year.

And that alleged victim isn’t alone in being motivated by “Spotlight,” according to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP.

“We don’t know exactly how many, but we know it has caused people to come forward, sometimes after years,” said Judy Jones, SNAP’s Midwest regional leader. “It takes a lot of courage for them to come forward,” she said.

The 2015 Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” tells the story of the Boston Globe’s investigation about alleged priest sexual abuse and cover-ups in Boston.

Greensburg diocese Communications Director Jerry Zufelt said there was no such cover-up here.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Washington Post

By Alex Horton July 29

Phil Saviano, an advocate for sexual assault victims, had a list of Boston-area clergymen alleged to have raped young boys. And it was growing.

He created a New England chapter of a support group for people who said they had been abused by priests and drew up the list of alleged offenders, along with other data points, beginning in 1997.

One of the names kept coming up in discussions: Paul Shanley.

Shanley was a well-respected clergyman nicknamed the “Street Priest” for his habit of roaming dangerous neighborhoods to help troubled youths. But he also secretly used the anonymity of vulnerable, wayward boys as a weapon and a shield.

Shanley, 86, was released from state prison Friday after serving a 12-year sentence for the rape and indecent assault of a boy in a Massachusetts church in the 1980s. He was defrocked by the Vatican in 2004 and convicted the following year.

“The fact he was sent away for 12 years was a triumph for the survivor community,” Saviano told The Washington Post.

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MEXICO
Politico

Este martes por la madrugada ocurrió una explosión en la puerta principal de la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM).

De acuerdo a información del CEM, un artefacto, del cual se desconoce su origen, fue colocado en la puerta y detonó alrededor de la 1:50 am. Informaron que ninguna persona resultó herida y que sí hubo daños materiales afectados por el impacto de la explosión.

Las oficinas de la CEM se encuentran en la colonia Tepeyac Insurgentes de la capital del país y los jerarcas de la Iglesia católica aseguraron que ya se realizan las investigaciones pertinentes pues no es la primera vez que ocurren ataques de este tipo en la Ciudad de México.

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MEXICO
ACI Prensa

[Explota BOMBA en Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano CDMX – YouTube]

CIUDAD DE MÉXICO, 26 Jul. 17 / 04:14 pm (ACI).- Un grupo extremista autodenominado “Comando Feminista Informal de Acción Antiautoritaria” se atribuyó el ataque con explosivo cometido ayer contra la sede de la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (CEM) y que solo dejó daños materiales.

“Después de medianoche, el 25 de julio de 2017 colocamos un artefacto explosivo hecho con dinamita, gas LP y butano en la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano (…). ¡Ni Dios, ni Amo!”, expresó el grupo a través de internet.

Sin embargo, estos componentes no coinciden con los hallados por los peritos de la Procuraduría General de Justicia de la Ciudad de México.

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MEXICO
Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano

[At about 1:50 a.m. July 25 an artifact at the front door of the Mexican Episcopal Conference exploded. No one thanks to God’s providence was hurt. The conference is grateful for the support and solidarity displayed by our brother bishops, the faithful, priests and institutions. Many people of good will have approached us with genuine concern. The authorities, both federal and local, have shown their support and are investigating.]

Ciudad de México a 25 de julio de 2017

Es de su conocimiento, que el día de hoy, alrededor de la 1:50 de la mañana, en la puerta principal de la Conferencia del Episcopado Mexicano, explotó un artefacto, que por providencia de Dios, no afectó a ninguna persona.

Agradecemos el apoyo y la solidaridad mostrada por parte de nuestros hermanos obispos, fieles, sacerdotes, instituciones, así como a muchas personas de buena voluntad que se han acercado a nosotros con genuina preocupación. También a las autoridades, tanto federales como locales, que han mostrado su apoyo y colaboración para aclarar este suceso.

Como órgano colegial de los Obispos de México, queremos hacer un llamado a la serenidad, la prudencia y al respeto de la vida humana y sus instituciones. Este hecho nos invita a reflexionar enfáticamente sobre la necesidad de reconstruir el tejido social, para propiciar un ambiente de seguridad para todos los ciudadanos.

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MEXICO
Christian Today

Mark Woods MANAGING EDITOR 27 July 2017

A radical feminist group has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the headquarters of Mexico’s Catholic Council of Bishops.

An explosive device was set off two days ago but did little damage and caused no casualties.

Bishop Ramon Castro of Cuernavaca said he believed the attack ‘reflects the situation in Mexico’, where three priests have been killed so far this year.

A statement signed by the ‘Informal Feminist Command for Anti-Authoritarian Action’ was posted on the anarchist website Contra Info claiming it carried out the attack and implying it was in retaliation for abuse carried out by Catholic priests.

It says the device was made with dynamite, LP gas and propane.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Eule

[The report – Part 1: Preschool. Since last week the independent investigation report on the abuse cases at the Regensburger Domspatzen is available. What really stands out in the report: The report of the independent investigator team undermines excuses by providing a thorough and, in some cases painfully detailed, information on the events in preschool and high school choir and boarding schools. Anyone who has actually read it can no longer come to simple explanations. It is also about much more than a time-worn rude education style or some isolated cases of sexual abuse. It is about a totalitarian system that was installed and kept alive by a few main players in which students were subjected to the most severe violence and humiliation.]

Seit letzter Woche liegt der unabhängige Untersuchungsbericht zu den Missbrauchsfällen bei den Regensburger Domspatzen vor. Was wirklich im Bericht steht:

Von Philipp Greifenstein, 29. Juli 2017

Am 18. Juli 2017 haben die unabhängigen Ermittler Ulrich Weber und Johannes Baumeister ihren Untersuchungsbericht zu Gewaltausübungen bei den Regensburger Domspatzen vorgelegt (Download des gesamten Berichts). Der Missbrauch bei den Domspatzen wurde seitdem abermals kontrovers diskutiert, häufig offensichtlich ohne weitere Kenntnis der im Bericht zusammengefassten Ergebnisse.

Ich habe in den letzten Tagen den Untersuchungsbericht gelesen.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Owen Boss Saturday, July 29, 2017

Convicted child rapist and defrocked Catholic priest Paul Shanley was released from prison yesterday after two state-contracted psychologists ruled that because of his advanced age and medical status, he wasn’t a “sexually dangerous” person. Here are excerpts from the psychologists’ reports:

* “In reviewing Mr. Shanley’s risk from an actuarial perspective, the Static 99R, a commonly accepted actuarial tool, yields a result of -1, which places him within the ‘below average risk’ rage of sexual reoffense.”

* “Mr. Shanley’s behavior meets the threshold required by the statute for Mental Abnormality. He demonstrates a persistent or chronic deviant sexual interest in prepubescent and under aged male children. In my opinion, Mr. Shanley suffers from a condition that predisposes him to the commission of criminal sexual acts and makes him a menace to the health and safety of others as required by the statute.”

* “Age is a factor that can mitigate risk. Individuals who sexually assault children, victims under the age of 16, demonstrate the most precipitous decrease in risk at the age of 50. Mr. Shanley’s current age 86 would suggest a mitigation risk. Factors associated with age include health, motivation, and opportunity.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Joe Fitzgerald Saturday, July 29, 2017

Though many columns decrying the blanket indictment of priests reaped anger and resentment here during the scandal that rocked the Catholic Church, they never minimized the horrible things done to young victims by vultures camouflaged in Roman collars.

Indeed, you read about some of them here, like Ron, who was 41 the day he called, weeping.

“I’d like you to hear how my life was ruined,” he said. “I was 11 when it happened. I trusted this man more than you could imagine. Then he reached inside my pants and proceeded to do things to me. Today I trust no one.

“I didn’t get married until I was 36 and my wife still doesn’t understand what’s wrong with me. I sleep on the couch more than I should. I’m not close to her like I ought to be and I’m sure she thinks it’s her fault. She’s the nicest woman in the world. But even now, there’s still so much guilt associated with sex, it’s unbelievable.”

There are many Rons in the files here, all of whom bear painful witness to traumas that haunt them to this day.

But they were not the only victims of predators such as the defrocked Paul Shanley, now 86, released yesterday from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater after completing a 12-year-sentence for raping a boy in the 1980s.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

[with video]

WARE (CBS) — A forensic psychologist says that convicted sex offender Paul Shanley should still be behind bars.

Shanley is classified as a “Level 3 Sex Offender” and that designation is given to those who are considered to be high risks to re-offend.

Paul Zeizel, in fact, referred to Shanley as a “monster.”

“Shanley was a monster and there’s no doubt about that,” Zeizel said about the 86-year-old former priest. “From mu understanding the age of his victims were remarkably young.”

At least one of his victims was six-years-old. …

“The most dangerous subset of the sex-offending population are pedophiles–male pedophiles who have male victims,” Zeisel said.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[One broke the silence. Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg is considered a bishop of the conservative. Vorderholzer was director of the Institute of Pope Benedict XVI, before following Gerhard Ludwig Müller in the Regensburg bishop’s office. After his appointment as a bishop, he began working on the abuse scandal around Germany’s most famous boyhood choir. Excuses, distraction maneuvers, and half-hearted excuses should no longer be the bishop’s response to the decade-long suffering of the Domspatzen.]
 
Von Christian Feldmann
28. Juli 2017

Die Wende von Regensburg begann 2012 mit einem Mann, dem kaum jemand einen Bruch mit der Linie seines Vorgängers zugetraut hatte: Rudolf Voderholzer aber hat nach seiner Ernennung zum Bischof damit angefangen, den Missbrauchsskandal um Deutschlands berühmtesten Knabenchor aufzuarbeiten. Ausflüchte, Ablenkungsmanöver und halbherzige Entschuldigungen sollten nicht mehr die Antwort des Bistums auf das jahrzehntelange Leiden bei den Domspatzen sein.

Der frühere Dogmatikprofessor aus Trier ist kein innerkirchlicher Reformer: Der 57-Jährige ist Herausgeber von Papst Benedikts Gesammelten Werken und eng verbunden mit dem Rom Joseph Ratzingers. Dessen enger Vertrauter Gerhard Ludwig Müller war nicht nur Voderholzers Vorgänger auf dem Regensburger Bischofssitz, sondern auch sein Doktorvater. Müller blieb auch nach seiner Ernennung zum Präfekten der Glaubenskongregation eine Autorität in Regensburg. Zuvor hatte er die Aufklärung eher verschleppt und den Medien eine kirchenfeindliche “Kampagne” unterstellt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Zeit

[Why Gerhard Ludwig Müller still does not want to see the abuse.]

Warum Gerhard Ludwig Müller den Missbrauch noch immer nicht sehen will

Von Julius Müller-Meiningen
28. Juli 2017

An diesem Samstag endet das Annabergfest in Sulzbach-Rosenberg mit einem feierlichen Pontifikalamt. Gerhard Ludwig Müller wird dazu aus Rom erwartet; der Kardinal, der seit vier Wochen vor den Trümmern seiner Laufbahn steht, soll die Abschlussmesse feiern. Papst Franziskus hatte den 69-Jährigen Anfang Juli als Präfekten der Glaubenskongregation entlassen. Müller spekulierte eigentlich darauf, mindestens bis zum für Bischöfe festgesetzten Pensionsalter von 75 Jahren eine feste Aufgabe zu haben. Jetzt steht der gebürtige Mainzer in Rom vor einer unklaren Zukunft und muss auch noch zur Seelsorge ins Bistum Regensburg. Es gibt derzeit angenehmere Orte in Deutschland für ihn.

Seit seiner Zeit als Bischof von Regensburg (2002–2012) begleiten Müller eine Reihe von Vorwürfen. Sie reichen vom autoritären Umgang mit Mitarbeitern und katholischen Laien bis hin zur Verschleppung von Missbrauchsfällen. Auch im kürzlich vorgestellten Aufklärungsbericht des von der Diözese bestellten Rechtsanwalts Ulrich Weber über Körperverletzung und sexuellen Missbrauch bei den Regensburger Domspatzen, dem Elitechor des Bistums, geht es um den Kardinal. Als die gesamte katholische Kirche in Deutschland Anfang 2010 mit der Veröffentlichung von Missbrauchsfällen zu kämpfen hatte, stand auch der Regensburger Bischof im Kreuzfeuer. Für viele Betroffene war Müller damals das offizielle Gesicht einer vertuschenden Amtskirche und Feindbild schlechthin.

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NEW YORK
Road to Recovery

FR. TIMOTHY ZAK, SDB, WHO HAS BEEN IN CHARGE OF SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SALESIAN PRIESTS AND BROTHERS IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA, WILL BE INSTALLED AS PROVINCIAL (GENERAL SUPERIOR) OF ST. PHILIP THE APOSTLE PROVINCE IN NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, NY AND WILL BE IN CHARGE OF ALL SALESIAN PRIESTS AND BROTHERS IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES AND CANADA

BUT,

FR. TIMOTHY ZAK IS NOT A CREDIBLE LEADER – HE PROMISED OVER A YEAR AGO TO SETTLE TWO CASES OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE AGAINST SALESIAN PRIESTS AND BROTHERS, YET ONE OF THOSE CASES REMAINS UNSETTLED AND THE SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS CONTINUES TO BE RE-VICTIMIZED

What
A demonstration and leafleting alerting parishioners and supporters of the Salesian priests and brothers of Don Bosco that the newly-appointed PROVINCIAL (GENERAL SUPERIOR) of St. Philip the Apostle Province, encompassing the eastern United States and Canada, has reneged on his promise of over a year ago to settle the case of sexual abuse of a minor child against a Salesian priest, Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB

When
Saturday, July 29, 2017 from 10:30 am until Noon

Where
On the public sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Salesian Priests and Brothers of St. Philip the Apostle Province, 148 East Main Street, New Rochelle, New York 10801

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

Why
Nearly two years ago, Fr. Timothy Zak, SDB, assured a childhood sexual abuse victim that his claim of having been sexually abused by Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB, at a Salesian school and facility in Cedar Lake, Indiana, was going to be settled within days. The victim is still waiting for Fr. Zak to keep his promise. Now, Fr. Timothy Zak has been appointed PROVINCIAL (GENERAL SUPERIOR) of the Salesians of Don Bosco Eastern United States and Canadian Province, based in New Rochelle, New York. He will be installed as Provincial at a Mass and picnic on Saturday, July 29, 2017, beginning at Noon, BUT, the childhood victim of sexual abuse by Fr. Joseph Maffei, SDB, continues to be re-victimized each and every day that Fr. Timothy Zak breaks his promise to the settle the case. Demonstrators will call upon those attending the Mass and picnic to urge Fr. Zak to keep his promise, do the right and moral thing, and settle the childhood sexual abuse case against Fr. Joseph Maffei, a serial pedophile of children.

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

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GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Janela Carrera – July 28, 2017

A mediator will be on island in late October to begin the mediation process for settling the sex abuse cases out of court.

Guam – A mediator has been picked and mediation for the 70-plus sex abuse cases filed in District Court against the church have already been scheduled. But even with these dates and names announced, whether this process actually succeeds is still uncertain. In the meantime, US Magistrate Judge Joaquin Manibusan has granted a stay on the cases for now.

October 30 to November 3—those are the dates retired Oregon District Judge Michael Hogan will be on island to arbitrate settlement negotiations between the scores of sex abuse victims and the Archdiocese of Agana. How many cases is Judge Hogan expected to mediate? To be exact: 76 cases that were filed in District Court and possibly more for those pending in local court.

“They’re gonna attempt to address it as much as possible. If more days are needed, more days will be used,” noted Atty. John Terlaje who represents the Archdiocese of Agana.

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GUAM
KUAM

Updated: Jul 28, 2017

By Krystal Paco

Settlement is back on the table – at least for a majority of the sex abuse cases lodged against the Archdiocese of Agana and possibly the Boy Scouts of America Aloha Council.

The majority of the cases of clergy sex abuse filed in the District Court of Guam have been put on hold. On Friday, Judge Joaquin Manibusan granted a motion to stay for over 70 civil cases. His decision followed news that parties have secured a mediator, Oregon-based retired federal Judge Michael Hogan.

Archdiocese of Agana legal counsel John Terlaje and plaintiffs’ attorney David Lujan expressed great confidence in their chosen mediator. Terlaje said, “He is very well known. Very well respected. He’s done hundreds of cases involving child abuse and dioceses around America, so because of that, both parties reached out to him to see if he was willing to do the mediation process.”

Lujan added, “He’s a great mediator, so he should be able to resolve.”

Hogan will be on island from October 30 to November 3rd to address the claims, including those filed in the Superior Court of Guam. “Well we’re going to attempt address as much as possible. If more days are needed, more days will be used,” Terlaje added.

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IRELAND
Breaking News

Junior Justice Minister has apologised to the United Nations for our human rights record.

The Government has been criticised for its lack of progress on investigations into the Magdalene Laundries, mother-and-baby homes, and other issues.

Minister David Stanton said many of these were legacy issues which Ireland was not proud of.
“A lot of the questions asked refer to chapters in our past,” he stated.

“These are legacy, historical issues of which we are not proud. We recognise and apologise for the serious wrongs that were made in the past and where we can, we will try to remedy these wrongs.

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MEXICO
Catholic Philly

By David Agren • Catholic News Service • Posted July 28, 2017

MEXICO CITY (CNS) — An anarchist group calling itself “Informal Feminist Commando of Anti-Authoritarian Action Coatlicue” has claimed credit for detonating an explosive device outside the Mexican bishops’ conference offices.

The group said via an online posting in late July: “Not God nor master. For each torture and murder in the name of your God. For every child abused by pedophile priests.”

Little is known about the group, though it is believed to have detonated a similar device March 17, Mexican media reported. Coatlicue is an Aztec goddess known as the mother of gods.

The group also claimed the device at the bishops’ office was made with dynamite, butane and propane. The Mexico City attorney general’s office said in a statement the device was made with a fire extinguisher, gunpowder, adhesive tape and a wick. It also said it was turning over the case to the federal attorney general’s office as the attack was on “a building administered by a religious association.”

No arrests have been made for the July 25 explosion, which occurred at offices across the street from the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the country’s most visited religious site.

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PHILIPPINES
Inquirer

By: Jodee A. Agoncillo – Reporter / @jagoncilloINQPhilippine Daily Inquirer

A parish priest was arrested in a joint police operation for allegedly trafficking a 13-year-old female minor while they were on their way to a motel in Marikina City on Friday evening, police said.

A report reaching Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula, Eastern Police District director, said Arnel Lagarejos, 55, the parish priest of St. John the Baptist Parish in Taytay, Rizal, was arrested around 6:30 p.m. at Blue Wave Mall on Sumulong Highway, in Barangay (village) Sto. Niño, Marikina City for an alleged violation of the anti-trafficking in persons act.

A report by the Marikina police said Lagarejos allegedly booked the minor, also an out-of-school youth, through 16-year-old gay boy “ARB” who served as pimp and was reported to be meeting them at the Blue Wave Mall.

Recovered by police as evidence were an iPhone 5s cellphone containing messages of their transaction between the victim, pimp and suspect priest , and a gray Ford explorer with plate number TGO 350 reportedly owned by the suspect.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MassLive

By Jim Russell
Special to The Republican

WARE — With the arrival of a defrocked ex-priest convicted of child rape, a quarter-mile, one-way street in town is now home to another sex offender — angering residents who question why their neighborhood has become a magnet for criminals released from prison.

Paul Shanley, convicted in 2005 for the 1980s rape of a boy inside a Newton parish, saw the end of his prison sentence this week and moved into an apartment at 31 Pulaski St. According to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, 24 sex offenders reside in Ware, including five on Pulaski Street alone.

“I would like to have known a rapist is moving in next to me,”said, Jessica Welch, 25, in an interview outside her Pulaski Street home. “I would like to have known before it happened; it angers me — I don’t want to live next door to that.”

Sara Wall, 28, was standing on the sidewalk near the multi-family home of her new neighbor, holding her 19-month-old girl. “As long as he keeps to himself, I’m OK with it,” she said. “But this whole building, the landlord is constantly renting to sex offenders.”

The state registry includes Joel Pentlarge among the sex offenders residing in Ware, and it lists his work address as “31-33 Pulaski St.” Pentlarge, who used to maintain a law office on Prospect St. in town, was convicted in 2000 of “rape and abuse of a child,” according to the registry.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Bob McGovern Saturday, July 29, 2017

The two state-contracted psychologists who determined that convicted child rapist and former Catholic priest Paul Shanley did not need to be civilly confined never looked into the aging predator’s eyes.

State law doesn’t require it, and a former top prosecutor says potentially sexually dangerous people should be required to speak to the clinicians who will determine whether they are still a threat to themselves and society.

“This is to make sure that this person isn’t going to have the same proclivities and inclinations they did that landed them in jail in the first place,” said former Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone. “It doesn’t bother me that they would be required to aid in the assessment.”

Marian Ryan, the current Middlesex district attorney, brought in psychologists Mark Schaefer and Katrin Rouse Weir to determine whether Shanley met the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person. However, neither of them spoke to Shanley during the evaluation process.

“I did not interview Mr. Shanley,” wrote Weir in her report, dated July 24. “He cannot be compelled to meet with me at this stage in the statutorily defined process.”

The evaluation by Schaefer, dated July 26, makes no reference to any interview of Shanley. Meghan Kelly, spokeswoman for the Middlesex DA’s office, confirmed that neither clinician spoke to Shanley before writing their reports.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

[with video]

Abbie Burke, WPRI
Published: July 29, 2017

WARE, Mass. (WPRI) – Former priest and convicted pedophile Paul Shanley settled into his new home in Ware, Mass. Friday night as a free man.

Shanley was released Friday morning from the Massachusetts Old Colony Correctional Facility in Bridgewater after serving 12 years of a 15-year sentence for raping a boy in the 1980’s. Dozens of men came forward decades later saying Shanley had molested or raped them too.

Paul Shanley, priest convicted of rape, moving to Ware
Shanley, now 86, first had to register with local police as a Level 3 sex offender, which is the highest level and considered the most likely to re-offend.

“It’s their decision where they can live,” Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier said.

“We’re definitely concerned about this,” said Liz Pelletier, a mother who lives in Shanley’s new neighborhood.

Several of Shanley’s alleged victims and other victim advocates have also voiced concerns, saying they believe he will re-offend.

Sex abuse victims seek help to track ex-priest’s whereabouts
“This is a man I don’t think will stop abusing,” Dr. Robert Hoatson said. “He’s a very dangerous person.”

Hoatson showed up in Ware Friday morning to protest, holding signs and saying he was acting as a voice for many.

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ILLINOIS
The Beacon-News

Hannah Leone

With his ordered deportation looming, a former Aurora priest charged with sexually abusing two young girls at their Catholic church got a new trial date Friday that no one knows if he’ll be able to make.

By Sept. 18, when his trial is now to start, Afredo Pedraza Arias may be back in his native Columbia, as directed in a June 14 deportation order signed by a federal immigration judge.

If Arias were deported, prosecutors could ask to have him tried in absentia, but they’ve said it’s unclear if that would work or if he could be extradited for proceedings.

Kane County prosecutors said they learned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials can’t hold Arias beyond Monday, and that he’ll be deported if he’s not in the jail.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Paul Shanley, once known as a “street priest” who reached out to young people, became a prominent face in the massive clergy abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in Boston and worldwide.

Shanley, 86, was released from prison yesterday after serving 12 years for the rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child at a Newton parish in the 1980s. While he was only convicted of abusing one boy, nearly two dozen other men came forward to say they too were victimized by Shanley as allegations of widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic church emerged in the early 2000s.

Shanley was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to 12 to 15 years instead of the life sentence requested by then-Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley. Shanley appealed the decision, calling into question the victim’s recollection of his abuse through repressed memories, but that was denied.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Steve Limtiaco, Pacific Daily News July 29, 2017

The ongoing canonical trial of Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron is significant in that it’s only the second time in centuries a bishop has been put on trial by the church, said Thomas Doyle, a Catholic priest and former board member of the Canon Law Society of America.

The last archbishop to undergo a canonical trial — Jozef Wesołowski, who was accused of sexually abusing children in the Dominican Republic — was defrocked in 2014.

“It’s very, very rare, and the reason it’s rare is because the Vatican or the popes have protected the bishops. They consider them to be the most important part of the church, so they protect them, no matter what they’ve done,” Doyle said. “As a result, the bishops have gotten away with both sexually abusing children and promoting the sexual abuse of children by allowing priests, who they knew were abusive persons, to carry on repeat sexual abuse.”

There have been 95 cases filed in federal and local court on Guam, accusing priests and others associated with the church of child sexual abuse, including several cases which allege some children reported the abuse to other church officials who didn’t help them.

If the accusations are true, Guam’s last three bishops and archbishops, including Apuron, sexually abused children or knew about clergy sexual abuse on island and did nothing to stop it.

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GUAM
The Guam Daily Post

Manny Cruz | The Guam Daily Post

“It’s my goal to have all of these cases mediated no later than late October, especially since many of my clients are in their late 70s.”

– Attorney David Lujan

Judge Joaquin Manibusan of the District Court of Guam granted a motion to stay for the vast majority of the 76 sex abuse cases against the local archdiocese and the Boy Scouts of America on Friday.

Counsels representing the victims, the Archdiocese of Agana, the Boy Scouts of America and suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron were present at a status hearing yesterday.

The motion to stay prevents the filing of new documents while the archdiocese and the Boy Scouts of America attempt to reach some sort of resolution – monetary or otherwise – with the many victims in the cases.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jessica Remo jremo@njadvancemedia.com,
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

JERSEY CITY — An evangelical preacher who fled to Central America after he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy was finally sentenced on Friday morning after being brought back to the U.S. last year.

Gregorio Martinez, 49, a native of the Dominican Republic, was found guilty in 2015 of molesting the 13-year-old inside the boy’s mother’s minivan in a North Bergen parking lot on June 10, 2012.

Martinez was out on bail and fled to Nicaragua and Honduras. His flight from justice was chronicled in a special report by NJ Advance Media. He was eventually apprehended and brought back to the U.S. last year, but a scheduling conflict and his change of lawyers delayed his sentencing.

During his trial in 2015, Martinez was also charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old man, and after his conviction he was charged with two more sexual assaults of two other 19-year-old men. He was also accused by a parishioner of molesting another boy during his time in Central America.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John R. Ellement, Maria Cramer and Travis Andersen GLOBE STAFF JULY 28, 2017

WARE — A frail-looking Paul R. Shanley used a cane and was helped by another man as he arrived in this small town Friday, where the convicted child rapist will be living across the street from a new dance studio whose clients are as young as 2 years old.

Shanley, 86, a former Roman Catholic priest, gained notoriety in the clergy sex abuse scandal that spread from Boston and shook the church worldwide. He was released from state prison earlier Friday after wrapping up a 12-year sentence for raping and indecently assaulting a boy in a Newton church in the 1980s.

Shanley’s freedom was opposed by Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office, but two forensic psychologists concluded he did not qualify as a sexually dangerous person who could be civilly committed for up to the rest of his life.

The Sex Offender Registry Board, however, has classified Shanley as a Level 3 sex offender, considered the most likely to reoffend, and has made his convictions and his new address publicly available on its website. …

Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier said Shanley is the third Level 3 sex offender who will be living on Pulaski Street in the Hampden County town of about 10,000 people. He said Shanley’s conviction and notoriety presents a public safety challenge because he needs to protect Shanley from being assaulted, and needs to protect the public from Shanley.

“Everyone’s safety is a primary concern, regardless of how they are,’’ he said. “We are going to protect everybody’s rights.”

After registering with police, Shanley drove off, lying down in the backseat of a Nissan sedan.

Shanley’s new residence on Pulaski Stris across the street from a recently opened dance studio whose 23-year-old owner, Arielle Lask, said some of her clients are as young as 2. Lask vowed to install “state-of-the-art” security systems and to make sure every child leaves Limelight Dance Studio accompanied by a parent or an adult.

“It’s awful that he’s even on the streets of Ware,’’ said Lask, a recent UMass-Amherst graduate. “Whether it’s across the street or down the road, there are children everywhere.”

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MASSACHUSETTS
ABC News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Jul 28, 2017

The Latest on the release from prison of a former Roman Catholic priest convicted of child rape (all times local):

5:50 p.m.

Convicted pedophile priest Paul Shanley will be living across the street from a children’s dance studio.

The 86-year-old Shanley moved to the Massachusetts town of Ware on Friday shortly after being released from a prison in Bridgewater, where he finished serving a 12-year sentence for raping a boy in the 1980s.

His new home in a multiunit building is across the street from a recently opened dance studio that teaches children as young as 2.

The studio’s owner told The Boston Globe she plans to install “state-of-the-art” security systems and make sure every child leaves the studio accompanied by an adult.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

Jennifer Miller Friday, July 28, 2017

Convicted child rapist and former Catholic priest Paul Shanley — released from a Massachusetts prison today — was never interviewed by the two state-contracted psychologists who determined that, thanks to his advanced age and medical status, he did not meet the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person, a Herald review of their evaluations found.

“Mr. Shanley is now 86 years of age, and current research would suggest that recidivism rates for sexual offending by individuals that age are extremely low,” psychologist Mark Schaefer wrote in his report.

“Mr. Shanley . … would benefit from treatment,” psychologist Katrin Rouse Weir wrote in her report. “. … However, his age and his health impact his ability to act out on his sexual arousal and his interest in sexual matters,”

Shanley was released from Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater early this morning after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy in the 1980s. The state’s sex offender registry lists Shanley as a Level 3 offender, meaning he is most likely to re-offend, and states he will be living in an apartment in the small town of Ware in western Massachusetts. He will remain on probation for 10 years.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office hired Schaefer and Weir to evaluate Shanley to see if he met the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person. Both found he did not, according to their reports, which were released by the Middlesex DA’s office today.

Meghan Kelly, spokeswoman for the Middlesex DA’s office, confirmed today that neither clinician spoke to Shanley before writing their reports.

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MASSACHUSETTS
NBC Bay Area

By Alysha Palumbo

A former priest at the center of Boston’s Roman Catholic priest sex abuse scandal was quietly released from prison Friday morning after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy in the 1980s.

Paul Shanley, 86, was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, prison officials said. He plans to live in an apartment in Ware, a town of about 10,000 people about 65 miles west of Boston, according to the state’s sex offender registry.

Prosecutors opposed his release, and several men who say they were abused by him when they were young called on the public to help them track his whereabouts. They said they are concerned Shanley will reoffend.

The registry designates Shanley a Level 3 offender, considered the most likely to reoffend. But two psychologists hired by state prosecutors cited Shanley’s advanced age and his health issues in concluding that his likelihood to reoffend is low. The contradiction was cited by sexual abuse victims and their advocates.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented dozens of men who said they were abused by Shanley, said the evaluations by the two psychologists were incomplete because they didn’t interview Shanley. Instead, they reviewed police reports, prosecutors’ files and Shanley’s church personnel file containing numerous sexual abuse complaints against him.

“The fact that neither expert spoke to Paul Shanley leaves a hole in the report you could drive a trailer truck through,” Garabedian said.

“Paul Shanley should be in a hospital being treated and not in the outside world where he can easily gain access to innocent children,” he said.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

O’Ryan Johnson Friday, July 28, 2017

WARE – This small western Massachusetts town today reeled as one of the state’s most notorious child molesters abruptly moved in after his release from prison this morning.

“I don’t want him on this street at all,” said Leslie Mansour, 45, a mother of five, said she followed his trial 12 years ago and never dreamed she’d end up next door to convicted child rapist and former Catholic priest Paul Shanley. “He doesn’t belong here. My kids walk up and down this street, but not anymore. They’re going to be stuck in the yard. I don’t want them anywhere near him. He belongs in jail. I don’t care how many years he did. They should have never let him out. He should have died in there.”

Shanley was released from Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater early this morning after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy in the 1980s. The state’s sex offender registry lists the 86-year-old as a Level 3 offender, meaning he is most likely to re-offend. He will remain on probation for 10 years.

Shanley now lives in an apartment in a well-maintained, bright yellow house on a street street lined with modest single-family homes, and a few multifamily residences.

He refused to answer questions from reporters as he walked up the driveway, holding a cane, this afternoon.

Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier said police will add patrols to the area and vowed to address any problems quickly.

“Pulaski Street is a good neighborhood,” he said. “Neighbors look out for each other there. I’m not anticipating any problems from Mr. Shanley.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review

STEPHEN HUBA | Friday, July 28, 2017

On Sept. 21, 2016, Holy Family Catholic Church in West Newton became a parish without a pastor.

Members of the large parish weren’t quite sure why the Rev. John T. Sweeney was no longer there. Some thought he had retired — he was, at 74, at the normal retirement age for Catholic priests. Others thought that he was taking a medical leave.

But, as disclosed by the Diocese of Greensburg on Monday, the real reason for Sweeney’s abrupt departure was an allegation of sexual abuse dating back 25 years from a parish in another part of the county.

To a person, parishioners at Holy Family, Sweeney’s last pastoral assignment, confessed to being “shocked” at the allegations. They described him as an attentive pastor who served the congregation faithfully for eight years, until his removal in September.

They remember him as a man who enjoyed photography, tinkering with mechanical things in his basement workshop and eating at Gary’s Chuck Wagon in downtown West Newton.

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ROMANIA
Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania’s Orthodox Church has voted to defrock a priest who is suspected of trying to sexually corrupt a teenager – a rare case of a cleric being disciplined for alleged sexual misdemeanors.

The spokesman for the Alba Iulia bishop’s office, Oliviu Botoi, said Friday that Cristian Pomohaci had been suspended for “bringing extraordinary prejudices on the (church’s) image.” He can appeal the vote by the bishop’s office council.

Prosecutors are investigating Pohomaci on charges of attempted sexual corruption of a 17-year-old after a tape emerged where he apparently tried to persuade the boy to have sex with him and to co-opt other minors.

Pomohaci was temporarily suspended from his duties in June. Church spokesman Vasile Banescu said earlier Pohomaci had requested a leave for medical reasons.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

A catholic priest has been suspended amid a police probe into an alleged relationship with a teenager, church chiefs have confirmed.

Father John Sweeney, 41, was reported to prosecutors over incidents said to have happened with a 17-year-old girl in the past year.

The clergyman, who lead services at Saint Maria Goretti in Glasgow , is also accused of making a sectarian slur.

The investigation centres on allegations of “inappropriate conduct whilst in a position of trust”, reports The Scottish Sun .

Each alleged incident, including a sectarian breach of the peace, is said to have taken place at his parish between July 2016 and last month.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston – Nightside

BOSTON (CBS) – Paul Shanley, a defrocked priest who was convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery on a child, will be released from prison this Friday. Shanley, now eighty-five years old, was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years back in 2005. He will be on probation for ten years following his release, and will not be allowed to have contact with children under the age of sixteen. Phil Saviano is a survivor and a New England leader for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). He joins Dan in the NightSide studio to talk about Shanley’s release and the long-term impact Shanley’s crimes have on his victims’ lives. Do you think the twelve year penalty fits the crime?

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MASSACHUSETTS
NRP

July 28, 2017

LAUREL WAMSLEY

Paul Shanley, a Boston priest notorious for his role in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, was released from prison on Friday morning.

He was convicted in 2005 of repeatedly raping a boy over a number of years in the 1980s.

Shanley was one of the first priests to go to prison for abuse as the scandal began to unfold more than a decade ago; the statute of limitations had been frozen in Shanley’s case because Shanley, 86, served 12 years of a 12- to 15-year sentence, and was released for good behavior. He will be on supervised probation for 10 years.

Some of Shanley’s other alleged victims have voiced dismay that the defrocked priest is going to be released into the community. But Massachusetts authorities say they can’t detain him.

“The commonwealth is not legally permitted to seek that Shanley be confined further without expert testimony that he meets the legal criteria for civil confinement as a sexually dangerous person,” Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement, Reuters reports.

“This is a guy, Shanley, who has manipulated the system, the church, and the public, and knows how to manipulate people,” said John Harris, 59, who says he was raped by Shanley in 1979 at a retreat the priest had created for gay people, according to the Globe. “I’m concerned he’s going to abuse again.”

“If Paul Shanley doesn’t qualify as a sexually dangerous person, then nobody will ever qualify,” said Carmen Durso, an attorney who represented many Shanley victims, the Globe reported.

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NORTH DAKOTA
KVRR

July 28, 2017 Joe Radske

WAHPETON, ND – Charges will not be filed against a Fargo Catholic Diocese priest accused of inappropriately touching girls.

Father Thomas Feltman was being investigated for what the diocese called “alleged conduct” involving his interaction with youth.

Richland County States Attorney Ron McBeth says that although Feltman’s behavior was socially unacceptable, “there is no evidence that the touching was done by Father Feltman for sexual reasons, which would be necessary in order to prove an element of a sex offense.”

Father Feltman’s Attorney said, “Father Feltman has always denied any “inappropriate touching”.

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NORTH DAKOTA
West Fargo Pioneer

By Robin Huebner

FARGO — A Catholic priest who won’t be criminally charged over allegations of ‘inappropriate activities’ with youth will remain on administrative leave until the Diocese of Fargo completes its own investigation, according to a diocese spokesperson.

Paul Braun, communications director for the diocese, released a statement July 28, a few hours after the Richland County State’s Attorney’s office said it would not pursue criminal charges against the Rev. Thomas Feltman.

Bishop John Folda will determine any future ministry assignments that best benefit the parishes, parishioners and the Rev. Feltman after the internal review is completed, according to the diocese release.

Feltman, 48, has been on paid administrative leave from churches in Wyndmere and Milnor since late May after he told church officials about concerns brought to him regarding his interaction with youth.

A statement from Richland County State’s Attorney Ron McBeth referenced incidents that occurred in Wyndmere in May.

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MASSACHUSETTS
MassLive

By Patrick Johnson pjohnson@repub.com

Paul Shanley, the defrocked Roman Catholic priest who served 12 years in prison following a 2005 conviction for child rape has been released from prison and will take up residence in the town of Ware.

The state’s Sex Offenders Registry Board disclosed that Shanley, 86, will take up residence in an apartment at 31 Pulaski St. in Ware.

As a result of his conviction, Shanley, 86, has been declared by the registry board to be a level 3 sex offender, the designation given to offenders who are considered most likely to reoffend.

As a level 3 offender, Shanley for the rest of his live will have to register with the local police each year or every time moves to a new address. His public file with the SORB is already updated to show his Ware address.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Daily Mail (UK)

By Ap and Daniel Roth For Dailymail.com

A disgraced former priest convicted of repeatedly raping a boy in the 1980s was released from prison on Friday after serving a 12-year sentence.

Massachusetts prison officials say Paul Shanley, 86, was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater on Friday. They did not provide an exact time.

Convicted in 2005, Shanley’s crimes were finally brought to light after The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team published an in-depth report in 2002 on pedophile priests the Catholic Church was helping to protect.

The report led to thousands of accusations from alleged victims, providing evidence that the abuse spanned over decades.

It was later discovered that senior Church members helped cover-up the scandal and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.

Originally believed to be only a few isolated cases, the Spotlight investigation sparked an international crisis within the Church, with victims coming forward from numerous countries across the world.

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MASSACHUSETTS
ABC News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Jul 28, 2017

The Latest on the release from prison of a former Roman Catholic priest convicted of child rape (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

Two psychologists who evaluated a defrocked pedophile priest concluded that he is unlikely to sexually abuse more children because he is now 86 and has health issues.

Both psychologists found that Paul Shanley meets the psychiatric criteria for pedophilic disorder. But they said in written reports that research suggests that recidivism rates for people of his age are extremely low. They also cited the fact that his last reported offense was in 1990.

Shanley was one of the most notorious figures in the Boston clergy sex abuse scandal. Dozens of men came forward and reported that Shanley had molested or raped them when they were children.

He was released from prison Friday after completing a 12-year sentence for raping a young boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s.

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CONNECTICUT
Frum Follies

As I reported, Rabbi Daniel Greer of New Haven was arrested yesterday on criminal charges of sexually molesting Eliyahu Mirlis (who chooses to have his name revealed).

The New Haven Independent published more details following the first report of the arrest. The arrest warrant affidavit is an excruciating, vivid portrait of the alleged oral and anal sex, almost every week, for years as well as a regime of threats and bullying.

Mirlis already won a $20,000,000 verdict in a civil trial. Yep, you read that amount right. But according to Mirlis’ lawyer,

One of my client’s goals in bringing Greer’s abuse to light was to get this pedophile off the streets and far away from other people’s children,..Sexual predators — especially this so-called ‘rabbi’ and others who twist spiritual beliefs for their own sick pleasure — deserve to suffer all available civil and criminal penalties.

According to the afidavit:

Mirlis said that the abuse began during his sophomore year, when he was about 14 years old. Greer told him to meet on the first floor of 777 Elm St., one of the dormitories next to the yeshiva. The rabbi allegedly served him alcohol (usually a bloody mary, single-malt scotch or wine) and sat him down on a couch, engaged in an emotional conversation, then leaned in and kissed him on the mouth. Mirlis “freaked out,” he told the cops, and left.

A week or two later, Greer told him to come to the same spot. Again, he served him alcohol and sat him down on the couch, Mirlis claimed. Greer then allegedly told Mirlis to stand, undid the boy’s belt, pulled his pants down to his ankles and had oral sex.

Mirlis told the detectives that the sexual assaults became a “regular thing” after that. On a weekly basis, usually on a weekday evening or a Sunday afternoon, he was sexually assaulted at the dorms and at rental properties on Norton Street, Edgewood Avenue, Maple Street and Park Street, Mirlis stated in the interview.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Michael Levenson GLOBE STAFF JULY 28, 2017

The two psychologists who cleared Paul R. Shanley for release from prison on Friday found that, despite his long history of pedophilia, the notorious former priest is not likely to reoffend because he is 86 and no longer holds a position of authority over children in the church.

The psychologists’ opinions were revealed in reports that they wrote to the Middlesex district attorney’s office, which partially redacted them and released them on Friday in response to a public records request from the Globe.

Shanley was one of the most detested figures to emerge during the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis more than a decade ago. A so-called “street priest,” he is alleged to have abused dozens of victims over three decades, many of them children and teenagers who came to him for counseling. He was released from prison Friday after serving 12 years behind bars for raping a boy at a Newton church in the 1980s. …

The psychologists, Katrin Rouse Weir and Mark Schaefer, found that Shanley remains a pedophile, with a sexual interest in boys ages 6 to 12, which would meet the statutory definition of a “mental abnormality.”

But both psychologists said Shanley’s sexual interest in children is mitigated by his age, which research shows is associated with a greatly diminished sex drive.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

Commentary

July 28, 2017
Lawrence Jack Cohen

It was big news across New England and beyond when Paul Shanley was released from prison on Friday. Shanley is a defrocked priest who was at the center of the exposure of widespread sexual abuse of children — and its cover-up — within the Archdiocese of Boston.

As I followed the coverage of this story, I noticed the repeated use of the word “scandal” to describe the sexual assault of children by clergy and the cover-up and abetting of abuse by the hierarchy of the Archdiocese. (For a sampling of this usage, see WBUR, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and the New Hampshire Union Leader.)

The word “scandal” implies a damage to reputation or a violation of propriety. Certainly the reputation of the Church was damaged, and certainly convicted pedophiles are guilty of violating social norms, but let’s call it what it is: a violent crime. I don’t think any of these news outlets would describe any other pattern of violent criminal activity as a “scandal.” Let’s also call the cover-up what it is: the protection of rapists at the expense of victimized children and adult survivors who courageously came forward despite disbelief and re-traumatization.

I think it must have been easier for higher-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston to shuffle “molesters” from parish to parish than it would have been to shuffle child “rapists.”

There’s another word that caught my attention in most of the coverage of Shanley’s release: molestation. CNN, for example, posted a moving video of Rodney Ford, describing the way that Shanley destroyed his son Gregory’s life, and naming the crimes for what they were: brutal rapes. CNN’s caption for this clip, however, referred to the crime as “molesting.” That word appears in most of the articles about the case.

Like “scandal,” the word “molestation” minimizes the traumatic impact of child sexual abuse. To molest someone is to bother them. Once again, let’s call it what it is: rape, sexual assault, indecent assault and battery. These are the proper terms in the statute.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Turn to 10

by NBC 10 NEWS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. —
A notorious figure in the Boston Roman Catholic priest sex-abuse scandal was released from prison Friday morning after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy in the 1980s.
Massachusetts prison officials said Paul Shanley, 86, was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater on Friday. They did not provide an exact time.

The state’s sex offender registry lists Shanley as a Level 3 offender, meaning he is most likely to re-offend. The registry says Shanley will be living in an apartment in Ware, a town of about 10,000 residents about 30 miles west of Worcester. State law prohibits people from using information in the registry to harass people.

Abuse victims say they’re concerned Shanley, who isn’t required to wear an electronic monitoring device, will not have enough supervision.

“Paul Shanley should be in a hospital being treated and not in the outside world where he can easily gain access to innocent children,” Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who represented dozens of men who said they were abused by Shanley.

Shanley’s lawyer says he’s served his time and is not dangerous.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Associated Press

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (AP) — The Latest on the release from prison of a former Roman Catholic priest convicted of child rape (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

Police in the town where a notorious figure in the Boston Roman Catholic priest child abuse scandal is expected to live have plenty of experience with sex offenders.

Paul Shanley was released Friday from prison after spending 12 years behind bars on a child rape conviction. The state’s sex offender registry shows Shanley is the 20th Level 3 sex offender to move to Ware. Level 3 offenders are considered the most likely to re-offend.

Several other sex offenders already live on the street where the 86-year-old Shanley will live.

Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier says it’s one the most heavily patrolled areas of the town.

He says he will “do what we need to do to make sure the citizens are protected and (Shanley’s) rights are also protected.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Berliner Zeitung

[Commentary on the abuse scandal. Keeping the pressure on the church.]

Eines ist das „Wort zum Sonntag“ im Abendprogramm der ARD sicher nicht: der Ort, an dem die Kirche um Hilfe ruft. Genau das aber hat der katholische Pfarrer Wolfgang Beck jetzt getan. Im Missbrauchsskandal seiner Kirche brauche es „den Druck von Mitbürgern“ auf die Bischöfe, es brauche „die kritische und häufig als störend empfundene Öffentlichkeit“, sagte Beck und wandte sich an sein Publikum: „Gerade deshalb: Helfen Sie mit, dass dieser Druck nicht nachlässt!“

Ein solch dramatischer Appell mutet zunächst seltsam an – mehr als sieben Jahre, nachdem der Pater Klaus Mertes systematischen sexuellen Missbrauch am Berliner „Canisius Kolleg“ der Jesuiten bekanntgemacht hatte. Bedeutete die Fülle weiterer Enthüllungen danach nicht schon maximalen Druck?

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heute

[Abuse in the Protestant Church: The struggle for justice for many years.Not only the incidents at the Domspatzen show how important the elucidation of abuse and sexual abuse within the church is. But what does it mean for the victims to go public with their reproaches?]

von Sandra Theiß, Magdeburg

Nicht nur die Vorfälle bei den Domspatzen zeigen, wie wichtig die Aufklärung von Misshandlungen und sexuellem Missbrauch innerhalb der Kirche ist. Doch was heißt es für die Opfer, mit ihren Vorwürfen an die Öffentlichkeit zu gehen?

“Unterdrückt keuchend, stark schwitzend und penetrant stinkend presst sich der alte Mann an meinen jungen Körper. Die wollüstigen Grunzlaute, die er kurzatmig ausstößt, sind leise, klingen aber dennoch laut in meinen Ohren.” Mit diesen Worten beschreibt Joachim Schwarze in seinem Tagebuchroman “Der Trümmermann”, was der Pfarrer ihm angetan hat. Die Übergriffe liegen mehr als 40 Jahre zurück, sie ereigneten sich in Bad Lauchstädt, einer Kleinstadt in Sachsen-Anhalt.

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MASSACHUSETTS
BishopAccountability.org

Paul R. Shanley is a pivotal figure in the Catholic abuse crisis. The civil suit filed by four of his alleged victims resulted in the largest release of diocesan documents ever achieved, and Shanley’s criminal case shaped the Boston crisis and the media’s approach to it. Shanley is alleged to have abused dozens if not scores of people, and his victims are unusually disparate and exceedingly damaged. His voluminous files have been sanitized, but they still offer a detailed look at the man and the bureaucracy that fostered his alleged crimes.

Below we offer a timeline of Shanley’s career, linked to the archdiocesan documents and press coverage. Then we present links to key sources of information and Frequently Asked Questions as a thematic guide to some of the issues in the documents. For a more detailed look at Shanley’s record and the tolerance of his bosses, we invite you to explore our comprehensive selection of hundreds of Shanley documents. Soon we will post the rest of the Shanley documents, making him the first Boston priest whose file is widely available in its entirety.

Born: 1/25/31 in the Dorchester section of Boston MA
Seminary: St. John’s Seminary in Brighton MA, class of 1960
Ordained: 2/2/60 at Holy Name church in West Roxbury MA
Incardinated: Boston MA

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MASSACHUSETTS
WWLP

By Anthony Fay
Published: July 28, 2017

WARE, Mass. (WWLP-AP) – Released from state prison Friday morning, defrocked priest Paul Shanley is now moving to a new home in western Massachusetts.

According to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, the 86 year-old Shanley’s new address is an apartment on Pulaski Street in Ware. He is registered as a level three sex offender; the type considered most likely to re-offend.

Shanley was a “street priest” who ministered to alienated youth in the 1960s and ’70s. Decades later, dozens of men came forward and said Shanley had molested or raped them. He was defrocked by the Vatican and convicted of raping a boy at a Newton parish.

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MASSACHUSETTS
CBS Boston

[with video]

WARE (CBS/AP) – One of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese priest sex abuse scandal is moving to central Massachusetts.

Paul Shanley, 86, was released from prison Friday morning after serving a 12-year sentence for repeatedly raping and fondling a boy at St. Jean’s parish in Newton in the 1980s.

Shanley left the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater and will now be living in an apartment about 100 miles away on Pulsaki Street in Ware, according to the state sex offender registry.

The Sex Offender Registry Board has classified him as the most dangerous, a Level 3 offender, meaning they believe he has a high risk to re-offend. The classification also gives the public access to information to where he will be living.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the release of former priest Paul Shanley from prison:

Paul Shanley was thrown out of the priesthood in 2004, and convicted of sexual assault in 2005. Now, after serving 12 years, he is free.

Boston-area media outlets such as CBS, NBC, Fox 5, New England Cable, and WHDH have all labeled him a pedophile. This is inaccurate: he had sex with children, adolescents, and adults. There was one proviso—they had to be male. Not to even mention his homosexuality is a cover-up.

Shanley is a creature of the Catholic Left. They helped to shape him ideologically and support him organizationally. Now they have gone mute.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

Paul Cullen

Ireland, for all its faults, is not a country normally associated with the practice of torture.

The very appearance, therefore, of a Government delegation before the United Nations Committee Against Torture has high embarrassment potential, if nothing else.

No fewer than 22 Irish civil servants and diplomats lined up in Geneva on Thursday to listen to a litany of human rights concerns delivered by the members of the committee. Given the range and seriousness of the issues raised, it must have been a torturous experience.

Eradicating torture was one of the challenges taken up by the UN in the era that followed the second World War.

The search for universally applicable standards meant it was 1984 before the UN General Assembly adopted a Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

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IRELAND
The Times

Ellen Coyne, Senior Ireland Reporter
July 28 2017
The Times

Ireland is walking away from Enda Kenny’s famous apology for the abuse suffered by women in Magdalene laundries, a United Nations committee against torture has claimed.

In 2011 the same committee called for an independent investigation into the laundries that should include offering redress to the victims and prosecuting the perpetrators of the abuse.

Its scrutiny preceded Mr Kenny’s apology to the women involved and the launch of the McAleese commission to examine their cases.

During a hearing yesterday the state was criticised for claiming there was no factual evidence of systematic torture or ill-treatment in the laundries. Felice Gaer, the committee vice-chairwoman, said that the state was “walking back” from Mr Kenny’s apology by returning to a position of believing it was not liable for the abuse.

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IRELAND
Connacht Tribune

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The UN has criticised the government’s lack of progress on investigations into the Magadelene Laundries, industrial schools and mother and baby homes, such as those in Galway

An Irish delegation has appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture to face questions on various human rights issues.

The Committee was particularly critical of the state’s assertion that it has no basis for believing that serious harm was perpetrated in the Magdalene Laundries, such as the one based at Forster Street in the city.

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MASSACHUSETTS
NBC Boston

[with video]

Shanley was a former priest who was convicted of raping a child in the 1980s

By Jeff Saperstone and Caitlin Fichtel

A former Massachusetts priest convicted of child rape has been released from prison after serving 12 years of his sentence as victims and sexual assault awareness advocates are set to protest his release.

Paul Shanley, 86, a former priest who counseled gay and troubled youths, was convicted of raping a boy at a Newton church in the 1980s and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Following Shanley’s released the Department of Corrections said, “Paul Shanley was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater, MA. on July 28, 2017 upon expiration of sentence.”

According to the Sex Offender Registry Board, Shanley will be living in Ware, Massachusetts.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Associated Press

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. (AP) — A notorious figure in the Boston Roman Catholic priest sex abuse scandal has been released from prison after completing a 12-year sentence for the rape of a boy in the 1980s.

Massachusetts prison officials say Paul Shanley was released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater on Friday.

Shanley was a “street priest” who ministered to alienated youth in the 1960s and ’70s. Decades later, dozens of men came forward and said Shanley had molested or raped them. He was defrocked by the Vatican and convicted of raping a boy at a Newton parish.

Abuse victims say they’re concerned the 86-year-old Shanley will not have enough supervision. He isn’t required to wear an electronic monitoring device.

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