ABUSE TRACKER

NEW YORK (NY)
CBS News

August 19, 2018

Sunday marked the first time many Catholics returned to church since a shocking new report about priest sex abuse came to light. Many churches in the Northeast held a “Mass of forgiveness,” including St. Patrick’s Cathedral, CBS New York reports.

Bishop Ronald Gainer with the Diocese of Harrisburg joined a list of Roman Catholic clergy to pray and ask for forgiveness. It came in reaction to a grand jury report last week in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania that alleged rampant sex abuse affecting more than 1,000 children by 300 priests in six dioceses over the past seven decades.

“In the name of our local church, I voice again my heartfelt sorrow and sincere apology to all survivors of clergy sexual abuse,” Gainer said.

Gainer, who is named in the report, is accused of reaching out to the Vatican to protect two of the priests accused of abuse.

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

LINCOLN (NE)
The Associated Press

August 17, 2018

The Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln are urging residents to report any allegations of abuse by clergy or others in authority.

Lincoln Bishop James Conley and the attorney general’s office said anyone who has experienced even an uncomfortable incident with a priest should report it to law enforcement or the diocese.

The move follows a Pennsylvania grand jury report released Tuesday accusing 300 priests of molesting more than 1,000 children. The grand jury also accused senior church officials of systematically covering up the complaints, according to the report.

The Lincoln Diocese recently announced it had investigated abuse allegations involving five priests, all of whom no longer work for the diocese. Two accused priests resigned, one was dismissed from his position, one retired and the fifth has been deceased for a decade.

Conley said the diocese is continuing to gather information on the allegations.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Post

August 20, 2018

By Michelle Boorstein

In the week since a Pennsylvania grand jury reported on child sex abuse by Catholic priests, Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s reputation has taken a brutal hit.

Wuerl’s upcoming book has been canceled by the publisher, he abruptly pulled out of his role as keynote speaker at a major global meeting in Ireland, and officials are considering taking his name off a high school in his hometown of Pittsburgh, where Wuerl served as bishop for 18 years before becoming the archbishop of Washington in 2006. On Monday, a vandal got ahead of them – covering his name in red spray paint.

Wuerl, an outwardly mild priest and meticulous manager who picks every word carefully when he speaks, has become for the moment the face of a ballooning crisis in the Catholic Church. And unlike the quiet protests and longings for change of past decades, Catholics in 2018 are demanding accountability – and fast.

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

BERKELEY (CA)
SFGate

August 20, 2018

By Cynthia Dizikes and Nanette Asimov

UC Berkeley has suspended a renowned architecture professor for three years without pay for sexually harassing a graduate student and abusing his power for personal gain, The Chronicle has learned.

Professor Nezar AlSayyad “engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment that created a hostile environment,” Vice Provost Benjamin Hermalin wrote last week to Eva Hagberg Fisher, a UC Berkeley graduate student and doctoral candidate.

AlSayyad, who was one of Hagberg Fisher’s advisers, also attempted to isolate her from other faculty members and establish himself as her most important supporter, “thereby using his power for personal gain,” Hermalin wrote, noting that campus Chancellor Carol Christ reviewed “voluminous evidence” and concluded the violations were serious.

Through his attorney, AlSayyad denied engaging in any misconduct.

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

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

August 21, 2018

By Joelle Casteix

It’s time for action.

You’ve read the PA Grand Jury Report and its sickening revelations.

You’ve watched child sex abuse scandals unfold in US Gymnastics, Penn State, The Boy Scouts of America, Hollywood, our public schools, and across beloved institutions we have trusted with the care of our children.

If you are a survivor, healing begins with movement. Taking that first step. DOING SOMETHING to make sure that what happened to you doesn’t happen to another child.

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

UNITED STATES
CBS News

August 21, 2018

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is reacting to a report that Italian actress Asia Argento paid off a young actor who accused her of sexual assault. Argento was one of the first women to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct and has since become a prominent figure in the #MeToo movement.

In a New Yorker story last October, Argento accused Harvey Weinstein of rape when she was 21 years old. While none of the charges Weinstein is facing in court, including felony sexual assault, involve Argento, his attorney believes this latest development is a win for him in the court of public opinion

CBS News’ Jericka Duncan asked attorney Brafman how Weinstein reacted when he told him about the report that Argento was accused of sexual harassment.

“I don’t remember the first words. I remember the tenor of the conversation was almost relief,” Brafman said.

He says his client was not surprised by the New York Times article about Arento’s alleged payoff of the actor.

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

DENVER (CO)
KDVR

August 20, 2018

Archbishop of Denver Samuel Aquila responded to the Grand Jury report of priest sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania over the weekend, and a tweet he sent on the issue is angering some.

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

BOSTON (MA)
The Conversation

August 21, 2018

By Timothy D. Lytton

Last week, a Pennsylvania grand jury documented 70 years of concerted efforts by Catholic bishops in that state to conceal more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse by priests – including rape, sadomasochism and producing child pornography.

These revelations are shocking but not surprising given the history of the church’s sexual abuse scandal.

Since 1984, similar disclosures from around the country have made national headlines and brought shame to the church.

Yet the few criminal prosecutions of church officials for such cover-ups have either been dropped or resulted in small fines or, in one case, probation.

Civil lawsuits – legal claims brought by abuse victims for money damages – have consistently been the only effective way to make Catholic church officials publicly and concretely accountable for their decadeslong cover-up of unspeakable crimes. I argued this in my 2008 book, “Holding Bishops Accountable.” It is still true today.

But victims seeking justice for abuse that in many cases occurred decades ago face a significant legal impediment to mounting such lawsuits – statutes of limitation that limit the number of years that a victim has to file a lawsuit.

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

UNITED STATES
AFP

August 20, 2018

Italian actress and sexual abuse campaigner Asia Argento is not under investigation over bombshell allegations that she had sex five years ago with an underage teen, police told AFP on Monday.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento, a Harvey Weinstein accuser and leading figure in the #MeToo movement, had paid Jimmy Bennett $380,000 over the 2013 incident at a Los Angeles hotel.

The development prompted accusations of hypocrisy from Weinstein’s lawyer who said that the revelations undermined her claims against his client.

Bennett was 17 at the time of the alleged assault — a year younger than California’s age of consent. A spokeswoman for the LA County Sheriff’s Department said however the agency had “no open investigation.”

“Enquiries will be made. At this point, it’s just enquiring and gathering information, since we don’t have an active investigation,” Kimberly Alexander told AFP.

She said she was unaware if the department had contacted Bennett, now 22.

The actor and rock musician said Argento, 42, assaulted him in a California hotel room, according to the Times, which cited documents sent to the paper by an unidentified party.

Argento became a powerful voice for the #MeToo movement after accusing Weinstein of raping her when she was 21 in his hotel room in 1997 during the Cannes film festival.

Bennett’s legal action was launched a month after Argento’s accusations against Weinstein were made public, the Times said.

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

NEW YORK
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

Authorities said Monday that they are looking into sexual assault allegations by a young actor against Italian actress Asia Argento — one of the most prominent activists of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s Capt. Darren Harris said investigators from his department will seek to talk to Jimmy Bennett or his representatives about the alleged incident at a Southern California hotel in 2013, when Bennett was 17.

The move comes in response to a New York Times story saying Argento, 42, settled a legal notice of intent to sue filed by Bennett, who is now 22, for $380,000 shortly after she said last October that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein raped her.

Argento and Bennett co-starred in a 2004 film called “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things” in which Argento played Bennett’s prostitute mother.

Bennett says in the notice that he had sex with Argento in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, California, in 2013. The age of consent in California is 18.

The notice says the encounter traumatized Bennett and hurt his career, the Times reported.

Investigators have learned no police report was filed at the time, Harris said.

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

UNITED STATES
Agence-France Presse

August 21, 2018

By Jastinder Khera

Italian actress and sexual abuse campaigner Asia Argento denied Tuesday having had a sexual relationship five years ago with an underage teen, calling the allegations part of “a long-standing persecution”.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Argento, 42, a Harvey Weinstein accuser and leading figure in the #MeToo movement, had paid actor and rock musician Jimmy Bennett $380,000 over the alleged 2013 incident at a Los Angeles hotel.

Bennett was two months past his 17th birthday at the time of the alleged encounter, while Argento was 37. The legal age of consent in California is 18.

“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article… as circulated also in national and international news,” a statement issued by her agent said.

“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett,” it goes on.

Argento says that she was linked to Bennett “during several years by friendship only”.

The pair had acted together in the 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things”, in which Argento plays Bennett’s troubled mother.

Argento said the friendship “ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett… unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me”.

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

ST. LOUIS (MI)
KSDK

August 20, 2018

By Rachel Menitoff

“What I’ve seen after three decades, is pope after pope after pope saying more sympathetic words about victims and expressing more remorse for the abuse, but never announcing real concrete steps to prevent this from happening.”

Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics around the world Monday condemning the “crime” of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.

David Clohessy has been the voice of countless victims of sexual abuse linked to the Catholic Church. After Monday’s message from the pope, he decided to share his personal story for the first time, and reveal how he felt about the pope’s message.

“I’ll bet you there was a tennis picture in here,” said Clohessy as he flipped through his high school yearbook.

The days of competitive tennis bring back fond memories. But, behind his year-book smile are years of repression.

“I was abused for a period of about four years,” explained Clohessy. “Age 11 or 12, through about 16, by a parish priest who ingratiated himself into our family.”

Clohessy said his priest would come over for regular family dinners.

“In that era, it was a real privilege and honor to have a priest take an interest in a family,” he said.

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

DALLAS (TX)
WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth

August 20, 2018

A Dallas priest accused of molesting teens and taking at least $60,000 from his parish now is missing, Roman Catholic Church officials said.

At St. Cecilia Catholic Church, where the Rev. Edmundo Paredes had served for 27 years, parishioners said Sunday that he may have fled to his native Philippines where he has been taking annual vacations.

Bishop Edward Burns told parishioners over the weekend that the Dallas Diocese has hired two private investigators to try to track Paredes down.

“Now that we know of his criminal sexual acts, we want to get a handle on him,” Burns said.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

August 20, 2018

The Pittsburgh Diocese is defending decisions to cut off payments for abuse victims going through counseling.

Frances Samber has spent the last eight years fighting to tell the story her brother never had the chance to share.

“Every victim who has suffered at the hands of the diocese needs their story told in the court of law,” Samber said.

Michael Unglo struggled for years after being sexually assaulted by his priest.

At one point, the diocese agreed to pay for counseling and treatment, but those payments came to an end in spring of 2010.

“We were actually alerted during a therapy session and it kind of sent him into a spiral,” Samber said.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

August 20, 2018

By Fr. Peter Daly

In late April of 2002, Pope John Paul II summoned all the American cardinals to Rome for an emergency meeting to discuss the “American problem” of the sexual abuse scandal. It was dominating news coverage in the United States, and the bishops’ meeting in Dallas that June would be covered live on national television. Nothing much happened in Rome. The pope addressed the cardinals. A statement full of platitudes about concern and condemnation was issued. But no real accountability.

When the cardinals returned home, only one, Theodore McCarrick, had the courage to make himself available to the press. I was impressed. At least he seemed to “get” the gravity of the situation. At least he was willing to take questions.

When McCarrick came back from Rome, he summoned all the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., to a mandatory meeting at the Franciscan Monastery near the Catholic University of America in Washington. We were eager to go. It would be our first chance to discuss the clergy sexual abuse scandal with our archbishop. There were over 200 priests present.

The meeting lasted more than two hours. For the first hour, the press was present in the room. The cardinal made a long statement and took a few questions from the reporters. Then the press and the archdiocesan lay staff were ushered out. Only the priests remained in the room with the cardinal and our auxiliary bishops.

It was a typical hierarchical meeting. The cardinal and bishops sat up front. McCarrick came to a microphone and spent a long time discussing what would become known as the “Dallas charter” (Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People), which prescribed how priests were to be treated henceforth, when accused of sexual abuse of a minor. The charter would be discussed in the bishops’ meeting in Dallas, and McCarrick was on the committee drafting it. It set up review boards and child protection offices. It prescribed an “audit” to be carried out by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice* to determine the scope of the situation. There was a mechanism to handle accusations against priests and a “zero-tolerance” policy. But there was no oversight for bishops.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

August 17, 2018

Will New York Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead

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

UNITED STATES
Abovethelaw.com

August 17, 2018

By Kathryn Rubino

The sexual abuse allegations out of Pennsylvania have attracted a major Biglaw firm.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all over the last week, you’ve surely heard about the Pennsylvania grand jury report outlining the sexual abuse of thousands of victims at Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania. Much has been made of Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s role as the former bishop of Pittsburgh, where he allegedly failed to remove priests accused of abuse from their ministries.

Now, he’s lawyered up.

According to a report by Law.com, Wuerl has tapped Biglaw giant Jones Day to represent him on matters relating to the grand jury report:

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

UNITED STATES
CNN

August 20, 2018

By Carol Costello

Editor’s Note: Carol Costello is the host of “Across America With Carol Costello” on HLN. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

Dear Pope Francis,

It is hard to be Catholic today. I know you finally spoke out to us — in a letter — about the horrific allegations of sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses. I’ve been waiting for days to find comfort from Rome. And you notably began your letter by quoting St. Paul: “If one member suffers, all suffer together with.”

While I appreciate the words, I need to see action. I need to see real change.

We are suffering from disappointment so deep it is, for some of us, hard to believe in God. On Sunday, at my church, Sacred Heart Chapel on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, Father Allan Deck put it into words: “The emotional and sexual abuse and manipulation of others, especially little children, constitutes a gross rejection of the healthy and holistic love exemplified by Jesus and proposed by our Catholic tradition.” (Full disclosure: My husband is President of LMU.)

And then he cautioned, “These terrible reports are not going to stop.”

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

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

Pontiff condemns abuse and cover-up, demands accountability

Pope Francis issued a letter to Catholics around the world Monday condemning the crime of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up and demanding accountability, in response to new revelations in the United States of decades of misconduct by the Catholic Church.

Francis begged forgiveness for the pain suffered by victims and said lay Catholics must be involved in any effort to root out abuse and cover-up. He blasted the clerical culture that has been blamed for the crisis, with church leaders more concerned for their reputation than the safety of children.

“With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives,” Francis wrote. “We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”

The Vatican issued the three-page letter ahead of Francis’ trip this weekend to Ireland, a once staunchly Roman Catholic country where the church’s credibility has been devastated by years of revelations that priests raped and molested children with impunity and their superiors covered up for them.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

Prosecutors say a hotline set up to get information on child sexual abuse by clergy within Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses has received more than 400 calls over the past six days.

A spokesman for the attorney general’s office said Monday agents are returning all calls and assessing the facts.

Spokesman Joe Grace says the agents will have to consult with the office’s lawyers to determine whether any claims warrant investigation.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Newsradio 1020 KDKA

August 20, 2018

By Melinda Roeder

SNAP wants Bishop Zubik and Cardinal Wuerl to step down

Victims of child abuse by Catholic priests rallied downtown Monday, calling for change. SNAP (The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) gathered to call on church leaders to resign.

Victims and family members want Cardinal Wuerl and Bishop Zubik gone after the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sex abuse in the Catholic Church found evidence of a cover-up.

But during their rally Monsignor Ron Lengwin came outside to extend an offer for two of them to meet and talk with the bishop. The protestors refused unless reporters were allowed to attend, saying they are tired of all the secrecy.

Spokeswoman Judy Jones says she wants the diocese to fire any staff member who knew about allegations of sex abuse, but didn’t call police.

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

ALLEGHENY (PA)
Trib Live

August 20, 2018

By Megan Guza

Members of an advocacy group for sexual assault victims group confronted a Pittsburgh priest Monday morning when they gathered Downtown outside the Diocese of Pittsburgh to demand changes to sexual abuse laws.

About a half dozen members of the Survivors Network of Abuse by Priests addressed the media with stories of abuse and calls for the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse be abolished — and the abolition be made retroactive.

The protest comes nearly a week after a damning grand jury report named hundreds of “predator priests” in six dioceses across the state, including the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The report indicated there are thousands of victims, and the abuse spanned nearly 70 years — often covered up or not reported by church officials.

It also came hours after Pope Francis addressed the abuse revelations and begged for forgiveness.

“More words,” said SNAP founder Judy Jones. “He just said more words.”

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WPXI

August 20, 2018

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, held a protest outside the Pittsburgh Diocese and Greensburg Diocese headquarters Monday.

The protest came after Pennsylvania’s grand jury report on sexual abuse by Catholic priests was released last week.

Protesters and survivors confronted Pittsburgh Diocese officials over the handling of sex abuse allegations by the church.

They’re pushing for priests and other church leaders to held accountable for the explosive revelations in the grand jury report released last week.

The group is calling for new legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases and for the opening of a two year retroactive window allowing civil cases to move forward even if the statute has expired.

“We have several demands that we want and we’re hoping somebody’s going to listen. We don’t expect the Catholic Church to do anything but deny,” said SNAP representative Judy Jones.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

August 20, 2018

Victims of child sex abuse in Pennsylvania Catholic dioceses are speaking out in the wake of a grand jury report.

Today brought the first public acknowledgement from Pope Francis that the Catholic Church failed to act over sexual abuse by priests.

In a letter released by the Vatican, Pope Francis writes, “Looking back to the past, no effort to beg, pardon and to seek to repair the harm done, will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.”

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

TORONTO (CANADA)
The Real News

August 20, 2018

Pennsylvania Grand Jury report uncovers 70 years of sexual abuse of at least a thousand children by 301 priests. We speak to theologian Matthew Fox about the scandal’s causes and consequences

Story Transcript
MARC STEINER: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Marc Steiner. It’s good to have you with us.

The grand jury findings in Pennsylvania that 301 Catholic priests over a period of 70 years sexually abused and molested at least 1000 young people who were in their charge shattered the world and the Roman Catholic Church. Because of these widespread charges of sexual abuse by priests, not just them, the United States, Chile, and Australia and Ireland, over these years, it’s clear that a massive coverup by bishops took place, who rule their diocese and the church. Why did it take place? First, listen to these voices; the voices of people who are now adults in Pennsylvania, who suffered unmentionable horror by priests they trusted.

SURVIVOR 1: This report is me getting my life back, saying these are the evil bastards that stole my life.

SPEAKER: How many of you believe that right now a child is being abused at the hands of a priest?

SURVIVOR 1: Why statute of limitations ended for my abuse. But to me they’re re-abusing me right now.

SURVIVOR 2: I want the right to stand in court and face my abuser.

SPEAKER: And say?

SURVIVOR 2: Just have him go through the court process, tell my story, make him listen to me. I would say to him, why did you do this to me? And I believe his answer is going to be because I can. Because I could.

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

NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News

August 16, 2018

By Melanie Payne and Ryan Mills

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the Rev. Sean Kerins does not live in Naples. He lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, and has family in Southwest Florida.

Three priests with ties to Fort Myers, Naples and Port Charlotte were named in a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing child sexual abuse by priests.

The three are among the more than 300 — including at least 16 with ties to Florida — who the report states were perpetrators, are being investigated for possible sexual misconduct or were involved in a cover-up of the scandal.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
Office of Attorney General

August 20, 2018

Attorney General Josh Shapiro today issued the following statement in response to the letter from Pope Francis to Catholics around the world, addressing sex abuse in the Church everywhere, and which also focused on the grand jury’s report on child sex abuse in six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania.

“Pope Francis’ powerful letter acknowledges the painful truth that had been hiding in the shadows in Churches throughout Pennsylvania and appropriately focuses on the survivors who have suffered for too long,” Attorney General Shapiro said.

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

DENVER (CO)
FOX 31

August 20, 2018,

By Joe St. George

The Catholic Church is again in crisis over child abuse.

In the past few weeks, ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick lost his priestly abilities after an allegation he molested a child.

Now another Cardinal, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, is facing calls for his resignation after his role in handling Pennsylvania priests accused of child abuse.

A bombshell Pennsylvania grand jury report earlier this month suggested the church in Pennsylvania covered up 70 years worth of abuse from more than 300 priests involving 1,000 children.

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

CANADA
LifeSiteNews

August 20, 2018

After today’s publication of Pope Francis’ letter of apology to the People of God, Dr. Markus Büning, a German theologian, lawyer, and book author who himself was abused by a priest as a child, removed his public support of an initiative defending Pope Francis.

It was only decades after his abuse, when his mother heard that the abusive priest had been arrested and asked her son about his experiences with that priest, that Dr. Büning reveal his childhood suffering. The Catholic Church later recompensed him materially and apologized to him.

On this background of his own suffering, it is understandable that he would have a special sensitivity and attentiveness toward the question of how the Catholic Church under Pope Francis now responds to the new revelations of more child abuse by the Church’s clergymen and hierarchy.

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

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

August 19, 2018

The archbishop of Dublin said Sunday he hopes Pope Francis will speak frankly about the “darkness” of priestly sex abuse during his upcoming visit to Ireland, which has been clouded by new revelations of misconduct in the U.S. Catholic Church.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, who has spent years trying to recover the Irish church’s credibility following decades of abuse and cover-up, dedicated his Sunday homily to Francis’ Aug. 25-26 trip. He said it comes at a time of heightened anxiety over the future of the church in Ireland and beyond.

Martin acknowledged that sex scandals had produced “deep-seated resentment” at both the abusers and the church leaders who facilitated their crimes and sought to protect themselves. In addition to clerical abuse, Martin cited Ireland’s mother and baby homes, where unwed mothers were often sent to avoid scandal and where they experienced “extraordinary harshness” by the church.

“It’s not enough to just say sorry,” Martin said. “Structures that permit or facilitate abuse must be broken down, and broken down forever.”

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
Business Insider

August 19, 2018

By Kelly McLaughlin

– The Reverend Edward Ganster is among hundreds of priests named in the Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that revealed a mass child abuse scandal across six Catholic Church dioceses.
– Ganster was first accused of abusing a teenage boy in 1977 when he was a priest at St. Joseph’s Church in Easton.
– He left the church more than a decade later to get married.
– The diocese reportedly gave the priest a reference for a job at Walt Disney World, where he worked as a train driver in the Magic Kingdom for 15 years.

A Pennsylvania priest who tortured a teenage altar boy for more than a year worked at Walt Disney World after leaving the Catholic Church, according to the bombshell grand jury report released earlier this week.

The Reverend Edward Ganster is among hundreds of priests named in the grand jury investigation, which found that 1,000 children across six dioceses had been abused over 70 years as Catholic Church leaders covered up the allegations.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Associated Press

August 19, 2018

The bishop of Pittsburgh’s Roman Catholic diocese pushed back against a call for his resignation and said the diocese has “followed every single step” needed for responsible action after allegations of child sexual abuse.

Bishop David Zubik spoke Sunday to George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” following the Tuesday release of a landmark report detailing widespread child sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses. The report accused Zubik of not reporting credible allegations.

Zubik said he can understand the rage people have reading the report and “I feel that rage too.” But he said that since he became the bishop in 2007, “we have followed every single step that we needed to follow to be responsible in our response to the victims.”

Officials have, he said, listened to victims “very carefully,” removed priests from dioceses, turned allegations over to appropriate district attorneys, let an independent review board look at whether a return to ministry is warranted and finally, informed parishioners of the diocese’s actions.

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

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

August 18, 2018

By Ramesh Ponnuru

“I don’t think this is some massive, massive crisis,” said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., in a statement that could not possibly be more wrong. Speaking three weeks after revelations about his predecessor’s sexual predation against boys and young priests, Wuerl said he was aware that a harrowing Pennsylvania grand-jury report would soon document the sexual abuse of 1,000 children by Catholic clergy and criticize Wuerl’s own treatment of some abusers.

Wuerl allowed that the news about his predecessor, Theodore McCarrick, was “a terrible disappointment.” He also said that “we need to have something that would also be a mechanism for when a bishop has not been as faithful as he needs to be, even if the charges go back 40, 50 years.” In the context of discussing a predecessor who had done a lot to destroy a boy’s life — who had raped him for years — Wuerl spoke of a bishop who “has not been as faithful as he needs to be,” a comment that could more aptly be applied to someone who had neglected to say his morning prayers.

Let it not be said, however, that Wuerl is slow to appreciate all dangers. He had what can only be described as a P.R. website ready to go when the report was released. It provoked an immediate outcry and was taken down a few hours after launching.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
The New York Times

August 15, 2018

By Campbell Robertson and Sharon Otterman

John Cabon stood quietly and crossed himself before a statue of the Virgin Mary outside St. Paul’s, the mother church of the Pittsburgh Diocese.

“I keep the faith” said Mr. Cabon, 64, on the way to noon Mass. His sister, he said, had left the faith when explosive revelations of sexual abuse rocked the Roman Catholic Church in 2002. He had refused. “You don’t really believe everything, you know.”

But inside the church, there was no escaping the abuse scandal, which has entered a new chapter after monstrous revelations were released in a grand jury report on Tuesday, describing the abuse of more than 1,000 young people at the hands of hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania.

The priest at St Paul’s spoke of “horrendous and evil acts,” “moral failure” by church leaders, and the “grief, sadness, feelings of betrayal, even anger” that followed. One woman wept silently in her pew.

In Pittsburgh — site of some of the most ghastly acts in the report — and in dioceses around the country, Catholics grappled with the report’s findings.

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

IRELAND
Irish Independent

August 20, 2018

By Laura Larkin

Group highlights offenders as it urges Pope to reveal those disciplined by the Church

A list of all Irish clergy convicted of child sexual abuse is to be published for the first time as pressure mounts on the Vatican to release all documents relating to clerical abuse.

International organisation BishopAccountability.org – which has published similar lists of those accused of abuse in the US and South America – will publish the database today.

It includes names of priests and brothers who have been convicted or named in State enquiries and will contain more than 70 names, according to the group.

The organisation is calling on Pope Francis to release the names of all priests – including Irish ones – who have been disciplined by the Church for child sexual abuse.

The Pontiff will visit Ireland this weekend amid a deepening international scandal around its handling of child sexual abuse by clergy members.

The group will ask Ireland’s Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo, to endorse this idea to Pope Francis.

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

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Associated Press

August 20, 2018

By Danica Kirka and Pietro de Cristofaro

An international research group launched a database Monday of Irish clergy convicted or credibly accused of sexually abusing children in hopes of pressing Pope Francis to disclose the names of all the priests and brothers deemed guilty by the church.

BishopAccountability.org says the online database unveiled Monday shows the degree to which information still remains hidden in Ireland. The list was released before the pontiff’s visit to Ireland on Saturday.

BishopAccountability issued a similar report on the eve of Francis’ visit to Chile in January, identifying dozens of credibly accused clergy and the bishops who covered up for them. That trip turned disastrous for the pope when he discredited several Chilean victims, although he subsequently did an about-face and apologized to the victims and sanctioned complicit bishops.

“Hiding the names of credibly accused child molesters puts children at risk, withholds validation from survivors, and makes it nearly impossible for Catholic laypeople to protect their families or hold church leaders accountable,” co-director Anne Barrett Doyle said.

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

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Crux

August 20, 2018

By John L. Allen Jr.

In a forceful letter just ahead of his Aug. 25-26 trip to Ireland, and just after a blistering Pennsylvania Grand Jury report on sex abuse crimes and cover-ups in six dioceses, Pope Francis wrote Monday “no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.”

Referring to the Grand Jury report, the pontiff wrote, “The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced. But their outcry was more powerful than all the measures meant to silence it, or [which] sought even to resolve it by decisions that increased its gravity by falling into complicity.”

The pope’s words came in a “Letter to the People of God,” released by the Vatican Press Office in seven languages, suggesting the Vatican wants it to have the widest possible distribution. The full text runs to just under 2,000 words.

On the subject of accountability not just for the crime but the cover-up, an issue that figured prominently in the Pennsylvania report, Francis vowed that such measures have to be part of any solution.

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

DALLAS (TX)
Daily Mail

August 20, 2018

By Megan Sheets

– Rev Edmundo Paredes, 69, is believed to have fled to his native Philippines
– He was formerly a pastor at St Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, Texas
– Bishop Edward Burns revealed Paredes’ removal from ministry at Mass Saturday
– Three men came forward accusing Paredes of sexual assault in February
– At the time he was under investigation for stealing $60K-$80K from the church

A priest has gone missing after he was accused of molesting three teenage boys and stealing money from his church, authorities say.

Officials at St Cecilia Catholic Church in the Dallas suburb of Oak Cliff reportedly believe Rev Edmundo Paredes retreated to his native Philippines to escape an investigation into the allegations.

Bishop Edward Burns broke the news that ‘Father Ed’ had been removed from ministry during Mass on Saturday, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Burns said the Diocese of Dallas was informed of the sexual misconduct allegations in February after three adult men came forward and accused Paredes of having abused them when they were in their mid-teens in incidents more than a decade ago.

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

POMPANO BEACH (FL)
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

A South Florida priest has resigned after being accused of stealing more than $200,000 from the church.

The Archdiocese of Miami said in a statement that Father Henryk Pawelec has paid the money back to St. Coleman Catholic Church in Pompano Beach. But he still could face legal action after the church reported the incident to the state attorney’s office.

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

VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph

August 20, 2018

By Olivia Rudgard

There will be “no more cover ups” of sexual abuse in the Church, the Pope has vowed in a letter to all Catholics.

In the groundbreaking document, addressed to the “people of God”, Pope Francis admitted that the church had “delayed” the implementation of reforms and asked believers to “join forces in uprooting this culture of death”.

He said the church had “showed no care for the little ones” and “abandoned them”.

The Vatican said it was the first time a pope had written to all of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics about sexual abuse.

The Pope’s letter, published on Monday, responds to a report published last week by a grand jury which disclosed that more than 1,000 children had been abused by 300 Catholic priests in Pennsylvania over the past 70 years.

“Even though it can be said that most of these cases belong to the past, nonetheless as time goes on we have come to know the pain of many of the victims,” he said.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS

August 19, 2018

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced two priests that were placed on administrative leave have been found unsuitable for ministry.

Father Andrew McCormick was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a child in 2012. The former pastor of Sacred Heart in Swedesburg saw two mistrials.

Monsignor Gregory Parlante is entering into a first-time offender’s program after he was charged last year with drug and theft offenses. He was a pastor at Saint Cornelius in Chadds Ford.

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

POMPANO BEACH (FL)
Miami Herald

August 19, 2018

By Martin Vassolo

A Pompano Beach priest accused of stealing $236,469 in parish funds has resigned from his post at St. Coleman Catholic Church, the Archdiocese of Miami announced Sunday.

Father Henryk Pawelec, who had served at the church since 2015, stole the money for “his personal benefit,” wrote Archbishop Thomas Wenski in a letter to parishioners released on the Archdiocese website. No further details on the alleged theft were disclosed.

Wenski said “appropriate canonical proceedings have been inititated” and that the Archdiocese had reported the incident to the State Attorney’s Office for “any possible civil action.”

Acting on a tip, the Archdiocese investigated the priest and reviewed the parish’s financial records to determine how much money was stolen. At an Aug. 15 meeting with the archbishop, Pawelec agreed to resign and pay back the money he stole, Wenski said.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

August 18, 2018

By Melkorka Licea

Days after a stunning report revealed rampant sexual abuse by perv priests in Pennsylvania, another accused holy man has been identified in New York, The Post has learned.

Father John T. Meehan, 81, allegedly committed “multiple incidents of sexual misconduct” against a teen victim at Cardinal Hayes HS in the early 1980s, the victim’s lawyer said.

The accuser was given a cash settlement as part of an Archdiocese of New York program to compensate victims out of court.

Meehan was a guidance counselor at the all-boys Catholic school in The Bronx when he allegedly abused the victim, who at the time was between 14 and 16 years old, lawyer Michael J. Reck said.

The payment was among $4 million in settlements, ranging from $25,000 to $500,000, recently shelled out to 24 survivors represented by Reck. Collectively, those victims named nine priests, including Meehan, he said.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBC Philly

August 20, 2018

Neither has functioned publicly as a priest since being placed on administrative leave.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

August 20, 2018

Matt Petrillo reports.

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

UNITED STATES
Associated Press

August 19, 2018

By Will Graves

The legal portion of the Larry Nassar scandal at USA Gymnastics may soon be over.

USA Gymnastics President Kerry Perry said representatives for both the organization and athletes who were abused by Nassar – a former national team doctor who abused hundreds of women under the guise of medical treatment – met last week. Perry called the mediation talks “not only productive but continuing to move us down the path of resolution.”

Perry made the remarks on Sunday in her first extended question-and-answer session with reporters since taking over last December. Her public silence during the first 260 days of her tenure has drawn the ire of Nassar victims, including reigning Olympic champion Simone Biles, who last week it was time for Perry to speak up. Perry said she respected Biles’s opinion and called the kind of changes the organization is making in the wake of the scandal “scary.”

“I want her and all of our athletes to know we have their best interests at heart,” Perry said. “I would hope that they know that I and all of the leaderships have their best interests in mind.”

Perry says she spent her first eight months on the job trying to get a handle on the landscape within USA Gymnastics and allowed it’s difficult to communicate with survivors on an individual level due to the ongoing legal situation. Perry added the goal in the end is to have “our survivors standing side by side with our organization.”

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

IRELAND
The Independent

August 20, 2018

By Joe Sommerlad

Holy Father, 81, to give papal mass at World Meeting of Families gathering at Phoenix Park

Pope Francis will visit Ireland this weekend, the first time the head of the Catholic Church has done so since 1979.

The pontiff, 81, will touch down in Dublin to address the World Meeting of Families and find himself in a very different country to that John Paul II toured almost 40 years ago.

The prospect of his eminence’s imminence is nevertheless causing a stir, with enterprising retailers seizing the opportunity to shift merchandise to the devout and doing a roaring trade in everything from collapsible cardboard chairs to tote bags, candles, mugs, umbrellas and sticky “Lollipopes”.

Here’s everything you need to know.

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

DENVER (CO)
KCNCTV/ CBS4 News Weekends

August 20, 2018

A woman who lives in Colorado is speaking out to give others hope decades after she suffered sexual abuse, allegedly at a Catholic parish.

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

VANCOUVER (CANADA)
Vancouver Sun

August 20, 2018

By Denise Ryan

Vancouver’s Roman Catholic archbishop and a victims’ advocate respond to revelations of abuse of children by priests Pennsylvania.

The recent revelations that the Catholic Church covered up the abuse of close to 1,000 children by 300 priests over several decades in Pennsylvania has shaken survivors of church abuse in B.C., victims’ advocate Leona Huggins of Coquitlam said Sunday.

“I got a call from a survivor this morning,” said Huggins, who was abused by a Vancouver priest when she was a child. Huggins now volunteers with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Vancouver Roman Catholic Archbishop J. Michael Miller released a statement Sunday saying he is “devastated by these accounts of profound evil,” and that “what the victims of sexual abuse have endured has shaken me and broken my heart.”

The statement, which was posted on the Archdiocese website and read at Lower Mainland masses, acknowledged the sexual abuse, and the poor treatment many victims received by church authorities.

Miller said he is especially upset with bishops and priests “who failed to protect the most vulnerable among us,” in particular those who knew about the abuse but did nothing about it. Miller is calling on anyone who knows about “any abuse happening now” to contact law enforcement and to alert the church through their webpage.

Huggins said Miller’s statement does not go far enough. Huggins said it’s time for full transparency from the Catholic Church “about any credible complaints, current and historical, against priests in B.C.”

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
CNN

August 19, 2018

Duration: 04:13

CNN’s Jake Tapper digs into the past of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who is at the center of a 900-page Pennsylvania grand jury report that revealed shocking accusations: More than 1,000 children had been abused by 300 Catholic priests in six Pennsylvania dioceses during the past 70 years.

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

COLUMBIA (SC)
The State

August 18, 2018

By David Travis Bland

One name is connected to South Carolina within the 1,356 pages of a report on sexual abuse of children and cover-ups by Catholic church officials in Pennsylvania.

Father Robert E. Spangenberg served as pastor at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Charleston. He served at the Lowcountry church from 1990 to 1993, according to the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

In the report, two allegations of sexual abuse are levied against Spangenberg.

“The documents provided by the Diocese of Pittsburgh revealed that Spangenberg was involved with at least two children, possibly more,” the report reads.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

August 17, 2018

By Andy Sheehan

Until three months ago, retired priest Richard Terdine, accused of molesting a 16-year-old boy in the 1980s, was still serving Mass at churches around the Pittsburgh Diocese.

It wasn’t until Bishop David Zubik found that Terdine had been cited in the 800-page grand jury report that the diocese restricted him.

“Would no longer be able to go around to other parishes to have Mass,” said Monsignor Ronald Lengwin.

Terdine is listed on the diocesan website as a having an unsubstantiated claim against him. But, in 1988, he was accused of patting a boy on his genitals, then giving him an x-rated tape and some condoms. Confronted, Terdine denied touching the boy but conceded he gave him pornography, the condoms and a back rub.

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

LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday

August 15, 2018

By Bart Jones

The leader of the Diocese of Rockville Centre is contacting the Pennsylvania attorney general to correct the errors, a spokesman says.

Long Island’s Catholic bishop on Wednesday disputed a Pennsylvania grand jury report on how he handled the cases of two priests who were accused of sexually abusing children in his former diocese of Allentown.

Bishop John Barres said the report contained factual errors and that the Pennsylvania attorney general never reached out to him for a response.

Barres, who now leads the Diocese of Rockville Centre, is contacting Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to correct the errors, diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

August 16, 2018

By Michael Sneed

It’s a moral catastrophe.

“I wasn’t shocked. Not at all,” said Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, a devout Catholic and mother of five responding to a Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing the sexual abuse of 1,000 young people at the hands of hundreds of Catholic priests.

“I think every state should convene a grand jury into this culture of secrecy that protected offenders at all costs,” said Burke, who was once interim chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops study on nationwide clerical sexual abuse in 2002.

“It was happening in Chicago, but we had to rely on files the bishops were willing to give us — and we knew there had to be more, but we had no subpoena powers,” said Burke. “We had no government authority!”

“We did a lot of research, but a lot was kept from us and we knew it,” she said.

“And shockingly, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops charter our National Review Board was appointed under did NOT include investigating the BISHOPS! Or even penalizing the bishops or Cardinals for transferring these priests,” she said.

“But we did report bishops were transferring priests from parish to parish and diocese to diocese knowing they had a history of abuse.

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

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

August 17, 2018

By Heidi Schlumpf

The U.S. bishops’ call Aug. 16 for an apostolic visitation and lay-involved investigations into sexual abuse and cover-ups was praised by members of the first National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People, but at least one member called it “too little, too late.”

Any internal investigation — even a well-intentioned one — would be ineffective, because “the trust is already eroded and gone,” said Anne Burke, an Illinois Supreme Court justice who served as the review board’s interim chair until 2004.

Other former board members praised the bishops’ proposal, released by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston on behalf of the U.S. bishops’ executive committee, as a “good start,” though they expressed caution about internal investigations and review boards.

“Only secular authorities have subpoena powers,” said Burke, urging all attorneys general and district attorneys to follow the lead of Pennsylvania, where an investigation resulted in a scathing grand jury report exposing decades of sexual abuse and cover-up in six Pennsylvania dioceses.

“That’s the only way I see something happening,” Burke said.

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

ST. LOUIS (MI)
KMOX

August 17, 2018

Reaction is still coming in to the massive Grand Jury report in Pennsylvania that found more than a thousand children had been sexually abused by more than 300 priests in the state since the 1940s.

“It’s a devastating report,” says St. Louisian David Clohessy, the former national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “On another level though, no one should be shocked by this, because these very same conclusions and findings have happened in a dozen jurisdictions around the country.”

The Vatican expresses shame and sorrow in the wake of the report, saying Pope Francis wants the victims to know he is on their side.

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

ALLENTOWN (PA)
Lehigh Valley Live

August 16, 2018

By Tony Rhodin

Allentown City Council on Wednesday night fired the city solicitor a day after his controversial handling of a sexual abuse allegation came to light in a statewide grand jury report on abuse of children by clergy.

The grand jury report says Thomas Traud told the Allentown Diocese to discredit a victim and reassign an allegedly offending priest.

Councilman Courtney Robinson introduced the action to fire Traud — something that eventually happened in a unanimous vote — after speaking broadly about the report.

“I am a practicing Catholic and I am disgusted and I am appalled at what was done in the name of my faith,” he said, according to a recording of the meeting posted by council. “As a Catholic and an elected official I feel it necessary to apologize to every victim of this and to state the unimaginable pain and sorrow that you’re going through was only compounded from this.

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

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Press Office

August 20, 2018

By Pope Francis

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.

1. If one member suffers…

In recent days, a report was made public which detailed the experiences of at least a thousand survivors, victims of sexual abuse, the abuse of power and of conscience at the hands of priests over a period of approximately seventy years. Even though it can be said that most of these cases belong to the past, nonetheless as time goes on we have come to know the pain of many of the victims. We have realized that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death; these wounds never go away. The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced. But their outcry was more powerful than all the measures meant to silence it, or sought even to resolve it by decisions that increased its gravity by falling into complicity. The Lord heard that cry and once again showed us on which side he stands. Mary’s song is not mistaken and continues quietly to echo throughout history. For the Lord remembers the promise he made to our fathers: “he has scattered the proud in their conceit; he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Lk 1:51-53). We feel shame when we realize that our style of life has denied, and continues to deny, the words we recite.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Advocate

August 16, 2018

By Marianne Duddy-Burke

What the church’s horrific child abuse scandal means for lawmakers and LGBTQ Catholics.

No official in the Catholic Church has any credibility when speaking on issues of sexuality, gender, or relationships.

If that was not already obvious, it became compellingly clear with the release of the Pennsylvania attorney general’s report on a grand jury investigation into more than 1,000 cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in six dioceses across that state. The horrific details of repeated abuse, networks of abusers, and systemic cover-up by church leaders make it painfully clear that care for children and families came nowhere close to concerns about protecting the institution of the church, and even abusers, in the minds of Catholic leaders. From children being raped in hospital beds to serial abuse of siblings, marking targets with “gifts” of gold crosses, and making pornography later shared among groups of abusive priests, what these young girls and boys were subjected to is almost beyond imagining. The after-effects of the abuse impact people to this day, long after the statute of limitations has made criminal accountability for perpetrators and their enablers impossible. Bishops and cardinals repeatedly kept perpetrators out of the reach of law enforcement until they could no longer be prosecuted, through a series of steps the Pennsylvania attorney general called “a playbook for concealing the truth.”

This devastating report follows close on the heels of the resignation of one of the most powerful U.S. clerics, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C. He was forced to resign from the College of Cardinals for alleged abuse of an altar boy decades ago and after dozens of reports became public that he abused seminarians under his authority. High-ranking church officials from Australia, Chile, and Honduras have also been recently ousted for sexual abuse. Following numerous reports of abuse of their members, the leaders of Catholic women’s religious communities from two continents have called on the Vatican to end the “culture of silence” that enabled decades of exploitation. All of this comes more than 15 years after The Boston Globe broke the story of rampant child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston, and amid the persistent drum of stories that has emerged from across the country and internationally since.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle

August 18, 2018

By Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

In response to this week’s allegations of the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by clergy in Pennsylvania, the bishop of the Springfield Diocese has condemned “past failures” of the Catholic church and urged local victims to continue to reach out to his Office of Child and Youth Protection.

The strongly worded letter from Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, which was issued from his office Friday, outlined counseling and other services available through the diocese for victims of child sexual abuse.

“Since arriving as your bishop four years ago, I have had the somber task of meeting with victims of abuse and their family members,” Rozanski said. “While I cannot undo the great harm done to them, I can promise victims, their loved ones and the entire community that I remain firmly committed to rooting out this evil in our midst. The failure by any member of the clergy, religious or laity to strictly implement, as well as adhere to, our policies and guidelines will result in removal from ministry.”

A nearly 900-page Pennsylvania grand jury report released this week said that more than 300 predator priests had abused more than 1,000 children in six dioceses in the state. Forty-five of the priests named served in the Harrisburg Diocese.

The first paragraph of the nearly 900-page report said the grand jury knows the truth: that child sex abuse within the Catholic church happened everywhere.

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

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Style UK

August 20, 2018

By Marie Claire Dorking

Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles has won praise for not only winning her fifth all-round title, but doing so in a leotard that honoured the survivors of sexual abuse.

The 21-year-old donned the specially designed leotard on Sunday as she became the first woman in 24 years to be awarded the top score in every single event of a national championship.

The leotard, which was reportedly eight months in the planning, was a beautiful teal colour, chosen specifically because teal is the designated colour for survivors of sexual abuse.

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

DUBLIN (IRELAND)
The Washington Post

August 20, 2018

By Chico Harlan

Pope Francis said in a letter released Monday by the Vatican that the Catholic Church has not dealt properly with “crimes” against children and needs to prevent sexual abuses from being “covered up and perpetuated.”

“We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them,” Francis wrote.

The 2,000-word letter addressed to the “People of God” marks one of Francis’s most direct attempts to address the painful abuse cases that have eroded the Roman Catholic Church’s credibility and prompted sharp calls from inside and outside the church for improved accountability.

Francis did not lay out any concrete steps the Vatican would take, but he acknowledged that systemic change is needed.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philly.com

August 15, 2018

By David Gambacorta

George said he never discussed the nude Polaroids, or the twisted, secret gifts he and the other kids had been given decades ago by the men who preyed on them. These weren’t the kinds of things you could share without feeling humiliated, especially if you grew up tough, like he did on the South Side of Pittsburgh.

But you can’t outrun your nightmares forever. So on Dec. 17 — a week before Roman Catholics around the world celebrated Christmas — George met with a Pennsylvania grand jury and told it about the Rev. George Zirwas, a friendly young priest who once took him to a rectory in Munhall, a borough about 25 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, and introduced him to some friends: The Revs. Francis Pucci, Richard Zula, and Francis Luddy.

During a conversation about religious statues, the priests told George to get onto a bed and remove his shirt, and strike a pose like Jesus on the cross. Then they instructed him to strip off his pants and underwear, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

In the unnerving moments that followed, George claimed that Zula or Pucci began taking photos of him on a Polaroid camera. All of the priests giggled — and then added the photos of George to a collection of photos of other teen boys. According to the grand jury, these men and another priest, the Rev. Robert Wolk, were part of a “ring of predatory priests” who raped children, shared intelligence on potential victims, and manufactured child pornography in parishes and rectories.

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

UNITED STATES
CultureWatch

August 19, 2018

By Bill Muehlenberg

At the moment the public spotlight is on the Catholic Church, with revelations of what has transpired in Pennsylvania. In this latest case some 300 priests are said to have abused some 1,000 children over many decades. Before looking at the details, let me say a few necessary things first. All child sex abuse is evil, end of story.

And when it happens in churches, it is even more evil. Child sexual abuse of course can and does happen in non-religious places, such as schools, etc., so we are amiss to single out the church. And Protestants have had their fair share of cases of this as well, so we are amiss to single out the Catholic Church.

I will not engage in any excuse-making here. I hate to see the name of Christ tarnished, regardless of where it is happening, be it Orthodox, Protestant or Catholic. Here I want to let a number of others speak, most of them Catholics, but a few Protestants as well.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

August 19, 2018

By Tim Morris

More than 30 years after horrific crimes against children in the Louisiana Diocese of Lafayette first exposed a culture of sexual abuse and systematic cover-up within the Catholic Church, the tragedy continues.

The latest evidence comes in a scathing report issued Tuesday (Aug. 14) by a Pennsylvania grand jury that found bishops and other leaders of the church had concealed sexual abuse of children by more than 300 priests over a period of 70 years.

The grand jury said there were more than 1,000 identifiable victims and likely thousands more whose records were lost or who were too afraid to come forward.

Heartbreaking examples in the 1,400-page report included a priest who raped a young girl in a hospital visit after she had her tonsils out; another priest who was allowed to stay in ministry after impregnating a young girl and arranging for her to have an abortion; a 7-year-old boy who was sexually abused by a priest and then told to go and confess his “sins” — to that same priest; another priest who forced a 9-year-old boy to perform oral sex, “then rinsed out the boy’s mouth with holy water to purify him.”

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE

August 15, 2018

By Bob Mayo

The Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sex abuse by clergy is about to trigger a new lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 has learned. It could be filed in the next two weeks.

Attorney Alan Perer has represented dozens of alleged victims in lawsuits against the Pittsburgh diocese and other dioceses over the years. Perer said he will argue that revelations in the grand jury report show the civil statute of limitations shouldn’t apply for victims suing the diocese.

“We anticipate filing very soon. I’m already talking to some of the victims,” Perer said. “And our theory is, under the law, if a person couldn’t discover or couldn’t find out information to implicate the diocese — not the priest, the diocese — that there is a way to expand the statute of limitations until the person could have discovered the involvement of the diocese. And we say it’s not until now. Now is when the grand jury, for the first time, has opened up these secret archives

Perer said he’s already making that argument on behalf of alleged victims suing the diocese in the Johnstown-Altoona area. That case is on appeal with oral arguments expected before Superior Court. Perer thinks this fight over extending the civil statute of limitation in these cases could end up before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
CNN

August 17, 2018

By Joe Sterling

Priest abuse victims share emotional stories 01:47

The clergy sex abuse allegations in Pennsylvania have prompted robust feedback from survivors, the state attorney general’s office says.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a tweet earlier this week that the hotline for clergy sex abuse has been “lit up.”

Since Tuesday afternoon, after a grand jury report was released detailing the abuse allegations, Shapiro said Wednesday that more than 150 calls and e-mails poured in.

And since then, the office said Friday, “the hotline remains, live, active and is receiving calls.”

Survivors “are now surfacing to tell their stories and seek justice.”

The hotline number is 888-538-8541.

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

HAZLE TOWNSHIP (PA)
WNEP

August 16, 2018

By Carolyn Blackburne

People in Hazle Township are dealing with the aftermath of this week’s grand jury report into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

A street in the township is named after a priest accused of sexually assaulting a young boy.

The report found Rev. Girard Angelo was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy at a parish in Williamsport during the 1960s.

Now, people who live on Father Angelo Drive in Hazle Township want the name changed.

“My first thought was, well what are they going to do with the street sign that I look at every day. It was devastating,” Joe Tranguch said.

Fr. Angelo was a priest at Church of the Sacred Heart, just a few blocks away from the street that bears his name.

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

DALLAS (TX)
Dallas News

August 19, 2018

By Rudolph Bush and Dana Branham

Updated at 4:50 p.m. with additional details throughout.

The Rev. Edmundo Paredes, longtime pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, is under investigation for allegedly molesting three teenage boys in the parish more than a decade ago and stealing from the parish, churchgoers learned over the weekend.

Paredes has fled and his whereabouts are unknown, though church officials think he may be in his native country of the Philippines, Bishop Edward Burns said at the conclusion of the 7:30 a.m. Mass Sunday at St. Cecilia.

The news regarding Paredes, who was pastor of St. Cecilia for 27 years, is only the latest revelation in the Catholic Church’s ongoing priest pedophilia scandal. Independent investigations have revealed that members of the church hierarchy both turned a blind eye and actively engaged in covering up the actions of pedophiles in the priesthood.

Burns detailed the allegations against Paredes from the altar Sunday morning and planned to remain at St. Cecilia throughout the day to speak at Masses and talk to parishioners, he said.

“I need to come face to face with the frustration. I need to come face to face with this issue, with the anger, with the rage. I recognize this diocese cannot cover its ears, its eyes, its mouth. We need to look at this head on,” Burns said in an interview after Mass.

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
The Tribune-Democrat

August 20, 2018

By Dave Sutor

For about an hour on Tuesday, Cindy Leech sat on a stage inside the Pennsylvania State Capitol, holding a framed picture of her son, Corey Leech, with his shock of sandy-colored hair and broad smile.

She listened as Attorney General Josh Shapiro publicly released a grand jury report that exposed decades of child sexual abuse and cover-up in six of the commonwealth’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

She was joined by more than a dozen other victims or family members of those who have died.

The resident of Johnstown’s Roxbury neighborhood was invited to the event to honor her son, who played a significant role in the process of the investigation before his death in May 2017.

Corey Leech anonymously testified that he was sexually abused by Brother Stephen Baker, when Leech was a student at what was then Bishop McCort High School, in a hearing to determine if the friar’s superiors at the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception – the Revs. Robert D’Aversa, Giles Schinelli and Anthony Criscitelli – failed to properly protect children from the predator.

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

AUSTRALIA
The Newcastle Herald

August 19, 2018

By Joanne McCarthy

NSW Catholic MP Catherine Cusack has slammed the “male hierarchy” of the church for “trashing” people’s faith because of the child sexual abuse tragedy, in a speech to Parliament backing a Hunter abuse survivor.

The sexual abuse of children and the church’s cover-ups of that abuse were “a total failure of everything we were told our church stood for”, Ms Cusack said in a speech on Wednesday after petitioning Attorney-General Mark Speakman on behalf of Hunter survivor Rob Roseworne.

“Everything I was literally taught from birth was trashed by the evidence (at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse).”

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

IRELAND
The Times

August 19, 2018

By Bryan Appleyard

On the eve of another papal visit, in pubs and parks Irish people say the Catholic Church has lost its grip on the nation

In 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated mass before 1.25m people in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. Next Sunday only 500,000 are expected to be in the park for mass with Pope Francis.

The real figure may be even smaller. The Say Nope to the Pope campaign has been scooping up tickets that it will not use. Also, off the record, some local churches have been saying their allocated tickets are not being fully taken up.

Catholic Ireland is dying; its iron grip on the Irish imagination has been broken. This is partly because of secularisation but it is the child abuse revelations that have caused real hatred and disgust.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE

August 17, 2018

By Sheldon Ingram

A San Diego woman who grew up in western Pennsylvania reached out to Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 about several sex abuse incidents carried out by two priests.

Heather Taylor, 45, says the abuse started when she was 7 years old and happened at St. Gabriel School in Baldwin Borough. She named the late Rev. Lawrence O’Connell and the Rev. Edward Huff as the two priests who fondled her more than a dozen times.

Both men were named in the grand jury investigation report released this week, and the report revealed a handwritten note in which Huff admitted to touching 500 children.

Taylor said she deals with heavy bitterness and pain while still receiving therapy.

“I hate the Catholic Church,” she said. “I have no respect for them.”

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
CNN

August 17, 2018

By Daniel Burke

The Vatican broke its silence on Thursday about a Pennsylvania grand jury report that detailed decades of sexual abuses by priests and cover-ups by bishops, calling the accusations “criminal and morally reprehensible.”

“Regarding the report made public in Pennsylvania this week, there are two words that can express the feelings faced with these horrible crimes: shame and sorrow,” said Greg Burke, director of the Vatican’s Press Office.

“The Holy See treats with great seriousness the work of the Investigating Grand Jury of Pennsylvania and the lengthy Interim Report it has produced. The Holy See condemns unequivocally the sexual abuse of minors.”

This week, Pope Francis had been under increasing pressure to address a rapidly escalating sexual abuse crisis that has spread across several continents, from Australia to Latin America.

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

DALLAS (TX)
CBS 11 News/KTVTTV

August 20, 2018

The Catholic Diocese of Dallas has suspended a priest after allegations of sexual abuse, the bishop announced Sunday.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Market Watch

August 20, 2018

By Leslie Albrecht

After the report on systematic sexual abuse in Pennsylvania involving 1,000 children over 7 decades, some worry their donations have been enabling a culture of secrecy

Pittsburgh mom Derya Little is such a devoted Catholic that she wishes she could go to church every day.

But with four small children, she has to limit her Mass attendance to Sundays. Another key part of her faith is the $10,000 a year she and her husband give to Catholic causes. They adhere to a traditional definition of tithing and donate exactly 10% of their gross income to charity per year.

But this week she won’t be leaving a check in the collection plate at her church. In fact, none of the money she and her husband typically donate to Catholic groups will go to her local parish or diocese this year.

Little was so appalled by the Pennsylvania grand jury report detailing how 300 priests sexually abused more than 1,000 children and then bishops systematically covered it up that she can’t stomach giving anymore money to church leaders. Instead, she says, she’ll donate only to Catholic causes she trusts, like the book publisher Ave Maria Press and missionaries who work in her native Turkey.

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

VATICAN CITY
Detroit Free Press

August 20, 2018

By John Bacon

Pope Francis on Monday condemned the “atrocities” of sexual abuse by priests and church leaders who covered up the crimes, apologizing to the church community and demanding accountability from leaders in the future.

The letter to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics was issued less than a week after the latest in a long line of staggering abuse revelations. A withering grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania attorney general alleged that church leaders protected 301 “predator priests” in six dioceses across the state for decades at the expense of more than 1,000 victims.

“I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons,” Francis said.

He said it was with “shame and repentance” that he acknowledged the church was slow in responding to the problem.

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

COLUMBUS (OH)
CNBC

August 20, 2018

By John Harwood

Rep. Steve Stivers , R-Ohio, has the toughest job in politics right now: trying to stop a Democratic “blue wave” at the polls this fall. Stivers, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, sat down to talk to CNBC’s John Harwood about the campaign and other factors. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

CNBC’s John Harwood: You’ve got a colleague in Ohio, Jim Jordan, who is accused by multiple Ohio State wrestlers that he coached of having ignored sexual abuse that they were experiencing. Why is it OK for him to remain in Congress, to be a member in good standing of the Republican caucus, to run for speaker of the House?

Rep. Steve Stivers: Well, the Ohio State University has an investigation on Dr. Strauss, who died a few years ago but is alleged to have abused many people. I’m looking forward to seeing their results. We have empathy for the victims and as I have empathy for anybody who was victimized in a sexual harassment way or a sexual assault way.

Harwood: Based on what’s on the public record, and who is making the allegations, are you inclined to think that this was a real thing, a real scandal — as opposed to something that was cooked up by people who are opponents of Jim Jordan or opponents of the doctor?

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

UNTIED STATES
Forbes Human Resources Council

August 20, 2018

By Mirande Valbrune

Mirande Valbrune is an employment lawyer with a passion for Employee Relations work. She is the author of #MeToo: A Practical Guide.

Sexual harassment, as highlighted by the #MeToo movement, cuts across all professional industries. Global, high-profile companies have landed at the center of some of the most public sexual harassment cases. With the widespread visibility of the #MeToo movement, what can human resources professionals expect from the fallout?

1. Increased Reporting Of Complaints

With renewed visibility of harassment in the workplace, there is the potential for increased reporting and complaints from staff. Heightened awareness of workplace rights may lead to increased reporting of more than sexual harassment allegations involving a man and a woman. For other protected traits (such as gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability and age, etc.), it will be important to monitor workplace trends on increased complaints and company exposure in these areas.

Actor Terry Crews and others have added male voices to the conversation after coming out as sexual harassment victims. Men may become more willing to complain about harassment now that they have been a part of the increased awareness of harassment.

What HR can do: Policies and training should be updated to include more focus on gender identity and sexual orientation, and emphasizing gender neutrality regarding who may experience sexual harassment. Strategic and progressive training should be designed with an emphasis on “bystander empowerment” to intervene, as this has proven an effective deterrent. Training on the lines of communication for reporting incidents and how to respond in the moment and afterward will be key to addressing the large number of harassment complaints that go unreported to internal sources.

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

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

August 20, 2018

By Philip Puella

Pope Francis, facing sexual abuse crises in several countries, wrote an unprecedented letter to all Catholics on Monday, asking each one of them to help root out “this culture of death” and vowing there would be no more cover ups.

In a highly personal letter addressed to “the people of God,” Church language for all members, the pope appeared to be launching an appeal for all Catholics to face the crisis together and not let it tear the Church apart.

The Catholic Church in the United States, Chile, Australia, and Ireland – where the pope is making a two-day visit this weekend – are reeling from crises involving sexual abuse of minors. Numerous surveys have pointed to plummeting confidence in the Church in those countries and elsewhere.

In his letter, the pope referred to the suffering endured by minors due to sexual abuse at the hands of a “significant number of clerics and consecrated persons.”

The Vatican said it was the first time a pope had written to all of the world’s some 1.2 billion Catholics about sexual abuse. Past letters on sexual abuse scandals have been addressed to bishops and faithful of individual countries.

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

BOSTON (MA)
The Associated Press

August 19, 2018

By Will Graves

USA Gymnastics President Kerry Perry says the embattled organization is in the midst of “productive” mediation talks with athletes who were sexually abused by a disgraced former national team doctor.

USA Gymnastics is facing civil lawsuits filed by dozens of athletes who say they were abused by Larry Nassar. Perry said Sunday the legal process is heading toward a resolution. Nassar, who spent more than two decades with USA Gymnastics and abused athletes under the guise of treatment, is now serving an effective life sentence after being convicted of federal child pornography and state sexual abuse charges.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

A sign at a Roman Catholic high school in Pennsylvania named for Cardinal Donald Wuerl has been vandalized with paint.

Monday is the first day of school for North Catholic High School. It is part of the Pittsburgh Diocese, where Wuerl was bishop from 1988 to 2006. Wuerl is now archbishop of Washington.

A recent grand jury report on six Pennsylvania dioceses accused Wuerl of helping protect some child-molesting priests while he was bishop of Pittsburgh.

Wuerl has apologized for the damage inflicted on the victims but also has defended his actions.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Yahoo View

August 19, 2018

Carol Lee, Yamiche Alcindor, Eugene Robinson and Hugh Hewitt join the panel to discuss fallout from a report detailing abuse in the Catholic Church.

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

UNITED STATES
Variety

August 19, 2018

By Erin Nyren

According to documents obtained by the New York Times, leading #MeToo advocate Asia Argento settled an accusation of sexual assault from former child actor and musician Jimmy Bennett for the sum of $380,000 to be paid over the course of a year and a half.

The claim and resulting discussions of payment are included in documents between the lawyers for Argento and Bennett. The claim states Bennett was a little over 17 years old at the time of the alleged assault, which took place in a California hotel room in 2013 when Argento was 37. The legal age of consent in California is 18.

As part of the agreement, Bennett, who is now 22, gave a selfie of he and Argento in bed and its copyright to Argento, now 42. Three people familiar with the case told the New York Times that the documents were authentic.

The lawyer for Argento who handled the settlement, Carrie Goldberg, in the documents described the money as “helping Mr. Bennett.”

“We hope nothing like this ever happens to you again,” Goldberg wrote. “You are a powerful and inspiring creator and it is a miserable condition of life that you live among s—-y individuals who’ve preyed on both your strengths and your weaknesses.”

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

UNITED STATES
VARIETY

August 20, 2018

Rose McGowan has moved to distance herself from director-actress Asia Argento following the revelation Sunday night that Argento herself has been accused of sexual assault.

McGowan and Argento have been among the most prominent women to come forward with allegations of rape against now-disgraced film titan Harvey Weinstein, who is facing criminal charges in New York unrelated to McGowan or Argento.

McGowan has become a vocal activist on behalf of sexual assault victims. In a tweet sent early Monday, the former “Charmed” star said she her “heart is broken” by the New York Times’ expose published Sunday that Argento reached a $380,000 settlement with actor-musician Jimmy Bennett, who claims Argento sexually assaulted him in a hotel room when he was 17.

“I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere,” McGowan wrote. A few hours later, she expressed qualified support for Argento in another tweet: “None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle.”

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

UNTIED STATES
Yahoo Celebrity

August 20, 2018

By Erin Donnelly

Ever since her accusations of being raped by disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein went public last fall, Asia Argento has been one of the most prominent faces of the #MeToo movement. On Sunday, however, the Italian actress and director was the subject of her own New York Times investigation, with the paper reporting that she paid actor and musician Jimmy Bennett $380,000 after he accused her of sexual assault. Bennett, now 22, was 17 and below the legal age of consent at the time of the alleged 2013 incident.

The Times reports that Bennett, who was 7 years old when he was cast as Argento’s son in the 2004 film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, reportedly pursued legal action after his former co-star emerged as an advocate for survivors of sexual assault following her revelations about Weinstein.

Documents obtained by the Times allege that the former child star met with Argento in a California hotel room on May 9, 2013, where he says she performed oral sex on him before initiating intercourse. Bennett said the incident, which took place three months after his 17th birthday, left him feeling “extremely confused, mortified, and disgusted.”

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

YORK (PA)
York Daily Record

August 19, 2018

By Anthony J. Machcinski

In 2006, Jonathan Ulrick was leaving his lay job to pursue a life in the priesthood, and a few of his friends took him out to lunch. One of the colleagues, a person Ulrick considered a mentor at the job, made a statement involving a priest and a child and made light of the clergy abuse scandal.

The colleague meant the statement as a joke, but it hurt Ulrick.

“I was wondering to myself, ‘Is this what this guy thinks of me?’” Ulrick said Sunday.

Ulrick, now a parochial vicar with St. Joseph, knew the Catholic Church’s reputation took a hit – with the clergy abuse scandal in Boston in 2002 and the others after it – but joined the priesthood anyway. He told the more than 200 on hand on Sunday that he believes he could be part of a “renewal” of the church pushing forward in faith so that “things can be beautiful again.”

There were subtle differences in Sunday’s Mass – hymns were sung, readings were read and babies still cried and cooed – but the Pennsylvania grand jury report that named 301 priests accused of child sexual abuse, including four who were assigned at St. Joseph, was present throughout.

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

PITTSBURGH (PA)
The Irish Times

August 19, 2018

Rev John David Crowley for decades was the hero of Holy Angels until he abruptly retired in 2003

Everything felt normal until the news alert popped up on Cindy Depretis’ cellphone Tuesday afternoon. It was a link to a list of the hundreds of Catholic priests in Pennsylvania accused of abusing children in a bombshell grand jury report. She scrolled to the names of priests near Pittsburgh.

“I got to the Cs,” she recalled tearfully as she sat in her office at Holy Angels Parish. Friends started to text her. “Is that our Fr Crowley?” She could only force out one word: yes. The Rev John David Crowley for decades had been the hero of Holy Angels, a white clapboard church in southeast Pittsburgh, tucked below the bypass, by the old narrow-gauge railroad running along the creek. He was the pastor there for nearly 34 years, known as one of the most popular priests in the region. Then, in 2003, he abruptly retired.

This week, the church learned why: Crowley had been accused of sexual abuse, including of a minor, and the claim was found to be credible and substantiated. The bishop of Pittsburgh at the time, Donald Wuerl, now a cardinal and the archbishop of Washington, gave Crowley the choice to voluntarily retire and quit active ministry, or face removal.

Crowley chose retirement. The families of Holy Angels were kept in the dark. They even protested his departure on his way out. Across the country this week, Catholics reeled from the news that Pennsylvania priests had abused more than 1,000 children over decades, and that bishops largely hid their crimes from the public. In the Pittsburgh diocese, which had almost a third of the state’s accused priests, Catholics in nearly every parish tried to figure out if the pastors they knew had ever been accused, or had known, of allegations they kept secret.

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

UNITED STATES
Fox News

August 19, 2018

By Elizabeth Llorente

Clergy sex abuse of children has rocked the Catholic Church not only in terms of trust and reputation, but also financially, to the tune of more than $3 billion, according to National Public Radio.

The multibillion-dollar expense has gone to settlements in response to lawsuits filed by people abused by clergy, reports NPR. Nearly 20 Catholic dioceses and religious orders have filed for bankruptcy because of the scandals.

An attorney whose firm represented abuse victims said that the money the church has paid because of the crisis is part of justice for those who suffered, though it hardly compensates for all the damage done.

“I don’t like the word healing,” said attorney James Stang to NPR, “because it’s too much of an individual process; but at the end of the day, that accountability is demonstrated by the payment of money.”

The lawsuits have been filed primarily against dioceses and religious orders, which have the kind of auspices over priests that a single parish does not.

The Catholic Church assets involved in settlements include cash, stocks, and land.

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

UNITED STATES
The Associated Press

August 19, 2018

By Ivan Moreno and Jeff Karoub

For decades, Michael Drweiga has opened his wallet whenever the donation basket comes around at church, but the latest revelations of priests sexually abusing children brought him to the conclusion that he can no longer justify giving.

Brice Sokolowski helps small Catholic nonprofits and churches raise money, but he too supports the recent calls to withhold donations.

And Georgene Sorensen has felt enough anger and “just total sadness” over the past few weeks that she’s reconsidering her weekly offering at her parish.

Across the U.S., Catholics once faithful with their financial support to their churches are searching for ways to respond to the constant sex-abuse scandals that have tarnished the institution in which they believe, with back-to-back scandals in the past two months.

The most recent came Tuesday when a grand jury report revealed that hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children in six dioceses since the 1940s – crimes that church leaders are accused of covering up. The report came two months after Pope Francis ordered disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick removed from public ministry amid allegations the 88-year-old retired archbishop sexually abused a teenage altar boy and engaged in sexual misconduct with adult seminarians decades ago. Last month, Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal and ordered him to a “life of prayer and penance.”

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

HARRISBURG (PA)
USA TODAY

August 19, 2018

By John Bacon

A surge in calls to a clergy abuse hotline in Pennsylvania is breathing new life into a vast investigation of “predator priests” and Roman Catholic Church leaders accused of protecting them.

The hotline has drawn more than 300 calls since the release of a withering grand jury report last week claiming church leaders protected hundreds of accused priests at the expense of more than 1,000 abuse victims.

“We’re answering every call and following up every lead,” Joe Grace, spokesman for state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, told USA TODAY on Sunday.

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

VATICAN CITY
AFP

August 20, 2018

Pope Francis condemned Monday the “atrocities” revealed by a far-reaching US report into clerical child sex abuse in the state of Pennsylvania issued last week.

“In recent days, a report was made public which detailed the experiences of at least a thousand survivors… the abuse of power and of conscience at the hands of priests,” the pope said in a letter made public by the Vatican.

“Even though it can be said that most of these cases belong to the past, nonetheless as time goes on we have come to know the pain of many of the victims,” he said.

“We have realised that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death,” he added.

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

UNITED STATES
USA TODAY

August 19, 2018

The Editorial Board

Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Pennsylvania gives Pope Francis one more chance to act: Our view

As horrifying tales of priests molesting children have swept through Catholic dioceses across the country during the past 16 years, there is one equally horrifying constant: a systematic cover-up by bishops and cardinals who hid predators, enabling them to ruin the lives of thousands more children.

Last week, the tale was told again in vivid and disturbing detail. A Pennsylvania grand jury found that 300 priests across the state had molested more than 1,000 children over seven decades. The victims included a young girl in the hospital for a tonsillectomy and five sisters, one of them just 18 months old.

The grand jury laid bare the depths to which church elders sank to hide the scandal — its report called it “a playbook for concealing the truth” — regardless of how many children were hurt.

Coming just weeks after Theodore McCarrick, one of the highest-profile church leaders ever accused of molestation, was removed from ministry and left the College of Cardinals, this latest horror makes clear that the Vatican must do more than invoke prayers and make promises.

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

YORK (PA)
Reuters

August 19, 2018

By Gabriella Borter

Many churchgoers said they were sickened and saddened by a grand jury report detailing widespread sexual abuse by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania but they would not let the Roman Catholic Church’s cover-up dissuade them from their faith.

Nearly 200 parishioners filled almost all the pews for Saturday’s Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in York, Pennsylvania, where six priests who at one time worked in that parish are accused in the report bit.ly/2vTa9oY of sexually abusing children.

“I can’t talk about it without crying,” said Kathy Morris, a retired steelworker and a member of St. Patrick’s for over 15 years. “I’m going to Mass to try to find some peace.”

“I’m disappointed that it happened but as far as the faith goes, I’ll never give my faith up,” said Anthony Giuffrida, 66, an usher and lifelong member at St. Patrick’s. “I was raised Roman Catholic and that’s what I’ll be till the day I die.”

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

NEW YORK (NY)
The Associated Press

August 20, 2018

By David Crary

Allegations that disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick engaged in sex with adult seminarians have inflamed a long-running debate about the presence of gay men in the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Some conservatives are calling for a purge of all gay priests, a challenging task given that they are believed to be numerous and few are open about their sexual orientation. Moderates want the Church to eliminate the need for secrecy by proclaiming that gay men are welcome if they can be effective priests who commit to celibacy.

Among the most outspoken moderates is the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and writer whose book, “Building a Bridge,” envisions a path toward warmer relations between the Catholic Church and the LGBT community.

“The idea of a purge of gay priests is both ridiculous and dangerous,” Martin said in an email. “Any purge would empty parishes and religious orders of the thousands of priests (and bishops) who lead healthy lives of service and faithful lives of celibacy.”

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

ST. PETERSBURG (FL)
The Associated Press

August 18, 2018

By Tamara Lush

Of all the horrific details contained in the Pennsylvania grand-jury report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, one sentence stands out: “The main thing was not to help children, but to avoid ‘scandal.’”

When sex-abuse cases dominate headlines, a familiar pattern often emerges. If it took place at a large organization — be it a church, a large state university or a group such as USA Gymnastics — misconduct is often covered up in hopes of saving the institution’s reputation, and the money that accompanies it.

Why is the role of institutions so powerful? Because they command emotion. They inspire loyalty. And they have established ways of doing things that rev up when problems surface.

Perhaps most relevantly, they often have a community built around them, geographically or otherwise. And preserving that community can become a priority — even over something as seemingly fundamental as protecting the youngest among us.

In short, when bad things happen inside institutions, the ingredients are already there to make things even worse.

“We have to stop protecting our rainmakers, and we have to hold them to the values we espouse, not just move them around,” said Kim Churches, CEO of the American Association of University Women.

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

CONCORD (NH)
Concord Monitor

August 17, 2018

By Alyssa Dandrea

An ex-St. Paul’s School teacher who conspired with a former student to lie to a grand jury about their relationship left a Concord courtroom in handcuffs Friday after pleading guilty to lesser charges.

David Pook, 48, of Warner will spend four months in county jail on misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit false swearing and criminal contempt of court. As part of a plea agreement, all felony charges were dismissed.

Pook was arrested by the state attorney general’s office in February as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Concord prep school’s handling of sexual misconduct and assault allegations over several decades. Deputy Attorney General Jane Young said Friday that the broader investigation was negatively affected as prosecutors turned their attention to Pook, who schemed with a former student, Stephanie O’Connell, to lie under oath.

“The state is investigating St. Paul’s School for actions of students. The conduct of this defendant and the co-conspirator sidetracked this investigation for months because of their concerted effort to lie,” Young said.

As a condition of his 120-day sentence, Pook is prohibited from holding another teaching job in New Hampshire.

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

LAKEVILLE (CT)
National Public Radio

August 18, 2018

By James Doubel

An elite boarding school in Connecticut is acknowledging sexual abuse by seven now-former staffers against 16 students — going back as far as 1969 and lasting until 1992.

The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Conn., is a private high school of about 600 students.

“For many graduates, Hotchkiss was a wonderful experience, yet a significant number of former students recounted enduring sexual abuse at the hands of faculty,” according to a report from the law firm Locke Lord that was released on Friday.

The report names seven former staffers, including teachers, an athletic director, medical director and choral director. Most of those named were employed by the school for decades, some as recently as the 2000s and one in 2012. Three of them have died, the school says.

Three other adults who were “formerly part of the Hotchkiss community” are not named, but investigators found the reports of their abuse “highly credible.”

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

UNITED STATES
Think Progress

August 19, 2018

By Zack Ford

Two cardinals have backed out from the World Meeting of Families.

Fallout continues in the Catholic Church following a bombshell grand jury report documenting over a thousand instances of child sexual abuse from over 300 priests in Pennsylvania. While some Catholic leaders continue to downplay the significance of the allegations, others are canceling upcoming public appearances.

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, who heads up Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, announced earlier this week that he was canceling his trip to Dublin for the World Meeting of Families, which will include a visit from Francis himself.

O’Malley claimed he will instead be focusing on investigations into alleged sexual misconduct at St. John’s Seminary in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston — completely separate from the Pennsylvania report.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM NEWSRADIO

August 17, 2018

By Craig Dellimore

A preliminary report on the Chicago Public School’s sex-abuse scandal shows CPS officials had no idea how much of a problem they had on their hands.

The preliminary findings issued by former federal prosecutor Maggie Hickey and her law firm are blistering in assessing how CPS handled thousands of reports of possible sexual harassment, child welfare alerts, and allegations of employee misconduct.

The report says the school system did not collect overall data to spot trends at certain schools or in specific areas, and so CPS failed to recognize the extent of the problem.

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