ABUSE TRACKER

HARTFORD (CT)
Fox 61 News

January 22, 2019

By Doug Stewart

The Archdiocese of Hartford released information Tuesday, regarding clerical sexual abuse of minors in the archdiocese.

The archdiocese post the information at Promise.archdioceseofhartford.org The website was very slow to respond when it was first released. The list of clergy is below.

Last week, Jesuits in Northeast posted list of priests accused of abuse and 16 of them had Connecticut connections.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford says it has paid $50.6 million to settle priest sexual abuse claims over the last several decades.

The archdiocese said Tuesday that it has settled 142 claims involving 32 clergy members. The archdiocese paid out $24.5 million from its general reserve fund and insurance recoveries covered the rest of the cost of the settlements.

The archdiocese said 98 percent of the settlements paid were over allegations of abuse of minors that occurred before 1990.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ TV

January 22, 2019

The Catholic Diocese of Buffalo has created a task force to review and recommend policies and procedures in dealing with sexual abuse allegations with adults.

According to the Diocese, the Adult Sexual Abuse and Misconduct Task Force will ensure the diocese’s policies for adult abuse/misconduct complement the policies on child abuse.

The task force, which in consists of five members, will also review investigation framework of sexual abuse and ensure it is in compliance with federal and state law, canon law and the Diocese of Buffalo’s Code of Conduct.

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[Church expert compares potential impact of Renato Poblete and Cristián Precht abuse cases]

CHILE
Emol TV

January 21, 2019

Marcial Sánchez, experto en historia de la iglesia, asegura que “sí va a haber condenas” tras los procesos en Fiscalía. Respecto a la situación del sacerdote Óscar Muñoz Toledo, el experto dijo que sí debiera perder el estado clerical.

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ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Agency

January 22, 2019

By Ed Condon

As the Church continues to wrestle with the fall-out of last year’s sexual abuse scandals, the Vatican faces a series of crucial decisions in the coming weeks. How they are resolved, and in what order, will likely set the tone for the rest of the year.

One month from today, the heads of the world’s bishops’ conferences will gather in Rome for a special summit to address the abuse crisis. Ahead of that meeting, the Vatican has attempted to lower what it has called “excessive” expectations.

These efforts notwithstanding, the credibility of its discussions and conclusions will likely play a large part in shaping wider assessments of the Church in 2019. But before the three-day meeting begins, two other events could do much to frame how the February session will be seen from the outside.

The first of these events is the replacement of Cardinal Donald Wuerl as Archbishop of Washington, DC. The second is the conclusion of the penal process handling the allegations against Wuerl’s predecessor, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Both are expected imminently, and both seem sure to cast a shadow, for good or for ill, on February’s meeting and whatever it produces.

As has been previously reported, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently concluded the investigative phase of its handling of the McCarrick case. The CDF also confirmed that, instead of a full canonical trial, McCarrick was facing a penal administrative process – ordinarily reserved for handling cases where the evidence is clear and compelling.

Officials in different Vatican departments, if not the CDF itself, have already begun pointedly referring to the former cardinal as “Mr. McCarrick” in a nod to his likely laicization if he is found guilty of sexual abuse.

While Rome appears intent on ensuring the McCarrick case is resolved – one way or another – before the February meeting, how much detail the CDF makes public about the resolution will be important.

McCarrick is accused of a number of grave crimes, including the sexual abuse of minors and adults. What is done and said about his alleged abuse of adults may prove more significant, even if it represents the lesser charge canonically speaking.

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JACKSON (MS)
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

By January 22, 2019

Sarah Fowler

Mark Belenchia remembers the first time he saw his would-be abuser.

Belenchia was playing third base, wearing a white, wool baseball uniform with green socks pulled up to his knees. A matching green hat covered his mop of dark brown hair. He was 12 years old.

The year was 1968, and the Rev. Bernard Haddican had just arrived in Shelby, a small town nestled in the Mississippi Delta. From his position on the field, Belenchia saw Haddican arrive, mingling with parents and parishioners of St. Mary’s Church, the local Catholic parish. He was in street clothes and was personable. No one in Shelby had ever met a priest like him.

“All of the priests prior to him stayed real close to the church, in the rectory,” Belenchia said. “They didn’t get out in the community and, when they did, they were always dressed in black, with their collar on. That’s the way priests presented themselves.

“He showed up at the Little League baseball game and he wasn’t in a collar. Here he was, this breath of fresh air, coming into our town. He was different. He took up with the youth, he was at a baseball game. It was a moment to be proud and to relish, ‘Here’s our guy.’

“The protestant preachers, their kids were there and they might have been an umpire or a coach or whatever. We just didn’t have that…it knocked down a bunch of shields right there, just because he came and saw a Little League baseball game.”

Six months later, give or take, Belenchia says, Haddican touched his penis for the first time. The abuse would progress. It continued for years.

In hindsight, Belenchia believes he was being groomed by Haddican from the moment the priest met him.

The church announced in November that dioceses in Mississippi and Alabama would be releasing the names of priests who were removed from the ministry after allegations of abuse. Haddican, who has since died, was never removed from the ministry.

Belenchia said by sharing his story with the Clarion Ledger, he’s hoping the Jackson Diocese will feel compelled to go ahead and release the names of priests identified as abusers.

Maureen Smith, communications director for the Jackson Diocese, said the list of names is expected to be released this spring.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

January 22, 2019

By Dave Altimari

The Archdiocese of Hartford Tuesday released the names of 48 priests “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, leading to the archdiocese paying out $50.6 million to settle more than 140 claims.

The archdiocese also announced it would hire a retired state judge to review priest personnel files in an effort, according to Archbishop Leonard Blair, to remove the “dark cloud” that still hangs over the Catholic Church.

“I have been a bishop now for almost 20 years and most of them have been overshadowed by the sin and scandal of sexual abuse and its devastating effect on the victims survivors and their families, on the morale of our priests and on the faith and even the practice of the faith among the Catholic people,”Blair said in a statement released on the church website.

“The lingering unhealed wounds from past abuse continue to cry out for further actions and answers,” Blair said.

The priests identified Tuesday include:
Gregory Altermatt, Joseph Buckley, Stephen Bzdyra, Herbert Clarkin, Stephen Crowley, Robert Doyle, Ivan Ferguson, Stephen Foley, Thomas Glynn, Paul Gotta, John Graham, Philip Hussey, Edward Hyland, Joseph Lacy, Robert Ladamus, Felix Maguire, Terry Manspeaker, Richard McGann, Daniel McSheffery, Peter Mitchell, Edward Muha, Howard Nash, John T. O’Connor, Raymond Paul, Louis Patrurzo, Arthur Perrault, William Pzrybylo, George Raffaeta, Edward Reardon, Adolph Renkiewicz, Joseph Rozint, Robert E. Shea, Kenneth Shiner, Edward Tissera, Felix Werpechowski and Peter Zizka.

Twelve others were identified from other religious orders or other dioceses related to allegations that happened in the Hartford Archdiocese. The six from other dioceses are Roman Kramek, Lucien Meunier, Edward Franklin, Bruno Primavera, John B. Ramsey and Jose Rivera. The six priests from other religious orders that were on assignment in Hartford are William Izquierdo, Michael Miller, Robert Leo Pelkington, John Pryor, John Rudy and John Szantyr.

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SYDNEY (NOVA SCOTIA)
Cape Breton Post

January 22, 2019

By Robert Coleman

The belief that homosexual priests are the cause of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is gaining traction. While it is widely acknowledged that we need to understand the roots of the problem so as to effect change, healing and justice, we should be wary of being comforted by simplistic answers.

Think for a moment about the claim that homosexual priests are to blame for the abuse. What that suggests is that the homosexual orientation causes, predisposes and compels a man to engage in sexual predatory behaviour against children. Thus it is a risk factor by its very nature. Such a position, however, is not supported by scientific research as conducted by experts in psychology and behavioural studies. In fact, research has shown that the vast majority of sex offenders who victimize children are actually heterosexual men who most often victimize their own family members.

As a heterosexual man, therefore, I am statistically much more of a threat to sexually abuse a minor. Is that because my heterosexual orientation causes, predisposes and compels me to sexually abuse children? Is it a risk factor by its very nature? I somehow think that most people would recognize the absurdity of that proposition and reject it outright. So why don’t we recognize it as being equally absurd when we make such a claim about a person with a homosexual orientation? Could it be that we view heterosexual orientation as normal and homosexual orientation as abnormal? That would indicate that the homosexual orientation is a mental disorder. Again that is simply not supported by science.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Magazine

January 22, 2019

By Andrew Sullivan

We have no reliable figures on just how many priests in the Catholic Church are gay. The Vatican has conducted many studies on its own clergy but never on this subject. In the United States, however, where there are 37,000 priests, no independent study has found fewer than 15 percent to be gay, and some have found as many as 60 percent. The consensus in my own research over the past few months converged on around 30 to 40 percent among parish priests and considerably more than that — as many as 60 percent or higher — among religious orders like the Franciscans or the Jesuits.

This fact hangs in the air as a giant, unsustainable paradox. A church that, since 2005, bans priests with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” and officially teaches that gay men are “objectively disordered” and inherently disposed toward “intrinsic moral evil” is actually composed, in ways very few other institutions are, of gay men.

The massive cognitive dissonance this requires is becoming harder to sustain. The collapse of the closet in public and private life in the past three decades has made the disproportionate homosexuality of the Catholic priesthood much less easy to hide, ignore, or deny. This cultural and moral shift has not only changed the consciousness of most American Catholics (67 percent of whom support civil marriage for gay couples) and gay priests (many of whom are close to quitting) but also broken the silence that long shrouded the subject.

Five years ago, Pope Francis made his watershed “Who am I to judge?” remark after being asked about a flawed gay priest. “A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality,” Francis went on. “I replied with another question: ‘Tell me, when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being.” In the final draft of the 2014 Synod on the Family, Francis included explicit mention of the “gifts and qualities” of homosexuals, asking, “Are we capable of welcoming [them]?” These sentiments won 62 percent of the votes of the synod bishops — just shy of what was necessary to pass, but still evidence of a sharp shift in tone in official Catholic teaching.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 22, 2019

By Peter Feuerherd

Pope Francis is confusing, is weak on enforcing doctrine, and sows discord among believers, according to a cadre of faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary here who regularly express their consternation online and in other public forums.

Behind the iron gates of Sacred Heart Seminary, noted for its imposing Gothic architecture, there is a loyal opposition to Pope Francis, with a number of professors questioning the pontiff’s approach to doctrinal and moral issues. They say he is too lax on a roster of issues, including LGBT people in the church, capital punishment, and Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics.

Sacred Heart students include 120 seminarians studying for 10 dioceses and an eparchy from the Midwest, as well as four religious orders, and 365 lay students, most of whom are studying for teaching and lay ministry positions in the Detroit Archdiocese.

Some Sacred Heart professors have suggested that the pope should resign. One noted on social media that Francis’ most prominent clerical critic, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, should be pope, a post that was quickly edited with an added “(jk),” meaning “just kidding.”

Another professor, Edward Peters, argued in an online post Sept. 5, 2018, that if Viganò’s accusations are true that the pope knew about sexual harassment and abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Francis should resign.

Peters, a professor of canon law, has argued on his contentious blog that Francis has been pastorally reckless and wrongheaded in his approach. The most outspoken of the pope’s social media critics from Sacred Heart, Peters also argues that the pope overstepped his authority with a blanket condemnation of the death penalty last August.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

January 22, 2019

By Dave Altimari

The Archdiocese of Hartford is scheduled to reveal Tuesday that it has paid $50.6 million to settle more than 140 priest sexual abuse claims made mostly by minors, including 20 credible allegations against one priest, according to information shared Monday with area clergy.

The archdiocese also will announce that it is hiring former state Judge Antonio Robaina to do an independent review of church records from 1953, when the archdiocese was formed, until now. Church officials, including Archbishop Leonard Blair, met with priests at the St. Thomas Seminary to share details of the report.

There will be 47 priests named who have either had civil lawsuits filed against them or have been the subject of claims that archdiocese officials deemed credible. Included are six priests from other dioceses who allegedly abused a child while assigned to Hartford and six priests from other religious orders.

Diocese spokeswoman Maria Zone declined to comment on what would be revealed Tuesday.

Priests who gathered Monday were informed that slightly more than half of the $50.6 million was paid by the church’s insurance carrier and that the rest came from the general fund. Of the 142 claims that were settled, about 84 percent involved allegations against nine priests.

One priest had 20 credible abuse claims against him that were settled for $10.7 million.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Sun-Times

January 21, 2019

By Mitch Dudek

The attorney representing a Catholic priest who is accused of sexual abuse during his time as head of a facility in Des Plaines that cared for troubled kids called the allegations “ridiculous.”

Attorney Frank DiFranco said Rev. John Smyth “adamantly denies” the allegations that he molested two boys in his office while head of Maryville Academy.

“It never happened. It’s a lie. The stuff that was alleged is nonsense,” he told the Sun-Times on Monday.

“You’ve got this man who’s never been accused of anything … and then you’ve got two convicted felons who concoct a story in prison of how they were abused,” DiFranco said. “It’s ridiculous, especially when you consider the thousands and thousands of kids who went through Maryville.”

Jeanine Stevens — the attorney representing the two accusers, who are both in their 30s and but were ages 13 and 14 when they were allegedly abused — said it’s common for traumatic events to take years to bubble to the surface.

“People spend their lives burying this kind of thing. People don’t concoct these stories. They feel humiliation and shame,” she said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

January 21, 2019

Regarding the Jan. 17 Metro article “Wuerl apologizes for false statements”:

It has been important to know the facts concerning the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal and Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s involvement in former c ardinal Theodore McCarrick’s sexual misconduct scandal. I trust there will be just as thorough reporting of the Catholic Church’s reform of sexual abuse and abuse-of-authority standards as the global church hierarchy meets at its synod. Church leaders realize they have “nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” in the words of the Martha and the Vandellas song.

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BENNINGTON (VT)
Bennington Banner

January 21, 2019

By Mark Rondeau

Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Church will be the site on Monday, Jan. 28, of one of six Catholic “town meetings” to be held around Vermont this month.

The meetings will feature Diocese of Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne. This is part of an overall effort to improve communications within the diocese, which encompasses all of Vermont.

The church is located at 238 Main St. The meeting will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Catholics and anyone else interested may attend.

“I think it’s wonderful to have the bishop coming down here to have a town hall meeting and talk to the parishioners,” said the Rev. Bob Wiseman, C.S.C., pastor of Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales and St. John the Baptist Church in North Bennington. “We’re three hours from the headquarters, but the fact he’s committing to an hour and a half with the parish, asking questions and answering questions, I think that’s very positive.”

Coyne announced the town meetings in a Jan. 2 letter to the diocese.

“When I returned from the U.S. bishop’s meeting in November, I felt it was important to establish better two-way communication with people in the pews,” Coyne wrote. “Because of my schedule, it took a while to plan these meetings in easily accessible locations around the state, but now I am ready to listen and respond to concerns and questions from the Catholic community. I think it so important to be as open and transparent about all matters as much as possible.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Malvern Retreat House

January 14, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write to share troubling news regarding our former Rector, Father John F. Meyers, who served at Malvern Retreat House/St. Joseph in the Hills (MRH) from June 2017 until October 2018, when he resigned his position. The information below and news release was provided to us by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

In late 2018, the Archdiocese placed Father Meyers on administrative leave and restricted his priestly faculties following receipt of an allegation that he had sexually abused a minor in the early 1980s. It was the first allegation of this kind lodged against Father Meyers. The allegation was referred to law enforcement and the Archdiocese cooperated with authorities in the course of their work. No criminal charges were filed.

The required canonical investigation of Father Meyers was launched after law enforcement declined to press charges. The Archdiocesan Office of Investigations undertook that canonical process. The results of the canonical investigation were provided to the Archdiocesan Professional Responsibilities Review Board. This board recently recommended to the Archbishop that Father Meyers was unsuitable for ministry based on a substantiated allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

Archbishop Chaput accepted that recommendation and determined that Father Meyers is unsuitable for ministry. His case will now be forwarded to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican in keeping with procedure for the formal canonical process.

We felt it was important that we inform our Board, staff, and retreatants of this matter and the determination made by the Archbishop regarding Father Meyers’ suitability for ministry.

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS TV

January 2, 2019

By Jessica D’Onofrio and Mark Rivera

As high-ranking members of the Catholic Church met Wednesday in north suburban Mundelein, clergy sexual abuse survivors gathered in front of the Archdiocese of Chicago to call criticize the handling of abuse allegations.

“The church has a history of minimizing and denying the unbelievable pain and horror of being sexually abused by a priest,” said clergy sex abuse survivor Patricia Gallagher Marchant.

Survivors and activists from End Clergy Abuse and Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued a letter to Pope Francis calling for Cardinal Blase Cupich’s removal from his prominent role organizing a worldwide papal summit on clergy sex abuse next month, and they are demanding action.

An 89-year-old man was killed and a woman critically injired in a fire in a five-story apartment building Wednesday morning in the Dunning neighborhood.

“How are survivors going to trust this process if he’s in charge of it,” asked Peter Isely, US Spokesperson for End Clergy Abuse. “They can’t. How can the public an Catholics trust this process around the world? They can’t.”

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SINGAPORE
Channel News Asia

January 3, 2019

Patricia Gallagher Marchant was first abused by a priest who befriended her family when she was seven or eight years old.

More than five decades later, the 61-year-old stood Wednesday (Jan 2) in front of a throng of news cameras outside the downtown Chicago headquarters of the Catholic archdiocese in this sprawling American city, and demanded the church listen to survivors.

“They’ve counted on our silence,” Marchant said. “The horror of what happened to each of us needs to be out and spoken.”

Marchant was joined by leaders of two survivors’ advocacy groups who sent an open letter to Pope Francis asking to be a part of a historic gathering that the Catholic leader called for in February at the Vatican, to discuss the ongoing crisis roiling the church.

At issue was the very credibility of the pope’s conference, they claimed, and whether survivors would have faith in its outcome.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB TV News 4

Dec 19, 2018

An attorney representing more than a dozen alleged clergy sex abuse victims released a list of settlement offers from the Buffalo Catholic Diocese’s compensation program.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian says he has received a total of 13 offers, ranging from $10,000 to $340,000.

The list goes into detail, stating which priests from which churches were allegedly involved, the date of the alleged abuse and the ages of the alleged victims.

The earliest date is 1959 and the latest is 1988.

Garabedian did not disclose the specific money amount each alleged victim was offered in the settlement.

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BEIT EL (ISRAEL)
Israel National News

January 20, 2019

By Arutz Sheva

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel began the process of revoking the title of rabbi from Moti Elon following the new allegations against him.

Elon was convicted [https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170666] of performing an indecent act with a minor while taking advantage of being in a position of authority in 2013. He was given a sentence of jail time and fined NIS 10,000.

According to the report of Akiva Weiss in Kan 11, the legal adviser of the rabbinate sent a letter to Rabbi Elon in which the legal adviser wrote that he has three weeks to present his position before the meeting of the disciplinary committee of the Chief Rabbinate.

Many of those who supported Elon in 2013 changed their positions in light of the most recent allegations against him. Rabbi Chaim Druckman, one of the leading religious Zionist rabbis in Israel, called on Elon to cease teaching and avoid all contact with students.

Last week [https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/257541], Rabbi Drickman wrote: “As soon as I received the information, and after conferring with other rabbis, I delivered an order that Rabbi Elon should not be allowed to deliver lectures or host any other public activities for the greater public, and that he should not have any private meetings with youth.”

“Obviously, following our obligation to fulfill the commandment, “V’haya machanecha kadosh, and your camps shall be holy,” we must take every necessary action in order to create a safe, protective and respectful environment for everyone.”

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ST. PAUL (MN)
Pioneer Press

January 21, 2019

By Rick Kambic

The weeklong retreat that brought hundreds of U.S.-based Roman Catholic bishops to Mundelein Seminary earlier this month was flagged by the FBI as an event worthy of resources despite a government shutdown, according to a recent report from police.

Approximately 280 cardinals and bishops, plus more than 100 assistants and two representatives from the Vatican were at the seminary between Jan. 2 and Jan. 7, Mundelein Police Chief Eric Guenther said during a Jan. 14 Village Board meeting.

A campus-wide phone outage was the only issue of note, as Guenther said no arrests were made and no threats or acts of vandalism were investigated.

“It was very well run, very smooth, the archdiocese couldn’t have been nicer or more complimentary of how we handled it,” Guenther said during his report.

The FBI issued a level five special event assessment rating for the retreat, according to Guenther.

“It is the lowest level that can be given, but (the event) rose to the point of the (federal) government saying this is a legitimized event that needs to be managed and overseen,” Guenther said.

Pope Francis called for the Mundelein retreat in October after a grand jury report in August documented bishops and other church leaders in Pennsylvania covering up the sexual abuse of children by hundreds of priests and other clergy over roughly seven decades.

Then in December, a report from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said accusations have been leveled against 690 Illinois priests, while Catholic officials have publicly identified only 185 clergy with credible allegations against them.

Although the report says that “clergy sexual abuse of minors in Illinois is significantly more extensive than the Illinois dioceses previously reported,” it does not estimate how many of the allegations, some of which are decades-old, should have been deemed credible.

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UNITED STATES
Faded Memories blog

January 19, 2019

By Dan Carlson

When I was in Air Force technical school many years ago, one of my instructors kept a toy tractor on his desk. As we in the class learned quickly, the tractor was a useful motivational tool … when a student gave a wrong answer in class, the instructor would pass him the tractor telling him to use it to pull his head out of his … well … someplace where it should not have been.

Watching the continuing comedy of errors in Catholic Church leadership, I have a feeling that my instructor’s tractor could be useful. The most recent candidate for this piece of machinery would have to be Cardinal Donald Wuerl who, last week, remembered that he had forgotten about an accusation he had forwarded to Rome in 2004, concerning sexual misconduct by disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Yes, you read that correctly … he remembered that he had forgotten.

It is important to note that this hollow explanation follows upon Wuerl’s repeated obfuscation regarding what he knew about McCarrick’s sexual misconduct, when he became aware of it, and what he did about it. Meanwhile, McCarrick, who has been ordered to a life of seclusion, prayer and penance at a friary in Kansas, awaits disposition of his case in the Vatican justice system.

In the late 1970s, comedian Steve Martin explained how using the words “I forgot” can get us out of trouble. Martin went on to explain that it is possible to become wealthy simply by not paying taxes, and when the IRS comes calling all we have to do is say: “I forgot that I am supposed to pay taxes.” The same thing goes for a charge of armed robbery … according to Martin, all we have to tell the judge is: “I forgot armed robbery is illegal.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
First Things

January 21, 2019

by Dan Hitchens

The story of offshore finance is a familiar one. Individuals or companies want to avoid taxes, fines, lawsuits, or investigations, so they move their wealth to the Cook Islands, or register some part of their business in Switzerland. The millionaire can still live and spend in America, the business can sell Brazilian beef to China, but their cash takes a few detours through tax havens. As the author Nicholas Shaxson puts it, “You take your money elsewhere, to another country, in order to escape the rules and laws of the society in which you operate.”

One aspect of Shaxson’s 2011 book Treasure Islands is especially disturbing, not least for Catholics at the present moment. Shaxson has a skill for finding offshore’s outsiders and telling their stories. They describe a world that, quietly but forcefully, defends wrongdoers. An unnamed “former hedge fund administrator” in the Cayman Islands found that, when he raised concerns about crooked accounting, he began to be shut out of important conversations. It’s typical of the system, he says. No threats are made explicitly, no anger is shown; but those who don’t fit in will be excluded—or given huge amounts of work, or subtly reminded that “If you speak in one place, the network works in a way that you will never get work again.” The ex-banker Beth Krall tells Shaxson that not only do the bank chiefs all know each other, they also know the police and the regulators. A lawyer in Jersey, who spoke up about the corruption he saw at first hand, says bluntly: “I have all the qualifications, and I couldn’t get a job in a law firm to make tea now.”

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ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

January 21, 2019

By Joshua J. McElwee

A Catholic priest serving as an official of the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has remained in his role after being publicly accused of soliciting a woman for sex in the confessional.

Although the claim against Fr. Hermann Geissler was brought forward two months ago, he was listed by the Vatican Jan. 18 as taking part in an international meeting of Asian bishops’ conference officials in Bangkok, as head of the doctrinal section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Asked about the case against Geissler, Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti told NCR Jan. 21 that the priest is “under examination by the Superiors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who reserve the right to take the appropriate initiatives.”

Doris Wagner, a German, recalled being approached by Geissler during confession in 2009 at a Nov. 27 Rome event focused on giving voice to women survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

While Wagner did not name Geissler at the event, she said the incident had occurred with someone who is “now a capo ufficio (section leader) in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.”

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LAFAYETTE (LA)
KATC YV

January 21, 2019

By Jim Hummel

Transparency and openness in the Diocese of Lafayette is being questioned by a group of devout Catholics who have formed an anonymous group called The Society of St. Peter Damian (SSPD). Now, one of their members is coming forward.

“St. Peter Damian, our patron, was very outspoken, he was a priest and very outspoken,” said Quinn Hebert, a member of the SSPD. “We don’t see that among clergy, because it is really not our place to be doing this, and yet we’ve been forced to, because those whose place it is refuse to act.”

Hebert is a former seminarian in the diocese, who says he and others were compelled to do something because of the church’s response to the clergy sex abuse crisis locally and worldwide.

“It’s for the good of the church,” he said. “We love the church, we absolutely adore the church, we love the hierarchy, we have no intention of usurping the authority of the bishop, that’s not our goal. We want to assist the bishop, encourage him to do the right thing.”

In their posts on social media, the SSPD has called into question the effectiveness of the church’s Safe Environment Program and called for transparency in the clergy sex abuse crisis.

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR Radio

January 21, 2019

The top Catholic bishops from around the world will gather at the Vatican for a historic summit next month. The topic will be sex abuse by the clergy. Here & Now’s Lisa Mullins looks at the impact of the revelations on the once thriving Catholic community in Boston.

This segment airs on January 21, 2019. Audio will be available after the broadcast.

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[Clergy abuse victims ask Spain’s Government for an investigative commission and action by prosecutor’s office]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 21, 2019

By Íñigo Domínguez

La primera organización nacional de afectados en España denuncia el desinterés de los políticos y recoge 500.000 firmas para que el delito no prescriba hasta los 65 años

Las víctimas de abusos del clero en España empiezan a movilizarse. Hasta ahora, estas personas denunciaban sus casos de forma aislada en la prensa y habían surgido varias asociaciones, pero de forma local. “No conseguíamos hacer oír nuestra voz, por primera vez vamos a denunciar juntos y así nadie nos podrá parar”, ha explicado hoy en rueda de prensa Miguel Hurtado, que ha revelado en EL PAÍS su denuncia de abusos en el monasterio de Montserrat en 1999. Junto a otras víctimas ha fundado la Asociación Nacional de Infancias Robadas (ANIR), cuyo objetivo no es prestar asistencia, por falta de recursos, sino movilizar a la sociedad sobre esta cuestión. Está asociada a un colectivo internacional de organizaciones de varios países, ACA, Fin del Abuso Clerical, en sus siglas en inglés.

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[Opinion: One year after the Pope’s visit to Chile]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 21, 2019

La semana pasada se cumplió un año de la visita del Papa al país, la que despertaba grandes expectativas luego de lo vivido tres décadas antes con Juan Pablo II. Sin embargo, el complejo escenario que enfrentaba la Iglesia en Chile por acusaciones hacia religiosos por abusos sexuales y de poder -entre ellos algunas figuras emblemáticas- durante los últimos años, como asimismo de encubrimiento por parte de autoridades del clero, determinaron una menor participación del público en las actividades con el Pontífice. Una situación que adquirió una connotación aún más delicada con la polémica defensa que Francisco hizo del obispo Juan Barros al término de su viaje.

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[Benito Baranda stresses that he felt “a mixture of anger, indignation and pain” after accusation against Renato Poblete]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 21, 2019

By Rosario Gallardo

En línea con lo que dijo en entrevista con La Tercera este fin de semana, el exdirector del Hogar de Cristo no ocultó su decepción por la dura imputación que afecta al fallecido sacerdote jesuita.

El exdirector del Hogar de Cristo y presidente ejecutivo de América Solidaria, Benito Baranda, reiteró que al enterarse de la acusación mientras viajaba a Chile desde Haití, lo que pasó por su mente fue una “mezcla de rabia, indignación y dolor fuerte. Inmediatamente pensé en las personas que les tocó experimentar estos abusos, por ese tormento“, en declaraciones concedidas a la radio Imagina.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Journal Sentinel

January 21, 2019

By Annysa Johnson

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm is calling for a statewide investigation of the Catholic Church’s response to allegations of sexual abuse of minors, similar to the Pennsylvania probe that sparked a wave of inquiries across the country.

Chisholm said he would like to work with district attorneys around the state and newly elected Attorney General Josh Kaul to review all abuse allegations over the last 50 years. He said he would hope the state’s bishops would voluntarily open their files.

If not, he said, he would be open to other mechanisms, such as a John Doe or grand jury proceeding.

Chisholm said he also would consider asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to share with authorities the names of more than 100 alleged offenders under seal as part of the now-closed Archdiocese of Milwaukee bankruptcy.

“I strongly believe that we should have access to all of the dioceses’ complaints for the last 50 years, similar to a process we started in Milwaukee County in the early 2000s,” Chisholm said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

He acknowledged “criminal prosecutions in most cases would be highly unlikely” because victims or perpetrators may have died or the statute of limitations has run out.

“I still think there’s a value in looking at this systematically and assessing what happened, just to make sure it is transparent and there’s an honest accounting of it,” he said.

Repeated efforts by the Journal Sentinel to reach Kaul to gauge his interest in a statewide probe have not been successful, but a comment from his staff over the weekend suggests he may be considering such a move.

Kaul’s office told the Wisconsin State Journal on Saturday that it would not comment on a request by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests for him to open a statewide investigation, “given this relates to a potential investigation.”

Abuse survivor and founding SNAP member Peter Isely called the developments “promising” and heartening for victim-survivors who have been calling on state and federal authorities to launch such a probe for years.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 21, 2019

By Mary Lilly Driciru

Sexual abuse is a widely discussed topic today. It has cut across families (often in the form of domestic violence), spreads even to religious institutions, and is often used as a weapon in conflict situations. Many have experienced this humiliating trauma, and felt its stigma. We are overwhelmed and concerned about it as if it were a cancer! Few could be aware of its magnitude unless they are close to its reality.

In the Great Lakes Region of Africa, consecrated women and men who have been exposed to the realities of sexual abuse were urged to address its horror through a wakeup call at two formation workshops about “Compassionate Response to Victims of Sexual Abuse in Conflict Situations,” held in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kampala, Uganda, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. They were dynamic workshops that drove concepts home with group discussions, presentations, role plays and the like.

I was invited to attend the workshop in Kampala as the Association of Religious in Uganda (ARU) Justice and Peace Executive Committee Secretary, and a member of the hosting team. We felt this was important to chart our way forward to enhance our justice, peace and integrity of creation activities.

The workshops were held in partnership with the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission (JPIC) of the Union of International Superior Generals (UISG) in Rome, at the request of the British government, represented by the United Kingdom Embassy of the Holy See.

The first workshop was organized and hosted in 2017 in Goma, where sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war. As woman activist Lina Zedriga Waru says, “the body of woman is the battle field for the perpetrators.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 21, 2019

By Gail DeGeorge

Galvanized by the #MeToo movement and the sex abuse crisis commanding the attention of the Vatican, women religious are now openly discussing a subject that was once taboo — sexual harassment, abuse and rape of sisters by clergy — in congregational motherhouses and national conference offices.

Slowly, an era is ending in which Catholic women religious were silent victims of sexual abuse by priests and bishops. Consider these developments in the past year:

In Chile, the Vatican is investigating complaints by members of a congregation of sexual abuse by priests and mistreatment by their superiors.

In India, Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar faces charges for raping a former superior of a congregation multiple times. He is the first bishop in India to be arrested for sexual abuse of a nun. He has denied the charges. More than 80 sisters were among 167 signers of a letter in July asking that he be relieved of his pastoral duties. Five sisters of the congregation and other supporters engaged in a highly unusual public demonstration supporting the former superior and protesting initial inaction by church and state authorities.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Breitbart News

January 20. 2019

John Zmirak, senior editor at The Stream, called for the federal government to end contractual relationships with Catholic Church-affiliated nonprofits in response to revelations of senior Catholic officials’ involvement in sexual abuse and related cover-ups.

He offered his remarks in a Friday interview on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Tonight with host Rebecca Mansour.

Mansour began, “We now have absolute proof that former Washington, DC Cardinal Donald Wuerl totally lied about not knowing that his predecessor, Cardinal McCarrick, was a total sexual predator. We now know for a fact that Cardinal Wuerl lied his behind off, and it’s just appalling and disgusting. He knew exactly what was going on.”

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

January 21, 2019

By Inés San Martín and Christopher WhiteJ

When presidents and other representatives of the world’s nearly 130 bishops’ conferences gather in Rome next month for a summit on clerical sex abuse, many experts are predicting it will be the most-covered Vatican event since the last papal election in 2013.

Whether the gathering lives up to that hype, however, remains to be seen.

The Vatican has sought to downplay expectations for the February 21-24 event, with newly minted editorial director of the Vatican’s dicastery for Communications and veteran journalist Andrea Tornielli labeling the media hype of it as “excessive.” Yet the fact remains that after nearly a year of ongoing sex abuse scandals that have shaken the Church to its core, survivors and rank-and-file Catholics alike are increasingly impatient for results.

As the countdown begins, here’s Crux’s look at what is known – and what remains unknown.

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LOSS ANGELES (CA)
LA Magazine

January 17, 2019

By Catherine Womack

Church was a refuge for Trina McKillen when she was young. Growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during “the Troubles” of the 1960s and ’70s, her neighborhood was a hotspot for political violence. When bomb scares threatened her elementary school, McKillen and her classmates were led into a nearby church for safety.

“That had an unbelievable effect on me,” the artist says. “I felt like, well, they might bomb the school, but they’ll never bomb the church. So I had this sense that the church could never be destroyed, that I was always safe there. I have so many beautiful memories of sitting in church. I remember feeling this sense of transcendence, an escape from the war in our streets outside.”

McKillen eventually left Northern Ireland for Dublin, Ireland, where she attended art school. She then moved to Los Angeles, where McKillen’s made her home since 1989. She doesn’t attend Mass much anymore, and she and her Jewish husband did not raise their son Catholic, but she still prays daily.

“You can’t take the Catholic out of me,” she says.

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MONTREAL (CANADA)
CBC News

January 21, 2019

Brian Boucher, a Roman Catholic priest who has worked at 10 churches in Montreal over the last two decades, is set to stand trial today for sex-related offences against two minors.

The trial, before judge alone, is expected to get underway Monday at the Montreal courthouse.

Boucher was found guilty earlier this month of sexually harassing and assaulting a former altar boy more than a decade ago. The sentencing hearing in that case has been set for March 25.

One of the alleged victims in the case now before the court testified as a “similar fact witness” at Boucher’s first trial.

Boucher was ordained in Montreal in 1996 and served at English-language parishes throughout the greater Montreal region. He also worked as a chaplain at McGill University and at Lakeshore Hospital in Montreal’s West Island.

Although Boucher is still a priest, the Montreal archdiocese removed him from all ministry functions, including saying mass in public or hearing confessions, as soon as he was arraigned.

The archdiocese issued a statement immediately after the Jan. 8 guilty verdict in the first court case, saying it “arouses a gamut of feelings among both parishioners in the pew and Church leadership, including bishops and priests: feelings of shame, revulsion and anger as well as confusion, sadness and compassion.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
WLS TV

January 20, 2019

By Michelle Gallardo

Two days after prominent Catholic priest John P. Smyth was removed amid allegations of sexual abuse, many of his parishioners and former students expressed support for the retired priest.

Smyth has not commented on the allegations, but he is no longer living at the rectory of Our Lady of Guadalupe, where he was prior to his removal.

Cardinal Blase Cupich disclosed the news about Smyth, who is accused of sexually abusing a minor sometime between 2002 and 2003, when the now 84-year-old was at the head of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. The allegations are still under investigation.

“He dedicated his life to take care of kids that were neglected and abused. Fifty years. He’s had thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of kids that he has taken care of,” said Art Contreras, a Maryville Academy alumnus.

On Sunday, the group of supporters delivered a letter to the church. They say they are upset with the handling of the case because it should have remained a private affair.

“It’s so hurtful and how the Archdiocese is handling this. Whatever happened to you’re innocent until proven guilty? They’re doing the opposite and that’s why we totally disagree with what’s going on,” said John Maher, Maryville Academy alumnus.

However, others disagree.

Larry Antonsen, a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he believes it’s not enough to just release the names of the accused. He said the American Catholic Church continues to violate the policies they put in place in 2002, the same year Father Smyth is alleged to have committed his crimes.

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ROME (ITALY)
Daily Beast

January 20, 2019

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

Pope Francis was apparently told in 2015 and again in 2017 that an Argentine priest he once called his “spiritual son” and elevated to bishop before he became pope had taken naked selfies, exhibited obscene behavior including public masturbation, and had harassed seminarians, according to an exclusive report by the Associated Press.

In early January the Vatican confirmed that it had just learned that Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who resides in Vatican City with complete immunity, faces credible criminal allegations in Argentina for sexually abusing seminarians in the remote Argentine diocese of Oran.

But Juan Jose Manzano, the former vicar where Zanchetta allegedly carried out the sexual harassment that included sending nude photos of himself in various stages of arousal, told the Associated Press that he first reported Zanchetta’s lewd behavior to the papal nuncio or ambassador to the Holy See, who then delivered the complaints to the Vatican in 2015, two years after Francis was elected.

The Vatican spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about the AP report on Sunday. The pope has summoned Catholic leaders to Rome from Feb. 21-24 for a crisis summit to address the systematic global clerical abuse scandal. Revelations like these that imply that the pope himself may have been involved in the cover-up of errant priests will do nothing to set the stage for much-needed change.

Manzano claims he even sent nudie photos of the priest to Rome as proof to back up the complaint. Manzano told the AP that Francis then actually summoned Zanchetta to Rome to discuss the matter, in direct contradiction with the Vatican press office, which claims the news of sexual impropriety on the part of Zanchetta only came to light in late 2018.

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PORTLAND (ME)
Press Herald

January 20, 2019

By Bill Nemitz

At first glance, it was yet another list, released last week by yet another Roman Catholic institution, detailing yet another travesty involving sexual abuse of minors.

But overlay the timelines of the seven Jesuit priests, all admitted or credibly accused predators, who passed through Cheverus High School in Portland over the course of nearly a half century and something startling emerges:

The years 1978 and 1979 were a particularly dangerous time for a vulnerable teenage boy to attend Cheverus. During those years, no fewer than five predatory men worked simultaneously at the school– four so-called “men of God” and one layman coach.

Think about that. Five adults, all prone to sexually exploiting their power and authority in a school where hierarchal discipline ruled the day. All free to roam the teeming hallways, the packed classrooms and, yes, the lonely locker room with an eye out for those who might make an easy mark.

At the same time, we can only wonder: How many more victims, now in their 50s, are still out there, their lives forever damaged, their trauma still raw, their stories shared with no one?

And how much are Cheverus and its alumni community really doing to reach back and help them?

“I’m sure you’re right,” Mark Smith, who graduated from Cheverus in 1972 and went on to teach biology there for 41 years, said in a telephone interview Friday. “I’m sure there have to be some others out there.”

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger

January 20, 2019

By Mark Crawford

For more than 20 years the local chapter of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has called on the five New Jersey Catholic bishops to release the names, assignment histories and what church officials knew about all known credibly accused clergy who molested children. Years of silence was their only response.

Last summer we learned that New Jersey’s Archbishop Theodore McCarrick had not only sexually abused seminarians and fellow priests under his authority, he abused children as well. The abuse of the subordinate seminarians and clergy was a fact well known to church bishops and officials as he was promoted on up the ladder, becoming one of the most influential cardinals of the Catholic Church.

Last August, the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed allegations that more than 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children in six of the eight Catholic dioceses in that state. The report revealed in horrific detail the systemic abuse of children and church officials’ efforts to cover up such crimes to protect the institution as they abandoned the concerns of the abused.

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[Papal envoy arrives in Puerto Montt without comment]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 20, 2019

By Yessenia Márquez and Diego Barría

Durante horas de esta tarde de este sábado llegó a Puerto Montt el sacerdote mexicano Jorge Carlos Patrón. El visitador apostólico fue enviado por el papa Francisco para investigar la arquidiócesis de la zona.

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DUNDEE (SCOTLAND)
The Sunday Post

January 20, 2019

By Marion Scott & Janet Boyle

A Catholic churchman jailed last year for abusing boys as young as five has yet to be stripped of his priesthood.

Father Paul Moore was jailed for nine years last April after he was found guilty of abusing three young boys and indecently assaulting a trainee priest.

But the Bishop of Galloway has revealed that the process of laicisation – removing a priest from the church – has not been completed.

Bishop William Nolan said the process had been held up by Moore refusing to admit his guilt.

One of his victims said he felt “betrayed all over again” by the Church.

Moore was twice sent for “treatment” after confessing to his bishop he had a “desire to abuse minors.”

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PORTLAND (ME)
Press Herald

January 20, 2019

The narrative that there is an ongoing widespread and unaddressed rape culture in the Catholic Church in the United States is false. This is not today’s Catholic Church.

In 2002, Catholic bishops passed the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in the wake of revelations by The Boston Globe about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie Times

January 20, 2019

By Ed Palattella and Madeleine O’Neill

Parishioners, others reveal shock, dismay in letters of support for Rev. David Poulson, sentenced to up to 14 years in state prison.

Faith was at the center of the Rev. David L. Poulson’s sentencing hearing for sexually abusing two boys while in ministry in the Catholic Diocese of Erie.

The judge told Poulson he “weaponized” the boys’ faith and abused his authority as a priest when he molested them.

Poulson, 65, said at his sentencing earlier in January that he prays for the victims every day and offers penance for his actions.

It was Poulson’s expressions of faith and reverence over his 39-year career as a cleric that made the crimes so shocking in the traditional Catholic communities he served in northwestern Pennsylvania.

A series of character letters submitted by the defense at the sentencing highlight Poulson’s double life — and the difficult questions the faithful must confront when a spiritual leader is revealed as a predator.

A prison sentence was the final step in Poulson’s fall from grace. He received two and a half to 14 years in state prison from Jefferson County Judge John H. Foradora at the sentencing on Jan. 11.

The defense filed the 19 character letters, sent by Poulson’s friends and former parishioners, with a sentencing memorandum that asked Foradora to issue a much shorter sentence. The Erie Times-News received a copy of the sentencing memorandum, which was filed publicly at the Jefferson County Courthouse, last week.

“We have been crushed by what has come to light since February,” wrote one former parishioner, who said Poulson baptized his children.

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ORAN (ARGENTINA)
Associated Press

January 20, 2019

By Almudena Caltrava, Natacha Pisarenko and Nicole Winfield

The Vatican received information in 2015 and 2017 that an Argentine bishop close to Pope Francis had taken naked selfies, exhibited “obscene” behavior and had been accused of misconduct with seminarians, his former vicar general told The Associated Press, undermining Vatican claims that allegations of sexual abuse were only made a few months ago.

Francis accepted Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta’s resignation in August 2017, after priests in the remote northern Argentine diocese of Oran complained about his authoritarian rule and a former vicar, seminary rector and another prelate provided reports to the Vatican alleging abuses of power, inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment of adult seminarians, said the former vicar, the Rev. Juan Jose Manzano.

The scandal over Zanchetta, 54, is the latest to implicate Francis as he and the Catholic hierarchy as a whole face an unprecedented crisis of confidence over their mishandling of cases of clergy sexual abuse of minors and misconduct with adults. Francis has summoned church leaders to a summit next month to chart the course forward for the universal church, but his own actions in individual cases are increasingly in the spotlight.

The pope’s decision to allow Zanchetta to resign quietly, and then promote him to the No. 2 position in one of the Vatican’s most sensitive offices, has raised questions again about whether Francis turned a blind eye to misconduct of his allies and dismissed allegations against them as ideological attacks.

Manzano, Oran’s vicar general under Zanchetta who is now a parish priest, said he was one of the diocesan officials who raised the alarm about his boss in 2015 and sent the digital selfies to the Vatican.

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[Benito Baranda, former director of Hogar de Cristo: “I feel anger, sadness, pain … The image of Renato Poblete will be more affected when the victim speaks”]

CHILE
La Tercera

January 20, 2019

By Carla Pía Ruiz Pereira

El exdirector del Hogar de Cristo dice que lo sorprendió la denuncia por abuso sexual en contra de Renato Poblete, y a un año de la visita del Papa Francisco a Chile, quien también fue el coordinador de Estado para ese viaje, señala que “hubo mucha desilusión”.

“En lo primero que pensé fue en la víctima, en la persona que fue abusada. Y en el sufrimiento que vive hasta hoy”. Benito Baranda acaba de llegar a Chile desde Haití, por una visita de América Solidaria. Baranda, antes de aterrizar en Chile, hizo una escala en Miami. Allí, ya conectado a internet, antes de embarcar, antes de apagar su celular, se enteró.

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[Stain on the ‘Catalan Vatican’]

SPAIN
El País

January 20, 2019

By Francesc Valls

Ver el monasterio a merced de los vientos de la pederastia que azotan a la Iglesia es una mácula difícil de sobrellevar para los monjes

Es muy difícil mantener el secreto en una comunidad monástica integrada por unas decenas de personas. Sin embargo, durante años apenas ha trascendido nada de lo que sucedía intramuros en Montserrat. Mano de hierro. Cualquier información crítica era negada; los sospechosos de haberla facilitado,castigados con el destierro; y los medios de comunicación vehículo de tal denuncia, tachados de enemigos de la Iglesia y de la patria, no en vano Montserrat mantuvo la llama de la catalanidad durante la larga noche franquista y supo ser de puertas afuera suficientemente montiniana. Por eso cobra importancia el testimonio de Miguel Hurtado, que sufrió abusos cuando tenía 16 años por parte del monje Andreu Soler, responsable durante 40 años del grupo scout de Montserrat.

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DUNDEE (SCOTLAND)
The Sunday Post

January 20, 2019

By Marion Scott & Janet Boyle

A Catholic priest who disappeared after being accused of abuse in Scotland and California has been tracked down in rural Ireland.

Father Joseph Dunne was found living with his sister in a bungalow just outside the village of Geashill, in County Offaly.

Asked about the allegations against him, the 77-year-old denied any wrong-doing, saying: “I’ve done nothing wrong. My conscience is clear.”

Last week we told how Dunne was sacked from his Glasgow parish in 1988 by the late Cardinal Thomas Winning, after complaints about inappropriate behaviour towards young girls.

But the police and other Catholic churches were not told and Dunne found a new church in Los Angeles before being accused again.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC 7

January 18, 2019

A former associate pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Carlsbad was sentenced Friday to 60 days in jail and three years probation after being found guilty of misdemeanor sexual battery last month.

Rev. Juan Garcia Castillo will also be required to register as a sex offender, the District Attorney’s office said. He was convicted Dec. 17 of groping a seminary student in a Carlsbad restaurant on Feb. 4, 2018.

An attorney and former U.S. Naval officer who was studying to become a priest accused Castillo of grabbing his genitals after a night of drinking in a Carlsbad restaurant and bar.

Surveillance video showing the three men drinking in the restaurant was submitted as evidence.

Locals Unite for 3rd Annual Women’s March in San Diego
The victim said all the drinking eventually made him sick so he went to the bathroom where he vomited.

“All of the sudden I feel him behind me,” the man, who did not want to be identified, said. He testified that Castillo began touching him around his thighs and waist as he stood over a toilet.

“All of the sudden the hand very quickly goes directly to my crotch and grabs my [genitals],” he said.

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PITTSFIELD (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle

January 19, 2019

By Larry Parnass

It was dusk when the car reached the hotel. A priest got out and went in to register and get a room key.

Another priest waited in the car. He wasn’t alone. With him were two boys in their early teens who sported 1970s moptops. After a long drive from their homes in Pittsfield, they had no idea where they were.

Forty-six years later, one of them can close his eyes and put himself in those uncertain moments. In that car. In that hotel room. In that bed.

“The movie that I play in my head is what happened that night, with infinite detail,” said Michael Carpino, who was 13 at the time. He’s now 59 and lives in Colorado. “It doesn’t leave you. It’s a sentence for life.”

On Feb. 10, the Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, bishop of the Springfield diocese, will come to Pittsfield to hear concerns about the Catholic Church’s handling of clergy abuse, amid renewed and growing attention to the problem worldwide.

The bishop will settle into a seat blocks from the former Mount Carmel Church, where Carpino served as an altar boy for the Rev. Richard J. Ahern, a priest who spent six years in Pittsfield and was named as an abuser by multiple victims around New England.

Carpino won’t be around to tell his story to the bishop. He moved to Colorado soon after graduating from the University of Massachusetts in the 1980s and has worked there in the high-tech field.

But he detailed his abuse in phone interviews with The Eagle this past week, nearly three years after he first posted on social media about his 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.

[Last two abbots of Montserrat covered up the abuses of monk accused in 1999]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

January 19, 2019

By Íñigo Domínguez

Un menor acusó a Andreu Soler, director de los ‘boys scout’ del monasterio durante 40 años, y recibió una compensación de 7.200 euros. La única medida fue apartar al fraile un año más tarde

Los dos últimos abades del monasterio de Montserrat, Sebastià Bardolet y el actual, Josep Maria Soler, conocieron desde 1999 la denuncia de abusos de un menor contra un monje, Andreu Soler, y no tomaron ninguna medida. Solo en 2000 el acusado fue trasladado a otro centro de la orden, El Miracle, en Lleida, pero la abadía reconoce, a través de su portavoz, Bernat Juliol, que no lo denunció a la policía, ni abrió ningún procedimiento canónico, según las reglas de la Iglesia, ni lo notificó al Vaticano. Ello a pesar de que la Santa Sede obligó desde 2001 a comunicar a Roma las denuncias de abusos. Tampoco se informó de los motivos del traslado al resto de los frailes. Este monje, fallecido en 2008, era una personalidad muy conocida en Cataluña, pues fue el fundador en 1959 del grupo scout católico de Montserrat, los Escoltes de Servei, o Els Nois de Servei, y su director durante 40 años. Tampoco se explicó a las familias y miembros de la organización los motivos de su marcha. La víctima, Miguel Hurtado, que sufrió los abusos cuando tenía 16 años y el fraile contaba con 65, ha revelado por primera vez su historia a EL PAÍS. También aparecerá en el documental Examen de conciencia, de Albert Solé, que Netflix estrenará el próximo viernes. El monasterio de Montserrat, a raíz de las preguntas de este periódico y un medio catalán, ha decidido divulgar una nota reconociendo los hechos esta tarde.

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.

NETHERLANDS
Dutch News

January 19, 2019

A 74-year-old Dutchman has made a formal complaint against the pope and the Catholic church for the sexual abuse he suffered as a boy in a seminary in Helmond, describing the institution as a criminal organisation.

Theo Bruyns has received financial compensation from the church because of the abuse but says he still believes justice has not been done.

‘If you want to start something against this church, you have to make sure it is branded a criminal organisation,’ Bruyns told RTL Nieuws.

In his formal police complaint, Bruyns alleges that the pope and other church leaders are members of a criminal organisation which aims to ‘make it difficult to hinder or trace sexual abuse, as well as the rape of minors’. ‘

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[Pope Francis’ apostolic envoy will arrive Saturday in Puerto Montt but his agenda is unknown]

CHILE
BioBioChile

January 19, 2019

By Emilio Lara and Diego Barría

Con agenda desconocida llegará este sábado a Puerto Montt el enviado apostólico del papa Francisco, el sacerdote mexicano Jorge Carlos Patrón. Lo anterior debido a que la Iglesia Católica todavía no entrega detalles ni ha dado cuenta de las reuniones que sostendrá, tampoco con quienes se reunirá Patrón.

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.

MANCHESTER (ENGLAND)
Manchester Evening News

January 19, 2019

By Damon Wilkinson

A prominent Salford priest has pleaded for forgiveness from a woman who he had ‘sexual activity’ with when she was a teenager.

Father Peter Conniffe, formerly priest at Our Lady of Dolours in Salford, apologises to the woman in a letter seen by the M.E.N.

He was investigated by police after the woman – who met him after going to confession as a schoolgirl – made a complaint of historic sexual abuse.

The case was not pursued to criminal action, and Fr Conniffe denies ‘any accusation of sexual assault’.

However, the woman has been compensated by the religious order he belongs to, the Servite Order.

Following an investigation by the Roman Catholic church, the priest has stepped down from duties at Our Lady’s and from his role as chair of governors at St Philip’s RC Primary School.

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[Felipe Berríos on accusation against Jesuit priest Renato Poblete: “I am tremendously impacted”]

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Emol

January 17, 2019

By F. Fernández

El también religioso aseguró que es el momento de “tomar en serio la denuncia y dar la garantía que se va a hacer una investigación seria y abierta”.

“Tremendamente impactado”, aseguró estar el sacerdote Felipe Berríos respecto a la información que este jueves dio a conocer la Compañía de Jesús, sobre una denuncia por “delitos y situaciones abusivas” en contra del ex capellán del Hogar de Cristo, Renato Poblete. “Estoy muy golpeado. Este fue un segundo golpe fuerte, el primero fue con Cristián Precht. Le tengo mucho cariño a Renato, le tenía mucho cariño a él. Era una persona que me apoyaba mucho. Nunca viví con él, no compartí tampoco el trabajo, pero sí era una persona que me llamaba para explicarme o apoyarme”, aseguró el jesuita a CNN Chile.

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GREEN BAY (WI)
Green Bay Press Gazette

January 19, 2019

By Rob Schultz

The Madison Diocese is considering an investigation to learn how many substantiated sexual abuse allegations there have been against clergy after the Green Bay Diocese announced Thursday that more than 40 clergy members had abused minors.

Madison Diocese staff members were taking steps toward launching an investigation and had begun interviewing consultants for a potential review of files but the unexpected death of Bishop Robert Morlino from a cardiac event in November put those plans on hold, spokesman Brent King said Friday.

“In recent months, and even in the days immediately preceding (Morlino’s) death, we have had numerous conversations weighing our options in this very regard,” Diocese spokesman Brent King said. “The abuse scandal is something Bishop Morlino took very seriously.”

The Madison Diocese was notified by the Green Bay Diocese ahead of its public announcement Thursday that 46 of its clergy members had substantiated allegations they sexually abused a minor, according to King. The Green Bay Diocese posted the names of the clergy on its website Thursday.

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

[Pope supported bishops of the Chilean Church and provoked discontent among abuse victims]

CHILE
The Clinic

January 15, 2019

En el encuentro no se tocó el tema respecto al envío del informe de Scicluna y aún es esperado por la Justicia chilena, para poder regularizar de forma concreta los casos de abusos, y según Ramos, tampoco se tocó el tema de una posible aceptación de la renuncia de Ezzati.

El Pontífice respaldó a los obispos chilenos que aún están ejerciendo cargos, luego de su reunión en el Vaticano con el Comité Permanente de la Conferencia Episcopal chilena, y las víctimas de abusos tildaron de arrogantes a los jerarcas de la Iglesia por defender la caducidad de sus renuncias.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Economist

January 16, 2019

KEY FINDINGS

Out of the shadows: Shining light on the response to child sexual abuse and exploitation – a 40-country benchmarking index examines how countries are responding to the threat of sexual violence against children.

It explores the environment in which the issue occurs and is addressed; the degree to which a country’s legal framework provide protections for children from sexual violence; whether government commitment and capacity is being deployed to equip institutions and personnel to respond appropriately; and the engagement of industry, civil society and media in efforts to tackle the problem.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Verdict

January 18, 2019

By Marci Hamilton

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the Child Victims Act, for which we have been fighting for 15 years, will pass this year with his full support. With both houses controlled by Democrats, the leadership of Sen. Brad Hoylman, now Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, he is surely correct. The barrier to passage until now has been Republican lawmakers kneeling to the Catholic bishops and in particular New York City Archdiocese’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The latter is not going down, though he is decidedly going down on this issue, without a final whining tour about justice for child sex abuse victims.

Dolan’s latest volley was an op-ed in the New York Daily News that is filled with misstatements and ugly implications. He tries two “Hail Mary” passes. First, he says that the governor’s bill will not treat public schools the same as private institutions. This is simply not true, but even if it were, there is no question the intent is to put private and public entities on the same footing and any additional language Dolan wants to further nail home this point can be easily added. The Democratic leadership in New York is 100% on board in wanting to protect children from sex abuse in every arena. Therefore, at least from Dolan’s rhetoric, he should be on board with the CVA. Not so fast.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

January 18, 2019

By Michael Gerson

Those who want to understand how Democrats manage to scare the hell out of vast sections of the country need look no further than the story of Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and the Knights of Columbus.

In considering the confirmation of Brian Buescher to a federal judgeship last month, Harris and Hirono submitted written questions that raised alarms about his membership in “an all-male society comprised primarily of Catholic men.” “Were you aware,” Harris asked, “that the Knights of Columbus opposed a woman’s right to choose when you joined the organization?” And: “Have you ever, in any way, assisted with or contributed to advocacy against women’s reproductive rights?” And: “Were you aware that the Knights of Columbus opposed marriage equality when you joined the 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.

CHICAGO (IL)
National Catholic Reporter

January 18, 2019

By Heidi Schlumpf

A prominent and popular Chicago priest, who for more than three decades headed a five-campus child services organization, has been removed from ministry while the Chicago Archdiocese reviews allegations of sexual abuse of minors against him.

Allegations against Fr. John P. Smyth have been reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Cook County State’s Attorney, according to a Jan. 18 statement from the archdiocese.

Smyth, who is now retired, was superintendent of Maryville Academy from 1970 to 2003, after serving as assistant superintendent for eight years before that. The allegations date to his time at Maryville’s suburban Des Plaines campus, in 2002-2003, the archdiocese’s statement said.

Maryville was originally founded as an orphanage in 1883 and still includes some residential programs. It also provides emergency shelter, substance abuse treatment and mental health services.

Known for his fundraising prowess, Smyth often mentioned his years as an All-American basketball player at the University of Notre Dame, in his pitches. He raised millions over his tenure at Maryville, according to a profile from Notre Dame’s athletic department.

But the suicide of a 14-year-old girl and reports of physical and sexual assaults perpetrated by residents on other residents prompted the State of Illinois to call Maryville unsafe and remove the children under its care in the early 2000s, according to the archdiocesan newspaper, The New World. Smyth was ousted, and Maryville eventually reopened under new leadership.

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DUBLIN (IRELAND)
Irish Times

January 18, 2019

By Breda O’Brien

Lots of Christians wonder how it will be possible to raise their children in the faith in a wider culture that often actively undermines their values. Rod Dreher, who is speaking in Dublin this coming Monday at the Newman Centre for Faith and Reason, believes he has an answer, one which he calls the Benedict Option. He is an American writer, editor and prolific blogger – his blog averages more than 1.3 million page views per month.

He is a hard man to pigeonhole. He writes for the American Conservative and thinks that Trump has been a disaster for America. He started life as a Methodist, became an agnostic and then converted to Catholicism.

Covering the abuse scandals in the American church alienated him from the Catholic Church to the extent that he felt he had to resign his membership. He eventually became an Orthodox Christian, not a very common religious journey, even for an American.

He first came to public attention with his 2006 book Crunchy Cons, which articulates a mix of social conservatism and environmentalism. It also has a healthy dose of scepticism about market capitalism, seeing it as a driver for socially corrosive cultural change.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

January 18, 2019

by Ken Briggs

Pope Francis’ personal preacher had good news for American bishops on retreat in preparation for the upcoming papal summit on church sex offenses: Despite the church being “overwhelmed” by the clergy sex abuse scandals, “and rightly so,” he declared that they had emerged into a “golden age” in comparison to past times when bishops placed territorial needs over pastoral care.

That success was largely due to the refining fires of the crisis itself, said Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher to the papal household, who spoke 11 times to the retreat at Mundelein Seminary earlier this month. At the beginning of his talks, Cantalamessa suggested it was “time for taking a break” from that preoccupation, in order to ponder “root issues” which were “both different and deeper than the issues that usually come to mind.”

The ones that usually pop to mind include the continuing scourge of accusations, sanctions against hierarchical cover-up and, perhaps the toughest, a searching critique of clericalism. Cantalamessa promptly declared himself unqualified from talking about those main elements of the uproar still convulsing American Catholics. But it seems he did. Tom Roberts adroitly shows in his NCR review that all 11 messages, Cantalamessa took indirect aim, choosing to reassure bishops that nothing needed urgent repair or re-examination.

He felt their pain. The scandal had damaged their standing, reducing the bishopric from an “honor” to a “burden.” He likened their suffering to that of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, innocent victims of the world’s sins. His listeners could take comfort that their burden was inflicted by outsiders and that taking on those sins, however agonizing, served the cause of redemption.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

January 18, 2019

By Christopher Placek and Steve Zalusky

The Rev. John P. Smyth, a well-known Chicago-area priest and one-time leader of Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, faces allegations of sexual abuse of minors, Archdiocese of Chicago officials said Friday.

The allegations, which pertain to the 2002-2003 span during the end of Smyth’s tenure at the academy, were received by the archdiocese’s Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review, according to a statement from the archdiocese.

Jeanine Stevens, the attorney who represents the two men making the allegations, said one was 13 and the other was 14 when they were molested.

One of the boys came forward shortly after the molestation occurred, Stevens said.

“Nobody believed him and nobody did anything about it,” she said.

Both boys had been placed at Maryville’s Scott Nolan Center by a judge, she said.

“They were permanently harmed,” she said. “Both of these men came from unstable households. This significantly compounded issues they already had to deal with.”

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

January 17, 2019

Only about half of the national bishops’ conferences in the world have adopted complete, Vatican-approved guidelines for handling accusations of clerical sexual abuse and promoting child protection, said the Jesuit named to moderate the Vatican’s February summit on abuse.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said about one-quarter of the bishops’ conferences have received feedback on their proposed guidelines from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and are working on the final versions. That leaves 25 percent of conferences “behind for various reasons, among which are different cultural contexts and a scarcity of available competence.”

The doctrinal congregation in 2011 had asked every bishops’ conference in the world to develop guidelines for handling accusations of abuse and to submit them for approval by mid-2012.

Writing for the Jan. 19 edition of La Civilta Cattolica, the Jesuit journal reviewed by the Vatican before publication, Father Lombardi said the February meeting would be an important occasion for bishops to share best practices and to assist conferences that, because of a lack of funds or expertise, have not launched protection and prevention programs.

Pope Francis appointed Father Lombardi to serve as moderator of the general sessions of the meeting Feb. 21-24 of the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches and representatives of the leadership groups of men’s and women’s religious orders to address the abuse crisis.

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.

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

January 17, 2019

Only about half of the national bishops’ conferences in the world have adopted complete, Vatican-approved guidelines for handling accusations of clerical sexual abuse and promoting child protection, said the Jesuit named to moderate the Vatican’s February summit on abuse.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said about one-quarter of the bishops’ conferences have received feedback on their proposed guidelines from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and are working on the final versions. That leaves 25 percent of conferences “behind for various reasons, among which are different cultural contexts and a scarcity of available competence.”

The doctrinal congregation in 2011 had asked every bishops’ conference in the world to develop guidelines for handling accusations of abuse and to submit them for approval by mid-2012.

Writing for the Jan. 19 edition of La Civilta Cattolica, the Jesuit journal reviewed by the Vatican before publication, Father Lombardi said the February meeting would be an important occasion for bishops to share best practices and to assist conferences that, because of a lack of funds or expertise, have not launched protection and prevention programs.

Pope Francis appointed Father Lombardi to serve as moderator of the general sessions of the meeting Feb. 21-24 of the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches and representatives of the leadership groups of men’s and women’s religious orders to address the abuse crisis.

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)
CBS 2 News

January 18, 2019

Father John Smyth has been accused of sexually abusing minors from 2002 to 2003 while he was superintendent at Maryville Academy.

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)
CBS 2 News

January 18, 2019

Father John Smyth has been accused of sexually abusing minors from 2002 to 2003 while he was superintendent at Maryville Academy.

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.

BATON ROUGE (LA)
WAFB TV

January 18, 2019

By Kevin Foster

In January of 2019, the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge is expected to join more than 70 dioceses and Catholic religious organizations across the country, which have released the names of priests who face credible accusations of sexual abuse involving children, including both the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana. However, noticeably nonexistent lists would contain the names of leaders in the clergy who participated in “covering up” those allegations.

The first list shows a horrifying number of predatory priests operated within the clergy. The second would potentially show direct actions willfully taken by leaders within the Catholic Church contributed to systemic and systematic sexual abuse of juveniles and vulnerable adults within the church.

According to one advocacy organization, it’s important for accountability to find out who knew what, when they knew it, and what they chose to do with that information.

“[Lists] should include every single proven, admitted, or accused church employee: bishops, priests, seminarians, brothers, nuns, and lay people, no matter who supervised or ordained them and no matter where they originated,” the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement.

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.

BATON ROUGE (LA)
WAFB TV

January 18, 2019

By Kevin Foster

In January of 2019, the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge is expected to join more than 70 dioceses and Catholic religious organizations across the country, which have released the names of priests who face credible accusations of sexual abuse involving children, including both the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana. However, noticeably nonexistent lists would contain the names of leaders in the clergy who participated in “covering up” those allegations.

The first list shows a horrifying number of predatory priests operated within the clergy. The second would potentially show direct actions willfully taken by leaders within the Catholic Church contributed to systemic and systematic sexual abuse of juveniles and vulnerable adults within the church.

According to one advocacy organization, it’s important for accountability to find out who knew what, when they knew it, and what they chose to do with that information.

“[Lists] should include every single proven, admitted, or accused church employee: bishops, priests, seminarians, brothers, nuns, and lay people, no matter who supervised or ordained them and no matter where they originated,” the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said in a statement.

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.

FAIRBANKS (AK)
Daily News Miner

January 19, 2019

By Helen Renfrew

When it comes to fighting Alaska’s epidemic of child abuse and sexual assault, silence isn’t the answer. Webs of secrets trap survivors and protect perpetrators. Let me be clear: Survivors get to decide when, how and to whom they tell their stories. They went through an experience where they were unable to control what happened to their bodies, but they should be in complete control over how their story is told. As a society we are responsible for creating an environment where it is safe for survivors’ stories to be told, one that doesn’t blame them for what someone else did to them.

We need to believe them.

National and local media reported on numerous perpetrators over the last year: Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, Catholic Jesuit priests throughout Alaska and Peter Wilson, who has been accused in Kotzebue to name a few. All of these cases have silence, sometimes decades of silence, in common. Victims feel embarrassed, ashamed and guilty; if they don’t talk about it, they can try to pretend it didn’t happen. Quite often the surrounding community knows what’s going on, but it’s an uncomfortable topic, and no one wants to be the first to mention it. Silence allows offenders to continue assaulting and abusing victims.

A family member raped me when I was 10. He raped a close relative 20 years later. He was arrested five years after that. I was not his first victim. The family knew — after all, most of them had been abused by their father, my grandfather. Keeping silent was a family tradition. How many dozens of children did my uncle victimize over those 25 years? How much damage did he cause? To this day, there are still members of my family who use coercion and guilt to try to keep the secrets hidden.

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.

FAIRBANKS (AK)
Daily News Miner

January 19, 2019

By Helen Renfrew

When it comes to fighting Alaska’s epidemic of child abuse and sexual assault, silence isn’t the answer. Webs of secrets trap survivors and protect perpetrators. Let me be clear: Survivors get to decide when, how and to whom they tell their stories. They went through an experience where they were unable to control what happened to their bodies, but they should be in complete control over how their story is told. As a society we are responsible for creating an environment where it is safe for survivors’ stories to be told, one that doesn’t blame them for what someone else did to them.

We need to believe them.

National and local media reported on numerous perpetrators over the last year: Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, Catholic Jesuit priests throughout Alaska and Peter Wilson, who has been accused in Kotzebue to name a few. All of these cases have silence, sometimes decades of silence, in common. Victims feel embarrassed, ashamed and guilty; if they don’t talk about it, they can try to pretend it didn’t happen. Quite often the surrounding community knows what’s going on, but it’s an uncomfortable topic, and no one wants to be the first to mention it. Silence allows offenders to continue assaulting and abusing victims.

A family member raped me when I was 10. He raped a close relative 20 years later. He was arrested five years after that. I was not his first victim. The family knew — after all, most of them had been abused by their father, my grandfather. Keeping silent was a family tradition. How many dozens of children did my uncle victimize over those 25 years? How much damage did he cause? To this day, there are still members of my family who use coercion and guilt to try to keep the secrets hidden.

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.

DOOR COUNTY (WI)
Door Co. Daily News

January 18, 2019

By Terry Kovarik

This Sunday Catholics in Door and Kewaunee counties and throughout the Diocese of Green Bay will hear more about the list naming priests involved with sexual abuse of children.

They’ll also learn what’s being done to help assault victims and their families.

The list of 46 former priests, some living and others dead, was released Thursday. Diocese Communication Director Justine Lodl says the diocese has sent out information to help pastors and church staff reach out to their parishioners.

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.

DOOR COUNTY (WI)
Door Co. Daily News

January 18, 2019

By Terry Kovarik

This Sunday Catholics in Door and Kewaunee counties and throughout the Diocese of Green Bay will hear more about the list naming priests involved with sexual abuse of children.

They’ll also learn what’s being done to help assault victims and their families.

The list of 46 former priests, some living and others dead, was released Thursday. Diocese Communication Director Justine Lodl says the diocese has sent out information to help pastors and church staff reach out to their parishioners.

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)
Fox 4 TV

January 18, 2019

By Sherae Honeycutt

A group bringing awareness to victims of priest abuse is asking for a local organization to change its name. It’s a well-known center serving the poor, named in honor of a former bishop, but critics say that bishop was in charge during a time of priest sexual abuse.

“Whenever we hear another name coming out, or another hiding of someone, that just sends another dagger into our heart,” said abuse survivor Tom Viviano.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, is calling for the Bishop Sullivan Centers to change its name. There are three locations in the metro area. Two in KCMO and one in KCK.

“They do excellent work,” said SNAP advocate David Biersmith. “Bishop Sullivan Center is a food pantry, and basically, and that neighborhood needs it.”

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)
Fox 4 TV

January 18, 2019

By Sherae Honeycutt

A group bringing awareness to victims of priest abuse is asking for a local organization to change its name. It’s a well-known center serving the poor, named in honor of a former bishop, but critics say that bishop was in charge during a time of priest sexual abuse.

“Whenever we hear another name coming out, or another hiding of someone, that just sends another dagger into our heart,” said abuse survivor Tom Viviano.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, is calling for the Bishop Sullivan Centers to change its name. There are three locations in the metro area. Two in KCMO and one in KCK.

“They do excellent work,” said SNAP advocate David Biersmith. “Bishop Sullivan Center is a food pantry, and basically, and that neighborhood needs it.”

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 JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

January 17, 2019

By Ted Sherman

In the first criminal case filed by a state task force set up to investigate allegations of clergy abuse, a well-known Phillipsburg priest has been arrested on sexual assault charges involving a teenager in Middlesex County more than two decades ago.

The Rev. Thomas P. Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in the Iselin section of Woodbridge when the alleged assaults occurred, from 1990 through 1994, state prosecutors said in announcing the arrest late Thursday. He is currently assigned to Saint Philip & Saint James Church in Phillipsburg.

Ganley was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, and two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, according to state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal. He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick pending a detention hearing on Friday.

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 JERSEY
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

January 17, 2019

By Ted Sherman

In the first criminal case filed by a state task force set up to investigate allegations of clergy abuse, a well-known Phillipsburg priest has been arrested on sexual assault charges involving a teenager in Middlesex County more than two decades ago.

The Rev. Thomas P. Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in the Iselin section of Woodbridge when the alleged assaults occurred, from 1990 through 1994, state prosecutors said in announcing the arrest late Thursday. He is currently assigned to Saint Philip & Saint James Church in Phillipsburg.

Ganley was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, and two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, according to state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal. He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick pending a detention hearing on Friday.

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WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
The Patch

January 17, 2019

By Carly Baldwin

Father Thomas Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in Iselin. He is charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl from 1990-1994.

A priest who worked for years at a well-known Catholic parish in Iselin was arrested Thursday, Jan. 17 and charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the 1990s.

Father Thomas P. Ganley, 63, who now lives in Phillipsburg, N.J., was arrested today at his home and charged with multiple criminal counts; the Middlesex County prosecutor says the sexual assault happened when the girl was between the ages of 14 and 17.

Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in the Iselin section of Woodbridge when the alleged criminal acts occurred from 1990 through 1994. He is currently assigned to Saint Philip & Saint James Church in Phillipsburg.

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WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
The Patch

January 17, 2019

By Carly Baldwin

Father Thomas Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in Iselin. He is charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl from 1990-1994.

A priest who worked for years at a well-known Catholic parish in Iselin was arrested Thursday, Jan. 17 and charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the 1990s.

Father Thomas P. Ganley, 63, who now lives in Phillipsburg, N.J., was arrested today at his home and charged with multiple criminal counts; the Middlesex County prosecutor says the sexual assault happened when the girl was between the ages of 14 and 17.

Ganley was a priest at Saint Cecelia Church in the Iselin section of Woodbridge when the alleged criminal acts occurred from 1990 through 1994. He is currently assigned to Saint Philip & Saint James Church in Phillipsburg.

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.

WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
Bridgewater Courier

January 17, 2019

By Susan Loyer

A priest who served at St. Cecelia Church in the Iselin section has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault of a child between the ages of 14 and 17 in the 1990s, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced Thursday.

Father Thomas P. Ganley, 63, of Phillipsburg, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

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WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
Bridgewater Courier

January 17, 2019

By Susan Loyer

A priest who served at St. Cecelia Church in the Iselin section has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault of a child between the ages of 14 and 17 in the 1990s, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey announced Thursday.

Father Thomas P. Ganley, 63, of Phillipsburg, was arrested Wednesday and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

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 JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

January 17, 2019

By Erin Vogt

A Catholic priest who lives in Warren County has been arrested and charged with multiple criminal counts in the sexual assault of a teen girl over several years at his former church in Woodbridge.

Thomas P. Ganley, 63, of Phillipsburg, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

Ganley was a priest at St. Cecelia Church in the Iselin section when the criminal acts occurred from 1990 through 1994, prosecutors said.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

January 17, 2019

By Erin Vogt

A Catholic priest who lives in Warren County has been arrested and charged with multiple criminal counts in the sexual assault of a teen girl over several years at his former church in Woodbridge.

Thomas P. Ganley, 63, of Phillipsburg, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault and two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

Ganley was a priest at St. Cecelia Church in the Iselin section when the criminal acts occurred from 1990 through 1994, prosecutors 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)
Vice News

January 16, 2019

The Catholic Church might have trouble remembering, but rank-and-file Catholics don’t.

The only difficulty one might reasonably claim when it comes to remembering sex abuse by priests in America is the sheer amount there is to recollect. Close your eyes, and go back no further than 2018, perhaps the most spectacularly disastrous year—and certainly summer—for the Church in recent history. In June, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick became the highest-ranking clergyman ever removed from the Catholic ministry in the US over child sex abuse allegations.

A month later, McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, DC, and confidant to Pope Francis, resigned from the College of Cardinals, the 224-person body that, among its other holy duties, votes on the next pope.

According to a bombshell article in the New York Times that highlighted McCarrick’s decades of alleged sexual abuse against both minors and seminarians, he declined to comment but said in a previous statement that he had no recollection of the abuse and believed in his own innocence. (Such statements have become a trope for powerful people accused of sexual violence in the era of #MeToo.)

Meanwhile, in August, a Pennsylvania grand jury reported that at least 300 priests had abused 1,000-plus children in a 70-year span in just some of that state’s dioceses. The months since have seen the Church scrambling to address allegation after allegation of abuse, cover-up, and despair.

Yet somehow, even as the Vatican has shown the occasional sign of finally taking this nightmare seriously, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, McCarrick’s successor as the archbishop of Washington, has decided to play the bad memory card, too.

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)
Vice News

January 16, 2019

The Catholic Church might have trouble remembering, but rank-and-file Catholics don’t.

The only difficulty one might reasonably claim when it comes to remembering sex abuse by priests in America is the sheer amount there is to recollect. Close your eyes, and go back no further than 2018, perhaps the most spectacularly disastrous year—and certainly summer—for the Church in recent history. In June, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick became the highest-ranking clergyman ever removed from the Catholic ministry in the US over child sex abuse allegations.

A month later, McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, DC, and confidant to Pope Francis, resigned from the College of Cardinals, the 224-person body that, among its other holy duties, votes on the next pope.

According to a bombshell article in the New York Times that highlighted McCarrick’s decades of alleged sexual abuse against both minors and seminarians, he declined to comment but said in a previous statement that he had no recollection of the abuse and believed in his own innocence. (Such statements have become a trope for powerful people accused of sexual violence in the era of #MeToo.)

Meanwhile, in August, a Pennsylvania grand jury reported that at least 300 priests had abused 1,000-plus children in a 70-year span in just some of that state’s dioceses. The months since have seen the Church scrambling to address allegation after allegation of abuse, cover-up, and despair.

Yet somehow, even as the Vatican has shown the occasional sign of finally taking this nightmare seriously, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, McCarrick’s successor as the archbishop of Washington, has decided to play the bad memory card, too.

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
The Star

January 17, 2019

By Tanya Talaga

Evelyn Korkmaz is not waiting to see if she’ll receive an official invitation from the Vatican to attend the historic Papal Summit on sexual abuse.

While Pope Francis and the world’s Catholic bishops meet inside Vatican City walls from Feb. 21 to 24, Korkmaz, a survivor of the notorious St. Anne’s Indian Residential School, will join other global survivors in Rome as they hold an alternate “Ending Clergy Abuse” event.

Now 61, Korkmaz spent the most horrific years of her life as a student at St. Anne’s, which was run by Oblate Catholic nuns. Children who attended the school, which opened in 1906, were routinely abused, beaten and malnourished. Students lived in fear of the homemade electric chair used to punish them.

Korkmaz was sexually assaulted at the school, which was one of 139 Indian Residential Schools in Canada that existed from the mid-1800s to 1996. Nearly 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken away from their families, homes and communities and placed in government-funded, church-run schools meant to erase their identities and to assimilate them into colonized, Christian Canada.

Pope Francis has refused to apologize for Canada’s residential school experience, even though many of the schools were Catholic. Last year, he acknowledged the abuse suffered at the hands of the clergy in Chile but still Indigenous people in Canada wait. “What have the Aboriginal people done that we don’t have the same respect as those in the other countries?” Korkmaz asks.

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
The Star

January 17, 2019

By Tanya Talaga

Evelyn Korkmaz is not waiting to see if she’ll receive an official invitation from the Vatican to attend the historic Papal Summit on sexual abuse.

While Pope Francis and the world’s Catholic bishops meet inside Vatican City walls from Feb. 21 to 24, Korkmaz, a survivor of the notorious St. Anne’s Indian Residential School, will join other global survivors in Rome as they hold an alternate “Ending Clergy Abuse” event.

Now 61, Korkmaz spent the most horrific years of her life as a student at St. Anne’s, which was run by Oblate Catholic nuns. Children who attended the school, which opened in 1906, were routinely abused, beaten and malnourished. Students lived in fear of the homemade electric chair used to punish them.

Korkmaz was sexually assaulted at the school, which was one of 139 Indian Residential Schools in Canada that existed from the mid-1800s to 1996. Nearly 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were taken away from their families, homes and communities and placed in government-funded, church-run schools meant to erase their identities and to assimilate them into colonized, Christian Canada.

Pope Francis has refused to apologize for Canada’s residential school experience, even though many of the schools were Catholic. Last year, he acknowledged the abuse suffered at the hands of the clergy in Chile but still Indigenous people in Canada wait. “What have the Aboriginal people done that we don’t have the same respect as those in the other countries?” Korkmaz asks.

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 Daily News

January 17, 2019

I watched Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address, and it unfortunately confirmed what many had warned me but I was unwilling to believe.

For years, I’ve disagreed with those who have observed that certain politicians are using the proposed Child Victims Act, which would extend statutes of limitation for child sex abuse, as a cudgel to attack the Catholic Church. I tried to reason that while there are sadly some who want to single out the church and weaken its ministry, most of our responsible elected officials, Cuomo included, realize the issue of abuse is hardly just a “Catholic problem.”

The governor has proven me wrong. “I am fully aware of the position of the Catholic Church and the opposition of the Catholic Church,” he said, before talking about how he had been an altar boy and how child sex abuse is an offense so dire it demands justice.

I took this as an attack on New York’s Catholic family — singling us out as opponents of legislation that others object to for many reasons.

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 Daily News

January 17, 2019

I watched Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address, and it unfortunately confirmed what many had warned me but I was unwilling to believe.

For years, I’ve disagreed with those who have observed that certain politicians are using the proposed Child Victims Act, which would extend statutes of limitation for child sex abuse, as a cudgel to attack the Catholic Church. I tried to reason that while there are sadly some who want to single out the church and weaken its ministry, most of our responsible elected officials, Cuomo included, realize the issue of abuse is hardly just a “Catholic problem.”

The governor has proven me wrong. “I am fully aware of the position of the Catholic Church and the opposition of the Catholic Church,” he said, before talking about how he had been an altar boy and how child sex abuse is an offense so dire it demands justice.

I took this as an attack on New York’s Catholic family — singling us out as opponents of legislation that others object to for many reasons.

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 Law Journal

January 18, 2019

By Dan M. Clark

With major reforms already underway in the new session of the New York Legislature, and with both houses now controlled by the Democrats, it’s still unclear when a long-sought-after bill to change the statutes of limitations in cases of child sex abuse will be considered by lawmakers.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state lawmakers and advocates for the bill all agree on one thing: the legislation will pass at some point during this year’s legislative session. The question, for now, is when.

This year’s executive budget proposal, presented Tuesday by Cuomo, includes a nearly identical version of the bill pushed by state lawmakers last year.

It would raise the criminal and civil statutes of limitations in cases of child sex abuse to ages 28 and 50, respectively. It would also enact a one-year lookback window for victims over the age of 50 to bring civil claims against their alleged abusers. That window would start after the bill becomes law.

“The Child Victims Act has been too long denied,” Cuomo said. “If you believe in justice for all, then you believe in passing the Child Victims Act.”

A spokesman for Cuomo said if a bill makes it to his desk outside the state budget, which is due at the end of March, he will sign it.

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 Law Journal

January 18, 2019

By Dan M. Clark

With major reforms already underway in the new session of the New York Legislature, and with both houses now controlled by the Democrats, it’s still unclear when a long-sought-after bill to change the statutes of limitations in cases of child sex abuse will be considered by lawmakers.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state lawmakers and advocates for the bill all agree on one thing: the legislation will pass at some point during this year’s legislative session. The question, for now, is when.

This year’s executive budget proposal, presented Tuesday by Cuomo, includes a nearly identical version of the bill pushed by state lawmakers last year.

It would raise the criminal and civil statutes of limitations in cases of child sex abuse to ages 28 and 50, respectively. It would also enact a one-year lookback window for victims over the age of 50 to bring civil claims against their alleged abusers. That window would start after the bill becomes law.

“The Child Victims Act has been too long denied,” Cuomo said. “If you believe in justice for all, then you believe in passing the Child Victims Act.”

A spokesman for Cuomo said if a bill makes it to his desk outside the state budget, which is due at the end of March, he will sign it.

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)
Crux

January 18, 2019

In a Friday essay for the New York Daily News, Cardinal Timothy Dolan argued that Governor Andrew Cuomo, himself a Catholic, unfairly attacked the Church in his Jan. 15 “State of the State” speech with rhetoric regarding proposals to extend civil statutes of limitation for child sex abuse.

In his speech, Cuomo backed the “Child Victims Act,” which, among other things, would open up a one-time-only, one-year window for victims to file civil claims regardless of when the abuse happened. In its most recent form, the measure would also extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for future criminal cases involving a child under the age of 18, and it would extend the general time limit for victims to sue in civil court to the time they turn 50.

Since the bill was proposed, New York’s Catholic Conference has objected on the grounds that it covers only private institutions such as the Church and not public institutions such as taxpayer-financed schools, orphanages and social service providers.

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)
Crux

January 18, 2019

In a Friday essay for the New York Daily News, Cardinal Timothy Dolan argued that Governor Andrew Cuomo, himself a Catholic, unfairly attacked the Church in his Jan. 15 “State of the State” speech with rhetoric regarding proposals to extend civil statutes of limitation for child sex abuse.

In his speech, Cuomo backed the “Child Victims Act,” which, among other things, would open up a one-time-only, one-year window for victims to file civil claims regardless of when the abuse happened. In its most recent form, the measure would also extend or eliminate the statute of limitations for future criminal cases involving a child under the age of 18, and it would extend the general time limit for victims to sue in civil court to the time they turn 50.

Since the bill was proposed, New York’s Catholic Conference has objected on the grounds that it covers only private institutions such as the Church and not public institutions such as taxpayer-financed schools, orphanages and social service providers.

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.

EBENSBURG (PA)
Tribune Democrat

January 18, 2019

By Jocelyn Brumbaugh

Judge Norman Krumenacker recalls Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro asking him what kind of attention the statewide investigation into allegations of abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church would bring.

“I told him to get a new tie and suit because he was going to be on ’60 Minutes,’” Krumenacker said.

Cambria County’s president judge directed the grand jury investigations into priest abuse that led to reports targeting the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese in 2016, and then six more dioceses across the state in 2018.

The two reports combined found sexual abuse by 350 priests or other church officials and involved more than 1,300 children – with accounts dating back decades – and extensive efforts by church officials to cover up the abuse.

Krumenacker said that during a 2014 investigation into reported sexual abuse by a former athletic trainer at a Catholic high school in Johnstown, he began to understand the magnitude of a looming grand jury investigation for the church institution and its members.

“I realized the gravity of what was going to happen,” Krumenacker said during an interview in his chambers at the Cambria courthouse.

In his role as supervising judge of the 37th statewide investigative grand jury, Krumenacker first was tasked with deciding whether attorney-client privilege would be jeopardized if files were turned over to the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

That meant reading through “tens of thousands” of documents from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown concerning Bishop McCort Catholic High School and Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar from the Third Order Regular accused of violating more than 100 children.

The Cambria County District Attorney’s Office referred the Baker case to the state attorney general in early 2014, after Baker died of a reported self-inflicted knife wound to the heart.

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.

EBENSBURG (PA)
Tribune Democrat

January 18, 2019

By Jocelyn Brumbaugh

Judge Norman Krumenacker recalls Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro asking him what kind of attention the statewide investigation into allegations of abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church would bring.

“I told him to get a new tie and suit because he was going to be on ’60 Minutes,’” Krumenacker said.

Cambria County’s president judge directed the grand jury investigations into priest abuse that led to reports targeting the Altoona-Johnstown Roman Catholic Diocese in 2016, and then six more dioceses across the state in 2018.

The two reports combined found sexual abuse by 350 priests or other church officials and involved more than 1,300 children – with accounts dating back decades – and extensive efforts by church officials to cover up the abuse.

Krumenacker said that during a 2014 investigation into reported sexual abuse by a former athletic trainer at a Catholic high school in Johnstown, he began to understand the magnitude of a looming grand jury investigation for the church institution and its members.

“I realized the gravity of what was going to happen,” Krumenacker said during an interview in his chambers at the Cambria courthouse.

In his role as supervising judge of the 37th statewide investigative grand jury, Krumenacker first was tasked with deciding whether attorney-client privilege would be jeopardized if files were turned over to the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

That meant reading through “tens of thousands” of documents from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown concerning Bishop McCort Catholic High School and Brother Stephen Baker, a Franciscan friar from the Third Order Regular accused of violating more than 100 children.

The Cambria County District Attorney’s Office referred the Baker case to the state attorney general in early 2014, after Baker died of a reported self-inflicted knife wound to the heart.

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)
Kansas City Star

January 18, 2019

By Judy L. Thomas

A victims’ advocacy group on Friday called on the Bishop Sullivan Center to change its name, saying it honors a bishop who oversaw the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese during a period when most priest sex abuse cases occurred.

“Honoring wrongdoers makes already-suffering abuse victims suffer more, and that makes them less apt to speak up in the future, thus endangering more kids,” said David Clohessy, former director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

“It also makes witnesses and whistleblowers more apt to stay silent. ‘Why stick my neck out,’ they ask themselves, ‘when even those who are clearly guilty are still held out as model clerics by the church hierarchy?’”

The Bishop Sullivan Center indicated Friday that it had no plans to take any action.

“We are not aware of any misconduct by Bishop Sullivan,” said director Tom Turner in an email to The Star. “On the contrary, we knew him as a man committed to helping people in poverty, which was why the center was named after him. Many people we help are victims of abuse, so we are sympathetic to that pain.”

Bishop John J. Sullivan was head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph from 1977 to 1993. He died in 2001 at 80.

In an email to The Star, the diocese said that the Bishop Sullivan Center “is an independent charity in Kansas City which serves the poor.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

January 16, 2019

By Rick Rojas

Hours after the Jesuits this week released the names of dozens of priests who faced accusations of sexual abuse, schools in the Northeast rushed to dispel any notion that they still employed suspected abusers.

Stricter policies are in place, school officials said, and the understanding of sexual misconduct had evolved. Fordham Prep in the Bronx noted that accused priests were no longer living in a nursing home nearby.

Most of the 50 men who were identified on Tuesday by the Society of Jesus, as the Jesuit order is known, are dead. Many of the rest have not worked in Jesuit-run schools for years or had been pulled from public ministry.

Still, one was teaching at the prestigious Masters School just north of New York City, prompting officials there to initiate an investigation and force him to resign. The private prep school has no religious affiliation.

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DETROIT (MI)
Detroit News

January 18, 2019

By Beth LeBlanc

The president and treasurer of a Michigan group that provides legal and moral support for accused priests across the globe are out following state concerns about the oversight of the tax-exempt nonprofit.

Former Attorney General Bill Schuette reached a settlement with Opus Bono Sacerdotii in December, five months after he filed a July cease-and-desist order against the Lapeer County group for alleged violations of Michigan’s nonprofit and charitable solicitation laws.

Prompted by a 2017 complaint from a former employee, Schuette’s 2018 cease-and-desist order came about a month before he launched a far-reaching probe into Michigan’s seven dioceses, essentially an investigation into the clergy Opus Bono assists.

Obus Bono Sacerdotii, whose Latin name means “work for the good of the priesthood,” focuses on helping priests who are “experiencing acute difficulties” and was started by founder and president Joe Maher in 2002. According to the group’s website, Maher helped fund the defense of a parish priest after he was arrested by Detroit police on a sexual abuse allegation. The priest eventually was acquitted

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GREEN BAY (WI)
WBAY TV

January 18, 2019

By Tia Johnson

A national clergy abuse survivor group is urging Wisconsin’s Attorney General to investigate the Diocese of Green Bay after the church released names of 46 priests with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse of a minor.

On Friday, SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) held a press conference in front of the Cathedral of St. Francis Xavier on Madison Street in Green Bay.

SNAP is urging Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to initiate a statewide investigation of church sexual abuse and cover up.

“There are 15 states now and the US Department of Justice that have open investigations of Diocese like this one where there has been demonstrable evidence and proof that there has been a history of decades of covering up child sex crimes,” says Peter Isely, founding member of SNAP.

SNAP is asking for Bishop David Ricken to name “additional abusive priests known by church officials to have operated within his diocese.”

“That list is partial, it is biased and it is incomplete,” Isely says.

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA Radio

January 18, 2019

By Joe Destio

The first female survivor of clergy sex abuse has sued the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese.

The plaintiff’s attorney George Kontos tells KDKA Radio’s Joe DeStio

“Not unlike a lot of the abuse that we have already filed complains for it involves a known predator priest in this instance a Father Paul Pindel who was at St. Genevieve church in Canonsburg in addition to various other places. We believe he was transferred about 12 times,” says Kontos

Pindel is named in the Pennsylvania grand jury report.

The lawsuit alleges the abuse occurred in 1982 when the plaintiff was 15 or 16-years-old while Pindel was counseling her.

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.