ABUSE TRACKER

COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 15, 2019

Length: 18:45

Description
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, made famous by his portrayal by Stanley Tucci in the 2015 movie ‘Spotlight,’ tells Dispatch reporters Danae King and Marty Schladen about how he uncovered abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston and sheds some light on clergy abuse in Columbus.

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
NBC News

March 17, 2019

By Corky Siemaszko

“They really circled the wagons and supported Dr. Barto,” one victim said. “You know how predators groom victims? Well, he groomed a community to believe he could do no wrong.”

More than 20 years later, it’s the ribbons that stick out in Erika Brosig’s memory of the day when it seemed like the entire town showed up at the high school football game to support Dr. Johnnie Barto.

Though Brosig, who was 15 and a member of the Richland High School color guard, does not recall the color of the ribbons, she remembers with a still-sickening clarity the feeling when she pinned one on her uniform.

“I remember that ribbon burning a hole in my chest,” Brosig, 36, said.

A 65-year-old Johnstown mother, who asked not to be identified, said she also remembers being at Herlinger Field on that crisp fall day in 1998 and how she waved off a volunteer who tried to give her a ribbon.

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LEXINGTON (KY)
The Key News Journal

March 12, 2019

By Patrice K. Muhammad

Now an adult, she says police, prosecutors and the church failed her

In 2017 Tanyqua Oliver attended a church service at House of Prayer in Nicholasville, KY. To her surprise, she said, Darnell Nutter was there.

When Tanyqua was 14, in 2006, the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) and Lexington Police investigated Darnell Nutter for raping her over several years, from the age of 9 until she was most 13 years old.

Tanyqua says that Darnell was not a church visitor like her that day, he started helping out and made the alter call, inviting people to accept Jesus and join the church. During the service Tanyqua could not think of anything except the children, she recalled. Children were at the church, many without parents.

Painfully, she confronted the church’s pastor Tammel Thomas, who is her own mother and who was married to Darnell during the years he raped her in their home.

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LOUISVILLE (KY)
Religion News Service

March 14, 2019

By Adelle M. Banks

A Southern Baptist publishing executive recently revealed that she was a victim of alleged abuse for more than a decade from another Baptist leader.

In an online statement posted Friday (March 8), Jennifer Lyell, director of the books ministry at LifeWay Christian Resources, alleged that she was the victim of a now-resigned professor at the flagship seminary of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

The alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power started during a mission trip when Lyell was a seminary student and continued for years. She said that she feared coming forward out of concern that revealing what happened would cause “collateral damage.”

“That collateral damage was the reason that the abuse had continued for so long,” she wrote. “The reason that a professor was able to continue grooming and taking advantage of his student was because I became like part of his family.”

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AUSTRALIA
10 Daily

March 13, 2019

By Andrew Collins

Hopeful survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and advocate for other victims who can’t speak up

I sat in my psychologist’s office watching Pell’s sentencing with him.

I wanted to do it in a safe environment, then have the opportunity to process it and talk about it. I knew that it would have an effect on me, and it did. It reminded me of sitting in court when one of my offenders was sentenced. My stomach was knotted, and I was full of apprehension.

I kept reminding myself that this is just a part of a legal process, and that it isn’t necessarily about justice. The judge has to weigh up a lot of different factors, and needs to explain how he came to the decision that he made. When he spoke of Pell’s character, I understand that he is bound to take this into account, and that it isn’t unusual.

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KALAMAZOO (MI)
FOX17

March 14, 2019

By Lauren Edwards

Ann Phillips Browning said she was on social media Thursday morning when she saw that the local SNAP chapter was going to hold a press conference in front of the Catholic Diocese on Westnedge Avenue at 10:30 a.m. The group was requesting the diocese publish the names of six priests accused of sexual assault.

Browning immediately got in her car and drove five miles in the rain to the presser.

“I thought, that’s interesting I have a list of 12,” Browning said during an interview after the presser. “I wanted to see who their six were and where they came from.”

Browning said she isn’t a part of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. However she supports their mission considering she is a survivor herself.

“I want accountability,” Browning said. “I want every offender to be tracked [and] to be followed.”

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

March 14, 2019

A former music teacher accused of grooming and molesting a 14-year-old boy has waived his right to a preliminary hearing.

Richard Kuiawa, of 2111 16th Ave., appeared briefly at Central Court on Wednes­day to waive 10 charges, including five felonies, related to the alleged sexual abuse of a then-14-year-old boy in 2007 on to Blair County Court.

Kuiawa taught music at Bishop Guil­foyle High School for five years, between 1982 and 1987, and along with being the founder and director of the Keystone Chorale, he ran his own music school where he taught voice and piano.

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ALTOONA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

March 15, 2019

By Russ O’Reilly

Few details available about Mazur’s placement on leave

About 100 people attended Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Altoona at noon Thursday. Some were visitors who were unaware of recent news, and some were lo­cals who just didn’t hear the news yet.

It’s safe to say more than a few were a bit confused when the presiding priest referenced “difficult times” in the opening and closing prayers.

Monsignor Robert C. Mazur, the Cathedral’s rector since 1995, was placed on leave from public ministry Wednesday.

John McIntyre of Hollidaysburg attends Mass daily at the Cathe­dral or another church.

Regarding Mazur, he said he knew him to be a good man.

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AUSTRALIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

March 15, 2019

By Louise Milligan

In the end, he was just an elderly, grey-faced man in the dock.

Not a prince of the church, not a cardinal, but a man convicted of and sentenced for terrible crimes against children.

A man who once flew first class will celebrate his 78th birthday in prison, and at the very least, his 79th, 80th and 81st.

A large part of it will be in protective custody because this man is and remains a lightning rod for discontent in the Australian community and, as a psychiatrist who specialises in child sexual abuse once told me, prisons are full of victims of these crimes.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

March 18, 2019

As he announced he would do after he was convicted of covering up sexual abuse committed by a priest, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon met Pope Francis on 18 March to hand in his resignation.

The Vatican confirmed the meeting took place but gave no details and no immediate sign of whether the pope agreed that the 68-year-old cardinal should step down.

The cardinal’s lawyers have filed an appeal of the conviction, which was handed down March 7 by a French court. Cardinal Barbarin was given a six-month suspended sentence.

The court found the cardinal guilty of covering up abuse by Father Bernard Preynat at Lyon’s Saint-Luc Parish, where he ran a large Catholic Scout group in the 1970s and 1980s. Although Cardinal Barbarin did not become head of the Lyon archdiocese until 2002, it was alleged that he had known of the abuse at least since 2010.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

March 15, 2019

Poulson was notified by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on March 5 that he was released from all obligations attached to holy orders.

The former Erie Catholic Diocese priest who is serving time for sexually molesting two boys between 2002 and 2010 has been formally removed from the priesthood, according to a news release from the diocese.

David Poulson was sentenced in January to spend 2 years, 6 months to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children in October.

Poulson was notified by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on March 5 that he was released from all obligations attached to holy orders.

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EAST LANSING (MI)
The State News

March 13, 2019

By Riley Murdock

A group of journalists and media professionals gathered at the Michigan State Museum Tuesday evening to discuss their experiences covering the Larry Nassar cases and their impact.

The panel discussion, titled “Covering the Crisis: Journalism and Sexual Violence,” was the fourth of the “Sister Survivors Speak” series. The series consists of five panels leading up to the opening of the MSU Museum’s “Finding our Voices: Sister Survivors Speak” exhibit, set to open April 16.

Among the panelists were Matt Mencarini from the Lansing State Journal, Kim Kozlowski from The Detroit News, Kate Wells from Michigan Radio and independent journalist Alexandra Ilitch. Others on the panel included WKAR Digital News Director Reginald Hardwick and MSU School of Journalism professors Judith Walgren and Joanne Gerstner. The panel was moderated by MSU School of Journalism professor Sue Carter.

Before she started “Believed”, a podcast documenting the experiences of Nassar survivors, Wells said it seemed like a really bad idea at first. Nassar was in prison, the national media had moved on and it appeared MSU was starting to be held accountable, she said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Mason Mandell

Fr. Michael Barber, S.J., who was removed from the ministry in 1994, served as a chaplain at the Georgetown University Hospital from 1976 to 1978 in the department of pastoral care, where he assisted patients and staff in their religious life.

But in 1994, Barber, now 76, admitted to sexual abuse of a minor, according to a December 2018 disclosure by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.

Georgetown Hospital chaplains offer Mass, visit patients and their families, and counsel staff in decision-making, according to the hospital’s website.

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UNITED STATES
TowleRoad

March 15, 2019

By Andy Towle

In an excerpt from his new memoir, Too Much Is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthoodh, Andrew Rannells describes becoming an altar boy in the Catholic Church while he was in high school and was beginning to understand things about his sexual orientation.

In the excerpt, published on Vulture, Rannells discusses his interactions with both the nuns and the priests that operated around the school and church he attended. He said he attended mass once a week and it was during one particular confession that a priest forced himself upon him.

“This was not your typical confession with private rooms and curtains drawn,” wrote Rannells. “Priests would set up two chairs close to each other in various darkened corners of the quad, turn on music at a low volume to muddle the sound of confessions, and then you would basically just get right up in a priest’s face and whisper your sins. Sometimes he would close his eyes and grab the back of your neck firmly while you confessed. It seemed very ‘Roman Wrestler’ at the time, but looking back it was also very ‘Abusive Pimp.’ I waited in line to talk with Father Dominic, who was popular for confessions. I told myself that he was going to be helpful, that this was my best option.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun Times

March 15, 2019

By Sam Charles

Leaders of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests on Friday called on Cardinal Blase Cupich to rethink his proposal that metropolitan bishops should lead investigations into sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

“We believe, in order for this crisis to end, there needs to be accountability brought in from outside, independent and secular sources,” SNAP’s Executive Director, Zach Hiner, said during a press conference outside the Archdiocese of Chicago’s office at the corner of Pearson and Rush. “And given what we’ve learned about clergy sex abuse over the past six months — much less the past several decades — how could we have confidence in the metropolitan plan, which is basically more bishops policing bishops.”

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OWOSSO (MI)
Argus Press

March 17, 2019

By Cavan W. Concannon

A string of sex abuse scandals have rocked Christian communities recently: In the Roman Catholic Church, revelations related to sex abuse by priests continue to unfold across the globe. Within the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., media reports have brought into public view allegations of sexual abuse dating back decades.

These scandals stand alongside abuses by prominent male church officials that have occurred in independent Christian communities, such as Harvest Bible Chapel, Willow Creek Community Church and Mars Hill Church.

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Patheos blog

March 14, 2019

By Rebecca Bratten Weiss

I’ve spent a lot of time, in the past few months, in conversation with abuse survivors.

It’s been painful to hear what they have to say, but my pain in hearing is nothing in comparison to the pain they carry with them – sometimes for most of their lives.

Turning away from these stories is not an option for me, uncomfortable though they may make me. Because in so many cases, the pain survivors carry is multiplied and exacerbated by the fact that over and over no one would listen. No one would believe them.

I’ve had a tiny taste of that frustration myself, when people refused to believe I was telling the truth about the abuse and toxicity I witnessed in a former workplace. Instead of listening, people over-wrote my story of injustice with a narrative that was more comfortable for them:

Maybe I was the problematic one?

I must have been causing drama.

I was probably overreacting.

It takes two to tango.

Anyway these problems are everywhere, so why the big fuss?

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Patheos blog

March 15, 2019

By D. G. Hart

The National Association of Evangelicals, one of the major institutional outlets for white Protestants who coalesced around the ministry and institutions associated with Billy Graham, has issues a call addressed to the increasing awareness of sexual abuse in Christian circles. A Call to Sexual Purity and Child Protection has three sections, a code of ethics for pastors, another for congregations, and one more for church leadership. Here is a sample of the call’s instructions for pastors:

Avoid sinful sexual behavior and inappropriate involvement. Resist temptation: “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality” (Ephesians 5:3a);

Identify a minister/counselor who can provide personal counseling and advice when needed;

Develop an awareness of personal needs and vulnerabilities;

Avoid taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of others through exploitation or manipulation; and

Address the misconduct of another clergy member directly or, if necessary, through appropriate persons to whom that member of the clergy may be accountable.

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NEW YORK (NY)
First Things

March 17, 2019

By Charlotte Allen

On February 20, California Democratic State Senator Jerry Hill, whose affluent, liberal-leaning district encompasses the San Francisco Peninsula and portions of Silicon Valley, introduced a bill to abolish legal protection for the Catholic Church’s sacramental seal of confession, at least as regards confessions of child abuse.

Specifically, the bill would remove an exemption for “penitential communications” in an existing state law that designates more than forty categories of professionals—clergy, physicians, teachers, counselors, social workers, and the like—as “mandated reporters” who face criminal penalties if they fail to report sexual and other mistreatment of children that they learn about in their professional capacities. Currently, the law carves out a narrow exception for information obtained during the Catholic sacrament of Penance and other religions’ similar penitential rituals, which bind clergy to secrecy. If the California legislature enacts Hill’s bill, that exception would disappear—and Catholic priests, bound by canon law not to disclose the contents of a confession, could face criminal prosecution and imprisonment for refusing to comply. “The law should apply equally to all professionals who have been designated as mandated reporters of these crimes—with no exceptions, period. The exemption for clergy only protects the abuser and places children at further risk,” Hill said in a statement accompanying the proposed measure, SB-360.

The Catholic doctrine of the seal of confession dates back to the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215, which mandated that Catholics confess their grave sins to a priest via the sacrament of Penance. The latest formulation of the church’s Code of Canon Law states: “The sacramental seal is inviolable; therefore it is absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent in words or in any manner and for any reason.” The penalty for any priest who divulges anything heard in confession—or even a penitent’s identity—is automatic excommunication. Eastern Orthodox churches do not have such an explicit rule, but they do have the same expectation of absolute secrecy surrounding sacramental confession. Since the Middle Ages it has not been unusual for priests to risk—and occasionally endure—martyrdom from secular authorities rather than break the seal, as did several priests executed by militant secularists during Mexico’s Cristero uprising of the 1920s and the Spanish Civil War a decade later. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1953 film, I Confess, involves a priest who risks conviction for a murder he did not commit after the true murderer confesses the crime to him and he is bound not to reveal it.

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The Cheat Sheet

March 17, 2019

By Amanda Harding

By now most people know why the original series about the Duggar family, 19 Kids and Counting, got canceled on the TLC network. The reality show followed Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar as they navigated the trials of raising a family with 17, then 18, then 19 children. But one thing no one anticipated was a sexual abuse scandal that would mean the end of the series.

The eldest son in the family, Josh Duggar, was accused of sexually molesting several of his sisters and a babysitter when he was a teenager. By the time the scandal broke in 2015, Josh was already married with three kids. But the controversy was enough to get the show canceled and disgrace the family name.

One popular question in the wake of the abuse is this: Do Josh Duggar’s sisters forgive him? Several have spoken out on the matter, and it appears they all agree.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

March 17, 2019

By Susan Sarkauskas

Even as Harvest Bible Chapel attempts to recover from scandal, its leaders are facing more negative news.

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability announced last week it suspended its accreditation of Harvest, while it investigates whether the church violated the organization’s core principles.

In its announcement, the organization said it launched an investigation of Harvest Nov. 28, and after an on-site visit in December, believed the church was in compliance.

But it has received new information, it said, that has it concerned the church “may be in serious violation” of four standards of stewardship.

“The investigation has been and will remain ongoing during the suspension as we work to determine whether Harvest Bible Chapel should be terminated, advised of the steps necessary to come into full compliance or whether they are in fact in compliance with our standards and should, therefore, be restored to full membership,” council President Dan Busby said in an announcement of the suspension.

The standards require that every organization be governed by a responsible board of not less than five individuals, a majority of whom are independent; prepare complete and accurate financial statements; exercise appropriate management and controls to provide reasonable assurance that all of the organization’s operations are carried out in a responsible manner; and set compensation of its top leader in a manner that demonstrates integrity and propriety.

The statement did not provide details about Harvest’s suspected violations.

Efforts to reach Harvest officials Sunday were unsuccessful.

However, an interim leadership team has announced that the church is opening a new bank account to handle members’ tithes, and the money will be used only for ministry expenses, “banking obligations” and staff salaries. None of it will be directed to the senior pastor’s office, or to items in past budgets, the church’s website says.

It also announced that donations recently have decreased 40 percent. As a result, the church will reduce its weekly operating expense by 25 percent, from $409,000 a week to $308,000 a week. It did not say how it would do so.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 18, 2019

By Claire Giangravè

A U.S. parish priest and author, who experienced sexual abuse by clergy, takes on the “crisis of masculinity” in society and the Catholic Church one lecture at a time, by always “keeping it real” and remembering that “even in the midst of all this darkness, there is always hope.”

“We need to be called to this new masculinity, which isn’t a power thing, it isn’t about dominating anything,” said Father Larry Richards in a March 14 interview with Crux. “A true masculinity is he who lays down his life in love.”

“A true masculinity is Christ on the Cross,” he added.

Richards has been a diocesan priest for over 30 years, ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania by Bishop Michael Murphy. He has been a Catholic chaplain to college campuses and a teacher at all-boys high schools.

In 2004 he founded “The Reason For Our Hope Foundation,” which – in his words – focuses on bringing people closer to the Catholic faith and showing them that “God is not out to get you, he’s out to love you.”

In 2009 he released his first book, Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You To Be, which became Ignatius Press’s number one book in 2010.

“My thing is to try and help people – especially men – to come to know God, to know God’s love,” he said.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
Sunday Mirror

March 18, 2019

By Geraldine McKelvie

Young Steve Rowell watched in horror as his abuser spoke to the bride and groom about love, honesty and faithfulness.

Traumatised Steve suffered at the hands of pervert priest King more than 350 times.

Today he reveals his six-year ordeal and tells how he demanded to meet Church leaders to bring about change.

And a top bishop has now urged fellow abuse survivors to step forward.

Steve was assaulted by King from the age of 11 but the predator cheated justice by killing himself after being quizzed by police.

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GERMANY
La Croix International

March 18, 2019

As thousands of victims of predator priests in Germany seek redress for clerical sex abuse, German Catholic bishops conceded they must admit wrongdoing and make amends, but failed to offer a timetable.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the German bishops’ conference, said March 14 that the culture of silence and cover-ups “is over,” adding this should have been dealt with “perhaps 20 years, 30 years ago,” AFP reports.

However, “the process of cleansing is not finished in three days, it’s a continuing path,” he said.Critics say Cardinal Marx was resorting to the Church’s default setting of stonewalling on the issue, as he would not be drawn on concrete plans or dates for new policies or compensation payouts.

The prelate made the remarks at the end of a four-day episcopal conference in Lingen that was punctuated by a rally outside its gates organized by the Catholic Women’s Community of Germany.

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HOMESTEAD (FL)
Local 10 News

March 18, 2019

By Peter Burke and Liane Morejon

Some parishioners at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead were in denial Sunday after learning the news that a priest there was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

The Rev. Jean-Claude Jean-Phillippe, 64, was arrested Friday on a charge of sexual battery on a victim who was physically incapacitated.

Adolphe is an altar server and longtime parishioner at the church.

“I feel like it’s a setup, for real,” he said. “In my opinion, I feel like it is.”

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 17, 2019

Regarding the March 14 Metro article “More U.S. Catholics ponder exit from church”:

The reason to be Catholic is because one believes in the teachings of the church; it’s not a social club that should be judged by its worst members. Every large organization is going to have a small percentage of people who commit evil acts.

Fewer than 5 percent of Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abuse. The Catholic Church made widespread reforms in 2002 regarding abuse, and abuse cases have slowed to a trickle. The reforms are working. The vast majority of the abuse cases are from decades ago — before the 2002 reforms were put in place.

The Catholic Church is one of the safest places for children today. Compare this with public schools, which have not reformed and have unions that protect abusive teachers. Of course, we wouldn’t consider ending public schools because of a few bad teachers.

The Catholic Church is given no credit for the reforms of 2002, which many people don’t even know about because they are not publicized in the media. This is unfair and wrong.

Brian Wood, Gaithersburg

In his March 14 op-ed, “The greatest crime in U.S. history?,” George F. Will drew attention to the unfolding Catholic institutional criminal operation that has exploited children. The Pennsylvania report is only the latest report that, when combined with reports issued in other countries, provides the same sorts of gruesome details of criminal behavior by clerics. Then Catholic leadership used its unique powers not only to hide sexual predators but also to protect their priesthoods, thus perpetuating expansion of the number of victims.

Our bishops have tried to put assets beyond the reach of victims. Our bishops are fighting actions to modify statutes of limitations for child sexual crimes to avoid litigation against perpetrators of heinous actions.

We must cry out against these horrific practices, for justice for victims and for an accounting of crimes. We must support civil authorities shedding light onto these practices. And we must begin asking church leaders how they can credibly serve as moral authorities setting things right on this most fundamental issue.

We faithful Catholics are part of the problem. We demand too little. How much more will we put in the collection basket? Our Confirmation calls each of us to be more than disciples. We are called to be apostles and demand of our apostle bishops that they live up to their anointed leadership role.

Betty Walter, Annandale

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 17, 2019

By Beth Reinhard, Kimberly Kindy and Julie Tate

A federal investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein had flagged scores of potential underage victims, including the 14-year-old girl who first alerted police. But when he pleaded guilty in state court in 2008, the only minor Epstein was convicted of soliciting was 16 years old at the time the offenses began, according to information obtained by The Washington Post.

The younger girl who initially notified police has long believed that hers was the case referenced in the guilty plea, her attorney said. Some media accounts said as much. Publicly available charging documents contained no name or age, however. Pressed to resolve the ambiguity, state prosecutors in Florida recently provided The Post with the victim’s date of birth.

The decision to charge Epstein with a crime involving an older teen — part of a plea deal that has already been criticized as overly lenient — has eased his obligations to register as a sex offender. In New Mexico, for instance, where Epstein has a 7,600-acre property called Zorro Ranch, he is not required to register because his victim was not under 16, state officials said.

The case has faced growing scrutiny since last month, when a federal judge ruled that the prosecution team led by then-U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta, now President Trump’s labor secretary, violated the rights of alleged victims by failing to notify them of an agreement not to bring federal charges. Some House Democrats are calling for the resignation of Acosta, whose department oversees investigations into sex trafficking and workplace abuses.

Attorneys for the alleged victims are seeking to void the non-prosecution agreement, which ended the federal probe and granted immunity to any potential co-conspirators.

“They were cutting a plea deal. It wasn’t a prosecution,” said attorney Spencer Kuvin, who represented the 14-year-old girl who alerted police, referencing the number of victims court records say federal prosecutors identified. “They had a grab bag of 40 girls to choose from.”

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DU BOIS (PA)
Courier Express

March 16, 2019

The Vatican has defrocked a former Roman Catholic priest who is serving a prison term for the sexual assault of two boys in Jefferson County.

Bishop Lawrence T. Perisco of the Erie Diocese announced Friday that David Lee Poulson “was granted a dispensation from all the obligations attached to holy orders.”

“Because Mr. Poulson has now been removed from the clerical state, he is forbidden to function as a priest in the Catholic Church and should no longer present himself as a priest and not be admitted as a priest in the celebration of the sacraments,” Perisco said in a statement.

Poulson pleaded guilty in October to two felony charges in connection to repeated sexual assaults against one boy and the attempted assault of another. The boys were age 8 and 15 at the time of the abuse, which reportedly occurred at a remote cabin in Cook Forest. Poulson was also accused of assaulting one victim in a church rectory and then making that victim confess the abuse to him afterward.

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MIAMI (FL)
Associated Press

March 18, 2019

A Roman Catholic priest in Florida is facing charges that he drugged a female parishioner and raped her.

The Rev. Jean Claude Jean-Philippe was in a Miami-Dade County jail late Saturday charged with sexual battery on an incapacitated victim.

The Miami Herald reports that in October the 64-year-old priest invited the victim to his home at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead. The woman said she drank tea he gave her and passed out. She told investigators she woke up two hours later naked in Jean-Philippe’s bed, believing she was raped.

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NORWICH (CT)
The Day

March 18. 2019

By Joe Wojtas

State Sen. Mae Flexer, D-26th District, and other Democratic leaders are working to modify a pending bill so it would eliminate the statute of limitations on the filing of civil lawsuits in cases of sexual assault.

If the General Assembly approves the bill, it is expected to impact the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses, where alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, nuns, deacons and bishops have been prohibited from filing suits after they turn 48.

Victims and their supporters say that for a variety of reasons, some victims do not disclose they were abused until much later in life.

One of the victims is John “Tim” McGuire of New London, who discovered when he went to a lawyer to find out about suing the Diocese of Norwich, that he had missed the deadline for filing a suit by a mere three weeks. McGuire, who alleges he was sexually assaulted by the late Rev. James Curry when he was an 8-year-old altar boy at St. Joseph’s Church in Noank, has been lobbying legislators to eliminate the statute of limitations for himself and other victims.

“This is great news,” McGuire said Sunday, saying he knows of people in his support group of people assaulted by priests who would file suits if the change is approved.

The Day has spoken to a number of alleged victims in recent months who say they too would file suits against the Diocese of Norwich if the law is changed.

“There’s a great injustice here in Connecticut because victims of sexual assault have such a limited opportunity for justice both on the criminal and the civil side. The church needs to take responsibility for its actions,” said Flexer, who described herself as an active Catholic.

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Patheos blog
March 18, 2019

By Gene Veith

Sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic Church–as well as other churches–is a horrible scandal. That does not mean, however, that every clergyman accused of these crimes is guilty. And the climate of outrage about these revelations can lend itself to false accusations, hoaxes, and a lynch mob mentality.

A prominent conservative churchman, Cardinal George Pell, was accused of sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choir boys in 1996 when he was Archbishop of Melbourne in Australia. He was recently tried, convicted, and sentenced to six years in prison.

But there are compelling reasons to believe that he is innocent.

According to the man who testified that he was abused, Cardinal Pell caught the two choir boys in the vestry immediately after Mass, where they had gotten into the Communion wine. In the course of chastising them, Cardinal Pell allegedly forced them to perform oral sex.

A shocking, repellant story, similar to others that we have heard about pedophile, homosexual priests. But there are major problems with that story.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

March 18, 2019

By Inés San Martín

When Pope Francis decided in 2017 to bring an Argentine bishop to Rome and give him a job in the Vatican, the prelate had been accused of “strange behavior” but not of criminal sexual conduct, Crux has learned.

The first formal allegations against Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, formerly of the northern Argentine diocese of Oran, came in 2015 when a diocesan secretary found pornographic pictures on the prelate’s phone.

The images included gay porn featuring young men, but not minors, as well as images of Zanchetta touching himself. They were allegedly sent to unknown third parties.

Local newspaper El Tribuno published documents from 2015 and 2016 that prove the Vatican, including the pope, knew about the bishop’s improper behavior. There were also allegations of financial wrongdoing. Zanchetta was not suspected of stealing money, but of failing to report diocesan income.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

March 18, 2019

By Kerry Burke, Molly Crane-Newman and Michael Gartland

Five former Catholic school students are accusing a priest of sexually abusing them when they were boys attending schools and churches in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.

The men, four of whom wished to remain anonymous and spoke through a lawyer, claim that Monsignor John Paddack isolated them from other students, sought to offer them advice in private and then groped them.

Collectively, the accusers and their lawyers claim the abuse took place from 1988 to 2002 at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, St. Joseph by the Sea High School on Staten Island and the Church of the Incarnation in Upper Manhattan.

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LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

March 15, 2019

By William Lindsey

The jailing of Cardinal George Pell resonates because he was so powerful in an institution that covered up the abuses of its clerics.

In commenting on Cardinal Pell’s conviction and sentence, Michael Cook’s Lessons from Cardinal Pell’s 6-year jail sentence makes a move that should trouble all of us concerned about shoring up the legitimacy of court systems and criminal justice systems in democratic societies. Cook opens by reminding us of that Pell was conficted on the basis of the testimony of one person testifying behind closed doors.

He then goes on to state,
The Pell trial shows that the victim will be presumed to be truthful when he steps into the witness box.

This is something none of us who were not in that closed-door court hearing can possibly know or affirm with any certainty. Because the hearing was, as Cook himself reminds us, a closed-door hearing… It is a judgment without any substance when it’s offered by anyone who was not at the closed-door hearing in which testimony was given.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Rolling Stone

March 17, 2019

By Nicholas Lord

In late October 1996, Cardinal George Pell stood before a panel of reporters in Melbourne, Australia, and apologized. He apologized on behalf of the Australian Catholic Church, who, as it had recently surfaced, was complicit in covering up pervasive and unimaginable child abuse by priests. “I would like to make a sincere, unreserved, and public apology,” Pell said, according to David Marr’s The Prince: Faith, Abuse and George Pell. He had a his peculiar manner of speaking — an Australian accent polished by an Oxford education. “First of all to the victims of sexual abuse, but also to the people of the archdiocese for the actions of those Catholic clergy.” He declared himself an advocate in the fight against child abuse, and announced a new compensation scheme for the victims of his religious brothers.

Yet only a few weeks later, Pell cornered two thirteen-year-old choirboys in the sacristy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and sexually abused them, a jury has found. He forced one boy to perform oral sex while the other flinched away — “crying” and “sobbing” and “whimpering,” as a judge later described. It was a Sunday morning, after mass. The boys had just finished singing hymns. They were on a singing scholarship and came from poorer communities. Pell had just been appointed archbishop.

After years of accusations involving Pell’s complicity and direct abuse — and several trials later—Cardinal Pell has been convicted of child abuse on five counts and sentenced to six years in jail. News of the court proceedings was suppressed until only recently, as his case was protected by a strict media gag order common in high-profile criminal cases in Australia. The verdict was announced formally only days after Pope Francis’s Vatican summit to address child abuse within the Catholic Church, an institution that’s still grappling with its horrifying history of child abuse around the world. As the global investigations continue, the church is left in a crisis: how to handle the child abuse epidemic, how to ensure it doesn’t continue and how to respond to a community left at odds with their faith.

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[Salta Church investigates another priest for allegations of sexual abuse]

ARGENTINA
GrupoLaProvincia.com

February 27, 2019

El sacerdote José Carlos Aguilera, a cargo de la parroquia del barrio Santa Lucía de la capital salteña, y director de la Pastoral Social, es investigado por un tribunal del Arzobispado de Salta por denuncias de abuso sexual, revelaron hoy fuentes vinculadas al caso. Fuentes cercanas a la investigación confirmaron a Télam que Aguilera se suma así a la lista de sacerdotes denunciados por el delito de abuso sexual en Salta, entre los que se encuentran los sacerdotes Emilio Lamas y Agustín Rosas, ambos con causas en la justicia.

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[Río Cuarto priest suspended after sexual abuse report]

ARGENTINA
La Voz

March 8, 2019

El obispo de la diócesis de Río Cuarto, Adolfo Uriona, resolvió suspender cautelarmente al cura Carlos Alberto Maffini, quien prestaba servicio pastoral en la localidad de Carnerillo, en el sur provincial, a raíz de una denuncia de abuso sexual. En un comunicado del Obispado, Uriona detalló que la denuncia contra Maffini fue presentada el 7 de marzo por una mujer adulta. Ese mismo día se dispuso la investigación previa que manda el Código de Derecho Canónico.

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[Vatican investigates Salta priest for sexual abuse]

ARGENTINA
Noticias

March 2, 2019

By Juan Luis González

La Santa Sede de Francisco comenzó una investigación al cura José Aguilera, acusado por abusos sexuales. La opinión del arzobispado de esa localidad.

El arzobispado de Salta confirmó hoy una noticia que venía sacudiendo a la provincia: el Vaticano comenzó una investigación formal sobre el presbítero José Carlos Aguilera, párroco del barrio Santa Lucía, en la capital, capellán y profesor de la Universidad Católica de Salta, y titular de la Pastoral Universitaria de esa localidad. El cura está acusado por presuntos delitos de abuso sexual.

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[Abuse case against priest Agustín Rosa Torino goes to trial]

ARGENTINA
El Tribuno Salta

March 8, 2019

La Sala I del Tribunal de Juicio será la encargada de juzgar al sacerdote por los delitos de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante y abuso sexual simple, en ambos casos agravados por ser ministro de culto reconocido.

La fiscal penal 2 de la Unidad de Delitos contra la Integridad Sexual, María Luján Sodero Calvet, fue notificada de que la causa Agustín Rosa Torino, imputado por los delitos de abuso sexual gravemente ultrajante y abuso sexual simple, en ambos casos agravado por ser ministro de culto reconocido, fue elevada a juicio y recayó en la Sala I del Tribunal de Juicio, que deberá fijar fecha para la audiencia de debate de acuerdo a su agenda.

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[Chillán Diocese issues update on abuse cases, Pope removed one priest]

CHILE
Publimetro

March 16, 2019

By Aton [news agency]

“La Diócesis de Chillán expresa su compromiso de seguir enfrentando en la verdad las situaciones escandalosas de abuso, contribuyendo a forjar una cultura del cuidado y la protección”, señalaron en el comunicado.

El Obispado de Chillán informó sobre la situación de sacerdotes de la diócesis que actualmente están sujetos a una investigación o proceso canónico, a causa de denuncias por abuso sexual de menores. Uno de ellos fue dispensado del sacerdocio por el papa Francisco.

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[Church: more than 70 priests sign letter against abuse]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 17, 2019

By T. Yáñez, G. Peñafiel and C. Said

Misiva comenzó a ser leída desde las 20 horas de ayer en misas y templos de Santiago. El documento no alude a los obispos.

El caso del sacerdote Tito Rivera, quien enfrenta una denuncia por eventual violación en la Catedral, ha provocado diversas reacciones, tanto dentro como fuera de la Iglesia Católica chilena. Una de ellas es que un grupo de cerca de 70 sacerdotes de la diócesis de Santiago suscribió una carta, que desde las 20 horas de ayer comenzaron a difundir entre los fieles, en misas y otros encuentros religiosos.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

March 17, 2019

By Danae King

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus is one of only three dioceses in the country with a priest assigned to take reports of clergy sex abuse from survivors.

Several victim advocates, survivors and coordinators of victim assistance in other dioceses say having to meet with someone in the same uniform and position as the person who abused them as a child could re-traumatize survivors or dissuade from reporting abuse.

“If you’re looking at survivors, their abuse was a cleric, so you’re wanting to make sure you’re not causing further trauma because it’s someone in a collar,” said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It’s all in the approach, in the manner the person carries out the ministry, and the competence.”

In Columbus, all reports of clergy sex abuse — which come iin as phone calls, emails and forms that the public can fill out — ggo to Monsignor Stephan Moloney, the vicar general and victim assistance coordinator.

Read more: Victims of abusive priests won’t likely see justice, expert say
Moloney, who is also the pastor of St. Andrew Parish in Upper Arlington, has been taking reports of child sex abuse by priests in the diocese since 1997. But he and many others across the country officially gained the title of victim assistance coordinator in 2002, when the conference of bishops started requiring the archdioceses and dioceses to create the position.

“I have always taken a pastoral approach to it,” Moloney said.

He said that in the past 22 years, he has taken dozens of abuse reports, including a half-dozen or so involving priests in active ministry.

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TORONTO (CANADA)
CBC Broadcasting

March 17, 2019

By Ainsley Hawthorn

The spectre of Mount Cashel loomed large in my late childhood, both literally and figuratively.

My family moved to St. John’s from the west coast of Newfoundland when I was eight years old. It was October 1989, and a judicial inquiry’s hearings on the allegations of child abuse by the Christian Brothers had begun only one month earlier.

I enrolled in Vanier Elementary, a small school in the east end of the city. The classrooms for Grades 4 to 6 were in the back of the building, facing a broad field where we would spend recess and lunch.

At the end of the field, beyond a chain-link fence, stood the Mount Cashel Orphanage.

Even at our young age, my classmates and I shivered at the name “Mount Cashel.” We understood that secrets had been revealed, that children like us had been hurt by the people who were meant to protect them.

The orphanage itself was imposing but dilapidated. Looking up at it as a child, I had the impression that a great institution had fallen.

The Mount Cashel hearings rocked a province where more than a third of the population identified as Catholic. As the full scope of the abuse came to light, some disillusioned Newfoundlanders and Labradorians stopped going to church altogether.

Today, fewer than 19 per cent of all residents of this province attend weekly religious services, compared with 32 per cent in 1989.

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LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Daily Mail

March 16,2019

Bt Ariel Zilber

A former priest raped an 8-year-old girl nearly 30 years ago to the point where she vomited – only to then force her to clean up the mess, it has been alleged.

Sabine Griego, 81, was arrested on Tuesday at his New Mexico home for the alleged assault and other rapes involving the girl.

Griego, a resident of Las Vegas, New Mexico, has been charged with one count of sexual penetration of a minor and coercion resulting in great bodily harm and mental anguish.

The charges are just the latest allegations against Griego, who has also been accused of sexually assaulting more than 30 children over decades while in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Between 1993 and 1995, Griego was implicated in eight closed cases. He was put on leave from the church in 1993, but it wasn’t until 2005 that he was formally dismissed from clerical duties.

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SANTA FE (NM)
New Mexican

March 16, 2019

By Rebecca Moss

It was early summer and the altar servers for Holy Cross Catholic Church were squirming in the heat of their white robes. There was no air conditioning in the sacristy behind the chapel as the children prepared the church for the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

Isaac Casados, who was 10 at the time, had grown up in this church. He planned to become a priest and felt that leading his fellow altar servers was the first step.

“Every young kid at Holy Cross was taught being an altar server is the greatest thing,” said Casados, now 37. “At the same time, all the nuns would always teach you the priest was kinda the closest thing to God. What they did, what they said, was firm. You did not refute it, you did not question it. Because if you did, you’d go straight to hell.”

On that hot Sunday nearly three decades ago, Casados was a fourth-grader at a school run by Holy Cross and one of several children assigned to help the Rev. Marvin Archuleta, an assistant priest for the Sons of the Holy Family at Santa Cruz de la Cañada parish in Española.

Casados said in a recent interview that the priest, known as Father Marvin, told him he needed to adjust his altar robe, which had bunched in the back.

“I thought he was going to straighten out my shirt,” Casados said. “He came up behind me … and instead, his hand went straight into my pants.”

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HOMESTEAD (FL)
Patch

March 16, 2019

By Paul Scicchitano

A 64-year-old Catholic priest assigned to a South Florida church was taken into custody over the weekend and accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a female parishioner whose wedding he once officiated at.

Fr. Jean Claude Jean-Philippe was charged by Miami-Dade police with sexual battery of a physically incapacitated person. He was arrested 8:30 p.m. Friday night at 1701 NW 87 Ave. in Doral.

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami said Jean-Philippe served as parochial vicar at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead, which is about 38 miles from Miami.

“Effective immediately, Archbishop Thomas Wenski has removed Fr. Jean-Philippe from Sacred Heart Catholic Church, placing him on administrative leave,” the spokeswoman said.

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MIAMI (FL)
Associated Press

March 17, 2019

A Roman Catholic priest in Florida is facing charges that he drugged a female parishioner and raped her.

The Rev. Jean Claude Jean-Philippe was in a Miami-Dade County jail late Saturday charged with sexual battery on an incapacitated victim.

The Miami Herald reports that in October the 64-year-old priest invited the victim to his home at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Homestead. The woman said she drank tea he gave her and passed out. She told investigators she woke up two hours later naked in Jean-Philippe’s bed, believing she was raped.

She did not notify police until two weeks ago after telling another priest. The Miami Archdiocese says she was told to contact authorities. Officers say Jean-Philippe confessed when confronted.

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NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger

March 17, 2019

By Drew Sheneman

The NJ dioceses release of 188 priests accused of sexual abuse was a step in the right direction towards transparency and finally healing the gaping wounds left by the massive, worldwide sexual abuse scandal. The Pope has been saying all the right things as well by openly addressing the abuse scandal that would have been unthinkable under different church leadership. Transparency and openness are good, but the church’s contrition apparently only goes so far. It stops at the statute of limitations for civil cases brought against it. The church is happy to admit wrongdoing and act contrite, as long as it doesn’t cost them anything.

As laws currently stand victims of abuse have a window of two years from acknowledging their abuse in which to file a civil suit against the church. There’s a bill in the legislature that would extend that window for victims of abuse and make it easier to bring a case against the institution that sheltered and defended their abusers for decades. It’s helpful to remember the lengths the Catholic church went to protect the predators in their midst, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish knowing full well what crimes they had committed.

The issue of sexual abuse among the priesthood was well known within the church, all the way up to the very top of the gilded halls of the Vatican, and for decades nothing was done about it. The church was only ever concerned for it’s own well being and was content to let the victims suffer as long as it was kept out of the headlines. They lost any benefit of the doubt long ago. Extend the statute of limitations and hold them accountable.

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TRENTON NJ)
The Trentonian

March 17, 2019

By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman

As the Catholic Church grapples with widespread sex abuse scandals, new details have emerged about a child-molesting ex-priest who targeted students at the local campus known today as The College of New Jersey.

The Rev. Vincent J. Inghilterra, better known as Father Vince, has debauched the morals of “multiple victims” and has since been removed from ministry, the Diocese of Trenton confirmed in a public tell-all outing the identities of 30 clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse against a minor.

Among his many assignments, Inghilterra in the 1980s served as the campus town chaplain at Trenton State College, a Ewing-based institution later renamed TCNJ. The so-called Father Vince prowled around campus with a seedy reputation that preceded him, according to one of his victims.

Thomas Venditti, 56, a former student at Trenton State, transferred to another school, he said, because he needed to escape from the trauma that Inghilterra put him through.

“I don’t want Catholics to completely give up their faith,” Venditti said, “but I don’t want them to get victimized, either.”

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[“I met with Carlos Osoro to tell him to put away the priest who abused my daughters and he did nothing”]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 17, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La madre de una víctima denuncia la inacción de la Iglesia ante las denuncias de abuso que presentó al actual cardenal de Madrid, por entonces arzobispo de Oviedo

El silencio que V. C. guardó durante más de una década era tan ensordecedor que no podía soportarlo. Explotó cuando tenía 19 años. Su secreto: Eustasio Sánchez Fonseca, el sacerdote con el que vivía junto con su madre en una comunidad cristiana en Campo de Caso (Asturias), también había abusado de ella desde los cinco hasta los 14 años. “Cuando empecé la universidad en 2002, los recuerdos de los abusos me vinieron como un flashback. No aguanté y lo conté todo. No denuncié. En esos momentos, todavía estas asimilando que alguien te robó la infancia y tienes que poner todo eso en orden antes de poder hacer algo”, narra V. C. Su madre cuenta que, a pesar de no denunciar, acudió a pedir ayuda a la Iglesia. “Hablé con un sacerdote amigo mío y consiguió que fuera a hablar con el arzobispo Carlos Osoro. Queríamos que Tito no abusara de más niños. El arzobispo me dijo que hablaría con él. A las semanas, el cura al que pedí consejo me dijo que Tito lo negó. La diócesis no hizo nada y no volví a saber nada más”, relata la madre.

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KINGSTON (JAMAICA)
The Gleaner

March 17, 2019

By Nadine Wilson-Harris

The banning from priestly ministry of former Bishop of Mandeville Gordon Bennett for sexual harassment has come as a shocker for the local Catholic Church, but Archbishop Emeritus of Kingston, the Reverend Charles Dufour, has questioned whether ill-health might have contributed to his actions.

“We are grieved that a man we knew to be a good man apparently is alleged to have engaged in such behaviour. Having known that his character had been deeply affected by his depression and stroke, one wonders how much this contributed to his actions,” Dufour said in a statement to the press released on Saturday afternoon.

Baltimore Archbishop William Lori has announced ministerial restrictions for Bishop Bennett and Bishop Michael Bransfield, who resigned from the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston last year. Bishop Bransfield was accused of sexually harassing adults and committing financial improprieties.

According to a story carried in The Associated Press on Monday, Bennett served in Baltimore from 1998 until 2004, when he was appointed Bishop of Mandeville in Jamaica. He resigned in August 2006, a few months after the archdiocese learnt of an allegation of his sexual harassment of a young adult in Jamaica.

But Dufour said he was told at the time that Bishop Bennett’s resignation was due to ill-health.

“I learned – like everybody else when Archbishop Lori of Baltimore released his statement – that there were also other reasons linked to his departure: that of an unfortunate alleged case of sexual harassment of an adult,” he said.

“As the former Archbishop of Kingston and Bishop of Montego Bay and as the present apostolic administrator of Mandeville, I can only state how saddened and shocked we all are at learning of this event, which was reported to have taken place 13 years ago,” Reverend Dufour stated.

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NEW YORK (NY)
The Atlantic

March 17, 2019

By Julie Beck and Ashley Fetters

As it has been for decades, the Catholic Church is in the midst of a crisis, one whose long reach has traumatized thousands and left one of the world’s oldest institutions struggling to find a way forward. In late February, the Vatican held a high-profile conference on the sexual-abuse crisis—the revelations of decades of abuse, by priests in different parts of the globe, of children, adult seminarians, and nuns. During the conference, Pope Francis called for “concrete” change, though the Atlantic reporter Rachel Donadio wrote that, on the whole, the meeting seemed largely to be a “consciousness-raising exercise,” out of step with the “zero tolerance” that many victims’ advocates in the United States have been demanding for priests who use their power to abuse. It seems the crisis will likely drag on as the Church’s highest authorities continue their slow-moving reckoning.

What is an institutional crisis for the Church is a personal crisis for the faithful. Lay Catholics are left to grapple with what this crisis means for them, their families, and their faith. Parents in particular often feel acutely conflicted. How can they not worry about sending their children to be altar servers after reading about priests taking advantage of altar servers in the past? At the same time, devout parents who deeply love the Church naturally want their children to receive its spiritual benefits. What are they to do?

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FARGO (ND)
Associated Press

March 17, 2019

North Dakota’s Roman Catholic dioceses are mulling whether and when to release information about priests accused of sexual abuse, even as critics say they are moving too slowly following explosive revelations in Pennsylvania last year.

The Bismarck Diocese, the state’s second-largest, says it plans to release the names of priests with “substantiated claims” against them of sexual misconduct with minors after it finishes reviewing its files. But the Fargo Diocese hasn’t yet decided whether to release names.

The dioceses responded to questions from The Associated Press following revelations in Pennsylvania last summer that more than 300 priests had been credibly accused of molesting more than 1,000 children, and as Pope Francis last month convened a summit of Catholic leaders from around the world on the issue.

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KALAMAZOO (MI)
Newschannel 3

March 14, 2019

Standing outside the offices of the Diocese of Kalamazoo, survivors of sexual abuse demanded Thursday that church leaders publish the names of six priests who have been accused of improper behavior.

The priests in question currently or formerly served in the Kalamazoo Diocese, members of the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, and if the diocese wants to promote transparency, it must publish their names.

“More and more victims are realizing that that’s what it takes to protect kids,” said David Clohessy, a member of the network. “That’s what it takes to heal. And in Michigan, especially, we would beg, not just victims, we would beg witnesses, whistle blowers, anybody with any knowledge or suspicion of child sex crimes on the church to come forward now because the attorney general is doing an investigation.”

Ann Philips Browning said she was abused by a priest when she was a teenager.

“The church owes us transparency and for some reason we’re not getting it unless there’s legal involvement,” said Browning.

She said the Attorney General’s Office interviewed her as part of its ongoing investigation. She said she told the office there are many people afraid to share their stories of abuse.

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GARY (IN)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 14, 2019

–Fr. Bernard “Barney” McMeel, who was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1954. He also worked in 24 assignments in two Alaska dioceses (1955-1978), nine in Montana (1978 until his death 1994) and one in California (1954-1955).

In a 2006 civil lawsuit, he was accused – along with fellow Jesuit Fr. Andrew Eordogh – of having sexually abused a boy in Holy Cross, Alaska, beginning when the boy was four years old in 1967. His accuser said Fr. McMeel “handed him off” to Fr. Eordogh when Fr. McMeel left in 1968 to become Superior Regular of Jesuits in Alaska.

http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/McMeel_Bernard_Francis_sj.htm

–Fr. Walter George DeRoeck, who was a Chicago priest ordained in 1971. He resigned in 2001 and in 2006 was listed on the Chicago archiocesan ‘accused’ list. He “often” took boys to a vacation home he had in Michigan City with other priests, according to church records.(see AOC 012852)

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/il_chicago/#deroeck

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/priest_files/DeRoeck_Rev_Walter_George.pdf

— Fr. Stephen J. Muth, who is a Toronto native but was ordained in Gary in 1982. He also worked in Canada, Ohio, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and three cities in California (San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Clara). A Byzantine Catholic priest, Muth was ordained in Toronto, Ontario in 1982. He later worked in several U.S. Roman Catholic dioceses as well as U.S. Byzantine Rite Eparchies. He was accused in 2006 of having sexually abused a 12 year-old boy in Wichita, KS in 1992.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

March 15, 2019

Victims question new church accountability plan

SNAP: “It is big bishops investigating small ones”

Group prefers independent lay body instead

It also names ‘Dangerous Dozen’ Chicago priests

Most abused elsewhere & have gotten no attention here

Survivors will also prod archdiocese over 500 still-hidden accused priests’ names

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will release a “Dangerous Dozen” list of priests publicly accused of molesting children elsewhere but who also spent time in Chicago and have escaped virtually all public attention here.

They will also ask Chicago’s Cardinal Blasé Cupich to:
—release some of the 500 accused clerics’ names that an Illinois attorney general says he and his brother bishops have not yet disclosed,
—drop his plan to have bishops investigate other accused bishops, and
—back the Springfield IL bishop’s plan for an independent lay group to do this.

WHEN
Friday, March 15 at 11:15 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk outside the Chicago Archdiocesan Headquarters at 835 N. Rush Street (corner of Rush and Pearson)

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of those Abuswed by Priests

March 15, 2019

–Fr. Joseph Fertal was involved in at least one civil suit and was criminally investigated in connection with allegations of child sexual abuse. He was purportedly sent to St. Michael’s Institute, an institution known for treating priests accused of child sexual abuse, multiple times beginning in the 1980s. According to San Bernardino church officials, Fr. Fertal was permanently banned from ministry in that diocese and was included in its list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse. In 2003, he was believed to be living in Jemez Springs, New Mexico, the site of another church priest treatment center, but his current whereabouts are unknown. Fr. Fertal was at LoyolaUniversity and in the Philippines twice: in Manila and at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City.

He belongs to a religious order known as the Divine World Missionaries and worked twice at its seminary in TechnyIL. The order is based in Rome.

https://www.andersonadvocates.com/Documents/posts/Diocese%20of_San_Bernardino_Report.pdf

Potentially dangerous because:
Only the most dangerous clerics ever get barred or banned from a diocese, also because of his international travel and because his whereabouts are unknown.

–Fr. James Vincent Flosi was sued in 2005 for allegedly abusing a Quigley Theological Seminary student in 1980 while assigned to Holy Name Cathedral. He faced multiple reports of sexual abusing kids dating to the 1970s. In 1991, he was accused of teaching several middle school age boys to masturbate and the following year he resigned from the priesthood and was defrocked in 2010. Later, he became the founder and CEO of Aidscare in Chicago.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/il_chicago/#flosi

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WARSAW (POLAND)
Catholic News Service

March 16, 2019

By Jonathan Luxmoore

A top Polish Catholic leader, named the first bishops’ conference delegate for child protection, welcomed a church report on sexual abuse by clergy in his country and vowed efforts to combat it.

Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno spoke at a March 14 news conference launching the abuse report, compiled from dioceses and religious orders by the Polish church’s Statistics Institute and Child Protection Center. The report listed 382 cases of sexual abuse between 1990 and 2018, involving 625 minors: 58 percent boys and 42 percent girls.

“Every one of these victims should awaken pain, shame and guilt, both among clergy and in me as a leader,” said Archbishop Polak. “We can never do enough.”

The report said canonical procedures had been followed by the church in 95 percent of instances, with three-quarters of cases brought to completion. However, it added that only a quarter of cases had seen the defrocking of abusers; 40 percent ended in restrictions on priestly ministry.

Work transfers, suspensions and acts of penance had been ordered in 12 percent of cases, while 13 percent of cases had been discontinued and 10 percent of suspected abusers acquitted.

The report said “differences of reliability” among Polish dioceses and religious orders in responding to enquiries had necessitated “additional monitoring and data verification,” while there had been “a certain ignorance” about church rules on abuse.

Last September, Poland’s bishops responded to accusations of failure to tackle clerical abuse by setting out plans for new child protection guidelines, as well as prevention programs and data collection.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

March 16, 2019

By Erin Cox

Amid worldwide investigations of child sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, Maryland lawmakers on Saturday advanced legislation that would let people sue their assailants for damages in civil court regardless of when the abuse took place.

Lawmakers said that as the clergy sexual abuse scandal widens, it should be easier for victims to hold perpetrators — and the church — accountable.

“This is an issue that is growing in magnitude every single day; it is growing in magnitude across the country,” said House Judiciary Chairman Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City).

“Those people should get relief,” he said.

More than a dozen attorneys general have launched state-level criminal investigations into child sexual abuse allegations involving the church. Officials in Maryland, Virginia and the Districtare among them.

Maryland’s legislation won preliminary approval in the House of Delegates on Saturday, and it would erase an existing statute of limitations on bringing civil sexual abuse cases in the future. It would also apply retroactively, giving victims until October 2021 to file suit over abuse alleged to have happened at any time in the past.

If the proposal becomes law, it will create a new avenue for victims who are now adults to seek monetary damages. The civil cases can be filed regardless of whether law enforcement agencies pursue criminal charges.

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PARIS (FRANCE)
LaCroix International

March 16, 2019

Catholic reaction to the conviction of George Pell for child sexual abuse was as diverse as the Catholic community itself.

Some of the reaction has a public voice, including the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic commentariat, individual bishops, leaders of Catholic agencies and education authorities, and prominent Catholic survivors. This aspect of Catholic reaction can be identified.

Some explored the trial, conviction and forthcoming appeal, while the remainder discussed the likely impact on the Catholic community, sometimes a gut reaction of a personal kind.Some emphasised the value of the Church’s works in the community while others gave reassurance that the Church is now a safe environment. Some questioned the verdict or urged against a rush to judgement before the completion of the appeal process.

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MIDLAND (MI)
Midland Daily News

March 16, 2019

Voice of the Faithful will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, in Conference Room A of Blessed Sacrament Parish, 3109 Swede Ave., Midland.

Sister Janet Fulgenzi, Diocese of Saginaw coordinator for the Office of Child and Youth Protection, will present an overview of two training programs offered by the diocese for the protection of children and prevention of abuse. This will be an opportunity to learn more and ask questions about VIRTUS, a program offered to all employees and volunteers. She also will explain Child Lures Prevention and Teen Lures Prevention, designed for youth to recognize lures and predator grooming behavior.

The public is welcome. For more information, contact Jim Kosinski at 989-837-2819 or jimkosinski@charter.net.

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[Monsignor Oscar Ojea, Episcopate president, calls for “radical cut” in church abuses]

ARGENTINA
Clarín

March 11, 2019

Fue al encabezar la apertura de la asamblea en Pilar donde se reúnen los obispos de todo el país.

Los obispos de todo el país se reúnen desde este lunes —y hasta el jueves— en la primera asamblea plenaria del año. Encabezada por el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina (CEA), monseñor Oscar Ojea, la reunión se desarrolla en la casa de retiros El Cenáculo de Pilar. En la primera jornada hubo una alusión directo a los abusos en la Iglesia a los que llamaron a dar “un corte radical”.

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WASHINGTON, DC
Catholic Herald

March 11, 2019

By Christopher Altieri

Bishop Zanchetta joins the Pope and senior Vatican officials on the retreat despite being under investigation for sexual and financial wrongdoing

The Catholic Herald has learned that a bishop currently under investigation for sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement, including claims he had naked selfies and gay pornography on his phone, is on retreat with Pope Francis and other senior members of the Roman Curia.

The bishop is Gustavo Zanchetta, emeritus of Orán, Argentina, and currently Assessor to the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA). The bishop confirmed by phone to the Herald that he was on retreat.

The week-long Lenten retreat at the Casa del Divin Maestro began Sunday afternoon.

A January 4 statement from the Press Office of the Holy See said that Bishop Zanchetta would “abstain himself from work” during the investigation. “If the elements to proceed are confirmed,” the January 4 statement said, “the case will be referred to the special commission for the bishops.”

The Press Office of the Holy See had not responded by press time to requests from The Catholic Herald for information regarding Bishop Zanchetta’s current status.

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[Ezzati asks Pope to speed Tito Rivera’s removal from clerical state after controversial interview]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 15, 2019

By Yerko Roa and Nicole Martínez

El arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, le pidió al papa Francisco apurar la dimisión del estado clerical del cura Tito Rivera –denunciado por una violación al interior de la Catedral Metropolitana–, luego de una entrevista que dio al programa Mentiras Verdaderas, donde reconoció su sexualidad activa. Nada bien cayeron las declaraciones del sacerdote Tito Rivera el miércoles por la noche en Mentiras Verdaderas de La Red.

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[Arias confirms abuse investigation against Trappist monks of Codegua]

CHILE
BioBioChile

March 16, 2019

By Manuel Stuardo and Nicole Martínez

El fiscal regional de O´Higgins, Emiliano Arias, confirmó que existe una investigación en contra del Monasterio de Monjes Trapenses de Codegua, la que aún se encuentra desformalizada, siendo parte de los antecedentes que se allanaron en el arzobispado de Santiago. Son al menos dos casos los que se indagan por el Ministerio Público, uno contra el actual abad, Pedro Barrientos, que incluye a un denunciante que postulaba para ser monje.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Post

March 13, 2019

By Gabrielle Fonrouge and Craig McCarthy

The New Jersey pedophile priest who was found shot to death in his Nevada home had a history of hiring male prostitutes, and police believe he was targeted for death, according to reports and neighbors.

The Henderson Police Department outside of Las Vegas has declined to comment on John Capparelli’s “suspicious” death, which has been ruled a homicide by the Clark County Coroner, but the local Fox 5 outlet reported the disgraced and defrocked priest had a history of ordering male prostitutes, citing police sources.

Capparelli, who’s been accused of sexually abusing at least two dozen young men while a New Jersey priest in the 1970s and 1980s and appeared on a list of Garden State priests credibly accused of sex abuse last month, was found dead on his kitchen floor on Saturday with a gunshot wound to his neck, the coroner’s office said.

When reached by The Post, neighbor Martha Lovato, 71, said police implied Capparelli’s death was a targeted attack.

“A policeman came to our door to ask if there were any outside cameras… they said they were investigating a crime in the neighborhood,” Lovato said.

Lovato added cops told her there was no cause for concern, leading her to believe it was a targeted attack.

“It sounds to me that somebody had a personal vendetta against him,” she said.

Another neighbor said cops believe Capparelli was killed last Wednesday Mar. 6 because he didn’t show up for dinner plans with a friend that night. Joann D’Angelo said the friend came by on Saturday morning to check on Capparelli and called police, who broke in and found his body.

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JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
News Tribune

March 16, 2019

A Catholic priest in Jefferson City has been placed on administrative leave while alleged boundary violations with minors at Immaculate Conception Church and School are investigated.

Information was shared with parishioners and students’ families this week regarding the Rev. Geoffrey Brooke, associate pastor at Immaculate Conception Church.

In a letter to Immaculate Conception School families dated March 10, Bishop Shawn McKnight of the Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City stated the diocese had received allegations of violations involving Brooke. He wrote the diocese had notified the Missouri Children’s Division hotline and Brooke may not function publicly as a priest while on leave.

The letter was shared with the News Tribune by a community member, and Director of Diocesan Communications Helen Osman confirmed its authenticity.

“This does not mean there is a determination of guilty or if the allegations are credible,” McKnight noted in the letter.

McKnight said the Diocesan Review Board will receive information relevant to these allegations and update McKnight with its recommendation on what should happen with Brooke.

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[Priest Hector “Tito” Rivera asked “to be resigned from the clerical state”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 14, 2019

By Angélica Baeza

Ayer el religioso, acusado de violación al interior de la Catedral de Santiago, dio una polémica entrevista donde negó tajantemente las acusaciones, mientras que el Arzobispado rechazó varias de sus afirmaciones.

El sacerdote Héctor “Tito” Rivera solicitó hoy “ser dimitido del estado clerical”, en el marco de la investigación tras la denuncia en su contra, por violación de un mayor de edad al interior de la Catedral Metropolitana.

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[Ezzati reappears in homily and asks forgiveness for “the situations of sin, of abuses, committed by some of our brothers”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 14, 2019

By Angélica Baeza

El arzobispo de Santiago había estado distanciado de las ceremonias masivas en medio de la investigación que se lleva en su contra, por encubrimiento de abusos sexuales.

Desde Navidad que el arzobispo de Santiago, Ricardo Ezzati, no aparecía en una ceremonia de alta convocatoria, como la de hoy, la Eucaristía de los 201 años del Voto de O’Higgins, en la Catedral Metropolitana.

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[Prosecutor Arias: “The bishops in general have answered questions”]

CHILE
La Tercera

March 15, 2019

By M. J. Navarrete

El persecutor señaló que el énfasis de la investigación está en los casos que no han prescrito y destacó que después se verían eventuales encubrimientos.

El fiscal regional de O’ Higgins, Emiliano Arias, se refirió a la investigación que lleva respecto de presuntos abusos a menores cometidos por miembros del clero de la Iglesia Católica. El persecutor señaló que el énfasis de la investigación está en los casos que no han prescrito y destacó que después se verían eventuales encubrimientos. Respecto de las declaraciones de los obispos de esta semana, en que fueron citados Galo Fernández (Talca), Fernando Ramos (obispo auxiliar de Santiago y administrador apostólico de Rancagua), Moisés Atisha (Arica) y Fernando Chomali (Concepción), el persecutor señaló que “los obispos que han sido citados como imputados en general han prestado declaración y han respondido a las preguntas que se le realicen, con dos excepciones: Ezzati y Atisha”.

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[Priest Tito Rivera speaks out, denies accusations against him as “a montage in order to get money”]

CHILE
El Mostrador

March 14, 2019

El sacerdote está en la mira de la justicia por la denuncia de violación en la Catedral, un hecho que además salpica al arzobispo de Santiago, cardenal Ricardo Ezzati por un supuesto encubrimiento. “La Iglesia me dio la espalda. Creo que el cardenal Ezzati ha sido prudente, pero de mis compañeros ninguno se ha tomado la molestia de visitarme”, añadió el religioso que asegura que “el 50% de los sacerdotes chilenos son homosexuales”

“Esta historia es inventada, un montaje con el fin de sacar dinero”. Esta fue una de las declaraciones del sacerdote Tito Rivera, quien rompió el silencio tras las graves acusaciones en su contra, que incluyen una violación en plena Catedral de Santiago.

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[Church meets with victims but does not commit to investigating past abuses]

MADRID (SPAIN)
El País

March 14, 2019

By Julio Núñez

La asociación nacional Infancias Robadas entrega 13 propuestas al presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal contra la pederastia

Representantes de la asociación nacional de víctimas de abusos sexuales se han reunido este jueves por primera vez con el presidente de la Conferencia Episcopal Española (CEE), Ricardo Blázquez, para exigirle que tome medidas contra los casos de abusos abiertos o prescritos. Entre las exigencias de la agrupación Infancia Robada (AIR) destaca una: que se abra una investigación sobre la pederastia en las últimas décadas. Pero el cardenal no se ha comprometido a investigar el pasado, solo a trasladar el texto a la comisión antipederastia, según han informado los afectados al salir de la reunión. “El pasado también cuenta y cuando Blázquez dice que no investigará aquellos casos nos produce daño y enfado, vergüenza ajena y nos sentimos de nuevo agredidos”. En la Conferencia Episcopal no han querido hacer declaraciones.

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NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
Insight blog

March 16, 2019

In the aftermath of the George Pell scandal, a question has kept me awake at night: Why would anyone want to be a teacher at a Catholic school?

While this is not something I can freely discuss in the staff room, I don’t think I’m the only Catholic teacher who has come to this conclusion: I will continue to practice my faith; and I will continue to teach my students; but the Church is dead to me.

In the lead up to Pell’s sentencing, scores of priests used – or rather: abused – their Sunday pulpits to express contempt of the Australian judicial system. This denial from priests at every level in the Church is staggering – but not surprising. When the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began, representatives from the Catholic Education Office sat us down and told us how we should respond to any parent raising concern or anger at the Church. We were told to say we are ‘saddened’ by these ‘unfortunate’ revelations. At this point I publicly disagreed. I am not sad that the Church had been exposed – I am outraged that children have been abused. And I’m outraged by the Church’s response.

The Church must be accountable to Civil Law like any other institution.

Even now, in the face of George Pell’s sentencing, bishops from around the country sent school principals letters stating the Church will not comment on Pell’s imprisonment until his appeal in June. The one part of the letter I did agree with, however, was the focus we must give to all victims.

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ROME (ITALY)
Crux

Mar 16, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Chilean bishops began testifying at the local prosecutor’s office this week on charges that they covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse.

Their questioning comes less than a year after every bishop in the country presented their resignation to Pope Francis, who said that many of them were guilty of cover-up and destroying evidence implicating abusive priests.

In all, eight Chilean bishops have been called to testify – some of them on charges that they themselves sexually abused either minors or seminarians.

At least three of them had court appointments this week. One of these, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, requested to postpone a hearing to request his case be dismissed after news broke earlier in the week that the cardinal had allegedly covered up for Father Tito Rivera, who’s been accused of raping an adult male in the Santiago cathedral.

Ezzati and the archdiocese are now being sued by the man for $500,000.

Francis is expected to accept Ezzati’s resignation soon, but sources with knowledge of the situation have told Crux that the pope is working hard to make sure he has the right replacement, and is at the same time not opposed to Ezzati feeling the edge of the sword of Damocles hanging over his head for a bit longer.

Lay people in Santiago and several members of the local clergy, on the other hand, are demanding the pontiff take action now.

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ATLANTIC CITY (NJ)
Press of Atlantic City

March 15, 2019

Your report of clerical abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Camden Diocese sparks special interest. I was educated at Blessed Sacrament in Margate and Holy Spirit in Absecon in the 1960s and 1970s, and many of the 56 accused priests’ names are familiar to me.

Galling best describes Camden Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan’s statement that 56 named priests were a “small percentage” of the more than 800 priests who had served over the past eight decades. His characterization of the problem sums up the problem itself: This is an epidemic of abuse enabled by church hierarchy.

The Catholic hierarchy has long known the findings of the late Richard Sipe, the psychotherapist and former Benedictine monk who treated and studied pedophile priests for decades. His findings estimated that 6 percent of clergy are child sexual predators. The Camden Diocese said 7 percent of its clergy have been credibly accused of acting out sexually with minors.

The diocese’s website lists the pedophile priests by name, along with their assigned parishes. Many of the clergy were reassigned with absurd frequency — up to 16 times — suggesting the diocese allowed these men to serially abuse youth with impunity.

Ted Gallagher
New York

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LANSING (MI)
Veracity blog

March 15, 2019

A woman’s own investigation into a priest she says sexually harassed her at a church in Fenton has prompted more calls for Lansing Bishop Earl Boyea to resign from his position.

In an open letter released Thursday, the woman also asks for the resignation of Lisa Kutas, who is the director of Human Resources for the Diocese of Lansing.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist in Fenton. She said she has been an active member of the church for several years.

Veracity is not naming her because she is a victim of sexual harassment. She also fears retaliation against her family.

The woman filed a sexual harassment complaint against Father Mathew Joseph in August 2018. She sent three letters to Bishop Boyea.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester First

March 14, 2019

By Howard Thompson

The Diocese of Rochester says it is concluding its settlement process as it reviews cases of reported sexual abuse at churches.

When complete, the diocese says more than 30 victims’ claims will have been heard as part of the process. In a statement, the Diocese of Rochester says it “now wants to assess where we are as we prepare to respond to and cooperate with the process set forth in this recent legislation.”

The legal process will continue, with Judge Robert Lunn serving as a mediator for the remaining claims. But, victims who have gone through the investigative process will have their claims administered by Judge Lynn.

“The Diocese has a long-established process of working directly with victims and will continue to do so,” the church adds.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Diocese of Rochester Website

March 14, 2019

With the passage of the Child Victims Act, the Diocese will conclude our settlement process involving Justice Robert J. Lunn, who has been serving as an independent neutral to resolve claims against the Diocese involving allegations of sexual abuse of minors. The Diocese now wants to assess where we are as we prepare to respond to and cooperate with the process set forth in this recent legislation. The program with Justice Lunn will not end immediately. Instead, all claimants who have now completed the investigation phase of the program will have their claims administered by Justice Lunn. When the process concludes, more than 30 claimants will have been heard. The Diocese has a long-established process of working directly with victims and will continue to do so.

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VATICAN CITY
Associated Press

March 7, 2019

By Nicole Winfield

The conviction of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin for failing to report a known pedophile priest to police deepens the crisis confronting an already discredited Catholic Church hierarchy. The verdict handed down by magistrates Thursday shows the church’s once-untouchable “princes” increasingly are judged accountable for priests who abuse children and the superiors who allowed the abuse to continue.

After centuries of impunity, cardinals from Chile to Australia and points in between are facing justice in both the Vatican and government courts for their own sexual misdeeds or for having shielded abusers under their watch..

Here is a look at cases implicating Catholic cardinals, members of the exclusive club of prelates that advises the pope and eventually elects his successor.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

March 14, 2019

By Edward Pentin

The archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels was a controversial ‘reformer’ who jokingly admitted to being part of a ‘mafia’ club that tried to prevent Benedict XVI’s election in 2005.

Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who headed the Catholic bishops’ conference of Belgium for more than 30 years — and who favored changes to the Church that often put him at odds with Catholic teaching — died Thursday at the age of 85.

* * *

In 2010, Cardinal Danneels was accused of covering up a clerical sex-abuse case, which led to civil authorities raiding his private residence, as well as St. Rombaud Cathedral and archdiocesan property.

Leaked audio recordings revealed the Belgian cardinal urging the victim in that case not to make public that his abuser was the victim’s own uncle, Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges, and pressuring the young man not to force Bishop Vangheluwe to resign, which he did in 2010.

The cardinal’s spokesman said at the time that “there was no intention of any cover-up” and the recording had been taken out of context. But even if there was never a policy of cover-up, commentators criticized Cardinal Danneels for keeping Bishop Vangheluwe’s admission of guilt to himself, failing to convince his brother bishop to resign immediately, and for never involving a commission for protection of minors or his successor.

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KANSAS CITY (KC)
Catholic News Service via National Catholic Reporter

March 14, 2019

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Vatican City – Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, retired archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, died March 14 at the age of 85.

Pope Francis expressed his condolences to Danneels’ family and the Belgian faithful and praised the late prelate’s zeal for the church, especially during the Synod of Bishops on the family in 2014 and 2015.

“This zealous pastor has served the church with dedication not only in his diocese but also at the national level as president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, as well as serving as a member of various Roman dicasteries,” the pope said in March 14 telegram to Cardinal Jozef De Kesel, the current archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels.

“I ask Christ, conqueror of evil and death, to welcome him into his peace and joy,” the pope said. Born June 4, 1933, in Kanegem, Belgium, Danneels was the oldest of six children. He was ordained a priest in 1957 and two years later became chairman of the department of theology and spiritual director at the seminary in Bruges. In 1969, he became professor of theology at Louvain University.

* * *

Despite being respected within and outside the church, Danneels faced criticism in 2010 after meeting a victim of clergy sex abuse by a local bishop.

Belgium’s Flemish-language De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad dailies published an alleged transcript of the then-retired cardinal’s April 2010 meeting with relatives of the nephew of Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges. The unnamed nephew was abused by his uncle before and after the bishop’s 1985 consecration.

Vangheluwe resigned in the same month after admitting abusing his nephew for 13 years.

According to the text, Danneels drew a distinction between “public and private punishment” of the bishop and suggested “forgiveness and forgiving” to the unnamed victim, who said he would leave the decision about going public to the cardinal.

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LYON (FRANCE)
Associated Press via U.S. News and World Report

March 7, 2019

By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny

French cardinal offers to resign after court convicts him of failing to report known pedophile priest to police.

In a surprise ruling, France’s senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was convicted Thursday of failing to report a known pedophile priest to police, the latest high-ranking churchman to fall in the global reckoning over clergy sex abuse and cover-ups.

Magistrates in Lyon found that Barbarin had an obligation to report the Rev. Bernard Preynat to civil authorities and gave the cardinal a six-month suspended prison sentence. Barbarin offered to resign.

Preynat, who is scheduled to be tried on sexual violence charges next year, has confessed to abusing Boy Scouts in the 1970s and 1980s. People who said they were among the victims accused Barbarin and other church officials of covering up the priest’s crimes for years.

Nine victims brought the case to trial. A group of Preynat’s victims hailed the unanticipated conviction as a victory for child protection and a strong signal that church leaders will be held accountable.

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DENVER (CO)
Crux

March 9, 2019

By Paulina Guzik

On a day set aside for prayer and atonement for victims of sexual abuse in Poland, a statue of a Cold War-era priest was removed in the city of Gdańsk, after he was accused of abusing minors.

Penitential liturgies have been organized throughout Poland on the first Friday of Lent, including the Archdiocese of Gdańsk. On the same day, a statue of the legendary priest, Father Henryk Jankowski of Solidarność, was dismantled by order of the city council.

The coastal city of Gdańsk could be where “transparency,” the new flagship slogan of the Catholic Church – proclaimed during the Feb. 21-24 Vatican abuse summit – could run into the shallow waters of Poland.

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SOUTH BEND (IN)
16 WNDU

March 14, 2019

By Karina Flores

Activists from a support group for victims abused by clergy members claim the bishop of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend failed to acknowledge 11 priests accused of abuse.

“We’re here because we believe the bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend is deliberately concealing names of predator priests,” said David Clohessy, the St. Louis director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Clohessy is traveling across the region calling for Bishop Kevin Rhoades to reconsider the list he released of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

“If [the bishop] is going to claim to come clean, he should really come clean and name all of the abusive priests, nuns, seminarians, bishops, brothers, monks – all of them,” Clohessy said.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Harrison Hurt

In the midst of an abuse crisis within the Catholic Church, the five Jesuit provinces in the United States released lists in December and January of priests accused of child sexual abuse. Yet the incomplete nature of these lists has sparked even greater criticism from lawyers and advocates, including lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented over 2,000 survivors of clerical abuse.

“The diocese and Jesuit Provinces want to appear as doing the right thing when they’re in fact doing the bare minimum,” Garabedian said in a phone interview with The Hoya.

Two ordained Jesuits with previous Georgetown affiliations and credible abuse allegations — Fr. Thomas M. Gannon, S.J., and Bernard Knoth — served in the Maryland Province but did not appear in the province’s Dec. 17 report, even after another province’s report revealed their time at Georgetown four days later.

For two former Jesuits mentioned the report, Fr. Neil McLaughlin, S.J., and H. Cornell Bradley, the province omitted time both priests had spent on Georgetown’s campus.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

by Myroslav Dobroshynskyi

In 1983, Fr. Thomas M. Gannon, S.J., received the faculty member of the year award from Loyola University Chicago for his work as chair of the sociology department. The same year, Gannon left Loyola to become a professor at Georgetown University and the director of the Woodstock Theological Center in Lauinger Library — a move that came after Gannon sexually abused a minor at a church in Highland, Ind., that year.

That accusation, deemed credible by the U.S. Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus in 2018, is one of several against Gannon, both before and after his time at Georgetown from 1983 to 1986. Gannon, who died in 2011, also sexually abused minors while teaching at an Ohio high school in the 1960s and at two parishes in the 1990s, according to the Midwest Province.

While he was chair of the sociology department at Loyola, Gannon — who would later teach sociology to undergraduates at Georgetown — allegedly sexually assaulted and harassed at least two graduate students, allegations that were reported at the time to Loyola administrators in the Jesuit order, but were not public until now.

Gannon taught Georgetown undergraduate classes on comparative social structures and the sociology of religion from 1983 to 1986, according to archives of class schedules from those years. During his time at Georgetown, Gannon lived in a Jesuit residence two blocks from the front gates and worked as the director of the Woodstock Theological Center, a research center located in the basement of Lauinger Library that was managed by the Maryland Province of the Jesuit order until the center closed in 2013.

Georgetown University, which first learned of allegations against Gannon from the Midwest Province’s report Dec. 17, 2018, has not publicly acknowledged his past work on campus.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Riley Rogerson

“We have a nightmarish fear that Father Walsh may sexually molest innocent female students, and little girls in the Georgetown area.”

Sarah Lynne Landsdale was 5 years old when her uncle, Fr. William J. Walsh, S.J., first molested her while wearing his clerical clothing. Approximately 40 years later, in 1996, she and four of her sisters told the Maryland Province that Walsh had abused each of them hundreds of times. And two years later, in 1998, she and her sisters called a press conference to plead for their uncle’s removal from Georgetown University’s campus.

Walsh, who served as a Georgetown professor during the 1966-67 school year and conducted research on campus from 1996 until 1998, sexually abused minors in at least four locations — including Washington, D.C. — over the course of four decades, according to a December 2018 report issued by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus that deemed allegations against him credible.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

by Will Cassou

Fr. Daniel C. O’Connell, S.J., once a popular professor in the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus, was removed from his position as president of St. Louis University in 1978 after an allegation of sexual abuse. His work at Jesuit universities, however, continued for another 20 years, bringing him to Loyola University Chicago and Georgetown University, which only began the process of revoking his title of professor emeritus of psychology this week.

Though notified of credible allegations against O’Connell in 2009, Georgetown University did not decide to rescind O’Connell’s professor emeritus title until Wednesday, eight days after receiving questions from The Hoya for this story.

Fr. Daniel C. O’Connell, S.J., worked at Georgetown University as a professor, chaplain-in-residence and department chair. He was a professor emeritus at Georgetown until Wednesday.

Now 90, O’Connell served as a chaplain-in-residence in Harbin Hall and taught undergraduate psychology courses at Georgetown between 1989 and 1998, serving as chair of the psychology department for six of those years, according to university archival material. After leaving the university in 1998, he was granted professor emeritus status, a title he held for 16 years after his first legal settlement with a survivor of his abuse.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
The Hoya

March 15, 2019

By Sana Rahman

In between two periods of abusing minors as an administrator and a teacher at Gonzaga College High School in the 1960s and 1970s, former Jesuit priest H. Cornell Bradley worked as a campus minister at Georgetown University. Neither the university nor the Maryland Province of the Jesuit order, which has deemed allegations against Bradley credible, have acknowledged his time at Georgetown since his abuse was made public in 2006.

One year after his ordination, Bradley, who left the Jesuits in 2007 shortly after being removed from ministry, came to Georgetown in 1970, according to the Official Catholic Directory and contemporaneous records catalogued by the Maryland Province.

Bradley, now 80, lived two blocks from the university’s front gates at Holy Trinity Church from 1972 until 1976, according to a December 2018 report issued by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.

The Province did not include Georgetown on Bradley’s assignment record for the report, but later acknowledged his work on campus in a March 13 statement to The Hoya. Georgetown has not publicly acknowledged the allegations against Bradley, of which it was first notified by a March 1 email from The Hoya.

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NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

March 11, 2019

By David Clohessy and Rev. Dr. Serene Jones

[Includes 30-minute audio interview.]

Religious people need to face reality. The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones is the president of the Union Theological Seminary and the author of Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World. As Dr. Jones tells it, “we need to get out of our sweet little worlds…and not be afraid of the horror of what’s happening around us.” We need to listen.

For the next two weeks, “Deliver Us” will feature four episodes where sex abuse survivors have a chance to tell their stories, in their own words.

Listening to the survivors of sexual abuse can be difficult, but it is an essential part of the process of healing, says Dr. Jones. Bearing witness is a crucial component of the Christian life and Dr. Jones noted that “giving testimony and bearing witness is the absolute, most essential part of the process of healing. Until the stories and the reality of what’s happened can come out into voice and can be heard by another person received by them, you can’t start the healing process.”

Each survivor’s story illustrates a unique journey through the shattering trauma of sexual abuse. We spoke with some people who found healing in breaking the silence and telling their stories. Another survivor committed herself to justice, fighting to prevent abuse from happening in the future. One survivor made his way back to his home parish and his spirituality after years away. There are many others who are just beginning these journeys.

As we prepared these episodes, Dr. Jones reminded us that when the stories become too much, we have to be able to admit that to ourselves and to find places, communities and people where we can also share our responses and “work through in [our] own heart what happened.”

In our first survivor stories episode, we will hear from Dr. Jones and sex abuse survivor and former national director of SNAP, David Clohessy.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch

March 10, 2019

By Nassim Benchaabane

Seven more Jesuit priests who worked in St. Louis have been identified as being credibly accused of sexual abuse, according to a list posted months ago by a Jesuit province but not publicized here until a survivors group outed the names on Friday.

Four of the priests were assigned to St. Louis University as recently as the 1970s, according to the Midwest Jesuit Province. One priest worked at Washington University in the late 1960s. Two, including one assigned to SLU, worked at St. Stanislaus Seminary in the 1940s. One of the priests, and a second convicted of abuse in Michigan, were patients at a Catholic treatment center in Dittmer as recently as 2012.

David Clohessy, spokesman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, which pointed out the new information on Friday, said the Midwest Province should have published the information earlier.

“They tried to pull a fast one,” Clohessy said at a press conference SNAP called on Friday in front of St. Francis Xavier “College” Church on Lindell Boulevard on the SLU campus.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
Insurance Journal

March 15, 2019

By Dave Kolpack

North Dakota’s Roman Catholic dioceses are mulling whether and when to release information about priests accused of sexual abuse, even as critics say they are moving too slowly following explosive revelations in Pennsylvania last year.

The Bismarck Diocese, the state’s second-largest, says it plans to release the names of priests with “substantiated claims” against them of sexual misconduct with minors after it finishes reviewing its files. But the Fargo Diocese hasn’t yet decided whether to release names.

The dioceses responded to questions from The Associated Press following revelations in Pennsylvania last summer that more than 300 priests had been credibly accused of molesting more than 1,000 children, and as Pope Francis last month convened a summit of Catholic leaders from around the world on the issue.

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CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Caller-Times

March 12, 2019

By Tim Acosta

Two priests whose names were released by the Diocese of Corpus Christi in a list of priests who had been “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct have filed lawsuits against the diocese and Bishop Michael Mulvey.

Attorneys for Fr. John Feminelli and Msgr. Michael Heras filed lawsuits on behalf of both men Thursday in Nueces County. The men both claim Mulvey and the diocese made “false” statements by including them in the list and claiming they had been credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.

“Defendants knew the statement was false and acted with reckless disregard for the truth,” both lawsuits state. “The publication of the statement was made with malice.”

Both Feminelli and Heras are seeking up to $11 million each in damages, according to the filings. They claim that there “was, and is, no evidence” that they were credibly accused “of the crime of sexual abuse of a minor.”

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WARSAW (POLAND)
Konferencja Episkopatu Polski (Polish Bishops Conference)

March 14, 2019

[See also the report (in Polish): Sexual abuse of minors by some clerics and some religious.]

382 reported cases of sexual abuse of minors, including 198 cases concerning minors under the age of 15, and 184 above the age of 15; the reported cases cover the time from January 1, 1990, to June 30, 2018 – according to the data received by the Secretariat of the Polish Bishops’ Conference from all dioceses and religious orders. They were elaborated by the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics and the Child Protection Centre.

The total number of victims in all (also unconfirmed) cases under the age of 15 accounted for 345. Whereas, above the age of 15 – 280. Among the victims, in all reported cases, male minors accounted for 58.4%, while the female minors – 41.6%.

Among all the cases, in which the status of the canonical process was identified (94.8% of all reported cases), 74.6% of cases were already completed, and 25.4% of them were still in progress.

The cases completed with dismissal from the clerical state represented 25.2%. Other penalties (suspense, canonical admonition, prohibition on work with minors, removal from office, restriction of ministry or prohibition on public appearances) represented 40.3%.

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NEW YORK (NY)
New York Times

March 14, 2019

By Joanna Berendt

Warsaw – The Roman Catholic Church in Poland released long-awaited statistics on Thursday that shed light on the sexual abuse of children by priests over the past 28 years.

The study, commissioned by the Episcopal Conference of Poland and pulling together data from over 10,000 local parishes, found that from 1990 to mid-2018, church officials received abuse reports concerning 382 priests.

During that time, the statistics said, 625 children, most of them aged 15 or younger, were sexually abused by members of the Catholic clergy.

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, the president of the conference, said it was “particularly painful, even tragic” that priests betrayed public trust by “hurting those who are most vulnerable.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
Associated Press via New York Times

March 7, 2019

By Aurelien Breeden

Paris – A Catholic cardinal offered his resignation on Thursday after being found guilty by a French court of covering up decades-old sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese, a surprise victory for the priest’s accusers, who had forced the case to trial after it was dropped by prosecutors.

The conviction of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was the first in France against such a high-profile clergyman, adding to a long list of sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church just weeks after a landmark meeting at the Vatican ended without a concrete plan to tackle the issue.

Cardinal Barbarin, 68, was found guilty of failing to report child abuse by the Rev. Bernard Preynat to the authorities from 2014 to 2015, after parishioners accused the priest of sexually abusing dozens of Boy Scouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The court handed down a six-month suspended prison sentence to Cardinal Barbarin, who had faced up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros, nearly $51,000. His lawyers said they would appeal.

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GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
M Live Media

March 14, 2019

By Emily Monacelli

Kalamazoo – A support group for men and women abused by members of the Roman Catholic Church has called on the Diocese of Kalamazoo to publicly list the former Kalamazoo-area priests who have credible allegations against them.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests on Thursday, March 14, called for Diocese of Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley to post the names of all church staff accused of molesting children on the websites of Kalamazoo churches. The post should include photos and work histories, SNAP said.

David Clohessy, director of SNAP Network’s St. Louis chapter, said he has found six priests who have worked in the Kalamazoo area and have been publicly accused of sex abuse.

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HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

March 12, 2019

By Dave Altimari

The Norwich Diocese has agreed to pay a former altar boy at a Pomfret church $900,000 to settle a claim that a priest sexually abused him “hundreds of times” over a six-year period in the 1990s.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2016 by Jonathan Roy against the diocese and now-deceased priest Paul Hebert, who was the pastor at The Most Holy Trinity Church in Pomfret when the alleged abuse took place between 1990-1996, the lawsuit said.

The case was settled rather than going to trial. The two sides were supposed to pick a jury in January but it was postponed while further mediation took place. The case was settled recently.

“We hope that the recent settlement reached in the case of allegations concerning late Father Paul Hebert brings closure to the parties involved,” Norwich Diocese spokesman Wayne Gignac said in a statement Tuesday.

New London attorney Kelly Reardon, who represented Roy, said Tuesday that Roy “is relieved that this ordeal is over and happy to get this behind him.” The lawsuit initially sought $2 million.

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NEW YORK (NY)
Fox News

March 14, 2019

By Ryan Gaydos

A defrocked Roman Catholic priest who was among nearly 200 New Jersey priests facing accusations of sexual abuse was shot and killed in a Las Vegas suburb, officials said Tuesday.

John Capparelli, 70, was found dead Saturday inside the kitchen of his Henderson home with a gunshot wound to his neck, said Nicole Charlton, the Clark County Coroner’s Office medical examiner. Capparelli had moved into the $319,000 home in August 2016, according to property records.

Police believe Capparelli died amid “suspicious circumstances,” but authorities haven’t divulged details as to whether there’s a suspect in his death or if the killing had anything to do with the abuse allegations.

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ROCHESTER (NY)
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

March 14, 2019

By Steve Orr

A new wave of allegations against Roman Catholic clergy will emerge in New York as a result of the new Child Victims Act. Matthew Leonard, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

The Diocese of Rochester ended its voluntary program to compensate victims of child sexual abuse Thursday, a move that could invite a greater number of lawsuits being filed by victims.

The diocese’s reconciliation and compensation program, formed at the direction of the church hierarchy, aimed to settle claims from people who said they had been sexually abused as children by priests or other church figures.

The purpose was to offer a non-confrontational way to resolve claims without costly litigation.

About 30 people have entered into the settlement process, the diocese said, and compensation has been awarded in at least a half-dozen cases.

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