ABUSE TRACKER

WARSAW (POLAND)
Reuters

May 17, 2019

(Adds dropped word Poland in headline)

Poland’s pro-EU opposition has a 10-point lead over the ruling nationalists ahead of European Parliament elections, a survey showed on Friday, a sharp turnaround that some analysts linked to a film about sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.

The documentary “Just don’t tell anyone”, which shows victims of child abuse confronting priests who had sexually abused them, has shocked Poles. The powerful Catholic Church has close ties with the governing Law and Justice party (PiS).

The European Coalition, which comprises pro-Europeans from across the political spectrum, would win 43.6% and PiS 32.9% in the May 26 election, according to the poll, conducted on May 14-16 by the Institute for Research into Public Affairs (IBSP) for Newsweek and Radio Zet.

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NASHVILLE (TN)
Lifeway Research

May 21, 2019

About one-third of Southern Baptist churchgoers believe more revelations of sexual abuse and misconduct by Protestant ministers remain to be exposed. But few know of specific individuals in their church whose misconduct still is hidden, according to a new LifeWay Research study.

The 2019 Sexual Misconduct and Churchgoers Study by LifeWay Research explored the perceptions and experiences of Southern Baptist and Protestant churchgoers.

“Protecting people from abuse of any kind should be of utmost importance to churches and our convention,” said Brad Waggoner, acting CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. “LifeWay decided to sponsor this research because it’s imperative we make our churches safe places for people to hear the gospel and grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.”

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COLUMBUS (OH)
WKYC3

May 21, 2019

By Tom Meyer

The Bishop’s reinstatement comes about 15 months after allegations of sexual misconduct that were first exposed in an exclusive Tom Meyer investigation.

Bishop Joseph White, the founder of a church with worldwide followers, has been reinstated as Bishop of the Church of the Living God International, which is headquartered in Columbus.

The Bishop’s reinstatement comes about 15 months after the church’s board of directors suspended him following allegations of sexual misconduct that were first exposed in an exclusive Tom Meyer investigation.

The board in its letter to church members said, “Through careful consideration and prayer, the CLGI Board of Directors has reinstated Dr. Joseph White.” The letter goes on to say that White established churches all over the world.

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NEW YORK
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

May 22, 2019

By Christine P. Bartholomew

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Christine P. Bartholomew, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

(THE CONVERSATION) Pope Francis recently changed the Catholic Church law, making it mandatory for clergy to report sexual abuse to church superiors. In the past, such reporting was left to the discretion of a priest or nun.

Pope Francis’ proposal is an effort to address gaps in the regulatory process of the church, which has been accused of shielding clergy sexual abuse. It provides a process to report allegations up the pipeline.

As a scholar of law I worry that it fails to address what the church will do with that information.

To date, religious organizations, such as the Catholic Church, have adopted inconsistent positions on whether, and to what degree, they should share information necessary for legal action.

Clergy across various religions, ranging from Christians to Catholics to Muslims to Jews, are willing to share evidence in cases of violent crimes, such as murders. But when the evidence pertains to clergy misconduct, namely sexual abuse, the tide changes.

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POLAND
EuroNews

May 22, 2019

By Joao Vitor Da Silva Marques

A new documentary allegedly exposing child sex abuse by members of the Roman Catholic Church is forcing Poland’s Catholic Church bishops to meet in Warsaw today.

Released over the weekend, the film entitled ‘Tell No One’ reportedly shows how abusive priests ruined the lives of victims and faced no consequences in Poland.

The Catholic Church’s links to the political establishment in the country and its influence over the education system, culture and lawmaking means the scandal is quickly becoming a political issue.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday that a public inquiry on paedophilia is being launched: “A state committee to examine all paedophilia cases will be set up. I want to stress that Law and Justice government is a guard, a guarantor of physical security of children, of families” He added: “Our party has sought for many years to tighten the penalties for the most bestial, terrible crimes, also for the paedophilia crimes without excluding the Church, without excluding clergy, without excluding all the circles: teachers, artists, everywhere where there is contact with children, carers, coaches.”

But the links between the Law and Justice ruling party and the Roman Catholic Church run deep in Poland. The party has a tight alliance with the clergy and many priests, especially those in smaller towns and villages, often openly backing the party.

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

May 21, 2019

By Ann O’Loughlin

A man suing a priest and a religious order over alleged sexual abuse when he was a child is entitled to information about others who made similar allegations, the High Court has ruled.

The man is suing for damages over the alleged abuse by the priest who was his schoolteacher and a member of an order of priests and brothers whose members worked in education.

As part of the pre-trial process, he sought and obtained discovery of documents he said he needed to process his case. He got it, but certain details were blacked out and he then sought orders from the court that this information also be provided.

The information included the names of people who have made complaints to gardaí of personally experiencing or witnessing abuse by the priest or had brought their own civil actions over alleged abuse.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic News Service

May 21, 2019

By Pablo Kay

Church officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession.

The call came as the Senate measure, known as S.B. 360, advanced in the Legislature after lawmakers “accepted several of the church’s recommendations to strengthen mandated reporting requirements for clergy,” as Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez noted in a May 20 statement.

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OTTAWA (CANADA)
Ottawa Citizen

May 22, 2019

By Andrew Duffy

Two men have told court that they were sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest as teenagers in the same bed at a church rectory in Richmond.

Barry McGrory, 85, a former Ottawa priest, faces four charges based on two historic sex abuse complaints dating to the late 1960s.

Charges in connection with a third complainant were withdrawn last year after the man died of cancer.

McGrory, who was officially removed from the priesthood last year by the Vatican, has pleaded not guilty.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin ruled Tuesday that Crown attorney John Semenoff will be allowed to use similar fact evidence as part of the case against McGrory.

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ALBANY (NY)
WAMC

May 21, 2019

By Dave Lucas

Today in Albany, sexual abuse survivors joined representatives of two law firms in releasing the names and photographs of more than 80 clergymen in the Diocese of Albany accused of sexual misconduct. The Diocese disputes the report.

The law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates of New York City and LaFave, Wein & Frament, PLLC, of Guilderland, produced a report they say reveals the identities, histories, photographs and information on the clerics, all accused of child sexual abuse. Jeff Anderson: “The Catholic Bishop in Albany has already released a list of some 47 under some pressure. The number of those we released here today is 83. A large number of names yet to be known are priests in the Diocese of Albany accused, but there’s also a number of priests who are members of religious orders, that have never been disclosed.”

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WARSAW
The Guardian

May 22, 2019

By Christian Davies

War of words over LGBT rights, perceived threats to traditional values and clerical child abuse

Campaigning in Poland for the European elections has descended into a war of words over religion, sex and morality after a documentary on clerical abuse raised questions about the government’s ties to the Catholic church and the ruling party campaign sought to portray LGBT rights supporters as a threat to children.

The release on YouTube earlier this month of the documentary, viewed more than 20m times and featuring several victims confronting their sexual abusers, electrified what had already been a febrile debate over the role of the powerful Roman Catholic church in Polish politics and society, during which homosexuality has regularly been equated with paedophilia.

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ST. GEORGE (UT)
FOX13

May 21, 2019

By Ben Winslow

Attorneys clashed in court over whether to publicly reveal the identity of a woman who has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist LDS Church, accusing them of “ritualistic sex abuse.”

In a hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for ex-FLDS leader Wendell Nielsen and the court-controlled United Effort Plan Trust sought to have the alleged child rape victim’s name made public. They argued that it has been difficult to defend against her accusations when they have been bound by a non-disclosure agreement to even utter her name.

But attorneys for “R.H.,” as she’s known in court documents, told the judge that publicly disclosing her name presented significant security concerns.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA 5

May 21, 2019

A church volunteer has been arrested in the alleged yearslong sexual abuse of a girl in Rancho Cucamonga, and police on Tuesday said there may be other victims in the case.

Christopher Sjaarda, 38, was taken into custody last Saturday and booked on suspicion of sexual acts against a child, according to a news release from the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department.

An investigation began last month when detectives were notified about possible sexual acts against a child in Rancho Cucamonga, the release read.

Through extensive interviews with the girl, detectives learned she was sexually abused on a number of occasions over the past five years, allegedly by Sjaarda, police said.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Sacramento Bee

May 21, 2019

By Michael McGough

A Woodland woman has received a $200,000 settlement from the Sacramento Catholic Diocese and the current pastor of a Woodland church after filing a lawsuit in 2017 accusing a former priest of sexual assault and claiming church officials largely ignored her pleas for help.

Dorothy Small’s lawsuit alleged that she met the Rev. Renerio Sabuga Jr., the then-new assistant priest at Woodland’s Holy Rosary Catholic Church in 2014. Within months, the lawsuit claimed, Sabuga pursued Small romantically until he allegedly “cornered (Small) in her bedroom and sexually assaulted” her Feb. 17, 2015.

The allegations in Small’s lawsuit went on to say officials with the Sacramento diocese, and others at Holy Rosary, including current pastor the Rev. Jonathan Molina, did not do enough to address Small’s requests for help in the months after she took the complaints to church officials at the diocese – which was her preference over taking the matter to police.

Small, her attorney Joseph George and a coordinator with Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) discussed the case and provided a copy of the recent settlement during a Tuesday news conference at George’s office in Sacramento.

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AUSTRALIA
The Courier

May 22, 2019

By Jolyon Attwooll

Ribbons were cut off the St Patrick’s Cathedral fence in an act of vandalism described as “disrespectful” and “selfish”.

Maureen Hatcher, who set up the Loud Fence movement in support of victims and survivors of sexual abuse, said the action was very disappointing.

“It seems to happen every so often,” she told The Courier.

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DENVER (CO)
KGOV

May 8, 2019

Playtime: 28:50

Discuss: TheologyOnline.com

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WEST VIRGINIA
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 21, 2019

We are grateful that West Virginia Attorney General Morrisey is keeping the pressure up on the Wheeling-Charleston diocese by bringing new counts and evidence to his lawsuit. Informed communities are safer communities, and the more that is investigated, the more truth gets exposed.

It is especially troubling to learn that church officials at the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston chose not to publicly disclose reports of child sexual abuse by one of their teachers in 2006. Given that this event happened years after the adoption of the “Dallas Charter,” there is no reasonable explanation church officials could use to explain why these allegations remained secret. The same is true for the diocese’s arrogant decision to allow individuals to volunteer at schools without background checks.

These are reckless and dangerous choices that church officials actively made. And until church officials are held accountable for their crimes of enabling and covering up child sex crimes, we fear that church officials will continue this pattern of irresponsible decision-making.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
KGET

May 21, 2019

By Olivia LaVoice

It’s been almost a month since Msgr. Craig Harrison was put on leave pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

We’ve seen huge support for Msgr. Harrison, and we’ve seen support from victim advocacy groups for the men who’ve come forward.

In an exclusive interview, we hear from someone still part of the Catholic clergy.

Speaking out against another member of the church is something he says he never imagined he’d do, but after much prayer and many sleepless nights, he says he know this is the right thing.

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UNITED STATES
La Croix International

May 21, 2019

By Massimo Faggioli

University students in the United States offer fresh insights into the clergy sex abuse crisis

St. Augustine is quoted as saying that “one learns by teaching” — docendo discitur. This has never been more true for me than during this past semester when I taught an undergraduate university course on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

My class included 30 students aged 21-22, mostly from the United States. There was a mixture of males and females majoring in a variety of fields, from biology to political sciences. Most of them were Catholics, but there was a substantial minority of non-Catholics and even non-Christians. Almost all of them admitted to wrestling with the “God question” as well as the meaning of the Church.

I learned much while preparing my lectures, mainly from reading scholarly materials that integrated and systematized our knowledge of the various aspects of the abuse crisis from a historical and theological point of view.

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LEICESTER (UK)
CRUX

May 21, 2019

By Charles Collins

Ireland should do more to support marriage, instead of making it easier to get a divorce, says Bishop Denis Nulty.

The bishop of Kildare and Leighlin was speaking ahead of a May 24 referendum in the Republic of Ireland to change the Irish constitution which requires couples to have lived apart for four of the past five years before being able to dissolve their marriage.

The referendum is supported by every major party in Ireland and is expected to pass easily.

For most of its history, divorce was prohibited in the Republic of Ireland. In 1995, the constitutional ban on marriage dissolution was repealed in a referendum with just 50.28 percent of the vote.

The new constitutional language required a waiting period before a divorce, and also regulated which foreign divorces would be recognized by the Irish state.

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WHEELING (WV)
Charleston-Gazette Mail

May 21, 2019

By Jake Zuckerman

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey amended his lawsuit against the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese of the Catholic Church, submitting new allegations of sexual abuse and subsequent concealment.

Tuesday’s additions to his original suit, filed in Wood County Circuit Court in March, came after calling on victims or former employees of the diocese to come forward.

Among the new allegations:

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UNITED STATES
Christianity Today

May 21, 2019

By Kate Shellnutt

As the generation most likely to report experiencing misconduct and least likely to tolerate it, Christians under 35 stand to shape how congregations respond.

Surrounded by revelations of #MeToo and #ChurchToo, younger Christians are more keen to recognize sexual abuse—and less likely to put up with it.

According to a new study sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources, 10 percent of Protestant churchgoers under 35 have previously left a church because they felt sexual misconduct was not taken seriously. That’s twice as many as the 5 percent of all churchgoers who have done the same.

Among the younger demographic, 9 percent said they have stopped attending a former congregation because they personally did not feel safe from misconduct.

Churchgoers ages 18 to 34 are more likely than older generations to report experiencing sexual harassment—ranging from sexual comments and prolonged glances—at church and to know others at their church who are victims (23%).

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SCRANTON (PA)
WNEP

May 20, 2019

By Dave Bohman

Time may be running out for some victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests because lawmakers are on the verge of killing a plan to give victims more time to sue for sex crimes.

Those men claim they were sexually abused in the 1970s by the same priest in Scranton, but that priest was not listed in a grand jury report released last year.

The three men we spoke with may not have their day in court, and they worry about pinning their hopes for justice on the diocese’s victim’s fund.

It is now Divine Mercy Parish in Scranton’s Minooka neighborhood. It was St. Joseph’s in the 1970s, and Fr. Michael Pulicare was its priest.

“When I was a little kid, he would kind of friend me. He would give me gifts and stuff like that,” said John Patchcoski.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

May 21, 2019

By Maria Benevento

A survey released May 20 by the St. Leo University Polling Institute reveals that 81.3% of Americans in general, and 89.3% of Catholics, believe the Catholic Church was slow to take action on clergy sexual abuse.

The poll also asked respondents how much they agreed that each of a series of reasons had contributed to “slow church action,” and asked them to select “contributing factors” for the abuse crisis.

It found that by far the most commonly identified cause of the church’s slow response — by 74% of Americans and almost 85% of Catholics — was a desire to “preserve and protect the Church’s influence and reputation at all cost.”

The second and third most popular options were “to avoid the financial ramifications” and “to protect the ‘good old boys’ network,’ ” with both statements earning agreement from between 40% and 42% of both Americans overall and Catholics.

On several other options, Americans in general and Catholics diverged by more than 10 percentage points. Americans overall more likely to indicate that church leadership “believed the clergy instead of victims” (37.6% versus 26.4% of Catholics) or believed “clergy were above the law” (34.1% versus 24%).

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PITTSBURGH (PA)
New Castle News

May 20, 2019

By Brent Addleman

Although the widespread impact of clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania Catholic churches came to light just last year, veteran Pittsburgh litigator Alan H. Perer has been representing victims for nearly two decades.

Perer, of SPK – the law firm of Swensen & Perer, located in downtown Pittsburgh, has been working cases against the Pittsburgh Diocese dating back to the early 2000s, long before an August 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report detailed an extensive history of sexual abuse committed by clergy members within six dioceses, including Pittsburgh.

“I have been doing this for 17 years,” Perer said. “It has been very rough. A lot of cases earlier, we ran into the statute of limitations. We have been fighting this battle for a long time.

“I am hoping the compensation fund will be a compassionate fund. A lot of these people are really hurting and suffering from being abused as a child. I have many who were 10 to 12 years old, 13 years of age, some earlier in age and some that continued (suffering abuse) long after those ages.”

Perer said the abuse has taken a toll on his clients.

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AZCentral
Arizona Republic

May 21, 2019

By Laurie Roberts

Opinion: House Speaker Rusty Bowers has magically come up with a bill that does absolutely nothing to help child-rape victims hold their attackers accountable.

A clap of the hands, if you please, for this year’s legislative winner in that coveted category: Most Impressive Sounding Bill That Does Absolutely Nothing.

Naturally, there were a lot of entries in this highly competitive category at the Arizona Capitol. But a latecomer takes top honors – a last-minute bill that would give child victims of sexual assault more time to sue their rapists and the organizations that enable them.

Specifically, until they turn 30, up from 20.

Never mind that the average age that child victims of sexual assault come forward is 52, according to Child USA, a non-profit think tank that works on child abuse issues.

That is, after all, beside the point.

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WHEELING (WV)
The Intelligencer

May 21, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sought to add claims Tuesday in his lawsuit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, including a new count of unfair competition and new evidence of the church’s failure to conduct background checks and report abuse.

The amended complaint details allegations the Diocese chose not to publicly disclose a report of child sexual abuse by a teacher in 2006 and permitted several individuals to work or volunteer at Catholic schools without adequate background checks.

Other priests credibly accused of sexual abuse were also allowed to work in the Diocese without adequate background checks. The Diocese only released its list of credibly accused priests after the State of West Virginia issued its subpoena.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Crux

May 21, 2019

By Pablo Kay

Catholic officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession that is advancing in the state legislature.

Current California law requires clergy to report suspected abuse or neglect unless the information about the abuse was obtained during confession.

Senate Bill 360, authored by Bay-area Democrat, Sen. Jerry Hill, seeks to eliminate this so-called “exemption” for “penitential communication.”

On May 16, the Senate Appropriations committee voted 4-2 to send an amended version of Senate Bill 360 for a vote of the full Senate.

As amended, the bill, now protects the seal of the confessional – except in cases where a priest is hearing another priest’s confession or in cases where a priest is hearing the confession of a co-worker.

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WHEELING (WV)
WVNews

May 21, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey sought to add claims Tuesday in his lawsuit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, including a new count of unfair competition and new evidence of the church’s failure to conduct background checks and report abuse.

The amended complaint details allegations the Diocese chose not to publicly disclose a report of child sexual abuse by a teacher in 2006 and permitted several individuals to work or volunteer at Catholic schools without adequate background checks.

Other priests credibly accused of sexual abuse were also allowed to work in the Diocese without adequate background checks, the lawsuit asserts. The Diocese only released its list of credibly accused priests after the State of West Virginia issued its subpoena, according to the lawsuit.

“The new information contained within our amended complaint further illustrates how the actions of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and its policies of cover-up have harmed children. Parents who pay and entrust the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and its schools to educate and care for their children deserve full transparency,” Morrisey said.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WCBC Radio

May 21, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced this morning that he seeks to add claims Tuesday in his lawsuit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, including a new count of unfair competition and new evidence of the church’s failure to conduct background checks and report abuse.

The amended complaint details allegations the Diocese chose not to publicly disclose a report of child sexual abuse by a teacher in 2006 and permitted several individuals to work or volunteer at Catholic schools without adequate background checks. Other priests credibly accused of sexual abuse were also allowed to work in the Diocese without adequate background checks. The Diocese only released its list of credibly accused priests after the State of West Virginia issued its subpoena. “How can anyone reasonably argue that these allegations are old when the Church refused to release its list of credibly accused priests until after the issuance of our subpoena in the fall of 2018?”

Attorney General Morrisey said. “The Church needs to come clean and end the secrecy.” “The new information contained within our amended complaint further illustrates how the actions of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and its policies of cover-up have harmed children. Parents who pay and entrust the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese and its schools to educate and care for their children deserve full transparency.”

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DENVER (CO)
9 News

May 20, 2019

By Kevin Vaughan

Neil Hewitt was at 5 Colorado churches in the 1960s and ’70s. He answered 9Wants to Know’s questions about his past.

For nearly 50 years, Michael Smilanic told no one about a trip he took to Montreal in 1967 with two other boys and a Catholic priest – told no one about the night in a hotel room in Rochester, N.Y.

He was 14 that summer, and it was there, he told 9Wants to Know, that he was molested by a priest he had previously believed was “really cool,” a priest who drove a Pontiac G.T.O., flew airplanes, and took him skiing.

“He seemed more human, I think, than some of the other priests,” said Smilanic, who grew up attending St. Therese Catholic Church in Aurora.

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OMAHA (NE)
FOX 42 KPTM

May 20, 2019

By Sydnie Holzfaster

For nearly 50 years Tim Lennon was silent about his allegations of abuse. He said he was raped by a priest when he was only 12 years old.

“At the time I froze. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t tell anyone,”Lennon said.

Now Lennon is the president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Monday morning members of SNAP held a demonstration in front of the Archdiocese of Omaha to shared their own personal stories of abuse.

Dee Thompson spoke about her sons accusations of abuse. She said her son was groomed and then sexually abused by a priest while he was serving as an alter boy in their church, but he didn’t tell his family until he was 42 years old.

“He went through a really hard time adjusting to what he was going through and we had no clue that he was being sexualy abused,” Thompson said. “They are destroying lives and it doesn’t just destroy it when they are little boys; it continues.”

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ERIE (PA)
Sharon Herald

May 20, 2019

By Melissa Klaric

The Erie Diocese, and the Catholic Church, are taking the priest sex abuse scandal seriously – and are addressing the damage done to victims through openness as well as the compensation fund, Erie’s bishop said.

The Most Rev. Lawrence T. Persico said he does not know how many victims have applied for compensation through the fund set up by the diocese, although he estimated that as many as 100 people could receive payments.

Setting up the fund was the right thing to do, Persico said in an interview with The Herald of Sharon.

“People are grateful that we were doing something to compensate them,” he said. “And just the general public thought that at least we were stepping up to try to help people who had been victims. We don’t know when or what they would be able to receive. So, by creating this fund, we’re trying to help them now.”

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FRANCE
La Croix International

May 20, 2019

By Christa Pongratz-Lippitt

Czech priest warns of increasing xenophobia and populism as European elections loom

An award-winning Czech Catholic priest and intellectual has warned Europeans to be wary of populist politicians who are using Christianity to push their nationalist agendas, saying this is the greatest threat to the European Union.

“We are once again witnessing how God is being confused with the nation and the Christian faith with the dangerous idolatry of xenophobia and populism,” said Monsignor Tomas Halik, the 2014 winner of the Templeton Prize for advances in religion and spirituality.

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HYATTSVILLE (MD)
Catholic News Service

May 20, 2019

By Julie Asher

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory will have a lot of things on his plate when he becomes the newest leader of the influential archdiocese situated in the nation’s capital: the sexual abuse roiling the Catholic Church, the tense political climate on the Hill and the challenges that come with learning about a new archdiocese.

The newest archbishop of Washington knows what his first priority will be however.

The “first and most important thing” is “getting out in the field and meeting the people,” Archbishop Gregory told Catholic News Service in a May 17 interview.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

May 20, 2019

By Edward Pentin

Cardinal Sarah said that he, like the Pope Emeritus, was “deeply convinced” that abuse of minors will increase “if we do not adore the Eucharistic body of our God, if we do not treat him with joyful and reverent fear.”

Cardinal Robert Sarah has praised Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s recent “notes” on the clergy sexual abuse crisis, saying they have “proved to be a true source of light in the night of faith that touches the whole Church.”

The cardinal, who was expected to discuss his new book Le soir approche et déjà le jour baisse at a May 14 event in Rome, instead surprised the audience of invited French intellectuals and Vatican diplomats by dedicating his whole talk entirely to Benedict’s reflections.

Benedict had written the notes to coincide with the Feb. 21-24 Vatican summit of bishops on protection of minors in the Church.

In his talk, published in full in French by veteran Vatican journalist Sandro Magister, Cardinal Sarah said Benedict was a “’martyr’ for the Truth” who sees the crisis “correctly.” His reflections were able to touch the “deepest heart” of the crisis, he said, but reactions to them have “at times bordered on intellectual hysteria” and Cardinal Sarah said he was “struck by the wretchedness and stupidity of several comments.”

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

BUFFALO ((NY)
ChurchMilitant

May 20, 2019

By David Nussman

Unwritten policy of protecting priests after sexual misconduct claims

Retired police officers from Buffalo, New York are confirming they were given marching orders not to arrest Catholic priests after evidence of sexual misconduct, but instead hand them over to the diocese — special treatment they offered to Catholic priests and no one else.

A recent report from Buffalo News sheds light on how the police were ordered to report Catholic clergy’s behavior to the diocese instead of arresting them. Former vice squad detective Martin Harrington said, “The department’s unwritten policy was that Catholic priests did not get arrested.”

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Commonweal Magazine

May 20, 2019

By Cathleen Kaveny

What Benedict’s Letter on Abuse Gets Wrong

The debate about Benedict XVI’s recent intervention on the sex-abuse crisis has focused on his account of its root causes, which occupies the vast majority of his letter. To the delight of conservatives and the consternation of progressives, he blames the lax sexual morality of the 1960s, rather than the enduring phenomenon of clericalism.

In my view, the problem with Benedict’s letter is far more fundamental. It also transcends the American progressive-conservative divide. He gets the basic moral description of the acts of sex abuse wrong. He frames them as acts of sacrilege, rather than grave injustice.

So what? Benedict clearly thinks these actions are unacceptable—why quibble about details? Because details matter, both theoretically and practically. If we get the description of a misdeed wrong, we fail to grasp the underlying moral reality of the situation. That, in turn, can lead to disastrous strategies for reform.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
SNAP

May 20, 2019

SNAP CALLS FOR “DECISIVE ACTION” FROM NEW D.C. ARCHBISHOP GROUP LAYS OUT THREE IMMEDIATE STEPS HE CAN TAKE “IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE IN WASHINGTON,” THEY SAY

SNAP Calls for “Decisive Action” from New D.C. Archbishop

Group Lays Out Three Immediate Steps He Can Take

“It’s time for change in Washington,” they say

WHAT:

Leaders from the Washington, DC/Virginia chapter of the nation’s oldest and largest advocacy group for victims of clergy and institutional sex abuse, SNAP, will call on Archbishop Wilton Gregory to take decisive action to protect children and to reach out to survivors. They will also urge parishioners to stay vigilant and to continue to hold the church to their promises of transparency and accountability.

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

UNITED STATES
Yahoo Sports

May 20, 2019

By Ryan Young

Former figure skater Bridget Namiotka accused her former partner John Coughlin of abuse on Sunday night in multiple Facebook posts, writing that the late figure skater had “sexually abused” her for two years.

Namiotka was partners with Coughlin from 2004-2007, when she was between the ages of 14 to 17 and he was 18 to 21, according to USA Today. They won three medals on the Junior Grand Prix series and finished ninth at the 2007 U.S. national championships.

Coughlin committed suicide earlier this year. He was 33.

Namiotka, 29, wrote four posts on Facebook about Coughlin alleging abuse on Sunday night.

“I’m sorry but John hurt at least 10 people including me,” Namiotka wrote in the first post. “He sexually abused me for two years. Nobody innocent hangs themself.”

Namiotka followed the first post up with three more just minutes later.

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

OHIO
Tribune News Service

May 21, 2019

By Jeremy Pelzer

In the wake of revelations that ex-Ohio State University athletic doctor Richard Strauss sexually abused at least 177 male students between 1979 and 1998, Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday called on Ohio lawmakers to abolish the state’s statute of limitations for sexual assault.

During a Statehouse news conference, the governor also urged legislators to extend the statute of limitations for other sex crimes, take a “hard look” at extending the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits, and toughen penalties for sex crimes committed by authority figures.

Strauss, who killed himself in 2005, likely couldn’t be prosecuted for most of his crimes if he was alive today, DeWine said, because Ohio’s statute of limitations for rape is 20-25 years, depending on the circumstances. The time limit on prosecuting other felony sex crimes is as little as six years, he said. Charges for misdemeanor sex crimes such as groping and fondling must be filed within two years, and civil lawsuits must be filed within 1-2 years.

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

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Legal Herald

May 2019

By Laurence Banville

Last week, a longtime pastor at several churches in Southern California was arrested a second time on allegations of child sex abuse. 67-year-old John Rodgers McFarland has been charged with seven counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14 years old and four counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor between 14 and 15. There are allegedly seven victims.

McFarland pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on May 13. If convicted on all charges, he could face up to 179 years in prison.

The former pastor was first arrested in December on suspicion of child molestation in Escondido. While police were investigating those allegations, they reportedly discovered evidence that there were multiple victims of sex abuse by McFarland.

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

COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

May 20, 2019

By Randy Ludlow

Citing the Ohio State University sex abuse scandal, Gov. Mike DeWine is calling for eliminating or lengthening statutes of limitations on sex crimes while ordering a new assessment of a decades-old, still-secret state investigation of physician-turned-predator Richard Strauss.

Twice calling the deceased Ohio State doctor a “monster,” DeWine urged lawmakers Monday to eliminate the statute of limitations for rape to allow criminal charges to be filed beyond the current deadline of 20 to 25 years, depending on the circumstances.

DeWine also wants to increase the allowable periods for filing charges for other sexual crimes and to increase the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits against state institutions and other organizations beyond the current one- to two-year window if a victim is assaulted while age 18 or older.

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

WHEELING (WV)
WTRF

May 20, 2019

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will be in Wheeling Tuesday with a big announcement.

Morrisey will disclose several new developments in his lawsuit against the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

The lawsuit is based on information included in the Diocese’s November 2018 public disclosure of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse.

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NEW CASTLE (PA)
New Castle News

May 21, 2019

By Nancy Lowry

Earlier this month, the state House of Representatives approved measures to eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for child sex crimes and to propose a constitutional amendment to open a window for lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has already expired.

The measures moved to the Senate, where a group of Democrats also rolled out new legislation yesterday that would take a different approach, by opening a retroactive window to allow lawsuits for any victim of sex crime, regardless of age.

State Rep. Aaron Bernstine and state Rep. Chris Sainato, each of whom represents a portion of Lawrence County, voted to support the House bills.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WTOP

May 20, 2019

By Neal Augenstein

The D.C. Catholic priest indicted on seven counts of sexually abusing two children and a woman — all parishioners — wants three separate trials, according to his lawyer.

Urbano Vazquez, who was a priest at Shrine of the Sacred Heart, is charged with sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl, a 13-year-old girl and a 33-year-old woman.

In a motion filed in D.C. Superior Court, defense attorney Robert Bonsib said it would be unfair to his client if prosecutors were allowed to try Vazquez in a single trial.

Bonsib told WTOP Vazquez will plead not guilty when he is arraigned Friday.

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
Law Offices of Joseph C. George, Ph.D.,
​
May 21, 2019

She warns others about new church pay out program
Assaulted as an adult by her priest, she told Sac diocese
SNAP: “Sexual exploitation of church-goers is next wave in crisis”
Group urges “anyone who was hurt at any time” to “call AG & police now”

WHAT
A Catholic woman who sued and settled with local Catholic officials over the abuse
–describe the suffering she endured from both her perpetrator & his supervisors,
–wants church officials to make people who were abused by adults eligible for this new program, and
–warn others to be skeptical about the new diocesan victim pay-out program.​

And advocates for sexual abuse victims will​
— predict ‘next wave’ of crisis will be those assaulted as adults, and
–blast Sacramento’s bishop for his “callousness” and “hair-splitting.”

WHEN
Tuesday, May 21 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE
Law Offices of Joseph C. George, Ph.D., 601 University Ave, Suite 230, Sacramento

WHO
The victim, her Sacramento attorney, perhaps one other local victim and Melanie Sakoda, SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) Survivor Support Coordinator.

WHY
1) A still-devout Catholic woman was sexually violated by her Sacramento pastor, told the Sacramento bishop, and ended up suing them both and recently settling her case.

Now she’s speaking up and urging other victims to be wary of trusting church officials, especially with the just-announced diocesan pay-out program.

In 2014, Dorothy Small, a lifelong Catholic, met her new pastor Fr. Renerio Sabuga Jr. (a.k.a. Fr. Jong) at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Woodland. She was a parishioner and choir member; he had just been re-assigned. Within weeks, he began to confide in her with intensely private thoughts.

Later that year, she called and filed a police report because of “continuous sexual harassment” by Fr. Sabuga.

In 2015, he sexually assaulted her in her home, according to her lawsuit.
The following year, Fr. Sabuga was transferred from Woodland to St. Clare Catholic Church in Roseville. Worried that he “might do the same thing with (another) parishioner,” Small reported the crime to Sacramento church officials and later met directly with Bishop Jaime Soto in person.
In 2017, she sued Fr. Sabuga, another priest (who reportedly told her “what man wouldn’t want a piece of a** every now and then?”) and the Sacramento diocese.
Several weeks ago, Small settled her case. (A copy of the settlement agreement will be provided at the news conference.)

Small wants others who were exploited or attacked by clerics to speak up and get healing.
Fr. Sabuga was ordained in 2000 and is believed to still be an active priest in his native Philippines.
Stephen Greene (916 753 1300, sjg@greeneroberts.com) was the defense lawyer for the case.
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/religion/article150692782.html
https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/religion/article150703947.html
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4515766/Parishioner-claims-priest-sexually-assaulted-her.html

2) Earlier this month, for the first time ever, Pope Francis adopted a new world-wide abuse policy. “The most eye-catching change was a radical expansion of the definition of ‘vulnerable’ adults, a hotly contested” issue, according to one Catholic news source.

The new policy, which takes effect June 1, defines a vulnerable person very broadly.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/analysis-pope-francis-issues-new-definition-of-vulnerable-adult-74015
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/03/29/pope-francis-issues-decree-protection-minors-and-vulnerable-adults-vatican

In light of this change, Small and other abuse victims are urging those who were hurt as adults by Catholic clerics to come forward, get help, call law enforcement and start healing.” They predict that the ‘next wave of abuse reports to hit the church will be from church employees and members who have been sexually violated or harassed by clerics.

One week after Pope Francis’ announcement, the Sacramento diocese, and five other California dioceses, announced a new victim compensation program.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article230403279.html

Small wants church officials to make people who were abused by adults eligible for this new program. And she’s urging survivors to take caution if they choose to participate.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Clergy-parishoner-sex-is-never-consensual-1089390.php

Contact: Dr. Joseph C. George 916 802 7949 cell, 800 700 8613 office, jcg@psyclaw.com email, Melanie Sakoda 925 708 6175 cell, msakoda@snapnetwork.org email, Maricar A. Pascual 707 342 4722 cell, maricar@psyclaw.com

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Janet Cleary Klinger, pictured here as a teenager, said she was sexually abused by a priest in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. She has been pushing for the diocese, on Long Island, to name alleged abusers.

May 21, 2019

By Rick Rojas

She has watched as diocese after diocese has identified Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing children. She saw the victims who, after confronting decades of church silence, could edge toward a sense of closure as bishops apologized and publicly named clergy members who abused them.

Yet for Janet Cleary Klinger, the silence has continued.

She said she had been abused as a teenager by a priest from her family’s parish in the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, which sprawls over the suburbs of Long Island.

But the Rockville Centre diocese — one of the largest in the country with an estimated 1.5 million Catholics — has resisted publishing the names of priests credibly accused of abuse. It is the only diocese in New York that has not released a list. Miami, San Francisco and St. Louis are among the others nationwide.

Church leaders in many dioceses have hailed the release of lists of accused priests as a move toward transparency that will help quell tensions with followers.

But the dioceses that have declined to name priests are calling into question the church’s broader efforts to make amends for the abuse scandals, stirring a growing backlash from victims and their supporters.

They argue that the lack of disclosure creates another impediment toward understanding the church’s handling of the sex abuse epidemic across the nation and makes it more difficult to hold its leaders accountable.

“I, along with a lot of other people, have waited a long time to feel validated, and we continually cannot get that from the Diocese of Rockville Centre,” Ms. Cleary Klinger said. “We get nothing from the Diocese of Rockville Centre.”

Officials in dioceses that have not released names contend that declining to make such a disclosure does little to stand in the way of their pursuing a robust effort to help victims and prevent abuse.

“The Diocese of Rockville Centre, as a longstanding practice, works closely with law enforcement to make certain that all accusations of child sexual abuse against clergy — credible or not — of which the diocese is aware are reported,” Sean P. Dolan, a spokesman for the diocese, said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
First Things

May 21, 2019

by Philip Lawler

Vos Estis Lux Mundi, the new papal directive for handling sex abuse charges, takes a few steps toward reform within the Catholic Church. But the papal document—a motu proprio, carrying the force of canon law—falls well short of an adequate response to a burgeoning scandal.

Pope Francis’s directive requires that every Catholic diocese and eparchy provide a formal system for reporting and addressing abuse complaints. For Americans, already living under the “Dallas Charter” mechanisms set up more than a decade ago, the new rule will have no major practical effect. But in other countries, where whistle-blowers still face strong resistance, it is an important advance.

The motu proprio also insists that abuse victims, and others lodging complaints, must be treated with respect and compassion and given the spiritual and material help they need. Too often, even after winning lawsuits, victims have been handed a check—without an apology—and sent on their way.

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

SACRAMENTO (CA)
Catholic News Agency

May 20, 2019

By J. D. Flynn

California’s state senate will vote on a bill that would require priests to violate the seal of confession in certain limited circumstances. An amended text of the bill passed the Senate appropriations’ committee May 16.

The bill, as amended, would require priests to report to law enforcement knowledge or suspicion of child abuse gained from hearing the sacramental confessions of other priests or co-workers.

The bill originally would have required California priests to violate the seal of confession anytime they gained knowledge or suspicion of child abuse from hearing the confession of any penitent.

In a May 20 statement, Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles said the bill remains “an unacceptable violation of our religious freedoms that will do nothing to protect children.”

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

LA CROSSE (WI)
La Crosse Tribune

May 20, 2019

By Basma Amer

A 94-year-old retired La Crosse priest will appear in court June 3 after accusations of sexual assault.

According to the incident report:

On May 15, the victim told La Crosse Public Library security about an incident that took place on May 11. She said it happened at one of the benches behind the library about 5 p.m.

On May 16, library security reported the incident to La Crosse police.

The victim told police the man said his name was Bill and offered her money for sex. He also took her hand and put it on his genitals, and tried to kiss her.

Library staff was able to identify McGarty from security footage because they recognized him from the news.

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DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Observer

By Jim Schutze

May 20, 2019

The whole business about the Catholic Diocese of Dallas in January publishing a list of 31 so-called “credibly accused” priests seemed weird at the time. Credibly, who says so? Now as the story grows only darker, we have to wonder how the diocese, which is the regional headquarters of the church, could not have known what terrible mistakes it was making.

Clearly, based on an affidavit supporting a raid on diocesan records last week (see below), the Dallas Police Department doesn’t believe the diocese has ever played straight on these charges. The affidavit is only that — an allegation or claim. It isn’t a verdict. It isn’t even an indictment. The church deserves its say.

But to believe the claim of Bishop Edward Burns last week that cops who made the raid on his locked trove of sex abuse records only wanted to “probe the wounds,” we would have to believe the police are doing an awful lot of very clever, very detailed on-the-record lying. It doesn’t sound like it.

And if they’re not — if the claims of subterfuge and obfuscation that police made in the affidavit are true — then we have to weigh a different painful possibility. That possibility is that Burns’ entire “credibly accused” campaign has been a con job from the beginning at two important levels.

The first level of the con, if it has been a con all along, would be the conning of the public. Much as we might resent an attempt to fool us and see it as especially unbecoming of the clergy, recent events in Washington should have taught us all by now that it’s not against the law to lie to us.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

May 19, 2019

By Dan Herbeck

Hardly any of the more than 100 Buffalo area priests implicated as child molesters spent so much as one day in jail.

For years, most of their victims were too scared or embarrassed to make complaints.

But Buffalo Police had marching orders not to arrest Catholic priests, according to former vice squad Detective Martin Harrington and other retired officers. Instead they alerted the bishop’s office to any illegal activities.

“The department’s unwritten policy was that Catholic priests did not get arrested,” said Harrington, who investigated vice crimes for 17 years and retired in 1995. “I never had any experience with priests who molested children. I never heard of any priests molesting children. But we had priests we caught with pornography, or masturbating in the city parks, and our orders were to turn them over to the Buffalo Diocese. The diocese would deal with them … but they would not be arrested.”

The policy “only extended to Catholic priests,” Harrington recalled. “If we caught clergy from other religions, we arrested them.”

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NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

May 17, 2019

By Deena Yellin

The ink was still wet on the law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last Monday extending the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse when it was put into use:

A former altar boy announced Tuesday morning that he was filing a lawsuit against the Diocese of Camden and his former parish, alleging he was sexually abused as a child by the late Rev. Brendan Sullivan, a priest at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Ventnor City.

More lawsuits are likely to come. The question is whether there will be a flood or more like a trickle.

New York state passed a similar law in February and is facing a similar unknown.

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

ERIE (PA)
Times-News

May 18, 2019

Monsignor Charles Kaza facing allegations of sexual abuse of a minor while serving at Erie’s St. John the Baptist Parish in 1980s.

The Catholic Diocese of Erie has placed Monsignor Charles Kaza, pastor of St. Tobias Parish in Brockway, on administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations Kaza sexually abused a minor, Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico announced Saturday.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place while Kaza was serving at St. John the Baptist Parish in Erie in the 1980s, Persico said.

Kaza, who also serves as president of the DuBois Central Catholic School Board, was placed on administrative leave, effective May 13, after the state Attorney General’s Office forwarded the sexual abuse allegation to the Catholic Diocese of Erie and its independent investigators at the K&L Gates law firm.

Kaza is cooperating with the investigation, Persico said in a news release issued Saturday.

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CALIFORNIA
Friendly Atheist

May 20, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

Earlier this year, California State Sen. Jerry Hill filed a bill to remove clergy members from a list of those exempt from reporting child abuse.

As it stands, if someone walks into a confessional booth and admits to molesting a child, the priest doesn’t have to do anything with that information. Just say a couple of Hail Marys and be done with it. Compare that to public school teachers, who are required by law to tell a social worker if they learn about (or suspect) a child being abused.

The Church, of course, doesn’t want to play by those rules. Vatican officials claim the “seal of confession” is sacrosanct. Anything said in a confessional booth must be kept secret no matter what.

That leads to absurd consequences. In Australia, for example, a priest confessed to committing 1,500 instances of molestation (not a typo) to 30 separate priests over 25 years. Because of the sacred seal, though, no one ever reported his crimes, allowing the abuse to continue.

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BUFFALO (NY)
Law and Crime

May 20, 2019

By Jerry Lambe

A general view of a mass for a canonization ceremony of Pope Paul VI and the martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on October 14, 2018.

A police department received “marching orders” not to arrest Catholic priests but to instead alert the bishop’s office to any potentially illegal activities involving the priests, according to former a Buffalo Police Detective. This policy “only extended to Catholic priests.” “If we caught clergy from other religions, we arrested them,” he said.

Former vice squad Detective Martin Harrington and other retired Buffalo PD officers revealed this an explosive story published Sunday by Buffalo News. The interviews come just months after the Buffalo Diocese publicly identified 80 priests whom it determined were credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, a number that would soon inflate to over 100.

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MONROVIA
Front Page Africa

May 20, 2019

Report by Tecee Boley, New Narratives Senior Justice Correspondent

One of the priests in the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in Liberia has blasted parishioners for what he terms as a betrayal of the church. The Administrator of the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Rev. Father Alphonsus Momoh told parishioners in the Sunday service of his church that accusations by Fr. Gabriel Sawyer that Archbishop Lewis Zeigler and Bishop Andrew Karnley had bullied and abused him for more than a decade after he rebuffed their sexual advances, were nothing but an effort to taint the church.

“What you are hearing is because an individual is hurt and decided to smear the image of the church. One day the truth will be told by the one who told the lie. Some believe it, some don’t and some are standing firm. But there are some of you here taking notes and recording on your phones to send the recording to them,” Fr. Momoh said.

This is the first public statement coming out of a Liberian clergy since allegations of sex-based misconduct and abuse of power was made public in the media.

Fr. Momoh, in a further rebuke of Sawyer, claimed that it was a quest for material and financial gains that Sawyer and others are ruining the church. “Because of greed! Everybody wants to get rich. Nobody wants to go through the proper channel. You will go and tarnish the name of the institution (s) you belong to. There is no trust. We find in our midst- pulling down each other.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Catholic News Service

May 17, 2019

By Pablo Kay

A bill making its way through the California Legislature would make the state the first since 1999 to require priests to choose between violating the law or violating the seal of the confessional.

At issue is the serious matter of child sexual abuse. Seven states right now require priests to violate the seal to report child abuse based on legislation passed in the 1970s and through the 1990s.

While many states have tried since 2002 to pass laws resembling the California Senate measure, S.B. 360, none have been successful. Instead, lawmakers around the country concluded similar bills would not protect children and would be a violation of religious liberty.

The summer of 2018 — with its Pennsylvania grand jury report on alleged abuse by priests and other church workers (with many claims decades old), the revelations of sexual misdeeds by then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington and investigations by state attorneys general into clergy abuse records — brought the battle against sexual abuse back to the confessional.

In California, priests, along with teachers, social workers, doctors and other professionals, are “mandated reporters.” That means they are required by law to report any case of suspected abuse to authorities. Currently, there is an exemption in the law for any clergy member “who acquires knowledge or a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect during a penitential communication.”

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HARRISBURG (PA)
WHTM

May 16, 2019

By Thomas LeClair

The Catholic Conference, a lobbying division of the church in Pennsylvania, is apologizing after a comment it made on Facebook in response to a victim of clergy abuse.

The conference recently posted on Facebook in support of a proposed limitation to abortion.

Carolyn Fortney is a Dauphin County survivor of clergy sexual abuse. She responded to the post with, “Up next, how about statute of limitations reform?”

The Catholic Conference replied, “Why do you have to troll here Carolyn? Don’t you get enough media attention?”

That surprised Fortney.

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HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle

May 16, 2019

By Nicole Hensley

Authorities used a lock pick to open a “bank vault” containing a trove of clergy files that the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston failed to hand over following a subpoena, according to court documents.

The picking tool helped Conroe Police Department investigators access the documents last November during a raid at the church’s Houston headquarters, Detective Joe McGrew said while describing the church’s lack of cooperation with their criminal probe. The agency was looking for evidence in the case against indicted priest Manuel La Rosa-Lopez and other clergy members who may have committed a crime.

A Dallas investigator said he contacted the Conroe Police Department and Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office regarding their search warrants. A sworn statement states that McGrew told his North Texas counterpart, David Clark, that after issuing a subpoena, his agency later “learned the Diocese of Galveston-Houston did not turn over everything” involving the priest in their investigation.

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HYATTSVILLE (MD)
Catholic News Service

May 20, 2019

By Julie Asher

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory will have a lot of things on his plate when he becomes the newest leader of the influential archdiocese situated in the nation’s capital: the sexual abuse roiling the Catholic Church, the tense political climate on the Hill and the challenges that come with learning about a new archdiocese.

The newest archbishop of Washington knows what his first priority will be however.

The “first and most important thing” is “getting out in the field and meeting the people,” Archbishop Gregory said in a May 17 interview.

He has six listening sessions scheduled with priests of the Washington Archdiocese, and “I’m trying to fill up my calendar right now with moments when I can be in the parishes with the people,” he said. Like “a Sunday supply priest,” he wants to visit local parishes to say Mass and afterward stand at the back of church and greet people.

Archbishop Gregory has “no fancy requirements” for such visits, nor would he expect any “fancy preparation.” He just has “the real desire to be there as a listener,” he said, adding that “it is that casual encounter with people that often proves to be the most fruitful.”

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CALIFORNIA
Angelus News

May 20, 2019

By Pablo Kay

Catholic officials are urging Catholics to continue to oppose a California bill that would force priests to disclose information about child sexual abuse that they hear in the sacrament of confession, which is advancing in the state legislature.

Current California law requires clergy to report suspected abuse or neglect unless the information about the abuse was obtained during confession.

Senate Bill 360, authored by Bay Area Democrat Sen. Jerry Hill, seeks to eliminate this so-called “exemption” for “penitential communication.”

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INDIA
UCANews

May 20, 2019

By Cynthia Stephen

Rape charges against Jalandhar bishop force Indian Church to face its own demons, vindicate long-silenced nuns and lay women

Early in April, when police in India filed rape charges against Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, he became the first bishop in history to face court proceedings for raping a Catholic nun.

The charges were filed nine months after the nun complained to police of prolonged sexual abuse from the bishop, who also served as the patron of the diocesan women’s congregation the nun had led for several years.

The nun and her supporters faced severe repression in the convent for going against the bishop. But the nun’s public protest in Kochi, in southern India, last September forced the government, which had dragged its feet for weeks, to act. The bishop was arrested. A special team was constituted to probe the case. And finally, on April 9, a charge-sheet was filed in Pala, Kerala.

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FRESNO (CA)
KQED

May 19, 2019

By Alexandra Hall

More than 20 years after a man first reported he was abused by a Central Valley priest, the Catholic Diocese of Fresno is revisiting the allegation after several other individuals have come forward accusing the same priest. The diocese and Fresno County law enforcement officials had previously said the claim, first raised in 1998, was unsubstantiated.

The man, who has chosen not to disclose his identity, says that Bakersfield priest Monsignor Craig Harrison — who is currently on leave while under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct — inappropriately touched him when he was a teenager in Firebaugh.

According to the man’s attorney, Joseph George, the alleged abuse happened over the course of a year from 1992 to 1993 while the man was living at the rectory of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Firebaugh.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
NPR

May 19, 2019

Heard on All Things Considered

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with writer James Carroll, a former Catholic priest, about his piece in The Atlantic, titled “Abolish the Priesthood.”

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NEW YORK (NY)
The New York Times

May 17, 2019

By Marc Santora and Joanna Berendt

WARSAW — Anna Misiewicz was just 7 years old when she was invited into the private chambers of her parish priest, in the small village of Topola in southwest Poland. She thought he wanted her to count church donations.

Instead, she found herself alone with a predator, identified only as Father Jan A. He touched her chest, stroked her body and forced her to use her hands to masturbate him.

Decades later, the smell of milk disgusts her still, she said, “because the priest would drink milk and the taste stayed on his mouth and lingered in mine.”

In a powerful new documentary that is rocking this deeply Roman Catholic nation, Ms. Misiewicz recalls these childhood nightmares, and then goes farther. She summons the courage to knock on the door of her abuser, a feeble old man but still a priest, and pose a simple question: Why?

“I should never have done it,” the priest says quietly in a moment captured on secretly recorded video. It was “some stupid passion,” he says. He then offers an apology and asks to kiss her hand. She can barely contain her disgust.

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SAN DIEGO (CA)
KPBS

May 16, 2019

By John Carroll

Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests cautioned Thursday against accepting a church-sponsored program to financially compensate them.

At a news conference, several victims gathered with their lawyer and said the program does not hold the church accountable. The victims sat at a table with a banner featuring pictures of young victims and the words “stolen souls.”

One victim named Dede said she wanted people to understand the pain victims suffer at the hands of clergy.

“Do you know what it feels like to be terrorized, tormented, abused and knowing that you can’t do anything about it, that nobody believes and nobody’s gonna care?” she said.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
Phoenix New Times

May 20, 2019

By Elizabeth Whitman

When Annette Schuster was a child, she spent afternoons after school at an uncle’s house. He was kind to her, or so it seemed for a time. She recalled that he made her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gave her a bed to nap in, and rubbed her back, among other places.

At the age of 12, Schuster informed her mother that she would never return to that uncle’s house, citing the abuse. Schuster’s mother told her never to lie like that again, she said. Schuster closed her mind to what had happened and concentrated on graduating from high school.

In later years, she confronted family members, including the uncle, hoping for answers. She was repeatedly dismissed. The uncle’s ex-wife said he never would have done anything to hurt Schuster. The uncle himself told Schuster that he had done no wrong, that he had done nothing Schuster didn’t want, she remembered.

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AUSTIN (TX)
Claims Journal

May 15, 2019

By Clarice Silber

Former U.S. national team gymnasts backing a Texas bill that would allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue in civil court on Monday urged the state’s lawmakers to restore a key provision allowing those individuals to sue institutions.

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NEW JERSEY
North Jersey Record

May 17, 2019

By Deena Yellin

The ink was still wet on the law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy last Monday extending the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse when it was put into use:

A former altar boy announced Tuesday morning that he was filing a lawsuit against the Diocese of Camden and his former parish, alleging he was sexually abused as a child by the late Rev. Brendan Sullivan, a priest at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Ventnor City.

More lawsuits are likely to come. The question is whether there will be a flood or more like a trickle.

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BOSTON (MA)
WBUR

May 20, 2019

With Meghna Chakrabarti

A Harvard law professor who was part of Harvey Weinstein’s defense team is out as an undergraduate faculty dean after student protests. We look at #MeToo justice and campus culture now.

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MINNESOTA
Legal Reader

May 17, 2019

By Ryan J. Farrick

Three of the plaintiffs are brothers–and this is their third time suing the Holy See.

Five Minnesota men who claim to have been abused as children by Roman Catholic clergy are suing the Vatican, accusing it of concealing the identities of thousands of sex predator priests.

The lawsuit, filed by three brothers and two other men, was filed in the U.S. District Court in St. Paul. The complaint claims that the Vatican has files on at least 3,400 clergy accused of sexual abuse, including some high-ranking officials.

Reuters notes that the Roman Catholic Church has been embroiled in a global scandal regarding child sex abuse since 2002.

In the past several years alone, dioceses in New York and California—as well as other states and U.S. territories—have paid out billions to settle with victims of abuse.

According to Reuters’ recap, the three brothers claim to have been molested by former Minnesota priest Curtis Wehmeyer for over a half-decade, between 2006 and 2012.

Another plaintiff says they were molested by another priest, Thomas Adamson, in the early 1980s. The remaining man, states the suit, was assaulted by former California clergyman Fidencio Silva-Flores sometime between 1978 and 1984.

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PENNSYLVANIA
CNHI News Service

May 19, 2019

By Dave Sutor

Politics, religion, law and finances were all linked in the process that led to the creation of compensation funds for victims of clergy sexual abuse in seven of Pennsylvania’s Roman Catholic dioceses.

For years, when priests, parishes and dioceses faced allegations of abuse, the matters were often handled in secret — with victims being required to accept non-disclosure agreements as part of settlements.

But then, in 2018, the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General released a grand jury report that provided details about how at least 300 priests allegedly abused thousands of children across six of the commonwealth’s dioceses.

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SUNBURY (PA)
Daily Item

May 19, 2019

By Rick Dandes

For some Valley Catholics, the litany of revelations about widespread sexual abuse of children within the six dioceses of the Church in Pennsylvania, and the subsequent cover-up, compounds their pain.

But their core faith, they said, has not been shaken.

“I wish it had all come out at once,” said Eleanor O’Conner, who attends Sacred Heart Church in Lewisburg. “There has been so much bad news. My fear is that all the good work done by the Church will be overshadowed by this scandal. I’m not downplaying the betrayal of trust, and it makes me angry to think about it. I’m praying for the victims. I have two grandchildren, and I want them to continue as Catholics.”

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JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune-Democrat

May 19, 2019

By Jocelyn Brumbaugh

Brooke Rush sat in a crowded Cambria County courtroom and listened as more than a dozen women shared details of their abuse at the hands of a former Johnstown pediatrician.

Their stories matched her experiences, but she couldn’t testify because she was past the statute of limitations – age 30 for child sexual abuse.

“Even though the words weren’t coming out of my mouth, my story was still being told,” she said.

Rush said she was 11 years old when, in the late 1980s, Dr. Johnnie “Jack” Barto abused her during an office visit.

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GUAM
Pacific Daily News

May 16, 2019

By Haidee Eugenio

A priest sexually abused a Catholic school student multiple times in the early ’80s “under the guise of horseplay and affection,” according to a lawsuit filed in local court on Thursday.

The plaintiff in the sex abuse case is identified in court documents only by the pseudonym A.A. to protect his privacy, according to the lawsuit.

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DALLAS (TX)
The Legal Herald

May 15, 2019

By Paul Amess

Dallas Police searched Catholic Diocese of Dallas headquarters and several other church properties as part of their sexual abuse investigation into local churches.

According to a search warrant affidavit, the police say that the diocese has failed to provide full information on sexual abuse allegations against multiple priests. In some cases, the warrant says, the church gave authorities incomplete records on accused priests.

This investigation began with the issue of an arrest warrant for priest Edmundo Paredes, who formerly served at St. Cecilia’s Parish in Dallas. He is currently considered a fugitive.

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PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

May 20, 2019

By Eric Russell

The Salvation Army says it terminated the officership after Gary Crowell was accused of abusing a teenage girl who lived with him and his wife in New York, but the alleged victim says the organization failed to tell the police.

A Saco man and former high-ranking officer in the Salvation Army in New York has been accused of sexually assaulting a teenager who lived with him for several years in the 1990s.

Nicole Sprout, who lives on Long Island, N.Y., held a press conference last week in front of the Salvation Army headquarters in Manhattan to levy accusations against Gary Crowell.

According to coverage from two local television stations, Sprout said Crowell and his wife, Carol Beth Crowell, took her into their home at age 11 after her mother, who lived with mental illness, could not care for her. Sprout said the abuse started shortly thereafter and progressed to sexual intercourse. It continued until she was 16, often two or three times a week.

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ALBANY (NY)
Jeff Anderson & Associates

May 20, 2019

On Tuesday in Albany, two sexual abuse survivors and the law firms of Jeff Anderson & Associates and LaFave, Wein & Frament, PLLC, will:

· Release a report containing the identities, histories, photographs and information on 83 clerics accused of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Albany;

· A sexual abuse survivor will speak publicly about his abuse by a priest at St. Anthony of Padua in Troy, NY;

· A second sexual abuse survivor will speak publicly about her abuse by a religious cleric Bishop Gibbons High School in Schenectady, NY;

· Demand full disclosure by the Diocese of Albany and the religious orders, regarding all clergy accused of sexual abuse who worked in the diocese, including their current whereabouts, photographs and histories.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at 1:00PM ET

WHERE: Hilton Albany – Chambers Room, 40 Lodge Street, Albany, NY 12207

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GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
WOOD TV

May 17, 2019

By Ken Kolker

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she would support a law to open a legal window in Michigan for survivors of Catholic priests and other molesters to sue over childhood sexual assaults.

In other states, including Minnesota and California, so-called “window” laws, which pauses the statute of limitations, have led to multi-million dollar settlements between survivors of decades-old assaults and the Catholic church.

“I do support expanding the rights of victims to bring lawsuits, for prosecutors to bring charges,” Whitmer told Target 8 on Friday. “I think that’s something that’s really important. So I do personally support it. We’ve got a legislature that drafts and writes the laws that come to my desk. I would certainly look favorably if they took that action.”

State Sen. Winnie Brinks and State Rep. David LaGrand, both Democrats, said they were disappointed last year when window legislation failed in Michigan.

The Catholic church was among those who lobbied against it.

Target 8 recently revealed that 14 priests had molested at least 33 kids in the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese over the decades, most without consequence.

Some of the priests are still living in West Michigan, collecting pensions.

But, because of the statute of limitations, survivors have no legal recourse.

The office of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is investigating allegations of priest abuse and cover-ups dating back decades at the state’s seven Catholic dioceses. Her office said it expects to file criminal charges soon.

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OMAHA (NE)
KETC Channel 7

May 20, 2019

A rally will be held outside the Omaha Archdiocese Monday morning.

Leaders from the advocacy group for victims of clergy and institutional sex abuse, also known as SNAP, will gather at 11 a.m. to commend the state’s attorney general and urge other survivors of clergy sexual abuse to come forward, make a report to law enforcement, and assist the AG in his investigation.

Several members of the organization will be present, along with a victim, who is sharing his story of abuse at the hands of Rev. James Kelly for the first time.

SNAP is calling on other Nebraskans to take steps to prevent future cases of abuse while demanding transparency and justice from the state’s Catholic officials.

SNAP is encouraging Nebraskans across the state to take three steps that can make a difference:

First, survivors of abuse, make a report to AG Peterson’s abuse hotline by calling 1-800-652-1999.

Second, contact the county’s District Attorney and urge them to actively reach out to local communities, urging survivors to come forward and make a report of their abuse. District Attorneys can also encourage witnesses and whistleblowers to share any information they might have related to past or ongoing cases of clerical sexual abuse.

Third, contact state representatives and senators and urge them to create or sponsor legislation that will protect children, benefit survivors, and prevent future cases of abuse. For example, reforming statutes of limitations can help survivors find justice where none existed previously and can get important information about abusers into the hands of the public.

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[12 Colombian priests on U.S. list of abusers]

COLOMBIA
El Tiempo

May 14, 2019

Varios salieron de Colombia con denuncias en su contra, cinco fueron deportados al país.

La comunidad católica en Baltimore, Estados Unidos, quedó desconcertada cuando le notificaron que existían denuncias por abuso infantil contra el sacerdote colombiano Fernando Cristancho, quien oficiaba misas en las parroquias El Buen Pastor y San Ignacio. Y la sorpresa fue mayor cuando, en octubre de 2017, su arquidiócesis le confirmó que acababa de ser arrestado, por porte y producción de pornografía infantil. Además, que en 2002 se enteraron de que había engendrado trillizos con una mujer, a través de fertilización ‘in vitro’, y que un tribunal lo acusó de abusar de dos de ellos. Por eso, desde ese año estaba expulsado de la iglesia.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (BRAZIL)
The Rio Times

May 18, 2019

Bishop Vilson Dias de Oliveira of Limeira (SP) is under investigation for alleged extortion and cover-up of sexual abuse, Brazilian media report.

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Brazilian bishop Vilson Dias de Oliveira, according to the Vatican.

The Vatican did not explain in a statement on Friday what prompted the resignation of the bishop who, according to media reports in Brazil, is under investigation for alleged extortion and cover-up of sexual abuse.

In April, the bishop confessed to police that he had taken US$4,000 from parish funds for personal use, telling them he did so because he was having financial difficulties, according to reports.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a global clerical pedophilia scandal, with victims coming forward in countries ranging from Australia to Chile, Germany, and the U.S.

Pope Francis passed a landmark new measure this month to oblige those who know about sexual abuse in the Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light.

As a result of the decree, bishops will be held directly accountable for sexual abuse or covering it up.

But crimes admitted during the sacrament of confession will remain exempt from the new church law.

Survivors’ groups have called for the Vatican to make reporting of suspected abuse to police mandatory – but the Vatican says church law cannot override local civil law.

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[United Methodist bishop declines to discuss accusations of sexual abuse cover-up]

CHILE
BioBioChile

May 19, 2019

By Emilio Lara and Oscar Cáceres

La mañana de este domingo, el obispo de la Iglesia Unida Metodista Pentecostal, Juan Ormeño, declinó referirse a las acusaciones de encubrimiento de abuso sexual que pesan en su contra. Lo anterior, por la denuncia que realizó hace más de dos años una joven de 17 años, por los hechos ocurridos en abril de 2017, en contra del pastor Salomón Morales, de la iglesia de San Joaquín, quien fue denunciado por tocaciones las que él mismo calificó como un impulso.

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Patheos blog

May 20, 2019

By Deacon Greg Kandra

A few commenters on social media were upset and even angry over the news that Father Jonathan Morris has asked to leave the clerical state. I remarked that this is not, from all appearances and from the statement of Father Morris, scandalous — unlike some other high profile priests who have followed a similar path. I take him at his word that there is no present relationship involved that has led him to this decision, and that he wishes to remain a faithful and committed Catholic — albeit, one who can marry and have a family.

Some readers objected. No, they replied, this is a scandal. One reader told me to look again at the definition of scandal.

Okay. From the catechism:

2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing.

2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.

Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to “social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible.” This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.

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BAKERSFIELD (CA)
The Californian

May 20, 2019

By Jose Gaspar

While separate criminal investigations are carried out by police in Firebaugh and Merced into allegations that Monsignor Craig Harrison sexually molested minors, there’s another internal investigation being done by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno. This one is based on a set of rules adopted by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops in June 2002 aimed to “repair the breach” with those sexually abused by church ministers.

Article 2 of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People states that “Dioceses are to have policies and procedures in place to respond promptly to any allegations where there is reason to believe that sexual abuse of a minor occurred.” And perhaps the most controversial requirement states, “Any credible allegations (against a priest or deacon) of sexual misconduct with a minor will result in immediate administrative leave” while an internal investigation is completed. Some priests find a problem with that.

“It’s like Marshall law,” said Monsignor Stephen Frost of Christ the King Church in Oildale. Under this process, Frost says due process goes out the window and the accused is accorded none or very little information about the allegations or who the accuser might be. Further, by removing the priest from his parish leaves the perception the priest is guilty before an investigation is begun.

“For those of us who have a sense of justice, it’s a scandal the church would treat people like that and not give them any recourse for defense,” said Monsignor Frost. In the case of Monsignor Harrison, Frost points out the allegations are many years old, and Harrison is no longer an immediate threat to any of his accusers who are now adults so there was no need to pull him out.

According to the Charter, placing a priest on administrative leave “…does not imply guilt, but is necessary for the good of God’s people. All appropriate steps shall be taken to protect the reputation of the cleric during the investigation.”

“I understand what the perception is,” said Teresa Dominguez, Chancellor and Director of Communications of the Diocese of Fresno. Removing an credibly accused priest is necessary for several reasons including preserving the integrity of the investigation said Dominguez. “An administrative leave is also for his protection. It basically gets him out of the way of the investigation,” she said. I can see her point. If the diocese had not put Harrison on administrative leave, that could leave parishioners feeling uneasy about taking their children to St. Francis as a cloud of suspicion hovers over Harrison’s head. Others believe the removal of a priest is similar to other cases.

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BROCKWAY (PA)
Clearfield Progress

May 18, 2019

Local priest Msgr. Charles Kaza has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor.

The Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General forwarded the allegation against Kaza, the pastor of St. Tobias Parish in Brockway and president of the DuBois Central Catholic school board, to the Diocese of Erie, according to a press release received from the diocese Saturday.

K&L Gates, the diocese’s law firm, has conducted a preliminary investigation.

The diocese placed Kaza on administrative leave, restricting him from active ministry, effective May 13, while further investigation is underway. During the investigation, Kaza will not be in residence at St. Tobias Parish; he will be living at a private home with family.

The abuse is alleged to have taken place while Kaza was serving at St. John the Baptist Parish, Erie, in the 1980s.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information related to this case is asked to contact the Pennsylvania Attorney General at 1-888-538-8541 and K&L Gates at ErieRCD@klgates.com.

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CHARLOTTE (NC)
WFAE Radio

May 20, 2019

By Tommy Tomlinson

The Catholic Diocese of Charlotte is crawling into the 21st century. They should get some credit for finally moving forward. But they should also understand that there’s a long way to go.

For years – for decades – the diocese refused to name its clergy members who had been accused of sexually abusing children. But now the diocese plans to publish a list of those clergy by the end of the year.

That’s probably because some of those names have started coming out anyway. In February, the diocese in Richmond published its own list that included two Benedictine monks who had worked in the Charlotte area. One had been accused of sexual abuse at a Gastonia parish in the 1970s. And both had worked at Belmont Abbey College.

Then in March, the second-in-command of the Charlotte diocese resigned. He was facing allegations of sexual misconduct toward an adult student at Belmont Abbey in the 1980s.

All of this belongs in the bigger context of the gut-wrenching global scandal involving Catholic priests and sexual abuse. The church knew for decades that thousands of its priests had been credibly accused of abusing members of their flocks, often children. The vast majority of the cases never became public – instead, a priest might just disappear from a parish one day, only to surface in another one two or three states away.

Pope Francis recently announced a new church law on sexual abuse. Priests and nuns around the world are now required to report all cases they know about to church authorities — even ones that happened long ago.

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SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Crux

May 20, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Chile, a Latin American nation of 18 million people where the Catholic Church dominated society for centuries and was revered for decades as the main source of moral opposition to Pinochet, more recently has been home to what is arguably the single most intense clerical sexual abuse crisis anywhere in the world.

If you don’t know the story of what’s happened in Chile, it’s hard to appreciate just how massive, and painful, this crisis has been.

In May 2018, every Chilean bishop presented their resignation to Pope Francis, who so far has accepted 9, five of them from prelates who are under the age of 75, meaning they cannot claim the pope released them from their duties because they’re over the retirement age.

Many locals suspect they know why the pontiff yanked these bishops, including Gonzalo Duarte of Valparaiso, who’s long been accused of covering up crimes allegedly committed in his local seminary, and who’s been summoned by the prosecutor’s office to testify on those charges and also on charges that he abused his position, demanding massages, hugs and kisses from unwilling seminarians.

Just removing bishops, however, seems unlikely to satisfy Chileans scarred by the scandals.

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COLUMBUS (OH)
Columbus Dispatch

May 20, 2019

By Danae King

While a recent mandate on child sexual abuse from Pope Francis made headlines worldwide and garnered praise from Catholic leaders and some skepticism from victim advocates, not much about how abuse is reported in the United States will likely change.

The new church law, which was released on May 9 and goes into effect June 1, states that all Catholic priests and nuns have to report clergy abuse of minors and adults to church authorities. However, the edict, called a Motu Proprio, gives precedent to existing local practices, said Deacon Bernie Nojadera, executive director of the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In the United States, those practices were set by a 2002 document called the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People that instructs clerics to report suspected abuse to local authorities first, before telling church officials, Nojadera said.

“We are ahead of the curve on that,” he said of the United States’ practices. “From 2002 on, with the charter it’s been very clear that law enforcement is contacted.”

The charter also established training guidelines for people in the church involved with children, including clergy members, other church officials and volunteers. And they are trained on mandated reporting laws in their state.

Ohio is one of 28 states that names clergy as mandated reporters, and it’s a misdemeanor offense in the state if mandated reporters don’t report suspected child abuse to law enforcement, which could be police or children’s services agencies.

Under the pope’s edict, there are no penalties for not reporting sexual abuse — of minors, sexual misconduct with adults and knowing of or covering up any abuse — to the church.

Although clerics are mandatory reporters in Ohio, there are some exceptions to when they are required to report, including “privileged conversations” that take place during the Catholic sacrament of confession.

Columbus Bishop Robert J. Brennan released a written statement on the mandate, praising it as a “significant step” that will provide a framework for the diocese in the future. The diocese released a list of 34 clergy members who had been “credibly accused” of child sexual abuse in its more than 150-year history in early March, shortly before Brennan succeeded Bishop Emeritus Frederick Campbell as Columbus’ 12th bishop.

The most recent abuse case on the list occurred more than 25 years ago. The diocese has added two more names to the list since its release, bringing the total to 36, and diocesan officials said it is still subject to changes and revision.

″(Pope Francis’) order provides standards, expectations, and procedures that will assist the Church in addressing this worldwide problem,” Brennan said in the statement. “It affirms our current commitment to offer spiritual care for survivors and their families, to provide full compliance with all civil laws regarding reporting of allegations of sexual abuse to authorities, to uphold the right of any person to report these crimes, to guarantee prompt and objective investigations, and to assure strong lay involvement.”

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

DALLAS (TX)
Morning News

May 19, 2019

Catholics across the area wrestled with sadness, disappointment and outright anger after last week’s raid on the Dallas diocese, which police say hasn’t fully cooperated with a sexual abuse investigation.

The news was devastating to Becky Autrey, a 30-year member of North Dallas’ St. Rita Catholic Community who was already struggling with her feelings about the church.

“I think this has lost me for good,” she said. “I really don’t have that deep faith anymore.”

But the Rev. Martin Moreno told parishioners Sunday at the packed St. Cecilia Catholic Church that the raids shouldn’t shake their beliefs.

“If this news means you have to go, then leave already,” he said. “Those of us that remain will have true faith.”

The Oak Cliff church was one of the places authorities raided Wednesday, but Moreno said he wasn’t worried.

“Everything that I have, I have given police,” he said. “The peace that comes from transparency, nobody can take that from you.”

Police say the diocese has hidden records of complaints about priests, including former St. Cecilia pastor Rev. Edmundo Paredes.

Even as some say the new developments continue to test their beliefs, there are Catholics who say the church needs their support more than ever during this latest crisis, expressing almost familial obligations.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Irish Central

May 19, 2019

On 20 May 2009, Ireland made international headlines when the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was published.

The Ryan Report, as it was to become known, quickly entered the Irish national lexicon as bywords to the Church and State’s shameful treatment of children in institutional care over a period of decades.

The report detailed in shocking detail, the scale of physical, sexual and emotional abuse suffered by children in institutions run by a range of Catholic Orders but which were funded and inspected by the Department of Education.

Abuse was reported by over 1,000 men and women in over 200 residential settings between 1914 and 2000.

The settings included industrial and reformatory schools, children’s homes, hospitals, national and secondary schools, day and residential special needs schools, foster care and a small number of other residential institutions, including Magdalene laundries.

The report identified some 800 known abusers.

The report concluded that physical and emotional abuse were features of the institutions examined while sexual abuse “occurred in many of them” — in particular boys’ institutions.

It found that the Department of Education had a “deferential and submissive attitude” towards the congregations that ran the institutions to the extent that it compromised its ability to carry out its statutory duty of inspection and monitoring of the schools.

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

Queerty

May 18, 2019

Last week, Jerry Falwell Jr. made national headlines when it was reported that Michael Cohen allegedly helped stop the release of x-rated photos of the antigay activist shortly before he endorsed Trump for president in 2016.

According to Reuters, Falwell contacted Cohen in 2015 seeking assistance regarding an “embarrassing personal matter” involving him, his wife, and their 20-something pool boy, er, pool attendant from Miami.

Related: Jerry Falwell Jr.’s alleged x-rated photos could get him fired from his own university

Rumor had it, the pool boy possessed dirty pictures of Falwell and was using them to blackmail the evangelical leader to the tune of $1.8 million. Falwell denied any such photos existed, and the pool boy denied blackmailing him, but neither denied the $1.8 million payment, which remains unexplained.

Of course, Falwell is hardly the first antigay church leader to find himself embroiled in a bizarre sex scandal, alleged or confirmed.

Here are six other antigay church leaders who were recently exposed for hypocrisy…

Ernest Angley
The 97-year-old former leader of the Grace Cathedral Church in Akron, Ohio, who made his career out of preaching homophobia and scamming people with dementia out of their life savings, had a scandalous decades-old recording of himself leaked to the media earlier this year.

In the recording, which was made in 1996, Angley is heard admitting to getting naked and masturbating with an unnamed man in his bed, but he insists the encounter wasn’t gay because “I didn’t make him cum.”

“I didn’t ejaculate him,” Angley says. “I didn’t make him cum. … [And] he didn’t make me cum. No, he didn’t!”

Matthew Dennis Patterson
Perv pastor
The 45-year-old pastor of Nolensville Road Baptist Church in Nolensville, Tennessee and self-proclaimed “vocal opponent” of LGBTQ rights was ousted from his post in April 2018 after congregation members began complaining about his requests to “engage in strange activities” with their children.

Patterson was accused of asking numerous boys to strip down to their underpants and sit on his face over the course of 20 years. Police didn’t say how old the children were at the time of the alleged abuse; however, Patterson was indicted on eight counts of aggravated sexual battery with each count being linked to a different child.

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

ASHTABULA (OH)
Star Beacon

May 19, 2019

By Jon Wysochanski

If sexual assault or abuse occurred many years ago, victims have limited recourse in Ohio when filing criminal complaints or civil suits — as is the case with many of those victimized by priests.

In Ohio, lawmakers have not eliminated the statute of limitations for rape or sexual battery, though the statute was extended in recent years from 20 to 25 years from the time the offense was committed — when there is an indictment based on DNA evidence.

This change was a response to an overwhelming amount of rape DNA kits that had never been sent to labs, many of which would not have been admissible in court because the crimes were committed more than 20 years ago, said state Rep. John Rogers, D-Mentor-on-the-Lake.

“This created a window that would enable the prosecution of cases in which DNA could identify a possible perpetrator,” Rogers said.

Rogers, a former prosecutor who has handled a myriad of sexual assault cases, said he supports the idea of delving into this “window of opportunity” concept more and reviewing Ohio’s laws.

Prosecution of rape must commence within 25 years after it is committed, or within 25 years after a person turns 18 in the case of minors, and the statute of limitations varies for other sexual-related crimes such as gross sexual imposition.

Civil claims in sex cases involving juveniles must be brought within 12 years from when the child turns 18, meaning they have until they are 30 years old to file suit. There is also a $250,000 to $350,000 cap on damages that can be awarded to victims bringing forth such civil suits. Rep. Kristin Boggs, D-Columbus, said Ohio has one of the lowest damage caps in the country and it is the only state with a cap applied to victims of sexual violence.

Though Boggs said she supports examining the statute of limitations in such cases and revisiting the cap on civil claims, legislation hasn’t been introduced this session. Lawmakers several times had sought to eliminate the statute of limitations in rape cases, most recently by adding an amendment to the abortion ban bill, which lawmakers voted down, Boggs said.

State Rep. John Patterson, D-Jefferson, said statute of limitations laws are not something he has examined, and he deferred questions to Rogers.

Boggs said she fully supports removing the statute of limitations for rape, but only if it were to apply to all victims and is not based on whom the offender was. For example, some states have carved out laws to deal with specific instances of large-scale systemic abuse in institutions like the Catholic Church, which changes statutes of limitations for victims in those cases but not others, Boggs said.

“If we’re going to do this we should do it equally for everyone,” she said.

Church abuse, response

In October, the Youngstown Diocese released a list of 34 priests credibly accused of sexual abuse and a dozen of the clergy members named had an assignment passing through Ashtabula County at some point in their careers.

Robert Hill is the most well known, having spent time in prison after being convicted of paying a minor for sex. He spent time at Assumption of Mary in Geneva as well as St. Joseph in Jefferson.

Thomas Crum, who spent most of his career in the Youngstown area, was defrocked in 2009 after admitting to 30-year-old allegations that took place at least a decade prior to Crum’s service in St. Mary in Orwell, which dated from 1988 to 1991.

Robert Reidy, who in 2002 admitted to abusing two Austintown boys in the 1960s when he was at St. Nicholas in Struthers, had a previous assignment at St. Mary in Conneaut.

The Rev. Monsignor John Zuraw, Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, said the Diocese list is always updated when people are credibly accused. The diocese does not release the names of victims or where they live, he said, and since releasing the list of priests credibly accused in October, one person has come forward with allegations about a priest named on the list.

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

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune-Democrat

May 19, 2019

If the Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania Senate won’t step up and take action on behalf of sexual abuse victims who are beyond the statute of limitations, then others – including Wayne Langerholc of Richland Township – must push their stubborn colleagues aside and drive this important issue.

As Sunday’s CNHI in-depth report “The Cost of Abuse” shows, several options have been put forth to give those victims a pathway to justice.

Proposals in Harrisburg would address the plight of abuse victims – including those whose attackers were members of the clergy – through either a legislative change in the law or a movement to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution.

State House reporter John Finnerty’s relentless efforts to interview the Senate’s GOP leadership for this project garnered a repeated “no thanks” from Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, while Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, commented only when cornered in a Capitol hallway.

Corman called any change in how the state handles cases of adults who were sexually abused as children “special legislation” that would need to be referred to the Senate judiciary committee.

Last year, the state House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would provide a two-year window for abuse victims to file civil action. The statute of limitations now denies victims who have reached the age of 30 that right – and age 50 for criminal cases.

The 2018 bill never made it onto the Senate floor for a vote.

But we’re seeing some signs in 2019 that a subtle shift is happening in the Senate.

Republican Langerholc said he “would support a window. I’ve been on record with that before. We need to come together to get something done. It’s something that’s been languishing and needs to be addressed.”

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

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
KQED Radio

May 19, 2019

By Alexandra Hall

More than 20 years after a man first reported he was abused by a Central Valley priest, the Catholic Diocese of Fresno is revisiting the allegation after several other individuals have come forward accusing the same priest. The diocese and Fresno County law enforcement officials had previously said the claim, first raised in 1998, was unsubstantiated.

The man, who has chosen not to disclose his identity, says that Bakersfield priest Monsignor Craig Harrison — who is currently on leave while under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct — inappropriately touched him when he was a teenager in Firebaugh.

According to the man’s attorney, Joseph George, the alleged abuse happened over the course of a year from 1992 to 1993 while the man was living at the rectory of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Firebaugh.

Harrison worked as a priest at St. Joseph from 1992 to 1999.

The man said that Harrison would inspect his genitals each night when he returned home under the pretext of checking to see if the teen had used drugs. He was 16 and 17 years old at the time.

In 1998, the man filed a report about the alleged abuse with the Firebaugh Police Department and the case was referred to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, George said.

A spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said Harrison was questioned but not arrested. The sheriff’s office ultimately declared the allegation “unsubstantiated.”

A case against Craig Harrison was submitted to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office’s sexual assault unit that same year, according to a spokesperson, but no charges were filed.

Four years later, the man went to the Fresno Diocese to again report the alleged abuse. Diocesan administrative officials interviewed him at the time.

“The interview is curious to say the least,” George said, referring to a transcript he said his client received from diocesan staff when they recently met with him in his home. “It’s biased.”

During the interview, George said, the former director of human resources and former chancellor of the Fresno Diocese questioned the man and described his allegations as “harassment.”

They also pointed out that the man’s parents had given their son permission to live in the rectory and that Harrison had spoken to the man’s parents. According to the transcript, the man replied that his parents only spoke Spanish, George said.

“He felt put off,” George said, “and said, ‘at some point I think I’m gonna read about this in The Fresno Bee when other people come forward. […] This happened to others. I’m sure I’m not alone.’”

California law requires that clergy and church records custodians report suspected abuse or neglect of children to law enforcement.

“There’s no way that the information that was conveyed to the diocese in 2002 would not create a reasonable suspicion of child abuse,” George said.
Sponsored

George said the man also provided diocesan personnel with the names of other potential victims.

“He said he never — capital ‘N’ — heard back from the diocese until this current flurry of reported allegations,” George said.

Since mid-April, three other men have come forward alleging Harrison touched them inappropriately or engaged in other sexual misconduct with them as teenagers. Two allege Harrison inspected their genitals under similar circumstances. Another alleges Harrison pinned him against a wall and rubbed his erect penis against his body through clothing.

All of the allegations were reported to have occurred in Firebaugh, Merced and Bakersfield, cities where Harrison worked as a priest at different points in time since the late 1980s.

Most of the victims came from low-income, Latino families, according to George.

The diocesan review board is now reconsidering the allegation first reported in 1998 and again in 2002, along with an unknown number of other claims of sexual abuse by Fresno Diocese clergy dating back to 1922.

Fresno Diocese chancellor and spokeswoman Teresa Dominguez said she recently visited the man at his home to apologize.

“I personally expressed my concern for him; told him that I believe him, and apologized for the pain this matter has caused him. I told him that I will support him and be an advocate for him in any way that I can,” said Dominguez in an email.

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

Patheos blog

May 17, 2019

By Hemant Mehta

James Carroll was a Catholic priest from 1969 to 1974. He was raised in a Catholic family and was proud of that… until he could no longer be. The sex abuse scandals were the tipping point, but the fundamental Catholic beliefs didn’t help either. Carroll says the exclusion of women from leadership, the requirement for celibacy among priests, and the opposition to LGBTQ rights have helped him realize the Church’s problems are far too large to overcome.

Now, in a cover story for the June issue of The Atlantic, Carroll says the Church should “abolish the priesthood.” In other words, the Church should eliminate the tradition that has arguably been the root cause for most of its biggest problems.

What Vatican II did not do, or was unable to do, except symbolically, was take up the issue of clericalism — the vesting of power in an all-male and celibate clergy. My five years in the priesthood, even in its most liberal wing, gave me a fetid taste of this caste system. Clericalism, with its cult of secrecy, its theological misogyny, its sexual repressiveness, and its hierarchical power based on threats of a doom-laden afterlife, is at the root of Roman Catholic dysfunction. The clerical system’s obsession with status thwarts even the merits of otherwise good priests and distorts the Gospels’ message of selfless love, which the Church was established to proclaim. Clericalism is both the underlying cause and the ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe. I left the priesthood 45 years ago, before knowing fully what had soured me, but clericalism was the reason.

I heard the confessions of young people wracked with guilt not because of authentic sinfulness but because of a Church-imposed sexual repressiveness that I was expected to affirm. Just by celebrating the Mass, I helped enforce the unjust exclusion of women from equal membership in the Church. I valued the community life I shared with fellow priests, but I also sensed the crippling loneliness that could result from a life that lacked the deep personal intimacy other human beings enjoy. My relationship with God was so tied up with being a priest that I feared a total loss of faith if I left. That very fear revealed a denigration of the laity and illustrated the essential problem. If I had stayed a priest, I see now, my faith, such as it was, would have been corrupted.

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

ERIE (PA)
YourErie.com

May 18, 2019

By David Belmondo

A preliminary investigation is opened against a Catholic Priest after allegations of sexual abuse surface.

Msgr Charles Kaza, Pastor of St Tobias Parish in Brockway, and president of Dubois Central Catholic School Board is accused of sexual abuse while serving at St John the Baptist Parish in Erie in the 1980’s.

An allegation of sexual abuse was forewarded to the Diocese of Erie and its independent investigators by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Bishop Lawrence Persico has placed Kaza on administrative leave restricting him from active ministry effective May 13th.

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

LA CROSSE (WI)
WSAW TV

May 18, 2019

A retired La Crosse priest, who has a history of sexual misconduct, is once again in legal trouble. Monsignor Bernard McGarty faces charges of fourth degree sexual assault.

According to WKBT, the CBS affiliate in La Crosse, surveillance video from the La Crosse library supports the criminal complaint which alleges the 94-year-old offered a woman money for sex, tried to kiss her, and took her hand and put it on his genitals on May 11.

In a statement to WKBT, the Diocese of La Crosse says: “On May 16, 2019, the Diocese of La Crosse learned of a recent situation at the La Crosse Public Library involving Msgr. Bernard McGarty, 94, a retired priest of the Diocese of La Crosse. According to diocesan policy Msgr. McGarty, from this moment forward, is on a leave of absence from public ministry while this current situation is being investigated. Due to this being an ongoing investigation, the Diocese of La Crosse has no further comment at this time.”

McGarty has been released on a signature bond.

In 2014, McGarty was cited in Wausau for disorderly conduct after exposing himself to a massage therapist in a salon.

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

HUDSON COUNTY (NJ)
Jersey Journal

May 19, 2019

By Rev. Alexander Santora/

Eight days this month — May 6 to 13 — may turn out to be the most consequential in the state for the next phase of the long-running clerical sex abuse scandal.

First, Anderson & Associates released a list of 311 clergy and religious accused of abuse in New Jersey. Then, Pope Francis codified changes for the worldwide church to address sex abuse and hold people accountable. Lastly, Gov. Murphy signed into law legislation that ensures a longer period for victims of sexual abuse to sue and he made it retroactive, as well.

“The Anderson Report on Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese and Dioceses in New Jersey,” released May 6, is more than twice as long as the list of 188 names released by the Catholic church earlier this year. Anderson’s list is longer because it includes religious — including three nuns, deacons and priests from New Jersey — who abused elsewhere in the country.

The law firm’s introduction in the report asserts that it relied on “publicly available sources,” like media reports and court cases. It also claims that these mostly are “just allegations” and everyone is “innocent until proven guilty.”

I found listed a priest from the Archdiocese of Newark whose allegation was false and a grand jury declined to indict him. Including him with others whose cases are probably credible is a gross injustice.

Asked about it, Patrick J. Wall — an advocate with Anderson’s L.A. office and former Benedictine priest who was in the order for 12 years — could not explain why the priest was included.

“We include all open cases as the litigation moves forward,” he said. Yet, in this case, the case was closed.

In 2010, a detective from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office along with a town policeman went to the priest’s rectory to inform him of an allegation. The priest hired his own lawyer and appeared before a grand jury. Months later, an abuse victim advocate showed up in town seeking dirt on the priest so he informed his parishioners and the archdiocese that he was never charged. It made the newspapers and that apparently justified Anderson including his name.

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