ABUSE TRACKER

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

May 17, 2019

By Tim Busch

Catholics are excited for the new head of the church in the nation’s capital. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, who will be installed as the leader of the Archdiocese of Washington on May 21, is widely recognized as a principled reformer who seeks the truth and does what’s right. That kind of leadership is desperately needed after a year of disturbing revelations and scandals about senior church leaders, especially ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

In April, Gregory promised that transparency would be at the top of his agenda, a positive sign after the past year. Last June, McCarrick — the city’s archbishop from 2001 to 2006 and one of the church’s best-known leaders — was credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager earlier in his career. In the months that followed, further allegations arose against him involving abuse of seminarians, new priests and boys as young as 11 years old. McCarrick’s successor, Cardinal Donald Wuerl , reported at least one such accusation to the Vatican.

As these discoveries unfolded, Catholics demanded accountability. Last summer, Pope Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal, a first. The Vatican defrocked McCarrick in February, removing him from the priesthood after an internal investigation. Most recently, Pope Francis unveiled a historic new policy that expedites investigations of allegations against bishops, archbishops and cardinals. Catholics everywhere welcomed these moves.

But the faithful wanted more than punishments doled out after closed-door deliberations. We also wanted to shine a light into the darkness: Who knew what, when did they know it, what did (or didn’t) they do, and how deep does this rot run?

Gregory is the kind of leader who can address these concerns. In 2002, as head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops , he oversaw the creation of the Dallas Charter, which enacted strict policies to stop abusive priests and support victims. This gives Catholics hope about what he’ll do to restore the faithful’s trust as the archbishop of Washington.

Catholics have more questions than answers about McCarrick’s actions and the church’s response to (and knowledge of) them. Over the past year, the archdiocese has said little about its internal workings and the handling of accusations, largely telling the media that it either knew nothing about specific allegations or had found no relevant documents in its records. Gregory could let Catholics review all relevant records to verify the church’s claims.

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The Case Against Abolishing the Priesthood

New York (NY)
Americ Magazine
.
May 17, 2019

By James Martin, S.J

In the Dec. 11, 2000, issue of The New Yorker, the magazine’s revered literary critic James Wood began his review of the writings of J. F. Powers with a blunt question, “Does anyone, really, like priests?” I read that article a few months after my ordination to the priesthood. I found it hard to understand not only how an intelligent person could write a sentence like that, but how a prestigious magazine could print it.

It does not take too much creativity to imagine what the reaction might have been had The New Yorker’s literary critic written, “Does anyone, really, like imams?” Or “Does anyone, really, like rabbis?” Firestorms of denunciations would likely have followed. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, we saw a flurry of thoughtful articles distinguishing Islam from the terrorists who committed the atrocities (and the clerics who encouraged them), with commentators correctly making judicious distinctions between the actions of a few and the morality of the many.

But when it comes to priests, it is O.K. to hate them. Or at least wonder if anyone, really, likes them.

I thought of that article when I saw the cover of the latest edition of The Atlantic, which features a darkened photo of St. Patrick’s Cathedral above the headline, “Abolish the Priesthood.”

The cover was bad enough; the accompanying article, by James Carroll, was even more disappointing. If this is The Atlantic’s “deep dive” into the clergy abuse crisis, it represents something of a disservice to readers and the general public. Essentially, Mr. Carroll’s lengthy (and, admittedly, in some places careful) examination of the clergy abuse crisis can be boiled down to: It’s priests. He states his thesis with admirable concision at one point: “The very notion of priesthood is toxic.” Using the old dictum that what is easily asserted is easily denied, I would respond: “No, it is not.”

Mr. Carroll, an astute social critic and often brilliant writer, should know better. The problem is not the priesthood; the problem is clericalism, that malign brand of theology and spirituality that says that priests are more important than laypeople, that a priest’s or bishop’s word is more trustworthy than that of victims (or victims’ parents) and that the very selves of priests are more valuable than those of laypeople. Catholic theology is sometimes used to support this kind of supremacism. At his ordination a priest is said to undergo an “ontological” change, a change in his very being. The belief that this change makes him “better” than the layperson lies at the heart of clericalism and much of the abuse crisis.

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Did Dallas Catholic Diocese properly report allegations to CPS?

DALLAS (TX)
Morning News

May 16, 2019

By Cassandra Jaramillo

In their search-warrant affidavit that allowed officers to seize boxes of files from Dallas Catholic Diocese offices Wednesday, Dallas police launched a salvo of accusations against church officials about their handling of sexual abuse allegations.

Among them: Diocese’ leaders over the years hadn’t properly reported allegations to Child Protective Services.

State law requires anyone who suspects child abuse and neglect to make a report to the Department of Family Protective Services, which oversees the CPS.

But children’s advocates and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — known as SNAP — said Thursday that the diocese’s reporting efforts appeared minimal, and that officials should’ve better involved proper law enforcement agencies from the beginning.

“If someone tells you about a crime that was committed, you tell the police,” said Zach Hiner, SNAP’s executive director.

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BISHOP BURNS RESPONDS TO INACCURACIES IN POLICE AFFIDAVIT

DALLAS (TX)
Diocese of Dallas

May 17, 2019

On May 15, 2019, the Dallas Police Department, supported by an affidavit sworn to by Detective David Clark, executed a search warrant on three properties related to the Diocese of Dallas. While there are a number of technical issues in the affidavit that will be addressed by lawyers and the Dallas Police Department, I feel a need to respond, as a shepherd of this Diocese, to many of the larger claims and implications made within that affidavit. Before I begin, though, I want to make it clear that the sexual abuse of minors is one of the most egregious sins any human being can commit. I am responding to this affidavit so that the faithful may know how important the issue of eradicating the sexual abuse of minors is to me, particularly with respect to how the Church responds to it. There are a number of important areas that I would like to address:

The fact that the Diocese is not in possession of certain names or information in some of its files does not mean that the Diocese has hidden or concealed those names or information.

The fundamental premise of the affidavit is that because a piece of information discovered in an entirely independent police investigation is not in the Diocese’s files, the Diocese must have hidden or concealed that information and is continuing to hide or conceal that information, so that it warrants a raid of religious offices. The affidavit consistently implies that information was not included in files that were turned over and from this fact concludes that the Diocese has, for presumably nefarious reasons, held that information back. But in reality, the Diocese cannot turn over what it does not have. All of the files for the names in the affidavit have been turned over, and the Diocese was working directly with Police on this, spending hours combing through thousands of files, some of which were decades old. In total, we reviewed 115,216 files, encompassing over 221,855 pages, that covered 70 years. Within this process, after files were being submitted to the police, the Diocese discovered additional files, identified by Detective Clark as an “additional 51 pages” in the affidavit. These 51 pages, out of the over 221,855 pages being reviewed, were immediately turned over to the police upon discovery. To imply that these documents were intentionally withheld in any capacity is to truly misrepresent the nature of our correspondence with the Dallas Police Department. In the case of many of the accused, the Diocese had even sought to help find more information not in its possession, tracking down dozens upon dozens of witnesses dating back decades so that additional information might be discovered by the Dallas Police. In fact, the Dallas Police Department was able to gather this additional evidence because of the information the Diocese had given to police in their efforts.

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Robbins accused of sexual misconduct, berating abuse victims

NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News

May 17, 2019

By Daniella Silva and Chelsea Damberg

Self-help guru Tony Robbins has been accused of making inappropriate sexual advances on fans and staff and berating abuse victims in an investigation published by BuzzFeed News on Friday.

BuzzFeed said its report stemmed from an investigation that was based on leaked recordings, internal documents related to Robbins’ work and a series of interviews with fans and insiders. The allegations include sexual misconduct or harassment that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s, before he married his second wife, as well as claims Robbins berated victims of rape or domestic abuse during his self-help sessions.

NBC News has not been able to speak to BuzzFeed’s unidentified sources. It was not clear how many women BuzzFeed spoke to for its report.

Robbins vehemently denied the claims in a response on the website Medium on Friday, saying in part that the news outlet was publishing an “inaccurate, agenda-driven version of the past, pierced with falsehoods.”

“It is intended to disparage me personally, my family, my life’s work, and the efforts of the millions of individuals around the globe who have taken this journey with me over the last 40-plus years,” Robbins wrote.

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KSN Investigates: Sex offenders in church

WICHITA (KS)
KSNW TV

May 16, 2019

By Stephanie Bergmann

While the priest sex abuse scandal has dominated headlines lately, churches of all denominations are dealing with another dangerous dilemma, whether to allow sex offenders seeking forgiveness to attend services where kids are present.

A church in Derby had to decide whether redemption is worth the risk of welcoming a convicted pedophile into the congregation.

“The prevalence (of child sex abuse) is unbelievable, how much is going on,” said Dr. Gary Hackney, a clinical psychologist.

While it’s impossible to know for sure how many kids are molested, estimates range from one in 10 to one in three.

Experts like Hackney, who work with pedophiles to try to keep them from re-offending, say the temptation is always there.

“That’s what people have to understand, it doesn’t go away,” said Hackney.

That’s why St. Mary Catholic Church in Derby took action, when convicted sex offender, Al Rocheleau, started going to Mass there.

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Damage control

ROME (ITALY)
Washington Post

May 18, 2019

By Chico Harlan

His missions begin with a phone call from the Pope. “Do me a favour,” Pope Francis tends to say, and then Archbishop Charles Scicluna steels himself, packs his bags and books a flight to another country where something terrible has happened.

Within a church besieged by clerical abuse cases, Scicluna, 59, has become the Vatican’s emergency investigator — a priest and lawyer turned sex crimes specialist who is dispatched to scandal zones.

“Nothing prepares you for the wounds,” Scicluna said. “You don’t get used to it.”

He is sent to places where cardinals or bishops are accused of committing abuse; where officials are suspected of burying evidence or systematically ignoring victims; where the church has profoundly failed and squandered trust. Over the past decade and a half, he has led at least four major investigations on four continents, interviewing hundreds of victims, during feverish days he likens to an “ant working in summer.”

For most of that time, he has operated out of public view, refusing to speak about cases, returning to Rome from his missions with dossiers meant for the eyes of the Pope. But recently, with the church facing outside pressure to reform, Scicluna was vaulted by Francis into a broad and public role. The archbishop helped to plan a major anti-abuse summit in February and has worked on subsequent reforms.

As the Roman Catholic Church attempts to prove it can credibly police itself, it is presenting Scicluna as an example of how rigorous and caring it can be.

In interviews in his home country of Malta and inside the Vatican — where documents on the table are labelled in Latin “secreta” — Scicluna said he “hoped and prayed” that the institution, during his lifetime, can “become an example of best practices” for responding to and preventing abuse.

“But we will not solve the problem,” he said, calling abuse a pervasive global issue that goes beyond the church. “This will not go away.”

Scicluna has developed a reputation — even among some wary abuse victims and advocates — as one of the rare Vatican officials who appreciates the seriousness and scale of the church’s abuse crisis. Victims say Scicluna presents himself as a listener and fact-finder, sensitive but also meticulous in pinning down dates and specifics.

“He cared. It mattered to him,” said Juan Carlos Cruz, a whistleblowing Chilean abuse victim now living in the United States, who met with Scicluna last year. Cruz had volunteered to speak with Scicluna via Skype. Instead, Scicluna flew to New York and spoke with Cruz for four hours.

“I’ve been telling my story and dealing with church officials forever,” Cruz said. “It was the first time I felt empathy.”

Scicluna points to past papal quotes as guiding wisdom for handling the crisis. He chides the church gently, prescribing reforms for handling complaints, urging prelates to listen more openly to victims. He speaks about the importance of transparency and encourages church officials to co-operate with civil authorities, but his own investigations are fully in-house, and not even summaries of his findings are made public.

He has carried out special investigations on behalf of both Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, and he considers his missions a “service” for the pontiff.

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Vatican Adviser: Days Of Covering Up Abuse Allegations Are Over

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

May 16, 2019

By Carol Glatz

Pope Francis’ new norms on protecting minors and strengthening accountability are the latest steps in driving home the message that the days of keeping abuse allegations covered up or ignored are over, said the Vatican’s top abuse investigator.

“The good of the church requires condemnation” to the proper authorities when it comes to abuse of minors and abuses of power, said Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told reporters.

The archbishop spoke to reporters about Pope Francis’ latest apostolic letter, “Vos estis lux mundi” (“You are the light of the world”) at a May 9 news conference. The new document establishes and clarifies norms and procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable when it comes to safeguarding minors as well as abuses carried out against adults with violence, threats or an abuse of authority.

The new norms are important, Archbishop Scicluna said, because they clearly tell people they have an obligation to report already existing crimes, negligence and inappropriate behavior to church authorities.

That obligation “has always been there, but experience shows us that either a closed-shop mentality or a misplaced interest in protecting the institution was hindering disclosure,” he said.

The now-universal law of mandating all clerics, as well as men and women religious, to report to the competent ecclesiastical authorities the abuses of which they become aware is important, he said, “because it makes disclosure the main policy of the church.”

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Church in Chile ‘shocked,’ ‘perplexed’ over abuse crisis, locals say

SANTIAGO (CHILE)
Crux

May 18, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Though it’s been diminishing for a while, more so in some places than others, the influence of the Catholic Church across Latin America is still undeniable. Chile is no exception, especially given that the Church here was at the forefront of the defense of human rights during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The Church’s standing in Chile right now, however, is taking a historic beating.

According to the latest poll by the International Social Survey Program, the credibility of the Church among Chileans is today at a historic low, going from 51 percent of trust in 1998 to 13 percent in October 2018.

In May of last year, Pope Francis diagnosed part of the problem: a culture of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up.

According to Joaquin Silva, a lay man and Dean of the Faculty of Theology of Chile’s Catholic University, the Chilean Church today is in “shock” and cannot overcome its “perplexity” over the pope’s diagnosis.

“As a consequence, the necessary changes, the [pope’s] call to conversion and renovation, doesn’t take the shape of a concrete restructuring of the hierarchy, the ecclesial configuration and the understanding of the priesthood as a ministry,” he told Crux.

On the contrary, Silva said, the shock has led the Church to simply enact some “legal and protocol changes” which, even though they were necessary, don’t address the heart of the problem.

“People don’t commit crimes because we don’t know what’s good and what’s bad, or because we don’t have a protocol in place when a person abuses a minor,” Silva argued. “It takes time to assume the gravity of the problem of clerical sexual abuse, and it’s not only the abuses themselves – the problem of the Church in Chile is much deeper.”

Among the roots of the problem, Silva said, is the way members of the Church interact with one another, the Church’s understanding of society and the Church’s relationship with money, all of which, Silva noted, are also problems of the universal Church.

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Some priests accused of abuse and removed from ministry land in jobs working with kids

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

May 18, 2019

By Bill Bowman

At least two priests who served in the Harrisburg Diocese went onto other rolls involving youth after they left the church.

One who served a parish in Sunbury was removed as a part-time instructor for a Lehigh Valley-based drum corps last year. Another worked for more that two decades as a caseworker in the Mental Health/Intellectual and Development Disabilities section of the Human Services department in York County.

Donald Cramer served at St. Monica parish in Sunbury until the school closed in 2012. According to the diocese report, Cramer was investigated for possible child pornography possession, but the Department of Homeland Security found nothing criminal and didn’t investigate further.

Cramer is alive and, according to the Penn State World Campus website, is listed as a faculty member in labor and employment relations.

Cramer was let go by Youth Education in the Arts, the parent organization of the Cadets, in August, according to a report in the Allentown Morning Call. Leaders of the drum corps – which has members between the ages of 15 and 25 – said Cramer passed background checks since he was not charged in the investigation.

Cramer served St. Monica in Sunbury from June 2010 to August 2012, the year he took a leave of absence. Cramer requested and was granted dispensation from the priesthood by Pope Francis in 2014.

Between his leave of absence and dispensation, the Department of Homeland Security investigated Cramer for child pornography after he communicated online with an unidentified person later arrested on child pornography charges about wanting to “rent” boys in Mexico. The investigation closed after investigators found no evidence of child pornography on his computer. Some of the allegations against Cramer are redacted.

In York County, a priest who served in the Harrisburg diocese until his removal in 1990 spent more that two decades as a caseworker in the Mental Health/Intellectual and Development Disabilities section of the Human Services department according to published reports.

Father David H. Luck was named in last summer’s grand jury report. The grand jury report alleges Luck raped one boy and molested another. He was fired from his job with York County last September, according to the York Daily Record.

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‘Beginning to see critical mass’: Dallas police raid shows new push to investigate Catholic clergy abuses

DALLAS (TX)
Morning News

May 18, 2019

When they showed up to Catholic diocese office doors with search warrants in hand Wednesday, the Dallas Police Department seemingly broke with tradition.

Except in rare occasions, priests in recent decades have avoided prosecution in Dallas and across the country for sexual abuse — even when criminal evidence came to light as a result of civil lawsuits.

Zach Hiner, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, said he believes police and district attorneys have generally respected the wishes of local church leaders to handle their own dirty laundry.

“Historically, there has been a lot of deference paid to religious institutions by our secular officials,” Hiner said. “They haven’t really wanted to get involved.”

And even if authorities did so, Hiner said, “they didn’t have all the information they needed.”

But increasingly, law enforcement agencies across the country are no longer sitting on the sidelines. And they’re not waiting for church higher-ups’ cooperation — a change that has heartened victims’ advocates and prompted cries of, what took so long?

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May 17, 2019

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Catholic Church: SNAP president to visit Sioux Falls, meet with sex abuse victims

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Argus Leader

May 17, 2019

By Patrick Anderson

A top advocate for clergy sex abuse survivors across the United States is set to visit Sioux Falls on May 24 to push for better protections for victims.

Tim Lennon is president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a nonprofit that works to expose institutional abuse, seek justice for survivors and advocate for better laws to protect children.

Lennon hopes to draw attention to South Dakota’s statute of limitations law during his Sioux Falls visit. He also plans to meet with survivors who said they were abused at the state’s Catholic-run boarding schools.

“It is exceptionally restrictive, and the reasons politicians are giving for not bringing this into the modern world are pretty bogus reasons,” Lennon said Friday.

Dozens of Native Americans filed lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, alleging numerous instances of rape and sexual molestation by priests, nuns and staff at three separate Indian Mission schools between the 1940s and 1980s.

The lawsuits eventually failed after a last-minute bill, written by a defense attorney for one of the schools being sued, passed through the Legislature and became law in 2010. It hurt the ability of child sex abuse victims to seek legal action against institutions responsible for their trauma.

Louise Charbonneau Aamot and her sisters still remember when former-Gov. Mike Rounds signed the bill, damaging their case against the Sioux Falls diocese and other Catholic institutions responsible for operating St. Paul’s Indian Mission school in Marty. She hopes Lennon’s visit will support the work she and other victims have been doing in Pierre since the current statute of limitations became law.

“To have them coming and supporting what we’ve been trying to do for so many years is a blessing,” Aamot said. “It is a huge blessing because we have someone who understands, and we have someone who would listen.”

SNAP has been a vocal advocate for survivors across the U.S., opening a national office in Chicago following 2002 reporting by the Boston Globe.

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Catholic Diocese Of Dallas Bishop Edward Burns Issues Rebuttal

DALLAS (TX)
CBSDFW TV

May 17, 2019

Catholic Diocese of Dallas Bishop Edward Burns has posted a video rebuttal on Friday with documentation to counter details in a Dallas Police search warrant on Wednesday.

“We were surprised, dismayed and even disappointed by the actions taken on Wednesday,” Bishop Burns said in the video. “That is why I’m saddened that this Wednesday, DPD carried out a highly-publicized search based on an affidavit that contained multiple factual errors.”

“Any suggestion that the Diocese was not cooperating in good faith is simply not true. For this reason, I have prepared a document that shows in detail an outline of the many misstatements made in the affidavit and reported in the media when the affidavit was made public,” Bishop Burns said.

The warrants were related to allegations of clergy abuse against Edmundo Paredes, who was a priest at Saint Cecilia Catholic Church in North Oak Cliff for 27 years, and other suspects.

“In addition to the allegations against Mr. Paredes detectives are investigating at least five additional allegations of child abuse against other suspects. These investigations stem from additional allegations made after the case against Mr. Paredes became public,” Dallas Maj. Max Geron said at a morning press conference. “In furtherance of these investigations today we obtained and executed multiple search warrants to collect any data or documentation of previous reports or records of abuse that may be held by the Dallas Catholic Diocese.”

Major Geron said Dallas detectives are “working to complete a through investigation into each allegation – independent of any other entity – to ensure that each victim has a voice within the legal system.”

In the video post on the Diocese website, Bishop Burns lays out his case, saying he believes the affidavit that sparked the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by priests is filled with factual errors.

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Church: Sex abuse claim against dead priest deemed credible

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

May 17, 2019

By Ann Zaniewski

Allegations of child sexual abuse against a priest who died in 1984 have been deemed credible, the Archdiocese of Detroit announced Friday.

Ned McGrath, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit, said the archdiocese received a complaint more than a decade ago — but still after Tyminski’s death — about him sexually abusing a minor.

A different victim stepped forward within the last few months with a new complaint, McGrath said. That sparked an investigation by the Archdiocesan Review Board. The board, which investigates and considers allegations of clergy sexual abuse and makes recommendations to the archbishop, found the allegations to be credible.

Tyminski was ordained in 1935 in Poland and served in three parishes there. Five years after his ordination, he was incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II.

Tyminski arrived in the U.S. in 1950. He spent a year at SS. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake and then was assigned in 1951 to St. Andrew, in 1954 to Resurrection, in 1963 to SS. Peter & Paul (Westside), in 1966 to St. Cunegunda and in 1969 to Immaculate Conception. He retired in 1976.

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Affidavit alleges abuse by former Arkansas priest

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Arkansas Democrat

May 17, 2019

By Youssef Rddad, Kat Stromquist

A former Arkansas priest is accused of molesting at least one boy in the 1980s while serving as dean of a Catholic school in Subiaco, with accusations coming to light through court records filed this week in Texas alleging abuse by clergy members.

Authorities say the Rev. Jeremy Myers sexually assaulted a boy several times in Arkansas and Texas while he was dean of the students’ dorm at Subiaco Academy, according to an affidavit supporting a search warrant. The document states the abuse started in 1986 at the all-boys school in Logan County — two years after Myers’ ordination as a priest — and continued when the boy visited the priest in Texas.

None of the church members in the document was criminally charged, but the filing explicitly describes allegations of sexual misconduct.

Myers is one of five clergy members under investigation as part of an investigation into alleged abuse within the Dallas Diocese. Police on Wednesday searched the church’s offices and storage buildings in the Dallas metro area, and church officials have said they are cooperating with the investigations.

The document alleges numerous instances in which Myers performed sex acts with the boy in Subiaco and then later in Texas.

Subiaco Academy headmaster David Wright said in a statement Thursday that the school and Subiaco Abbey “are aware of, and have cooperated with, the investigation of Jeremy Myers. Because this investigation is ongoing, and to avoid any possible interference with it, we cannot comment further at this time.”

Wright encouraged staff members and students to report any abuse, and said the school and abbey have “a duty to work to bring the truth to light.”

Subiaco Abbot Leonard Wangler, who was headmaster at Subiaco Academy at the time, reportedly told Myers to speak to his alleged victim about the claims when they surfaced, an affidavit said.

Students at the school reported concerns about Myers’ relationship with the boy after a witness saw the boy sitting on the priest’s lap wearing only a towel, records show.

Myers reported back to Wangler that the victim said he was lying about any sexual contact, according to the document.

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Abolish The Priesthood

NEW YORK (NY)
The Atlantic

May 17, 2019

By James Carroll

To feel relief at my mother’s being dead was once unthinkable, but then the news came from Ireland. It would have crushed her. An immigrant’s daughter, my mother lived with an eye cast back to the old country, the land against which she measured every virtue. Ireland was heaven to her, and the Catholic Church was heaven’s choir. Then came the Ryan Report.

Not long before The Boston Globe began publishing its series on predator priests, in 2002—the “Spotlight” series that became a movie of the same name—the government of Ireland established a commission, ultimately chaired by Judge Sean Ryan, to investigate accounts and rumors of child abuse in Ireland’s residential institutions for children, nearly all of which were run by the Catholic Church.

The Ryan Commission published its 2,600-page report in 2009. Despite government inspections and supervision, Catholic clergy had, across decades, violently tormented thousands of children. The report found that children held in orphanages and reformatory schools were treated no better than slaves—in some cases, sex slaves. Rape and molestation of boys were “endemic.” Other reports were issued about other institutions, including parish churches and schools, and homes for unwed mothers—the notorious “Magdalene Laundries,” where girls and women were condemned to lives of coercive servitude. The ignominy of these institutions was laid out in plays and documentary films, and in Philomena, the movie starring Judi Dench, which was based on a true story. The homes-for-women scandal climaxed in 2017, when a government report revealed that from 1925 to 1961, at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, in Tuam, County Galway, babies who died—nearly 800 of them—were routinely disposed of in mass graves or sewage pits. Not only priests had behaved despicably. So had nuns.

In August 2018, Pope Francis made a much publicized visit to Ireland. His timing could not have been worse. Just then, a second wave of the Catholic sex-abuse scandal was breaking. In Germany, a leaked bishops’ investigation revealed that from 1946 to 2014, 1,670 clergy had assaulted 3,677 children. Civil authorities in other nations were launching investigations, moving aggressively to preempt the Church. In the United States, also in 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury alleged that over the course of 70 years, more than 1,000 children had been abused by more than 300 priests across the state. Church authorities had successfully silenced the victims, deflected law enforcement, and shielded the predators. The Pennsylvania report was widely taken to be a conclusive adjudication, but grand-jury findings are not verdicts. Still, this record of testimony and investigation was staggering. The charges told of a ring of pedophile priests who gave many of their young targets the gift of a gold cross to wear, so that the other predator priests could recognize an initiated child who would not resist an overture. “This is the murder of a soul,” said one victim who testified before the grand jury.

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Former assistant principal at Little Rock high school gets 1 year in prison

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Arkansas Democrat

May 17, 2019

By John Lynch

A former assistant principal and music teacher whose supporters include the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Arkansas was sentenced to a year in prison Thursday for running over an off-duty Little Rock police officer and a prisoner in a past-midnight collision.

Keith Alan Hearnsberger, 37, did not testify at the sentencing hearing before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza. He pleaded guilty in February to two felony charges — second-degree battery, reduced from first-degree battery, and failure to stop and render aid.

Prosecutors also withdrew a first-degree battery charge related to the prisoner’s injuries in exchange for the guilty plea. Hearnsberger faced up to 12 years in prison, but as a first-time offender was eligible for probation.

More than a dozen supporters submitted written character endorsements for Hearnsberger, citing his compassion, his dedication to his Christian faith and hopes of becoming a priest.

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AbuseTracker

Local Group Cautions Clergy Sex Abuse Victims to Not Rush Into Settlements With Church

SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC 4 News

May 17, 2019

By Melissa Adan

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego created a new compensation fund for victims of clergy sexual abuse, and several victims are speaking out against it.

On Tuesday, the Diocese of San Diego joined five other California dioceses with a compensation fund program for victims abused by clergy members.

“Do you know what it’s like to be terrorized, tormented, abused and knowing that you can do nothing about it?” said one victim named Dede.

On Thursday, four victims shared how they were abused by their priest when they were children.

“You’re nine years old — but you have to be a horrible person, otherwise, why would they do it?” Dede said to a room full of media.

The victims came together through attorney Irwin Zalkin and the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, to speak against the new victim compensation fund.

Zalkin has represented more than 100 victims of childhood sexual abuse involving clergy members.

“What happened to me and others is a crime and should be treated as a crime,” said Bill, a victim of abuse.

Bill said he was first abused by his neighbor and considers himself collateral damage when he confided this with his priest.

He said after sharing his abuse, the priest told him his neighbor had done nothing wrong and then began to abuse him.

“What’s going to stop the abuse is mandatory reporting. What’s going to stop the abuse is a statute of limitations extension. What’s going to stop the abuse is opening up a window, so older people who didn’t come forward because of shame, because of feeling a failure that somehow they were to blame,” Bill said.

Esther Hatfield Miller, a member of SNAP, said the compensation fund will not work because survivors will not get their day in court nor be able to expose wrongdoings of coverups or enforce accountability.

“A compensation fund like this does not reform statues of limitations. We need to reform those ancient laws,” Miller said.

Aida Bustos with the Diocese of San Diego said victims can decide to accept the compensation and seek other legal remedies.

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Ex-Legionary, Fox News personality asks to leave the priesthood

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 17, 2019

By Inés San Martín

Father Jonathan Morris, a former member of the Legion of Christ who was at one time among the most prominent Catholic priests in America as a contributor to Fox News, has asked to be dismissed from the clerical state, indicating he wants to be free to “marry and have a family” though saying it’s not about an “existing relationship.”

In a statement released Friday, Morris writes that the decision has filled him “with newfound joy,” though he says he knows some people won’t understand his decision to leave the priesthood.

“After taking some months of sabbatical to be with family and to dedicate more time to prayer and retreat, I have decided to ask the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to release me from the duties and responsibilities of the clerical state,” Morris said in a statement, which he made available to Crux.

Morris left the troubled Legion of Christ in 2009, three years after the Vatican suspended its founder, Father Macial Marciel, from his priestly duties, having found Maciel guilty of various forms of sexual abuse and misconduct as well as abuse of power. Morris was incardinated into the Archdiocese of New York with the support of Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

He’s appeared on several TV networks and is best known for his role with Fox News, though he was also a theological adviser to Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ”, and was the program director for “The Catholic Channel,” a project of the Archdiocese of New York, on the Sirius XM radio network for three years.

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Vatican acquits priest accused of solicitation in confessional

ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

May 17, 2019

By Joshua J. McElwee

The Vatican’s highest court has dropped its investigation into a former Vatican official accused of soliciting a woman for sex in the confessional.

The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura confirmed the acquittal of Fr. Hermann Geissler in a brief release May 17, following a statement from the priest’s order that acknowledged the accusation but said a panel of five judges from the tribunal had found “no crime” in the case.

Geissler, who is a member of a religious community known colloquially as “the Work,” is an Austrian theologian. He resigned as a department head at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in January, after NCR and other outlets reported on Doris Wagner’s accusation that he had solicited her during confession in 2009.

Geissler has denied the accusation. In its statement announcing his resignation in January, the doctrinal congregation said the priest had made the decision to step down in order to “limit the damage already done” to his employer.

The Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church, apart from the pope himself. It has been led since 2014 by French Moroccan Cardinal Dominique Mamberti.

In its release, the court said the panel of five judges evaluating the case had been constructed from among its 19 cardinal and bishop members. It said the panel had issued an acquittal decree May 15 after it could not prove “with due moral certainty … the alleged ‘grave delict.’ ”

Wagner, a former member of Geissler’s religious community, provided NCR with copies of her communications with the Signatura over the past several months as the court was pursuing its investigation of the priest.

The correspondence, conducted via postal mail and containing the identifying official stamps of the court, indicates that the Signatura was asked to pursue the case Jan. 10 by Pope Francis, likely to avoid the doctrinal congregation having to investigate one of its own former officials.

Although Wagner was allowed to submit a written testimony detailing her accusations against Geissler and was initially asked to make herself available for a deposition, the materials indicate the Signatura later decided such a deposition would be unnecessary for its process.

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Vatican acquits priest accused of solicitation in confessional

Terry McKiernan May 17, 2019

ROME (ITALY)
National Catholic Reporter

May 17, 2019

By Joshua J. McElwee

The Vatican’s highest court has dropped its investigation into a former Vatican official accused of soliciting a woman for sex in the confessional.

The Apostolic Signatura is the highest judicial authority in the Catholic Church, apart from the pope himself. It has been led since 2014 by French Moroccan Cardinal Dominique Mamberti.

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Affidavit Supporting the Issuance of Warrants to Search

DALLAS (TX)
Judicial District Court, Dallas County

May 15, 2019

By Detective David Clark

5. I am currently employed by the Dallas Police Department (DPD) as a police officer. I have been so employed for approximately 20 years and have been a detective assigned to the Child Exploitation Unit, Crimes Against Persons Division, of said department for approximately the last nine years. I am responsible for the investigation of molestation and sexual assault cases involving children and strangers. During my employment as a police officer, I have used a variety of methods during various types of investigations, including, but not limited to, visual surveillance, general questioning of witnesses, defendants, and the use of search warrants, and electronic interceptions. Based on my training and experience relating to the investigation of child exploitation and human trafficking cases, and based upon interviews I conducted with defendants and witnesses, I am familiar with the ways that child sexual abusers groom their victims. My familiarity includes the various means and methods by which sexual predators single out their victims, attempt to befriend their parents and other family members, as well as use their position of power to convince their victims not to tell anyone of the sexual molestation that occurred between the defendant and victim. I have interviewed hundreds of victims of child sex abuse and understand these victims sometimes take several months, years, or sometimes never tell anyone about being a victim of sexual abuse as a child. I have presented an investigative topic on how to effectively investigate child abuse cases at several Child Abuse Conferences across the country.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVESTIGATION

6. On February 28, 2018, the Chancellor of the Diocese, Mary Edlund, contacted the Dallas Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit regarding allegations against a then-serving priest, Paredes. Chancellor Edlund advised the allegations regarded Paredes sexually abusing, over a period of years, several juvenile members of St. Cecilia Church. I was assigned this case and I made contact with Bill Sims, an attorney representing the Diocese. Mr. Sims stated the Diocese and the victims were in a monetary settlement process and he believed the victims did not want to pursue criminal allegations.

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Affidavit Supporting the Issuance of Warrants to Search

Terry McKiernan May 17, 2019

DALLAS (TX)
Judicial District Court, Dallas County

May 15, 2019

By Detective David Clark

BACKGROUND OF THE INVESTIGATION

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Native American victims of sex abuse at Catholic boarding schools fight for justice

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

May 16, 2019

By Patrick Anderson

DESPITE RECENT ATTEMPTS AT TRANSPARENCY BY SOUTH DAKOTA’S CATHOLIC AUTHORITIES, NATIVE AMERICAN ABUSE VICTIMS ARE STILL WITHOUT ANSWERS.

MARTY—There is a feel to the old place that still haunts her.

Even with construction crews working the earth and birds chirping noisily in the trees above, she can feel the silence.

Behind the silence, sadness and horror.

Louise Charbonneau Aamot rested her fist on the church windowsill as her eyes welled with tears. Its gray steeple cutting into the sky, the church towered over the grounds of the old St. Paul’s Indian Mission boarding school..

The school, tucked away in a woodsy expanse of the Yankton Reservation, is where her childhood was destroyed.

Aamot is not silent.

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AbuseTracker

Native American victims of sex abuse at Catholic boarding schools fight for justice

SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

May 16, 2019

By Patrick Anderson

Even with construction crews working the earth and birds chirping noisily in the trees above, she can feel the silence.

Behind the silence, sadness and horror.

The school, tucked away in a woodsy expanse of the Yankton Reservation, is where her childhood was destroyed.

Aamot is not silent.

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Abuse victims back statute of limitations reform legislation

WILKES-BARRE (PA)
FOX 56

May 15, 2019

By Amanda Hoskins

Victims of sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania doctor are asking for their chance to file suits against him and the institutions they say covered it up.

Backing a Senate bill introduced in April, the victims took their stories to the state capitol Wednesday.

Just this week New Jersey’s governor signed a statute of limitations bill into law, making it the 11th state to do so.

Victims hope the more they share their stories, the more pressure it will put on lawmakers in Pennsylvania to act too.

“He fondled and penetrated me as an 11 year old,” explained Ashley Krzanowsky.

She said what happened to her inside Dr. Johnnie Barto’s office 22 years ago has scarred her.

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AbuseTracker

Abuse victims back statute of limitations reform legislation

WILKES-BARRE (PA)
FOX 56

May 15, 2019

By Amanda Hoskins

Victims of sexual abuse by a Pennsylvania doctor are asking for their chance to file suits against him and the institutions they say covered it up.

Backing a Senate bill introduced in April, the victims took their stories to the state capitol Wednesday.

Just this week New Jersey’s governor signed a statute of limitations bill into law, making it the 11th state to do so.

Victims hope the more they share their stories, the more pressure it will put on lawmakers in Pennsylvania to act too.

“He fondled and penetrated me as an 11 year old,” explained Ashley Krzanowsky.

She said what happened to her inside Dr. Johnnie Barto’s office 22 years ago has scarred her.

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New Jersey extends statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims

NEWARK (NJ)
CNA

May 14, 2019

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law this week a bill relaxing the state’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

The law will allow increased time for civil action and will permit victims to seek compensation from institutions as well as individuals.

The Archdiocese of Newark objected to certain portions of the bill, but stressed that overall, the Catholic Church is in favor of its crucial goal of bringing justice and healing for victims.

“While we disagreed on specific elements of this legislation, the Catholic community, the legislature, and the Governor sincerely agree on one key position – the need to restore justice for the victims of sexual abuse in New Jersey,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

Currently, the statute of limitations in New Jersey restricts sex abuse lawsuits to when the victim is 20 years old or two years after they first realize that they were harmed by abuse. In December, the new legislation will allow child victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits until they turn 55 or until seven years from the time they become aware of the injury, whichever comes later.

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AbuseTracker

New Jersey extends statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims

NEWARK (NJ)
CNA

May 14, 2019

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law this week a bill relaxing the state’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

The law will allow increased time for civil action and will permit victims to seek compensation from institutions as well as individuals.

The Archdiocese of Newark objected to certain portions of the bill, but stressed that overall, the Catholic Church is in favor of its crucial goal of bringing justice and healing for victims.

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New Jersey Extends Statute of Limitations for Sex Abuse Victims

NEW JERSEY
Campus Safety

May 15, 2019

By Katie Malafronte

The extension will allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their attackers and seek damages from institutions.

Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed a law on Monday to extend the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse.

Victims will now have more time to seek civil action for their sexual abuse and an easier time seeking damages from institutions, such as a church that may have covered up abuse, reports northjersey.com

Under the state’s current law, survivors of sexual abuse have only two years to pursue litigation and a victim of child sexual abuse has until age 20.

Now, victims of child sexual abuse have up until the age of 55 to sue their abusers, or within seven years of their realization that the abuse caused them harm.

Survivors who were prevented from taking their abusers to court due to the statute of limitations will now have the opportunity to do so. The new law will allow victims two years to file lawsuits and seek damages.

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AbuseTracker

New Jersey Extends Statute of Limitations for Sex Abuse Victims

NEW JERSEY
Campus Safety

May 15, 2019

By Katie Malafronte

The extension will allow victims of sexual abuse more time to sue their attackers and seek damages from institutions.

Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed a law on Monday to extend the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse.

Under the state’s current law, survivors of sexual abuse have only two years to pursue litigation and a victim of child sexual abuse has until age 20.

Now, victims of child sexual abuse have up until the age of 55 to sue their abusers, or within seven years of their realization that the abuse caused them harm.

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New Jersey Extends Statute Of Limitations, Allowing Sex Abuse Victims More Time To Sue

TRENTON (NJ)
CBS3

May 13, 2019

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has signed legislation that eases restrictions on when childhood sexual abuse victims can seek damages in court. This comes after a wave of details last year about the abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church.

The legislation allows child victims to sue up until they turn 55 years old, or are within seven years of their first realization that the abused caused harm to them.

“This legislation allows survivors who have faced tremendous trauma the ability to pursue justice through the court system,” said Governor Phil Murphy

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AbuseTracker

New Jersey Extends Statute Of Limitations, Allowing Sex Abuse Victims More Time To Sue

TRENTON (NJ)
CBS3

May 13, 2019

The legislation allows child victims to sue up until they turn 55 years old, or are within seven years of their first realization that the abused caused harm to them.

“This legislation allows survivors who have faced tremendous trauma the ability to pursue justice through the court system,” said Governor Phil Murphy

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Brothers Abused By Minnesota Priest File Lawsuit Against Vatican

ST. PAUL (MN)
The Associated Press, News Partner

May 16, 2019

The lawsuit attempts to trace a direct line from clergy sex abuse victims to the Vatican, through Minnesota church officials.

Three brothers who were sexually abused by a priest from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Vatican, claiming the Holy See bears responsibility because the case was mishandled by former Archbishop John Nienstedt and the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States.

The lawsuit attempts to trace a direct line from clergy sex abuse victims to the Vatican, through Minnesota church officials. Luke, Stephen and Ben Hoffman were abused by former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, roughly between 2009 and 2012.

“I have too many nieces and nephews to let something like this happen to anybody else,” Stephen Hoffman said about his decision to come forward.

Nienstedt and the former ambassador, Carlo Maria Viganò, have previously denied the allegations raised in the lawsuit. The Vatican’s U.S. lawyer, Jeffrey Lena, had no immediate comment. In the past Lena has described sex abuse lawsuits against the Vatican as publicity stunts.

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Brothers Abused By Minnesota Priest File Lawsuit Against Vatican

ST. PAUL (MN)
The Associated Press, News Partner

May 16, 2019

“I have too many nieces and nephews to let something like this happen to anybody else,” Stephen Hoffman said about his decision to come forward.

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California Dioceses Creating Abuse Compensation Program

CALIFORNIA
Insurance Journal

May 16, 2019

Six Roman Catholic dioceses in California are creating a program to compensate people who were sexually abused by priests as children, in return for them promising not to sue.

The program announced Tuesday includes the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the dioceses of Fresno, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino and San Diego. Together, they cover 36 counties and some 10 million Catholics, or about 80 percent of the state’s Catholics.

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AbuseTracker

California Dioceses Creating Abuse Compensation Program

CALIFORNIA
Insurance Journal

May 16, 2019

Six Roman Catholic dioceses in California are creating a program to compensate people who were sexually abused by priests as children, in return for them promising not to sue.

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How will extending statute of limitations in sex abuse cases impact New Jersey?

CAMDEN (NJ)
North Jersey Record

May 17, 2019

By Deena Yellin

The ink was still wet on the law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on 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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AbuseTracker

How will extending statute of limitations in sex abuse cases impact New Jersey?

CAMDEN (NJ)
North Jersey Record

May 17, 2019

By Deena Yellin

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

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

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May 16, 2019

AbuseTracker

Money and transparency: Are the Diocese of Sacramento’s efforts of atonement actually working?

SACRAMENTO (CA)
ABC 10 News

May 17, 2019

The Sacramento Diocese announced on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 the creation of a new victim compensation fund for people who have been abused by members of the clergy.

Sacramento is one of five dioceses across the state launching the fund in an effort “to own and atone for the Church’s failure to protect children and young people abused by Catholic priests,” according to Bishop Jaime Soto’s statement.

In April, the Diocese published a list of forty-four priests and two deacons credibly accused of perpetrating sexual abuse. The Diocese defined a credible allegation as one in which, “with the information we have, is it more likely than not that the allegation is true.”

In the following weeks, the Bishop also made public the Diocese’s commitment to cooperate with California Attorney, General Xavier Becerra’s investigation into whether California dioceses complied with their mandatory reporting of sexual abuse to law enforcement.

Since the list was made public, some have questioned whether it is complete and if there are more than the 130 victims reported in it.

Kurt Hoffman told ABC10 about the sexual assault he suffered while attending Sacramento Jesuit High School in 1987 when he was 14 years old.

“I was shocked and to my dismay, he wasn’t included on the list,” said Hoffman of Brother William Farrington, the school’s swim coach at the time.

Kevin Eckery, a spokesperson for the Sacramento Diocese told ABC10 that “the name of Mr. Hoffman’s abuser was published by the Jesuits on December 7th of 2018 and distributed widely. There are currently efforts underway to add his name to the Sacramento list.”

He added that, “Nuns or brothers may be added later. Staff or volunteers may be added at some point, but no decision has been made.”

Hoffman said that after he made the accusation, school authorities fired Brother Farrington and told his parents the man would never work with young people.

Fifteen years later, “in 2002 when the church scandal erupted, I googled him… To my dismay, shock, and outrage, I found out he was working at Loyola Marymount University,” said Hoffman.

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In court, Roxborough woman recounts alleged rape by priest also charged with making sex tapes

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

May 16, 2019

By Jeremy Roebuck

As a teenager committed to her Roman Catholic faith, she thought she was doing everything right.

She volunteered as an altar server at her Roxborough parish. She sang in the choir and worked nights and weekends as a fill-in secretary at the church office.

And even when, at 16, she gave in to the sexual advances of her priest — the Rev. Armand Garcia — she said she believed him when he told her that God had put him in her life to take care of her.

Then came the time she refused.

“He came up from behind me and pushed me up against a wall. He held my arms down and spread my legs apart,” the now 21-year-old testified in a Philadelphia courtroom Thursday. “I was wearing my school uniform. I didn’t know what to do.”

That alleged 2014 sexual assault in the rectory of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish now forms the basis of one of the first criminal prosecutions of an area priest since the Archdiocese of Philadelphia recommitted itself to cracking down on sexual offenses after a scathing 2011 grand jury investigation that led to charges against six clerics.

The testimony of the woman — offered publicly for the first time Thursday — serves as the backbone of the government’s case. The Inquirer is withholding her name because she is an alleged victim of sexual assault.

Her composed and self-assured account convinced Municipal Court Judge Wendy L. Pew to hold Garcia for trial on charges including rape, sexual assault, and corruption of a minor.

Prosecutors also have charged the 50-year-old priest with filming a sex act involving a child — counts tied to cellphone video his accuser said he shot of their encounters on at least two occasions.

“He said he wanted to have something to remember it by,” the woman recalled. “I could only watch a few minutes. I was very uncomfortable.”

Garcia, who spent much of Thursday’s hearing with his head bowed and hands clenched in his lap, has denied the charges.

But unlike many of the cases of sexual misconduct involving priests that have kicked off a new wave of the global clergy abuse crisis in the last year, Garcia’s alleged assault was preceded by what his lawyer, William J. Brennan, described Thursday as a “long-standing, consensual sexual relationship” with his accuser.

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Abused Boy Scout limited to $20,000 award due to ‘archaic’ state law

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

May 16, 2019

That law, lawyers and victims say, dissuades sexual abuse victims from coming forward.

“It’s a real slap in the face,” said a 64-year-old man, who was sexually abused by a scoutmaster in Hyde Park, Dedham and Walpole in the late 1960s. He was 12 at the time of the abuse.

“The cap minimizes what happened,” added the victim, whose name the Herald is withholding because he is a sexual assault victim. He received $20,000 a few years ago after suing the Boy Scouts.

“It should be more, especially if it happened to a minor,” he added. His lawyer, Carmen Durso, confirmed the details of the case to the Herald.

Bay State attorneys and lawmakers are looking to abolish the charitable immunity limit on cases against nonprofits. New York, New Jersey and the majority of other states have eliminated the cap.

“We’re usually the leader,” said state Rep. Carmine Gentile, a Sudbury Democrat. “This is one of those rare instances where the rest of the country got the message, but we haven’t yet in Massachusetts.”

Gentile has filed legislation to scrap the charitable immunity cap in Massachusetts, home of the lowest in the country. Other Massachusetts lawmakers have filed bills to raise the $20,000 cap on charities and universities, along with getting rid of the $100,000 cap for medical malpractice resulting in serious injury or death.

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Costly legal struggles prompt dioceses to find ways to raise money

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

May 14, 2019

By Dave Sutor

Back in 2014, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown announced plans to sell the bishop’s residence in Blair County.

An acknowledgment was made that some undefined amount of money was needed because of costs associated with legal matters involving clergy sexual abuse. The decision was also presented as a choice by Bishop Mark Bartchak to live in simpler accommodations at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament’s rectory.

At the time, the extent of the financial impact of Altoona-Johnstown’s scandal was not really known outside of the diocese’s inner-most circle, excluding a few instances, such as a settlement in the Michael Hutchinson v. Rev. Francis Luddy case.

But now, a half-decade later, the sale of the property might have been a foreshadowing of the fate that awaits the state’s seven other dioceses – Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton – as they attempt to deal with compensating victims.

All of those dioceses started funds that run during different time periods in 2019.

The programs were established after Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro released a grand jury report in August that provided details about decades of sexual abuse and coverup in six of the commonwealth’s dioceses.

Many unknowns remain, though, concerning what will be the total financial impact to the dioceses, including whether any will need to sell off assets.

“The question is who they’re going to pay and how much,” said Richard Serbin, a Blair County attorney who has represented hundreds of victims of clergy sexual abuse in the state. “And what is the limit and what is the minimum. We don’t know any of that. None of that is transparent.

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Victims may face inconsistent rules, opportunities across different dioceses

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

May 14, 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.

In response, the Philadelphia Archdiocese and dioceses in Pittsburgh, Erie, Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg and Greensburg opened their own individual compensation funds with the goal of providing financial assistance to victims. Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico, when announcing his diocese’s program earlier this year, said he wants the fund to “provide some measure of justice, closure and validation for the terrible acts that victims endured.”

Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer called his diocese’s fund an acknowledgment that “terrible abuses did occur.”

But some victims advocates have pointed out that the dioceses only started the funds after the coverups were publicly exposed and when legislators began considering changing the state’s statute of limitations to include a two-year window during which victims could file civil claims for assaults that occurred in the past.

“Victims deserve to get compensation, but what is a better scenario is if the statute of limitations gets lifted and there gets to be a window of opportunity for old cases to come forward,” said Judy Jones, a Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests regional leader.

“We mostly think the church officials want to do the compensation thing so that people won’t sue. The reason they don’t want them to sue is not so much about the money. They don’t have trouble spending parishioners’ money. It is they don’t want to go to trial.”

Differences by diocese

Seeking compensation can be both straightforward and nuanced, according to individuals who have dealt with the process.

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‘Independent’ administrators play key role in compensation fund process

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
Tribune Democrat

May 14, 2019

By Dave Sutor

Camille Biros and Kenneth Feinberg are arguably the most influential people involved in the process of financially supporting victims of child sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania.

The two attorneys from Washington, D.C., administer compensation funds for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Erie, Scranton and Allentown. They determine what – if any – money victims receive.

But Biros and Feinberg play another role – beyond merely financial decisions – as their reputation is used to assuage concerns that the dioceses might be controlling the decisions. They have handled numerous high-profile funds, including ones related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Boston Marathon bombings.

Harrisburg and Greensburg compensation funds are being administered by Commonwealth Mediation and Conciliation Inc. from Massachusetts, while Altoona-Johnstown is the only diocese in the state without a fund.

“I’m not familiar with the Massachusetts fund administrators,” said Richard Serbin, a Blair County attorney, who has represented victims of clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania for decades. “But Feinberg and Biros I do not feel – given their reputation – that they would allow the dioceses to control the day-to-day decisions.”

Biros described herself and Feinberg as “totally independent.”

“They hire us with the understanding that we’re going to run these programs, and we’re going to make these determinations, and we’re going to offer amounts of money that we deem to be appropriate,” Biros said. “And they have really nothing to say about it. That’s the agreement.”

But “nevertheless, the diocese has a great deal of control,” according to Serbin.

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LAWLESS

KIANA (ALASKA)
Anchorage Daily News/Pro Publica

May 16, 2019

By Kyle Hopkins

Village Police Officer Annie Reed heard her VHF radio crackle to life in the spring of 2018 with the familiar voice of an elder. I need help at my house, the woman said.

Reed, who doesn’t wear a uniform because everyone in this Arctic Circle village of 421 can spot her ambling gait and bell of salt-and-pepper hair at a distance, steered her four-wheeler across town. There had been a home invasion, she learned. One of the local sex offenders, who outnumber Reed 7-to-1, had pried open a window and crawled inside, she said. The man then tore the clothes from the elder’s daughter, who had been sleeping, gripped her throat and raped her, according to the charges filed against him in state court.

Reed, a 49-year-old grandmother, was the only cop in the village. She carried no gun and, after five years on the job, had received a total of three weeks of law enforcement training. She had no backup. Even when the fitful weather allows, the Alaska State Troopers, the statewide police force that travels to villages to make felony arrests, are a half-hour flight away.

It’s moments like these when Reed thinks about quitting. If she does, Kiana could become the latest Alaska village asked to survive with no local police protection of any kind.

An investigation by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica has found one in three communities in Alaska has no local law enforcement. No state troopers to stop an active shooter, no village police officers to break up family fights, not even untrained city or tribal cops to patrol the streets. Almost all of the communities are primarily Alaska Native.

Seventy of these unprotected villages are large enough to have both a school and a post office. Many are in regions with some of the highest rates of poverty, sexual assault and suicide in the United States. Most can be reached only by plane, boat, all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile. That means, unlike most anywhere else in the United States, emergency help is hours or even days away.

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No more secrets

SACRAMENTO (CA)
News & Review

May 16, 2019

By Stephen Magagnini

During his more than 35 years in the ministry, Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto has never shied away from controversy, always standing up for what he believes is right, whether he’s fighting for immigration reform or a more inclusive view of all Catholics regardless of sexual orientation.

The 63-year-old cleric again finds himself in the eye of a spiritual storm—of sexual abuse revelations breaking over Sacramento and the rest of the Catholic world.

“Every week it seems that there are new revelations about the depth and horror of the scourge of sexual abuse,” Soto told SN&R last week. “I am committed to confronting this ugly past. We failed to protect you as children, we failed to tell you the truth as adults.”

On April 30, Soto released a list of 44 priests and two deacons who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors and young people in the Diocese of Sacramento.

The list covered incidents between 1955 and 2014 “and is a necessary reckoning for our local church,” Soto said. None of the priests identified are still working for the diocese; many have died.

Based on a comprehensive outside review of nearly 1,500 clerics throughout the diocese, the victims who reported being sexually abused include 39 girls, 91 boys or young adults and three men.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has been urging Soto to issue such a list, which includes photos of clerics, their whereabouts and full work assignments

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Francis Follows Through

NEW YORK (NY)
America Magazine

May 16, 2019

When the Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse concluded in February, the editors of this magazine argued that its effectiveness would be demonstrated by what happened after it was over. Would it prove more than a public-relations exercise? Would the searing testimony of abuse survivors send bishops home determined to undertake the work of accountability and reform? Would Pope Francis actually deliver the “concrete measures” he indicated were forthcoming? Not all of these questions can be fully answered yet. But just three months after the summit’s conclusion, Francis has proved that at least his own words were not empty promises, handing down Vos estis lux mundi (“You Are the Light of the World”), a motu proprio that establishes universal laws for reporting and investigating sex abuse.

The first section of the document states that bishops, priests, and members of religious orders must report to church officials both abuse and the cover-up of abuse. This applies to the abuse not only of minors, but also of vulnerable adults, including those forced “to perform or submit to sexual acts” through threats or “abuse of authority”—a clear reference to seminarians preyed on by those with power over them. The motu proprio takes effect this month, and within a year, “public, stable, and easily accessible” systems for submitting reports of abuse must be instituted in dioceses where they do not currently exist.

The document also provides protections for those who report abuse. Any retaliation or discrimination against whistleblowers is prohibited. The document underscores that reporting abuse does not violate “office confidentiality,” and that those who submit a report have no obligation to “keep silent” about their claims.

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Pennsylvania Catholic Conference Publicly Attacks Survivor Advocate

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 16, 2019

As a SNAP Leader in Philadelphia and one who works very closely with survivors of clergy sex abuse here in Pennsylvania, I am appalled at the remarks made on a social media platform of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference towards Ms. Carolyn Fortney. The comment lacked professionalism, public opinion etiquette, and good taste, as well the promoted Catholic principles. We stand in solidarity with Carolyn and all other survivors and advocates who have felt insulted or besmirched by the posting.

This remark demonstrates the continued disdain that Catholic lobbyist employees have for survivors fighting for justice and for their lives. No survivor should ever be treated with such disrespect, ever, especially after already suffering harm from the Church. The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference should apologize publicly to Carolyn, and take formal disciplinary action on the person responsible.

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More victims of child sex abuse show support for bill blocked by Capitol leaders

PHOENIX (AZ)
3TV/CBS 5

May 15, 2019

By Dennis Welch

As children, Tim Lennon and Mary O’Day were sexually abused by members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Now they are lending their voices to a fight at the Arizona Legislature over a childhood sexual assault bill.

Written by Sen. Paul Boyer, the proposal grants victims more time to sue their abusers in civil court.

The current law bars survivors from suing after they turn 20 years old.

Boyer proposes giving them seven years after they disclose as adults to file a civil claim. That could happen decades after they were abused.

“We have to give children their voice. Whether they are 12 or 42, the child still needs a voice,” O’Day said Wednesday at the Capitol.

Her comments came a week after Boyer made a dramatic stand on the Senate floor.

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Since numbers make news, how do we explain America’s religious recession since 2000?

Get Religion blog

May 16, 2019

By Richard Ostling

Numbers make news. Think of how many articles will report breathlessly on U.S. political polls between now and Nov. 3, 2020. And numbers created “the biggest American religion story of the past decade,” says analyst Mark Silk, referring to the increase in “nones” who tell pollsters they have no particular religious identity.

This is news: A new Gallup report says a severe religious recession began to build right around 2000.

What explains this turn-of-the-century turn? Journalists with Gallup numbers in hand should run this puzzle past the experts in search of explanations.

Gallup combines data from 1998–2000, compared with 2016–2018. A topline finding is that Americans reporting membership in a house of worship hit an all-time low of 50 percent by last year, which compares with a consistent 68 percent or more from 1937, when the question was first asked, and all the way through the 1990s. The era since 2000 mingles that loss with declining worship attendance and the “nones” boom.

Since your audiences are already transfixed by the 2020 campaign, consider this detail from Gallup’s internals. Comparing 1998-2000 with 2016-2018, church membership reported by Republicans slipped from 77 percent to 69 percent, but among Democrats plummeted from 71 percent to 48 percent, a remarkable 23 percent drop. (Independents went from 59 percent to 45 percent.) How come

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Victims urge boycott of KC MO diocese

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

SNAP: “Give elsewhere until there’s honesty”

Bishop still hiding abusers’ names, group says

“At least reveal the living abusers NOW,” it argues

Two more publicly accused KC area clerics are ‘outed’

“For the safety of kids, stop stalling” victims beg prelate

Current and former church staff must call law enforcement, SNAP says

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will
–‘out’ two more publicly and credibly accused priests who spent time in KC MO,
–urge Catholics to donate elsewhere until their bishop releases a list of such abusers.

They will also urge current and former KC area church staff to call the Missouri attorney general and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation – because of on-going probes of clergy sex crimes and cover ups in both states – with any information or suspicions they may have about clergy sex crimes and cover ups.

WHEN
Thursday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m.

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Archbishop’s lawyer confirms charges against journalist to be dropped

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 16, 2019

By Elise Harris

A lawyer representing a Peruvian archbishop who last month withdrew criminal complaints against two journalists says that a delay in dropping the second case is due to a procedural issue, not because they are backtracking on the decision.

On April 24, Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura announced he was retracting a criminal complaint of aggravated defamation that he had launched against journalist Paola Ugaz last summer. Under Peruvian law, a private citizen can make a complaint of defamation that triggers a criminal investigation and, possibly, trial.

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In Sex Abuse Investigation, Police Raid Catholic Diocese of Dallas

WASHINGTON (DC)
Governing

May 16, 2019

By Nichole Manna

The Catholic Diocese of Dallas has not been forthcoming in sharing information about priests accused of sexually abusing children, police said Wednesday.

Search warrants were executed Wednesday morning and officers were at the diocese offices at around 7:30 a.m. in connection with their investigation into five priests: Edmundo Paredes, 70; Richard Thomas Brown, 77; Alejandro Buitrago, 77; William Joseph Hughes Jr., 63; and Jeremy Myers, 62.

The warrant says investigators believe all five men sexually assaulted children, but that the diocese has not shared all of its information about them.

In a statement, the diocese said it has been cooperating with the investigation and that it was never subpoenaed. The statement also said that officials in the diocese have given police the personnel files of the five priests named in the warrant and “has been involved in ongoing discussions with DPD investigators.”

However, a search warrant written by police says the diocese didn’t cooperate with the investigation. In one of the cases, the warrant says, a priest was asked by the diocese to investigate himself.

Maj. Max Geron of the Dallas Police Department said the investigation started in August 2018, when police received information from the diocese about allegations against Paredes and financial improprieties.

Geron said the department has interviewed victims, witnesses and suspects. However, the department has not been given a number of personnel files for priests who were flagged for sexual abuse, the warrant says.

Asked if the investigation involves new allegations, Geron said, “I won’t address the time frame for the allegations, but I will say they are new allegations that were made to us following the announcement of charges against Paredes.”

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Victims of Pa. pediatrician who sexually abused children push for reform of statute of limitations

HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News

May 15, 2019

By Ivey DeJesus

In recent years, the debate over reform of the state’s statute of limitations has overwhelmingly been framed against the clergy sex abuse crisis.

On Wednesday about a dozen victims of convicted serial predator pediatrician Johnnie “Jack” Barto lent their voices to that effort.

In a press conference held at the Capitol Rotunda, the victims, along with state Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery), reiterated long heard arguments for the reform of the state’s child sex crime laws. Muth is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 540, which calls for broad reform, including elimination of criminal statutes and a two-year retroactive window to allow time-barred victims to file civil suits.

Muth vowed to work across the aisle in the Senate to engender support for the bill, which currently has 18 co-sponsors. The freshman senator said victims of all ages need and deserve the protection of the law, adding that her bill would provide victims a choice between pathways to healing, including lawsuits.

“We are failing,” Muth said. “We are failing to give victims a reason to come forward.”

Attorney General Josh Shapiro who led the grand jury investigation into the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania as well as prosecuted Barto, has endorsed SB 540.

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California confession debate pivots on how to keep children safe

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

May 16, 2019

By John L. Allen Jr.

When I started covering the Vatican back in the 1990s, Italian journalist Vittorio Messori was a legend. He was the author of the 1985 Ratzinger Report, the book that made the future Pope Benedict XVI a global lightning rod, as well as Crossing the Threshold of Hope with Pope John Paul II in 1994.

Messori is an epigrammatic guy, and I remember him talking once about stories on the Church no journalist could ever report. Among them, he said, was the story of how many atrocities in human history have been prevented by the sacrament of confession – that unique moment when, in absolute privacy, a priest has the chance to speak heart-to-heart with someone, potentially turning their life around.

The memory comes to mind in light of a bill currently being debated in the California Senate, SB 360, which would effectively shred the seal of the confessional by eliminating an exemption to the state’s mandatory reporting law for “penitential communication.” California is not the only venue in which such a proposal is in the air – both Chile and Argentina, for instance, are other examples.

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Senator Jerry Hill of San Mateo, claims it’s necessary because “the clergy-penitent privilege has been abused on a large scale, resulting in the unreported and systemic abuse of thousands of children across multiple denominations and faiths.”

To state the obvious, Hill’s assault on the Church is a natural byproduct of its well-chronicled failures on the clerical sexual abuse crisis, including the fallout from the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report last year as well as the scandal surrounding ex-cardinal and ex-priest Theodore McCarrick.

The fact the Church has brought all this on itself, however, doesn’t mean every punitive measure one can imagine is necessarily a good idea – and there are multiple reasons to conclude that Hill’s proposal is a spectacularly bad one.

The list begins with the obvious and egregious violation of religious freedom the bill represents. The sacrament of confession is a core element of the Catholic faith, and no state should ever be in the position of dictating doctrine to a religious community.

One might also mention that targeting the Catholic Church ignores the broader context of child sexual abuse.

Recently, the Schools Insurance Authority in California commissioned an audit on the potential impact of another bill currently in the legislature that would make it easier to sue public schools for child abuse. The audit used a baseline 2017 estimate from the U.S. Department of Justice that 10-12 percent of children in public schools suffer sexual misconduct by an employee at some point K-12, and estimated that under the terms of the bill the losses of the California system due to such claims could grow from $813 million over the past 12 years to $3.7 billion.

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May 15, 2019

AbuseTracker

Texas Lawmakers Consider Extending Statute Of Limitations On Child Sex Abuse Cases

DALLAS (TX)
CBS 11

May 15, 2019

By Erin Jones

A Dallas-based attorney who represents survivors of sexual abuse believes the investigation of alleged sex abuse by clergy shows why statewide, the statute of limitations needs to be extended for child victims.

One piece of legislation could make that happen.

“I represent a number of survivors of clergy abuse in the Catholic Church,” attorney Michelle Simpson Tuegel said.

She said most of these clients are in their 50s and 60s, waiting decades to talk about what happened to them and seek justice.

The statute of limitations for child sex abuse would start counting the years from the age of 18, just like what’s seen in current Texas law.

“There’s a lot of pressure to keep things silent,” Monica Baez said.

Baez said she was abused by a Houston priest as a toddler. His name is in a list of priests credibly accused of abuse.

“It’s very intimidating,” Baez said. “It’s very scary. Shameful. You don’t know if anyone is going to believe you because you’ve tried. It’s very emotional and you just want to hide.”

“I think particularly when you’re talking about abuse connected to someone’s religion – a religious institution, their faith, that makes it even harder to disclose,” Tuegel said.

Tuegel said that’s why she’s calling on Texas lawmakers to vote in favor of House Bill 3809, which would extend the civil statute of limitations from 15 to 30 ye

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Retired priest accused of having child porn is sick and can’t stand trial, lawyer argues

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

May 15, 2019

By Trevor Boyer

A 98-year-old retired Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography will never be fit to stand trial so charges against him should be dismissed, his lawyer argued in a motion filed on Wednesday at Bronx Supreme Court.

Monsignor Harry Byrne resides at St. Lawrence Friary Infirmary in Beacon, N.Y., and requires total care for all his basic needs, according to the filing. If accepted, the motion would dismiss the 74-count indictment that the priest faces.

“He is irreversibly infirm,” his attorney, Marvin Ray Raskin, told the Daily News. “There’s a lot of hope for rehabilitation, but there’s no practical expectation.”

Byrne was an activist priest who worked to create affordable housing in the Bronx and Manhattan, and he remained outspoken on church issues even after his retirement in 1996.

He faces 37 counts of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child and another 37 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. He turned himself into police on Oct. 31, 2017, and pleaded not guilty.

Byrne “had dozens of photographs on his computer of girls 8 to 14 years old performing sex acts with men or posing naked,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in announcing his indictment in 2017.

Prosecutors charged that Byrne used internet search engines to find the pornography online. The illegal images were found in a forensic sweep of the priest’s computer by the NYPD Computer Crimes Squad, officials said.

In a July 2010 blog post, Byrne railed about the Catholic Church’s mishandling of the pedophile priest crisis.

“Bishops … quietly reassigned miscreants and thereby exponentially multiplied the number of victims,” he wrote. “In the U.S., not one cover-up bishop has been arraigned before church authorities for his part in the scandal.”

Byrne, who was chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York from 1968 to 1970, was living at the St. John Vianney Center for Retired Priests in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. The probe, which was started five months prior to his indictment, was based on complaints from the home, officials said at the time.

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How police felt stonewalled by Dallas Diocese at every turn in sex abuse investigation

DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Morning News

May 15, 2019

By Jennifer Emily and Cassandra Jaramillo

An affidavit Dallas police used to obtain a search warrant Wednesday to raid Dallas Catholic Diocese offices laid out allegations against five priests and suggested the church subverted police efforts to obtain more information.

The affidavit, signed by Detective David Clark, who is working full-time on sex abuse allegations within the Diocese, sought to seize Diocese records because the church hadn’t handed over all the records it had about allegations against the priests.

All five priests are on the Diocese’s list of 31 “credibly accused” priests, which the church released in January. That list included only accusations against priests that the Diocese concluded were credible after a review by former law enforcement officials and the Diocean Review Board.

But the records handed over to police were not complete, Clark wrote.

The accused priests could not be reached for comment and none have been arrested. One priest previously said he should not be included in the credibly accused list.

Here is a look at the allegations, according to the affidavit:

Edmundo Paredes
Dallas police began investigating a sexual abuse allegation into Edmundo Paredes, 70, after the Diocese told police a victim came forward in August. A warrant was issued for Paredes’ arrest in January. But the details of the allegations by a former altar server were not public until Wednesday in the affidavit.

Three others had previously accused Paredes of sexual abuse and he was included in the list of 31. But police had said the accusers did not want to pursue criminal charges.

Paredes is believed to have fled, possibly to his native Philippines.

The fourth accuser told the Diocese that Paredes sexually assaulted him in the 1990s, when the alleged victim was an altar server at St. Cecilia’s Church, the affidavit says. The boy also attended the church’s school.

The affidavit says Paredes “groomed him by taking him and other altar servers out to eat between Masses and bought them things” after they met in 1991.

In 1994, when the victim was a juvenile, the sexual assaults began: The victim told police “Paredes touched him on his genitals and Paredes placed his mouth on [his] genitals.”

Police interviewed several parishioners, office staff members and priests, all of whom corroborated that Paredes brought “several juveniles” into the rectory during evenings and weekends.

The affidavit also states that “some office staff members met with now-retired Chancellor Mary Edlund, in 2006, regarding their concerns over Paredes having juveniles inside the church offices and inside his residence.”

According to the affidavit, Edlund told Clark that Paredes’ file should contain information about the 2006 meetings.

“That file did not contain any information regarding the 2006 meeting between parishioners and Chancellor Edlund,” Clark wrote in the affidavit.

Instead, Clark wrote that he found only notes that appear to have been written by Edlund, which said, “Outcry from adult, send to CPS. … won’t hear back … letter better than online entry.”

In the affidavit, Clark says Child Protective Services officials “had no knowledge of ever seeing the letters” the Diocese says it sent concerning abuse allegations.

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Clergy Abuse Survivors Group ‘Applauds’ Catholic Diocese of Dallas Raid

DALLAS (TX)
NBC DFW 5

May 15, 2019

By Noelle Walker

When Monica Baez saw news of the police raid on the Catholic Diocese of Dallas she had a thought.

“Oh, another one,” Baez said. “It’s overwhelming.”

Baez said she was a toddler in the 1970s when she first became a victim of clergy abuse. Her alleged abuser was not in Dallas, but part of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

“It was awful. He was a monster,” Baez said. “I knew that it was something wrong because it was painful. He forced… it was child rape. I call it child rape. I call it was it is.”

Baez said she was glad to see police outside three Diocese of Dallas properties Wednesday morning, where they executed search warrants looking for records of sexual abuse related to five priests.

“Because who’s protecting the children? How can an institution tell on itself? They’re not,” Baez said. “It is unbelievable how it’s still happening.”

Baez said she thought similar raids should be conducted globally.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) issued a statement Wednesday about the Dallas raid.

“We applaud Texas law enforcement officials for raiding the “secret archives” of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas. We are glad that police and prosecutors are taking the issue of clergy abuse in Texas seriously and are not just relying on the promises of church officials.

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Disturbing undercover video shows elderly priest joking about his sexual abuse of deaf boys

MENDOZA (ITALY)
LifeSiteNews

May 7, 2019

By Martin M. Barillas

An elderly Catholic priest, apparently in an Italian hospital, was caught in an undercover video laughing and joking about his own sexual assault of boys — along with assaults of other priests — at a diocesan home for deaf-mute children.

The 2017 video shows Italian Father Eligio Piccoli recounting unapologetically — almost boastfully — how he abused boys.

“I lost my head and grabbed him from behind,” he said.

With gestures, Piccoli simulated sodomitic acts that priests and other religious allegedly committed with minors. In one instance, Piccoli pointed at the undercover journalist as if to humor him about homosexual rape.

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Abuse survivors say “NJ got it right!: [Video]

TRENTON (NJ)
NJ.com

May 13, 2019

Monday, May 13, 2019 – Trenton – Senator Joseph Vitale holds a press conference in the Statehouse Annex on legislation he sponsored to expand the statute of limitations for sexual assault survivors being signed into law. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Survivors seek meeting with Ken Feinberg about compensation programs

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 15, 2019

A support group for clergy abuse victims want a voice in compensation programs being set up by California Catholic officials.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing to the firm headed by Ken Feinberg requesting the opportunity to meet soon regarding church-designed and run compensation programs, like the one announced yesterday by six other California dioceses.

The group is critical of any process designed to support and help survivors that does not also include survivor input and experiences. “Let us share our experiences to help create a program that will benefit survivors instead of hurt them,” SNAP says in their letter.

SNAP plans to write soon to the other six California bishops who have already announced the outlines of such a program. They are Los Angeles, Fresno, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego and Sacramento. The Diocese of Santa Rosa has also announced plans for their own compensation program. The remaining five dioceses that have not yet announced plans are Oakland, San Jose, Monterey, Stockton and San Francisco.

A copy of SNAP’s letter is below:

Dear Mr. Feinberg,

We are advocates and survivors of clergy sex abuse. We organize to support others who have experienced abuse and advocate for change that will protect children and help victims of sexual abuse heal.

We have recently learned about the proposed compensation program you are helping church officials at six of the twelve California dioceses design. We write to you today to urge you to include survivors in this process as you work out the details of this proposed program.

In the past, many survivors in our network have leapt at the opportunity presented by compensation programs, believing that participation in the program will lead to a validation of their abuse, a heartfelt apology, and a chance at justice. And all too often, those survivors have come away feeling like little more than variables in a calculation, with the compensation program being less of a healing process and more of an algorithmic one. Critically, in some of these cases survivors have even been barred from bringing cases against their abuser forward or made to sign non-disclosure agreements.

Given this history, we respectfully submit that the same Catholic hierarchy that got us into this mess is now paying to get themselves out of this mess, with the real intent of continuing to cover up their own past and present complicity. And those prelates got us into this mess, in part, by reserving all the decision-making power to themselves, which they’re now replicating by hiring your team and designing these programs with apparently little or no input from experienced survivor organizations like ours.

So we plead with you and ask that you and your team meet with us soon, before any more of these programs are devised, and let us share with you how survivors might best be served – and not be re-victimized – by these plans. We have, unfortunately, too much experience in this arena. Let us share our experiences to help create a program that will benefit survivors instead of hurt them.

We have no illusions of stopping top-down, church-run compensation programs. But they can be better designed to make sure the needs of survivors, both long term and short term, are met. And they can be designed to better expose wrongd

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California confession bill won’t stop abuse, but threatens religious liberty, critics say

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Agency

May 15, 2019

The appropriations committee of California’s state senate will hold a hearing Thursday on a bill that would require priests to violate the seal of confession if they became aware of allegations of child abuse or neglect while celebrating the sacrament of penance. Critics say the bill would deny Constitutional religious liberty protections, and that there is no evidence it would actually prevent child abuse.

The bill, California SB 360, requires clergy members to report to law enforcement knowledge or suspicion of child abuse or neglect, “including when the clergy member acquires the knowledge or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect during a penitential communication.”

Clergy in California are already required to report knowledge or suspicion of child abuse in most circumstances, though penitential conversations like sacramental confession are exempted, as are other kinds of privileged conversations, among them those covered by attorney-client privilege.

The bill’s sponsor, California state Senator Jerry Hill (D-Calif. 13), has claimed that “the clergy-penitent privilege has been abused on a large scale, resulting in the unreported and systemic abuse of thousands of children across multiple denominations and faiths.”

The senator has claimed that such abuse has been revealed through “recent investigations by 14 attorneys general, the federal government, and other countries.” Hill’s office declined to respond to requests from CNA for clarity or specific instances of the abuse cited.

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles said in a May 15 column that Hill’s claim is “simply not true. Hearings on the bill have not presented a single case — in California or anywhere else — where this kind of crime could have been prevented if a priest had disclosed information he had heard in confession.”

“SB 360 claims to solve a crisis that does not exist,” Gomez said.

While priests are forbidden from disclosing the contents of sacramental confessions under any circumstances, and face excommunication for doing so, few believe Hill’s bill would prevent child abuse.

California Catholic Conference executive director Andy Rivas told Angelus News May 15 that “there is no evidence that forcing priests to disclose what is learned in the confessional would prevent a single case of child abuse.”

If penitents report being abused, several priests told CNA, they are generally asked to discuss the matter with the priest-confessor immediately after confession has ended. When such conversations take place after confession, clergy members in California are already required by law to report them.

The bill is not the first time Hill has taken issue with internal Church practices. In 2015, he signed a letter urging San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone to end an archdiocesan requirement that Catholic school teachers live in accord with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church.

The letter said the requirement had “a divisive tone, which stands in stark contrast to the values that define the Bay Area and its history.”

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Dallas police investigating alleged sexual abuse by clergy raid Catholic diocese properties

DALLAS (TX)
CNN

May 15, 2019

By Ray Sanchez and Rosa Flores

Maj. Max Geron of the special investigations division said the raids are related to five new allegations of sexual abuse that emerged after police issued an arrest warrant for a priest named Edmundo Paredes, who was previously assigned to St. Cecilia’s parish in Dallas.

The parish was one of the locations searched on Wednesday, along with the diocese headquarters and a storage facility, Geron said.

“In addition to the allegations against Mr. Paredes, detectives are investigating at least 5 additional allegations of child abuse against other suspects,” Geron told reporters.

“These investigations stem from additional allegations made after the case against Mr. Paredes
became public.”

In August, the diocese informed parishioners at St. Cecilia of allegations of sexual abuse by Paredes, the former pastor. The alleged criminal offenses occurred more than a decade ago, church officials said.

The raid comes as the church — both in the United States and around the world — wrestles with a fresh wave of scandals that have spurred criminal investigations, roiled the faithful and damaged the institution’s moral credibility.

The raids took the diocese by surprise since church officials have been cooperating with authorities for months, according to Catholic Diocese of Dallas spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor.

“We feel like we were being transparent,” Gonzales Taylor told CNN.

The diocese was not subpoenaed, she said.

The search warrants were executed at various properties Wednesday, including the pastoral center and administrative offices, Taylor said.

Taylor said police were looking for files of priests who were on a list released by the diocese earlier this year of clergy who had been the subject of credible accusations.

In January, every Catholic diocese in Texas released the names of all priests, deacons and other clergy members accused of sexually abusing children in the past decades.

At least 298 clergy members across the state have faced “credible abuse” allegations going back to the 1940s, according to the lists compiled by the 15 Texas dioceses.

Leading the number of clergy members accused is the Archdiocese of San Antonio — the largest one in the state — with 56 priests and other clergy listed. Next is the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and the dioceses of Dallas, El Paso and Amarillo.

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Liberaron a un cura procesado por abusar de nenes de un jardín

[Priest prosecuted for abusing preschoolers released from prison]

ARGENTINA
Telefe Noticias

May 14, 2019

Tras la difusión de las denuncias que lo involucraban en orgías con el portero y la preceptora de un jardín parroquial de San Pedro, el cura fue apartado de la parroquia San Roque. Pero el Obispado de San Nicolás está a cargo de los honorarios de su defensa.

El cura Tulio Mattiussi, de 58 años, que había sido detenido en diciembre pasado junto al portero del Jardín de Infantes “Belén”, de la localidad bonaerense de San Pedro, luego de que la Justicia constatara denuncias de abuso a nenes de esa institución que dirigía el sacerdote y acusara a ambos de abuso sexual agravado, fue liberado hace una semana. El auxiliar Anselmo Ojeda, en cambio, sigue detenido.

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Sobrevivientes de Caso Maristas critican a Celestino Aós: Se ha alejado de su discurso

[Survivors of Marist abusers criticize Celestino Aós]

CHILE
BioBioChile

May 14, 2019

By Yessenia Márquez and Nicole Martínez

Este martes los sobrevivientes del Caso Maristas se reunieron con el administrador apostólico de Santiago, Celestino Aós. Este encuentro terminó con un balance poco positivo por parte de las víctimas y se señaló que se ha alejado de su discurso inicial.

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12 años de prisión para el franciscano que abusó y pagó a una menor y a un discapacitado

[12 years in prison for Franciscan who abused and paid a minor and a disabled person]

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (SPAIN)
El País

May 15, 2019

By Silvia R. Pontevedra

La Audiencia de Lugo concluye que José Quintela, fraile en el Camino de Santiago, se aprovechó de la “precaria situación personal, familiar y económica” de la muchacha

La chica de 16 años declaró ante la Guardia Civil que el fraile le daba dinero antes, durante o después del sexo, y que la cantidad dependía de la afluencia de visitantes y peregrinos que llegasen al Santuario do Cebreiro (Pedrafita, Lugo), mítica puerta a Galicia del Camino Francés a Santiago. José Quintela Arias, la cara amable que recibía a los caminantes en el templo prerrománico, ha sido condenado por la Audiencia de Lugo a 12 años de prisión y otros 10 de libertad vigilada por abusar de L. de forma continuada y del primo discapacitado de esta en una ocasión. También de elaborar material pornográfico utilizando a la menor para ello, de lo que quedaron sobradas pruebas en su teléfono móvil: desde la cría desnuda y adornada de flores de Pascua en la sacristía hasta el pene del religioso envuelto en billetes de 50 euros.

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‘Hay curas a quienes se les está pidiendo el pasado judicial’

[Cardinal Salazar admits Colombian Church is lagging in investigations of clergy sex abuse]

COLOMBIA
El Tiempo

May 14, 2019

By Martha Soto and Jose Alberto Mojica

El cardenal Rubén Salazar descarta una epidemia, pero admite que hasta ahora arrancan indagaciones.

El máximo jerarca de la Iglesia católica, cardenal Rubén Salazar, admitió, en entrevista con EL TIEMPO, que están rezagados en las investigaciones de casos de sacerdotes pederastas y violadores. Y, aunque no tiene cifras en la mano, aseguró que no cree que el problema sea tan grave como se ha registrado en otros países.

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Pederastia, la vergüenza de la Iglesia que se va develando en Colombia

[Pederasty, the shame of the Church, coming to light in Colombia]

COLOMBIA
El Tiempo

May 14, 2019

Hay apenas 57 procesos penales contra sacerdotes por pederastia, la mayoría en Antioquia.

En una celda de la cárcel de Villahermosa, Cali, está recluido William de Jesús Mazo Pérez, párroco en 2009 de la iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, quien paga 33 años por violar a cuatro niños. Y en la cárcel de Manizales permanece Pedro Abelardo Ospina Hernández, párroco de Filadelfia, Caldas, en el 2008, condenado a 21 años por abusar sexualmente de un joven con trastorno mental moderado.

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Comunidad clausurada por excesos sexuales tenía sede en Cesar

[Vatican investigates claims of sexual excess within religious community]

COLOMBIA
El Tiempo

May 15, 2019

Vaticano indaga al Seminario del Pueblo de Dios. Iglesia local dice que en Valledupar no pasó nada.

Un equipo élite de investigación canónica, coordinado directamente desde el Vaticano, tiene abierto un expediente con alcances en territorio colombiano. En efecto, desde la casa matriz de la Iglesia católica se ordenó investigar el proceder de una congregación religiosa que, entre otras cosas, profesaba el sexo libre entre monjas y sacerdotes bajo el precepto de que la sexualidad es el reflejo carnal del amor.

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Poland backs paedophilia law after Church documentary rattles ruling party

WARSAW (POLAND)
Reuters

May 14, 2019

Poland announced plans on Tuesday to tighten sentences for child sex abuse, just days after the country’s politics were upended by a documentary on paedophilia in the Catholic Church, closely allied to the nationalist ruling Law and Justice party.

In just three days since it was posted on YouTube, more than 11 million people have viewed the documentary “Just Don’t Tell Anyone”. It shows Poles confronting priests they said abused them as children, and presents allegations that known paedophiles were shifted between parishes.

The documentary has led to a swift public outcry, with lawyers and journalists calling for the police to launch criminal investigations.

The issue has erupted in the run-up to a European parliamentary election in which issues of sexuality and religion have played a prominent role. Law and Justice (PiS) portrays the Catholic faith as a key element of national identity. Liberals argue that the Church has come to wield too much power.

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‘Nos dieron la espalda por acusar al sacerdote que violó a mi hija’

[“They turned their backs on us for accusing the priest who raped my daughter”]

BOGOTA (COLOMBIA)
El Tiempo

May 14, 2019

Una familia del Cauca lucha para que se haga justicia en el caso contra el párroco Arcángel Acosta.

La historia familiar de Flor Liliana Yatacué Viscunda siempre ha estado atada a la Iglesia católica de Miranda, Cauca. Ella tiene 33 años y vive de una pequeña empresa en la que vende empanadas precocidas, hielo y pulpa de fruta en el barrio El Ruiz.

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Police raid Dallas Catholic Diocese offices

DALLAS (TX)
Dallas Morning News

May 15, 2019

Dallas police officers on Wednesday morning executed a search warrant at the Dallas Catholic Diocese’s offices in Oak Lawn.

Police have not specified a reason for the raid, but said they’d give more information at an 11 a.m. news conference. A police spokesman said warrants will be executed at various diocese offices throughout Dallas.

The Dallas diocese on Wednesday did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The raids come as the Catholic Church locally and worldwide continues to deal with its sex abuse crisis and allegations of cover-ups. As part of a transparency effort, all Catholic dioceses in Texas —including Dallas — in January published lists of clergy members “credibly accused” of sexual abuse of minors since 1950.

Dallas Catholic Diocese officials said they had a team of former law enforcement investigators comb through its files to compile the list of 31 names.

That announcement followed the August revelation that Edmundo Paredes, the longtime pastor at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Cliff, was credibly accused of molesting three teenage boys in the parish over a decade ago. Diocese officials said Paredes also allegedly stole from the church.

The Dallas diocese confirmed it had reached a financial settlement with the three male accusers, the details of which were confidential.

But in January, Dallas police — which assigned Detective David Clark to investigate sex-abuse allegations against Dallas clergy members — issued an arrest warrant for the former Oak Cliff priest after a new accuser emerged.

Paredes had gone missing, but it was believed he had fled to his native country of the Philippines, Burns told parishioners during services at St. Cecilia.

Church officials have in recent months called for potential victims to first contact police and have said they are cooperating with law enforcement investigations. But advocates for sex-abuse victims have remained skeptical of the church, which has had a long history of cover-ups.

After Wednesday’s raid, advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, released a statement saying they “applaud Texas law enforcement officials” for the raid.

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Shame on Pennsylvania GOP as New Jersey, New York Dems deliver justice for abuse victims

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphhia Inquirer

May 15, 2019

By Maria Panaritis

Do not for a moment buy the adage that justice is blind. Not in Pennsylvania. Not this week.

After a stunning change to New Jersey law that became official on Monday, and an equally stunning change to New York law in February, justice for sexual assault victims in Pennsylvania now is a second-tier matter, denied by politics and the poor luck of geography.

The divide is stark. It is absurd. And it is — make no mistake — entirely a product of Republican leadership of the House and Senate in Pennsylvania.

Were you raped as a child by a Pennsylvania priest or schoolteacher? If you want justice, then you had better hope it happened in New Jersey or New York. Only those states, under groundbreaking laws, allow civil action for abuse that happened years ago. It is why a Philadelphia man on Monday announced he is suing the Camden Diocese for alleged clergy abuse in Ventnor, N.J.

If, however, you were violated by a Pennsylvania priest or teacher somewhere between Erie and Philly, your only legal option is to shut up and move on. The men who control the House and Senate have chosen to bow to bishops and insurance underwriters rather than stand for the children damaged for life by abusers.

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4 Investigates: New Mexico Sex Abuse Lawyers

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Channel 4 News

May 14, 2019

By Chris Ramirez

Many have seen the advertisements on TV and Facebook from groups of lawyers offering to help survivors of clergy sex abuse in New Mexico.

When the Archdiocese of Santa Fe declared bankruptcy, it brought a new deadline for lawsuits and a limited pool of money for sex abuse claims. Now, groups of out-of-state lawyers are setting up shop here.

Clergy sex abuse claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe must be submitted by June 17. After that, there’s no guarantee that sex abuse survivors will get any kind of payout from the church.

Chris Ramirez with 4 Investigates looked into one group called “New Mexico Sex Abuse Lawyers” that’s making a lot of noise to collect clients and tap into that money. The group is representing about 70 victims of clergy sex abuse.

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Polish lawmaker panned for excusing priest who abused girls

WARSAW (POLAND)
Associated Press

May 15, 2019

Poland’s opposition lawmakers demanded Wednesday that a ruling party member be excluded from parliament’s work on new laws to curb sex abuse of minors, alleging he had tried to justify the actions of a priest convicted of pedophilia.

The conservative government said this week that the penalty for child sex abuse must be increased following recent revelations about such abuse by priests. Parliament is to debate the government draft Wednesday.

A documentary containing harrowing testimony by men and women of being molested and raped by priests when they were children aired (when) on YouTube, triggering soul searching in the nation’s influential Catholic church.

Opposition lawmakers say prosecutor Stanislaw Piotrowicz, who is head of the parliament’s justice commission and lawmaker for the ruling pro-church party, should be excluded from parliamentary debate and voting on the law. They claim he had in the past tried to play down the actions of a priest who later was convicted and handed a suspended prison term for inappropriately touching and kissing small girls.

Parliament officials said that the new law will not be sent to the commission he presides over for debate.

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Trial date set for David O’Hearn, former Hunter priest accused of indecent assault

NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
The Herald

May 15, 2019

By Nick Bielby

Former Hunter priest David O’Hearn will face a trial in July over child sex charges levelled at him last year.

O’Hearn, who remains in custody following previous convictions for child sex offences, was charged with the fresh counts by Strike Force Georgianna detectives last March.

In Newcastle district court on Tuesday, his legal representative said there was no prospect of resolution without proceeding to trial.

The court heard there was one complainant in the matter, which related to alleged child sex offences in Lake Macquarie in 1994.

The Herald reported last November that O’Hearn pleaded not guilty to nine counts of aggravated indecent assault – under authority.

On Tuesday, Judge Roy Ellis scheduled the trial to begin on July 17.

The trial is expected to run for eight to 10 days.

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New mediation program would allow victims of Catholic priest sexual abuse to settle claims outside court

SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino Sun

May 14, 2019

By Joe Nelson and Scott Schwebke

Six Catholic dioceses in California, including those in San Bernardino, Orange, and Los Angeles counties, have formed a compensation program for victims of clergy sexual abuse that allows them to settle claims privately, outside the courts, the California Catholic Conference announced Tuesday.

The voluntary program will be available to any person who has been sexually abused as a minor by priests from the dioceses of San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, Fresno, Sacramento and San Diego.

As an alternative to litigation, victim-survivors can choose to meet with two mediators, in private and without an attorney if preferred, to potentially settle their claims. The mediators, Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros, will review the claims and determine who should be compensated and the amount offered.

Settlements will occur within 90 days and be determined by the mediators, with no church interference, according to the California Catholic Conference, which is the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in the state.

Feinberg and Biros are mediators for similar victim compensation programs involving Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Colorado. The two attorneys also have represented the families of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, considered to be one of the largest petroleum spills ever.

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Colombia’s catholic church promises action against child abuse, but plays down extent

MEDELLIN (COLOMBIA)
Colombia Reports

May 15, 2019

By Adam Veitch

Colombia’s Catholic Church is facing around 100 criminal investigations involving sexual abuse, the religious institution’s leader admitted Wednesday.

Cardinal Ruben Salazar admitted to the ongoing criminal investigations in an interview with El Tiempo, but downplayed the gravity of the sexual abuse claims, saying that sexual abuse by priests is “not an epidemic.”

The national church leader promised an investigation into historical child sex abuse in Colombia “as soon as we have a sufficiently qualified team and the resources to carry it out.”

The Catholic Church’s history of abuse in Colombia
Despite evidence to the contrary, Salazar told El Tiempo that there was no culture of covering up child abuse within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.

knowing the bishops in this country as I do, I can tell you that no point has it ever been our desire to obscure the facts

Over the past few years, several cases of abuse have come to light in which church authorities in Colombia have been at best negligent in ensuring the welfare of young victims, and at worst complicit in endangering it.

Journalists reporting on these abuse cases suffered harassment allegedly orchestrated by church leaders.

One particular practice employed by the church hierarchy has been that of transferring priests facing child abuse accusations rather than reporting them to legal authorities.

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The Pope Takes a Swing Against Sex Abuse

BROOKYLN (NY)
The Tablet

May 15, 2019

By Jorge I. Dominguez-Lopez

My friend and I were at Citi Field on a cool Friday evening. He is not religious, but the Mets were ahead 8-0 in the first inning, and he was ready to believe in miracles. He was in a good mood. Then, out of the blue, he asked me, “What about the Vatican’s new guidelines against sexual abuse? Shouldn’t they have just one simple rule, namely, ‘call 911’?”

He was referring to the “Vos estis lux mundi” (You Are the Light of the World), Pope Francis’ “motu proprio,” or edict, establishing norms for the universal Church against sexual abusers or those who cover up such crimes. It establishes procedures similar to those put in place in the United States by the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002.

For almost a year now, our secular press has been commenting on the grand jury report from Pennsylvania and on other reports of sexual abuse by clergy. Usually, the press fails to note two important facts.

First, the lists of accused priests covers many decades. For example, in February when the Diocese of Brooklyn published a list of credibly accused clergy, the headline in The Tablet was “Diocese of Brooklyn Releases Names of Credibly Accused Clergy,” and the subhead read, “Comprehensive List Dates Back 166 Years.” But many newspapers didn’t mention that detail, and so readers were led to believe that the 108 priests on the list were involved in recent cases.

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SNAP Praises Bishop Brennan and Calls for More Action in Fresno

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 14, 2019

We are grateful to Bishop Robert Brennan for his public show of support for survivors of clergy abuse and for calling for civility and understanding in cases of clergy sex abuse. There is power in public statements from church leaders and we are glad that Bishop Brennan chose to use his in this way.

Now that Bishop Brennan has spoken out publicly, we hope that he will continue to use his power on behalf of survivors and take steps to show other priests and parishioners how best to publicly respond and react to allegations against one of their priests.

We have sent a letter to Bishop Brennan, thanking him for his efforts and laying out what further steps we believe he can take that will result in a more informed, civil, and safer environment for all. A copy of our letter is below:

Re: Pastoral Response to Allegations of Clergy Sexual Abuse

Dear Bishop Brennen:

We wanted to thank you for your public words regarding the statements made by attorney Kyle Humphrey on behalf of your priest, Msgr. Craig Harrison. We truly appreciate your acknowledgement of the hurt that the lawyer’s remarks caused victims of Catholic sexual abuse.

Now that multiple victims have come forward, we ask you to go further. Since Mr. Humphrey is a parishioner and Msgr. Harrison is one of your clergymen, we urge you to use your power and authority to put an end to the “ugly, mean spirited, dismissive and unacceptable” language being used in the media.

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THE COST OF ABUSE | Attorneys find no shortage of clients amid clergy sexual abuse reports

JOHNSTOWN (PA)
New Castle News

May 15, 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.

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May 14, 2019

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Bishop Barron says book on abuse crisis written from his ‘pastor’s heart’

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

May 14, 2019

Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron of Los Angeles said his new book addressing the Church’s sexual abuse crisis and urging Catholics to “stay and fight for the body of Christ” comes from his “pastor’s heart.”

“It is simply my statement coming out of my whole life as a Catholic — 33 years as a priest, almost four years as a bishop,” he said in a podcast posted on YouTube May 13, the release date of his book “Letter to a Suffering Church: A Bishop Speaks on the Sexual Abuse Crisis.”

“It was my pastor’s heart that wanted to say something to the people of God,” added the bishop.

The book was published by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which was founded by Bishop Barron. He gave an overview of the 125-page book in the podcast with Brandon Vogt, Word on Fire’s content director.

In both the podcast and the book’s preface, Bishop Barron strongly emphasized he is speaking for himself and that the new volume is not an official statement of the U.S. bishops.

It is his attempt, he explained, to respond to the pastoral needs of Catholics demoralized by the abuse crisis and who are grieving over what it is doing to the Church. He said he wants to give them encouragement and hope and show “that there is a clear path forward for us today.”

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Pope’s new sexual abuse reporting rules protect the church

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

May 14, 2019

By Celia Wexler

Pope Francis’ new rules on sexual abuse have been called “revolutionary,” “groundbreaking” and “exhaustive.”

But will the pope’s mandates, issued on May 9, actually bring about the reforms that Catholics so desperately want?

On paper, the pope scored a home run. Not only is every priest and member of a religious order required to report abuse or the cover-up of abuse, the pope includes misconduct toward minors and also harms to any adult considered vulnerable to clerical intimidation. That category includes seminarians, nuns and those with mental or physical disabilities.

All dioceses also will have to develop a “public and easily accessible” system for victims to submit complaints. Those who report misconduct cannot be retaliated against, and abuse victims cannot be silenced.

But here’s where the rule breaks down: The Vatican puts the responsibility for investigation of abuse in the hands of the bishops, the very people who have done such a terrible job over the past century.

Marie Collins, an Irish abuse survivor who resigned from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, put it this way: “[K]eeping it all within the church has been the problem all along, and this is just really continuing that.”

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AZ Legislator and Activists Speak on Behalf of SOL Reform in the State Capital

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 14, 2019

Changes are needed because survivors of child sex abuse can take decades to come forward

The statutory amendments proposed would allow more victims an opportunity to have their claims heard in court

Revealing these ‘hidden predators’ and their enablers helps to protect boys and girls today

Senator who sponsored the bill has delayed state budget approval until his measure is heard

WHAT
At a news conference, a legislator and child sexual abuse (CSA) survivors will advocate for the reform of state laws limiting the ability of victims to have their day in court.

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California dioceses announce new plan to help abuse victims

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Angelus News

May 14, 2019

By Pablo Kay

The Los Angeles Archdiocese today joined five other California dioceses in a new private compensation program that will be available to any person who has been sexually abused as a minor by diocesan priests.

In a letter to Los Angeles Catholics, Archbishop José H. Gomez said the new program would expand the Church’s efforts to provide pastoral care and financial support to victim-survivors of abuse.

“We have been providing pastoral care and financial support for victim-survivors here in the Archdiocese for many years,” Archbishop Gomez said. “We will continue to do so. But we also understand that some victim-survivors are reluctant to come to the Church for assistance. Our hope with this new program is to give these people a chance to seek redress and healing through an independent program.”

The new Independent Compensation Program for Victim-Survivors of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests is independent from Church control, according to a statement issued by the California Catholic Conference.

The Conference said the program will be run by Kenneth R. Feinberg and Camille S. Biros, nationally respected leaders in private compensation programs.

Feinberg and Biros have been working with the California bishops since late last year to design and administer the program, which will be similar to ones the pair has established for dioceses in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Colorado.

The new program will be overseen by an independent board that includes former California Governor Gray Davis and business leader and former Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet.

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Scranton diocese pays $2.2 million to clergy sex abuse survivors; Harrisburg to settle by June 28

SCRANTON (PA)
Times Tribune

May 14, 2019

The Diocese of Scranton has announced that it has paid 17 victims of clergy child sexual abuse almost $2.2 million during the first 90 days of a special initiative to compensate survivors, according to a report by the Standard-Speaker of Hazleton. The diocese launched its program Jan. 22.

In all, more than 100 individuals, including 54 people who had not previously reported abuse to the diocese, submitted claims to the Independent Survivors Compensation Program during the period, the diocese said.

The diocese said fund administrators Kenneth Feinberg and Camille Biros completed their review of about two-thirds of those claims and sent determination letters containing compensation offers totaling $3.64 million to 31 survivors, including the 17 people who accepted and received just under $2.2 million.

The other 14 claimants have not indicated if they will accept the offers, the diocese said. No offers have been rejected.

Of the 54 individuals who have come forward with allegations of abuse that were not previously known to the diocese, 51 have been accepted into the compensation program and one remains under consideration, the diocese said.

The Diocese of Harrisburg announced that its Survivor Compensation Program enrollment period ended Monday. The program opened on Feb. 12 and was open for 90 days. Settlements will be offered on or before June 28. The Harrisburg diocese is not involved in the process of determining who is eligible for settlements and the amounts.

The diocese previously stated that funding for the program will come in the form of a loan from the Priest’s Retirement Fund, other existing diocesan assets and “hopefully from insurance proceeds.”

Bishop Ronald W. Gainer announced said the diocese will release a final report on how many survivors it was able to support.

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Editorial: Bishops right with priest suspensions, disclosures

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review

May 14, 2019

Priests are people, too.

They do good things and bad things and sometimes very bad things. They make sacrifices and they make mistakes. Priests are no more likely to lie, cheat, steal or hurt someone than a teacher or a banker, a barber or a chef.

The statewide — and to be honest, global — Catholic church sex abuse issue has not reached the breadth and scope that it has because priests are evil. They aren’t, or at least, they are no more evil than any of the rest of us.

The problem was the organization. It was the protection. It was the lies.

It wasn’t that no one reported child sex abuse for 70 years. They did. It wasn’t that parents didn’t demand something be done. They did. It wasn’t that investigations were not conducted. They were.

It was that all of it was kept in the dark.

In the months since the grand jury report release that detailed decades of abuse and cover-up, the dioceses of Pennsylvania have adamantly pushed a message of change. These things wouldn’t happen again. There were policies. There were procedures. There were protocols and safeguards.

It’s hard to live in a world without any crime and abuse because we live in a world filled with people. What we need is a world where we try to stop it when we can and deal with it where we must. Both demand transparency and honesty. Those seem hard to find after so much secrecy.

Then this week both Pittsburgh and Greensburg dioceses released information on newly accused priests just days apart. In Pittsburgh, the diocese suspended a priest from ministry while it investigates allegations of inappropriate contact with women. In Greensburg, law enforcement is investigating new allegations of abuse of a minor 15 years ago.

The difference this time is that nothing was stuck in a file and locked in a box. The situations are being addressed openly.

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Call for rise in payments to institutional abuse victims

BELFAST (NORTHERN IRELAND)
Belfast Telegram

May 14, 2019

By Gareth Cross

Calls have been made for an increase to payments offered to survivors of historical institutional abuse.

In January 2017 an inquiry led by Sir Anthony Hart found widespread and systemic abuse in children’s homes across Northern Ireland.

The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry studied allegations of abuse in 22 homes and other residential institutions between 1922 and 1995.

Sir Anthony recommended a tax-free lump sum payment for all survivors ranging from £7,500 to £100,000.

However, the vast majority of respondents to an Executive Office consultation on the findings disagreed that the “standard” compensation amount should begin at £7,500, with the majority saying £10,000 would be a more appropriate amount.

The Executive Office launched the consultation in November 2018 and received 562 responses.

More than one-third of them came from victims and survivors of abuse.

Some 82% of respondents recommended higher redress payments and 69% of those think compensation should reflect the number of childhood years spent in abusive institutions.

One respondent described the £7,500 standard payment as “derisory”.

“No amount of compensation can undo or repair the damage inflicted,” they wrote. “Nevertheless there ought to be a tangible figure that in some way reflects the loss of a childhood; £10,000 is not an awful lot but at least it’s a start. Nothing less.”

One of the key issues raised by respondents was a proposal that victims would not be entitled to apply for compensation if they had previously been compensated for the same matter.

The majority proposed that those who had already received compensation should be allowed to have it reviewed and receive any difference awarded.

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Poland’s Walesa urges Catholic church action on abuse after his priest accused

WARSAW (POLAND)
Reuters

May 13, 2019

Polish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa has urged the Catholic Church to prevent further sexual abuse of children by members of its clergy after a new documentary film showed his priest to be one of the accused.

The film “Just don’t tell anyone”, which shows people confronting priests with accusations that they abused them as children, has attracted nearly 7 million views since it was posted on YouTube on Saturday. It presents allegations that known pedophiles were shifted between parishes.

One of the clergymen featured was Franciszek Cybula, who served as Walesa’s priest for 15 years – from 1980 when he co-founded the trade union Solidarnosc which helped bring about the fall of Communism, through to his becoming Poland’s first democratically elected president in 1990 and until his term ended in 1995.

“It is sad for me that I found out that my chaplain, my confessor, was behaving so badly,” Walesa was quoted as saying by Polska The Times daily on Monday.

Poland is one of Europe’s most devout countries and Catholic priests enjoy a high level of social prestige. Nearly 85 percent of Poland’s 38 million-strong population identify as Roman Catholics and around 12 million attend mass every Sunday.

But Poland has not escaped the sexual abuse scandals that have battered the Catholic Church’s reputation around the world along with accusations of senior clergy concealing or mismanaging cases.

In March the Polish Catholic Church published a study saying that between 1990-2018, its officials received reports of sexual abuse by clergy of 625 children since 1950, over half of them aged 15 or younger.

“The church is all of us, we should pray for priests, and the senior clergy – I repeat – must take action,” Walesa was quoted as saying.

The documentary by director Tomasz Sekielski has reignited the debate about sexual abuse in the church just as Poland gears up for European Parliament elections on May 23-26.

Election campaigns have been marked by a focus on religion and sexuality amid tensions between liberals who feel the church wields too much power in Poland and ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which considers the Catholic faith as a key element of national identity whose influence must be protected.

PiS party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski promised harsher sentences for child abuse on Sunday.

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Franciscans: Credibly accused Gallup priest has died

GALLUP (NM)
Associated Press

May 14, 2019

A former Gallup priest listed as a credibly accused abuser by New Mexico’s three Catholic dioceses has died.

The Gallup Independent reports the Albuquerque Franciscan province confirmed last week the Rev. Diego Mazon died in November 2018.

The Franciscan province did not issue a public announcement about Mazon’s death since both the Diocese of Gallup and the Diocese of Las Cruces listed Mazon as a living credibly accused abuser.

Mazon was removed from ministry at Gallup’s St. Francis Parish after an adult woman leveled a complaint against him. She alleged the Franciscan friar sexually abused her when she was a child in Roswell.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe and the Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mazon’s original religious order, settled with the woman in 2006.

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N.J. diocese allowed ‘serial molester’ priest to prey on kids, former altar boy says in lawsuit

WOODBRIDGE (NJ)
NJ Advance Media

May 14, 2019

By Rebecca Everett

When Justin Hoffmann was 9 years old, his best friend was a priest in his late 60s. They spent time together almost every day.

But reflecting on that relationship Tuesday, a day after filing a lawsuit alleging the late Rev. Brendan Sullivan sexually abused him over the course of five years, Hoffmann said it wasn’t until 2017 that he realized, “it wasn’t a friendship.”

“When you’re with an authority figure when you’re young, you don’t know if something that they’re doing is right or wrong and I certainly shouldn’t have been expected to know,” Hoffmann, now 29, said at a press conference in Cherry Hill with his lawyers.

Hoffmann, who was an altar boy with Sullivan at the former St. James Parish in Ventnor, filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden Monday and its former bishop accusing them of not preventing the alleged abuse. The abuse, which allegedly included inappropriate touching and indecent exposure, started in 1996 when Hoffmann was 7 and lasted until 2001, the suit claims.

Hoffmann calmly described Tuesday how he rationalized Sullivan’s actions.

“While they seemed playful and kind of like just messing around when I was a kid — it seemed O.K. When I look back on the things he was doing, it’s like gross negligence,” he said. “I’m like, O.K., how did I get myself into this position.”

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School janitor with hidden past as priest left wake of abuse

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

May 12, 2019

By Brendan J. Lyons

A former custodian who has been accused of systematically raping boys at a Catholic elementary school in Albany in the 1970s had allegedly done the same thing years earlier while serving as a priest with a seminary in the Midwest, where he attended college.

Interviews with his former employers and alleged victims, and records obtained by the Times Union, indicate that Eugene Hubert Jr. — a U.S. Army veteran who died in 1997 — also immersed himself in maintenance jobs at various schools for nearly 30 years, including at least two Catholic grade schools in Albany.

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SNAP Responds to California Bishops’ Compensation Fund

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

May 14, 2019

The California Catholic dioceses have announced their plans to create a compensation fund for survivors of clergy abuse. While we appreciate the gesture, we hope that survivors in California will carefully consider their options before signing on.

We believe that the best way to expose wrongdoing and enforce accountability is for crimes to be made public and for punishment and compensation to be meted out by courts, not the institutions that allowed the wrongdoing to happen in the first place. Survivors deserve a chance to have their day in court and shed light on their abuse, and that can only happen when statutes of limitations are reformed, civil windows are opened, and bishops are held accountable in courts of law.

Removing a survivor’s right to sue – as is common in compensation programs – can prevent them from forcing using legal tools in the future that can compel dioceses to release information or correct misinformation. This is especially important as right now there is a bill right now in the California Assembly that will open up a new “window to justice.”

But this announcement also comes with hope that, as the bishops work together to hammer out the details of this compensation program, that they will allow survivors to have a voice in the process. If California’s bishops are serious about creating a compensation program that is to the best benefit of survivors, they should seek to meet with survivors who have had experience with litigation and compensation to help refine and improve this compensation program.

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Diocese removes accused priest