ABUSE TRACKER

DENVER (CO)
National Catholic Register

June 25, 2019

By Jennifer Roback Morse

The clergy sexual abuse and cover-up scandal evokes powerful emotions. Some people become protective of their views of interecclesial politics. Others become defensive of the Church in general. And the subject of clergy sex abuse itself is intrinsically revolting. Precisely because of these varied and visceral emotions, we must examine the facts with as much sobriety and objectivity as we can muster.

In “Receding Waves: Child Sexual Abuse and Homosexual Priests Since 2000,” Father Paul Sullins finds surprising changes in both the victims and the perpetrators of clerical sexual abuse — and also, more generally, from the more general standpoint of today’s Catholic priesthood. Every one of these changes is sure to upset someone’s preconceived notions about what is going on and what we ought to do.

First, let’s take a look at the victims of clergy sexual abuse since 2000.

Fewer males are being abused: The most striking finding in this new report is the decline in proportion of male victims. The percent of abuse victims who were male plummeted from 74% in 2000 to only 34% by 2016. In 1985, males comprised 92% of victims and averaged 82% from 1950 to 1999 (Figures 3 and 4). This finding may disturb those who think that getting the active homosexuals out of the priesthood will solve all the problems. We will still have to be vigilant to protect girls from abuse. The data clearly show a steady number of female victims, year in and year out.

On the other hand, reducing the number of homosexually active clergy will solve a big chunk of the problems. The data show pronounced changes in the numbers of male victims over time. In fact, the changes in male victims pretty much account for the changes in total victims (Figure 14).

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

MELBOURNE (AUSTRALIA)
Crikey Magazine

June 25, 2019

By Suzanne Smith and Georgia Wilkins

In their own words, the Marist Brothers are “dedicated to making Jesus known and loved through the education of young people, especially those most neglected.” It’s an admirable mission statement, but one that is hard to reconcile with the evidence delivered to the 2016 royal commission into child sexual abuse:

154 Marist Brothers were officially accused of child sexual abuse between 1980 and 2015, and many of them have been convicted or had claims paid out to victims.

20% of the Marist Brothers order between 1950 and 2010 were paedophiles.

Claims of abuse against the Marist Brothers accounted for a quarter of all claims received by religious institutions.

486 people made a claim of abuse against the Marist Brothers between 1980 and 2015.
The average age of claimants at the time of the abuse was 12.

89% of these claims identified one or more religious brothers as a perpetrator.

Founded by the French priest St Marcellin Champagnat in 1817, the Marist Brothers religious order has run 95 Australian schools, including 12 boarding schools, since 1972. Over this period, Marist brothers trained hundreds of male teachers who were posted to its schools across the country every year. Among these Marist Brothers were many fine teachers who didn’t abuse children. But there were many who did.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Reporter

June 25, 2019

by Fr. Peter Daly

James Carroll argues in a recent issue of The Atlantic that the priesthood needs to be abolished before the church can be reformed. Garry Wills, in his 2013 book Why Priests?, says that priests are a self-perpetuating clique and a medieval power grab, contrary to the equality of all believers.

These writers join a chorus of voices, stretching back to the Reformation, arguing that we should do away with priests.

I wouldn’t go that far. But after nearly four decades as first a seminarian and then a priest, I do think the priesthood needs reform — fundamental reform. We don’t need window dressing. We don’t need just some changes in policy and procedure. We need to change the whole culture of the priesthood and episcopacy. If we don’t, we will continue to decline and ultimately collapse in our own irrelevance and scandal.

I don’t think that our bishops get it. They think that a few changes in procedure and policy are enough. Then it’s back to business as usual. Their recently concluded meeting in Baltimore showed their lack of urgency. Basically, they did nothing. There will be no real external accountability and no answering to laypeople. They will supervise themselves and be accountable only to each other, which ultimately means not accountable at all.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

June 25, 2019

By Larry McShane

An alleged sexual abuse victim went public Tuesday with charges against a veteran Catholic priest, becoming the eighth accuser to identify the cleric who remains active in a Manhattan parish.

“I never thought I would have to come to this moment,” said accuser Joseph Caramanno, 34, at a Manhattan news conference. “I thought that everything would be settled, and he would be removed, and that’s it. … I’m putting my name out there, putting my face out there, so be it. I truly hope something is done. Something that should have been done years ago.”

Caramanno, joined by his attorney Jeff Anderson, accused Monsignor John Paddack of molesting him during a predatory stretch where the priest supposedly targeted his victims between 1984-2002. Lawyers for the victims said the Archdiocese of New York first learned of the charges back in 2012.

Previous accusers alleged that Paddack, currently stationed at the Church of Notre Dame on W. 114th St., steered them away from classmates with an offer of private advice — only to grope the boys.

“We are here to sound the alarm about the present practice being employed by the top priest in the archdiocese, Cardinal Tim Dolan, and the very perilous and reckless decisions he chooses to make … and to hide what he knows to be a very dangerous situation,” said Anderson.

Paddack, interviewed by the Daily News in March, denied all the allegations against him.

“Nothing happened, believe me,” he said. “I have a 50-year record of teaching. And it’s a good record, believe me. I think they’re seeing the advertisements on television and in the paper, and a chance to make money. Very sad, and it could ruin a reputation.”

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

FARGO (ND)
KFGO TV

June 25, 2019

By Joe Radske

A woman who claims that she was sexually abused by a Fargo Catholic priest decades ago says she hopes her story will encourage other victims to step forward.

The woman, who wants to be called “Jane”, was a teenager in the 1970’s when she says the abuse happened in the rectory at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. In an interview with KFGO News, “Jane” says over the course of about three months, she was inappropriately touched by Fr. Jack Herron.

“He pulled me to his lap, smoking his cigar, holding me and all that kind of stuff and before you know it, there’s kissing and hugging and touching. Inside, I was having a battle in my mind, thinking ‘Oh God, I’m dirty, I’m dirty, I’m dirty. No one knows this secret. I’m dirty. I’m dirty.”

“Jane” says she reported the abuse to the Diocese of Fargo in the spring of 2018. She says the diocese treated her with compassion and says that her faith in the Catholic Church has not been shaken.

“I gave them my account of what happened and where it had happened. I described where the rectory was, the bedroom was, where his office was at and where his chair was. Probably the only thing I didn’t know was what kind of cigar he smoked.”

Diocese of Fargo Communications Director Paul Braun says Herron has not been allowed to perform his duties as a priest until the allegations against him can be investigated.

“Fr. Herron, who was retired and serving in a hospital as a chaplain outside of the Diocese of Fargo when the allegation was reported to us, had his faculties for the exercise of priestly ministry removed pending the outcome of any civil and canonical investigations” Braun said. “Our canonical investigation is still in progress, so we have no further comments.”

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

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

June 25, 2019

By Junno Arocho Esteves

Millions of Catholics live their faith through their association with lay movements and Catholic groups, but some also have lost their faith when they were sexually abused in those groups and felt they had nowhere to turn.

While much of the church’s recent focus has been on clerical sexual abuse and the accountability of diocesan bishops, the Vatican is making child protection a priority for new movements and lay associations, too.

The Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life brought together close to 100 representatives of Catholic associations and movements for a meeting June 13 on abuse prevention and procedures for reporting and handling allegations.

Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Vatican office, told the representatives that by the end of December every movement and association in the Church must turn in formal guidelines and protocols for reporting and preventing cases of abuse.

Catholic movements and associations for laypeople, which are given official recognition through the cardinal’s office, were told in May 2018 to draft abuse guidelines.

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

LOUISVILLE (KY)
Louisville Courier Journal

June 25, 2019

By Billy Kobin

A priest at a Catholic church in the Highlands resigned after he was accused of taking “inappropriate” photos of students during a field day at the end of the school year.

The Rev. Jeff Gatlin, pastor at St. Francis of Assisi, 1960 Bardstown Road, was accused of “inappropriate picture taking” of students during a May 13 field day celebrating the end of the parish school year, according to emails sent by church and Archdiocese of Louisville officials that were obtained by the Courier Journal.

The church’s school serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Additional details on the alleged “inappropriate picture taking” were not released by the archdiocese. An archdiocesan spokeswoman was out of the office Tuesday and not available for comment until Wednesday, officials said.

In an email that St. Francis of Assisi School principal Steve Frommeyer shared with parents on May 20, Gatlin wrote “a number of concerns have been raised and accusations have been made about my actions of taking pictures of students at the field day activities.”

“Though I do not believe I have done anything wrong, I have asked Archbishop Kurtz to appoint a temporary administrator so that I can cooperate with a review of what occurred, as well as my overall ministry as pastor of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish,” Gatlin wrote.

His comments were also included in a May 24 bulletin sent to St. Francis of Assisi members.

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

OTTAWA (CANADA)
Ottawa Citizen

June 25, 2019

By Andrew Duffy

Defrocked Catholic priest Barry McGrory has been found guilty of sexually abusing two teenage boys in a church rectory during the early years of his long and sordid clerical career.

McGrory, 85, showed no emotion as Superior Court Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin delivered her verdict Monday.

“I find that Mr. McGrory preyed on the vulnerability of these complainants,” O’Bonsawin said in finding McGrory guilty on two counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency.

“Mr. McGrory used his position as a parish priest,” she said, “to exploit vulnerable and naïve young men for his own sexual satisfaction.”

Based on evidence in the case, O’Bonsawin found that McGrory used alcohol to groom one troubled young victim, and medication to “destabilize” another.

“Mr. McGrory’s crimes were all the more serious because of his trusted position in the community,” the judge said. “He infiltrated their families and used their faith in him to take advantage of the complainants.”

McGrory had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which were laid in connection with two historic sex abuse complaints dating to the late 1960s.

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

OLEAN (NY)
Olean Times Herald

June 25, 2019

By Tom Dinki

Following months of criticism, Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone will be in Olean this weekend to listen to parishioners’ concerns about the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The “listening session” will be held from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Archbishop Walsh Academy and feature Malone praying with parishioners, hearing their thoughts and comments, and offering summary remarks regarding the mission of the diocese, according to the diocese.

It will be the fourth of seven listening sessions held throughout Western New York over the next two months. The events are a byproduct of Malone’s discussions with The Movement to Restore Trust, an initiative of lay people led by Canisius College President John J. Hurley.

“The 2019 Listening Sessions are designed for the bishop to hear the concerns of the engaged parishioners,” a diocese press release stated, “and for them to offer recommendations for future initiatives regarding pastoral care, spiritual care and ministry.”

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

CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Caller Times

June 25, 2019

By Patti Koo

It is always disturbing when an accused cleric tries to claim he is the victim.

Eleanor Dearman’s article, “Third priest accused of sexual abuse files lawsuit against Diocese of Corpus Christi,” correctly reported that Msgr. Jesús García Hernando has never been convicted. However, he was indicted for child sexual abuse in 1996, and also faced a lawsuit by the former altar boy who filed that report and four others.

As Texas leaders for SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), we know that “false” outcries of sexual abuse are very rare. Five “false” allegations against the same clergyman would be virtually impossible. We implore the public to stand on the side of the true victims in these cases.

We also want to thank all those who have come forward, and to tell them to persist in telling their truth. Those who perpetrate child sexual abuse must be held accountable for this criminal behavior. The Catholic Church’s lists have been late in coming but they have had an affirming power. The lists shout to victims, “We listened! You are believed!”

We urge all survivors who were victimized in the Diocese of Corpus Christi or elsewhere to report to law enforcement, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. Survivors can also contact SNAP (1-877-SNAP-HEALS, http://www.snapnetwork.org/) as they come forward. The closest SNAP leader to Corpus Christ is Patti Koo in San Antonio (snappkoo@gmail.com), where there is a monthly support group meeting.

SNAP is here for you across our great state.

Patti Koo, Canyon Lake

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

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Law Office of Patrick Noaker

June 25, 2019

By Tyler Aliperto

Episode 9: David Clohessy, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and the former national director of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), joins us again to discuss the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops fixating on “policies, protocols, and procedures” without any “actual day-to-day change in how they behave,” as well as why he thinks Bishops are spending their vast dollars “not to protect kids, not to help victims, but to protect themselves and their reputations and their careers.”

For subtitles, please view this video on our Facebook.

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

Patheos blog

June 24, 2019

By Msgr. Eric Barr

So they lawyered up. That was the first mistake the bishops made in the sex abuse crisis. Deciding to be CEOs rather than shepherds. Thinking that money would solve what pastoral care would not attempt. Then the leaders of the Church made a second mistake: the bishops broke the foundational sacramental link between a bishop and his priests. What was supposed to be a firm partnership of brothers in ministering to the People of God became a standoff between a boss and his employees. Vatican II saw the priests as the sacramental extension of a bishop’s ecclesiastical shepherding outreach. Instead, they were used as pawns to buttress the wall of defense between a bishop and his people.

The Breaking Of Trust Between Bishop And Priest
To be fair, this split had already been happening for decades in the Catholic Church of the U.S.A. But it was exacerbated by the sex abuse crisis. What should have been a cooperative united attempt to heal a Church reeling from the crisis in authority occurring because of sexual abuse, became instead a circling of the wagons by the chancery, with the priests left to fend for themselves.

Priests were supposed to trust that their bishop had their backs, that the bishop would support and lift up his priests in times of crisis. The bishops did not desert the priests out of malice; rather, they fled from their priests out of fear. The laity mistakenly believed the bishops were defending priests by hiding the predators among them. Not so. They were trying to pretend those bad priests did not exist. The bishops did this to protect themselves. Now they went to the other extreme. As the crisis grew, the bishops willingly threw away the innocent as well as the guilty. There was a presumption that an allegation against a priest was true until it was proven false.

The Problem With Zero Tolerance
The bishops imposed a zero tolerance policy, which at the time made perfect sense. Sexual abuse was a heinous offense and though it came in different guises, it was bad and had to be punished. Just like a plague would be quarantined, bishops felt the contagion of sexual abuse needed similar draconian action. It is an effective way to stop an evil, but its take no prisoners attitude caused unforseen damage. In hindsight, zero tolerance, still in effect throughout the Catholic world, did and continues to do several terrible things:

First, it brands all sexual abuse as equal. Inappropriate words, conversations, touching, sexual contact, rape, pedophilia–all these were de facto considered the same offense. Understandably so, as the Church reacted to its previous denial of any type of crime inherent in these activities. But with time, new understandings have appeared. There are different levels of sexual abuse, some much more serious than others. But the penalties remain equal–total suspension of priestly ministry.

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

SAVANNAH (GA)
WSAV TV

June 25, 2019

Instead of guiding children in their faith, a Savannah priest sexually abused them.

Now, the man behind those crimes is dead. Wayland Brown died in a South Carolina prison on June 8.

Officials with the Department of Corrections call his death “expected” and said there was “no foul play” involved.

Brown admitted back in October of 2018 to sexually abusing two boys — Alan Ranta and Chris Templeton — back in the early 1980s when he was a priest in the Savannah Diocese and at St. James School.

He was brought to South Carolina early that year to face criminal charges. Because of the laws in Georgia, he could not be criminally prosecuted there.

But by bringing the boys across state lines, to various areas of Hardeeville where he molested them, prosecutors were able to file charges against him.

Brown pleaded guilty in a Beaufort County courtroom and was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. He only served a little more than 8 months.

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

NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist News Global

June 24, 2019

By Bob Allen

Details behind the “break her down” comment cited by trustee leaders in last year’s firing of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson emerge in a lawsuit now pending in federal court.

A lawsuit in the Sherman Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas initiated March 12 and unsealed June 6 claims the Southern Baptist Convention seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, “had a custom of ignoring female students’ complaints of sexual harassment and stalking behavior by male student-employees.”

A former student using the pseudonym Jane Roe claims a seminary student also employed as a plumber on campus began stalking her soon after she enrolled in Southwestern Seminary as an undergraduate student in the fall of 2014. She told one of her professors, the lawsuit claims, who replied the young man could come and talk to the professor any time he wanted.

The man allegedly showed her a gun and told her not to say anything while raping her for the first time in October 2014. Subsequent attacks became physically brutal, the woman says, and twice he forced her to take a “morning after pill” – a form of contraception not covered by SBC insurance plans because the denomination’s leaders view it as morally equivalent to abortion.

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

PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International

June 25, 2019

By Lucie Sarr

Sister Solange Sahon Sia is a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Calvary. She is a theologian and director of the Centre for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons, which opened in March at the Catholic Missionary Institute of Abidjan. The institute is based in Abidjan, the thriving commercial hub in the West African nation of Ivory Coast.

In this interview with La Croix Africa, Sister Solange talks about abuse in the Catholic Church and society.

La Croix Africa: What is the reason for the opening of a Centre for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons at the Catholic Missionary Institute of Abidjan?

Sister Solange Sahon Sia: It is a way of finding an answer to a problem that is quite absent in the Church’s mission.That is, to think of a new form of evangelization that can be called the evangelization of consciences. The center tries, through training, awareness-raising, listening and accompaniment, to help the local Church in its mission to protect minors and vulnerable people.

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

CafeMom blog

June 24, 2019

By Jenny Erikson

Well, this is upsetting. A former member of the Duggar family’s church in the early 2000s has come forward with disturbing details about how the family allegedly handled Josh Duggar’s molestation scandal when he was a teenager, and they’re pretty horrifying. In 2015, a police report was uncovered that revealed that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s eldest child had allegedly molested four of his younger sisters and an underage family friend when he was a young teen.

A source told Radar Online that Jim Bob and Michelle tried to “hide” the scandal.

The insider, who claims to have been a part of the church that met in the Duggar’s home in the early 2000s, told the site that the family tried to cover up that Josh had confessed to molesting five young girls. The source explained, “Older men within the church immediately jumped in to help Jim Bob hide everything as much as possible. They all tried to hire lawyers to keep Josh’s touching of younger girls under wraps.”

The church members were allegedly told to keep quiet, and Jim Bob and Michelle reportedly tried “desperately” to “make sure no one ever heard about this.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

June 24, 2019

By Kristen McQueary

Legislation tightening reporting requirements for school districts implicated in child sex abuse cases is awaiting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature. Following the Tribune’s “Betrayed” series last year, which revealed rampant, hidden sex abuse and assault incidents within Chicago Public Schools, lawmakers passed a bill requiring more reporting and information-sharing for all schools.

It’s a solid step forward.

But it’s also important to contextualize what led to the changes in state law. Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools officials for months fought records requests from Tribune reporters on sexual assaults within schools. CPS only relented under threat of a lawsuit. It’s important to remember that the documents City Hall and CPS eventually provided were heavily, ridiculously, redacted. It was not an exercise in protecting students. It was an exercise in CYA. Reporters strung together police records, court files, other public documents and interviews to compile a database of abuse allegations, without the dutiful or transparent assistance of CPS, a taxpayer-funded agency.

It is most important to remember the gross, indefensible number of victims: Police investigated 523 reports that children were sexually assaulted or abused inside city public schools from 2008 to 2017, or an average of one report each week. More than 500 cases, shrouded in secrecy. Without the diligence of journalists, those cases might have stayed buried. That’s what City Hall hoped.

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

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

June 25, 2019

We are grateful that Scranton’s bishop is sticking by his guns and banning his disgraced predecessor from public ministry. By keeping Bishop Emeritus James C. Timlin away from the public during the past weekend of confirmation ceremonies in Scranton, Bishop Joseph Bambera is taking a small step on behalf of the wounded survivors and betrayed Catholics in his diocese.

It is likely that Bishop Bambera felt pressure from some to let Bishop Timlin help this month in the customary way with confirmations. But Timlin stayed on the sidelines, and we believe that is best for all concerned. And it sent an all-too-rare message to other clerics – if you ignore or conceal child sex abuse, you can no longer assume that your colleagues will look the other way.

We are grateful to Bishop Bambera for his small actions this past weekend and hope his display will inspire other church officials to follow in his footsteps when dealing with similar situations in their own dioceses.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

June 24, 2019

By Harold McNeil

An independent organization of Buffalo Catholics is applauding the appointments of a new chairman and three lay people to the finance council of the Buffalo Diocese.

Members of the Movement to Restore Trust, which seeks to restore trust in the church in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal, praised the appointments as a step toward increased “financial transparency.”

Malone recently named James J. Beardi, president and CEO of M&T Bank’s mortgage banking subsidiary, as chairman of the diocese’s finance council. Also appointed to the council were Carrie B. Frank, principal at Frank Executive Solutions; Maureen Ludwig, managing director of state regulatory matters for Deloitte LLP; and Frederick G. Attea, senior counsel with Phillips Lytle.

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

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

June 24, 2019

By Elvia Malagon

An independent review of Archdiocese of Chicago policies on child sexual abuse found that church officials needed to improve how they spot, report and discipline “boundary violations” and other behavior that could lead to abuse.

The archdiocese announced the report’s findings Monday while Cardinal Blase Cupich met with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board to discuss the ongoing scandal of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. The archdiocese shared a summary of the report, but it did not include the full review authored by Monica Applewhite, a Texas-based expert in abuse prevention.

Applewhite found that the archdiocese needed to improve how it responds to, investigates and documents “boundary violations and other risky behavior that often precede misconduct,” according to a archdiocese statement on the review.

While such behavior is addressed in the archdiocese’s code of conduct, Applewhite said it should be a strictly enforced policy rather than an educational guideline. Her recommendations included creating more guidance for how to report such behavior, and to outline what consequences someone would face if he or she didn’t comply.

Applewhite said identifying boundary violations — such as giving special treatment to a child or allowing him or her to break a rule — is important because the abuse of children usually doesn’t happen suddenly. Instead, perpetrators often establish a relationship with the child before the abuse starts, actions sometimes referred to as grooming.

“They are going to get closer and closer to a child and then cross that boundary once they establish that relationship,” Applewhite said.

She reviewed the policies and forms used by the archdiocese and gave church officials a list of recommendations, Applewhite said. The archdiocese said officials are “working to implement her suggestions.”

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

LANSING (MI)
Michigan Public Radio

June 25, 2019

By Chenya Roth

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed a spending bill worth more than $28 million.

The money will be distributed to a variety of areas. That includes funding for implementing parts of the new Lead and Copper Rule for drinking water. The $3 million for the Lead and Copper Rule will be used for things like water filters and drinking water investigations in homes.

The money is also being used for the Double Up Food Bucks program and the state’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation fund.

The state Attorney General’s office will also get some money to help with a major, statewide investigation. Attorney General Dana Nessel has been looking into every Catholic Diocese in the state for potential physical and sexual abuse by clergy. So far, the office has charged five current and former priests.

Now the office will get an additional $635,000 to use for that work.

“The clergy abuse investigation touches every corner of the state, and we are the voice of the victims, and are working hard to ensure that when they report tips to us that we thoroughly investigate them,” said Nessel spokeswoman, Kelly Rossman-McKinney.

The full spending plan for the 2019 to 2020 spending year has yet to be completed, and its September 30th deadline is fast approaching. In a statement, Whitmer chastised the Legislature for effectively breaking for the summer without finalizing the budget.

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

Inside Sources blog

June 25, 2019

By Hiram Reisner

New Mexico’s largest Roman Catholic diocese is facing nearly 400 claims of sexual abuse as part of a pending bankruptcy filing in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal.

Meanwhile, The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) says it finds it unjust that a Roman Catholic archdiocese can file for bankruptcy on a timetable in the first place.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last year, claiming diminished resources due to payments already made to victims. The archdiocese reported that 395 people filed claims against the church as of the June 17, 2019 bankruptcy filing deadline, including 374 claims involving sexual abuse allegations. The remaining 21 were connected to other complaints.

When it first announced its decision to file for reorganization, the archdiocese said it had already paid out $52 million in insurance money and its own funds to settle 300 previously filed claims. At least 78 clergy members were “credibly accused” of sexually abusing children, according to a an archdiocese list released last year.

At the time, Archbishop John Wester said more charges were likely and reorganization would be the best option to protect diminishing church assets.

“We are hopeful that mediation among the survivors’ committee, insurers, archdiocese and other parties will result in a consensus to provide as equitable a resolution for each and every claimant,” the archdiocese said in a statement last week before the June 17 deadline. “The archdiocese will continue to work closely with the committee and other parties to ensure the most expeditious and fair resolution as possible.”

The diocese declined repeated requests for comment.

Priests from around the country were sent to the state to get treatment for pedophilia, causing New Mexico to become a center for an expansive list of child abuse cases. Church documents, legal filings and testimony from victims, show the priests were later sent to parishes and schools across the state.

Resolving the bankruptcy case could be a long process, as lawyers will have to collect more information about the archdiocese’s finances to verify how much is available to divide among those who filed claims.

The archdiocese, the oldest in New Mexico, declared in the original bankruptcy filing it had nearly $50 million in assets, including real estate worth more than $31 million. The archdiocese also noted it had more than $57 million in property being held in trust for a number of parishes, and that property transfers worth an additional $34 million were completed over the past couple of years.

The actual number of people harmed by priest abuse in New Mexico is probably much larger than 400, says Albuquerque lawyer Levi Monagle, who is working with Brad D. Hall — an attorney who has been representing victims in New Mexico for more than 30 years.

“To have nearly 400 claims in an area as sparsely populated as the Archdiocese of Santa Fe is a testament to the depth of the crisis here,” Monagle told InsideSources. “It is a testament to the disproportionate suffering of New Mexican victims and their families and communities, and it puts the onus firmly on the archdiocese to confess and repent for the extent of its wrongdoing over the past 70-plus years.”

The claims filed will be sealed and remain confidential unless the claimant indicates he or she wants their information released. However, church documents related to abuse cases could be made public, and lawyers for some of the survivors hope the documents will reveal what has previously been a guarded process.

Michael Norris, SNAP’s Houston director, says the manner abuse cases were handled in New Mexico was “absurd” as was the Archdiocese of Santa Fe claiming bankruptcy. New Mexico currently comes under SNAP’s Houston jurisdiction.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

June 24, 2019

By Cindy Wooden

The president of the Australian bishops’ conference told his fellow bishops that it is “a time of humiliation” for Catholic Church leaders, but he is convinced that God is still at work.

As church leaders continue to face the reality of the clerical sexual abuse crisis and attempts to cover it up, “we as bishops have to discover anew how small we are and yet how grand is the design into which we have been drawn by the call of God and his commissioning beyond our betrayals,” said Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, conference president.

After a weeklong retreat near Rome, the bishops of Australia began their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican with Mass June 24 at the tomb of St. Peter and a long meeting with Pope Francis.

The 38-member group included diocesan bishops, auxiliary bishops, the head of the ordinariate for former Anglicans and a diocesan administrator.

Archbishop Coleridge was the principal celebrant and homilist for the Mass in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica marking the formal beginning of the visit.

The “ad limina” visit is a combination pilgrimage — with Masses at the basilicas of St. Peter, St. Mary Major and St. Paul Outside the Walls — and series of meetings with Pope Francis and with the leaders of many Vatican offices to share experiences, concerns and ideas.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service

June 24, 2019

By Cindy Wooden

Pope Francis has named a retired bishop to serve as apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Lyon, France, three months after refusing to accept the resignation of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.

In early March, a French court gave the 68-year-old cardinal a six-month suspended sentence after finding him guilty of covering up sexual abuse by a priest.

The Vatican announced June 24 that Pope Francis had appointed retired Bishop Michel Dubost of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes, France, to serve as apostolic administrator “sede plena,” meaning Bishop Dubost will be in charge of the archdiocese while Cardinal Barbarin retains the title of archbishop.

Although Cardinal Barbarin’s lawyers had announced almost immediately that their client would appeal his conviction, the cardinal came to Rome in March and personally asked Pope Francis to accept his resignation.

After meeting the pope, the cardinal said Pope Francis, “invoking the presumption of innocence,” declined to accept his resignation before the appeal was heard.

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

DUNEDIN (NEW ZEALAND)
Otago Times

June 24, 2019

By Chris Morris

An international support group for survivors abused by priests has joined calls for Dunedin’s Kavanagh College to be renamed.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has launched a New Zealand chapter headed by Dr Christopher Longhurst, a Wellington-based abuse survivor and Catholic Institute academic.

The group – representing more than 25,000 survivors and supporters internationally – aimed to support those abused in all faith-based settings.

Dr Longhurst told ODT Insight that would include survivors in Otago and Southland, and he had already discussed the name change issue with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Dunedin, the Most Rev Michael Dooley.

Change was needed and the focus should be on the symbolic meaning behind such a move, which would be “immensely healing” for survivors, he said.

However, opinions differed among some Dunedin-based survivors.

One, Michael Chamberlain, said a name change would support those targeted by a cluster of paedophiles operating within the diocese during Bishop John Kavanagh’s time.

That included the former priest and convicted paedophile Magnus Murray – jailed in 2003 and defrocked earlier this year – but also other offenders, he said.

Bishop Dooley’s decision to call in the National Office of Professional Standards (NOPS) instead was “quite incredible”, Mr Chamberlain said.

“What we have got is the church investigating the church,” he said.

Dr Murray Heasley, a spokesman for the Network for Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions, agreed.

He believed NOPS had been called in at the insistence of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, which was “well aware” many witnesses were dead or remained reluctant to speak.

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

Get Religion blog

June 23, 2019

By Terry Mattingly

Long ago — in the mid-1980s — I covered an event in Denver that drew quite a few conservative Catholic leaders. There was lots of time to talk, in between sessions.

During one break, I asked a small circle of participants to tell me what they thought were the biggest challenges facing the Catholic church. This was about the time — more than 30 years ago — laypeople people began talking about the surge in reports about clergy sexual abuse of children and teens.

Someone said the biggest challenge — looking into the future with a long lens — was the declining number of men seeking the priesthood. At some point, he added, the church would need to start ordaining married men to the priesthood. Others murmured agreement.

I made a mental note. This was the first time I had ever heard Catholic conservatives — as opposed to spirit of Vatican II progressives or ex-priests — say that they thought the Church of Rome would need to return to the ancient pattern — with married priests as the norm, and bishops being drawn from among celibate monastics. Since then, I have heard similar remarks from some Catholics on the right.

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

HONG KONG (CHINA)
Union of Catholic Asia News

June 24, 2019

A court in central India has acquitted a Catholic priest accused of raping a woman in his presbytery after it could not find any merit in the charges filed almost a year ago.
A trial court in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh state, acquitted 52-year-old Bhopal archdiocesan Father George Jacob on June 21.

The priest was arrested last Aug. 11 and sent to jail after a middle-aged woman complained that he raped her after inviting her to his presbytery.

The priest was released on bail on Aug. 20 after a medical report found him incapable of performing the sexual act.

The court conducted 10 hearings and examined medical reports, statements of witnesses and
other scientific evidence before acquitting the priest.

Under his bail conditions, the priest visited the court once a month and signed a document.

The archdiocese has welcomed the court’s decision. “From the beginning, we were sure that the priest would be cleared of the charges,” said spokesman Father Maria Stephan.

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

BEERWAH (AUSTRALIA)
Crikey Magazine

June 24, 2019

By Suzanne Smith

The hunched, old priest walks briskly through the entrance of the Downing Centre court complex, a former grand department store on the fringes of Sydney’s business district. His eyes look down. A sports cap covers his nearly bald head.

Vince Ryan is one of the worst paedophiles in the history of the Australian Catholic Church. He sexually assaulted at least 37 boys. Most of them were primary school students, some as young as nine years old.

Aged 81, and still officially designated as a priest, he has already served 14 years in jail for his crimes. Last month, on a crisp autumn morning, he’s back in court waiting to find out if he will be sent to jail for more offences committed against two former altar boys in the 1970s and ‘90s.

As Ryan walks towards the court’s security cordon, he is followed by a man shouting obscenities. The word “survivor” is tattooed in black on his right arm. He is agitated, gesticulating towards the priest.

This man is Gerard McDonald. In 1974, he was 10 years old when Ryan abused him twice a week for a year, cornering boys in a church vestry and performing oral sex on them. In 1995, McDonald and another survivor were the first of Ryan’s victim to go to police. Although they won their case in 1996, they have never stopped pursuing the priest who defiled their childhood.

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

SCRANTON (PA)
Citizen Times

June 24, 2019

By Frank Wilkes lesnefsky

In the span of a day, more than 1,200 children throughout the Diocese of Scranton became fully-initiated Catholics after the bishop called on pastors in every parish to administer confirmations.

For the first time, the Very Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, bishop of the Diocese of Scranton, allowed pastors and sacramental ministers to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation on June 9, Pentecost, to youths throughout the diocese’s 118 parishes in order to acclimate congregations to having their pastors administer the ceremony. So far, 64 parishes reported their confirmations to the diocese, totaling 1,196 children, according to diocese spokesman Eric Deabill. That number is expected to grow as more parishes report their numbers.

“This Pentecost, we allowed all of our pastors to have that opportunity and to familiarize their parish with it, and then come next year, I will do the lion’s share of confirmations and be assisted by the pastors in those places where I can’t be,” Bambera said. “We have to ask ourselves, how can we make this a great opportunity for our kids and also something that I can manage to accomplish?”

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

SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
Nine News Australia

June 23, 2019

Parishioners have packed the courtroom to support well-known Catholic clergyman is facing allegations dating back to the seventies.

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

MARTINSBURG (WV)
Martinsville Journal

June 23, 2019

So, what about Monsignors Frederick Annie, Anthony Cincinnati and Kevin Quirk? Are demotions enough punishment?

The three were, for years, vicars in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, under former bishop Michael Bransfield. They enabled some of his misbehavior, according to a report submitted to the Vatican.

And Bransfield misbehaved badly, according to the report. It states he sexually harassed some adults and spent millions of dollars in church money for his own benefit. He retired last year.

Those asking how he got away with it for many years get a partial answer in the church investigators’ report: “Despite witnessing multiple instances of harassing and abusive behavior over several years, none of the Vicars took action to address Bishop Bransfield’s behavior.”

Archbishop William Lori, of Baltimore, was placed in charge of the diocese after Bransfield left. Last week, he revealed Annie, Cincinnati and Quirk have been reassigned — all as parish priests. That’s quite a demotion.

Annie will serve as a priest in Star City, adjacent to Morgantown. Cincinnati goes to a Morgantown parish. Quirk will serve parishes in New Martinsville and Paden City.

Should they have been booted out entirely? I have heard their cases compared to those of predator priests who abused children and, instead of being punished severely — and reported to police — were transferred to other parishes.

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

Pop Culture blog

June 23, 2019

By Caitlyn Hitt

Years after a sex scandal threatened to destroy the reality TV empire the Duggar family built, a former fellow churchgoer is speaking out about how Josh Duggar allegedly paid for his sins. Radar Online spoke with the anonymous ex-parishioner, who claims Duggar was punished publicly after it was revealed that he molested several young girls, including a few of his sisters.

The former church member told Radar Online Josh was the only child they recalled “getting publicly in trouble” at the church. According to the insider, the scandal destroyed the church.

“Josh’s molestation scandal is burned into my memory because the church fell apart because of it. It was an emotional and confusing day,” the source told Radar Online.

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

Patheos blog

June 24, 2019

By Mark Shea:

Dear Mr. Shea: I know you have heard this a million times, but one things that is giving me hesitancy to become a member of the church is the current corruption of the hierarchy/sex abuse cover up. I understand that these incidents have fallen since 2002, but many of those who protected abusers are in the church. I believe, as an outsider, that Catholic laity should have the ability to be critical of bishops and priests who stray from Catholic teaching.

Understood. A couple of things, simply from the perspective of an ordinary layman:

Catholic laity, especially in the US, are plenty critical of their clergy, right up to the Pope. Some of that criticism is richly deserved and goes, not to bishops but to cops, as it should. The irony of the abuse scandal and the reforms that come from it is that the American Church really has performed a sort of miracle of reform. One lawyer who has prosecuted over 500 suits against the Church (an agnostic, by the way) has argued that the Church’s work in reforming itself in the US should be a model for every institution troubled by sexual abuse (which is essentially every institution that brings adults and children together, since predators are attracted to prey). He has written a book about it: https://amzn.to/2JZkiIO The great irony of the abuse scandal is that the guy who oversaw the reforms and who did a brilliant job of it, as far as they went, was Cardinal McCarrick, who saw to it that a system was put in place that held everybody but himself accountable. It is one of the weirdness of life that a really and truly gifted and competent bureaucrat who knows who to run and reform systems can also be a grave sinner. Given such a task myself, I would have curled up into a fetal position and had no idea where to start, as would most people. This guy knew what he was doing and brought all his skill to bear to really fix a massively broken system—and to cover up his own sins. Weird.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

June 24, 2019

By Elise Harris

Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist currently waiting for a court to recognize the withdrawal of a complaint for criminal defamation brought by an archbishop linked to a controversial lay movement, is now facing a second charge of providing false testimony in another case brought by the same prelate.

Archbishop Jose Antonio Eguren Anselmi of Piura has promised to retract his complaint against Ugaz, but she’s now under investigation by the criminal court of Piura for impeding “the administration of justice” during a similar defamation case against her colleague, Pedro Salinas. Ugaz could face between 2-4 years in prison should she be found guilty of impeding the administration of justice by giving false testimony.

Ugaz co-authored the book Half Monks, Half Soldiers, with Salinas in 2015, detailing years of sexual, psychological and physical abuse inside the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a controversial Catholic organization that originated in Peru. Its founder, layman Luis Fernando Figari, has been accused of physical, psychological and sexual abuses and was prohibited by the Vatican in 2017 of having further contact with members of the group.

In 2018, Eguren Anselmi, who is a member of the SCV, issued criminal defamation complaints against both Salinas and Ugaz, charging Ugaz in part for her role in a 2016 documentary titled “The Sodalitium Scandal” by Al-Jazeera she participated in which named Eguren Anselmi as part of a land trafficking scandal in Piura.

In the documentary, local police official Pedro Zapata, who headed a 2014 investigation that dismantled a criminal outfit group associated with trafficking called “La Gran Cruz del Norte,” said the group’s leader had a voucher in his possession for just over $21,000 from the San Juan Bautista association, which has links to the SCV.

After Salinas was found guilty of defamation in April, Eguren Anselmi opted to retract his complaints after facing backlash from civil society as well as from the hierarchy of the Peruvian Catholic Church.

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

CLEVELAND (OH)
Associated Press

June 23, 2019

A Roman Catholic diocese based in Cleveland has made public a list of 22 previously unnamed priests and other clergy it says have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The recently-released list contained the names of 21 priests and a deacon, along with those of 29 priests whom the diocese had previously named publicly. Bishop Nelson Perez said in a letter announcing the release that a committee assembled by the diocese determined that the accusations against the clerics were “more likely than not to be true.”

Perez pledged in October to follow the lead of other dioceses and release the names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse, past and present.

The Cleveland diocese in 2002 began publishing the names of priests who were accused from that year forward.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Crux

June 24, 2019

By Inés San Martín

After Pope Francis accepted the resignation of one of the two newly appointed auxiliary bishops of Santiago, Chile before his episcopal ordination, the second auxiliary’s ordination, in Rome, was tainted by the presence of two disgraced former archbishops of the Chilean capital.

Cardinals Ricardo Ezzati and Francisco Errázuriz, both emeritus archbishops of Santiago who have been subpoenaed by local prosecutors for covering up cases of clerical sexual abuse, attended the episcopal ordination of Alberto Lorenzelli.

During the ordination, presided over by Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pontiff told Lorenzelli that a bishop is a “servant, a shepherd, a father, a brother, never a mercenary.”

Though most of the homily was the same as that suggested in the Missal for episcopal ordinations, the pope added a few comments, urging the new bishops “not to forget your roots, since you were chosen by men, the episcopacy is the name of a service, not an honor, as the task of the bishop is above all to serve, more than to dominate.”

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

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS TV

June 23, 2019

A priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Chicago celebrated Mass for the first time Sunday since being cleared of sexual abuse allegations. He was asked to step aside from his duties in January pending the outcome of the investigation.

Father Patrick Lee was greeted with hugs and a standing ovation during services at the Lake View church, 720 W. Belmont.

Cardinal Blase Cupich said Lee cooperated with civil authorities and the Archdiocese of Chicago during the investigation.

Big applause at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Lakeview for return of reinstated Chicago priest Father Patrick Lee. He was asked to step aside in Januray after being accused of child sex abuse. State officials & the archdiocese say claims were determined to be unfounded.

In an email sent last weekend to the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, Cupich said:

“These have been difficult days and months for you as a parish. You have shown great patience as each jurisdiction has completed its process. I thank you for doing so. Father Lee has also suffered, as you well know, but he has offered that suffering freely, convinced of the need for us as a Church to keep our word that the protection and safety of our children remains the priority.”

Lee was accused of sexually abusing a minor in 1979 while he was assigned to St. Christopher Parish in Midlothian.

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

JACKSONVILLE (FL)
Times-Union

June 23, 2019

By Bishop Felipe Estevez

Since last August, I have responded to letters from Catholics and members of our community who have voiced their concern for the church’s handling of the sexual abuse crisis.

I have pledged my commitment to transparency and accountability, and I have taken action to ensure there is a full accounting of the diocesan safe environment program, which was initiated in 1989 by Bishop John Snyder.

I had anticipated that a “Report to the Faithful” would be ready for public release by the new year, but in October, Florida’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi, announced her office is investigating the seven dioceses in Florida to ensure the church is properly handling allegations of sexual abuse. The diocese has cooperated fully with the state’s investigation, and the report will be released once the investigation is done. I want this report to be accurate and complete and reflect any findings from the state’s investigation.

In a guest column, “It is time for Bishop Estevez to disclose all” by Chris Shea and Joseph Lowrey, they wrote, “In an unacceptable and intolerable fashion, a directive has cut the laity out of any investigation; it also fails to explicitly direct clergy to report abuse to secular authorities.” This statement and others they made are untrue.

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

TAMPA (FL)
Tampa Bay Times

June 23, 2019

By Tracey McManus

A team of eight victims’ rights lawyers last week filed the first of what they promise will be a series of lawsuits against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, on behalf of defectors who say they suffered a range of exploitation — from child abuse, human trafficking and forced labour to revenge tactics related to the church’s Fair Game policy.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of an unnamed Jane Doe born in 1979, outlines her lifetime of alleged suffering in Scientology, where she was subjected as a child at the Clearwater, Fla., headquarters to abuse inherent to auditing, Scientology’s spiritual counselling that can more resemble interrogation. It states she joined the church’s clergy-like Sea Org in California at 15, where people worked 100 hours a week for US$46. She was at times held against her will. When she officially left Scientology in 2017, Doe was followed by private investigators and terrorized by the church as it published “a hate website” falsely stating she was an alcoholic dismissed from the sect for promiscuity, according to the complaint.

“This isn’t going to be the last of the lawsuits being filed,” Philadelphia-based lawyer Brian Kent told the Tampa Bay Times, declining to say how many more are forthcoming. “We’ve seen what can happen when there is truth exposed in terms of child abuse within organizations. You’ve seen it with the Catholic Church, you’re seeing it with the Southern Baptist Convention now. We’re hoping for meaningful change.”

The legal team is made up of lawyers from Laffey, Bucci & Kent LLP and Soloff & Zervanos PC of Philadelphia; Thompson Law Offices in California; and Child USA, a Philadelphia-based non-profit dedicated to preventing child abuse. Scientology spokespeople Ben Shaw and Karin Pouw did not respond to an email or phone calls for comment.

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

ROME (ITALY)
Associated Press

June 21, 2019

The Vatican office that handles clergy sex abuse is looking for help to process what a top official says is a steady stream of cases that arrive every day from around the world.

Monsignor John Kennedy, head of the discipline section of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told a conference of Catholic journalists this week that while his staff has more than tripled to 17 full-time experts in the past 15 years, he still borrows four others occasionally and is looking for more.

Pope Francis has lamented the slow pace and backlog of priestly sex abuse cases, which at one point had reached 2,000.

Kennedy said the foundation named for the congregation’s former head, who became Pope Benedict XVI, had offered to pay for a statistical analysis of cases.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

June 23, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

He died at the hospital whose new facility he helped build and was buried in the cemetery created during his years as the fourth bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

The 27-year legacy of Bishop Christopher J. Weldon is a visible one and continues to impact many in Western Massachusetts.

It includes the construction of what is known today as Mercy Medical Center, as well as such parishes as St. Catherine of Siena and the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where he is buried. Also, Weldon initiated the Springfield diocese’s yearly fundraising drive, now in its 60th year and called the Annual Catholic Appeal.

What Weldon accomplished through the creation of buildings and programs before his death on March 19, 1982, at the age of 76 was highlighted in his front-page obituary in The Morning Union under the banner headline, “He wanted to do more.”

A possible darker side to his legacy emerged with greater visibility Thursday after Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski met with an alleged victim of clergy sexual abuse, heard his accusations against Weldon and two priests decades ago, and filed an initial report with Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni.

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

ALTOONA (PA)
Tribune-Democrat

June 23, 2019

A flood of abuse allegations and reports that religious leaders covered up the sexual crimes of clergy may have changed the legal landscape for victims pursuing justice years later – with the courts now providing an opportunity for justice where the Pennsylvania Legislature has not.

A ruling last week by a three-judge Superior Court panel opened the door for two women who had previously been halted by the state’s statute of limitations to move forward with a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.

In 2016, Renee Rice and her sister, Cheryl Haun, filed a lawsuit in Blair County, claiming they were molested as young girls by a priest, Rev. Charles Bodziak, and – the key to the ruling – that the church conspired to cover up the crimes. The abuse was alleged to have occurred when Bodziak served at St. Leo’s in Altoona during the 1970s and ‘80s.

The sisters were in their late 40s when the suit was filed. In late 2017, Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva ruled that their case could not proceed because they were past the statute limit, as Pennsylvania law gives victims until the age of 30 to file lawsuits.

Victims advocates and the state attorney general have been calling on the Pennsylvania Legislature to provide a opening for lawsuits involving child sexual abuse that had occurred years earlier.

Although a window bill passed the state House overwhelmingly last year, the state Senate has not been willing to take up the issue.

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

NEW YORK (NY)
Daily News

June 23, 2019

By Rocco Parascandola

Two men have accused a priest, who is now dead, of raping them in the rectory at their Brooklyn parish in the 1980s, the Daily News has learned.

The allegations were laid out Friday in an order to show cause filed by their lawyer, Keith Sullivan, in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, which names the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Church of St. Patrick. They have accused the Rev. John Abrams of raping them when they were students and altar boys at St. Patrick Catholic elementary school in Bay Ridge.

They were 10 to 13 years old at the time. Both graduated in 1987. They knew each other, according to Sullivan, who was hired by one victim several months ago, then learned of the second victim while investigating the allegations.

According to affidavits filed by the men, who are in their 40s, they met Abrams, who was assigned to St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, while in sixth grade. He befriended them and their friends, and drove them to various places, such as a Bensonhurst bike store, movies and Jones Beach. The men were identified in the affidavits as John Doe.

“During these rides Father Abrams supplied us with beer, cigarettes and pornographic magazines,” one of the men said in the affidavits. “It was also during this time that Father John Abrams lured me into his residence inside St. Patrick’s rectory and sexually assaulted me and raped me on numerous occasions.

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

Patheos blog
June 22, 2019

By Deacon Greg Kandra

This sounds, to put it mildly, very suspect.

Details are in the statement from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston:

Yesterday, a number of Chancery Departments, along with at least one Pastor, began receiving copies of a letter addressed to Bishop George Sheltz from an individual identifying herself as Yannah Nowak. Her letters do not have a return address or any contact information and our efforts to identify any individual by that name have been unsuccessful.

In the letter, the author makes an accusation that she was molested by Bishop Sheltz in 1971, when she was a minor. The author also expressed anger and outrage over the recently announced decision of the Archdiocese to move her Pastor, Father Hai Dang, to another parish assignment. The author closes the letter with a threat to Bishop Sheltz that if he goes forward with Father Dang’s new assignment, she will go public with her accusation against Bishop Sheltz.

Bishop Sheltz has served as a priest of this Archdiocese for more than 48 years and has never had a single complaint of inappropriate conduct with minors or adults. We firmly believe this allegation to be completely false. It seeks to use blackmail tactics to keep a Pastor in his current assignment while casting a shadow on what we know is a lifetime of superb and selfless priestly ministry.

While we firmly believe this accusation lacks any credibility, we have reported it to the Houston Police Department and Children’s Protective Services for investigation. Since the allegation has been made against a bishop, we have also notified the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Sheltz will continue his valued assistance in the Chancery Office, but he has volunteered to temporarily step aside from public priestly ministry.

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

NORWICH (CT)
The Bulletin

June 22, 2019

By Anna Maria Della Costa

The anger has hardly subsided.

Nearly 10 years ago, a wooden board ticked off John “Timothy” McGuire – an object entirely too big to take the brunt of his resentment. He tried to throw it, and broke his back.

“The anger that we harbor,” said McGuire, looking out through his front window at St. Mary of the Sea Church in New London. “The level of anger …we get angry at things that aren’t big enough to get angry about.”

He’s learned to stymie the fits of resentment he’s nursed for 52 years – along with the fears of God hating him and feeling that he’s forever been banished to hell.

They’re the aftermath of four consecutive Sundays when he was an 8-year-old and called after Mass to meet with the late James Curry, of St. Joseph Church in Noank. He figured he was finally going to be told he was an altar boy. Instead, McGuire alleges Curry sexually assaulted him, asking him to strip naked and then fondling him that first Sunday. The alleged assaults escalated by the fourth Sunday to lewd acts.

“After the fourth one, I ran out of the church so fast,” McGuire said, pausing to let tears fall. “I hid behind the fire house. My brother came and brought me home. I still had to go to church after that. I had to look that priest in the eye. I wanted to melt every time.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

June 21, 2019

By Greg Erlandson

In a remarkably frank and detailed speech, the Vatican official heading the department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations told an assembly of Catholic journalists that his investigators and the press “share the same goal, which is the protection of minors, and we have the same wish to leave the world a little better than how we found it.”

Msgr. John Kennedy, who since 2017 has headed the discipline section for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the personal toll on the 17 people in his office as they have reviewed an ever-growing tide of cases involving clergy sexual abuse or related crimes.

“I can honestly tell you that, when reading cases involving sexual abuse by clerics, you never get used to it, and you can feel your heart and soul hurting,” Msgr. Kennedy said. “There are times when I am poring over cases that I want to get up and scream, that I want to pack up my things and leave the office and not come back.”

The Irish-born priest has worked and studied in Rome since 1998. Speaking on June 19 to delegates at the Catholic Media Conference, he gave a humane and at times anguished assessment of his job reviewing the horrors of sexual abuse and its cover up.

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

ARLINGTON (VA)
Catholic Herald

June 21, 2019

By Zoey Maraist

The U.S. bishops met in Baltimore June 11-13 with one overriding priority — to adopt procedures that will hold bishops accountable for sexual misconduct or other gross failures of leadership.

“The spirit was one of urgency,” Bishop Michael F. Burbidge said of the general assembly during his Walk Humbly Podcast. “We prepared for this meeting — we had conference calls, we had webinars preparing us for what the action items would be. We had our retreat in January, which I think set the tone for this meeting that we were entering having already been together in prayer, trusting our work to the Lord. We have communicated well with the Holy See.”

By the end of the general assembly, the bishops approved three important documents they hope will improve accountability and transparency. “I am extremely pleased that the goals and the objectives with which we entered the meeting were accomplished,” said Bishop Burbidge.

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

WAHSINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service

June 21, 2019

By Mark Zimmerman

In a June 21 interview, Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory offered insights on the actions taken by the U.S. bishops at their June 11-13 meeting in Baltimore to address the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. In 2002, the nation’s bishops at their meeting in Dallas adopted the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” when then-Bishop Gregory of Belleville, Illinois, was serving at the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The following is the text of Archbishop Gregory’s interview with Mark Zimmermann.

What is your reaction to the actions taken by the bishops at their recent meeting to address the abuse crisis?

Archbishop Gregory: “I am very pleased with what the body of bishops did, and did with such an overwhelming majority vote on all of the different initiatives. I think what it does, in so many ways, it completes the Dallas charter, including the bishops, which was a lacuna [missing element] in the charter, and is now being handled I think appropriately. Unfortunately, it had to happen under the duress of scandalous revelations from last year, but it was done nonetheless, and the body of bishops endorsed it overwhelmingly.”

What do you see as the most significant actions they took?

Archbishop Gregory: “I think all of the actions taken together, certainly the call-in number where people from across the country can call in an alleged act of misbehavior is certainly one of the things that it does.

“But also, it encourages bishops to establish a list of qualified professional laity to be at the service of the inquiry and the evaluation of the allegations, and it guarantees that these matters will be handled openly and transparently.

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

VENTURA COUNTY (CA)
KEYT 3 TV

June 21, 2019

By Jasmin Rogers

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has issued a warning to the Santa Barbara and Ventura County communities about a former priest.

Carlos Rodriguez was removed from ministry back in 1993 under order of the Vatican. Rodriguez was convicted of child abuse and served time in prison.

The Clergy’s Office in Los Angeles has received reports from parishioners in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties that that Rodriguez has been conducting home masses in Fillmore and in other local areas.

Los Angeles officials want to warn the community that Rodriguez is not a priest, and he is not allowed to practice in any denomination.

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

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

June 22, 2019

By Phyllis Zagano

I think we owe a debt of gratitude to former West Virginia bishop Michael Bransfield, pilloried by The Washington Post for his reportedly lavish and lascivious ways. The Post wrote from an unredacted report written by lay investigators.

Bransfield’s creative accounting let us see exactly who benefited from his largess. His history of unchecked behavior demonstrates who knew what and when. Most importantly, his objectively sad story sheds light on ingrained episcopal practices around the world.

Plus, it saves us the trouble of reading medieval history.

I bear no ill will and wish no harm to Michael Bransfield. I am convinced he is a product of a system that corrupted him. One wonders if that system alone drove him to drink.

That system is the clericalism Pope Francis talks about. It is the system in which only priest clerics judge clerics, only priest clerics wield authority, and only priest clerics promote clerics to higher offices.

It is the system of priestly clericalism, seeded in the early church, nurtured by the Middle Ages, and full-blown by the 11th century.

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

COLORADO SPRINGS (CO)
The Gazette

June 22, 2019

By David Ramsey

Jules Woodson worships most Sundays at Grace Lutheran Church. She sings hymns. She listens to sermons delivered by Pastor Michael Tassler. She reflects on the storms of her life.

And she praises God.

In her teens, she suffered through a sexual ordeal at her church in the suburbs of Houston. For decades, she struggled with depression and anxiety.

But, she says, God never left her side, and remains with her as she crusades to cleanse America’s troubled Protestant movement.

Woodson has resided at the center of the #churchtoo movement since she revealed in a Jan. 5, 2018, blog a 20-year-old sexual assault involving her youth minister, Andy Savage. She was 17, and he was 22 when she got into his car for a ride home after a Southern Baptist church event .

But Savage did not drive her home. He drove her to a lonely dark road.

“He turned the headlights off,” Woodson wrote in an abuse survivors’ blog. Then he asked her to perform oral sex. “I was scared and embarrassed, but I did it. I remember feeling that this must mean that Andy loved me.”

Church leaders did not inform police of Savage’s crime or tell congregation members specifics about the assault. Savage was told to depart the church, but the incident did not hinder his career.

On Jan. 5, 2018, he was serving as a pastor at Highpoint, a megachurch in Memphis, Tenn. He was raising five children with his wife. He had just delivered a book, “The Ridiculously Good Marriage,” to a publisher.

After Woodson’s blog post, Savage read a statement at Highpoint’s Sunday morning service. He expressed regret, in his way. “A so-called apology,” Woodson says.

Congregants reacted to his confession with a standing ovation. Highpoint leaders had been told about the assault on the dark road and hired him anyway. When Woodson watched video of Savage’s surreal confession/performance, she wept.

But Savage could not halt the tidal wave of scorn. He resigned four months later.

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

DALLAS (TX)
Morning News

June 22, 2019

By Tom Steele

A woman is suing former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary president Paige Patterson, claiming that he abused his position and failed to protect her after she reported being raped multiple times by a fellow student.

The lawsuit, filed in March and unsealed earlier this month, also names the Fort Worth seminary as a defendant. It seeks unspecified damages, saying that the woman has suffered continuing emotional and physical pain as a result of the assaults and Patterson’s response to them.

An attorney for Patterson, Shelby Sharpe, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Sharpe has previously said that the woman made several “contradictory” statements to authorities and seminary officials about her assaults, and he has told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he had not heard “one credible attack” against Patterson.

‘Relentless’
The woman, who uses the pseudonym Jane Roe in the lawsuit, says that she met her attacker — who was employed as a plumber on campus and had keys to all campus buildings — shortly after she began attending the seminary in September 2014. He quickly became infatuated with her, despite her rejection of him, she says, and “began to pursue her relentlessly.”

That October, the lawsuit says, Roe fell asleep in a lawn chair on campus and awoke to the man sexually assaulting her. He warned her not to tell anyone while showing her a gun, she says. He was physically and verbally abusive to her in the weeks that followed, and she took to wearing heavy makeup to hide her bruises.

In April 2015, the man pushed his way into her home and raped her at gunpoint, then raped her again the next day, the lawsuit says. She eventually told her family about the assaults, and in August 2015 she reported them to Patterson.

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

CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Corpus Christi Caller Times

June 20, 2019

By Eleanor Dearman

A third priest who was named in a list of clergy members who were “credibly accused” of sexual misconduct is suing Bishop Michael Mulvey and the Diocese of Corpus Christi.

Msgr. Jesús García Hernando is the latest to claim the diocese and bishop made a “false” statement in claiming he was “credibly accused” of sexually assaulting a minor.

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

While Hernando was indicted and sued in the 1990s over molestation allegations he was never convicted of a crime.

The lawsuit was filed on Hernando’s behalf by Corpus Christi Attorney Andrew Greenwell. Greenwell is also representing John Feminelli and Michael Heras in similar lawsuits that were filed earlier this year.

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

CORPUS CHRISTI (TX)
Catholic News Agency

June 22, 2019

Three priests have filed suits against the Diocese of Corpus Christi and its bishop, claiming that they were wrongfully included in a list of clerics credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor within the diocese.

The Corpus Christi Caller Times reported June 20 that Fr. Jesús García Hernando had filed a suit over his inclusion on the list. In March, both Msgr. Michael Heras and Fr. John Feminelli filed similar suits.

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

All three are being represented by Andrew Greenwell of Harris & Greenwell, who told the Caller Times that a fourth suit may be filed as well.

The diocese had earlier filed motions to dismiss the suits from Heras and Feminelli, saying the list was “made in good faith.”

The Corpus Christi diocese released a list of credibly accused clerics Jan. 31, amid a wave of such admissions throughout the US following a Pennsylvania grand jury report on abuse by clerics in six of the state’s dioceses.

Announcing the list, Bishop Michael Mulvey of Corpus Christi said that “an Independent Committee comprised of outside legal professionals reviewed all cleric files to determine whether an allegation was credible,” and that “in some cases, files were also reviewed by the Diocesan Review Board.”

The diocese “accepted all recommendations from the Independent Committee and the Diocesan Review Board regarding the names to be included on this list,” he stated.

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

BROOKHAVEN (MS)
The Daily Leader

June 21, 2019

After lengthy investigations by two Texas newspapers, it is clear that sexual abuse is not a problem for one particular faith or another. It infects them all.

Though the Catholic Church has been under the microscope more often, other faiths and denominations are experiencing their own wake-up calls to the prevalence of predators in pews and pulpits.

The newspapers’ reporting shows that churches in the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., too often refused to take sexual assault seriously. Hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors and staff have been accused of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, including dozens who returned to church duties. More than 700 victims were identified.

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

READING (PA)
Reading Eagle

June 21, 2019

I am an 84-year-old Jesuit priest writing in response to “Skeptics: Bishops’ abuse steps fall short” (Reading Eagle, June 14).

Reading is in the Catholic Diocese of Allentown. Our diocese has been directed to report immediately to civil authorities incidents of sexual abuse of minors that have been reported to any of us. This mandate would include incidents involving priests, deacons or bishops. Officials of any rank who do not comply are breaking the law and should be reported. There is no disparity between the directives given to all people in the diocese by diocesan regulations and the directives of civil law. So what’s the gripe?

Regarding the role of laypersons in decisions regarding just payouts to people who have been abused, the diocese has taken steps to involve appointed lay persons to such arbitration. In the same edition of the Eagle, “Payments to clergy abuse survivors in Philly and Scranton top $20 million” points out that those two dioceses, which have paid a total of $20 million to victims, have used the services of laypersons.

SNAP, the organization advocating for the rights of people abused by clergy, feels that more should be done to prevent cover-ups by clergy and bishops. Such cover-ups are now clearly violations of the law. What more should be expected from the church than that it direct all of its personnel to comply with the state’s law and report to civil authorities those who do not, as it has done?

The Rev. Lucien F. Longtin
Lower Heidelberg Township

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

MINNEAPOLIS (MN)
Law Office of Pat Noaker

June 21, 2019

By Tyler Aliperto

A survivor of clergy sexual abuse and prominent advocate for survivors, David Clohessy, discusses why he began advocating for other survivors, as well as talking about an organization which he is a part of and formerly led, SNAP – The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests – before telling us why “only vigilance protects the vulnerable.”

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

ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Associated Press

Jun 22, 2019

Nearly 400 claims have been filed against New Mexico’s largest and oldest Roman Catholic diocese as part of a pending bankruptcy case that stems from the clergy sex abuse scandal, church officials announced Friday.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe reported that 395 people filed claims against the Church as of the June 17 deadline. That included 374 claims involving allegations of sex abuse. The remaining 21 were related to other grievances.

The archdiocese shocked parishioners across much of New Mexico when it filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last year, joining nearly two dozen other dioceses around the United States that have been struggling with the fallout from the abuse scandal.

“We are hopeful that mediation among the survivors’ committee, insurers, archdiocese and other parties will result in a consensus to provide as equitable a resolution for each and every claimant,” the archdiocese said in a statement issued Friday.

New Mexico has a long history with clergy sex abuse because many priests from around the country were sent to the state to get treatment for pedophilia. Church documents as well as legal filings and victim testimony indicate the priests were later assigned to parishes and schools across the state.

Numerous lawsuits resulted over the years, and the Church was forced during the 1990s to begin publicly addressing the problem.

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

ALBANY (NY)
Times Union

June 21, 2019

By Bishop Edward Scharfenberger

Nothing is more central to our faith than Jesus — to believe God loves us in Him — personally. After all, we call ourselves Christians! The Father sent his only-begotten Son into the world for one reason: to announce his love for every human being, going into the depths of where love is lacking, and to lift us in his Holy Spirit, the heart of God’s love.

Nothing is more important for the Church than to announce that message. It this context I offer my reflections on the spring meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

On the upside, we resolved any question of whether the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, should be applied to bishops. We voted overwhelmingly to hold ourselves accountable for instances of sexual abuse of children and vulnerable persons, sexual misconduct, or intentional mishandling of such cases.

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

ERIE (PA)
YourErie.com

June 21, 2019

Sexual abuse victims are calling for action to be taken against former Erie Bishop Donald Trautman.

James Faluszczak, a former priest and victim of child sexual abuse, is calling for the Diocese of Erie to hold the bishops accountable for their actions and stand up for victims’ rights. “It’s a crime, it is a scandal that these men are in ministry and my mind as I say the wolves in shepherds clothing,” said Faluszczak.

“Bishop Persico has been aware of multiple sets of allegations of cover up by Bishop Trautman for at least a year,” said Faluszczak. “Both from my own allegations from the substance of the grand jury report.”

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

BIRMINGHAM (AL)
CNN

June 21, 2019

By Jasmine Hyman and Brian Ries, CNN

An Alabama megachurch plans to start its own police force thanks to a new law permitting the church to do just that.

The law, signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, authorizes Briarwood Presbyterian to “appoint and employ one or more suitable persons to act as police officers to protect the property of the school or academy.”

A similar bill was proposed four years ago, but it was dropped by the Alabama legislature amid a public outcry over the Presbyterian Church in America’s racist history, as well as criticism that the bill was unconstitutional and violated the Establishment Clause’s separation of church and state. Briarwood Presbyterian is part of the PCA.

Briarwood Presbyterian’s congregation is overwhelmingly white. Nearby Birmingham is two-thirds black.

The PCA is a conservative denomination that originated early 1970s Alabama. In 2016 it apologized for “racial sins” that included “the segregation of worshipers by race” as well as “the participation in and defense of white supremacist organizations,” among other things.

Officials at Briarwood Presbyterian Church say that a police force is necessary in order to adequately protect its 4,100 members, including 2,000 students and faculty on its two campuses.
The church hopes its new security force will keep intruders and prevent trespassers from accessing the property, it said in a press release that was posted by CNN affiliate WBRC.

The officers will complete state certified training by the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission. The officers will also be trained on the proper use of a non-lethal weapon.

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

BERKSHIRE (MA)
Berkshire Eagle

June 21, 2019

By Larry Parnass

Christopher J. Weldon, a longtime Catholic bishop for the Springfield Diocese, now stands formally accused of sexually abusing an altar boy.

Three weeks after denying that it had received a credible accusation against Weldon of molestation, the diocese Thursday filed an initial report of a claim of such abuse with the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office.

That step came after the Most Rev. Mitchell T. Rozanski, the current bishop, heard directly that day from a Chicopee man who says Weldon was one of several clergy in the Springfield Diocese who sexually abused him in the early 1960s, when he was 9 or 10.

By speaking Thursday with the alleged victim, Rozanski was able to reset the clock for the diocese in terms of this man and to comply with a request by District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni that allegations be forwarded to his office.

“My impression was that the bishop `got it,’ ” the man said in a statement of his meeting with Rozanski. The alleged victim, now in his late 60s, presented his story during a two-hour meeting held at his request.

Meantime, a spokeswoman for Mercy Medical Center in Springfield would not say Friday whether allegations against Weldon have led officials to rethink use of the former bishop’s name.

The medical center oversees operations of the Weldon Rehabilitation Hospital at 175 Carew St. in Springfield. It is named for the bishop who oversaw the diocese, which includes Berkshire County, from 1950 to 1977. Weldon died in 1982.

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

BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

June 21, 2019

Catholic bishops came out last week with their plan to deal with bishops who commit or cover up sexual abuse. Their idea is that they will watch each other, and it is wholly insufficient.

It’s startling that this needs to be said, but allegations of criminal sexual abuse should be referred directly to the police — investigators who are trained to get to the bottom of such issues. It doesn’t matter if the allegations are against priests, bishops, ministers, teachers, Scout leaders or Uncle Pete: Go to the police. That the bishops either don’t get that or don’t want it can only promote the kind of arrogant insularity that led to this crisis in the first place.

The Catholic Church is full of many good men, of course, but they are, in the end, only human. Many of them, including bishops, may be willing and able to surmount the temptations that are inherent in our shared humanity — largely, in this case, self-interest. But it has been plain over the years that too many of them are neither willing nor able. That’s the problem with this non-solution.

In many cases, bishops have helped to cover up the problem of sexual abuse by priests, including the molestation of minors. In some cases, bishops, themselves have been guilty of such abuse. Some note that most recent allegations of abuse have been from assaults that occurred many years ago, arguing that the church has learned from its own terrible history.

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

ALEXANDRIA (LA)
KALB TV

June 21, 2019

On Friday, the Diocese of Alexandria released the names of three additional clergy against whom there have been credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

Fr. Adrian Molenschot has allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of male minors dating back to the 1960s. He died in December 1994.

Fr. Nino Viviano has an allegation of sexual misconduct and abuse of a female minor dating back to the early 1960s. He is currently 91-years-old and living in a nursing home in Florida. He retired in 1998 and his facilities for ministry were not extended to him since that time. He is currently suffering from the advanced stages of dementia and was not capable of participating in the review of this most recent allegation.

Fr. Yves Robitaille has an allegation of sexual misconduct and abuse of a male minor dating back to the mid-1950s. He retired in May 1990 and died on July 27, 1998 at the age of 72.

Evidence for all three were presented to the Permanent Review Board and the allegations were deemed credible.

The Diocese of Alexandria pledges to provide updates to the list of credibly accused clergy as new information becomes available and as reported by authorities. They said they hope these updates provide healing and closure and show their commitment to transparency and accountability.

The individuals added to the list are not currently in active ministry and have not been for many years and the allegations were brought to the Diocese of Alexandria’s attention only recently.

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

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

June 21, 2019

A brave woman is suing the former head of a Baptist seminary for trying to intimidate her when she reported being raped. We applaud her courage and hope others with information or suspicions about the minister come forward.

Paige Patterson, who ran Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary, is accused of trying to “prevent (victim Jane Roe’s) accusations from coming to light.” This is entirely consistent with what we know about Patterson, a man who was terminated by the SBTS previously for his attempts to “break down” a rape victim.

Lawsuits like this will help deter future callousness towards victims and deceit by employers. We hope this brave survivor’s case will prevail. But regardless of the legal outcome, she has already helped victims of violence an enormously by stepping forward and exposing wrongdoing. We hope her example inspires others who have been intimidated into silence to step forward, make a report, and start healing.

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

TORONTO (CANADA)
Catholic Register

June 21, 2019

A quarter century ago, towards the end of a year in which her children had been running amok, Queen Elizabeth lamented her annus horribilis, her horrible year. The bishops of America know that feeling.

The past year was indeed horrible for the leaders of America’s Catholic Church. Reports of clerical sex abuse and coverups — news headlines horribilis — rolled over them like a tank in a clover field to crush their collective reputation. The onslaught was unprecedented and relentless — and it was largely deserved.

But give the bishops credit for wasting no time in starting a long process to repair the damage. And not just in a cosmetic way, but by rolling up their sleeves with a genuine sense of urgency.

That resolve was apparent during the bishops’ June 11-13 general meeting in Baltimore. In a flurry of votes, they approved plans to implement without delay recent measures decreed by Pope Francis to safeguard minors, punish offenders and hold bishops accountable. And they took the added step of authorizing a third-party hotline to receive confidential allegations of abuse or coverup by bishops.

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

ALBUQUERQUE(NM)
Associated Press

June 21, 2019

By Susan Montoya Bryan

Nearly 400 claims have been filed against New Mexico’s largest and oldest Roman Catholic diocese as part of a pending bankruptcy case that stems from the clergy sex abuse scandal, church officials announced Friday.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe reported that 395 people filed claims against the church as of the June 17 deadline. That included 374 claims involving allegations of sex abuse. The remaining 21 were related to other grievances.

The archdiocese shocked parishioners across much of New Mexico when it filed for Chapter 11 reorganization last year, joining nearly two dozen other dioceses around the United States that have been struggling with the fallout from the abuse scandal.

“We are hopeful that mediation among the survivors’ committee, insurers, archdiocese and other parties will result in a consensus to provide as equitable a resolution for each and every claimant,” the archdiocese said in a statement issued Friday.

New Mexico has a long history with clergy sex abuse because many priests from around the country were sent to the state to get treatment for pedophilia. Church documents as well as legal filings and victim testimony indicate the priests were later assigned to parishes and schools across the state.

Numerous lawsuits resulted over the years, and the church was forced during the 1990s to begin publicly addressing the problem.

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

ERIE (PA)
Go Erie

Posted June 20, 2019

By Ed Palattella

The retired Erie bishop responds to allegations that he mishandled abuse reports when he was chancellor of the Diocese of Buffalo decades ago.

Retired Erie Catholic Bishop Donald W. Trautman on Thursday said he did nothing wrong related to the case of a New York priest accused of molesting minors more than 30 years ago, when Trautman was chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo.

Trautman was responding to allegations made at a news conference in Buffalo on Tuesday for James Bottlinger, 50. He said Trautman knew about abuse claims against the Rev. Michael Freeman, whom Bottlinger said molested him when he was a teenager.

“The assertions about me from the press conference in Buffalo regarding James Bottlinger are not accurate,” Trautman said in an email. “I can state with absolute certainty that I never saw Freeman and Bottlinger in Freeman’s bedroom or ‘private quarters.’

“If I had observed any inappropriate actions, I would have immediately corrected it,” Trautman said. “I did not cover up anything.”

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

NANTUCKET (MA)
CNN

June 21, 2019

By Evan Simko-Bednarski

See text messages purportedly sent by Kevin Spacey’s accuser

Filings made public Thursday in the Kevin Spacey sexual assault case include text messages sent by Spacey’s accuser on the night of the alleged incident.

Spacey is accused of indecent assault and battery for allegedly groping an 18-year-old busboy in July 2016 at the Club Car restaurant and bar on the island of Nantucket. He has pleaded not guilty.
A newly released March filing by Spacey’s attorney includes screenshots of texts exchanged between Spacey’s accuser and his girlfriend on the night of the alleged encounter.
CNN is not naming Spacey’s accuser because he is an alleged sexual assault victim.

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

UNITED STATES
NPR

June 21, 2019

By Nina Totenberg

Lost in the shuffle Thursday at the Supreme Court — with the major decision released in a separation of church and state case dominating — was another ruling that could, at some point, have wide ramifications for how American government functions.

The court ruled that Congress did not overstep its authority in handing off important power to the attorney general under the federal Sex Offender Registration Act, or SORNA.

The court’s decision came on a 5-3 vote, but only four justices agreed on the reasoning.

There was a landmine in the decision, however. With the fifth vote, Justice Samuel Alito said that if a majority of the court were willing to reexamine its long-held position, he might be willing to do the same.

For now, he was not willing to go that far, but that could change.

At issue in the case is the practice that allows federal agencies to write rules and make decisions about enforcing legislation enacted by Congress. This affects any law Congress passes, from the sex-offender statute in this case to, for example, the Affordable Care Act and on.

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

DETROIT (MI)
ChurchMilitant.com

June 20, 2019

By Anita Carey

Jim Kotyk: ‘By the grace of God, that wound can heal’

A victim of sexual abuse in the Byzantine eparchy of Parma, Ohio shows the path to healing for victims of abuse and for the Church.

Jim Kotyk is on a mission. He wants his story of abuse, suffering and forgiveness to provide hope for other victims and encourage good priests to persevere in their vocation.

Church Militant spoke with Kotyk, who said, “I feel like God has given me a gift and I want to share that gift.”

“I hope I can help others who’ve been molested by family, teachers and clergy. It is such a horrible, horrible wound,” Kotyk said. “But with the grace of God, that wound can heal.”

He said he was given the grace of forgiveness that allowed him to reclaim his life and his relationship with God.

Kotyk hopes he can reach those who’ve walked away from the Church. He encouraged them to “take a second look, learn a little bit about what you’ve left behind.”

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

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

June 21, 2019

By Cory Shaffer

The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland on Friday released a list of 22 previously unnamed priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children while wearing the cloth.

Bishop Nelson Perez announced the release in a letter in which he said a committee assembled by the diocese had determined that the accusations against each cleric on the list were “more likely than not to be true.”

“While the addition of new names to this list is certainly an occasion of profound sadness, inasmuch as it reminds us of the great harm experienced as a result of sexual abuse, I pray that it also may be an occasion for healing and a step toward restoring trust in the Church,” Perez wrote in the letter.

Among the priests named in the list is the Rev. Anthony Schuerger, who was placed on administrative leave Friday due to allegations that he sexually abused a child decades ago, the church said.

Schuerger has been pastor at St. Malachi Parish in Cleveland since 1994, and was still listed as pastor on Friday.

The list comes after Perez pledged in October to follow the lead of dioceses around the country and release the names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse, past and present.

The diocese in 2002 began publishing names of priests who were accused from that year forward. The move came following a grand jury inquiry led by then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason that identified hundreds of names but led to very few charges. A judge subsequently ruled that that report ought to remain secret, and the names included in the report had never been released.

The list released Friday includes 29 priests whom the diocese has previously named publicly.

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

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

June 20, 2019

By Katherine Gregg

With the legislative session nearing an end, a handful of Rhode Island victims of childhood sexual abuse came to the State House to beg Senate leaders to remove a potential new barrier to lawsuits against the church and any other “youth-serving” institutions that failed to stop past abuse.

The Rhode Island Catholic Church lost one major State House battle with the historic passage on Wednesday night of an abortion-rights law, but it is still waging war on a second legislative front: the potential cost of clergy sex abuse.

With the legislative session nearing an end, a half dozen or so Rhode Island victims of childhood sexual abuse came to the State House to beg Senate leaders to remove a potential new barrier to lawsuits against the church and any other “youth-serving” institutions that failed to stop past abuse.

They included long-ago abuse victim Josephine O’Connell of Providence, 78, who came with a sign that said: “Justice for Childhood Victims.″

Kathryn Robb — a lawyer, victim and executive director of the national advocacy group Child USA — told a news conference:

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

WALTHAM (MA)
Patch

June 20, 2019

By Jenna Fisher,

A Middlesex Superior Court judge ruling comes after nearly a year of an eminent domain battle between the city and the Stigmatines.

A Middlesex Superior Court judge ruled that the handful of priests who live on the Stigmatine property must leave by June 30. The court ruling enables the district to move forward with plans to build a new high school there, after years of back and forth about where to build in light of increased enrollment. It also comes after a months-long eminent domain battle with the Trustees of the Stigmatine Fathers religious order.

“The Trustees shall be required to vacate the Property as set forth in the City’s notice to vacate letter dated May 1, 2019, which sets the final date to fully vacate the Property as no later than June 30,” wrote Justice of the Supreme Court Valerie Yarashus in a court ruling late last month.

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

INDIANA
CNN

June 21, 2019

By Daniel Burke

A Jesuit high school in Indiana can no longer call itself “Catholic” because it employs a teacher engaged in a same-sex marriage, the Archbishop of Indianapolis says.

Archbishop Charles Thompson’s decree, dated June 21, means that Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis will no longer be recognized or identified as a Catholic institution within the archdiocese.

Thompson said the church considers Catholic school teachers to be “ministers” of the faith.

“To effectively bear witness to Christ, whether they teach religion or not, all ministers in their professional and private lives must convey and be supportive of Catholic Church teaching,” the Archdiocese of Indiana said in a statement on Thursday.

The Archdiocese said they tried but failed to reach an agreement with the Jesuit school.

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

MANCHESTER (ENGLAND)
Catholic News Service

June 21, 2019

By Simon Caldwell

An English church official “deliberately misled” a U.S. archdiocese into harboring a pedophile priest and helping him to escape justice for a quarter of a century, said a report from a child abuse inquiry.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles was persuaded to shelter Father James Robinson, who during the 1970s and 1980s had raped several boys, after officials gave false information about his sexual history.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse concluded in a report published June 21 that the deception meant that Father Robinson “was able to remain in America and avoid prosecution for nearly 25 years.”

It said Msgr. Daniel Leonard, former vicar general of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, where Father Robinson was trained, ordained and served as a priest, “deliberately misled the Archdiocese of Los Angeles about the nature of the allegations faced by Robinson.”

The Irish-born Father Robinson was ordained in 1971, but the report said he was abusing boys before he entered seminary, during his formation and after he was ordained.

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

ERIE (PA)
Erie News Now

June 21, 2019

A man who has spoken out about alleged clergy abuse to Erie News Now in the past called for transparency and action against former Erie Bishop Donald Trautman, who is accused of not doing enough to stop the abuse, during a news conference in Buffalo late Friday morning.

James Faluszcazk, a former priest who said he was sexually abused by a priest, claims Trautman is being protected by the church and has not faced any sanctions or investigations against him.

He told Erie News Now that Bishop Persico has the authority to take action within his own Diocese and withdraw Trautman’s faculties.

During a news conference in western New York on Tuesday, attorneys announced Trautman will be sued by a man who says he was the victim of abuse by a priest.

James Bottlinger, 50, said as a high school student, he was abused by Father Michael Freeman in the 1980s, and Donald Trautman saw him in the priest’s private quarters.

He said Trautman, who was chancellor of the Buffalo Diocese at the time, knew what was going on, and the church knew of victims before him and did not stop the abuse.

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Independent

June 21, 2019

By Chris Baynes

Birmingham’s Catholic church protected paedophile priests and allowed child sex abuse to continue in order to preserve its own reputation, a damning inquiry has found.

The Archdiocese of Birmingham “repeatedly failed” to alert police to allegations against its clergy and in doing so let perpetrators carry on abusing victims for years, the report concluded.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) examined more than 130 allegations of abuse against 78 people associated with the archdiocese since the 1930s. But it said the true scale of offending was likely to be far higher.

Thirteen abusers have been convicted and three other individuals received cautions over offences involving 53 children. Many other victims have since died, meaning their allegations cannot not be fully investigated.

Professor Alexis Jay, who is chairing the inquiry, said: “I am truly shocked by the scale of child sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Birmingham. The number of perpetrators and abused children is likely to be far higher than the figures suggest.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
Daily Caller

June 21, 2019

By Mary Margaret Olohan

Plaintiff Jane Roe filed a suit against the former president of a Baptist Seminary claiming that he covered up her alleged rape and sought to “break her down.”

Jane Roe was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, who reported “multiple violent sexual assaults” by a fellow student who was also an employee at the seminary.

Defendant Leighton Paige Patterson was President of SWBTS at the time and reportedly sought to prevent Roe’s accusations from coming to light, according to the suit.

Email records included in the lawsuit reveal that Patterson asked campus security at the seminary if he could privately meet with Roe so he could “break her down.”

SWBTS Chief of Campus Security wrote in an email to Patterson that he would like to be present when Patterson interviewed Roe.

Patterson replied in an email, “We will see. I have to break her down and may need no official types there but let me see.”

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

MONTREAL (CANADA)
CBC News

June 20, 2019

By Leah Hendry

Montreal archdiocese’s internal investigation held in building where man had been abused by priest as a child

A.B. says he had no idea what he was walking into when he was asked by the auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal to attend a meeting with church officials in late 2016.

He’d recently come forward to make a police complaint about the years of sexual abuse he’d endured as a child at the hands of a Montreal priest.

He was told the Church now needed to do its own internal investigation of the matter.

“It seemed like it was just going to be a normal day, to go talk to people,” the man said in an exclusive interview with CBC/Radio-Canada. He is known by the initials A.B., as his identity is protected under a court publication ban.

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

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
Bilgrimage blog

June 20, 2019

By William Lindsey

This essay is the third in a series Ruth Krall has written with the title “Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice.” The first essay in the series was published in two parts (here and here), and was followed by another two-part essay (here and here). As Ruth notes below, “In the first two essays, I utilized the language of public health to explore issues of prevention, containment and treatment. In this essay I have raised questions about how we begin to study these issues. I have raised the question of our research language as essential.”

As she further states, “Vis-à-vis the current clergy sexual abuse issue in multiple world religions, we need, I believe, an enhanced vocabulary. We need this enhanced and more precise vocabulary in order to comprehend the complex institutional forces at work in today’s religious communities as they experience and/or demonstrate the affinity sexual violence phenomena.” Here’s Ruth’s valuable essay:

Religious Leader Sexual Abuse — What Language Shall We Use?

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

NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist News Global

June 21, 2019

By Bob Allen

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is paying heed to a major sexual abuse crisis engulfing its estranged sibling, the Southern Baptist Convention, an official said June 20 during a report of the CBF Governing Board.

“Like last year, our General Assembly coincides with the Southern Baptist Convention, who were here in this very space this time last week,” past moderator Shauw Chin Capps said during a business session of the 2019 CBF General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama.

“In light of what has transpired in the SBC as they find themselves in the spotlight dealing with the aftermath of decades of sexual abuse and coverup involving 700 victims and over 200 sexual abusers, I would be remiss not to say a few words about this.”

Capps, former CEO of a non-profit organization serving victims of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault, said there are two lessons the 1,800-church group that separated from the SBC in the 1990s over issues including women’s equality can learn from recent newspaper reports documenting widespread sexual abuse in the nation’s second-largest faith group behind Roman Catholics.

“Number one, we are not immune to the problem of sexual abuse in our churches and organizations,” said Capps, now a consultant for an executive search firm. “I know this firsthand, so we do not gloat and pretend that this is not happening within CBF life. We acknowledge our brokenness and the need for repentance and for increased efforts at all levels to prevent sexual abuse of children and adults.”

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

MONROVIA (LIBERIA)
Radio France Internationale

June 21, 2019

By William Niba

Allegations of sexual harassment and abuse in Liberia’s Catholic Church continue to traumatise the lives of spiritual workers, after two top clerics were named in a major sex and office abuse scandal.

The most damaging scandal to hit the faith in decades broke out in August last year when estranged Reverend Father Gabriel Sawyer sent an email message to the Pope.

He accuses the Archbishop of Monrovia and another top prelate of persecuting him and other subordinates who refused to have sex with him.

Sawyer, who has since resigned, claims that the psychological and mental molestations he suffered in the hands of Monsignor Lewis Zeigler were too much for him to continue with his spiritual mission.

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

NEW SOUTH WALES (AUSTRALIA)
The Weekend Australian

June 22, 2019

By Gerard Windsor

In late 1900 a former Australian Test cricketer, Arthur Coningham, brought divorce proceedings, on the grounds of adultery, against his wife, Alice. He named as co-respondent Father Denis Francis O’Haran, secretary to Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran and dean of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney. The “criminal conversation” (as legal systems once termed it) was said to have taken place in the cathedral grounds.

There ensued a very divisive public donnybrook — on one side the Catholic Church, on the other hardliners of various Christian denominations, notably Presbyterians and the Loyal Orange Lodge. A priest was suborned, a Catholic postmaster-general interfered with the mails. Eventually O’Haran was pronounced not to be a guilty party.

Much exultation in Catholic circles, much gnashing of teeth by the other parties. Recent scholarly opinion is that O’Haran had indeed sinned.

Who the Hell is Hamish?
Bitter tribalism set in, ready to be inflamed further by the conscription referendums 15 years later and the role of a Melbourne archbishop, Daniel Mannix.

When, 118 years later, in December last year a former archbishop of Melbourne was found guilty of sexual abuse of minors, there was the same eruption of glee and dismay. This time the roles were reversed. Catholics generally, and some non-Catholics, were horrified and their opponents were in seventh heaven.

Catholic horror this time was of two kinds. Rejectors of the verdict were outraged that their senior representative should be so hounded. Acceptors felt scandalised and ashamed. My suspicion is the first group, even among non-practising Catholics, was the larger one. My tribe right or wrong.

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

BARNSTABLE (MA)
Barnstable Patriot

June 20, 2019

Seventeen years ago, a series of stories by The Boston Globe ripped away the cloak of mystery surrounding the Boston Archdiocese, exposing a coordinated effort to help pedophile priests avoid detection, allowing them to abuse and molest hundreds of boys and girls across the commonwealth. In the intervening years, it has become horrifically apparent that Boston was not some anomaly, as states began taking a closer look at long-dormant reports of similar stories in their communities. What few wanted to think about then was that the Catholic Church, although unique in its hierarchy, was not unique in its unpardonable desire to protect its own, even at the cost of those it had sworn to protect.

The fallout from the Globe’s Spotlight team investigation continues to reverberate today. Teams from more than 20 state and federal offices are actively investigating wrongdoing in the American Catholic Church, examining not only the criminal conduct of individual priests, but also that of the church’s hierarchy, examining whether it engaged in a coordinated cover-up that may result in anti-racketeering charges being leveled against high-ranking Catholic officials.

Although disturbing in terms of the apparent scope of efforts to hide the information from the public, the Catholic Church is hardly alone in terms of abuse. Earlier this year, the Southern Baptist Convention acknowledged reports that hundreds of ranking church leaders had allegedly abused hundreds of children over the years, and that some church leaders, much like their Catholic counterparts, had covered up the incidents and moved the abusive leaders to new congregations, where some re-offended.

Secular groups have seen their share of allegations as well. In 2012, a secret file kept by the Boy Scouts of America came to light, detailing allegations of abuse by nearly 8,000 Boy Scout leaders dating back to the 1940s that involved more than 12,000 alleged victims, but it was not until this past April that an investigator revealed the full scope of the information. In a press statement, the organization claimed that it had turned over all of the information to law enforcement authorities and had provided counseling for the victims. Some speculate, however, that although abusive leaders may have been removed from the Scouts, their actions remained hidden from public, potentially leaving them to offend again.

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

SPRINGFIELD (MA).
The Republican

June 21, 2019

By Anne-Gerard Flynn

Following a meeting Thursday with a man who claims he was sexually abused decades ago by the late Bishop Christopher J. Weldon and two priests, Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski filed a report with the Hampden District Attorney’s Office and is weighing what other steps the diocese may take.

The alleged victim told The Republican in a statement that he was “thankful I was able to tell my story to Bishop Rozanski today and reiterate the sexual abuse I continually suffered at the hands of (Rev. Clarence) Forand, (Rev. Edward) Authier and Bishop Weldon.”

“I was clear and I was heard,” the man stated. “My impression was that the bishop ‘got it.’ I want to tell all survivors out there that you don’t have to be silent anymore, you are not going to be hurt again. There are safe allies who want to help you. You do not have to carry the secrets of your abusers’ anymore.”

Diocesan spokesman Mark Dupont confirmed the alleged victim made the accusation against Weldon in response to a question by Rozanski. It was documented and an “initial report has been filed with the Hampden County District Attorney,” he said.

The meeting was requested by the alleged victim, who had testified before the diocesan Review Board in June 2018. However, his testimony of making direct accusations against the diocese’s fourth bishop was disputed by the board, which found his accusations against two other deceased priests credible.

The alleged victim issued his statement to The Republican through Patricia Martin, a licensed clinical psychologist and former Review Board member. She attended the two-hour meeting at an undisclosed location with him and three other support people.

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

PARIS (FRANCE)
La Croix International

June 21, 2019

A Vatican official heading a department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations has told Catholic journalists in the United Sates that they share the same goal of protecting minors.

Father John Kennedy, who since 2017 has headed the discipline section for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, also described the personal toll on the 17 people in his office.

While bound by rules of confidentiality, the Vatican investigators, like journalists, had a desire to speak about the truth for the common good, the priest told the gathering of Catholic journalists in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The purpose of journalism was to provide information citizens need to make the best possible decisions about their lives and society.Meanwhile, the church’s legal processes and mission was to “deliver justice” for victims of abuse.Father Kennedy told the Catholic journalists that his Vatican team faced an ever-growing tide of cases.

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

Patheos blog

June 21, 2019

By Deacon Greg Kandra

I am in St. Petersburg this week for the Catholic Media Conference, and heard Msgr. Kennedy give this address. It was, to say the least, sobering.

Details, from CNS:
In a remarkably frank and detailed speech, the Vatican official heading the department charged with reviewing clergy sexual abuse allegations told an assembly of Catholic journalists that his investigators and the press “share the same goal, which is the protection of minors, and we have the same wish to leave the world a little better than how we found it.”

Msgr. John Kennedy, who since 2017 has headed the discipline section for the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, described the personal toll on the 17 people in his office as they have reviewed an ever-growing tide of cases involving clergy sexual abuse or related crimes.

“I can honestly tell you that, when reading cases involving sexual abuse by clerics, you never get used to it, and you can feel your heart and soul hurting,” Kennedy said. “There are times when I am pouring over cases that I want to get up and scream, that I want to pack up my things and leave the office and not come back.”

The Irish-born priest has worked and studied in Rome since 1998. Speaking with a soft Irish brogue and an even tone, he gave a humane and at times anguished assessment of his job reviewing the horrors of sexual abuse and its cover-up.

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

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Hollywood Gossip

June 21, 2019

By Tyler Johnson

It’s been just over 4 years since the Josh Duggar sex scandals shocked the nation and very nearly brought down his family’s multi-million dollar media empire.

But while the public didn’t learn of Josh’s crimes until 2015, his parents and his community had been helping him keep the secret for quite a long time.

Josh allegedly molested five young girls in multiple incidents that occurred between 2002 and 2003.

While his parents helped the then-teenager avoid legal fallout, it seems Josh didn’t escape punishment entirely.

According to a shocking new report from Radar Online, Josh was “disciplined” by his church in bizarre fashion after elders learned of his transgressions.

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

WASHINGTON (DC)
American Conservative

June 11, 2019

By Rod Dereher

How do you keep rising high in the Catholic Church after you get into a world of trouble? It helps to have a friend in the highest place. Here’s the latest from Buenos Aires:

Bishop Gustavo Oscar Zanchetta, one of Pope Francis’ first episcopal appointments, has been formally charged with alleged sexual abuse of two seminarians in the Diocese of Oran in northern Argentina.

According to the prosecutor’s office in Oran, Zanchetta was charged with “aggravated continuous sexual abuse committed by a minister of a religious organization.” He has been forbidden to have contact with the seminarians in question or their family members.

In 2015, Zanchetta was accused of engaging in “strange behavior” when a diocesan official discovered pornographic images on the archbishop’s cellphone. Pornographic images of men were found, allegedly sent to unknown parties, as well as Zanchetta’s nude selfies. Reportedly, there were no images of children found.

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

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

June 21, 2019

By Steve Duin

That the case of Michael Sperou has turned, once again, on the word “victim” is the cruelest of ironies.

To be labeled “victim” at North Clackamas Bible Community, where Sperou was high priest and pedophile, was to be derided and shamed.

Whenever you showed emotion or voiced complaint, you were mocked for playing the victim. “The word is used as a weapon in the church in the most condescending way,” says Jennifer Olajuyin, who escaped the personality cult 15 years ago. “It’s a word they use to make fun of people.”

And for the Oregon Supreme Court, it’s the damning word that justifies a new trial for Sperou, four years into a 20-year sentence for unlawful sexual penetration.

Two weeks ago, the state’s high court called foul on the trial court judge and the Court of the Appeals regarding testimony leading to Sperou’s 2015 conviction.

For years, seven women accused Sperou of sexually abusing them. The Supreme Court says Multnomah County Circuit Judge Cheryl Albrecht did not err when she allowed the prosecutor, Chris Mascal, to describe those women as victims.

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

NASHVILLE (TN)
Baptist Press

June 20, 2019

By Diana Chandler

A former Southern Baptist pastor is jailed in Lake Charles, La., after allegedly raping and molesting a pre-teen girl for two years, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office (CPSO) reported June 17

Bellview Baptist Church in Westlake, La., fired 45-year-old John Michael Ward after his arrest, the church said in a statement released yesterday (June 19) by the Carey Baptist Association of Lake Charles.

“Bellview Baptist Church leaders are cooperating fully with the sheriff’s office in the investigation,” the church said in the statement released by Bruce Baker, Carey missions director. “The deacons, in consultation with Carey Baptist Association, unanimously voted to immediately terminate Ward’s employment with the congregation because of his sexual immorality and failure to maintain the high standard of integrity for the office of pastor outlined in the Bible.” Ward had pastored the church since 2012.

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

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

June 20, 2019

The Aotearoa-New Zealand chapter is founded by Dr Christopher Longhurst, a survivor of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and brothers at two Catholic schools in New Zealand in the 1980s. Chris recently discovered that others abused by priests and religious started support groups within the SNAP network, and this grew worldwide. Chris is now the peer-support facilitator for the Aotearoa-New Zealand SNAP chapter.

“At SNAP Aotearoa-New Zealand, we know that sometimes all it takes to heal is a little support. We are determined to make an impact. The core of our efforts will be to bring together survivors of abuse by priests and religious across Aotearoa-New Zealand. None of our members are experts. We’re just survivors helping survivors. Our mission is to support each other, protect children, do advocacy around laws reporting abuse, and speak out against abusers and those who have covered up for them. Through all of our endeavours, we hope to achieve the conviction behind our belief that together we can heal.”

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

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

June 20, 2019

Another Detroit priest is accused of child sexual abuse. We call on officials at the Archdiocese of Detroit to do more than the bare minimum in their outreach.

Fr. Joseph “Jack” Baker has been suspended from ministry by the Archdiocese. However, instead of announcing this news at a press conference and including a direct, personal appeal to victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers, the Archdiocese opted for a terse news release and did not even include needed information in it.

Informed communities are safer communities and we believe that the Archdiocese should do its part in creating these communities by being open and honest about when and where Fr. Baker’s alleged crimes occurred, where Fr. Baker is now, and who is monitoring him.

Archbishop Allen Henry Vigneron should also personally visit each parish where Fr. Baker worked and actively seek out others with information about the allegations. At the very least, the Archbishop should make sure that there are pulpit announcements, bulletin notices and website notifications about Fr. Baker in every parish this weekend.

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

FT. WORTH (TX)
Ft. Worth Telegram

June 20, 2019

By Cynthia M. Allen

At a time when the Catholic Church in the U.S. is undergoing a serious but deserved crisis of confidence over its handling of sexual abuse within its ranks, Bishop Michael Olson is the face of the faith in Fort Worth, charged with leading his flock through ominous times.

Olson and his contemporaries across the country are bearing the burden of the Church’s sins, with consequences ranging from dwindling mass attendance to investigations by secular authorities and a constant stream of public approbation. Again, much of that is deserved.

Olson’s response to the crisis has been unequivocal, in word — his condemnation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick at a meeting of the U.S. Catholic Bishops was among the strongest of his rank — and in deed.

“When anyone reports anything to me — grooming, harassment, stalking, assault — I act on it immediately,” Olson assured me in February.

True to his word, Olson has been quick to remove several clergy suspected of or complicit in alleged sexual misconduct.

That’s to be commended, especially when many of his fellow bishops have responded to the sexual abuse crisis with reluctance and ambiguity.

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

Patheos blog

June 19, 2019

By William Droel

There are prophets of peace and builders of peace. There are protesters and institutional reformers. There are outsiders and insiders. The distinction is fluid. A person might be a prophetic outsider on one topic and an expert insider on another.

Newspapers and textbooks often present the outsider as a model for social justice. The outsider is concerned with social change but not overly concerned with how to implement reform. The insider gets less attention. They are the ones who speak institutional jargon. They can be dull. They know tax tables and zoning laws; they know about international protocols and about pipeline treaties. These insiders resist the first answer that occurs to them because they have heard the world’s complexities reduced to slogans. They take confidence in their faith but they do not believe that God is on their side or that God is opposed to their opponents. Insiders regularly wonder if they are right. They readily acknowledge to themselves that in this or that situation they are only 75% right.

The outsider is necessary for momentum but eventually the insider makes social change. Without inside reformers there are only passing reactions to grievances. Are there any bridges between the vociferous outsider and the stodgy insider?

The term ginger group is sometimes used in England and elsewhere. It refers to a conscience within a broader social reform movement or organization. A ginger group is loyal but it also dissents from an organization’s leaders. For example, Labor Notes (www.labornotes.org) with offices in Detroit and Brooklyn is loyal to unions. But it champions those workers that reform a workplace without waiting for clearance from an international union headquarters. Voice of the Faithful (www.votf.org), to mention a second example, has headquarters in suburban Boston. Its members have not left Roman Catholicism in disgust over bishops’ malfeasance nor have they challenged Catholic dogma. Instead they are a controversial ginger group that presses for reform.

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

MEXICO CITY (MEXICO)
Catholic News Service

June 20, 2019

By David Agren

A priest in Mexico City has been arrested for murder barely a week after he celebrated a funeral
Mass for the victim.

Father Francisco Javier Bautista was arrested June 19 by Mexico City judicial officials. He was charged with the murder of Hugo Leonardo Avendano Chavez, 29, who had recently graduated with a master’s degree from a Catholic university, worked with Father Bautista at Christ the Savior Parish and had aspirations of entering the priesthood.

The priest, who also served as an exorcist, was ordered held pending trial.

Motives for the slaying were not revealed by Mexico City investigators, though local prosecutor Ernestina Godoy told reporters the case was not a kidnapping, as originally reported.

Avendano was found murdered June 13 in southern Mexico City. Family say he had gone to the Christ the Savior Parish, where he worked, late June 11 and saw Father Bautista.

The two men were spotted together outside the parish, according to footage from surveillance cameras.

The Archdiocese of Mexico City issued a statement June 19, saying it was watching events closely — without naming the priest — and adding it was cooperating with investigators.

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

FT. MYERS (FL)
NBC 2 TV

June 11, 2019

Roman Catholic Bishops were in Baltimore on Tuesday to confront the reignited sex abuse crisis. They’re looking at increasing their accountability when it comes to sex abuse cases.

Several Attorneys General, including Florida’s, launched state investigations after a Pennsylvania Grand Jury report in August detailed hundreds of cases of alleged abuse.

More than half of all the dioceses around the country have released lists with the names of Catholic clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children.

Just last month, the Archdiocese of New York, the second-largest diocese in the nation, identified 120 priests and deacons accused of sexually abusing a child or having child pornography.

This all comes one year after a report released by a grand jury in Pennsylvania accused more than 300 priests of sexually abusing children.

The NBC2 Investigators asked the seven dioceses in Florida to send us a list of clergy who had been credibly accused of sexually abusing children, but only one of the seven, the Diocese of St. Petersburg, sent the NBC2 Investigators a list.

“Even if years have passed, we want to hear from you,” said former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, last October.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi made the announcement last October, that all seven of Florida’s catholic dioceses were part of a statewide investigation into clergy abuse.

When the NBC2 Investigators asked current AG Ashley Moody’s office where that investigation stands, spokesperson Kylie Mason said, “As this investigation is ongoing, we cannot comment further at this time.”

When the NBC2 Investigators asked the Diocese of Venice, which covers all six counties in our viewing area, for a list of clergy who had been credibly accused, spokesperson Bob Reddy said, “Out of respect for the statewide prosecutor’s declared practice of not commenting regarding ongoing investigations, the Diocese is doing the same and does not foresee making any further statements on this issue.”

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

LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Independent

June 20, 2019

By Chris Riotta

A woman who said she was raised as a Scientologist and served as a personal steward to the leader of the religion has sued the church, accusing it of human trafficking, forced labour and child abuse, among other damning allegations.

The woman, listed in court records as “Jane Doe,” said she was put in an isolation programme known as “the Hole” after learning about marital issues between the leader of the church, David Miscavige, and his wife.

She said she eventually escaped when she was assigned to help shoot promotional videos for the church with an actor who was not a Scientologist. The woman hid in the trunk of the actor’s car and fled the church in 2016, according to the complaint.

The Church of Scientology International has disputed the accusations in a statement to NBC News, saying “the lawsuit comprises nothing more than unfounded allegations as to all defendants” and adding it was “littered with anti-religious slurs culled from the tabloids and accusations that have been dis-proven in courts decades ago.”

Jane Doe went on to work for actress Leah Remini, a former Scientologist who has documented her experiences with leaving the church in a series titled “Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath.”

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

DENVER (CO)
Denver Catholic

June 20, 2019

Jesus tells the disciples in St. John’s Gospel, “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” contrasting his goodness with the thieves who come only to steal and destroy. This past week my fellow U.S. bishops and I sought to act as good shepherds by approving three measures to increase our vigilance and prevention of the evil of sexual abuse by bishops, shepherds who have betrayed the flock entrusted to them.

This last weekend we celebrated Father’s Day, which should remind biological and spiritual fathers of their great responsibility of protecting and raising up new life. This mission is further emphasized by the Rite for the Ordination of a Bishop, which says, “In the Church entrusted to you, be a faithful steward, moderator and guardian of the mysteries of Christ. Since you are chosen by the Father to rule over his family, be mindful always of the Good Shepherd, who knows his sheep and is known by them, and who did not hesitate to lay down his life for them.” This is the model for all bishops.

But the scandals of Theodore McCarrick, Bishop Bransfield and others have made it clear that our vigilance has not been adequate. To quote from the just-issued “Affirming Our Episcopal Commitment” statement, “We, the bishops of the United States, have heard the anger expressed by so many within and outside of the Church over these failures. The anger is justified; it has humbled us, prompting us into self-examination, repentance, and a desire to do better.” This sentiment was clear in my interactions with my fellow bishops in Baltimore this past week.

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