EAST CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Court TV
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Prosecutors rested their child rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley by calling his accuser's Sunday School classmates, who offered the only testimony to corroborate the accuser's claims of abuse 15 years ago.
Four of his peers from catechism class at St. John's Parish in Newton, where Shanley was assigned in the 1980s, testified that the accuser was part of a "rowdy" group of boys often sent from class to visit Shanley for disciplinary action.
"The best word I can use is very chaotic, it was hard to pay attention," Kerry Lessard testified of the classroom environment.
"The three boys seemed to get in a lot of trouble," Christine Michelon said.
The three boys were all included in the indictment against Shanley in June 2002. In an effort to "streamline" the case, prosecutors dropped the other accusers from the indictment, letting stand just the charges pertaining to one accuser.
GHANA
Ghana Web
Accra, Jan. 31, GNA - A 44-year old Nigerian Pastor accused of fondling with the breast of a 12 year-old girl resulting in injury has appeared before an Accra District Magistrate's Court charged with indecent assault.
Joseph Okafor, the Pastor, pleaded not guilty and the Court admitted him to a 10 million cedis bail to reappear on February 16.
Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Alice Yeboah told the court that Okafor was in charge of the United Faith Church at Dome, Pillar Two, in Accra while the Victim is a member of the Church.
Chief Inspector Yeboah said on November 25, 2004 the Victim's mother detected that the she was unable to sleep during the night and asked her why she could not sleep.
The victim showed her swollen left breast with a sore on it to her mother and alleged that Okafor had been fondling with her breasts anytime she attended church service.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— A psychologist testifying in the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley said Monday that it's not uncommon for adults who suffer trauma as children to repress memories of the experience.
Shanley's accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says he remembered in early 2002 that he'd been repeatedly raped and molested by the former priest from 1983 to 1989 at a Newton parish. Shanley's lawyer has questioned the science behind repressed memory, also known as dissociative amnesia.
The condition is "not common, but it's not at all rare," said prosecution witness Dr. James Chu, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
He said repressed memory is more common among people who suffered repeated trauma as children than in those who suffered a single traumatic event.
"It really is more this repeated trauma that tends to be forgotten by some mechanism," Chu said.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Union-Tribune
By Denise Lavoie
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:55 p.m. January 31, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Prosecutors wrapped up their case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley on Monday after a psychologist testified that it is not uncommon for adults who suffer trauma as children to repress memories of the experience.
Shanley's accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says he remembered in early 2002 that he had been repeatedly raped and molested by the former priest from 1983 to 1989 at a parish outside Boston. Shanley's lawyer has questioned the science behind repressed memory.
The condition is "not common, but it's not at all rare," said prosecution witness Dr. James Chu, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
He said repressed memory is more common among people who suffered repeated trauma as children than in those who suffered a single traumatic event.
Under cross-examination by Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, Chu acknowledged that there is an intense debate within the psychiatric community about the validity of repressed memories. He also conceded that false memories can be implanted in a person's mind through repeated suggestions by someone they trust.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Turnto10.com
POSTED: 5:25 pm EST January 31, 2005
UPDATED: 6:02 pm EST January 31, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The state has rested its case in the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley. Earlier Monday, an expert in so-called "repressed memory" took the stand.
Testifying for the prosecution, psychiatrist James Chu said it was unusual but not rare for adults who were traumatized as children to repress memories of that trauma.
Under cross-examination, however, Chu acknowledged there is intense debate in the psychiatric community about repressed memory.
After prosecutors called their final witness, Judge Stephen Neel threw out one of the three child rape charges.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Melody McDonald
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - An indictment has been returned against a 55-year-old former pastor alleging that he sexually abused six males over a 14-year period, many inside his Westside Victory Baptist Church.
On Friday, a Tarrant County grand jury returned seven separate indictments against the Rev. Larry Nuell Neathery, accusing him of sexual misconduct from 1990 to 2004.
Those alleged to be his victims include:
* A 13-year-old church member who says Neathery sexually assaulted him several times in late 2003 and early 2004.
* An adult who says Neathery fondled him as a youth in 1990 and, later, tried to sexually assault him as an adult in 2003.
* A juvenile who alleges that Neathery befriended him and then exposed himself in early 2002.
* Three brothers -- then ages 7, 11, and 12 -- who accuse Neathery of varying degrees of sexual misconduct.
Neathery, who resigned as pastor of the Westside Victory Baptist Church in December, remains in Tarrant County Jail awaiting trial.
ROME
Catholic World News
Rome, Jan. 31 (CWNews.com) - In a message to the Legionaries of Christ, Pope John Paul II (bio - news) has conveyed his regards to the founder of that movement, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, and to his successor.
Father Maciel stepped down last week as head of the Legionaries, declining re-election at the meeting of the group's chapter general. Father Alvaro Corcuera was selected to replace him. The Pope's message, issued January 31, acknowledged the change in leadership, but said that the Legionaries should continue on the same path. The Legionaries, the Pontiff said, should continue to provide intellectual and spiritual formation for young people, while respecting their freedom and personal responsibility.
The decision by Father Maciel to remove himself from leadership came at a sensitive time, shortly after reports that Vatican officials were re-examining sexual abuse charges against the Mexican priest. Father Maciel and the Legionaries have denied the charges, and the Legionaries said that their founder stepped down because of age. Father Maciel is now 84, and another 12-year term as head of the congregation would make him 96 years old before the next scheduled meeting of the chapter general.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
By Brendan McDaid
31 January 2005
THE decision to allow a Londonderry priest to stay in office despite a sexual assault allegation has been "vindicated", the Bishop of Derry has claimed.
In a highly unusual step, Catholic Bishop, Dr Seamus Hegarty took over weekend Mass at St Patrick's Church, Dungiven - the parish where the priest involved, Fr Andy McCloskey, had served.
Defending the decision from the pulpit, Bishop Hegarty told those gathered that Fr McCloskey had ministered in Dungiven as a "broken, wounded man".
He added: "Fr McCloskey came to you within a few months of his having received treatment for his problem with alcohol.
"It is a further tribute to all of your priests, past and present, and you the people of the parish, that you have contributed so effectively to his recovery.
"The decision to reinstate Fr McCloskey in ministry in 1993 has been vindicated by the quality of his ministry since then."
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Gary Grado, Tribune
The cost of defending lawsuits against priests sent behind bars for sex offenses keeps rising for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
Since December 2002, when the first of eight priests was indicted after a yearlong investigation, at least 14 lawsuits have been filed against the diocese alleging sexual misconduct.
The latest involves Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa. On Friday, the Rev. Karl LeClaire became the third priest to plead guilty and to be sentenced for his crimes.
Diocese officials refuse to disclose how much they are paying the private law firms defending the cases, but insist their finances are in good shape.
"The diocesan resources and insurance resources are sufficient to resolve these cases," said Mike Haran, diocesan attorney. Insurance will cover some of the cases, but not all, he added.
In September 2003, Archbishop Michael Sheehan said allegations of sexual abuse of minors by priests had cost the diocese $2.7 million in settlements, legal fees, counseling for victims and other costs.
STOCKTON (CA)
Record
By Jeffrey M. Barker
Record Staff Writer
Published Sunday, January 30, 2005
STOCKTON -- A lawsuit charging a former Stockton priest with molesting two girls while visiting their home has been scheduled for trial next month in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The suit against the Rev. Francis Arakal and the Diocese of Stockton accuses the priest of fondling two girls in 2001. It also charges another priest and the church with reacting inappropriately when one of the girls attempted to report the molestation.
"Very rarely do these cases get to the point where trials are set," said Anthony Boskovich, a San Jose attorney representing the two girls, who are sisters, and their mother. All three live in Hughson.
Arakal is listed as a parochial vicar for St. Joseph's Church in Modesto.
Attorneys for the Stockton diocese -- Paul Balestracci and Vladimir Kozina, both of Stockton -- and for Arakal, Michael Coughlan of Stockton, each declined to comment on the case.
NORTHERN IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Independent
THE Bishop of Derry, Rev Seamus Hegarty, told parishioners in Dungiven, Co Derry, yesterday that their curate, who has been given leave of absence as the result of a sex abuse allegation, was a broken, wounded man.
Fr Andrew McCloskey (55), had admitted during masses in St Patrick's Church, Dungiven, eight days ago that he was the un-named priest reported to have paid an out-of-court settlement earlier this month to a man who claimed he had made sexual advances to him in 1992.
The €15,000 payment was made without any admission of liability. Fr McCloskey said that in 1992 he was an alcoholic. The injured party claimed that the incident occurred when he was 19 years of age after he'd gone to the priest seeking counselling.
Fr McCloskey was administrator of St Mary's Parish in the Creggan area of Derry and the incident is alleged to have taken place in the parochial house.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Leadership
On this page, experts on trauma and memory will offer commentary on issues that are being raised by the criminal trial of Paul Shanley --the former Boston priest who has been charged with child rape. This is not a forum where we will speculate on guilt or innocence. Those are issues for the jury to decide. Instead, we will attempt to use our expertise to respond to important issues or questions that are being raised by the case.
SWAMPSCOTT (MA)
Lynn Daily Item
By Debra Glidden
Monday, January 31, 2005
SWAMPSCOTT - Parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Church consoled one another and expressed disbelief over allegations made against their former pastor, who resigned on Friday after allegations were made he tried to solicit sex for a fee.
At the 10 a.m. Mass at St. John the Evangelist on Sunday, which was attended by more than 200 people and presided over by Monsignor Paul Garrity of St. Mary's Church, the mood among parishioners as they entered the church.
The Rev. Jerome Gillespie, 55, who was sent to St. John's in September, is scheduled to appear in Chelsea District Court on Feb. 17 to face charges of enticement of a child under age 16, solicitation of sex for a fee, and annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex. He is alleged to have propositioned a 12-year-old girl and her mother at a Chelsea restaurant last Tuesday night.
The parishioners at the Sunday morning service said they doubt the allegation.
LOUISIANA
Times-Picayune
Monday, January 31, 2005
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
Confession is sacred in the Catholic Church, each spoken word sealed forever by the rules of Rome.
If a priest were to divulge what he hears in a confession -- even the admission of a murder -- it would amount to a mortal sin, church law says. Punishment in this world includes excommunication.
Louisiana law also takes the act of spiritual guidance into consideration in criminal cases, and not for Catholics only. The "clergyman's privilege" is the right to keep what is said in such religious meetings confidential.
But the law isn't going to help two young men from New Orleans accused of robbing and shooting a cabdriver in 2002, the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled.
The minister whom two cousins trusted cannot be stopped from taking the witness stand to repeat a purported confession of the cabbie attack, the court said. The 6-1 decision saves the case from the legal dustbin at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, because the minister remains the state's central witness.
HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle
By RICHARD VARA
Houston Chronicle
Despite overcast skies and chilling winds, more than 1,200 Roman Catholic clergy and laity turned out Sunday to celebrate a ground blessing for a new $32 million cathedral for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
The event was celebrated with choirs, a brass ensemble and a colorful procession of robed clergy, altar servers and teens carrying banners.
Work is scheduled to begin immediately on the 1,820-seat cathedral, with completion in 28 months.
"I am so grateful that so many of you are here to ask God, with me, to place his particular blessing upon this square block upon which will be built the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart," Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said. ...
Fiorenza said Sunday that he had hoped to be dedicating the cathedral at this time but acknowledged that several events during the four-year capital campaign had intervened and forced a downsizing ofplans.
"First came Sept. 11, a terrible blow to this country and to our hearts," Fiorenza said. "Then there was the collapse of Enron and other large companies based in Houston. The economy began to go south.
"We had to face the terrible tragedy in the church of the clerical sexual abuse of minors."
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
By Linda Morris
February 1, 2005
In a rare personal message, the Pope has appealed to Australia's Catholic lawyers to defend the rights of the unborn and aged.
Conferring his blessing on the St Thomas More Society, the Catholic lawyers' association, the Pope John Paul II urged its members to defend the "inviolable dignity and rights of every human being - from conception until natural death".
The message came as the society marked its 60th anniversary at St Mary's Cathedral with a "Red Mass" to mark the start of the legal year. The mass was celebrated in the presence of three cardinals and before some of the state's most senior judges, barristers and solicitors.
The society, named for the lawyer and politician beheaded by Henry VIII in 1535 for refusing to accept the king's claim to be supreme head of the English church, has quietly lobbied for changes to the abortion laws.
The society has also opposed euthanasia and advised on the Catholic Church's formal protocol for dealing with sexual abuse claims. Most recently, it argued for the NSW Government to give legal protection to foetuses and is now urging Federal Parliament to hold the line on banning the use of embryos in stem-cell research.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
NOBODY likes to have their dirty laundry aired in public, and certainly Toledo would prefer to be thrust onto the national stage for its contributions to jazz or its place in industrial history rather than for its part in the national clergy-abuse scandal. Sometimes, however, as in the case of the documentary Twist of Faith, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival recently, it is painfully necessary.
The movie, by veteran filmmaker Kirby Dick, is about the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Toledo Catholic Diocese, seen primarily through the anguish of one man, Toledo firefighter Tony Comes, who claims he was abused as a teen by Toledo priest Dennis Gray.
Mr. Gray, who left the priesthood in 1987, was forced to step down as dean of students at Rogers High School in September, 2002, after The Blade revealed allegations of sexual misconduct while he was a priest. He denied the allegations.
Most of the cases against the diocese were settled out of court and Mr. Comes received a $55,000 settlement.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MIKE GOODWIN, Staff writer
First published: Monday, January 31, 2005
Edward N. Leroux, one of the first priests removed from ministry by the Albany Catholic Diocese for child sexual abuse, has died. He was 75.
Leroux died at Glens Falls Hospital on Jan. 16 after a brief illness. Though he removed Leroux from active ministry, Bishop Howard Hubbard officiated at the fallen priest's funeral at St. Mary's Church in Glens Falls.
Leroux and five others priests were removed by the Albany diocese leadership in June 2002. They were the first area clergy forced out of the ministry after the U.S. Conference of Bishops adopted a strict policy weeks earlier that banned all priests with any known history of abusing minors.
John Aretakis, an attorney for at least three men who claim they were abused by Leroux in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said his clients felt cheated because they will never be able to confront their abuser. Aretakis said one of Leroux's victims was 12 at the time of the abuse and the other two were 14 when it began.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
A review of Worcester Superior Court case # WOCV1995-00267, which is contained in four folders and thousands of pages of legal filings, contains information so disturbing that the previously unknown facts need to be told.
A new link has been added to the Worcester Voice web site called Notre Dame Academy.
Notre Dame Academy is a college preparatory school for young women and their web site said that their education should prepare students for their role as Christian women. In 1995, the school was location of sexual abuse allegations by a 14-year-old female student who said she was sexual abused by the music teacher, Mr. Kallin Johnson.
The Worcester Voice goal is not to comment on the guilt of innocence of the accused teacher. The intent here is to expose the carefully calculated campaign by this private Roman Catholic school, which exists in the Worcester Diocese, to discredit the female student before the facts were known. To show the power of Notre Dame Academy and the Worcester Diocese, along with their unlimited dollars, to apply the staunchest defense of the accused teacher.
"Everything she's suffered as a result of his conduct, they now want to use against her," said Boston lawyer Wendy Murphy. "It's your basic "nuts and sluts' defense: She's made it up before, and she's crazy. But she has no motivation to lie. Nothing good has come from this. On the contrary, she's been shunned by the school," Ms. Murphy was quoted as saying.
The Massachusetts Department of Social Services supported the sexual abuse allegation against Mr. Johnson after a January 19, 1995 child abuse investigation. Mr. Johnson was then placed on the DSS central registry as a sex offender, according to Attorney Murphy. Mr. Johnson was never removed from his teaching position in 1995 by Notre Dame Academy and continues to teach there today.
VATICAN CITY
Zenit
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 30, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Officials of the U.S. bishops' conference and the Holy See will meet here to analyze the application of norms adopted in the wake of the clerical sex-abuse scandals.
Joaquín Navarro Valls, director of the Vatican press office, made the announcement Saturday.
"On January 31 and February 1, as expected, the Mixed Commission will meet in the Vatican to examine the application of the norms of cases of accusation of sexual abuse of minors," he said in a statement.
"The commission is made up of delegates of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and representatives of the dicasteries of the Roman Curia," he said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
A Catholic bishop has praised parishoners for the way they responded to their local priest who is at the centre of sex abuse allegations.
Dr Seamus Hegarty told parishioners at St Patrick's Church, Dungiven, on Sunday that he admired and commended their understanding and forgiveness.
Last week, Father Andy McCluskey told the congregation that he was behind a sex abuse allegation 12 years ago.
He told them he had made a mistake for which he was paying dearly.
Dr Hegarty also prayed for the man who made the allegations against Fr McCluskey.
It is understood a five figure compensation pay-out had been made without admission of liability.
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Staff Writer
The attorney for the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska has requested that a Bethel Superior Court judge move the trial of a former priest accused of sexual abuse out of the southwestern Alaska town.
In his motion, Bob Groseclose asked Judge Dale Curda to consider holding the Nov. 15 trial in Anchorage or Nome, two locations he said better fit the civil suit filed by Jane Doe 1 against the Rev. James Poole.
Chief among his complaints about a trial in Bethel was the expense of flying the accused and his accuser, their lawyers and witnesses to the Kuskokwim River Delta rather than the more centrally located Anchorage. Short of the state's largest city, Groseclose also argued that Nome is a more fitting trial site since most of the abuse Jane Doe 1 accuses Poole of occurred in that Bering Sea coast town.
"What the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska wants is to be treated like litigants are generally treated at trial," Groseclose said. "We don't want to travel to Bethel if there is no reason to."
In his response, Jane Doe attorney Ken Roosa produced a list of 50 potential witnesses who live in the Bethel district. Roosa wrote that Bethel is more appropriate because some of the charges Jane Doe made occurred in the Bethel area and the Fairbanks Diocese, one of four defendants, is based within the state's 4th Judicial District.
SWAMPSCOTT (MA)
Boston Globe
By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff | January 30, 2005
SWAMPSCOTT -- Parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Church expressed a mixture of sadness and sympathy yesterday for their former pastor who resigned Friday after accusations that he propositioned a 12-year-old girl and her mother for sex while dining at a Chelsea restaurant.
"It's a sad day," said Flo DiPietro, a 53-year-old parishioner. "He is such a good man, he lifted this parish up."
The Rev. Jerome Gillespie, 55, who had served the Catholic parish for only seven months, is scheduled to appear in Chelsea District Court on Feb. 17 to face charges of enticement of a child under age 16, solicitation of sex for a fee, and accosting a person of the opposite sex, police said.
Chelsea police issued the summons on Friday, the same day the Archdiocese of Boston said Gillespie had resigned as pastor of the North Shore parish. Gillespie is alleged to have propositioned the girl and her mother at about 9 p.m. Tuesday while dining at Floramo's, a popular Chelsea restaurant.
At 4 p.m. Mass yesterday, Auxiliary Bishop Francis X. Irwin was in attendance in an effort to reassure parishioners.
"A terrible tragedy has hit this parish," Irwin told the silent congregation. "One so full of promise and vitality is gone from our midst. There is nothing I can say."
But Irwin offered his personal support for Gillespie, whom he said he had known for years and spoke with twice on Friday. "I did admire and do like Father Gillespie," he said. "I tried to give him encouragement."
Irwin made reference to recent pressure in Gillespie's life.
WISCONSIN
Duluth News Tribune
BY KEVIN HARTER AND ALEX FRIEDRICH
ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS
When he was assigned to a cluster of churches around Hurley, Wis., last August, everything seemed to come together for the Rev. Ryan Erickson.
Four years after fulfilling his boyhood dream of becoming a priest, the 31-year-old had his own parish.
Clad in a traditional cassock, he conducted Masses in a style comforting to his older parishioners but with an energy and flair that drew the younger crowd as well. Attendance at worship increased by 50 percent.
He seemed happy, friends said, trading practical jokes with the church staff and getting a dog -- a golden retriever mix he named Beast.
But in early November, his life started to unravel when investigators from Hudson, Wis., arrived to question him about a double homicide at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in Hudson in 2002 -- during the time he served a church there.
He denied any involvement, but the questioning rattled him, friends said. Five weeks after investigators first met with him, he hanged himself from a fire escape outside the Hurley rectory.
All of a sudden, the public learned he was a "person of interest" in the Hudson slayings and, a few weeks later, that he also had been questioned by Hudson police about a possible crime involving one or more minors. No details were given on the case involving minors.
TUCSON (AZ)
MSNBC
By Stephanie Innes, Arizona Daily Star
Azstarnet.comTucsonAZUSA - In the four months since the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the case has amassed bills of nearly $800,000 for attorney and other business fees, according to recent court filings.
Bankruptcy experts say the tally of expenses in the case so far - $791,036 in what is mostly legal fees - is in keeping with that expected in a Chapter 11 case, although future expenses will depend on how long the case is in the court system.
An attorney working on the Chapter 11 case of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., estimates that case's bankruptcy expenses are significantly higher than Tucson's so far - partly because the Portland archdiocese filed for Chapter 11 protection July 7, slightly more than two months before the Tucson diocese did.
There were no estimates available last week on bankruptcy costs for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which filed for bankruptcy protection less than two months ago.
The Tucson diocese filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Sept. 20 in the face of 22 pending legal actions alleging sexual abuse of children by priests. The court has set a deadline of April 15 for those who believe they were sexually abused by a diocese priest to file a claim. The Chapter 11 plan could be approved this year if all the creditors can agree.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Daily Free Press
By Danny Lauridsen
Published: Friday, January 28, 2005
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
An alleged sexual abuse victim took the stand twice Thursday at Middlesex Court in Cambridge to testify against Paul Shanley, a 74-year-old former Catholic priest from St. Jean's parish in Newton, who is facing three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child.
During the second day of cross-examination, the accuser, a 27-year-old Newton firefighter, answered questions from defense attorney Frank Mondano, who said the alleged victim's memories of sexual abuse were unreliable because they had been repressed until January 2001.
Mondano focused on the accuser's history of substance abuse and gambling addiction.
The accuser admitted to using steroids for about eight years, between the ages of 16 and 24, blaming Shanley for his "poor self-image."
"People said I wasn't fat," he said, adding that because of Shanley, "I thought I was. [Taking steroids] just made me feel better about myself."
The accuser said he sometimes used multiple steroids while he was a military police officer for the Air Force in Colorado and while he played semi-professional baseball in Tallahassee, Fla. He said Shanley ruined his aspirations to play professionally.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | January 30, 2005
The Cambridge courtroom in which Paul R. Shanley is being tried for the rape and sexual abuse of a child will become a political forum as well as a judicial arena this week when testimony turns to the reliability of human memory.
The tears of the now 27-year-old accuser during his testimony last week against the defrocked Catholic priest were no more than a manipulation by an avaricious charlatan, according to the defense, which wants the jury to dismiss as junk science the notion that people can forget traumatic events. Those tears were no less than a manifestation of the pain of a little boy who was molested for years by a trusted parish priest, according to the prosecution, which wants the jury to believe that the sexual abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston triggered his long-dormant memories.
It is hard to think of a topic that incites more passion and less insight than the often-ugly public debate about the role of memory in sexual abuse cases. That science has yet to definitively explain the mysteries of how the mind stores and retrieves our memories has not made partisans more humble in their view; it has only fueled their fury to debunk the opposition. The Shanley case is unlikely to settle the matter.
Prominent on the witness list for the defense is the memory researcher whom Psychology Today magazine once dubbed "the diva of disclosure." Elizabeth Loftus is a professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California at Irvine whose research on the malleability of memory first called into question the reliability of eyewitness accounts of crime and accident scenes. She is better known, however, as a best-selling author and a busy expert witness called by defendants in sexual abuse cases to discredit the legitimacy of claims of "repressed" or "recovered" memories.
The problem in the courtroom as well as the laboratory is how loaded those words have become politically, the scientifically neutral question they raise about the function of memory hijacked by the well meaning and the self-serving alike. The phenomenon of recalling previously unremembered incidents of abuse is itself put on trial, the defendant and accuser reduced to onlookers.
OREGON
The Oregonian
Sunday, January 30, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
The 450 families of St. Mary, Our Lady of the Dunes Catholic Church in Florence, have no doubt that the parish belongs to them.
The congregation dates to at least 1949, when the parish priest in Reedsport made monthly trips to Florence to celebrate Mass in people's homes. Since then, the church has been housed in an American Legion hall, the upstairs of Cooper's Mercantile Store and a 20-by-50-foot donated building that had to be trucked to a previous site in 1953.
Today, parishioners have pledged $1.9 million toward a major building expansion, said Ken Janowski, fund-raising chairman.
There's just one problem: The parish might not actually exist -- at least legally. If that's the case, St. Mary's could see $1.5 million in property, cash and savings used to help settle a staggering $534 million in claims against the bankrupt Archdiocese of Portland for alleged clergy sexual abuse of at least 72 men and women.
As a result, the building expansion, which had already gone out to bid, is on indefinite, and perhaps permanent, hold.
That's why St. Mary's, 123 other parishes, 24 missions and 44 Roman Catholic schools in Western Oregon -- as well as the archdiocese itself -- are scrambling to prove that parishioners never intended for their money to be used for any purpose other than to build and operate their parishes and schools.
TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News
12:12 PM CST on Saturday, January 29, 2005
By STEVE BLOW / The Dallas Morning News
"I was lonely," he said.
Simple as that.
And even when he outlines the full dimensions of his predicament, he still keeps it pretty plain.
"I want to be a priest," he said, "and I want to be married."
Now you see the complications begin to arise.
Father John has the priest part of this down pat. He left home for the priesthood at 18 – some 47 years ago.
And as for the marriage part, well, he'll take that plunge very soon. At the age of 65, John will marry in May.
Half jokingly, I asked how many centuries of Catholic tradition he is bucking here.
"Oh, 10 or 11," he said with a wry smile.
He seems unfazed. "I'm so happy," he said. "I feel such a peace about everything."
The Roman Catholic Church, of course, is less thrilled. This month, the bishop of the Dallas Diocese officially branded him a renegade. ...
John doesn't want the marriage debate to get sidetracked into the controversy over pedophile priests. But in that regard, he simply said, "I think a married priesthood would be a healthier priesthood."
The spokesman for the local Catholic diocese said it's fine to debate the marriage issue.
"But he's not doing it in an honorable way," said Bronson Havard. "He's doing it in a defiant, I-want-my-cake-and-eat-it-too kind of way. It's not proper, and it's a sadness for the church."
UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News
10:07 AM CST on Saturday, January 29, 2005
By DARLA ATLAS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
In 1997, Scott Steinke asked God to help him find answers.
Things weren't going well for the onetime soundman for ZZ Top and Alabama. After his engagement broke off, he was driving and "yelling at God to give me something here. I said, 'If you want me to be a priest, you're going to have to let me know.' "
He was passing a church with a lighted cross "and as soon as I looked up, that thing clicked on," he recalled. "I said, 'OK, that's what I needed to know.' "
Mr. Steinke is one of those profiled in the Discovery Times Channel documentary Keeping the Faith: Becoming a Priest in Today's Catholic Church. Airing Tuesday, the show follows several men who were at Cincinnati's Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in 2002, at the height of the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandal.
The documentary notes that the year after filming wrapped, the archdiocese of Cincinnati pleaded no contest to failing to report sex crimes by priests against minors.
The show examines the scandal's impact on seminarians, but also provides a broader look at their religious training – from practice baptisms using baby dolls to pretend confessions acted out by fellow students.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Mary K. Reinhart, Tribune Columnist
The young man with the crew cut sat quietly in the front row of the Mesa courtroom.
He stared straight ahead as people stood before the judge and called him a liar and an extortionist.
He met the eyes of the Rev. Karl LeClaire as the former pastor of Mesa’s Queen of Peace Catholic Church turned and apologized to him. Then LeClaire told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens what a wreck his life has become since the young man accused him of child molestation.
"It has been a nightmare. Three years of hell," LeClaire said at his sentencing Friday. "Being robbed of my priesthood and my parish."
The young man listened as Stephens imposed the maximum sentence under LeClaire’s plea deal — three years’ probation and a year in jail — and required him to register as a sex offender. He watched as deputies handcuffed LeClaire and led him away.
He heard LeClaire’s supporters gasp and sob. A travesty of justice, they said. A brilliant career in ruins. A flock adrift without their spiritual adviser. Their beloved priest set up as a fall guy for the true sex offenders in the Roman Catholic Church.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths and Toni Laxson
Tribune
An attorney for Monsignor Dale Fushek of Mesa’s St. Timothy Catholic Community on Friday called the latest accusations of sexual misconduct with a child "an absurd collection of stories . . . to extort money."
The complaint filed Thursday by William J. Cesolini, now 33, of Gilbert, centers on a 1985 assault allegation and also names youth minister Phil Baniewicz of Mesa, who cofounded Life Teen.
Cesolini attributed repressed memories, or dissociative amnesia, for only now stepping forward.
Michael Manning, Fushek’s attorney, called the lawsuit a "reprehensible tragedy" on Friday. It’s an "absurd coll- ection of stories made up for the purpose of trying to extort money," he said. Manning emphasized that Cesolini originally made no mention of Fushek’s presence when his 1985 memories were recalled in 2003.
"Suddenly in 2005, he recovers the memory once again and Monsignor Dale is standing by watching this occur?" Manning asked.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Gary Grado, Tribune
A judge threw a Mesa priest into jail for a year Friday, leaving his friends and parishioners from Queen of Peace Catholic Church shaking their heads and suggesting he was the true victim.
Judge Sherry Stephens of Maricopa County Superior Court also ordered the Rev. Karl LeClaire to serve three years probation and register as a sex offender as punishment for pleading guilty to committing a sexually motivated aggravated assault against a teenage parishioner in 1996.
LeClaire admitted to giving the teenager, now a 23-year-old Navy recruit, a sensual massage. One year was the longest Stephens could sentence LeClaire under an Oct. 28 plea agreement.
"I’m disappointed," said Anthony Chacon, 24, who said he has known LeClaire and the victim for years. "There was a lot that wasn’t recognized."
Chacon said he doesn’t believe Stephens took into account LeClaire’s positive impact he had on the Queen of Peace community when he was the church’s pastor and school’s principal.
He resigned in 2001 after the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix got word of the allegations. "He’ll never get the credit he deserves," Chacon said.
MANATEE (FL)
Herald Tribune
By CORY SCHOUTEN
cory.schouten@heraldtribune.com
MANATEE COUNTY -- Assistant Principal Joseph Gilpin remained in the Manatee schools despite several accusations of inappropriate behavior with students, including one in November where he reportedly patted a boy's bottom and made indecent remarks to two others.
Gilpin denied doing anything wrong, was never charged with a crime and kept his job at Haile Middle School in East Manatee.
But on Friday, Gilpin resigned, two days after the school district learned of allegations he raped two boys in the late 1960s while studying to be a priest in the Northeast.
In his resignation, Gilpin, 60, said he was sorry for "the notoriety that this situation has brought upon you, my colleagues and the school board."
Gilpin had been suspended since Wednesday, when an advocacy group informed the district of the 1960s abuse allegations. He had worked in Manatee schools since 1971. Gilpin did not return calls seeking comment, but has denied the molestation allegations in the past.
Manatee school officials said Thursday they did not know about the allegations against Gilpin until the group told them.
PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star
Saturday, January 29, 2005
By MICHAEL MILLER
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - A lawyer for a priest suing the Catholic Diocese of Peoria for defamation suggested at a Friday hearing that the diocese is using delay tactics to deny the priest his "day in court."
The diocese denied the suggestion.
Edward Bush stepped down from public ministry in 2002 after the diocese accused him of sexual misconduct involving two minors. He later sued the diocese, Bishop Daniel Jenky and vicar general Monsignor Steven Rohlfs for defamation.
Bush's attorney Carla Labunski on Friday argued in Peoria County Circuit Court that the diocese should be sanctioned for not meeting several deadlines for providing information. Diocesan lawyer Joe Feehan said the delays were caused by postal service problems and other factors and that his firm, Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, had not purposely held off on supplying the required documents to Bush's lawyers.
Circuit Judge Joe Vespa turned down Bush's request for sanctions, which included attorney fees of $10,402, but told Feehan he found the delays "troublesome."
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By MARK REITER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
A Toledo priest accused in the slaying of a nun nearly 25 years ago has a new judge and a new trial date.
Newly elected Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Osowik yesterday pushed back the trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson to Oct. 17. It was set to begin Feb. 22.
Father Robinson, 66, who did not appear with his attorneys at the hearing, is charged with aggravated murder in the 1980 stabbing and strangulation death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in the sacristy of a chapel in the former Mercy Hospital.
Judge Patrick Foley was assigned to handle the case when the semiretired Roman Catholic priest was indicted in April. However, Judge Foley lost his seat in the November election to Gary Cook, a Lucas County prosecutor.
As Judge Foley's successor, Judge Cook normally would have inherited the case. But because he was on the prosecution team that investigated the murder, it was assigned to Judge Osowik.
The hearing was delayed about 20 minutes while the priest's attorneys, Jack Callahan, John Thebes, and Alan Konop, and assistant prosecutors J. Christopher Anderson and Dean Mandros huddled in a conference room with Judge Osowik.
BRITAIN
New Kerala
[World News]: London, Jan 29 : A Hindu priest in Britain has been convicted of raping a devotee of Tamil origin at a temple here.
Ramanathan Somanathan, 41, a priest at a temple in Thornton Heath near Croydon, south London, told his victim that she had been his wife in a previous life, and that god had reunited them.
He raped the 29-year-old Tamil woman on two separate occasions, once in 2002 and again in 2003, after which she became pregnant and had an abortion, the Croydon Crown was told.
The police praised the victim for the "tremendous courage" it took her to come forward and seek justice.
"This case has been particularly distressing for both the victim and witnesses involved. They ran the risk of being isolated by their own community," said detective Rob Buckell of the Croydon police.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Tim O'Neil
Of the Post-Dispatch
Friday, Jan. 28 2005
A former Protestant bishop was sentenced Friday to at least 120 days in prison
for committing sodomy with a teenage boy who belonged to his congregation in
St. Louis.
"I know the words 'I'm sorry' are inadequate," Shelby E. Shannon, 61, told a
crowded courtroom. "I will live with this for the rest of my life in shame for
what I have done."
Shannon, former bishop in three states for the Church of the Living God,
pleaded guilty Dec. 13 of two counts of sodomy. He was arrested one year
earlier after the boy, now 18, alleged that Shannon abused him beginning in
December 2002.
Shannon was pastor of two Church of the Living God CCWF congregations in the
St. Louis area and was bishop in Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin for the
Cincinnati-based denomination, which was founded by a former slave in 1889. His
churches were in Cool Valley and at 1034 South Kingshighway.
SWAMPSCOTT (MA)
Boston Globe
By Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff | January 29, 2005
SWAMPSCOTT -- The Rev. Jerome F. Gillespie resigned yesterday as pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott after he was accused of asking a 12-year-old girl and her mother to perform a sex act at an Italian restaurant in Chelsea Tuesday night.
''Father Gillespie's resignation was accepted in the interest of all parties involved and does not represent any indication of Father Gillespie's guilt or innocence as it pertains to this allegation," the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement late yesterday. Gillespie did not return a call placed to the parish yesterday.
The Globe reported yesterday that the Suffolk district attorney was seeking the 55-year-old priest in connection with the allegation that he propositioned a girl and her mother. The archdiocese said it learned of the matter Thursday night.
His resignation stunned parishioners at this North Shore church overlooking the sea.
''My own 13-year-old daughter just served Mass with him last Sunday," said Daniel Santanello, 46, a father of three. ''This is the last thing I would have expected to hear of him. . . . I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this is a very serious situation."
Gillespie took over as pastor July 1, replacing the Rev. Thomas Sheehy, who retired. Gillespie was formally installed the Sunday after Thanksgiving in a Mass that drew hundreds of parishioners.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 29, 2005 12:00 AM
Supporters of a priest gasped Friday as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced Father Karl LeClaire to a year in jail for sexually abusing a former parishioner.
Judge Sherry Stephens imposed the maximum sentence possible under LeClaire's plea agreement over the objections of supporters jamming a Mesa courtroom and pleading for leniency. LeClaire must serve the entire sentence without opportunity for early release.
Anthony Chacon, 24, said he was disappointed in the sentence, which also requires LeClaire, 48, to register as a sex offender. The former pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mesa also got three years' probation.
"He's a great friend. There's no doubt in my mind this didn't occur," Chacon said.
But Joe Baca of Chandler, a member of SNAP, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said LeClaire's supporters are in denial. "In that one incident, he took that child's faith and murdered his soul," Baca said.
SWAMPSCOTT (MA)
Lynn Daily Item
By Debra Glidden
Saturday, January 29, 2005
SWAMPSCOTT -- The pastor of St. John The Evangelist Church resigned on Friday after being accused earlier in the week of asking a 12-year-old girl and her mother to perform a sex act for money.
The Rev. Jerome Gillespie, 55, who was formerly the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Lynn, is accused of propositioning the girl and her mother Tuesday evening at Floramos Lounge, an Italian restaurant in Chelsea.
David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk District Attorney's Office, said Gillespie would be summoned to Chelsea District Court to answer charges of child enticement, soliciting sex for a fee and annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex.
The Archdiocese of Boston, in a statement released late Friday afternoon, said, "In light of the criminal investigation launched earlier this week, Father Gillespie has resigned as pastor of St. John The Evangelist Church. Fr. Gillespie offered his resignation to Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, who earlier today granted his request."
The statement continues: "Fr. Gillespie's resignation was accepted in the interest of all parties involved and does not represent any indication of Fr. Gillespie's guilt or innocence as it pertains to this allegation."
LITCHFIELD (CT)
Register Citizen
TRACY KENNEDY, Register Citizen Staff 01/29/2005
LITCHFIELD - The Rev. W. James Johnson, a Waterbury pastor who denies he sexually assaulted a 4-year-old Torrington girl, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Litchfield Superior Court on Friday.
Johnson, a minister for 25 years, stood before Judge Charles D. Gill on Friday to answer charges of first-degree sexual assault and allegedly having illicit sexual contact with a minor under 16 years of age in May. The case was continued until Feb. 18.
Behind him every seat of the gallery was filled with family members, friends, and members of his church, The Community Tabernacle Out-reach Center, Waterbury, which serves 275 members. Many of Johnson’s supporters who waited about four hours for the hearing to begin, held colorful posters that read "We love you pastor."
At liberty after posting a $200,000 bond, Johnson said he flatly denies the allegations. "It’s absolutely false," he said. "People definitely don’t have all of the details."
Defense attorney Leonard Crone said, "My client has consistently denied these allegations. The case has been continued three weeks and during that time we will do some discovery and investigation of our own to prepare a defense in this case."
CALIFORNIA
The Daily Journal
By LAURA CLARK/ The Daily Journal
Retired visiting Judge Robert Vonasek on Thursday sentenced Daniel Aram Garcia, 47, of Willits, to three years in state prison for child molestation.
Garcia was arrested and booked into jail Dec. 14. At his arraignment Dec. 16, the well-known and well-liked figure at the courthouse, former candidate for county clerk, and a pastor at a church in Redwood Valley pleaded guilty to one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child of 14 or 15 years of age. He was then released from jail on his own recognizance with orders not to try to contact his victim or be alone with anyone under the age of 18 without another adult present.
On Dec. 23, Garcia attempted to write to the girl he molested and was rearrested and taken back to jail, where he remained until Thursday's sentencing.
"I am to blame. It's not (the victim's) fault. I want her to understand it's not her fault," a tearful Garcia, in handcuffs and chains and clad in a white jail suit, told the judge.
LITCHFIELD (CT)
Republican-American
Saturday, January 29, 2005
By Brigitte Ruthman
Republican-American
LITCHFIELD -- A 4-year-old Torrington girl described to police how a Waterbury pastor sexually assaulted her while he babysat for his girlfriend, according to the warrant for his arrest.
Torrington police launched an investigation against the Rev. W. James Johnson, 48, formerly of 91 Spring Brook Road, Waterbury, after the girl's mother -- Johnson's girlfriend -- took her to the emergency room at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington. The child complained of vaginal pain and burning with urination, according to the warrant for Johnson's arrest, which was unsealed Friday in Litchfield Superior Court. The woman alleged Johnson had sex with the girl May 14, 2004 while babysitting.
A physical examination concluded a history of sexual abuse existed, according to state police.
Johnson, 48, who is known as Willie, was arrested two weeks ago on first-degree sexual assault charges and risk of injury to a minor with sexual contact. He is affiliated with the Community Tabernacle Outreach Center, a Pentecostal church at 12 Hewlett St. in the Overlook section of Waterbury.
Johnson, dressed in a suit, pleaded innocent Friday during a brief appearance before Judge Charles Gill in Litchfield Superior Court. His attorney, Leonard Crone of Waterbury, was granted a three-week continuance to review the case. Crone declined to comment about specific allegations.
NEWARK (OH)
Advocate
By Erik Johns, ejohns@nncogannett.com
Advocate Reporter
NEWARK -- A Hebron pastor faces a second sex-abuse charge involving another girl after being re-arrested Thursday evening shortly after he posted a $250,000 bond on an earlier sexual battery charge.
Lonny J. Aleshire Jr., 503 E. Main St., Hebron, received another $250,000 bond Friday in Licking County Municipal Court from Acting Judge Larry Arnold. As of 9 p.m. Friday, he was still in the jail.
The most recent charge alleges he engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with a now 15-year-old girl over a two-year period, Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Melinda Seeds said.
Seeds added that her office is continuing to interview people and investigate the case, although she said they have not yet identified any further possible victims.
Aleshire is the associate pastor at the Licking Baptist Church, 1380 Beaver Run Road, in Hebron.
PEORIA (IL)
Pontiac Daily Leader
PEORIA -- The Catholic Diocese of Peoria remains in full compliance with the provisions of the U.S. Conference of Bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," Bishop Daniel R. Jenky announced this week.
The United States Conference of Bishops requires dioceses nationwide to partake in audits for the charter, and the audits were conducted by The Gavin Group, an independent audit firm based in Massachusetts, Jenky said in a news release Tuesday.
The Peoria diocese, in December, participated in "an extensive examination of all procedures and policies," conducted by two retired FBI agents hired by The Gavin Group, Jenky said. Results of the audit were reported on Jan. 13 to the diocese, concluding that the diocese remains in full compliance with all aspects of the charter. The auditors' report commended the diocese for the level of detail and documentation provided to them for review, Jenky said.
"Bishop Jenky is very grateful the people in the diocese have embraced the charter," said Patricia Gibson, diocesan chancellor. Her office was responsible for compiling the bulk of information to the auditors for review. The diocese is required to mandate that all employees and volunteers who come in contact with minors participate in the safe-environment program, as well as undergo fingerprinting and child-abuse background checks by the state's Department of Children and Family Services.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy and Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 29, 2005 12:00 AM
The president and co-founder of Life Teen youth ministry was placed on administrative leave by the organization's board of directors on Friday, a day after a lawsuit alleged that he and two others engaged in sexual misconduct with a teenager in 1985.
Phil Baniewicz, who has spent most of his adult career in the ministry to Catholic youth, was "devastated" by the news, said Mary Jo West, public information officer for the Diocese of Phoenix.
Baniewicz was accused in the lawsuit of abusing William Cesolini, a minor at the time, on more than one occasion. advertisement
Others named in the suit were the Rev. Mark Lehman, who already has served a 10-year prison term for abuse; and Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy parish in Mesa, who is accused of watching as Lehman abused Cesolini.
The diocese has asked the Vatican to defrock Lehman. Fushek was suspended Dec. 29, when the lawsuit's allegations first surfaced.
Baniewicz remained clear of the allegations until Thursday.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
By JOHN RICHARDSON, Portland Press Herald Writer
A Florida school district suspended an assistant principal this week after being told that he is accused of sexually abusing a student at a Catholic school in Biddeford more than 35 years ago.
The Manatee County School District placed Joseph Gilpin, assistant principal of Haile Middle School, on paid administrative leave Wednesday afternoon, minutes after the superintendent got a call about the allegation from the leader of a group that supports victims of abuse by the clergy.
The school district plans to investigate the report before deciding whether permanent action is warranted, said Margi Nanney, the district's spokeswoman. Gilpin could not be reached Friday.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland confirmed that a former student at the St. Mary's School came forward with the allegation in September 2003. The diocese forwarded the information to law enforcement agencies, although the statute of limitations to bring criminal charges had already expired.
After checking into the report, the diocese has offered to pay a settlement to the victim, said spokeswoman Sue Bernard.
Bernard did not disclose details of the complaint, which has not been settled. No other allegations have been made in Maine against Gilpin, she said.
Gilpin was a teacher at St. Mary's, which is now closed, from October 1967 to June 1968, Bernard said. The diocese then sponsored him to go to the Roman Catholic seminary in Ottawa. He was dismissed from the seminary after a year, she said, for reasons unrelated to any abuse allegations.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff | January 29, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- A day after he pleaded with a judge not to make him return to the witness stand, the man who accuses defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley of sexually abusing him as a child came back to court yesterday to complete his testimony, submitting to the final hour of what was a grueling cross-examination.
The strongest emotions yesterday came from a different witness: the accuser's wife, who broke down while recounting her husband's behavior in February 2002, when he allegedly began remembering years of abuse by Shanley at St. Jean Parish in Newton.
Asked to recall the first night of a visit home from her husband, who was then her fiancé and was stationed by the Air Force in Colorado, the 23-year-old woman began to cry. She clutched a tissue and, in a near whisper, said, ''I'm so sorry."
Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel asked her to stop and sent the jury from the room, the second day in a row the judge halted proceedings so a witness could regain composure. When court resumed, she continued her testimony, still sobbing softly.
''He had soaked the sheets with sweat," she said. ''He got on the floor, curled up in a ball. He shook."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Saturday, January 29, 2005
A day after he begged a judge not to make him return to court, the man accusing defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child finished testifying yesterday, but defense lawyers are preparing to challenge his claim that he recovered memories of the alleged abuse nearly 20 years after he says it occurred.
Next week, the defense will call Elizabeth Loftus, a University of California at Irvine psychologist frequently paid to testify as an expert about what she has called the ``myth'' of repressed memory.
The alleged victim, a 27-year-old firefighter and former military police officer, claims Shanley repeatedly molested him between the ages of 6 and 12 while he was a Sunday school student at St. Jean's parish in Newton, but says he buried any memory of the abuse until he began having flashbacks in 2002.
The Herald is not naming the man because he is an alleged sexual assault victim.
His wife testified yesterday about his behavior after recovering memories of the alleged abuse.``He woke up. He was very agitated and restless. He had soaked the sheets with sweat,'' she said, her voice breaking as Shanley, 74, sat impassively, his hand to his chin. ``He got on the floor and curled up in a ball and shook. I tried to hold him, but he wouldn't let me.''
The testimony was some of the most dramatic to date in a case that appeared to be headed for a mistrial Thursday after the alleged victim pleaded with Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel to spare him from a third day of questioning.
MANATEE (FL)
Bradenton Herald
MANATEE - 'notoriety,' resigns job
Haile Middle School Assistant Principal Joseph Gilpin resigned Friday, just two days after allegations resurfaced that he molested two young boys while he was a Catholic seminarian more than 30 years ago.
"After some thought and prayer, I think it best that I terminate my employment with the Manatee County school district," Gilpin wrote in his resignation letter, addressed to Manatee County School Superintendent Roger Dearing.
Dearing accepted the resignation, but indicated the district still plans to learn more about Gilpin's past.
"That closes one chapter and opens another," Dearing said. "I believe it's incumbent upon us as a school district to make sure nothing untoward has happened here in this school district.
"The main thing is to make sure current and former students were protected when under his charge."
In reviewing school district and law enforcement records in Manatee, The Herald found at least three instances where Gilpin had been accused of inappropriate contact with students during a career that spanned more than 30 years.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Kentucky.com
DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The wife of the man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child testified Friday that he had night sweats and curled up in the fetal position on the floor after recovering memories of the alleged abuse.
The woman took the witness stand shortly after her husband finished more than 10 hours of testimony over three days, much of it under grueling and graphic cross-examination by Shanley's attorney.
The man returned to the stand Friday morning despite begging the judge a day earlier to spare him further questioning. That had raised the possibility the case would collapse, since he is the lone accuser in the case against the 74-year-old former priest, one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal. Three other Shanley accusers were dropped from the case earlier by prosecutors.
Before the jury entered the courtroom, Shanley attorney Frank Mondano asked Judge Stephen Neel to declare a mistrial, contending the man's emotional outbursts during his testimony would taint jurors and prejudice them against his client. Neel rejected the request.
The accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says Shanley raped and molested him at a Newton parish, beginning when he was 6. He says he didn't remember the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend's account of being abused as a boy by Shanley.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Pam Belluck
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A day after he says he recovered memories that he was abused by a priest, a 27-year-old man was talking to a lawyer about pursuing a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Church, according to testimony and documents presented yesterday in the criminal trial of the now-defrocked priest.
The testimony was brought out in the trial of Paul R. Shanley, who became a lightning rod in the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church that broke in Boston in early 2002. Shanley is accused of molesting the man when he was 6 to 12 years old by pulling him out of Christian doctrine classes at St. Jean's Parish in Newton and raping him.
Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, contends that the accuser concocted his accusations to join a lawsuit with three other men against the Archdiocese of Boston. Last year, the archdiocese paid the accuser, now a suburban Boston firefighter, $500,000 to settle the case. Since then, prosecutors have dropped the other three men from the criminal case, pursuing only the 27-year-old accuser's allegations.
Yesterday, the jury heard testimony from a psychologist who examined the accuser on Feb. 12, 2002, when he was an Air Force policeman in Colorado.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey Herald
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An appeals court Friday at least temporarily delayed a lower court's decision that the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles must give prosecutors its records about the counseling of priests accused of sexual abuse.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal halted the release of the records after archdiocese attorneys asked the panel to resolve two judges' opinions on the matter -- including one decision that would have required the archdiocese to give the records to Los Angeles County prosecutors on Friday. The defense motion was filed Tuesday.
In February 2003, a Ventura County Superior Court judge agreed that some documents in the personnel files of priests should remain confidential.
But Judge Thomas F. Nuss, a retired judge serving as a referee in the case, ordered the archdiocese in September 2004 to turn over certain records to prosecutors as part of a Los Angeles County grand jury investigation.
He said the church could withhold documents involving discussions between therapists and patients.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, said the ruling was disappointing.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
Friday, Jan. 28 2005
Three St. Louis priests have been laicized, or defrocked, by the Vatican,
according to a statement by the archdiocese.
Archbishop Raymond Burke asked the Vatican to return Michael McGrath, Donald
Straub and Robert Yim to "the lay state," according to the statement, because
"all three had credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against them."
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,
said the acknowledgement by the church would be helpful for the priests’
victims.
"I hope it provides a bit of comfort for dozens of people who those predators
have hurt," he said.
VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two years after adopting special norms for dealing with priestly sex abusers, U.S. bishops and Vatican officials are sitting down in early February to review how the new policies have worked and to consider possible revisions.
Vatican officials described the meeting as a simple consultation. They said the talks were expected to be positive, reflecting progress made since the first major U.S.-Vatican meetings on sex abuse in 2002.
"The climate has matured. The norms have been in place for two years, and a lot of cases have been handled. On all sides, there is recognition that much has been accomplished," said one Vatican official.
The "Essential Norms" laid out a strict policy on priestly sex abuse, providing for removal from ministry or laicization of priests who have sexually abused minors. The Vatican approved the norms on an experimental basis for a two-year period beginning in March 2003; new Vatican approval, called a "recognitio," would presumably have to be given again this year, whether or not revisions are made.
Some Vatican sources said they do not expect major changes to the norms. They pointed to improved coordination on sex abuse cases over the last two years between U.S. bishops and the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was given special competence over such offenses.
ARIZONA
KPHO
(CBS 5 News) - The cofounders of a Roman Catholic church ministry in the Valley are accused of covering up a molestation.
Dale Fushek and Phil Baniewicz were creators of the Life-Teen Program. It's the largest catholic youth organization in the nation.
Now a lawsuit claims Fushek watched as a teenage parishioner was sodomized by another priest in 1985. It also claims the program at St. Timothy's church in Mesa fosters inappropriate sexual behavior.
A spokeswoman for Life Teen denies the claims.
Star Tribune
Jeff Strickler
January 30, 2005
A pedophile reentering society after 12 years in prison moves into a quiet, family-oriented neighborhood. A man sexually abused by a priest when he was a child sets out for revenge. A despondent crippled man tries to kill himself.
Events from the daily news reports? They could be, but in this case they're all plots from movies.
Filmmakers are increasingly turning to real-life situations for their stories, and, in the process, they are setting off a complex and sometimes bitter debate over the appropriateness of their movies.
On one hand, they are applauded for tackling difficult issues with real-world implications. At the same time, they open themselves to criticism that they're making money off someone else's misery.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
San Francisco Chronicle
DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
Friday, January 28, 2005
(01-28) 15:21 PST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) --
The wife of the man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child testified Friday that he had night sweats and curled up in the fetal position on the floor after recovering memories of the alleged abuse.
The woman took the witness stand shortly after her husband finished more than 10 hours of testimony over three days, much of it under grueling and graphic cross-examination by Shanley's attorney.
The man returned to the stand Friday morning despite begging the judge a day earlier to spare him further questioning. That had raised the possibility the case would collapse, since he is the lone accuser in the case against the 74-year-old former priest, one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal. Three other Shanley accusers were dropped from the case earlier by prosecutors.
Before the jury entered the courtroom, Shanley attorney Frank Mondano asked Judge Stephen Neel to declare a mistrial, contending the man's emotional outbursts during his testimony would taint jurors and prejudice them against his client. Neel rejected the request.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 28, 2005 05:30 PM
Supporters of a priest gasped Friday as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced Father Karl LeClaire to a year in jail for sexually abusing a former parishioner.
Judge Sherry Stephens imposed the maximum sentence possible under LeClaire's plea agreement over the objections of supporters who jammed a small Mesa courtroom and pleaded for leniency. LeClaire must serve the entire sentence without opportunity for early release.
Anthony Chacon, 24, said he was disappointed in the sentence, which also requires LeClaire, 48, to register as a sex offender. The former pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church also was placed on three years probation. advertisement
"He's a great friend. There's no doubt in my mind this didn't occur," Chacon said.
But Joe Baca of Chandler, a member of SNAP, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said LeClaire's supporters are in denial.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Kansas City Star
JIM SUHR
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - Three priests accused of sexual abuse years ago have been defrocked, including one blamed in the alleged suicide of an ex-Marine he was said to have molested in youth, St. Louis' archbishop announced Friday "with deepest regrets to all who have been harmed."
Archbishop Raymond Burke said he launched the proceedings - what the Roman Catholic church calls laicization - last year against Michael McGrath, Donald "Father Duck" Straub and Robert Yim in light of "credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against them."
Burke said he took the often-lengthy action "for the welfare of all children and for the welfare of the Church," and after careful examination of each allegation, the archdiocese said in a statement.
All three men, who each served in several St. Louis-area parishes, have been notified they have been "dismissed from the clerical state."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
MSNBC
The Associated Press
Updated: 1:08 p.m. ET Jan. 28, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The man accusing defrocked priest Paul Shanley of sexually abusing him as a child finished his testimony Friday after the judge refused to spare him from a third day of questioning.
The man adamantly stood by his claims of abuse before stepping down from the stand after 10 hours of testimony, much of it under grueling cross-examination by Shanley’s attorney, Frank Mondano.
Late Thursday, with the jury out of the room, the man told the judge that he could not bear to continue answering Mondano’s intense and sometimes graphic questions. But the man returned Friday to resume his testimony.
His breakdown raised the specter that the case would collapse, because he is the lone remaining accuser in the case against Shanley, 74, one of the central figures in the Boston archdiocese’s clergy sex-abuse scandal. Three other accusers were dropped from the case by prosecutors.
Friday, before the jury entered the courtroom, Mondano asked Judge Stephen Neel to declare a mistrial, contending that the man’s emotional outbursts during his testimony would taint jurors and prejudice them against his client. Neel rejected the request.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Reuters
by Greg Frost
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - A Massachusetts judge refused to declare a mistrial on Friday in the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, saying he would instruct jurors to disregard an accuser's emotional outburst.
After intense cross-examination on Thursday that left the accuser sobbing, Shanley's defense attorney Frank Mondano asked Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel to declare a mistrial on the grounds that the outpouring of emotion would compromise the jury's impartiality.
But Neel rejected the motion, saying such outbursts are "unavoidable" in cases like this and "rarely" the basis for declaring a mistrial.
Neel said he would instruct jurors to disregard the accuser's emotions during their deliberations.
Prosecutor Lynn Rooney said she was outraged by Mondano's request, suggesting that his tough line of questioning on Thursday contributed to the accuser's breakdown on the witness stand.
MANATEE (FL)
Herald Tribune
By CORY SCHOUTEN and TIFFANY LANKES
cory.schouten@heraldtribune.com
tiffany.lankes@heraldtribune.com
MANATEE COUNTY -- As a young man, Joseph Gilpin was torn between the priesthood and a career in teaching. He spent eight years in seminary in the North before seeking a new start in Florida.
He found it. He spent more than 30 years in the Manatee schools developing a reputation as a hard-working educator who had a good rapport with students.
But remnants of his past have returned, and now Gilpin has been suspended from his job and is facing a crisis that threatens his career and reputation.
Details of a lawsuit settled in 2004 portray Gilpin as a man who took advantage of his position as a spiritual leader. Gilpin is accused of raping and molesting a young boy in the late 1960s while Gilpin was studying to be a priest. Another man who says Gilpin molested him from 1968 to 1970 recently brought forth his allegations, and a Catholic church official in Maine says they seem credible.
IRELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
A final policy document on child protection for the Catholic Church in Ireland was agreed at a meeting in Maynooth yesterday. The Church's Working Group on Child Protection arrived at the decision in what became its final meeting.
The working group disbanded last September after a row with church representatives over whether professionals or church leaders should decide how sex-abuse complaints were handled. It is understood church representatives felt such control should rest with church leaders. It is now clear that the handling of complaints will rest with relevant child protection specialists in each area.
Ms Maureen Lynott, chairwoman of the working group, indicated then she would remain available to meet the steering group, which represented the church bodies involved, should they develop a resolution to the differences.
Yesterday, Ms Lynott said members of the group had "unanimously" endorsed the Our Children Our Church policy document on child protection, and were satisfied that it was "a significant advancement in child protection and that all outstanding issues have now been resolved".
SOUTHINGTON (CT)
Record-Journal
By Caroline D. Porter, Record-Journal Staff
SOUTHINGTON — James J. McCoy, a former youth pastor at Central Baptist Church and basketball coach at Central Christian Academy, has pleaded no contest to reduced sexual assault charges in a 2003 case.
In July 2003, McCoy, then 29, of 142 Armour Place, Murfreesboro, Tenn., turned himself in on a warrant for second-degree sexual assault, after a woman who had been on his team accused him of having had a sexual relationship with her between November 1998 and December 2000. The relationship allegedly started when the woman was 17.
Sources say he made a public confession of the improper relationship in the spring of 2001, and was asked to leave his post. The church doesn't deny that McCoy had a relationship with the victim, and says it handled the matter appropriately.
The church operates the school on its property at 1505 West St.
In late July 2003, McCoy pleaded not guilty to the charge in Bristol Superior Court.
BRISTOL (CT)
The Day
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published on 1/28/2005
Bristol (AP) — A former youth pastor and basketball coach at Central Christian Academy in Southington has pleaded no contest to charges of sexually assaulting a teenage student.
James J. McCoy, 31, could get up to two years in prison and three years of probation when he is sentenced in March in Superior Court.
McCoy was originally charged July 1, 2003, with second-degree sexual assault. But that charge was downgraded to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault before McCoy entered his plea on Monday.
The victim, in a civil lawsuit, has accused McCoy of repeatedly sexually abusing and assaulting her over a period of six months in the late 1990s. She was 17 at the time, according to the civil suit.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Friday, January 28, 2005
After a second day of intense cross-examination, the only alleged victim to force defrocked priest Paul Shanley to face child-rape charges to date begged a judge yesterday not to compel him to continue testifying.
``Please don't make me,'' the accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, said to Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel. ``I can't start over again.''
In a statement released shortly afterward, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office said the man would take the stand again today. If he does not, the defense could request a mistrial, a potential death blow to a case that began with four accusers and now hinges on one.
All four men alleged that Shanley, now 74, raped them in the 1980s, when they took Sunday school classes at St. Jean's parish in Newton. In July, charges brought by two of the men were dropped, and last week, prosecutors dropped charges involving a third, who vomited after a grueling hearing last October and never contacted them again.
Yesterday, Shanley's sole remaining accuser was at turns defiant and distraught as defense attorney Frank Mondano hammered away at his memory and motives.
SWAMPSCOTT (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | January 28, 2005
A 55-year-old Swampscott priest was being sought yesterday for allegedly asking a 12-year-old girl and her mother to perform a sex act, authorities said.
The Rev. Jerome Gillespie, a Roman Catholic priest assigned to St. John the Evangelist Church, is wanted on charges of child enticement, annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex, and offering money for sex, said David Procopio, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.
Gillespie, a priest in the Archdiocese of Boston since 1982, did not return messages left last night at his church's rectory. An archdiocesan spokeswoman said church officials learned about the allegations last night.
''We're aware the police in Chelsea are investigating an incident involving Father Gillespie," said Ann Carter. ''The archdiocese is in the process of obtaining additional information about the investigation, and until that takes place, we cannot comment any further."
Gillespie allegedly propositioned the girl and her mother Tuesday night at Floramos Fifth Ave. Restaurant Lounge, an Italian eatery in Chelsea, said Procopio. He would not reveal what the priest is accused of saying.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Connecticut Post
By DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
BRIDGEPORT — A former seminary student was convicted Thursday of molesting a 16-year-old girl.
Leonardo Montoya, 30, showed no emotion as the six-person Superior Court jury found him guilty of fourth-degree sexual assault following 90 minutes of deliberations.
Montoya, dismissed from the seminary by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport just before his arrest, faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced March 31 by Judge Heidi Winslow.
Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Esposito said the jury arrived at the appropriate verdict.
"I admire the young woman for her bravery," Esposito said. "This is not something that she should have gone through or wanted to relive, but she did and I hope she can get on with her life."
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Boston.com
January 28, 2005
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- A Superior Court jury has convicted a former seminary student of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Leonardo Montoya, 30, was found guilty of fourth-degree sexual assault following 90 minutes of deliberations Thursday.
Montoya, dismissed from the seminary by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport just before his arrest, faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced March 31.
Montoya, formerly assigned to St. Augustine Cathedral and churches in Trumbull and Norwalk, is accused of molesting the girl while he was visiting her Bridgeport home on Nov. 30, 2003.
The girl's family met Montoya while he was working at St. Augustine and befriended him after he helped them with arrangements for a baptism.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— A man accusing defrocked priest Paul Shanley of sexually abusing him as a child returned to court Friday despite pleas from him the day before that he couldn't endure another day of questioning.
On Thursday, with the jury out of the room, the man told the judge he couldn't bear continuing to testify. He'd been through two days of intense and sometimes graphic questioning by Shanley's attorney, Frank Mondano.
"I can't do this again," the accuser said in court. "I can't start over again. Every time I come back I have to start over. It's been three years."
After learning he would face a third day of questioning by Mondano, the man later asked the judge: "Can I ask a request of you? Please don't make me."
But he returned Friday to resume his testimony. Still, Mondano asked the judge to declare a mistrial, contending the man's emotional outbursts during his testimony would taint the jury and prejudice them against his client. Superior Court Stephen Neel rejected the request.
PEORIA (IL)
Journal Star
Friday, January 28, 2005
PEORIA - The Catholic Diocese of Peoria is in "full compliance" with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, according to the results of a recent audit.
That means, spokeswomen Elizabeth Smarjesse said, that the diocese is meeting the standards set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to protect minors from sexual abuse.
As a result, the diocese won't have to undergo an outside audit in 2005, although it still must conduct a self-audit to document compliance with the charter.
Among other policies, the diocese is required to mandate all employees and volunteers who come in contact with minors take part in safe-environment training, fingerprinting and background checks. It also must provide a reporting process for misconduct and procedures on handling complaints.
BRITAIN
ic Croyden
Jan 28 2005
HER voice is quiet and gentle on the other end of the line, it sounds like she has been crying.
She begins by saying that she does not want to speak for long. But, once she starts, there is a lot to say.
Last week, this brave woman heard the news that her priest, Somanathan Ramanathan, the aya of the Hindu Temple in Thornton Heath, had been found guilty of raping her twice.
It is the result she has been praying for since she first went to the police. But, now, excluded from her community for daring to speak out, she faces rebuilding her life on her own.
She said: "I feel like I have been in prison for two years. Now I'm free, but not free to go where I belong, which is with my community. I have been totally betrayed by my own people. Now that he has been found guilty, they feel sorry for him.
"They look at me like I was a slut. But, the community make it so that we are the guilty party. We are made to feel that we should shut up about it.
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Staff Writer
An attorney representing the Rev. James Poole denied Thursday some of the statements attributed to his client during a hearing in Bethel Superior Court a day earlier.
While Timothy Lynch confirmed in a written statement that his client admitted French-kissing Jane Doe 1 as a child, he denied several other claims made by attorney Ken Roosa, including that the former Catholic priest molested another child and that he was expelled from Alaska for a year because of other abuse allegations.
"Attorney Roosa has made outright misstatements and has mischaracterized testimony," Lynch wrote.
Roosa told the court Wednesday during oral arguments on the defense's proposed protective order that Poole admitted to several allegations made against him. Roosa used the admissions to illustrate his point that some of the documents defense attorneys would have protected from public scrutiny don't merit protection.
Among other things, Roosa said Poole admitted to French-kissing Jane Doe 1 on hundreds of occasions, molesting a 6-year-old girl and being sent away from Alaska because of abuse allegations years before Jane Doe 1 claimed she was abused by Poole, who is now 81 and living in Spokane, Wash.
Poole attorney Madelon Blum declined to address Roosa's statements Wednesday during arguments over the gag order and was traveling afterwards. In his e-mail, Lynch objected to several statements by Roosa, including that Poole admitted that he committed every act Jane Doe 1 alleged in the March 2003 civil complaint she filed against Poole; the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska; the Society of Jesuits, Oregon Province; and the Society of Jesuits, Alaska.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
Jan. 29, 2005
NSW police and the DPP are using laws repealed two decades ago to prosecute homosexuals. David Marr reports.
A two men swam at Cronulla on a hot night 23 years ago, one fondled the other in the dark. They were not youngsters. One was a skinny teacher of 29 and the other a priest in his early 40s. The teacher had an erection but dived under the water and swam away. After this brief encounter in the pool, they drove back to the presbytery together and had sex.
What they did that night in January 1982 was criminal. The law in NSW was about to change after a long and acrimonious campaign for reform, but when these men had their one-night stand in the presbytery of St Catherine Laboure Church at Gymea, each was committing an "indecent assault" that might land them in jail for five years. Consent was no defence.
The police came for Father Terry Goodall at his Penshurst parish in September 2003 and arrested him - under the old law - for having sex with the teacher all those years ago. Judge Philip Bell, of the NSW District Court, remarked that on the facts before him, "you'd never get a conviction if you ran this trial today", but under the old law Goodall had no choice but to plead guilty. Having sex with a man was enough to convict him. He was sentenced last week.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Kristina Davis, Tribune
A Valley man who says he’s retrieved repressed memories of sexual abuse by Mesa priests and a youth minister filed a lawsuit Thursday filled with sweeping accusations against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
The complaint, filed by victim William J. Cesolini in Maricopa County Superior Court, named the diocese; St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa; Life Teen; Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, leader of the Phoenix diocese; Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien, former leader of the Phoenix diocese; two priests; and a youth leader.
The suit says Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy and arguably one of the diocese’s most popular priests, masturbated while watching another priest sexually abuse a 14-year-old Cesolini in 1985.
"He knew of the sexual abuse . . . and did nothing to stop or prevent it; nor did Fushek report the sexual abuse to authorities," the lawsuit stated.
Fushek also is accused of giving the teen alcohol.
Attorney Frank Verderame notified church officials Dec. 22 that a former parishioner claimed to have recovered repressed memories of molestation by the Rev. Mark Lehman, who served 10 years in prison for molesting students in the late 1980s at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Phoenix.
GREEN BAY (WI)
News-Chronicle
By Anna Krejci
News-Chronicle
A priest accused of sexually assaulting a boy in a Green Bay Catholic school pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child in Brown County Circuit Court on Thursday.
Donald Buzanowski, accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy he was counseling at Ss. Peter and Paul School, 1420 Harvey St. in Green Bay, in 1988 appeared in court beside his lawyer Owen Monfils.
The defendant and his lawyer requested a signature bond or that the cash bond be reduced from $100,000 to $1,000. The motion was denied by Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay. In argument for a reduced cash bond, Buzanowski's lawyer filed a motion Jan. 18.
The motion states that Buzanowski can safely be released into the community and cited a Jan. 14 letter in which a psychologist studied Buzanowski's history in treatment programs while incarcerated for possessing child pornography. Buzanowski was convicted on a federal child pornography possession charge in 2000. The psychologist concluded that Buzanowski's treatment left him at a pretreatment risk level allowable for placement in the community with formal supervision. The motion also stated if Buzanowski were released, a federal probation officer's supervision over him would resume.
CONCORD (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Katherine Seligman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 28, 2005
Soon after they met as freshmen at De La Salle High School in Concord, Chris Barbour and Will Lopes became the kind of friends who expected to know each other forever.
Barbour was a driven student who dreamed of being a pilot. Lopes was the homecoming king and the starting quarterback on the football team. The two former altar boys were popular, good-looking, well-liked by teachers.
But the two shared something else -- something that would derail their friendship and their lives, and, ultimately, embarrass the Roman Catholic order whose San Francisco district runs the prestigious school and at least 15 others in the region.
In 1980, both boys went to see a counselor they called Brother Joe, a member of the Christian Brothers order who sexually abused them, according to interviews, lawsuits and government documents.
What they didn't know was that Brother Joseph Jesse Gutierrez had been transferred by the Christian Brothers to Concord from Berkeley, where he'd had relationships with students that had "sexual overtones." That much was made public last month after the Christian Brothers paid Barbour $4 million -- one of the largest payments so far in the nationwide surge of lawsuits against the Catholic Church -- to settle a lawsuit.
OHIO
WBNS
A Licking County pastor is accused of having sex with underage girls he ministered. And investigators believe with his access to teens, other victims may exist if the claims are legitimate.
Lonny Alshire, Jr., age 34, is being held in the Licking County jail with bail set at $250,000.
Sheriff investigators say Alshire, an associate pastor at Licking Baptist Church of Hebron, sexually assaulted at least two teenage girls inside the church.
"People like this always place themselves close to children,” Capt. Rod Mitchell of the Licking County Sheriff’s Department said.
For 12 years, Alshire worked closely with teens at the church. He was arrested at his Hebron home after an accuser told a school resource officer that she had engaged in sex with Alshire at the church.
Authorities say the investigation then led to a second victim.
MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
By CHRISTINE VENDEL The Kansas City Star
Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday accused a Sunday school teacher of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl who attended his Kansas City church class.
Darren C. Hall, 36, of Kansas City, was charged with one count of statutory rape and three counts of statutory sodomy. He was in jail Thursday in lieu of $75,000 bond.
Prosecutors allege he began a sexual relationship with the girl last February when she was 15. Hall, who is married, has known her since she was 11.
They met at Friendship Baptist Church, 3530 Chelsea Ave., where Hall taught Sunday school, court records said. He also helped schedule recreational activities for the church, according to police.
A woman who answered the church's phone Thursday said the pastor was out of the city and could not be reached. She said no one else was available to comment.
The alleged relationship came to light a few days before Christmas when someone called the Missouri Children's Division. The caller said the girl's grandmother, who is her legal guardian, knew about the relationship.
SOUTH AFRICA
Daily News
January 28, 2005
By Barbara Cole
A Shembe Church pastor who allegedly lured young boys to his flat on the pretext of watching a Mr Bean movie, then sexually abused them, is being hunted by the police.
And the horrified, "disgusted and very angry" parents of five Durban boys, aged between 9-12, said yesterday they would not rest until the man, who is in his 50s, is caught.
Now, the traumatised victims and their distraught parents are undergoing counselling at the Oasis Crisis Care Centre in the city's Albany Grove.
The alleged abuse was carried out over the past three weeks, said Oasis founder and director, Merle Martin.
Fighting back tears, one victim's mother said: "This man was well known and respected in the church. My son trusted him."
The pastor, who works at a block of flats on Durban's Victoria Embankment - he did not report for duty yesterday - is said to be "the last person you would expect this sort of horrendous behaviour from," said Martin, a police reservist.
"Everyone in the community knows and respects him. He's always smiling," Martin said.
It is claimed that the paedophile pastor, who is married with children of his own, preyed on boys from a nearby block of flats, inviting them over to watch a Mr Bean video.
BOSTON (MA)
Reuters
By Greg Frost
BOSTON (Reuters) - The lone accuser in the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley has broken down in tears and had to briefly leave court after facing a withering assault of barbed questions about his background.
A day after he wept as he testified how Shanley raped and molested him decades ago, the 27-year-old firefighter admitted under intense cross-examination on Thursday that he abused steroids and alcohol, had a gambling problem, came from a broken home and is repulsed by homosexual acts.
Armed with piles of depositions and evidence culled from a civil lawsuit that netted the accuser $500,000 (265,000 pounds) in a settlement last year, defence attorney Frank Mondano picked apart the man's background -- apparently in an effort to question his motives and lessen his credibility in the eyes of the jury.
Shanley played a central role in the abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and enveloped other dioceses. The Vatican defrocked Shanley last year, more than two decades after his superiors learned of the priest's views on sex between men and boys.
Internal church documents released in 2002 showed that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston knew in 1979 that Shanley had attended a meeting of men involved in sexual relationships with male youngsters -- a meeting that gave rise to NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
Two co-founders of Life Teen, the nation's largest Catholic youth ministry based in the Valley, were accused Thursday in a lawsuit of covering up and helping carry out sexual attacks on a 14-year-old boy two decades ago.
The lawsuit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, also claimed that the Life Teen program at St. Timothy's parish in Mesa had "a social culture which inappropriately focused upon sexual activity . . . and fostered an environment that led to inappropriate sexual behavior."
Named as defendants in the suit were Life Teen co-founders, Monsignor Dale J. Fushek and Phil Baniewicz, along with former priest Mark Lehman, resigned Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, the Diocese of Phoenix, St. Timothy's Parish and Life Teen Inc., the program founded at St. Timothy's parish in 1985. advertisement
Jennifer Swanson, spokeswoman for Life Teen, said the suit was being sent to the organization's outside legal counsel for review. But she denied the allegations.
"Life Teen has transformed lives of countless teenagers, families and communities," she said. "Such an impact can be proven and we will not allow a lawsuit to impede teens developing a friendship with Christ."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff | January 28, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- It was about 5 o'clock when the judge presiding over Paul R. Shanley's child rape trial turned to the accuser on the witness stand and made a request. Jurors had to leave for the day, the judge said. Could he return to court in the morning to finish his testimony?
''Please don't make me," the man replied. ''I can't do this again. I can't start again."
The dramatic exchange, which took place without the jury present, capped a withering daylong cross-examination of Shanley's accuser, marked by sarcastic exchanges, tears, and vigorous challenges of his accounts of being ruined by the abuse.
Over seven hours, defense lawyer Frank Mondano challenged the accuser's memories and his contention that being abused by Shanley, 74, led to many troubles in his life, from alcohol abuse as a teenager to failing to become a Major League baseball player. Mondano suggested that the man was seeking attention from the Shanley case and hadn't suffered as he contends he has.
The alleged victim, 27, accuses Shanley of repeatedly raping and abusing him between ages 6 and 11, when he was a Sunday school student at St. Jean Parish in Newton. He says he recovered memories of the abuse in 2001, after hearing of news reports about Boston's clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Mondano has challenged the authenticity of those memories and is trying to persuade the jury that the charges against Shanley are motivated by hope of monetary gain. The accuser was awarded a $500,000 settlement after he brought a civil suit against the Boston Archdiocese.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Whittier Daily News
By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press
Insurance carriers sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles in federal court, alleging it has withheld information that could help insurers assess the validity and worth of more than 500 sexual abuse claims.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court by three members of American International Group Inc., alleges that the church and Cardinal Roger Mahony have tried to force insurers into settlement without providing insurers with key documents. Those include plaintiffs' medical and work records that could help evaluate the claims, the suit says.
"The archbishop's failure to investigate and to initiate formal discovery has resulted in the loss of critical evidence,' according to the lawsuit. "Despite the fact that memories are fading and witnesses are dying, the archbishop has consistently resisted the taking of any depositions or recorded statements in the ... proceedings or otherwise.'
Nearly 700 clergy abuse lawsuits are pending against Roman Catholic dioceses in Southern California.
The Diocese of Orange last month reached a record-setting $100 million settlement with 87 alleged victims. The settlement could not have gone forward without the participation of the diocese's insurers, which will pay about $50 million.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN NOLAN
Associated Press
CINCINNATI - Activists challenging a prosecutor's agreement to end a sex abuse investigation against a Roman Catholic archdiocese have a potential ally: the new prosecutor.
It is not certain, however, whether Joseph Deters, who returned as Hamilton County prosecutor this month, would consider overturning the plea deal or could reopen the investigation.
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati pleaded no contest in 2003 to charges of failing to tell authorities about sex abuse allegations against priests, becoming just the third Roman Catholic diocese at that time to strike a deal with prosecutors in a criminal investigation.
The agreement ended a nearly two-year investigation, among the probes nationwide after molestation allegations were made against a priest in Boston in 2002.
Since last year, activists have called for an outside review of the deal, saying former county prosecutor Michael Allen ended it before determining whether church officials knew of sex abuse by clergy and allowed it to continue.
Deters said he was fulfilling a campaign promise to the activists to examine the agreement.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Seattle Times
By Denise Lavoie
The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — After a grueling second day of intense and graphic questioning by a defense lawyer, the man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child cried on the witness stand yesterday and begged the judge not to force him to continue testifying.
"I can't do this again," the man said, his shoulders slumped and his head down as Shanley's attorney asked graphic questions about the nature of the alleged abuse. "I can't start over again."
At one point, the accuser — who has asked not to be named publicly — loudly sobbed as he clasped his hands behind his head and pressed his forehead against the rail of the witness stand.
Frank Mondano, Shanley's attorney, has spent the past two days seeking to undermine the accuser's credibility, grilling him about his troubled childhood, his abuse of alcohol and steroids, his gambling habit — and his motivation for coming forward with what he says are repressed memories of the alleged abuse.
Mondano has said the man made up his story to cash in on the multimillion-dollar settlements paid to victims of abuse by priests in Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Indeed, the accuser last year received a $500,000 settlement from the Boston Archdiocese.
MANATEE (FL)
Bradenton Herald
MICHAEL BARBER
MANATEE - and AIMEE JUAREZ
Herald Staff Writers
An assistant principal at Haile Middle School was one of many defendants named in sexual molestation lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Boston that led to a multimillion-dollar settlement in 2003, court documents show.
Joseph Gilpin, who has been placed on paid administrative leave by the Manatee County School District, is also part of a separate, ongoing complaint filed with the Archdiocese of Portland in Maine.
As the allegations were revealed this week, local friends and coworkers have staunchly supported Gilpin, a distinguished employee of the Manatee County school system for more than 30 years.
Father Don Nicholson, a local Episcopal priest who has known Gilpin for seven or eight years, forcefully denounced the allegations.
"It's garbage," he said. "I'm angry, not at Joe, but that an unnamed accuser could make these accusations after all these years and get Joe's name splashed all over the newspaper. I think it's a defilement."
Gilpin, 60, has not responded to repeated attempts by The Herald to discuss the allegations or the district's decision to place him on leave.
MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star
Jackson County prosecutors today accused a Sunday school teacher of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl from his Kansas City church class.
Darren C. Hall, 36, of Kansas City, was charged with one count of statutory rape and three counts of statutory sodomy. He was in jail today in lieu of a $75,000 bond.
Prosecutors allege he began a sexual relationship with the girl last February when she was 15. He has known the girl since she was 11 years old.
Hall was a Sunday school teacher at Friendship Baptist Church, 3530 Chelsea Avenue. He also helped schedule recreational activities for the church. A woman who answered the church's phone today said the pastor was “out of the city” and could not be reached for comment. She said there was no one else available to comment.
KANSAS CITY (MO)
TheKansasCityChannel.com
POSTED: 5:26 pm CST January 27, 2005
UPDATED: 5:57 pm CST January 27, 2005
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City church youth counselor is accused of having a long-term sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl in the congregation.
Darren Hall, 36, is charged with statutory rape and sodomy. He was arrested Wednesday.
Investigators told KMBC that Hall first met the girl when she was 11. The girl attended a Sunday school class Hall taught at Friendship Baptist Church in Kansas City.
According to court documents, the relationship became sexual last year when the girl turned 15.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Greg Frost | January 27, 2005
BOSTON (Reuters) - The lone accuser in the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley pleaded with a judge to spare him more of the stinging interrogation that left him sobbing in court on Thursday.
A day after tearfully testifying how Shanley raped and molested him decades ago, the 27-year-old firefighter admitted under intense cross-examination he had abused steroids and alcohol and had a gambling problem. He also said he came from a broken home and was repulsed by homosexual acts.
Armed with piles of depositions and evidence culled from a civil lawsuit that netted the accuser $500,000 in a settlement last year, defense attorney Frank Mondano picked apart the man's background -- apparently to cast doubt on his motives and lessen his credibility in the eyes of the jury.
By the end of the day, the accuser was pleading with Judge Stephen Neel to allow him not to return for a third day of cross-examination. Mondano said if the man did not return, there might be sufficient grounds for a mistrial.
Shanley played a central role in the abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and enveloped other dioceses. The Vatican defrocked Shanley last year, more than two decades after his superiors learned of the priest's views on sex between men and boys.
Internal church documents released in 2002 showed the Boston Archdiocese knew in 1979 that Shanley had attended a meeting of men involved in sexual relationships with male youngsters -- a meeting that gave rise to NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Guardian
Friday January 28, 2005 1:31 AM
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - After a grueling second day of intense and graphic questioning by a defense lawyer, the man who has accused defrocked priest Paul Shanley of raping him as a child broke down on the witness stand Thursday and begged the judge not to force him to continue testifying.
``I can't do this again,'' the man said, his shoulders slumped and his head down as Shanley's attorney asked graphic questions about the nature of the alleged abuse. ``I can't start over again.''
At one point during the questioning, the accuser loudly sobbed as he clasped his hands behind his head and pressed his forehead against the rail of the witness stand.
Frank Mondano, Shanley's attorney, has spent the past two days seeking to undermine the accuser's credibility, grilling him about his troubled childhood, his abuse of alcohol and steroids, his gambling habit - and his motivation for coming forward with what he says are repressed memories of the alleged abuse.
Mondano has said the man made up his story to cash in on the multimillion-dollar settlements paid to victims of abuse by priests in Boston's Roman Catholic Archdiocese.
The accuser, now a 27-year-old firefighter, says Shanley raped and molested him at a parish outside Boston beginning when he was 6. He didn't remember the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend's account of being abused as a boy by Shanley.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Los Angeles Times
By Stephanie Simon, Times Staff Writer
CINCINNATI — For four months, attorney Matt Garretson has immersed himself in halting accounts of rape and crude seduction, frenzied groping, terror and shame. He has come to understand the pain of sexual abuse.
Now, he must put a price on it.
Garretson administers a fund set up by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to compensate victims of clergy abuse. In the next few weeks, he will divide $3 million among the 132 men and women who have trusted him with their anguish.
The 16-year-old molested by his Catholic school principal in a gym shower — how much is he due? He quit playing ball after the assault, giving up his shot at a college scholarship. His mother urged him to Mass, but he found he could not pray. How to value his loss?
And what of the 13-year-old fondled by a priest who had taken him in for counseling? The priest called it God's will. The boy, swamped with shame, slumped into addiction, obesity and depression that lasted decades. How much for him?
OHIO
The Advocate
By ERIK JOHNS
Advocate Reporter
NEWARK -- A Hebron pastor is being held in the Licking County Jail, accused of sexually assaulting a girl who frequently attended his church.
Lonny J. Aleshire Jr., 34, associate pastor at the Licking Baptist Church, 1380 Beaver Run Road, Hebron, is charged with one count of sexual battery, a third-degree felony.
Licking County Sheriff's deputies accuse Aleshire, of 503 E. Main St., Hebron, of engaging in sexual activity with the girl at the church.
Deputies say more charges are possible involving a second girl who alleges Aleshire abused her over a two-year period.
Aleshire was arrested by sheriff's deputies Tuesday evening.
He is also an employee of the Ohio Department of Youth Services, which conducts counseling and other services for the Ohio juvenile justice system.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
A former Adelaide Anglican archbishop says it is a pity that Ian George has been forced to cancel a farewell service honouring his time as archbishop.
Dr Keith Rayner preceded Dr George as archbishop and says the furore over the planned service has been "unfortunate".
Yesterday, Dr George called off the service himself, because of protests from victims of sexual abuse within the church.
He resigned last year over the church's failure to help abuse victims.
However, Dr Rayner says the circumstances of Dr George's resignation overshadow a lifetime of work for the good of the community.
"He spearheaded the work of the Anglican communion for refugees around the world and the thought that none of that should be able to be honoured is to me a very sad thing," he said.
However, the decision has drawn no such sympathy from one of those abused as a child.
Mark King says the problem of covering up child abuse goes far deeper than Dr George's involvement.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Court TV
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The lawyer of a defrocked priest accused of sexually assaulting a young boy put the credibility of the accuser on trial Thursday when cross-examination continued in Paul Shanley's child rape case.
Outside the jury's presence, defense attorney Frank Mondano argued Thursday morning that the defense should be able to continue using depositions from the accuser's personal injury suit against the Boston Archdiocese to impeach the credibility of his recollections.
After Judge Stephen Neel ruled in Mondano's favor, the attorney threw the accuser's own words at him in a bid to convince jurors that the now-27-year-old has a tendency "to forget, then remember, then forget again."
The alleged victim has testified that the sexual abuse he suffered at Shanley's hands has caused numerous problems in his life. When he was in high school, he said, he began using steroids "to make me feel better about myself," and began drinking "to excess."
IRELAND
One in Four
by Anne Lucey of The Irish Times
A jury yesterday cleared a Christian Brother formerly attached to St Joseph's CBS Industrial School in Tralee of eight counts of sexual complaints by a former inmate.
The jury of six women and six men unanimously returned a verdict of not guilty on the second day of the trial at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee.
The now 50-year-old man who lives in London said he would wet the bed at night rather than use the toilet when the Brother was on dormitory duty. He alleged that the indecent assaults and gross indecency had taken place in a storeroom off the kitchen on four separate occasions, although he did not have specific dates. He had been sent as a 12-year-old to St Joseph's by District Court Order, because he had 'skipped' school.
The man cannot read and suffers from depression. The Brother denied four charges of indecent assault and four charges of gross indecency on four occasions between April, 1967 and June 30th, 1970. He was transferred to the school in 1964, about three years before the boy. He did not remember the boy.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
By NIGEL HUNT
28jan05
THE Anglican Church has bowed to intense criticism from sexual abuse victims and cancelled a planned service of recognition for former archbishop Ian George.
The embarrassing backdown follows a barrage of public attacks by victims and child protection advocates, which forced church officials to review the planned service.
Bishop George resigned as Anglican archbishop in June, following the release of a scathing report on the church's handling of abuse complaints and criticism of his role in one case, in which an alleged offender had fled overseas.
Abuse victims and their families were outraged the Adelaide Diocese organised the February 13 service, accusing it of insensitivity and arrogance.
After several days of discussions with church officials, Bishop George yesterday said he was "deeply concerned" that victims had been distressed by the planned service.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
Kentucky.com
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Vatican has dismissed Thomas P. Creagh from the priesthood, making him the fourth man to leave the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville over the recent sex-abuse scandal.
The action came late last month, said Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer for the archdiocese.
Creagh, 63, had not worked in ministry since May 2002, when he resigned as pastor of Holy Family Church in Louisville after being accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit against the archdiocese.
Creagh eventually was accused in five lawsuits of sexually abusing boys. All five plaintiffs were among 243 people who later took part in a $25.7 million settlement with the archdiocese. Creagh never faced criminal charges.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Herald Tribune
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The lawyer for defrocked priest Paul Shanley sought to undermine the credibility of his accuser Thursday, grilling the man under cross-examination about his troubled childhood, abuse of alcohol and steroids, and gambling.
The man testified for a second day of Shanley's rape trial, one of the few cases in which prosecutors have been able to bring charges against priests accused of molesting boys decades ago.
The man, now a 27-year-old firefighter, is the lone accuser remaining in the case. He says Shanley raped and molested him at a Newton parish over a period of six years, beginning when he was 6.
He says he didn't recover memories of the abuse until early 2002, when he heard a friend's account of being abused as a boy by Shanley, one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal.
But Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, has implied that the man's account was tailored to conform to those of three other alleged victims who were dropped from the case by prosecutors.
BRISTOL (CT)
The Advocate
Associated Press
January 27, 2005
BRISTOL, Conn. -- A former youth pastor and basketball coach at Central Christian Academy in Southington has pleaded no contest to charges of sexually assaulting a teenage student.
James J. McCoy, 31, could get up to two years in prison and three years of probation when he is sentenced in March in Superior Court.
McCoy was originally charged July 1, 2003 with second-degree sexual assault. But that charge was downgraded to two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault before McCoy entered his plea on Monday.
The victim, in a civil lawsuit, has accused McCoy of repeatedly sexually abusing and assaulting her over a period of six months in the late 1990s. She was 17 at the time, according to the civil suit.
Leaders of the church and school have said previously that they heard reports about of the relationship in 2001, and immediately obtained McCoy's resignation after he "admitted to immoral behavior."
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, January 27, 2005
ALBANY -- A Boston judge has dropped the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and its bishop from a $5 million clergy sex abuse lawsuit, noting in his Dec. 29 decision the client's lawyer missed a paperwork deadline.
On Wednesday, attorney John Aretakis disputed the ruling by Suffolk Superior Court Justice Christopher J. Muse and said he is confident the claim filed by Joe Woodward of Fort Ann will stand.
He said the Massachusetts judge's action isn't valid because a case can only be dismissed on its merits, not a technicality.
Woodward, 37, says he was sexually abused as a young teenager in the early 1980s by the former Rev. Dozia Wilson. The subject of a number of other complaints both here and in Boston, Wilson was removed from ministry in 1993.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
phillyburbs.com
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - Two more men have sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, claiming they were plied with alcohol and sexually abused by priests decades ago, and a Schuylkill County panel of judges dismissed two abuse lawsuits against the Allentown Diocese they said were filed too late.
The two men bring to 35 the number of people who have sued the Pittsburgh diocese in the past year claiming they were molested by 18 former priests. None of the cases has gone to trial.
A 53-year-old man from McKeesport claims in his lawsuit that he was fondled by a priest at St. Mary Czestochowa Church in McKeesport, a Pittsburgh suburb, when he was 11 years old. A 45-year-old man claims he was fondled and sodomized at the St. Paul Church in Butler by a former priest when he was 15 years old.
Lawyers representing the victims contend that the diocese protected and reassigned priests that were involved in abusing children.
The diocese has said that all the allegations in the lawsuits involve priests removed from the ministry or who have died.
MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@herald.com
A Miami-Dade County man claims a controversial Catholic priest sexually abused him more than three decades ago, when he was between the ages of 8 and 10 and enrolled in catechism classes.
Jose Lopez-Trigo, 40, alleges in a lawsuit that during the three years leading up to his first Holy Communion at St. Kieran's Church in Miami, in 1974, ``he was a repeated victim of sexual abuse in which depraved acts of pedophilia were committed by [the Rev. Ricardo] Castellanos upon him.''
The Miami-Dade state attorney's office said it received a copy of the civil complaint this week and has referred the matter to Miami police for a criminal investigation.
Since the nationwide clergy sex-abuse scandal broke in 2002, Miami-Dade prosecutors have been stymied in all but one of their numerous investigations of molestation claims in the Archdiocese of Miami because the statute of limitations had expired. But this case could gain momentum because the alleged victim was under 12 years of age, and no statute of limitations applies for certain sex-battery offenses.
Castellanos, 59, denied the latest accusations through his attorney. He has been on administrative leave as pastor of San Isidro Church in Pompano Beach.
Castellanos, accused of sexual abuse in four now-settled lawsuits with the archdiocese, has always maintained his innocence.
''We believe that the [latest] allegations are false,'' said attorney James Nosich. ``Castellanos has absolutely no recollection of this person.''
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff | January 27, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- He is thickly built and tough looking, a firefighter who prefers football to baseball and described Air Force boot camp as ''awesome." But when a prosecutor's queries summoned memories from Sunday school in the early 1980s, he began to cry.
Who was it, the prosecutor asked the alleged abuse victim, that used to meet him in the boys room of St. Jean's Church in Newton? Twice the man pointed, without speaking, at the balding man at the defense table in Middlesex Superior Court. Finally, he stammered, ''Shanley."
In the second day of testimony in Paul R. Shanley's child-rape trial yesterday, the defrocked priest's 27-year-old accuser took the witness stand and gave graphic accounts of the alleged abuse in a halting voice, often covering his face with his hands.
He described what he said were clandestine meetings with the priest on scattered Sunday mornings: in the bathroom, the church rectory, the pews, and the confessional. He said Shanley touched him, watched him urinate, and occasionally performed oral sex on him to ''teach me" how to do it.
But in a combative cross-examination yesterday afternoon, Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, challenged the man's credibility, pointing out lapses in his memory and discrepancies between yesterday's testimony and a deposition he gave in April 2002 in a civil suit against the Boston Archdiocese.
MANATEE (FL)
Bradenton Herald
MANATEE -
An assistant middle school principal was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday after accusations surfaced that he sexually abused at least two minors more than 30 years ago when he was a Catholic seminarian.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, faxed a letter to Manatee County School Superintendent Roger Dearing on Wednesday contending Joseph Gilpin, an assistant principal at Haile Middle School, molested a boy while affiliated with the Catholic church between 1965 and 1968.
Clohessy wrote that he was contacted last week by another man who said he also was sexually abused by Gilpin between 1968 and 1970.
Gilpin has previously denied the accusations, according to a Boston Globe report published Jan. 31, 2002. Gilpin, a teacher and administrator in Manatee County schools since 1971, did not respond to repeated attempts by The Herald to contact him Wednesday.
School board member Barbara Harvey was stunned by the accusations.
"I do not believe anything negative about him," Harvey said when contacted at home. "I have known him for at least 20 years and I have found him to be very competent and trustworthy. I am deeply shocked at any allegations of this nature."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Times Argus
January 27, 2005
By Denise Lavoie Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Paul Shanley's accuser tearfully described Wednesday how the former priest would pull him from Catholic education classes to rape and fondle him in the church pews, confessional and rectory.
The man, now 27, says Shanley repeatedly molested him in the 1980s, beginning when he was 6, at St. Jean's Parish in Newton. The case originally involved allegations by four alleged victims, but it has since been whittled down to the one man, who testified in Shanley's child rape trial in Middlesex Superior Court.
Shanley's lawyer challenged the man's account of the abuse, implying that it was tailored to conform to those of the other alleged victims, who were dropped from the case by prosecutors.
"It's fair to say that at various points in time you came to remember pretty much what they came to remember, correct?" defense attorney Frank Mondano asked the accuser.
"Yeah," the man said. "(But) they were my memories."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Shadowed for years by allegations that he molested boys, defrocked priest Paul Shanley faced one of his accusers in criminal court for the first time yesterday in nearly four hours of testimony that left his alleged victim in tears.
``Oh my God,'' the man whispered, his head suddenly down, inhaling deeply, as Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney asked him to describe what happened at St. Jean's parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, when he was between 6 and 12.
Moments earlier, the alleged victim, now a 27-year-old firefighter, had seemed the image of boyish confidence as he described his courtship with his wife and a promising Air Force career.
That career came to an abrupt end in the spring of 2002 when he began having flashbacks, he said yesterday in Middlesex Superior Court. The flashbacks came after he learned of media reports of sexual-abuse allegations a former classmate had brought against Shanley.
The firefighter, whose name the Herald is withholding because the man is an alleged sexual-assault victim, described being pulled out of Sunday school class and into the church bathroom.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Herald Tribune
By PAM BELLUCK
New York Times
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 26 - A 27-year-old who has accused a defrocked Boston priest of molesting him 20 years ago took the witness stand on Wednesday and testified that the defendant, Paul R. Shanley, sexually abused him in the church bathroom, the pews, a confession room and the rectory.
In the bathroom, the accuser testified, Mr. Shanley "unzipped my pants," and, "if I had to go to the bathroom, he'd watch me go to bathroom."
Then, he said, Mr. Shanley would touch him, and "sometimes he would kneel down and try to teach me how to perform oral sex."
The testimony from the sometimes-teary accuser, a barrel-chested firefighter in a Boston suburb, came on the second day of the trial of Mr. Shanley, who became a lightning rod when the sexual abuse scandal erupted three years ago in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
In cross-examination, Mr. Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, tried to discredit the accuser by pointing out inconsistencies in his statements and memory and by suggesting that his history of other troubles, including problems with his parents and his behavior in high school, raised questions about his credibility.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
The Rev. Thomas S. Quinn, 70, former communications director of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Toledo who became a priest nearly 20 years ago after a business career, died of a heart attack Tuesday in the rectory of Blessed Sacrament Parish, of which he was associate pastor.
He was chaplain of the Ursuline Community in Toledo and taught at St. Francis de Sales High School.
As director of communications from 1999 to 2003, Father Quinn often was the public voice and face of the diocese. Much of his last year was spent responding to inquiries about the sexual abuse scandal. Bishop James Hoffman died Feb. 8, 2003, after 22 years leading the 19-county diocese.
"As spokesman, it certainly hasn't been pleasant," he told The Blade in June, 2003.
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Staff Writer
The Rev. James Poole admitted to sexually abusing young girls in a deposition he gave last year, according to the lawyer for two of the three women who have made claims against the former Catholic priest and the Fairbanks Diocese.
Attorney Ken Roosa said Poole admitted to molesting Jane Doe 1, among others, and called himself "the great lover of the world" while answering questions under oath in September.
Attorneys for Poole and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, have requested the deposition and thousands of documents be sealed to save Poole unnecessary embarrassment and to protect the pool of potential jurors. Roosa gave a quick list of Poole's admissions Wednesday as he argued against a gag order in the courtroom of Bethel Superior Court Judge Dale Curda.
He noted defense attorneys have not told the court of Poole's admissions, which run contrary to previous filings in which the 81-year-old former priest, who now lives in Spokane, Wash., denied the allegations of Jane Doe.
"Yet no single attorney involved in this case from the defense perspective has seen fit to attach an addenda or in any way inform the court that in fact Father Poole did admit doing every single act that Jane Doe alleged in her complaint," Roosa told Curda.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione
Times Staff Writer
January 27, 2005
Three insurance companies have sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, accusing Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of refusing to share information about alleged sex abuse by priests, and precluding scrutiny of his activities as their supervisor.
The insurers have asked a judge to order Mahony to provide documents that could be used to defend the church or to relieve them of liability stemming from allegations by more than 535 people who say they were molested by priests since the 1930s.
"For whatever reasons, the archbishop's [Cardinal Mahony's] apparent goal is to obviate any meaningful disclosure of the facts and circumstances of these claims, and yet to pressure [the insurers] to contribute enormous sums of money" to settle the cases, according to the lawsuit.
The strategy "precludes any public or internal scrutiny of the archbishop's conduct, whether direct or by silent ratification," the lawsuit said.
"They have full access to the files," responded Mahony's lead lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan. "They are supposed to be on our side."
PENNSYLVANIA
FindLaw
By MARCI HAMILTON
hamilton02@aol.com
Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005
Last week, a federal district court in Erie, Pennsylvania, ruled on an unusual sexual harassment claim by a former nun against the employer of a priest.
Lynette Petruska sued Gannon University, alleging that she had been harassed by then-University President Monsignor David Rubino. But Judge Sean J. McLaughlin held that, due to the "ministerial exception," a religious institution cannot be sued under federal anti-discrimination laws.
The "ministerial exception" -- widely observed by courts in the United States - puts religious employees outside the protections of the anti-discrimination laws, on the broad ground that if the courts heard such cases, they would unduly interfere with the internal procedures of religious institutions.
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - which will hear Petruska's appeal - ought to reverse the trial court's decision, and allow her case to go forward. Not only is the ministerial exception itself problematic, it is especially problematic in this case.
The Ministerial Exception Wrongly Puts Courts in the Shoes of the Legislature
First, the ministerial exception is generally problematic. It is a court-created exception, but any such exception - if it comes at all -- should come through the legislature, not the courts. The ministerial exception is actually a judicially crafted accommodation for religion.
The legislature has the power to convene hearings at which it can listen to wide-ranging expert testimony, and engage in an extended study of the issue. They are institutionally crafted to be able to ask the larger questions about the public good.
JERUSALEM
Forward
January 28, 2005
By Jason Berry
Pope John Paul II has awarded control of an important Catholic cultural center in Jerusalem to a controversial, right-wing priestly order whose founder has been accused of sexual abuse.
The order, the Legionaries of Christ, received the administrative keys to the Jerusalem landmark, the Notre Dame Center, in a festive ceremony at the Vatican on November 30. The ceremony was part of a weeklong Vatican celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the entry into the priesthood of the order's Mexican-born founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, 84.
In an unusual twist, a church legal official disclosed less than a week later that a Vatican canon-law prosecutor was reopening the dormant investigation into abuse charges against Maciel. He had been accused in 1976 of sexually abusing seminarians in Mexico and in Spain in the 1950s and '60s.
Eight former members of the order filed formal charges against him in the Vatican in 1998, but the investigation was put on hold a year later by the Vatican's top theologian, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Maciel and his order have denied the charges repeatedly.
The Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem, a palatial structure at the foot of Jaffa Road, facing the walls of the Old City just outside Jaffa Gate, was built by a French order a century ago as a pilgrims' hostel. Taken over by the Vatican in 1970, it now houses a conference center, a school of tourism and hotel management, the public library of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine and a 150-bed hotel. It also houses administrative offices of several institutions linked to the local Catholic church, the so-called Latin Patriarchate, which represents mainly Arabic-speaking Catholics in Israel and the territories.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
27 January 2005
Some of the criticism of the Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, for his handling of sex abuse allegations against a priest has been misplaced. The man who must shoulder most of the blame is the Pope.
The bishop was merely following orders from the Vatican.
The line of the Vatican is that the interests of the victims of clerical sex abuse are to be given low priority when compared to the interests of the Catholic Church.
The allegations which have come to light over the past fortnight, as a result of the journalistic endeavour of Donna Deeney of the Derry Journal, are grave. The gravest concern the behaviour, not of the priest but of the diocese in dealing with the priest.
This allegation is that even after the diocesan authorities had acknowledged the priest's sexual abuse of an 18-year-old, he was given a role in a support group for victims of abuse, including sexual abuse.
Dr Hegarty has been less than forthcoming in explaining the thinking behind this sequence of events.
One key to understanding the matter is found in a law promulgated by the Vatican in May, 2001, just as the depth of the Church's worldwide sex abuse crisis became evident.
The new law changed the way bishops are permitted to handle abuse allegations. Three changes are directly relevant to Derry:
All information about such cases was henceforth to come within the ambit of "pontifical secret" and to be sent to the Vatican. Previously, there had been no special secrecy provisions regarding sex abuse cases.
Bishops were no longer allowed to process sex abuse cases under the general provisions of Canon Law but had to obtain permission from the Vatican to move beyond a preliminary investigation.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
New York Newsday
By Elizabeth Mehren
Times Staff Writer
January 27, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Taking the stand against a central figure in Boston's clerical abuse scandal, a 27-year-old firefighter tearfully testified Wednesday that former priest Paul Shanley had repeatedly molested him in a church bathroom, rectory, pews and confessional.
The man — who asked not to be named publicly — said the abuse began when he was 6 years old and enrolled in religious education classes at St. Jean's Roman Catholic Church. Shanley, he testified, continued to molest him at the church in Newton, Mass., until he was about 12.
While in the bathroom, the accuser said, the priest "would kneel down and try to teach me how to perform oral sex." In the confessional, "we would just talk about all the sins a second-grader could have," the man said. And then, he testified, Shanley would digitally penetrate him.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Frank Mondano sought to discredit memories that the accuser said he had repressed for 15 years. His account, the lawyer noted, bore striking resemblance to those offered by three other alleged Shanley victims who either withdrew from the case voluntarily or were dropped by prosecutors.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported by: AP
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
1/26/2005 10:39:50 PM
Religious leaders would have to report suspected child abuse under a bill that was reintroduced Wednesday.
The legislation passed the Senate last year but died in a House committee after fundamentalist religious groups argued that it established a church and state relationship.
"We had some evangelical ministers who felt they had a separation of church and state issue, and some that had told me that they preach from the pulpit that parents should reprimand and punish their children and they didn't want to come back the following week and report them for child abuse," said Sen. Robert Spada, a northern Ohio Republican who proposed the bill.
EAST MANATEE (FL)
Herald Tribune
EAST MANATEE — An assistant principal at Haile Middle School was suspended Wednesday amid allegations he sexually abused boys in the late 1960s.
Joseph A. Gilpin, 60, was placed on paid leave by Superintendent Roger Dearing after Dearing received an e-mail from an advocacy group that claims Gilpin molested at least two boys in Massachusetts and Maine from 1965-1970.
Gilpin has worked for the school district here for 30 years.
Dearing said Gilpin will be suspended while a private investigator looks into the allegations. He said he didn’t know how long that would take.
Dearing said he had no proof Gilpin abused anyone but wanted to “proceed with caution.” He said he wasn’t even sure if Gilpin is the man connected to the alleged abuse.
“When children’s safety is involved and someone alleges something that involves moral turpitude, we’re going to take the most conservative approach,” Dearing said.
Attempts to reach Gilpin by phone were unsuccessful Wednesday. At his East Manatee home, family members who answered the door conferred with Gilpin and said he did not want to comment. A metal cross on the door frame quotes Scripture: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” ...
The group that contacted the district, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said Gilpin settled a lawsuit in 2004 filed by one of the victims.
The lawsuit claimed Gilpin abused the boy from 1965-68 when the boy was 9 to 12 years old at a Catholic camp in Massachusetts and at the boy’s home in Wareham, Mass., the group said. A SNAP spokesman said Gilpin was studying to be a priest during that time.
A court official from Suffolk County, Mass. confirmed Wednesday that a lawsuit against “Father Joseph Gilpin” was settled in February 2004. It was not immediately clear if Father Joseph Gilpin is the same Joseph Gilpin who now lives in Manatee County.
EAST CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Court TV
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A former Air Force police officer described his memories of sexual abuse at the hands of his parish priest to a jury Wednesday in Cambridge, Mass.
The man accusing defrocked priest Paul Shanley of sexual abuse testified that the disgraced clergyman would remove him from his Sunday-school classes at St. John's Parish in Newton, Mass., for what Shanley called "special duties."
"When we were good kids, we got to do that," the 27-year-old from Newton told the court, whose audience grew significantly in anticipation of the testimony.
Shanley was indicted on several counts of child rape and indecent assault and battery in June 2002 stemming from allegations made by four accusers, who were members of the church Shanley was assigned to from 1979 to 1989.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Reuters
By Greg Frost
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Reuters) - A 27-year-old firefighter wept in court on Wednesday as he testified how defrocked priest Paul Shanley, a key figure in the U.S. Catholic Church abuse scandal, raped him and taught him to perform oral sex, starting when he was just six years old.
In dramatic testimony on the second day of the former priest's trial on charges of child rape and indecent assault and battery, the accuser sat just a few yards from Shanley and choked back tears.
The man said Shanley had taken him out of weekly religion classes at a Boston-area church and had abused him in a bathroom, in the front pews of the church and even in the confessional where Catholics normally admit their sins.
"Sometimes he would kneel down and try to teach me how to perform oral sex," said the accuser, who reckoned the abuse began in 1983 when he was six and went on until 1989.
He also recalled the painful process of recovering memories of the abuse early in 2002 as a clergy abuse scandal was rocking the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Guardian
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - A man who says he was molested as a boy by Paul Shanley, the now-defrocked priest at the center of the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal, tearfully testified Wednesday that Shanley would pull him from catechism classes and rape and fondle him in the church pews, the confessional and the rectory.
His voice cracking, a hand over his face, the 27-year-old man also said Shanley would wait for him in the bathroom with the lights off. He recalled seeing Shanley silhouetted against the hallway light, his hands outstretched in a priestly pose.
``He'd unzip my pants,'' the accuser said. ``Sometimes he would kneel down and try to teach me how to perform oral sex.''
He said the abuse began at age 6 and continued until 1989, when he was 12.
Shanley's lawyer has said the man made up the story to cash in on the multimillion-dollar settlement paid to victims of the Boston sex scandal.
The testimony came on the second day of Shanley's rape trial, one of the few cases in which prosecutors have been able to bring charges against priests accused of molesting boys decades ago.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Guardian
Wednesday January 26, 2005 6:31 PM
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - A woman who taught Catholic education classes at Paul Shanley's parish testified Wednesday in the former priest's child rape trial that she couldn't remember him pulling students from her classroom.
Prosecutors have said Shanley's modus operandi was to take boys from the classes, saying he needed discipline them, then sexually abuse them in the church bathroom, the pews, the rectory and the confessional.
Prosecution witness Ann Marie Rousseau, a member of St. Jean's parish for 32 years, taught Shanley's accuser, a now 27-year-old man who says Shanley repeatedly raped him between 1983 and 1989, when he was between the ages of 6 and 12.
Asked by prosecutor Lynn Rooney whether she had to discipline the children, Rousseau said there was a lot of ``high-energy boy behavior'' in the class.
Under questioning by Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, Rousseau said she would call the director of the education program, not Shanley, if she couldn't handle the discipline on her own. She said Shanley never pulled students from her class, but she also wasn't the only person who taught Shanley's accuser at St. Jean's.
VISTA (CA)
NBCSanDiego.com
POSTED: 10:48 pm PST January 25, 2005
UPDATED: 11:04 pm PST January 25, 2005
VISTA, Calif. -- A teenager cliams that her father, a former youth pastor and teacher at Tri-City Christian School, molested her when she was a little girl.
Johnnie Sherman Achord, 46, is on trial, charged with molesting his daughter in the early and mid-1990s.
Now 18, the woman said the first assault she could remember came when she was 4 or 5 years old while she was sitting on a pool table in the garage of her Oceanside house.
Achord allegedly reached inside her dress and underwear, she testified.
The woman said she didn't tell anyone about the incident because she felt embarrased, dirty and confused.
More frequent molestations happened when the family moved to Vista, she said.
SOUTH AFRICA
Cape Flats
January 26, 2005
By Mzolisi Witbooi
Members of a Cape Flats congregation were shocked by evidence in the Blue Downs Magistrates Court that their pastor had had an adulterous affair with a married woman and is considered a leader in the Americans gang.
In his testimony opposing bail yesterday, investigating officer Captain Henrich Cockrill said pastor Albern Martins, 47, who with two others faces charges of illegally possessing abalone with the street value of R7 million and stolen goods worth R75 000, had had an affair with a married woman who had now turned State witness.
There were loud gasps from people in court, which included members of Martins's congregation.
But before he could continue, Cockrill was stopped by Martins's legal team, attorney Noorudien Hassan and advocate William King, from disclosing any details of the couple's affair unless they were a relevant part of his testimony.
NORCROSS (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By LATEEF MUNGIN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/26/05
The 57-year-old minister of a Norcross-area church is charged with molesting his 3-year-old grandson, but the director of the congregation's preschool said Tuesday she believes he's innocent.
Nathan Clement Ridgeway, minister of Faith Life Fellowship, was arrested Friday and charged with aggravated child molestation and aggravated sexual battery, said Gwinnett police spokesman Darren Moloney.
Ridgeway is charged with molesting his grandson at the minister's Duluth home, police said. Police did not say over what period the alleged offenses occurred. The boy is in the custody of his parents.
Ridgeway was arrested in the parking lot of the nondenominational church on Spalding Drive, said Brenna Ehrhard, director of the church's preschool.
Ehrhard said the congregation of about 100 people is shocked and many are having a hard time believing the allegations.
WASHINGTON
Seattle Times
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
Those pushing for a law requiring clergy to report suspected child abuse and neglect to civil authorities hope the third time's the charm.
Only this time, the word "clergy" isn't even included in the bills.
Yesterday, Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, introduced House Bill 1467, which would require any employee, contractor or volunteer of a nonprofit organization to tell civil authorities if they suspect a co-worker of abusing or neglecting a child.
Last week, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, introduced Senate Bill 5308, requiring supervisors in nonprofit and for-profit organizations to report suspected acts of abuse or neglect by subordinates who work with or have unsupervised contact with children.
The bills would apply to clergy, since houses of worship are considered nonprofits, the two legislators said.
CALIFORNIA
The Mercury News
The San Jose Diocese is not liable for any sexual misconduct by priests operating in the South Bay before the diocese was created in 1981, according to a ruling issued today by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw.
Monsignor Francis Cilia, diocese vicar general, said Bishop Patrick McGrath was pleased by the ruling but emphasized that the diocese ``stands by its commitment to support the healing process of all those whose lives have been affected by the sexual misconduct of church employees.''
Lawyers representing alleged victims said they were not surprised at the ruling.
``I don't think it makes any difference to the victims,'' said Rick Simons, who is representing several plaintiffs in the case involving the late Joseph Pritchard, who is alleged to have molested 21 boys at St. Martin of Tours in San Jose. ``Financially, it makes no difference at all.''
The judge also denied a motion for a new trial by four men allegedly molested by a priest in Santa Cruz, and set trial dates in a host of other negligence lawsuits against dioceses in Northern California, the so-called Clergy 3 coordination of some 160 lawsuits.
They include a date of June 13 in the case involving San Jose priest Leonel Noia, who pleaded no contest to molestation allegations of one of two brothers, and Oct. 3 in a case against the Oakland Diocese involving Stephen Miller Kiesle, a priest alleged to have molested children at parishes in Fremont and Pinole. He was convicted in 2004 of molesting two girls in Truckee in the '90s.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review
By David Conti
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Two more men this week sued the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, alleging sexual abuse by priests who gave them alcohol. The men also allege a cover-up by church leaders.
The two unnamed men bring to 35 the number of people who have filed abuse cases since January 2004. The allegations involve 18 former priests in the diocese. None of the cases has made it to trial.
One man, now 45, says in the lawsuit filed Monday in Allegheny County court that he was 15 when the Rev. M. Eric Diskin began fondling and sodomizing him at St. Paul Church in Butler. Diskin, who retired in 2003 after being accused of fondling a boy, was named in two other lawsuits filed against the diocese last year.
The other plaintiff, a 53-year-old McKeesport man, says in his lawsuit that the Rev. John Lukasik fondled him at St. Mary Czestochowa Church in McKeesport when he was 11.
Neither Diskin nor Lukasik could be reached for comment.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Former classmates ordained priests the same day nearly 45 years ago faced off in a criminal courtroom yesterday, this time one as a bishop, the other as a defrocked priest on trial for child rape.
Manchester Bishop John B. McCormack, whose own handling of abusive priests while a Boston archdiocesan official has drawn strong criticism, testified as a cooperating witness for the state against ex-priest Paul R. Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy abuse scandal and one of the few to face criminal charges.
Shanley, 74, is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a boy from 1983 to 1989 at St. Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton.
The alleged victim, now 27, is expected to take the stand in Middlesex County Superior Court today during the second day of testimony in a case expected to largely hinge on the credibility of the alleged victim's repressed memories of the six years' of abuse he said began when he was six years old.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By and Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff | January 26, 2005
He was adored by his parishioners, revered in the Boston area, a prosecutor acknowledged yesterday. But to a 6-year-old Newton Sunday school student in 1983, the Rev. Paul R. Shanley represented a dark and terrible threat: a man who would pull him from class and rape him in the rectory or bathroom or confessional, admonishing him that "if you tell, no one will believe you."
"Everybody loved him; he was the heart and soul of St. Jean's Parish," Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Lynn C. Rooney said of Shanley yesterday in the opening arguments of the defrocked priest's child rape trial. "But there was another side to Father Paul."
But Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, said the stories about Shanley's abuse were "orchestrated by the personal injury lawyers in this court."
Mondano contended that Shanley's accuser made up the allegations to get in on the multimillion-dollar settlements for victims in the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal.
Opening arguments in yesterday's long-anticipated trial centered on the victim's accounts of abuse, which he says stemmed from memories he had repressed until a few years ago, and the defense's challenges to his credibility. The Boston Globe does not name victims of sexual abuse without their consent. The alleged victim is expected to take the stand today.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Lawyers for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony on Tuesday appealed a court order that would have forced the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles to surrender to prosecutors the confidential personnel files of two former priests accused of molestation.
A Los Angeles judge had ruled against Mahony's claim that disclosure would "interfere with the communications between priests and bishops." He had ordered the internal church documents turned over to prosecutors by Friday.
In a statement, Mahony's lead lawyer, J. Michael Hennigan, said such communications are "essential if bishops are to continue to support and counsel their priests."
The earlier court ruling came more than two years after Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley sought the internal church documents as part of an ongoing county grand jury investigation into alleged molestation by priests.
By the time retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas F. Nuss ruled against Mahony last September, the number of accused priests had dwindled to two, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling barred the prosecution of decades-old child sexual abuse cases. The appeal the church filed Tuesday involved 40 pages of documents sought by prosecutors, Hennigan said.
BOSTON (MA)
Portland Press Herald
Bill Nemitz
BOSTON - He never thought he'd actually see it happen. Michael Doherty figured the priest who once molested him would somehow avoid the indignity of the courtroom "perp walk."
But Tuesday morning, as Doherty watched from the front row of Suffolk Superior Court, the Rev. James Talbot rose from his chair at the defense table, turned around to face the court officer standing directly behind him and held out his hands.
On went the handcuffs.
Then, at long last, off went Talbot to prison for the next five to seven years.
"Wow!" Doherty said, tears welling in his eyes, as the court adjourned. "Wow! I didn't think they were going to do it like that."
But they did. The 67-year-old priest, once a revered teacher and coach at Cheverus High School in Portland, had been reduced to a common criminal for all the world to see. And as Doherty, 36, hugged his tearful sister, Courtney Oland, and her husband, Tim, he could not quite believe that his 20-year ordeal was finally over.
"I'm a little shaky," Doherty confessed, forcing a smile.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Vatican announced yesterday that Pope John Paul II has accepted the retirement of Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger.
Bishop Rueger, who turned 75 on Sept. 3, is retiring because he reached the mandatory retirement age for bishops. He said he intends to stay in the area and will continue to assist at the chancery and participate in Confirmation ceremonies throughout the diocese.
The Vatican did not say whether a new auxiliary bishop will be appointed.
The diocese has had two auxiliary bishops: Bishop Timothy J. Harrington, who served with Bishop Bernard J. Flanagan, and Bishop Rueger, who served with three bishops.
No announcement was made by Bishop Robert J. McManus on future plans for the Office of the Moderator of the Curia, a position that the auxiliary bishop now holds. Bishop Rueger will continue to assist as needed until another administrative appointment is made by Bishop McManus. The Moderator of the Curia oversees the chancery offices.
“I am most grateful to God for the many years he permitted me to minister both as a priest and bishop,” Bishop Rueger said yesterday. He thanked Bishop McManus and Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, along with diocesan priests and religious men and women for their support and for “the wonderful laity in our diocese.” ...
In 2002, Bishop Rueger was named in a civil suit by a Shrewsbury man, Sime M. Braio, alleging sexual misconduct. The case was dismissed at Mr. Braio’s request in 2003, after no evidence surfaced indicating that Bishop Rueger had done anything improper or had been where the alleged incidents occurred.
He is named in a Texas lawsuit in which two men, named only as John Doe I and John Doe II, allege sexual abuse by the Rev. Thomas Teczar, a priest of the Worcester Diocese. The allegation is that Bishop Rueger helped get Rev. Teczar moved to the Fort Worth, Texas, diocese after Rev. Teczar was accused of sexual misconduct with minors in the Worcester area.
Correspondence shows that the late James G. Reardon, diocesan lawyer at the time, wanted Rev. Teczar moved out of the state and quickly incardinated into another diocese to remove liability for the alleged misconduct from the Worcester diocese. That suit is ongoing.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
New York Daily News
BY BRIAN HARMON
LONG ISLAND BUREAU CHIEF
Eight priests on Long Island were defrocked and nine others were suspended this year because of sexual abuse allegations, Bishop William Murphy said in a letter.
But the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre stood by its policy of not naming the accused clergymen - a decision that angered victim survivor groups.
"Bishop Murphy must release the names of all the priests accused of sexual abuse," said Tim Echausse, 37, Long Island director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
"It's common sense. These are men who are going back into society looking for jobs," added Echausse of Mineola. "Will they be working with children? Society has a right to know who these people are."
Diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan said the discipline of the accused priests is part of the church's effort "to ensure the horrible tragedy of sexual abuse never occurs again" in the diocese.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Prosecutors say news reports about the clergy sex abuse scandal plaguing the Boston Archdiocese triggered a man's memory of being molested in the 1980s by a parish priest in the 1980s.
But a lawyer for priest Paul Shanley, defrocked by the Vatican last year, questioned the timing and validity of those memories and said the defense would call expert witnesses to debunk the science behind so-called repressed memories.
The alleged victim is expected to take the stand Wednesday in the second day of Shanley's trial on child rape charges.
In opening statements Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney said Shanley told the victim, then 6, "If you tell, no one will believe you," before molesting him.
"Those memories were buried deep inside" until media coverage of the scandal in Boston awakened them, Rooney said.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Casey Ross
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
The accusers of a Boston College High School teacher and soccer coach convicted of sexual abuse rejected his courtroom apology yesterday and said they were relieved to see him taken away in handcuffs.
``This man caused not just me but many young men and boys a lot of heartache, self-doubt and pain,'' James Scanlan said after his former teacher, the Rev. James Talbot, was sentenced yesterday. ``Today is justice day.''
Talbot was sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading guilty in Suffolk Superior Court to sexually assaulting two boys at the Dorchester school between 1977 and 1979.
The 67-year-old priest did not face his victims when he offered a brief apology for his ``manipulative and sexually addictive behavior.''
``I thought his statement was hollow,'' said Michael Doherty, who accused Talbot of abusing him when the priest taught at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, in the 1980s.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Week after week, from the time he was 6 until he was 12, Paul Shanley's alleged victim sat in Sunday school, ``waiting, dreading, afraid'' of being raped by the priest in the bathroom, the rectory, even the chuch confessional, prosecutors said yesterday.
Not until Shanley left St. Jean's parish in Newton in January 1990 did the abuse end, Deputy First Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney told jurors. But the boy remained bound by a code of silence: ``If you tell,'' Shanley allegedly told him, ``no one will believe you.''
On the first day of testimony in the defrocked priest's child-rape trial, Kathleen Bennett, a substitute Sunday school teacher at St. Jean's in the 1980s, described the children's reaction whenever he would ``pop in.''
``Oh, my God, the kids would just freeze,'' she said.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Fresno Bee
The Associated Press
(Updated Wednesday, January 26, 2005, 3:00 AM)
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles wants a state appeals court to reverse a lower court's decision ordering it to give prosecutors some personnel records of priests accused of sexual abuse.
Attorneys for the archdiocese on Tuesday asked the California Court of Appeal to resolve two judges' differing opinions.
Judge Thomas F. Nuss, a retired judge serving as a referee in the case, ordered the archdiocese to turn over certain counseling records to prosecutors in September 2004. But in February 2003, a Ventura County Superior Court judge agreed some documents contained in priests' personnel files should remain confidential.
"It is the position of the archdiocese that the confidentiality of the documents at issue are protected under the constitutions of the United States and California and other California laws," J. Michael Hennigan, lead counsel for the archdiocese, said in a statement Tuesday.
PARK CITY (UT)
Toledo Blade
By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
PARK CITY, Utah - A father sits down with his 8-year old daughter. When daddy was very young, he explains, a priest did very bad things to him - sexually abused him. The little girl doesn't say anything, and it's hard to tell whether she understands.
So he goes further, and gets more graphic. He drops bombshells.
The point is, the father says, that the man who did those things to daddy lives a few houses away and daddy just found this out, and daddy wouldn't have moved into this neighborhood if he had known the man lived here. So if you ever see this man, if you fall on your bike and even if you're bleeding all over the street, and this man wants to help, the father says, tell him to go away.
That father is Tony Comes, a Toledo firefighter who filed a lawsuit against the Toledo Catholic Diocese in 2002 alleging that former Toledo priest Dennis Gray sexually molested him when Mr. Comes was a teenager. And that scene, one of a number of harrowing moments of blunt force, plays out in Twist of Faith, the Oscar-nominated documentary about the Toledo Catholic Diocese sex-abuse scandal that debuted here at the Sundance Film Festival last weekend.
Twist of Faith is the most deeply affecting film I've seen at the festival this year. After viewing it, you are angry or mournful or both.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
A COMPREHENSIVE new child protection policy that covers even the use of computers and photos in church settings has been launched by the Presbyterian Church.
Called 'Taking Care', it is going into force nationwide and will require the vetting of everyone in the Church who works with children.
The policy is an update on child protection guidelines first introduced in 1996.
Launching the document, Lindsay Conway, Presbyterian director of social services, said: "No denomination is immune from the problem of trusted adults misusing their position. This requires a response which is both aimed at prevention and care for those who have been mistreated."
He said it would protect children from abuse, but that it would also protect leaders, teachers and helpers "in the event of false accusation".
BRITAIN
ic Croydon
Jan 25 2005
A HINDU priest has been found guilty of raping a devotee after telling her that she was his wife in a previous existence.
The jury at Croydon Crown Court last Thursday took five hours to decide that Ramanathan Somanathan, 41, the aya of the temple in Thornton Road, Thornton Heath, was guilty of forcing himself on his victim when he went to her new home to say prayers for it in July 2002.
The next year, in November 2003, he went to her house again and raped her a second time.
After the verdict Judge Simon Pratt said: "I ask for the advice of a report targeted towards looking at the future danger or possible future danger this man poses.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Court TV
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Prosecutors in the case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley told jurors Tuesday he repeatedly molested a young parishioner in the rectory, the confessional and the pews of his church in the 1980s.
Three years after Shanley was indicted on sex-abuse charges stemming from multiple accusers, his trial opened in Middlesex County Superior Court on his 74th birthday.
Shanley faces life in prison on three counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery.
Prosecutors now are launching their case against the disgraced clergyman with only one accuser, who claims he was 6 years old when Shanley first took him out of his Sunday school class to abuse him in various locations throughout St. John the Evangelist Parish in Newton, Mass.
"He is threatened, afraid. He knows the priest will come," Deputy District Attorney Lynn Rooney said in her opening statements. "'If you tell, no one will believe you.' That is what the defendant said to the 6-year-old."
"He didn't tell for almost 20 years," Rooney said. "But now that little boy is a man."
Pacing before a picture of the smiling young boy projected onto a screen, Rooney described alleged incidents of oral and anal sex between Shanley and the boy in the parish bathrooms, in the rectory and in the confession box. ...
Defense lawyer Frank Mondano, however, claimed in his opening statement that the prospect of netting a civil settlement from the Boston Archdiocese was the force that drove the accuser's so-called "memories" to the surface.
Mondano called the claims "orchestrations of personal injury lawyers" who led Shanley's accuser and some 550 others to reap civil settlements from the Boston Archdiocese in 2002 and 2004. Shanley's accuser received $500,000.
"This case is about two things: old memories and really old memories," Mondano told jurors.
CALIFORNIA
Sonoma Index-Tribune
By Bill Lynch Index-Tribune Editor & CEO
01.25.05 - A news story published Sunday in the Contra Costa Times regarding a former Christian Brother who allegedly molested students at De La Salle High School, and for which the religious order paid a $6.2 million settlement last month, has a Sonoma Valley connection.
The Times article reported that in 1980-81 Joe Gutierrez, a former De La Salle teacher and a licensed therapist at St. Mary's College, allegedly plied at least three students with drugs and sexually abused them.
The Times reported that Gutierrez has changed his name to Jesse Gutierrez-Cervantes and lives in Sonoma. A Web search reveals that Gutierrez-Cervantes is listed as a "co-founder" of Cor Communications, "...a consulting and training company specializing in Diversity Training and Communication Skills." It claims to work with global organizations, teams and individuals, helping them to be successful by enhancing their relationship skills and strategies. The local address for the organization is given as 19197 Twin Oaks Lane. Even though the Twin Oaks address is listed on the Web site, according to the Times the address is now 127 Bear Flag Road.
News organizations in the area also received an e-mail news release Monday from Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). In that release, David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, and Danny McNevin, Bay Area SNAP director, publicly urged Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh (whose jurisdiction includes Sonoma Valley) "to put notices in church bulletins, the diocesan newspaper and on the diocesan Web site, urging victims of Gutierrez to come forward."
LAWRENCEVILLE (GA)
First Coast News
LAWRENCEVILLE, GA (AP) -- Gwinnett County police have charged a 57-year-old minister with child molestation.
Nathan Clement Ridgeway of Duluth is charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery and one count of aggravated child molestation.
The investigation involves a three-year-old family member who was at the suspect's residence.
Ridgeway is a pastor of a non-denominational church in Norcross -- Faith Life Fellowship. He also runs and works at a day care center, which operates out of that church.
UNITED STATES
National
By DENNIS CODAY
The church’s most reliable donors -- parishioners in the pews weekly -- continue to call for greater financial accountability and transparency from their parishes and dioceses, and they want more lay input into church financial matters, according to an annual survey of Catholic donor attitudes.
Yet fewer than half say they know what happens to their contributions, the report found.
Furthermore, for the third year the vast majority of survey respondents say the clergy sexual abuse scandal affects them when deciding whether and how much they should give to the church.
Sixty percent of respondents worry that the cost of clergy sexual abuse impedes the church’s ability to fulfill its mission.
“We’ve done this for three years now. We’ve seen that the call of accountability is growing among Catholic parishioners,” Francis Butler, president of the association that commissioned the study, told NCR.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
By Nigel Hunt
26jan05
THE Anglican Church is under pressure to cancel a planned commemoration service to honour former archbishop Dr Ian George, following a backlash from victims of sexual abuse within the church.
Victims and their families have reacted angrily after learning the service, at St Peter's Cathedral on February 13, had been organised by the Adelaide Diocese.
They have accused the diocese of "gross insensitivity and arrogance" towards them and their healing process. In response to the outcry, the Anglican Church's acting administrator, John Collas, last night said the service was being reviewed.
Initial discussions were held last night with Dr George to discuss the future of the service and a decision was likely to be made today.
TOLEDO (OHIO)
13 ABC
The Catholic Diocese of Toledo is once again making headlines. This time in the entertainment world, but it may not be the positive buzz the church is looking for.
It's called "Twist of Faith" an Oscar-nominated film shot here in Toledo. It chronicles one man's struggle with alleged abuse in the Diocese of Toledo. It was filmed over two years in Toledo and it's now up for an Oscar. 13 action news spoke with the film's primary subject back in August.
Tony Comes (cooms) had one of 18 lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Toledo. When the church settled for $1,200,000 Comes got $55,000. Now his story is getting accolades from Hollywood's elite. The film is playing at Sundance this week and it's one of five nominated for an academy award in the documentary category. Comes told 13 action news he wanted his story to be told.
The diocese of Toledo responded by saying it will "ensure that these crimes of clergy and sexual abuse never occur again." But a spokesperson says the diocese cannot directly address the content of "Twist of Faith" because it has not seen the film.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Opening statements were being delivered Tuesday in the child rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Boston Archdiocese.
The case that first involved allegations related to four alleged victims has since been whittled down to a single man who claims he was raped in the 1980s by Shanley when he was a priest at St. Jean's parish in Newton.
A jury of eight men and eight women will consider the case, which is expected to last about two weeks in Middlesex Superior Court.
Shanley faces three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child. The maximum sentence would be life in prison.
Prosecutors said they planned to call New Hampshire bishop John McCormack to the stand Tuesday as one of their first witnesses. McCormack investigated allegations of sexual misconduct as a former lieutenant to Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law and was expected to testify about Shanley's employment history with the archdiocese.
BOSTON (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
BOSTON— A Jesuit priest who taught and coached at Boston College High School was sentenced Tuesday for molesting two teenage boys during wrestling drills.
The Rev. James Talbot was sentenced to five to seven years, plus three years of probation, during a hearing in Suffolk Superior Court. The 67-year-old priest pleaded guilty earlier this month just before he was to go on trial.
Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted two students in the late 1970s, when he was teaching history and coaching soccer and hockey at the all-male parochial school.
Talbot is the first member of the Jesuit order prosecuted in the Boston Archdiocese since the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted here in 2002.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of rape and assault with intent to rape, and three counts of assault and battery.
Prosecutors said Talbot held what he called "aggression drills" with students. In the case of the two victims, Talbot encouraged them to take most of their clothes off, then grabbed their genitals while they were wrestling with him. Talbot also orally raped one of the boys and tried to orally rape the other, but the youth broke free and ran out of the gymnasium, prosecutors said.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
USA Today
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Former priest Paul Shanley told a 6-year-old boy, "If you tell, no one will believe you," before molesting him at a Newton parish in the early 1980s, a prosecutor said Tuesday. But the defense said his story was concocted in order to bring a lawsuit.
The boy didn't tell anyone for nearly 20 years, recovering his memories of the alleged abuse only after hearing of media reports about the sex scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney said during opening statements in Shanley's child rape trial in Middlesex Superior Court.
"Those memories were buried deep inside," Rooney said.
Shanley's lawyer Frank Mondano said the accuser made up the allegations against Shanley to get in on the multimillion-dollar settlements for victims in the scandal.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
By Natasha Wallace
January 26, 2005
A Sydney Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting an adult man 22 years ago, when homosexual sex was illegal, has received an extremely rare, and short, sentence.
Terence Norman Goodall, 64, was yesterday sentenced to a "rising of the court" for fondling the genitals of a 29-year-old Catholic teacher at a Cronulla public pool after the two had shared a candlelit dinner.
Such a sentence, which places a person in custody until the judge adjourns the matter (normally immediately, as in this case), was imposed in fewer than 1 per cent of cases in the District Court, the NSW Judicial Commission said. Between July 1997 and June 2004 there were no such sentences for indecent assault.
Goodall was charged under pre-1984 legislation, which meant consent was irrelevant in the case.
AUSTRALIA
Daily Telegraph
By VIVA GOLDNER Court Reporter
January 26, 2005
A CATHOLIC priest who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a parishioner was yesterday sentenced to jail - for four seconds.
Father Terence Norman Goodall was convicted for twice assaulting the man, a member of his parish at Gymea in southern Sydney.
District Court judge Philip Bell sentenced Goodall "to the rising of the court" -- which amounted to the four seconds it took to complete the hearing -- despite Judge Bell agreeing the now-retired priest had abused the "trust and authority" of his position.
It came a day after a career criminal's jail sentence was reduced by two months after a judge ruled he had suffered "considerable angst" after he was shot by a police officer.
Explaining yesterday's sentencing, Judge Bell said: "To the rising of the court is technically a sentence of loss of liberty. That is, it is a term of imprisonment. As this court will immediately rise ... the period of being in custody will literally be for a few seconds only.
"Despite its status as a term of custody, [it] is generally regarded as one of the most lenient penalties available to the sentencer."
NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal
By Donna Deeney
Tuesday 25th January 2005
Sex abuse allegation at the centre of media reports about Fr. Andy McCloskey was not an isolated incident, the Journal has been told.
At the weekend masses in St Patrick's Church, Dungiven, Fr
McCloskey told the congregation that he was the priest who paid £19,000 as a settlement in a sex abuse case.
Fr .McCloskey who did not admit liability in the case said the incident occurred because he had a serious drink problem at the time.
In his statement Fr McCloskey said: "I made a mistake for which I have paid very dearly."
However, as part of our investigations into the case the Journal has been informed that Bishop Hegarty was made aware of other allegations against Fr McCloskey.
Although we contacted Bishop Hegarty and asked if there was any investigation carried out into these allegations and if so what the finding were, the Bishop declined to answer this and other questions posed, saying he would add nothing to the statement issued earlier.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Dallas Morning News
07:30 AM CST on Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The allegations of a single accuser could determine the fate of one of the highest-profile figures to go to trial in the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal.
Paul Shanley, 73, faces three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child. The maximum sentence is life in prison.
Opening statements were to be delivered Tuesday in the case, which was expected to last about two weeks. A jury of eight men and eight women was selected last week.
One of the alleged victims, now 27, says Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean's parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, beginning when he was 6 years old. Prosecutors said they plan to call the man's father and wife to testify.
Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, has said he will argue that the accuser made up his story after the scandal erupted several years ago. All of Shanley's alleged victims settled lawsuits with the Boston Archdiocese in April 2004. Shanley was defrocked by the Vatican last year.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
The Anglican Church in Adelaide has been criticised for planning a public farewell service for former archbishop Ian George.
An email has been sent to parishes in Adelaide notifying them of the service of recognition for Dr George at St Peter's Cathedral next month, and asking for contributions towards a gift.
A traditional farewell service for Dr George was cancelled in June after he stepped down in the wake of a damning report into the church's handling of child sex abuse claims.
Child protection advocate Professor Freda Briggs says victims have told her they are distressed by the plans.
"The general view is that it is totally insensitive and it suggests that either the church doesn't believe what was in the report or that they just do not understand the long-term damage that child sexual abuse can have on victims," she said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
News Letter
By Clare Weir
Tuesday 25th January 2005
A Catholic bishop is coming under pressure to answer further questions over his handling of a sex abuse allegation concerning a priest.
The Rev Andy McCluskey, from Dungiven, Co Londonderry told parishioners at weekend Masses in St Patrick's Church that he had "made a mistake" for which he was paying dearly.
A five figure compensation pay-out was made without admission of liability to an 18-year-old man who claimed that Fr McCluskey made a sexual advance to him at a parochial house in Londonderry in 1992.
A civil action over the allegation was started two years ago and settled with no admission of liability last October.
Fr McCluskey has now gone on leave and was not at the parochial house yesterday.
HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant
January 25, 2005
By GERALD RENNER, Special to The Courant
The Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the subject of a Vatican investigation into accusations of sexual abuse, has stepped down as head of the Rome-based religious order Legionaries of Christ.
Maciel declined to accept re-election as general director of the order, which he founded in Mexico in 1941. The order's U.S. headquarters is in Orange, Conn., and it has a seminary in Cheshire.
Maciel, 84, cited his age and his "desire to see the congregation flourish under a successor" at a meeting of his order in Rome last week, according to Zenit, an Internet news service operated by the Legionaries.
No mention was made of the Vatican's recent reopening of an investigation into charges that Maciel had sexually abused young boys who were in his seminaries years ago. The allegations first surfaced in a Courant report in February 1997. Nine former members of the Legion said that Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers, aged 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
Maciel's decision to decline re-election had no connection to the reports that the Vatican has reopened the investigation, a spokesman for the order told The Associated Press in Rome on Monday.
ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
Guardian
Tuesday January 25, 2005 1:31 PM
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (AP) - The Roman Catholic Church has disciplined 17 priests of a New York diocese for sexual abuse allegations.
The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Long Island informed parishioners of the actions in a three-page letter listing the status of sex abuse cases against 23 priests.
Bishop William F. Murphy reported that eight priest were defrocked by the Vatican, nine were permanently suspended, three await canonical trials and two have been cleared. Proceedings against another have been deferred.
Several victims' rights groups criticized the bishop, saying the identities of the disciplined priests should be made public.
TOLEDO (OH)
KSL
Jan. 24, 2005
Carole Mikita Reporting
At the opening of the Sundance Film Festival Robert Redford told a Salt Lake audience that, as always, the documentaries are the strongest films. One of this year’s is a compelling story focused on faith.
The story is one man's struggle against evil within his church; 'Twist of Faith' focuses on surviving abuse. Tony Comes believed that if it was ever going to stop, change had to come from within, from the true believers, even if they had been badly abused.
Tony Comes, "Twist of Faith", Sundance Film Festival Documentary: “We’d come up here, drink, eat, shoot pool. Part where it gets weird is Sunday morning wake up and some guy’s violating you. Then a half hour later you take a shower and a half hour after that, everybody who’s up here, sometimes families included, are sitting around in the living room up there and he’s saying mass.”
Tony Comes, a 34-year-old husband, father and Toledo, Ohio firefighter is a survivor of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. He kept it a secret for more than 20 years. Now his story is a Sundance documentary
ARIZONA
azfamily.com
10:46 PM Mountain Standard Time on Sunday, January 23, 2005
By 3TV Staff
One of the most visible Catholic parishes in the Valley was targeted Sunday night by members of a victims' organization.
Members were passing out flyers for SNAP, or Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, outside St. Timothy's Catholic Church.
The flyers encouraged victims to report any past abuse at the hands of the clergy.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
12:01 AM PST on Tuesday, January 25, 2005
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - Attorneys suing the Inland and San Diego dioceses over alleged sexual abuse by priests expressed frustration in court Monday, telling a judge that diocesan attorneys were uncooperative and stalling efforts to resolve 140 pending lawsuits.
But attorneys for the dioceses argued that the plaintiffs' attorneys had not given them promised questionnaires filled out by all the alleged victims. The documents, they said, are needed to assess the accusations of child molestation - some of them decades old - that target some past and current clerics in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties.
"We're stuck in the mud," Raymond Boucher, the lawyer representing dozens of the accusers, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz in a courtroom crowded with more than 20 lawyers.
"When it comes to San Diego, we are way behind in the process," Boucher added, noting that the dioceses had not handed over proffers summarizing the personnel file of each accused priest. "It's our consensus that San Diego has been the slowest and least forthcoming."
Faced with an avalanche of 850 clergy-abuse cases two years ago, state court officials assigned the Southern California cases to Fromholz, splitting the 140 cases brought against the San Diego and San Bernardino dioceses from the more than 550 cases against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Orange.
PARK CITY (UT)
Toledo Blade
By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
PARK CITY, Utah - Tony Comes saw the poster and cringed. Behind the makeshift box office at the Prospector Square Inn, a movie poster was stapled to a bulletin board, and the picture was Mr. Comes himself, hands jammed in his pockets, staring sullenly forward.
The tagline on the poster?
"Sometimes hell is right here on earth."
Here, meaning Toledo.
The poster was for Twist of Faith, a new documentary that veteran filmmaker Kirby Dick made for HBO about Mr. Comes and his lawsuit against the Toledo Catholic Diocese.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
The New York Times
By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: January 25, 2005
The child sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic diocese on Long Island has resulted in the defrocking of eight priests and the permanent suspension of nine, while three await canonical trials, the bishop of the diocese said. Two other priests were cleared after inquiries, and proceedings against a third have been deferred, the bishop said.
Without providing names, Bishop William F. Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre reported the status of sex abuse cases involving 23 priests in a three-page letter being distributed this week to parishioners and priests in the diocese, which covers Nassau and Suffolk Counties. No clergyman with credible charges "is working in our diocese or as far as we know, any other," he wrote. Bishop Murphy's letter was first reported on yesterday in Newsday.
Critics said the bishop should identify the suspended and the defrocked priests to protect children, just as the public is notified about sex offenders convicted in court. The critics include the Long Island chapter of Voice of the Faithful, which requested the bishop's report; the national Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests; and Parents for Megan's Law, a national group based in Suffolk.
A church spokesman, Sean Dolan, said that the names of priests convicted in criminal trials had been made public, but that identifying the suspended priests, not all of whom are necessarily guilty, could violate their privacy.
MEXICO CITY
Swissinfo
By Catherine Bremer
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican founder of an ultra-conservative Roman Catholic order has resigned after 63
years as its leader just as the Vatican is opening an investigation into allegations he sexually abused former members.
Marcial Maciel, 84, who was warmly praised by Pope John Paul II on the 60th anniversary of his ordination in
November, stepped down as leader of the Rome-based Legion of Christ last week, citing his age, according to the
group's web site on Monday.
He will be replaced by another Mexican priest, 47-year-old Alvaro Corcuera, rector of the Legion Seminary in Rome
and a consultant to the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops.
The resignation came a few weeks after Vatican prosecutor Martha Wegan said she would look into the case of a
group of former Legionaries of Christ who accused Maciel in 1997 of sexually abusing them decades ago when they
were teenagers.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER
January 25, 2005
The Moraitis family was angry nine years ago when they complained to church officials that the Rev. Brian Brinker acted inappropriately toward their 14-year-old son during a trip to California. Now their feelings have turned to outrage after they learned Monday that the Vatican has cleared the priest's return to ministry.
"It's just another thing that they do, every time they say they are going to do something good and make some reforms, nothing happens," said Matthew Moraitis, who is now 22, adding that it took several years for him to put the incident behind him. He wants assurances that Brinker, who was his confirmation sponsor and a longtime family friend, will not work with children again.
Moraitis and his parents expressed their anger after reading a news report that Bishop William Murphy is sending a letter to local Catholics updating the status of Long Island's clerical abuse cases, including Brinker's. Murphy, whose letter will be published Wednesday, writes that all 14 cases sent to the Vatican have been reviewed, resulting in eight priests being defrocked, three ordered to face church trials and two being cleared because charges against them were "unsubstantiated." No action was taken in the other case because of the priest's illness.
Diocese sources have confirmed that Brinker is one of two priests whose alleged misconduct was found to be unsubstantiated. Diocese officials would not say whether he will be returned to active ministry.
Brinker, 47, who has never spoken publicly about Moraitis' claims, was unavailable for comment Monday.
VATICAN CITY
Hartford Courant
7:17 PM EST,January 24, 2005
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY -- The Legionaries of Christ, who have their U.S. headquarters in Connecticut, have elected a successor to the Mexican priest who has headed the religious order since its founding 64 years ago.
The decision of 84-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado to decline re-election had no connection to recent reports that the Vatican has reopened an investigation into allegations that the Mexican sexually abused seminarians, a spokesman for the order said Monday.
Maciel and the order have vigorously denied the allegations, accusing the nine men of a conspiracy to defame him.
Maciel cited his age and his wish to be present during a transition under the new general director, fellow Mexican the Rev. Alvaro Corcuera Martinez del Rio, 47, the spokesman said.
"He had been planning this for at least three years," said the spokesman, the Rev. Tom Williams.
But David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he believed Maciel's departure was related to the reopening of the investigation.
"It's a sign that when victims persist, sometimes they can achieve some measure of justice," Clohessy said. "I hope it will produce some comfort to the people he molested. I hope it won't short circuit the investigation."
HUDSON (WI)
Shawano Leader
By Robert Imrie, Associated Press
HUDSON -- Not far from the office where Dan O'Connell was murdered nearly three years ago, a plaque rests on a table, urging people to remember his life with joy and dedicating an outdoor peace garden in his name to the "glory of God."
"May the wind be always at your back," says the plaque, beside a large picture of the smiling, mustached 39-year-old father of two in the O'Connell Family Funeral Home's lobby.
"... And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand."
Police are now investigating whether a man of God, a Roman Catholic priest, may have fatally shot the funeral home director and one of his interns, 22-year-old James Ellison.
Soon after police questioned the Rev. Ryan Erickson last month, the 31-year-old killed himself at his church. ...
Police questioned Erickson about the murders after a separate investigation was launched last fall into an allegation the priest was involved in a possible crime involving a child or children, Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende said.
He has refused to provide many details about the investigation, including what led detectives to question the priest about the murders, and a judge has sealed court documents in the case.
Trende will say the motive for the killings was "personal. It wasn't random."
ST. PAUL (OR)
KOIN
ST. PAUL, Ore. -- A pastor is charged with sexually abusing his 9-year-old adopted daughter.
David Gilmore of St. Paul turned himself in Monday. He is held in the Marion County Jail on five counts of sex abuse.
The 40-year-old has four biological children and three adopted children from Russia.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Gary Grado, Tribune
Mesa priest convicted of giving a teenager sexually motivated massages will ride a wave of support into court Friday for his sentencing.
Thirty-six Queen of Peace parishioners, former colleagues and lifelong friends wrote Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens, urging she go easy on the Rev. Karl LeClaire, 48.
LeClaire, former pastor of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Mesa, pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to sexually motivated aggravated assault and agreed to a sentence of three years’ probation.
Stephens can also throw him in the county jail for up to a year.
Many of LeClaire’s supporters said in letters that he was wrongfully accused, one going so far as to say L eClaire’s accuser was the son the priest would never have.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Connecticut Post
By DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
BRIDGEPORT
Testimony is scheduled to begin this morning in the Superior Court trial of a former seminary student in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport arrested for allegedly molesting a 16-year-old city girl.
Leonardo Montoya, 30, now living in Monroe, will be tried before a six-person jury on a charge of fourth-degree sexual assault.
The trial, presided over by Judge Heidi Winslow, is expected to last about two weeks.
Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Esposito, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment. Montoya is represented by Leonard Crone Jr.
Montoya, formerly assigned to St. Augustine's Cathedral here as well as churches in Trumbull and Norwalk, is accused of molesting the girl, whose family he met through the church, while visiting their Bridgeport home on Nov. 30, 2003.
BOSTON (MA)
Star-Telegram
Associated Press
BOSTON - The winter storm that pounded the Northeast prompted Gov. Mitt Romney to keep some nonessential state workers home Monday, including employees at the courthouse where a high-profile clergy sex abuse cases was to begin.
Romney's announcement meant that opening statements in the trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the highest-profile figures to go to trial in the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, would not begin in Middlesex Superior Court until Tuesday. A jury was seated last week.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Allegations against him were among the hundreds of clergy sex abuse lawsuits settled by the Archdiocese of Boston.
OREGON
Statesman Journal
January 24, 2005
Sex abuse is an ugly thing to think about, let alone to talk about with your children. But as a parent, you must.
You cannot rely on the authorities to find molesters before molesters find your child. The system works far too slowly and imperfectly. That certainly was the case with Salem-Keizer middle-school band teacher Joe Billera, who recently pleaded guilty to abusing four former students.
Abusers typically harm many children before they get caught. These men -- they're nearly always men -- are not the strangers we warn our children against; strangers rarely get near enough to hurt our children. That's what makes the job as parent so difficult.
Instead, the abuser generally is someone the child knows well -- a relative or member of the household, or a coach, a church worker, a teacher, a family friend.
Not only does your child trust this person; you do. The abuser has invested months or years into grooming you both. You can't comprehend that this wonderful person could betray your trust and your child's trust so completely.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
In a seven-section outline dealing with some 56 news articles, scanning a thirty-year time span. The complete public accounting of the attempt of two clergy sexual abuse victims Mr. Gary M. Melanson and Mr. Dana Vyska, to ascertain justice in Worcester can be told in the Rev. Joseph Fredette case.
The road to justice for the victims of Rev. Joseph Fredette was initiated by a phone call into the Worcester Telegram and Gazette in 1992.
Telegram and Gazette received word of the outstanding warrant against Rev. Fredette and Kathy Shaw and George Griffin actively pursued the story based on the stories that began appearing in the newspaper August 1, 1992, the first story ran on FREDETTE IN RURAL RETREAT \ PRIEST SAID TO BE IN NEW BRUNSWICK. the story read He has been considered a fugitive from justice since he left Worcester in 1974 and headed first to the Pope John XXIII Retreat in Cassadaga, N.Y., then to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart outside Sherbrooke, Quebec..
Constable Jean Gosselin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Moncton, New Brunswick, whose jurisdiction covers Jailletville, said his office would investigate. According to these articles, Ms Shaw went to Canada to investigate and to locate Rev. Fredette. Immediately the Canada authorities visited Rev. Fredette to check the circumstances of why he was there. Rev. Fredette had been living in the same location without fear of pursuit for some twenty years.
BATON ROUGE (LA)
KLFY
BATON ROUGE, La. A Roman Catholic school in Baton Rouge will change its name by June because of sexual allegations leveled at its namesake.
Bishop Sullivan High School was named for Joseph Sullivan, who was bishop in Baton Rouge from 19-74 until his death in 19-82. He was accused last spring of sexual abuse in 1975 involving a 17-year-old boy. The diocese settled a lawsuit in November that had been filed by the victim, now in his 40s.
The school board has been asked to come up with five alternative names for the school by February 1st. Some early suggestions include Father Francis Xavier Seelos, St. Katherine Drexel, St. Michael and St. Stephen, diocese spokesman Robert Furlow said.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER
January 24, 2005
The Vatican has defrocked eight Long Island priests accused of sexually abusing minors, ordered three priests to face church trials and cleared two others, Bishop William Murphy discloses in a report on the abuse crisis to be published later this week.
Three years after the scandal broke in Boston and reverberated in dioceses across the nation, Catholics here will be given a tally on the status of clerics who have been accused.
In a three-page letter, Murphy said 23 priests had credible abuse allegations made against them. The accusations against nine of the priests were disposed of by the Diocese of Rockville Centre, while the cases against 14 others were sent to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for review.
"Of those 14, two were found to have the allegations sufficiently unsubstantiated so that I am able to return them to ministry. For three of the priests, the Diocese has been instructed to have a canonical process or trial," Murphy writes. Murphy also disclosed in his update that the Vatican dismissed eight of the clerics from the priesthood.
On Friday, diocese officials declined to name any of the priests referred to in the letter. However, the diocese has previously identified Michael Hands and Andrew Millar, two priests whose arrests and convictions in New York State courts were well publicized. They both agreed to be laicized, which means they have been formally removed from the priesthood.
TENNESSEE
FindLaw
By ANTHONY J. SEBOK
anthony.sebok@brooklaw.edu
Monday, Jan. 24, 2005
Last week, the Supreme Court of Tennessee reinstated a clergy child sex abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim that the Diocese should be held liable for injuries caused by a former priest, even though who was not in the employ of the church when he molested two young boys.
The suit - entitled John Doe 1 ex. rel., Jane Doe 1, et. al. v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville, et al. - will now go forward in state trial court unless, of course, a settlement is reached.
Given the facts of the case, it is easy to see what the court wanted to give the plaintiffs a chance to go before a jury. The Tennessee Supreme Court's decision might have been motivated by sympathy, but along the way it made a mess of the tort law.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
A Catholic bishop has been asked to explain his decision to keep a priest in his parish after a sex abuse allegation.
Father Edward Kilpatrick, a parish priest in Lifford, was forced to leave in 1995 following allegations of abuse.
His name was cleared two years later and he returned to work.
Father Kilpatrick has asked why Dungiven priest Father Andy McCluskey who has admitted he was behind a sex abuse allegation was kept in post.
Father McCluskey told parishioners at weekend Masses in St Patrick's Church that he had made a mistake for which he was paying dearly.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Brian Hutton
24 January 2005
The Bishop of Derry, Seamus Hegarty, today defended his decision to allow a priest at the centre of sexual assault allegations to continue in the ministry.
Father Andy McCloskey has taken leave of absence after a public confession at the weekend to his Dungiven parishioners that he made a five-figure settlement to a man who accused him of a sexual advance.
The out-of-court settlement to an 18-year-old man who in 1992 was attending a parochial house for counselling for sex abuse, was made last October, without any admission of liability.
"Since becoming aware of the complaint against the priest, the diocese has had ongoing concern for the person who made the complaint," Bishop Hegarty said.
The bishop revealed that Fr McCloskey had attended residential care in 1992, for his alcohol addiction "and the problems this brought".
BOSTON (MA)
The Christian Science Monitor
By Sara B. Miller | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BOSTON – Opening statements in the trial of Paul Shanley are set to begin Monday - advancing an epic in which a popular long-haired priest of the 1960s has become one of the biggest pariahs in today's clergy sexual-abuse scandal.
Defrocked by the Vatican last year, Mr. Shanley is one of few clergy accused of molestation to actually face prosecution. He is charged with child rape and indecent assault and battery while a priest at a nearby Newton parish in the 1980s. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
Yet despite his notoriety among victims' advocates - child-abuse accusations date back to at least 1967 - a conviction is far from certain. Though four men originally accused him of molestation, prosecutors dropped two of them from the case in July, and a third was dropped last week after failing to appear for scheduled meetings. Now, the trial is based on the allegations of a lone accuser.
That could weaken the case against Shanley, say experts. It also underscores the challenges and complexities surrounding the prosecution of child abuse, especially when trials take place decades after the alleged crimes. At worst, say some, the way this case has played out - especially if Shanley is acquitted - could deter future victims from stepping forward.
MASSACHUSETTS
San Francisco Chronicle
Sunday, January 23, 2005
(01-23) 14:51 PST BOSTON (AP) --
Gov. Mitt Romney told non-essential state workers in nine eastern Massachusetts counties to stay home on Monday, including employees at the Cambridge courthouse where a high-profile clergy sex abuse cases was set to begin.
Romney's announcement meant that the trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the highest-profile figures to go to trial in the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal, would not begin in Middlesex Superior Court as scheduled. The jury was selected last week, and opening statements in the trial of the former priest were set to begin at 9 a.m. on Monday.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. Allegations against him were among the hundreds of clergy sex abuse lawsuits settled by the Archdiocese of Boston.
Judge Stephen Neel instructed jurors to be prepared to start the trial at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, said Paul Melaragni, spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley.
ROME
Zenit
ROME, JAN. 23, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The Legionaries of Christ elected a new general director, after their founder, Father Marcial Maciel, declined re-election, citing his age and his desire to see the congregation flourish under a successor.
The congregation, in a press statement issued today, explained that its general chapter "first re-elected Father Maciel by absolute majority vote," and added that "Father Maciel, 84, who has headed the Legionaries since their founding in 1941, declined" the re-election.
"The chapter fathers expressed their filial gratitude to Father Maciel for his leadership during these past decades and pledged their heartfelt loyalty to the mission he continues to fulfill as founder," the statement added.
On assuming leadership of the congregation, the new general director, Father Álvaro Corcuera, said: "I wish to express my desire to remain faithful to the charism of the congregation and to the person of the founder, and to continue his work at the service of the Church."
Mexican-born Father Corcuera, 47, has been rector of the Legionaries' Center for Higher Studies in Rome since 1987.
He has worked closely with Father Maciel on projects related to the governing of the congregation. He is also a consultor to the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Ireland Online
23/01/2005 - 14:59:44
A priest at the centre of sex abuse allegations in the North today apologised to his parishioners.
Father Andrew McCloskey, curate at St Patrick’s Church in Dungiven, told worshippers at Mass that he made a mistake for which he had paid dearly.
It had been revealed that last October he paid a five-figure out-of-court settlement to a man who made a complaint against him.
The alleged incident happened at a parochial house in the Derry Diocese in 1992.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
By Jessica Guynn and John Simerman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Bill Lopes was Mr. Popular, the homecoming queen's escort and a football star in the days before De La Salle High School became synonymous with gridiron glory. Chris Barbour loved the outdoors and country music.
The inseparable friends played spirited war games, firing air rifles filled with rock salt that left their skin red and welted. They pumped iron in Lopes' garage, barking like drill sergeants until they collapsed from the strain.
They engraved their nicknames, "Bandit One" and "Bandit Two" -- from the Burt Reynolds flick "Smokey and the Bandit" -- on their class rings.
And they stayed up late, sharing the deep secrets no one else could know. Barbour confided in Lopes that he was molested at age 11 on a Boy Scout trip, that he silently anguished over his own sexuality and God.
His soul-searching would plunge the two of them into a dark passage in the history of De La Salle and the Christian Brothers order that oversees the Concord school and other high schools and colleges around the world.
Two decades later, the Roman Catholic order is faced with costly payouts. The two friends, now 41, still struggle with the lasting scars from what Lopes calls a "toxic shame."
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By NICOLE TSONG
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 23, 2005)
When the woman known as Jane Doe 1 entered the room for the deposition of the Rev. James Poole, the Jesuit priest she has accused of molesting her as a child in Nome, she hadn't seen him in more than a decade.
He looked smaller than she remembered. He spoke almost like a little kid about their interaction. But his scent, the intimate smell of someone that rekindles memories, hadn't changed.
"It was the same smell," she recalled in a recent interview, before taking a break to compose herself.
Jane Doe sued Poole, the Diocese of Fairbanks, the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province and Alaska Jesuits in March last year, accusing the priest who founded Catholic radio station KNOM of molesting her as a child. Two other women subsequently filed similar molestation claims against the priest, who is 81 and lives in a Jesuit home in Spokane, Wash.
Poole has called some of the allegations against him "highly inflammatory and highly exaggerated" and has denied others.
Jane Doe, 37 and originally from the Bethel area, has accused Poole of molesting her more than 100 times, starting in 1978 in Nome during summer visits when she was 10 and lasting until she was 16. The abuse included kissing, heavy petting and having her lie on top of him, the suit says. She said he had her sit on his lap and they kissed for hours.
Jane Doe, who has remained anonymous since she filed the lawsuit, said she didn't intend to sue the church when she first reported Poole to church officials.
She initially approached the church after she heard about another lawsuit filed by men claiming sexual abuse by the Rev. Jules Convert. Still a practicing Catholic, she wanted to see how the church would respond. After she had trouble contacting Fairbanks' then-chancellor, the Rev. Richard Case, over the phone and grew increasingly anxious and emotional, she wrote Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler a letter dated Sept. 20 outlining her complaints.
An interview in person with the bishop in September didn't help, she said. She said he continually referred to the legal issues involved, when she wanted him to be compassionate, listen to her and tell her it was OK to feel the way she did.
Kettler said recently that he went into that interview without much information about Jane Doe or Poole.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
A priest has admitted that he is the clergyman behind a sex abuse case in Dungiven in which a five figure compensation payout was made.
Father Andy McCluskey, a curate at St Patrick's Church, Dungiven, told parishioners he had made a mistake for which he was now paying dearly.
The man who was paid the compensation claimed Fr McCluskey made a sexual advance to him in 1992.
Fr McCluskey said he has asked Bishop Seamus Hegarty for a leave of absence.
The allegations relate to an incident at a parochial house, involving an 18-year-old man.
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By NICOLE TSONG
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 23, 2005)
Attorney Ken Roosa thought his first case in 2002 involving four men who say a Catholic priest sexually abused them in the village of St. Marys would be solved in mediation with the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Jesuits.
The men who came forward and said they were molested as children by the Rev. Jules Convert appeared to be the only ones, Roosa said recently. But mediation failed. Roosa, a bearded ex-prosecutor who spent years working with sexual abuse victims, and the four men, identified in the lawsuit as John Does 1-4, sued in June 2003.
Not long after, a man who had followed the national coverage of priest sex abuse called Roosa from Texas and said he too had been abused by Convert as a child in rural Alaska. In November, he got a call from another man with similar accusations against Convert.
Eventually, the lawsuit included 18 plaintiffs who say Convert invited them, as boys between 6 and 16 years of age, to spend the night with him, sometimes asking them to sleep in their underwear or even naked. They say they would awake in the middle of the night and find the priest fondling them, according to the civil complaint filed in Bethel Superior Court.
As publicity about the first case spread, the issue gained momentum and the number of lawsuits has swollen to four, with dozens of victims from rural Alaska saying they were abused by priests in Bush Alaska for decades. Nearly all the victims are represented by Roosa, who has become the nexus for Catholic priest sex abuse cases in Alaska, gaining expertise in the intricacies of Catholic canonical law, personnel structure and record-keeping.
AUSTRIA
Times Dispatch
The Associated Press Jan 23, 2005
VIENNA, Austria -- Austrians are leaving the Roman Catholic Church in record numbers, according to statistics released last week.
Church officials attributed the 44,852 dropouts during 2004 to a scandal involving the discovery of child and other pornography on computers at a seminary in the diocese of St. Poelten, the Austria Press Agency reported.
The number is expected to rise further, because the St. Poelten Diocese has yet to report its 2004 statistics. The seminary where the pornography was found was shut down in August and a new bishop was installed in November.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Commercial Appeal
By Bill Dries
Contact
January 23, 2005
A Tennessee Supreme Court ruling last week has eliminated one of several defenses the Catholic Diocese of Memphis might use in two child sexual abuse lawsuits filed against two priests and the church last summer.
But attorneys for the alleged abuse victims say the civil lawsuits still will be a hard fight.
The high court's ruling on Tuesday in an abuse lawsuit involving former Nashville priest Edward McKeown and the Diocese of Nashville focused on claims of "emotional distress."
McKeown already has been convicted on a criminal charge of sexually abusing one of the two boys who later filed the civil suit against McKeown and the church.
Nashville church officials argued they weren't liable on the distress charge because they didn't know the alleged victims and because the abuse didn't take place in the presence of church officials.
In a unanimous ruling setting a new legal standard, the Supreme Court rejected that defense and ordered the case back on the court calendar after it had been dismissed by two lower courts.
BATON ROUGE (LA)
Times-Picayune
Sunday, January 23, 2005
By John-John Williams IV
River Parishes bureau
This should have been a time of celebration for Bishop Sullivan High School in Baton Rouge. But in addition to marking 20 years of educating children, the school community finds itself mulling choices for a new name.
The school's namesake, former Bishop Joseph Sullivan, was accused last spring of sexual abuse in 1975 involving a 17-year-old boy. The Archdiocese of Baton Rouge has settled a lawsuit filed by the victim, now in his 40s.
Perhaps the most public outcome of the case will be a new name for the high school Sullivan helped open in 1984.
The school board has been asked to come up with five alternative names by the end of this month. Archdiocese officials said a name will be chosen by the end of February and announced in June. The new name will take effect with the 2005-06 school year.
Robert Furlow, director of communications for the Baton Rouge Diocese, said reactions to the news of the name change have been mixed.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Joseph A. Reaves and Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 23, 2005 12:00 AM
For all practical purposes, they are superstars of the Phoenix Catholic Church.
They have been for decades.
Recently, though, within months of one another, Monsignor Dale J. Fushek and the Rev. John Cunningham were banned from public ministry. advertisement
Their setbacks, for unrelated and still-unproven reasons, have stunned a church reeling from two years of scandal.
They have created an unwanted crisis for their bishop, divided the faithful and raised troubling questions about possible political intrigue, personality cults and the almighty power of the dollar.
"Difficulties like these are always sad and painful," Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said in an e-mail response to a question from The Arizona Republic about the suspensions of Fushek and Cunningham.
"Each of these cases has its own unique set of circumstances; thus it is not helpful to compare them."
Comparing the allegations against the two priests is, indeed, impossible.
Cunningham was removed from public ministry April 29 for violating the church's sacramental guidelines for celebrating Mass. Then, on Jan. 4, he was removed as pastor of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Gilbert amid allegations of financial irregularities.
Fushek was placed on administrative leave Dec. 29 after the diocese received a complaint that he was in a room two decades ago while a seminarian sodomized a teenage parishioner.
But if the allegations are vastly different, they appear to have some intriguing connections that hint at long-simmering rivalries between the two men and their relatives.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Boston.com
By Associated Press | January 23, 2005
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- New Hampshire's Roman Catholic bishop is preparing to testify against Paul R. Shanley, the defrocked priest who is charged with raping children in Massachusetts.
Bishop John McCormack will testify against Shanley in a trial that begins tomorrow in Cambridge. The accuser, now 27, said Shanley had raped him at a parish in Newton from 1983 to 1989.
Shanley became one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal after documents released three years ago showed church officials knew about abuse complaints against him as early as 1967.
When Shanley left the Newton parish in 1990, McCormack took his case. At the time, McCormack was an official of the Archdiocese of Boston, and investigated allegations of sexual misconduct. McCormack has maintained he did not know of any allegations of sexual misconduct with a child against Shanley until 1993.
"The bishop had no knowledge whatsoever of any allegations of a child being harmed until long after Paul Shanley had left St. Jean's parish in the early 1990s," said a Boston lawyer, Eileen Quill.
IRELAND
Sunday Times
Enda Leahy
THE first case of alleged sexual abuse of a child in a sanctified church building will go to trial in the central criminal court in Dublin later this year.
A Donegal man, who was employed as a cleaner by the Catholic church, faces 13 counts of sexual assault and rape. He is expected to plead not guilty to the charges.
Colm O’Gorman, the founder and head of One in Four, the Irish charity for victims of sexual abuse, said: “I’ve never heard of any cases of this happening within the physical structure of a church. No one in our organisation has heard of such a case in fact. Though of course that’s not to say that this is the first time it has happened.”
O’Gorman said a high proportion of child abuse took place in the diocese of Raphoe, which covers most of Co Donegal. Last year it emerged that Dr Philip Boyce, the Bishop of Raphoe, left three priests in their posts even though they were under investigation by the gardai for child abuse. Church policy at the time should have resulted in the removal of the suspects until the investigations were completed.
YAKIMA (WA)
Herald-Republic
By JANE GARGAS
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney Ron Zirkle has decided against filing criminal charges against a Yakima Catholic priest who was being investigated in connection with possessing child pornography.
The case "did not meet federal or state statutes for children in sexually explicit conduct," Zirkle said in a Friday telephone interview.
The priest, who has not been publicly identified, is currently not working in the Catholic Diocese of Yakima and is said to be on sabbatical, according to several sources who declined to be identified.
Zirkle said the investigation dates to fall 2003, when Russell Mazzola, chairman of the Diocesan Lay Advisory Board, reported an incident of suspected possession of pornography to the Yakima police.
In the past, Zirkle has mentioned that photographs of nude boys were found on a computer to which the priest had access.
COVINGTON (KY)
Kentucky.com
Associated Press
COVINGTON, Ky. - The lead attorney in a multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington said after a private meeting with the diocese that an upcoming trial could be delayed by ongoing negotiations.
Stan Chesley, the lead attorney for plaintiffs suing over the diocese's alleged cover-up of sexual abuse, said he was pleased with the progress after the two-hour meeting.
"There are many, many things that need to be done, and we are cautiously optimistic," Chesley said.
Chesley would not offer details about the Wednesday talks with Special Judge John Potter. A court hearing scheduled for the same day was postponed until March. Lawyers for the diocese had no comment.
A trial is scheduled for April 11, but Chesley said it could be delayed because of negotiations.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By TOM HEINEN
theinen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 21, 2005
Tempering boundless enthusiasm with future uncertainties, Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan this week described a spiritually vibrant and fiscally solvent archdiocese that also could face "very considerable" financial costs from 11 pending sexual-abuse lawsuits in California.
Dolan's "state of the archdiocese" talk to about 150 Catholic business and education leaders in The Wisconsin Club portrayed the church in southeastern Wisconsin as strong, growing, and hopeful. There still is a long way to go in restoring trust broken by the clergy sexual abuse crisis, but the archdiocese got high marks from outside auditors late last year for its programs to prevent future abuse and to help victims heal, he added.
He cited continuing financial challenges, including the pending lawsuits, but he also noted that the annual Catholic Stewardship Appeal had exceeded its goal for the third consecutive year. As of Monday, the nearly concluded 2004 campaign had raised about $7,578,800 from 56,183 donors, nearly $278,800 more than the goal, archdiocesan spokesman Jerry Topczewski said afterward.
Dolan's initial presentation did not use the "B" word - bankruptcy - a topic that has gained nationwide attention since Catholic dioceses in Portland, Ore., Tucson, Ariz., and Spokane, Wash., filed for bankruptcy in the face of millions of dollars in damage claims by victims of sexual abuse by priests.
MANCHESTER (NH)
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — Bishop John B. McCormack will testify against defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley as a cooperating witness for the prosecution in Shanley’s child rape case, the bishop’s attorney said yesterday.
“Bishop McCormack is providing testimony for the commonwealth. They have reached out and asked for his assistance in this matter and he has agreed to do so. He is appearing without a subpoena,” said Boston attorney Eileen M. Quill.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 in Massachusetts.
Twelve jurors and four alternates impaneled this week will hear opening arguments Monday in Middlesex County Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass.
The alleged victim, now 27, said Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton, Mass., between 1983 and 1989. Charges related to three other alleged victims have been dropped by prosecutors.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
For the second year in a row, the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese is in compliance with the mandatory U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The audit report, issued earlier this month, is the result of an October visit by two auditors from the Gavin Group, an independent Boston firm of auditors experienced in law enforcement and investigations.
However, since the auditors' visit, the Resource Center for Parents and Children, which was named as victim assistance coordinator for the diocese, withdrew from the role after reviewing a diocesan Child Sexual Abuse Reporting packet.
In a letter dated Jan. 7, RCPC Executive Director Coleen Turner wrote, "Upon review of the packet, we are unable to fulfill the role of information gatherer as indicated by the forms in the packet. This procedure goes against the confidentiality practices we have with our clients."
Bishop Donald Kettler acknowledged the recent change.
MANCHESTER (NH)
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — The Diocese of Manchester and the state yesterday pressed to have the long-stalled audit called for in their 2002 agreement begin, but still argued yesterday in court over how it should be done.
The Roman Catholic diocese said the agreement calls for an audit that would verify it has complied with its child protection policies, training programs for staff and volunteers and child abuse reporting requirements.
The state maintained it cannot know if the diocese has complied with the agreement until a full and fair audit is done that measures the effectiveness of church policies and procedures.
“Effectiveness means, are the policies working?” Associate Attorney General Ann F. Larney said.
Diocesan attorney David A. Vicinanzo said the audit will show the diocese is in complete compliance with the agreement it struck with the state to avoid criminal prosecution.
“The church is an extremely safe place for children. There is no place that’s safer than the Catholic church,” he said after the hearing.
AUSTRIA
The Tablet
A record number of Catholics left the Austrian Church after the sex scandal at the St Pölten seminary last July.
Fifty thousand Catholics officially left the Church in 2004. The nationwide average of 40 per cent was even higher than in 1995 when the former Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, was accused of sexually abusing a minor. In 2004 the St Pölten diocese had 45 per cent more Catholics leaving than in the previous year, after a scandal at the seminary involving the downloading of child pornography and claims of homosexual activity. Bishop Klaus Küng subsequently replaced Kurt Krenn as Bishop of St Pölten.
Commenting on the main evening news on 17 January, the dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty of Vienna University, Professor Paul Zulehner, said the exodus was still primarily due to the controversial episcopal appointments that the Vatican had made in the Austrian Church after the late Cardinal Hans König's retirement in 1985. The fact that Rome delayed in responding to the St Pölten crisis had made things even worse, said Professor Zulehner. Since the "Groer Affair" of the mid-1990s, "the immune system of Austrian Catholics has grown steadily weaker so they can no longer cope with further bouts of scandals", he said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Brian Hutton
newsdesk@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
21 January 2005
A Catholic priest accused of sexual assault is to be allowed to continue his parish duties by the Bishop of Derry Most Rev Dr Seamus Hegarty, it was revealed today.
The priest at the centre of the claims last month handed over a cheque for a five-figure sum to the alleged victim following an out of court settlement.
The incident is alleged to have taken place at a parochial house, in October of 1992, where a young man was attending counselling for sexual abuse for nine months.
The man, who was 18-years-old at the time, claimed he was subjected to a sexual advance by a priest.
He confided in another priest who brought the matter to the attention of other members of the clergy, including Bishop Francis Lagan, who later met with the young man, it is claimed.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal
By Donna Deeney
Friday 21st January 2005
Bishop of Derry Most Rev Dr Seamus Hegarty yesterday defended a decision to allow a priest in the Diocese to continue working with youth groups in spite of an out of court cash settlement involving allegations of sexual abuse.
Dr Hegarty was responding to a Derry Journal investigation into a number of allegations made against a priest in the Diocese and concerns regarding that priest's current position.
We have decided not to name the priest concerned, but we can report that last month he agreed a substantial five-figure financial settlement with a man who had made certain allegations against him after an incident at a parochial house in 1992.
The man was just 18 at the time.
In his statement to the Journal, Dr Hegarty said: "I am aware of the matter referred to involving an adult who was over eighteen at the time.
"The issue concerned two adults who were fully represented. It was settled without court proceedings between the priest and the adult through their legal representatives."
SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune
By SARA TOTH
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND -- Illinois Appellate Justice Anne Burke, former head of the board that investigated child abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, said lay people will transform the church as it recovers from the scandal.
"The church needs to be reborn and it needs the heroic service of the laity to do it," she said Thursday at the University of Notre Dame.
"No more passive Catholics. And this is my mantra now."
About 40 people attended Burke's speech, sponsored by Call to Action Michiana, a Catholic reform-minded organization.
Burke served on the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops-sponsoredAbuse Tracker Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People from June 2002, until fall 2004.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Post
By Kimball Perry
Post staff writer
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati responded to criticism Thursday of "fraudulent concealment" of documents to hide priest sex abuse, saying the documents aren't new and nothing was covered up.
That didn't stop Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters from promising Thursday to look into the possibility of re-opening the criminal investigation into the archdiocese, or victims from calling for the resignation of the organization's spokesman and attorney.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg, we believe," Christy Miller, a victim of priest abuse, said Thursday.
She spoke outside Saint Peter in Chains Cathedral downtown and was joined by other members of the support group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
The criticism comes days after court documents revealed that Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk assigned the Rev. David Kelly to a Vandalia, Ohio, parish after Pilarczyk learned Kelly had been accused of fondling at least two male students at Elder High School, where Kelly was principal.
CINCINNATI (OH)
The Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
Victims' advocates asked Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk to resign Thursday, claiming he knew in the 1980s that priests were abusing children but failed to stop them.
Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests based their allegations on church records released this week as part of a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
The records include letters to and from the archbishop regarding the behavior of a former Cincinnati priest who has been accused of abusing boys.
In one letter from 1986, a former priest personnel official discusses an allegation about the priest that arose during a marriage counseling session. During the session, a young man revealed that a friend had confided that the priest molested him.
IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Times
A 62-year-old former teacher appeared in court yesterday charged with 104 counts of indecent assault at a school in south Dublin more than 30 years ago. A judge ordered that nothing should be published which would identify the accused or the injured parties.
The former cleric is charged with committing the offences against boys over a two-year period in the early 1970s. Dublin District Court heard he was arrested yesterday morning at Sundrive Road Garda station, Crumlin, Dublin. After he was charged, he replied "not guilty".
Det Garda Eamonn Maloney had no objection to independent bail, subject to certain conditions, including that he surrender his passport and sign on at his local Garda station.
His solicitor asked the court to set a sum for bail which "is attainable". The charges were of "considerable antiquity" and his client had made himself available at all times to gardaí during the investigation into the matter, which had gone on over a number of years.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer
Friday, January 21, 2005
David Briggs
Plain Dealer Religion Reporter
When Northeast Ohioans were hungry, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland served them 3.5 million meals. When they were without homes, the diocese gave them 70,000 nights of shelter. And when people were sick, Catholic Charities provided services ranging from treating 4,350 people for chemical dependency to allowing 850 children with disabilities to attend day camp.
Thursday, Bishop Anthony Pilla described a church that is on a solid financial footing, serving hundreds of thousands of people in need, in the first of what the diocese says will be annual reports. The special report was mailed out to more than 280,000 households in the eight-county diocese.
For the diocese, still recovering from a clergy sexual abuse scandal, the report is a chance to inform the community about the positive things it is doing and is also part of a three-year effort to become more transparent and accountable in its reporting practices.
Other dioceses are facing bankruptcy, but Cleveland has adequate reserves to cover costs associated with the scandal, church officials said.
NORTHERN IRELAND
The Scotsman
By Gary Kelly, PA
An MP called on a bishop today to explain why he allowed a priest who paid out compensation to an alleged sex abuse victim to continue working in his parish.
It emerged today that the priest, who has not been identified, paid a five-figure sum out of court to settle allegations of sexual abuse against him.
The alleged incident involving an 18-year-old man is said to have happened at a parochial house in the Londonderry area in 1992.
The alleged victim claimed that the priest made sexual advances towards him after he visited the parochial house for counselling on sex abuse.
A civil action was begun by the man two years ago and was settled out of court last October with no admission of liability by the priest.
In a statement, the Bishop of Derry Dr Seamus Hegarty, confirmed he was aware of the allegations made against the priest and had allowed him to continue to work in the Derry diocese.
FORT PIERCE (FL)
Palm Beach Post
By Sofia Santana
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 21, 2005
FORT PIERCE — A church youth counselor was arrested Wednesday on charges he had sex with two teen girls he supervised, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
Christopher T. Padgett, 19, was arrested on two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation after a 14-year-old girl told her mother that she and another girl who are part of the youth group at Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church had sex with Padgett in his car, according to a sheriff's office report released Thursday.
The two girls involved and the mother who filed the report were not identified in the reports.
The girl told her mother the incident happened after she and her friend, who is 15, asked Padgett for a ride to a friend's house on Dec. 19, an investigator said.
"While they were en route, the subject of sexual activity had been brought up in conversation," Detective Mark Colangelo wrote in Padgett's arrest affidavit. "The three of them ultimately found a secluded location in St. Lucie County and both females had sexual intercourse with Padgett."
JASPER (AL)
Montgomery Advertiser
By Marty Roney
Montgomery Advertiser
JASPER -- Friends and associates of a Wetumpka minister facing charges of sexually abusing two young girls say they saw nothing in his behavior when he was ministering in Walker County that gave them cause for concern.
Garret Albert Dykes, 38, 909 Oak Crest Court, is the former pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Wetumpka. He was charged Jan. 10 with three counts of sexual abuse involving two girls younger than 10.
Before coming to Wetumpka, Dykes was minister at Pisgah Baptist Church in Sipsey, a small community in rural Walker County, about 15 miles northwest of Jasper.
"After the story broke in the papers, we received plenty of media calls, but nothing from the community," said Danny Patton, assistant chief of the Jasper Police Department. "We never had any contact with him while he was here. No one has contacted us about any of his activities while he was here. No one has come forward as a victim or potential victim."
HUDSON (WI)
Pioneer Press
BY ALEX FRIEDRICH
Pioneer Press
It seemed an odd last will for a Roman Catholic priest to write. In hindsight, it was a sign of bad things to come.
The document sat on the desk of the Rev. Ryan Erickson on Dec. 16 when Hudson, Wis., police led a search of his office at St. Mary's Church in Hurley, Wis. They had recently questioned the 31-year-old priest in a Hudson homicide investigation and a possible crime involving one or more minors.
The priest had been acting antsy, say those who knew him. And to some, the letter's use of the past tense seemed almost like the wording used in a suicide note:
" 'I tried to make a difference,' " Hurley Police Chief Daniel Erspamer remembered reading.
Erspamer and Deacon Russ Lundgren said they told Erickson of their concern. But the priest explained away those words. To ease the chief's mind, Erickson — an avid hunter — allowed police to hand over his collection of pistols and rifles to the deacon. And he assured both men he had no intention of killing himself.
"I'll see you at midnight Mass on Christmas Eve," he told Erspamer, who sings in the church choir.
Three days later, Erickson hanged himself with a rope from an outside fire escape next to the rectory.
SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE -- Lawyers for people who contend they were sexually abused by Catholic priests are asking a federal bankruptcy judge to replace several members of a key panel with more victims, rather than people they view as church sympathizers.
The lawyers for 62 alleged victims said the so-called "claimants' committee" has too many Catholic Church "loyalists" who are unlikely to push the Catholic Diocese of Spokane to fairly compensate victims.
"The people on the committee are unrepresentative of the creditors at large," said Duane Rasmussen of Liberty Lake, an attorney for about a third of the victims.
The motion was filed this week with U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams. No hearing date has been set.
The Spokane Diocese said yesterday that committee appointments were made by the Office of the U.S. Trustee of the bankruptcy court, which also appointed the committees in the recent bankruptcy filings of the Tucson Diocese and the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore.
COLUMBIA (SC)
The State
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The state Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of an ex-deacon accused of molesting a girl at church.
John Hubner, 56, was sentenced to 36 years in prison more than two years ago after a jury found him guilty of fondling a 12-year-old girl in 1996 and 1997.
But a three-judge panel on the appeals court ruled the trial judge made a mistake by allowing testimony from a woman who said Hubner sexually abused her in Maine more than a decade before.
The state attorney general's office has asked the state Court of Appeals to reconsider the decision, and may appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court, spokesman Mark Plowden said.
Hubner will remain in prison during the appeal and if the ruling is upheld, will remain behind bars until his next trial.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet," said Carol A. McCurry, Hubner's attorney. "But we sure like the first verse." ...
The Columbia girl's family sued Hubner along with First Baptist Church and its pastor, the Rev. Wendell Estep. Hubner was a deacon at the church and police said some of the abuse took place there.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader
By RICK WEBB
Guest Commentary
ACCORDING TO the regulations and customs of the Roman Catholic Church, only the Pope can designate or remove the title of Roman Catholic bishop. Since the Pope has designated John McCormack as bishop of the Diocese of Manchester, in the eyes of the Vatican and those who swear strict allegiance and absolute obedience to the Vatican, it is clear that John McCormack was and still is bishop and leader of New Hampshire Catholics.
What is less clear is how many outside the Vatican still consider John McCormack as a leader of New Hampshire Catholics. In recent decades, the title of Roman Catholic bishop has been recognized as a symbol of respect and moral leadership by both Catholics and non-Catholics in the Granite State. Citizens of New Hampshire looked to the bishops of Manchester to provide moral direction and unite the community in acts of charity and good will.
How many now look to John McCormack for moral leadership? In the last three years, hundreds have arisen in the streets, media and other public forums to demand that McCormack be held accountable for his role in hiding and protecting pedophile priests over a two- decade long period. Only a handful have publicly stood to support him, few if any in recent times as McCormack’s role in the clergy abuse horror has become clearer and clearer. With more than 300,000 Catholics in the state, are there not at least 10 who still consider McCormack to be an able moral leader? From public statements, it does not appear so.
SPOKANE (WA)
KXLY
Sixty-two people claiming they are victims of sexual abuse by priests are asking the bankruptcy court to make changes to the committee helping decide the fate of the Spokane Diocese.
The alleged victims' attorneys say the creditors committee has too many members who are loyal to the church and could protect the Diocese from having to settle with victims. The motion asks the court to replace three so-called church loyalists and possibly add more people to the five-person committee.
Church attorneys have repeatedly told News4 they believe the composition of the committee is fair, because many possible abuse victims are not seeking money. They affirmed that position Thursday, saying they already had given a list of 130 claims to the court.
OHIO
Ohio News Network
Mason attorney Konrad Kircher filed letters this week which he says prove the Cincinnati Archdiocese and the Archbishop -- fraudulently concealed allegations of sexual abuse by priests.
Kircher's complaint had been dismissed because it was filed too late. However, the attorney says the appeals court never saw these newly filed letters which claim a conspiracy by the Archdiocese.
Meanwhile, the "survivors network of those abused by Priests," (SNAP) held a sidewalk news conference this afternoon outside St. Peter In Chains Cathedral.
NEW YORK
News 10 Now
1/20/2005 10:42 PM
By: Al Nall, News 10 Now Web Staff
In his three years leading the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York, Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams has never had to deal with a sexual abuse case. He isn't sure he has one to deal with now, but he did receive a letter from a third party, accusing a priest of sexual abuse some 30 years ago. The letter named the priest, not the victim.
"At this time the allegations are unsubstantiated. We've had no victim come forward and say to me or to our response team that something has occurred. So right now it is still in the area of unknown, which is part of the difficulty of being able to respond," said Bishop Adams.
If a victim doesn't come forward, the church won't disclose the priest's name or pursue a criminal investigation. The Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, or S.N.A.P., says the church is wrong for not revealing the accused priest's name. They say doing so would help more victims come forward and remove suspicion from other clergy members.
Allegations of sexual abuse by a priest 30 years ago are now causing a stir in the Episcopal Church of Central New York. But as News 10 Now's Al Nall reports, the church has yet to find a victim.
"They're all suspect then at that point because it's no different than me coming to you and saying I know someone in your family who abuses children but I'm not telling you who it is. It's the same kind of thing there. I mean who in your family are you going to trust now," said Charles Baldwin, of S.N.A.P.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
By Janice D'Arcy
Sun Staff
Originally published January 21, 2005
A Roman Catholic priest who a decade ago publicly denied an allegation of sexual abuse has been accused of another series of incidents, according to the Archdiocese Of Baltimore.
This time, a former Calvert Hall College high school student said the priest, Jerome F. Toohey Jr., abused him over the course of several years.
Toohey, known as Father Jeff, has not been practicing as a priest since 1993, when he was first accused of abusing a young man. Toohey, 58, did not respond to a message left at his home yesterday. His lawyer, Andrew Graham, said he had no comment.
The new allegation claims that Toohey used his role as a pastoral counselor to abuse the student repeatedly from the late 1980s to the early 1990s in the priest's private residence. At the time, Toohey was chaplain at Calvert Hall, a boys school in Towson.
NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News
A priest in the Londonderry area has paid out a five figure sum to settle claims of sexual abuse out of court.
The allegations relate to an incident at a parochial house in 1992, involving an 18-year-old man.
A civil action over an alleged sexual advance by the priest was started two years ago and settled with no admission of liability last October.
It has emerged that the priest is to "continue in parish ministry and in wider diocesan activities".
Legal advisors
In a statement published in the Derry Journal, the Bishop of Derry, Dr Seamus Hegarty, confirmed that he was aware of the allegations against the priest.
He said the issue concerned two adults who were fully represented.
BELLFLOWER (CA)
Press-Telegram
By Karen Robes
Staff writer
BELLFLOWER — Supporters of sexual abuse victims staged a protest Thursday at St. John Bosco High School.
About 10 members of SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, stood on the sidewalk in front of the campus at 13640 Bellflower Blvd. at 12:30 p.m. and handed out leaflets to students leaving school the day was shortened for exams and waiting parents.
The group also delivered a letter to Bosco Principal Patrick Lee naming clergy formerly affiliated with the high school who are accused in a sexual abuse lawsuit.
"Our worry is that school officials may not have been informed of who these priests are," said Mary Grant, a Long Beach resident and southwest regional director of SNAP. "We're worried of child molesters who might be working there now."
Grant said she was not aware of any sexual offenders still working at Bosco.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Boston.com
By J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press Writer | January 20, 2005
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A lawyer for the state's Roman Catholic diocese told a judge Thursday it was ready to submit to an audit of its child protection policies, but prosecutors said the evaluation the church envisions is meaningless.
The Diocese of Manchester and the attorney general's office have been at odds for nearly two years over the scope and cost of an audit of church policies intended to protect children from sexual abuse.
Annual audits for five years are required by a 2002 agreement between the church and state that ended a criminal investigation of whether diocesan officials knew members of the clergy were abusing children but failed to protect them.
The agreement landed in court when the diocese and state couldn't agree on the terms of the audit. The church says it agreed only to a check of whether it has policies and whether it trains people in them. The state says that unless it verifies the effectiveness of those policies, the audit is useless.
"The state leaps to the conclusion that because we all agree these are good goals, the state is empowered to do whatever it pleases with the audit," church lawyer David Vicinanzo said Thursday during a Hillsborough County Superior Court hearing.
ORANGE (CA)
Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
ORANGE, Calif. -- With a multimillion-dollar clergy abuse settlement behind it, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange is launching an expansion that includes the establishment of two new parishes, the relocation of a third and the construction of a new cathedral, officials said Thursday.
The announcement comes six weeks after the diocese agreed to a $100 million settlement with 90 alleged victims of clergy abuse. The diocese will pay about half that amount, with insurers covering the rest.
The diocese had put on hold plans for the new parishes and the cathedral for several years while it tried to resolve the lawsuits against it, officials said.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by Gustavo Arellano
The image made the front page of newspapers across the country and led off multiple newscasts: a tearful Joelle Casteix accepting the humbled apology of Bishop Tod D. Brown moments after he announced the settlement of 90 sex-abuse cases against his Diocese of Orange for $100 million, the largest settlement amount in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. The image was supposed to signify a new era for the Orange Diocese—an era of reform, transparency; an era where, as Brown put it, the harassment of molestation victims "will never happen again."
The image was a fraud.
Just four days later, Brown’s spokesman, Father Joseph Fenton, ruined whatever goodwill the bishop established with sex-abuse victims.
Among those named in the $100 million settlement was Thomas Hodgman, a former Mater Dei High School choir teacher who was alleged to have repeatedly raped Casteix while she was a student at the Santa Ana parochial school in the late 1980s. The Toledo Blade discovered Hodgman working as a choir director at Adrian College, a small liberal arts institution in southeast Michigan, and asked him about the Orange diocese decision. Hodgman dismissed Casteix’s story as "bogus;" school officials admitted they knew about their employee’s molesting past but supported him.
Blade reporter Robin Erb then contacted the Orange Diocese for comment. Fenton, loathed by Orange County Catholics for his abrasive bluster, seemingly sided with Hodgman. "Under no circumstances does the settlement imply any guilt on anyone’s part," Fenton told the Blade.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
By Janice D’Arcy
Sun Staff
Originally published January 20, 2005, 9:01 PM EST
A Roman Catholic priest who a decade ago publicly denied an allegation of sexual abuse has been accused of another series of incidents, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
This time, a former Calvert Hall College high school student said the priest, Jerome F. Toohey Jr., abused him over the course of several years.
Toohey, known as Father Jeff, has not been practicing as a priest since 1993, when he was first accused of abusing a young man. Toohey, 58, did not respond to a message left at his home Thursday. His lawyer, Andrew Graham, said he had no comment.
The new allegation claims that Toohey used his role as a pastoral counselor to abuse the student repeatedly from the late 1980s to the early 1990s in the priest's private residence. At the time, Toohey was chaplain at Calvert Hall, a boys school in Towson.
BRITAIN
Sydney Morning Herald
January 21, 2005 - 8:34AM
The man who disrupted the men's marathon at the Athens Olympics last year was defrocked as a Roman Catholic priest in England.
"I now cannot preach. I cannot give out communion. I am little more than a pagan," said Neil Horan, who tackled Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima late in the event.
De Lima, who was leading the race when Horan jumped out of the crowd, quickly resumed running, but finished third.
Horan also disrupted the British Grand Prix Formula One race in 2003 by wandering on the track and doing what he called a peace dance.
In October, Horan was acquitted on a charge of indecency with a seven-year-old girl in 1991.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by: I-Team
Updated: 01/20/05 17:37:41
9News Anchor, on set: Abuse victims are calling on the Archbishop to resign, and the new Hamilton County Prosecutor to reopen the case on priest abuse.
They're reacting to new documents filed in court, documents I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan first told you about last night. She's here with the fallout today.
I-Team Reporter Laure Quinlivan on set: Regarding Father David Kelley, the Archbishop says he had no substantiated abuse allegation against Kelley until 1994. But these documents show the Archbishop knew of Kelley's alleged abuse back in 1983, more than a decade earlier. The archbishop kept that secret, possibly putting more children in harm's way.
I-Team ((( "BONG" ))) and animation
Dan Frondorf, SNAP, Priest Victim: "These are smoking gun documents, the evidence is here that the archbishop was not truthful."
I-Team Reporter Laure Quinlivan, over video:
Dan Frondorf and other victims of priests say these documents prove Archbishop Pilarczyk knew Father David Kelley was abusing children as far back as 1983, but simply moved Kelley from parish to parish where he abused again.
PENNSYLVANIA
Sunday News
By Cris Foehlinger
Sunday News
Published: Jan 14, 2005 12:03 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Patricia Cahill walked into a large meeting room in Philadelphia and listened as several people told her story to the crowd.
The pain became too great and she bolted, running smack into members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. The team helped Cahill regroup and build the confidence to stay and hear what she needed to hear.
Pat Serrano, mother of Mark Serrano, an abuse victim who is a national spokesman for the Chicago, Ill.- based SNAP, met Cahill and Donna Wilcox, a supportive friend, at the front door. She wanted them to meet Bob Hoatson.
When Cahill learned he was a priest, she declined. "My sponsor (Wilcox) told him not to get involved with me unless he meant to help me,'' Cahill recalled. "She said, "She's been through it 100 times with clergy.' '' Hoatson has been with her since that day.
Cahill is seeking help to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder and drug and alcohol addiction that she says stem from a long-term sexually abusive relationship with Sister Eileen Shaw of the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station, N.J.
Cahill received therapy and a cash settlement in 1994. She also signed a gag order.
Last year, she again asked the Catholic order for help and was turned down. "They told me they would pray for me,'' she said.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
KATC
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts A jury has been seated for the trial of Paul Shanley, the defrocked Catholic priest accused of molesting an altar boy in Massachusetts.
Eight men and eight women were chosen. They will be separated later into 12 jurors and four alternates.
Shanley, who's 73, was once known as a long-haired priest who reached out to troubled youth.
The former altar boy, who's now 27, says Shanley raped him repeatedly, beginning in 1983, when he was six.
Shanley's lawyer says the accuser made up the story to win a lawsuit.
ALABAMA
WTVY
A Wiregrass federal employee and preacher are charged with a disturbing crime. A Florala postal worker is accused of sexually abusing of an elderly woman on his mail route.
Eighty-seven-year-old Bobby Tyson learned that her longtime postman was arrested for the sexual abuse of a friend.
Authorities say Jerry Hutcheson knocked on the victim's door to deliver a package, he then reportedly walked inside to her bedroom where he assaulted the 85-year-old woman.
Mrs. Tyson said he had made improper contact with her as well.
In the late 1990's, Hutcheson was the pastor of the Westside Baptist Church in the nearby town of Lockhart. Congregation members say the charges can't be true.
The 51-year-old suspect reportedly lives near Baker, Florida. He is now reportedly a pastor of a church in Northern Okaloosa County.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Archdiocese is pushing to send the Rev. William Wiebler back to Iowa to face new allegations of sexual abuse.
Wiebler lives near two schools in the St. Louis suburb University City. Twelve new victims in Iowa have come forward alleging they were abused by Wiebler. The Vatican has ordered trial under church law to determine whether he should be punished.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday that St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has been trying to have Wiebler sent back to Davenport, Iowa. Spokesman Jamie Allman said those efforts will increase.
"Short of calling in the Swiss Guard, the archbishop over several months, has done everything in his power to get this guy out of town and back to his home diocese," Allman said. Church, or canon, law says that Burke has no authority over Wiebler, and that only Bishop William E. Franklin of Davenport, Iowa, can take action against him.
"With 12 new allegations, the burner will be turned up," Allman told the newspaper.
IOWA
Press-Citizen
By From staff and wire reports
A former bishop of the Sioux City Roman Catholic diocese, who served as principal at Regina High School for nine years, was accused of child sex abuse during his tenure in Iowa City.
A report issued this week by Davenport Bishop William Franklin states there were three allegations against retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens and the diocese settled one of those allegations for $20,000 in October.
The accusations stem from alleged acts in the early- to mid-1960s, according to the report. Davenport diocese spokesman Deacon David Montgomery said Soens served as Regina High School's principal from 1958 to 1967. Montgomery said he did not know whether the abuse allegations involve Regina.
"I don't have that information," Montgomery said. "The victim wanted to remain anonymous; I know that. That's probably why I don't know."
It is the latest in allegations against priests formerly assigned to Iowa City, though only the second accusation apparently linked to a priest's local service. The Johnson County Attorney's Office continues to investigate sexual abuse allegations against the Rev. Paul Deyo, who taught at Regina in the 1990s.
CANADA
CTV.ca
CTV.ca News Staff
Prince Edward Island boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and it's home to one of Canada's most famous literary characters – Anne of Green Gables. She's on the cover of government tourist brochures and each year thousands visit the farmhouse that inspired the story of the orphan who never existed.
But P.E.I. has some real orphan stories that lack the fairytale ending. Ones that the provincial government would prefer not to talk about and unlike Anne of Green Gables, they're about real people. Their memories of the Mount Herbert orphanage are harsh and painful and although they have worked hard to put it behind them, some things cannot be forgotten or forgiven.
"Nobody could care whether you lived or died. There were no hugs and kisses. There was no affection," said Rihan MacDonald, a former resident at the orphanage.
"The strap would come down a number of times on a child and you could hear the screaming in the background. And then you were always terrified that you were going to be the next person that would get it," remembers Garry Genge who also lived there as a child.
The Mount Herbert Orphanage, run by Protestant Churches, was home to hundreds of children from the early 1900s to 1975. The orphanage was financed by donations from the public. ...
McPherson claims the only attention he ever received from adults at the orphanage was the kind no child should ever have.
"I'm not clear as far as how all the first sexual abuse started, but I know I was four or five years old. I'm talking about sexual abuse with a man and the first time he raped me," McPherson recalls the incident with difficulty. His assailant, McPherson says, was the janitor.
"It just makes you feel like nothing. You're just not a human being any more. The next day I was in bed and I was bleeding really bad and the matron comes around and says 'what happened to you'? I know I can't tell her what happened. And so then she gets angry and beats me because I've got blood in the bed. I bled for three days, and I got beat because I couldn't get out of bed."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A jury of eight men and eight women will hear the child rape case against former Catholic priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Jury selection was completed Thursday afternoon and the 12 regular jurors and four alternates will hear opening statements from the lawyers on Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. The alleged victim, now 27, says Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean's parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, beginning when he was 6 years old.
Shanley, once a long-haired priest in blue jeans who reached out to Boston's troubled youth, was defrocked by the Vatican last year.
His lawyer, Frank Mondano, has said he will argue that the accuser made up his story to win a monetary award in a civil lawsuit.
BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ
Jan 20, 2005 1:45 pm US/Eastern
Baltimore, MD. (AP) The Archdiocese of Baltimore says another sexual abuse allegation has surfaced against a priest already
removed from the ministry for a previous allegation of sexual misconduct.
The Archdiocese says the latest allegation involves a high school student who claims to have been abused in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Jerome Toohey. The case has been reported to the Baltimore County State's Attorney's office.
According to the Archdiocese, the abuse allegedly occurred at Toohey's home.
IOWA
The Hawk Eye
By KILEY MILLER
kmiller@thehawkeye.com
A retired Catholic bishop accused of child sexual abuse served as a priest in Burlington, but none of the alleged assaults occurred during his time here.
The Diocese of Davenport on Tuesday acknowledged paying $20,000 to settle a claim that former Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens abused a child in the early to mid–1960s while serving as a priest in the diocese.
Soens served at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Burlington from 1950 to 1952, his first assignment after ordination. He was made the bishop of Sioux City in 1983 and held the post until retiring in 1998.
He is the first bishop in Iowa publicly accused in the abuse scandal that has attacked the foundation of the Catholic Church nationwide.
The claims against Soens surfaced in a report by Davenport Bishop William Franklin updating the diocese on the status of sexual abuse allegations dating back to the 1950s.
CINCINNATI (OH)
ChannelCincinnati.com
POSTED: 8:29 am EST January 20, 2005
UPDATED: 8:56 am EST January 20, 2005
CINCINNATI -- New accusations of a coverup by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati include Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk himself.
Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, say Pilarczyk and his staff knew about allegations against Father David Kelley eight years before they've admitted, but did nothing about it.
Sex abuse allegations against Kelley surfaced more than two years ago, News 5's Susanne Horgan reported.
He's being sued by 40 alleged victims who say they were abused as kids, as early as the 1970s.
Church officials have said they first got reports of Kelley's suspected abuse in 1994.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Providence Journal
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 20, 2005
By ROB MARGETTA
Journal Staff Writer
NEW BEDFORD -- The charges against the Rev. Stephen Fernandes, a priest who was accused of possessing and disseminating child pornography last year, have been expanded to include one count of exhibiting or posing at least one child engaged in a sexual act.
The new count against Fernandes, a felony with a 10-year sentence, was made public at his indictment in New Bedford Superior Court Tuesday. Fernandes pleaded innocent to it, as well as the other charges against him.
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office has said that the police are trying to find the child or children connected to the new charge against Fernandes.
Assistant District Attorney Gerald FitzGerald said he couldn't provide any details behind the charge, but said the act in question "was essentially accomplished with the aid of the Internet."
FitzGerald's office began investigating Fernandes in October, after , a Fall River computer servicing technician discovered pornography on the priest's laptop.
Fernandes told employees of DEG Associates on Oct. 26 that his laptop was running slowly, and may have had a virus. When DEG technicians started servicing the computer, they discovered child pornography.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
SJ-R.com
By LISA KERNEK
STAFF WRITER
Monsignor Eugene Costa has left Illinois for a center that specializes in rehabilitating priests, nuns and members of religious orders.
Costa, 54, was found badly beaten in Douglas Park the night of Dec. 21. He has since resigned as pastor of parishes in Sherman and Athens and as chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield.
Costa left Springfield over the weekend, said Kathie Sass, a spokeswoman for the diocese. She declined to give the location of the center except to say it is out of state.
"He continues to improve," Sass said of Costa. "He is in for a long recovery." ...
Last week, the diocese put out a written statement saying that Costa's resignation would allow him to deal with "previous instances of inappropriate and risky behavior that have come to light during this difficult period."
COVINGTON (KY)
The Cincinnati Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
Attorneys for the Diocese of Covington and for those suing it in a multimillion-dollar, class-action lawsuit met behind closed doors with the judge for nearly two hours Wednesday before calling off a planned pre-trial hearing.
Stan Chesley, the lead attorney for those suing over the diocese's alleged cover-up of sexual abuse by its priests and other workers, pronounced himself pleased with the progress.
"There are many, many things that need to be done, and we are cautiously optimistic," Chesley told a group of more than two dozen victims and their families who were in Boone Circuit Court for the expected hearing. "There are ongoing discussions that are very important to us all."
Chesley would not detail the talks with Special Judge John Potter, and lawyers for the diocese had no comment.
While Chesley said the trial in the case is still scheduled for April 11, he said it could be delayed because of the on-going negotiations.
AUSTRALIA
The Daily Telegraph
By VIVA GOLDNER
January 21, 2005
DETECTIVES investigating a sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church raided the offices of the Archbishop of Sydney.
Letters between Archbishop George Pell and a young man abused by a priest 20 years ago were seized.
The police raid came to light yesterday as the priest, Terence Norman Goodall, admitted sex crimes.
The victim, speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph, last night said: "What this priest did was destroy my trust in faith, my trust in religion, and my once deep commitment to God."
He is planning civil action.
Goodall twice assaulted the "extremely devout" 29-year-old in January, 1982 – once at a Cronulla swimming pool and again at a presbytery.
The victim reported the abuse to senior church officials the next day, in January, 1982, but nothing was done.
WISCONSIN
Star Tribune
Randy Furst, Star Tribune
January 19, 2005
A priest who committed suicide last month after Hudson, Wis. police questioned him concerning the murder of two workers at a Hudson funeral home, was also being investigated about possible criminal activity involving minors, the Hudson police chief said Tuesday.
Chief Richard Trende said that on the advice of prosecutors, he could not detail the nature of the investigation of Rev. Ryan Erickson.
Trende also revealed new details of the murder investigation, spelling out why Erickson, 31, was being questioned in the shooting deaths of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison, who were gunned down at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in February 2002.
Trende said that Erickson knew details of the of the crime scene that were not available to the public and that Erickson could not remember where he was during the time that the murders occurred. Trende said Erickson could provide no alibi.
AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
January 21, 2005
DETECTIVES investigating a sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church raided the offices of the Archbishop of Sydney.
Letters between Archbishop George Pell and a young man abused by a priest 20 years ago were seized.
The police raid came to light yesterday as the priest, Terence Norman Goodall, admitted sex crimes.
The victim, speaking exclusively to The Daily Telegraph, last night said: "What this priest did was destroy my trust in faith, my trust in religion, and my once deep commitment to God."
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
The Worcester voice has been supplied old newspaper article's that were thought too have been unattainable.
A painful and unthinkable pattern now vividly presents itself, the Worcester Diocese Catholic Church by known published documentation have since 1993, been actively practicing deception and cover-up of clergy sexual abuse committed by diocesan priest. Theses actions, chronicled by these articles are consistent for the past 12 years. See Published cases, Removed clergy, Rev Robert E. Kelly links for articles. Due to the amount of material, more will be added in time.
In 1993 clergy prosecution first began with Rev Robert E. Kelley, then soon another and another. The February 8, 1993 Boston Globe headline read, ACCUSATIONS ROIL WORCESTER DIOCESE SEX ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SEVEN PRIESTS ARE RAISING QUESTIONS OF TRUST. If you read the headline only, it appears to be one of recent times. Just December 30, 2004, only three short weeks ago the Worcester telegram headlines read Sexual abuse lawsuits filed Six diocesan priests named.
In 1993 those who faced allegations were, Msgr. Leo Battista of Leominster, Rev. David A. Holley of New Mexico, Rev. Joseph Fredette of Worcester ( who later won an appeal), Rev. Ronald D. Provost of Barre, Rev. Justin Steponaitis of Athol, Rev. Victor Frobas, visiting from Northborough and Rev. Robert E. Kelley of Gardner.
IRELAND
One in Four
Marese McDonagh - Irish Times
A former Marist brother was yesterday found guilty of 180 counts of indecent assaults against six young boys at a Sligo national school in the 1960s and 1970s. He will be sentenced next March.
A jury of eight women and four men unanimously convicted Christopher Cosgrove (61), Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, Co Mayo, after considering their verdict for two hours and 45 minutes. Judge Anthony Kennedy adjourned sentencing until the next sitting of Sligo Circuit Court and he remanded the accused on bail.
Commenting that Cosgrove was undoubtedly facing a custodial sentence, the judge ordered that he sign on at Claremorris Garda Station twice a week until sentence is imposed.
During the five-day trial it emerged that two other teachers at St John'sAbuse Tracker School, Temple Street, Sligo, had recently pleaded guilty to sexually abusing pupils there.
Cosgrove, who spent 20 years as a Marist brother from 1962 to 1982, denied the charges.
TEXOMA (TX)
KTEN
The Texoma man arrested back in October for child molestation finally had the chance to go before a judge this morning...but instead the former pastor waived that right.
KTEN’s Chelsea Hover has the details.
According to the Carter County District Attorney's office a preliminary hearing is meant to determine if there's enough evidence to find someone guilty. Apparently in this case, there was.
The accused pastor, Christopher Ragle of Healdton, Oklahoma, waived his right to a preliminary hearing today. He was arrested back in late October of 2004 for sketching and taking pictures of a four-year-old girl. She was a member of his congregation.
Thirty-four year old Ragle is charged with lewd acts with a child. The Carter County Sheriff's Department seized two computers used by Ragle. When the F.B.I. got involved, they used those for analysis.
“That was essentially the issue today,” said Assistant D.A., Craig Ladd, “whether or not there is probable cause to believe he’s guilty. He waived that right.”
WISCONSIN
Star Tribune
Randy Furst, Star Tribune
January 20, 2005
Three days before the Rev. Ryan Erickson killed himself, police in Hurley, Wis., were worried that the priest was suicidal and gave a church deacon Erickson's guns, the deacon said in an interview on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende said that Erickson, who was being questioned in a 2002 double murder at a Hudson funeral home, also was "being investigated for potential criminal allegations involving minors."
Trende said further that Erickson, 31, knew details about the crime scene that had not been made public, drove a car similar to the one seen at the funeral home that day and appeared to be the same stature as a man who got into the car. The police chief said that the man who got into the car was wearing a T-shirt and that Erickson was known to wear a T-shirt under his cleric's garb.
Erickson was a priest at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hudson from 2000 to 2003, and had been transferred to a church in Ladysmith, Wis., and then to St. Mary of the Seven Dolors Church in Hurley in 2004.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
A Catholic priest will be sentenced next week after admitting to indecently assaulting a parishioner more than 20 years ago.
Father Terrance Norman Goodall pleaded guilty to assaulting the 29-year-old man at a house and in a swimming pool in 1982.
The Sydney District Court was told today that the Catholic church was informed about the assault at the time but it was not acted upon until police were informed two years ago.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Nine jurors have been chosen for the child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
Twelve regular jurors and four alternatives will hear the case against Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal. Testimony in the trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.
Shanley, 73, is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
The alleged victim, now 27, says Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean's parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, beginning when he was six years old.
Shanley, once a long-haired priest in blue jeans who reached out to Boston's troubled youth, was defrocked by the Vatican last year after being charged with sexually abusing four boys at St. Jean's between 1979 and 1989. Charges related to three of the alleged victims have been dropped by prosecutors.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
Wednesday, Jan. 19 2005
Twelve new victims have alleged abuse by an admitted pedophile priest who lives near two schools in University City.
A spokesman for St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke says the archdiocese has been working hard for months to have the Rev. William Wiebler sent back to Davenport, Iowa, and that now those efforts will increase.
The Post-Dispatch reported in September that Wiebler had left a treatment
center in Jefferson County and was living in an apartment 750 feet from an
elementary school and about 1,500 feet from a preschool. At the time, both the
Diocese of Davenport and the Archdiocese of St. Louis said they couldn't do
anything about where Wiebler was living.
"Short of calling in the Swiss Guard, the archbishop over several months, has
done everything in his power to get this guy out of town and back to his home
diocese," said Jamie Allman. Church, or canon, law says that Burke has no
authority over Wiebler, and that only Bishop William E. Franklin of Davenport
can take action against him. "With 12 new allegations, the burner will be
turned up," Allman said.
DAYTON (OH)
Middletown Journal
DAYTON — The Rev. David Kelley was assigned to a Vandalia parish in 1984 after the Cincinnati archdiocese learned of allegations that he had fondled at least two male students of Cincinnati’s Elder High School during parties in Kelley’s private room at a rectory, according to papers filed in court Tuesday.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk told a rehabilitation center for sexually abusive priests of Kelley’s history after the archdiocese sent him there for treatment in late 1986, the court papers show.
“Fearing the real possibility of widespread scandal and possible further harm to students, as well as the reputation of the school, (Kelley) was told that he would have to leave the faculty and the parish,” Pilarczyk wrote to the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs, N.M. “He was then assigned to St. Christopher parish, near Dayton, Ohio, as associate pastor.”
Konrad Kircher, a Mason attorney representing dozens of purported victims of child sexual abuse by priests, said Pilarczyk’s letter and other correspondence he filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court show the Cincinnati Archdiocese used “fraudulent concealment” to cover up for abusive priests. Kircher argues that the cover-up means the statute of limitations shouldn’t be up on decades-old abuse allegations.
DAYTON (OH)
Middletown Journal
DAYTON — The leader of a two-year-old Catholic lay group formed here in response to the sexual abuse crisis in the church criticized the letters of apology sent out last week by the Rev. Thomas Kuhn.
Kuhn, convicted of 11 misdemeanors including 10 charges relating to either furnished or allowing possession of alcohol to minors and one count of public indecency, was instructed in July to write the letters as one of many conditions of his probation.
Judge Mary Katherine Huffman said at the time that she opted for probation rather than an 18-month jail sentence because Kuhn would be on probation and under its control for five years.
In December, Huffman modified her order to require the letters be completed by the end of January.
Kuhn, 63, sent the letters to five individuals who were teens at the time of the offenses and to three churches where he had worked.
On Thursday, Kuhn denied he violated the terms of probation when he visited a Catholic high school in Cincinnati in September. The visit came the day after a 17-year-old student was shot dead across the street from the school. He had been required not to offer his services to any organization that involved people under 21. He faces a hearing on Feb. 10.
IOWA
Sioux City Journal
By Nick Hytrek Journal staff writer
Retired Bishop Lawrence Soens has denied allegations of sexual abuse that stem from alleged incidents some 40 years ago.
Soens, who retired as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City's leader in 1998, issued a three-sentence release through his attorney, Tim Bottaro, saying he has cooperated with investigations in the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, where the alleged abuses occurred.
Because of the ongoing Catholic Church investigation, Soens will not make further comments, Bottaro said.
The allegations surfaced Tuesday in a Davenport diocese report on sexual abuse accusations made against priests in that diocese. In the seven-page report, one paragraph refers to one allegation made against Soens prior to February and two allegations since then. All incidents allegedly occurred in the 1960s while Soens, an Iowa City native, served as a priest in the Davenport diocese.
None of the alleged victims has taken legal action against Soens, said Deacon David Montgomery, spokesman for the Davenport diocese. According to the report, the diocese in October settled one of the claims against Soens for $20,000.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
20jan05
A CATHOLIC priest who indecently assaulted a male parishioner had abused his position of trust and authority, a Sydney court heard today.
Terence Norman Goodall, 64, now retired, pleaded guilty in the Downing Centre District Court to one count of indecent assault.
Although his victim reported the matter to police only in 2003, Goodall was charged under laws that existed when the crime took place in 1982.
Until it was amended in 1984, the legislation made any sexual activity between two males illegal, regardless of consent.
The court heard that in 1982 Goodall invited his victim, then a 29-year-old religion teacher, to attend mass at St Catherine Laboure Church at Gymea where he was the visiting parish priest.
After mass they went swimming at a Cronulla pool, where Goodall fondled the younger man.
Later, at the presbytery, Goodall indecently assaulted the victim as he was changing out of his swimmers.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported/Produced by: Laure Quinlivan
Photographed by: Phil Drechsler
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
1/19/2005 8:38:25 PM
9News Anchor, on set
Catholic Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk has denied any knowledge of sexual abuse by priests on his watch, but I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan has court documents "just filed" that appear to indicate that's not true.
She's here with the details.
Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on set
The most important document regarding the question of whether the Archbishop knew of sexual abuse, is this one -- written by the Archbishop himself. It shows he knew Father David Kelley may have sexually abused children. But instead of reporting him to police, he moved him around.
The letter contradicts the Archbishop's statements after the November 2003 plea deal.
He plead on behalf of others who failed to report sex abuse, crimes that occurred before he took over in 1982. The Archbishop denied anything was covered up on his watch.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
An advocacy group is urging Bishop Gerald Barnes to make personal announcements at three Riverside churches reaching out to anyone might have been a molestation victim of a former Inland priest accused of sexual misconduct in the Midwest.
Two Illinois men have accused the Rev. Theodore Feely, now deceased, of abusing them at a Rockford, Ill., church in the 1970s, according to the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national self-help group for victims of clergy abuse.
The accusations led the group to send a letter to Barnes on Tuesday, asking the Roman Catholic bishop to visit the Riverside churches where Feely worked during parts of the 1960s, '70s and '80s to ask anyone who had been a victim of or a witness to sexual misconduct by the priest to come forward. The group also asked Barnes to post notices about Feely on the San Bernardino Diocese's Web site and in church bulletins and diocesan newspapers.
"Bishop Barnes now has a moral obligation to reach out to others who may have been hurt by Feely," Mary Grant, the group's southwest regional director, said in a written statement.
Diocesan leaders are reviewing the letter, the Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the San Bernardino Diocese, said Wednesday.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A second man will lodge sexual-abuse charges against the Rev. James Mitchell, a priest who worked for the Seattle Archdiocese during the 1980s and is the target of a lawsuit contending that he positioned himself as an adoptive father in order to bring a Colombian boy to the United States and abuse him.
The second suit, to be filed today in King County Superior Court, lays out a similar scenario. In it, a 37-year-old man now living in Sherwood, Ore., says that he met Mitchell in 1982, when the priest was working in Colombia on a humanitarian mission for the church. There, the suit says, Mitchell began sexually abusing the then-14-year-old boy, and claimed to adopt him as a son before bringing the child to the United States.
By 1985, the two were living at St. John's Parish in Vancouver, where the molestation continued until the summer of 1986, according to the complaint, filed by lawyer Mary Fleck.
Mitchell, a California native who worked, in effect, as a freelancer for the Seattle Archdiocese, devoted much of his ministry in Colombia to running a school for poor children. He was recalled from the Vancouver parish in 1986, after another priest at St. John's reported evidence of alcohol abuse. By 1987, he had been removed from the Seattle Archdiocese.
SYRACUSE (NY)
The Post-Standard
Thursday, January 20, 2005
By Renee K. Gadoua
Staff writer
The local Episcopal bishop Wednesday confirmed the diocese is investigating a report of alleged sexual abuse by a priest 30 years ago.
Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams would not identify the accused priest, except to say the priest is retired. He would not identify the gender of the priest or the victim.
The diocese also is investigating an unrelated allegation of financial mismanagement at a parish, Adams said. He would not name the parish or name the individuals involved.
He said no criminal charges have been filed in either case.
Adams met privately Wednesday afternoon with clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York to discuss the cases.
BRITAIN
The Comet
EDITORIAL - editorial@thecomet.net
A WRIT has been issued against the organisation behind a former boys' home in Shefford by a former resident.
The man alleges that he was subjected to sexual, physical and emotional abuse while a pupil at the St Francis Boys' Home in the 1950s and 60s.
This is the latest in a number of allegations of abuse to hit the boys' home, which closed in the 1970s.
The writ has been filed in Manchester County Court by solicitors representing a 56-year-old man who now lives overseas.
He was a pupil of the home between 1956 and 1963 and is claiming up to £50,000 for "assault and for personal injuries and loss and damage, which said injuries loss and damage were occasioned by reason of the negligence and/or breach of statutory duty of the defendants".
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Phoenix
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
IT HAS BEEN more than three years since the clergy-sexual-abuse scandal erupted in the Catholic Church, yet there are troubling signs that the powerful men of the Boston archdiocese still think the laity was outraged only by the acts of abuse. They can’t seem to get it into their heads that parishioners also were appalled by the secrecy, the obfuscation, the flat obstinacy with which diocesan leaders guarded the internal workings of the Church — and, not incidentally, what they do with the money collected each week at Sunday services.
That’s money the parishes and the archdiocese desperately need, since contributions have declined as costs have risen in the wake of the abuse blow-up. It’s also money that parishioners here and nationally are still reluctant to hand over. And now the Church is finding that its financial murkiness is beginning to trouble the flock just as much as have the sexual shenanigans of its priests.
In fact, when asked to name the greatest influence on their financial support of the Church in the past year, almost as many regular-Mass-attending Catholics now cite financial-accountability concerns as cite the sexual-abuse scandal. That’s according to a national survey released last week by Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities (FADICA), a consortium representing $200 million worth of Catholic philanthropy. FADICA also found, amazingly, that more Catholics now approve of their bishops’ handling of the abuse crisis (41 percent, up from 35 percent two years ago) than approve those same bishops’ handling of Church-finance accountability (38 percent, down from 46 percent). Large majorities in the survey want the Church to be more open and accountable with its finances.
"I think the clergy-abuse scandal opened people’s eyes to how little they know about church operations," says Charles Zech, of the Center for the Study of Church Management, at Villanova University. "That’s going to linger on long after the scandal subsides."
IRELAND
One in Four
Joe Humphreys - Irish Times
Representatives of former residents of religious and State-run institutions have given a mixed reaction to a decision by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse to relax its rules on the interviewing of witnesses.
In a statement yesterday the commission said all 1,300 people who had applied to have their cases heard before its investigative committee would be invited for interview. However, only a selection of these cases would go forward to full hearings.
Mr Colm O'Gorman, founder of the victims' representative group, One in Four, said it was a "positive and welcome" development.
While victims were not getting what was initially promised to them, "it is significant that everyone will be heard in some context by the investigative committee," he said.
IRELAND
One in Four
David Quinn - Religious and Social Affairs Correspondent - Irish Independent
THE Child Abuse Commission will, after all, listen to testimony from each of the 1,300 individuals who have opted to participate in the work of the commission's Investigation Committee.
The commission announced yesterday that all 1,300 will be interviewed by its legal team, which will decide which cases should be referred to the committee for full hearing.
This is a significant change of position by the commission under its chairman, Justice Sean Ryan. When Judge Ryan took over the commission from Justice Mary Laffoy, it decided to cut back heavily on the number of individuals - all former residents of industrial schools and orphanages - who could give evidence to the committee so it could complete its work in a reasonable timeframe.
OHIO
The Catholic Telegraph
DAYTON DEANERY — A probation revocation hearing for Thomas Kuhn, an archdiocesan priest on administrative leave, is scheduled for Feb. 10 at 2:30 p.m. in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Katherine Huffman. The hearing date was set Jan. 13, following Kuhn’s appearance in court to face charges that he violated conditions of his parole.
"This is another sad day for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati," said Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. "I want there to be no doubt that I find Thomas Kuhn’s actions that led to this day deeply disturbing. I fully expected him to meet all of the restrictions and requirements imposed upon him by the court, and I told him so. That he apparently has not done so is shocking and inexplicable."
Kuhn was sentenced in July 2004 to five years of supervised probation, 500 hours of community service and was ordered to pay the maximum fines of more than $10,000 on 11 misdemeanor charges of public indecency and providing alcohol to minors, after pleading "no contest" to the counts.
The former pastor was not to work for any organization that involves people younger than 21 years of age, attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings daily and was prohibited from entering any establishment where alcohol is served.
AUGUSTA (MA)
WMTW
POSTED: 11:24 am EST January 19, 2005
UPDATED: 11:31 am EST January 19, 2005
AUGUSTA, Maine -- Maine's Roman Catholic bishop is pledging support for tougher laws against child sexual abuse.
Bishop Richard Malone told Gov. Baldacci and legislators Tuesday that such laws would help the church repair damage caused by abusive priests.
He cited no specific legislation but noted that several bills being drafted would strengthen efforts of the state and the church to protect children.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press, 1/19/2005 11:16
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) Potential jurors were questioned about their views on the Catholic Church and whether they had been victims of sexual abuse as the child rape trial began for defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
Seven jurors were seated by late Wednesday morning, among them a man who is Catholic and does landscaping at his church. Others were sent home because they'd seen pretrial media coverage and didn't think they could be objective.
Twelve jurors and four alternates will hear the case against Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal. He is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery of a child and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The criminal case against Shanley now hinges on the allegations of a single alleged victim after prosecutors formally dropped another accuser on Tuesday. Opening statements in the trial are scheduled for Monday.
BOSTON (MA)
Politcal Gateway
BOSTON, Massachusetts, Jan 18 (AFP) - A defrocked priest at the center of the sex abuse scandal that rocked the US Roman Catholic Church in recent years, went on trial Tuesday charged with child rape and indecent assault and battery.
A "street priest" who ministered to disadvantaged youths in the 1960s and 70s, Paul Shanley has been accused in civil lawsuits of molesting dozens of children, although his indictment on criminal charges in mid-2002 focused on just four victims.
Shanley, 73, is one of the few priests brought to criminal trial over the abuse scandal that centered on the Boston Archdiocese and first came to light about three years ago.
Because he left Massachusetts for California in 1990, Shanley effectively stopped the clock on the 15-year statute of limitations that allowed other accused members of the clergy to escape criminal prosecution.
"This is a really important case," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivor's Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
"For many people, Boston remains the epicenter of this crisis," Clohessy said. "And its just so hard for many survivors to accept that this arbitrary, archaic technicality means that, even in very well documented cases of abuse and cover up, no justice is done."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Prosecutors yesterday dropped charges involving a third alleged victim in the case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, leaving only one accuser as jury selection began in the trial of one of the clergy sex-abuse scandal's most notorious figures.
The third alleged victim, a 35-year-old man who has battled drug addiction and homelessness, vomited after an October hearing and never contacted prosecutors again, they said. Last July, they dropped charges involving two other men who were allegedly raped in the 1980s, when all four attended St. Jean's parish in Newton.
Yesterday, four jurors - three men and one woman - were selected to hear charges brought by the fourth man, a 27-year-old former military police officer who says he was repeatedly raped in the church rectory, confessional and restroom between the ages of 6 and 11, when he took religion class at St. Jean's.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
A 76-year-old former Assemblies of God pastor has gone on trial in the District Court in Adelaide, accused of having sex with a young boy in the early 1980s.
Henry William Smith of Salisbury North is charged with one count of indecent assault and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.
At the start of his trial today, the jury heard that Smith had sexually abused the boy over a four-year period.
Smith met the boy when his family took him to church in the Riverland. They later moved to Adelaide.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
The Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter 01/19/2005
NEW BEDFORD --The city pastor already charged with possessing and disseminating child pornography is now also being accused of exhibiting or posing at least one child engaged in a sexual act.
Although a spokesman from the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office refused to comment on the new allegations against Father Stephen A. Fernandes, the veteran Roman Catholic priest has been indicted by a Bristol County grand jury on a new charge of exhibiting or posing a child engaged in a sexual act.
"The case file has been impounded," said District Attorney spokesman Joseph DeMedeiros. "Unfortunately, I can’t comment on this at all."
The new indictment, handed down late last week, was announced in Superior Court during Fernandes’ arraignment Tuesday morning.
The pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish had already been charged with possession of child pornography and disseminating child pornography after he was indicted by a separate grand jury late last year.
WISCONSIN
Pioneer Press
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
A priest who committed suicide after being questioned about the double slayings at a Hudson, Wis., funeral home, was also being investigated in a possible crime involving a minor, Hudson police said Tuesday.
It was the first time that Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende had publicly linked the Rev. Ryan Erickson to another case. Trende also said the priest piqued investigators' interest in the funeral home slayings because he knew details of the crime scene that had not been made public.
But despite the disclosures, Trende refused to divulge too much about either investigation.
Trende would not say if the newly disclosed investigation involved more than one child, what the nature of the allegations were or whether they relate to the February 2002 slayings of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison. O'Connell, 39, operated the family-owned O'Connell Family Funeral Home where Ellison, 22, was an intern from the University of Minnesota.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
NEW BEDFORD, Mass.— A Fall River priest accused of storing thousands of pornographic images of children on his computer now faces the additional charge of exhibiting or posing a child in a sexual act.
The new charge against the Rev. Stephen Fernandes, pastor at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, was handed up by a grand jury last week and announced at his arraignment Tuesday in New Bedford Superior Court.
A spokesman for the Bristol district attorney's office declined to comment, saying the case file had been impounded.
Fernandes pleaded innocent to all the charges. He was released on $5,000 cash bail.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
AUSTRIA
Die Presse
(Die Presse - Printed Edition) 18.01.2005
Vienna – Around 50,000 people opted to leave the Austrian Catholic Church last year after the church was rocked by the St. Poelten scandal, according to statistics released on Monday. In some dioceses the number of people leaving the church increased by 40 per cent on 2003 figures and figures from the Vienna diocese indicate that people started leaving the church en masse after the gay sex and child porn scandals at a priest seminary became public in July. Speaking in an interview with “die Presse,” Theologian Michael Zulehner said that the proportion of registered Catholics could drop as low as 60 or even 50 per cent in the Alpine republic.
AUGUSTA (ME)
Foster's Daily Democrat
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine’s Roman Catholic bishop has pledged his support for tougher laws against child sexual abuse, saying they would help the church repair damage caused by abusive priests.
"There are several (bills) that would strengthen the efforts of the state and the church to protect children," Bishop Richard Malone said Tuesday in his first policy speech to Gov. John Baldacci and legislators.
Malone cited no specific legislation, but said he is reviewing a list of bills that lawmakers have proposed but are still being drafted.
AUGUSTA (ME)
Portland Press Herald
By MARK PETERS, Portland Press Herald Writer
AUGUSTA — Bishop Richard Malone, the leader of Maine's 234,000 Roman Catholics, told lawmakers Tuesday that he would support legislation that toughens laws against child sexual abuse, and promised to deal swiftly with priests and others who offend. Malone, in his first policy speech to Gov. John Baldacci and legislators, did not discuss the church's stance on a gay-rights bill that the governor is expected to propose later this year.
But he did say he would work against same-sex marriage, push for improved health care for the poor and try to add a moral dimension to State House debates. ...
Malone gave first priority Tuesday to the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the church for the past two years. He said tougher new laws would be part of the process the diocese is going through to repair damage caused by abusive priests.
Malone cited no specific legislation, but said he is reviewing a list of proposed bills that are still being drafted and are not ready for debate.
"There are several (bills) that would strengthen the efforts of the state and the church to protect children," Malone said.
The Maine chapter of the Catholic reform group Voice of the Faithful supported Malone's commitment to look at new legislation, but called for him to do more within the church to protect children.
Michael Sweatt, a spokesman for the group, called on the bishop to release the names of former and retired priests suspected of abuse so Mainers know where they live now. Other dioceses have done that, he said.
AUGUSTA (ME)
Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA - The spiritual leader of Maine's 230,000 Catholics urged lawmakers Tuesday to support options for the poor, the vulnerable and the underserved as they struggle to divide up limited resources during the legislative session.
Bishop Richard Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, hosted the church's 12th legislative luncheon at St. Paul's Center, located a block from the State House.
Installed 10 months ago as bishop, Malone met formally with legislators for the first time.
"The church, like you," he said, "cares for the common good of humanity. This is why the church becomes involved in debates and takes positions regarding public policy." ...
In his brief remarks, the bishop also acknowledged the impact the recent clergy sexual abuse scandal has had on the Church and its public image.
"The Church's credibility as a moral teacher has been diminished by the recent sexual abuse scandal from which we are, thank God, slowly emerging," he said Tuesday. "It was a horrific thing, and I am solidly committed to reach out to victims, to protect children through our church and by supporting legislation, to have every possible precaution in place to prevent such abuse in the future. ... Our credibility has been marred, but it does not mean that our moral doctrine has been compromised."
DAVENPORT (IA)
WQAD
DAVENPORT – The Diocese of Davenport says it has received decisions from the Vatican on whether to defrock three priests accused of sexually abusing children and another convicted of child pornography.
A review board recommended defrocking James Janssen, Francis Bass, William Wiebler, Frank Martinez, and Richard Poster. Last September, Pope John Paul II granted the request to defrock Janssen.
The diocese announced Tuesday the Vatican’s decision on the remaining four priests.
The Vatican recommended that Francis Bass “lead a life of prayer and penance,” offering mass once a week “in reparation for the crimes he has committed.” Bishop William Franklin, Bishop of the Davenport Diocese, says the recommendation was based on Bass’s retired status and “advancing age.” Franklin says Bass is subject to an additional precept where he must inform the Diocese of any change of address, submit reports of his activities, meet regularly with diocesan officials, seek approval for any vacations or time spent away from his residence, and submit to random visits with church officials. He is also prohibited from wearing a Roman collar or presenting himself publicly as a priest.
IOWA
WQAD
DES MOINES, Iowa the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport says the Vatican has ordered trials under church law to determine whether two eastern Iowa priests accused of sexually abusing minors should be punished.
Bishop William Franklin also says the diocese has agreed to immediately forward all future allegations of sexual abuse against priests to local prosecutors for investigation.
The disclosures came as Franklin updated the diocese on the status of sexual abuse allegations dating back to the 1950s as required under a 9 (m) million dollar settlement reached in November with 37 abuse victims.
In all, Franklin says the diocese had received 108 allegations of abuse from 96 people regarding 25 clergy members. He says the vast majority of the abuse involved three former priests _ James Janssen, Francis Bass and William Wiebler _ in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville City Paper
By Judith R. Tackett, jtackett@nashvillecitypaper.com
January 19, 2005
In a precedent-setting decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court has cleared the way for a $68 million child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville to move forward.
The unanimous decision of the Supreme Court justices sets a new legal standard for reckless infliction of emotional distress.
"We hold that reckless infliction of emotional distress need not be based upon conduct that was directed at a specific person or that occurred in the presence of the plaintiff," Chief Justice Frank F. Drowota, III, wrote in the opinion filed Tuesday.
The decision follows an October hearing of consolidated lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese by two boys who were sexually abused by a former priest and reverses Court of Appeals and trial court decisions.
The two boys, now in their early 20s, claim the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville was to be held responsible for the abuse they suffered because they allege failure on the part of church officials to properly report former priest Edward McKeown's conduct to authorities after they discovered the priest's sexual abuse.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Potential jurors were questioned about their views on the Catholic Church and whether they had been victims of sexual abuse as the child rape trial began for defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
Four jurors were seated Tuesday, among them a man who is Catholic and does landscaping at his church. Others were sent home because they'd seen pretrial media coverage and didn't think they could be objective. Jury selection was to continue Wednesday, with opening statements tentatively scheduled for Monday.
Twelve jurors and four alternates will hear the case against Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal. He is accused of child rape and indecent assault and battery of a child and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The criminal case against Shanley now hinges on the allegations of a single alleged victim after prosecutors formally dropped another accuser on Tuesday.
Prosecutors already had dropped two other accusers from the case. They removed the third because they have been unable to find him since a hearing in October when he had difficulty remaining composed to testify.
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
Dayton Daily News
The Rev. David Kelley was assigned to a Vandalia parish in 1984 after the Cincinnati archdiocese learned of allegations that he had fondled at least two male students of Cincinnati's Elder High School during parties in Kelley's private room at a rectory, according to papers filed in court Tuesday.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk told a rehabilitation center for sexually abusive priests of Kelley's history after the archdiocese sent him there for treatment in late 1986, the court papers show.
"Fearing the real possibility of widespread scandal and possible further harm to students, as well as the reputation of the school, (Kelley) was told that he would have to leave the faculty and the parish," Pilarczyk wrote to the Servants of the Paraclete center in Jemez Springs, N.M. "He was then assigned to St. Christopher parish, near Dayton, Ohio, as associate pastor."
Konrad Kircher, a Mason attorney representing dozens of purported victims of child sexual abuse by priests, said Pilarczyk's letter and other correspondence he filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court show the Cincinnati Archdiocese used "fraudulent concealment" to cover up for abusive priests. Kircher argues that the cover-up means the statute of limitations shouldn't be up on decades-old abuse allegations.
Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco called Kircher's argument "the same kind of boilerplate rhetoric that he's been using for over a year in his so-far unsuccessful lawsuits. This is a new filing, but this is not a new argument — at all."
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
A new report issued Tuesday by the Catholic Diocese of Davenport states that 96 people have made 108 allegations that 25 members of the clergy sexually abused them as children.
The latest figures reflect 48 new allegations of decades-old abuse by 41 people since February, when the diocese first reported on all accusations since 1950 in its internal review of personnel files while facing mounting pressure from sexual abuse lawsuits.
The seven-page summary of investigations, settlements and updates on requests to defrock priests is the first such information released by the diocese since it paid $9 million to settle 37 civil claims in October.
Tuesday’s report by Bishop William Franklin identified only one priest not previously named by the diocese or in lawsuits. The diocese paid $20,000 in October to settle an allegation against the Rev. Lawrence Soens, the retired bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
The Catholic Diocese of Davenport was found to be in full compliance with nationwide sex abuse policies according to an audit conducted last month, Bishop William Franklin said Tuesday.
The auditors, two former FBI agents, reviewed materials and interviewed diocese employees to determine whether it has complied with policies adopted by American bishops in June 2002 as a means of preventing sexual abuse by priests in the wake of a national scandal, he said.
A report by the auditors states that the diocese complied with policies aimed at effectively responding to allegations of abuse of minors as well as policies designed to protect children in the future, he said.
In a report issued last year, of 190 dioceses around the country, Davenport was the only one not to be audited because of ongoing litigation, even though other dioceses across the nation also faced lawsuits. That audit was terminated because the diocese would not allow auditors to interview employees without church attorneys present.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
The Vatican did not immediately remove four clergy from the priesthood for allegations of decades-old sexual abuse of children, the Catholic Diocese of Davenport reported Tuesday.
The diocese sent requests to the Vatican in June to defrock the Rev. Francis Bass, the Rev. William Wiebler, the Rev. Frank Martinez and the Rev. Richard Poster after issuing a report detailing sex abuse allegations against them, Bishop William Franklin said.
A request to defrock a fifth priest, James Janssen of Davenport, was sent at the same time, but the pope removed him from the priesthood July 28.
The diocese said the vast majority of 108 allegations of sexual abuse by priests are against Janssen, Bass and Wiebler, while Martinez appeared to initiate sexual activity with a minor who fled and sought help and Poster was convicted of possessing child pornography on a church computer.
The diocese reported that for Bass, the Vatican decided that “in light of the fact that Bass is retired and advanced in age,” Franklin should oblige him to “lead a life of prayer and penance, and to privately offer Holy Mass once a week for the remainder of his days in reparation for the crimes he has committed.”
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff | January 19, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- Jury selection began yesterday in the child rape trial of former Catholic priest Paul R. Shanley as prospective jurors were questioned about the clergy abuse scandal and their exposure to pretrial publicity.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, formally dropped a third accuser from the case yesterday, leaving just one of the original four alleged victims to testify against the defrocked priest. Shanley, 73, is one of the few priests in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston to face criminal charges.
One prospective juror, a man who appeared to be in his early 50s, said he experienced the same feelings others felt reading the barrage of news stories about the sexual abuse of hundreds of children by priests.
"It's what we've all experienced over the last three years," he told Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel. "I have this slant now where I just look at the archdiocese and I shake my head."
Despite that statement -- and the fact that his brother-in-law was a juror in the trial of defrocked priest John Geoghan -- Neel ruled that the man could be impartial. The man was excluded from the jury, however, by Shanley's defense lawyer, Frank Mondano.
STAMFORD (CT)
New York Post
January 19, 2005 -- Edward Cardinal Egan will not have to testify in the trial of a sexual-abuse lawsuit against his former Connecticut diocese.
The case, involving a former altar boy and a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, has been settled, the plaintiff's attorneys said yesterday.
The plaintiff, known in court documents as John Doe, said he was molested at age 14 by the Rev. John Castaldo in the early 1990s, when Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull and Egan was the Bridgeport bishop.
The plaintiff's real name and the terms of the settlement were not released at his request, said his attorneys, Ernest Teitell and Paul Slager.
Egan had received a subpoena that required him to provide sworn videotaped testimony about his knowledge of the case, and was to have testified next week.
"We hope that this settlement will allow our client to find some closure," said Teitell.
Joseph McAleer, spokesman for the diocese, declined to comment.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Tennesean
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer
Two young men who say they were molested as children by former priest Edward McKeown can proceed with their $68 million lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
The unanimous decision from the state's highest court not only clears the way for the two men to proceed with their lawsuit, which had been dismissed earlier, but also sets a new legal standard in certain claims of emotional distress.
The decision was a victory for the men, who have been seeking their day in court for five years now, one of their attorneys said.
''They feel partially vindicated,'' said attorney John Day. ''They know they've been wronged, and it is nice to see that a court has recognized that they have a right to a trial.''
Officials with the Diocese of Nashville said in a statement that they disagreed with the court's finding.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Tom Mashberg
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
The Archdiocese of Boston spent four hours Monday listening to a former Newton altar boy describe how he was maligned in the media 2 1/2 years ago after alleging sexual misconduct by a powerful judicial official of the church.
The complainant, Paul G. Edwards, formerly of Winchendon, was flown to Boston by the archdiocese's Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach and met with director Barbara Thorpe and the Rev. John B. Connolly, a special church delegate for sexual-abuse matters.
``I think it's fascinating they flew Paul here and met with him for four hours,'' said Lori Lambert of the Coalition of Catholics and Survivors, a group that has long championed Edwards' cause. ``We hope they are taking this seriously.''
Central to Edwards' case are assertions his alleged abuser, Monsignor Michael Smith Foster, used his power as archdiocesan judicial vicar to launch a public relations campaign in 2002 aimed at depicting Edwards as a lifelong liar.
Many claims that Edwards was a liar fell apart upon close scrutiny by reporters from the Herald.
The main conduit for the PR campaign, Edwards' supporters say, was The Boston Globe, which is accused of publishing a dozen articles based on information provided to it by Foster's supporters.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 19, 2005
Catholic Church officials disclosed Tuesday that a retired bishop was accused of child sexual abuse in the 1960s, when he was a priest, and that the Davenport diocese paid $20,000 to settle with one of the accusers.
It is the first time in Iowa that a bishop has been publicly accused of abuse in connection with the scandal that has exposed decades of abuse of minors by clergy.
Retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens was accused of child sexual abuse when he was a priest in the Davenport diocese in the 1960s, according to a report issued Tuesday by Davenport Bishop William Franklin.
Soens was the Sioux City diocese's fifth bishop, from 1983 to 1998. Tuesday's report, which summarized the Davenport diocese's investigation of sexual abuse in the past year, says there were three allegations against Soens. The diocese settled one of those allegations for $20,000 in October.
Timothy Bottaro, Soens' attorney, said that Soens has denied the allegations, but that since the matter is now before church authorities, he can make no comment.
Sioux City Diocese spokesman Jim Wharton defended Soens and said news of the allegations "shocks and saddens all of us."
DAVENPORT (IA)
KWQC
DAVENPORT, Iowa Church officials say a former bishop of the Sioux City Roman Catholic diocese was accused of child sex abuse when he was a priest in the Davenport diocese, and the Davenport diocese reached a settlement with one of the accusers.
A report issued yesterday (Tuesday) by Davenport Bishop William Franklin said that there were three allegations against retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens and the diocese settled one of those allegations for 20-thousand dollars in October.
Soens was the Sioux City diocese's fifth bishop, serving from 1983 to 1998.
Sioux City diocese spokesman Jim Wharton defended Soens and said news of the allegations "shocks and saddens all of us."
STAMFORD (CT)
The Day
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Published on 1/19/2005
Stamford — A former altar boy who claimed he was molested by a priest reached a financial settlement of his lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, his attorneys and church officials said Tuesday.
The plaintiff, known in court documents as John Doe, said he was molested at age 14 by the Rev. John Castaldo in the early 1990s when Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull. His name and the terms of the settlement were not released at his request, said his attorneys, Ernest Teitell and Paul Slager.
The settlement means New York Cardinal Edward Egan will not have to testify next week, the attorneys said. Egan, who was the Bridgeport bishop when the alleged assaults occurred, had received a subpoena that required him to provide sworn videotaped testimony about his knowledge of the case.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Day
Published on 1/19/2005
The trial of Paul R. Shanley that began in Boston this week is only superficially an examination of rape charges against the defrocked priest at the epicenter of the Church's priest sex scandal. But the occasion carries a far heavier burden than the trial of one man in one city.
Despite the huge, $85 million settlement the Boston Archdiocese made to settle hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases, despite the fact that Cardinal Bernard Law is no longer head of Boston's Catholics, no member of the clergy has gone to prison as the result of this widespread scandal. The victims' pain is real and hasn't gone away. Even if a jury finds Mr. Shanley guilty, it wouldn't be surprising if the feeling in the end, on the part of victims and those outraged at the church, is one of profound emptiness.
Two years ago the court released thousands of documents to the public documenting the Church's actions on these and other cases. To sort through these memos, letters, notes and reports, many on official stationery, is downright hair-raising. Over and over, officials' concern is not for the victims, or the understandable objections of the laity over hurtful and even dangerous acts, but for public relations and reputations, at all costs.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Chicago Tribune
By Elizabeth Mehren
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published January 19, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Jury selection began Tuesday in the criminal trial of defrocked Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the Boston clerical sexual abuse scandal.
Shanley, 73, is charged with child rape, as well as indecent assault and assault and battery. The alleged crimes took place in the 1980s in nearby Newton, where Shanley was a popular parish priest.
The time frame of the alleged incidents is critical.
Scores of priests in the Boston archdiocese have been accused of molesting children over at least four decades, and many of those charges were validated in church documents. The once-confidential records showed that church officials knew about abuse complaints and moved priests from parish to parish rather than reassign them to jobs where they would not have to work with children.
Most of the priests managed to avoid criminal trials because the alleged crimes occurred so long ago that the statute of limitations had run out.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
ALBANY -- A distraught clergy sex abuse victim has threatened to kill Bishop Howard Hubbard if his alleged abuser is cleared of sexual misconduct allegations, according to attorney John Aretakis.
Without naming the victim or the priest, Aretakis sent a Jan. 15 letter to Hubbard's lawyer, Michael Costello, apprising him of the threat.
Aretakis, who represents a number of clergy sex abuse victims, said he does not think the threat is credible, but said he still felt a warning to Hubbard was warranted.
"I feel a moral obligation to pass this information on," Aretakis said in the letter. "Please (tell) Bishop Hubbard that he should take efforts at insuring his own safety."
Aretakis said he received word of the threat from the victim last Friday and sent the warning the next day to Costello. In the letter, he said he was moved to alert the longtime church leader, even though he feels he has "acted undignified, uncharitable and completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ."
NASHVILLE (TN)
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Matt Gouras
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE - Tennessee's Supreme Court has allowed a $68 million child sexual abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic diocese of Nash-ville to move ahead in a unanimous ruling issued yesterday that sets a new standard for reckless infliction of emotional distress cases.
John Day, lead attorney in the civil case, says the decision holds people accountable for irresponsible behavior, in this case concealing a known pedophile.
The Nashville diocese, in a statement, said it was disappointed.
"We were certainly looking forward to a final resolution of this case," said spokesman Rick Musacchio. "As we have done from the outset, we maintain that our responses to the facts of this case were proper and appropriate, and will allow the legal process to go forward."
In Kentucky, the Louisville Diocese in 2003 reached a $25.7 million settlement with 247 plaintiffs who said they were victims of sex abuse. Last week a Lexington woman, Kay Montgomery, settled one of the last remaining lawsuits against the Covington Diocese over sex abuse by priests.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Contra Costa Times
DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The criminal case against a defrocked Roman Catholic priest at the center of the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal now hinges on the allegations of a single accuser.
Prosecutors formally dropped a third accuser on Tuesday, leaving just one from the original four alleged victims of Paul Shanley. The move to drop the accuser from the case was widely expected.
That leaves Shanley, 73, facing three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child. The maximum sentence would be life in prison.
About 80 prospective jurors were questioned Tuesday for the trial that is expected to last about two weeks. Four jurors - three men and one woman - were seated before proceedings ended for the day.
Jury selection was set to resume Wednesday.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
WPRI
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Four jurors have been seated so far to hear the child rape case against Paul Shanley, a key figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse crisis. A man and a woman were the first chosen from a pool of about 80 people in Middlesex Superior Court. Two other men were chosen earlier this afternoon.
Judge Stephen Neel is asking potential jurors if they have been sexually abused; their views on homosexuality; and their feelings about the Catholic Church and the Boston Archdiocese in particular. Among the jurors selected was a man who is Catholic and does landscaping at his church.
HUDSON (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press
HUDSON, Wis. - A Catholic priest who killed himself after police questioned him about an unsolved double murder was under investigation for a possible crime involving a child or children, the police chief said Tuesday.
Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende told The Associated Press detectives interviewed the Rev. Ryan Erickson last fall after receiving an allegation involving the priest and a minor or minors.
He would not specify what type of possible crime was under investigation or how the allegation surfaced.
Erickson, 31, was found hanged Dec. 19 outside his rectory at St. Mary's Church in Hurley in far northern Wisconsin.
Just days earlier, Erickson was interviewed by Hudson detectives about the shooting deaths of Dan O'Connell, 39, and James Ellison, 22, at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home in February 2002.
TENNESSEE
Nashville Business Journal
In a unanimous decision, the Tennessee Supreme Court has cleared the way for a $68 million sexual child abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville to go forward.
The ruling sets a new legal standard for finding reckless infliction of emotional distress. The court's decision holds that reckless infliction of emotional distress doesn't have to be based on conduct that was directed at a specific person, or that took place in the presence of the plaintiff.
The decision, which reverses appellate court and trial court decisions, involves consolidated lawsuits against the diocese by two boys who were sexually abused by a former priest with a long history of child molestation. The mother of one of the boys also is a plaintiff.
The lower courts had held that a defendant's "reckless or intentional" conduct must be directed at a particular plaintiff, or the plaintiff must have a close relationship with the person at whom the conduct was directed.
SPARTA (NJ)
New Jersey Herald
Posted Tuesday, January 18, 2005 by Webmaster
By JOHN T. SANDERS
Herald Staff Writer
The alleged events happened nearly 40 years ago, hundreds of miles away, but a recently settled lawsuit has placed a spotlight on one local man’s past.
In a landmark case settled Jan. 5, Lexington, Ky., resident Kay Montgomery and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, Ky., agreed to end a civil lawsuit accusing a Sparta resident of sexual abuse.
Montgomery, who will be paid an undisclosed amount of money, accused Edward J. Fritsch of molesting her on numerous occasions when she was 13.
Fritsch, now president of the Sparta Historical Society, was a Roman Catholic priest. Montgomery was a high school freshman at two different Catholic schools.
Montgomery, now a 52-year-old homemaker, refused to settle her claims unless documents about the church’s decisions to transfer Fritsch from job to job were released. In previous cases throughout the country, such church documents have been kept classified.
“As far as we know it’s the largest amount of money paid to any sexual abuse victim by the Diocese of Covington,” Kentucky lawyer Al Grasch, Montgomery’s attorney, said in a telephone interview Monday.
Still, Grasch and Montgomery said the case was not about the dollars.
STAMFORD (CT)
NBC 30
POSTED: 1:18 pm EST January 18, 2005
UPDATED: 1:31 pm EST January 18, 2005
STAMFORD, Conn. -- A former altar boy who claimed he was molested by a priest reached a financial settlement of his civil lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, his attorneys said Tuesday.
The plaintiff, known in court documents as John Doe, said he was molested at age 14 by the Rev. John Castaldo in the early 1990s when Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull.
His name and the terms of the settlement were not released at his request, said his attorneys, Ernest Teitell and Paul Slager.
The settlement means New York Cardinal Edward Egan will not have to testify next week, the attorneys said.
Egan, who was the Bridgeport bishop when the alleged assaults occurred, had received a subpoena which required him to provide sworn videotaped testimony about his knowledge of the case.
"We hope that this settlement will allow our client to find some closure," said Teitell. "While no amount of money can make him whole for what happened, the financial settlement here is substantial and demonstrates that the diocese is accepting responsibility. Our client hopes that the information gathered by the many depositions taken in this case will put the diocese on notice so that corrective measures can be taken to prevent this from happening again."
Joseph McAleer, spokesman for the Bridgeport diocese, declined to comment. The diocese earlier had reached multimillion dollar settlements of other abuse cases.
WALHALLA (SC)
The State
Associated Press
WALHALLA, S.C. - A traveling evangelist was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday to charges of committing lewd acts on children.
James Wesley McCoy, 32, will have to serve at least 18 years of the sentence, the Anderson Independent-Mail reported.
McCoy was charged with four counts of committing a lewd act on a child and five charges of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in Aiken, Laurens, Pickens and Oconee counties. He has been held in the Oconee County Detention Center since his arrest May 12.
"I have wept bitter tears for 10 months, tears of true grief and sorrow and I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please forgive and don't live in a prison of hatred. It will be worse for you than for me," said McCoy, whose wife and parents were in the courtroom.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Prosecutors formally dropped an accuser from the criminal case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, leaving just one alleged victim to testify in the trial that began Tuesday for one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Prosecutors already had dropped two other alleged victims from the case, and dropped the third because they've been unable to find him since a hearing in October when he had difficulty remaining composed to testify.
The witness' removal from the case leaves Shanley facing three charges of raping a child and two charges of indecent assault and battery on a child.
About 80 prospective jurors were being questioned Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court for the child rape trial that is expected to last about two weeks.
TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
The Catholic Diocese of Tucson appears to have stepped up efforts to make sure suspected child sex abuse is reported to authorities following the arrest in December of a priest on suspicion of failing to report an incident of alleged abuse.
Diocese spokesman Fred Allison said the timing of Bishop Gerald Kicanas' Jan. 10 review with the diocese's clergy leaders of the church's guidelines for reporting sexual misconduct by clergy is not related to the arrests in December of a Tucson priest and a church volunteer for failing to report an alleged incident of child sex abuse.
Authorities dropped the charges, and the priest was reassigned to San Luis, near Yuma, Allison said.
At the Pastoral Council meeting Kicanas covered the diocese's compliance plans, its zero-tolerance policy and the matter of the priests against whom there are credible allegations of sex abuse. The Pastoral Council is made up of clergy and lay people.
What he said was not made public.
TOWANDA (PA)
Daily and Sunday Review
BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN 01/18/2005
TOWANDA - The 44-year-old pastor of the Church on the Hill in Ulster Township, who is accused of kissing and fondling a young teen-age parishioner, has pleaded not guilty to all charges lodged against him.
The pastor, Wesley Allen Nichols, entered the plea at his arraignment Monday in the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas.
Nichols has been charged with three counts of corruption of minors, which is a first-degree misdemeanor, and three counts of indecent assault, which is a second-degree misdemeanor. Nichols entered a plea of "not guilty" to each and every charge lodged against him, said Francis Rineer, Bradford County assistant district attorney. Nichols, whose address is Milan RR1, is accused of kissing and fondling a female parishioner, beginning almost three years ago.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 6:11 am EST January 18, 2005
UPDATED: 8:21 am EST January 18, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Decades after he allegedly molested young boys at a church in Newton, Mass., defrocked priest Paul Shanley is going to trial. Jury selection begins Tuesday.
NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that Shanley, 73, is free on bail and it is not known whether he will be present for jury selection.
Shanley was arrested three years ago in San Diego and charged with several counts of rape of a child and assault and battery for alleged crimes that occurred while he was at St. Jean's Parish in Newton. The case began with four accusers but is going to trial with only one. The plaintiff's name is not being revealed. The most vocal accuser, Gregory Ford, [pictured right] was dropped because prosecutors feared his medical history could hurt the case against Shanley. His father, Rodney Ford, said he hopes the former Catholic priest is convicted and goes to jail.
All four boys told similar stories of being taken out of religious education classes by Shanley and raped in the confessional, restroom and church rectory. Prosecutors dropped three of the accusers before the trial.
Shanley allegedly abused more than 12 young boys during his career as a Roman Catholic priest in the Boston archdiocese, but the statute of limitations made it impossible to prosecute most of the cases because they took place so long ago. Because Shanley moved out of state, however, the clock stopped on some of the cases, allowing prosecutors to charge him with sexual abuse that took place between 1979 and 1989.
BRITAIN
BBC News
A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to 19 child pornography charges has been given a rehabilitation order.
Alexander Bede Walsh, 51, who served in Oxfordshire, was spotted on a train by a fellow passenger looking at indecent images on his laptop in March 2003.
Walsh, of Cheadle, Staffordshire, later resigned from his post at St John the Evangelist Church in Banbury.
He received a two-year community rehabilitation order at Oxford Crown Court on Monday.
BOSTON (MA)
Washington Post
By Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 18, 2005; Page A02
BOSTON -- In the hierarchy of those considered arch-villains of this city's clergy sexual abuse scandal, victims' advocates say Paul R. Shanley, whose trial begins Tuesday, ranks near the top alongside fellow defrocked priest John J. Geoghan, who was killed in prison in 2003.
A charismatic street preacher who received acclaim for his ministry to gay teenagers and disadvantaged youths in the 1970s, Shanley has been accused in civil lawsuits of molesting dozens of children -- many of whom have received financial settlements from Boston's Catholic archdiocese in recent years -- and of publicly advocating sex between men and boys.
Shanley, who faces criminal charges of child rape and indecent assault and battery, is one of the few priests to be indicted from the abuse crisis that was exposed three years ago. Criminal statutes of limitations have prevented the prosecution of all but a few priests in Boston, because many of the abuse allegations concern events that took place decades ago.
A few of Shanley's accusers were able to overcome such restrictions because of a technicality: The priest left Massachusetts for California more than a decade ago, a move that by law stops the countdown for the statute to expire.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Larry B. Stammer, Times Staff Writer
Almost 20 years after a fringe religious group renounced practices that included child sexual abuse and incest, a murder-suicide carried out in two states has brought the group's sordid past back to the fore.
Last week, Richard P. Rodriguez, 29, the disaffected son of Karen Zerby, current leader of the communal Christian ministry known as the Family, allegedly killed longtime group member Angela M. Smith, 51, in his Tucson, Ariz., apartment. Then, after driving to Blythe, he apparently took his own life.
In a videotape recorded a day before the deaths, Rodriguez described his desire to exact revenge for an isolated childhood in which he was routinely sexually abused.
Sitting at the kitchen table in his Tucson apartment and speaking directly to the camera, Rodriguez, who had been groomed since birth as the church's heir apparent, said he had been contemplating suicide ever since being forced as a young adolescent to participate in "teen training." In a posting on the Internet in 2002, he described how the training required him to have sex with different girls in the cult each day.
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
By Ellen Belcher
Dayton Daily News
I know the Rev. Thomas Kuhn only from afar, as in from the balcony of Incarnation Church where I attend services. He was a priest at Incarnation from 1989 to 2001, when he left for St. Henry Church.
Kuhn's homilies were memorable partly because of the authority with which he spoke. When he issued edicts against, say, coming early and saving seats on Christmas Eve, everyone laughed, but people knew that he wasn't kidding.
He also once told a story about how he had unintentionally cut off someone on an exit ramp and was rewarded with a nasty hand gesture from the offended driver. He said he was pretty certain the driver attended Incarnation because, as he whizzed by, he crouched down after realizing whom he had just gestured at.
Let that be a lesson to the guilty party, Kuhn admonished kiddingly, as people looked left and right in the pews to see if anyone was blushing.
Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the presence Kuhn could command, but that's one of the things people say about him: That he was good at getting his way and communicating that what he said was gospel.
It's this sense that he's not to be questioned that makes him behave as if he's still calling the shots even though he's been convicted of public indecency, six counts of furnishing alcohol to minors and four counts of allowing minors to possess or consume alcohol in his home.
ATLANTA (GA)
Boston Globe
January 17, 2005
ATLANTA -- Roman Catholic Bishop Wilton D. Gregory faced a daunting challenge at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis, guiding the faithful through what many believed was the worst tragedy ever to befall the church in America.
Gregory served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the scandal, and led the bishops through a policy on how to respond to allegations that includes barring offenders from church work and a national lay watchdog panel to help enforce the plan.
On Monday, the 57-year-old Chicago native was expected to be installed as Atlanta's sixth archbishop. Gregory, who was appointed by Pope John Paul II last month, succeeds Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who is retiring.
As the nation honors the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., analysts say that appointing a black bishop to a city like Atlanta will help draw attention to Catholic diversity.
Gregory was the first black president of the bishops conference when he was elected in November 2001 and served three years. At the time, his election was seen by black Catholics as long-awaited recognition of their presence in the church.
The clergy sex abuse scandal quickly eclipsed his historic elevation. Gregory, however, said he was grateful for the chance to serve at such a critical moment.
BRITAIN
Scotsman
By Simon Evans, PA
A Roman Catholic priest who was spotted by a train passenger looking at child porn on his laptop computer was spared a jail sentence today.
Alexander Bede Walsh, 51, former priest at St John The Evangelist church, Banbury, in Oxfordshire, was spotted by a passenger on a train looking at a “depraved” fantasy story, Oxford Crown Court heard.
He later admitted 18 counts of making indecent pictures and one of possessing them. All the offences related to a two to three week period in March last year.
Imposing a two-year community rehabilitation order, Judge Julian Hall credited Walsh as an “intelligent” and “thoughtful” man, adding: “Your offending lies right at the bottom end of the scale.
“It is the more shocking because of your position, but that is not a reason for a more severe punishment.”
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff | January 17, 2005
On a mild day in April 2002, a 24-year-old former altar boy walked past a pair of old-fashioned iron sconces and into Newton police headquarters, where he sat with a detective and told his story: that a Catholic priest, Paul R. Shanley, had forced sex on him repeatedly during the mid-1980s.
A horde of television crews and newspaper photographers recorded the accuser's trip into the police station, making it clear from the start that the prosecution of Shanley would be different than the typical sexual assault case. It was an early signal that the case would be a challenging one for authorities.
Though most alleged victims of sexual assault come forward quietly, the accuser and three other former altar boys from St. Jean the Evangelist Parish who made allegations against Shanley that spring were already very much in the public eye. For months, they had been at the center of a huge civil lawsuit a powerhouse Boston law firm brought against the Boston Archdiocese seeking compensation on behalf of hundreds of alleged sexual abuse victims.
That sequence -- the civil case first, and the criminal case afterward -- was unusual. And, according to legal specialists, it has been damaging to the prosecution.
The vast majority of alleged victims in sexual assault cases wait until after the criminal case is resolved before seeking damages in a civil lawsuit. Legal observers said the reverse order in the Shanley cases -- the accusers settled their civil cases last year -- has severely undermined the prosecution against Shanley, who is scheduled to go to trial tomorrow in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge.
PHILIPPINES
Sun Star
A MEMBER of the local clergy here finally came out in the open last week to deny the rape charges leveled against him by a 29-year-old woman.
Fr. James Lloren said he had a 'consensual sex' with his accuser, a certain Jane (true name withheld).
A local tabloid earlier reported that a local priest here has impregnated a certain Neneng.
It was not clear if the same Lloren was the same priest named in the news item.
On Friday, however, Fr. Lloren spoke before a local radio station to deny that a rape incident occurred between him and Jane.
The woman claimed he was sweet-talked by the priest into accompanying the later into a motel where the alleged rape took place.
The woman further said she was threatened and overpowered by the priest who allegedly succeeded in sexually molesting her.
The priest however said he would no longer issue any further statement and that he would answer the charges leveled against him in court.
SOUTH AFRICA
Pretoria News
January 17, 2005
By Ndivhuwo Khangale
It was meant to be a deep secret that no one would know - even if it meant Musandiwa Sigidi dying in pain. This is what the parents of nine-year-old Musandiwa, of Lwamondo near Thohoyandou in Limpopo, discovered before she died, apparently after being repeatedly raped by a 79-year-old man.
Musandiwa's parents, Johannes and Grace Sigidi, said it took more than a year for her to tell them that she had been repeatedly raped by the man, a local clergyman who was close to her family.
Her parents said she told them that the priest - who cannot be named until he pleads to the charges against him - had told her not to tell anyone.
Musandiwa was ill for a long time and died in Tshilidzini Hospital on January 8, just days after disclosing the sexual abuse to her parents.
It started early in 2003, when she complained of pains, Grace Sigidi said. But, she said, when they took her to the clinic, nurses did not give her a thorough examination.
WATERLOO (IA)
The Globe Gazette
By PAT KINNEY, For The Globe Gazette
WATERLOO — A former North Iowa priest is the defendant in a sexual abuse lawsuit in which the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque recently paid a $100,000 out-of-court settlement.
The suit was filed by a Cedar Rapids man who said he was sexually abused in 1983 by the Rev. William Schwartz.
The suit was filed in Linn County District Court in June 2004 by Daniel J. Ortmann of Cedar Rapids against Schwartz and the archdiocese.
According to the suit, Schwartz was serving in Rockwell and was a visiting pastor at St. Jude's Catholic Church and elementary school in Cedar Rapids when the alleged offense took place.
SARASOTA (FL)
local6.com
POSTED: 3:12 am EST January 14, 2005
SARASOTA, Fla. -- The principal of a small Christian school was convicted of sexually molesting a female student.
The Rev. Jerry Lee Pitts, 38, was found guilty Thursday of lewd and lascivious battery and molestation. He faces up to 15 years in prison when sentenced later.
Pitts, of North Port, sat stunned as the clerk read the verdict.
Pitts started a sexual relationship with a former Living Water Academy student who was 15 at the time. The girl is now 17.
The victim testified that she started attending the school in March 2002. Shortly afterward, Pitts sexually assaulted her in his wife's office, in a trailer parked on school grounds and in the computer lab.
Defense attorneys argued that a lack of evidence and conflicting statements made by the victim and witnesses should lead to acquittal.
GREENSBORO (NC)
WRAL
POSTED: 7:54 am EST January 14, 2005
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The chief financial officer and two other former employees of a defunct low-cost-housing provider have settled lawsuits accusing Project Homestead's founder of pressuring them to have sex.
The three men agreed to share $20,000 to be paid by Nationwide and Allstate insurance companies, which represent the bankrupt Project Homestead.
Randolph Mitchell, Robert Donnell Jr. and Mischell Sinclair filed separate lawsuits against the Rev. Michael King and Project Homestead in 2003.
None could be reached for comment Thursday.
Their lawyer, Randolph James of Winston-Salem, said they agreed to settle when it became obvious it would be unlikely there would be much money in Project Homestead's bankrupt estate to pay the men even if they won their lawsuits. ...
Donnell alleged in his lawsuit that King fired him because he refused to participate in sex acts with other men at the Garden of Prayer Baptist Church, which King founded in 1979.
Sinclair, Project Homestead's former family services coordinator, said in his lawsuit he submitted to King's request to have sex with him and a group of other men in King's church, which King called his ``fellowship.''
FLORIDA
The Ledger
The Associated Press
PORT EVERGLADES, Fla.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has started screening those celebrating Mass on cruise ships, a plan geared toward preventing former, rental and even fraudulent priests from ministering to Catholic passengers.
More than 650 priests have been approved to work on cruise lines, where some priests suspended in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal have recently sought employment - and some Catholics have complained to the bishops that priests on their ships were incompetent.
Celebrity and Holland America lines are working with priests approved by the Apostleship of the Sea, while other cruise lines are still striking private deals with priests, use talent agencies or hire clergy through Rent-APriest, a group that provides former, now-married priests who are no longer authorized to conduct Mass.
Eventually, the bishops hope that all cruise lines will adopt a more thorough screening process for clergy.
"It wasn't being regulated by the bishops' conference and they weren't doing background checks on these guys," said the Rev. Sinclair Oubre, president of the AOS-USA, a chaplains' organization affiliated with the Apostleship of the Sea. "Since we started this, some of the cruise lines have become more alert."
Priests who apply for the program must have their bishops' approval and are subject to yearly review, said Doreen Badeaux, secretary general of the Apostleship. All dioceses conduct their own background checks on priests, Badeaux said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Sunday News
By Cris Foehlinger
Sunday News
Published: Jan 14, 2005 12:13 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Patricia Cahill is overcoming a life of abuse and secrecy at the hands of the Catholic church.
Her childhood was destroyed by the sexual abuse of a priest and later when she was a teenager by the very nun in whom she confided the abuse.
Through alcohol, drugs and a position of authority, Sister Eileen Shaw determined, in large part, the woman Cahill is today. One with no sexuality and no understanding of normalcy, yet one with a strong drive to right the wrongs of a church that molded her into a quagmire of guilt.
Although the nun's ministry has since been restricted, Cahill, now 52 and living in Lancaster, is angry at the church for stealing her childhood, her family and her dreams.
She has found support through the nationwide Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP. And, in turn, she is trying to focus on the future. Later this week she will launch a support group in Lebanon to help local survivors. (See related story.)
CONCORD (NH)
Telegram & Gazette
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press Writer
CONCORD, N.H.— Discord over evaluating the child protection policies of the state's Roman Catholic diocese has grown so acrimonious the agreement calling for the evaluation could be voided.
That has both sides eager to persuade a judge the deal can be saved.
If they fail, the state could find itself litigating an onerous case with little guarantee of success, while the diocese could earn the distinction of being the first in the nation to face criminal charges stemming from the child sex abuse scandal.
Annual audits for five years are required by a 2002 agreement between the church and state that ended a criminal investigation of whether diocesan officials knew members of the clergy were abusing children but failed to protect them.
At issue now is the scope of the audit and who will pay for it. The church wants the state to cover the bill and the evaluation to be limited mostly to paperwork. The state says the church should pay and wants a wide-ranging evaluation.
The dispute began just months after the church and state reached the then unprecedented deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek criminal indictments against the church.
In exchange, the diocese agreed to enact strict new child protection policies, admit its actions had harmed children, open itself to audits and admit it probably would have been convicted had the case gone to trial.
The agreement did not specify who would pay for the audits, however, and the parties have wildly different takes on what sort of audit would satisfy the terms of the agreement.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By DENISE LAVOIE
AP Legal Affairs Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— He's 73 now, and unrecognizable as the hip "street priest" known more than 30 years ago for wearing long hair and blue jeans, and reaching out to Boston's troubled youth.
Paul Shanley is a senior citizen now, frail-looking with thinning white hair and deep lines in his face. His has become perhaps the most recognizable face of the clergy sexual abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church for the past three years.
This week, Shanley goes on trial on child rape charges in one of a handful of criminal cases in which prosecutors have been able to bring against priests accused of sexually abusing children decades ago.
Most of the priests accused in civil lawsuits have avoided criminal prosecution because the alleged crimes were committed so long ago that charges were barred by the statute of limitations. But because Shanley moved out of Massachusetts, the clock stopped, allowing prosecutors to arrest Shanley in May 2002 for sexual abuse that allegedly took place between 1979 and 1989.
Shanley became one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex scandal after internal church documents were released showing church officials knew about abuse complaints against him as early as 1967 and knew that he advocated sex between men and boys, yet they continued to transfer him from parish to parish.
Prosecutors started out with four alleged victims in the criminal case. All four men said they were sexually abused by Shanley at St. Jean's parish in Newton when they were children. They told similar stories of being taken out of religious education classes and raped by Shanley, in the church rectory, confessional and restroom.
PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian
Sunday, January 16, 2005
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris has appointed five mediators who will try to settle more than 60 clergy sex-abuse claims seeking more than $534 million in damages from the Archdiocese of Portland.
Mediation will begin on Aug. 8, after attorneys for the sex-abuse plaintiffs study personnel records and other documents related to the 37 priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct with minors.
In July last year, the archdiocese, which represents 390,000 Roman Catholics in Western Oregon, became the first U.S. archdiocese to file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in the wake of the national sex-abuse scandal. The bankruptcy halted about 60 cases, which involve 72 individuals.
The mediators are:
Paul Finn, who helped mediate an $85 million settlement with more than 500 sex-abuse plaintiffs in 2003 in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Sid Brockley, a retired Clackamas County circuit judge who last year mediated a $69 million case involving 18 plaintiffs against the Bend-based Diocese of Baker.
Alan Bonebrake, a retired Washington County circuit judge who assisted in prior mediations in the Archdiocese of Portland.
Sid Lezak, a former U.S. attorney who also helped in prior mediations in the Portland archdiocese.
Edward Leavy, a senior U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge.
DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Rob Modic
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | The Rev. Thomas Kuhn, convicted of public indecency, has sent letters of apology to four men and a woman as well as three Catholic churches, attempting to meet a requirement of his probation for that and 10 other misdemeanors.
She will decide if he violated terms of his probation when he went to a Cincinnati high school shortly after one of its students was slain across the street.
He had been barred from offering his services to any institution that served minors.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat
BY JENNIFER A. BOWEN
jbowen@bnd.com
Bishop Wilton Gregory's tenure as head of the Belleville Catholic Diocese and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was one of compassion, strong convictions and a sense of pastoral care, those who watched him and worked with him say.
When he arrived in Belleville, the diocese was in turmoil over clergy sexual abuse scandals. The scandals on the local level prepared him to address the same scandal nationally as president of the bishops conference.
"Ten years ago he was the perfect person to go in to Belleville and resolve some of the sex abuse issues," said Robert Gilligan, director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois in Chicago. "He is, and was, passionate about those issues and he approached them with strong convictions."
His handling of the Belleville crisis prepared him to face the same issue nationally, and with conviction.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Sioux City Journal
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) -- Three men who settled lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Davenport Catholic Diocese have decided to drop their cases against the individual priests.
The three men want to try to move on with their lives instead of pursuing the lawsuits, filed against former priest James Janssen and retired Rev. Francis Bass, said Davenport attorney Craig Levien.
The men did not think that the mental distress to them in continuing the litigation process would be worth the benefit of proceeding to a trial, he said. All three men are from Fort Madison but identified only as John Doe, John Doe III, and John Doe IV.
The dismissals came among court filings that dismissed the diocese -- but not the priests -- from lawsuits as part of a $9 million settlement reached with 37 people who claimed sexual abuse by priests.
Civil lawsuits continue against Janssen, Bass, the Rev. William Wiebler and Monsignor Drake Shafer, the vicar general of the diocese. Trials on those accusations have been postponed, pending a ruling by District Judge C.H. Pelton on how they should proceed through the Iowa court system.
Janssen and the priests have denied the allegations.
KANSAS CITY (KS)
The Kansas City Star
By JOE ROBERTSON The Kansas City Star
A Catholic bishop doesn't choose his assignments. And that, says the new leader of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, is the beauty of the work.
If, as in Joseph F. Naumann's case, a man who'd lived his whole life in St. Louis should find himself transplanted in his mid-50s to the land of Jayhawks, you don't ask why.
You thrill to the idea, Naumann said, “that God's plans are always better than ours.”
On Saturday, Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Archbishop James P. Keleher, 73, who has led the archdiocese since 1993. Naumann, 55, takes over immediately, as was planned a year ago when he was appointed the co-adjutor bishop of the archdiocese. ...
Keleher's efforts included strengthening the archdiocese's recruitment of new leadership. The number of students in seminary for the archdiocese rose from three when he started in 1993, to 25 today, Naumann said.
Keleher oversaw the creation of the program, To Protect God's Children. The program aims to educate families and staff and guard children against sexual assault in the wake of abuse scandals.
MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald
BY ALEXANDRA ALTER
aalter@herald.com
Sitting in the plush lobby of the MS Volendam, the Rev. Frank Wagner looked at ease after 20 days in the Eastern Caribbean. Between reading, praying and lounging on the sun deck, Wagner did the Lord's work: conducting 24 Masses, absolving six passengers of sin and anointing one sick traveler.
Wagner is one of 650 Catholic priests newly approved by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to serve on cruise lines. The program, launched a year ago to give the church more oversight in choosing priests who conduct services on cruises, allows Wagner and others to sail for free in exchange for pastoral work.
''It's just very relaxing,'' said Wagner, a retired Catholic priest from Ontario, during a recent stop in Port Everglades. ``I couldn't afford it otherwise.''
Church officials say the program should correct a lax system of selecting onboard Catholic priests -- a problem made more pressing in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, when some suspended priests sought cruise ship work. And it may mollify Catholic passengers who have complained to the bishops that priests on their ships were fraudulent or incompetent.
WATERLOO (IA)
WCF Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Assistant City Editor
WATERLOO --- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has paid a $100,000 out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit filed by a Cedar Rapids man who said he was sexually abused in 1983 by a diocesan priest who was spiritual director at Columbus High School in Waterloo in the late 1970s and served at other local parishes for more than two decades.
The suit was filed in Linn County District Court in June 2004 by Daniel J. Ortmann of Cedar Rapids against the Rev. William Schwartz and the archdiocese.
The archdiocese, named as a co-defendant with Schwartz, was dismissed from the suit in October, following the settlement. No trial date has been set on the allegations against Schwartz, but a scheduling conference is pending.
Schwartz's attorney, Robert Day of Dubuque, said his client would respond to the allegations in an answer to the suit filed in court. No answer has yet been filed.
WISCONSIN
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
January 16, 2005
It's been almost seven years since Father Alfred Kunz, a priest of the Diocese of Madison, Wis., was found dead — his throat cut — at his parish in Dane, Wis. The murder remains unsolved, but what I find curious is the fact that there have been conflicting reports about whether or not investigators have "zeroed in" on a suspect.
According to a Jan. 11, 2005 story in the Wisconsin State Journal (http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=wsj:2005:01:11:399939:FRONT):
"...Four of the 15 county murders in the last two years are unsolved. Before that, the last murder in Dane County without an arrest or suspect is the killing of the Rev. Alfred Kunz of Dane in 1998.... Establishing relationships between the killer and Kunz, a Catholic priest, may be one reason investigators haven't identified a suspect in that case.
"'There are a number of issues there that we are dealing with in that case,' Hamblin said. 'It has certainly made the case more difficult because the nature of Father Kunz and his occupation required him to maintain the confidentiality of some of his contacts. He didn't have a secretary or other family members who could shed light on his day-to-day contacts.'" ...
Investigators discovered Kunz had "intimate relationships" with women, and that might have been a motive for someone to kill him. There was a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel saying Kunz had been associated with certain people at the Catholic Church-condemned "shrine" in Necedah, Wis. And then there's Kunz's association with one Ryan P. Scott, also known as Father Ryan St. Anne, OSB, who currently resides in Galesburg, Ill.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve
By Father Bill Pomerleau
Observer staff
SPRINGFIELD – As a legal deadline for effectively filing lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct by priests approached this week, a Boston attorney filed lawsuits alleging that three priests, a woman religious and a Boy Scout leader had abused five men decades ago.
A Greenfield attorney also filed six lawsuits alleging that five diocesan priests had abused minors.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Springfield announced the removal from ministry of a priest named in one of the lawsuits.
Father Michael Devlin, 62, has been placed under the constraints of the Dallas Norms, the diocese announced Dec. 29, alluding to the requirement in U.S. church law that any priest credibly judged to have abused a minor cannot function as a priest.
In October the diocesan review board began its investigation of an allegation that Father Devlin, until then chaplain at Holyoke’s Providence Place, had abused a minor while he was a parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in West Springfield.
National
By TOM ROBERTS
On the letters pages this week you will find one by Fr. Owen Kearns of the Legionaries of Christ. He is editor in chief and publisher of the Legion-ownedAbuse Tracker Catholic Register. The letter is an edited version of the original, which accuses NCR of a slur against the Legion and of spinning the story about Legion founder Fr. Marciel Maciel Degollado, who has been accused of sexually abusing seminarians in the past (see below).
Kearns’ letter also said NCR used a “journalistic resource,” with the implication that we are simply interested in keeping the story alive with no regard for the facts.
It is not the first time Fr. Kearns has reacted to a story about either the Legion’s activities or its founder. Whether Kearns’ responses have been solicited in the preparation of an article or delivered to us in reaction to one about Maciel, the content has been consistent: Fr. Maciel is demonstrably innocent and all one need do is consult the Legion’s Web site for the necessary information.
One might come away with the impression that NCR and the Legion are engaged in meaningless rounds of gainsaying.
Perhaps an explanation from our perspective is in order. Why do we do what we do? Why all the stories on the Legion?
MISSOURI
Times Newspapers
by Don Corrigan
A Catholic nun, who taught at Cor Jesu Academy in Affton, and a priest, who was pastor at Our Lady of Providence parish in Crestwood, are embroiled in separate controversies involving sexual abuse allegations.
Sister Linda Cusano, who taught at Cor Jesu from 1988 to 1990, is accused of several incidents of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit filed in November. Landa Mauriello-Vernon, once a student of Cusano's at a parochial school in Connecticut, accuses the nun of repeated acts of abuse from 1991-1992.
David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese should now be making an effort to encourage local residents to step forward if they have knowledge of misconduct by Cusano while she served in this area.
"We hope anyone else who witnessed, suspected or experienced abuse by Cusano finds the courage to come forward," said Clohessy. "We especially hope that Cor Jesu officials publicly reach out to former students who might have been victimized by Cusano."
Clohessy said SNAP is also urging anyone who may have experienced improper encounters with Fr. Robert F. Johnston to break their silence about any such incidents. According to Clohessy, Johnston admitted in December 2002 that he had abused a boy and then resigned as pastor of Our Lady of Providence parish in Crestwood.
WATERBURY (CT)
Republican-American
Saturday, January 15, 2005
By Robyn Adams
Republican-American
WATERBURY -- The Rev. W. James Johnson said Friday he is confident justice will prevail and he will be vindicated of charges he sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl in Torrington.
Johnson, 48, was arrested Wednesday night by Torrington police and charged with one count of first-degree sexual assault and one count of risk of injury to a minor with sexual contact. The alleged incident occurred May 14, police said.
He was held in police lockup overnight on $200,000 bond and arraigned Thursday morning at Bantam Superior Court. He made bond late Thursday.
The case was transferred to Litchfield Superior Court. He is due back in court April 28.
Johnson, a minister for 20 years, was back at his church, Community Tabernacle Outreach Center, 12 Hewlett St., Friday morning. Sitting in his church office with deacon Deja Dennis and Vernon Austin, a deacon in training, at his side, Johnson said he wanted to comment on the accusations but with limitations on the advice of legal counsel.
RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal
By Vicky Wicks, Journal Staff Writer
RAPID CITY - Glenn Ford pleaded guilty to a third-degree rape charge in 7th Circuit Court on Friday, but because the judge allowed him to do so ahead of schedule, the victim and her mother were not able to hear Ford admit to the crime.
Ford, 39, charged for having sex with a 13-year-old girl while he was youth pastor at Victory Chapel on La Crosse Street, was scheduled to enter a plea at 10:45 a.m. Friday in front of 7th Circuit Judge Merton Tice Jr.
According to Pennington County deputy state's attorney Toni Williams, who was in the courtroom representing the state on other cases, Tice said he had other matters to attend to and would take Ford's plea ahead of schedule.
Lara Roetzel, chief deputy state's attorney, is the prosecutor on the case and had Ford's file with her. She arrived at the courtroom on time, but by then, the plea had been taken.
Roetzel then went into the empty courtroom to meet with the victim, the victim's mother and a few supporters.
At 11 a.m., other attorneys arrived for hearings in front of Tice.
Williams said Tice had not asked her for the victim's opinion of the plea agreement.
APPLETON (WI)
Post-Crescent
By Dan Wilson
Post-Crescent staff writer
APPLETON — Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dennis Luebke Friday rejected arguments from convicted sex offender John Patrick Feeney that the statute of limitations should have applied to his case.
Luebke heard post-conviction motions in the case of the 78-year-old former pastor at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom, who is serving a 15-year sentence on three counts of attempted sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child.
Luebke denied motions from Gerald Boyle, Feeney’s attorney, claiming the statute of limitations should have applied to the 24-year-old case and that the judge’s sentence was unduly harsh.
The denial sets the stage for an appeal, which Boyle said he would file within 60 days.
Boyle argued the six-year statute of limitation should have applied to the case that arose out of incidents in 1978 when Feeney was at St. Nicholas.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, January 15, 2005
ALBANY -- The former music director of a Rensselaer County church is seeking $2 million in damages from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, claiming the pastor sexually abused her in December 2003.
Mary Ann Turner Snow, 50, and her husband, John Snow, of New Scotland, went public with claims against the Rev. Jerome Gingras Friday during a news conference arranged by their attorney, John Aretakis.
The mother of seven children said she felt spiritually and morally responsible to detail the priest's behavior in the sacristy of the Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights on Dec. 21, 2003, "no matter how humiliating it is for me to come forward."
Snow said Gingras called her and her husband, a former cantor, into the back room an hour after other congregants had left the 1,100-family church.
"During our conversation, Father told me to turn around," she said. "I didn't know what to expect. I thought there might have been a Christmas bonus taped to the wall."
"But instead, he said, 'I had a dream that we were having this conversation. And, in the dream, this is what happened,' " Snow said.
OAKLAND (CA)
Oakland Tribune
By Glenn Chapman, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — Rival attorneys in the Clergy III Catholic priest sex abuse cases are to begin intense private mediation next week in a final push to settle matters before public trials begin in March.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw told a courtroom packed with civil attorneys Friday that retired Contra Costa County Judge Coleman Fannin of dispute resolution firm JAMS will oversee the last-ditch mediation effort. Five attorneys from each side are to meet with Fannin at the JAMS office in San Francisco on Tuesday to begin what is viewed as a "last and best" effort to resolve cases before the first two trials in the coordinated litigation begin March 7.
One of those trials is to be held in Alameda County Superior Court.
About 200 plaintiffs are involved in the approximately 160 priest sex abuse suits being coordinated by Sabraw. Defendants in the cases range from priests to top Catholic church officials accused of covering up abuses and protecting wrongdoers.
Sabraw's decision regarding mediation came during a morning-long hearing in which he revealed a series of tentative rulings in favor of the church.
CROWN POINT (IN)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 15, 2005
BY JOHN GRANT EMEIGH
Criminal charges won't be pursued against a former Crown Point pastor, despite the Catholic priest's admission to church officials that he engaged in sexual activity with a Gary preteen sometime in the 1960s.
Lake County, Ind., Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said that the accuser hasn't cooperated with investigators since the allegation came to light in 2003.
Monsignor Don Grass, who served as pastor at St. Mary Parish in Crown Point since 1983, was removed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary in December 2003 after admitting the accusation against him was true, diocese officials said. The alleged molestation occurred while Grass was assigned to the Cathedral of Holy Angels in Gary.
Carter said the diocese contacted him about the accusation in late 2003 and that the Gary Police Department investigated it.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nashua Telegraph
Published: Saturday, Jan. 15, 2005
If they had to do it all over again, there’s no doubt that lawyers in the New Hampshire attorney general’s office would have been more precise in their wording of an agreement with the Diocese of Manchester. The agreement reached in December of 2002 protected leaders of the diocese from prosecution for child endangerment in connection with child sex abuse cases.
Prosecutors said they had plenty of evidence and were confident of a conviction, but agreed not to proceed as long as the diocese introduced practices to protect children and allowed the state to audit those practices annually.
The state and diocese are now at odds over what exactly an audit entails.
The state wants a professional research firm to survey 2,000 parishioners and church personnel to determine if the practices are working.
The diocese says that goes too far, and wants the audit limited to a paper review of policies, supplemented by an interview with the diocesan official who handles sexual misconduct.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Todd Ruger
Three of 14 men who settled lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Davenport Catholic Diocese decades ago have decided to drop their cases against the individual priests.
The three men want to try to move on with their lives instead of pursuing the lawsuits, filed against former priest James Janssen and retired Rev. Francis Bass, said Craig Levien, the Quad-City attorney for the three men.
“They did not think that the mental distress to them in continuing to go through the litigation process would be worth the benefit to proceed with a trial against an individual priest,” Levien said.
The dismissals came among filings made Wednesday that dismissed the diocese — but not the priests — from lawsuits as part of a $9 million settlement reached with 37 people who claimed sexual abuse by priests.
APPLETON (WI)
Pioneer Press
Associated Press
APPLETON, Wis. — A judge refused to set aside some felony convictions Friday that landed a 77-year-old Roman Catholic priest in prison for 15 years.
A jury convicted John Patrick Feeney in February of three counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of attempted sexual assault of a child for incidents that involved two brothers, ages 12 and 14, in 1978.
Feeney, who was parish priest at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom at the time, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During a 30-minute hearing Friday, Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dennis Luebke rejected arguments from Feeney's attorney that the six-year statute of limitations to be charged had expired. The priest's attorney said although Feeney left Wisconsin in 1983, he was still employed by the Green Bay Diocese and technically remained a Wisconsin resident.
KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington has reached a settlement with a Lexington woman after she sued over alleged sexual abuse.
Kay Montgomery said she was sexually molested by a priest in the 1960s. She declined to disclose the amount of the settlement.
"The case was never about money," said Al Grasch, Montgomery's attorney. "The case was about finding out about what the church knew and what they did to conceal it."
Edward Fritsch was the priest named in Montgomery's lawsuit. Fritsch was sent by the Covington Diocese in 1966 to the Owensboro Diocese, where he was assigned to teach at Owensboro Catholic High School.
That's where he met and allegedly abused Montgomery, a ninth-grade student at the time.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Attorneys for many of the alleged victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in Northern California will begin mediation next week that is aimed at settling the civil cases before a trial in March, a judge said Friday.
On Tuesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs and the church will meet in San Francisco with retired Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Coleman Fannin, a mediator with JAMS, a private arbitration provider.
Fannin was unavailable to comment Friday. JAMS "takes pride that almost all of the cases mediated, even the most complex ones, are successfully resolved," according to the Irvine company's Web site.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw said Friday that it was possible that the cases involving all Northern California Roman Catholic dioceses -- with the exception of Fresno -- could be settled before March 7, when the first civil trials are scheduled to begin.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Saturday, January 15, 2005
A Middlesex Superior Court judge yesterday barred the media from photographing or filming Paul Shanley's alleged victim next week at the defrocked priest's child-rape trial.
Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel's order came at the request of prosecutors, who argued that such exposure would put undue pressure on the lone accuser left in the case since they dropped charges involving two other alleged victims.
The accuser's name has already been published, but the Herald is withholding it at his request, in accordance with its policy involving alleged rape victims.
Now in his 20s, he is one of four men Shanley initially was charged with raping in the 1980s while they attended St. Jean's Church in Newton.
TACOMA (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA, Wash. -- A Thurston County man is suing a priest and several Catholic organizations over sexual abuse he says occurred at Fort Lewis in the 1980s while he was a teenager.
The plaintiff, who is anonymous in the Pierce County Superior Court lawsuit, has filed suit against the Rev. Reinard Beaver, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, the archbishop of Seattle and the bishop of Spokane.
Beaver, who lives in Steilacoom and was a chaplain at Fort Lewis from 1960 to 1986, has been sued by at least three other men who say he abused them. He was removed from public ministry in 1988 after complaints surfaced.
The plaintiff said he regularly attended mass at Fort Lewis in 1982 with his family and that Beaver used his status as the family's chaplain to exploit and abuse him. His attorney, Mike Pfau, said the abuse began when the plaintiff was 12 or 13 and happened at the family's house and during a trip to Walla Walla for a church service.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Mercury News
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - A judge on Friday barred the media from using photos or televised images of an alleged victim of Paul Shanley during the defrocked priest's upcoming child rape trial.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel agreed with prosecutors that allowing the alleged victim to be filmed or photographed may place undue stress on the man, the last remaining accuser in the case. The order also extends to his family.
The man, now in his 20s, says Shanley raped him at St. Jean's parish in Newton while he was a young boy in the 1980s. He said he did not recall the abuse until three years ago, when the clergy sex abuse scandal first erupted in Boston.
"It will be extremely difficult to ask him to testify to those details with a camera right there," prosecutor Lynn Rooney said during a hearing Thursday on the request.
Two other men who accused Shanley of raping them as children were dropped from the case, and prosecutors have said they expect to drop a third accuser.
APPLETON (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
Associated Press
APPLETON, Wis. - A judge refused to set aside some felony convictions Friday that landed a 77-year-old Roman Catholic priest in prison for 15 years.
A jury convicted John Patrick Feeney in February of three counts of sexual assault of a child and one count of attempted sexual assault of a child for incidents that involved two brothers, ages 12 and 14, in 1978.
Feeney, who was parish priest at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Freedom at the time, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
During a 30-minute hearing Friday, Outagamie County Circuit Judge Dennis Luebke rejected arguments from Feeney's attorney that the six-year statute of limitations to be charged had expired. The priest's attorney said although Feeney left Wisconsin in 1983, he was still employed by the Green Bay Diocese and technically remained a Wisconsin resident.
CHICAGO (IL)
The Conservative Voice
By Matt C. Abbott
The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin was a controversial figure. Beloved by some and scorned by others, the cardinal for many years exercised immense influence in the Catholic Church in the U.S. He died in 1996 of pancreatic cancer.
In 1993, Bernardin was accused of sexual abuse by a former seminarian, Steven Cook, who died of AIDS not long after “recanting” his allegation, saying his memories were “unreliable.” Jason Berry and Gerald Renner devote a segment to the Bernardin-Cook matter in their 2004 book Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II. Bernardin was quoted at a press conference as saying:
“‘I've been a priest for forty-two years...and a bishop for twenty-eight years...And you know, it's inevitable that anyone who is in a public position and who takes stands that are controversial is vulnerable. But it's interesting, only three accusations have been made against me, all within the current year – (p. 115)
“‘What were the other two?’ a journalist cut it.
MAINE
Boothbay Register
Kristoffer Roveillo
It's been nearly two decades since Rev. Thomas Lee left his post at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church.
Apparently, though, time has yet to quell the storm of controversy surrounding his departure.
On Tuesday, a mother who claims her son was molested by Lee between 1977 and 1979 filed a lawsuit against him in Cumberland County Superior Court.
The suit alleges breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, vicarious liability, fraud, and seeks punitive damages, to be determined by a jury.
Lee served as pastor at the Boothbay Harbor church from 1971-1985.
An initial investigation into the molestation charges surrounding the boy went unsubstantiated in 2002, and Lee briefly returned to his post as pastor of Lyman's St. Philip's parish. He voluntarily stepped down for a second time in September 2003, when new allegations of misconduct arose.
Lee will not face criminal prosecution, as the statute of limitations has expired, explained the mother's attorney, Mark Randall, in a phone interview Tuesday.
NEWARK (NJ)
NorthJersey.com
Friday, January 14, 2005
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
The Newark Archdiocese is conducting a closed-door hearing this week for a former Ho-Ho-Kus priest accused of misconduct with minors.
The Rev. William J. Dowd, who has been on leave from St. Luke Church since April 2002, faces removal from public ministry or the priesthood if found guilty.
The hearing, which began Tuesday, is taking place in the chancery offices in Newark before three priests from outside the archdiocese. Witnesses are expected to finish testifying today. The priests will then begin deliberations, said Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese.
Dowd was one of about a dozen North Jersey priests implicated during the 2002 church crisis. The scandal, which began with a case in Boston, emboldened waves of accusers nationwide to come forward after years of silence.
Dowd has never been charged with a crime by law enforcement officials, and the accusation falls beyond the statute of limitations.
The church, however, is conducting its own judicial proceeding, one that is routinely used in handling annulments. Authorities in Rome have reviewed the accusation and determined a hearing is warranted, Goodness said.
By Matt C. Abbott
MichNews.com
Jan 14, 2005
E-mails from Rev. Ryan Erickson, the Hurley, Wis. Catholic priest who committed suicide last month after being questioned in the investigation of a still-unsolved 2002 double homicide in Hudson, Wis., illustrate the dissension that is not uncommon in many parishes and dioceses.
The e-mails were provided to me by Darla Meyers, a friend and supporter of Erickson. They were sent in 2002, when Erickson was associate pastor of St. Patrick Church in Hudson.
CROWN POINT (IN)
WAVE
Associated Press
January 14, 2005
CROWN POINT, Ind. -- Lake County prosecutors will not charge a Roman Catholic priest who authorities say admitted engaging in sexual activity with a child decades ago.
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said Thursday that Monsignor Don Grass' accuser has not cooperated with investigators since making the allegations in 2003.
Grass, who had been pastor at St. Mary Parish in Crown Point since 1983, was removed by the Diocese of Gary in December 2003 after church officials said he admitted the accusation that he molested a preteen girl was true.
The diocese said the molestation occurred while Grass was assigned to the Cathedral of Holy Angels in Gary during the 1960s. Carter said Thursday the diocese contacted Grass about the accusation in late 2003 and an investigation was started by Gary police.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
SJ-R.com
By CHRIS DETTRO
STAFF WRITER
A 15-year-old boy will be tried in adult court on charges he and another teen beat Monsignor Eugene Costa in Douglas Park four days before Christmas.
Associate Judge George Ray found probable cause that Ryan Boyle committed aggravated battery and said it would not serve the public interest to keep the charges against him in juvenile court.
Boyle and Jamie E. Gibson, 17, of the 1100 block of Spring Street are accused of beating Costa, who was severely injured. He was found by a Springfield Park District officer near the Douglas Park band shell about 10:30 p.m. Dec. 21. ...
According to a news release issued by the diocese Tuesday, Costa resigned to deal with "inappropriate," "risky" and "immoral" behavior that has come to light since the beating and to concentrate on his recovery.
MASSACHUSETTS
Westborough News
Friday, January 14, 2005
Ms. Plunkitt does not want to shame anybody, but while you were mesmerized by the tsunami, Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian served the autocratic Boston Archdiocese with 10 new clergy sex abuse lawsuits.
Those lawsuits are on top of 150 suits filed since the diocese settled more than 500 cases for $85 million in September 2003. After lawyers take their cut, the left-over money is divvied up amongst victims wronged by Catholic priests who abandon vows of celibacy to kneel before Eros, the unaborted product of the mating of Aphrodite, the Greek god of love and passion, and Ares, the Greek god of war.
Whether it was this latest spate of clergy sex abuse lawsuits or mere coincidence, Ms. Plunkitt had been reading Jimmy Breslin's, "The Church That Forgot Christ." Breslin, a Pulitzer prize- winning New York-based journalist, interviews victims of clergy sexual abuse and leans on Catholic church hierarchy who allege that top brass cover up for hooligan priests known to have engaged in unholy bedlock.
"Give Jimmy credit," Ms. Plunkitt says to Buck Malachi over martinis at the hilltop saloon a few days ago, "Jimmy pulls no punches. He's hot under the collar. His choice of words may seem irreverent, but he's lookin' for accountability when he says Pope John Paul II 'has four subjects on his mind: abortion, abortion, abortion and Poland' and: 'Teachings and discussion of all parts of life must be put aside, thrown to the winds, if necessary, in order to have full Catholic concentration on abortions.'
TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
BLAKE MORLOCK
Tucson Citizen
Wood said to be from the cross (yes, The Cross), bits of nails from the Crucifixion and splinters from the table where Jesus and the apostles broke bread are heading to Tucson next month to be venerated by Catholics in Arizona and Mexico, church leaders announced yesterday.
The "Relics of the Passion Tour" is coming here just in time for Lent, and will be at various Catholic churches in Tucson, Nogales and Green Valley on Feb. 12 and 13.
These relics are now kept by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, under the authority of the Apostolate for Holy Relics.
The Arizona Knights of Columbus is sponsoring the relics tour in southern Arizona for the benefit of the region's 300,000 Roman Catholics. ...
Pedro Nájera, head of the Knights of Columbus' Arizona operation, said the relics will be good for morale in the Tucson diocese, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the wake of multiple claims of sexual abuse by clergy.
"It reinforces the faith," Nájera said. "Most of our parishioners are not dissuaded by the bankruptcy and sex scandal. They still go to church and still believe."
IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Independent
A MAN who claims sexual abuse by a religious brother for four years at primary school said yesterday he destroyed photos to try and rid himself of the memory.
Yesterday was the second day of the trial of Christopher Cosgrove, Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, Co Mayo, who pleads not guilty to 180 counts of indecently assaulting six boys from 1968-1977 at St John's Boys' NS, Temple Street, Sligo.
One alleged victim told Sligo Circuit Court he hated himself so much he changed hair colour and destroyed photographs when he left primary school. He changed his name when he moved abroad and now hates being called by his old name.He alleged abuse occurred two to three times a week for four years, when he would be called up to the top of the classroom by Marist Brother Christopher. Other pupils were given work to do. He also said he was abused in the toilet by the accused, once on the day of his confirmation. He claimed to have been beaten repeatedly by the brother, who seemed to "get some kick out of it", and said after primary school he confided in a priest who "didn't want to know".
BANTAM (CT)
The Register Citizen
TRACY KENNEDY, Register Citizen Staff01/14/2005
BANTAM -- The Rev. James Willie Johnson, 48, a pastor for the Community Tabernacle Outreach Center on Hewlett Street in Waterbury, was arrested late Wednesday by Torrington police and charged with first-degree sexual assault and allegedly having illicit sexual contact with a minor under 16 years of age. Both charges are felonies and carry prison terms from one to 20 years.
Johnson, a Waterbury resident, denied allegations he had sexual contact with a five-year-old girl from Torrington, his attorney said Thursday in Bantam Superior Court.
Rev. Johnson was taken away from court in leg irons and handcuffs Thursday afternoon after he was unable to post the $200,000 bond set by Judge Charles D. Gill.
"He absolutely denies all charges," said James Longwell, Johnson’s attorney. "He cooperated fully with the police and when called by the police, he went under his own volition to speak with them."
TORRINGTON (CT)
Waterbury Republican-American
Friday, January 14, 2005
By Brigitte Ruthman
Republican-American
A Waterbury pastor known in the city as a community leader was charged Thursday with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in Torrington last May.
The Rev. W. James Johnson, 48, formerly of 91 Spring Brook Road, Waterbury, was being held Thursday night in Torrington on $200,000 bond. Torrington detectives picked him up on a warrant Wednesday night in Waterbury, and he was arraigned Thursday in Bantam Superior Court on charges of first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor with sexual contact.
Johnson, who is known as Willie, is affiliated with the Community Tabernacle Outreach Center, a Pentecostal church at 12 Hewlett St. in the Overlook section of Waterbury.
Thursday, Judge Charles Gill sealed the warrant for Johnson's arrest and ordered him not to have contact with the victim. Johnson was represented by the Public Defender's Office in court for bond purposes only, according to court officials.
The alleged incident occurred May 14, police said. According to authorities and friends, Johnson was spending time lately in Torrington with relatives and friends. Police declined to comment on how Johnson came into contact with the alleged victim, citing concerns about the victim's identity.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
A priest suspended last year for public indecency is headed back to court because of an unauthorized visit to Elder High School, where he once was principal.
The Rev. Thomas Kuhn was ordered Thursday to appear in court Feb. 10 for a hearing to determine whether his visit to Elder violated terms of his probation.
If the judge finds he broke the rules, Kuhn could be sent to jail for as long as 18 months.
Kuhn's lawyers could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Kuhn, 63, was convicted in June of providing alcohol to minors and engaging in public indecency at his home in suburban Dayton. The offenses occurred while Kuhn was working at St. Henry's parish, which he joined in 2001.
He was principal at Elder for seven years in the 1980s.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The good news: Toledo is hitting Sundance.
The bad news: It might not be the way you'd like.
When the Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, one of the premieres will be Twist of Faith, a documentary recounting the sex abuse scandals that erupted in the Toledo Catholic Diocese in 2002. The filmmaker is the well-regarded director Kirby Dick, and his film isn't just debuting.
It'll be playing in the American Documentary competition - generally considered the strongest segment of Sundance, the long-running, hype-screeching showcase for independent filmmaking founded by Robert Redford in the early 1980s. Its competition includes documentaries about Chinese factory workers, glam-rock legends the New York Dolls, and Enron. It's set to air later this year on HBO.
And that's not all:
Twist of Faith also is on the shortlist for a best documentary nomination at the Academy Awards. Of the hundreds of nonfiction films screened by the Academy, a list of 12 possible nominees is drawn up; this year, that includes the hit fast-food expos Super Size Me, the climbing adventure Touching the Void, as well as Twist of Faith. From this list, five nominees are picked - and set to be announced Jan. 25.
BRITAIN
ic Croydon
Jan 14 2005
By Jen Bishop
A HINDU priest accused of rape claimed that his victim had been his wife in a past life and God had brought them back together again, a court heard.
Ramanathan Somanathan, the aya of the Hindu temple in Thornton Road, Thornton Heath, is denying two counts of rape.
Gillian Etherton, prosecuting Somanathan at Croydon Crown Court this week, said the 29-year-old Tamil woman decided to buy a new flat for herself and her son, and went to married Somanathan to get her chart read - a common practice in the Hindu religion.
It involved the stars and planets and predictions for her future. Miss Etherton said: "The aya asked her some personal questions and she felt uncomfortable and cried.
COVINGTON (KY)
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Karla Ward
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington has settled a lawsuit brought by a Lexington woman who says she was sexually molested by a priest in the 1960s and who has been a vocal advocate for victims of sex abuse by priests.
Kay Montgomery and her attorney, Al Grasch, declined to disclose the monetary amount of the settlement.
"The case was never about money," Grasch said. "The case was about finding out about what the church knew and what they did to conceal it."
Montgomery's case was one of the last remaining cases in Lexington brought against the Covington Diocese (although a class-action lawsuit against the Covington Diocese is still pending in Boone County).
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 14, 2005
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Although a jury acquitted the former pastor of St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit of molesting a 7-year-old boy, the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos remains banned from wearing a clerical collar or serving as a priest in this area while the Archdiocese of Detroit continues its own review of the abuse allegation.
"Thanks to God. Thanks to the community. Thanks to my attorneys," de Alba Campos said Thursday, moments after a Wayne County Circuit Court jury returned not-guilty verdicts on two counts of criminal sexual misconduct.
De Alba Campos, 50, a visiting priest from Mexico who was assigned to St. Gabriel last February, said he would like to remain as a priest in the Detroit area "because it has a huge, beautiful Latino community ... and they need spiritual help."
But Ned McGrath, an archdiocese spokesman, said the church's procedures for dealing with abuse accusations against priests will resume. He said Catholic officials suspended an internal review when Detroit police and Wayne County prosecutors were notified of the possible criminal behavior last spring.
"No public ministry. He's not supposed to present himself as a priest, wear a collar" or say mass for anybody but himself, McGrath said.
But if the priest decides to return to his home diocese in Mexico, "he would be a priest of good standing" and not bound by those restrictions, McGrath said.
OHIO
Post-Tribune
Jan. 14, 2005
By John Grant Emeigh / Post-Tribune staff writer
Lake County will not pursue charges against a former Crown Point priest, despite the priest’s admission to church officials that he engaged in sexual activity with a Gary pre-teen more than 30 years ago.
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said Thursday that the priest’s accuser has not cooperated with investigators since the allegation first came to light in 2003.
Monsignor Don Grass, who served as pastor at St. Mary Parish in Crown Point since 1983, was removed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary in December 2003 after admitting the accusation against him was true, diocese officials say. The alleged molestation occurred while Grass was assigned to the Cathedral of Holy Angels in Gary sometime in the 1960s.
Carter said Thursday the diocese contacted him about the accusation in late 2003 and an investigation was started by the Gary Police Department.
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By NICOLE TSONG
Anchorage Daily News
Three more men said Thursday that a now-deceased Catholic priest abused them when they were children, molesting them during "wrestling" matches and buying their silence with pop and candy.
The men joined a lawsuit filed in Bethel in December by another victim, identified in court documents as Jack Doe 1, who accused the same Jesuit priest, the Rev. Francis X. Nawn, of sexually abusing him when he was a teenager. Jack Doe 1 also accused the Rev. Segundo Llorente, a former state legislator, of molesting him as a boy.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are the Diocese of Fairbanks, the Society of Jesus Oregon Province and the Alaska Jesuits. The plaintiffs, identified as Jack Doe 1-4, claim that church officials moved priests from parish to parish to conceal the extent of the abuse and to avoid scandal and investigation by civil authorities.
Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler denied those accusations Thursday. He said, "I absolutely believe that no priest was moved from one place to another because the diocese became aware of sexual abuse."
The three new plaintiffs are the latest from rural Alaska represented by attorney Ken Roosa, who has sued the Diocese of Fairbanks and the Oregon Jesuits based on allegations from 56 people against four priests and one monk.
Kettler said the diocese has to accept the latest claims and work from there.
"We'll continue to just work with the situation and just do the best for truth and justice for everyone involved," he said.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Staff Writer
Three more men have stepped forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the Rev. Francis X. Nawn.
The attorney for Jack Does 2-4 filed a civil suit Thursday in Bethel Superior Court seeking damages from the Fairbanks Diocese for allowing Nawn, who is believed to be deceased, to prey on children as he ministered in Southwestern Alaska.
Jack Doe 1 came forward last month with abuse allegations against Nawn and another deceased Jesuit priest, the Rev. Segundo Llorente. Jack Does 2-4 accuse only Nawn. The defendants in the suit are the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska; the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province; and the Society of Jesus, Alaska.
"I just sort of think this is like all the rest," said Bishop Donald Kettler, who wasn't contacted by the victims prior to the filing of the suit. "We're trying to work with as many as we need to. We're trying to treat everyone fairly and justly."
The three new complaints bring the number of people claiming abuse in the sprawling Fairbanks Diocese to 59. Four priests--Nawn, Llorente, James Poole and Jules Convert--face accusations from 23 people. Only Poole, 81, is still alive. He lives in Spokane, Wash.
Another man, Joseph C. Lundowski, a likely deceased church volunteer with a disputed history, is accused by 34 men of the most serious sexual abuse.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
By Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
DETROIT - The acquittal of a priest accused of sexually molesting a 7-year-old child at his southwest Detroit parish came as a shock Thursday to the Wayne County assistant prosecutor who argued the case.
But, the jury's finding that the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos, 50, was innocent of fondling the boy while they slept together in the parents' home was welcomed by members of St. Gabriel Catholic Church.
"We felt if he had been found guilty it would be a great injustice," said Julia Guzman, who works as a lay pastoral associate at the largely Latino parish at 8118 W. Vernor.
De Alba Campos said he is ready to return to work, even back at St. Gabriel, where he is a popular figure. He said he would welcome the child and his family. A native of San Juan de los Lagos, Mexico, de Alba Campos was serving as administrative pastor on loan from the Mexican church when the charges were filed against him.
"I learned from the time I started studying to be a priest to forgive," de Alba Campos said through an interpreter following the verdict. "And, to demonstrate to all men and women, innocent or guilty, God's mercy."
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Lora Weingarden said she was stumped by the verdict.
"I can't believe that 12 people didn't believe the child witness," she said.
TORRINGTON (CT)
Newsday
January 14, 2005, 2:05 AM EST
TORRINGTON, Conn. -- Local detectives have charged a Waterbury pastor with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl last year.
The Rev. W. James Johnson was arrested Wednesday night in Waterbury and arraigned Thursday in Bantam Superior Court on charges of first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. He was held on a $200,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Litchfield Superior Court on April 28.
The alleged incident occurred May 18. Details of what happened were not released; Johnson's arrest warrant affidavit was ordered sealed Thursday by Judge Charles Gill.
Johnson, 48, is associated with the Community Tabernacle Outreach Center, a Pentecostal church in Waterbury, the Republican-American of Waterbury reported Friday.
Police declined to comment on how Johnson came into contact with the alleged victim, citing concerns about the victim's identity.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (January 13, 2:03 pm AST) - Prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to bar the media from using photos or televised images of an alleged victim of Paul Shanley during the defrocked priest's upcoming child rape trial.
Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney argued that photographing the accuser would place additional stress on the man, the only one of four alleged victims remaining in the case. Two other men who also accused Shanley of raping them as children were dropped from the case, and prosecutors have said they expect to drop a third accuser.
"It will be extremely difficult to ask him to testify to those details with a camera right there," Rooney told Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel.
"He is the only one left," she said. "It is really too big a burden to place on one young man."
The man, who is now in his 20s, says Shanley raped him while he was a young boy in the 1980s. He said he did not recall the abuse until three years ago, when the clergy sex abuse scandal first erupted in Boston.
NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger
Friday, January 14, 2005
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
For the first time since the clergy sex scandal erupted in 2002, the Newark Archdiocese is holding a church trial for a Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct that could lead to his formal removal from the priesthood.
The priest, the Rev. William Dowd, last worked at St. Luke's Church in Ho-Ho-Kus and once was chaplain to the New York Giants. He voluntarily went on leave in April 2002 after the archdiocese received an allegation against him.
A church-run trial, known as a canonical trial, is the penultimate stage of the long disciplinary process for priests accused of sex abuse. If found guilty, a priest could be laicized -- formally removed from the priesthood -- by the Vatican.
Church trials differ from most criminal or civil trials in several ways. They are closed to the public, and usually three canon lawyers -- often priests -- serve as judges and decide cases. There are no juries, and no traditional cross-examinations.
The Vatican last year directed the archdiocese to hold the trial, after an archdiocesan panel determined an allegation made against Dowd was credible, said James Goodness, an archdiocese spokesman.
Goodness said the Vatican also has directed the archdiocese to hold a trial for another priest accused of sexual misconduct, the Rev. Gerard J. Sudol. Sudol, ordained in 1980, worked at Holy Family in Nutley from 1980 to 1986, St. Francis in Ridgefield Park from 1986 to 1994, and as a hospital chaplain at St. Francis Community Health Center in Jersey City from 1995 to 2002.
STAMFORD (CT)
Newsday
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writer
January 13, 2005, 6:55 PM EST
STAMFORD, Conn. -- A former altar boy who says he was molested by a priest is accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport of recklessness, citing new evidence obtained as his lawsuit heads to trial.
New York Cardinal Edward Egan, who will testify in a deposition in the case later this month, is likely to provide further support for the new reckless claim, according to the attorney for the former altar boy. Egan is scheduled testify on Jan. 27, just days before the trial starts.
"Plaintiff has just learned of critical evidence that now supports a recklessness claim against the diocese," lawyer Paul Slager wrote in court documents.
The plaintiff, known in court documents as John Doe, claims he was molested by the Rev. John Castaldo in the early 1990s when Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull.
The recklessness accusation, which is in addition to allegations of negligence, does not provide details of the new evidence but said it comes from recent depositions of three priests and a new witness. One of the priests dismissed Castaldo from the seminary.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by Gustavo Arellano
Now that the Diocese of Orange has agreed to pay $100 million to victims of its pedo-priests, Bishop Tod D. Brown is busy cobbling a new persona for himself. Goodbye, bumbling protector of molesters; welcome, O valiant reformer!
The national media bought this false idol immediately at a Jan. 3 press conference held in Los Angeles Superior Court announcing the settlement, the largest in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Fawning reporters didn’t bother to ask Brown any probing questions—they found their answers instead in the form of a cardinal-red folder eagerly distributed by diocesan spokesman Father Joseph Fenton that contained an official statement, a FAQ sheet and a full-color glossy of the bishop. Photographers and cameramen quickly clicked and filmed Brown accepting the tearful, grateful hugs of victims, images they splashed across TV screens that night and front pages the following day.
As always, The Orange County Register—the once-critical paper that nowadays reads like the Orange diocese’s official newsletter, the Orange County Catholic—spun it the Church way. "Some hailed Brown as a hero" was religion reporter Ann Pepper’s summation of the man. His Excellency, obviously reveling in his newly scrubbed celebrity, solemnly told Pepper, "If I’ve been able to be of any assistance in bringing [the sex-abuse cases] to a conclusion, I am most grateful for that."
In a statement published in many parish bulletins last Sunday, Brown wrote to Orange County’s 1.2 million Catholics, "We can stand tall having kept all our pledges to the victim survivors and having reformed our way of dealing with this horror in our Church. Let’s be the Church that is known for keeping its promises and being trustworthy, the Church where what you see is what you get, no spin or excuses."
But that period of clarity is over. An internal church document obtained by the Weekly shows the Orange diocese accepted the $100 million settlement not to, as Brown told the faithful, spare victims from "years of emotionally difficult litigation," but because Church officials knew just a minute before a civil court would "return devastating jury verdicts against the diocese."
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 13, 2005, 12:12 PM
DETROIT (AP) -- A jury on Thursday returned a not-guilty verdict in the trial of a Mexican priest accused of sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy.
Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos, 50, was accused of fondling the boy while he slept in the same bed with him at his parents' house.
De Alba became pastor at St. Gabriel Parish in southwest Detroit in February. The Archdiocese of Detroit asked him to leave in June after learning of the investigation against him. In July, he was banned from serving as a priest in the archdiocese.
The archdiocese said it had no immediate comment but was preparing a statement.
CALIFORNIA
The Press Democrat
Thursday, January 13, 2005
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A former Calistoga altar boy said he lived with a painful secret for years before acknowledging his past and filing a sex abuse lawsuit against his alleged molester.
"I'm tired of secrets and living in a lie," Greg Sloan, 48, said in a telephone interview from his home in the Sierra foothills town of Sonora.
Sloan's lawsuit, filed more than two years ago, is the first of 11 claims against the Santa Rosa Diocese heading for trial, after a judge this week issued a final ruling refusing the Catholic Church's request to throw out the case.
Sloan accuses the Rev. Patrick Gleeson of repeatedly molesting him in a Calistoga rectory from 1968 to 1972. Gleeson, a North Coast priest for 38 years, died in 1991.
In going to court and now casting off his anonymity, Sloan, who works as a contractor, said he is fighting off years of bottled-up shame, anger and depression.
HUDSON (WI)
Ironwood Daily Globe
Published Monday, January 10, 2005 2:20:44 PM Central Time
HUDSON, Wis. -- Hudson Police Chief Dick Trende told the Hudson Star Observer this week some people are refusing to talk with his investigators about Father Ryan Erickson and the O'Connell murder case.
Trende said most of the people contacted have been cooperative and eager to help police in any way possible, but a few have been reluctant to speak with investigators.
Erickson, 31, was found hanged outside the hallway between the rectory and St. Mary's Catholic Church in Hurley on Dec. 19.
HUDSON (WI)
Ironwood Daily Globe
Published Thursday, January 13, 2005 11:26:34 AM Central Time
HUDSON, Wis. -- Inconsistencies in statements made by a Hurley priest to police investigating the February 2002 murders of two men at a Hudson Funeral Home prompted authorities to seek a search warrant for the rectory at St. Mary's parish in Hurley where the priest resided.
Hudson Police Chief Dick Trende told the Hudson Star Observer this week that the priest, Father Ryan Erickson, had been interviewed on Nov. 11 and Dec. 7 of 2004.
Trende previously told the Daily Globe that Erickson was one of 1,800 people interviewed in connection with the murders of funeral director Daniel O'Connell and James O'Ellison, an intern at the O'Connell Funeral Home in Hudson.
HUDSON (WI)
Star Tribune
HUDSON, WIS. -- Not long before he killed himself, the Rev. Ryan Erickson told close friends that police investigators had questioned him aggressively about the double homicide at a Hudson funeral home in 2002.
Investigators asked him whether he had had affairs, both heterosexual and gay, and they named names as they interrogated the man people in the western Wisconsin border town knew as "Father Ryan." They suggested that he wanted to have sex with a woman he had counseled at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hudson.
Friends, clergymen and others who provided information for this article said Erickson's denials were strong and passionate. But one of those sources with knowledge of the homicide case said Erickson was also being investigated in connection with other possible criminal cases.
On Dec. 16, 2004, Hudson police searched the church, school, convent and rectory at St. Mary of the Seven Dolors Church in Hurley, Wis., confiscating 22 items -- including Erickson's computer, his secretary's computer, six pairs of shoes and his Bible.
Three days later, Erickson, 31, hanged himself.
NEFilm
By Andrea Maxwell
In 1999, Mary Healey-Conlon began research on a scandal in the Catholic Church. Five years later, Conlon has completed a documentary on one of the most important events in the history of the Church. "Holy Water-Gate" examines the victims and cover-up of the Church’s sexual abuse charges.
"I think many documentary filmmakers realize that as they immerse themselves in a story they are changed by the events and people they encounter," Conlon says. "This is certainly true for me, and I am really proud of the work. The effect that the film has had on me as an individual is an extremely positive one."
Mary Healey-Conlon graduated from Rhode Island College. She pursued her masters at Emerson College shooting and editing projects through 1994. The next few years were focused on corporate clients with artists’ work in the mix, finally allowing her to become an Associate Producer and Producer at Olive Jar Animation in Boston. Continuing to build her corporate and multimedia clientele through documentaries, commercials, and music videos, Conlon now teaches documentary courses at the University of Rhode Island as a professor of communications and film studies.
IRELAND
One in Four
THE trial of a former religious brother, who is charged with 180 counts of indecent assault involving six boys between the years of 1968 and 1977, opened at Sligo Circuit Court yesterday.
Christopher Cosgrove, Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, Co Mayo is pleading not guilty to the offences, which are alleged to have taken place in St John's Boys'Abuse Tracker School on Temple Street, Sligo.
One alleged victim told the court at yesterday's hearing that he became a "fully fledged" alcoholic at the age of 16 and remained so until aged 29, as a result of the abuse.
ORLANDO (FL)
Orlando Sentinel
By Christopher Sherman | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 13, 2005
An attorney for the Orlando man accusing a Catholic priest of years of sexual abuse filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the priest and two bishops, including the leader of the Diocese of Orlando.
The suit says the Rev. Richard Emerson sexually abused the man during a seven-year period in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
It also names Orlando Bishop Thomas Wenski and Gary, Ind., Bishop Dale Melczek as defendants, saying the dioceses took no action when earlier complaints were made against Emerson.
Attorney Joe Saunders described his client as a 29-year-old Orlando man who works in a local hotel. Saunders said the man chose not to attend the news conference in front of the Orange County Courthouse because of his anxiety about suing a priest and two bishops.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 13, 2005 12:00 AM
National advocates for those who have been abused by priests criticized the removal of the Phoenix Diocese's youth protection advocate.
But the Rev. Fred Adamson, the diocese's vicar general and second-in-command to Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, said the move doesn't lessen the diocese's commitment to youth protection, and a new advocate will be hired.
Jenny O'Connor held the position from 2003 when it was created until Saturday. O'Connor said the reason she was given for her firing was that her marriage was not performed by a priest. advertisement
The diocese will not say why O'Connor was fired.
Generally, Adamson said Catholics consider marriage a sacrament. Catholic couples must be married in a Catholic church by a priest. The individuals must go through standard preparation for a minimum of six months, he said.
"We pastorally encourage marriage in the church so the couple can seek Christ's love in the sacraments," Adamson said. "Otherwise, it is not binding by God for a lifetime."
If the marriage is the reason for the firing, "It is hard to imagine that a church leader could be so cold," said David Clohessy, national executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
He said the firing fits a pattern of backpedaling on the part of bishops regarding protection of children.
SHERMAN (IL)
SJ-R.com
By CHRIS WETTERICH
STAFF WRITER
SHERMAN - It is unlikely that Monsignor Eugene Costa will ever return to his ministry at St. John Vianney Church in Sherman and Holy Family Church in Athens, Bishop George Lucas told parishioners Wednesday night.
Costa, whom the diocese says was engaged in inappropriate and immoral behavior, resigned last week after being attacked Dec. 21 and found critically injured near the band shell in Douglas Park, 400 N. MacArthur Blvd., which has a longstanding reputation as a meeting spot for gay men.
Two teenagers, ages 15 and 17, were arrested Jan. 3 in the attack.
Nevertheless, church members expressed support and sympathy for the priest as they questioned Lucas after the regularly scheduled 5:30 p.m. Mass. One man stood up and told Lucas that parishioners had known about Costa's behavior for years but still supported him. Costa was ordained in the diocese in 1976 and has worked here ever since.
STAMFORD (CT)
Connecticut Post
By DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
STAMFORD
A Roman Catholic priest, accused in a lawsuit of molesting a 14-year-old altar boy at a Trumbull church in the early 1990s, admits in a deposition that he suffers from a "sexual sickness."
According to court papers released Wednesday, the Rev. John Castaldo said he had the sickness at the time he slept in a bed with the boy, although he denied molesting him.
He also said the sickness later drove him to try to solicit sex over the Internet from someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy.
Superior Court jury selection began Tuesday in the lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport brought by the former altar boy. Two jurors were selected by late Wednesday.
The trial is expected to begin Feb. 1 and last three weeks.
by Hugh Hewitt
01/13/2005 12:00:00 AM
UNITED STATES
The Daily Standard
LARGE AND POWERFUL INSTITUTIONS do not react well to internal scandal, especially when that scandal threatens to erode a central pillar of the institution's authority. The first reaction will almost inevitably be denial, followed by various efforts to isolate and minimize the scandal, to protect leadership, and then to adopt only such "reforms" as are forced upon it. Genuine accountability and reform typically only accompany a crash so spectacular that no one can persist in the cover-up.
Thus did the Roman Catholic Church in America deal with the sexual abuse scandal which developed over 30 years and broke with such fury in recent times. The capitulation of Bernard Francis Cardinal Law was the result of a years-long erosion of his and his Diocese's credibility which was prolonged and embarrassing and which was accompanied by a series of half-measures and stalls that in retrospect defy understanding. There are even now still some corners of the American Church, like the Diocese of Los Angeles, that continue to resist accountability, even while neighboring bishops, like the Bishop of Orange County California sign off on $100 million plus settlements.
A similar pattern of denial followed by painful reform is unfolding at the oil-for-food-for-dictators scandal plagued United Nations, within a CIA that failed to see 9/11 coming and which has yet to account for the missing WMD in Iraq, and even within Major League Baseball as it struggles to persuade the fans that every homerun record of recent years shouldn't have a steroid-induced asterisk next to it. In each case, a large and powerful institution fought, through various ruses and tricks, to preserve a crucial reputation. For the Church, it was the character of the priesthood. For the United Nations, it is the claim to high-minded purpose. For the CIA, it is the agency's over-the-horizon powers of anticipation and analysis. And for baseball, the myth of the athlete-champion.
WATERBURY (CT)
Republican-American
Thursday, January 13, 2005
By Ben Conery
Republican-American
WATERBURY -- A Massachusetts man who claims his son was raped by a Waterbury Catholic priest is suing church spiritual leaders, institutions and the Worcester County district attorney, alleging they allowed the abuse to occur and failed to do anything about it afterwards.
The man claims the Rev. John J. Szantyr, 73, of 55 Birch Place, raped his son, who was an alter boy. Szantyr threatened to kill the boy's parents if he told them about the attacks, the lawsuit claims. The man's son is not involved in the lawsuit.
Szantyr's attorney and Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte could not be reached for comment. A lawyer for the Diocese of Worcester said the diocese denies the man's claims.
"His allegations just don't agree with reality," said James Gavin Reardon Jr.
Szantyr already faces three criminal counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. The alleged abuse occurred between Jan. 1, 1986, and Dec. 12, 1987, according to court documents. During that time, Szantyr was a priest at Our Lady of Czestchowa Parish in Worcester, Mass. Szantyr is scheduled to appear in a Massachusetts court on Feb. 17 so a judge can determine if he's competent to stand trial. Last week Szantyr said he has Parkinson's Disease.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
Jan. 13, 2005
By Frank Wiget / Post-Tribune staff writer
A Florida man filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming he was the victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest from the Gary Diocese.
The suit lists the plaintiff as “John Doe,” a now 29-year-old man who alleges he was sexually assaulted between 1986 and 1991 by the Rev. Richard Emerson, now 52. The alleged sexual abuse occurred when the victim was between ages 11 and 18.
Emerson, a Hammond native, was a visiting priest in Orlando at the time, before returning to Northwest Indiana in 1991.
In addition to Emerson, the lawsuit names and seeks damages from Bishop Dale J. Melczek of the Catholic Diocese of Gary and Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando.
The alleged victim was a resident of Orlando, Fla., in Orange County when the alleged abuse occurred.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 13, 2005
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos paced the eighth floor of the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit for an hour and a half Wednesday.
He appeared deep in thought, sometimes mumbling to himself. His eyes would shut and then open when he sensed he had to turn a corner to make another loop around the courthouse.
While a Wayne County jury of 12 people deliberated -- trying to decide whether the priest sexually abused a then 7-year-old boy from southwest Detroit last spring -- de Alba Campos made it clear he wanted to be alone with his thoughts. His supporters did not interrupt him, though the priest occasionally stopped for a hug.
Only a few hours earlier, de Alba Campos, a visiting priest from Mexico working at St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit, had taken the witness stand in his own defense. He testified with the help of an interpreter that he was devastated when he learned he was accused of two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
"I think I died for a moment," de Alba Campos said. "At that moment, I felt that somebody was throwing my whole life into the trash. ... Everything was going down the drain as if it were dirty water. ... Somebody was trying to take away my life."
ORLANDO (FL)
The Ledger
By MIKE BRANOM
The Associated Press
ORLANDO -- A man who says a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused him as a child sued him and the Dioceses of Orlando and Gary, Ind., on Wednesday.
The Rev. Richard Emerson is accused of repeatedly molesting the boy, now 29, from 1986 through 1991. He allegedly plied the victim with alcohol and pornography before the abuse, then used threats to keep him quiet.
The accuser, identified only as "John Doe," claims the dioceses covered up the crimes and protected Emerson.
Emerson, suspended last month as pastor of Notre Dame Church in Long Beach, Ind., has denied any sexual misconduct with his accuser. The two allegedly met at St. Charles Borromeo School in Orlando.
The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, asks for more than $15,000 in damages.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner
By CHRIS TALBOTT
Staff Writer
The first woman to file a sexual abuse lawsuit against Rev. James Poole broke her silence Wednesday after lawyers representing the four defendants filed motions in Superior Court to have the case dismissed.
Jane Doe 1, who asked that her identity and specific details of her life be withheld, told reporters from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Anchorage Daily News that the motion was just the latest example of unsympathetic treatment by the Catholic Church hierarchy since she came forward with allegations of nearly a decade of sexual abuse.
"They're petitioning to dismiss my case," Jane Doe said from the office of her Anchorage attorney, Ken Roosa. "That's appalling to me because they know the truth."
Jane Doe accused Poole of kissing, touching and fondling her from the age of 10 to 19, mostly in Nome where Poole ministered and ran radio station KNOM. Since she filed suit in March 2004, two other women have come forward with allegations of abuse against Poole.
WISCONSIN
Hudson Star-Observer
By Meg Heaton, Hudson Star-Observer reporter
The Hudson Police Department appears to have had good reason to investigate the late Father Ryan Erickson as a suspect in the February 2002 murders of Dan O'Connell and James Ellison as well as other crimes.
From information obtained at the Hudson Police Department, the Star-Observer has learned that Erickson was interviewed twice last year -- Nov. 11 and Dec. 7 -- prior to the early December search of his residence in Hurley.
Hudson Police Chief Dick Trende confirmed Tuesday that Erickson was the subject of an investigation into possible improper and criminal activity with minors before he was ever considered a "person of interest" in the O'Connell/Ellison murder investigation. It was through facts gathered in that investigation that police began to look at him in connection with the murders.
Trende said inconsistencies in Erickson's statements to police during their interviews with him raised suspicions that ultimately led them to seek the search warrant. St. Croix County Judge Scott Needham sealed the search warrant shortly after Erickson's death to protect the ongoing investigation.
SEATTLE (WA)
Post-Intelligencer
By DAVID CLOHESSY AND JIM BITEMAN
GUEST COLUMNISTS
The letter last month from a majority of the members of the Seattle Archdiocese's Case Review Board on sex abuse should have served as a vigorous wake-up call to Archbishop Alex Brunett and his staff. We share their concerns.
Specifically, we urged Brunett against disbanding this hard-working, well-intentioned and experienced panel of abuse experts. We also urged the archbishop to immediately name and discipline the suspended priest who violated church policy by participating in a public service and quickly release the names of the other known and suspected pedophile priests who have been suspended due to credible abuse allegations.
For a group of largely devout Catholics and other caring professionals, the language the review board members used in the letter and subsequent media interviews was clear and direct and Brunett fought the board at every turn.
More specific, we maintain that making known the names of all admitted and suspected abusive clerics is common sense. It's the least that can be done to protect children still at risk. As the review board pointed out, bishops in Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Tucson, Toledo, Spokane and other dioceses have taken this long-overdue step to safeguard kids.
ORLANDO (FL)
WFTV
POSTED: 3:41 pm EST January 12, 2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A man who says a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused him as a child sued him and the Dioceses of Orlando and Gary, Ind., Wednesday.
The Rev. Richard Emerson is accused of repeatedly molesting the boy, now 29, from 1986 through 1991. He allegedly plied the victim with alcohol and pornography before the abuse, then used threats to keep him quiet.
The alleged victim, identified only as "John Doe," claims the dioceses covered up the crimes and protected Emerson.
Emerson, suspended last month as pastor of Notre Dame Church in Long Beach, Ind., has denied any sexual misconduct with his accuser. The two allegedly met at St. Charles Borromeo School in Orlando.
The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, asks for more than $15,000 in damages.
"We hope that this lawsuit will protect children and will bring out the truth surrounding the facts about the ministry of Father Emerson," said the plaintiff's attorney, Joe Saunders of Pinellas Park.
STAMFORD (CT)
Newsday
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writer
January 12, 2005, 3:48 PM EST
STAMFORD, Conn. -- New York Cardinal Edward Egan typically answers to the pope, but will soon face questions from a lawyer who says the prominent prelate ignored disturbing psychological reports on a priest later accused of molesting an altar boy.
Egan's deposition on Jan. 27 in a civil lawsuit is a groundbreaking development in the sex scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church, activists say. Egan, facing his first deposition as a cardinal, joins the other two major cardinals in Boston and Los Angeles as he faces questions under oath for his handling of priest abuse cases.
Egan has long been criticized for his handling of abuse allegations when he was bishop of the Bridgeport diocese. The cases led to multimillion dollar settlements, including one reached just as Egan was promoted to cardinal.
"It's long overdue," said Jeff Anderson, a lawyer who has represented church abuse victims around the country. "It is something that has been a secret culture for decades and centuries. It really is a peek inside that."
VIRGINIA
Style Weekly
January 12, 2005
After more than a year spent in limbo, the Rev. Joe Ellison Jr.’s battle in the courts as the result of sexual abuse allegations against him is finally over.
“They’ve officially dropped criminal charges,” Ellison says of the Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, which had prosecuted him.
Henrico County police initially charged Ellison Dec. 17, 2003, with four counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor and one count of aggravated sexual battery, based on information from the county’s Department of Social Services.
The alleged victim was a 16-year-old girl who had been in the Ellisons’ custody for four years, police said. She alleged the incidents occurred during that time.
Because of Ellison’s ties to the Henrico County community, where he is pastor of Essex Village Community Church and founder of its community-outreach and child-care centers, Chesterfield County prosecutor Duncan Minton took over the case.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Portsmouth Herald
By Associated Press
MANCHESTER - Ten days before they are scheduled to argue in court, the state and its Roman Catholic diocese remain at odds over how the diocese’s child protection policies and procedures should be evaluated.
The Diocese of Manchester agreed to annual audits two years ago in a deal in which the state agreed not to seek criminal indictments for failure to protect children from molesting priests. But disputes about scope and methods mean no audits have been conducted.
The dispute went to court in September. Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Carol Conboy questioned whether the sides ever reached the "meeting of the minds" required for their contract to be effective. In briefs filed for oral arguments on Jan. 20, both sides say the agreement is valid. But they continue to disagree on terms.
In the December 2002 agreement, Bishop John B. McCormack acknowledged the diocese had failed to protect children and that its handling of sexually abusive priests during the prior 40 years could have resulted in a criminal conviction.
In its brief, the diocese argues that instead of the agreed-to "compliance" audit, the state wants a "performance" audit that would assess the effectiveness of child protection policies and procedures.
The state says assessing the effectiveness of the diocese’s programs is necessary.
BOOTHBAY HARBOR (ME)
Lincoln County News
Marie Tupper of Boothbay Harbor said Tuesday that she wants her name to appear in the story about her filing a lawsuit Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court against Father Thomas Lee, former priest at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Boothbay Harbor. She claims the priest molested her son for two years, 1977-79.
“I want my name out there. I don’t want them to think I’m hiding,” Tupper said.
The Diocese of Portland began an investigation of the alleged sexual abuse in 2002 and at that time Lee resigned his ministry voluntarily. The investigation did not substantiate the allegations and Lee served a church in Lyman where he again left voluntarily in 2003 after new allegations were aired. Lee now lives in Portland.
BOSTON (MA)
ArriveNet
BOSTON, MA -- (Market Wire - Jan 12, 2005) -- Arc Angel Publishing of Lowell, Massachusetts, has selected Koen Book Distributors to distribute its premier title "Don't Call Me A Victim, Faith, Hope & Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church."
Prior to this agreement, distribution was handled by Arc Angel Publishing.
"We got to the point that the demand was such that we needed a national distributor. The subject matter of this story continues to be international news and there has been a greater demand for the book than we anticipated. Koen Distributors has a history of meeting the demand of larger retailers with a broader customer base. We continue to feel that this book shares an important story and by selecting Koen distributors, this book will be available to a wider range of readers across the U.S.," said a spokesperson for Arc Angel Publishing.
"Don't Call Me A Victim, Faith, Hope & Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church" is a first hand account of its author, Gary Bergeron, who was abused as a young boy by Boston's most notorious priest, Rev Joseph Birmingham. It chronicles the true story of the Catholic Sexual Abuse Scandal which began erupting in Boston in 2002 and made headlines around the world.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
SJ-R.com
By JASON PISCIA
STAFF WRITER
The priest found severely beaten in a park last month has quit as a pastor and diocesan official to deal with revelations of "immoral" and "risky" behavior and to focus on his recovery, the Springfield Catholic Diocese says.
The resignation of Monsignor Eugene Costa as chancellor of the diocese and pastor of parishes in Sherman and Athens took effect Friday, according to a news release issued by the diocese Tuesday.
The announcement came three weeks after Costa, 54, was found unconscious near the band shell in Douglas Park, 400 N. MacArthur Blvd., the night of Dec. 21. His car was parked nearby.
Two Springfield teenagers, Jamie E. Gibson, 17, and a 15-year-old boy, were arrested Jan. 3 and charged with aggravated battery in connection with the beating.
Costa, who remains a priest, is still hospitalized at Memorial Medical Center, where he is undergoing therapy.
Neither the diocese nor law enforcement officials have said why Costa was in Douglas Park that night, although the park has a longstanding reputation as a meeting spot for gay men.
PHOENIX (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
A marriage ceremony over the holidays, performed outside of the Catholic Church and without a priest, violated church law and has led to the firing of the diocese’s Child and Youth Protection Advocate — the person responsible for ensuring sexual misconduct by church personnel doesn’t occur again in the diocese.
Jenny O’Connor, 47, said she was dismissed Saturday after acknowledging to the Rev. Fred Adamson, a vicargeneral, that she and her boyfriend married without the sanctity of a Catholic wedding because he is dying from cancer and they did not believe there was time to plan for and hold a church wedding.
"They asked me to come in and just asked me why I got married, and I told them," O’Connor said Tuesday from her Tempe home. "They said it was outside the boundaries of being a good Catholic, and I explained all the reasons why."
"They didn’t seem to think that any of that is important, and that was it," O’Connor said. She said she was first asked to resign, but when she declined, she was terminated.
While the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix’s judicial vicar, the Rev. Tim Davern, said he could not directly comment on a personnel matter, he said that a person with comparable circumstances should discuss the matter with one’s parish priest.
UNITED STATES
The Washington Time
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The president and the marketing director of a Belarus-based Internet billing company linked to more than 1,000 child-pornography arrests worldwide have been extradited from France to the United States to face conspiracy, money-laundering and child-pornography charges, federal authorities said yesterday.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Dean Boyd said Yahor Zalatarou, 26, and Alexei Buchnev, 27, both of Minsk, Belarus, were arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., after their arrival from France.
Mr. Boyd said Mr. Zalatarou, president of Regpay Co. Ltd., and Mr. Buchnev, the firm's marketing director, were ordered held pending trial, tentatively scheduled for March 1. ...
ICE agents have arrested 190 persons in the United States in connection with the case, he said. The agency also has provided leads to foreign law-enforcement members that have resulted in approximately 860 arrests in Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, China, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, he said.
Mr. Boyd said some of the subscribers arrested included a California seventh-grade teacher, the chief of pediatric medicine at a New York hospital, a minister at a girls school in New Jersey, a Louisiana Catholic priest and a Nevada camp counselor. Most recently, an award-winning firefighter in California was charged with 56 counts of possessing child pornography purchased from Regpay-affiliated sites, he said.
TORRINGTON (CT)
The Register Citizen
JAMIE PRESTON OLMSTEAD, Register Citizen Staff 01/12/2005
TORRINGTON -- While she has yet to find a specific niche among the fiction, non-fiction and self-help books she’s written, Lisa Rene Reynolds puts a great deal of her personal experiences as a therapist into all of her subject matter.
On the heels of a fiction novel and currently in the middle of a manuscript dedicated to the field of psychiatry, Reynolds, who lives in New Milford and works in Torrington, has been caught up in the whirlwind of attention over her latest release, "Coming Out & Covering Up," a commentary by local priests on the pedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic faith.
"The book has been doing fairly well, holding its own. It’s certainly something that is in the news," Reynolds, 35, said Tuesday. "I’ve been in a frenzy for a while, doing a ton of appearances and signings."
Reynolds, who interviewed countless Connecticut priests as part of her three-month research and writing process, drew primarily on her work experience with Danbury Catholic Family Services for background information.
Under the arm of Danbury Catholic Family Services, Reynolds was responsible for helping remove offending priests from office, and providing therapy to the endless number of related rape or molestation victims. It came as some surprise to Reynolds, then, that local Catholic priests met her research with open arms.
BOSTON (MA)
Nashua Telegraph
By DENISE LAVOIE, The Associated Press
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005
BOSTON - A Jesuit priest who taught and coached at Boston College High School pleaded guilty Tuesday to molesting two teenage boys during wrestling drills.
Prosecutors said the Rev. James Talbot, 67, sexually assaulted the two students in the late 1970s, when he was teaching history and coaching soccer and hockey at the all-male parochial school.
Talbot, 67, is the first member of the Jesuit order prosecuted in the Boston Archdiocese since the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted here in 2002.
He pleaded guilty to one count each of rape and assault with intent to rape, and three counts of assault and battery. Under a plea deal with prosecutors, he faces five to seven years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 24.
UTAH
KSL
Jan. 11, 2005
A missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is accused of sexually abusing two teenage girls, and videotaping the acts. Sandra Yi is live in our newsroom with details of the investigation.
Police say the suspect videotaped himself fondling the 2 teenage girls as they slept. 21-year old John Baysden was arrested Saturday. Court documents say he was staying at a home in this Roy neighborhood. One of the victims awoke to find him standing over her with his hand on her breast. She noticed his video camera.
Police say, when the family confronted him, he gave them the camera and videotapes. Police say, the tapes also show Baysden fondling the teen's 17-year old cousin, on a different occasion. He told police, he also inappropriately touched the same girl once before while she slept and didn't tape it. He also admitted trying to tape the bedroom of his neighbor's 16-year old daughter.
UTAH
Salt Lake Tribune
An LDS Church missionary serving in the Ogden Mission was being held Tuesday on $30,000 bail after police say he sexually abused two teenage girls while they were sleeping and videotaped it. John Baysden, 21, of North Carolina, was 17 months into his mission and had been in Roy for five weeks, said Roy police Chief Greg Whinham. The alleged abuse occurred at the home of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Roy, where the missionary spent the night on more than one occasion, Whinham said. The church members "placed their trust in him," he said. "Obviously, that trust was violated."
WETUMPKA (AL)
Montgomery Advertiser
By Marty Roney
Montgomery Advertiser
WETUMPKA -- Investigators with the Elmore County Sheriff's Office are checking to see if a Wetumpka minister arrested on sex abuse charges could have more victims.
Garett Albert Dykes, 38, of 909 Oak Crest Court, faces three counts of sexual abuse, three counts of production of obscene matter of someone under 17 and one count of sodomy, said Sheriff Bill Franklin. He is the minister of Calvary Baptist Church in downtown Wetumpka.
The victims are girls under age 10, the sheriff said.
Dykes was arrested Sunday night. He admitted to the sheriff his involvement in the crimes and that he videotaped the abuse. Tuesday, parents of a third young girl came forward to authorities.
"This young girl told a similar story that the two victims told us," Franklin said. "We are looking into what she has told us. We haven't filed any more charges against Mr. Dykes, but more may be coming. It's important to know that the abuse occurred at the Dykes' home. So far we have no evidence of activity outside the periphery of the home."
BOSTON (MA)
Portland Press Herald
By JEN FISH, Portland Press Herald Writer
BOSTON — A Jesuit priest who taught and coached at Cheverus High School in Portland faces as much as seven years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing boys he coached at Boston College High School in the 1970s. The Rev. James F. Talbot, 67, pleaded guilty Tuesday to rape, assault with intent to rape, and three counts of assault and battery. He will be sentenced Jan. 24.
The plea agreement says Talbot will spend five to seven years in a state prison and three years on probation, and will be required to register as a sexual offender and give the state of Massachusetts a DNA sample.
Tuesday's hearing marked the first time Talbot has publicly acknowledged his crimes. He was sued in 1998 by a former Cheverus student, Michael S. Doherty, who accused the priest of molesting him in 1984 and 1985.
The lawsuit was settled in 2001 for an undisclosed amount of money. Talbot, who had been fired from Cheverus in 1998, avoided criminal prosecution in Maine because the statue of limitations had expired.
WETUMPKA (AL)
WSFA
The Elmore County Sheriff is now investigating a third accusation of sexual abuse against the pastor of Wetumpka's Calvary Baptist Church. He was arrested sunday afternoon at his church after the families of two eight year old girls filed charges against him.
Garret Dykes made his first court appearance Tuesday morning. About a half dozen other inmates also made their first appearance in court Tuesday morning and Dykes got there early before the others, sat in court calmly, chatting with the sheriff and the Assistant District Attorney. He didn't seem nervous or disturbed at all. When it was his time to go before the judge, Dykes said he understood the seven charges against him for sexual abuse and sodomy as well as production charges for making a video tape of the incidents. He could face up to life in prison, if convicted.
Dykes' church members say they are still in shock. They describe him as articulate and personable with an out going personality and they don't know what they should have done differently. John Pritchett is the Church Administrator. He says, "We did a background check on this man. We did a credit check on this man. Checked his references. Our ssearch committee interviewed him, talked with church members of his former church and I don't know what else you can do to check some out."
WEYMOUTH (MA)
Weymouth News
By Michael Verseckes/ mverseck@cnc.com
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The Rev. Eugene Sullivan, pastor of Saint Francis Xavier Church in Weymouth, has accepted voluntary leave due to a civil lawsuit which has been filed against him alleging that he abused a minor in 1977.
According to published reports, Sullivan's attorney, Paul Kelly, said that the plaintiff has the Rev. Sullivan confused with another Catholic priest with an almost identical name who was convicted of molestation. In 1984, that priest, the Rev. Eugene O'Sullivan, pleaded guilty to raping an alter boy in Arlington.
The Rev. Sullivan's lawyer insists that the plaintiff has accused the wrong man.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Mitchell Garabedian, names the Rev. Sullivan as one of the defendants who allegedly molested the plaintiff when he was 15 years old.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 12, 2005
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Supporters flew in from Mexico to testify Tuesday that the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos was a selfless priest, an outstanding teacher and a moral man.
Employees and parishioners from St. Gabriel Catholic Church said he revitalized the southwest Detroit parish in just a few months, drawing standing-room crowds for Spanish masses and working even on his days off.
But an 8-year-old boy -- who wasn't quite sure when his birthday is and thinks he'd like to learn ice skating -- testified in Wayne County Circuit Court that the priest fondled him in bed and asked the youngster, "Did it feel good?"
The boy was the last person in his six-member family to testify about an evening last spring when de Alba Campos, recruited from Mexico early in 2004 to lead St. Gabriel, was invited over to bless the family's home. The boy's father and the priest acknowledged splitting a bottle of tequila that night, and the drunken priest slept an upstairs bedroom with the boy, who was then 7.
Once in bed, the boy said the priest pulled down his underwear and touched his penis.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS
Former Roman Catholic priest Michael S. McGrath was sued Tuesday over allegations that he sexually abused a teenage altar boy at All Souls Church in Overland in 1980 and 1981.
John Doe GM, as he is known in the lawsuit, also sued the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Archbishop Raymond Burke.
The suit, filed in St. Louis circuit court, says church officials knew that McGrath took trips with young children, invited them home and spent "unusual amounts of time alone" with them, but didn't tell parishioners or parents. Church officials also didn't properly supervise McGrath and remove him when allegations surfaced, the suit says.
McGrath and the archdiocese have been sued 17 other times since 2003, according to court records. The church has settled many of those suits and settled another Monday, says Bernard Huger, one of the lawyers representing the church.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | January 12, 2005
Even though Paul Shanley would walk, his accuser should feel free to walk away.
It is a terrible burden to expect one man to do what so many other, more powerful men would not do, but that is just what the criminal justice system is asking of the last man standing in the criminal case against the notorious former Roman Catholic priest.
All of those PowerPoint presentations of Shanley's career trajectory, those 800 pages of secret church files enumerating the long-ignored complaints against him, even the money paid by the church to settle the civil claims against him, will not yield a criminal conviction against the defrocked priest. For that, prosecutors need one young man to testify about his memories of the popular and charismatic priest allegedy pulling him out of religious education classes years ago in order to rape him.
Yesterday, he was willing to go forward with the trial that is scheduled to begin next week. Tomorrow? No one is placing any bets.
It was never going to be easy to convict Shanley of crimes said to have occurred between 1979 and 1989. Only a quirk of Massachusetts law made it possible to prosecute him at all; the statute of limitations that normally would have applied was suspended because Shanley had moved out of state.
FAIRFIELD (CT)
Greenwich Time
By Ivan H. Golden
Staff Writer
January 12, 2005
FAIRFIELD -- Parishioners at St. Paul Church in Greenwich have waited more than two years for the Rev. Frank A. Winn.
The Catholic parish has been without a permanent pastor since December 2002, when the Rev. Albert McGoldrick was replaced in response to an allegation of child sexual abuse from 20 years ago.
Since then, a series of interim priests has filled in at the 1,000-member parish on Sherwood Avenue in backcountry Greenwich. But when Winn moves into the parish rectory on Saturday, he hopes it will be the start of a long relationship.
"I think the first thing on my agenda is to be a real presence there for the parishioners," Winn said yesterday in the rectory of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Fairfield, where he is associate pastor. "And to satisfy their concern that I'm not just going to be there for a few months and then leave. I'm going to be there for a long time."
STAMFORD (CT)
Record-Journal
STAMFORD — New York Cardinal Edward Egan will testify later this month in the civil trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting an altar boy, a church spokesman said Tuesday.
Egan will give a deposition on Jan. 27, said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The deposition will take place at a law office in Manhattan.
Stamford Superior Court Judge Chase Rogers last month asked New York officials to enforce a subpoena ordering Egan to testify. Attorney Paul Slager, who represents the alleged victim, said in court documents that he had repeatedly asked the Archdiocese of New York to make Egan available for a deposition.
Slager's client claims he was molested in the early 1990s by the Rev. John Castaldo while Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull.
At the time, Egan oversaw the Bridgeport diocese.
"During the cardinal's years in the Bridgeport diocese, there was never any indication of any sort of sexual misbehavior on the part of the priest in question," Zwilling said last month.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— A former priest was sentenced to jail yesterday after pleading guilty last month to charges of rape, assault and battery, furnishing alcohol to a minor and committing an unnatural and lascivious act.
James D. Campbell, 59, a former Catholic priest in West Warwick, R.I., was sentenced to 90 days in the House of Correction with 10 years of probation to follow after admitting Dec. 22 in Worcester Superior Court that he molested two male teenagers in the 1970s in Uxbridge. Mr. Campbell was assigned to St. Joseph Parish in West Warwick at the time of the assaults, which occurred from 1975 to 1978.
The sentence imposed yesterday by Judge Peter W. Agnes Jr. was recommended by Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey T. Travers and Mr. Campbell’s lawyer, James McCormick.
As conditions of probation, Mr. Campbell was ordered to register as a sex offender, provide a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities and undergo drug, alcohol, sex offender and psychological evaluations and any related treatment recommended by the Probation Department. Mr. Campbell was further ordered to have no contact with the victims and no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.
Mr. Campbell, last known to be living with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty last month to single counts of rape and committing an unnatural and lascivious act, and two counts each of assault and battery and furnishing alcohol to a minor. Judge Agnes postponed sentencing until yesterday.
Prosecutors said Mr. Campbell molested the victims after taking them to a restaurant and plying them with alcohol.
Judge Agnes made reference yesterday to what he described as the “extraordinary” impact statement made by one of the victims at the time of Mr. Campbell’s plea and said the man’s agreement with the proposed sentence weighed heavily in his sentencing deliberations.
Judge Agnes cautioned Mr. Campbell that he could be sentenced to up to life imprisonment if he were to violate the terms of his probation after his release from custody.
MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
A new Web site went online last week as a safe place for sexual abuse victims to report anonymously to police what happened to them.
VictimPower.org is the work of an Andover family, a technological adviser from Washington state and a group of college and university students who assisted as part of a college project.
A dozen students from Georgetown University, Harvard University, Boston University, Azusa Pacific of Los Angeles, John Carroll College of Maryland, St. Anselm College of Vermont, Montgomery College of Maryland and Duquesne University of Pittsburgh did the legwork to assemble contact information of all police departments, prosecutors and other agencies in 50 states.
Two leaders in development of the site are lawyer Stephen H. Galebach and his wife, Diane Galebach, of Andover. Devout Catholics and the parents of 10 children, they became concerned about victims after discovering the full extent of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Mr. Galebach, who has a law practice in Andover, was a legal policy adviser for five years in the Reagan White House and was senior special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese during the Reagan administration. He is legal adviser for the site, which is operated by a nonprofit organization called It Works.
The site in its first week — it was launched Thursday — has been a success, he said. About 800 people have signed on as users and some of the reports being made to police and prosecutors are “of a serious nature.” The VictimPower site has the capacity for two-way anonymous communication and the program blocks the e-mail address of the person making the report. Police and prosecutors can go back to the informant to get additional information without knowing the identity of the person with whom they are communicating, he said.
A user signing on from Worcester can communicate anonymously with the office of District Attorney John J. Conte, the Worcester Police Department and the Catholic Diocese of Worcester or the headquarters of many Protestant denominations. They can also make reports involving non-church-related abuse or harassment.
Mr. Galebach said the students found all the contact information for the 50 states but they could expand the service to include foreign countries if they can find students or other people to work on locating the contact information.
The new site was praised by David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “I’m confident that some victims now trapped in silence, shame and self-blame will use this new vehicle to unburden themselves of the horrific secrets they carry and hopefully achieve some measure of justice and prevention,” he said.
Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo, spokesman for the Worcester Police Department, said it is not opposed to the Web site, but said police need a victim before they can prosecute. The Web site could prove valuable to law enforcement if it gives people a place to communicate until they are ready to come forward and identify themselves to police or the district attorney. He acknowledged that abuse victims sometimes have a difficult time beginning to make themselves known to law enforcement.
Anonymous information can prove valuable, Sgt. Quitadamo said, if police are able to take that information and build a case against an alleged perpetrator. “We take it on a case-by-case basis,” he said.
The Worcester Police Department accepts information at wpd@ci.Worcester.ma.us and has an anonymous tip line at (508) 799-8655. Police would also work with the office of Mr. Conte on these cases, he said.
The Web site designers said that although empowering victims is their first aim, they believe the site will benefit prosecutors and church and school authorities. They believe law enforcement and district attorneys will hear from people they would not hear from if victims had to identify themselves.
“During my time in the Reagan administration, I worked closely with key players in the law enforcement community on crimes involving sexual abuse and exploitation,” Mr. Galebach said. He was the White House “lead” in working for passage of the Child Protection Act of 1984, a bill that toughened federal laws dealing with the production and distribution of pornographic materials involving children.“VictimPower has tremendous potential to help law enforcement and victims. Two-way communication with an anonymous victim or witness is a powerful tool, possible today with technology that none of us could have imagined in the 1980s,” he said. Hot lines can offer confidentiality, he said, but the “total anonymity” of the Web site is different.
“Courts can order that a whistleblower’s identity be disclosed. But VictimPower does not know the identity of the users,” he said.
Mrs. Galebach said the Web site is “new hope for victims.”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to separate the shame of what happened to me, from me, my person?” she said. She conceived the idea for the Web site and assembled the team to produce it.
Much of the technical help came from David Ross, founder of RAF Technology of Redmond, Wash. He invented the software that reads and routes U.S. first class mail and designed the authentication system now used by the U.S. Treasury Department for its online e-commerce Web site www.pay.gov.
“With VictimPower.org victims can easily find out the proper legal, church, school and other authorities for them to communicate with. Once they have determined the best authorities, the victims can report anonymously what has happened to them and what they have witnessed,” Mr. Ross said.
“This anonymity cannot be broken by an overzealous prosecutor or unscrupulous hacker, because any identifying information linking the victim to his report is destroyed at the conclusion of his session,” he said. “What does not exist cannot be hacked and cannot be subpoenaed.”
GHANA
Ghana Web
Tamale Jan. 11, GNA - Most Reverend Peter Porekuu Dery, Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Church in Tamale, has observed that priesthood was not a vocation for drunkards, womanisers or people wishing to make quick money.
He said the profession was divine and special and meant for people dedicated to serve God.
Archbishop Dery who made the observation when he ordained three deacons for the Damongo Diocese of the Church in Tamale, asked priests to salvage the image of the priesthood by eschewing all social vices and remain humble, respectful and honest in the performance their duties.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
James D. Campbell, a former Catholic priest in Warwick, R.I., who pleaded guilty to rape, on December 22, 2004 in Worcester Superior court case WOCR2003-01575 had his sentence of 90 days in the house of correction imposed today by Worcester Superior Court Judge Peter W Agnes Jr. Previously assistant district attorney Jeffrey T. Travers and Mr. Campbell’s lawyer James T. McCormick recommended a 90-day jail term. During the victim impact statement the victim also agreed to the sentencing.
Mr. Campbell admitted he took J.H. and another teenager to a restaurant in Uxbridge nearly 30 years ago and molested them on different occasions.
Rev Campbell while an ordained Catholic priest was never assigned to the Worcester Diocese, his only association to Worcester was the location of his crime.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
Herald & Review
By MIKE FRAZIER H&R Staff Writer
Monsignor Eugene Costa has resigned as chancellor of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois and as pastor of parishes in Sherman and Athens, the diocese announced Tuesday.
Costa formerly served as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Decatur.
The Roman Catholic priest was found beaten and unconscious in a Springfield park last month. He since has regained consciousness.
Two teenagers recently were charged with aggravated battery in connection with the case.
A news release from the diocese stated Costa's resignation will allow him to deal with ``previous instances of inappropriate and risky behavior that have come to light during this difficult period.''
The diocese is unaware of any inappropriate contact with minors, or behavior that would involve the principles of U.S. Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People or of the diocese's own Policy on Sexual Abuse of Minors by Church Personnel, the release stated.
If additional information becomes available that indicates otherwise, diocesan policy would be enforced immediately, the release stated.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon says Prime Minister John Howard has intervened to prevent abuse victims from repaying medical costs.
At the end of last year 169 people abused while in state care were offered compensation payments.
Steve Fisher from Survivors Investigating Child Sexual Abuse says after the majority accepted the payment they received a letter from the commission saying they would have to repay Medicare costs relating to the abuse.
"It could go as high as in to the tens of thousands of dollars," Mr Fisher said.
Mr Howard's letter says he has suspended any recovery action by the Health Insurance Commission while the matter is examined further.
The letter also suggests the suspension will also apply to abuse victims who have received compensation from the Anglican church.
The Prime Minister did not return the ABC's call.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 5:10 pm EST January 11, 2005
UPDATED: 5:19 pm EST January 11, 2005
BOSTON -- A Catholic priest pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually abusing two students in the late 70s while he was a coach at Boston College High School.
NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that the Rev. James Talbot pleaded guilty to five charges, including rape assault with intent to rape and assault and battery. The victims were two of his students more than 30 years ago.
Prosecutor Audrey Mark told the judge that Talbot used to hold what he called aggression drills to toughen the boys up.
STAMFORD (CT)
Newsday
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writer
January 11, 2005, 6:25 PM EST
STAMFORD, Conn. -- New York Cardinal Edward Egan will testify later this month in the civil trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting an altar boy, a church spokesman said Tuesday.
Egan will give a deposition on Jan. 27, said Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York. The deposition will take place at a law office in Manhattan.
Stamford Superior Court Judge Chase Rogers last month asked New York officials to enforce a subpoena ordering Egan to testify. Attorney Paul Slager, who represents the alleged victim, said in court documents that he had repeatedly asked the Archdiocese of New York to make Egan available for a deposition.
Slager's client claims he was molested in the early 1990s by the Rev. John Castaldo while Castaldo was a priest at St. Teresa Church in Trumbull.
At the time, Egan oversaw the Bridgeport diocese.
"During the cardinal's years in the Bridgeport diocese, there was never any indication of any sort of sexual misbehavior on the part of the priest in question," Zwilling said last month.
BOSTON (MA)
National
By JEANNINE GRAMICK
I was anxious as I boarded the plane to Boston to see Paul Shanley, a priest accused of pedophilia, made notorious by The Boston Globe and the national media. What would we talk about after all these years? I didn’t want to quiz him about the lurid stories I had read. I didn’t want to ask, “Paul, did you do these terrible things?” I was hoping he would sense that I just wanted to offer him the comfort of friendship.
I met Paul, who is scheduled for trial Jan. 24, in the early 1970s at a conference in Dayton, Ohio, about ministry to homosexual persons. Over the years, we would minister together in various ways. We marched to the Detroit chancery to protest the diocesan newspaper’s firing of Brian McNaught, a gay man and youth columnist. We demonstrated for gay and lesbian civil rights legislation in Wichita, Kan., at the height of Anita Bryant’s anti-homosexual campaign. We spoke at meetings for lesbian and gay Catholics, presented workshops to sensitize heterosexual Catholics about homosexuality, and prayed publicly that our society and church would acknowledge that lesbian and gay persons need make no apology for their sexual orientation.
I knew Paul to the extent that one knows most colleagues in ministry. I understood him as a person who shared my vision of justice for the oppressed. I experienced him as an iconoclast who publicly denounced social, medical or ecclesial institutions that kept the underdog continually underneath. I admired this man who reminded the establishment what it was established for -- service to individuals, not self-preservation. I was proud to be acquainted with him and call him a friend.
But for many months following the public revelations of his alleged abusive actions, I felt uneasy acknowledging I knew Paul, as if my association with him would imply I had little sympathy for victims of sexual abuse. Of course, I was appalled and horrified by the sexual violations against our young or not so young by persons in positions of trust. At the same time, my heart grieved for this man I had not seen in almost 20 years, but whose principles and whose advocacy for the downtrodden I had applauded for three decades.
BOSTON (MA)
National
By MAUREEN ORTH
Sr. Jeannine Gramick obviously has never read the 1,600-plus pages of the Boston archdiocese’s file on Paul Shanley. I have. Had she done so before taking up his cause, she would have seen that there were complaints about Shanley’s inappropriate behavior toward minor boys going back nearly 40 years and that the diocesan-appointed psychiatrist who finally examined him in 1994 concluded, “Fr. Shanley is so personally damaged that his pathology is beyond repair.”
It is hard even to imagine, let alone understand, the callous disregard for these children, their parents and for Shanley’s many parishioners displayed by the Boston hierarchy when confronted with his behavior through the years. Even more difficult to fathom is why Shanley’s chief protector in the hierarchy, Bishop John B. McCormack, currently in Manchester, N.H., and others of his ilk still enjoy the perquisites of high church office. While the archdiocese was trying to negotiate with one accuser in 1994, for example, and two other allegations of abuse surfaced at the same time, Shanley, upon his retirement from the Boston archdiocese, received a pension and a letter of commendation from Cardinal Bernard Law. Law wrote: “For 30 years in assigned ministry you brought God’s word and his love to his people and I know that continues to be your goal despite some difficult limitations.” Shanley was eventually farmed out to California where he helped run a gay motel. The diocese to which he was sent was never told of his reputation, thus allowing him to strike again with impunity.
What a slap in the face to the victims. This constant protection and charity displayed by one member of the religious to another, this reaching out to the black sheep, trying to bring him back into the fold at the cost of ignoring those who have suffered the abuse. This blasé attitude toward the “others” not of the old-boy and old-girl network has been a hallmark of the church’s current sex abuse scandal. It is as if Sr. Jeannine, clinging to her warm memories of the fight for gay rights waged with Paul Shanley at the barricades, obscures the facts of his case. Why hasn’t the church displayed the same charity toward those whose lives have been ruined by predator priests like Shanley?
BOSTON (MA)
National
By DAVID FRANCE
From the beginning of the Catholic abuse crisis in America, a handful of names have come to symbolize the awful narrative: Cardinal Bernard Law, who covered up; the elfin Fr. John Geoghan, with upward of 200 victims; Fr. Maurice Blackwell of Baltimore, whose apparent immunity drove his victim to shoot him in rage. Other stories included a priest who pleaded guilty to rape and another who lured youngsters to his bed -- even after he was committed to a secluded treatment facility nicknamed Pedophile Palace. Their cruel and twisted stories fill my book, Our Fathers, with a heavy pathos.
But in the popular pantheon of priestly criminality, one name stands out as especially atrocious -- Paul Shanley, graduate of the notoriously tainted Class of 1960 from St. John’s Seminary in Boston, a man whose lengthy personnel files at the chancery bulged with thousands of complaints and admonitions. The Boston Globe called him “a depraved priest who knew few limits to his sexual cravings.” The church settled many civil suits against him for perhaps several million dollars, and the Vatican laicized him summarily last year.
I never got a chance to interview Shanley for Newsweek, where I covered the crisis, or for my book. Indeed, Shanley has yet to explain himself publicly. But as I pored over the evidence against him, a strangely nuanced and sensitive portrait of the man began to emerge. Shanley was an early gay-rights activist in his church, making him a hero to many in the 1960s and ’70s. He also, it turns out, routinely violated his celibacy vows with young men he met through counseling situations -- many of whom seriously regret the encounters. This was professional misconduct at its most base.
But is he a pedophile? Did he violate age-of-consent laws? Is Shanley a child molester? More than two years later, no jury has had a chance to draw a conclusion. The court settlements were done without a trial. Even his laicization was undertaken without a hearing, and more recently two of the most serious criminal charges against him have been thrown out before trial.
BOSTON (MA)
National
I must start with a confession. Had anyone other than Sr. Jeannine Gramick come to me with the piece about Paul Shanley, I would have long ago dumped it in the circular file ( see story).
Shanley, a defrocked priest, has become notorious as an accused child molester, one of the better-known names in that pantheon of Catholic disgrace. To this date the file on him seems convincing -- if his activities weren’t criminal, at least some of them described in profiles and newspaper accounts quoting church documentation show at the least a betrayal of trust and of office and an abuse of power.
So why even go there?
Frankly, because Gramick pursued the issue. I would be hard-pressed to name someone else so thoroughly infused with integrity and goodwill. In all the years that I have known her and that I and reporters who have worked for me have written about her, I have never heard her speak ill of anyone. Not bishops or figures in the Vatican, not even during the long, painful process that would most charitably be described as a trial and, I think more accurately, as high-level harassment. She ultimately was prohibited by church officials from continuing her ministry with gays and lesbians in the church.
ALBANY (OR)
KOIN
ALBANY, Ore. -- A former Albany pastor has been sentenced to nearly nine years in prison for sexually abusing his 11-year-old daughter.
Timothy Sullivan was found guilty last month of two counts of first-degree sexual assault. He has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Several members of his family and supporters from his congregation attended the six-day trial, in which he took the stand in his own defense.
SPRINGFIELD (IL)
WQAD
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. A Catholic priest who was found badly beaten in a Springfield park last month has resigned.
A statement from the Springfield Diocese today says Monsignor Eugene Costa will no longer serve as pastor of parishes in the central Illinois communities of Sherman and Athens. His resignation was effective Friday.
The diocese says Costa is resigning to focus on his physical recovery and to deal with what the diocese calls instances of "inappropriate" behavior. Springfield diocese spokeswoman Kathy Sass declined to provide any details about the situation.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 11, 2005 12:00 AM
One of the nation's leading advocates for the victims of clergy abuse says she was fired Saturday when officials in the Diocese of Phoenix learned that she had been married outside the church.
Jenny O'Connor, who has led the diocese's Office of Child and Youth Protection since its founding in April 2003, was the key person in charge of working with victims of abuse by Catholic priests and preventing further abuse. She has been praised for her work by the executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' youth protection office and by several of the diocese's abuse victims.
Diocesan officials, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters, declined to answer any questions about O'Connor's departure. They were not available late Monday to explain their position on marriage. advertisement
The office will be filled by current staff until a replacement can be found.
O'Connor, in an interview late Monday afternoon, said she was let go for getting married in a civil ceremony that the Catholic Church does not recognize as legitimate. Catholic teaching specifies that marriages involving Catholics must be performed in the church.
O'Connor said her husband is dying of cancer, so their wedding had to take place more quickly than a church wedding could be arranged.
It took place during the Christmas break.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER
A national victims' group has asked Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre and four other bishops who worked under disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston to post the names of known and suspected abusers on their diocesan Web sites as a way to protect children.
"Given your role in Boston, the epicenter of this catastrophic episode in the church, we believe you can and should do more," said the letter from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which includes thousands of victims of priest sex abuse across the country.
The letter from Chicago-based SNAP, which has chapters nationwide, was e-mailed to Murphy and other bishops who were top aides to Law on the third anniversary of the Boston Globe series about the cover-up of priest sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. That series sparked revelations of cover-ups around the country leading to the suspension of more than 700 accused priests nationwide.
It asks the bishops to implement what SNAP called "common-sense safety precautions" -- most importantly, to disclose and publicly post the names of accused priests. Although every U.S. bishop is required to remove priests found guilty of sex abuse under a national policy, they have considerable latitude about how to handle the cases. Hence, Murphy does not routinely disclose the names, while bishops in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Toledo publish that information to varying degrees on their diocesan Web sites.
IELAND
One in Four
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent - Irish Times
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse resumes it public hearings this morning when its investigation committee begins an inquiry into residential institutions run by the Sisters of Mercy.
Today and tomorrow it will hear evidence from representatives of the congregation on the Our Lady of Succour industrial school, at Newtownforbes, Co Longford.
In March, the committee will begin its inquiry into the Goldenbridge orphanage, also run by the Sisters of Mercy and which was the subject of the ground breaking Dear Daughter programme broadcast on RTÉ television in 1996.
The Newtownforbes industrial school was at the centre of controversy in February 2003 when an advertisement was placed in newspapers asking people to come forward who had knowledge of the institution through professional, social or other contact, including those "who consider that their experience of life in the institution was positive".
BARBADOS
Daily Nation
Tuesday 11, January-2005
by Roy R. Morris
There’s an old saying: Don’t judge a man ’til you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. Keep this in mind as you read this article.
Early last week I received a call from a woman who asked me to help her with a problem. I have to admit that while speaking to her I kept asking myself “how silly can a person get?”
But as I replayed the conversation in my mind over the week, it occurred to me that my judgement was particularly harsh. When I did a full interview, my disposition changed dramatically.
Andrea is 27 years old, but her level of reasoning suggests she is much younger. Her mother died when she was a baby. She attended secondary school until she was just 13 years old. She has not been to school anywhere since then. At the age of 14 she was raped. ...
That was when, she said, a girlfriend of her brother drew her attention to an ad in The Nation, with someone identifying himself as a high priest offering assistance with situations such as hers. For $1 000 he offered to cast out her evil spirits and “cleanse the house”.
Andrea said she begged and borrowed to come up with the money, after the “high priest” shuffled some cards at her introductory visit to his home near the Ministry of Public Works, invited her to pull three and they all pointed to her imminent death.
The problem was that none of the “cures” worked. He then determined that the demons had inherited her jewellery and they too had to be brought to him for cleansing. As time passed and neither relief nor her jewellery returned, Andrea said, she was told the four rings, three bracelets, two chains , earrings and anklet were so deeply possessed they had to be buried to “get rid of the spirits”.
Still she believed in the man.
With nothing changing, he apparently determined it was time for the heavy stuff. According to her, she was told a ritual would have to be performed on her body and it would involve intercourse. For the first time, she said, she questioned his course of action, and was told she should not see it as sex, but the casting out of demons.
NEW YORK
The Journal News
By THE JOURNAL NEWS
STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
(Original publication: January 11, 2005)
The Vatican has reopened an investigation into charges that a powerful Mexican priest close to the pope sexually abused seminarians.
The allegations focus on the actions of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, now 84 and based in Rome. He leads the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order that claims 600 priests in 18 countries. Its U.S. headquarters is in Orange, Conn., but the order has a growing presence in Westchester County.
The allegations surfaced in February 1997. Nine former members of the group said Maciel first abused them years ago when they were young boys or teenagers, ages 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
Maciel and the Legionaries of Christ have vigorously denied the allegations of abuse. Maciel has accused the nine men of a conspiracy to defame him.
A spokesman for the religious order said Friday that the Legionaries of Christ had not been informed that the investigation was being reopened. Jay Dunlap said the Vatican investigated Maciel in the late 1950s and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
"The Vatican investigated, moved in, questioned the Legionaries individually and in depth, and found absolutely no wrongdoing of any kind," Dunlap said.
BOOTHBAY HARBOR (ME)
Portland Press-Herald
By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
A Boothbay Harbor woman has filed a lawsuit against a Roman Catholic priest who she says molested her son from the time the boy was 3 years old until he was 5.
The priest, the Rev. Thomas Lee, has denied the accusation to Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Boothbay Harbor and to the Diocese of Portland.
Lee voluntarily stepped down in 2002 while the diocese conducted an investigation into allegations he sexually abused the boy. He returned to a church in Lyman after the investigation was unable to substantiate the claim but stepped down again in 2003 after new allegations of misconduct with minors arose.
Lee, who now lives in Portland, declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.
FRANCE
Expatica
NICE, France, Jan 10 (AFP) - French prosecutors on Monday demanded a six-month prison term for a former Orthodox priest charged with fondling a British boy who spent Christmas with him in 1999.
Monsignor Paul, born Peter Alderson, denied accusations he abused the British boy, then 11, saying he only "helped him undress" and "rubbed his back a little" when the boy was bathing.
The boy, who lost his parents and was under the care of his grandmother who had made the acquaintance of Paul, was not present at the trial and was "on the run" according to his lawyer Marie-Pierre Lazard.
Incriminating parts of a diary of the priest, who retired in 2000, were read out in court, including passages
where he mentioned "losing control of himself" and "frantically searching for physical pleasures".
STAMFORD (CT)
Connecticut Post
By DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
STAMFORD
Jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in the civil trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting a Trumbull altar boy in the early 1990s.
The Superior Court lawsuit, filed against the Diocese of Bridgeport, charges that the church hierarchy failed to protect children from the Rev. John Castaldo.
Ernest Teitell, who with Paul Slager, represents the former altar boy, confirmed jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning, but Monday declined further comment on the case.
Diocesan spokesman Joseph McAleer said the diocese does not comment on pending cases.
The lawsuit claims Castaldo kissed the then-13-year-old altar boy on the mouth at least five times in the sacristy at St. Theresa Church in Trumbull in 1990.
It states the priest took the plaintiff and two other altar boys on a trip to Disney World in Florida in August 1991 and sexually assaulted the plaintiff during that trip.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register
MINERVA CANTO
Register columnist
mcanto@ocregister.com
The envelopes arrive every month, a gentle reminder for my husband and me to attend weekly church service and make a donation to our Catholic parish.
Each time, I put the envelope in a handy place, thinking this just may be the week that we go. But we don't go and months pass.
Finally, last week, we heeded the call, resolving to take advantage of a new year and a fresh start. Maybe to atone for our failure to go on a regular basis, I tuck a few more dollars than I usually would in the envelope.
At the end of Mass, I'm wondering what took me so long to return to church when an announcement is made about an upcoming Mass of reconciliation for the victims who were sexually abused by priests, nuns and other church leaders.
I don't give it much thought until later in the week, when I read newspaper reports detailing the $100 million settlement along with a long list of the people accused in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
And this is when it hits me. The magnitude of the abuse alleged by dozens of victims at churches.
MANCHESTER (NH)
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER — The state and Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester yesterday said the agreement they reached in 2002 is valid and should be enforced, although they remain at odds over how the diocese's child protection policies and procedures should be evaluated.
In dispute is a provision requiring annual audits to determine if the diocese is in compliance with the agreement's terms and diocesan policies.
To date, no audits have been done as both sides wrangled over what the scope of the audit should be.
The matter went to court last September. Judge Carol A. Conboy questioned whether the agreement is void if both sides never reached a "meeting of the minds" required for a contract to be effective.
In briefs filed in Hillsborough County Superior Court, both sides said the language clearly shows the agreement is valid; they detailed positions they will make during oral arguments set for Jan. 20.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Nashua Telegraph
By ALBERT McKEON, Telegraph Staff
mckeona@telegraph-nh.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
Two years ago, on a cold and sunny December morning, the national and local media swept through Concord to record a historic agreement between church and state.
The attorney general’s office had agreed not to prosecute leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester for keeping sexually abusive priests in ministry. No charges would come as long as the diocese created a transparent system to protect children from abuse, and annually submitted to state audits to measure compliance.
But the process hasn’t left the ground; an audit has not been performed. What was once considered historic may become history. A Hillsborough County Superior Court judge will soon determine if the accord is valid - if there was a true meeting of the minds.On Monday, exactly 25 months after the agreement was signed, the diocese and state filed court motions previewing their arguments for a hearing Jan. 20 at the Manchester court.
Both sides essentially differ on what an audit should entail, and who should pay for it.
The attorney general’s office contends the diocese has tied prosecutors’ hands by parsing the contract’s meaning. According to prosecutors, church leaders want to limit the audit to nothing more than a cursory review, thus preventing the state from determining whether children are safe.
“The diocese now seeks to continue the environment of secrecy and avoidance . . . with the state only allowed to measure compliance by looking at written policies and procedures but no opportunity to look into whether they work or are effective,” prosecutors wrote in their brief. “Policies and procedures do not protect children.”
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By David Abel, Globe Staff | January 11, 2005
A 67-year-old priest who worked as a teacher and wrestling coach at Boston College High School will plead guilty today in Suffolk Superior Court to raping one teenage student and assaulting another during wrestling practice in the 1970s, prosecutors said yesterday.
The Rev. James F. Talbot, a Jesuit priest who taught at BC High between 1972 and 1980, agreed to serve five to seven years in state prison for three counts of assault and battery, one count of rape, and one count of assault with intent to rape, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said in a telephone interview.
''This is a fair result to the victims and one that they approve of," Conley said. ''We hope this helps them find closure. Given the offenses, his age, and input of the victims, the Commonwealth is satisfied that this is a substantial penalty." Talbot, of Weston, could not be reached yesterday, and his lawyer did not return calls.
Prosecutors would not identify the victims, except to say that they were between 15 and 17 years old when Talbot allegedly assaulted them. Conley described one or more of the assault counts as involving ''improper touching."
At BC High, where the abuse allegedly took place between December 1977 and the spring of 1979, officials said they hope the priest's imprisonment consoles the victims.
GREEN BAY (WI)
News-Chronicle
A new judge has been assigned to a case involving the alleged sexual assault of a boy by a former counselor and priest of a Green Bay Catholic school.
Donald Buzanowski is charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. The alleged victim, 10 years old at the time, was a student at Ss. Peter and Paul School in Green Bay. The abuse is alleged to have taken place in the fall of 1988.
Buzanowski's lawyer, Owen Monfils, filed a request that a new judge be assigned. Buzanowski was scheduled to enter a plea in Judge Kendall M. Kelley's court room on Monday, but upon the court's receipt of the request for a different judge, the case was assigned to Judge J.D. McKay and a new date for an arraignment will be scheduled.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Press-Gazette
By Andy Nelesen
anelesen@greenbaypressgazette.com
A court appearance for Donald Buzanowski was scuttled Monday as his lawyer asked to have a different judge hear the case.
Buzanowski, a priest, is accused of molesting a fourth-grade boy during counseling sessions at SS. Peter & Paul School in 1988.
The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay suspended Buzanowski from his duties as a priest in 1990 and has filed paperwork with Rome to have him laicized. However, the Vatican has not yet taken action. Buzanowski resigned from the priesthood in 1992.
Buzanowski’s lawyer, Owen Monfils, filed paperwork on Jan. 5, requesting a substitution for Brown County Circuit Court Judge Kendall Kelley. A new judge has not yet been appointed.
Buzanowski, 61, faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 years of age. At a preliminary hearing last month, Buzanowski’s accuser testified that he was molested on several occasions while in private meetings with Buzanowski.
PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald
By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
A Jesuit priest who coached soccer at Cheverus High School in Portland will plead guilty today to five counts of sexually abusing boys he coached while at Boston College High School in the 1970s.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Massachusetts confirmed Monday that the Rev. James F. Talbot will change his "not guilty" plea to "guilty" at 2 p.m. today.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 24 on one count of rape, one count of assault with intent to rape, and three counts of indecent assault and battery.
In 2002, Talbot was indicted on one count of rape, one count of assault with intent to rape and five counts of indecent assault and battery.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Portsmouth Herald
Beverley Wang
Associated Press
MANCHESTER - A national support group for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy is demanding that church leaders post the names of known and suspected molesters on the Internet.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also want bishops to encourage more victims to come forward by visiting communities where abusive priests served.
On Monday, the group presented its demands - including that bishops also lobby to eliminate the statute of limitations on reporting abuse - to the Rev. Edward Arsenault, a Diocese of Manchester spokesman.
The group is focused on New Hampshire Bishop John McCormack and four other former deputies of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned two years ago
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 11, 2005
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
The older brother and sister of a Detroit boy who has accused a Catholic priest of sexual abuse testified in the priest's trial Monday that they were more concerned about the priest's behavior than their parents were.
National attention is focused on the Wayne County Circuit Court trial of the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos, a visiting priest from Mexico who was pastor of St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit in early 2004. In court, his attorneys have admitted that the priest got drunk during a pastoral visit with the family and spent the night sleeping it off in a bedroom in their southwest Detroit home.
At issue is whether the priest also sexually abused one of the children, a boy who was then 7 years old, in the bedroom they shared one night last April.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said people across the country are following this case. Most accusations that surfaced during the Catholic sex-abuse scandal over the last three years involve incidents that occurred years ago.
"Bishops desperately want us to believe that this is ancient history," Clohessy said. "Of course, this proves that it's not."
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Melody McDonald
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH _ The alleged victims just kept surfacing.
First, the Rev. Larry Nuell Neathery was arrested in April on accusations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old male church member.
Then, the district attorney's office uncovered more accusations and charged the pastor with sexually abusing two more boys, one of whom is now an adult.
Now, Neathery is behind bars again _ this time accused of sexually abusing three young brothers.
Neathery, 55, who had been free on bail since his first arrest, turned himself in shortly after noon Monday. He remained in the Tarrant County Jail late Monday with bail set at $750,000.
All told, Neathery, who resigned as pastor of the Westside Victory Baptist Church several weeks ago, is officially accused of sexual misconduct with six males.
"If there ever was an innocent person charged with this many offenses, it is him," defense attorney Don Carter said. "He told me when he was going into the jail, he said, `Mr. Carter, I'm innocent. I have not done these things, but I'm turning myself in as the law requires me to.'
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By David Weber
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
A former Boston College High School teacher and wrestling coach is slated to plead guilty today to sexually abusing two of his students at the Dorchester school during the the 1970s.
The Rev. James Talbot, 66, is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. in Suffolk Superior Court for a change of plea in the multicount sexual abuse case. Talbot reportedly has agreed to a prison term between five and seven years.
``That's a significant amount of time for a 66-year-old man,'' said Michael S. Doherty, 36, an Auburn, Maine, man who said he was abused by Talbot when Talbot taught at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine, after leaving BC High. ``By his pleading guilty, it would be the first time he has taken responsibility for his actions.''
Doherty is among a group of people who sued Talbot, who could not be charged criminally in Maine since the statute of limitations had run out.
``I'm not sure he's getting enough prison time, but it's better than nothing,'' said Doherty, who planned to attend today's hearing in Post Office Square.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley confirmed Talbot is expected to plead guilty to one count each of rape and assault with intent to rape and three counts of assault and battery. The crimes involve two teenagers who allegedly were victimized during wrestling practice between 1977 and 1979.
UNITED STATES
Catholic News
An American non-profit group, It Works, has unveiled a new web site, VictimPower, which will open a confidential channel of communication between abuse victims and authorities. The group has harnessed the power of modern technology in a radical new effort to curb child abuse.
The VictimPower initiative is designed to encourage victims to report abuse, by protecting their anonymity unless or until they are ready to come forward. At the same time, the web site will provide a way to hold authorities accountable for their response to complaints, and construct a thorough data base that could guide investigators in tracing abusers.
According to Catholic World News, the VictimPower site was designed and will be operated by a team of students from universities scattered across the US. Although the site was originally conceived as a response to the sex-abuse crisis within the Catholic Church, the technology can be used to respond to any sort of abuse.
The VictimPower web site assists an abuse victim in registering his complaint, guiding him through a series of questions that help to identify the authorities in the Church, in law-enforcement, or elsewhere who should take an interest in his report. The web site allows the victim to check back and see what response these authorities have made; it also allows the authorities to ask him further questions, without compromising his anonymity.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Richard Chesnis, of 90 Canterbury St., has filed a civil suit in Worcester Superior Court in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of his son during the 1980s by the Rev. John J. Szantyr of Waterbury, Conn.
He named as defendants Bishops Bernard J. Flanagan, Timothy J. Harrington and Daniel P. Reilly of the Diocese of Worcester; Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston; District Attorney John J. Conte, Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish and St. Mary School of Worcester.
“We categorically deny the allegations in the lawsuit,” James Gavin Reardon Jr., lawyer for the Diocese of Worcester, said, adding that the allegations are not based in “reality.” Mr. Chesnis has a “deep anger” toward the Catholic Church in general because of the alleged abuse, Mr. Reardon said, and the Worcester diocese took action 15 years ago when it removed Rev. Szantyr’s ability to function as a priest. He noted that Mr. Conte is prosecuting Rev. Szantyr on criminal charges.
Mr. Conte brought four criminal charges of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 against Rev. Szantyr in connection with the alleged abuse, and the case is pending before Worcester Central District Court. A mental competency hearing on Rev. Szantyr is scheduled here Feb. 17. Rev. Szantyr told the Waterbury Republican-American last week that he has Parkinson’s disease.
Mr. Chesnis was able to attest to indigency when he filed the suit on Jan. 3, and the court waived the customary filing fee. Mr. Chesnis is proceeding without a lawyer. The alleged victim has asked that his name not be used publicly.
Mr. Chesnis said in his lawsuit that his son was sexually abused by Rev. Szantyr when he was an altar boy at Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish. He alleges that the priest threatened to “kill both parents if my son told us about Rev. Szantyr’s attacks.” He said his son had loss of self-esteem and loss of attention in school that resulted in poor grades. The alleged abuse occurred in 1986 and 1987, according to court records.
Mr. Chesnis alleged that the defendants failed to properly act in this case and in other cases of alleged clergy sexual abuse that gave the priests a chance to abuse more children. He said their failure to act also caused problems for the victims and family members, including himself.
According to court documents, Rev. Szantyr was assigned to St. Mary School and was accepted as a priest at Our Lady of Czechochowa, which operates the school, under condition “that he would be watched.” Mr. Chesnis said in the suit there was a prior incident with children at his previous placement, and he was “given a second chance” in Worcester. Rev. Szantyr, 73, was never incardinated into the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, and was a member of the Marian Order of the Immaculate Conception. He previously was assigned to Our Lady Immaculate Parish in Athol.
This is the seventh new civil suit alleging clergy sexual abuse filed with the court in the last two weeks. Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso filed six civil suits, naming six priests of the Worcester diocese, during the last week of December. Mr. Chesnis was recently cleared in Central District Court of a charge that he violated a city ordinance by blasting a bullhorn too loudly outside St. Paul Cathedral during the installation ceremony for Bishop Robert J. McManus last May.
UNITED STATES
USA Today
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
In the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, a growing number of Catholic churchgoers worry that the financial fallout will impede the work of the church, according to a survey to be released today.
The survey of 803 Roman Catholics who attend Mass at least twice a month finds "a growing uneasiness" with the way the church handles money, says Frank Butler, director of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, sponsor of the survey. That group's philanthropies give more than $200 million annually to Catholic concerns.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Telegram & Gazette
By BEVERLEY WANG
Associated Press Writer
MANCHESTER, N.H.— A national support group for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy is demanding that church leaders post the names of known and suspected molesters on the Internet.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also want bishops to encourage more victims to come forward by visiting communities where abusive priests served.
On Monday, the group presented its demands - including that bishops also lobby to eliminate the statute of limitations on reporting abuse - to the Rev. Edward Arsenault, a Diocese of Manchester spokesman.
The group is focused on New Hampshire Bishop John McCormack and four other former deputies of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned two years ago.
The national abuse crisis exploded in Boston in early 2002 and quickly spread to dioceses around the country. Boston's Catholic church was rocked by allegations that church leaders ignored reports that clergymen for years had preyed on children. The archdiocese spent $85 million settling accusations brought forward by 552 people.
BOSTON (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
BOSTON— A Catholic priest has agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to charges he sexually assaulted teenagers while he was a teacher and wrestling coach at Boston College High School, prosecutors said.
The Rev. James F. Talbot, 67, faces up to seven years in state prison under a plea agreement between his attorney and prosecutors, said David Procopio, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley.
Talbot is expected to plead guilty to one count of rape, one count of assault with intent to rape, and three counts of assault and battery.
He allegedly assaulted two students during wrestling drills between December 1977 and the spring of 1979.
Talbot is believed to be the first member of the Society of Jesus of New England, known as Jesuits, to be prosecuted on sex abuse charges.
The Jesuits, one of the Catholic Church's largest religious orders, are noted educators who operate many colleges and secondary schools, including Boston College and BC High.
Talbot went to the state Supreme Judicial Court in an effort to shield prosecutors from his personnel files, which included communications between Talbot and his superiors. The high court last year rejected that request.
AUSTRIA
ABC
Monday January 10, 2005 4:24pm
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - An Austrian woman who shouted insulting remarks about Pope John Paul II outside Vienna's main cathedral was fined $325 after a court convicted her Monday of disturbing the peace.
The 46-year-old Viennese woman, whose name was not released by authorities, repeatedly and loudly denounced the pope and other Roman Catholic leaders as "child molesters" while standing in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral in 2003.
On Monday, a Vienna court convicted her of disturbing the peace and being a public nuisance. The popular square outside the downtown cathedral was packed with visitors when she stood on the steps with a megaphone to ridicule John Paul and accuse the church of trying to cover up the sexual abuse of children.
MANCHESTER (NH)
TheWMURChannel.com
POSTED: 5:48 pm EST January 10, 2005
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- A national support group for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy is demanding that New Hampshire church leaders post the names of known and suspected molesters on the Internet.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, also want bishops to encourage more victims to come forward by visiting communities where abusive priests served.
The group on Monday presented its demands in Manchester -- including that bishops also lobby to eliminate the statute of limitations on reporting abuse -- to the Rev. Edward Arsenault, spokesman for the Diocese of Manchester.
The group is focused on New Hampshire Bishop John McCormack and four other former deputies of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in 2002.
WETUMPKA (AL)
Montgomery Advertiser
WETUMPKA - Garett Albert Dykes, the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Wetumpka, was charged Monday with three counts of sexual abuse involving two girls below the age of 10.
Dykes, 38, of 909 Oak Crest Court in Wetumpka, is in the Elmore County Jail under $1.5 million in bonds, and in addition to the sexual abuse counts, is facing three counts of production of obscene matter of someone under 17, and one count of sodomy, Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin confirmed Monday.
Investigators say Dykes videotaped his crimes.
"In my 25 years in law enforcement, I have never met someone who was so calm, cool and collected about a situation like this," Franklin said of Dykes. "Mr. Dykes admitted his involvement and was very forthcoming. What he told me and my chief deputy was almost a mirrored image of what the victims told us, down to the days, times and activities."
WISCONSIN
WBAY
There's been a delay in court proceedings for a priest charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child back in 1988.
Father Donald Buzankowski was expected to enter a plea to the charges Monday, but Buzanowski's lawyers have asked for a change of the judge in the case and that paperwork hasn't gone through yet. Until the paperwork is worked out, the case is on hold.
NEW YORK
Boston.com
January 10, 2005
NEW YORK -- The clergy sex abuse crisis that has battered the U.S. Roman Catholic Church for three years has had little impact on Mass attendance, according a study released Monday.
In each of the 10 separate polls conducted between September 2000, before the scandal began, and September 2004, about one-third of Catholics said they attend Mass at least once a week, according the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
Regular attendance spiked to 39 percent in February 2002, one month into the scandal, then hovered between 31 percent and 35 percent over the next two years. The margin of error for each poll ranged from plus or minus 2.2 percentage points to plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
"These surveys indicate little if any change in the percentage of adult Catholics who say they attend Mass every week," said Mark Gray, a center researcher.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Wichita Eagle
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Prosecutors said Monday they will not appeal a judge's ruling that freed the media to identify alleged victims in the child rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
District Attorney Martha Coakley said she and the alleged victim at the center of the case "agree that our time is better spent preparing for trial" on Jan. 18.
Acting on a request from prosecutors, a judge last week issued an order barring the media from identifying Shanley's accusers. Prosecutors said they feared continuing to name the alleged victims would make them unwilling to testify.
The Associated Press, the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe challenged the order, and on Friday Judge Stephen Neel overturned it, agreeing it was unconstitutional.
But Neel stayed the order until Monday afternoon to give the district attorney time to decide whether to appeal.
HARTFORD (CT)
New Haven Register
Associated Press 01/10/2005
HARTFORD — The Vatican has reopened an investigation into charges that a powerful Mexican priest close to the pope sexually abused seminarians.
The allegations focus on the actions of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, now 84 and based in Rome.
He leads a religious order known as the Legionaries of Christ, which claims 600 priests in 18 countries. Its U.S. headquarters is in Orange, and it has a seminary in Cheshire.
The allegations surfaced in February 1997. Nine former members of the legion said Maciel first abused them years ago when they were young boys or teenagers, ages 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
In 1997, the Rev. Felix Alarcon, one of the accusers, said, "Nothing ever came of it (the accusation). It’s amazing … there are big people in Rome who are avoiding this." Alarcon had opened the legion’s first U.S. base in Connecticut.
Maciel and the legionaries of Christ have vigorously denied the allegations of abuse. Maciel has accused the nine men of a conspiracy to defame him.
TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD
TUCSON, Ariz. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson reports successfully passing an audit on compliance with policies to prevent sexual abuse.
In a memo sent to parishioners, Bishop Gerald Kicanas said the December audit found the diocese followed the norms established by the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The audit examined record-keeping on programs and protocol for victim outreach, how allegations of abuse were reported and the creation of safe environments at schools and parishes for children.
DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
Dayton Daily News
An attorney who represented the Catholic church in 500 clergy sexual abuse cases from 1987-95 says many fellow defense lawyers have fanned the flames of the priest child sex-abuse crisis by playing hardball with victims and advising bishops to remain silent in the face of victims' pain.
"I think lawyers contributed significantly in turning the problem into a crisis, making something that could have been handled by the church into something that is now going to haunt the church for decades to come," Minneapolis law professor Patrick Schiltz said.
Schiltz is to discuss lawyer mishandling of the scandal at the University of Dayton tonight as part of UD's Wounded Body of Christ lecture series. The free program begins at 7 p.m. in the Sears Recital Hall in Jesse Philips Humanities Center. It's open to the public.
Too Much Law, Too Little Justice is the theme of Schiltz's discussion. He is a professor at St. Thomas More School of Law.
UD announced Friday that the Rev. Robert Schreiter, an expert on reconciliation from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, will explore Is Reconciliation Possible? at the next installment of the series, set for 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Kennedy Union ballroom.
METHUEN (MA)
Boston Herald
By O’Ryan Johnson
Monday, January 10, 2005
Methuen police said two volunteers at the town's Mormon church arrested last week for sex crimes may have shared more than their love of God.
Chief Joseph E. Solomon said investigators are tracking leads that indicate Kevin F. Curlew, 43, of Dracut and Peter A. Paquette, 59, of Andover worked as a team, possibly targeting young victims for sexual abuse.
``We're looking to see if they were working together,'' he said. ``That doesn't mean they were molesting kids together, but they (investigators) are looking to see if they worked together to identify kids or were doing something together. We have leads that point in that direction.''
Curlew was charged with several counts of sexual abuse for pulling down the pants of a 9-year-old boy in the bathroom of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, while the boy's mother attended church functions.
Paquette, the church librarian, was arrested Friday for failing to register as a sex offender for two convictions for indecent assault and battery in 1970 and 1980.
He said he and Curlew were ``absolutely not'' working together, and called that part of the investigation ``absurd.''
METHUEN (MA)
Boston Globe
January 10, 2005
METHUEN, Mass. -- A second person faced charges in connection with a child abuse investigation at a Mormon church in Methuen, police said.
Police said Peter A. Paquette, 59, of Andover, was arrested at his home on Friday. He pleaded innocent in Lawrence District Court to a charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
Paquette is a volunteer librarian at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Methuen.
Last Tuesday, Kevin Curlew, 43, of Dracut, also a church volunteer, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting the 9-year-old son of a church member.
Police said Curlew and Paquette are friends, and both were placed in charge of monitoring children while adults attended church meetings.
Police said they received a tip last week that Paquette had not registered with the state Sex Offender Registry Board, a felony with a penalty of up to five years in prison.
In two separate cases in the 1970s and 1980s, Paquette was convicted in Somerville and Chelsea district courts of indecent assault and battery on a child, according to Methuen police Lt. Michael Wnek.
MEMPHIS (TN)
Commercial Appeal
January 10, 2005
The Catholic Diocese of Memphis is patching up its credibility with a common-sense agreement to report all past and future allegations of child sexual abuse by priests, other clergy members and employees to the proper authorities.
The plan to begin reporting every allegation in the diocese, announced after a meeting involving diocese officials and the District Attorney General's office, usefully puts the force of official policy behind the church's stated aim of protecting children entrusted to its care and guidance.
The talks arose from the case of a 14-year-old boy who leveled abuse accusations in 2000 against a priest who later was shipped out of the diocese for treatment, and a report two years later by a man who said he had been sexually abused by a priest who has been suspended.
"Any case that is currently known by the diocese is going to be turned over to the district attorney's office," said Father John Geaney, communications adviser for the diocese.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
A review of the financial report recently issued by the Diocese of Worcester for the 2004 fiscal year reveals a budget of $33,771,673. The bishop appears to live very well at a time when the amount of money budgeted for victims of clergy sexual abuse is only pennies on the dollar.
The Worcester diocese, unlike any other diocese in the United States, has refused to settle clergy abuse allegations in group settlements. Legal representation of Goulka and Reardon continue to advocate for dismissal of the remaining civil lawsuits, which would leave the victims with nothing.
The pledge of Bishop Robert J. McManus at his installation last May to heal the wounded has proven to be without merit. Bishop McManus lives the lifestyle that resembles a king with a budget for his residence of $107,000 for one person to live on. His office obtained an additional $209,047 in funds. With one-third of a million dollars in expenditures, it hardly seems like the bishops live a life of poverty.
LAWRENCE (MA)
Lowell Sun
By JACK MINCH, Sun Staff
LAWRENCE Accused child molester Kevin F. Curlew told investigators of a twisted bet, bizarre warnings, a desire to be caught, as well as threats from his victim, according to court records.
The Dracut man, who is accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy, allegedly said the abuse began in Curlew's home after the two spent a day together at the Lowell Folk Festival last July.
Curlew allegedly made the boy do the "wiggle dance" dropping his pants and wiggling to make his genitalia move after he lost three video games to Curlew.
Curlew told the boy he shouldn't have made the bet if he didn't want to follow through, and offered "to be fair" to take his own pants down, according to Lawrence District Court records.
The abuse continued at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Hill Street in Methuen on the second Tuesdays of September, October and November, while the boy's mother was at church meetings, the records state.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
iobserve
By Father Bill Pomerleau
Observer staff
SPRINGFIELD – As a legal deadline for effectively filing lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct by priests approached this week, a Boston attorney filed lawsuits alleging that three priests, a woman religious and a Boy Scout leader had abused five men decades ago.
A Greenfield attorney also filed six lawsuits alleging that five diocesan priests had abused minors.
Meanwhile, the Diocese of Springfield announced the removal from ministry of a priest named in one of the lawsuits.
Father Michael Devlin, 62, has been placed under the constraints of the Dallas Norms, the diocese announced Dec. 29, alluding to the requirement in U.S. church law that any priest credibly judged to have abused a minor cannot function as a priest.
In October the diocesan review board began its investigation of an allegation that Father Devlin, until then chaplain at Holyoke’s Providence Place, had abused a minor while he was a parochial vicar at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in West Springfield.
COSTA MESA (MA)
The Orange County Register
By ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
COSTA MESA – John Manly used to think he had life figured out.
As a bright kid growing up in Orange County in the 1970s and 1980s, he developed a confident, comprehensive worldview based on his orthodox Roman Catholic beliefs.
"I was very, very conservative," he remembers. He served as an altar boy at St. Catherine's Military School in Anaheim, then graduated from Santa Ana's Mater Dei High School and USC. He considered whether he had a vocation for the priesthood, but determined that the law was his true calling.
He proudly proclaimed his political leanings from an early age. As a teenager, he volunteered on Ronald Reagan's presidential campaign. Twenty years later, in an act of deep loyalty to the Republican Party, he flew to Florida after the disputed 2000 election to offer free legal help to the Bush campaign.
But by then, his life had begun to take an unforeseeable turn.
It began in 1997, when Ryan DiMaria sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and former priest Michael Harris. DiMaria alleged that he had been sexually abused by Harris while a student at Santa Margarita High School in 1991, when Harris was the school's principal. Manly helped represent DiMaria, who won a $5.2 million settlement from the diocese, still the largest individual amount paid in a clergy-abuse case.
After the DiMaria settlement in 2001, Manly thought he could turn his attention back to his main practice of real-estate law. But events overtook him.
CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star
January 9, 2005
Catholic leaders in Orange County on Monday announced details of a $100 million sexual-abuse settlement.
An Archdiocese of Los Angeles lawyer says a settlement offer could come within a month for 544 alleged victims, though lawyers and a judge will discuss civil court trials in a private meeting this week.
51 parishes closed in the Archdiocese of Boston in July 2004 with 29 more closings expected by this summer. Church officials say the closings are indirectly related to a 2003 sexual abuse settlement of $85 million.
Former Ventura County priest Michael Wempe, facing criminal charges of molestation in Los Angeles County, will appear in a pretrial hearing on Jan. 26.
VERMONT
Times Argus
January 9, 2005
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Staff Writer
How do you staff 130 parishes with 55 priests, settle yet another round of clergy misconduct lawsuits and replace a retiring bishop?
For Vermont's 148,000 Catholics, the new year promises historic challenges and change.
Members of the state's largest religious group will start work Saturday on their chief concern when as many as 300 priests and parishioners meet privately to discuss how to consolidate churches to deal with a clergy shortage.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont projects the number of priests will drop by half in 10 years, leaving about 55 clergymen to minister to more than twice as many parishes. As a result, Bishop Kenneth Angell is inviting all priests, deacons and two lay representatives from each local church to suggest possible solutions at a by-invitation-only meeting at St. Monica School in Barre.
The session will be closed to the press and public, as will subsequent meetings of a smaller planning advisory committee. As a result, most Vermonters won't know the outcome until the bishop shapes the recommendations into a consolidation plan this spring — just before he'll submit his resignation on his 75th birthday, Aug. 3, as required by church law. ...
Angell has served as Vermont Catholic bishop since November 1992. In his 13 years he has led church opposition to abortion and same-sex civil unions. His brother, "Frasier" sitcom creator David Angell, and sister-in-law died in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. Shortly afterward, the diocese faced a string of lawsuits charging priests with child sexual abuse.
The diocese, having spent almost $400,000 to settle such cases in the past two years, hoped the scandal was over. But it currently faces at least a half dozen new lawsuits.
Lawyer Jerome O'Neill of Burlington sparked the diocese to settle one case for $150,000 — the largest such payment in state history — and another lawsuit for $120,000. He since has filed six more cases in Chittenden Superior Court against four one-time Vermont priests, including the Rev. Edward Paquette, the Rev. George Paulin and the Rev. Alfred Willis. All the new cases are awaiting court hearings.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Post-Crescent
By Dan Wilson
Post-Crescent staff writer
GREEN BAY — Green Bay Bishop David Zubik has filed a request with the Vatican to defrock a former Catholic priest convicted of sexually assaulting two boys.
Last April, John Patrick Feeney, 78, was sentenced in Outagamie County Circuit Court to 15 years in prison on three counts of attempted sexual assault of a child and one count of sexual assault of a child.
At the time of Feeney’s conviction after a February jury trial, Zubik issued a statement expressing his sympathies for the victims and said “we have begun taking the steps necessary to remove him from the clerical state.”
Last week, Renae Bauer, public relations coordinator for the diocese, confirmed that request was forwarded to the Vatican last month.
By PAUL GRONDAHL
First published: Sunday, January 9, 2005
ALBANY --The Rev. William Pape, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, likes to tell the story of Walter, a homeless man, as a metaphor for the spirit behind the neo-Gothic landmark.
Walter comes daily to the cathedral to pray.
One day, Pape overheard Walter speaking outside to another street person. "Come on in and see my church," Walter said.
"That's what the cathedral is all about," Pape said. "It's the church for Walter, as much as for governors and bishops and the wealthy." ...
Earlier this month, Gov. George Pataki -- a neighbor when he is at the Executive Mansion next door -- signed a New York state historic preservation not-for-profit achievement award for the cathedral.
The award-winning restoration has also been a financial drain on a diocese beleaguered by the cost of the priest sexual abuse scandal.
CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star
By Tom Kisken, tkisken@VenturaCountyStar.com
January 9, 2005
More than 540 child molestation claims against the Catholic diocese that includes Ventura County could be settled before summer at a cost as high as $1.6 billion. If negotiations fail, the church could be put on trial in a civil court marathon that takes three decades to complete.
The contrasting extremes only increase Ann Sargent's desire for what alleged molestation victims in Orange County received Monday when a judge announced details of a record-setting $100 million settlement with the Diocese of Orange:
An ending.
"There was closure," said Sargent, who alleges she was molested by an Oxnard priest when she was about 15. "They wouldn't be required to rehash it for some stranger again."
Three years after a trickle of child molestation allegations against priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles swelled into a flood that includes at least 11 former Ventura County priests accused of abusing 136 people, the scandal's path to a final chapter is obstructed by caveats and contradictions.
A Los Angeles church official says a settlement offer could come within a month, but lawyers are scheduled to meet with a judge this week to plan the first wave of trials.
BOSTON (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
BOSTON— The former school superintendent for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, accused of sexual abuse in a lawsuit filed this week, has taken a leave of absence from his Weymouth parish.
The Rev. Eugene Sullivan, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, took the voluntary leave "for the good of the parish," the archdiocese announced Friday.
On Tuesday, attorney Mitchell Garabedian filed 10 clergy sex abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese. In the suit, Sullivan is accused of molesting a boy in his car in 1977 as he and the boy, who is now 42, rode in his car to a Catholic summer camp in New Hampshire.
Sullivan, reached at the parish on Wednesday, said he had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
His attorney said it could be a case of mistaken identity, as another Eugene Sullivan pleaded guilty to molesting a choir boy in 1984. Garabedian said the lawsuit names the correct Sullivan.
ROME
National
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
In the last column before my hiatus, I noted that Pope John Paul II had recently praised Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado and the order he founded, the Legionaries of Christ. With respect to the accusations of sexual abuse lodged against Maciel, I wrote: "I think the only honest answer is that the pope and his senior aides obviously do not believe the charges."
That comment brought a response from Jason Berry, who along with fellow journalist Gerald Renner co-authored the book Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II, which is in part about the Maciel case.
Berry writes:
I'm sorry, but there are more honest answers than that. It is just as likely that John Paul II and Cardinal Angelo Sodano don't care if the charges are true. They view the Legion as an asset to protect. The pope has a long record of refusing to punish powerful churchmen who abuse the young, which you fail to mention. John Paul's support of Maciel is consistent with his response to other men of flawed morals or compromised judgment.
Cardinal Bernard Law resigned after a catalytic role in an epic scandal. John Paul rewarded him with a basilica in Rome. In 1995, he let Vienna's Cardinal Groër ease into a position at a shrine when he resigned in disgrace as a pederast. As the scandal escalated John Paul would not discuss it in public. When American bishops Symons, Ziemann, Sanchez, O'Connell, and Ryan resigned under similar clouds John Paul did not remove any from the priesthood. Each is a bishop, albeit sans diocese, today.
WATERBURY (CT)
Republican-American
Author: Ben Conery
WATERBURY — A judge next month will determine whether a Waterbury priest, who once taught at Sacred Heart High School and served as the city's police chaplain, is competent to face charges he molested a boy in Massachusetts nearly 20 years ago.
The Rev. John J. Szantyr, 73, of 55 Birch Place, faces charges of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. The alleged abuse occurred between Jan. 1, 1986, and Dec. 12, 1987, according to court documents. During that time, Szantyr was a priest at Our Lady of Czestchowa Parish in Worcester, Mass.
A competency hearing has been scheduled for Feb. 17 in Central District Court in Worcester. It is unclear what condition would make Szantyr unfit to stand trial, but he said Wednesday night that he has Parkinson's Disease.
A spokesman for the Worcester Diocese said Szantyr was removed from the diocese in January 1988, but said he did not have any further information regarding Szantyr's removal.
"He would not have had credentials, or what are called faculties, since January '88 to be in any public ministry," said Raymond Delisle, spokesman for the Worcester Diocese.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette newspaper reported Szantyr left the parish after Worcester police were notified he may have molested a boy in the church. A man claiming his son was victimized told the newspaper that Szantyr started an alter boy society shortly after arriving at the parish and that his son was in it.
It was unclear why there was a 17-year lapse between the time of the alleged abuse and the charge filed against Szantyr in 2003. Court records, including the victim's name, are sealed and Worcester County District Attorney John J. Conte's office released little information about the case.
Conte told the Telegram & Gazette in 2002 that when the alleged abuse was first reported, the parents of an alleged victim were divorcing. The parents disagreed over whether to press charges. The boy's father told the newspaper that church officials dissuaded him from pressing charges by saying his son might be shamed and stigmatized. Church officials, including the bishop of the diocese, said Szantyr was removed and would have no more contact with children, the father told police.
The Worcester Diocese has been plagued in recent years with accusations of sexual misconduct by priests.
The Rev. Joseph Looney, pastor at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Waterbury, said Szantyr has been living in Waterbury since he came back from Worcester. The statute of limitations on the charges against Szantyr did not expire because he left Massachusetts.
"He is absolutely crushed by this situation," Looney said. "This hit him like a ton of bricks and really sent him into a tail spin.
"It's just hard for me to imagine they'd be true," Looney said of the accusations against Szantyr.
Looney said Szantyr is a gifted musician who would play the piano at weekly fraternity of priest meetings. But since Szantyr was charged with child molestation, he's stopped attending the meetings, Looney said.
Szantyr said Wednesday night his illness prevented him from speaking with a reporter. His lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr., could not be reached for comment.
Born in Waterbury, Szantyr graduated from Sacred Heart High School and was ordained in 1957. He is a member of Marians of the Immaculate Conception order. He was first stationed in Stockbridge, Mass., and in 1972, he moved to Sacred Heart High School, where he became head of the department of religion.
Former Mayor Edward D. Bergin named Szantyr, a close friend, police chaplain in 1976. A newspaper report from the time called Szantyr "a close friend of the Bergin family for many years" and the "unofficial chaplain of various Bergin campaign functions." Szantyr was at the center of a political controversy during the 1977 mayoral election because of a song he wrote for Bergin, a Democrat, that leaders of the Republican Party called demeaning to Italian-Americans.
Bergin said Wednesday he didn't know Szantyr faced any accusations. "I haven't seen him," he said.
Szantyr left Waterbury in 1980, but is not clear why.
"To my knowledge there was never any problem," Bergin said. "If there was a problem, obviously, it would have been known by everybody."
Delisle, the Worcester Diocese spokesman, said he didn't know why Szantyr came to the diocese. A spokesman from the Archdiocese of Hartford said there is no record of Szantyr having ever worked in the diocese, and suggested Szantyr may have been hired directly by Sacred Heart High School.
Father John Blanchfield, the former principal of Sacred Heart High School, couldn't be reached for comment. A spokesperson from the Marian order could not be reached for comment.
After arriving in the Worcester Diocese, Szantyr also served at Our Lady of Immaculate Parish in Athol, Mass.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Sun
01/08/2005
PHOENIX (AP) -- A former Catholic priest already in prison was sentenced to an additional 12 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein also gave Lawrence Joseph Lovell, who pleaded in August, five years probation.
The charges involve an altar boy at Saint Anthony in Phoenix about 20 years ago.
In March, Lovell was sentenced to 14 years for charges stemming from another case of child molestation that involved a boy at Sacred Heart Parish in Prescott, where Lovell was a priest in the late 1970s.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
The job description was unappealing: Fix a school that was a million dollars in debt, had tumbling enrollment and was in serious need of renovation.
The Rev. John Keegan took the job.
In the dozen years since the Jesuit priest became president of Cheverus High School for the second time, enrollment has more than doubled, the endowment has gone from $1.3 million to more than $2.5 million and, for the first time, the school has recorded a modest surplus.
Keegan, who officials announced Wednesday will resign at the end of this academic year, also presided over Cheverus' transition from an all-boys school to a coeducational one and a capital campaign that acquired three acres. Keegan first served as the school's president from 1980 to 1983. ...
The Rev. James Talbot, a teacher and soccer coach, was accused of sexually abusing several students at Boston College High School in the 1970s before his transfer to Cheverus and was removed from the priesthood in 1998 after being accused of sexually abusing a Cheverus student in the mid-1980s.
Cheverus' insurance carrier paid less than $300,000 of a $1.5 million settlement in that case.
Charles Malia, a former Cheverus teacher and track coach, acknowledged in 2000 that he had sexually abused students years earlier.
Some Cheverus graduates said Keegan did not handle the scandal appropriately.
Paul Kendrick, a Cheverus graduate and founder of Maine's Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic reform organization, said Keegan did not fully answer questions about the abuse.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
KWMU
Maria Hickey, KWMU
ST. LOUIS (2005-01-06) The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling for the removal of a top official with the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
The group has sent a letter to Archbishop Raymond Burke asking him to remove Monsignor Richard Stika, the point person on sex abuse cases. The group says Stika has erred on the side of protecting priests.
SNAP national director David Clohessy says while Stika is not responsible for abuse problems within the archdiocese, he's part of the problem.
"And ultimately the buck does stop at Archbishop Burke's doorstep," Clohessy said. "But if the person who on a daily basis is receiving calls and returning calls to victims; if that person is not doing his job well, then no one else in the Archdiocese can do their job well."
Clohessy said a priest suspended last week by the archdiocese had been accused of abuse two years ago. He says Stika failed to disclose the earlier charges of abuse and acted too late.
SAN JOSE (CA)
Mercury News
By Robin Evans
Mercury News
A respected priest who once held one of the highest positions in the San Jose Diocese has been put on administrative leave following allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
Monsignor Alexander Larkin was removed as pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Saratoga last month, when the diocese was served notice of a lawsuit by two men who say he molested them between 1975 and 1980. They were altar boys at Our Lady of the Rosary in Palo Alto at the time.
Larkin is the first diocese priest to be removed since 2002, when three priests were suspended after the Roman Catholic church's adoption of a zero tolerance policy on sexual abuse. Larkin was not available for comment.
Diocese spokeswoman Roberta Ward said Larkin was an excellent administrator who, in 1992, was named director of pastoral ministry, one of the diocese's largest offices.
``Al's one of our great pastors and priests. He's really respected, so it's a great tragedy,'' Ward said. Larkin has also been pastor at St. John Vianney in San Jose, St. Thomas Aquinas in Palo Alto and St. William in Los Altos.
One of the plaintiffs, a 40-year-old Bay Area man, told the Mercury News that Larkin was not just a pastor but an intimate friend of the family. Larkin visited three to four times a week and joined the large family at their vacation house in the North Bay, he said. Larkin was his mother's confidant when his parents divorced and his father left.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
Associated Press
Advocates who complained that a party for a priest who was forced to resign in South Portland sent the wrong message to sexual abuse victims have asked Bishop Richard Malone to hold a meeting for parishioners and clergy.
A Catholic parishioner and leaders of a support group for sexual abuse victims sent a letter Thursday to Malone and the Rev. Michael Gendreau, the new pastor at two churches in South Portland, asking them to hold a meeting to open up dialogue between clergy and parishioners as soon as next week.
"We need to get together and talk about this issue," said Catherine Morin Campbell, a parishioner in South Portland. "We can't claim to care about abuse victims while allowing possible predators to be publicly honored."
Among those who signed the letter were David Clohessy and Ann Hagan Webb. Both head the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group.
MINNESOTA
The Saginaw News
Saturday, January 08, 2005
DENISE FORD-MITCHELL
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Time and the legal system have not healed the wounds of a Minnesota family grappling with 28-year-old allegations of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.
Newly appointed Catholic Diocese of Saginaw Bishop Robert J. Carlson helped investigate their claims. Victim advocates say that Carlson's recommendations, as well as broken promises by other church leaders, prevented justice for the family.
Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled -- for the second time -- that Theodore J. Krammer Jr., 38, of Stillwater, Minn., came forward too late with his civil child molestation suit against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and former priest Lee D. Krautkremer.
Krammer sued in 2002 when he learned that the priest he accused of molesting him was not named in an archdiocese list of sexually abusive priests.
Carlson served as a priest/chancellor for the Minnesota diocese in 1983, when the allegations surfaced from the then-16-year-old Krammer's parents. Krammer said the incident occurred when he was 10.
Members of the Minnesota chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said that Carlson's reaction to the situation, which he was investigating with the Rev. Michael Korf, hindered justice for the family.
BANGOR (ME)
Bangor Daily News
The people who complained that a party for a former Bangor priest was inappropriate have asked Bishop Richard Malone and a South Portland priest to use the cancellation of the reception for a former pastor as "a chance for open dialogue, better understanding and true healing."
In addition to Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, a letter was sent Thursday to the Rev. Michael Gendreau, pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist Catholic churches in South Portland. The letter asked Gendreau to hold "an open forum and discussion at St. John's parish as early as next week."
The letters were signed by Catherine Morin Campbell, a parishioner in South Portland, Paul Kendrick of Cumberland, David Clohessy of St. Louis and Ann Hagan Webb of Boston. Clohessy and Webb head the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. Campbell and Kendrick are members of Voice of the Faithful, a group that advocates for church reform.
"We need to get together and talk about this issue," Campbell said Thursday in a press release that included both letters. "We can't claim to care about abuse victims, while allowing possible predators to be publicly honored. We can't ask victims to come forward for help, while bestowing praise and recognition on someone who covered up for a child molester."
Earlier this week, organizers canceled a reception scheduled to be held Sunday at a South Portland VFW Hall in honor of the Rev. Paul Coughlin. In October, Coughlin was ordered to resign as pastor of the South Portland parishes.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw
Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER—
The Diocese of Worcester ended the 2004 fiscal year with a loss of $271,300.
Although the diocese finished in the red, the losses were significantly less than the previous year, when the diocese had a loss of nearly $800,000.
Bishop Robert J. McManus, in releasing the financial report, said most services operated within their budgets, “and I offer my thanks to our diocesan directors for their commitment to fiscal responsibility.”
“Numbers, however, cannot relate the impact we have had through our various agencies and ministries upon the tens of thousands of people we serve throughout our diocese and Central Massachusetts,” the bishop said.
The diocese received income from parishioners through what is called the cathedraticum for a total of nearly $2 million. The insurance program yielded $729,595, and investments brought in $640,120. Bequests to the diocese brought $127,725 in income.
The report, also to be available online at www.worcesterdiocese.org and printed in yesterday’s edition of The Catholic Free Press, was issued after a complete audit by O’Connor Maloney & Co. P.C. of Worcester. The fiscal year ended Aug. 31.
The largest losses came from the St. John Cemetery system, which continued to invest in capital improvements at many former parish cemeteries that joined the system in the past few years. The cemetery deficit was nearly half of the previous year’s deficit. The cemetery system ended up $377,528 in the red this past year.
The Catholic school system took in $15.7 million in revenue and ended the year with a surplus of $111,529. This included income of nearly $13 million from tuition, $1.7 million from fund-raising, $658,275 from the bookstore, $158,550 in parish assessments, and $118,345 in other income.
The Diocesan Expansion Fund, which functions like a bank, ended the year with a surplus of $154,512. The fund received $1.9 million in investment income and another $1.8 million in interest on loans it made. The fund paid out $3.2 million in interest on its savings accounts, spent $237,986 on loan forgiveness, and administration of the fund cost $196,300.
The Priests Retirement Fund also operated at a loss of $289,862 because of costs involved in assisted living and medical services for older priests being cared for in rectories. The diocese managed to cut the loss from the $577,288 deficit the previous year.
The retirement fund received $519,000 from the Bishop’s Fund, $939,004 in parish assessments, $268,755 in investment income, and $246,071 in donations. It cost the diocese $148,000 to maintain priests at the Vianney House for retired priests, which is operated by the diocese, and it cost more than $1.4 million to support retired priests. The diocese paid out another $660,633 for priests in nursing homes or assisted living care.
Diocesan central administration took in more than $3.4 million, but expenses also exceeded its budget, and it finished with a loss of $41,754.
The diocese continued to pay for services related to the clergy sexual abuse scandal. A number of the pending civil lawsuits related to alleged incidents of sexual abuse were settled in the past year. Several are still pending, and six new suits were recently filed. The diocese said it paid out $131,875 for all legal services it incurred during 2004. The Office of Healing and Prevention received a total of $170,845.
A total of $82,100 was paid out in therapeutic assistance. The fiscal affairs office operated with a budget of $386,999. Interest on debts was $624,540.
The Priests’ Financial Assistance Fund, which retired Bishop Daniel P. Reilly testified in a deposition is where priests can be paid when they are removed from ministry because of misconduct allegations, was set at $349,457. The diocese has said, however, that not all this money goes for removed priests, but it also goes for priests on leave for medical reasons.
The financial report also shows that the diocese created a “bad debt” reserve of $115,000 and had a “loan receivable write-off” entry totaling $210,000.
Also in central administration, the bishop’s office spent $209,047. The bishop’s residence cost $107,066. Donations and memberships cost $233,813. The Moderator of the Curia cost $120,479. The Tribunal, the church court, cost $249,696 to operate. The chancellor’s office spent $74,928. The Vicar for Priests was budgeted at $19,121, and the Vicar for Religious had a $50,471 budget.
The Bishop’s Fund took in more than $3.8 million and spent it all on the programs that the fund supports. The Catholic Free Press, the diocesan newspaper, took in $821,475 in revenue, but expenses exceeded that amount and the paper ended with a loss of $25,240. The communications office spent about $124,000.
RICHMOND (VA)
Daily Press
By the Associated Press
Published January 7, 2005
RICHMOND, Va. -- Prosecutors have dropped five sexual misconduct charges against a minister accused of an improper relationship with his 16-year-old goddaughter.
The Rev. Joseph F. Ellison Jr. was scheduled for trial Thursday in Henrico County Circuit Court on one count of sexual battery and four counts of taking indecent liberties. But the charges were dropped "following consultation with the complaining witness and considering what's in her best interest," special prosecutor Duncan Minton said. Minton declined to elaborate.
Ellison, an eastern Henrico clergyman and community leader, has maintained his innocence since the charges were filed in December 2003. The girl alleged that the misconduct happened over four years.
"I didn't really know what to expect," Ellison said after Thursday's hearing. "I was praying for this thing to be over. It's been a year. Then I had the charges dropped, and I walked out a free man. I'm just so glad it's over."
Ellison, 43, was the 16-year-old's godfather and a foster parent. He said the girl's grandmother had asked him to take the teen into his family upon her death.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer
Thursday, January 06, 2005
Kaye Spector
Plain Dealer Reporter
Cynthia Hudson had a terrible secret: Her boss, the pastor of Affinity Missionary Baptist Church, was having an affair with a church member he had been counseling.
For four years, Hudson, an associate pastor, stayed silent. She and the pastor, the Rev. Ronald E. Maxwell, often talked about the romance. She hoped and prayed it would end.
Eventually, Hudson realized Maxwell's wife suspected he was having an affair. But to her horror, the wife's suspicion fell on her.
In the church parking lot in February, Hudson tried to talk to the pastor's wife, according to an affidavit Hudson submitted to the church that detailed the affair and mounting pressure she felt about keeping it secret.
The wife's response was to summon her husband from inside the church. In front of them both, Hudson's secret came tumbling out.
"You have been mistreating me for years because you think that I am the one. I am not the one! . . ." Hudson told the pastor's wife, according to her affidavit. "Your husband is going to bring our church down."
In the months that followed, the 38-year-old congregation, which worships in a sparkling-new church at the corner of East 175th Street and Miles Avenue in Cleveland, erupted in conflict.
The pastor and some members of the church's executive board and congregation are locked in a struggle over whether to keep Maxwell as pastor. Tonight, the executive board is expected to vote on launching impeachment proceedings against Maxwell.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer
Friday, January 07, 2005
Kaye Spector
Plain Dealer Reporter
The Affinity Missionary Baptist Church executive board voted Thursday to fire its pastor, Ronald E. Maxwell.
The recommendation will be brought to the congregation for a vote Feb. 2.
Maxwell and some members of the executive board have been locked in a struggle for control of the church for months following revelations that the pastor had an affair with a congregation member he had been counseling.
The relationship between Maxwell and the board had so deteriorated that after voting to fire Maxwell, the board agreed to bar him from the church building, change the church locks, seize church records, its copier and computer codes and suspend the office staff.
When executive board members arrived for the 7:30 p.m. meeting, they were greeted by Maxwell and two sheriff's deputies, who had been summoned to keep out the media.
The board quickly voted 16-7 to allow the media into the meeting, said board member Pauline Tarver, a Cleveland Municipal Court judge.
AUSTRALIA
ninemsn
11:46 AEDT Sat Jan 8 2005
A former Anglican priest has been committed to stand trial in the Hobart Supreme Court over a string of child sex charges dating back to the 1970s.
Louis Victor Daniels, 57, of the Canberra suburb of Charnwood, appeared in Hobart Magistrates Court via videolink on Friday.
He pleaded not guilty to 21 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Associated Press
Saturday, January 8, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- A state judge yesterday overturned a ruling that had barred media from naming alleged victims in the child rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, but gave prosecutors until Monday to file an appeal.
Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel's ruling is stayed until 1 p.m. Monday to allow prosecutors or others to appeal it. In the meantime, the media will continue to be banned from naming any alleged witnesses in the case.
Neel's ruling came several days after another judge, acting on a request by prosecutors who feared continuing to name the alleged victims would make them unwilling to testify, ordered media to stop identifying the men -- even those who had previously spoken out publicly about their allegations and had been identified in numerous articles for several years.
The Associated Press, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald appealed the ruling, contending it was an unconstitutional "prior restraint."
In the three years since Shanley was arrested on child rape and indecent assault and battery charges, two of the alleged victims have spoken publicly about the case and were routinely identified in news reports. A third alleged victim has been identified occasionally, but a fourth was never named.
The Associated Press has a policy of not identifying rape victims without their consent.
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune
Saturday, January 08, 2005
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
A Catholic priest took the extraordinary step of suing his archbishop Friday, charging that Archbishop Alfred Hughes defamed him by ordering him out of his Marrero pulpit on a charge that he molested a child.
The Rev. Michael Fraser also charged that Hughes violated the church's own procedures when he relieved Fraser from ministry as pastor of Visitation of Our Lady Parish.
He said Hughes acted before the completion of a preliminary investigation, as church policy requires.
Hughes relieved Fraser of all priestly duties and ordered him to leave Visitation last January. That was a day after the Archdiocese of New Orleans received a complaint from a man who said Fraser had sexually molested him as a child at Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Pearl River in the mid-1980s.
A letter from Hughes dated Jan. 14 told the pastor of Hughes' decision. Hughes told Fraser the church would pursue an investigation to "acquire a clear and specific understanding" of the facts underlying the allegation, according to the lawsuit.
Ten days later, the archdiocese called a news conference to announce its action -- a novel, aggressive move compared with its earlier handling of such cases.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer
New audits of the Camden Diocese and Archdiocese of Philadelphia found that both meet national bishops' standards for protecting youngsters from sexual abuse, the dioceses said yesterday.
Outside investigators based their findings on visits in the fall to both dioceses as part of a second round of annual audits of the nation's 195 dioceses.
The auditors concluded that Camden and Philadelphia had begun or implemented all the measures required of dioceses by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Both got similar reports a year ago, although Philadelphia first had to address three concerns that the auditors had raised.
The audits were commissioned by the USCCB's Office for the Protection of Children and Young People and conducted by the Gavin Group of suburban Boston.
Kathleen McChesney, director of the office, cautioned yesterday that a grade of "compliant" did not necessarily mean a diocese had completed all that is required under the charter the bishops adopted at Dallas in 2002.
"A diocese can be 'in compliance' if it's selected and developed certain programs, even if it hasn't yet implemented them," she said.
SCRANTON (PA)
Scranton Times Tribune
BY CHRIS BIRK / STAFF WRITER 01/08/2005
After two months in limbo, the sexual abuse lawsuit against two Society of St. John priests can now move forward, with the accuser's lead attorney eyeing a possible spring trial date.
In early August, the Rev. Eric Ensey filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection, which, under federal law, triggers an automatic stay of a debtor's judicial proceedings. Father Ensey and the Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity, along with the Diocese of Scranton, the SSJ and a few other entities, are named as defendants in a John Doe civil suit filed in March 2002 in U.S. District Court.
In October, civil trial judge John E. Jones III cited the statute in ordering the case stayed until bankruptcy proceedings cleared or the automatic stay was removed. On Tuesday, the latter occurred, as federal bankruptcy Judge John J. Thomas issued an order lifting the automatic stay.
"Once the stay is lifted, the court will set a pretrial conference for us to select a trial date," said James Bendell, an attorney for Mr. Doe. "I think it should be able to go to trial by March or April."
Despite the stay's dissolution, both sides continue to wait on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys for the two priests are hoping to block Mr. Doe's attempt to obtain psychological records of the pair.
In March, Judge Jones gave Mr. Bendell the go-ahead to review the records, but allowed the priests to immediately appeal his decision to the 3rd Circuit.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
South Coast Today
By THEO EMERY, Associated Press writer
CAMBRIDGE -- Paul Shanley's lawyer said yesterday that the defrocked priest's last remaining accuser remembered being molested only after he consulted with the Boston law firm that represented hundreds of alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
In related news, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel yesterday afternoon overturned an order from earlier in the week that had barred news organizations from identifying alleged victims in the case. Prosecutors contended in court this week that the remaining victim might refuse to testify if he is publicly identified.
The ruling is stayed until 1 p.m. Monday to allow prosecutors or others to appeal it. In the meantime, the media will continue to be banned from naming any alleged witnesses in the case.
Shanley lawyer Frank Mondano said court documents show one of his client's accusers contacted the law firm of Greenberg Traurig before he claims to have remembered bring molested by Shanley, a key figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal. The man says he recalled being abused by Shanley after the scandal broke in the Boston archdiocese in early 2002.
"I submit that the reason it looks like a textbook case (of recovered memory) is because it came right out of a textbook," Mondano said during a pretrial hearing. "People are trying real hard to obfuscate the fact that the cart came before the horse."
RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
01:04 AM EST on Saturday, January 8, 2005
BY JENNIFER LEVITZ
Journal Staff Writer
As a filmmaker documenting the far-reaching sexual-abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, Mary Healey-Conlon had scored a coveted interview. She and her camera were inside the Chicago mansion of Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of the third-largest diocese in the nation. After numerous requests from Healey-Conlon in 2002, Cardinal George had agreed to an interview.
But as the Warren filmmaker met with the church dignitary in his lakeside residence, where nuns served tea and cookies, she had two instincts: one, as a journalist who believed in hard questions; the other as a Catholic who had grown up believing in the church.
"It was utterly intimidating," recalled Healey-Conlon, 37, a lecturer in film studies at the University of Rhode Island. "I had to keep reminding myself not to fall into the sort of Catholic girl mindset, and continue to ask the questions I had prepared."
These questions are part of Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church, a 56-minute documentary directed by Healey-Conlon and premiering Monday at the Coolidge Corner Movie Theater, in Brookline, Mass. Last month, the documentary won a CINE Golden Eagle Award, which recognizes excellence in professional filmmaking; past recipients include Steven Spielberg and Ken Burns.
Filming the documentary took Healey-Conlon from vigils outside the Diocese of Providence through the snowy plains of the Midwest and to Rome to interview victims, clergy and even a perpetrator.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff | January 8, 2005
The lawyer for Paul R. Shanley alleged in court yesterday that the man expected to be the lone accuser in the criminal case against the defrocked priest was in contact with a law firm suing the Boston Archdiocese before the date he says he recovered long-suppressed memories of sexual abuse.
The child rape case against Shanley, one of the few priests in the clergy sex abuse scandal to face criminal charges, once relied on allegations brought by four alleged victims, who were represented by the law firm Greenberg Traurig when they reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the archdiocese last year.
But two of four men have been dropped from the case by prosecutors, another is expected to be dropped, and Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano, is suggesting that the fourth accuser made up his allegations in a bid for financial gain.
''So your allegation is that Male No. 3 cooked up his recovered memories for private gain through the civil justice system?" Middlesex Superior Court Judge Stephen E. Neel asked.
''Correct," Mondano said.
Middlesex County prosecutors and lawyers for Greenberg Trauring disputed Mondano's allegations, saying that the fourth accuser did not sign on as a Greenberg Traurig client until more than a week after he allegedly recovered his memories of abuse.
GREENFIELD (MA)
Republican
Saturday, January 08, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
GREENFIELD - In addition to six priests being accused in lawsuits of sexual abuse this week, four additional claims against now deceased priests were made directly to the diocese recently, according to a Greenfield lawyer.
Three of the four deceased priests never had public accusations made against them before this week, lawyer John J. Stobierski said at a press conference yesterday in his Greenfield office.
Stobierski said the complaints by his clients against the priests, who were not identified, will be settled through an agreement with the diocese. The same agreement will be used for the claims made in the six lawsuits filed Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court. The suits named individuals as defendants, but not the diocese.
A diocesan official confirmed the claims against the deceased priests and the existence of an agreement that allows the diocese and the accusers to try to reach a financial settlement without the diocese being named as a defendant in suits. The agreement stands even if the statute of limitations has been exceeded in any of the 10 complaints.
AUSTRALIA
The Tablet
Australia’s Catholic bishops and leaders of religious congregations have established a group to help them implement improvements to the treatment of children in care following inquiries into abuse by church workers.
The bishops and leaders of religious institutes welcomed the 2004 report of the Senate inquiry into children in institutional care, Forgotten Australians.
“We have been moved by the courage of those who have laid bare their experiences before the committee,” said a statement by the bishops and congregational leaders last month. “An apology was first made in the 1996 document, Towards Healing, and we formally renew our apology to those whose abuse was perpetrated by Catholic church personnel.
“The revelations contained in the report are the very opposite of all that we would wish to stand for.
PORTLAND (OR)
OregonLive.com
1/7/2005, 8:06 p.m. PT
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Archdiocese of Portland has begun running ads in major U.S. newspapers alerting alleged victims of clergy sex abuse to an April 29 deadline to make claims in most cases.
The $250,000 worth of ads, required as part of the church's bankruptcy proceedings, will run in 21 newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, over the next three weeks.
Advocates for victims have said the court-ordered April 29 deadline is unreasonable.
"No one would tell a grieving widow to come forward within four months — and no one can tell a rape victim to come forward within four months," said Barbara Blaine, the president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It's an arbitrary deadline that only meets the needs of church leaders and doesn't help victims."
Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said the church is doing everything it can to reach potential claimants. A letter about the deadline has been mailed to more than 81,000 registered Oregon parishioners and roughly 11,000 alumni of the Roman Catholic archdiocese's two high schools.
CALIFORNIA
Napa News
Friday, January 7, 2005
By DAVID RYAN
Register Staff Writer
A bundle of child abuse cases may finally get off the ground at a key pre-trial hearing in Napa Superior Court this morning.
As many as 11 lawsuits filed in six counties contend that Jehovah's Witnesses covered up acts of child molestation by church officials. Today's hearing is set to determine how the court should go forward with handling the cases and even whether an attorney's potential life-threatening illness could hold up progress.
Two cases involve three alleged Napa victims who are suing Napa Jehovah's Witness Congregations and other Jehovah's Witness groups, claiming high-ranking elders and church policymakers were negligent in supervising one church leader and concealed records for more than 20 years.
Charissa Welch, 35, and two women partially identified in court papers, Nicole D., 32, and Tabitha H., 30, claim Edward Bedoya Villegas, who was an el der in the congregation, forced them to perform oral sex on him starting more than 20 years ago. Welch and Tabitha H. said Villegas penetrated them with his fingers, while Tabitha H. also charges she was raped by Villegas.
BATON ROUGE (LA)
KATC
BATON ROUGE, La. A school named for a deceased Roman Catholic bishop targeted by sexual abuse allegations was renamed today by the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
In November, the diocese reached a settlement with a man who had what church officials called credible allegations of sexual abuse. The man, now in his 40s, said Bishop Joseph Sullivan sexually abused him in 1975, when the victim was 17. The victim's name was not released by the diocese.
In a news release today, the diocese says Bishop Joseph V-Sullivan Diocesan Regional High School will be renamed Saint Michael the Archangel Diocesan Regional High School, beginning next fall.
PHOENIX (AZ)
KPHO
PHOENIX (AP) -- A former Catholic priest already in prison was sentenced to an additional 12 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Ronald Reinstein also gave Lawrence Joseph Lovell, who pleaded in August, five years probation.
The charges involve an altar boy at Saint Anthony in Phoenix about 20 years ago.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press
Jan. 7, 2005 -- A Superior Court judge ordered Boston-area news media Tuesday not to publish the names of the accusers of defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
One of the alleged victims, who prosecutors say might refuse to testify if he is publicly identified, waived his right to privacy when he consented to previous news photos and stories that disclosed his identity, an attorney for Boston media organizations reportedly told a judge Thursday during a hearing to challenge the do-not-publish order.
Lawyers for The Boston Globe , the Boston Herald and the Associated Press challenged the order by Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Charles Spurlock during a hearing before Judge Stephen Neel, who is scheduled to preside over Shanley's trial later this month.
"This individual in fact waived his privacy interest. His photograph appeared all over the place with his consent. He made a conscious decision to put his name out there," Robert A. Bertsche, representing the Globe and the AP, said during Thursday's hearing, according to AP.
Neel had not ruled on the media's challenge as of Friday. He did, however, vacate a portion of Spurlock's order instructing the media to retract the already-published names as soon as possible.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A previously dormant case against Legionaries of Christ founder Father Marcial Maciel Degollado could be reopened at the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican lawyer said in a letter to three former Legionaries who accuse the priest of molesting them when they were minors.
"It seems to me that now the case is being taken seriously," Martha Wegan said in a letter to the men who made the accusations. Wegan is a staff attorney for the Holy See who specializes in cases involving church law.
Catholic News Service obtained a copy of her letter after Gerald Renner, who broke the original story of the accusations in the United States in 1997, reported on the possible reopening of the case Jan. 3 in The Hartford (Conn.) Courant.
In a statement in response to a CNS inquiry, the Legionaries' U.S. spokesman, Jay Dunlap, said, "The Legion of Christ is not aware that the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has taken in the past or is now taking any action regarding accusations against its founder."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 2:00 pm EST January 7, 2005
UPDATED: 2:07 pm EST January 7, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The attorney for Paul Shanley said Friday that the defrocked priest's last remaining accuser remembered being sexually abused only after he consulted with the Boston law firm that represented hundreds of alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Frank Mondano said that documents turned over to the court showed that the man had been in contact with the law firm of Greenberg Traurig before he claimed on Feb. 11, 2002, to have remembered being sexually abused.
"People are trying real hard to obfuscate the fact that the cart came before the horse," Mondano said during a hearing in Middlesex Superior Court, where he asked a judge to allow him to question the alleged victim before Shanley goes on trial Jan. 18.
A lawyer representing the Greenberg Traurig firm denied Mondano's statements.
The man is expected to be the prosecution's remaining key witness in the case against Shanley, a key figure in the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Boston Archdiocese.
Prosecutor Katherine Folger asked Judge Stephen Neel to deny Mondano's request to question the man, saying the issues Mondano raised should be put before a jury. The judge did not immediately issue a ruling.
DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | For the second time, a judge Thursday modified a probation requirement for a Catholic priest convicted of public indecency in June.
Judge Mary Katherine Huffman of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court deleted a reference to "sex offender" in requiring the Rev. Thomas Kuhn, 63, to complete treatment at the Behavioral Medicine Institute of Atlanta or any other program deemed appropriate by the court's adult probation department.
Kuhn's attorneys said in December they planned to object to Huffman's inclusion of the words "sex offender" preceding the phrase "program deemed appropriate" in a Dec. 16 order.
Huffman's order Thursday does not explain why she made the modification and Kuhn's attorneys were not available for comment Thursday.
Huffman also changed what had been a "status conference" set for Thursday to a "revocation hearing," which considers evidence of a probation violation.
The violation was spelled out in a document filed Tuesday by assistant Montgomery County prosecutors Robert Deschler and Teresa Hiett.
It charges that Kuhn offered "services to students and/or staff at Elder High School on or about Sept. 27, 2004."
BROOKLINE (MA)
Brookline Tab
By Ed Symkus/ SENIOR Staff Writer
Thursday, January 6, 2005
In a time when headlines about defrocked priests who abused children still get regular play in newspapers - the Paul Shanley trial starts in two weeks - a new film by Mary Healey Conlon titled "Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church" is shedding even more light on the subject.
The film, which will be screened at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on Jan. 10, looks inside the long-hidden situation and offers reasons for its causes while explaining some of its numbing effects. Conlon got interviews with men and women at the center of the crisis, including victims, rights advocates, journalists and, in one shocking case, a perpetrator who speaks openly about his and other priests' behavior.
The film was coproduced by Brookline resident Louise Rosen, an agent for independent producers who heads up Louise Rosen Ltd. While Rosen worked regularly as a distributor, selling films and television programs once they were completed, in recent years she decided to get involved in projects at an earlier stage.
"I started pre-selling the rights that I would have sold at the end of the line," she explains. "So it's more of a concept sell, rather than the finished product, and that gives me an opportunity to have more of a role. I can comment on budget, the treatment, research. I can play more of a producerly role than just a sales role."
Rosen's involvement with "Holy Water-Gate" began when Conlon, based in Rhode Island, approached her about 2 1/2 years ago, looking for someone to help her raise financing and to get some input on the project's potential.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 7, 2005
BY DAVID CRUMM and PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
The father of a Detroit boy who has accused a Catholic priest of abusing him testified Thursday that he thinks his son is fine now and that the family initially did not want to press charges against the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos.
The prosecution and the defense in the priest's trial asked the father why he gave permission for his son, then 7, and the family's priest at St. Gabriel parish to spend the night in an upstairs bedroom in their Detroit home last April.
De Alba Campos' attorney, Juan Mateo, asked why the father did not remove his son from the priest's bed, even after his wife complained that the priest might misbehave with the boy.
"At that moment, I thought she was exaggerating," the boy's father said.
The Free Press is not naming the family members because the paper generally does not publish the names of alleged victims of sex abuse.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
Friday, 7 January 2005
A former Tasmanian Anglican priest has pleaded not guilty to a series of sex charges.
Louis Victor Daniels, 57, who is now living in the ACT, pleaded not guilty to a charge of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under 17.
He also pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault stemming from alleged incidents, mostly during the 1970s, relating to eight complainants.
BANGOR (ME)
Foster's Daily Democrat
BANGOR, Maine (AP) — The people who complained that a party for a priest who was forced to resign was inappropriate have asked Bishop Richard Malone to hold a meeting as soon as next week to open a dialogue between parishioners and clergy.
A letter was sent Thursday to Malone and the Rev. Michael Gendreau, a pastor at two churches in South Portland, asking them to hold a meeting soon.
"We need to get together and talk about this issue," Catherine Morin Campbell, a parishioner in South Portland, said Thursday. "We can’t claim to care about abuse victims while allowing possible predators to be publicly honored."
Among those who signed the letter were David Clohessy and Ann Hagan Webb. Both head the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group.
Organizers canceled a reception this week in honor of the Rev. Paul Coughlin, who was ordered to resign in October as pastor of parishes in South Portland.
ADRIAN (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER
ADRIAN - Thomas Hodgman's past, including sexual misconduct allegations he now insists are "bogus," has returned.
A California woman, who accused Mr. Hodgman of raping her years ago while he was a choir director at her high school, wants to know why he is now choir director at Adrian College.
Last month, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, California, agreed to pay out $100 million to settle sexual misconduct lawsuits filed against 44 priests, nuns, and lay personnel - including Mr. Hodgman.
"Until I know that he is held fully accountable to the law, until I know that any child within any distance of him is safe, and until I know that any employer has a full accounting of what he did … Well, then perhaps I will stop," said Joelle Casteix, who accuses Mr. Hodgman of raping her at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif. The diocese oversees the school.
HAARETZ
By Eli Somer
Part horrifying personal memoir, part research survey, this book reveals how rabbis violate the trust placed in them by female followers
"Sex, Lies and Rabbis: Breaking a Sacred Trust" by Charlotte Rolnick Schwab, Bloomington: 1st Books Library, 277 pages, $14.95
The analogy between a religious leader and a shepherd (reflected in the double meaning of the English word "pastor"), and between his parishioners and a flock of sheep, illustrates the relations of power and authority that exist between the two sides. The rabbi, qadi, sheikh or minister are the leaders of a community of believers, who come to them for counseling and advice.
But unlike as in the therapeutic professions, where the percentage of female practitioners is greater than the percentage of women in the general population, the religious doctrine of most faiths precludes women from holding sacred office. The right to mediate between God and his followers is usually the exclusive privilege of men. Thus, the relationship between rabbis and their female congregants becomes, potentially at least, another site for women's oppression by a dominant male class.
The idea that a rabbi might sexually harm someone who believes in him, respects his authority and desires his blessing is almost as abhorrent as the notion that a father can molest a daughter. Unfortunately, just as incest is a fact of life (including within the religious community), so sexual exploitation by rabbis is a widespread phenomenon, one that the religious community seeks to keep out of the public eye. The world press has reported at length on the sexual exploitation of Catholic believers, especially altar boys and choir boys, by their priests, and courts in the United States have forced the Catholic Church to pay the victims hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.
SPOKANE (WA)
KGW
01/06/2005
Associated Press
Alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests criticized Roman Catholic Bishop William Skylstad during a special creditors' meeting in the Spokane Diocese's bankruptcy case.
Critics Wednesday complained about the makeup of the creditors' committee and also questioned Skylstad about the ownership and value of the parishes, schools and other entities in the diocese.
The creditors' committee represents the nearly 130 people who say they were molested as children by clergy.
Of the five members on the committee, two — Mike Shea and Rick Frizzell — have filed lawsuits and are among 58 alleged victims who have taken legal action against the diocese. Another 70 victims have come forward claiming abuse, but have chosen not to file lawsuits, according to the diocese.
Since U.S. Trustee Ilene Lashinsky appointed the committee, victims and their attorneys have been critical of the panel's composition. Some have asserted that the diocese packed the committee with victims who are sympathetic to the diocese's interests.
GREENSBURG (PA)
Tribune-Review
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, January 7, 2005
More than two years ago the Diocese of Greensburg announced it had removed from the priesthood for life a priest then on leave because of allegations of sexual abuse of boys.
At that time, citing diocesan policy, the Rev. Roger Statnick, vicar general of the diocese, refused to identify the priest. He did say, however, the priest most recently had served as a chaplain.
The Rev. Maj. Roger A. Sinclair, 57, originally of the Pittsburgh area, was in April 2002 on a leave of absence for personal reasons. Associate pastor at four parishes between 1974 and 1983, Sinclair had for years served as an Air Force chaplain and later served in Veterans Administration hospitals.
Along with two other priests, Sinclair began his leave as the diocese announced it would take action against a priest accused of decades-old sexual abuse.
On Thursday, The Catholic Accent, the diocesan newspaper, announced Sinclair's retirement.
Angela Burrows, executive director of infomedia services, said it is common policy that any time there is a change in status regarding a priest it is published as an official announcement.
An announcement in yesterday's edition reads: "Effective Saturday, Jan. 1, 2005, the Rev. Roger A. Sinclair has resigned from priestly ministry in the Diocese of Greensburg."
"He had not served (in the diocese) for years," Burrows said yesterday.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
MetroWest Daily News
By Ken Maguire / Associated Press
Friday, January 7, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- Prosecutors told a judge yesterday that an alleged victim of defrocked priest Paul Shanley might refuse to testify if he's publicly identified during the upcoming sexual abuse trial.
That would mean the end of the criminal case against one of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney said.
The disclosure came during a hearing in Middlesex Superior Court on whether the media should be allowed to report the alleged victim's name during Shanley's criminal trial. Several news organizations have challenged an order issued earlier this week barring the media from identifying alleged victims in the case.
In the three years since Shanley was arrested on child rape and indecent assault and battery charges, two of the alleged victims who have spoken publicly about the case and were routinely identified in news reports. A third alleged victim has occasionally been identified, but a fourth was never named.
Since bringing charges involving four alleged victims, prosecutors have since dropped charges so that just two victims remain as they prepare for a Jan. 18 start date to the trial.
Rooney said yesterday that one of those two would also be dropped from the case, leaving just one alleged Shanley victim to testify against him.
"If there's a paper later today that puts this person's name out there ... it is likely I will be back before the court telling you that we are unable to go forward," Rooney told Judge Stephen Neel during the hearing.
FALL RIVER (MA)
Herald News
Deborah Allard-Bernardi, Herald News Staff 01/07/2005
FALL RIVER -- The Diocese of Fall River refuted allegations that it has continued to provide financial support to convicted child molester James Porter even though he was laicized 30 years ago. A diocesan spokesman also said any argument over whether Porter is still a priest is an argument in semantics, since all ordained priests remain priests forever in the eyes of God.
Allegations that the diocese provided Porter with pension benefits and medical coverage were levied late Wednesday by Rhode Island resident Frank Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick, a former victim of Porter’s abuse, said the notorious child abuser was "permanently a priest" and claimed that diocesan financial support over the years explained how Porter was able to own a house and two cars in Minnesota without loans, liens or a mortgage.
To support his allegations, Fitzpatrick pointed to a 1974 document he claimed was part of the diocese’s secret archives.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Friday, January 07, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - One of the six clergy abuse suits filed this week in Hampden Superior Court makes the first accusation against a monsignor who died in 1991, saying he held out the promise of a Cathedral High School education to his alleged victim.
Although the late Monsignor Timothy L. Leary was not named as a defendant, the suit filed by a 48-year-old Springfield man under the pseudonym "Frank Doe" alleges Leary abused him for five years beginning in the fourth grade.
Mark E. Dupont, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, said the diocese has not previously received a complaint of abuse against Leary.
The man who filed the suit said Leary held out the hope of entry and tuition to Cathedral. "The abuse stopped in eighth grade when I walked away from the church upon discovering they weren't going to help my education. I wanted a good education so badly," he said.
His suit states Leary introduced the boy to the Rev. Francis P. Lavelle, who separately abused him and made the same promise of an education. Lavelle, who was permanently removed from ministry by the diocese more than a year ago because of credible allegations of sexual abuse, is named as the defendant in the suit.
Lavelle's lawyer, C.J. Moriarty, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Leary, a Worcester native, died at age 81 in 1991. He served in many prestigious positions in the diocese, including overseeing the planning of Cathedral High School before its construction and serving as the school's director.
Leary also served as rector of St. Michael's Cathedral and as diocesan director of cemeteries.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
By Frank Wiget / Post-Tribune staff writer
Florida officials are taking a stronger look at sex abuse allegations against a Diocese of Gary priest while he was on temporary assignment in Orlando between 1987 and 1991.
The claims against the Rev. Richard Emerson, 52, will get a renewed criminal investigation, said Randy Means, director of investigations for the Orange-Osceola counties state attorney’s office, because Orlando police never contacted the victim — leaving officials to believe the case had no merit.
The alleged victim, now 29, told the Orlando Diocese in May he had been molested by Emerson when he was between 11 and about 16 years old. The victim alleges the abuse continued in the two years after Emerson returned to Indiana.
Emerson was suspended from pastoral duties Dec. 16 at Notre Dame Church in Long Beach in LaPorte County.
Although Emerson professed his innocence to Gary Diocese officials, church officials found enough credible evidence to forward the case to the Vatican for review. Officials there could at some point schedule a church trial on the charges.
MASSACHUSETTS
Valley Advocate
HALO At a time when too many with the church hierarchy have sat on the sidelines -- or worse -- the Rev. James Scahill, pastor of East Longmeadow's St. Michael's Church, has been a staunch supporter of victims of abusive priests and of those faithful who are asking for meaningful reform.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
Monday, Jan. 3 The Boston Red Sox might have walloped your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in last fall’s playoffs, but at least we beat Beantown in one contest. In an LA Superior Court courtroom today, attorneys for 90 victims of priestly and lay Catholic sex-abuse and the Diocese of Orange announced the terms of their settlement: $100 million (the largest settlement in the history of the Roman Catholic Church) and the release of all personnel files that victims claim will show church complicity in their molestations. Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown made an appearance to personally apologize to the victims of his priests and even officiated over vespers (that’s an evening worship service, for you heathen Protestants) at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange later in the day held in honor of victims and their families. But still, the most arresting image of the day came when Brown—who last year spent at least $350,000 on a PR firm to spin his pedo-lies—entered the courtroom clasping a dark-blue folder against his chest. Emblazoned in silver on the folder? "IMAGE."
WARREN (RI)
Barrington Times
WARREN- After refinancing her house to free up funds, and spending five years conducting research and interviews, Warren resident Mary Healey-Conlon has at long last completed her documentary, "Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church." The hour-long film will debut for the general public at the Coolidge Corner Movie Theater in Brookline, Mass., on Monday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Because she is a Roman Catholic, her work is not finished, said Ms. Healey-Conlon. She is only just beginning the painful process of reconciling her discoveries with past assumptions about faith and the Church.
Years before investigative journalists at The Boston Globe propelled the problem of sexual abuse by priests into the national spotlight, Ms. Healey-Conlon was working with a team of Rhode Island attorneys who believed the Diocese of Providence had knowingly moved priests who had committed acts of sexual abuse against minors from parish to parish. As a legal assistant, she met abuse victims who had been pursuing cases against the Catholic church for years. She even learned she knew one of the accused priests whom her grandfather had served alongside as a deacon years before. Fearing lawyers for the church might stall forever, she resolved to document victims' stories. In 1999, she picked up a video camera and began filming.
"It's not like I started out with a specific vision of what the film would be," said Ms. Healey-Conlon, who has a master's degree in television production from Emerson College. "I started out wanting to document the stories of some Rhode Island survivors."
COLUMBIA (SC)
Charlotte Observer
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. - A former Darlington church youth minister and his wife have been arrested in connection with a sexual abuse case in Horry County.
Richard Johnson, 34, was arrested Wednesday and charged with committing a lewd act on a minor. His wife, Natalie Johnson, 27, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The arrests stem from an incident involving a then-13-year-old girl, who was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Darlington and who accompanied the couple to Myrtle Beach on a vacation in November 2001.
VIRGINIA
WRIC
This morning Reverend Joseph Ellison appeared in court on charges of sexual battery and taking indecent liberties with a minor.
It's been more than a year of legal wrangling for Rev. Joe Ellison. Today's hearing puts an end to the child abuse case filed against the pastor back in December of 2003.
Ellison has played an active role with local young people and is the founder of the Essex Village Community Outreach. You'll remember Ellison was arrested after a teenage girl accused him of touching her inappropriately. Ellison spoke with us outside of court after charges were dropped.
BEAUMONT (TX)
KBTV
The Diocese of Beaumont has once again received an "In Compliance" determination from Bill Gavin of The Gavin Group, Inc. The Office of Child and Youth Protection of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops contracted with the Gavin Group to carry out the audits again this year.
Auditors conducted a second on-site audit from Dec. 6-9, 2004, to evaluate how the Diocese of Beaumont is complying with the provisions of the USCCB "Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth." They reviewed policies and records, inspected documentation confirming implementation on the diocesan and the parish/school levels, verified that the "Ethical and Responsible Conduct Policies" are being distributed to employees and volunteers, that background checks are being conducted, and that clergy, employees and volunteers are attending the sexual abuse awareness training sessions. The auditors also interviewed a variety of persons both inside and outside the Church. They made on-site visits to two parishes to meet with the pastors and some of their staff so as to verify implementation of the Charter provisions on the parish/school level.
NEW JERSEY
Obsever-Tribune
By MARIA VOGEL-SHORT MENDHAM - Parents of students say they have full trust in the Daytop alcohol and drug rehabilitation center but no trust in the state’s licensing board and the Newark Archdiocese which allowed a former priest and social worker with a history of abuse to work with juveniles.
The former priest, Richard J. Mieliwocki, 58, of Madison, was arrested on Tuesday, Dec. 28, and faces five to 10 years in prison on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and 18 months for criminal sexual contact in events that allegedly took place in November and December 2004. The abuse allegedly occurred at Daytop, a drug rehabilitation facility off Route 24 in Mendham.
The former South Orange priest was charged with molesting four male teenagers while working as a social worker at drug rehabilitation center Daytop-N.J. in November and December.
He had been suspended in 1994 from his South Orange parish after church members came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a spokesman from the Newark archdiocese.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
WPRI
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The criminal case in Massachusetts against defrocked priest Paul Shanley may collapse because an alleged sexual abuse victim does not want to be publicly identified during the trial.
The person has been identified in the past and given interviews to the media.
The Associated Press and two Boston newspapers are challenging a judge's order that forbids identifying victims, claiming it violates the First Amendment. The judge is considering the challenge.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Macon Telegraph
KEN MAGUIRE
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Prosecutors told a judge Thursday that an alleged victim of defrocked priest Paul Shanley might refuse to testify if he is publicly identified during the upcoming sexual abuse trial. That would mean the end of the criminal case against one of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese's sex scandal, Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rooney said.
The disclosure came during a hearing in Superior Court on whether the media should be allowed to report the alleged victim's name during Shanley's trial.
The Associated Press, the Boston Herald and The Boston Globe have challenged a judge's order issued earlier this week barring the media from identifying alleged victims in the case. The order was issued at prosecutors' request.
In the three years since Shanley was arrested on child sex charges, two of the four alleged victims have spoken publicly about the case and were routinely identified in news reports. A third alleged victim has occasionally been identified. The fourth was never named.
Over the past year, prosecutors dropped two alleged victims from the case, and plan to drop a third, leaving just one accuser when Shanley goes on trial Jan. 18.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Catholic
by: Chuck Moody
Diocesan officials are cautioning clergy and the faithful that a magazine that has been distributed in some area churches is published by a group that is not an official ecclesiastical organization and is associated with a former priest who has been declared “dismissed from the clerical state” by the pope.
“In a number of our parishes, we have found that there has been the distribution of a quarterly magazine entitled ‘Thorns and Roses,’” said Father Lawrence DiNardo, diocesan vicar for canonical services and director of the Department for Canon and Civil Law Services. “This magazine is published by the Padre Pio Spiritual Refuge Inc. They are based in Pittsburgh. They are not an official ecclesiastical organization.
“The primary organization that honors St. Padre Pio is operated by the Capuchin Franciscan fathers in (Pittsburgh’s) Lawrenceville (neighborhood). The Padre Pio Spiritual Refuge Inc. is headed by a person known as Anthony Cipolla, a priest who has been declared ‘dismissed from the clerical state’ by our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II.”
Cipolla was banned from ministry in 1988 by Bishop Donald Wuerl following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. Cipolla was laicized by Pope John Paul II in 2002.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore City Paper
By Tom Nugent
The old man sat on a metal folding chair in his Essex garage. His big right hand reached out to a wooden table, to a faded police autopsy photo lying there.
“Do you see that hole in the back of her skull?” asked Louis George “Bud” Roemer, a retired homicide detective formerly with the Baltimore County Police Department. Wrinkled and white-haired, he pointed to one side of the yellowing photograph he had dug out of a box of files. “That hole is perfectly round, and about the size of a quarter.
“I’ve studied that photo over and over again, trying to imagine how she might have died,” he said. “A hole like that—it looks to me like it could’ve been made with a ball-peen hammer.”
He paused for a moment, as he recalled the still unsolved murder of Sister Catherine Ann Cesnik, whose body was discovered 35 years ago this month.
“It might have been a hammer,” Roemer continued. “Or maybe a tire iron. Or maybe it was a priest’s ring—one of those heavy gold rings a lot of Catholic priests wear. A priest’s ring would make a hole like that, if he hit her hard enough.”
He fell silent, and leaned back in his chair. He was struggling with diabetes, he said, and talking about the Cesnik case always left him feeling fatigued, and frustrated.
“Every homicide cop has one case that haunts him to the end of his career, and Sister Cathy is mine,” Roemer said. “I sure do wish we could close this one out, before I kick the bucket.”
The body of the 26-year-old nun was found Jan. 3, 1970, in southwest Baltimore County. The circumstances surrounding the case were mysterious and disturbing at the time; in the wake of a City Paper investigation, those circumstances seem even more disturbing now. Years after Cesnik’s murder, a lawsuit documented numerous findings of sexual abuse at the Catholic high school for girls where Cesnik taught shortly before her death. City Paper’s investigation also reveals that a second young murder victim (killed only four days after Cesnik vanished, and only a few miles from where the nun died) attended the same Catholic church where the alleged sex-abuser had been serving as parish priest.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register
FRANK MICKADEIT
Register columnist
fmickadeit@ocregister.com
The Diocese of Orange's $100 million priest-abuse settlement and the issues surrounding it are so overwhelming it's almost impossible to grasp and to write about.
The magnitude of the deeds, the suffering, the coverups, the money, the future. Every person I talk to comes at it from a different angle. Any attempt to deal with it in my little corner here will fall short. But let me share with you three short takes from three O.C. Catholic men you may have heard of.
Tom Fuentes used to work for the diocese (he could have been deposed if the lawsuits had gone forward) and has many personal ties to church hierarchy. Discussing the scandal one day, he told me, "Every time I think about it, I become almost physically ill." The way those words seemed to get caught in his throat and the fact that I literally could see his diaphragm convulse under his starched white shirt, for a second I thought he might actually vomit on me. No kidding. He's that emotional about it.
Fuentes thinks back to the time, three decades ago, he was attending a seminary in the Bay Area, and remembers an aura of sexual permissiveness that offended his orthodoxy. Such permissiveness, which he believes was present in many seminaries of that era, is what led to this crisis, he believes.
On the other end of the political spectrum is Gustavo Arellano, who has been covering the scandal for the OC Weekly, no friend of the diocese (or of Fuentes, come to think of it). Arellano grew up in Anaheim. Over lunch with me this week, he said that when he was a kid it was common knowledge among parishioners at St. Boniface that Father John Lenihan – the man who gave him First Communion – had raped a girl. Nobody did anything, he said.
OAKLAND (CA)
The Press Democrat
Thursday, January 6, 2005
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
OAKLAND - A judge is expected to rule within two weeks on whether one of the 11 sex abuse lawsuits against the Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese can proceed to trial.
At a hearing Wednesday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw seemed skeptical of the diocese's objection to evidence in the case against the Rev. Patrick Gleeson, a former Calistoga pastor who died in 1991.
A former altar boy at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Calistoga, now a 48-year-old Amador County man, is suing the diocese for alleged sexual abuse by Gleeson from 1968-72.
Diocese attorney Adrienne Moran challenged the plaintiff's sworn statement that a priest visiting the Calistoga rectory had, on two occasions, seen Gleeson and the plaintiff go into Gleeson's room and spend the night there.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Thursday, January 6, 2005
Negligence lawsuits linked to the child sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church in Northern California inched closer to trial Wednesday in Alameda County Superior Court.
Lawyers representing San Francisco Archbishop William Levada and attorneys for the adults claiming that as children they were molested by priests argued over what kind of instructions jurors will be given at civil trials scheduled to begin March 7.
At the same hearing Wednesday morning in Oakland, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw turned down a request by church lawyers that he throw out a claim for damages against the Diocese of Santa Rosa for the alleged molestations of a Garberville priest.
Church attorney Adrienne Moran of Santa Rosa argued that attorneys for one of the allegedly abused persons in Santa Rosa, identified in court records as "John Doe," has not presented "one shred of evidence" that church leaders had prior warning that the late Rev. Patrick Gleeson was a child molester.
FALL RIVER (MA)
Herald News
Kathleen Durand, Herald News Staff 01/06/2005
A victim of convicted pedophile priest James Porter has charged that Porter was permitted to "permanently" remain a Roman Catholic priest even after he was found by church officials to have sexually molested children across the nation decades ago.
According to published reports, in 1973 Porter petitioned to the Vatican to be released from the priesthood, citing incidents of sexual misconduct with children in several states and episodes of psychiatric counseling. Pope Paul VI granted the petition on Jan. 5, 1974, and Porter began pursuing a layman’s life in Minnesota.
But in a statement released to The Herald News Wednesday, Porter victim Frank L. Fitzpatrick wrote, "Differing from what everyone except the Diocese of Fall River knew and allowed us to believe, clear evidence shows that Father Porter was permitted to permanently remain a Roman Catholic priest even after being caught sexually assaulting children all over the country by church officials in the 1960s and ’70s.
It states, "With regard to future functions and ministry, and of association with religious education, I recognize in the first category that by my petition and this return to the lay state, I may exercise no specific function confined to Sacred Order, with the exception of absolution from church penalties and from sin, in a circumstance of danger of death."
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
By the Dayton Daily News
Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Mary Katherine Huffman proved to be prescient in July at the sentencing of Thomas Kuhn, former pastor of St. Henry Catholic Church in Miami Twp.
The priest had earlier served at Incarnation Church in Centerville, and as chaplain to the Alter High School freshman basketball team and varsity football team. He pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor charge of public indecency and 10 misdemeanor charges of providing alcohol to minors.
When Judge Huffman told Rev. Kuhn his sentence, she worried aloud that "it is of great concern to me that you just don't get this." She characterized him as "absolutely remorseless."
Not only was she right then, Rev. Kuhn still doesn't get it.
He avoided jail time on the charges, but mainly because the maximum time he could be sentenced to was 18 months. Judge Huffman said she was putting him on probation for five years to make sure that he would remain subject to court supervision for a considerably longer period.
The conditions she imposed on Rev. Kuhn's probation are basic: get treatment, stay away from kids, gambling and alcohol, and write letters of apology to the victims, including Alter High School and the parishes that he was associated with. Since then, Rev. Kuhn has decided to take a narrow, technical view of what his probation requires.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 7:22 am EST January 6, 2005
UPDATED: 7:26 am EST January 6, 2005
BOSTON -- Ten more clergy sex abuse lawsuits have been filed against the Boston Archdiocese, but a lawyer says one that accuses the archdiocese's former school superintendent of molesting a 15-year-old boy in the 1970s is a case of mistaken identity.
Eugene P. Sullivan, who is now pastor of St. Francis Xavier church in Weymouth, is accused in the suit of molesting a boy in his car in 1977.
Mark Martin, now 42, claims Sullivan fondled him as they rode in his car to Camp Fatima, a Catholic summer camp for children in New Hampshire.
Sullivan said he had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
"I know nothing about that," Sullivan said when reached by phone at the church Wednesday. He told The Associated Press he couldn't remember Martin, saying "This is throwing me for a loop."
However Paul Kelly, a Boston lawyer who is representing Sullivan, told the Boston Globe that Martin may have confused Sullivan with the Rev. Eugene O'Sullivan, a former priest at St. Agnes Church in Arlington, Mass.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, January 6, 2005
James Porter, a convicted pedophile and former priest, is rapidly wasting away under the strain of aggressive treatment for an incurable cancer as his lawyer tries to snuff legal proceedings to have him locked up for good.
Porter, 70, has lost 40 pounds since he began chemotherapy in October for an incurable soft-tissue sarcoma, his attorney Michael Farrington said yesterday.
A Bristol Superior Court judge scheduled an April 7 hearing to determine whether Porter should be civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person.
Porter was convicted in 1993 of molesting 28 children while he was a priest during the 1960s and 1970s.
LAWRENCE (MA)
Boston Globe
By Caroline Louise Cole, Globe Correspondent | January 6, 2005
LAWRENCE -- A Dracut man, arrested by Methuen police for allegedly sexually assaulting the 9-year-old son of a fellow church member, served time in prison for sexual assault on a child in the early 1980s in Maine, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
But Kevin F. Curlew's conviction in Maine had been overturned on appeal, so he was not required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison, Methuen Police Chief Joseph Solomon said yesterday in an interview. Curlew moved to Massachusetts in 1989.
Curlew, 43, pleaded not guilty yesterday at his arraignment on three counts each of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, enticement of a child, and kidnapping. Lawrence District Court Judge Allen J. Jarasitis ordered him held without bail, pending a Jan. 12 dangerousness hearing.
Curlew was arrested Tuesday at the Methuen police station where he had been invited for questioning, after officials at the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Hill Street reported the alleged abuse to the state Department of Social Services.
The child told church officials that Curlew forced him to remove his pants and underwear on several occasions when his mother left him in Curlew's care, police said. Three of the occasions allegedly occurred in a church bathroom this past fall, while the child's mother was attending church meetings and while Curlew was watching her son along with several other children. On one occasion, Curlew allegedly kept the child from leaving a church bathroom and patted him on his buttocks, a police report on the case indicates.
FLORENCE (SC)
WSOC
POSTED: 6:19 am EST January 6, 2005
FLORENCE, S.C. -- Authorities say a former youth minister in Darlington has been charged with sexual abuse of a girl who was a member of his church.
The Horry County Police Department charged 34-year-old Richard N. Johnson with lewd act on a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
His wife, 27-year-old Natalie Johnson, has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The couple was arrested Wednesday.
Authorities say the incident occured while the girl was on vacation with the couple in Myrtle Beach in November 2001.
PORTLAND (OR)
Business Wire
PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 2005--This week the Archdiocese of Portland began an extensive effort to notify anyone who believes he or she has a claim against the Archdiocese to file the claim by April 29, 2005. The "bar date" of April 29, 2005 was set by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court as the last day to file claims. This notification process is a normal part of the bankruptcy proceedings. It will assist the Archdiocese and the Bankruptcy Court in establishing the total amount of outstanding debt the Archdiocese owes. The notice is directed to anyone who believes that the Archdiocese of Portland owes them money or to anyone who believes that the Archdiocese is responsible for causing them any injury or harm including child sexual abuse by a member of the clergy or an employee.
The Archdiocese of Portland is placing a legal notice in major newspapers in Oregon, to the USA Today and the Wall Street Journal and to newspapers in Washington, Idaho, Montana, California and British Columbia. The notification will be placed in Catholic newspapers in Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The notification will be sent by mail to creditors, to 81,070 registered Catholic households in western Oregon, to alumni in certain of the Catholic high schools, and to others.
WASHINGTON (DC)
The Washington Times
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A Washington law firm that demanded a year ago today the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington settle accounts relating to clergy sexual abuse hopes to file claims within the next few months on behalf of 20 victims.
But Kevin Baine, a lawyer with Williams & Connolly, the D.C. firm representing the archdiocese, questions the claims of lawyers for Greenberg-Traurig, which is representing the potential plaintiffs.
"So far, they've produced nothing relating to any priest of the archdiocese," he said. "If they come forward with a series of demands, we will address them."
Plus, "there is no evidence that any active priest of the archdiocese has ever been involved in sexual abuse," he added, "and there are not at this point proceedings or negotiations relating to any claims of abuse" by archdiocesan priests.
MEMPHIS (TN)
Commercial Appeal
By Bill Dries
Contact
January 6, 2005
Memphis Catholic officials Wednesday agreed to report all past and future allegations of child sexual abuse by priests and other clergy or employees to authorities for possible criminal investigation.
The agreement came after a 90-minute meeting Downtown between officials of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis and the District Attorney General's office.
The closed-door session was arranged by Bishop J. Terry Steib, who did not attend, to talk about why the diocese hasn't reported abuse allegations it has known about for years.
"Any case that is currently known by the diocese is going to be turned over to the district attorney's office," said Father John Geaney, communications adviser for the diocese. That doesn't necessarily mean there will be criminal charges or that the names of the accused priests will be made public if they aren't charged.
Kevin Rardin, chief prosecutor of child sexual abuse cases for the DA's office, expressed optimism after the meeting.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Seattle Archdiocese has been hit with four new legal complaints from 10 men charging that its priests sexually abused them during the 1970s and '80s.
Two of the priests -- James McGreal and David Linehan -- already have been forbidden by Rome to minister and both have been the subjects of prior lawsuits.
The status of one, the Rev. G. Barry Ashwell, is still pending. A popular pastor who served at St. Augustine's Church in Oak Harbor for more than two decades, Ashwell has been the subject of several prior complaints alleging sexual abuse, each of which he has denied.
The other priest, the Rev. John Forrester -- described in the legal papers as "a compulsive pedophile" -- is deceased.
Spokesman Greg Magnoni said the archdiocese was aware of all four complaints and hoped to settle them without going to trial.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Megan Tench, Globe Staff | January 6, 2005
The former superintendent of schools for the Boston Archdiocese is accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in the 1970s, according to a new lawsuit, but a lawyer for the priest said Eugene P. Sullivan is being mistaken for a well-known pedophile with a similar name.
Boston resident Mark Martin, now 42, alleges that Sullivan, 63, fondled him during a road trip to a New Hampshire summer camp in 1977. The suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, is one of 10 clergy sex-abuse lawsuits filed against Boston Archdiocese priests over the past week.
"My life has been a nightmare ever since this happened," Martin said yesterday, referring to the alleged abuse. He also alleges in his lawsuit that two former priests at St. Columbkille's parish in Brighton molested him when he was 15.
The Globe does not reveal the identities of victims of sexual abuse. The alleged victim in this case agreed to be interviewed and identified.
But Boston lawyer Paul Kelly, who is representing Sullivan, said that Martin may have innocently confused Sullivan, now a pastor at Weymouth's St. Francis Xavier Church, with the Rev. Eugene O'Sullivan, a former priest at St. Agnes Church in Arlington.
MEMPHIS (TN)
phillyburbs.com
The Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis has agreed to report all past and future allegations of sexual abuse against priests and other clergy that involve minors, officials said.
The agreement, which also applies to church employees, came after the diocese and District Attorney General's office met Wednesday to discuss why the diocese had not reported abuse allegations it has known about for years.
"Any case that is currently known by the diocese is going to be turned over to the district attorney's office," said Father John Geaney, communications adviser for the diocese.
In two cases of alleged abuse, church officials took actions against the priest but did not report the allegations to agencies that might launch a criminal investigation. Diocesan officials said in December they didn't believe they had to report the cases.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ROBIN ERB
BLADE STAFF WRITER
A Democratic lawmaker from Toledo is hoping events in California - where earlier this week there was a reported record $100 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County and dozens of victims of sexual abuse - may give alleged Ohio victims a better chance to have their day in court.
State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) has been drawing up legislation that might make that situation easier.
Under her proposal - it is not a bill yet - Ohio would temporarily suspend its current two-year statute of limitations on cases of past sexual abuse involving minors. It is something that California did in 2003, leading to filings of hundreds of cases, including many that were part of a recent settlement between nearly 90 victims and the Orange County diocese.
Many of the California cases were decades old; the earliest allegation dated to 1936.
"The children not only need to be protected, they need to see justice served," Ms. Fedor said. "If we in Ohio can't iron that out, then we need to re-evaluate what we're doing as legislators."
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 6, 2005, 6:28 AM
DETROIT (AP) -- The trial of a visiting Mexican priest charged with sexually abusing a 7-year-old boy has begun.
Just before opening arguments in his trial Wednesday, the Rev. Luis Javier de Alba Campos led a prayer service in front of jurors who were mingling in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Dozens of his former parishioners from St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Detroit joined hands as the priest led them in prayers in Spanish, the Detroit Free Press reported in a Thursday story.
The priest called down a blessing from Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Catholic Church's patron saint of Mexico. Then the circle broke up and, as jurors filed past him into the courtroom, the priest smiled broadly and said to one of his supporters, "Muy bien," which means, "Very good."
MISSOURI
Columbia Daily Tribune
Published Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Editor, the Tribune: It’s offensive when someone does something selfish but pretends his motives are, in fact, selfless. It’s even more offensive when that person is a spiritual leader. That’s exactly what is happening with Jefferson City Bishop John Gaydos. He recently wrote in the Tribune "a public accounting of" sexual abuse "allegations could not be done without violating the confidentiality of victims" - "Diocese asks forgiveness," Jan. 2.
Try telling that to the two prominent Catholic cardinals - Los Angeles and Baltimore - who put the names of literally hundreds of abusive priests on their Web sites. Try telling that to the new president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, William Skystad of Spokane, Wash., who also has done so. Try telling that to the bishops of other dioceses who have done the same.
The least Gaydos can do is make public the names of the 27 Jefferson City-area priests removed because of credible allegations of sexually assaulting kids. To keep these names secret means deliberately putting more unsuspecting children at risk, as these molesters quietly begin new lives in new communities, baby-sitting kids, volunteering at the YMCA, tutoring at schools and devastating more lives.
KENTUCKY
Kentucky Post
By Kevin Eigelbach
Post staff reporter
The pastor of one of Northern Kentucky's largest Roman Catholic churches will leave this week for out-of-state treatment to deal with problems involving women.
Rev. Mark Witte, pastor of St. Timothy in Union, told his congregation Sunday that he planned to resume his duties after he completed his treatment, subject to the approval of Covington Bishop Roger Foys.
"I am more committed to my vocation and to this work than I ever have been," he said.
Witte plans to enroll in a program at the New Life Institute in Virginia. He did so at the recommendation of the diocese's Committee for Addressing Sexual Misconduct.
The committee started investigating an allegation against Witte in November 2003.
Don Zalla, a Lakeside Park attorney, lodged a formal complaint against Witte, saying that Witte's actions contributed to the breakup of Zalla's 19-year marriage.
CALIFORNIA
The Daily Journal
By LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal
Daniel Aram Garcia spent Christmas and New Year's in jail, where he remains after violating the terms of his release.
Garcia, 47, of Willits -- who awaits sentencing on a child molestation charge -- at his arraignment Dec. 16 pleaded guilty to one count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child of 14 or 15 years old. He was released on his own recognizance at that time with orders not to try to contact his victim or be alone with anyone under the age of 18 without another adult present.
On Dec. 23, Garcia attempted to write to the girl he molested and was rearrested and taken back to jail with bail set at $200,000. ...
The case has attracted attention because Garcia was a well-known and well-liked figure at the courthouse, a former candidate for county clerk, and a pastor at a church in Redwood Valley.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
Kentucky.com
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A Catholic order was sued Wednesday by a man claiming he was sexually abused by nuns while living at a Jefferson County orphanage when he was a boy.
Richard Lauersdorf accused the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth of concealing the alleged abuse by nuns at the now-closed St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage.
Lauersdorf seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages from the religious order based in Nelson County, along with a jury trial. Several dozen other former residents of the orphanage have filed suit claiming they were molested by a priest or nuns over several decades.
Lauersdorf, now 49, claims that he was beaten and molested repeatedly and forced to eat his own vomit. The suit does not name his alleged abusers.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
WAVE 3
(LOUISVILLE, January 5th, 2005, 5:30 p.m.) -- A Catholic order was sued Wednesday by a man claiming he was sexually abused by nuns while living at a Jefferson County orphanage when he was a boy.
Richard Lauersdorf accused the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth of concealing the alleged abuse by nuns at the now-closed St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage.
Lauersdorf seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages from the religious order based in Nelson County, along with a jury trial. Several dozen other former residents of the orphanage have filed suit claiming they were molested by a priest or nuns over several decades.
Lauersdorf, now 49, claims that he was beaten and molested repeatedly and forced to eat his own vomit. The suit does not name his alleged abusers.
The suit said Lauersdorf lived at the orphanage in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
WKYT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A judge on Wednesday ordered that a former Roman Catholic priest facing a retrial on rape and sodomy charges undergo a physical examination of his genitalia.
Prosecutors requested the exam seeking to corroborate a description from the alleged victim who claims she was assaulted by Bruce Ewing decades ago when she was a teenager.
Ewing's attorney, David Lambertus, declined comment on Jefferson County Circuit Judge Martin McDonald's order.
Ewing's trial last year ended with a deadlocked jury after five hours of deliberations. If convicted, Ewing could have faced up to 15 years in prison on the one count of third-degree rape and two counts of third-degree sodomy.
CALIFORNIA
BBC News
By Robert Pigott
BBC religious affairs correspondent
The agreement of a Roman Catholic diocese to pay $100m (£53m) in compensation to victims of sex abuse takes the Church in America past another milestone in the settlement of its long drawn out scandal.
Several US archdioceses had to file for bankruptcy over the scandals
The fact that the Diocese of Orange, in Los Angeles, is spending so much in meeting the claims of only 90 people, with another 544 cases outstanding there, gives an idea of the crippling financial burden on the Church.
Lawyers working on the litigation say abuse could eventually cost $1bn.
Other dioceses have found the price of abuse more than they can manage.
The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon filed for bankruptcy last July. Tucson in Arizona and Spokane in Washington chose to follow suit.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
BOSTON - Civil commitment hearings for former priest James Porter were delayed for another three months on Wednesday after his doctor said the convicted pedophile is too ill with cancer to appear in court.
Porter is hospitalized in Boston with incurable cancer. On a conference call, his doctor told New Bedford Superior Court Judge Robert Kane, Porter's lawyer and prosecutors that Porter has lost 40 pounds while undergoing four chemotherapy treatments and is not able to leave the hospital. His cancer has not improved but has not shown signs of spreading, the doctor reported.
The next hearing was set for April 7 in Fall River.
Bristol First Assistant District Attorney Renee Dupuis said prosecutors are not ready to drop their bid to have Porter committed indefinitely as a sexually dangerous person.
``We still view Mr. Porter as a risk to reoffend. Nothing has changed that,'' she said. ``We have prosecuted many defendants who are ill and yet can lead fairly normal lives. By virtue of the fact that they're ill doesn't mean that they won't commit additional crimes. I can't see any circumstances under which we would agree to drop our petition.''
VATICAN
National
By JASON BERRY
A canon lawyer representing eight former members of the Legionaries of Christ who filed pedophilia charges in 1998 against the order’s founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, recently informed the men that a Vatican prosecutor has agreed to reopen the dormant case.
Martha Wegan, a canonist who works at the Holy See, informed Arturo Jurado and José Barba of Mexico, and Juan Vaca, of Holbrook, N.Y., of the development in a Dec. 2 letter, barely a week after Pope John Paul II publicly praised Maciel and entrusted the Legion with the administration of Jerusalem’s Notre Dame Center.
“It seems to me that now the case is being taken seriously,” Wegan wrote.
Jurado, Barba and Vaca are three of the men who for years have tried to get the Vatican to take action against Maciel. Wegan, an Austrian national in Rome licensed to practice in church courts, told the three petitioners that Fr. Charles Scicluna, a canon lawyer working as promoter of justice at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, had asked if the men wished “to pursue the suit or not.”
“After we received the letter, I telephoned Martha Wegan and said that of course, we wished the case to move forward,” Barba, a professor of Latin American studies at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico, told NCR in a telephone interview from Mexico City.
“I also told her that we would not be bound by silence,” added Barba -- referring to the congregation’s insistence in 1998, when the case was filed, that the men not speak publicly about it. They abided by the agreement until late 1999, when Wegan informed them that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the congregation, had tabled the case. Ratzinger later told a Mexican bishop that the charges created a “delicate” situation because Maciel in his view had done much good for the church (NCR, Dec. 7, 2001).
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By Father Richard P. McBrien
Nothing is more important to a healthy relationship and to a vibrant community than the capacity to dialogue. People have to be able to speak the truth to others without unnecessarily hurting them, and they must, in turn, be disposed to listen to others, even when the message they receive is unpleasant.
Dialogue is especially important when personal relationships and communities are in a crisis of one kind or another. That is surely the case today with the Roman Catholic Church, which is still dealing with what is probably the worst crisis it has faced since the 16th century Reformation.
The sexual-abuse scandal, which exploded with unprecedented fury just three years ago this week, pointed a dagger at the church's priesthood and, in the process, put at risk the spiritual health and vitality of the church's most precious asset, its sacramental life.
At times like these effective leadership is of greatest urgency. The church needs men and women who have a theologically-informed vision, the ability to articulate it clearly and meaningfully to others, but always in a dialogical manner, and the capacity to motivate others to embrace that vision and to work together to realize it.
Leadership is exercised at many levels in the church. To be sure, the Bishop of Rome is, by reason of his office, the most important leader in the Body of Christ. A healthy, vigorous, and visionary pope who truly listens to his people is one of the greatest gifts that God could bestow upon the church.
Diocesan bishops and pastors are also crucially important church leaders. But leadership is not only exercised by the clergy. The church is the whole People of God. It is composed of all the baptized, laity as well as clergy and religious.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 5, 2005
BOSTON -- Ten more clergy sex abuse lawsuits have been filed against the Boston Archdiocese, including one that accuses the archdiocese's former school superintendent of molesting a 15-year-old boy in the 1970s.
Eugene Sullivan, who is now pastor of St. Francis Xavier church in Weymouth, is accused in the suit of molesting a boy in his car in 1977.
Mark Martin, now 42, claims Sullivan fondled him as they rode in his car to Camp Fatima, a Catholic summer camp for children in New Hampshire.
Sullivan said he had not seen the lawsuit and had no immediate comment.
"I know nothing about that," Sullivan said when reached by phone at the church Wednesday. He told The Associated Press he couldn't remember Martin, saying "This is throwing me for a loop."
Sullivan was superintendent of schools for the archdiocese and assistant director for education in 1977, when Martin claims the abuse took place. The exact time frame he served as superintendent couldn't immediately been determined.
Kelly Lynch, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
BOSTON (MA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Leaders of a support group for clergy molestation victims are urging "anyone who experienced, witnessed or suspected abuse by Paul Shanley" to come forward to law enforcement.
At the same time, they experessed confidence that Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley will prevail in the upcoming criminal trial against the former Boston cleric.
In particular, the SNAP leaders believe that current and former priests and church employees "have a moral duty to share what they know of Shanley's crimes with police and prosecutors," according to the group's national director David Clohessy of St. Louis.
"There's no reason the burden of protecting innocent kids and vulnerable adults from Shanley should fall solely on his victims," he said. "It's time for some archdiocesan priests and lay employees to find some backbone and break the clerical culture of secrecy so that others can be safeguarded."
Clohessy pointed to the trial of a Missouri priest, Fr. Bryan Kuchar. who initially remained free when a jury deadlocked in a 2003 criminal molestation trial. St. Louis County prosecutors persisted, however, and found three new witnessed - a Catholic lay employee, a nun, and a priest - who testified against Kuchar in a second.trial. The cleric was eventually convicted and is in jail serving a three year sentence.
CALIFORNIA
The Press Democrat
By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
An Oakland judge has rejected the Catholic Church's first legal attempt to eliminate one of 11 child sex-abuse lawsuits against the Santa Rosa Diocese.
In refusing the diocese's bid to dismiss a suit against a priest who died 14 years ago, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw tentatively ruled that another priest may have known of the misconduct and the case consequently can go to trial.
Lawyers for the diocese and the alleged victim, a former Calistoga altar boy, will argue the ruling today in Sabraw's courtroom and a final order will be issued.
The plaintiff, a 48-year-old Amador County man, married and a father of six children, alleges he was repeatedly molested by the Rev. Patrick Gleeson from 1968 to 1972, when Gleeson was pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Calistoga.
Gleeson died in 1991 at 66, after serving the previous six years at St. Joseph's Church in Cotati and earlier at St. Apollinaris in Napa.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/04/2005
St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has threatened to withhold the sacraments of the Roman Catholic church, including Communion, from board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in a dispute over control of the church.
"I warn you that your refusal to comply with the legitimate directives of the Holy See and me, your Archbishop, carries with it, the punishment of 'interdict or other just penalties,'" wrote Burke in a letter to the board members. The archbishop set a date of Feb. 4 for the board to comply with his directives.
Monsignor Thomas J. Green, professor of canon law at Catholic University, described interdict as a "mini excommunication." ...
"I consider it a badge of honor," said board member Robert Zabielski. "I'm sticking up for what is right. Pedophiles in this church are transferred from diocese to diocese while good, faithful people are excommunicated." Zabielski said he was not surprised to receive the letter. "It was only a matter of time before something like this came," he said.
ANDOVER (MA)
Eagle Tribune
By Dorian Block
Staff writer
ANDOVER -- A local family is seeking to offer a new way for victims of crime in general -- and clergy abuse specifically -- to report the wrongdoing.
A Web site they have created called victimpower.org will give crime victims a chance to talk to law enforcement without giving their names.
Diane Williams Galebach and her husband, attorney Stephen Galebach, have recruited the oldest of their 10 children to put Victimpower.org together over the past six months. Outside assistance came from other teenagers Diane Williams Galebach has advised through a group she started to promote Christian values among children called the It Works Foundation.
"I've learned a lot about victims and the psychology that goes on," she said. "All I can say is that there are a whole lot of victims excited to use this site."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
More charges may be dropped against a defrocked priest accused in one of the clergy sex abuse scandal's most lurid cases, potentially leaving only one of four alleged victims to testify at his upcoming trial.
Frank Mondano, the attorney for Paul Shanley, yesterday said he expects the charges to be dropped because prosecutors may not be able to find one of the four men who claim Shanley repeatedly raped them between 1979 and 1989, when they were altar boys at St. John the Evangelist in Newton.
Emily LaGrassa, a spokeswoman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, yesterday said the office had not dropped more charges against Shanley and, ``at this point, there are two victims involved in the case.''
In October, however, Mondano asked Judge Stephen Neel to dismiss the charges related to one of them, an unidentified homeless man in his 20s, after he failed to appear in court at least twice. Three months earlier, prosecutors had dropped charges brought by two other alleged victims.
BOSTON (MA)
Daily News Tribune
By Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
BOSTON -- A judge, acting at the request of prosecutors, issued an order Tuesday barring the news media from disseminating the names of the alleged victims in the upcoming child rape trial of defrocked priest Paul Shanley.
Superior Court Judge Charles Spurlock issued his order after The Associated Press moved a story that included the names of two alleged victims, one of whom is expected to testify against Shanley at his trial on child rape charges later this month.
The name of the alleged victim has been published repeatedly by the AP and other news organization since 2002, when he filed a civil lawsuit against Shanley and gave numerous newspaper and television interviews.
Spurlock cited a state law dating back to the 1980s that says that court or police records containing the name of the victim in a criminal case involving rape or assault with intent to rape "shall be withheld from public inspection, except with the consent of a justice" of the court where the case is being prosecuted.
The law says it is unlawful to "publish, disseminate or otherwise disclose the name of any individual identified as an alleged victim" of rape or attempted rape.
MAINE
Bangor Daily News
SOUTH PORTLAND - Roman Catholic parishioners canceled an event honoring a priest who was forced to resign late last year after a Catholic reform organization criticized their plans. The event, which was not sponsored by the Diocese of Portland, was held to honor the Rev. Paul Coughlin. In October, Coughlin was ordered to resign as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist parishes in South Portland.
An investigation of Coughlin determined the 69-year-old priest failed to report sexual misconduct by a church volunteer and allowed the man, who is now in prison, to live in the rectory at St. John.
Bishop Richard Malone's investigation also determined that Coughlin had inappropriate contact with a minor in 1985 while at St. Mary's Church in Bangor.
Coughlin has never been accused of criminal activity, and the diocese has declined to provide specifics of the "inappropriate physical contact."
METHUEN (MA)
Boston Herald
By O’Ryan Johnson
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
A man who volunteered to watch youngsters at a Mormon church in Methuen was arrested yesterday for repeatedly sexually abusing a boy in his care, police Chief Joseph E. Solomon said.
Kevin Curlew, 43, of Dracut volunteered at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Hill Street in Methuen, where his job was to care for parishioners' children when they attended services and activities.
But Solomon said since July, Curlew had singled out at least one of the boys in his care, abusing him on sacred ground. Solomon declined to release the boy's age or hometown.
``We were involved because the abuse occurred at the church which is in Methuen,'' Solomon said.
He said a tip to the Essex District Attorney's Office made under the state's mandatory reporting law led to the arrest.
PORTLAND (OR)
KGW
01/05/2005
Associated Press
Those intending to file a sexual abuse claim against the Archdiocese of Portland must do so by April 29.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris approved the deadline in a court order issued Monday.
Faced with a $135 million jury trial set to begin July 6, the archdiocese filed for bankruptcy, becoming the nation's first diocese to do so. The archdiocese faces $534 million in pending claims from 72 individual plaintiffs, according to a bankruptcy court filing.
The archdiocese will conduct a $300,000 notification program to alert potential claimants to the deadline, said Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese.
Those who want to pursue a claim, including the plaintiffs already suing the archdiocese, must file a proof-of-claim form. It requires those who had sexual contact with anyone working for the archdiocese to disclose certain details.
CALIFORNIA
The New York Times
By NICK MADIGAN
Published: January 5, 2005
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 4 - Twenty-six years after he was sexually abused by a priest, there is still a catch, almost imperceptible, in Max Fisher's voice when he talks about it.
The man who assaulted him is dead, but Mr. Fisher said Tuesday that he only felt a measure of vindication now that he and 89 other plaintiffs who contended they were abused by Roman Catholic priests and other church employees in Orange County had received a public apology from a bishop.
Mr. Fisher said that for him, the apology, from Bishop Tod D. Brown of the Diocese of Orange at a court hearing on Monday, trumped the announcement of a record $100 million settlement between the diocese and the 90 plaintiffs who came forward to say they were abused in the county's parishes, in some cases decades ago.
"I'm more pleased with the fact that I got what I was after, which wasn't money, but an apology from the church," Mr. Fisher, 40, said by telephone. "The bishop pulled me aside and said, 'I'm deeply sorry that this happened.' That meant more to me than anything."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff | January 5, 2005
The criminal case against defrocked priest Paul R. Shanley, perhaps the most notorious of all Catholic clergy involved in the sexual abuse scandal, will soon hinge only on the allegations of a single accuser, according to Shanley's lawyer, Frank Mondano.
Mondano said he told a Middlesex Superior Court judge last week that prosecutors said they will drop charges stemming from the accusations of one of the four original alleged victims. The victim would be the third dropped from the case.
Prosecutors said yesterday that charges from two accusers still stand and declined to comment further.
The latest alleged victim expected to be dropped from the case is a former Newton man in his mid-30s, identified in court papers only as Male No. 4, who has battled substance abuse and homelessness, according to a lawyer familiar with the case. Although some of the victims' names have been published in the past, a judge ordered yesterday that those names not be released.
The victim missed a recent court hearing in which he was scheduled to testify.
GARY (IN)
The Ledger
The Associated Press
GARY, Ind.
A Roman Catholic bishop said he did not act sooner against a priest accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in Florida because police and church investigators had trouble contacting the alleged victim.
Bishop Dale Melczek also said the Rev. Richard Emerson, suspended last month as pastor of Notre Dame Church in Long Beach, Ind., has denied any sexual misconduct with his accuser.
A Florida man now 29 notified the Catholic Diocese of Orlando on May 25 that he had been abused by Emerson when the priest worked there from 1987 to 1991. The alleged victim said the sexual acts occurred in Florida when he was between the ages of 11 and 18. The Diocese of Gary and Melczek were notified on May 27.
Melczek waited for Orlando police to complete their investigation before his diocesan emergency response team conducted its investigation, he told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story published Wednesday. The Orlando Diocese had turned the case over to the police.
CALIFORNIA
USA Today
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in California has announced details of the largest single settlement in the church's child sexual-abuse scandal.
The diocese said Monday that it had agreed to a $100 million civil settlement with 90 victims of abuse. The largest previous settlement, $85 million, was made in Boston in 2003. The latest settlement pushes the total cost of abuse, including care and counseling for victims and priests, to nearly $900 million nationwide.
But victims, who battled the Southern California diocese for two years, say their victory won't be complete until they see the church's files on alleged abusers, which will be made public as part of the settlement. They could document what church officials knew of abuse complaints and what they did — or failed to do — to protect children.
"This is what we really want — to open up the truth of what happened and be believed," said Barbara Blaine, founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
By Frank Wiget / Post-Tribune staff writer
GARY — The Most Rev. Dale Melczek, bishop of the Diocese of Gary, on Tuesday defended last month’s handling of the Rev. Richard Emerson’s suspension as pastor of Notre Dame Church in Long Beach, near Michigan City.
Emerson cannot be around children or conduct any ministerial duties, Melczek said. He was placed on administrative leave in December based on complaints made in May.
The six-month period drew complaints from a national sex abuse group as well as from representatives of the victim.
Melczek said Emerson has denied any sexual misconduct with the now 29-year-old Florida man who told the Orlando Diocese on May 25 he had been abused by Emerson when the priest worked there from 1987 to 1991. The alleged victim said the sexual acts occurred when he was between the ages of 11 and 18.
The bishop said he was waiting for the Orlando police investigation to be completed before the Gary Diocese emergency response team conducts an investigation.
GARY (IN)
WFTV
POSTED: 6:44 am EST January 5, 2005
GARY, Ind. -- A Roman Catholic bishop said he did not act sooner against a priest accused of sexual misconduct with a minor in Florida because police and church investigators had trouble contacting the alleged victim.
Bishop Dale Melczek also said the Rev. Richard Emerson, suspended last month as pastor of Notre Dame Church in Long Beach, Ind., has denied any sexual misconduct with his accuser.
A Florida man now 29 notified the Catholic Diocese of Orlando on May 25 that he had been abused by Emerson when the priest worked there from 1987 to 1991. The alleged victim said the sexual acts occurred in Florida when he was between the ages of 11 and 18. The Diocese of Gary and Melczek were notified on May 27.
Melczek waited for Orlando police to complete their investigation before his diocesan emergency response team conducted its investigation, he told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville for a story published Wednesday. The Orlando Diocese had turned the case over to the police.
"Police said they were not successful in reaching the victim. He hadn't been returning their calls." Melczek said.
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Times-Picayune
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
A priest and faculty member at Jesuit High School has been relieved of ministry on a credible charge that he sexually abused a minor years ago, his religious order said Tuesday.
The Rev. Claude Boudreaux, 80, a Latin teacher at Jesuit, was relieved after his order received an allegation from an unnamed person about a month ago, said the Rev. Paul Deutsch, a spokesman for the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus -- the Jesuits. The incident did not involve a Jesuit High student, a school spokesman said.
An internal investigation convinced the Rev. Fred Kammer, the order's provincial, or local superior, that the claim was credible, Deutsch said. An advisory board dominated by lay members also reviewed the allegation, Deutsch said.
Boudreaux has been transferred out of New Orleans "for extended medical treatment" at an undisclosed location, Deutsch said. He would not disclose the reason for the treatment.
Deutsch declined to say directly whether Boudreaux denied the allegation. "He is cooperating with the provincial in this matter. To answer more would move into his area of privacy," Deutsch said.
IRELAND
One in Four
THE Catholic hierarchy will have to find up to €50m over the next 10 years to compensate sex abuse victims, pay for their counselling services and fund a revamped and expanded child protection service, the Irish Independent has learned.
The news comes as a €10m trust set up by the bishops using insurance funds is expected to run out within the next 12 months because of abuse payouts.
The result is that each of the 26 dioceses in the country will have to draw increasingly on their own resources to maintain the fund.
How they do this will be left up to each bishop, but the sale of property is certain to be one source of funds while there could also be special collections from churchgoers.
Already the Diocese of Killaloe has drawn on money raised by the sale of land around the bishop's house to make a contribution in the region of €40,000 to the trust.
CALIFORNIA
Duluth News Tribune
BY CHRIS KNAP, ANN PEPPER, RACHANEE SRISAVASDI AND ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES - (KRT) - Bishop Tod D. Brown walked down a long hallway at the Los Angeles Superior Court Monday to apologize to victims of clerical sexual abuse and authorize the release of thousands of pages of personnel files that victims say will show that the church protected accused priests.
The 23-page, $100 million settlement made public Monday with 90 victims alleging abuse by Catholic priests, nuns and lay teachers in Orange County is the largest payout of its kind in history.
The documents do not detail the names or the payouts to victims, in order to protect their privacy. But plaintiffs' lawyers said payments ranged from $50,000 to a few victims who got nearly $4 million.
"All of us are here today because terrible things have happened. The sexual abuse of minors took place in our midst," Brown said.
He said changes in diocesan personnel policies will ensure, "as much as is humanly possible, that these things will never happen again. ... Nothing is more important than the protection of our children and our youth."
CALIFORNIA
NPR
Morning Edition, January 4, 2005 · The Roman Catholic diocese of Orange County, Calif., has agreed to a record settlement in sexual abuse cases. Orange County Bishop Todd D. Brown is seen as the driving force behind a new, and perhaps more open, approach to dealing with the ongoing sex abuse scandals. Rob Schmitz of member Station KPCC reports.
PORTLAND (OR)
Stuff
05 January 2005
PORTLAND: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, will launch an advertising campaign this week to encourage people sexually abused by priests in Oregon to come forward, according to a church spokesman.
"It is part of a normal bankruptcy procedure to notify" possible claimants, archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said.
In July, Portland became the first US diocese to file for bankruptcy. The move halted two trials seeking US$155 million in damages for plaintiffs who claim they were abused by priests.
A federal bankruptcy court has imposed an April 29, 2005, deadline for many abuse lawsuits to be filed. The advertising will let potential claimants know about the deadline, Bunce said.
"You may have a claim against the archdiocese" the ads will read.
Bunce said the archdiocese did not use an ad agency, but "we did put some effort into the ad itself. It will be eye-catching."
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
Boston Herald
By Associated Press
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Prosecutors are dropping more charges against a priest accused in one of the most lurid cases to come out of the clergy sex abuse sandal, leaving only one of four alleged victims to testify at his upcoming trial, a source close to the case told The Associated Press.
The criminal case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, which once had four young men set to testify that Shanley raped them as children, was long considered a slam-dunk for prosecutors. The men all claimed Shanley raped them repeatedly between 1979 and 1989 when they were altar boys at St. Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton.
But now, with only one alleged victim left, some legal observers say the case against the priest who came to symbolize the scandal appears to be substantially weakened.
All four of the men said they did not remember Shanley raping them until years later when they recovered memories of the abuse after seeing news reports about the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Boston Archdiocese. Shanley's defense lawyer said he may call Elizabeth Loftus, a renowned psychologist who has challenged claims of repressed memories of sexual abuse, to testify at the trial.
TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
SHERYL KORNMAN
Tucson Citizen
Two Phoenix clients of Tucson lawyer Lynne Cadigan will share in the $100 million settlement awarded to 90 plaintiffs who sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange in Orange County, Calif.
Cadigan said the clients were abused as boys by a priest from the diocese who was on loan to the Diocese of Los Angeles and had served the church in Phoenix.
Cadigan would not disclose the amount her clients will receive, saying it is small compared with what some of the other 88 plaintiffs will receive.
The amount of the settlement reached Dec. 2 was made public yesterday when a California judge lifted a gag order.
Cadigan said the Orange County Diocese paid $50 million of the settlement from an investment account. She said insurers paid $50 million of the settlement.
Cadigan has eight clients with pending sexual misconduct cases against the Diocese of Los Angeles.
KENTUCKY
Ohio News Network
A Diocese of Covington priest is stepping down from his job to get professional help for having sex with women.
Bishop Roger Foys released a letter to FOX19 that will be read during mass this coming weekend. The letter spells out the status of Father Mark Witte.
Witte, the now former pastor at St. Timothy's in Union, has admitted to more than one affair with female parishioners. Witte will be admitted into a residential treatment facility. His status after that is not being discussed publicly.
The priest faced allegations of breaking up a family in 2003 before leaving his post at Blessed Sacrament in Ft. Mitchell. A spokeswoman for a Tri-State priest abuse survivors network says Witte should be removed permanently from the priesthood. Christy Miller says he's abused the trust of the church and the families of those he had sexual relations with.
CALIFORNIA
MSNBC
By ANN PEPPER
The Orange County Register USA - The fate of the $100 million settlement between the Catholic Diocese of Orange and alleged sexual-abuse victims balanced, in the end, atop a stack of personnel documents that plaintiffs demanded be made public.
Plaintiffs say the records show how they were victimized as children, when the diocese knew about it and how local church leaders responded.
For many, money meant little compared with securing the release of the documents and an apology from the church.
The deal-breaker issue pushed negotiations into the late hours of Dec. 2 - that last of four days in which everything from tough judges to an inhospitable courthouse played roles.
Other hurdles had been cleared earlier in the year.
KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Mike Rutledge
Enquirer staff writer
UNION - A year-old allegation of inappropriate behavior with an adult woman was not substantiated, but Father Mark Witte, pastor of St. Timothy Church, has stepped down - at least temporarily - to undergo residential treatment in Virginia, Witte and Covington Bishop Roger J. Foys have announced.
Witte delivered the news during his Sunday homily. The Diocese of Covington did not plan to elaborate until next Sunday, when a letter from Foys was to be read during Masses at St. Timothy. But diocese officials decided Monday that would be too long to wait, and released Foys' letter.
"A year ago an allegation of inappropriate behavior with an adult woman was made public against your pastor, Father Mark Witte," the bishop's letter said. "At the time, we pledged that a thorough investigation would be undertaken. This has been done. Father Witte has also willingly undergone a thorough evaluation. The entire matter was submitted to our Diocesan Misconduct Review Board.
"As you know, Father Witte has admitted to having violated boundaries with adult women in the past and has expressed his regret and apologies for the pain this has caused," Foys' letter continued. "He has undergone outpatient counseling in the past two years.
"The recommendation of our Misconduct Review Board is that, while the allegation which was lodged last year was not substantiated, Father Witte undertake a period of residential treatment during which time he can deal with these matters," Foys' letter said. "I have accepted that recommendation and Father Witte has agreed to it."
MAINEVILLE (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By David Eck
Enquirer contributor
MAINEVILLE - A former Maineville pastor accused of sexually abusing two young members of his church was indicted on additional charges, including rape, authorities said Monday.
C. Steven Harmon, 57, was indicted on nine counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of rape. The charges relate to two victims.
A Warren County grand jury issued the indictments Thursday, but officials made them public Monday.
The additional charges do not involve more victims, Warren County Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel said.
In the new charges, Harmon is accused of having sexual contact with a person under the age of 13 nine separate times as well as engaging in sexual conduct with a person under 13 at least once, according to the indictment.
A Warren County grand jury first indicted Harmon in October on two counts of gross sexual imposition and one count of sexual imposition.
"We found additional information in preparation for trial," Hutzel said, discussing the new charges.
PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald
By JOSHUA L. WEINSTEIN, Portland Press Herald Writer
Roman Catholic parishioners organizing a reception to honor a priest who was forced to resign late last year canceled the event Monday, hours after advocates for sexual-abuse victims condemned their plans.
The reception for the Rev. Paul Coughlin was not sponsored by the Diocese of Portland, which in October ordered Coughlin to resign as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist parishes in South Portland.
Bishop Richard Malone's investigation determined that the 69-year-old cleric failed to report sexual misconduct by a church volunteer and allowed the man, who is now in prison, to live in the rectory at St. John from 1999 to 2001.
The bishop's investigation also determined that in 1985, while Coughlin was pastor at St. Mary's Church in Bangor, the priest had inappropriate physical contact with a minor.
CALIFORNIA
State Hornet
Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press
January 04, 2005
LOS ANGELES - Details of a record $100 million settlement between alleged victims of priest sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange were unsealed, with church leaders saying it would make the diocese a "holier, humbler and healthier church."
Alleged victims sobbed and hugged Monday as they spoke publicly about the deal that was nearly two years in the making. Some thanked Bishop Tod D. Brown, who as head of the diocese negotiated what has become the largest clergy abuse settlement in history.
"Let this be what everyone remembers from today: that nothing is more important than the protection of our children and our youth," Brown said as he sat alongside plaintiffs and their attorneys. "I seek their forgiveness, I hope for reconciliation and I know that they have now begun their healing process."
The settlement was reached Dec. 2, but was under a court seal for a month as the parties signed off on it. It surpasses the $85 million the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay 552 plaintiffs in 2002.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
Jan. 4, 2005
By Stan Maddux / Post-Tribune correspondent
It appears no criminal charges will be considered against the Rev. Richard Emerson, separated from his LaPorte County parish last month amid sexual misconduct allegations.
At least for now anyway.
A Florida man, now 29, accused Emerson, 52, of sexual misdeeds when he was a visiting priest in Florida from 1987 to 1991. The man, who was a minor at the time, says the sexual relations continued until 1993 and included trips to Indiana, Chicago and Colorado.
His charges were filed in May with the Orlando Diocese, which turned the case over to area law enforcement.
The case was investigated by police in Orlando, but never presented to prosecutors for possible filing of charges, said Randy Means, director of investigations for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office.
PORTLAND (ME)
Foster's Daily Democrat
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Roman Catholic parishioners canceled an event honoring a priest who was forced to resign late last year after a Catholic reform organization criticized their plans.
The event, which was not sponsored by the Diocese of Portland, was held to honor the Rev. Paul Coughlin. In October, Coughlin was ordered to resign as pastor of Holy Cross and St. John the Evangelist parishes in South Portland.
An investigation of Coughlin determined the 69-year-old priest failed to report sexual misconduct by a church volunteer and allowed the man, who is now in prison, to live in the rectory at St. John.
Bishop Richard Malone’s investigation also determined that Coughlin had inappropriate contact with a minor in 1985 while at St. Mary’s Church in Bangor.
Parishoners insist the reception was not to focused on what Coughlin had done wrong, but rather celebrate what he had done right.
TEXAS
Denton Record-Chronicle
01/04/2005
Associated Press
The former pastor of Westside Victory Baptist Church surrendered to authorities Monday on charges accusing him of sexually abusing three young brothers.
The Rev. Larry Nuell Neathery was being held in the Tarrant County Jail late Monday with bail set at $750,000. With the latest charges, Neathery is accused of sexual misconduct with six males.
Neathery, who resigned as Westside Victory's pastor several weeks ago, was accused in April of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old male church member.
"If there ever was an innocent person charged with this many offenses, it is him," defense attorney Don Carter said in a story in Monday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "He told me when he was going into the jail, he said, `Mr. Carter, I'm innocent. I have not done these things, but I'm turning myself in as the law requires me to.'
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, January 4, 2005
(01-04) 00:53 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) --
People who said they were abused by Catholic priests over a period of 60 years fell into the arms of their attorneys and sobbed as details of a record $100 million settlement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange were unsealed.
Others tearfully hugged and thanked Bishop Tod D. Brown, who as head of the diocese negotiated the largest clergy abuse settlement in history.
"Today, I sit with you next to my brother in Christ, who has practiced his faith -- not just with the money, but I see the compassion of Christ in this man," said Mark Curran, one of those whose lawsuits against the diocese led to the settlement.
"Today, we can stand and we can say, I forgive you. And of course I do, of course we forgive you," Curran said Monday.
The settlement was reached Dec. 2 after nearly two years of negotiations, but was under a court seal for a month as the parties signed off on it. It marks the single largest clergy abuse settlement to date, surpassing the $85 million the Archdiocese of Boston agreed to pay 552 plaintiffs in 2002.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Melody McDonald
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH _ The alleged victims just kept surfacing.
First, the Rev. Larry Nuell Neathery was arrested in April on accusations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old male church member.
Then, the district attorney's office uncovered more accusations and charged the pastor with sexually abusing two more boys, one of whom is now an adult.
Now, Neathery is behind bars again _ this time accused of sexually abusing three young brothers.
Neathery, 55, who had been free on bail since his first arrest, turned himself in shortly after noon Monday. He remained in the Tarrant County Jail late Monday with bail set at $750,000.
All told, Neathery, who resigned as pastor of the Westside Victory Baptist Church several weeks ago, is officially accused of sexual misconduct with six males.
CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald
BY CHRIS KNAP, ANN PEPPER, RACHANEE SRISAVASDI AND ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
LOS ANGELES - (KRT) - Bishop Tod D. Brown walked down a long hallway at the Los Angeles Superior Court Monday to apologize to victims of clerical sexual abuse and authorize the release of thousands of pages of personnel files that victims say will show that the church protected accused priests.
The 23-page, $100 million settlement made public Monday with 90 victims alleging abuse by Catholic priests, nuns and lay teachers in Orange County is the largest payout of its kind in history.
The documents do not detail the names or the payouts to victims in order to protect their privacy. But plaintiffs' lawyers said payments ranged from $50,000 to a few victims who got nearly $4 million.
"All of us are here today because terrible things have happened. The sexual abuse of minors took place in our midst," Brown said.
He said that changes to diocesan personnel policies will ensure, "as much as is humanly possible, that these things will never happen again. . . . Nothing is more important than the protection of our children and our youth."
ALBANY (NY)
Troy Record
By: Robert Cristo, The Record 01/04/2005
ALBANY - State Supreme Court Judge Joseph C. Teresi was reprimanded by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct Monday for failing to disclose he spoke privately to a defense witness who then withdrew from testifying in a 2003 DWI case.
It is the second time in three years the Commission on Judicial Conduct has censured Teresi. This time the censure was for having an ex-parte (or private contact without attorney knowledge) discussion in his chambers with a witness scheduled to appear before him later that day. ...
Also in 2003, he recused himself from a controversial, high-profile case of alleged sexual abuse of children by priests because he felt he was becoming a "public focus of these cases," and the "attention is not beneficial to the plaintiffs or defendants," he wrote in a public statement at the time.
Teresi came under fire that time after the defense attorney in the case, John Aretakis, accused the judge of communicating with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and its attorneys without his knowledge.
Today, Aretakis contends that this latest reprimand of Teresi only confirms his criticisms of the judge, but he is still "disappointed" that the commission only gave him what amounts to a scolding for a second time in three years.
do with the DWI case.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange formally agreed today to pay a record $100 million in damages for the sexual abuse inflicted by its priests, ending two years of intense negotiations to reach an out-of-court settlement.
Bishop Tod D. Brown knelt in prayer and asked for healing of the 87 victims in a public apology made hours after the settlement was announced. A preliminary agreement was unveiled in early December.
Many observers said the agreement puts pressure on Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and other U.S. bishops to follow Brown's lead in putting the 3-year-old clergy sex scandal behind them. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is negotiating with its insurers and plaintiffs' lawyers over roughly 500 sexual abuse claims.
"The Diocese of Orange has entered into this settlement agreement in the hope that it can bring healing to those who have been abused," Brown told a room packed with lawyers, victims, their advocates and the media.
Brown, who became bishop in 1998, has set himself apart from most other U.S. bishops by entering into the nation's largest financial settlement between the Catholic Church and alleged victims. He also agreed to accept disclosure of internal church documents.
BOSTON (MA)
Star Tribune
Denise Lavoie, Associated Press
January 4, 2005
BOSTON -- Prosecutors are not prepared to immediately drop their bid to keep former priest James Porter locked up for the rest of his life, even though the notorious pedophile with a history of abuse allegations dating to the 1970s in Minnesota is hospitalized with incurable cancer.
Assistant District Attorney Renee Dupuis said Monday in Boston that prosecutors need to get an update from Porter's doctor before deciding whether he should still face trial on their petition to have him civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person.
"There are plenty of people who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses that respond well to treatment, and we've prosecuted plenty of people who were 'terminally ill' and survived for years," Dupuis said.
Porter was at the center of a notorious child-molestation case a decade ago. He was convicted in 1993 of molesting 28 children during the 1960s and 1970s while he was a priest in the Fall River, Mass., Diocese.
Porter completed 11 years in prison in January 2004, but has remained in custody while prosecutors seek to have him committed indefinitely. In April a judge found enough evidence to hold a trial on that question.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 4, 2005 12:00 AM
The Dioceses of Phoenix and Tucson have continued to comply with U.S. bishops' efforts to reduce the sexual abuse of children and teens by priests and other church employees and volunteers.
The Phoenix Diocese received word that it had passed its annual compliance audit late last week. Tucson learned of its compliance before Christmas.
Auditors hired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were in Arizona in early December. Their goal was to monitor compliance with the bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, put into place in June 2002. advertisement
The charter requires that bishops nationwide institute a series of programs aimed at addressing the sexual abuse crisis that has afflicted the church, particularly in 2001 and 2002. Among the programs are widespread training for church employees and volunteers, background checks, and care for abuse victims and parishes. It also requires dioceses to report allegations to civil authorities.
In Phoenix, auditors last year found the diocese needed to improve its training programs and background checks. A follow-up audit determined the diocese had made adequate progress in those areas.
Kathleen McChesney, executive director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, called the Phoenix results "quite impressive."
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Hours after agreeing to pay $100 million and make public secret files of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, Bishop Tod D. Brown on Monday knelt in prayer for the victims of sexual abuse by priests.
"We have done this in the larger hope of reconciliation and healing," Brown told about 100 worshipers at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange. "We hope that our actions can restore the trust that many have lost in the leaders of the church."
Earlier in the day, Brown formally agreed to a deal that amounted to the nation's largest between the church and alleged sexual abuse victims since the scandal broke three years ago.
Payments to the alleged victims will range from $500,000 to $1.6 million each, according to Raymond P. Boucher, lead counsel for those who were suing.
The settlements to the 90 people who sued average $1.1 million each, with their attorneys keeping up to 40% of the payment as fees.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
By Julie Bykowicz
Sun Staff
Originally published January 4, 2005
The sexual child abuse trial of recently defrocked Baltimore priest Maurice Blackwell was postponed for the sixth time yesterday after his defense attorney and the prosecutor told the judge that they were not ready to begin.
Blackwell, 58, is accused of molesting Dontee Stokes, a former parishioner who shot the older man in May 2002, more than a decade after the abuse allegedly occurred. The new trial date is Feb. 10.
Stokes, a 28-year-old West Baltimore barber, was acquitted of attempted murder charges, and Blackwell was later indicted on four counts of sexual child abuse and four counts of assault. The assault charges were dropped, but the sexual child abuse charges have been pending since May 2003.
Although the trial was set to begin yesterday morning, neither defense attorney Kenneth W. Ravenell nor Assistant State's Attorney Jo Anne Stanton had asked their witnesses to come to court. Both told the trial judge that they believed the administrative judge, John M. Glynn, had agreed to a postponement.
But Ravenell, who requested the delay, did not obtain an advance postponement from Glynn, and yesterday the trial judge, Circuit Judge Stuart R. Berger, was visibly annoyed during the morning court proceeding that the attorneys were not prepared for trial.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
1/3/2005 4:45:57 PM
A minister who police say confessed to inappropriately touching young boys has been indicted by a grand jury.
Dr. Claude Stephen Harmon was the pastor of the Maineville Baptist Church for fifteen years. He was removed when the allegations surfaced.
On Monday Dr. Harmon was indicted on one count of rape and nine counts of gross sexual imposition.
The indictment claims Dr. Harmon had sexual contact with a child less than thirteen years old on nine separate occasions. It also claims he engaged in sexual conduct with a child less than thirteen years old on at least one occasion.
VIRGINIA
Catholic Herald
JANUARY 19
Healing Mass, for victims of sexual abuse, will be held at St. Philip Church, 7506 St. Philip’s Ct., Falls Church, at 7:30 p.m. For information call Patricia Mudd at 703/841-2530.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
ABC 7
LOS ANGELES — A judge today lifted a gag order on a now-confirmed $100 million settlement between the Diocese of Orange and plaintiffs in 90 cases of alleged childhood abuse by Catholic clergy.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Owen Lee Kwong praised the "hard work and dedication" the parties showed in mediation of the settlement, which was announced on Dec. 2.
Following the brief court hearing, dozens of attorneys, plaintiffs, representatives for the diocese, including Bishop Tod Brown, attended an at- times tearful news conference.
"This settlement is about the victims," said Ray Boucher, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "It's about those people that for so many years hid with the guilt and the fear."
Boucher thanked Brown for reaching out to victims under what he called "tremendous pressure" from other bishops, and having the courage to "walk a different road."
COVINGTON (KY)
The Kentucky Post
By Stephenie Steitzer
Post staff reporter
A Diocese of Covington priest who was being investigated for inappropriate relations with women told his parish during weekend Masses that Bishop Roger Foys has asked him to take a leave of absence.
Rev. Mark Witte, pastor of St. Timothy Church in Union, told his parish he was going on a spiritual retreat and intended to return, parishioner Mike Vogt of Walton said.
Witte, who was previously investigated for an inappropriate relationship with a woman, has been under investigation by the diocese since December 2003.
Diocese spokesman Tim Fitzgerald confirmed Witte was asked by Foys and his advisers to take a leave of absence.
The bishop will later decide whether Witte would return to St. Timothy or be assigned to another position within the diocese.
BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun
By A Sun Staff Writer
Originally published January 3, 2005, 5:00 PM EST
The trial of former priest Maurice Blackwell was postponed today because neither the prosecution nor defense attorneys were prepared to begin. It's the sixth time Blackwell's trial has been delayed.
Circuit Judge Stuart R. Berger postponed the trial until Feb. 10. The trial is expected to last a week and a half.
Blackwell, a Baltimore priest accused of sexually abusing a parishioner who shot the cleric years later, was recently defrocked in an irrevocable decree by Pope John Paul II.
Blackwell, 58, is to go on trial on four counts of child sexual abuse against Dontee Stokes, 28, whom he baptized as a child and mentored as a teenager at St. Edward Catholic Church in West Baltimore. Stokes, who has accused Blackwell of sexually abusing him between 1989 and 1992, shot the older man in 2002.
BOSTON (MA)
Grand Forks Herald
DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press
BOSTON - Prosecutors are not prepared to immediately drop their bid to keep former priest James Porter locked up for the rest of his life, even though the notorious pedophile with a history of abuse allegations dating to the 1970s in Minnesota is hospitalized with incurable cancer.
Bristol First Assistant District Attorney Renee Dupuis said Monday that prosecutors need to get an update from Porter's doctor before deciding whether he should still face trial on their petition to have him civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person.
"There are plenty of people who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses that respond well to treatment, and we've prosecuted plenty of people who were 'terminally ill' and survived for years," Dupuis said Monday.
"We are taking a very practical and thorough and conscientious approach to whether or not Mr. Porter is able to be tried," she said.
KENTUCKY
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
1/2/2005 11:00:48 PM
A Northern Kentucky priest who once faced allegations that he had a sexual relationship with an adult woman in his parish has taken leave from his current parish.
In December of 2003, a parishioner at Blessed Sacrament in Ft. Mitchell accused Father Marc Witte of having an affair with his ex-wife.
Both denied the accusation and the Diocese of Covington Diocese said there was not enough evidence to support it.
On Sunday the diocese confirmed that the bishop advised Witte to take a leave from his current parish, St. Timothy's in Union.
Hartford Courant
January 3, 2005
By GERALD RENNER, Special to The Courant
The Vatican has reopened an investigation into charges first reported nearly eight years ago that a powerful Mexican priest close to the pope sexually abused seminarians.
The allegations focus on the actions of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, now 84 and based in Rome. He leads a religious order known as the Legionaries of Christ, which claims 600 priests in 18 countries. Its U.S. headquarters is in Orange and it has a seminary in Cheshire.
The allegations surfaced in a Courant report in February 1997. Nine former members of the Legion said Maciel first abused them years ago when they were young boys or teenagers, ages 10 to 16, in seminaries in Spain and Italy.
The accusers, all professional men - two Mexican-Americans, five Mexicans and two Spaniards, one now deceased - tried for years to call their accusations to the attention of Pope John Paul II, who nonetheless has remained effusive in his praise of Maciel. Just five weeks ago, on Nov. 27, the pope praised Maciel in a letter on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination, citing his "intense, generous and fruitful priestly ministry."
A week later, the complainants against Maciel were told the Vatican was reopening a canon law investigation that had been squelched without explanation in 1999.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Beacon Journal
By Colette M. Jenkins
Beacon Journal religion writer
During the past two years, 20 priests have been on paid leave in Cleveland's Catholic Diocese, local figures in a national scandal over how the church responds to allegations of priest abuse.
To date, 17 are still waiting to hear whether they will be allowed to serve as priests again.
For the majority of them, that decision rests with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a department of the Vatican in Rome.
The Rev. Lawrence Jurcak, diocesan secretary and vicar for clergy and religious, says Cleveland Bishop Anthony M. Pilla cannot make an official determination on any of the cases until a response comes from Rome.
The congregation, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, has several options when deciding on each case: laicization, or defrocking, from the priesthood; a canonical, or church, trial in Cleveland or in Rome; or an administrative penal process in Cleveland.
According to the Vatican Web site, the congregation's duty is ``to promote and safeguard the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world: For this reason everything which in any way touches such matter falls within its competence.''
BANGOR (ME)
Bangor Daily News
BANGOR - A reception for the priest who shepherded St. Mary's Catholic Church through the 1978 fire that destroyed its Cedar Street home will be held Sunday, Jan. 9, in South Portland. At the request of Bishop Richard Malone, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the Rev. Paul Coughlin, 69, resigned in October. Coughlin's resignation followed a church investigation into his association with a man now serving a prison term for sexual abuse of a minor. Coughlin was appointed pastor of Holy Cross and St. the Evangelist churches in South Portland in 1996.
In a letter to parishioners dated Oct. 20, Coughlin thanked them for their support. He wrote that he had received nearly 600 cards, notes and telephone messages of support since he was placed on administrative leave in August.
"You, who know me, are aware of how much I love being a priest," he wrote. "I loved what I did, and I pray that this love was evident in my work with you. ... I thank you for allowing me to minister with you, as together we toiled to further God's Kingdom in the little acre that was given us to till."
The reception will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the VFW Hall in South Portland. Organizers said that parishioners from churches Coughlin served over the years are welcome to attend the event.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX
A priest has been removed from his duties at a local high school over child abuse allegations. The St. Louis Archdiocese has taken the action against the Reverend Michael Freymuth. Freymuth served as a chaplain at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School, and was an associate pastor at St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist Church.
CANADA
CBC North
WHITEHORSE - Former students of a Whitehorse Indian residential school are joining forces to sue the government and the people they say abused them.
A class-action suit is being brought by former students of the Whitehorse Baptist Mission school
The class-action suit was filed in Yukon Supreme Court on Christmas Eve, just days after federal authorities revealed they were rejecting claims by Baptist Mission School students.
Whitehorse lawyer Dan Shier says Ottawa's denial of responsibility for the Baptist institution has left him little choice but to sue.
"I think it will put pressure on the federal government when they start looking at the materials we have uncovered through access-to-information requests," he says.
"The students didn't know that they were in a specific class of school, whether it was an Indian day school or a residential school or a religious institution. It didn't matter to them. They were taken from their families, put in these schools under the Indian Act, and they were abused, so to be fair to everybody the process should be equal to all."
CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
January 2, 2005
The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin was a controversial figure. Beloved by some and scorned by others, the cardinal for many years exercised immense influence in the Catholic Church in the U.S. He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.
In 1993, Bernardin was accused of sexual abuse by a former seminarian, Steven Cook, who died of AIDS not long after "recanting" his allegation, saying his memories were "unreliable." Jason Berry and Gerald Renner devote a segment to the Bernardin-Cook matter in their 2004 book "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II." Bernardin was quoted at a press conference as saying:
"'I've been a priest for forty-two years...and a bishop for twenty-eight years...And you know, it's inevitable that anyone who is in a public position and who takes stands that are controversial is vulnerable. But it's interesting, only three accusations have been made against me, all within the current year — (p. 115)
"'What were the other two?' a journalist cut it.
"'One was from a lady outside the state trying to implicate me in a satanic rite that allegedly took place thirty-five, thirty-six years ago. The other allegation was from a young man in another state who accused me and several others of engaging in some kind of orgy with him. And those...are totally false.'" (p. 116)
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
Kathleen A. Shaw
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Worcester Diocese Voice of the Faithful plans to pursue an aggressive agenda during 2005, in hopes of bringing healing and restoring trust in the church and its leaders, and to begin involving lay people in more decision-making for the diocese.
A planning meeting has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 18 in the Hogan Conference Center at the College of the Holy Cross. David J. O'Brien, a professor at Holy Cross active in the organization, said in a letter to members and prospective members that the group plans to elect interim officers, set a meeting schedule and decide on short-term and long-term projects.
Voice of the Faithful was founded in 2002 in the Boston area during the burgeoning sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church; a chapter opened here that year. It is now a national organization.
The organization's New England regional conference was recently held at the DCU Center and more than 40 people from the Worcester diocese attended a "breakout" meeting with Mr. O'Brien to discuss how they can become more active.
The organization comprises Catholic lay people and priests whose goals are to support victims of abuse and to work for structural change in the church while remaining faithful to the church and the bishops. Not all bishops are happy with the organization, however, and some have barred the group from meeting on church property.
Although the 2005 agenda has not been set, Daniel Dick of Worcester, VOTF's victim support coordinator, outlined some issues he believes need to be addressed.
"There is a tremendous amount of healing that needs to be done," he said.
Mr. Dick said he is trying to introduce a program of "restorative justice" in the diocese and is meeting with a victim and the diocesan Office for Healing and Prevention on this issue. "This discussion has the support of the bishop, but it remains to be seen if he will meet the requirement of a direct participation in the program," he said.
Healing needs to extend to the parishes, he added.
"There are too many people there who want to ignore the healing needs of those who are or were members of parishes, people who have little or no understanding of the role they played in abetting the climate that would allow for such abuse," Mr. Dick said.
To regain trust, the diocese needs to open records and personnel files, he added. People need to know about the settlements with victims, what the settlement policy is and "of the power of the insurance companies and the lawyers," he said.
People also need to know what the relationship is between the diocese and District Attorney John J. Conte, he said, and need to know "who knew what and when. All of this has got to be put on the table for concerned laity to see and evaluate."
Mr. O'Brien said he intends to have Mr. Dick and one or two others meet, before Jan. 18, with Patricia O'Leary Engdahl of the Office for Healing and Prevention to get an update on what has been done and is planned by her office, to learn the results of the second-year audit by theAbuse Tracker Review Board set up by the American Catholic bishops, and to get information on "the diocese's ongoing relationships with victims."
He also suggested that VOTF request that a committee of some of its members meet with the diocesan committee that oversees "the local response to the sex abuse crisis."
Mr. O'Brien said he intends to talk before the meeting with leaders of local clergy and diocesan and religious orders to offer support for "priests of integrity" as well as to open a dialogue about "shared responsibility for the well-being of the diocese and parishes."
Bishop Daniel P. Reilly, before he retired in May, began work on developing a local Diocesan Pastoral Council, Mr. O'Brien said. "I will invite the interim chair to attend our meeting, perhaps with one or two other members, to update us on the status of that body."
Mr. Dick has also said he believes there should be a "review of the health of our parishes."
Mr. O'Brien said Bishop Reilly began an assessment of staffing problems, which led to a "clustering" of parishes. The Rev. Michael F. Rose, pastor of St. James parish in South Grafton, heads the planning committee, and Frank Kartheiser of Worcester Interfaith serves as a member. Mr. O'Brien said he will invite both to the meeting.
Mr. O'Brien said he intended to get an update on the work and recommendations of theAbuse Tracker Review Board, which oversees implementation of the bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children, which they adopted in 2002.
"Supporting its work, and keeping the Catholic public informed about that work, seems to me an important function of a local VOTF affiliate," he said.
MISSOURI
Columbia Daily Tribune
By KIM DILLON
Published Sunday, January 2, 2005
Members of Voice of the Faithful Mid-Missouri, a group of lay Catholics in the Diocese of Jefferson City concerned about the sexual abuse crisis in the church, read with outrage and sadness the recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch series about abuse at St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Hannibal called "Secrets, Sins and Silence." We offer our prayers and support to all abuse survivors and their families. Unfortunately, the history of abuse at the seminary is not news to us, nor is the inept handling of the situation by bishops and diocesan officials, past and present.
Some have defended the diocese, claiming that a few "bad apple" priests are the only problem, or that the enemies of the church are on the attack again, or that sexual abuse happens elsewhere in society, or that not every seminarian was abused.
We, however, believe the core issue is that sexual abuse occurred and the diocese failed to pursue justice.
The unwillingness of the institutional church to accept responsibility, truly repent and meaningfully reform is sinful. Our frustrations can be summarized in one question: What will the Diocese of Jefferson City do to atone for its sins?
MISSOURI
Columbia Daily Tribune
By JOHN R. GAYDOS
Published Sunday, January 2, 2005
Media coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has helped us understand the great pain and devastation of that sin. Stories of survivors have awakened us to the power that someone in authority has over another and the human destruction that occurs when that trust is violated.
Understandably, this has stirred feelings of anger toward those who have perpetrated this wrong and compassion for those who have endured it.
In the Diocese of Jefferson City, the compassion is pervasive. We have reached out to victims and offered assistance in counseling, education and employment. Most people accept that the church has not only a responsibility to provide assistance for healing of the harm done but also an opportunity to reach out to someone in need of the restorative grace our faith provides.
We must acknowledge the anger as well. People feel hurt and betrayed by trusted people in trusted institutions. However, at least in the history of this diocese, the betrayal was by the sickness and selfish desire of individual priests and not by their bishops and other clergy. These men used the cover of their priesthood to violate the sacred innocence of children. No one understood the dreadful impact of those secret lives, but that fact does not acquit church leadership.
We have failed. It pains me to know that abuse was being perpetrated by members of our clergy without the bishop of the diocese being aware. I sincerely apologize for it, but there is nothing I can do as a bishop to change the past. What I can and must do, with others’ prayer and collaboration, is confront the truth, alleviate some of the pain and take steps to ensure this will never happen again.
ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Sun
The top 10 stories in Arizona during 2004, according to a vote by members and staff of The Associated Press:
3. BISHOP'S TRIAL: Thomas O'Brien, former head of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, is convicted of leaving the scene of a fatal accident, making him the first Catholic bishop in the country to be found guilty of a felony. O'Brien is sentenced to probation and community service.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
The first people to be paid under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson's Chapter 11 reorganization plan are the diocese's lawyers, while plaintiffs with valid claims of sexual abuse by priests will be grouped together with "unsecured creditors" - the last to be paid.
Priority payment to lawyers from the bankrupt entity - in this case the diocese - is not unique to the diocese's bankruptcy case, though it's one of the issues that could be raised in 2005 as the diocese seeks approval of creditors for its 71-page bankruptcy reorganization plan. The lead bankruptcy attorney for the diocese last week said she is hopeful the case will be resolved sometime this year and that plaintiffs with valid claims against the diocese will be paid as quickly as possible, though she could not put a time frame on when.
According to financial records submitted to the Bankruptcy Court, the diocese so far has spent at least $255,000 in legal and other fees associated with the case, and lawyers representing the diocese's 75 parishes appear to have cost $213,000, though the diocese will not explain a payment that was made to the parish attorneys in the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy filing.
The expenditures of nearly a $500,000 for lawyers and other business fees associated with the bankruptcy less than four months into the case does not include the taxpayer costs of keeping the case in federal Bankruptcy Court.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Fox 11
10:05 PM MST on Saturday, January 1, 2005
By CLAUDIA RIVERO / Newchannel 3
PHOENIX — Bishop Thomas Olmstead addressed parishioner's concerns at a Saturday mass in the wake of allegations that a St. Timothy's priest molested a 14-year-old 20 years ago.
The alleged victim said that he recovered a repressed memory of sexual molestation by former priest John Layman. The accuser, who was 14 at the time, claims Monsignor Dale Fuschek knew about the abuse, but did nothing to stop it.
"This was very unexpected. I can't imagine that it's true, but at the same time I don't want to prejudice the investigation moving forward," Olmstead said.
Fuschek has been placed on administrative leave as church officials investigate the allegations.
Parishioners were surprised by the allegations against Fuschek.
"I was rather surprised," said parishioner Louis Besser. "[But] we can't make judgment yet."
GARY (IN)
Indianapolis Star
January 2, 2005
Gary -- A national group that defends victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests is questioning why it took the Diocese of Gary eight months to investigate a priest recently accused of abusing a youth during the 1980s.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, sent a letter Thursday to Bishop Dale Melczek of the Diocese of Gary and to Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando in Florida.
The letters asked why it took the two bishops eight months to respond to allegations made against the Rev. Richard Emerson.
Two weeks ago, Melczek announced that Emerson, 52, would be placed on administrative leave from his position as pastor of Michigan City's Notre Dame parish because allegations of sexual abuse made against him were deemed credible.
AUSTRALIA
Australian IT
Kate Legge
DECEMBER 30, 2004
AUSTRALIANS believe access to pornography is easier now, despite a crackdown on internet predators who exploit and abuse children.
A recent Newspoll conducted for The Australian found 81 per cent of adults believe it is now easier to access pornography compared with five to 10 years ago, as internet take-up rates continue to multiply.
These perceptions remain entrenched after a year of intense activity by police and governments to ban child pornography and penalise offenders.
Federal legislation introduced in August banned internet sex crimes perpetrated online and a nationwide crackdown on pornography, code-named Operation Auxin, targeted electronic trade in sexually explicit images.
Police, teachers, childcare workers, doctors and clergy were among those caught in Operation Auxin's net. By October, police had arrested 228 people, some possessing as many as 350,000 computer images of children, and involving a total of 2260 charges. Further warrants will be issued in the coming months.
MARQUETTE (MI)
Ironwood Daily Globe
MARQUETTE -- Adding educational sessions for children and parents is the next step the Catholic Diocese of Marquette is taking to strengthen its child sexual abuse prevention program.
The two new components of the diocese's three-pronged safe environment program will get under way early next year.
The U.S. Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People mandated the establishment of safe environment programs. The charter requires dioceses to educate and train children, youth, parents, ministers, educators and others about ways to make and maintain a safe environment for children.
This was the second year the diocese conducted mandatory awareness sessions on child sexual abuse prevention for diocesan, parish and Catholic school employees and volunteers who have regular contact with children.
DAYTON (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
Dayton Daily News
DAYTON | The attorney for disgraced Catholic priest Thomas Kuhn said Thursday he'll seek to set aside a judge's order that the Rev. Kuhn, who was convicted of 11 misdemeanors in June, undergo sex offender treatment.
Dayton attorney Roger Makley said he'll file court papers next week challenging a Dec. 16 order by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman that Kuhn, 63, complete sex offender treatment at an Atlanta facility.
"There's no evidence in the record whatsoever that Father Kuhn was convicted of being a sex offender," Makley said.
Huffman also ordered that Kuhn, former pastor of St. Henry and Incarnation churches and former freshman basketball coach at Alter High School, finish writing letters of apology to those institutions and to his minor victims by Jan. 31. Makley said the letters are "in process" and will be done on time.
Huffman further ordered that Kuhn must not enter or be within 1,000 feet of a private or public school. The order came after Cincinnati's Elder High School reported that Kuhn showed up at the school in September. Classes were not in session that day because of teacher training, said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
Under conditions of Kuhn's five-year probation set in July, he is to stay away from minors and liquor establishments, and get alcohol and gambling treatment.
Kuhn is to appear before Huffman at 8:30 a.m. Jan. 13 for a probation status report. Huffman declined to comment on the case Thursday.
ST. BERNARD (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer
ST. BERNARD - Sunday Mass is canceled at St. Mary's Traditional Catholic Church in the wake of a scandal involving a man who has led services there.
The cancellation follows the arrest of Robert Elms, also known as Father Dominic Elms, on child-pornography charges this week.
On Friday, Father Luke West, associate pastor at the church here, said the service would be canceled. He did not know when services would resume.
West would not disclose who is making decisions regarding the church's future, and he hung up on a reporter who tried to ask other questions.
An Internet site says the church generally holds Mass in Latin at 9:30 a.m. Sundays.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
BY DONNA GEHRKE-WHITE
dgehrke@herald.com
One Catholic Voice for Action, a South Florida laity group, has recently begun poring over the books of the Archdiocese of Miami -- the financial ones.
Almost three years after the sexual abuse scandal broke out in the Roman Catholic Church, laity groups such as One Catholic Voice have spread their concerns to the collection plate and management of parishioners' contributions.
''We have serious concerns -- serious, serious concerns -- about the financial matters of the Archdiocese of Miami,'' said John-Campbell Barmmer, a businessman who is president of One Catholic Voice. The year-old group has 140 members in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.
Nationwide, church finances are becoming a huge issue as Catholic dioceses in Tucson, Ariz., Portland, Ore. and Spokane, Wash., have declared bankruptcy after paying out millions of dollars to settle sexual abuse lawsuits.
So far, the Archdiocese of Miami has escaped such harsh times, though it has struggled with the stock market downtown and the challenges of serving community with pockets of poverty.
In September, the Miami hierarchy announced it had settled for $3.4 million almost two dozen cases brought by former altar boys and other youths who accused Catholic priests of sexually abusing them decades ago. At Saturday and Sunday Masses next weekend, the Archdiocese expects to release a report on how much it has paid out in the last year in sexual abuse settlements and other cases, including worker's comp, spokeswoman Mary Ross Agosta said.
UNITED STATES
Lancaster Eagle Gazette
By CATHY LYNN GROSSMAN
USA TODAY
If 2004 had one code word, it might be "values." But as Humpty Dumpty said, a word can mean whatever one chooses it to mean. Indeed, nuanced voices on values often were lost in the clash of extreme sound bites. Looking back: ...
CHURCH SCANDAL AFTERSHOCKS
U.S. bishops are still accounting for the spiritual, financial and emotional costs of the scandal of child sexual abuse by clergy. The first national audit of Catholic dioceses found overwhelming compliance with the church's policies on preventing and reporting abuse and caring for victims.
But a second report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, released in February, found that 4 percent of U.S. priests in the last half-century had been involved in abuse. By November, the cost of litigation, settlements and care for victims and abusers passed $772 million, a USA TODAY study showed. The dioceses of Portland, Ore.; Spokane, Wash.; and Tucson declared bankruptcy in the face of more lawsuits.
In Boston, epicenter of the scandal, the bishop acknowledged that declining donations were among the many reasons for reconfiguring the entire diocese and closing 67 parishes. Primary reasons, he said, were demographic changes and a shortage of priests, which experts say will drive more parish closings. But the lesson of Boston in 2005 may be the church finally calling on the laity to participate more in church governance.
PHOENIX (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
December 31, 2004
Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix procedures to protect youths from sexual abuse by clergy, staff and volunteers have earned high marks in an audit by a national Catholic oversight office.
The diocese, which continues to be investigated for priest misconduct with children going back to the 1970s, is now well set up to prevent such future abuses, according to the review team sent by the Office of Child and Youth Protection, under the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"The responses to the many questions were thoughtful, informative and among the best that I have reviewed," said Kathleen McChesney, executive director for the Office of Child and Youth Protection. She called the Phoenix audit results "quite impressive" and said they reflect "an enormous amount of time, energy and dedication to addressing the problems that existed 18 months ago."
The diocese uses a 14-member review board to rece ive and investigate complaints and advise the bishop.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
BY GREG JONSSON AND PHILLIP O'CONNOR
Post-Dispatch
12/31/2004
The St. Louis Archdiocese has removed a priest from duties at a Catholic high school and city parish over allegations of inappropriate conduct.
The Rev. Michael A. Freymuth, a chaplain at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in St. Louis and a part-time associate pastor at St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist Church, also in St. Louis, was removed about three weeks ago, said Jamie Allman, a spokesman for the archdiocese. Freymuth's removal was spurred by allegations made in a lawsuit against another priest, Allman said.
Public announcement of the removal came Friday, the same day the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests gathered to publicly present their concerns about Freymuth to the principal of the high school and to leaders of the archdiocese.
At the news conference, members of SNAP also said that another man made allegations about Freymuth to the archdiocese more than two years ago. Freymuth continued his duties as a priest.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Mike Anton, Times Staff Writer
In 2005, voters may approve plans for Orange County's tallest building to rise in the center of Santa Ana — or they may not. The sheriff's political career will continue to shine, or be muddied by the stain of controversy. A long-envisioned light-rail line may chug ahead, or be derailed. And Anaheim will either find itself in the running for an NFL team, or be thrown for a loss. ...
After three years of revelations and a record $100-million settlement, the sex scandal roiling the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange won't fade away.
As part of the agreement reached Dec. 2 with 87 plaintiffs, Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown vowed not to fight the release of files that show how the church handled those allegations through the years. Attorneys who crafted the settlement say they expect the case files to be released this year.
Those who have seen the files say they show that Orange County church leaders quietly moved molesting priests to new parishes and other dioceses, ignored or downplayed testimony by victims and their parents and rarely reported the crimes to police.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Burbank Leader
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles dismissed sexual abuse charges filed against a San Gabriel Valley priest after an investigation determined that the charges were without merit.
The lawsuit, filed Dec. 31, 2003 in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleged that Msgr. Patrick Reilly was one of two priests who sexually abused Michael Matthew Gallardo, now 31, between 1980 and 1984 while he was a student at Sacred Heart School in Covina. Reilly was a priest at the parish for 13 years before being transferred to St. Robert Bellarmine in Burbank.
The other priest named in the lawsuit, Harold DeJonghe, accused of molesting Gallardo from 1980 until 1982, died in October 1998.