LOUISVILLE (KY)
Leading the Charge
Staff and agencies
31 January, 2006
By BRETT BARROUQUERE, 7 minutes ago
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A judge approved a settlement of up to $85 million Tuesday between sexual abuse victims and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, one of the largest deals the church has reached with U.S. parishioners who were molested by clergy.
"Contrary to what might be the case in other dioceses, the court believes that this professed desire is genuine and played a significant role in the diocese‘s decision," Potter wrote in his 15-page ruling.
The diocese had originally agreed to pay up to $120 million to abuse victims, saying it would pay out $40 million and its insurance companies would pay up to $80 million, which would have made it the largest church sex abuse settlement in the country.
The diocese, based in Covington just south of Cincinnati, sued its self-insurance plan to force it to contribute its share to the settlement fund. That case settled in January.
NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
For almost a decade after he was barred from serving as a Catholic priest for sexually abusing minors, James Hanley lived in a senior citizens housing complex on Day Street in Paterson.
But his move last month to a bigger apartment on McBride Avenue across town has his new neighbors questioning whether the church should have alerted residents and police to his presence.
Church officials said they didn't know until last weekend that Hanley had moved, but even if they had, they said, they would not have said anything.
"He's a civil individual now. He's not a priest," Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli said yesterday. "He's been laicized. That's the furthest the church can go -- to basically disconnect someone from the priesthood."
On McBride Avenue, where Hanley lives in the upstairs apartment of a two-story house, his new neighbors had strongly different views.
BARABOO (WI)
Baraboo News Republic
By Brian Bridgeford
BARABOO - A judge brought closure to an unsuccessful defamation suit by Baraboo priest Father Gerald Vosen against a Janesville family last week.
As part of the agreement approved in Rock County Circuit Court Friday, the family will not demand thousands of dollars in legal fees as their lawyer proposed, said Patrick K. McDonald, Vosen's attorney.
In August, a jury rejected Vosen's contention that Peter L. Arnold and his parents, Nancy and LeLand Arnold, defamed him when they claimed Peter was abused by Vosen between 1989 and 1991, while in fifth and sixth grades. They said abuse took place while Vosen was a priest at St. John Vianney Catholic Church and school in Janesville, according to court records.
Vosen has maintained his innocence.
DETROIT (MI)
National
By DENNIS CODAY
A year late and under some pressure from the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit has submitted his resignation “from the office of auxiliary bishop to Cardinal [Adam] Maida.”
Gumbleton turned 75 in January 2005 and should have submitted a letter of resignation at that time. But he didn’t.
Instead he wrote the Congregation for Bishops asking that he be allowed to serve as long as he was healthy. The congregation deemed the request unacceptable, and on Jan. 21, after a year of correspondence with the congregation, Gumbleton submitted his resignation. ...
Gumbleton made headlines last month when he lobbied Ohio legislators to extend statute of limitations provisions for cases of sexual abuse of minors, legislation opposed by the Ohio Catholic bishops’ conference. Several other state bishops’ conferences, including Michigan’s, oppose similar legislation in their states.
While in Ohio, Gumbleton revealed that as a teenage seminarian, he was abused by a priest.
He has said his resignation is not related to either his revelation or his support for the statute of limitations legislation.
PATERSON (NJ)
NorthJersey.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
The Paterson Diocese, facing questions about why a defrocked priest and admitted child molester is living quietly and unsupervised in a residential neighborhood, promised Monday to review the matter and consider whether it needs to take additional steps to monitor rogue ex-priests.
"I believe we do have a moral obligation to look into this," said the Rev. James T. Mahoney, the vicar general and No. 2 official in the Roman Catholic diocese. "I know of no family that would be comfortable with a sexual abuser living near them."
But as the diocese mulled the issue, some of James T. Hanley's victims began taking matters into their own hands. Mahoney's statement came one day after the victims blanketed Hanley's Paterson neighborhood with leaflets describing his case. They said Monday that was just the beginning.
"He will be looking over his shoulder as long as he is still alive," Ray Skettini said. "Someone has to do it. The church has washed their hands of this."
WALTHAM (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | January 31, 2006
The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, the popular pastor of a vibrant Newton parish who was forced to resign over a contested allegation of financial impropriety, is being appointed by the Archdiocese of Boston as Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University.
The appointment, by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, could reduce some of the controversy over Cuenin's treatment by the archdiocese; the Brandeis appointment is considered desirable by the priest's supporters, because of his longtime interest in Catholic-Jewish relations. Two previous occupants of the Brandeis chaplaincy, the late Rev. Robert W. Bullock and the Rev. David C. Michael, have played major roles in shaping the archdiocese's relationship with the Jewish community in Greater Boston.
Cuenin, 60, said he is delighted with the appointment.
''I'm very excited about it, and I'm looking forward to working with the students and faculty at the university," Cuenin said. ''It's a way of being involved in the Jewish community, as I have been for many years, and of working with the Catholic community on that campus."
Cuenin has been living and assisting at St. Julia Parish in Weston since his resignation in September from the job he had held for 12 years, pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton. The archdiocese said Cuenin violated church rules through the use of a leased Honda Accord and excessive payments for saying Mass. The parish's lay leaders, who had approved the payments, said the accusations were ''unfair and unjust."
Some Catholics believe that Cuenin was punished for his role as a leader of priests critical of archdiocesan management and his support for gay rights; the archdiocese denies that politics played any role in Cuenin's ouster.
The Archdiocese of Boston had no immediate comment.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The man whose accusations could finally land admitted molester Michael Edwin Wempe in jail took the witness stand Monday and testified that he hid his abuse by the priest from everybody, even his mother.
The 26-year-old man, identified in court only as Jayson B., said that, at first, he thought it was normal that the priest touched his genitals. "It was Father Mike," he testified. "It was really difficult to think that anything he did could be wrong."
But he became disturbed when the abuse escalated to oral copulation, said Jayson B., who wept through most of his testimony.
"I said, 'What are you doing?' " Jayson B. testified. "And he said that I was a special boy and he loves me."
Wempe is accused of molesting Jayson B. from 1990 to 1995, beginning when Jayson B. was 11, while the priest was working as a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
VIRGINIA
Culpeper Star Exponent
Liz Mitchell - Staff Writer
Culpeper Star Exponent
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
For 18 years, Liz Bailey felt she was alone.
Now she is the second person to come forward with charges of sexual abuse against Charles Shifflett, the 54-year-old pastor of First Baptist Church of Culpeper.
Bailey, 35, was a member of Shifflett’s former church, Calvary Baptist, and student at its K-12 school where he was principal.
In October 2005, the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation of Shifflett, prompted by a church member who aired concerns about how the school was run, according to Sgt. Jim Fox.
The ongoing investigation has landed Shifflett in Culpeper County Jail three times this month on charges of child injury, endangerment and indecent liberties.
The past two jail bookings resulted when Chad Robison, 29, and Bailey took out arrest warrants claiming Shifflett victimized them when they attended his school.
OAKLAND (CA)
Alameda Times-Star
By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has laid off 17 administrative employees in its chancery offices to help cover a $1.2 million budget deficit.
Church officials say the deficit was caused in part by costs related to a $23 million loan the diocese took out last year to pay settlements in sexual abuse cases.
All 17 eliminated positions are in the main diocese offices on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, who serves as diocesan spokesman.
Friday's layoffs did not directly affect Catholic schools or cemeteries run by the diocese, the Catholic Voice church newspaper or Catholic Charities, which all run under separate operating budgets from that of the chancery offices.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2006
BY KAREN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
An apologetic Cardinal Francis George met Monday evening with parishioners of a West Side church that was home to a priest now charged with molesting two boys, and many parents took the opportunity to lash out at how the archdiocese handled the affair.
"I'm glad to be with you, but I'm sorry to be with you because this occurrence is one that shames me certainly," George told several dozen people gathered at St. Agatha Church for a nearly two-hour meeting.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005, and they confirmed Monday they're looking into more allegations.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha several days before he was charged, but parents at Monday's meeting repeatedly questioned George about why McCormack was not removed sooner.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 30, 2006, 11:01 PM CST
As authorities investigated a new allegation that a West Side priest repeatedly abused a minor, Cardinal Francis George on Monday night faced angry parishioners at the church the priest once led.
"I'm sorry to be with you because this occasion is one that shames me certainly," George said.
The crowd of more than 200 at St. Agatha Catholic Church hammered him with the same question again and again about the abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack that date back to 2000: Why didn't we know sooner?
The emotional meeting came on the same day that another allegation against Rev. Daniel McCormack surfaced, at least the fifth in less than two weeks.
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
January 31, 2006
Three bills before the legislature would put churches and nonprofits embroiled in sex-abuse cases on an even bigger hook when it comes to damages and the statute of limitations.
A bill introduced Friday by Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, would allow sex-abuse lawsuits even against a dead person.
"The whole premise behind (these bills) would allow people to bring up charges even on an old incident," said Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, who co-sponsored a house bill with Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver.
The legislation comes at a time of heightened concern about clergy abuse. The Catholic Church in Colorado is facing more than two dozen lawsuits alleging that church officials knew of sexual-abuse allegations against priests but failed to protect children.
MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald
By JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A Catholic priest suspended by the Archdiocese of Miami because of sexual-abuse allegations has filed a defamation lawsuit against an attorney representing one of his accusers.
The Rev. Alvaro Guichard, 65, claims lawyer Jeffrey Herman defamed him at a Sept. 22, 2004, press conference, when the attorney announced settlements of several sex-abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese -- some involving Guichard.
Herman recently moved to dismiss Guichard's defamation suit, filed in November in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Herman allowed Guichard to stay at the press conference after Guichard crashed the gathering at Herman's Aventura law office. An ensuing confrontation nearly resulted in fisticuffs between Guichard and the brother of one of the priest's alleged victims.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
12:12 AM PST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, a former Inland priest and twice-convicted child molester, apologized Monday to the children he abused during his nearly 20 years as a Catholic cleric.
"To those I have been involved with, I am genuinely sorry for their problems, for those I've known and the unknown," says Edward Anthony Rodrigue, standing outside his room at a downtown San Bernardino motel. A twice-convicted child molester, Rodrigue has lived at the motel since being paroled from prison on Wednesday.
"To those I have been involved with, I am genuinely sorry for their problems, for those I've known and the unknown," Rodrigue, 69, said standing outside his room at a downtown San Bernardino motel, where he has lived since being paroled from prison on Wednesday. "It upsets me that there are a few (accusers) that I don't know."
Rodrigue has spent the last 8½ years behind bars, after he pleaded no contest to molesting an 11-year-old, developmentally disabled boy in Highland. Rodrigue had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Rodrigue told detectives he molested five or six boys annually while a priest, according to a copy of a 1997 San Bernardino County sheriff's report.
INDIANA
Indianapolis Star
By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com
A group that supports sex abuse victims says it will ask hundreds of priests in the Indianapolis archdiocese to warn their congregations about a priest now facing six abuse lawsuits.
The latest, filed Monday on behalf of anonymous plaintiff John Doe KW, alleges the Rev. Harry Monroe abused a teenage boy at St. Paul's parish in Tell City from 1983-84.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis and the parish were named as defendants, too.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says it will write priests this week to ask that they warn their flocks that Monroe, now 57 and believed to be living in Tennessee, could return to familiar places. The letter also asserts that Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein has done too little to warn those parishes.
Monroe served in Tell City, Terre Haute and three Indianapolis parishes -- St. Monica, St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Catherine.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 31, 2006
BY LISA DONOVAN AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Cardinal Francis George was peppered with the same question again and again Monday night: Why would a priest interrogated by police about allegations of child molestation be allowed to continue teaching and ministering at a Roman Catholic church and school?
The head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, George told the approximately 300 gathered at St. Agatha Catholic Church, 3147 W. Douglas, for about two hours that he was sorry -- that he should have done more to make sure the Rev. Daniel McCormack abided by a church order not be be alone with children.
"I'm truly sorry you had as a pastor ... a person who was accused of being a child molester," George said, describing the allegations against McCormack, if true, as "destructive of the soul and destructive of the church."
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 31, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Another Chicago boy Monday told Chicago Police and prosecutors that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Roman Catholic priest who was charged earlier this month with molesting two boys at St. Agatha Parish in North Lawndale.
The boy, 11, who attends a Chicago public school and not St. Agatha's parochial school, told authorities that McCormack abused him and gave him gifts, a law enforcement source said, adding, "What he was saying was consistent with the other" allegations against the priest.
On Jan. 21, prosecutors charged McCormack with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly fondling the genitals of two boys -- an 8-year-old (now 11) from Willowbrook on two occasions in December 2003 when they were alone in St. Agatha Church after mass, and a 9-year-old (now 13) who claims the priest molested him two to three times a month from September 2001 to January 2005.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1990s cried for most of three hours on the witness stand Monday, declaring at one point, ''I didn't want anyone to know about this.''
The 26-year-old witness, identified as Jayson B., described five instances of sexual abuse he said Michael Wempe subjected him to. He said they took place about a year apart, once at Wempe's office at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other times in parking garages in Wempe's car.
He said he didn't tell anyone what had happened, adding Wempe's long-standing relationship with his family made him a figure of trust.
''It was Father Mike. It was difficult to think anything he could do was wrong,'' he testified during his second day on the witness stand.
Wempe has admitted molesting 13 other boys in the 1970s and '80s, including Jayson's two brothers, but cannot be tried in those cases because the statute of limitations has expired. He has denied molesting Jayson B., however, and his lawyers say the man fabricated the charges in an effort to seek vengeance for his brothers.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Jeff Coen and David Heinzmann contributed to this report
Published January 31, 2006
As authorities investigated a new allegation that a West Side priest repeatedly abused a minor, Cardinal Francis George on Monday night faced angry parishioners at the church the priest once led.
"I'm sorry to be with you because this occasion is one that shames me certainly," George said.
The crowd of more than 200 at St. Agatha Catholic Church hammered him with the same question again and again about the abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack that date back to 2000: Why didn't we know sooner?
The emotional meeting came on the same day that another allegation against McCormack surfaced, at least the fifth in less than two weeks.
The latest abuse occurred over the last 24 months and happened repeatedly, said Jeff Anderson, the lawyer for the latest alleged victim.
Neither Anderson nor law enforcement officials would rule out the possibility that some of the alleged abuse took place while McCormack was being monitored by the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese. The archdiocese appointed a priest to monitor McCormack's contact with children at the rectory after the first allegation was made against him in August.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Lisa Donovan and Frank Main
Special to the Daily Southtown
Cardinal Francis George was peppered with the same question again and again Monday night: Why would a priest interrogated by police about allegations of child molestation be allowed to continue teaching and ministering at a Roman Catholic school?
The head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, George told the approximately 300 gathered at St. Agatha Catholic Church on the West Side that he was sorry — that he should have done more to make sure Rev. Daniel McCormack abided by a church order not be alone with children.
"I'm truly sorry you had as a pastor ... a person who was accused of being child molester," George said, describing the allegations against McCormack — if true — as "destructive of the soul and destructive of the church."
There are 750 families in the parish at 3147 W. Douglas, which includes Our Lady of the West Side School. Most at the meeting offered tense but polite reverence to George as he met for more than two hours with them about the abuse allegations dating back five years.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Cathleen Falsani and Frank Main
Special to the Daily Southtown
Another Chicago boy Monday told Chicago police and prosecutors that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Roman Catholic priest who was charged earlier this month with molesting two boys at St. Agatha Parish in North Lawndale.
The boy, 11, who attends a Chicago public school, told authorities that McCormack abused him and gave him gifts, a law enforcement source said.
On Jan. 21, prosecutors charged McCormack with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly fondling the genitals of two boys — an 8- and a 9-year-old.The 11-year-old boy and his parents took their allegations to police and prosecutors Monday with their attorney, Jeff Anderson of Minnesota, who is probably the preeminent lawyer in the nation representing alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
In the last 20 years, Anderson has sued more than half of the Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States.
Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the Chicago archdiocese, said Monday evening that church officials had not yet been contacted by the family of the 11-year-old boy or by his attorney, Anderson. "We want him to come forward and everyone else to come forward," Dwyer said.
DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com
DENVER -- Colorado's three Roman Catholic Bishops issued a joint statement criticizing a measure that would lift the statute of limitation for child sexual abuse lawsuits for two years.
"On a matter as ugly and grave as the sexual abuse of minors, exactly the same civil and criminal penalties, financial damages, time frames for litigation and statutes of limitations should apply against both public and private institutions and their agents," the statement said issued Monday said.
It was signed by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and House Majority Leader Alice Madden introduced their measure Friday making it easier for victims to sue the church and other private groups by extending the statute of limitations in cases in which an institution or another person could be held "vicariously liable" for a perpetrator's acts.
MIAMI (FL)
Herald-Tribune
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- A Catholic priest suspended by the Archdiocese of Miami because of sexual-abuse allegations says he was defamed by one of his accusers' attorneys.
The Rev. Alvaro Guichard, 65, is suing Jeffrey Herman for statements made during a Sept. 22, 2004 news conference at Herman's office in Aventura. At the conference, Herman was announcing settlements involving the archdiocese and several sex-abuuse lawsuits. Guichard showed up unexpectedly, which started a verbal argument.
Guichard claimed he was defamed when Herman said "you raped and sodomized their family member."
The priest responded by saying all lawsuits against him are false.
"This (defamation) suit creates an opportunity to publicly litigate the claims even though the Archdiocese of Miami already settled the lawsuits," Herman said.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
On January 26, 2006 Worcester Superior Court Judge, Jeffrey Locke held a status conference in regards to clergy abuse cases still hanging in limbo within the Worcester Superior court dockets.
During the status hearing of January 26, 2006 a motion to dismiss under rule 12 was presented by the defendant in the Chesnis v Law et al case, Judge Locke has taken the motion under advisement.
A Hearing on a motion to dismiss, presented by the defendants on rule 12 was scheduled for July 27, 2006 in the case of Doe No 101 v Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester. Boston Attorney Carmen Durso represent the plaintiff.
ARLINGTON (VA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 8:45 am EST January 30, 2006
UPDATED: 4:16 pm EST January 30, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. -- A volunteer pastor charged with sexually abusing a patient at an assisted living center in Arlington, Va., will remain behind bars.
Richard O'Brian, 69, appeared in Arlington General District Court Monday but did not enter a plea. But his defense attorney, Daniel Dorsey told News4 reporter Tracee Wilkins his client is innocent until proven guilty.
Dorsey told the judge that his client was not a flight risk, but the judge decided to hold O'Brian without bond.
O'Brian is charged with aggravated sexual battery, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and not more than a $100,000 fine.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Steve MIller Reporting
ssmiller@cbs.com
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- Yet another boy has come forward to say he was molested by a priest from St. Agatha's Catholic Church on the West Side.
Sources tell Newsradio 780 that the boy is 11 years old.
His attorney Jeff Anderson says he took the boy and his parents to talk with investigators from the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
And that office confirms that.
This centers on accusations by the boy that Father Daniel McCormack molested him - more than once - in the past two years.
Anderson read a statement from the boy's mother.
OAKLAND (CA)
Inside Bay Area
By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND-The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland laid off 17 administrative employees Friday to help cover a $1.2 million budget deficit, caused in part by costs related to a huge loan the diocese took out last year to pay settlements in sexual abuse cases.
All of the 17 eliminated positions are in the main diocese administrative offices on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, who serves as spokesman for the diocese. The layoffs do not directly affect Catholic schools run by the diocese, cemeteries, the Catholic Voice church newspaper or Catholic Charities, which all run under separate operating budgets from that of the diocese offices.
"We regret the difficulty and pain these decisions will inevitably cause some of our employees ...," the Rev. George Mockel, a vicar general of the diocese, said in a prepared statement. "But unfortunately in light of limited financial resources, these decisions became necessary."
Five of the eliminated positions are part-time, 12 are full-time, Wiesner said. Three of the full-timers took voluntary severance packages.
INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
The News-Sentinel
KEN KUSMER
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - A sixth man has accused a former Roman Catholic priest of molesting him more than 20 years ago at an Indiana parish, and a victims' advocacy group asked current priests to warn their parishioners that the alleged molester still poses a threat.
A lawsuit that was to be filed Monday in Marion Superior Court alleged Harry Monroe abused a boy while assigned to St. Paul Parish in the Ohio River town of Tell City before the Archdiocese of Indianapolis stripped Monroe of his ministry in 1984.
It is the sixth case naming Monroe and the archdiocese as defendants in the past five months. In two of the cases, the plaintiffs allege the abuse occurred while they were minors at the Tell City parish, one of the most remote locations in the 39-county archdiocese.
"This was an act of sacrificing these rural kids to this predatory priest, which is just outrageous," the plaintiffs' attorney, Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn., said in a telephone interview.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
By Sarah Schulte
January 30, 2006 - Another victim came forward Monday with new accusations against Father Daniel McCormack. A lawyer for a young boy says Father McCormack molested him more than once.
The Chicago priest is already charged with two counts of criminal sexual abuse. These new accusations were made public Monday by the boy's lawyer, Jeff Anderson. Anderson is well known for representing victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Anderson has filed a report with the police and state attorney's office but apparently has not contacted the archdiocese. The archdiocese says until that happens, and until they get more information from police, they will not comment on the specific abuse allegations.
"He's hurting and scared," said Anderson.
Attorney Jeff Anderson is talking about his latest client, a boy who says he was also abused by Father Dan McCormack. The latest allegation against the priest came to light after the boy told his mother about the abuse this past weekend.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES More emotional testimony in Los Angeles from a man who says he was molested a decade ago by ex-priest Michael Wempe (WEMP'-ee).
The 26-year-old accuser described sexual abuse he says took place in the 1990s in Wempe's office and car.
As he burst into tears, the witness declared: "I didn't want anyone to know about this."
Asked why he didn't tell anyone, he said the practice became routine and he couldn't convince himself it was wrong, because Wempe was a trusted priest.
MALTA
malta Today
Matthew Vella
The Gozo Curia has stated it has followed “normal procedures” according to directives from the Congregation of Rome with respect to accusations of child sexual abuse by a Nadur priest who has fled Gozo in the wake of investigations.
In a letter to MaltaToday, Reverend Anton Refalo, the Curia’s public relations officer, said it was not true the Gozo Church had not taken action on serious accusations of sexual abuse mentioned in this newspaper.
Refalo categorically denied that Bishop Nikol G. Cauchi had admitted seminarians who were known to be paedophiles against the better advice of the seminary rector.
Last week this newspaper reported that a Gozitan diocesan priest from the Nadur parish had fled to the United States after complaints of alleged child sex abuse by the priest were referred to the Curia for investigation.
UNITED STATES
Counterpunch
By MICHAEL CARMICHAEL
Is Judge Samuel Alito a member of Opus Dei?
If so, does it matter? If it matters, why?
A Senate staffer confirmed that the Judiciary Committee received numerous "notes and letters" stating that Judge Samuel Alito is a member of Opus Dei.
A controversial Catholic organization*, Opus Dei is now widely known from the bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, a novel by American author Dan Brown, soon to be a major film starring Tom Hanks that will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
In 1928, a Catholic priest who acquired a doctorate in law, Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei in Spain. Escrivá's juridical attitude to religious doctrine permeates Opus Dei and is the source of its attraction to members of the legal profession. Opus Dei received massive political support after the fascist victory in the Spanish Civil War. Generalissimo Francisco Franco protected and fostered conservative elements within Opus Dei by appointing eight ministers to powerful positions in his government. In Spain, Opus Dei is still regarded as a potent political force. In 2002, Escrivá was canonized.
Why, then, is an Alito membership in Opus Dei of major significance? In addition to his activist record on the federal bench and his conservative ideology, Alito is deemed to be a menace to the balance of power as well as the constitutional rights of Americans. Judge Alito's affiliation with Opus Dei may be a factor in the strident opposition from Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, both progressive Roman Catholics who do not approve of the influence of religious dogma on political ideology. The majority of Americans believe in the separation of church and state, while many religious conservatives such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell would transform America into a theocratic state. Robertson and Falwell are staunch supporters of Judge Alito. ...
In a perceptive article titled "Holy Warriors," Sidney Blumenthal, a former advisor to President Clinton, ascribed Bush's narrow victory over Kerry directly to the political impact of the Ratzinger letter. During his long career at the Vatican, Former Cardinal Ratzinger's decisive handling of complicated problems had become a matter of record. His official investigation of the priestly child abuse scandal involving Catholic clerics gave him the knowledge and understanding of the political and legal dynamics prevalent in Bush's America.
During 2002 and 2003, Former Cardinal Ratzinger had been the Prefect of The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In previous centuries, the CDF was known as the Inquisition. In his official capacity as Prefect, he was largely responsible for the Vatican's ecclesiastical investigation into thousands of cases of priestly child sexual abuse. Former Cardinal Ratzinger's handling of that scandal has been the subject of substantial analysis and criticism.
At the height of the scandal, Former Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a letter that altered official procedure by reserving all cases of priestly child sexual abuse to the CDF. Prior to Former Cardinal Ratzinger's letter, cases of priestly sexual abuse were not restrained in the exclusive purview of the CDF. Attorneys for victims of priestly child sexual abuse in Texas argued in court that Former Cardinal Ratzinger's letter was an obstruction of justice. In a public statement, Former Cardinal Ratzinger told the Catholic News Service, "Less than one percent of priests are guilty of acts of this type." Many Catholics view this statement as callous and an attempt to cover-up the scandal. Former Cardinal Ratzinger's apparent indifference to the scandal shocked many Catholics. Many members of the College of Cardinals harkened to his message of minimizing the importance of the scandal. One Cardinal attempted to place the blame for the scandal on America's reputation for excessive litigation. He stated that attorneys were merely seeking "to make money" from the scandal. In 2005 shortly after his election to the papacy, Cardinal Ratzinger appeared to promise to make amends for earlier miscalculations in handling the charges of priestly child sexual abuse when he made a public commitment to 'attend' to the scandal. How he intends to resolve the scandal remains to be seen.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES An alleged sex abuse victim of ex-priest Michael Wempe will be back in a Los Angeles courtroom this morning to testify against the former clergyman.
The 26-year-old identified in court as Jayson-B recounted two instances of abuse during his testimony on Friday. At one point he burst into tears and declared that he hates the former priest for getting close to his family, and then abusing him.
Wempe's defense acknowledges that he abused two of Jayson's brothers, but he can't be tried for those instances because of time limits on prosecution.
But the crimes that Jayson alleges do fall within the statute of limitations.
MALTA
Malta Today
I have been entrusted by Bishop Nikol G. Cauchi to clarify that the report on the anonymous email which appeared in MaltaToday, 22 January 2006, contains several false allegations about the bishop’s actions.
He categorically denies that at any time, seminarians known to be paedophiles where admitted to the Gozo Seminary, and never has the bishop accepted this sort of candidate against the advise of the rector, as has been alleged in the report.
It is not true that the Church in Gozo did not take any action, when there were serious accusations about the sexual abuse that was reported.
When anyone reported accusations on such cases to the ecclesiastical authorities these were advised to refer the case to the Response Team which was established to investigate what would have happened. However nobody was kept from taking action or any other measure as permitted by the law.
With respect to the case mentioned in the e-mail, the normal procedures were followed according to the directives of the Congregation of Rome.
Rev. Anton Refalo,
PRO – Gozo Curia
JERSEY CITY (NJ)
Jersey Journal
Monday, January 30, 2006
By MARTINA BRENDEL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Congregants of St. John's Baptist Church in Jersey City are demanding answers from church leaders about the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the pastor that may cost the church more than $100,000.
Three members of the congregation walked out during the Rev. Sammie Lee Hawkins's sermon yesterday, while dozens more remained inside, signing a petition calling for a mediated discussion about the issue between church leaders and congregants.
"The people of St. John's know what's going on and we want answers," said Darreth Millers, a board member for 12 years who was among the three who walked out yesterday, and helped spread the word about the petition. "The sad part is that the people who should be giving answers haven't been giving them."
Millers said the purpose of the petition was to convince the pastor and the board to talk about the lawsuit and what it means to the congregation.
"You can't treat us like you'd treat a dog, just because you're the pastor," Millers said. "You have to respect people and give them answers."
NEW JERSEY
Ashbury Park Press
BY A. SCOTT FERGUSON
STAFF WRITER
As Martin Krupnick stood before 50 prosecutors, police officers and supporters of the proposed Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center last week, he wished that they were celebrating the groundbreaking for the new building, or better, the official ribbon cutting.
Instead, Krupnick, a psychologist and chairman of the Friends of the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center Inc., told the audience at the meeting in Freehold Township that the group would set a goal of 14 months to raise the remaining money to build the state-of-the-art center in Freehold Township.
In the past 20 years, more law enforcement agencies have turned to child advocacy centers as a way to better deal with children who are physically, sexually or mentally abused by adults.
"This will provide them with a comfortable and therapeutic environment instead of shuffling them from one agency to another," the Rev. John Bambrick, a pastor at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Manalapan and a survivor of childhood abuse, said during the meeting. Krupnick's organization so far has raised about $700,000 of the $6 million needed to construct the 16,000-square-foot building on land donated by the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders on Kozloski Drive and Burlington Road in Freehold Township.
PATERSON (NJ)
The Star-Ledger
Monday, January 30, 2006
BY JULIA M. SCOTT
Star-Ledger Staff
Families living on a street in Paterson said they were surprised to learn yesterday that their new neighbor was the man at the center of the state's most notorious case of clergy sex abuse.
The former Rev. James Hanley, who had been living in the two- story house a month, was featured on yellow fliers containing his photo and a warning: "Child sex abuser alert!"
Hanley, who admitted in 2003 to molesting 16 boys as part of a lawsuit that led to a $5 million settlement paid by the Paterson diocese -- the largest by a state diocese -- suddenly drove up as leaflets were being passed out. He jumped out of his car and told the crowd he lied about molesting as many boys as he did, according to media reports.
"If that's what it takes," said Hanley, 70, in a televised newscast. "I was under oath but in order to get it off my back and to get the money you wanted, I said, 'Yes.'"
TUCSON (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Associated Press
Jan. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
TUCSON - All 74 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will be legally separated by the end of February as the church rebuilds from bankruptcy caused by a slew of priest sexual-abuse lawsuits.
Each parish will incorporate and take legal title to its property, transferring it from the diocese.
The legal separation doesn't mean they'll be run as standalone operations, however. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will sit on each parish board, as will diocesan Moderator of the Curia Al Schifano and the pastor of each church. The five-person boards will be rounded out with two lay members. advertisement
Kicanas called the move a "new dawn" for the diocese.
But some parishioners already are expressing doubts about the arrangement, which they say leaves power with the diocese and isn't inclusive.
"I would have hoped ... for a more democratic church, and that's not what it has turned out to be," said Tucson Catholic Kenn Block, a retiree. "Ownership is on a local level but control is vested in three members with clerical collars. That also means each board is majority male."
LOMA LINDA (CA)
Daily Bulletin
By Kelly Rush, Staff Writer
LOMA LINDA - Outspoken survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, and the message they spread, have not always been welcome at Catholic churches.
They've been spit upon, yelled at and cursed, they said.
In contrast, the reception afforded Sunday to members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Loma Linda wasn't particularly harsh.
Only one person called police, who briefly showed up and then left, and just a handful of others refused fliers or stopped to chastise the group giving out information about a former Ontario priest and convicted child molester who used to lead the congregation.
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, known as Father Tony to some, was let out of state prison last week and was expected to be living in San Bernardino, according to a family member. Rodrigue served eight and a half years of a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing an 11-year-old developmentally disabled boy in Highland.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
12:20 AM PST on Monday, January 30, 2006
By SHARON McNARY / The Press-Enterprise
Pat Olivas spent Sunday morning warning worshippers that a former priest convicted of child molestation was living nearby after his release last week from prison.
Olivas, 40, handed fliers to drivers leaving Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Loma Linda.
The fliers depict Edward Anthony Rodrigue, whom Olivas accuses in a lawsuit of molesting him while a priest at St. George Catholic Church in Ontario in the late 1970s.
Meanwhile, inside St. Joseph the Worker Church, the Rev. Ignatius Rodrigues warned attendees at the 11 a.m. Mass to watch for the man they knew as "Father Tony."
PATERSON (NJ)
Daily Record
PATERSON -- James T. Hanley, former priest and admitted child molester, walked toward some of his victims with the kind of anger you might expect from a man who has been wronged. Maybe he was trying to be the old Jim Hanley, his voice loud, telling some victims that they were to blame for what happened decades ago when he was pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Mendham.
Some of his victims say that's the way he was when he was a pastor and they were children.
Now, they are men, a little too old to be bullied that way, and they were handing out "child molester alert" fliers on Sunday along McBride Avenue in Paterson, where Hanley recently moved.
Hanley stopped his car and walked toward victims holding a news conference. The man who has admitted molesting children at various parishes apparently didn't like the bad publicity he's been getting over the past few years. He put his face inches from the father of one of his victims.
'You're a liar'
"You're a liar," Hanley, 69, yelled at Lou Serrano of Mendham, whose son Mark was abused by Hanley and has become a victim's advocate.
"You raped my son," Lou Serrano replied.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2006
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Cardinal Francis George said he hopes for healing when he meets today with parishioners at a Chicago church reeling from allegations a popular priest abused two young boys.
George said he plans to listen when he visits St. Agatha, 3147 W. Douglas.
"I want to come and be with them, and encourage them, and then hear what they would like to talk about," he said Sunday. "They're certainly in my concerns and in my prayers. ... You can't heal without some sense of truth, so we'll, we'll explore that together."
The Rev. Daniel McCormack is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he fondled one boy multiple times while they were both in the rectory beginning in September 2001, when the boy was 9, until January 2005, when he was 12. McCormack is also charged with fondling another boy, then 8, on two occasions in December 2003 while alone with him after mass.
PATERSON (NJ)
phillyburbs.com
The Associated Press
PATERSON. N.J. - Several men who claim they were molested as boys by Roman Catholic priests came to a city neighborhood Sunday to warn residents about one of the clerics, who has recently moved into the area. They eventually were confronted by the priest, who said he had abused some children during his career but claimed the protesters had exaggerated his actions.
Many of the men claim they were abused from 1968 to 1982 by James T. Hanley, who served at three northern New Jersey parishes. Hanley was removed from the priesthood in 2002, 17 years after church officials learned of complaints against him.
The men, along with several supporters from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), were distributing fliers that detailed their accusations against Hanley when he drove by and saw them, the Daily Record of Parsippany reported.
Hanley then walked toward the group and came face-to-face with Lou Serrano of Mendham, whose son is among those who say Hanley abused them. Hanley angrily told Lou Serrano "you're a liar," but soon admitted having had sexual contact with Serrano's son, Mark, although Hanley said he never forced himself on the youth.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 30, 2006
The choir sang hymns proclaiming God does not abandon the faithful.
The bishop preached a homily stressing God's power to cast out evil.
The priest sat quietly until his time came to remind parishioners he was there to help them heal.
But not once during mass at St. Agatha Catholic Church in Chicago on Sunday did celebrants utter the name of Rev. Daniel McCormack, the priest removed from the pulpit more than a week ago when Cook County prosecutors charged him with sexually abusing two children.
"You may not be ready today to talk," said Rev. Tom Walsh, acting pastor of St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas Blvd. "Maybe there's some anger and some fear and some doubt in you. But you will be someday. Believe me. And we all need to ... That's what the healing process is all about."
As counselors hovered in the back of the sanctuary to meet with parishioners and victims advocates demonstrated outside, Auxiliary Bishop John Manz celebrated mass--a gesture intended to show parishioners that the archdiocese had not turned its back on the 112-year-old North Lawndale parish.
PATERSON (NJ)
WCBS
Mary Calvi
Reporting
(CBS) PATERSON, N.J. What began as a quiet picket turned into an angry confrontation on Sunday in Paterson.
Victims who say they were sexually abused by a priest were protesting the fact that their abuser had moved into the neighborhood.
The last thing they expected happened.
The admitted abuser confronted them.
Now a defrocked priest, James Hanley admitted to the sexual abuse of more than a dozen boys in the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese from 1968 to 1982.
Then on Sunday, in front of news cameras from all over the area, Hanley stepped back into their lives, breaking up the protest. Some of those boys, who are now adults, and their families confronted the man in a bizarre scene that looked like it belonged in the movie of the week.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Kristyn Hartman
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO Cardinal Francis George is set to meet tonight with parishioners from St. Agatha Catholic Church, the site of controversy since its priest was accused of sexual abuse.
The 7 p.m. meeting will be closed to media, CBS 2’s Kristyn Hartman reports. Parishioners will have the opportunity to talk to George about their concerns.
What George needs is courage, critics say.
"We need Cardinal George to step up up to the plate and to take the courage to remove predators when he thinks there is a possibility that there could be true allegations,” said Barbara Blaine, of Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, which handed out worksheets Sunday in protest of the accused priest.
The West side church's Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys at St. Agatha Catholic Church. A third later made allegations against him.
ORLANDO (FL)
Asbury Park Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — A woman has sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Orlando for $5 million, alleging that a priest who transferred from New Jersey to Florida sexually assaulted her.
The woman, identified in court papers as "Jane Doe," claims the Rev. Wladyslaw Gorak broke into her house in Lakeland in October 2004 and overpowered her, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Orlando. She said she told religious officials that Gorak was harassing and stalking her, but they allegedly ignored her pleas for help.
Gorak was arrested last year on charges of burglary with an assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery.
The woman's attorney, Adam Horowitz of Miami, said Gorak's superiors in New Jersey should have known and warned others that Gorak, 49, was a potential problem when it let him work in Florida in 2004. Police reports obtained by Horowitz show that in 2001 a female parishioner in Newark also accused Gorak of stalking.
But James Goodness, a spokesman for the Newark archdiocese, and Carol Brinati, a spokeswoman for the Orlando diocese, both said the dioceses knew of no previous complaints about Gorak. Brinati said the diocese removed Gorak when allegations of wrongdoing surfaced.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By MARIANNE GARVEY
January 29, 2006 -- A man who claims he and his brother were sexually abused by a Catholic priest three decades ago is outraged their alleged attacker will receive no jail time in another child-molestation case.
"I don't know how he's not behind bars," said Bob Lambert of Rev. Joseph Byrns, who was on trial in Brooklyn for allegedly sodomizing an 11-year-old altar boy but pleaded guilty last Monday to misdemeanor child endangerment to avoid jail.
Lambert, 50, said Byrns, 63, preyed on him and his younger brother Tim when Byrns served at St. Anastasia in Douglaston, Queens. Lambert was 14 and Tim 12 at the time. When Bob Lambert came forward with his dark secret in 1997, he learned Tim had suffered the same fate.
ARIZONA
Yuma Sun
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jan 28, 2006, 11:44 pm
Critical testimony and newly discovered facts in the case of Donald David Frei, a Yuma man sentenced to prison for child abuse, could overturn his conviction, said his attorney.
The 26-page petition for post conviction relief, a document asking Yuma County Superior Court to dismiss the case against Frei, alleges inappropriate relationships among some of the key figures involved in the case, among them accusations that a detective investigating the case and the mother of the victim were romantically involved.
The document, filed by Frei's attorney, Dale Wren, also asserts that the trial prosecutor served on the pastoral council of a Yuma Catholic church that, just the year before, had to pay a large monetary settlement to Frei to resolve a sexual abuse claim.
MALTA
Independent
by Daphne Caruana Galizia
Where there is true separation of Church and State, in the hearts and minds of the people as well as in their legal and political system, priests are not viewed as being above or beyond the law, and nor is the Church seen as a State within a State, with the right to deal with its own criminals as it deems fit or not at all. As long as I live, I will never understand why, in 2006, the Catholic Church in Malta has been permitted to assume the right to investigate criminal acts performed by Catholic priests or by lay workers who operate under its auspices, to the apparent exclusion of intervention by the police, and with the seeming collusion of an indifferent government.
More so, I will never understand how the citizens of this country continue to accept such forms of abuse of the democratic process without so much as a whisper, unless it is because they have been indoctrinated from birth to understand, sometimes even against their better judgement, that the laws of the Catholic Church take precedence over the laws of the land and the principles of democracy. If so, then we have no right to condemn the Muslims who defend the regime of sharia, wherein the laws of their religion are also the laws of the State, because our thinking is remarkably similar and secularism has had to be forced upon us.
It is a reflection of our lack of sophistication in these matters that, when our children tell us that they have been fiddled about with by a priest or a doctrine instructor, we don’t head for Police Headquarters in Floriana, but for the Curia across the road. This is roughly equivalent to going to the headmaster when your child tells you that he has been fondled by a teacher, and letting the buck stop there instead of filing a police report.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 29, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter
Somberly, in a voice tempered by pain and contrition, Cardinal Francis George for more than an hour Saturday afternoon answered questions from reporters for the first time about the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Chicago priest who was charged last week with sexually abusing two boys.
“The sins of priests and bishops destroy the church,” George said quietly, his eyes cast down at the podium standing between him and phalanx of reporters at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago’s Pastoral Center on East Superior. “That is what we’re seeing.”
The cardinal-archbishop praised a nun for coming forward with an allegation against McCormack from 2000, expressed grief for the priest’s wounded flock and acknowledged inadequacies in the way priest’s case was handled.
“I’m worried,” he said. “I’m worried about the children. I’m worried about a lot of things.”
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Prompted by debate over whether Catholic officials waited too long to remove a Chicago priest accused of sex abuse, a national watchdog panel plans to discuss whether current guidelines adequately address cases where the alleged victim chooses to deal exclusively with law enforcement.
Critics say Rev. Daniel McCormack should have been suspended in September from St. Agatha Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., after police received an initial allegation that he had sexually abused a child. Police and prosecutors concluded then that the evidence was not strong enough to charge the priest.
Instead of removing McCormack, the archdiocese told Rev. Tom Walsh, a priest who temporarily lived with McCormack, that an "unfounded allegation" had been reported and asked Walsh to make sure McCormack did not invite children into the rectory, communications director Colleen Dolan said Friday.
McCormack was not removed from ministry until after police arrested him Jan. 20 in a different abuse allegation.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Andrew Wang contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Cardinal Francis George said the process for protecting children from abuse fell apart when allegations first surfaced against Rev. Daniel McCormack in 2000, enabling the priest to stay behind the pulpit for too long.
"I think we failed in certain instances to respond adequately," George said at a news conference Saturday. "I think there are reasons why we did. It wasn't ill will. There was certainly no cover-up on our part. ... We didn't find out enough. We didn't find out quickly enough."
George put the blame on people who did not follow protocol in 2000 and on other procedures that prevented the archdiocese from removing McCormack from ministry.
"Each time you hope it's not true. And more often than not it turns out to be true," George said. "In this case the process couldn't work."
George intends to ask America's Catholic bishops to revise the 2002 guidelines on handling sex-abuse allegations, which did not address cases when victims or their families bypass church authorities and report only to law-enforcement agencies.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Prompted by debate over whether Catholic officials waited too long to remove a Chicago priest accused of sex abuse, a national watchdog panel plans to discuss whether current guidelines adequately address cases where the alleged victim chooses to deal exclusively with law enforcement.
Critics say Rev. Daniel McCormack should have been suspended in September from St. Agatha Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., when police received an initial allegation that he had sexually abused a child. Police concluded then that the evidence was not strong enough to charge the priest.
Instead of removing McCormack, the archdiocese told Rev. Tom Walsh, a priest who temporarily lived with McCormack, that an "unfounded allegation" had been reported and asked Walsh to make sure McCormack did not invite children into the rectory, communications director Colleen Dolan said Friday.
McCormack was not removed from ministry until after police arrested him Jan. 20 in a different abuse allegation.
The archdiocese said it could not pursue its own inquiry into the first case because police and prosecutors did not share any details of the complaint or subsequent investigation. The family of the accuser also declined to speak with church officials.
NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com
Sunday, January 29, 2006
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
James Hanley still has the gregarious personality his young victims found so disarming.
Standing on a Paterson street, he is the picture of bonhomie, telling stories, cracking jokes and playfully barking, "Get outta here" to an elderly female friend who had pulled up in a car and shouted, "You staying out of trouble?"
It has been almost three years since Hanley was forced from the priesthood. Yet he wears a cross, attends Mass and has a bumper sticker on his Toyota Camry: "My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter."
"If anything, the Lord has said ... 'Don't worry, I'll stand by you,' " he said.
But even divine intervention can't undo his past.
James Thomas Hanley is the most notorious clerical sex abuser in northern New Jersey.
CHICAGO (IL)
Quad-City Times
By The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — A day after being released from a hospital, Cardinal Francis George said Saturday had he known several months ago what he knows now regarding a priest charged with molesting two boys, he would have found a way to remove him from a West Side parish.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha Church several days before he was charged, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has said.
But some critics have questioned why McCormack was allowed to remain at the church. The archdiocese has acknowledged that one of the charges stems from an allegation of sexual abuse that was first made in August.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 28, 2006
BY CARLA K. JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
A day after being released from a hospital, Cardinal Francis George said Saturday had he known several months ago what he knows now regarding a priest charged with molesting two boys, he would have found a way to remove him from a West Side parish.
"Had I known then what I think I know now, we would have perhaps found some way to take him out," George said.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha Church several days before he was charged, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has said.
But some critics have questioned why McCormack was allowed to remain at the church. The archdiocese has acknowledged that one of the charges stems from an allegation of sexual abuse that was first made in August.
TUCSON (AZ)
KPHO
TUCSON, Ariz. All 74 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will be legally separated by the end of February.
The move comes as the church rebuilds from bankruptcy caused by a slew of priest sexual-abuse lawsuits.
Each parish will incorporate and take legal title to its property. But that doesn't mean they'll be run as standalone operations.
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will sit on each parish board along with two other priests. The five-person boards will be rounded out with two lay members.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Mary Frances Bragiel Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- Cardinal Francis George says it's necessary to have a public conversation regarding the charges of sexual abuse against Rev. Daniel McCormack.
WBBM Newsradio 780's Mary Frances Bragiel reports Saturday, the day after the cardinal was released from a hospital after dizziness from an inner ear imbalance. He told reporters he is feeling much better.
The priest is charged with molesting two boys at St. Agatha's Church on the West Side. For the delay in removing the priest, George stopped shy of blaming the Archdiocese but did admit the process in reporting the alledged abuse was not followed. He said the victim needed to come forward to the Office of Professional Responsibility within the Archdioces. That did not happen.
And without credible evidence, the cardinal says he could only have him monitored by another priest and not removed from the ministry.
George wouldn't say if he believed McCormick was guilty.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Jay Levine
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO Cardinal Francis George said Saturday that when allegations first arose against a priest who was later charged with abusing children, there was insufficient evidence to take action against him.
But, as CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, George said: “Had I known then what I know now, I think I would have tried to find some way to take him out. But the way isn’t clear in the code. In order to take somebody out permanently or even to take him out for the purpose of investigation, you have to be sure that you’re not violating the law.”
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys at St. Agatha Church, at 3147 W. Douglas Blvd. A third later made allegations against him.?8
GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By GAYLE WHITE
Published on: 01/29/06
Facing major surgery and embroiled in his fourth sex scandal, Bishop Earl Paulk stood confidently in the pulpit of his 7,700-seat south DeKalb cathedral in late October.
Only a few hundred worshippers occupied the maroon seats on the main floor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church. Sections of the semi-circular sanctuary were roped off so congregants would sit near the front for the television cameras. The ceiling rose majestically over two almost empty balconies.
Norma, Paulk's wife of six decades, sat to his right.
But gone were some of his most faithful followers.
They had helped Paulk, 78, build his little church into a flock of 12,000 that caught the attention of presidents. Then they had stood by him as the church hemorrhaged members and money after two scandals that drew national attention.
They had believed him when he denied allegations of adultery and child molestation by saying his accusers were under demonic influence.
Now, they are his accusers.
Cindy Hall, 44, was the first baby born into the church that Paulk founded in 1960. In 2003, she burst into tears over dinner and told her husband, Greg, "We have to get out of there." She says Paulk coerced her into an 11-year affair that included having sex with his brother.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 28, 2006 12:00 AM
Arizona's Lutheran bishop has resigned after admitting he engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman.
Since 2001, Michael Neils, 56, had served as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America-Grand Canyon Synod. It covers Arizona and Las Vegas.
Neils also resigned as an ordained minister.
He is the second Lutheran bishop to resign after admitting sexual misconduct. In 1996, the bishop in North Carolina quit after he admitted to sexual misconduct with a woman.
OHIO
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
BISHOP Frederick F. Campbell followed church policy by permanently removing the Rev. Samuel E. Ritchey from the ministry once a review board determined an abuse complaint was credible.
Ritchey was a priest at Lancaster and Bremen parishes in the 1980s. He also was a teacher at Fisher Catholic High School.
A complaint alleging Ritchey sexually abused a minor in 1977 was reported to Victim's Assistance Coordinator Monsignor Stephan J. Moloney. Ritchey was a teacher at Fisher Catholic High School from 1975 to 1982.
The diocese placed Ritchey on administrative leave two days after the complaint was lodged.
This incident is the first time someone has come forward to accuse Ritchey of abuse, according to the diocese.
Church members undoubtedly will have questions and concerns they want the church hierarchy to address. They will have an opportunity Feb. 6 when Moloney will be at St. Bernadette Church's parish office in Lancaster to talk to people and offer assistance.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A priest facing allegations of child rape has stood down as chairman of governors at a Birmingham school.
Canon John Herve, was suspended from his duties as parish priest at St Agatha with St Barnabas in Sparkbrook, after being arrested this month.
He is currently on police bail while investigations continue into the alleged rape of a child under 16.
The city council confirmed on Saturday he has left his post on Ladypool Primary School's board of governors.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Union-Tribune
By Linda Deutsch
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:38 p.m. January 27, 2006
LOS ANGELES – A young man who was allegedly molested by ex-priest Michael Wempe testified Friday about two instances of abuse, declaring “I hate Wempe!” and bursting into tears on the witness stand.
The 26-year-old, identified in court as Jayson B., cried and sighed intermittently for over an hour as he related his feelings and detailed the alleged abuse.
“Why do you hate him?” asked Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks.
“He used his relationship with our family and the trust we had in him and my vulnerability to abuse me,” said the witness.
Jayson was preceded to the stand by his older brother, Mark.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
Nigel Hunt
29jan06
THE Catholic Church has moved to assure victims of sexual abuse their legal fees will continue to be paid following confusion created by a new policy document.
Catholic diocese of Adelaide Director of Professional Standards Sue Cain yesterday said there would be no change to the existing system under which cases were assessed individually and all legal fees paid "in many cases".
This was despite a revised Towards Healing principles and procedures guidelines document provided to lawyers representing abuse victims stating otherwise.
The document says "as support persons are not remunerated for their role in the process, no legal fees are payable to support persons who are legal practitioners".
CROWN POINT (IL)
The Times
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, January 28, 2006 12:03 AM CST
Times Staff Report
CROWN POINT | A Chicago priest accused of sexually abusing children has co-celebrated Masses at St. Mary's Church, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary is not investigating the visits.
The Rev. Brian Chadwick, a diocese spokesman, confirmed Thursday that in recent years the Rev. Daniel J. McCormack has helped celebrate baptism and first holy communion Mass at the Crown Point church involving local family members who attend St. Mary's.
Chadwick said the diocese has procedures in place to handle claims that are made, but does not have reason to investigate in this instance.
VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot
By DEIRDRE FERNANDES, The Virginian-Pilot
January 28, 2006
RICHMOND — Clergy would have to report child abuse cases to authorities if a bill that barely escaped a Senate committee Friday becomes law.
Two days after police charged a Newport News pastor with contributing to the delinquency of three minor girls and obstructing justice by urging someone else to keep quiet about the alleged sexual abuse, the Senate debated whether to require clergy to speak out.
Under the bill, ministers, priests, rabbis and imams would be placed in the same category as teachers, doctors, police officers and social workers who are required to call in cases of suspected child abuse and neglect. Those who fail to do so within 72 hours could be fined up to $500.
SB253 passed the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee by an 8-6 vote.
The purpose is, “to have more people looking out for our children,” said Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, a bill sponsor.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.28.2006
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas is calling it a "new dawn" for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson — all 74 parishes are expected to be separate financial entities by the end of February.
Already 67 of the diocese's parishes have incorporated, a move that occurred after the diocese settled pending sexual-abuse litigation and emerged from federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.
The parishes are separate entities, but Kicanas will sit on all 74 parish boards along with two other clerics — diocesan Moderator of the Curia Al Schifano and the pastor of each church. The five-member parish boards include two lay people; one serves a three-year term, the other a two-year term.
Critics already say the boards have an imbalance of power.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Jay Levine
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO The Rev. Daniel McCormack, who was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys, and a third later made allegations against him.
But CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has learned that the Cook County state's attorney's office has received contact from a former classmate of McCormack's at Niles College, a pipeline for candidates bound for the priesthood at the seminary in Mundelein.
That former classmate claims that when both he and McCormack were students at Niles College in 1988, he awoke to find his pants pulled down and McCormack standing over him.
Levine has spoken to both the alleged victim and a classmate that victim confided in at the time. Both have asked to remain anonymous, but they confirm the incident recounted for us by others as well.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTVO
LOS ANGELES Emotional testimony in Los Angeles against a former priest on trial for sexual abuse.
A 26-year-old man identified as Jayson B cried and shouted that he hated Michael Wempe (WEMP'-ee). The witness said he was fondled twice by the clergyman.
The former priest has admitted he molested 13 boys in the 1970s and '80s but has not been tried in those cases because of a Supreme Court ruling barring extension of the statute of limitations on old cases. The alleged victim's brothers were affected by the ruling.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The 26-year-old man at the center of retired priest Michael Wempe's sexual abuse trial testified Friday that Wempe fondled him in the early 1990s, several years after the priest had been treated for pedophilia and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony had returned him to the ministry.
The man, identified in court as Jayson B., said Wempe molested him twice when he was 11 and 12 as he sat on the priest's lap using a computer in Wempe's office at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Wempe was a chaplain.
"He at first had a hand on my waist, and eventually moved it to my crotch area," Jayson B. testified, fighting back tears as he spoke for much of his two hours on the stand. "Eventually, he moved his hand from the outside of my pants to underneath and had his hand on my crotch underneath my shorts."
Wempe, 66, faces 16 years in prison if convicted of lewd conduct and oral copulation with Jayson B. He has admitted through his lawyer that he molested Jayson's two older brothers and 11 other boys in the 1970s and 1980s, but has denied sexually abusing Jayson.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
By ROBERTO SANTIAGO, JAY WEAVER AND WANDA DEMARZO
rsantiago@MiamiHerald.com
Father Neil Doherty would slip something into his victims' drinks to make them sleepy. Then, when they were unconscious, the Catholic priest would assault them, according to documents released Friday.
The Archdiocese of Miami was aware of the priest's history, but instead of removing him, it moved him around -- to different parishes or Catholic agencies, according to attorney Jeffrey Herman, who has filed a $25-million lawsuit on behalf of a Margate man, and is preparing lawsuits for other victims, he said.
''They were also victims of [Rev.] Neil Doherty,'' said Herman, of Miami.
Herman represents five men who claim Doherty molested them while he was a priest.
Doherty, 62, now retired, was denied bond Friday -- a day after Broward Sheriff's deputies charged him with two counts of sexual battery on a child, two counts of indecent assault and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Mike McPhee
Denver Post Staff Writer
A Larimer County district judge ruled Friday that the public will not be shut out of court hearings for a Fort Collins Catholic priest charged with sexual abuse of a male parishioner.
Timothy Evans, 43, who served as a priest and then pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins from 1998 to 2002, is charged with four felonies: two counts of sexual abuse of a child by a person in a position of trust, one count of a pattern of sexual abuse, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
His attorneys, Erik Fischer and David Mestas, had filed a motion to close a preliminary hearing Friday, to which The Denver Post and the Fort Collins Coloradoan objected. Judge Jolene Blair denied the motion, citing the newspapers' objections.
Because of new information that surfaced recently, Blair agreed to a request
by Fischer to continue the preliminary hearing until March 7. Evans, who was ordained in 1993 but stripped of his priestly functions in 2003, remains free on bond.
FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan
By SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com
The public will be allowed to attend an upcoming hearing in the case of a former Fort Collins Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a child, a judge ruled Friday.
District Court Judge Jolene Blair rejected a motion by lawyers for Timothy Evans, 43, who argued that allowing the public and media into a pretrial hearing could violate his right to a fair trial. She didn't comment on her reasoning.
The motion to close the preliminary hearing was opposed by the Fort Collins Coloradoan and The Denver Post, who argued that barring the public from the pretrial hearing would be an extreme step not supported by evidence. Lawyers for the two papers argued that the defense had other less drastic means to protect Evans' fair-trial rights.
David Mestas, one of Evans' defense attorneys, said he was not surprised by Blair's ruling.
"It's a pretty drastic move for a judge to make," he said, adding that he and his co-counsel, Erik Fischer, worry that the public has been influenced by news regarding the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal.
ARLINGTON (VA)
WAVY
ARLINGTON, Va. A volunteer pastor charged with sexually abusing a patient at an assisted living center has made a brief appearance in court.
Arlington County Police charged 69-year-old Richard O'Brien with aggravated sexual battery. They say he had sexual contact with an elderly patient who couldn't give consent.
O'Brien was arrested yesterday at his home in Annandale. He's being held without bond in the Arlington County jail.
Officials with the rehab center say O'Brien told them he was a priest with the Catholic Apostolic Church. But officials with the independent church say O'Brien hasn't been associated with the church for ten years.
FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News
January 27, 2006
FORT COLLINS — A preliminary hearing for a former Fort Collins Catholic priest was postponed today until March 7.
The Rev. Timothy Evans, who appeared before Larimer County District Court Judge Jolene Blair, is charged with two counts of sexual abuse on a child by a person in a position of trust, one count of pattern of abuse, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All are felonies.
Evans was removed from the ministry at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in 2002. He was arrested in 2004 when the charges were filed.
COLORADO
The Coloradoan
By SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com
Prosecution and defense attorneys in the case of a former priest accused of sexually assaulting a child have asked for additional time to discuss the possibility of a plea agreement.
Timothy Evans, 43, faces two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust, one count of sexual assault on a child — pattern of abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from incidents alleged to have occurred during his time at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 5450 S. Lemay Ave., where he served from 1998 to 2002.
Evans was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday morning during which time District Court Judge Jolene Blair was to decide whether there was enough evidence to send the case to trial. But the hearing was delayed at the request of both sides.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
By Wanda J. DeMarzo
wdemarzo@MiamiHerald
A former priest accused of sexually abusing a young boy nearly a decade ago was denied bond at a hearing this morning.
The Rev. Neil Doherty, 62, is charged with two counts of sexual battery on a child, two counts of indecent assault and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation.
There is no bond on the sexual battery charges.
Jeffrey Herman, the Miami-based attorney for the alleged victim, plans to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Broward County Main Jail, 555 S.E. First Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Herman represents five men who claim Doherty molested them while he was a priest.
FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel
Mark I. Pinsky | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 27, 2006
A former Lakeland woman sued the Catholic Diocese of Orlando on Thursday, saying a senior pastor ignored her pleas to do something about an associate pastor who was harassing and stalking her and eventually was charged with attacking her.
Wladyslaw Gorak, a Polish immigrant also known as Walter Fisher, was arrested last year and charged with burglary with an assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery in connection with the October 2004 attack at the woman's Lakeland home.
The suit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, says Gorak broke into her house, overpowered her and ripped her clothes.
Gorak had been transferred to Central Florida in late 2003 from the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where a parishioner also accused him of stalking, the suit and police reports said. The suit says the dioceses should have known Gorak was unfit for service.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES An alleged sexual abuse victim of ex-priest Michael Wempe will testify today in the Los Angeles courtroom where his brother delivered teary testimony yesterday afternoon.
The victim is identified in court only as Jayson. He alleges that Wempe molested him in the 1990s.
Jayson's brother, known as Mark-B, was questioned yesterday. He said Wempe molested him too, along with a third brother Lee. Wempe can't be tried for those alleged abuses because they fall outside the court's statute of limitations. But Jayson's don't.
UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star
Published on 27/01/2006
A FORMER Workington priest jailed for sexually abusing young boys will be re-interviewed by town detectives following a new complaint.
The news comes less than two weeks after Father Gregory Carroll, 66, had his four-year sentence shortened by a year by the Criminal Appeal Court.
He was sentenced in September for abusing 10 boys under the age of 15 while he was teaching at the junior house of Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire from 1973 to 1983.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
A MONK who abused 15 boys as young as eight over a decade while a master at a leading Roman Catholic boarding school has been jailed for two years.
Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, son of Tory Peer Lord Harvington, was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and banned from working with children indefinitely.
His conviction yesterday at Leeds Crown Court ends a two-year investigation into abuse at Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to involve police in a complaint against Grant-Ferris in 1975.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
With his Guards officer's dashing good looks, his athlete's energy and smooth flattering manner, no-one really knew what Tory peer's son Piers Grant-Ferris was doing at Ampleforth College.
A highly respected monk and teacher, he was also a celebrated mountaineer who in later life would face near death on the Andes.
The only son of leading public figure Lord Harvington – a personal friend of Margaret Thatcher – he had a spotless family name.
Commissioned into the Irish Guards, Grant-Ferris seemed poised for the sort of brilliant career carved out his by father, a former Deputy Speaker during Ted Heath's government and a member of a prominent English Roman Catholic family.
So pupils wondered why he suddenly retreated from the world. In a place where the 40-something Abbot Basil Hume was regarded as a youthful figure, the only explanation was a vague rumour – that Grant-Ferris had been traumatised by a car crash in which two young women died.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A monk has been jailed for two years after admitting 20 counts of indecent assault on young schoolboys.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 71, taught at Gilling Castle Preparatory School, a feeder for Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Benedictine monk was arrested after a police investigation into Ampleforth Abbey, which is linked to the college.
Sentencing him at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, judge Ian Dobkin said his crimes were "dire in many respects".
UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
By Andrew Norfolk
A MONK from a leading Roman Catholic family was jailed for two years yesterday after admitting 20 offences of indecent assault against 15 young boys at Ampleforth College.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, whose offences were committed more than 30 years ago, was given a prison sentence even though the court was presented with 3,500 letters and cards from his supporters.
Grant-Ferris, a Benedictine monk at Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, was a form master at Gilling Castle, the college’s prep school, when the abuse happened between 1966 and 1975. His victims, now in their forties and fifties, were pupils aged between 8 and 10 at the time.
It emerged during the police investigation that Cardinal Basil Hume was the Abbot of Ampleforth in 1975 when concerns about Grant-Ferris were first raised by the parents of one boy. He removed the monk from further contact with pupils and sent him to work at a parish in Cumbria, but decided not to report his offending to the police.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida are expected to meet soon regarding his future at St. Leo's Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Gumbleton, one of Metro Detroit's longest-serving and politically outspoken priests, has offered his resignation as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Gumbleton's resignation follows a Vatican mandate that requires bishops to resign their offices at the age of 75. Gumbleton turned 76 Thursday. ...
Earlier this month, Gumbleton revealed he was abused by a priest when he was a student at Sacred Heart Seminary 60 years ago. Gumbleton made the announcement Jan. 12 to voice his support for legislation pending in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York which would extend the statute of limitations of one year for those seeking to file lawsuit over alleged incidents by priests.
ARIZONA
KPHO
(AP) -- Friends of the former pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community Church are trying to raise $100,000 within two weeks for his legal defense.
Monsignor Dale Fushek was arrested Nov. 21 and has pleaded innocent to 10 misdemeanor sexual misconduct charges and remains under house arrest in Phoenix. Fushek, 53, is a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit filed a year ago by an alleged victim in a separate incident.
Citing the urgent need for $100,000, supporters have distributed fliers noting that the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix would pay none of Fushek's legal costs "until he is found innocent." Diocesan attorney Michael Haran said Thursday the diocese would not cover any criminal defense costs, but it would pay civil trial costs if Fushek wins that case.
FLORIDA
The Ledger
By Cary McMullen
The Ledger
THE NEWS
A $5 million lawsuit was filed against the Catholic Diocese of Orlando Thursday by a former Lakeland resident in connection with an alleged assault by a former Lakeland priest.
The lawsuit was filed in Circuit Court in Orlando on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe. The suit claims that the diocese was negligent in failing to protect Doe from Wladyslaw Gorak, also known as Walter Fisher, who was a parochial vicar, or assistant pastor, at Church of the Resurrection from February to December 2004.
BACKGROUND
Gorak was arrested in May 2005 on charges of burglary with assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery. According to a report from Lakeland police, he forced his way into a woman's home in October 2004, threw her to the floor and tore some of her clothes off. He remains in jail awaiting trial.
The suit named as defendants the Diocese of Orlando, which has jurisdiction over parishes in Polk County, and the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where Gorak was a priest before coming to Lakeland. It claims the archdiocese failed to disclose that Gorak was implicated in a previous stalking incident in New Jersey and that the Orlando diocese ignored Doe's complaints that Gorak was harassing her.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Within minutes of taking the witness stand, one of Father Michael Wempe's sexual abuse victims burst into tears Thursday, gazing at a picture of his son, then 4, seated on the priest's lap at a Christmas gathering.
"I can't believe I did that," the witness, identified only as Mark B., said Thursday, wiping his eyes. "I put my son on the lap of a pedophile."
Wempe, on trial for allegedly molesting Mark B.'s youngest brother, met the family in the 1970s when they attended St. Jude Catholic Church in Westlake Village, Mark B. testified.
"He was a person of great importance to my family. We didn't know a lot of people when we moved to Westlake Village," he said. "He became a surrogate father, not just a spiritual father."
Mark B. said he recalled Wempe fondly until spring 2001, when the priest was invited to his younger brother Lee's wedding. Suddenly, he said, memories fell into place of the motorcycle rides when Wempe fondled him, and the camping trip when the priest snuggled up to him in bed.
ARLINGTON (VA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 6:48 pm EST January 26, 2006
UPDATED: 7:24 pm EST January 26, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. -- A volunteer clergyman has been arrested and charged with sexual battery in Arlington County.
On Sunday, an employee of an assisted-living facility in the 3700 block of Lee Highway in the Cherrydale neighborhood reported that she saw the suspect --a volunteer at the facility -- have sexual contact with an adult female resident of the facility, police said.
Richard P. O'Brian, 69, was taken into custody at his home in Annandale, police said. He is charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and not more than a $100,000 fine.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
BY WANDA J. DeMARZO, JAY WEAVER AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com
The Broward Sheriff's Office on Thursday arrested a former priest who had served parishes in South Florida for three decades on charges he sexually abused a young boy.
The Rev. Neil Doherty, 62, is the first Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Miami to be charged with sexual battery on a minor younger than 12.
Alleged victims of Doherty have been coming forward ever since the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.
Broward authorities began investigating the latest case after the victim filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami, accusing it of allowing the priest to serve at a Margate parish despite having settled an earlier lawsuit involving previous alleged child molestation by Doherty.
While at the Margate parish, the priest allegedly drugged and raped the latest victim, now 19, over a five-year period beginning in 1996.
PUEBLO (CO)
The Pueblo Chieftain
By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A religious order that is the subject of numerous lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of teenage boys by a former brother has responded to three suits by denying responsibility, according to court records made public on Thursday.
To date, 13 suits have been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and the Marianists Province of the United States by former students at Roncalli High School, where Brother William Mueller taught religion and music from 1965 to 1971, when the school closed. The former students allege that Mueller subdued them with ether and sexually molested them.
None of the suits name Mueller as a defendant. He voluntarily left the Marianist order in 1986 after attending a treatment center in New Mexico for what Marianist leaders have called "bizarre behavior." Mueller now lives in San Antonio. Lawsuits containing similar allegations to those filed here have been filed in Missouri, where Mueller also taught.
Another suit names only the diocese as a defendant. It was brought by a former altar boy at St. Pius X Catholic Church who accused former priest Andrew Burke of molesting him in the early 1970s. Burke committed suicide in September.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 27, 2006
For those who've grown up in his nearly continual presence in southeast Michigan, it's sometimes easy to forget that Thomas Gumbleton's voice carries across the nation and world. The Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop and pastor of St. Leo's, now offering to resign to comply with the church's retirement age, remains a beacon of social justice and nonviolence.
Ecclesiastical formalities aside, there is no reason Thomas Gumbleton can't keep being Thomas Gumbleton, an inspired preacher who faithfully holds up the most marginalized members of society. He has had no administrative duties for years, so where he stands in the hierarchy should make little difference.
In an era when the Catholic Church can't find enough priests, it would seem odd indeed if he did not retain his pastoral duties, for as long as he desires and is able, at the near west-side parish that he calls home. From that unassum-
ing perch, his weekly sermons reach out into cyberspace via www.nationalcatholicreporter.org.
Gumbleton's ongoing ability to command national headlines was demonstrated earlier this month when he went to Ohio on behalf of victims of sexual abuse. At a news conference in favor of proposed legislation to lengthen the statute of limitations on lawsuits there, Gumbleton revealed that he, too, had suffered, as a teenager, at the hands of a priest.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By David Heinzmann and Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Barbara Brotman, Margaret Ramirez and Ofelia Casillas contributed to this report
Published January 27, 2006
Cardinal Francis George Thursday defended the decision that allowed a West Side pastor to stay in his parish for months after an accusation of child sexual abuse, even as critics raised new questions about how the archdiocese handled the case, both last fall and as early as 2000.
George, who returned from Rome Wednesday night, issued a statement supporting the position of archdiocese officials that they could not investigate Rev. Daniel J. McCormack because of a lack of cooperation from the alleged victim's family and from law enforcement.
Shortly after George released the statement, in which he also offered prayers for the alleged victims of the priest, archdiocese officials said the cardinal had been admitted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood because of dizzy spells.
Critics say McCormack should have been removed in September from St. Agatha's Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., while church officials determined whether he had abused children. But removing him without determining the allegation's credibility would have been unfair to the priest, George's statement said.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Desert Sun
The Associated Press
January 27, 2006
LOS ANGELES - A sexual abuse victim wept in court Thursday as he told of his love for Michael Wempe, the priest he said betrayed him, and his belief that he failed to protect his younger brothers from similar abuse.
"I can accept that I was abused but I can't accept the fact that I was the gatekeeper, that I let it happen to my brothers," said the man identified as Mark B.
"Every day I look at my brothers and realize it was my responsibility," he said. "I could have called the police. I just didn't have the courage to say anything."
The 42-year-old man, who now lives in Norway, came to the witness stand as a prosecutor prepared to call to the stand his youngest brother, Jayson, the sole victim who claims he was abused during a period for which Wempe can be charged criminally.
FORT LAUDERDALE (FL)
CBS 4
(CBS4/MIAMI HERALD) FT. LAUDERDALE A former priest, who served parishes in South Florida, is now charged with sexually abusing a young boy.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office arrested The Rev. Neil Doherty, 62, on Thursday.
Doherty is the first Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Miami to be charged with sexual battery on a minor younger than 12.
According to our news partners at The Herald, alleged victims of Doherty have been coming forward ever since the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.
NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News
By Janine Zeitlin (Contact)
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Two Florida newspapers — the Daily News and The Miami Herald — could get an answer today about whether employee records of a former Naples priest accused of sexual abuse should be made public.
The case is set before a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge.
Records may show the Catholic Church failed to protect children from William Romero, who worked at St. Ann school and church in 1975-76, according to an October motion filed by The Herald and later joined by the Daily News.
People deserve to know how the Catholic Church handled Romero, an “alleged serial pedophile,” the motion states.
The motion is linked to a civil case settled for an unknown amount in November 2005 that accused Romero of sexually abusing a 10-year Coral Gables altar boy in 1975.
UNITED KINGDOM
ic Birmingham
Jan 25 2006
Education chiefs have urged parents not to remove their children from a Birmingham school at the centre of a double sex controversy.
Parents at Ladypool Primary School in Sparkbrook reacted angrily following the arrest of Father John Hervé two weeks ago on suspicion of raping a child.
He was released on bail and immediately suspended by the Diocese of Birmingham from his post as vicar of St Agatha's Church, in Sparkbrook.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
January 26, 2006 - Cardinal Francis George was admitted Thursday afternoon to Loyola University Medical Center.
According to the Archdiocese of Chicago, the cardinal complained of dizziness prior to his recent trip to New Zealand and Rome. He was hospitalized for tests.
As a precautionary measure, Cardinal George is expected to stay overnight to allow doctors to finish their examination of the cardinal.
Earlier Thursday, Cardinal Francis George made his first comments on the sexual abuse charges against Father Daniel McCormack. The 37-year-old priest is accused of abusing two boys at Saint Agatha's Church on the city's West Side.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Adrian Walker, Globe Columnist | January 26, 2006
Disappointment mixed with fury in Senator Marian Walsh's voice yesterday after it became obvious that her bill calling for financial disclosure by churches was well on its way to being crushed.
It was artful, really, the way the opponents of the bill had orchestrated their efforts and convinced nearly everyone that the vote remained close, the better to keep their supporters united and energized.
''This is our process; I accept that," said Walsh, a West Roxbury Democrat. ''But we have a lot of public charities that are accountable to no one."
Not long ago, the clergy sexual abuse scandal was widely believed to have severely diluted the influence wielded on Beacon Hill by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
Yesterday, that theory was forcefully consigned to the recycle bin.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 26, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters Advertisement
A nun who worked at Chicago's Holy Family Catholic School -- where the Rev. Daniel McCormack used to say mass for students once a week -- has told the Chicago Sun-Times she alerted officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago of her concerns about the priest's behavior with children as early as winter 2000.
The nun, who asked that her name not be used, said a fourth-grade boy at Holy Family claimed McCormack asked him to pull down his pants in the sacristy of the church when the two were alone after a Friday mass in 2000. She said she told several archdiocesan officials about the child's allegations -- both verbally and in writing -- on several occasions, but her warnings went unheeded.
The nun's revelations emerged Wednesday as Chicago authorities widened their investigation of the 37-year-old priest, who was charged last weekend with sexually abusing two boys at St. Agatha's church in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood.
Chicago Police are investigating an allegation that McCormack abused a student in 2000 at the now-shuttered Holy Family School at May and Roosevelt, and investigators also were interviewing a teenager Wednesday about allegations he was abused by McCormack last year, said police spokeswoman Monique Bond.
IOWA
Quad-City Times
By Thomas Geyer
Another lawsuit was filed Wednesday against the Catholic Diocese of Davenport claiming that a now deceased monsignor sexually abused a 10-year-old boy while he was assigned to Sacred Heart Cathedral in the 1960s.
Filed in Scott County District Court by Donald Kloss, the lawsuit also alleges that Msgr. Thomas Feeney was promoted to vicar general, or second in command, of the diocese despite the fact that the diocese then under the Most Rev. Gerald O’Keefe knew about the abuse allegations.
In his lawsuit, Kloss alleges that the abuse began in 1967 when he was 10 years old and was attending Sacred Heart where Feeney was pastor.
Kloss is requesting an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.
It is the second lawsuit filed against the diocese specifically naming Feeney.
CALIFORNIA
Union-Tribune
By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
January 26, 2006
A former San Diego priest and convicted child molester was released from prison yesterday and is staying in a San Bernardino motel while parole authorities try to make longer-term arrangements, according to his brother.
"No one wants to accept him," said Tom Rodrigue, younger brother to Edward Anthony Rodrigue, who served parishes in the San Diego and San Bernardino Roman Catholic dioceses for about 20 years from the 1960s to the 1980s. "Part of that is the notoriety and part of that is the crime."
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, 69, was sentenced in 1998 to 10 years in state prison for molesting an 11-year-old developmentally disabled boy in San Bernardino County. He is facing at least 19 civil lawsuits filed by men who allege he molested them while he was a priest and they were minors.
While the former priest declined to be interviewed, his brother described him as being "very glad to be out" and "very positive about the future."
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 26, 2006 12:00 AM
The Phoenix Diocese quietly has reached out-of-court settlements in five sex-abuse lawsuits filed in Maricopa County, paying out $375,000 to the victims. Each of the cases was settled in the past six months.
"Bishop (Thomas J.) Olmsted would like to put these matters behind us, and we are working very hard to do that," said Mike Haran, attorney for the diocese.
Olmsted said, "Our primary goal concerning these settlements is to foster healing and reconciliation." advertisement
He added, "We believe the settlements were fair and appropriate."
The diocese also has resolved four cases filed in Tucson. Remaining are 17 lawsuits, 10 filed locally and seven in California.
Mark Kennedy, who received a settlement, said ending his case brought "healing and wellness."
"I was overcome by a sense of forgiveness for everyone who hurt me," he said.
NEWPORT NEWS (VA)
WTKR
A Newport News pastor is in jail.
He's accused of not reporting a possible case of sexual assault, involving three children. Rev. Floyd Blackwell turned himself in Wednesday.
67-year-old Blackwell is the pastor at Miracle Temple Baptist Church. Police say they got a tip last November that a 19-year-old may have sexually assaulted three of his young female relatives.
The girls are seven, eight, and nine-years-old. During their investigation, police also found out that another family member told Blackwell about the possible abuse.
However, police say Blackwell did not go to the authorities, and he advised the family member not to tell police. Blackwell is being held without bond. The 19-year-old, accused of committing the sexual assault, was also arrested.
NEWPORT NEWS (VA)
Daily Press
BY SHAWN DAY
247-4816
January 26, 2006
NEWPORT NEWS -- A longtime Newport News pastor was arrested and held without bond Wednesday on charges that he failed to report allegations that a man he knew had sexually abused three young girls, and that he also discouraged another person from telling police.
The Rev. Floyd Blackwell, pastor of Miracle Temple Baptist Church on 32nd Street, turned himself in during the early afternoon, Officer Harold Eley said. Warrants had been issued for his arrest Tuesday. He was booked on three felony counts of obstruction. He also was booked on three misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, "because he was aware of the situation and didn't report it. He allowed the situation to continue," Eley said. Child Protective Services received an anonymous call on Nov. 30, claiming that a 19-year-old man had been sexually assaulting three girls, ages 7, 8 and 9, for the past three years, Eley said.
Officers investigated the report and arrested the man Jan. 14. He was booked on eight counts of sodomy, eight counts of taking indecent liberties with children and two counts of abduction.
WORCESTER (MA)
Los Angeles Times
By Elizabeth Mehren, Times Staff Writer
BOSTON — A jury in Worcester, Mass., convicted a prison inmate Wednesday of murdering John J. Geoghan, the defrocked Roman Catholic priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.
Joseph L. Druce, 40, had admitted strangling Geoghan in Geoghan's prison cell on Aug. 23, 2003. Jurors in Worcester, about 40 miles west of Boston, rejected Druce's claims that he was insane when he killed Geoghan and that he believed he was protecting children by doing so.
Geoghan, 68, was serving nine to 10 years for fondling a 10-year-old boy at a community swimming pool. He was accused of molesting more than 150 children over three decades as a priest in the Boston area.
His trial in 2002 helped spark the abuse crisis that continues to haunt the Roman Catholic Church. Documents made public during the case revealed that church officials had rebuffed complaints from parents who said Geoghan, their parish priest, had sexually molested their children.
Rather than removing him from duties involving children, church officials simply moved Geoghan when reports became too numerous. He served in six parishes around Boston.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce was found guilty of first-degree murder yesterday in the 2003 prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.
A Worcester Superior Court jury deliberated for about seven hours over two days before rejecting the confessed killer’s insanity defense.
The 12-member jury unanimously determined that the Aug. 23, 2003, murder of Mr. Geoghan, 68, in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center was premeditated and done with extreme atrocity or cruelty, the prosecution’s dual theories of first-degree murder in the case.
Mr. Druce, now 40, was already serving a life sentence for murder when he beat and strangled the ex-priest in a protective custody unit at the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line. He later confessed to the killing, telling prison officials and state police that he sneaked into Mr. Geoghan’s cell and killed the former priest and convicted child molester to prevent him from sexually abusing other children after his release from custody.
As he was about to be sentenced yesterday, Mr. Druce told the court, “Again, I’m going to stand by my statement previously that these pedophiles need to be stopped, and that’s why I did it.
“Just hold the pedophiles accountable, as well as myself,” he said to Judge Francis R. Fecteau.
Judge Fecteau sentenced Mr. Druce to a consecutive life term with no possibility of parole, the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder. Mr. Druce, who testified that he was sexually abused as a child, received his first life sentence in 1989, when he was convicted of murder for strangling a North Shore man who picked him up hitchhiking and allegedly made a sexual advance toward him.
“This state does not have capital punishment, and if they did, you would not be, as Mr. Murphy pointed out, the person who would carry it out,” Judge Fecteau told Mr. Druce before imposing the sentence yesterday.
In his closing argument, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy had said Mr. Druce’s feelings about pedophiles did not justify his actions.
“What makes him the executioner?” the prosecutor asked.
Defense lawyer John H. LaChance, who had urged the jury of seven men and five women to find his client not guilty by reason of mental illness, said he was disappointed, if not surprised, by the guilty verdict.
“This kind of defense is clearly not favored by the public,” said Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, who had maintained his client was mentally ill at the time of the killing and lacked criminal responsibility for his actions. Mr. LaChance filed a notice of appeal after the verdict was read.
Thomas Wiegand, the jury foreman, later told reporters that he and his fellow jurors believed Mr. Druce was mentally ill, but did not feel his mental illness was so severe that he lacked criminal responsibility.
“No hard feelings. You guys have a good night,” Mr. Druce said to the jurors as they were being led from the courtroom after returning their verdict.
Mr. LaChance said after the verdict that he intended to ask state correction officials to transfer Mr. Druce out of state to serve his time, preferably to a secure psychiatric hospital.
Mr. Druce appeared in court yesterday with a blackened left eye. According to Mr. LaChance, Mr. Druce said he was assaulted by a Department of Correction employee shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Walpole, where he is being held.
Mr. Druce also said he returned to Walpole from court Tuesday to find that the TV in his cell had been smashed, his watch had been stolen and someone had spat on his bed, according to Mr. LaChance.
The defense lawyer said it appeared that the reported assault and damage were related to Mr. Druce’s testimony concerning his alleged mistreatment in prison and his work as a prison informant.
The Department of Correction said in a press release that Mr. Druce was seen by medical staff at his cell door at 8:10 p.m. Tuesday. He made no allegations of having been assaulted at that time and no injuries were noted by the medical personnel, according to the release.
“While the investigation is still ongoing, it certainly bears noting that Mr. Druce has a long history of self-injurious behavior,” the release states.
WORCESTER (MA)
AZCentral
Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
Jan. 26, 2006 12:00 AM
WORCESTER, Mass. - Joseph Druce's conviction Wednesday for murdering pedophile priest John Geoghan effectively added nothing to the life sentence he was already serving. So he could afford to be a little gracious after the verdict was read.
His insanity claims rejected, Druce looked up at the jurors and said quietly, "It's all right. Good job." As they walked out, he added, "No hard feelings."
At sentencing later, Druce indicated that he still considered his crime, strangling a fellow inmate in his own cell with a pair of stretched-out socks, to be not only the act of a hero but one inspired by God. advertisement
"These pedophiles need to be stopped. That's why I did it," he told Judge Francis Fecteau, who sentenced him to a mandatory term of life without parole.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 26, 2006
BY DAVID CRUMM and PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Today at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI is expected to announce the resignation of one of the world's most controversial Catholic leaders, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.
The pacifist bishop, who has dropped into many of the world's political hot spots in his crusades for social justice, turns 76 today. His resignation as an assistant to Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida was called for under church law when he reached the age of 75. ...
Maida, who was in Marquette on Wednesday for the installation of a new bishop for the Upper Peninsula, could not be reached for comment. But McGrath said the cardinal, who staunchly opposes opening up past abuse cases to legal action, is likely to raise major questions about his former auxiliary's political activism.
OHIO
Canton Repository
By TERRY KINNEY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Local parishioner calls for reforms
Edward G. Friedl, a member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in North Canton, is pushing for the Catholic Church to address the issue of pedophile priests. Friedl is involved in Voice of the Faithful, a nationwide, lay organization formed in response to the pedophile priest scandals in the Boston Archdiocese.
CINCINNATI - The power and might of the Roman Catholic Church intimidates children abused by priests, even when they become adults, so usual time limits for filing lawsuits shouldn’t apply to them, an attorney for an alleged victim said Wednesday.
The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments in Columbus in the case of a 36-year-old “John Doe” who sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk and the Rev. Thomas Hopp.
The church asked the court to overturn an appeals court ruling that revived the case even though it was not filed within two years of the man’s 18th birthday, as the law requires.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
COLUMBUS - Victims of sexual abuse by priests asked the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow them to sue the Catholic Church, even if the deadline for filing such lawsuits expired decades ago.
A lawyer for abuse victims argued that the emotional trauma they suffered made it impossible for many to file lawsuits in the time allowed under Ohio's statute of limitations.
Under current law, victims are required to sue within two years after they turned 18.
More than 60 people in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati - and dozens of others statewide - have sued church officials for failing to protect them from abusive priests.
Many of those cases have been dismissed in lower courts because the lawsuits were filed years, or even decades, after the statute of limitations expired.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By David Heinzmann and Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporters Manya Brachear, Jeff Coen and Jason George contributed to this report
Published January 26, 2006
Chicago Catholic Archdiocese officials said Wednesday they are investigating a West Side priest's past, looking for other allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
Rev. Daniel J. McCormack was charged last week with abusing two boys at St. Agatha's Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd. Church officials say they will investigate his conduct at other churches and schools, including a South Side parish.
Investigators also will look into his time as director of formation at St. Joseph's Seminary at Loyola University, where he lived in the dormitory with seminarians. His duties included advising them on their path toward the priesthood, said Archdiocese Chancellor James Lago.
Since the charges emerged Saturday, the family of another boy contacted the Tribune and described a 2001 incident in which they say McCormack took the boy aside during basketball practice and pulled down the boy's shorts. That family has contacted the Cook County state's attorney's office, authorities said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
A Catholic priest has been removed from his position at a Feasterville parish as authorities in Bucks and Chester Counties investigate an allegation of sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said.
The Rev. James J. Brennan, ordained in 1989, was relieved this week of his duties as an assistant to the pastor at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, according to a news release issued Monday by Cardinal Justin Rigali.
DAVENPORT (IA)
WHO
DAVENPORT, Iowa Another lawsuit claiming sexual abuse by a priest has been filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport.
The latest lawsuit filed in Scott County District Court names Monsignor Thomas Feeney, who died in 1981.
It claims Feeney sexually abused a ten-year-old boy while he was pastor of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in the 1960s. It's the second lawsuit filed against the diocese specifically naming Feeney.
Craig Levien, who is representing victims in both lawsuits, says the diocese acted irresponsibly by appointing Feeney to vicar general, or second in command, after hearing of sexual abuse complaints.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A man who claims that as a boy he was molested by now-retired priest Michael Wempe testified Wednesday that he reacted with rage when he heard that charges against the clergyman were dropped because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
"I broke things at the house. I was very upset. I did a lot of crying and I did a lot grieving," a witness identified as Greg J. testified in Wempe's trial on new molestation charges involving another alleged victim.
In testimony Tuesday, Greg J. told the Superior Court jury how Wempe bonded with him, particularly while the priest was his golf coach at a Roman Catholic high school.
Returning to the stand Wednesday, the 39-year-old man said that after the priest left him, "I was very confused about whether I was homosexual" and at the age of 18 he became an alcoholic.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
January 26, 2006 - Police say they're looking into more allegations against a Chicago priest recently charged with sexual abuse.
The Reverend Daniel McCormack was charged last week with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly abusing two boys while he was a priest at Saint Agatha Church on the city's West Side.
Now police say they're looking into whether McCormack may have abused a student at another school in 2000.
Police spokeswoman Monique Bond says investigators yesterday interviewed another teenager about allegations that he was abused by the priest.
Bond says McCormack has declined to answer investigators questions after his lawyer advised him not to talk with police.
WORCESTER (MA)
BBC News
A US prison inmate has been convicted of murdering a former priest at the heart of a sex abuse scandal in Boston.
Joseph Druce killed defrocked clergyman John Geoghan in August 2003 while they were held in a Massachusetts prison.
Druce, 40 and already serving life for another murder, had admitted strangling Geoghan, saying he wanted to avenge children who had been sexually abused.
The jury in Massachusetts rejected his defence of insanity, finding him guilty of first-degree murder.
WORCESTER (MA)
ABC 6
January 25,2006
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) - The foreman of the jury that convicted Joseph Druce of murder in the death of a pedophile priest says there was a degree of "sympathy" among the panel.
Druce was found guilty today in the strangulation of pedophile priest John Geoghan in 2003, despite an insanity defense mounted by his lawyers.
Jury foreman Thomas Wiegand, a retired Holy Cross administrator, says the jury had sympathy for Druce after hearing the descriptions of his troubled childhood and sexual abuse.
Wiegand says he felt a (quote) "sadness that a life was lost early," referring to Druce.
The jury foreman also cited what he believes are the failings of a system that pushes drugs and not therapy.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Mercury News
LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A sad fraternity of handsome, well-spoken men gathered in a courthouse this week to recall through the blur of time and denial what was done to them as children by a now-retired Roman Catholic priest.
Michael Wempe, 66, the gray-haired defendant on trial for molestation, sits quietly watching the witnesses, color rising in his florid face when descriptions from the men he knew as boys become especially graphic.
He has wept once after hearing of the long-term anguish suffered by one.
His lawyer says he has changed, that church-ordered therapy helped him and he is remorseful. The attorney also says Wempe is not guilty of charges by one young man that have brought him to criminal court at last.
WORCESTER (MA)
The New York Times
By KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: January 26, 2006
BOSTON, Jan. 25 — Rejecting an insanity defense, a state jury on Wednesday convicted an inmate of the prison murder of John J. Geoghan, a defrocked priest who was accused of molesting 150 boys. Mr. Geoghan played a central role in the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese here.
Judge Francis R. Fecteau of Worcester District Court sentenced the inmate, Joseph L. Druce, to life in prison without parole, in addition to the life sentence he is serving for another murder.
After the verdict, Mr. Druce told the jury that he had "no hard feelings." Mr. Druce, 40, who had testified that he had been abused as a child, asked after the sentencing that pedophiles be held accountable for their behavior.
During the trial there was no disagreement about what happened at 11:53 a.m. on Aug. 23, 2003, in a protective custody wing at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Mass.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
By LINDA DEUTSCH
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES
A man who claims that as a boy he was molested by now-retired priest Michael Wempe testified Wednesday that he reacted with rage when he heard that charges against the clergyman were dropped due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision and he saw news pictures of a smiling Wempe leaving jail.
"I broke things at the house. I was very upset. I did a lot of crying and I did a lot grieving," the witness identified as Greg J. testified in Wempe's trial on new molestation charges involving another alleged victim.
In testimony Tuesday, Greg J. told the Superior Court jury how Wempe bonded with him, particularly while the priest was his golf coach at a Roman Catholic high school.
Returning to the stand Wednesday, the 39-year-old man said that after the priest left him, "I was very confused about whether I was homosexual" and at the age of 18 he became an alcoholic.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By The Associated Press | January 25, 2006
BIG PICTURE: A jury rejected the insanity defense of prison inmate Joseph Druce and found him guilty of murdering defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan.
THE MOTIVE: Prosecutors claimed Druce killed Geoghan to become a prison big shot.
COURTROOM THEATER: Druce testified God chose him to kill Geoghan, then told jurors, "No hard feelings," after the verdict was read.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | January 25, 2006
The Massachusetts House today soundly defeated legislation that would require religious organizations to file annual financial reports with the state, dealing a major blow to lawmakers who sought to make churches and other institutions more accountable to the public.
By a vote of 147-3, the House shot down the latest in a stream of controversial bills that have come to the floor in recent weeks, including failed legislation to grant in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and a primary seat belt bill that narrowly passed last week.
The legislation on religious organizations, which prompted fierce lobbying and scores of phone calls and e-mails to legislators, was seen as a major test of the Catholic Church's influence on Beacon Hill. The church was joined by many other religious groups in opposing the bill, saying it was an unwarranted and costly intrusion by the state into the practice of religion.
The bill would have required all religious organizations to file limited information about their finances and real estate holdings annually with the attorney general's charities division, and would have mandated that any organization with annual revenues of more than $500,000 file detailed financial reports every year.
Some lawmakers and lay Catholics have demanded more information about the financial health and holdings of the Boston Archdiocese as it settled civil suits from the clergy sexual abuse crisis and launched a sweeping reconfiguration of parishes.
CALIFORNIA
The Mercury News
Associated Press
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - A former Roman Catholic priest will be released Wednesday after serving 8 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence for molesting a developmentally disabled boy, his brother said.
Prison officials confirmed that Rodrigue is due to be paroled but had no further details.
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, now 69, will live in a group home along Interstate 215 after his release from a state prison near Corcoran, said Tom Rodrigue, his brother.
Rodrigue worked in parishes in Coachella, Loma Linda, Ontario and in San Diego and Imperial counties until 1981, the last year he was assigned to work in a church. He was ordained in 1962 and was best known to parishioners as "Father Tony."
NEW YORK
New York Post
By MARSHA KRANES
January 25, 2006 -- The family of a former Brooklyn altar boy who testified that a priest had sexually abused him is pleased with the plea deal that let the cleric off with only three years' probation.
"The family is happy" that the Rev. Joseph Byrns "had to accept responsibility for the molestation of their son," said the boy's lawyer, Vidian Mallard.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | January 25, 2006
If merely feeling burdened were reason enough to avoid paying taxes, state and federal coffers would be empty.
But that is the argument of religious organizations trying to kill legislation that would require churches in Massachusetts to do what every other tax-exempt charity in the state is already obliged to do: open their financial books to the public. The filing fee and accounting costs would be too burdensome, they say.
This is called a smokescreen. ...
O'Malley has managed to convince the state's other religious denominations that they are being drawn into a family squabble among Catholics, many of whom have questions about the source of the millions spent to settle so many sexual abuse cases and the disposition of proceeds from recent sales of church-owned real estate.
This bill is not about payback. It is about accountability. The clergy sexual abuse scandal and the contentious process of closing Catholic parishes highlights the perils of institutional secrecy. But every religious organization owes financial transparency to every donor who drops a dollar in the collection basket or writes a check for the annual appeal. It is just not that big a burden.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
January 25, 2006
A BILL THAT would require religious organizations to disclose basic financial records is a right-minded effort to introduce accountability to an estimated 6,000 public charities that now elude such oversight. Current attempts by religious groups to cast the bill as an entanglement of church and state are misguided at best, and deceptive at worst.
The bill, which is scheduled for debate today in the House, would require churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious entities to report gross revenues, net assets, fundraising expenses, and other routine information as a condition of their tax-exempt status, identical to the state's roughly 30,000 secular nonprofit organizations. The bill, which has passed the Senate, would also require all charities, both secular and religious, to list real estate holdings as part of their annual financial reports. ...
The birth of the bill is rooted in the recent demands for financial disclose from Catholic parishioners whose churches were slated to be closed or consolidated by the archdiocese. But the need for such transparency is not limited by denomination, and the bill's basic requirements apply equally to all.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | January 25, 2006
The legislative battle over a proposed requirement that religious denominations and congregations publicly disclose their finances has provoked an unusual development in interfaith relations, with non-Catholic religious leaders expressing public sympathy for Catholics critical of the Archdiocese of Boston even as they find themselves allied with archdiocesan officials on Beacon Hill.
In multiple interviews this week, religious leaders said that they understand why Roman Catholics are frustrated with archdiocesan leadership and that religious institutions, including the archdiocese, should disclose their finances.
But the religious leaders said they will fight in the Legislature, and, if necessary, in the courts against any effort by government to require such disclosure.
''We understand the frustration and the anger of the supporters of the bill and certainly support their efforts to accomplish what they want to accomplish," said Bishop Roy ''Bud" Cederholm Jr. of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. ''The bill asks something that the archdiocese needs to do. But people need to work within their own denomination and not look to the government to resolve their own internal issues."
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— A Worcester County jury has convicted Joseph L. Druce of first-degree murder in the 2003 prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.
The verdict, delivered in Superior Court about 1 p.m., followed more than seven hours of deliberations by the 12-member jury.
Mr. Druce, 40, had sought to have the jury find him not guilty by reason of insanity. He is serving a life sentence for the 1989 slaying of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward Mr. Druce after the man picked him up hitchhiking.
Mr. Goeghan killed the former priest on Aug., 23, 2003, after slipping into Mr. Geoghan’s cell. In court testimony, Mr. Druce said he killed Mr. Geoghan to prevent him from molesting other children.
With the verdict, of first-degree murder, the jury found that the killing was both premeditated and committed with extreme atrocity. Formal sentencing is scheduled for 3 p.m. today. The charge carries a life sentence.
John H. LaChance, Mr. Druce’s lawyer, said he was disappointed by the verdict and also said he would ask that Mr. Druce be transferred to a prison or a secure hospital outside Massachusetts.
Before the verdict, Mr. Druce appeared in court with a black eye. Mr. LaChance told reporters his client related to him that he was assaulted Tueday night at the state prison in Walpole, by “someone employed by the correction department.”
According to the lawyer, Mr. Druce said he was pushed, struck on the side of his head and punched in the eye by a man who accompanied him back to his cell in Walpole’s 10-block. The alleged assault took place soon after Mr. Druce made a telephone call to Mr. LaChance, according to the lawyer.
Mr. LaChance told reporters Mr. Druce said the assault was unprovoked and that the man who struck him was wearing a T-shirt rather than the traditional uniformed shirt with a name tag. Mr. LaChance said his client also reported that he returned to Walpole from court Tuesday night to find that a small television in his cell had been smashed, his watch stolen and that someone had spat on his bed.
Mr. LaChance said the assault and damage appeared to be “directly related” to testimony Mr. Druce gave of alleged mistreatment by correction officers and his work as a prison informant.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
(01-25) 00:01 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Former priest Michael Wempe bonded with one of the boys he later molested while teaching a sex education class at a Catholic high school, one of his former students testified.
The alleged victim, now a 39-year-old man identified as Greg J., claimed at Wempe's molestation trial Tuesday that the priest told students in his Paraclete High School class that masturbation was "God's gift to relieve sexual tension" and demonstrated how to do it with hand motions.
Greg J., one of the grown men who told of Wempe's abuse of them as boys, said he bonded with Wempe as a teacher and golf coach.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By DARREN BARBEE
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH -- Three women asked a Fort Worth judge Tuesday to unseal the records of a former Arlington priest they accused of sexual misconduct in the 1970s and 1990s.
The women, who are not identified in the lawsuit, joined an ongoing legal effort to open the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese files concerning seven clerics accused of abusing children. A hearing is set next month in state District Judge Len Wade's court to hear the arguments in the case.
In the court filings, two of the women say that the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen groped them "under the guise of counseling or confession" when they were young adults at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Arlington in the 1990s.
The third, who is now a teacher in Tarrant County, says she was 13 when the conduct occurred in Arlington in the 1970s, according to court documents and the women's attorney.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 25, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. --A jury on Wednesday found prison inmate Joseph Druce guilty of first-degree murder in the strangulation of pedophile priest John Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal.
Druce admitted sneaking into Geoghan's cell in August 2003. He jammed the door shut with a book, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old Geoghan before the guards could stop him.
But Druce claimed he was severely mentally ill and under the delusion that God had chosen him to kill Geoghan and send a message to pedophiles around the world.
Testimony in the case largely centered on whether Druce was insane, or whether the killing was the work of a "calculating" murderer, as prosecutors alleged.
The jury of five women and seven men deliberated for about six hours over two days before reaching the guilty verdict early Wednesday afternoon.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Jury deliberations in Worcester Superior Court resumed today in the Joseph L. Druce murder trial.
Mr. Druce appeared in court this morning with a black eye. His lawyer John H. LaChance told reporters his client related to him that he was assaulted Tueday night at the state prison in Walpole, by “someone employed by the correction department.”
According to the lawyer, Mr. Druce said he was pushed, struck on the side of his head and punched in the eye by a man who accompanied him back to his cell in Walpole’s 10-block. The alleged assault took place soon after Mr. Druce made a telephone call to Mr. LaChance, according to the lawyer.
Mr. LaChance told reporters this morning Mr. Druce said the assault was unprovoked and that the man who struck him was wearing a T-shirt rather than the traditional uniformed shirt with a name tag. Mr. LaChance said his client also reported that he returned to Walpole from court Tuesday night to find that a small television in his cell had been smashed, his watch stolen and that someone had spat on his bed.
Mr. LaChance said the assault and damage appeared to be “directly related” to testimony Mr. Druce gave of alleged mistreatment by correction officers and his work as a prison informant.
Mr. Druce has raised an insanity defense to the 2003 prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
WORCESTER (MA)
WAVY
WORCESTER, Mass. The prison inmate charged with strangling a child-molesting priest has returned to court today with a black eye.
His lawyer says Joseph Druce was beaten yesterday in his cell at the Massachusetts state prison, and he's asking the judge to investigate.
Druce told his lawyer that a man wearing pants from a state Department of Correction uniform hit him on the side of the head and punched him in the eye.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
The Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese appears to be on sound financial footing at a time when its assets are threatened by clergy sexual-abuse litigation.
The archdiocese operated in the black, enjoyed a successful grassroots fundraising campaign and resembles the picture of stability, according a report issued Tuesday that covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005.
But Archbishop Charles Chaput also pointed out several challenges to the bottom line, including the rising costs of insurance premiums, caring for priests reaching retirement and tending to high schools suffering enrollment declines and cost hikes.
Those are problems that a few U.S. dioceses would envy. Two dioceses - in Portland and Tucson - have filed for bankruptcy as a result of clergy sexual-abuse litigation, and others have been forced to shutter churches.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Cincinnati Post
Associated Press
COLUMBUS - The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to resolve conflicting appeals court decisions on deadlines for filing sexual abuse lawsuits against churches or priests.
Arguments were scheduled for today in a case in which an appeals court ruled against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's attempts to limit filing. Another appeals court previously issued a narrower interpretation that benefited the church.
"The dilemma for the court is trying to find a way where worthy plaintiffs can bring worthy causes of action without completely undermining the rationale behind the statute of limitations," Konrad Kircher, the attorney for one of the "John Doe" plaintiffs, said Tuesday.
Several lawsuits by people who said they were abused as children have accused the Roman Catholic archdiocese and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of negligently hiring the priests, hiding the abuse and inflicting emotional distress. Most were thrown out based on state laws setting deadlines for filing complaints over sexual abuse of a minor.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Jeff Coen and Charles Sheehan
Tribune staff reporters
Published January 23, 2006, 10:04 PM CST
The Chicago Catholic Archdiocese learned in August of a sexual abuse allegation against a West Side priest and assigned another priest to monitor his contact with children, but it allowed him to remain at his parish until last week, church officials said.
The family making the accusation alerted the archdiocese, which then turned the allegation against Rev. Daniel J. McCormack over to the Cook County state's attorney's office, according to law enforcement sources. Investigators could not find enough evidence to file charges until last week, when a second child came forward with a separate allegation, authorities said.
In the intervening four months, church officials allowed McCormack to continue running the parish.
According to church guidelines, the archdiocese could have removed McCormack from ministry while the case was investigated, but the church officials decided that was not necessary, said Archdiocese Chancellor James Lago.
MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
Opposition among Central Massachusetts churches continues to mount against proposed legislation that would require them to report their finances to the state.
Carole L. Kowal, of Spencer First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, said small congregations such as hers are struggling to pay skyrocketing fuel bills and maintain their buildings, and cannot afford the extra expense involved.
She called the proposed bill “well-intentioned” but said it would have unintended consequences for independent and small congregations.
“Imagine the New England landscape dotted with all those white steeples rising over town commons. Now imagine them boarded up and empty because that is where we are headed,” Ms. Kowal said.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Marian D. Walsh, D-Boston, arose because of problems Catholics in the Boston archdiocese had when seeking information about the finances of the archdiocese after large payouts were made in the sexual abuse scandal and after the closing of numerous parishes and sell-offs of church property. A hearing on the legislation is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at the Statehouse.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mitt Romney signaled this week that he may veto the bill if it passes, according to The Associated Press.
In remarks on Monday to reporters, Mr. Romney said that while he believes government and society have a responsibility to regulate churches and charities, the measure before the Legislature goes too far.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Contrasting portraits of confessed killer Joseph L. Druce emerged yesterday during closing arguments in his Worcester Superior Court murder trial.
Defense lawyer John H. LaChance said the evidence presented during seven days of testimony showed his client was mentally ill and lacked criminal responsibility for his actions when he beat and strangled defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan in his prison cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center. Mr. LaChance asked the jurors to find Mr. Druce not guilty by reason of insanity in the Aug. 23, 2003, slaying.
Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy said the same evidence proved Mr. Druce was legally sane when he took the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan’s life and supported a conviction for first-degree murder. The prosecutor told the jury in his final summation that a conviction for first-degree murder was warranted because the prison slaying was both premeditated and committed with extreme atrocity or cruelty.
After receiving hourlong instructions on the law from Judge Francis R. Fecteau, the jury of 7 men and 5 women deliberated for about 3-1/2 hours yesterday afternoon without rendering a verdict. Deliberations were scheduled to resume today.
Mr. Druce, now 40, told prison officials, state police and the jury in his case that he killed Mr. Geoghan to prevent him from molesting other children after his release from custody.
A central figure in the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy when Mr. Druce slipped into his cell unnoticed during a lunch break and strangled him with a pair of socks, a sneaker and a pillowcase. Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence imposed in 1989 for the murder of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
The trial included expert testimony from both sides on the question of Mr. Druce’s mental state at the time of the killing. Judge Fecteau told the jury it must decide whether, at the time of the slaying, Mr. Druce suffered from a mental disease or defect that rendered him substantially incapable of either appreciating the wrongfulness of his conduct or of conforming his behavior to the requirements of the law.
A verdict of not guilty by reason of mental illness could result in Mr. Druce’s commitment to a state hospital for the criminally insane. The commitment would be subject to periodic court review, but would not wipe out his earlier life sentence with no possibility of parole, a point that Mr. LaChance tried to drive home in his closing argument.
“Tell the truth about what happened, and tell the truth about Joseph Druce,” Mr. LaChance urged the jurors. A verdict of not guilty by reason of mental illness would give Mr. Druce a chance to receive the psychiatric treatment “that he’s never had before,” the defense lawyer said.
Mr. LaChance said his client, who testified that he was sexually abused as a child, was delusional when he took Mr. Geoghan’s life and saw himself as “the savior of the children by doing what he did.” Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist who testified for the defense, said Mr. Druce was suffering from multiple mental illnesses, including a dissociative disorder, at the time of the killing.
“It’s not one of his personas who is on trial, it’s Joseph Druce who’s on trial,” Mr. Murphy said in his closing. Standing before the jury with his arms folded across his chest, the prosecutor described Mr. Druce as a “calculating,” manipulative individual who carefully planned the killing of Mr. Geoghan and patiently awaited his opportunity to carry it out.
“He calculated that day, Aug. 23, 2003, and he’s still calculating. He’s not a seriously mentally ill person,” Mr. Murphy said.
Dr. Martin Kelly, a psychiatrist who testified for the prosecution, said Mr. Druce was suffering from an antisocial personality disorder, but was legally sane when the killing occurred.
“A lot of this stuff that he’s telling us now is trying to help his own cause,” Mr. Murphy said of Mr. Druce.
“He killed John Geoghan because he didn’t like pedophiles…What gives him the right to do that? What makes him the executioner?” the prosecutor asked.
The jury’s verdict options are not guilty, not guilty by reason of mental illness, guilty of first-degree murder or guilty of second-degree murder.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Michael Stephen Wempe wept Tuesday as a Houston man testified that the former priest used religion class to teach him about masturbation, then encouraged him to practice when they were alone.
The testimony came during the second day of Wempe's trial on charges of abusing a boy in the early 1990s. Wempe, through his attorney, has admitted to molesting 13 boys decades ago, but denies the more recent abuse allegations.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis R. Rappe is allowing testimony about past molestations to bolster prosecutors' contention that Wempe was a practiced abuser who used the same script to exploit children for decades.
The Houston man attended Paraclete High School in Lancaster, where Wempe taught religion and coached golf. When Deputy Dist. Atty. Todd Hicks asked the man if he was a good golfer, Wempe, sitting at the defense table, nodded yes.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— District Attorney John J. Conte announced yesterday the end of his 30-year run as the county’s top prosecutor, sending ripples through a legal community that assumed he would seek another term.
Mr. Conte gave a quick speech to his staff at 3 p.m. yesterday, before exiting out a back door. Many called it an emotional speech punctuated by applause.
The announcement brings closure for a 75-year-old man who spent more than half of his life in public service. He served 14 years in the state Senate, before then-Gov. Michael S. Dukakis appointed him district attorney in 1976. He won the following election and has dominated challengers since. ...
Mr. Conte also has been criticized for his handling of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester sexual abuse crisis, particularly when he donated money to the diocesan Bishop’s Fund while he was investigating the diocese’s priests for abuse.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
A retired priest accused of molesting an Eagle Rock youth pleaded no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Father Stephen Hernandez, 72, tried to kill himself when he learned four years ago that he was being investigated for alleged child sexual abuse.
He was not in court when Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard E. Rico sentenced him to three years' probation and ordered him to stay away from children.
The retired priest had faced 10 years in prison on 10 counts of lewd acts with a child and two counts of using a minor for sex acts between March 2001 and January 2002.
Hernandez was accused of molesting a boy he met while counseling minors at Eastlake Juvenile Hall. The boy said the priest touched him at his home and at the priest's residence at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in El Sereno. The priest also took pictures of the boy in various states of undress.
CALIFORNIA
San Bernardino County Sun
Kelly Rush, Staff Writer
SAN BERNARDINO - A child molester and defrocked Catholic priest is being released from prison today, and officials with the San Bernardino Diocese have pledged to warn their churches and schools before his arrival here.
The pledge comes at the insistence of an advocacy group for those sexually abused by clergy after its members learned that Anthony Edward "Tony" Rodrigue will make his new home in San Bernardino.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, sent a letter to the bishops of the San Bernardino and San Diego dioceses on Tuesday. They are joined in their request by Rodrigue's brother, Tom Rodrigue, and several others.
"Although we do not know the location of his new residence, we are contacting all of our parishes and schools in San Bernardino alerting them of his release," said the Rev. Howard Lincoln, diocesan spokesman. "We remain completely dedicated to the protection of children."
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Beacon Journal
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to resolve conflicting appeals court decisions on deadlines for filing sexual abuse lawsuits against churches or priests.
Arguments were scheduled for Wednesday morning in a case in which an appeals court ruled against the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's attempts to limit filing. Another appeals court previously issued a narrower interpretation that benefited the church.
"The dilemma for the court is trying to find a way where worthy plaintiffs can bring worthy causes of action without completely undermining the rationale behind the statute of limitations," Konrad Kircher, the attorney for one of the "John Doe" plaintiffs, said Tuesday.
Several lawsuits by people who said they were abused as children have accused the Roman Catholic archdiocese and Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of negligently hiring the priests, hiding the abuse and inflicting emotional distress. Most were thrown out based on state laws setting deadlines for filing complaints over sexual abuse of a minor.
SIOUX FALLS (SD)
Sioux City Journal
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The dismissal of a lawsuit over alleged sexual molestation by a priest in South Dakota was upheld Tuesday by a federal appeals court.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis agreed with a federal judge who said Gerald P. Pecoraro, of Omaha missed the legal deadline to file a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Rapid City.
Pecoraro alleged in his lawsuit that a priest who was director at Sky Ranch for Boys in Harding County molested him in the 1960s when he was in his teens. The diocese, which appointed the priest and directed his actions, should be held liable, Pecoraro said.
An initial lawsuit filed by Pecoraro in Nebraska against Sky Ranch and the Rapid City Diocese was dismissed by a judge.
He later filed suit in federal court in South Dakota against the diocese.
In March 2005, U.S. District Judge Richard H. Battey of Rapid City ruled that Pecoraro did not file the lawsuit before a three-year statute of limitations expired.
In upholding Battey's decision, the three-judge appeals court panel rejected Pecoraro's arguments that a six-year statue of limitations -- not three years -- applies in the case and that the three-year period should have been delayed because he was mentally ill.
January 25, 2006
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters
Chicago Police wanted to charge the Rev. Daniel McCormack with child sex abuse last August, but prosecutors refused because they thought the case was weak.
"On Aug. 30 we sought felony charges against him, but they were rejected due to the late outcry of the victim, no evidence, no admission of the priest -- he exercised his right to remain silent -- and no corroborating evidence," a police source told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.
The investigation against McCormack, 37, the pastor of Chicago's St. Agatha, was further hampered by the fact that officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago advised the priest to remain silent, the police source said. "That is his right, but at the same time this is the archdiocese with its 'we're upfront about everything' bulls - - -."
NEW YORK
The Sun
By LAUREN ELKIES - Staff Reporter of the Sun
January 25, 2006
A Brooklyn priest charged with a series of sexual abuse counts that could have landed him in prison for up to 25 years and required him to register with the state as a sexual offender managed to evade that fate by pleading guilty to a lesser crime of endangering the welfare of a child.
"People register when they're convicted of a sex offense," not when they are charged with one, the head of the Brooklyn district attorney's sex crimes unit, Rhonnie Jaus, said.
The Reverend Joseph Byrns, a 63-year-old Brooklyn Catholic priest on administrative leave, was initially charged with two counts of sexual conduct against a child and 20 counts of sexual abuse for allegedly abusing a boy six times in a church rectory between 2000 and 2002, Ms. Jaus said. After a jury was unable to reach a verdict, Mr. Byrns pleaded guilty Monday to endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced to three years' probation and is required to attend a Brooklyn sexual offender treatment program.
Such a stroke of good fortune is not the norm, Ms. Jaus said. "Most sex offenders do plead guilty to sex offenses" and therefore must register, she said.
FRANKFORT (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Deborah Yetter
dyetter@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
FRANKFORT, Ky. — Sex offenders would face tougher sentencing and closer supervision, and court records of juvenile offenders as young as 12 would become public under two bills announced yesterday.
House Bill 3, which includes tougher laws for sex offenses, also would expand the use of the death penalty for such crimes as the murder of a child younger than 12.
House Bill 436 would open now-closed juvenile court proceedings and records of children older than 12 for offenses including burglary, felony sexual or physical assault, homicide and use of a weapon in a crime.
Diana Thornsbury of Louisville, whose 12-year-old daughter was raped and killed 11 years ago by a juvenile sex offender, said opening such records is overdue.
"I think it should be open to the public, what they're doing," said Thornsbury, who had no idea that the 17-year-old neighbor who killed her daughter had been convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl.
WORCESTER (MA)
Pravda
16:00 2006-01-25
A jury is scheduled to resume deliberations Wednesday to determine the fate of an inmate charged with the jailhouse strangling of John Geoghan, the child-molesting priest at the center of Boston's Roman Catholic sex scandal. After more than two weeks of testimony that centered largely on whether Joseph Druce was insane when he killed Geoghan, the panel was given the case Tuesday.
The prosecutor said in his closing argument that Druce was a calculating and conniving killer who planned the murder for weeks so he could be a "big shot" in prison. But Druce's lawyer said Druce was severely mentally ill and under the delusion that God had chosen him to kill Geoghan and send a message to pedophiles around the world.
Druce admits sneaking into Geoghan's cell at the Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley in August 2003. He jammed the door shut with a book, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old Geoghan.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Manchester Evening News
Seb Ramsey
AN 84-year-old parish priest who systematically abused a teenage boy is starting a 10-month prison sentence today.
Richard Evans, of Edge Lane, Droylsden, was jailed at Manchester Crown Court after a judge said he had "groomed and abused" a teenager from the age of 13 for his "own sexual gratification".
His victim, who is now in his 40s, was assaulted in St John's Church, Ashley Lane, Moston, where Evans was the vicar until 1991.
Evans pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of 18 counts of indecent assault that were brought as a result of his behaviour between 1973 and 1981.
IRELAND
The Irish Post
By Jon Myles
CONTROVERSIAL ex-bishop Eamonn Casey is set to return to Ireland from Britain 14 years after fleeing the country following revelations he had fathered a son with a middle-aged divorcee.
The 78-year-old cleric is preparing to finally face the people of Galway for the first time after deciding to leave his posting in Sussex and see out his retirement at home.
It will be his first public appearance in Ireland since details of his relationship with Annie Murphy sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church in Ireland.
But he is first waiting to hear from gardaí over an investigation into sexual abuse c l a i m s m a d e against him by a woman last November.
Dr Casey vigorously denied the allegations and is believed to want the matter cleared up before he moves back to Ireland.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
By LINDA DEUTSCH
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES
A succession of grown men testified Tuesday that ex-priest Michael Wempe trapped them in a web of sexual molestation that began in their childhoods and continues to shadow their lives today.
Pointing across the courtroom where the former Roman Catholic clergyman was seated at the counsel table, on trial for molestation, prosecutor Todd Hicks asked a witness identified only as Jay F. how he knew Wempe.
"From a nightmare," said the 39-year-old man.
At one point, staring at Wempe, he said bitingly: "This guy is so sick."
He graphically outlined a pattern of molestation that involved fondling, masturbation and oral copulation that began when he was 13 and also ensnared two of his brothers.
IRELAND
Catholic World News
Jan. 24 (CWNews.com) - An Irish group serving rape victims has demanded a public apology by Bishop Eamonn Casey, saying that the bishop abused his position when he conducted an affair with a woman who bore his child.
The Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) points out that Bishop Casey's affair with Annie Murphy began when the woman "was in Ireland to recover from a painfully personal experience." The group charges that the bishop betrayed her confidence by his "misuse of position and neglect of duty of care." Thus the affair was "not a private matter between two cosenting adults."
"While the RCNI would not wish to deny Father (sic) Eamonn Casey release from exile," the group said, "we do think that an acknowledgment or even recognition of the wrong doing is required."
UNITED STATES
National
By GREG BULLOUGH
I’m a fan of Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. There isn’t much on which we disagree. His curriculum vitae reads like an encyclopedia of social justice.
When he broke with his brother bishops and supported the right of a clergy abuse survivor to a day in civil court, I joined fellow survivors’ advocates in saying “Hooray!”
When he disclosed that as a teenage seminary student, a priest had sexually abused him (NCR, Jan. 20), I admired his courage.
I nonetheless find aspects of his revelation disquieting.
It pains me to criticize how an abuse survivor handles his experience. Then again, this particular abuse survivor has been a priest for 50 years and a bishop for 38. He was at Dallas in 2002. In that light, it is my hope that both Bishop Gumbleton and my fellow advocates and survivors will indulge me. I acknowledge that young Tommy Gumbleton, and His Excellency Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary of Detroit, are the same person but for time. The choices made by the public figure call for comment.
The bishop declined to name the deceased criminal.
UNITED STATES
National
In as convoluted a piece of reasoning as we’ve seen in a long time, The Tidings, official newspaper of the Los Angeles archdiocese, declares in its Jan. 13 issue that “the belief that bishops moved child abusers from parish to parish, allowing them to abuse over and over, may well be one of the greatest myths created by the press coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the church.” A Jan. 13 article points out, “Bishops did not generally move abusing clergy around because they were very often not aware of the abuse taking place.”
Now that’s quite a sentence. Let’s try to pick it apart: Bishops did not transfer priests they did not suspect of molesting children. To which the only logical response is … huh?
The more relevant question, of course, is how many priests known or suspected by their bishops of having abused children were whisked away from one parish (lest their activities result in scandal) only to show up running the CYO or training altar servers in another? The answer, and this is no myth, is a whole lot.
It gets worse.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer | January 24, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. --Jurors began deliberations Tuesday in the murder trial of a prison inmate accused of killing pedophile priest John Geoghan in his cell.
The jury of five women and seven men got the case following more than two weeks of testimony that centered largely on whether Joseph Druce was insane when he beat and strangled Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal that started in Boston.
The prosecutor said in his closing argument earlier Tuesday that Druce was a calculating and conniving killer who planned the murder for weeks so he could be a "big shot" in prison.
But Druce's lawyer said he was severely mentally ill and under the delusion that God had chosen him to kill Geoghan and send a message to pedophiles around the world.
WORCESTER (MA)
Daily News Tribune
By Denise Lavoie
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
WORCESTER -- Killing pedophile priest John Geoghan was something he was "driven" to do, inmate Joseph Druce testified yesterday at his murder trial.
Drupe told a rapt jury that he believed he had to kill Geoghan to stop him from molesting more children.
"I had seen myself as the designated individual who had to put a stop to the pedophilia in the church," he said.
Druce is using an insanity defense in the Aug. 23, 2003, killing of Geoghan, a defrocked priest who was at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
But prosecutors say Druce’s careful planning of the killing for more than a month shows he was not insane. During an aggressive cross-examination, prosecutor Lawrence Murphy repeatedly pressed Druce about the level of planning involved in the killing. He told investigators he had planned to kill Geoghan for five weeks.
But Druce repeated that he was "driven" to do it.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey County Herald
LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The priest chose his molestation victims carefully - youngsters from poor, dysfunctional families, groups of brothers so deprived of attention and material things that they could be easily manipulated, a prosecutor said.
The boys were drawn to Michael Wempe, the "hip" priest who wore his hair long, rode a motorcycle and gave such dynamic sermons that people followed him from parish to parish to hear him speak, Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks told a jury Monday in opening statements at the former Catholic priest's trial.
But he added, "The defendant had a dark side. He wanted to touch boys and enjoy it. ... His lifestyle was preach on Sunday, molest Monday through Friday and pray on Saturday."
Wempe's attorney, Leonard Levine, did not dispute in his opening statement accusations that the ex-priest might have abused boys over a 15-year period beginning in 1972. But he added that Wempe is not guilty of the crime with which he is charged, molesting another boy in the 1990s.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, January 24, 2006
ALBANY -- Although a decision was issued last week restricting attorney John Aretakis and others who are protesting outside a Catholic church, the case is not over.
More hearings are expected in the near future in the lawsuit brought by Holy Cross Church in an attempt to curtail demonstrators who have shown up during Sunday services since May.
In an interim ruling Friday, state Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo extended a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction.
The injunction continues to keep protesters 100 feet away from church entrances. It will remain in effect until the lawsuit is concluded and a final order is issued.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS 2
(AP) LOS ANGELES Michael Stephen Baker, a former Roman Catholic priest who was arrested on his return from Asia last week, has been charged in Los Angeles with eight sex acts on a child.
Michael Stephen Baker made a brief court appearance today but his arraignment was put off until February 14th. Bail was set at $800,000.
Baker was removed from the priesthood by the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 2000.
In 2003, the district attorney's office charged Baker with 34 counts of molestation on six victims, but those charges were
dismissed because of the U-S Supreme Court's ruling that year involving the statute of limitations on child abuse cases.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Weekly
By Ron Russell Nate Cavalieri
Article Published Jan 18, 2006
Former San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada's visit to the city last week created the kind of media stir that the powerful Roman Catholic prelate may have preferred to skip.
And he did, mostly.
Avoiding a phalanx of TV cameras, Levada ducked into a side door of the Sansome Street office tower where he was deposed by attorneys for alleged clergy sex abuse victims who have sued the Archdiocese of Portland, where Levada was archbishop from 1986 to 1995. The media herd was in front of the building expecting to get a look at Levada -- it was his first trip here since being named by Pope Benedict XVI to a top Vatican post last August. Despite a daylong TV news stakeout, the newly appointed prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith eluded reporters upon leaving the premises (again using a side door) seven hours later.
But he couldn't dodge a determined process server.
"It was really a piece of cake," says Anthony Piscitelli, who presented Levada with a subpoena to appear for yet another deposition in San Francisco in March -- this one on behalf of an attorney for a Marin County woman who has sued the San Francisco Archdiocese alleging she was sexually abused by a priest during Levada's tenure as archbishop here.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By ALEX GINSBERG
January 24, 2006 -- A Catholic priest on trial for sexually abusing an 11-year-old altar boy made a last-minute deal yesterday — pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment to avoid jail time.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Robert Collini, clearly exasperated with the offer, signed off on the pact, but made clear he would have preferred that the Rev. Joseph Byrns, 63, do time behind bars.
"Were there to be an offer by the court, this would not be the offer," Collini said.
But he nonetheless took the plea from Byrns, who admitted only that he endangered the boy's welfare sometime between March and April 2002 at St. Rose of Lima Church in Kensington.
MICHIGAN
The Detroit News
Deb Price
T heir fathers sexually abused them. Their families covered it up, warned them not to tell and made them feel dirty, even to blame for what had happened.
As the four middle-aged women told state Rep. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, well into adulthood they continued to feel horrible about themselves and angry that their abusers had never been punished.
"I'm a fairly strong guy, and I had tears in my eyes," Condino recalls of the breakfast meeting a year ago that prompted him to introduce legislation to change Michigan's statute of limitations on civil lawsuits: Currently, abuse victims must sue by age 19. Condino would allow those of any age to sue during a two-year "window" after the bill's passage. After that, victims could sue until age 38.
"I don't know how anyone could listen to those kinds of stories and think that the current system in working," the lawmaker says.
Unfortunately, the Catholic Church doesn't want people to listen to those kinds of stories, some of which would focus yet more attention on abuse by priests. The primary opposition to Condino's much-needed legislative remedy is coming from the Catholic Church. A statement by the Archdiocese of Detroit claims that the current limits on suits by abuse victims have "served our society well in protecting the rights of everyone."
"The Catholic Church's primary concern appears to be how much it might cost them and what further bad PR they'd get, rather than the good that could come for the victims who would finally get a chance to tell what happened to them and have their community say, 'That was wrong,' " says Condino, who was raised Catholic.
ILLINOIS
Lincoln Courier
BY JAMES WASHBURN
THE COURIER
Before being convicted of sex offenses, Francis Benham became a certified child care provider for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and kept boys in his Lincoln home during weekends to provide relief for foster parents.
Benham was to be released Sunday from the Prince George's County Correctional Center in Maryland where he served 10 months in jail for sexually assaulting and abusing a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy from 1977 to 1979 while he was a priest at a Catholic church in Maryland.
DCFS personnel may not have known of Benham's criminal past because charges against Benham were not reported to police until 2004 when the 13-year-old female victim came forward
Investigators have said the Washington, D.C., archdiocese knew of the allegations in 1979 and transferred Benham to Columbus, Ohio, where he worked for two catholic churches as a non-parish minister from 1979 to 1987, when he moved to Lincoln.
Lincoln police spent about three months last year investigating local allegations of sex crimes after Deborah Denney, 45, who had a five-year business relationship with the 69-year-old former priest, told police Benham may have committed sex crimes locally, Lincoln police detective Paul Adams said today.
UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail
Jan 23 2006
By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail
EDUCATION chiefs were due to meet this week to discuss the future of a parish priest who was arrested on suspicion of raping a child.
Honorary Canon, Father John Herve, was arrested after allegations of "rape and gross indecency with a person under 16" were made against him.
The Mail revealed on Saturday that the Church of England clergyman has been suspended from his duties by the Diocese of Birmingham, in a "neutral act" while the police investigation is conducted.
Fr John is head of the board of governors at Ladypool Primary School where pervert teaching assistant Mark Smith was last week jailed for grooming a schoolgirl.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 5:42 pm PST January 23, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- A former Catholic priest who avoided prosecution in an earlier child sex-abuse case appeared in court Monday in connection with new charges alleging that he molested a boy in 1994 and 1995.
Michael Stephen Baker, 58, of Long Beach, was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport after returning from Thailand and other countries.
Baker was charged Monday with eight felony counts of oral copulation of a person under 18. He appeared in court Monday afternoon, but his arraignment was delayed until Feb. 14 at the request of his attorney, Donald Steier.
Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco set bond at $800,000.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The Rev. Aaron R. Payson, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, said yesterday proposed legislation to require religious institutions to file financial audits and reports to the state is a violation of the separation of church and state and will put undue hardship on small religious congregations.
Rev. Payson is among local clergy who oppose Senate Bill 1074, which will come for a hearing before the House of Representatives at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the Statehouse. Several local clergy have been contacting area legislators to present their views on the bill, according to Frank T. Kartheiser of Worcester Interfaith.
Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester has also asked people in the diocese’s 126 parishes to contact legislators to oppose the bill. The bill is also opposed by the Massachusetts Catholic Conference and the Massachusetts Council of Churches. ...
Ms. Walsh, who sponsored the bill, appears to be motivated by concerns within her own religious tradition, Rev. Payson said. Ms. Walsh, a Roman Catholic, has been frustrated by the lack of public financial accountability by the Boston Archdiocese. Rev. Payson said laws already exist to deal with the issues in the Catholic church raised by Ms. Walsh. She could have gone to Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and asked for an investigation, he said.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | January 24, 2006
Governor Mitt Romney signaled yesterday that he is likely to oppose a bill requiring religious institutions to disclose their finances, creating a major hurdle for advocates of the legislation who must gain a veto-proof vote in the House to guarantee that it becomes law.
The governor's comment caught supporters of the bill off guard, particularly since Romney had appeared to support the measure last August. Romney's comment also comes as supporters engage in a fierce political struggle on Beacon Hill over the legislation with the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and other religious denominations. Opponents say the measure violates religious freedoms and puts undue financial burdens on churches, particularly smaller denominations. ...
Some lawmakers and lay Catholics have demanded more information about the financial health and holdings of the Boston Archdiocese as it settled civil suits from the clergy sexual abuse crisis and launched a sweeping reconfiguration of parishes.
The bill is scheduled to be considered by the House tomorrow. After Romney's remarks, sponsors of the bill, sensing a shift in the political dynamics around the measure, immediately asked for a meeting with the governor. Supporters of the bill say they believe they have a majority of representatives, but not the necessary two-thirds to override a gubernatorial veto. The Senate passed the bill by a wide margin last fall.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The priest took him, a poor boy from a troubled Antelope Valley family, on a motorcycle trip to Hearst Castle, on water and snow skiing outings and to high school golf tournaments.
At the rectory at St. Elizabeth's Mission in Lake Hughes, the boy sat with Father Michael Edwin Wempe and the other priests, eating foods he'd never tasted before. Wempe even gave him an ATM card, warning him to limit withdrawals to $20 a day.
"As an adult, when I think about it, I feel like I prostituted myself. I feel disgusted," the former altar boy, now 40, told jurors Monday, describing the prelude to five years of molestations by the former priest.
Wempe, 66, is on trial for allegedly molesting a boy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Cardinal Roger M. Mahony assigned him in the 1990s after a stint of therapy triggered by an earlier sexual misconduct report.
Wempe has admitted through his lawyer to abusing 13 other boys, including the St. Elizabeth's altar boy, but denies the current charges. Wempe was originally charged with earlier abuse cases as well, but they were thrown out when the Supreme Court in 2003 barred retroactive prosecution for decades-old molestations.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News
By Brad A. Greenberg, Staff Writer
Retired priest Michael Wempe had a formula for The Seduction.
He searched for weak families, with boys needing a father figure. After winning the mother's trust, he would take her son camping or motorcycle riding or to fire rifles in the woods. First it was with a group, but soon he sought alone time.
Then he began the fondling, which culminated in molestation.
That model was outlined Monday by prosecutors as Wempe's molestation trial got under way in Los Angeles Superior Court - a pattern that even Wempe's attorney conceded.
"He violated the trust of a priest and the decency of any person by molesting numerous children," defense attorney Leonard Levine said. "For that, there is no excuse, there is no explanation and there is no defense. And none will be offered."
What will be offered, Levine said, is evidence that Wempe did not molest the man who has accused him of abuse during the early 1990s. Wempe faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted of five counts of molestation.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 24, 2006
BY DAN ROZEK AND STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporters Advertisement
A priest accused of molesting two boys at a parish on Chicago's West Side appeared for the first time Monday in an open courtroom, but he said nothing, letting his attorney do the talking.
As soon as the brief hearing ended, Daniel McCormack, 37, left the 26th and California courthouse, walking briskly past a cluster of reporters, before getting into a car waiting at the bottom of the courthouse steps.
McCormack -- dressed neatly in navy pants, a blue shirt and tie and a short gray jacket -- stood in court beside his attorney, Patrick Reardon, who asked Judge Douglas Simpson to modify the conditions of McCormack's pretrial release so that the priest could have contact with his nieces and nephews. Simpson refused.
Last week, another judge set bail at $200,000 for McCormack and ordered that he have no contact with the victims, their families or anyone under the age of 18.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Jeff Coen and Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter David Heinzmann and religion reporter Margaret Ramirez contributed to this report
Published January 24, 2006
The Chicago Catholic Archdiocese learned in August of a sexual abuse allegation against a West Side priest and assigned another priest to monitor his contact with children, but it allowed him to remain at his parish until last week, church officials said.
The family making the accusation alerted the archdiocese, which then turned the allegation against Rev. Daniel J. McCormack over to the Cook County state's attorney's office, according to law enforcement sources. Investigators could not find enough evidence to file charges until last week, when a second child came forward with a separate allegation, authorities said.
In the intervening four months, church officials allowed McCormack to continue running the parish.
According to church guidelines, the archdiocese could have removed McCormack from ministry while the case was investigated, but the church officials decided that was not necessary, said Archdiocese Chancellor James Lago.
CHICAGO (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
Associated Press
CHICAGO - Archdiocese of Chicago officials say allegations first were made in August against a Roman Catholic priest charged last week with sexual abuse, but the initial accusations weren't enough to remove him from his parish.
The archdiocese instead assigned another priest to monitor the Rev. Daniel McCormack's contact with children while law enforcement authorities investigated.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha Church last week following separate allegations by a second child, said archdiocese spokeswoman Colleen Dolan. He was charged Saturday with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Archdiocese Chancellor James Lago said officials did not have enough information in August to take further action.
Authorities "indicated to us that they were doing an investigation," Lago told the Chicago Tribune. "We were trying to get specific information (about the allegations) but we had none when we restricted his duties."
Church guidelines say the archdiocese could have removed McCormack from ministry while the case was investigated, but Lago said church officials decided that wasn't necessary. The guidelines also offer the option of a monitor to limit an accused priest's contact with children.
SOUTH CAROLINA
The Post and Courier
BY NOAH HAGLUND
The Post and Courier
A suspended Catholic priest was charged Monday with molesting a boy more than three decades ago at a Sullivan's Island church while the boy was 12 and 13 years old, authorities said.
Sullivan's Island police began investigating the Rev. Eugene Luke Condon in September, after a man told them the priest abused him as a child during the summers of 1972 and 1973, Chief Danny Howard said.
Warrants accuse Condon, now 76, of sharing a beer with the boy and molesting him at the Stella Maris Catholic Church at 1204 Middle St. in 1972, and then molesting him again after a church service in 1973.
Condon turned himself over to authorities Monday morning. He left jail after posting $55,000 bail on two charges of committing a lewd act on a minor and one charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, warrants state.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce told a jury yesterday he killed ex-priest John J. Geoghan to “make a statement” that child molesters would be held accountable, and to relieve the inner torment he was experiencing as a result of being sexually abused, himself, as a young boy.
“I couldn’t get the thoughts out of my mind about being molested, myself,” Mr. Druce testified in Worcester Superior Court, after acknowledging he beat and strangled the 68-year-old defrocked priest on the morning of Aug. 23, 2003, in Mr. Geoghan’s prison cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
“Was I going to be the savior of the kids? Yeah,” Mr. Druce said in response to questions posed by his lawyer, John H. LaChance, who has raised an insanity defense on his client’s behalf.
The defense contends Mr. Druce, now 40, was mentally ill at the time of the slaying and lacked criminal responsibility for his actions.
Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy contends Mr. Druce was legally sane when he took the former priest’s life and should be found guilty of murder.
Mr. Druce’s fate is expected to be in the jury’s hands by this afternoon.
At the time of the killing, which occurred in a protective custody unit at the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line, Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a North Shore man. Mr. Geoghan, accused in civil lawsuits of molesting more than 100 boys while a priest in Boston-area parishes, was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy.
Testifying in his own defense yesterday, Mr. Druce said he was “freaked out” after overhearing Mr. Geoghan and other convicted sex offenders talking about child molestation.
He said he also overheard Mr. Geoghan on the telephone talking about going to South America once he was released from custody to work as a missionary with children.
Mr. Druce told the jury he saw himself as “the designated individual that had to put a stop to the pedophilia in the church.”
“I thought the pope would give me absolution for resolving the problem,” he testified.
Mr. Druce also alleged David Lonergan, a correction officer on duty in the protective custody unit on the day of the killing, had advance knowledge he planned to enter Mr. Geoghan’s cell and beat him, but did not know he was going to kill the ex-priest. Officer Lonergan vehemently denied that charge in his earlier testimony.
Under cross-examination by Mr. Murphy, Mr. Druce rejected the prosecutor’s suggestions the crime was carefully planned and carried out.
“There was no planning. It was contemplating. I had to stop him,” Mr. Druce said of his victim. “There was no planning. I was driven. I had to do what I had to do. He was a sick, degenerate pedophile who molested hundreds of kids,” he said.
Psychiatrist Martin Kelly testified as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution after Mr. LaChance rested his case yesterday.
Dr. Kelly, who was hired by the prosecution to evaluate Mr.Druce, told the jury the confessed killer was criminally responsible for the prison slaying.
Although he appears to suffer from an anti-social personality disorder, Mr. Druce had the “substantial capacity” to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law when he took Mr. Geoghan’s life, Dr. Kelly said.
Dr. Kelly’s testimony conflicted with that of Dr. Keith Ablow, an expert witness for the defense, who said Mr. Druce was suffering from multiple mental illnesses when he killed Mr. Geoghan, and lacked criminal responsibility.
Dr. Kelly testified for the prosecution in Mr. Druce’s 1989 murder trial, in which he raised an unsuccessful insanity defense to a charge of murdering a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking up Mr. Druce, who was hitchhiking.
CHICAGO (IL)
NBC 5
POSTED: 5:45 pm CST January 22, 2006
UPDATED: 8:36 am CST January 23, 2006
CHICAGO -- A Roman Catholic priest accused of fondling two boys at a church on Chicago's west side was let out of jail Sunday on bond.
Parishioners arrived at St. Agatha Church Sunday morning for the first Sunday services since they learned that the man who has served as their pastor for the last five years is now charged with sexually abusing two children.
Father Daniel McCormack, 37, who was arrested Friday, has been removed from his church duties while the charges are investigated, NBC5 reported.
Prosecutors said McCormack fondled an 8-year-old boy on two occasions in December 2003.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
(AP) CHICAGO A judge isn't allowing a Roman Catholic priest accused of fondling two boys to have supervised contact with family members under the age of 18.
Authorities arrested Daniel McCormack Friday night in the Chicago suburb of Orland Hills and charged him with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
In court today, McCormack's attorney sought to have the conditions of his release on bond altered to allow him to have contact with young relatives. Prosecutors say Judge Douglas Simpson denied that request.
A phone message left with attorney Patrick Reardon wasn't immediately returned.
ITALY
The Times
By Richard Owen
A PRIEST whose devotion to saving the souls of prostitutes and porn stars has earned him celebrity status in Italy has been arrested on charges of sexual violence and group rape.
Father Fedele Bisceglia, 69, was arrested after a nun alleged that she and other women had been raped at their Franciscan hostel at Cosenza in Calabria, southern Italy. Antonio Gaudio, 39, Father Bisceglia’s assistant, has also been charged with sexual harassment. Both men deny the charges.
Father Bisceglia, a striking, white-bearded figure with piercing blue eyes, is a national figure in Italy because of his missionary work for the poor as well as his colourful, extrovert television appearances.
He is probably best known for having converted Luana Borgia, a porn actress, to Christianity ten years ago, persuading her to enter a convent on a retreat to reflect on her life and “purify herself spiritually”. Father Bisceglia even accompanied Ms Borgia to the Bologna “Erotic Fair”, where she announced her conversion and set up a stall collecting money for an ambulance for one of his missions in Africa.
WORCESTER (MA)
The Columbian
Jan 23, 5:11 PM EST
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- The inmate who strangled child-molesting priest John Geoghan behind bars testified Monday that he resolved to kill the clergyman after Geoghan arrogantly brushed off criticism that he had "destroyed all kinds of lives."
Joseph Druce took the stand for a second day at his trial for killing Geoghan, who was serving time for groping a 10-year-old boy and had been accused of molesting 150 other children.
Druce, 40, said that in the weeks before the slaying, he twice confronted Geoghan about molesting children. Instead of denying the accusations, Geoghan was "arrogant" and said he was worth far more than the millions the Boston Archdiocese had paid to settle lawsuits against him, Druce testified.
"I was just, like, `That's it. That's it. I've got to stop this,'" Druce said. "I couldn't get it out of my head."
After Geoghan was dead, Druce said, he felt relief: "It had been done. It was over ... I had peace of mind."
MALTA
Malta Today
Matthew Vella
The hasty departure of a Gozitan diocesan priest from the Nadur parish to the United States has startled an entire community, after complaints of alleged child sex abuse by the priest were referred to the Curia for investigation.
Yesterday Nadur’s archpriest Mgr Salvu Muscat confirmed he referred complaints to the curia from parents whose children they claimed had been sexually abused by the priest, whose name is known to MaltaToday.
He said he was not aware of the outcome of the investigations. Sources told MaltaToday that the parents and children alleging the abuse had already been interviewed by the Curia’s Response Team on child abuse.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Monday, January 23, 2006
(01-23) 16:26 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Michael Wempe was the "hip" priest who wore his hair long, rode a motorcycle and gave such dynamic sermons that young people were drawn to him, and he used that magnetism to molest more than a dozen boys, a jury was told Monday during opening statements in the former Catholic priest's sex abuse trial.
"The defendant had a dark side," said Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks. "He wanted to touch boys and enjoy it. ... His lifestyle was preach on Sunday, molest Monday through Friday and pray on Saturday."
Wempe's attorney, Leonard Levine, did not deny in his opening statement that the ex-priest was a child molester who abused numerous boys over a 15-year period beginning in 1972. But he added that Wempe is not guilty of the crime with which he is charged, molesting another boy in the 1990s.
He said those allegations were fabricated by a man seeking to punish the priest for past transgressions against the man's brothers.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
By Charles Thomas
January 23, 2006 (CHICAGO) - A Chicago priest who is accused of molesting two boys appeared in court Monday. Father Daniel McCormack, who once spoke out against the sex scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, is now under scrutiny himself.
The vast majority of the sexual abuse cases in the Chicago Archdiocese have involved allegations against priests going back decades. The charges against the Reverend Dan McCormack allege incidents within the past five years -- meaning a full-fledged criminal investigation is underway.
Accompanied by family members, the 37-year-old Catholic priest arrived at the criminal courts building Monday morning to make his second appearance on the two charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. McCormack was freed Saturday after posting 10-percent of his $200,000 bond. Judge Douglas Simpson continued the case until February 10 when McCormack's private attorney will begin fighting the accusations.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
By Charles Thomas
January 23, 2006 (CHICAGO) - A Chicago priest who is accused of molesting two boys appeared in court Monday. Father Daniel McCormack, who once spoke out against the sex scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, is now under scrutiny himself.
The vast majority of the sexual abuse cases in the Chicago Archdiocese have involved allegations against priests going back decades. The charges against the Reverend Dan McCormack allege incidents within the past five years -- meaning a full-fledged criminal investigation is underway.
Accompanied by family members, the 37-year-old Catholic priest arrived at the criminal courts building Monday morning to make his second appearance on the two charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. McCormack was freed Saturday after posting 10-percent of his $200,000 bond. Judge Douglas Simpson continued the case until February 10 when McCormack's private attorney will begin fighting the accusations.
MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Saturday, Jan. 21 2006
A Roman Catholic priest living at a home for pedophile priests in eastern
Franklin County was arrested Thursday and accused of committing seven sexual assaults while he was assigned to a hospital in Wisconsin in the 1960s,
officials said.
The cases could still be prosecuted due to a legal quirk: The statute of
limitations on the charges was frozen when the priest left the state decades
ago.
At the request of police in Beaver Dam, Wis., Franklin County sheriff's
deputies arrested the Rev. Bruce D. MacArthur, 83, at Evergreen Hills Home,
formerly known as Wounded Brothers Project. MacArthur was held in jail pending extradition.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Monday, January 23, 2006
(01-23) 12:40 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
A prosecutor described in graphic detail Monday the molestation of numerous boys by retired Roman Catholic priest Michael Wempe but told jurors they would be asked to convict him of crimes against only one alleged victim who is now grown.
Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks said in his opening statement that most of the men who will testify repressed their memories of the abuse for many years, as did the man whose claims led to the current criminal trial.
Wempe's lawyer, however, told the jury that the claims of the most recent alleged victim were false and were fabricated to avenge the molestation of his two brothers many years earlier.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Bernie Tafoya and Mary France Bragiel Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- A judge set a preliminary hearing date of Feb. 10 for a priest charged with two counts of aggreviated criminal sexual abuse.
Fr. Daniel McCormack didn't speak to reporters and his attorney, Patrick Reardon, said very little except that he would fight the charges.
McCormack's attorney also asked to tried to extend the West Side priest's condition of bond so that he can spend time with family members under the age of 18. The judge denied the request.
The archdiocese of Chicago says sexual molestation allegations first began to surface late last summer or early in the fall against McCormack, who was charged over the weekend.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 23, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. --In the weeks before he strangled pedophile priest John Geoghan in his prison cell, Joseph Druce confronted the former priest about molesting children, Druce testified Monday at his murder trial.
Instead of denying the accusations against him, Geoghan was "arrogant" and said he was worth far more than the millions the Boston Archdiocese had already paid to settle molestation lawsuits against him.
"I was just, like, that's it, that's it. I've got to stop this" guy, Druce said. "I couldn't get it out of my head."
Prosecutors began calling rebuttal witnesses after the defense rested two weeks into the trial in Worcester Superior Court. Judge Francis Secteau told the jury they would hear closing arguments and begin deliberations in the case Tuesday.
IRELAND
Catholic World News
Dublin, Jan. 23 (CWNews.com) - Irish Church leaders have announced that a bishop who resigned in disgrace more than a decade ago, will soon return to Galway to live in retirement there. But Bishop Eamonn Casey says that he will not move back to Ireland until he is cleared of sex-abuse charges.
Bishop Casey left Ireland in 1992, after the public discovery that he had conducted a long love affair with an American women, fathered her child, and diverted diocesan funds to make child-support payments.
Bishop Martin Drennan, who now heads the Galway diocese from which Bishop Casey fled, released a public statement on January 21 revealing that his predecessor "has decided to return to Ireland in the near future." Bishop Drennan said that he was confident that the priests and people of the Galway would welcome the former bishop's return, and allow him "the privacy and peace that he deserves" in his retirement home.
MEXICO
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Monday, January 23, 2006
By Jose de Cordoba, The Wall Street Journal
MEXICO CITY -- Two years ago, a handful of Latin American billionaires and some of the world's top financiers gathered at New York's Plaza Hotel. They were honoring Mexican plutocrat Carlos Slim and raising money for schools for poor children run by the Legion of Christ, a fast-growing conservative Roman Catholic order.
Among those giving speeches at the black-tie gala were the Rev. Marcial Maciel, the 85-year-old Mexican founder of the Legion, and Citigroup Inc. Chairman Sanford Weill. Within hours, the diverse group of 500 well-wishers raised $725,000.
The Legion was in its element. Founded in 1941, the order concentrates on ministering to the wealthy and powerful in the belief that by evangelizing society's leaders, the beneficial impact on society is multiplied. Like the Jesuits who centuries ago whispered in the ear of Europe's princes, the Legion's priests today are the confessors and chaplains to some of the most powerful businessmen in Latin America.
"The soul of a trash collector is as important as the soul of Carlos Slim, but if Slim is converted, think of the influence and power for good he would wield," says Luanne Zurlo, a former Goldman Sachs securities analyst who organized the benefit. Mr. Slim, Latin America's richest man with a fortune estimated at $24 billion, says he's not a highly devout Catholic but is helping the Legion create 50 low-cost universities in Latin America. ...
More troubling for the Legion, Father Maciel, the order's founder, has been dogged for nearly a decade by widely publicized accusations that he sexually molested at least eight teenage seminarians from the 1940s through the early 1960s. Father Maciel denies the accusations. Many Catholic activists, angry with the church over cover-ups in priest sex-abuse cases, believe the Vatican has protected Father Maciel because of the Legion's reach and power.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS 2
(AP) LOS ANGELES Opening statements are set for this morning in the Los Angeles molestation trial of retired priest Michael Wempe.
The trial begins after an entire week of probing jury selection complicated by the emotional issues involved in the case.
Many prospective jurors were dismissed when they said they could not put aside their feelings of revulsion about child molestation.
But several deeply religious people who believe that priests should be held to a high moral standard as spiritual leaders remain on the panel.
Most of the six-man, six-woman jury say they find the issue of clergy child abuse disturbing but promised to be fair in judging Wempe.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
CBS 2
(AP) LOS ANGELES Ex-priest Michael Stephen Baker will be arraigned on child molestation charges today in Los Angeles.
Baker was spared child molestation charges in 2003 by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that disallowed retroactive prosecution of decades-old sex crimes involving children.
But he was arrested on fresh molestation charges Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport as he returned from Thailand.
Police say Baker is suspected of molesting a boy for 12 years beginning in 1984.
WORCESTER (MA)
WPRI
WORCESTER, Mass. Joseph Druce is expected to back on the stand this morning when his murder trial resumes in Worcester Superior Court.
Druce is charged with the August 2003 killing of convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan at the Sousa-Baranowski state prison.
Druce took the witness stand Friday, describing years of childhood sexual and physical abuse that his attorneys say triggered an uncontrollable rage.
Druce referred to killing Geoghan only once during his hour-long testimony. He said his anger was triggered when he overheard the defrocked priest talking to other inmates about molesting boys.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
In reviewing the annual financial report for the 2005 fiscal year of the Worcester Diocese, it is obvious to those who can read between the lines that clergy sexual abuse crisis is depleting cash from diocese.
The Office of Healing, whose director resigned early last year, still registered an expense of $179,000.00. Therapeutic assistance was recorded at $65,000.00 and legal services were listed at $144,000.00 dollars. Total expenses were $388,00.00.
This figure seem extremely disproportionate with the actual services provided to clergy abuse victims in the Worcester Diocese. Not one new clergy abuse victim reported receiving services by the Office of Healing. One alleged victim did contact the Office, was dissatisfied with the interaction and never returned.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Keloland
01/23/2006
A former South Dakota Catholic priest who recently settled an abuse lawsuit has been charged with sexually assaulting girls in Wisconsin.
The Reverend Bruce Duncan MacArthur was taken into custody outside a church housing and recovery center in St. Louis.
The 83-year-old retired priest was charged with sexual intercourse of a child, indecent behavior with a child and attempted indecent behavior with a child.
IRELAND
RTE News
22 January 2006 22:41
A parish priest in the Diocese of Galway has been asked to stand aside from his duties following allegations of sexual abuse.
Dr Drennan visited the concerned parish today and informed parishioners of the man's decision to stand aside.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Eugene Hogan, Brian McDonald and Bernard Purcell
GARDAI will travel to the UK within weeks to interview former Bishop of Galway Eamonn Casey about an alleged sexual assault against a young girl over 20 years ago, the Irish Independent has learned.
But the investigation could take several months to complete.
And that could delay the 78-year old prelate's much-publicised return to this country.
It had been expected he would retire to a rural Co Galway parish in the near future.
Confirmation that the Garda investigation was still continuing came after a weekend of confusion. It started with the Bishop of Galway Dr Martin Drennan welcoming his predecessor's move home.
He then called on him to issue a public apology over the Annie Murphy affair.
But Dr Casey insisted last night that he had made a full, humble and contrite apology after it emerged 14 years ago he had fathered a son with Ms Murphy.
Last night he said he had made it clear "more than once" that he was sorry for the hurt caused to parishioners.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
By LINDA DEUTSCH
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES
Jurors who are about to hear opening statements in a priest's molestation trial include several deeply religious people who believe that priests should be held to a high moral standard because of their role as spiritual leaders.
Most said they found the issue of clergy child abuse disturbing but promised to be fair in judging the defendant, retired priest Michael Wempe.
"I'm always kind of saddened by these kinds of cases," said a woman who remains on the jury. "I think priests are our spiritual leaders and they have a greater accountability."
The woman, who said she had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church when she married a divorced man, said she holds no hard feelings against the church.
Some other panelists, however, expressed their concern about the way the entire priest molestation issue was handled by the Los Angeles Archdiocese. That issue is likely to be a subtext of Wempe's trial, which centers on activities that followed his return to priestly duties after six months of therapy. Cardinal Roger Mahony approved his reassignment as chaplain of Cedars Sinai Hospital in spite of his history as a molester.
EL PASO (TX)
Sioux City Journal
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A former South Dakota Catholic priest who recently settled an abuse lawsuit has been charged with sexually assaulting girls during the 1960s while he was a hospital chaplain in Wisconsin.
The Rev. Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 83, was taken into custody outside a church housing and recovery center in St. Louis on Friday.
MacArthur, who's retired, was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse of a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
"Although he is elderly, we cannot hesitate to bring someone to justice for horrific crimes merely because he has been able to avoid prosecution for so many years," said Steven Bauer, District Attorney in Dodge County, Wis.
MacArthur admitted to sexually assaulting at least two girls while serving at Beaver Dam Community Hospital, then called St. Joseph Hospital, according to the criminal complaint.
EL PASO (TX)
Sioux City Journal
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A former South Dakota Catholic priest who recently settled an abuse lawsuit has been charged with sexually assaulting girls during the 1960s while he was a hospital chaplain in Wisconsin.
The Rev. Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 83, was taken into custody outside a church housing and recovery center in St. Louis on Friday.
MacArthur, who's retired, was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse of a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
"Although he is elderly, we cannot hesitate to bring someone to justice for horrific crimes merely because he has been able to avoid prosecution for so many years," said Steven Bauer, District Attorney in Dodge County, Wis.
MacArthur admitted to sexually assaulting at least two girls while serving at Beaver Dam Community Hospital, then called St. Joseph Hospital, according to the criminal complaint.
EL PASO (TX)
Sioux City Journal
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A former South Dakota Catholic priest who recently settled an abuse lawsuit has been charged with sexually assaulting girls during the 1960s while he was a hospital chaplain in Wisconsin.
The Rev. Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 83, was taken into custody outside a church housing and recovery center in St. Louis on Friday.
MacArthur, who's retired, was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse of a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
"Although he is elderly, we cannot hesitate to bring someone to justice for horrific crimes merely because he has been able to avoid prosecution for so many years," said Steven Bauer, District Attorney in Dodge County, Wis.
MacArthur admitted to sexually assaulting at least two girls while serving at Beaver Dam Community Hospital, then called St. Joseph Hospital, according to the criminal complaint.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 23, 2006
BY JIM RITTER AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Their pastor had just been accused of sexually abusing two boys, but on Sunday, members of St. Agatha Catholic Church still spoke highly of the Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"He's one of the best," said longtime parishioner Phyllis Lee. "I don't believe the allegations."
McCormack, 37, has been pastor since 2000. Parishioners called him an energetic and passionate priest who helped make St. Agatha an anchor of the Lawndale community.
St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas, runs a food pantry, feeds the homeless, attracts new housing, provides legal assistance and operates tutoring and afterschool programs.
"We can't throw out his good work," said parishioner Derrick Strongs.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 23, 2006
BY JIM RITTER AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Their pastor had just been accused of sexually abusing two boys, but on Sunday, members of St. Agatha Catholic Church still spoke highly of the Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"He's one of the best," said longtime parishioner Phyllis Lee. "I don't believe the allegations."
McCormack, 37, has been pastor since 2000. Parishioners called him an energetic and passionate priest who helped make St. Agatha an anchor of the Lawndale community.
St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas, runs a food pantry, feeds the homeless, attracts new housing, provides legal assistance and operates tutoring and afterschool programs.
"We can't throw out his good work," said parishioner Derrick Strongs.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 23, 2006
BY JIM RITTER AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Their pastor had just been accused of sexually abusing two boys, but on Sunday, members of St. Agatha Catholic Church still spoke highly of the Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"He's one of the best," said longtime parishioner Phyllis Lee. "I don't believe the allegations."
McCormack, 37, has been pastor since 2000. Parishioners called him an energetic and passionate priest who helped make St. Agatha an anchor of the Lawndale community.
St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas, runs a food pantry, feeds the homeless, attracts new housing, provides legal assistance and operates tutoring and afterschool programs.
"We can't throw out his good work," said parishioner Derrick Strongs.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By James Kimberly
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 23, 2006
A swarm of reporters and a sign that read "Pray, Pray, Pray" greeted parishioners Sunday at St. Agatha Catholic Church on Chicago's West Side.
The reporters were there to ask about the arrest of the church's senior pastor, Rev. Daniel J. McCormack, 37, on charges that he sexually abused two young boys.
The sign was a message from Rev. Tom Walsh, a priest in residence at St. Agatha, to remind the church in the Lawndale neighborhood to remember what to do in times like this.
The congregation was stunned by McCormack's arrest, which occurred Friday evening at his brother's home in Orland Hills, according to Orland Hills police. Most of the parishioners learned from media reports that "Father Dan" has been charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of children under 13. He is accused of abusing a 13-year-old boy from Chicago and an 11-year-old boy from Willowbrook between September 2001 and January 2005.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Monday, January 23, 2006
By Jim Ritter and Frank Main
Special to the Daily Southtown
Their pastor had just been accused of sexually abusing two boys, but on Sunday, members of St. Agatha Catholic Church still spoke highly of the Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"He's one of the best," said longtime parishioner Phyllis Lee. "I don't believe the allegations."
McCormack, 37, has been pastor since 2000. Parishioners called him an energetic and passionate priest who helped make St. Agatha an anchor of Chicago's Lawndale community.
St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas Blvd., runs a food pantry, feeds the homeless, attracts new housing, provides legal assistance and operates tutoring and afterschool programs.
"We can't throw out his good work," parishioner Derrick Strongs said.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Parishioners stand behind a local Catholic priest accused of fondling two little boys, but it could be a whole different story when he has his day in court.
Father Daniel McCormack is scheduled for arraignment today, and some of his own words may be scrutinized.
The 37-year-old priest was arrested Friday for allegedly fondling two young boys over the past several years, stunning members and employees of the West Side church.
"He was a nice guy," said St. Agatha employee Nikki Lewis. "I would have never expected it."
"A good, caring person" is how many parishioners at Chicago’s St. Agatha's Church describe McCormack, even as they learn about his arrest for the aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
SPRING VALLEY (NY)
PRNewswire
SPRING VALLEY, N.Y., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A motion to dismiss was filed
last week seeking the summary dismissal of a case brought recently in Supreme
Court, New York County entitled Adina Marmelstein v. Rabbi Mordecai Tendler.
The case was previously reported under the headline "RABBI IN SEX-GOD SCANDAL"
written by David Hafetz of The New York Post, owned by News Corporation.
Widely reported in The Jewish Press, America's largest independent Jewish
weekly newspaper, The Rabbinical Council of America, Mark Dratch, Yosef Blau,
Hershel Billet and Basil Herring were summoned to appear before the Chief
Rabbinical Court of the State of Israel (case number: 900008858-35-1) by Rabbi
Tendler on his claim that the organization dismissed him without due process
and his related claim that he was the victim of a conspiracy by the
codefendants in the case, of malicious and libelous leaks, made by Rabbis
Yosef Blau, Mark Dratch, Herschel Billet, and Basil Herring to Gary
Rosenblatt, Editor of The Jewish Week. It will be claimed at the trial of the
case before the Rabbinical Court that leaks were utilized and calculated to
mislead and pressure others on the Rabbinical Council of America to dismiss
Rabbi Tendler from the organization.
The motion to dismiss the complaint denied the allegations and called the
charges "scurrilous," "outrageous" and "calculated to be sensational and
damaging to Rabbi Tendler's reputation in his community." The motion charged
that the filing of the suit was a violation of the New York State Civil Rights
Law.
ILLINOIS
Lincoln Courier
BY JAMES WASHBURN
THE COURIER
Francis Benham, who most recently resided in Lincoln, will be freed in Maryland Sunday after serving nearly a year behind bars for sexual offenses he committed nearly three decades ago while a Catholic priest in Prince George’s County, Md.
With permission from officials in Maryland and Illinois, Benham could return to Lincoln where he lived from 1987 until 2004 – an action a national support group is trying to prevent.
Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, are rallying to persuade Illinois and Maryland officials to halt Benham’s return.
SNAP members from four states drafted a letter addressed to Illinois Corrections Director Roger Walker and Walker’s counterpart in Maryland, Mary Ann Saar.
MARYLAND
The Washington Times
By Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 22, 2006
Donna Kollars confronted and helped convict the Catholic priest who abused her 28 years ago. Now she wants to protect others upon his scheduled released today from the Prince George's County jail.
"If I can do anything to help other families not go through this, I'm going to do it," Mrs. Kollars says.
She was 13 in 1978 when Francis A. Benham, then pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Forestville, began to sexually abuse her.
Last year, Mrs. Kollars pressed charges against Benham, who pleaded guilty to sodomizing her and to molesting a then-15-year-old boy named Matthew Ponton, who today is a lieutenant colonel in the Army.
Prince George's Circuit Court Judge Michelle Hotten sentenced Benham to 10 years for each crime, but suspended all but 18 months.
COVINGTON (KY)
ChallengerNYK
COVINGTON - Diocese of Covington Bishop Roger Foys has placed a Bellevue priest on administrative leave while allegations of sexual misconduct against the priest are being investigated.
The Rev. Richard Frazier, 55, who was ordained a priest in 1996, has denied the allegations.
In a letter to the diocese, Foys wrote that the allegations came to light as part of the class settlement process pending in Boone Circuit Court.
"The abuse is reported to have occurred in the late-1970s and early 1980s. Father Frazier has denied that he had sexual contact with any minors either before or after his ordination as a priest and maintains his innocence," Foys wrote.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Sunday, January 22, 2006
(01-22) 08:50 PST Los Angeles (AP) --
Michael Wempe's attorney doesn't deny his client was a child molester in the 1970s and '80s, but he maintains the once-revered priest never committed the crime he is going on trial for — molesting a boy in the 1990s.
"These new charges were fabricated," defense attorney Leonard Levine said on the eve of Wempe's trial, which is scheduled to begin Monday with opening statements. "He's being prosecuted not for what he's charged with but for what he did 20-30 years ago."
That could prove problematic for jurors, who must put aside thoughts of what Wempe did before as they attempt to determine if he is guilty of the crime he's charged with now. Even if they are able to clearly separate in their minds the old charges from the new, said Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, they "will still pause before they let a priest go when he has done so much harm to so many."
"They would be worried about the message it would send," Levenson said.
IRELAND
The New York Times
By BRIAN LAVERY
Published: January 22, 2006
DUBLIN, Jan. 21 - The affair had all the makings of a first-class scandal: in a quiet corner of rural Ireland, a 73-year-old Roman Catholic priest admitted to fathering a child last year with a local schoolteacher. Smelling a good story, television crews rolled into the village of Woodford, 30 miles southeast of Galway, and tabloid newspapers gleefully denounced "Father Romeo."
On radio call-in shows and television current affairs programs, the affair has kick-started a national debate about the celibacy requirement for Catholic clergy. Local residents, however, refused to get worked up about it. The priest, the Rev. Maurice Dillane, has remained in hiding, and his parishioners have closed ranks in his defense.
"People are just letting it go," said Declan Walsh, the only one of six pub owners in Woodford to entertain a reporter's questions on the topic. "People are understanding. It's 2006. Everybody twists the rules a bit on their way through life." ...
The seeming lack of outrage is a reflection of how much Ireland has changed since 1992. In that year, the charismatic and powerful bishop of Galway, Eamonn Casey, was discovered to have fathered a son 17 years before with a divorced American woman and to have used church funds to pay for the boy's education.
The revelations ended Father Casey's career as a bishop and shook the faith of thousands of Irish Catholics. And the incident was just the beginning of what was to be a decade of scandals, most notably a wave of sex abuse cases, that effectively ended the church's central role in Irish society.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A priest who is chairman of governors at a Birmingham primary school has been suspended from church duties over allegations of child rape.
Canon John Herve, parish priest at St Agatha with St Barnabas in Sparkbrook, was arrested by police earlier this month and is currently on police bail.
He is alleged to have raped and indecently assaulted a girl under 16.
The board of governors at Ladypool School will meet this week to decide whether to remove him from his post.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Gary Grado, Tribune
January 22, 2006
An East Valley priest accused of 10 sex-related misdemeanor charges asked a judge Friday to let him off house arrest while he awaits trial.
Gilbert-South Mesa Justice of the Peace Judge Sam Goodman will consider the request at Monsignor Dale Fushek’s next scheduled court appearance in February. He asked in December for one year to prepare his defense.
Fushek’s attorney, Thomas Hoidal, said Fushek wants to be able to visit his sick brother in Flagstaff and attend to priestly duties but can’t while confined to his home.
“He can’t even attend church based on the conditions he has here,” Hoidal said.
Fushek, 53, was arrested and charged in November. He is on administrative leave from his duties at St. Timothy’s Catholic Community in southwest Mesa.
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
By Sally Pollak
Free Press Staff Writer
Vermont's Catholic schools have incorporated into their curriculum a program that teaches children about sexual predators and how to protect themselves from potential abuse.
The Child Lures Prevention program that the diocese implemented was created by Ken Wooden of Shelburne, who trained more than 300 diocesan educators and administrators in its use.
The program was implemented in the state's 17 Catholic schools -- 15 primary schools and two high schools -- in November. It will be an annual part of the curriculum, with age-appropriate lessons for students in grades 1-8, said Kevin Scully, director of safe environment programs for the diocese and former Burlington police chief. It will be repeated for high school students, reaching the more than 2,700 students who attend Catholic school in Vermont.
IRELAND
The Sunday Times
Siobhan Maguire and Mark Tighe
THE Bishop of Galway, Martin Drennan, last night confirmed that Eamon Casey, the former bishop who fathered a child with an American divorcee, will return “within weeks” to live in the county.
Casey, who left Ireland 14 years ago, has decided to move back to live in Beagh, a quiet parish in south Galway, close to its boundary with Clare.
The 78-year-old has told Drennan he is hoping to find “privacy and peace” on his return. “He will be adjusting to a very new Ireland from the one he left. We have taken soundings in the parish and people have been very positive and very forgiving,” Drennan said.
“He has decided against living around Galway city. He is very aware to live in and around the city would attract too much attention. He is very happy with the location and he will have better access to his own relatives.”
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Mike Flannery
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO A Cook County judge set bond at $200,000 Saturday for a Roman Catholic priest in the alleged sexual abuse of two boys.
Cook County state's attorney's office spokesman John Gorman says Daniel McCormack, 37, was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery reports that Central Bond Court (Br. 1) Judge Colleen Hyland set the bond for McCormack on closed-circuit television on Saturday.
Gorman says the priest allegedly assaulted the two children at St. Agatha Church, at 3147 W. Douglas Blvd. on the city's West Side.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Mike Flannery
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO A Cook County judge set bond at $200,000 Saturday for a Roman Catholic priest in the alleged sexual abuse of two boys.
Cook County state's attorney's office spokesman John Gorman says Daniel McCormack, 37, was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
CBS 2's Mike Flannery reports that Central Bond Court (Br. 1) Judge Colleen Hyland set the bond for McCormack on closed-circuit television on Saturday.
Gorman says the priest allegedly assaulted the two children at St. Agatha Church, at 3147 W. Douglas Blvd. on the city's West Side.
WICHITA (KS)
The Morning Sun
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline wants to see a defrocked Roman Catholic priest committed for treatment as a sexual predator after he completes his prison term in March.
But Kline must first prove that he is not restricted by a plea agreement under which Robert Larson admitted in 2001 to sexually abusing four young men. The agreement, which was signed by then-Harvey County Attorney Matt Treaster and Larson's defense attorney, states that the state will not seek Larson's confinement under the Violent Predator Act.
Kline said the power to make such an agreement "rests in my office," not that of a county attorney.
"We are going to file notice with the court," Kline said. "We intend to have him classified as a predator and confined in Larned," where the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program is located.
ALBANY (NY)
North Country Gazette
ALBANY---Albany attorney John Aretakis, at the center of clergy sexual abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese, has been ordered to stay 300 feet away from the Holy Cross parish.
A temporary restraining order that had been in force against Aretakis was converted into a permanent injunction Friday by Albany Supreme Court Judge Thomas Spargo that restricts Aretakis and his followers from their weekly protests at Holy Cross Church and the Holy Cross School.
Spargo's injunction extends restrictions on Aretakis. He had originally been banned from within 100 feet of the church or school. He is now prohibited within 300 feet during Mass or at any time when school is in session and for the hour before and hour following Mass or school classes.
MIDLAND (TX)
San Angelo Standard-Times
By PAUL A. ANTHONY, panthony@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8237
January 22, 2006
The woman's son was 11 when he told her he no longer wanted to go to confession.
The priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Midland had tried to kiss him on the lips the week before, the boy told his mother. He is identified in the lawsuit as Domingo Estrada.
The woman talked to priests at two other churches, who said they would ''take care of it.'' When she didn't hear back from them, she said, she called back, and one priest told her the priest had said he wouldn't do it again.
''I still was not satisfied with that,'' the woman told prosecutors in 2002 during testimony before a Midland County grand jury. ''I talked to an attorney, and I asked him, I said, 'What do you think I should do?' And he said, 'Well, we can write a letter to the bishop.' ... And we did send a letter to the bishop.''
A transcript of the testimony, attached to documents filed in a Midland County state district court last month, is a key point in one of two lawsuits pending against the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo and its bishop, Michael D. Pfeifer, that allege sexual abuse at the hands of diocesan priests.
NEW YORK
The Post and Courier
BY DOTTIE ASHLEY
The Post and Courier
NEW YORK - "Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty," says the young Catholic priest, Father Flynn, in the spellbinding Broadway show, "Doubt," winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Playwright John Patrick Shanley, who won the Oscar for the film "Moonstruck," has arranged this on-the-surface predictable story to surprise you like a cold dash of water in the face.
At first, "Doubt" appears only to dissect a ubiquitous subject in the news today: the sexual abuse inflicted by priests upon Catholic school boys.
But Shanley, a product of Catholic schools, has not penned a mere screed against the Catholic Church.
Rather, "Doubt" is set in 1964 in a Catholic school in the Bronx long before the subject of sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic priests ever came to the public's attention.
"Maybe we're not supposed to sleep so well," says the aged Sister Aloysius to a young nun, Sister James, who is worrying about having reported the suspicious behavior of Father Flynn, a teacher and basketball coach at the school.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 22, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND LESLIE BALDACCI STAFF REPORTERS
Cook County prosecutors Saturday charged a 37-year-old Roman Catholic priest with sexually abusing two boys at a parish on Chicago's West Side as recently as last year.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack, pastor of St. Agatha parish and a teacher and basketball coach at Our Lady of the Westside School, was arrested Friday night at his brother's home in Orland Hills. He is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
McCormack's arrest marks the first time in more than a dozen years that prosecutors have brought criminal abuse charges against a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago. McCormack is only the fourth priest from the archdiocese in 22 years to be prosecuted in Illinois for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor.
According to information presented in court by Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Kathleen Muldoon, McCormack allegedly abused one of the boys -- a member of the basketball team the priest coaches -- two to three times a month for nearly 3-1/2 years.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Andrew L. Wang, Crystal Yednak and Brendan McCarthy, Tribune staff reporters
Published January 22, 2006
A Roman Catholic priest at a West Side church was charged Saturday with molesting two preteen boys at the church in several incidents since 2001, authorities said.
Rev. Daniel J. McCormack, 37, of the 8800 block of West 167th Street in Orland Hills, was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a victim younger than 13. Judge Colleen Hyland ordered him held in lieu of $200,000 bail at the Cook County Jail.
McCormack is accused of abusing two boys, a 13-year-old Chicago resident and an 11-year-old from Willowbrook, according to court records.
He is the pastor of St. Agatha Church at 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., said John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. McCormack also is a teacher and basketball coach at Our Lady of the Westside School, Gorman said. The school has two campuses, one of which is adjacent to the church, in the Lawndale neighborhood.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
The Associated Press
Published January 21, 2006, 2:56 PM CST
A 37-year-old Roman Catholic priest was charged Saturday with sexual abuse for allegedly fondling two boys at a West Side church, prosecutors said.
Authorities arrested Daniel McCormack on Friday night in the Chicago suburb of Orland Hills, and prosecutors charged him with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman.
McCormack, a priest at St. Agatha church, allegedly fondled one of the victims, an 8-year-old boy, on two occasions in December 2003, Gorman said. McCormack also told the boy not to tell anyone and gave him gifts.
From September 2001 through January 2005, McCormack also abused another boy who was between the ages of 9 and 12 at the time, prosecutors alleged. Gorman said McCormack, who was the boy's basketball coach, abused the boy in the rectory and various rooms in the church.
MESA (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Josh Kelley
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 20, 2006 05:02 PM
MESA - An attorney representing Monsignor Dale Fushek is requesting that his client be released from electronic monitoring and house arrest while awaiting trial in South Mesa/Gilbert Justice Court.
Fushek, who resigned as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa last year, was charged in November with 10 misdemeanor criminal counts of sexual misconduct. He is accused of indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault involving five minors and two young adult men from 1984 to 1994.
Fushek, 53, previously pleaded not guilty to all charges. advertisement
His defense attorney, Thomas Hoidal, said after a pre-trial conference on Friday that Fushek is restricted from visiting his sick brother in Flagstaff, ministering to parishioners and family members outside of his home and attending church.
SEATTLE (WA)
Herald
By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
Two former seminarians from Mexico filed a lawsuit Friday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and a Marysville priest, charging sexual assault and harassment.
The lawsuit, filed in Snohomish County Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages, including payment for overtime hours they say they worked and weren't compensated for at St. Mary's Parish in Marysville.
Archbishop Alex Brunett is named as a defendant, as is the Rev. Horatio Yanez of St. Mary's. Yanez is accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault of Jesus Alcazar.
In a statement issued Friday afternoon by the archdiocese, Yanez denied the allegations. He was appointed pastor at St. Mary's in 1998.
NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
More than 200 people packed into St. John's Baptist Church this week, some hoping to hear a confession from its pastor, who cost the church more than $100,000 after a former church employee won a sexual harassment lawsuit against him.
But the Rev. Sammie Lee Hawkins, who has been pastor at the church for 15 years, not only told his congregation Thursday night that the court documents were lies, but also reportedly said The Jersey Journal was going to retract its earlier account of the lawsuit. The newspaper is not retracting the story.
Jermaine Thomas, who attended the meeting Thursday, said many of the attendees were looking for answers from Hawkins, as well as some insight into how the church plans to deal with the money issue and what steps will be taken next.
MISSOURI
Washington Missourian
By Ed Pruneau
01/20/2006
Franklin County detectives obtained a fugitive arrest warrant Thursday afternoon for a Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting three young girls four decades ago in Wisconsin. The fugitive warrant will al
County deputies arrested MacArthur Thursday at the Evergreen Hills Home on Vondera Road between Robertsville and Lonedell. Toelke said the suspect had been staying at the home for about 2 1/2 years.
MacArthur is charged in Dodge County with seven felony counts, including two counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child, according to copies of court documents sent to the Franklin County sheriff's office.
A detective with the Beaver Dam, Wis., police department questioned the three victims in late 2005 and early 2006 in preparing the case against MacArthur.
ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9
1/21/2006 6:57 AM
By: Capital News 9 Web Staff
Attorney John Aretakis has been banned from coming within 300 feet of Holy Cross Church in Albany, a church he regularly protests in front of.
A State Supreme Court Judge converted a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction. That means Aretakis won't be allowed near the Holy Cross Church or school when mass or class is in session.
Albany Attorney John Aretakis has been ordered by the State Supreme Court to stay at least 300 feet away from Holy Cross Church.
Members of SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have been protesting in front of the church since last summer. The protestors were calling for the removal of Father Daniel Mahar on accusations that he sexually abused a church member back in the 1970's. A Diocese Review Board cleared Father Mahar of any wrong doing.
WISCONSIN
Beaver Dam Daily Citizen
By CITIZEN STAFF
JUNEAU - A former Catholic priest, who worked as a chaplain at St. Joseph's Hospital in Beaver Dam in the 1960s, has been charged with sexually assaulting three girls during that time.
Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 83, Evergreen Hills Home, Robersville, Mo., is charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child. He was assigned to St. Joseph's Hospital, which later became Beaver Dam Community Hospital, as a chaplain between April 12, 1966, and Jan. 12, 1970.
According to the criminal complaint, a 50-year-old woman met with a Dodge County detective on Monday and told him that from the time she was 10-years-old until she was in high school that she had been sexually abused by MacArthur.
The woman said that she was a patient in the hospital on March, 7, 1966, when the abuse began. MacArthur then became good friends with her parents and they began to allow him to take her to Mass. After Mass, MacArthur would take the woman to his apartment at St. Joseph's Hospital where he assaulted her. The woman said the priest assaulted her hundreds of times. MacArthur also took her on trips across the United States and took photos of her naked while lying on a bed.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Edel Kennedy
and Brian McDonald
BISHOP Eamonn Casey is to return to Galway in the immediate future to work and see out his retirement, the Irish Independent can reveal.
Fourteen years after he fled Ireland following the revelation he had fathered a son by Annie Murphy, the 78-year-old cleric is set to finally face the people of Galway.
While he has returned anonymously to Ireland on rare occasions during his self-imposed exile, he is understood to have decided to stay away from Galway in particular for fear of re-igniting the controversy or causing offence.
But now, following sustained contact with senior Church figures, the Irish hierarchy has decided the time is right and has approved his return to his former diocese. It is understood that Dr Casey will be based in a south Galway parish.
WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By TOM HEINEN
theinen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 20, 2006
An 83-year-old retired Catholic priest now living in Missouri was charged this week in Dodge County with sexually assaulting three girls in Beaver Dam in the mid-1960s while serving as a hospital chaplain.
Father Bruce Duncan MacArthur has been taken into custody, and extradition proceedings have started, Dodge County District Attorney Steven Bauer announced Friday. A priest of the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D., he resides at a residential facility for abusive clergy outside St. Louis.
"This man is a sex offender," Bauer said in a prepared statement. "Although he is elderly, we cannot hesitate to bring someone to justice for horrific crimes merely because he has been able to avoid prosecution for so many years."
MacArthur was charged with two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
He was able to be prosecuted for acts that allegedly occurred more than 30 years ago because he left Wisconsin after his hospital chaplaincy assignment ended in 1970 and never returned as a resident, according to Bauer and the criminal complaint.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A former seminary student has charged that a Seattle Archdiocese priest working at St. Mary's Parish sexually harassed him for a year.
In addition, a lawsuit filed Friday in Snohomish County says, two weeks after Jesus Alcazar, 28, and a witness alerted archdiocese officials to the ongoing and unwanted sexual overtures, both men were told to leave the country.
Alcazar, who is Mexican, says that the Rev. Horatio Yanez used church e-mail to send him pornographic materials and links to gay-oriented Web sites depicting priests engaged in oral sex. He also sexually assaulted Alcazar and presented him with a thong at Christmas, the suit says.
EL PASO (TX)
El Paso Times
Darren Meritz
El Paso Times
Saturday, January 21, 2006
A former priest who during the 1970s was convicted of attempting to rape a woman in El Paso was arrested Friday outside of St. Louis at a church-run housing and recovery center.
Bruce MacArthur, 83, was arrested for allegedly molesting Judy DeLonga, who in 2003 filed a civil suit against the former priest for sex crimes she alleges he committed against her beginning when she was about 10 years old in the 1960s in Wisconsin.
Details MacArthur provided in his deposition led to his arrest Friday, said Jeff Anderson, lawyer for DeLonga. A deposition summary indicated MacArthur admitted molesting and raping a number of women and girls during the 1960s and 1970s.
"The bishops that protected him and helped him with knowledge (that he was) a sex offender are every bit as criminal as he is," Anderson said.
MacArthur served at parishes throughout the United States and Africa. He performed duties at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso from 1974 to 1977, and was indicted in February 1978 in the attempted rape of a crippled patient at the Four Seasons Nursing Home on Murchison Drive, archives of the El Paso Times indicate.
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By LISA REDMOND, Sun Staff
LOWELL -- An MCI-Shirley inmate has filed a lawsuit against convicted pedophile priest Rev. James Talbot, claiming he sexually assaulted the then 14-year-old boy while he was a student at Boston College High School nearly three decades ago.
Wayne Conley, through his attorney Mitchell Garabedian, filed a civil lawsuit for an undetermined amount against Talbot, Talbot's religious order The Society of Jesus of New England, and the Rev. Joseph Duffy, former principal of the high school.
The lawsuit, which doesn't specify damages, claims that in 1978, when Conley was 14 and a student at BC High, Talbot engaged in a pattern and practice of lewd and lascivious behavior and explicit sexual behavior, including the rape of Conley.
Conley sued Talbot's order and the principal charging they were negligent for supervising Talbot while he was a teacher and coach at BC High.
As a result, Conley suffered deep emotional pain and suffering, the lawsuit states.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By CAROL DeMARE, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, January 21, 2006
ALBANY -- A judge ordered attorney John Aretakis on Friday to stay at least 300 feet from Holy Cross parish during services and on school days, calling his conduct "aggressive and hostile."
A permanent restraining order issued by state Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Spargo also ordered Holy Cross protesters to keep 100 feet from the church entrances at Western Avenue and Rosemont Street.
The ruling followed a hearing, begun last fall, in a case brought by Holy Cross parish to curtail demonstrations during Sunday Masses that had been ongoing since May.
"The Albany Diocese believes (Spargo's) order should ensure adults and children will be able to attend Mass and school without fear of intimidation or harassment by John Aretakis," spokesman Ken Goldfarb said.
IRELAND
Irish Times
Lorna Siggins, Western Correspondent
Former bishop of Galway Dr Eamonn Casey (78) plans to return to live in the diocese, almost 14 years after he quit in controversial circumstances.
He is expected to move to the south of the diocese, but will not be able to work while an inquiry continues into child abuse allegations made against him late last year. It is understood that Dr Casey is confident that his name will be cleared on foot of the inquiry being conducted in Limerick.
Bishop of Galway Dr Martin Drennan could not be contacted for comment last night, and Catholic Communications Office spokesman Martin Long said he could neither confirm nor deny the report. But it is understood Dr Casey has been in touch with Church authorities.
He has returned to Galway privately several times and his experiences have led him to believe he will receive a sympathetic response from former parishioners. Another consideration last night was the generally understanding attitude shown in east Galway earlier this week when it was confirmed a 73-year-old priest had fathered a child.
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic News Service
PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland reiterated Jan. 20 that "no one in the archdiocese had the authority to seize parish property or assets" to satisfy clergy sexual abuse claims.
In his column in the Jan. 20 issue of the Catholic Sentinel, Portland archdiocesan newspaper, the archbishop said the bankruptcy court ruling three weeks earlier, declaring parish and school properties to be part of the archdiocesan assets to be considered in settling sex abuse claims, "felt like a punch in the stomach."
"We want to do what is right for victims and we are committed to the evangelizing mission entrusted to us by Jesus Christ," he wrote. "Parishioners, schoolchildren, the poor and the needy depend on us for services that are not so highly valued by many in today's secular culture. For us these matters are paramount, and so we make every effort to balance the demands of victims with the needs of the church."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
San Luis Obispo Tribune
LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A jury of six men and six women, many of them religious and most of them with strong concerns about child molestation, were chosen Friday for the trial of Michael Wempe, a retired priest charged with molesting a boy in the early 1990s.
Wempe, who was chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when the crimes allegedly occurred, has pleaded not guilty, but his attorney acknowledged in November that he did abuse 13 other boys between 1977 and 1986. Eight of them will be allowed to testify at Wempe's current trial, which begins Monday with opening statements.
Charges involving the 13 others were dismissed after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a state law in 2003 that allowed retroactive prosecution of decades-old sex crimes involving children.
The emotional issues involved in the case - sexual abuse, children and religion - led to a complicated and probing jury selection that lasted a full week.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
KTIV
Only hours into his reign as bishop of the Sioux City diocese, Walker Nickless is already attracting attention from "SNAP". That's the Iowa group representing victims of sexual abuse at the hands of catholic priests.
They're urging Nickless to permanently post the names of all proven, admitted and credibly accused abusive clergy. They also want Nickless aggressively reach out to victims and witnesses urging them to contact criminal authorities. He has dealt with the issue in his role with the Denver diocese. "I've dealt with the sexual abuse problem," Nickless says. "It's a terrible thing in the church and in the world. But, the catholic church is handling it well. And, we're doing the best that we can and will continue to do that in Sioux City."
ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.21.2006
The high-profile arrest of a former Roman Catholic priest from Los Angeles stems from accusations that he sexually abused a Tucson resident.
Michael Stephen Baker, formerly of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is in jail in California on suspicion of lewd acts against a child.
The Thursday arrest of Baker, 58, is connected to an accusation that he molested a child in Southern California from 1988 to 1996, said Sgt. Dan Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's special victims bureau.
The boy is now 27 and living in Tucson, his attorney said. He is one of two brothers who say they were repeatedly raped by Baker for 15 years, beginning in 1984 and ending in 1999, according to Lynne M. Cadigan, their Tucson attorney. California's statute of limitations prevents authorities from filing charges for any sexual abuse that occurred before Jan. 1, 1988.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Scott Helman and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | January 21, 2006
On the eve of a key vote, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley has accused sponsors of a bill requiring religious organizations to disclose their finances of attempting to use the political process to assert control of the financial affairs and decisions of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
O'Malley's remarks, contained in a letter sent to every parish asking Catholics to lobby against the bill, immediately set off an angry response from the bill's lead sponsor, Senator Marian Walsh, Democrat of West Roxbury. Walsh said O'Malley was distorting the bill's impact and demanded in a letter to him yesterday that he stop his attempts to ''place fears in the hearts of the public."
''What are they afraid of?" Walsh asked, alluding to archdiocesan officials.
The exchange of barbs between church officials and bill supporters and the increasingly aggressive lobbying of lawmakers in recent days underscore the high stakes as the bill arrives on the House floor next week. Lawmakers who support the measure say greater public scrutiny of religious institutions is needed, in part because of concerns raised during the clergy sexual abuse crisis and parish closings by the Boston Archdiocese.
EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor
January 21,2006
Brittney Booth
The Monitor
EDINBURG — Former Trinity Worship Center music minister and convicted sex offender Robert Dale Franklin received 18 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to violating his probation by possessing cocaine.
Franklin, 39, stood handcuffed and shackled in an orange county jail uniform in front of Judge Mario Ramirez in 332nd state District Court, the same judge who sentenced Franklin to 10 years probation in March 2004.
At that time, Franklin pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a minor and admitted to having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old church member who had come to him for mentoring. He also acknowledged providing the boy with cocaine and marijuana. In exchange for pleading guilty to the two sexual assault charges, prosecutors agreed to drop 10 other felony counts.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Associated Press | January 21, 2006
WORCESTER -- The inmate accused of killing pedophile priest John Geoghan took the witness stand yesterday, describing years of childhood sexual and physical abuse that his lawyers said helped drive an uncontrollable rage that led to the slaying.
Joseph Druce referred to killing the dismissed priest only once during his hourlong testimony, after describing being raped by a staff member at a residential school he attended as a boy.
''That's what triggered me . . . I heard them talking about" abuse, he said.
Druce's lawyers don't dispute that he killed Geoghan, a central figure in the Catholic Church's clergy sex-abuse scandal, but they say he was suffering from severe mental illness and should not be convicted. Druce, 40, told investigators he killed Geoghan in his prison cell in August 2003 to stop him from molesting more children. Earlier Friday, as Druce was being escorted out of the courtroom, he shouted: ''God save all the innocent kids."
At the time of his death, Geoghan was serving a 9- to 10-year prison sentence for fondling a 10-year-old boy, but he was accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing some 150 children over three decades in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
CALIFORNIA
Whittier Daily News
From wire reports
A former Catholic priest who in 2003 managed to avoid prosecution for allegedly sexually abusing children at churches in La Mirada and Pico Rivera was in custody Friday in connection with what authorities indicated is a separate child molestation case.
Michael Stephen Baker, 58, was arrested at 2 p.m. Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a child, said Sgt. Dan Scott of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau.
The arrest "is in connection with the ongoing investigation into allegations of child molestation involving present and former Catholic priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese," the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said in a statement.
An earlier criminal case against Baker was dismissed in 2003 because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision barring prosecution of decades-old sexual-abuse cases.
OHIO
Canton Repository
Saturday, January 21, 2006
BY CHARITA M. GOSHAY REPOSITORY STAFF WRITER
Last week, Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, sent shock waves through the statehouse in Columbus, when he revealed to a House Judiciary Committee that he had been a victim of a sexual abuse at the hands of a priest 60 years ago.
Gumbleton spoke to the committee on the issue of Senate Bill 17. As written, the law would:
n Extend the statute of limitations, during which victims could file civil charges against sexual abusers, from two years to 20 years.
n Adds clergy to those professionals required by law to report incidents of child abuse.
n Upgrades the charge for failing to report such crimes from a misdemeanor to a felony.
n Creates a “look-back” period for abuse victims who have not filed civil charges, for incidents going back as far back as 35 years, from the date the bill becomes law.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Taking the witness stand in his own defense yesterday, Joseph L. Druce told a Worcester Superior Court jury about being sexually abused as a child, a violent home life when he was growing up and an early introduction to alcohol and drugs.
Charged with murder in the 2003 prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan, Mr. Druce testified in a packed courtroom that he was sexually assaulted by staff at a residential school he attended for several years as a child and also by an older male who befriended him when he was about 11 years old.
He said he was 13 and had been smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol the first time the older male “took advantage of me.
“I didn’t let it happen; I couldn’t stop it,” Mr. Druce testified. When asked by his lawyer, John H. LaChance, if the sexual assaults continued, Mr. Druce responded, “Yeah, twice, another couple times.
“And why I stayed his friend for another five years, I don’t know,” he said, adding, “So what am I, gay now? That’s what I’ve been fighting with my whole life.”
Now 40, Mr. Druce stands accused of beating and strangling the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan in the ex-priest’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line. The killing occurred on the morning of Aug. 23, 2003. Mr. LaChance has raised an insanity defense on his client’s behalf.
At the time of the slaying, Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking. Mr. Geoghan, accused in civil lawsuits of sexually assaulting more than 100 boys, was serving a prison term for fondling a 10-year-old.
Prison officials and police said Mr. Druce confessed to the killing, telling them he did it to prevent Mr. Geoghan from assaulting other children once he was out of custody. Mr. Druce also claimed he had overheard Mr. Geoghan and other sex offenders talking about the digital penetration of young boys.
Mr. Druce mentioned that reported conversation in his only reference to the killing during yesterday’s testimony. “And that’s what triggered it,” he said after telling the jury that the abuse he was subjected to at the residential school included digital penetration.
Mr. Druce, who was born Darrin E. Smiledge and legally changed his name in 1999, corroborated his mother’s earlier testimony that his father was physically abusive toward her and him when he was growing up. He also accused his father, Dana Smiledge, of introducing him to alcohol when he was a young boy and to cocaine when he was a teen.
Mr. Smiledge, who testified earlier in the day, denied that he ever struck his ex-wife, Donna Gauthier, or that he ever gave his son cocaine. Mr. Smiledge, who was accompanied to court by a lawyer, said his two sons might have been given “a little beer or wine” on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, but disputed Mr. Druce’s claims that his father bought him drinks in restaurant bars when he was underage.
Mr. Druce’s testimony was suspended late yesterday afternoon, shortly after he acknowledged that he receives a dose of Ritalin every morning for attention-deficit disorder and that the effects of the drug, which he said helps him stay focused, seemed to be wearing off. He is scheduled to return to the witness stand when the trial resumes Monday morning.
Dr. Keith Ablow, a psychiatrist called as an expert witness for the defense, testified earlier in the day that Mr. Geoghan’s presence in the protective custody unit at Souza-Baranowski triggered painful memories of being sexually abused as a child for Mr. Druce and caused him to become emotionally “unglued.”
Dr. Ablow, board-certified in both adult and forensic psychiatry, told the jury that Mr. Druce was suffering from multiple mental illnesses when he killed Mr. Geoghan and that he lacked criminal responsibility for his actions.
“Joseph Druce was and is suffering from an extremely severe form of mental illness, so much so that I would say I have not met a more ill patient in my career,” said Dr. Ablow, who is also a writer and occasional television personality. He told the jury that Mr. Druce’s mental diseases included attention-deficit disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, disassociative disorder, a personality disorder and inactive polysubstance dependence.
The psychiatrist testified Mr. Druce’s mental state left him with “no core identity” and an inability to control his impulses and “underlying rage” after he had assumed “the persona of avenger or savior of the kids.”
At the time of the killing, Mr. Druce was not only unable to distinguish right from wrong but was also incapable of conforming his behavior to the requirements of the law, according to Dr. Ablow. Under cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy, Dr. Ablow denied delaying the submission of his written evaluation of Mr. Druce until yesterday as a trial “tactic.”
He said his schedule did not permit him to forward the report to the lawyers in the case sooner.
KANSAS
The Wichita Eagle
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline on Friday vowed to go to court to have convicted child molester Robert Larson, a longtime Catholic priest in the Wichita Diocese, designated a sexual predator when he is released from state prison in March.
But to get what he wants, Kline will have to win a legal argument that a plea agreement protecting Larson from just such a move is invalid. Sexual predators are committed to a state institution indefinitely for treatment under terms of the Kansas Violent Predator Act.
"I consider him a predator," Kline said of Larson, "and we're doing all we can to keep him off the streets."
Larson, 76, pleaded guilty in 2001 in Harvey County District Court to abusing three altar boys and a 19-year-old man while he was pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newton in the 1980s. He will have served five years in prison -- the longest term possible under the state laws in place at the time of the crimes -- when he is released from Lansing on March 20.
One of the terms of the plea agreement under which Larson admitted guilt is that the state would not seek Larson's commitment under the Violent Predator Act. That agreement was signed by then-Harvey County Attorney Matt Treaster and Dan Monnat, Larson's defense lawyer.
VIRGINIA
Culpeper Star Exponent
Liz Mitchell - Staff Writer
Culpeper Star Exponent
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Chad Robison hopes by coming forward other people will have the courage to tell their stories of childhood abuse.
Robison, 29, says he is a victim of Charles Shifflett, the 54-year-old pastor of First Baptist Church of Culpeper who was arrested Tuesday on Class 6 felony charges of “cruelty and injury to children.”
Until now, Robison had not gone public with his identity. On Friday, he spoke with reporters after filing another felony charge against Shifflett related to sexual abuse.
“It is no longer about me at all,” Robison said. “It’s only for the other kids who don’t have a voice.”
ILLINOIS
State Journal-Register
By JAMES WASHBURN
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
Published Saturday, January 21, 2006
LINCOLN - Francis Benham, who most recently resided in Lincoln, will be freed Sunday after serving almost a year behind bars for sexual offenses he committed nearly three decades ago while a Catholic priest in Prince George's County, Md.
With permission from officials in Maryland and Illinois, Benham, now 69, could return to Lincoln, where he lived from 1987 until 2004.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is rallying its members to persuade officials in Illinois and Maryland, where the former priest is imprisoned, to halt Benham's return.
SNAP members from four states have sent a letter to Illinois Corrections Director Roger Walker and Walker's counterpart in Maryland, Mary Ann Saar.
CALIFORNIA
Santa Cruz Sentinel
By Cathy Smith
sentinel staff writer
In a crowded courtroom heavy with emotion, a former pastor and Pajaro Valley school district employee was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for molesting a 14-year-old girl in late 1993 or early 1994.
Steven Montez Martinez, 49, of Watsonville faced a maximum five-year sentence after jurors convicted him last month of molesting the teen on four occasions. His attorney, J.J. Hamlyn, said he will be eligible for parole in two years.
There were tears on both sides of the courtroom, including from the victim's sister, a 28-year-old Watsonville woman who said she was also molested by Martinez as a teen member of his now-defunct New Jerusalem church. Because of child molestation and statute-of-limitations laws, he was charged with acts against one teen, yet two others testified of abuse that included what Martinez called "medical massages."
The victim's sister said she blamed herself at first, questioning, among other things, why he targeted her and why she hadn't been "smarter." But she said she has come to understand it was not her fault, despite how hard it was to believe "a man of God could hurt me so bad and cover it up so well."
CANADA
Ottawa Sun
By CP
CORNWALL — A public inquiry into the handling of allegations of systemic child sexual abuse in this eastern Ontario city is slated to begin Feb. 13.
The long-awaited investigation is expected to take much of the year and involve more than a dozen parties eager to get to the bottom of the case, said Peter Engelmann, lead counsel for the commission.
He said the first phase of the two-part inquiry will look at how various institutions responded to claims that community leaders were involved in the alleged abuse of several young people in the 1990s.
“It could be police, it could be probation, it could be the Children’s Aid Society, it could be a school board for example, any public institution,” Engelmann said of those included in the inquiry’s scope.
Parties with standing at the hearings include Ontario’s attorney general, the Cornwall Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, the local Children’s Aid Society and the local diocese of the Catholic Church.
SALINAS (CA)
Mercury News
Bay City News Service
SALINAS - A North Salinas pastor pleaded guilty to two felony counts of child molestation and sexual assault of a minor, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo announced Thursday.
Donald Domelle, 65, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas, pleaded guilty to forcibly engaging in oral copulation with a child victim. The girl was developmentally disabled, according to the district attorney's office.
Domelle also pleaded guilty to engaging in substantial sexual conduct with a child under the age of 14. That victim was Domelle's daughter, the district attorney's office reported.
The developmentally disabled victim was discovered when members of the girl's family found nude photographs of the child on Domelle's cell phone.
WORCESTER (MA)
WFSB
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Convicted killer Joseph Druce took the witness stand Friday to defend himself against charges he beat and strangled pedophile priest John Geoghan in his prison cell.
Druce's lawyers don't dispute that Druce killed Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal, but they say he was suffering from severe mental illness and should not be convicted.
The 40-year-old Druce, who is already serving a life sentence for killing a man he suspected of making a pass at him, described a troubled childhood in which his father beat Druce and his mother. He said he was physically and sexually abused at a residential school for troubled children.
Druce told investigators he killed Geoghan to avenge the innocent children the defrocked priest was accused of molesting. Earlier Friday, as Druce he was being escorted out of the courtroom for a recess, he shouted "God save all the innocent kids."
WORCESTER (MA)
Daily News Transcript
By Denise Lavoie
Friday, January 20, 2006
WORCESTER -- The prison inmate accused of killing pedophile priest John Geoghan was a disturbed child who was beaten by his father, frequently fought with other children and became obsessed with sex at a young age, his mother testified yesterday.
Joseph Druce, 40, was serving a life sentence for another murder when he allegedly slipped into Geoghan’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley in August 2003. He jammed the door shut with a book, then beat and strangled the 68-year-old Geoghan before the guards could stop him.
At the time, Geoghan, the priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse crisis, was serving a 9- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy, but he was also accused in civil lawsuits of molesting about 150 boys over three decades.
Druce has admitted killing Geoghan, but his lawyer is arguing he is insane and should not be help criminally responsible for his actions.
ALEXANDRIA (LA)
The Shreveport Times
January 20, 2006
Louisiana Gannett News
ALEXANDRIA --- Monsignor Frederick J. Lyons has been suspended from his priestly duties following allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor, Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of the Diocese of Alexandria said Thursday in a prepared statement.
The statement contains no specifics about the allegations, including when, where or what type of sexual misconduct allegedly took place. Lyons is a retired priest, so any alleged incident could have taken place years ago.
Herzog was unavailable for comment Thursday. However, in his statement, he says, "The prohibition came after accusations were made to the Permanent Review Board of the Diocese of Alexandria. This board evaluates all allegations of clerical sexual misconduct involving minors."
The diocese has a policy for the protection of minors that can be read online by going to www.diocesealex.org and clicking on "Safe Environment." The Web site also contains instructions on how to file a complaint.
ALEXANDRIA (LA)
KLFY
ALEXANDRIA, La. Bishop Ronald P- Herzog of Alexandria has suspended Monsignor Frederick J- Lyons from priestly duties following allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.
The news release from the Diocese of Alexandria did not contain specifics on the actual allegations including when or where the sexual misconduct took place. Lyons is a retired priest, so any alleged incident could have taken place years ago.
Herzog was unavailable for comment yesterday. However, in his statement, he said, the prohibition came after accusations were made to the Permanent Review Board of the Diocese of Alexandria. The board evaluates all allegations of clerical sexual misconduct involving minors.
The diocese has a policy for the protection of minors and can be found on the diocesan Web site on the Safe Environmental page.
NEWARK (NJ)
The Jersey Journal
Friday, January 20, 2006
By JASON DEL REY
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
The Archdiocese of Newark's Review Board has completed its investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against Monsignor Peter Cheplic, but won't release its findings, a spokesman for the Archdiocese said.
The Archdiocese also has yet to determine if Cheplic, on voluntary leave from his post as parochial vicar at St. Henry's Church in Bayonne, will be returned to the ministry, Archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness said.
Joe Capozzi, who told the Archdiocese of Newark Review Board nearly three months ago that he'd been sexually abused by Cheplic over a period of several years, said he's frustrated by the lack of information.
"They asked me to come in there to give detailed testimony and for 21/2 hours I gave them everything they asked for down to what I was wearing, what he was wearing and what type of glass he served me in," Capozzi said.
But Capozzi, Ray Capone and a third accuser who has remained anonymous are still waiting for answers. The three received letters recently from the Archdiocese saying that although the review board's investigation is complete, a decision on Cheplic's future has yet to be determined.
VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot
By JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE , The Virginian-Pilot
January 20, 2006
PORTSMOUTH — A judge on Thursday granted custody of five children to their father after hearing evidence that their mother belongs to an Ohio church whose fiery brand of faith has been called into question.
So great was the sway of the Jefferson , Ohio , congregation – led by a charismatic bishop – the children turned against their dad after moving to that community in 2004 , according to testimony.
Circuit Judge James A. Cales Jr. determined that evidence in the case, including a summary of abuse investigations involving church members, showed that the congregation is a dangerous place for children.
“Evil is the only word that comes to my mind,” he said.
Dorothy Butts , the mother, moved to Ohio to work at the church.
The children’s father, David W. Butts of Portsmouth , said he changed his mind about moving from Hampton Roads with his wife because he questioned the church’s teachings and the pastor, the Rev. Charles D. Keyes Sr .
Butts called the Apostolic Faith Church Body of Jesus Christ of the Newborn Assembly a cult.
Allegations about church members including the sexual abuse of women, mind control and physical abuse of children emerged. In several cases, children were removed from their homes and ordered to be kept away from the church, according to testimony by an Ohio caseworker.
SALINAS (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By GEORGE B. SANCHEZ
Herald Salinas Bureau
A Salinas pastor accused of sexually molesting his adopted daughter and a handicapped girl pleaded guilty less than two months after authorities began investigating him.
Donald Domelle, 65, pastor of the Baptist Temple of Salinas, admitted to two felony counts of lewd conduct with a child and agreed to a minimum of 15 years in prison Thursday in a remarkably swift case that kept one young woman and a teenager from recounting in court their stories of repeated sexual abuse at the pastor's hands.
"(Domelle) has accepted responsibility from the beginning," said defense attorney John Coniglio. The pastor was arrested at his church Dec. 21 after Sheriff's investigators looked into allegations that he sexually molested a 16-year-old girl that prosecutors described as "educationally challenged."
Initially, Domelle denied the allegations, said prosecutor Gary Thelander, but during a two and a half hour interview with sheriff's deputies he admitted to having sex with the first known victim.
OHIO
Toledo Blade
AUXILIARY Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit may not win friends and influence people in high places in the Roman Catholic Church, but he will impress many sitting in the pews with his profile in courage.
The 75-year-old prelate traveled to Columbus to testify on behalf of pending Ohio legislation that would expand sexual abuse victims’ right to sue their alleged abusers. But Bishop Gumbleton did more than lend support to victims, he revealed himself to be among them.
He may be the first U.S. bishop to go public with his own story of sexual abuse, a shameful secret he kept for 60 years.
He was a 15-year-old seminary student when he was sexually abused, the bishop said, by a diocesan priest. Bishop Gumbleton said he never spoke to anyone about the inappropriate touching by the priest and tried to block it from his mind.
Even six decades later the senior church leader says he’s embarassed to talk about the molestation and still blames himself for letting it happen.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
A retired Roman Catholic priest who has admitted molesting 13 boys goes on trial as early as today on charges that he abused another boy — one he denies ever fondling.
Father Michael Edwin Wempe is one of four priests from the Los Angeles Archdiocese to be charged with child molestation in Southern California since 2003, when similar charges were dismissed against nearly a dozen Catholic clerics — part of a sex scandal that has rocked the U.S. Catholic Church.
He is using an unusual — and experts say risky — defense strategy in admitting to abusing the 13 boys. His lawyer contends that the charges Wempe faces were trumped up by the younger brother of two of those victims to keep the criminal case alive.
In 1988, after he was accused of sexual misconduct with a child, Wempe was placed in therapy by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and subsequently returned to priestly duties. Eventually, 13 children accused him of abuse, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled those cases too old for criminal charges.
COLUMBUS (OH)
WCMH
NBC 4
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A priest was removed from ministry in the Catholic Church following allegations of sexual misconduct, the Catholic Diocese of Columbus announced Thursday.
An allegation of sexual abuse of a minor naming the Rev. Samuel E. Ritchey was reported on Dec. 14, 2005, and was promptly reported to Children Services in Fairfield and Franklin counties, according to a news release issued by the diocese.
The alleged abuse occurred in 1977, while he was teaching at Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster with residence at St. Bernadette Parish. According to the diocese, this was the first time an individual came forward to accuse Ritchey of abuse.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA
By Jean Guccione and Richard Winton, Times Staff Writers
January 20, 2006
A former priest allowed to remain in ministry after telling Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that he had molested children was arrested Thursday on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a child in the 1990s, with deputies taking him into custody as he disembarked from a plane at Los Angeles International Airport.
The arrest caps a four-year effort by prosecutors to build a case against Michael Stephen Baker, who authorities said ranks among the most prolific alleged abusers in the church. More than 20 people told the Los Angeles Archdiocese that Baker had molested them during his 26 years as a priest.
Mahony has said that Baker's case is one "that troubles me the most."
Baker told Mahony in 1986 that he had molested children, according to the archdiocese and Baker. Mahony did not alert police, but sent Baker for treatment, after which the priest was assigned to a series of nine other parishes.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 20, 2006
Catholics in northwestern Iowa today end a two-year wait for a new bishop, a Denver man described as young, energetic and accomplished.
R. Walker Nickless , 58, is to be ordained today as the seventh bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. He is the first U.S. bishop to be appointed by Pope Benedict XVI and he fills a vacancy open longer than any other bishop's job in the country. ...
In both positions, he was intensely involved in dealing with clergy sexual abuse in the archdiocese, and the new Sioux City bishop said he wants Iowa Catholics to take seriously his motto "Speak the Truth in Love."
"By speaking truth in love, the people can help me grow and understand," Nickless said in an interview with The Des Moines Register. "It is difficult to speak truth sometimes, but it is the right thing. We need never be afraid of the truth."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By a Times Staff Writer
A former priest who was allowed to remain in the ministry after admitting to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that he had molested children was arrested this afternoon on charges of multiple molestations.
Michael Stephen Baker, 58, was arrested as he stepped off a plane at Los Angeles International Airport after a flight from Thailand.
The victim was first molested in 1984, before he reached age 13, and was sexually abused for the next 12 years, according to Sgt. Dan Scott, of the special victims unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
The charges were based on multiple interviews with the victim, other people, and items seized when authorities searched residences of Baker in Huntington Beach and La Mirada.
"There are multiple counts of lewd acts upon a child, ranging from fondling up to major sex acts," Scott said.
The alleged molestations occurred throughout Southern California.
SPAIN
SUR
A total of 33 people have been arrested in Spain this week in an operation against the distribution of child pornography on Internet. The detainees had paid by credit card for access to pornographic websites controlled in Florida, USA, and in Belarus.
The police have emphasized the wide social spectrum and different professions of the people arrested. Among them are teachers, administrators, businesspeople, a doctor, sports monitors, bankers, pensioners and a priest.
After several months of investigations, the 33 were identified and accused of assisting in the distribution of child pornography on the world wide web. By paying to access the pages in question, they help finance the criminals who create and administer them.
American investigators had confirmed that the site controlled in Florida had been visited by people in 27 countries. Some of the people involved could not be identified, as it was found that the credit cards they used had been reported stolen or lost.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 4:57 pm PST January 19, 2006
UPDATED: 5:19 pm PST January 19, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- A former Los Angeles Archdiocese priest who escaped prosecution for sexual abuse on children in 2003 because of a Supreme Court ruling was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport.
Michael Stephen Baker, 58, was arrested at 2 p.m. on suspicion of commiting lewd acts upon a child, according to Sgt. Dan Scott, of the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau.
The arrest "is in connection with the ongoing investigation into allegations of child molestation involving present and former Catholic priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese," according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The Los Angeles Times reported in October that investigators had opened a new probe of Baker, focusing on two brothers who said they were molested by the now-former priest. The probe had been hindered because the brothers now live in Mexico, but investigators obtained visas last spring so the brothers could be interviewed in Arizona.
Investigators interviewed Lynne M. Cadigan, the brothers' Tucson-based civil attorney, who obtained a $1.3-million settlement on their behalf from Baker and the archdiocese, she told the newspaper.
Officials would not confirm whether Baker's arrest today was in connection with the brothers' allegations.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
Why would a bishop let a priest continue to serve in ministry knowing the priest had been credibly accused of abusing a minor? How could he in good conscience simply give that priest another assignment?
These questions have been posed over and over again since the January 2002 Boston Globe article broke the story of the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. Since that time, the media have been relentless in repeating this accusation. With this barrage of attention, the Catholic faithful have picked up the mantra, "Why would a bishop reassign a priest when he knew the priest had been identified as a perpetrator?"
Is there a plausible explanation for such episcopal conduct? There is indeed an explanation, if this question can be placed in a historical context. The media, with their repetitive approach to emphasizing the wrongdoing of the Catholic hierarchy in this regard, have failed to address some of the underlying historical realities that made such decisions by bishops understandable. The media have continued to blur timelines, thus bearing responsibility for resultant misinformation.
In the period prior to the 1980s, society at large was ignorant of the compulsive nature of the sexual abuse of minors by a perpetrator. One author has called the period before the 1980s the "dark ages of sexual abuse." Certainly society and the bishops recognized the seriousness and the sinfulness of sexual abuse of minors, but, as with other psychological problems, stern warnings, self-discipline and medical treatment were seen as solutions. If a priest expressed sincere sorrow and a commitment to "sin no more," bishops --- trained as pastors and not therapists --- were inclined to forgive the priest, send him away for a retreat and refer him for counseling.
OHIO
WHIZ
Wed, Jan 18, 2006. 05:09 PM
By: Jasmine Lo
This Sunday a former Zanesville priest will be released from jail. Francis Benham was convicted of abusing two teens in Maryland in the 1970s.
That’s why members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were in Zanesville. They stood in front of St. Nicholas’ Church to hold a sidewalk news conference. Fr. Benham worked at Saint Nicholas Church in the late 70s and 80s.
The group went door-to-door handing out leaflets. They say they want to inform residents that a pedophile priest would soon be back on the streets.
“He was incarcerated for molesting a boy and a girl and what we want to ensure is that no victim sits out here and suffers in your community alone thinking they were the only ones,” said Claudia Vercelloti of SNAP Toledo.
OHIO
WHIZ
Wed, Jan 18, 2006. 05:09 PM
By: Jasmine Lo
This Sunday a former Zanesville priest will be released from jail. Francis Benham was convicted of abusing two teens in Maryland in the 1970s.
That’s why members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were in Zanesville. They stood in front of St. Nicholas’ Church to hold a sidewalk news conference. Fr. Benham worked at Saint Nicholas Church in the late 70s and 80s.
The group went door-to-door handing out leaflets. They say they want to inform residents that a pedophile priest would soon be back on the streets.
“He was incarcerated for molesting a boy and a girl and what we want to ensure is that no victim sits out here and suffers in your community alone thinking they were the only ones,” said Claudia Vercelloti of SNAP Toledo.
WORCESTER (MA)
CBS 4
(CBS4) WORCESTER Joseph Druce's mother took the stand Thursday as his defense team began presenting its case in the trial of the prison inmate charged with murdering defrocked priest John Geoghan.
Donna Gauthier said her son was a disturbed child who was beaten by his father, frequently fought with other children and became obsessed with sex at a young age.
Gauthier testified that by the time her son finished kindergarten, he was so aggressive and disruptive in class that he was sent to a residential school for children with behavioral problems. As a young teenager, Druce was sent to a program for emotionally disturbed youths at a state psychiatric hospital.
The defense is trying to convince the jury that Druce was mentally ill when he beat and strangled Geoghan in his prison cell at Sousa-Baranowski state prison.
COLUMBUS (OH)
WBNS
The Catholic Diocese of Columbus is removing a Columbus priest from ministry in the Catholic Church.
The move follows a diocesan investigation of an allegation made against Fr. Samuel E. Ritchey, and a recommendation by the Diocesan Board of Review for the Protection of Children.
The alleged abuse occurred in 1977, and was reported on December 14, 2005. The allegation was then reported to Children Services in Fairfield and Franklin County. The Diocese says this is the first time an individual has come forward to accuse Fr. Ritchey of abuse.
COLUMBUS (OH)
NBC4i
POSTED: 12:57 pm EST January 19, 2006
UPDATED: 4:49 pm EST January 19, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A priest was removed from ministry in the Catholic Church following allegations of sexual misconduct, the Catholic Diocese of Columbus announced Thursday.
An allegation of sexual abuse of a minor naming the Rev. Samuel E. Ritchey was reported on Dec. 14, 2005, and was promptly reported to Children Services in Fairfield and Franklin counties, according to a news release issued by the diocese.
The alleged abuse occurred in 1977, while he was teaching at Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster with residence at St. Bernadette Parish. According to the diocese, this was the first time an individual came forward to accuse Ritchey of abuse.
By PETER HUTCHINS
The New Hampshire Union Leader, Commentary
IN THE PAST few years I have had the privilege of representing nearly 150 victims of childhood sexual abuse. They were victims of abuse by clergy, teachers, day care workers, neighbors and family members. I have heard their stories and witnessed their pain. I have also had a chance to investigate and analyze the circumstances surrounding their abuse, including taking lengthy depositions of several of these serial offenders.
While imposing harsher criminal sentences on convicted child molesters is just and appropriate, it is debatable whether such measures will actually serve to prevent or deter sexual offenders from preying on children. The same can be said for “residential” type restrictions, i.e., prohibiting these people from living near schools.
Paraphilia, pedophilia and ephebophilia are diseases. Sex offenders are not only sick, but are “addicts,” driven from within to seek out and exploit their prey at all costs. They are also masters of gaining trust and avoiding detection and prosecution. To believe that such people can be deterred by increasing their sentences on the chance they are convicted, or by telling them they can’t live next to schools, is probably as naive as it is politically expedient.
COLUMBUS (OH)
NBC4i
POSTED: 5:01 pm EST January 18, 2006
UPDATED: 8:17 pm EST January 18, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A priest in the Catholic Diocese of Columbus is under review for alleged sexual misconduct.
An independent review team has looked into the allegations and will make a recommendation for the future of the priest within the church, NBC 4's Nancy Burton reported.
The chair of the seven-member review board said the committee's mission is clear.
"We don't run the diocese. The bishop does that and he gets his authority from Rome," said Yvette McGee Brown, president of the Center for Child and Family Advocacy.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 6:43 pm PST January 18, 2006
UPDATED: 6:54 pm PST January 18, 2006
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Neighbors were angry and even supporters admitted that convicted child molester and former Inland priest, Edward Anthony Rodrigue, will find it difficult to resume a normal life.
But Rodrigue will try to do that Jan. 25 when he is released from prison to a San Bernardino halfway house, NBC4 reported.
Rodrigue was sentenced to 10 years in prison for molesting a developmentally disabled boy, NBC4 reported.
Rodrigue, who once told police he abused dozens of boys during his 20 years as a Catholic priest, is scheduled to live in a group home in a residential neighborhood along Interstate 215, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
Even though he will be wearing an ankle bracelet with a GPS monitoring device, residents are upset that the man, known as Father Tony, will be living within walking distance of an elementary school on the city's west side, NBC4 reported.
DENVER (CO)
CBS 4
(AP) DENVER Four more men filed lawsuits Wednesday against the Archdiocese of Denver and Harold Robert White, joining 22 others who have accused the priest of sexual abuse.
Randy Becker and three other men, referred to as John Doe in the lawsuits, allege they were abused as boys by White and that the archdiocese knew of the abuse and did nothing to stop it, other than transferring White to different parishes.
One of the John Does alleges the abuse happened in either 1959 or 1960 -- before White became a priest. The man claims White was still a seminarian at the time. White was ordained into the priesthood on June 4, 1960.
Douglas Tisdale, attorney for White, said he was unable to comment on the new lawsuits at this time.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
01/19/2006
BETHANY BEACH — Navy officer Kenneth J. Whitwell’s effort to change Delaware’s statute of limitations law regarding child sexual abuse got a boost Wednesday night from a group he didn’t even know existed two months ago.
Whitwell in November filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that he had been sexually abused by a priest when he was a student at Archmere Academy. And after his news conference that month, the 1986 graduate of Archmere who now lives in Quantico, Va., was worried how people would react.
He had never heard of the Voice of the Faithful – a national group formed in 2002 to support those who had been sexually abused by priests – until after that news conference. He called John and Skip Sullivan of the Coastal Delmarva chapter, and Wednesday night he stood before about 40 Catholics at the chapter’s January meeting. He thanked members and asked the group for its support in changing Delaware’s statute of limitations for such crimes. Though the abuse shook his faith, he now sees that effort as a mission.
SPAIN
IPS
Alicia Fraerman
MADRID, Jan 18 (IPS) - The arrests in Spain of 33 people, including a Catholic priest, for allegedly purchasing and distributing child pornography over the Internet has highlighted the need to step up joint international efforts to combat this crime.
The 33 suspects are believed to have used credit cards to acquire child pornography from websites in Belarus and the U.S. state of Florida.
Miguel Ángel Gisbert, vice president of the non-governmental organisation Infancia Sin Fronteras (Children Without Borders), told IPS that the bulk of material used for websites like these are photographs and videos shot in developing countries.
He argued the need for international laws to fight child pornography, which all governments should be obliged to enforce.
"If there are international laws to combat the illegal weapons trade, then there is even more reason for laws to stop the trafficking in children, the abuse of children, and the trafficking of images of this abuse, whether on the Internet or by any other means," he added.
ILLINOIS
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
staff writer
OTTAWA — In a ruling that could have major implications for victims of childhood sexual abuse in Illinois, an appeals court is upholding the rights of five men to sue the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet.
In a split decision, the 3rd District Appellate Court rejected the diocese's argument that too much time had elapsed from when the alleged abuses occurred for the men to pursue legal action. The majority ruled that the statute of limitations hadn't expired, and that a jury should decide the truthfulness of the men's claims that they only recently discovered the lasting harm caused by the alleged abuses.
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by priests hailed the decision, which the court issued on Friday. The diocese and attorneys for the men learned of the decision late Tuesday.
"This is part of a nationwide trend in which judges are more often ruling that the church's internal policies do not trump civil and criminal laws," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Hal Dardick
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 19, 2006
A state appeals court opinion released this week could allow five men to pursue sexual abuse lawsuits against two former priests from the Catholic Diocese of Joliet, even though the alleged abuse took place more than two decades ago.
The 3rd District Appellate Court ruled 2-1 to overturn a Will County trial court judge's 2004 ruling that the statute of limitations on bringing sexual abuse claims had expired.
The opinion is binding on trial court judges in the 3rd District, which includes Will and Peoria Counties. Cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests were filed recently in Peoria and are expected to turn, in part, on the statute-of-limitations question, attorneys said.
Judges in other jurisdictions are not bound by the Appellate Court's decision, but they "will lean toward" following the 3rd District opinion, said attorney Aldo Botti, who represents former priests named in the Will and Peoria County suits.
DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Rosa Ramirez, Rocky Mountain News
January 18, 2006
Four more sexual abuse lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Denver were filed today, including one in which a victim alleges a priest began to abuse him before the priest was ordained.
Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Wednesday during a press conference outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at the corner of Logan Street and Colfax Avenue, the four victims showed tremendous courage in coming forward to speak against the abuse they suffered in the hands of those they trusted the most.
"Many tell their stories with tears and broken hearts," Blaine said.
John Doe 1B alleges that between 1959 to 1962, when he was 13 years-old, he was sexually molested, exploited or solicited by Harold R. White, who was a seminarian at the time, according to a court document.
DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register
By JARED STRONG
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
January 18, 2006
Advocates for sex-abuse survivors held a news conference this morning in downtown Des Moines in support of a lawsuit filed Tuesday that named a deceased Des Moines Catholic priest.
A former altar boy at Holy Family Parish in Lacona now living in Alaska filed the suit Tuesday, alleging he was abused by the Rev. Albert Wilwerding, who died in Sept. 2004.
Wilwerding was one of three priests that Des Moines Bishop Joseph Charron recommended for defrocking because of credible sex abuse allegations, but Wilwerding died before the Vatican could act on that request.
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said there have been far too few cases of sexual misconduct reported by the Des Moines Diocese, which comprises 31 parishes in central and southwest Iowa.
IRELAND
RTE News
18 January 2006 22:04
A retired Catholic priest, who worked in Co Galway in the diocese of Clonfert, is being investigated for alleged child sex abuse.
The Bishop of Clonfert, Dr John Kirby, has said the allegations related to a period in the 1970s before the priest came to work in Clonfert.
It is understood the priest belonged to a foreign diocese and the allegations against him only came to light recently.
Dr Kirby said the priest is currently under full time medical supervision and on being advised of the allegation the church authorities informed both the gardaí and HSE.
DES MOINES (IA)
KCCI
DES MOINES, Iowa -- A lawsuit claims the Des Moines diocese was involved in a conspiracy to conceal the wrong doing of a priest accused of sex abuse.
The complainant is only identified as John Doe. The lawsuit was filed at the Polk County Courthouse Tuesday.
The suit names Albert Wilwerding as the priest who sexually abused John Doe. John Doe grew up in Lacona. The abuse allegedly happened when the priest was at St. Mary's Parish in Rosemont.
Wilwerding is now deceased.
The lawsuit also said the Des Moines Catholic diocese was negligent because it knew of Wilwerdings sexual misconduct and failed to warn parishes.
John Doe is asking for damages from the diocese.
Members of the group SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, held a news conference downtown in support of John Doe.
UNITED STATES
National
“The church cannot and should not hide behind its lawyers or the law blindly and in all circumstances.”
-- The “Bennett Report” on the “Crisis in the Catholic Church in the United States,” February 2004
“We who have been given the responsibility of shepherding God’s people, will … continue to work to restore the bonds of trust that unite us. Words alone cannot accomplish this goal. It will begin with the actions we take in our general assembly and at home in our dioceses and eparchies.”
-- U.S. bishops’ “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People”
At their general assembly last November, the U.S. Catholic bishops didn’t discuss the clergy sex abuse crisis. At least publicly. It may have come up in private, but it’s no longer a regular agenda item. The bishops gave no sense of how they’re doing in attempting to reestablish “the bonds of trust” that have been so badly damaged. There is no public record of what they said if, indeed, they dealt with it at all.
It is likely that many, and probably most, of the church leaders assembled in that meeting room in Washington believe that they’ve made great strides in dealing with the crisis. In many ways they have. They’ve gone from complete denial to developing programs, subjecting themselves to studies and audits (albeit self-reported) and to public scrutiny.
UNITED KINGDOM
Galway Independent
Former Bishop of Galway Dr Eamon Casey is welcome to return to his UK diocese, following reports that he has been cleared of abuse allegations.
Dr Casey stood aside from his ministry in the diocese of Arundel and Brighton last December, where he has served for the past six years, following allegations of abuse by a middle-aged woman.
The abuse was alleged to have taken place when the woman was a young girl in Limerick. Limerick Gardaí refused to comment on the allegations.
However, reports in the national media yesterday (Tuesday) indicated that Dr Casey was to be cleared of the allegations. It is understood that Gardaí consider there to be no substance to the claims that were levelled by the woman said to be known to Dr Casey.
Speaking to the Galway Independent yesterday, Bishop of the Arundul and Brighton, Dr Kieran Conry said that, while he has not received any confirmation of Dr Casey’s clearance, Dr Casey’s parishioners would be happy to have him back.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Dennis M . Mahoney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Members of a Columbus Catholic Diocese board that reviews clergy sex-abuse cases are weighing what should be done about a priest accused of abusing a minor.
The diocese yesterday would not name the priest or provide details of the allegations against him.
The seven-member review board, set up after the sex-abuse scandal that rocked the U.S. church in 2002, was briefed on the case by diocesan officials yesterday, said Robin Miller, spokeswoman for the diocese.
The board will consider the case and make a recommendation to Bishop Frederick Campbell on what action, if any, should be taken against the priest, she said. The bishop will make the final decision.
Miller said she could not name the priest, give the age or gender of his alleged victim, disclose when or where the alleged abuse occurred or say when the allegation was first made.
The New York Times
Published: January 18, 2006
The Rev. Thomas Gumbleton, an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, urged lawmakers in Ohio last week to support a bill that would put his church at great risk of embarrassment, shame and financial hardship. The bill would relax the statute of limitations on sexual abuse, granting a one-year window for lawsuits by those whose right to a day in court lapsed long ago. In Ohio and other states, advocates for the victims of abusive priests have supported this path to justice for long-hidden crimes.
The bishop spoke in no official capacity and, among church leaders, he stood alone. Other bishops have lobbied strenuously against such laws, fearing ruinous litigation. They are right to be afraid; a one-year window in California led to about 800 lawsuits, including 500 in Los Angeles. The bills could easily reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
But Bishop Gumbleton's stance is right and just. He spoke not as an administrator but as a priest and, more compellingly, as a victim of abuse himself. Breaking a silence of 60 years, he revealed that he had been groped as a 15-year-old seminarian by a priest who is now dead.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News
Daily News Staff and Wire Services
Jury selection got under way Tuesday in Los Angeles for the trial of a former Roman Catholic priest charged with molesting a boy in the early 1990s.
Michael Wempe, 65, who was assigned to parishes in Palmdale, Ventura and Westlake Village and taught at a Catholic high school in Lancaster, faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted of five felony counts, according to Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks.
Two brothers of the alleged victim and six other accusers are expected to testify that they also were molested by Wempe when they were boys, Hicks said.
Their testimony will help demonstrate that Wempe had a history of abusing young boys, he said.
INDIA
Mid-Day Mumbai
January 18, 2006
A local court in Mumbai today convicted a temple priest on the charge of rape of a 62-year-old woman within the temple complex in Andheri in 2004.
Pronouncing the judgement, additional sessions judge M Keny held the accused, Yogesh Sharma, alias Mukhia (25), guilty of the rape charge and sentenced him to two years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 4,000 and, in default, to undergo another year's imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, the victim was raped in the temple on June 16, 2004. Immediately, she rushed to a private hospital, but was referred to the municipal hospital after which the Versova police registered a complaint of rape against the priest.
WORCESTER (MA)
WHDH
WORCESTER (AP) -- Testimony is expected to continue today in the murder trial of Joseph Druce, the prison inmate accused of killing defrocked priest John Geoghan.
The trial was postponed yesterday because Druce's lead lawyer, John LaChance, and one of the jurors hearing the case were ill.
The jury heard testimony last week that Druce confessed to prison authorities that he killed Geoghan because he wanted to (quote) "save the children."
During the first week of the trial, Druce was generally subdued in the courtroom.
But during recesses when the jury was out of the courtroom, he often shouted out his views to reporters. During one break, he yelled out that Cardinal Bernard Law should be "held responsible for crimes against innocent children."
IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph
By Brian McDonald
18 January 2006
An elderly priest has disappeared after people discovered he fathered a child with a woman less than half his age.
Fr Maurice "Mossy" Dillane (73) is thought to have left the diocese of Clonfert in the Republic to live with a relative after a showdown with a bishop.
News of Fr Dillane's relationship with the woman, in her early 30s, has shocked people in the parish of Woodford-Looscaun, Co Galway.
Fr Dillane had been appointed curate of the parish about 18 months ago by Bishop John Kirby.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Brian McDonald
A PRIEST in his 70s has disappeared from a west of Ireland diocese after his parishioners discovered he had fathered a child with a young woman, less than half his age.
The current whereabouts of curate Fr Maurice (Mossy) Dillane (73) are unknown. He is thought to have left the diocese of Clonfert in recent weeks to live with a relative in the south of the country.
News of Fr Dillane's relationship with the woman in her early 30s has shocked people living in the parish of Woodford-Looscaun in east Galway.
SCOTLAND
Scotsman
MICHAEL HOWIE
SCOTTISH ministers are battling to have a potential £8.5 million compensation claim from scores of abused former school pupils thrown out, despite a public apology for their suffering from the First Minister, Jack McConnell.
The Executive is appealing against a judge's ruling that appeared to pave the way for legal actions from 170 ex-pupils of three residential schools run by monks from the Catholic order De La Salle.
The Executive's attempt to wash its hands of the negligence claim appears to fly in the face of an apology to the abused former pupils made by Mr McConnell two years ago. At the time he said: "Those children, adults today, deserve full recognition by us of what happened to them. They were badly wronged.
"Now that we know what has happened, it falls to us as representatives of the Scottish people to acknowledge it."
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Pervaiz Shallwani
Of The Morning Call
The former pastor of a Lansdale church has admitted in court that he had sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl who was a parishioner and went on youth group trips he supervised.
Charles D. Smith Jr., 44, who now lives in New Jersey, pleaded guilty Friday in Montgomery County Court to one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse. He had performed sex acts on the girl and e-mailed her pornography.
Assistant District Attorney Barbara Ashcroft chided Smith for abusing his position as minister and youth leader at North Penn Church of Christ.
''This defendant was a mentor, and he violated the trust of these young girls,'' Ashcroft said Tuesday.
Smith, who lived in Franconia Township at the time, cooperated with authorities after he was first questioned on May 26.
SPAIN
EiTB
Spanish police said on Wednesday they had arrested 33 people, including bankers, retirees and a priest, on charges of using the Internet to exchange child pornography.
Those arrested are suspected of using credit cards to purchase and distribute child pornography material from Web sites operating out of Florida in the United States and Belarus, a police statement said.
Investigations began last year in collaboration with U.S. Treasury Department and the state attorney's office in New Jersey.
After months of probes, police identified 33 users in Spain. Ten of the detainees were arrested in Barcelona and the rest across the country.
CANADA
Canada East
GREG JOYCE
VANCOUVER (CP) - A law firm representing a tiny percentage of aboriginals who suffered physical and cultural abuse in residential schools wants a tentative agreement dealing with settlements to be revamped.
In November, shortly before the federal election was called, an agreement-in-principle was reached between the federal government and some aboriginal organizations to deal with abuse in residential schools. The federal government proposed more than $2 billion in payments and healing programs to atone for decades of abuse in the schools for native children.
If the deal is approved in court, survivors of rape, beatings and cultural isolation would likely be paid by the end of 2006. They now average age 60. Many are sick or dying.
SCRANTON (PA)
Times Leader
By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@leader.net
SCRANTON – In an increasingly heated civil lawsuit, the Diocese of Scranton contends its interpretation of the First Amendment justifies its refusal to hand over internal documents regarding sex abuse allegations.
Lawyers for the victim, identified only as John Doe, countered that the First Amendment is irrelevant to their request for the documents.
The First Amendment states in part that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof, the diocese has interpreted the clause as a separation of church and state.
The argument is unfolding in the U.S. District Court Middle District as part of a suit Doe brought against the diocese, the Rev. Albert Liberatore, former Bishop James Timlin and others. The civil suit was filed after Liberatore admitted to criminal charges that he had given Doe, then a minor, alcohol and molested him during overnight stays at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church rectory in Duryea from 1999 to 2004.
IOWA
The Globe Gazette
By JULIE BIRKEDAL, of The Globe Gazette
A former North Iowa priest accused of sexual abuse whom the Vatican directed to be disciplined has died.
The Rev. William A. Goltz, 80, died Jan. 7 in Prairie du Chien, Wis., said Monsignor James Barta, vicar general for the Archdiocese of Dubuque.
Goltz served at Visitation Catholic Church in Stacyville and St. Mel in McIntire in 1953 and 1954, and at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hampton and St. Francis Catholic Church in Dumont from 1971 to 1973.
He was accused of sexual abuse against several boys as long ago as the 1950s, according to a report from the Archdiocese of Dubuque released on Jan. 4. Three lawsuits were filed in 2005.
The Vatican directed the Archbishop to impose “a penal precept upon the Rev. William A. Goltz, obliging him to lead a life of prayer and penance.” Goltz was not to be permitted to celebrate Mass publicly, administer sacraments, wear clerical clothing or present himself as a priest.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A Vatican-chartered inquiry team began work at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe Monday, part of a study of whether U.S. seminaries are providing proper spiritual, moral and theological training for the priesthood.
Two bishops and two priests will spend five days interviewing all 64 candidates for priesthood and all regular faculty. All graduates of the past three years have been invited to meet with the team or to offer signed comments in writing.
Identical studies are being done at all 229 Catholic seminaries in the United States. SS. Cyril & Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary on the North Side was among the first to be visited in November, and St. Paul Seminary in East Carnegie will be visited next month.
Because the visitation is the Vatican's response to the child sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic priesthood, and it coincides with a statement banning men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from ordination, many media have treated it as an investigation into the sexual climate of the seminaries. However, the 55 questions that each team is expected to address range widely. Only one concerns whether there is "evidence of homosexuality in the seminary."
IOWA
Storm Lake Pilot Tribune
January 17, 2006
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are angry that a retired priest who once served Storm Lake has not been defrocked, despite more allegations against him than any other Iowa priest in the past 50 years.
At least 25 people have accused the Rev. George McFadden, 80, of sexually abusing them as children while he served in six northwest Iowa parishes from 1953-92.
McFadden started his career at Storm Lake St. Mary's Church from 1953-57. None of the outpouring of accusations have come from the Storm Lake assignment, with the earliest report that has been made public dating to alleged abuses in 1959. Many other accusations come from the priest's stints in Jefferson and Sioux City. He also served in LeMars and Sibley before retiring in 1992. As of last July, the diocese had settled at least 22 lawsuits or sexual abuse claims, all naming McFadden, according to an Associated Press report. Three other lawsuits are pending against the diocese and McFadden.
UNITED STATES
The Michigan Daily
January 18, 2006
At a time when conservatism and Christianity seem to go hand in hand, Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton offers an alternative interpretation of Christianity that leads believers to promote justice and equality — not war and tax cuts for the wealthy. Last week, Gumbleton became the first Catholic bishop to reveal that he was sexually molested by a priest in his youth, and he is the highest ranking American church official supportive of efforts to allow victims more time to seek justice in court. His honesty and openness is important to holding the Catholic Church responsible for sexual abuse by some of its priests, which went unaddressed for decades. With this announcement, Gumbleton has continued his long career as a current-day example of a Christian leader devoting his life to promote social justice and progressive ideals.
It is difficult to understand why Christianity and conservatives have become such comfortable bedfellows. When legislators in Alabama tried to pass a tax increase in 2003 to increase education funding and alleviate the tax burden on the state’s poor, for example, it was conservative Christian groups that led the way in persuading state voters to reject the proposal. These groups cited their opposition to any tax increases, a stance that seems to have little to do with religion.
The teachings of Jesus, the backbone of the Christian faith, have much to do with reaching out to society’s outcasts. And in past times of social unrest, like the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, churches took a prominent role in joining across the country to bring an end to segregation. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. evoked the teachings of Christianity not to politicize the struggle for equality, but rather to reach out to those whose faith and morals led them to the same conclusion — that American society must embrace members of all races.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
A former Inland priest accused in lawsuits of molesting at least 19 altar boys is due to be released from prison next week to a downtown San Bernardino halfway house, a relative and authorities said.
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, a twice-convicted child molester who once told police he abused dozens of boys during his 20 years as a Catholic priest, is scheduled to live in a group home in a decaying residential neighborhood along Interstate 215.
The former priest has no plans but is excited about his scheduled Jan. 25 release from a state prison near Corcoran, said his brother, Tom Rodrigue.
"I still have a lot of concerns about his release because he is a pedophile, and he'll be a pedophile until he dies," said Tom Rodrigue, who visits his brother monthly in prison. "There is no cure for it, and I just hope that he basically stays in a halfway house with other adults and he is never around kids."
IOWA
Quad-City Times
By The Associated Press
A retired Roman Catholic priest from the Dubuque Archdiocese, who was accused of sexually abusing several boys in the 1950s has died.
The archdiocese learned of his death after he died, but was not told the cause of death, said James Barta, vicar general for archdiocese.
“We found out that he had been in the hospital for several days, but we didn’t know what for,” he said. “We had heard his condition was deteriorating but (the archdiocese) was never told a diagnosis and was never alerted to any imminent death.”
Goltz, who was ordained as a priest in 1950, had several abuse allegations against him. He was named in three lawsuits filed in 2005.
Goltz retired in 1991. In 1992, the Vatican barred him from celebrating mass in public or presenting himself as a priest publicly. In 2005, the Vatican ordered him to live a life of prayer and penance.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The trial of Joseph L. Druce, the inmate charged with murder in the 2003 prison slaying of pedophile priest John J. Geoghan, was suspended yesterday because Mr. Druce’s lawyer was sick.
Judge Francis R. Fecteau told the jury in the Worcester Superior Court case that Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance of Framingham, was too ill to attend court yesterday, but that he was optimistic the trial would be able to resume today.
Judge Fecteau said the trial, which was expected to last about two weeks once a jury was chosen, remained on schedule. Testimony began a week ago today.
While the nature of Mr. LaChance’s illness was not made clear, the judge said it was anticipated that it would be short-lived. A juror also called in sick yesterday, reporting that she was suffering flu-like symptoms, according to Judge Fecteau. The 16-member jury includes four alternate jurors. The alternates will be randomly chosen at the conclusion of the case. A total of 12 jurors will deliberate.
If Mr. LaChance had been present yesterday, the missing juror could have been excused from service and the trial could have continued.
Mr. Druce, 40, has raised an insanity defense to the charge of murdering the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan on Aug. 23, 2003, in the ex-priest’s prison cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line. Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy when he was killed. Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
According to testimony from prison officials and state police, Mr. Druce admitted strangling and beating Mr. Geoghan after slipping into his cell unnoticed, allegedly saying he killed the former priest to prevent him from molesting other children after his release from custody.
After being brought into the courtroom yesterday so the judge could excuse the jury for the day, Mr. Druce turned to a television camera and blurted, “Pedophiles, beware; Joe Druce says leave the kids alone.”
Mr. Druce also charged that prosecutors had withheld potentially exculpatory evidence in connection with a motion to dismiss his case. After the jury had left the courtroom, Mr. Druce sought to address the court about a motion he had personally filed relating to a witness who he claimed perjured herself during a hearing on the motion to dismiss.
Judge Fecteau declined to discuss the matter in Mr. LaChance’s absence.
CANADA
London Free Press
By PETER GEIGEN-MILLER, FREE PRESS REPORTER
A London lawyer is proposing what he says will be a kinder, speedier and money-saving system for resolving legal disputes arising from sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the Diocese of London.
Lawyer Paul Ledroit said the proposed dispute resolution system would replace lengthy and costly civil suits with a compassionate approach that will spare abuse victims the emotional trauma that can result from prolonged civil litigation.
Ledroit's announcement came as his firm launched a $3.1-million suit on behalf of a 60-year-old London woman who says she was abused by a Catholic priest while a student at Mount St. Joseph's Academy in London in the 1950s.
A statement of claim filed in the Superior Court of Justice in London names retired priest Charles Henry Sylvestre, the Roman Catholic Diocese of London and Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro as defendants.
MARYLAND
The Columbus Dispatch
Friday, January 13, 2006
Dennis M . Mahoney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A former priest who served in the Columbus Catholic Diocese for six years will be released from prison in Maryland on Jan. 22 after serving time for sexual abuse.
Francis Benham, 69, was sentenced to 18 months in the Prince George’s County Correctional Center last March. He had pleaded guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl and a 15-yearold boy from 1975 to 1979 while he was pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Forestville, Md.
Benham will be on supervised probation for three years, and his name will be added to the registry of sex offenders in Maryland.
Paula Pettiford, spokeswoman for the correctional center, said Benham is being released now because he was given credit for the time he served before sentencing.
CALIFORNIA
Ventura County Star
By Stephanie Hoops, shoops@VenturaCountyStar.com
January 17, 2006
Win or lose, there will be ghosts to face before disgraced priest Michael Wempe's criminal trial comes to an end.
A lineup of men whom Wempe is alleged to have abused while working as a member of the Roman Catholic clergy will be on hand to take the stand as his trial gets under way in Los Angeles today.
"I'll have six men testify to events that happened to them spanning from the middle 1970s to the late 1980s," said Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks. "After those six testify, I'll have the alleged victim testify to things that happened to him in the early- to mid-1990s involving the defendant."
The alleged victim whose charges will be the focus of the proceeding is the youngest of three brothers, two of whom first came forward with claims that Wempe molested them. But the eldest two brothers' claims were dubbed too old and thrown out with several other peoples' after a 2003 opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court.
DES MOINES (IA)
WOI
DES MOINES, Iowa A retired Roman Catholic priest from the Dubuque Archdiocese who was accused of sexually abusing several boys in the 1950s has died.
The Reverend William Goltz died on January seventh at a hospital in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he was living. He was 80.
Archdiocese spokesman James Barta says the archdiocese was told of Goltz's death, but was not told the cause of death. Barta says Goltz had been ill and had been in the hospital for several days.
Goltz, who was named in three lawsuits filed last year, was banned by the Vatican from performing the duties of a priest.
IRELAND
One in Four
Disgraced Bishop Eamon Casey is in the clear over allegations that he carried out a sexual assault.
The Star can reveal that gardai are now satisfied there is not substance to the allegations made against him late last year by a Limerick-born woman.
His English bishop last night said he would welcome him back to his rural parish – but he didn’t know where he was.
It’s understood that gardai are now happy that no further action should be taken in the investigation, which began in December after the woman made a formal complaint and Bishop Casey stood down as a priest.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
GARDAI have sent a file to the DPP following allegations that a priest raped a 24-year-old woman who went to him for advice after she became pregnant.
Last October the Irish Independent revealed the priest was continuing to serve in the Tuam diocese despite the archbishop being aware of the garda investigation.
SCOTLAND
Glasgow Daily Record
By Gordon Lyon
A UNIVERSITY chaplain was yesterday found guilty of a string of sex attacks on a woman.
A court had been told Carmelite friar Mark Paterson struck at his chaplaincy as his "vulnerable" victim helped with domestic tasks.
The woman had also been indecently assaulted by a priest in his 70s who previously worked at Aberdeen University Chaplaincy.
The elderly priest admitted the attacks but the woman refused to bring charges.
However, she told Aberdeen Sheriff Court New Zealander Paterson, 47, a former sheep-shearer, groped her and exposed himself to her.
SCOTLAND
BBC News
A monk has been put on the sex offenders' register after being found guilty of indecently assaulting a woman at Aberdeen University.
The offences took place over a period of almost two years at the establishment's Chaplaincy Centre.
However the university's Catholic Society has claimed Father Mark Paterson, 47, is the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
The priest's defence agent said any physical contact had been "playful".
Despite hearing an argument that there was no sexual motive, Sheriff Kenneth Stewart disagreed and found Paterson guilty at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Eunice White, a lifelong Catholic who said her religious faith means everything to her, believes she could have been an asset to the Roman Catholic Church but instead has been cast in the role of being a “thorn in the side of the church.”
As the mother of a man who alleges he was sexually abused by a priest of the Worcester diocese, she has begun to take center stage in the battle to reform laws in Massachusetts, reforms aimed at making it easier to prosecute those who sexually abuse minors.
Mrs. White and others in Central Massachusetts have joined a statewide coalition to support legislative measures to drop the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse so that victims can bring criminal charges many years after the alleged incidents, to drop the $20,000 charitable immunity cap in cases of sexual abuse of children so that the victims can get bigger settlements in lawsuits, and to make religious organizations responsible for filing public financial accountings with the state, as is required of other nonprofit groups.
She and others in Massachusetts working to change the laws on sexual abuse of minors got a boost last week when Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit told a legislative session in Ohio that he also was abused by a priest when he was 15 and that he favors changes in the laws of several states dealing with sexual abuse of minors.
He said he knows firsthand the difficulty a person encounters in revealing abuse by clergy because he also kept his abuse secret for years and only was revealing it now at age 75. He is the first American bishop to disclose that he was abused by a priest. He also is concerned that the lingering scandal is undermining the efforts of Catholics to carry out the social justice mission of the church.
Susan Renehan of Southbridge, co-director of the Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts, said the group hopes to get Bishop Gumbleton to come to Massachusetts and speak on the issues.
Mrs. White, a Worcester resident, appeared at a rally last week at the Statehouse in Boston and spoke at length on two matters: the need to change the statute of limitations for sexual abuse crimes against minors and to require that religious organizations make public disclosure of finances.
Her son, who is listed in court documents as John Doe, has a civil lawsuit pending against the Diocese of Worcester alleging that he was sexually abused during the 1970s by the Rev. Raymond Messier, who has been on leave from the diocese since the suit was filed.
“It’s got to stop. Someone has to step up to the plate,” Mrs. White said in an interview Friday. She said she was pleased to see 200 to 300 people attend the Statehouse rally but was disappointed that the event did not draw much media coverage.
“Massachusetts should be in the forefront of reforming laws, but we are among the last to change the laws against pedophiles. My concern is not just priests and clergy abuse to children, but any pedophiles,” she said. “These proposed changes in the law will not help my son, but it will help someone else’s child,” she said.
A number of Central Massachusetts legislators are supporting changes in the laws. Area co-sponsors of a bill to alter the statute of limitations on sexual abuse allegations include state Reps. Mark J. Carron, D-Southbridge, Lewis G. Evangelidis, R-Holden, John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester, Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester, and state Sens. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre and Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge.
Mr. Fresolo said on Friday that he supports the reform legislation and wants to eliminate the statute of limitation on the crime of sexual abuse of a minor in both civil and criminal proceedings. Mr. Fresolo, a Catholic, said, “I think it is imperative to allow young sexual abuse victims time to come to terms with the assault on them before having to go through the ordeal of dealing with law enforcement, the legal system and their attacker,” he said.
Mr. Fresolo said he was told one lawyer involved with victims of clergy sexual abuse said the average age of abuse for his 40 clients was age 12, while most did not report the abuse until they were past age 40.
Mr. Fresolo added that he also supported the measure that would require religious organizations to make financial disclosures to the state, and he supports changes in the $20,000 charitable immunity cap that limits the amount of money that sexual abuse victims can collect from churches.
“The current cap on tort liability for charitable organizations is $20,000 for minor sex abuse cases. This bill would eliminate the cap relative to only those cases in which a nonprofit organization is negligent or reckless. Parents entrust their children to hundreds of nonprofits every day. It is that organization’s obligation to ensure each child is safe while under its care. This bill will ensure that organizations are thinking of the children first when dealing with accusations of sexual abuse,” Mr. Fresolo said.
Statutes of limitation serve a purpose in ensuring justice, he said, because memories fade and evidence is lost after years. He believes eliminating the statute of limitations in sexual abuse cases could open the door to false prosecution of innocent people.
Bishop Robert J. McManus has sent letters to parishes asking Catholics of the diocese to begin contacting their legislators to say they oppose bills that would mandate public financial disclosure. He said that legislation would require an audit of each parish and it could cost as much as $10,000 to $15,000 a year.
State Sen. Marian D. Walsh, D-Boston, who is sponsoring the financial disclosure law, said the audit would be required of the diocese and not individual parishes. The financial disclosure bill also is opposed by the Massachusetts Council of Churches and other religious groups. The Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy and lobbying arm of the Massachusetts bishops, is opposed to all these changes, which they believe would undermine the constitutional separation of church and state.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Laura Berman
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, who stepped forward last week to describe being molested by a priest when he was a teenager, was shaped by the passions and shames of a long-ago era.
But not as you might expect.
When the Detroit auxiliary bishop testified in support of Ohio legislation that would allow abuse victims a longer statute of limitations, he revealed a secret he had held for decades, even while the issue of pedophilia in the church raged. The story -- of a young seminary student preyed upon by a priest and teacher -- might seem to explain, at least in part, Gumbleton's compassion for the downtrodden over the course of his adult life.
He's the bishop speaking at the Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War congress (1989). The one participating in the "Global Exchange Delegation with Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" in Afghanistan.
For decades, he has allied himself with liberal causes, traveling to the world's most forsaken places: Kazakhstan, Hiroshima, Haiti, Guatemala, Peru.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Laura Berman
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, who stepped forward last week to describe being molested by a priest when he was a teenager, was shaped by the passions and shames of a long-ago era.
But not as you might expect.
When the Detroit auxiliary bishop testified in support of Ohio legislation that would allow abuse victims a longer statute of limitations, he revealed a secret he had held for decades, even while the issue of pedophilia in the church raged. The story -- of a young seminary student preyed upon by a priest and teacher -- might seem to explain, at least in part, Gumbleton's compassion for the downtrodden over the course of his adult life.
He's the bishop speaking at the Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War congress (1989). The one participating in the "Global Exchange Delegation with Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" in Afghanistan.
For decades, he has allied himself with liberal causes, traveling to the world's most forsaken places: Kazakhstan, Hiroshima, Haiti, Guatemala, Peru.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Laura Berman
Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, who stepped forward last week to describe being molested by a priest when he was a teenager, was shaped by the passions and shames of a long-ago era.
But not as you might expect.
When the Detroit auxiliary bishop testified in support of Ohio legislation that would allow abuse victims a longer statute of limitations, he revealed a secret he had held for decades, even while the issue of pedophilia in the church raged. The story -- of a young seminary student preyed upon by a priest and teacher -- might seem to explain, at least in part, Gumbleton's compassion for the downtrodden over the course of his adult life.
He's the bishop speaking at the Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War congress (1989). The one participating in the "Global Exchange Delegation with Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" in Afghanistan.
For decades, he has allied himself with liberal causes, traveling to the world's most forsaken places: Kazakhstan, Hiroshima, Haiti, Guatemala, Peru.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
By Maureen O'Donnell
Special to the Daily Southtown
The Rev. Robert Lutz was known as a priest who listened to the congregation.
"He was a people's priest; that's for sure,'' said Bishop Thad Jakubowski. "He was really for the people. He listened to them. He took their advice. He was not one to be pushy."
The Rev. Lutz, who served for 44 years in the parishes of Chicago's Roman Catholic Archdiocese, was named pastor emeritus at St. Norbert Parish in 1994 after a 10-year stint as pastor. He served the previous 10 years as pastor at St. Mary Star of the Sea on the Southwest Side. ...
That trust in God helped the Rev. Lutz, friends said, when a lawsuit accused him and a female school principal of molesting a 7-year-old boy at St. Norbert in the 1980s. A jury exonerated them after a civil trial, and Northbrook police said an investigation by the Cook County state's attorney's office determined the charges by the boy's parents were unfounded.
"He felt no ill feelings toward anyone,'' Jakubowski said. "He was a man of prayer.''
Nonetheless, the Rev. Lutz filed a defamation lawsuit against the boy's parents and reached a settlement. Advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse said such lawsuits could intimidate victims. Friends countered that he had endured a five-year wait for vindication.
SANTO DOMINGO
Dominican Today
SANTO DOMINGO.- The liquidator judge of the Altagracia (Higüey) Judicial District’s Penal Chamber cancelled the hearing set for this morning against the priest Cirilo Núñez, the ex- priest Ramon Betances and others implied in the case of sexually molesting minors in a children’s shelter, located in San Rafael del Yuma (east).
Judge Julio Cesar Medina cancelled the hearing to send the file by before the liquidator instruction judge Modesto Bigaíl Bernardino, to begin an additional process against Police corporal Henry Concepcion, who worked as a guard in the shelter and against who the charges were dismissed by a lower court. The lawyer Rosa Fernandez motioned to the court to include Concecion in the case.
In addition of Núñez and Betances accused in the case are the shelter’s sub administrator Rafael González Divison; Margarita Gardin de González, the wife of the deacon Rigoberto González Padial, who recently passed away, the couple Ventura Perez de la Cruz and Felipa Jose, the Haitian Jeniese Noncent and Maria Cristina Guerrero (Raysa).
UNITED STATES
Spero News
Monday, January 16, 2006
by Father John McCloskey
The Catholic Church in the United States is in a state of profound transition. A priest or layman transported through time from 1965 to 2005 would be astonished and most likely disconcerted by the dramatic changes that have taken place in the 40 years following the close of Vatican II.
Evaluating American Influence
Of course, the hierarchical and sacramental nature of the Church remains unchanged. What, however, has clearly changed are the numbers and status of laity, religious, and clergy in the mystical Body of Christ. Related to this is the altered understanding of their roles in the Church.
I am writing this article in the aftermath of what the well-known convert Fr. Richard John Neuhaus referred to as "the long Lent" that the Church in America has undergone. This refers to the painful unraveling of the revelation and past cover-up of thousands of accusations of sexual abuse of young people (some well-founded, others not) by Catholic clergy. Although brutally disillusioning to many of the lay faithful, these accusations were brought against less than 2% of Catholic clergy during this time period, and some of the cases even pre-dated the post-Vatican II era.
UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star
Published on 16/01/2006
A PRIEST who sexually abused 10 male pupils has had his jail term cut by one year in London's Criminal Appeal Court.
Gregory Peter Carroll, 66, who had taught at Ampleforth College, near York, before working in Workington, was jailed for four years at York Crown Court last September.
Carroll, ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, had denied four indecent assaults and three linked offences of indecency with a child - those charges relating to three boys aged under 14.
He also admitted indecently assaulting seven other unidentified boys, who were under 15.
SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune
PATRICK M. O'CONNELL
Tribune Staff Writer
Former Little Flower Catholic Church pastor Paul LeBrun was sentenced Friday to the maximum 111 years in prison for sexually abusing Arizona boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Judge Crane McClennen handed out the sentence in Maricopa County Superior Court in Mesa, Ariz., following an hour and a half of emotional testimony by victims and their relatives, the Arizona Republic reported.
After the sentence was read, LeBrun, 49, dressed in a black-and-white striped sheriff's jumpsuit, was consoled by his attorneys and showed little emotion as he shuffled across the courtroom for fingerprinting.
Relatives and friends of the victims applauded the sentence but said it cannot reverse the damage caused by LeBrun.
HUDSON (WI)
Record Searchlight
By ROBERT IMRIE
Associated Press Writer
HUDSON, Wis. (AP) -- A Roman Catholic bishop apologized Sunday for the way the diocese handled complaints about a late priest who is believed to have later killed two funeral home workers.
Diocese of Superior Bishop Raphael Fliss promised changes, including better evaluation of priests and improved communication with parishes to resolve complaints.
"I know that ultimate responsibility for much of what has taken place rests upon my shoulders," he told about 700 people at St. Patrick's Catholic Church.
A Wisconsin judge ruled that the Rev. Ryan Erickson almost certainly shot to death funeral home director Dan O'Connell, 39, and employee James Ellison, 22, in 2002.
St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson said evidence suggests O'Connell learned the priest was sexually abusing someone, was providing alcohol to minors, or both. Erickson committed suicide in 2004, just days after police questioned him in the slayings.
NEW YORK
Syracuse Post-Standard
Monday, January 16, 2006
By Renée K. Gadoua
Staff writer
A Central New York Episcopal priest is suing the local Episcopal bishop and diocese for $4.35 million, saying the bishop tried to silence his efforts to investigate alleged sexual abuse that occurred in the 1970s.
"I reported accurate information to him and I was punished for it," said the Rev. David Bollinger, rector of St. Paul's Church in Owego.
"I deny that completely," Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams said Sunday. "Any actions taken concerning Father Bollinger have been done completely independently."
Bollinger said he first contacted Adams in 2002 about a victim of alleged sexual abuse by a former rector at the Owego parish. He said the diocese has failed to respond.
PUEBLO (CO)
Jackson Hole Star-Tribune
Monday, January 16, 2006
PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo is facing a 12th lawsuit claiming sexual abuse by a former Marianist brother, the Pueblo Chieftain reported Saturday.
Former Marianist Brother William Mueller is named in the latest suit, which alleges he used ether to render a Roncalli High School student helpless before molesting him. His order, the Society of Mary, is also named in the suit.
Mueller faces similar allegations in Missouri.
A spokesman for the order said Mueller, who now lives in San Antonio, left the order voluntarily in 1986 after being treated for "bizarre behavior."
The Chieftain requested and was denied permission to inspect records at Roncalli, which closed in 1971. Bishop Arthur Tafoya denied the request, saying it would violate personnel privacy policies.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 16, 2006
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton said Sunday that he'd support new Michigan laws to give victims more time to sue for monetary damages over long-ago sexual abuse by predatory Catholic priests -- legislation that's opposed by the state's top Catholic officials.
But Archdiocese of Detroit spokesman Ned McGrath suggested Sunday that Gumbleton is being hypocritical, and said that Gumbleton authorized church lawyers to invoke the same statute of limitations law he's now criticizing to block lawsuits which contended local church leaders, including Gumbleton, failed to monitor a onetime priest accused of abusing youngsters decades ago.
"I'm surprised by Bishop Gumbleton's stand on this," McGrath said. "He's authorized the archdiocese lawyers to use the statute of limitations stance on his defense."
Gumbleton disputed McGrath's statement, saying that defense was invoked "without my knowledge" and added that he had no oversight of the priest identified as an abuser in the lawsuits.
Last week, Gumbleton said he'd been inappropriately touched by a priest when he was a teenager attending Detroit's old Sacred Heart Seminary high school in the mid-1940s.
DES MOINES (IA)
WQAD
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP _ Advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests are angry that a retired Sioux City priest has not been defrocked.
Reverend George McFadden is still a priest, despite more allegations against him than any other Iowa priest in the past 50 years.
At least 25 people have accused the 80-year-old McFadden of sexually abusing them as children while he served in six northwest Iowa parishes from 1953 to 1992.
Last month, the Vatican ordered McFadden to cease public ministry and have no contact with children. He also was ordered to live a life of prayer and penance.
WORCESTER (MA)
WHDH
WORCESTER (AP) -- There's no question that Joseph Druce, a convicted murderer, killed a celebrated cellmate: defrocked priest John Geoghan.
He's admitted it but says he did it to "save the children" and prevent Geoghan, one of the leading figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Boston Archdiocese, from harming children in the future.
He contends he's not guilty of the crime by reason of insanity.
Yet for someone with that defense, he's shown remarkable restraint while jurors -- the people deciding his fate -- are in the courtroom.
Instead, Druce has made it clear in his trial, which began last week, that he sees the courtroom drama, at least in part, as a forum for him to speak about his case and the abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church.
Druce has frequently shouted out his views to reporters as he is led out of the courtroom during trial recesses.
BINGHAMTON (NY)
Virtue Online
By Brian Liberatore
Press & Sun-Bulletin
BINGHAMTON, NY: (January 15, 2006)--An Owego rector is suing the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York for $4.35 million, saying a bishop retaliated against him in an attempt to cover up sexual misconduct allegations the rector had brought to his attention.
David Bollinger, the rector of St. Paul's in Owego for more than 20 years, has been barred from his church for nearly a year by the diocese, which was served with the suit on Thursday. The diocese accused Bollinger of misusing church funds - a false accusation, Bollinger said, that has never led to charges.
"It was totally manufactured," Bollinger said. "A falsehood on their part to create a diversion away from what they had done to me and what they were doing to me."
The lawsuit, filed in Tioga County Superior Court, names Bishop Gladstone Adams, the diocese and the controller at the time, whom Bollinger claims broke into his personal bank account.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 15, 2006
Mary Ankenbrand and her sisters spent Christmas rejoicing at news that the Catholic priest they accused of abusing them as children finally had been removed from the priesthood.
Their vindication was premature.
George McFadden, a retired Sioux City cleric accused by at least 25 people of sexually abusing them as children, remains a priest.
Despite the fact that he has been accused of sexual abuse by more men and women than any other Iowa priest in the past 50 years, despite his admitting to his superiors that he had "committed harmful acts," despite his bishop's recommendation that he be removed from the priesthood, despite Vatican decisions to defrock other Iowa priests with fewer allegations, McFadden, 80, will die a priest.
The Vatican, citing McFadden's advanced age, last month forbade him to have any public ministry or contact with children, and ordered him to live a life of prayer and penance.
"I read that and thought it meant he had been defrocked," said Ceil Sokolowski, their mother.
When Ankenbrand learned the priest had merely been ordered to a life of prayer, she was stunned.
WISCONSIN
Stevens Point Journal
When Bishop Jerome E. Listecki of the Diocese of La Crosse recently celebrated the funeral Mass for a priest involved in the sexual abuse of a child, some eyebrows were raised.
Raymond Bornbach died on Tuesday last week in Marshfield and his funeral was Friday in Rozellville. The funeral wasn't publicly announced until after it had begun at St. Andrew Catholic Church. His family didn't want a disruption at the ceremony.
That could've happened. Some people were hurting.
An advisory board that reviews sexual abuse allegations in the diocese said in 2004 that a Plover woman's contention that she had been a victim of sexual abuse by Bornbach in 1971, when she was 9 years old, had been "sufficiently confirmed."
Bornbach was removed permanently from the ministry, and he was forbidden to wear clerical garb, present himself publicly as a priest or celebrate Mass in public.
CANADA
CNW Group
OTTAWA, Jan. 14 /CNW Telbec/ -
Dear Mr. Harper:
I am writing you to raise several critically important issues which
require your immediate attention and response. Because these issues are
matters of important public policy for all Canadians you should know that I
will be releasing this letter publicly.
Over the past several days you have sought through the media to clarify
your party's position on the Kelowna First Ministers Meeting agreement and,
secondly, on the residential school settlement agreement.
Your responses to both issues are of great concern. Should your party
form the next government, we believe that your actions on these two important
matters will indicate how the Conservative party will deal with our people in
the years to come. Therefore your response to this letter will be weighed
carefully by our people when they make their decision of who to vote for on
January 23rd.
With respect to the residential schools Settlement Agreement, The Globe
and Mail reported on Friday, January 13, that: "The Conservative Leader said,
however, that he would follow through with the agreement to compensate victims
of residential school abuse, although he may make slight adjustments". We
would like to know precisely what you mean by "slight adjustments". Given the
complexity of the Settlement Agreement, the great difficulty in achieving it,
and the terms of the abeyance agreements of the class actions, even the
slightest of changes will legally undo the Agreement and send thousands of
cases and numerous class actions back into the courts.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
Dianne Williamson
dwilliamson@telegram.com
T&G STAFF
Joseph L. Druce seems infinitely at home in Room 203 of Worcester Superior Court. The rail-thin defendant waves graciously to spectators and nods briskly in agreement at various witnesses who please him. He whispers urgently to his lawyer and addresses the judge at sidebar conferences. Each day, as he’s escorted in and out of the courtroom, he tosses nonsensical verbal nuggets at the media that target everyone from Gov. Mitt Romney to Pope Benedict XVI.
Is this the behavior of an egomaniac or a madman?
On Aug. 23, 2002, inmate Druce snuck into the cell of pedophile priest John J. Geoghan and strangled the life from the 68-year-old man with a pair of socks and a sneaker.
Is this the work of a cold-blooded killer or delusional lunatic?
Last week, various witnesses said Mr. Druce claimed that he killed the defrocked priest to protect children from further sexual abuse.
Will a jury render him moral or mad? If you kill a pedophile and don’t think it’s wrong, is that a sign of mental illness or something else?
The answers aren’t as obvious as one might think — or hope. During jury selection for Mr. Druce’s murder trial, one prospective juror was dismissed after admitting that he had no sympathy for Mr. Geoghan. Still another was released after telling the judge that Mr. Geoghan’s alleged crimes were so awful that he “probably didn’t deserve to live.”
In the courtroom Friday afternoon, Mr. Druce turned to address a spectator who has been seated quietly in the front row since the start of the trial.
“Did you get my letter?” Mr. Druce asked, before being shushed by a court officer.
The spectator is Richard Chesnis of Worcester. Earlier this year, he filed a civil suit in Worcester Superior Court in connection with the alleged sexual abuse of his son during the 1980s by a Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. John J. Szantyr, who also faces criminal charges.
On Friday, Mr. Chesnis told me that he’s written three “empathetic” letters to Mr. Druce since he was charged with the brutal slaying of the frail former priest.
“I don’t agree with the act of murder, but I agree with why he did it,” Mr. Chesnis said. “The state should have done what Mr. Druce did.”
Clearly, Mr. Druce believes he’s a hero. The self-described pedophile slayer and protector of children boasted repeatedly of the killing and believed it would make him famous, according to various witnesses. He claimed he committed the crime after overhearing a telephone conversation in which Mr. Geoghan, who was serving a 9- to 10-year sentence for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy, said he planned to go to South America to work with children after his release. Mr. Geoghan was a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in Boston, and was alleged to have abused many boys.
So one day Joseph Druce sneaked into his cell, fashioned a rough noose around the priest’s neck and ignored the man’s pleas for mercy.
“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Mr. Geoghan pleaded with his attacker.
“Your days are over,” Mr. Druce said he replied. “No more children for you, pal.” And with that, inside the protective custody unit of one of the most secure prisons in Massachusetts, Mr. Druce administered the crudest form of vigilante justice, in an institution that botched its basic duty to keep its prisoners safe.
His lawyer is raising an insanity defense, and it will be up to a jury to decide if Mr. Druce suffered from a mental disease or defect that caused him to lack the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions or that left him unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. I don’t envy the jurors, likely laypersons all, who must somehow crawl inside the head of Joseph Druce at the time he committed the crime. He planned it for weeks — does that mean he’s sane? He thinks he’s a savior — does that mean he’s nuts?
His statements to police offer evidence for both sides.
“He wouldn’t have let it happen if it wasn’t meant to be,” Mr. Druce told an investigator, referring to God.
Yet, he also told investigators that “I’m not sure it was justified” but that he knew he’d be held accountable for the crime.
Joyce Charon, a nurse’s assistant at the prison, said Mr. Druce “got a lot of fan mail” after the murder and was so boastful of the crime that staff would repeatedly tell him to shut up.
“I think he felt like it was his responsibility” to kill the defrocked priest, Ms. Charon said.
Mr. Druce is already serving a life sentence for the murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a pass at him after picking him up hitchhiking. An insanity defense failed to work in that trial. Testimony in court last week indicated that he also wanted to kill two prison inmates he believed to be gay.
During a break in Friday’s proceedings, Mr. Druce’s lawyer, John H. LaChance, said his client belongs in a mental health facility.
“The way we handle these types of people and the way we treat mental illness is a measure of our society,” he said.
He’s right. And the way we respond to the ruthless killing of a frail old man in a state-run institution — a man who, regardless of his crimes, was never sentenced to die — tells us whether we’re a nation of laws or a nation of lunatics. It’s one thing to express no sympathy for a pedophile, but quite another to applaud his executioner.
Joseph Druce may be mentally ill or he may be a calculated killer. Either way, he’s as far removed from a hero as it gets. That, perhaps, is the only obvious fact to emerge from this convoluted trial.
Contact Dianne Williamson by e-mail at dwilliamson@telegram.com
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By ANDREW RYAN, Associated Press | January 14, 2006
BOSTON --The Vatican has rejected the appeals of 10 parishes in the Boston Archdiocese that had petitioned to remain open after being shuttered as part of Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley's reconfiguration plan.
O'Malley announced in January 2004 plans to close more than 80 parishes in response to a decline in the number of priests, changing demographics, and financial troubles brought on in part by the clergy sex abuse scandal.
"We appreciate the disappointment that this news brings to those who submitted the appeals and all who are saddened by the parish closings," O'Malley said in a statement released Saturday. "This has been a difficult time for our Catholic community."
The news trickled from journalists to parish groups that filed the appeals.
"We are disappointed but not surprised," said Peter Borre, co-chairman of the Council of Parishes, a coalition that includes eight of the parishes that lost appeals. "We did not entertain any illusions that the clergy would greet us with open arms."
TUCSON (AZ)
Yuma Sun
BY PAIGE LAUREN DEINER, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jan 14, 2006, 9:04 pm
The 74 parishes within the Diocese of Tucson may be becoming their own corporate entities, but the church experience for parishioners will remain unchanged.
INCORPORATION PAPERS have been filed with Arizona that will make the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church its own parish. The move by the Diocese of Tucson was a legal one as part of the parish reorganization plan, said Bishop Gerald Kicanas. PHOTO BY JACOB LOPEZ/THE SUN
"People won't experience any change," Bishop Gerald Kicanas said. "It's a legal procedure like changing the legal ownership of a house."
He said if a house changes from one landlord to another the lives of the renters aren't changed. The house still looks the same, and renters still partake in everyday activities within the house, but there may be minor changes like the signing of a new lease.
In the case of the parishes within the diocese, the change is that a board of directors, comprised of the pastor and two lay people, will be created. This board will oversee the running of the parish, but the pastor will still have the final say.
"The pastor and the two lay volunteers share in the leadership of the church," Kicanas said.
MASSACHUSETTS
The Republican
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Since 1991, when police charged a local Roman Catholic priest named Richard R. Lavigne with rape and indecent assault of a child, the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church has captured the attention of Western Massachusetts.
In the years that followed, more than 40 priests associated with the Diocese of Springfield, either in parishes or schools, were accused of sexual abuse. Some accusations dated back to the former administrations of Bishop Christopher J. Weldon and Bishop Joseph D. Maguire.
On Sept. 24, 2004, Thomas L. Dupre, then the spiritual leader of the 270,000 Roman Catholics in Western Massachusetts and the administrator of a 2004 report on sexual abuse in the diocese, became the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States to be indicted on child rape cases.
Only hours after the indictments were unsealed, Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett said he could not prosecute the case because the charges were too old under the state's 15-year statute of limitation
The disturbing history of the Springfield diocese and its history of denial demonstrates the need for legislation eliminating the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sexual abuse of juveniles.
MILFORD (MA)
Boston Globe
By Susan Chaityn Lebovits | January 15, 2006
Barbara Hansen can't recall exactly when the sexual abuse began, but the Milford resident thinks she was around 3 years old.
Her grandfather would take her out for ice cream, and touch her.
''Don't tell," he'd say.
By age 8, she said, she avoided him and the abuse eventually ended.
But three years later, while attending a Bible camp in New York State, Hansen said she was molested again, this time by a youth pastor. The familiar words, ''Shhh. Don't tell," were chilling.
Hansen, now 61, shares her story in ''Listen to the Cry of the Child: The Deafening Silence of Sexual Abuse," a book she published herself in 2003 that is now available in local bookstores and online. It's written in the first person and heavily interspersed with writings from the New Testament. Although sales have not broken even, she said she was more concerned with ''getting the message out there, and help for those in pain."
DETROIT (MI)
USNews
When a Detroit bishop called for an end to statutes of limitation on clergy abuse lawsuits, he spoke not just as a Roman Catholic Church official but, it turns out, as a victim himself. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, lent poignant and powerful support to a bill in the Ohio legislature that would remove the time limits that can prevent victims from suing the church for alleged sexual abuse.
In lobbying for the bill, which the Senate has passed unanimously, Gumbleton revealed that he was touched inappropriately by a Detroit priest when he was a 15-year-old seminary student. He said that the priest, long dead, took him and other boys to a cabin outside the city and put his hand down the back of Gumbleton's pants, at which point the incident ended. "I was able to escape a terrible trauma," he said.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
WKYT
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Mary Fuchs knows there are other victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy out there.
"I could probably find about 100 people easily, but they won't say anything," said Fuchs, who was abused by her cousin, the Rev. Louis Miller, and took part in a $25.7 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Louisville.
The dynamic, though, isn't limited to the Louisville case. Despite the hundreds of victims cited in various church settlements around the country, attorneys, support groups and experts say there are many more victims who may never be heard from.
Counselors and attorneys said some victims of abuse will not come forward because of shame or fear of public exposure, even though the church offers assistance to victims while promising not to make their plight public.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Ryle Dwyer
THE Christian Brothers were in the news again this week in relation to a colleague who was apparently handy with his fists.
He got into trouble over assaulting children in Clonmel, so like the other misfits in the order, he was transferred to an industrial school where the children were unlikely to have any parents with clout in the community.
He continued his reign of terror in St Joseph’s in Tralee before he was sent to the Glin industrial school where he broke a boy’s jaw. He was then banished back to Tralee for six more years.
I grew up in Tralee where local boys essentially had no contact with the boys in the industrial school, known locally as the Monastery. We heard stories about their mistreatment. Most of us had no trouble believing those stories as a result of our own experiences of both physical and sexual abuse.
UNITED KINGDOM
News & Star
Published on 14/01/2006
A FORMER west Cumbrian priest convicted of sexually abusing young boys, yesterday had his prison sentence cut by one year by a judge at London’s Criminal Appeal Court.
Gregory Peter Carroll, 66, was jailed last September after admitting abusing ten males pupils, aged under 15.
The offences happened while the Catholic priest was teaching at Ampleforth College, near York.
The indecent assaults took place between 1979 to 1987 - before he was moved to Our Lady and St Michael’s Church, at Workington.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published January 14, 2006
CHICAGO -- A Roman Catholic religious order has paid retroactive child support on behalf of a priest who fathered a son in Canada then transferred to Chicago where he works in Hyde Park.
Rev. Phillip Thomas, provincial superior for the Discalced Carmelite Friars in the U.S., said the order sent a check for more than $2,000 on behalf of Rev. Jason Martin after a paternity test showed him to be the father of a 10-month-old son. Thomas said the order will pay $213 a month until the boy turns 18.
MICHIGAN
MLive
1/14/2006, 8:02 a.m. ET
The Associated Press
(AP) — LEGAL ROADBLOCK: Michigan courts say alleged victims of long-ago sexual abuse can't file civil lawsuits against alleged molesters because of the statute of limitations. Now, they can sue for just a year after turning 18.
NEW LAW: Victims want the Legislature to open up a two-year window during which they could sue.
IOWA
WHO
IOWA CITY, Iowa A South Carolina man who attended Roman Catholic schools in Sioux City is suing the diocese and a former priest who has been named in more than two dozen sexual abuse lawsuits and claims.
In the latest lawsuit filed today, the Reverend George McFadden is accused of sexually abusing the victim in 1959 when McFadden was serving as assistant pastor at Immaculate Conception grade school. The lawsuit states the victim attended the school between the first and seventh grade and served as an altar boy.
The victim claims the abuse caused severe emotional distress, depression and withdrawal from friends and family. The lawsuit blames church officials for failing to discipline McFadden despite being aware of numerous abuse allegations at the time.
WORCESTER (MA)
SouthCoastToday
By DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs writer
WORCESTER -- The inmate accused of killing John Geoghan claims he found religion and saw himself as a savior of abused children when he strangled the pedophile priest in his cell, an investigator said yesterday.
Testifying in Joseph Druce's murder trial, Lt. Edward Hammond said Druce told him he had been ordained through the mail as a minister of the Church of the Chosen Ones.
He also said Druce said he and Geoghan, a defrocked Catholic priest accused of molesting 150 boys, used to sit together in the cell block and talk about religion.
Hammond, an internal affairs investigator with the state Department of Correction who interviewed Druce after Geoghan's death, said Druce told him he had "been theologized," and that the convicted killer signed a waiver of his Miranda rights as "Rev. Joseph Druce."
Geoghan, a central figure in Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 14, 2006 12:00 AM
Relatives and friends of sex crime victims applauded a judge Friday for sentencing a priest to 111 years in prison, but they said no sentence can reverse the damage caused by the Rev. Paul LeBrun.
"We've seen justice, but it's still not going to repair the victims," Mary-Louise Hayes of Tempe said.
Hayes said her cousin was abused as a boy by LeBrun, 49, in South Bend, Ind., at a church where LeBrun was assigned before his 1986 transfer to Arizona.
A ruling by Judge Crane McClennen of Maricopa County Superior Court, who gave LeBrun the maximum sentence, allowed four victims from Indiana to testify on grounds that it could show the priest had a propensity to sexually abuse young boys.
"We absolutely have to get these men off the streets," said Sarah Pattison, a family friend of a West Valley victim. "I wanted to stand up and cheer when the judge gave him that sentence."
ARIZONA
Hindustan Times
Reuters
Mesa, Arizona, January 14, 2006
A Catholic priest was sentenced on Friday to 111 years in state prison for sexually abusing three boys at a suburban Phoenix church and area campsites.
Rev. Paul LeBrun, 49, showed no emotion as he received the maximum sentence from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Crane McClennn in the first case in Arizona of a clergyman going to trial for such crimes.
He was convicted in November of six felony sex crimes against youths ranging in age from 11 to 13 years old.
LeBrun, a former youth minister, was found guilty by a jury of three counts each of child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor for crimes between July 1986 and May 1991.
PUEBLO (CO)
Pueblo Chieftain
By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A 13th lawsuit has been filed against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo over allegations of sexual abuse by clergy decades ago, according to court records released Friday.
The latest suit is the 12th filed since September alleging that former Marianist Brother William Mueller used ether to render a Roncalli High School student helpless, then molested him. The Society of Mary religious order also is named as a defendant in the suit.
Similar allegations against Mueller have been made in Texas and Missouri. Mueller left the Marianist order voluntarily in 1986 after receiving treatment in New Mexico for "bizarre behavior," according to a Marianist spokesman. Mueller now resides in San Antonio. Mueller is not named as a defendant in the suits. Another suit filed against the diocese in November alleges that former priest Andrew Burke molested an altar boy at St. Pius X church in the early 1970s. Burke committed suicide in September, when the allegations against him were about to be published by news organizations.
The diocese recently denied a request by The Pueblo Chieftain to inspect its records on Roncalli and the clergy accused of abuse. In a written response, Bishop Arthur Tafoya cited personnel privacy policies.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
By Christian Richardson Journal staff writer
A one-time altar boy is suing former Sioux City Catholic priest George McFadden for sexual abuse, according to court documents filed Friday.
Steven Bean of South Carolina served as an altar boy at the Immaculate Conception Church and attended the Immaculate Conception School between first and seventh grade while McFadden was assigned there as an assistant pastor.
The petition for jury trial states that in 1959 or after and while Bean was under 14 years of age McFadden engaged in sex acts with him.
Bean's attorneys R. Scott Rhinehart of Sioux City and Patrick J. Hopkins of West Des Moines, Iowa, state in the paperwork filed in Woodbury County court that the suit is filed in part because McFadden has never formally apologized to his victims.
McFadden became a Sioux City diocese priest in 1952. In the past few years approximately 25 sexual abuse lawsuits have been filed against him. Through July 2005 the Diocese of Sioux City has settled 22 lawsuits concerning McFadden.
He is retired and currently living in Ft. Wayne, Ind., Rhinehart told The Associated Press.
LANSING (MI)
MLive
1/14/2006, 8:01 a.m. ET
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Timothy Hassett says he was in fourth grade when his priest began taking him to the church rectory and molesting him.
The sexual abuse at St. Mary's of Redford in Detroit lasted two years, Hassett says, and the damage was permanent.
He was drinking by sixth grade. Drugs followed in ninth grade. By 10th grade, he was a dropout.
Hassett, 43, says he didn't tell anyone about the abuse until attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings a few years ago.
"I have no religion left," he says. "It was hard to do AA because you've got to believe in a higher power. As far as I was concerned, my higher power screwed me."
Hassett, a supervisor at an aviation company in west Michigan, sued the Archdiocese of Detroit in 2004 because "money is the only way you're gonna make them change."
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
January 13, 2006
The following is the text of an amended complaint (dated January 10, 2006) filed on behalf of Father Robert Hoatson, a priest of the Newark Archdiocese. Father Hoatson is suing the Newark Archdiocese, Archbishop John Myers, the New York Archdiocese, Cardinal Edward Egan, the Albany Diocese, Bishop Howard Hubbard, and others. ...
69. Unknown to the public, in 1962, a secret guideline was issued by the Holy Office of the Vatican, now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, the Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals in this case among them, with instructions that this document be kept in the secret archive within each DIOCESE in the United States and the world, including the ARCHDIOCESE OF NEWARK, NEW YORK and THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF ALBANY and the document was entitled "Manner of proceeding in Cases of Solicitation," or by its official Latin name, Crimen Sollicitationis. The Crimen document prescribes secret procedures for processing cases of an especially vile form of clergy sexual abuse: solicitation of sex during sacramental confession. But, the document also discusses procedures of other clerical crimes including sex with children and even sex by and between clerics. The Pope and various regional bishops had issued a series of similar disciplinary laws against solicitation as far back as 1561. The authenticity of Crimen has been the subject of intense examination, including an on-point deposition of Rev. John Beal, an Associate Professor of Law at Catholic University of America.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
The trial of the Rev. Thomas A. Teczar of Dudley, who is charged with indecently assaulting a teenage boy in Ranger, Texas, several years ago, is expected to go forward in mid-May in the 91st District Court in Eastland, Texas.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin yesterday, but the date was changed. A spokeswoman for the Eastland court said yesterday that jury selection will begin May 12 and testimony will begin May 15 before Judge Steven Herod. Notices of the trial date were sent to all lawyers involved in this case.
Rev. Teczar, who is a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, was arraigned in 2003 in Texas and has been free on $30,000 bail.
He was arrested in Dudley in December 2002 on a warrant alleging he was a fugitive from justice and was arrested again in March 2003 on a governor’s warrant. Rev. Teczar has denied he fled Texas to avoid prosecution, and he returned on his own to Texas for the arraignment. He has also denied that he abused the boy, who is identified as John Doe II.
The alleged victim settled a civil suit against the Fort Worth, Texas, and Worcester dioceses several months ago for $2.75 million, although Worcester did not contribute to the settlement. The entire amount came from the Fort Worth diocese.
Rev. Teczar, who was ordained as a priest of the Worcester Diocese in 1967, was barred from ministry in the 1980s by the late Bishop Timothy J. Harrington, but he has not been defrocked. He later took an assignment in the Fort Worth Diocese, which included the Ranger parish in which the alleged sexual abuse happened.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Hours after killing pedophile priest John J. Geoghan in his prison cell, Joseph L. Druce confessed to the slaying, telling a state police detective his actions were “honorable” and he had no regrets, a jury was told yesterday.
“I think, now, that the number one pedophile has been taken out of the picture,” Trooper David Napolitano said he was told by Mr. Druce on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2003, about four hours after the 68-year-old Mr. Goeghan was beaten and strangled to death in his cell in a protective custody unit at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, on the Lancaster-Shirley line.
“He was talking about getting out and skinning more children and I just couldn’t let that happen,” Mr. Druce reportedly said of his victim, a defrocked priest who was serving time for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy.
Mr. Druce, 40, who was serving a life sentence for murder at the time of the slaying, is on trial in Worcester Superior Court on a charge of murder in the killing of the former priest. His lawyer, John H. LaChance, has raised an insanity defense on Mr. Druce’s behalf.
Trooper Napolitano said Mr. Druce, who was housed with several sex offenders in the J-1 unit at Souza-Baranowski, related to him that he intended to cut off Mr. Geoghan’s testicles and “throw them on the tier” to “make a statement to the other pedophiles,” but was unable to carry out that part of his plan after slipping into the victim’s cell unnoticed.
According to the detective’s account, Mr. Druce told him Mr. Geoghan pleaded for his life once he realized his assailant meant to kill him.
Mr. Druce said he responded, “Your days are over. No more children for you, pal,” according to Trooper Napolitano’s testimony.
Trooper Napolitano said Mr. Druce told him he had been plotting the killing for more than a month and had asked a chaplain what “the person upstairs” would think if someone in the prison’s general population were to murder the defrocked priest. When asked what he meant by “the person upstairs,” Mr. Druce responded, “my higher power, God,” Trooper Napolitano testified.
“I wouldn’t change anything. This had to happen,” Mr. Druce reportedly said when questioned by the detective.
“It was honorable. I don’t know if it was justified. I’m sure I’ll find out when my time comes,” the trooper said Mr. Druce added in reference to the killing.
A hearing was held outside of the jury’s presence yesterday afternoon to determine whether several prison inmates on Mr. LaChance’s witness list would be testifying at trial. Among them was convicted child killer Lewis Lent Jr., who was housed with Mr. Geoghan in a protective custody unit at the state prison in Concord before the ex-priest was transferred to Souza-Baranowski.
Mr. Lent, who is serving a life sentence for the 1990 murder of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield and was also convicted of the attempted abduction of a 12-year-old Pittsfield girl in 1994, was asked by Mr. LaChance if Mr. Geoghan ever talked to him about molesting children while the two were imprisoned together.
Mr. Lent denied ever having such a conversation with Mr. Geoghan. He said the former priest “refuted the charges that were against him in court” and maintained that if he ever touched a boy’s buttocks at a swimming pool, it was inadvertent.
He acknowledged writing letters to administrators protesting Mr. Geoghan’s treatment by some correction officers during his stay at Concord and said Department of Correction officials never spoke to him about his concerns.
Mr. Lent has also admitted to killing 12-year-old Sara Anne Wood in upstate New York in 1993. Her body has never been found.
Convicted sex offender Jesus Quintana, who was in the same housing unit at Souza-Baranowski as Mr. Druce and Mr. Geoghan in 2003, said Mr. Geoghan spoke during card games among inmates about having molested children and also indicated he planned to continue to assault children upon his release. Mr. Quintana said he told Mr. Druce about the ex-priest’s comments and Mr. Druce became “angry.”
In his opening statement to the jury, Mr. LaChance said the evidence would show his client overheard Mr. Geoghan and other convicted sex offenders talking about child molestation prior to the slaying.
Charles Jaynes, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1997 killing of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley of Cambridge, was also expected to testify at yesterday’s hearing, but refused to enter the courtroom from an adjacent holding cell, according to a source.
After returning to the courtroom after a lengthy morning recess yesterday, Mr. Druce turned to reporters and indicated he had been suspected of harboring weapons.
“They’ve disrupted these proceedings by saying I had weapons. They’re nuts,” Mr. Druce said.
Testimony in Mr. Druce’s trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday. The jury of 10 men and 6 women, including 4 alternate jurors, was excused early yesterday after one of the jurors became ill.
KENTUCKY
The Kentucky Post
By Kevin Eigelbach
Post staff reporter
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington has placed the pastor of two local churches on administrative leave because of an allegation of sexual abuse.
The Rev. Richard Frazier is pastor of St. Bernard in Dayton and Divine Mercy in Bellevue.
According to a letter Bishop Roger Foys published today in the diocesan newspaper, the Messenger, Frazier has denied having any sexual contact with minors either before or after his ordination. He did not return a message left Thursday evening at Divine Mercy.
Foys told the congregations last weekend that he had placed Frazier on administrative leave, diocesan spokesman Tim Fitzgerald said. The bishop did not provide any specifics of the alleged abuse, except to say that it would have happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The accusers, all of them adults now, have no connection with either of the parishes or their schools. They came forward as part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the diocese pending in Boone Circuit Court.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 13, 2006 02:55 PM
A former West Valley priest was sentenced Friday to the maximum 111 years in prison by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge after an hour and a half of emotional testimony by victims.
Rev. Paul LeBrun, 49, a former youth minister, was the first Valley priest accused of sex crimes against children to risk a long prison sentence by taking his case to a jury.
LeBrun faced a minimum sentence of 81 years He was sentenced by Judge Crane McClennen after a November trial in which 10 victims testified.
Jurors found LeBrun guilty of three counts of sexual conduct with a minor and three of child molestation. He was found not guilty on one child molestation charge and jurors hung on five other sex charges.
The accusations involved six boys ranging in age from 11 to 13 years old and the alleged acts occurred between 1986 and 1991 at St. John Vianney Church in Avondale, Blessed Sacrament in Tolleson, and on camping trips.
During the trial, victims described how LeBrun abused his position to win their trust, only to molest them.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 13, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. --The inmate accused of killing John Geoghan claims he found religion and saw himself as a savior of abused children when he strangled the notorious pedophile priest in his cell, an investigator said Friday.
Testifying in Joseph Druce's murder trial, Lt. Edward Hammond said Druce told him he had been ordained through the mail as a minister of the "Church of the Chosen Ones."
He also said Druce said that he and Geoghan, a defrocked Catholic priest accused of molesting 150 boys, used to sit together in the cell block and talk about religion.
Hammond, an internal affairs investigator with the state Department of Correction who interviewed Druce after Geoghan's death, said Druce told him he'd "been theologized," and that the convicted killer signed a waiver of his Miranda rights as "Rev. Joseph Druce."
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Hours after killing pedophile priest John J. Geoghan in his prison cell, Joseph L. Druce confessed to the slaying, telling a state police detective that his actions were “honorable” and that he had no regrets, a jury was told today.
“I think, now, that the number one pedophile has been taken out of the picture,” Trooper David Napolitano said he was told by Mr. Druce on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2003, about four hours after Mr. Geoghan was beaten and strangled in a protective custody unit at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
Mr. Druce is on trial in Worcester Superior Court on a charge of murdering the defrocked priest. He has raised an insanity defense.
“He was talking about getting out and skinning more children, and I just couldn’t let that happen,” Trooper Napolitano said he was told by Mr. Druce.
The trial, which began Wednesday, is continuing this afternoon.
SALINAS (CA)
KSBW
POSTED: 4:09 pm PST January 12, 2006
UPDATED: 5:11 pm PST January 12, 2006
SALINAS, Calif. -- A Salinas pastor accused of molesting young girls could be close to reaching a plea bargain.
Donald Domelle, 65, a pastor at the Salinas Baptist Temple is accused of molesting two young girls. Prosecutors have filed more than 60 charges against him. And on Thursday, both sides announced they are hoping to settle the case before it goes to trial.
Domelle was arrested last month after a 16-year-old parishioner of his church accused him of sexually molesting her. Just last week, prosecutors charged him with molesting another girl.
Outside the courtroom Thursday, the prosecution and defense said they were looking to avoid a trial.
"All of these counts could potentially expose the defendant to hundreds of years if he were to be convicted on all the counts," said defense attorney John Coniglio.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press | January 13, 2006
WORCESTER -- The prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan said he ''conned" the pedophile priest into believing that he wouldn't hurt him, then wrapped socks around his neck and twisted them around a sneaker to tighten the noose until Geoghan died, an investigator testified yesterday.
Lieutenant Edward Hammond, an internal affairs investigator with the state Department of Correction, said during Joseph Druce's murder trial that the inmate appeared ''pleased with himself" as he gave a confession shortly after guards pulled him from Geoghan's cell at the Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley in August 2003.
''I killed the child molester," Hammond said Druce boasted. ''He won't touch any more kids."
Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was serving a nine- to 10-year sentence for groping a 10-year-old boy, but he had been accused of molesting some 150 children.
John LaChance, the attorney for Druce, 40, says the convicted killer should not be held criminally responsible for Geoghan's death because he is mentally ill and was driven by an ''irresistible impulse" to kill the defrocked priest.
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Sue Lindsay, Rocky Mountain News
January 13, 2006
A 72-year-old former Episcopalian priest and foster parent who recently won a new trial on sexual assault charges was ordered Thursday to stand trial on new charges involving another boy.
Donald Shissler is charged with eight counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and as a pattern of conduct.
The alleged victim in the new case was a boy who visited Shissler's Denver home with many other children, prosecutor Kerri Lombardi said. Authorities say the assaults took place from 1997 to 2002, when Shissler was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two other boys at his home.
The assaults in the new case are alleged to have started when the boy was a 6-year-old first-grader and continued to age 11.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, Associated Press Writer | January 13, 2006
BOSTON --Archbishop Sean O'Malley has been here before, caught between the financial needs of the Roman Catholic Church and the fury of alleged sex abuse victims and other parishioners. This time, a satisfying resolution may be tougher to find.
Less than three years ago, O'Malley personally oversaw negotiations in what was then the largest legal settlement of its kind: an $85 million deal to settle more than 500 lawsuits claiming sex abuse by priests. Afterward, both sides said it was time for the healing to begin.
But recent news that church lawyers were negotiating with 200 more alleged victims has brought back much of the bitterness.
Attorneys dismissed as "demeaning" the archdiocese's proposal for an average settlement of $75,000 for the new plaintiffs. They said these victims were being treated differently than those who came forward at the height of the sex abuse scandal, who received an average settlement of $155,000.
Church officials say they can't afford to pay more because the earlier settlement and declining attendance have left the archdiocese in a tough financial situation. And their lawyers say the other side has compromised the negotiations by taking their gripes to the media.
PORTLAND (OR)
WorldLink
PORTLAND (AP) - A federal judge has cleared the way for lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by priests to move forward after keeping them on hold since July 2004 when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland became the first diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris will allow trials to proceed for as many as 100 alleged victims, including the one whose pending trial forced Archbishop John Vlazny to decide to seek protection from creditors.
A man identified by the initials “C.B.” claims he was molested in the early 1980s in Seaside by the Rev. Maurice Grammond, who was accused of abuse by more than 50 alleged victims.
The latest complaint naming Grammond was filed Wednesday.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
By JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A priest charged with sexually abusing an altar boy in a Brooklyn church rectory convinced the youngster that the molestation would "bring him closer to God," the teen testified yesterday.
The lawyer for the Rev. Joseph Byrns aggressively questioned the accuser, who is now 17, on why he returned to the rectory after the initial incident in March 2000.
"Maybe I didn't think about it. I was very gullible," the youth said softly.
Lawyer Patrick Bruno pressed him. "Did you believe having a 60-year-old guy touch the most-private parts would 'bring you closer to God?'" he asked.
"Yes, because I believed him," the teen replied.
NEW YORK
New York Post
January 13, 2006 -- A former Brooklyn altar boy, who accused his priest of molesting him, said he allowed the repeated sexual encounters because he was told the sex would bring him closer to God.
The victim, now 17, testified yesterday in the criminal sexual-abuse case against the Rev. Joseph Byrns.
He said that the priest fondled and sodomized him at St. Rose of Lima Church, in Kensington, when he was 11 years old.
"Did you ever believe having a 60-year-old guy touching the most private part would bring you closer to God?" defense attorney Patrick Bruno asked.
"Yes, because I believed him," the unnamed youth replied in Brooklyn Supreme court.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Betty DeRamus
There's no time limit on how long victims of sexual assaults will agonize or ache.
And there's no telling how deep they'll burrow inside themselves or how much corked-up rage they're carrying around.
It's been more than 50 years since a stranger molested Sen. Shirley Johnson, R-Troy, on her way to school, but she has not forgotten the incident or shed all its scars.
It was in her heart when she introduced legislation in 2000 that eliminated the six-year statute of limitations for rape and other violent sexual assaults when DNA evidence is available. That legislation became law in 2001, the House passing it by 97-0 and the Senate by 35-0.
On Wednesday, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton revealed that he had been abused 60 years ago by a priest. The 75-year-old prelate didn't seem to have forgotten any details, including the fact that the unidentified priest would try to put his hands in "the back of your pants."
And like Shirley Johnson, Gumbleton brought up his never-before publicized abuse to make the case for legal changes.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Rutland Herald
January 13, 2006
By CARRIE SPENCER GHOSE The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The first U.S. Catholic bishop to say that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy put his support behind legislation that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church.
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, who said that he was touched inappropriately by a priest when he was a teenager, spoke at a news conference Wednesday in support of an Ohio bill.
"I regret that we need this kind of legislation, but I insist we do need it," Gumbleton said before meeting with House lawmakers who are undecided on the bill.
Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have vigorously lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago. Gumbleton said he was a 15-year-old seminary student in Detroit when a priest took him and other boys to a cabin northeast of the city. Gumbleton said the priest started wrestling with him playfully, then put his hand down the back of Gumbleton's pants. He said he quickly removed himself from the situation; he did not elaborate.
KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer
A Northern Kentucky priest has been accused of sexual misconduct with a child and removed from parish work.
Rev. Richard Frazier, 55, most recently the pastor at Divine Mercy Parish in Bellevue and St. Bernard Church in Dayton, has been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate the allegations. Frazier denies the charges.
Bishop Roger Foys of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington told members of the churches last weekend of the allegations. Thursday he released a statement explaining that the allegations came to light during the class action settlement process in the sexual abuse lawsuit pending against the diocese in Boone Circuit Court. "All members of the plaintiff class were required by the Court to submit an initial census form providing very basic information about the abuse on which their claim is based.
"I am saddened to report that the forms received as part of this process included allegations of abuse by a priest in active ministry, Father Richard Frazier, prior to his ordination as a priest.
WASHINGTON
The News Tribune
JOSEPH TURNER; The News Tribune
Published: January 13th, 2006 02:30 AM
When a child is raped, does it matter whether the attacker is a stranger or a father, stepfather, brother, teacher, coach or priest?
To state lawmakers it does.
House Democrats and Republicans are filing a batch of get-tough-on-sex-predator bills to be considered during the 60-day session that began Monday, and the relationship between child victim and attacker appears to be the point on which they differ most.
Rep. Jan Shabro, R-Bonney Lake, and her Republican colleagues want rapists and child molesters to face a minimum of 25 years in prison, regardless of whether they are strangers or a member of the victim’s family or otherwise known to the victim.
NEW YORK
The Tablet
ONE OF the most prominent priests to fall victim to the American sex abuse scandal, Mgr Charles Kavanagh, has won his battle for a canonical hearing.
“I am absolutely delighted that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has granted my request for a full and fair trial,” said Mgr Kavanagh.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, said: “This is the first case of its kind that we’ve had. Because this is something new, we really don’t know what it means.”
Judicial investigation of clerical abuse remains a rarity. It used to be common for American bishops simply to transfer a priest accused of sexual misbehaviour with a minor, sometimes lying to the new parish about his record.
WORCESTER (MA)
WHDH
WORCESTER (AP) -- The man charged with killing a convicted pedophile priest in a prison cell appeared pleased with his accomplishment and bragged about it because he thought he was saving children, a prisons investigator says.
Joseph Druce said he "conned" John Geoghan into believing he wouldn't hurt him, then wrapped socks around his neck and twisted them around a sneaker to tighten the noose until the defrocked priest died, Lt. Edward Hammond testified Thursday.
Hammond, an internal affairs investigator with the state Department of Correction, said during Druce's murder trial that the inmate appeared "pleased with himself" as he gave a confession shortly after guards pulled him from Geoghan's cell at the Souza-Baranowski prison in August 2003.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce expressed a sense of pride as he confessed to the killing of fellow prison inmate and defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan, a Worcester Superior Court jury was told yesterday.
Edward Hammond, a lieutenant with the state Department of Correction, testified that he took a statement from Mr. Druce on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2003, about a half-hour after the accused killer allegedly beat and strangled the 68-year-old ex-priest in Mr. Geoghan’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.
Lt. Hammond said Mr. Druce, who has raised an insanity defense to the murder charge, told him after being advised of his Miranda rights that he “killed the child molester.”
“ ‘He can’t touch any more kids,’ ” Lt. Hammond said he was told by Mr. Druce.
At the time of the slaying, Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the murder of a North Shore man who allegedly made a sexual pass at him after picking him up hitchhiking. Mr. Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Boston, was serving time for molesting a 10-year-old boy.
Lt. Hammond, who was a sergeant in the Inner Perimeter Security unit at Souza-Baranowski when the killing occurred, told the jury that Mr. Druce “seemed very pleased with himself” as he recounted how he slipped into Mr. Geoghan’s cell unnoticed, jammed the cell door with a book and a pair of nail clippers and beat and strangled the former priest.
Mr. Druce, who is now 40, said he had overheard a telephone conversation Mr. Geoghan had with his sister, Catherine Geoghan, in which he spoke about going to South America to work as a missionary with children after his release from prison, according to Lt. Hammond’s testimony. “ ‘I couldn’t let him do that,’ ” Mr. Druce reportedly said.
Lt. Hammond said Mr. Druce told him that once he was inside the ex-priest’s cell, he “conned” Mr. Geoghan by telling him he was staging a hostage-taking so he could get transferred back to the state prison in Walpole. According to Lt. Hammond’s account, Mr. Druce said he then tied Mr. Geoghan’s hands behind his back, struck him several times in the face and strangled him with a tourniquet consisting of a pair of socks and a sneaker until blood came out of Mr. Geoghan’s nose and ears and he appeared to be dead.
Lt. Hammond told the jury that Mr. Druce said he planned to cut off Mr. Geoghan’s penis, but couldn’t locate the disposable razor he had brought with him for that purpose.
“It should be noted that he appeared to be very pleased with himself and boastful about his actions,” Lt. Hammond wrote in his report of the interview.
Dr. Richard Evans, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy in the case, testified that Mr. Geoghan died from ligature strangulation. The forensic pathologist said blunt trauma to Mr. Geoghan’s chest that caused more than a dozen rib fractures was a contributing factor. In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy said the evidence would show that Mr. Druce jumped from a bed in Mr. Geoghan’s cell onto the victim’s chest.
The jury of 10 men and six women was shown a copy of a videotape yesterday depicting several correction officers struggling to get the door to Mr. Geoghan’s cell open, finally gaining access to the cell and forcibly removing Mr. Druce from within.
Testimony was scheduled to resume today.
Yesterday’s court session was suspended shortly after 2 p.m., about two hours early, because “one of the participants” had become ill, Judge Francis R. Fecteau told the jurors. Mr. Druce’s lawyer, John H. LaChance, later told reporters his client was experiencing pain related to surgery that he underwent in the fall after swallowing a piece of television cable and was also having difficulty concentrating and focusing. Mr. LaChance said Mr. Druce takes Ritalin for attention-deficit disorder, but that his medication schedule had been thrown off because of the trial.
In his opening statement to the jury Wednesday, Mr. LaChance said the evidence would show his client was physically and sexually abused as a child and was suffering from a mental illness, dissociative disorder, when he took Mr. Geoghan’s life.
ATLANTA (GA)
eMediaWire
ATLANTA, GA (PRWEB) January 13, 2006 -- Atlanta’s Chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) heralded Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton admission at a news conference held Wednesday January 11, 2006, that he suffered childhood molestation by a Catholic priest as a major breakthrough in the Catholic’s church’s growing internal dissention on how it is handling their sexual abuse problem.
“We applaud the courage of Bishop Gumbleton,” said Michael R. Bang, Regional Chairman for the Georgia SNAP Chapter. “This is the first time a member of the Catholic clergy has disclosed his own childhood sexual abuse by a priest, and is breaking ranks with his colleagues by actively backing reforms to archaic state child molestation laws.”
Bang also called on Atlanta's Bishop Wilton Gregory to remain steadfast enforcing the "zero tolerance" policy adopted in June 2002 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to assure that active pedophile priests in Atlanta and throughout the State of Georgia be reported immediately to the local authorities for prosecution.
Additionally he encouraged the Georgia House and Senate to move swiftly this session to implement tougher laws, requiring mandatory reporting for clergy to the authorities and immediately move to reform the dangerously restrictive and archaic statue of limitations for criminal prosecution and civil litigation.
“We need immediate bipartisan legislation to provide a waiver of the current statue of limitations and provide a one year "window" in Georgia - as most other states have enacted - that would enable victims of sexual abuse by priests to publicly expose the predators that hurt them and seek justice through the judicial system,” said Bang.
ILLINOIS
Catholic Explorer
By KATHRYNNE SKONICKI
ROMEOVILLE—The Gavin Group, Inc., recently notified the Joliet Diocese that it was found to be in full compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People during its 2005 audit. The independent auditing firm commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops found the diocese to be in compliance with the bishops’ document in 2004 and 2003 as well.
In June 2002, the U.S. bishops approved the charter, a comprehensive set of procedures for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy and guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of future acts of abuse. The charter also contained mandates for an audit and annual report in order to form a two-fold process of accountability for the implementation of the charter in each diocese, explained Teresa Kettelkamp, executive director of the USCCB Office of Child Protection.
The process involves auditors asking a series of questions that ascertain what structures, procedures or processes are in place within the diocese to fulfill the charter. The auditors request materials that demonstrate compliance such as examples of publicized standards of ministerial behavior.
“The charter has not changed from year-to-year, but the information requested has changed to correlate with the maturing of the charter-related programs within the diocese,” commented Kettelkamp. She offered an example of the safe environment programs mandated in the charter. Prior audits asked only if the diocese had safe environment programs and now they are collecting information on how many children have had safe environment training.
KNOXVILLE (TN)
WATE
January 12, 2006
KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A bill to extend the statute of limitations on sex abuse crimes so that people abused as children can be prosecuted as adults will be introduced by two state lawmakers when the legislature goes back into regular session.
The sponsors are Sen. Jamie Woodson, a Knoxville Republican, and Rep. Kim McMillan, a Clarksville Democrat.
On Thursday morning, members of a group called "SNAP" (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) stood outside the Chancery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Knoxville on Northshore Drive.
They were there to demonstrate their support of the bill.
SNAP's state director Susan Vance says, "What we want is the same thing that every other organization who works with sexual assault victims want and that is the ability for these victims to get justice."
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Explorer
By Jerry Filteau Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At a legislative hearing and a press conference Jan. 11 in Columbus, Ohio, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit said he was sexually abused by a priest when he was a teenage seminarian.
He called for passage of pending legislation in Ohio that would open a one-year window for civil lawsuits against the church for clergy sexual abuse of minors that occurred many years ago.
The bishops of Ohio oppose the one-year window although they support other parts of the bill, including a longer statute of limitations for lawsuits based on claims of childhood sexual abuse.
Bishop Gumbleton, 75, did not name the now-deceased priest who molested him some 60 years ago, when he was a freshman or sophomore at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary High School. He called the abuse "very inappropriate" behavior by the priest but said it was "minor" compared with the kind of abuse many other victims have suffered.
UNITED STATES
Pittsburgh Catholic
by: Robert P. Lockwood
Analysis
The Catholic Church has done more perhaps than any other entity in this state and in this country in the previous 20 years to address the tragedy of sexual abuse. In fact, despite intense media scrutiny, most abuse cases that have received the widest notoriety are based on allegations of abuse 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years ago.
One rarely discussed fact in the issue of clergy sexual abuse is that because of actions taken by church leadership, such incidents of abuse have virtually disappeared since the early 1990s. Nationwide, there have been only a handful of accusations of abuse after 1993. Even when the Archdiocese of Boston was aggressively pursued by both the attorney general and local media in 2002, not one case of abuse could be found after 1993.
Many Catholic dioceses had written, enforced policies in place well before much of the country paid attention at all to the issue of the sexual abuse of children. While public schools were still quietly allowing abusers to move from one school system to the next, many Catholic dioceses had already adopted as policy that one substantiated, credible allegation of abuse meant removal from active ministry in parishes.
KENTUCKY
WCPO
Reported by: Shannon Kettler
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 1/12/2006 5:46:22 PM
A Northern Kentucky priest is on administrative leave following accusations of child abuse.
Father Richard Frazier most recently served as pastor at churches in Bellevue and Dayton, Kentucky.
Father Frazier was pastor of two churches, Divine Mercy in Bellevue and St. Bernard Church in Dayton since 2004.
Members tell 9News they are surprised and saddened.
OREGON
Catholic Sentinel
Oregon’s Catholic bishops are intent on fostering more local vocations to priesthood. High among the hopes of a bishop is providing priests so that Catholics can readily participate in the sacraments.
Among other vocations projects, Portland Archbishop John Vlazny hosts an annual retreat the weekend of Jan. 20–22 to speak to men who have shown interest in the life. ...
Archbishop Vlazny acknowledges that the child sexual abuse scandal has “worsened matters” when it comes to vocations. But most candidates are aware that the crimes of a few should not be assigned to all priests, says Father Kelly Vandehey, the archdiocese’s director of vocations.
“They don’t usually bring up the scandal, but I do,” Father Vandehey says. “I say, ‘We have a very ugly face before the media and the people now, but here you say you want to be a priest. How do you reconcile that?’ They always seem to understand it is a few people.”
WORCESTER (MA)
The Ledger
By DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press Writer
WORCESTER, Mass.
Jurors saw dramatic video Thursday of prison guards frantically trying to open the cell door of John Geoghan, then dragging another inmate out after he strangled the child-molesting former priest.
As the murder trial of Joseph Druce continued for a second day, the images - some in real time, others in time-lapse photography - conveyed the guards' desperate attempts to open the door after they realized Druce was inside.
Several guards are seen pulling on the door, which Druce had jammed shut with a book and nail clippers. After the guards retrieve tools to open it, Druce is seen being dragged from the cell. The crime itself is not visible on the tape.
Druce was in Geoghan's cell about four minutes before the guards discovered him there, officials estimate. It was then another nine minutes before the guards got him out.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
POSTED | 1:25 P.M.
By Gary Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER— A boastful Joseph L. Druce “seemed very pleased with himself” as he confessed in prison to the slaying of fellow inmate and defrocked priest John J. Geoghan, a Worcester Superior Court jury was told today.
Edward Hammond, a lieutenant with the state Department of Correction, testified this morning that he took a statement from Mr. Druce on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2003, about 90 minutes after Mr. Druce beat and strangled the 68-year-old ex-priest in Mr. Geoghan’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Shirley-Lancaster line.
Lt. Hammond said Mr. Druce, who has raised an insanity defense to the murder charge, told the lieutenant, after being advised of Miranda rights, that “he killed the child molester.”
“He can’t touch any more kids,” Lt. Hammond said he was told by Mr. Druce.
At the time of the killing, Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence imposed in 1989 for the murder of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him. Mr. Geoghan had been sentenced to 9 to 10 years for sexually assaulting a child.
The trial of Mr. Druce continued this afternoon and was expected to move into next week.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Random Lengths News
By Slobodan Dimitrov
Editors note: Over 560 claims of sexual abuse by over 245 clergy members are now pending against the Los Angeles Archdiocese alone, with over 1000 cases statewide. Last year, the Diocese of Orange settled 90 cases for $100 million. Estimates for the Los Angeles Archdiocese range up to $1 billion. These thousand cases—plus many more still unreported—are numerically overwhelming. The human cost is best understood by considering the tale of one woman, whose abuser lived right here amongst us in San Pedro, seemingly no different than any other man of God.
On a balmy Sunday during a morning service at Mary Star of the Sea, in San Pedro, a group from SNAP (Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests) began to gather on the corner of 8th and Walker streets.
According to their website, SNAP is a volunteer self-help organization for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters. SNAP is member-run, stressing healing for both the victim and the institution of the Church.
Esther Miller, a 47 year-old wife and mother of two daughters, stood facing the image of Mary, high up on the front of Mary Star of the Sea. Tears were streaming down her face, and her breathing was labored. Her fellow survivors rushed to her aid. Later, Esther said she was overwhelmed by memories of Deacon Michael Nocita––memories of sexual abuse that flooded back from when she was a teenager. This was her first time back to the church grounds in 29 years.
NEWTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | January 12, 2006
A report released late last month has blasted the Archdiocese of Boston for removing the Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, the popular pastor of a Newton parish, from his post in September over allegations of financial improprieties.
The report, written by the parish's Finance Council after it reviewed private archdiocesan records, said that Cuenin's removal ''lacked due process."
''And that leaves its motives open to question," the report said.
Cuenin announced his resignation at Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton to stunned parishioners after an archdiocese audit reported that he had violated several policies by taking a $500 monthly stipend and by allowing the parish to lease a Honda Accord for him.
His supporters, however, have said that he is being punished for his outspoken criticism of the archdiocese over its policies on gay rights and women, and for its handling of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Cuenin is living at Saint Julia Parish in Weston, and fills temporary vacancies for the archdiocese. Because he broke financial rules, Cuenin will not be able to have his own parish again.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
11:38 PM PST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
During the past 18 months, the Diocese of San Bernardino has trained nearly 59,000 adults and children on recognizing and preventing child sexual abuse, bringing the Inland diocese near full compliance with child-protection reforms mandated by Roman Catholic bishops in the United States.
The diocese, which underwent a voluntary audit of its programs last month, will have met all its requirements after it trains another 19,000 children and adults. The task is expected to be completed by the end of June, said Deacon Michael Jelley, who oversees the diocese's programs to protect children and aid abuse victims.
The review is part of an annual report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to determine whether the nation's 187 dioceses and eparchies -- Eastern-rite dioceses -- are meeting the goals outlined in a sweeping charter approved by the bishops in June 2002, as they sought to cope with the clergy sexual-abuse scandal gripping the church.
The full report, which has been criticized by victims advocates as self-serving, is expected to be released in April, a conference spokesman said.
OHIO
The New York Times
By JODI WILGOREN
Published: January 12, 2006
Saying that he had been sexually abused as a teenage seminarian, a Roman Catholic bishop on Wednesday became the highest-ranking member of the church to endorse legislation in various states that would loosen the statute of limitations on lawsuits relating to sexual abuse by clergy members.
The bishop, Thomas J. Gumbleton, is a longtime auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Detroit and a fixture of the church's left wing, frequently joining in fasts, prayer vigils and civil disobedience.
He said in a telephone interview, "I have a sense of how difficult it is for someone who has been abused to come forward."
Bishop Gumbleton spent the afternoon making personal appeals to lawmakers in Ohio, where a bill under consideration would allow people under the age of 52 with claims of abuse to sue.
WORCESTER (MA)
The New York Times
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: January 12, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass., Jan. 11 - The murder of John J. Geoghan, a defrocked priest, in 2003 by an inmate in state prison was a shocking and almost surreal dénouement to one of the darkest chapters of the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Geoghan's violent death in the most secure prison in Massachusetts was to some an appalling failure of the state to protect one of its most despised inmates. To others it was a horrible but justified retribution against Mr. Geoghan, one of the most reviled priests named in the abuse scandal, accused of molesting some 150 children in several parishes over three decades.
Now, the man who admits he killed Mr. Geoghan, Joseph L. Druce, is having his day in court, and for anyone watching the trial, it is hard to figure out where to put one's sympathies - with the murder victim or the man who killed him.
Mr. Druce, 40, is pleading not guilty by reason of mental illness. His lawyer, John LaChance, does not dispute the details of the case. Prosecutors say Mr. Druce followed Mr. Geoghan into his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on Aug. 23, 2003, and jammed the cell door shut with a nail clipper and a ripped-up copy of "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book about a minister who transformed the lives of teenage gang members by introducing them to Christianity.
ERIE (PA)
WJET
A priest from the Archdiocese of New York who`s accused of sexual abuse will have a secret church trial here in Erie.
Monsignor Charles Kavanagh is accused of improperly touching a student in a sexual manner more than twenty years ago.
The student was reportedly enrolled in a high school run by Kavanagh.
Three to five Canon Law judges from the Catholic Diocese of Erie will hear the trial.
The location will be determined by Bishop Donald Trautman.
WASHINGTON
The Spectator
by Canda Harbaugh
January 11, 2006
Calls and emails poured into the administration office last month in response to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article that President Stephen Sundborg regarded as “inaccurate” and “inflammatory” and the P-I’s managing editor labeled “incomplete.”
The article, written by Claudia Rowe, was titled “Jesuit defends secrecy in priest sex case” and subtitled “In a previous post, SU leader didn’t report abuse.” It ran on Dec. 14, and spawned Internet blogs and a discussion on KIRO radio’s Dave Ross Show.
Even after the P-I published a 15-sentence correction, admitting the story contained “inaccuracies and an omission,” and Sundborg sent an e-mail to students, staff, faculty, alumni and SU friends, Internet bloggers continued to comment on the article, unaware of the corrections made.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
New York Post
By KIERAN CROWLEY
January 12, 2006 -- Five brothers and sisters from the same Long Island family have filed a $25 million lawsuit against the Catholic Church, claiming that religious officials covered up their sexual abuse as children by the same priest.
Dick Regan and his two brothers and sisters filed the lawsuit against the late Rev. Daniel Babis and Bishop William Murphy, alleging abuse and a "cover-up" going back decades.
Three of the victims in the legal action filed by lawyer John Aretakis in Nassau County Supreme Court — which alleges sex abuse in Howard Beach, Queens, Long Island and in Canada — are identified only as "John Doe" or "Jane Doe."
Regan, a former cop, said he always knew that he and one of his sisters were molested by the "evil" Babis, starting in the mid-1950s — but discovered only a few months ago that three other siblings had also been carrying the same terrible secret.
When his sister Joann reported the abuse to her parents in 1968, Regan said his father, also a cop, confronted Babis. The priest denied the charge — ending the abuse and possibly preventing the abuse of three other younger siblings.
CANADA
London Free Press
Thu, January 12, 2006
By FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES
CHATHAM -- Six more sexual assault charges were laid yesterday against a retired Roman Catholic priest.
Charles Henry Sylvestre, 83, of Belle River now faces 42 charges, including indecent assault, sexual interference with a female under 14 and attempted rape.
Sylvestre was pastor of St. Ursula Roman Catholic Church from 1968 to 1980. He also worked at Pain Court's Immaculate Conception Church.
The new charges involve four more women who came forward with complaints of childhood sexual abuse, said Insp. George Flikweert of Chatham-Kent police. But the new charges don't stem from alleged incidents at Chatham-area parishes, he said.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Michigan Daily
January 12, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A Detroit bishop revealed he was touched inappropriately by a priest 60 years ago, saying he waited to discuss the abuse until it would do the most good.
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is believed to be the first U.S. Roman Catholic bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.
Gumbleton, 75, spoke yesterday in support of an Ohio bill that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church over their alleged abuse. He said some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will is through the courts.
Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have vigorously lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago.
“I regret that we need this type of legislation, but I insist we do need it,” Gumbleton said before meeting with House lawmakers who are undecided on the bill.
PORTLAND (OR)
OregonLive
1/12/2006, 12:05 a.m. PT
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge has cleared the way for lawsuits claiming sexual abuse by priests to move forward after keeping them on hold since July 2004 when the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland became the first diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris will allow trials to proceed for as many as 100 alleged victims, including the one whose pending trial forced Archbishop John Vlazny to decide to seek protection from creditors.
A man identified by the initials "C.B." claims he was molested in the early 1980s in Seaside by the Rev. Maurice Grammond, who was accused of abuse by more than 50 alleged victims.
The latest complaint naming Grammond was filed Wednesday.
The bankruptcy blocked the C.B. trial. But court records indicate that attorneys were prepared to argue that archdiocese officials knew about Grammond sexually abusing children for more than 20 years and responded by moving him from parish to parish.
Church officials have denied moving Grammond in response to allegations of misconduct. Church lawyers have attacked the evidence, calling much of it unreliable and uncorroborated.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 12, 2006
BY PATRICIA MONTEMURRI, JIM SCHAEFER and DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Detroit Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton rocked his church Wednesday, first by admitting that he, too, was a child victim of sexual abuse years ago and then by calling on lawmakers to change laws that bar victims from suing the church in older cases.
"I speak out of my own experience of being exploited as a teenager through inappropriate touching by a priest," the 75-year-old bishop said in a statement he passed out at a news conference on behalf of abuse victims in Ohio.
That made Gumbleton the first U.S. Catholic bishop to acknowledge having experienced such abuse.
"I understand why victims of sexual abuse need this new window of opportunity" to bring legal actions, he said at the demonstration. "I know how difficult it is for me to speak about what happened."
What happened, he said, dates to the 1940s in a cottage where a Detroit priest liked to take boys, wrestle with them and eventually put his hands down their pants. It was something that Gumbleton said confused him as a young teen and that he kept secret for decades but that he now realizes was "very inappropriate."
MICHIGAN
The Oakland Press
Web-posted Jan 12, 2006
By JERRY WOLFFE
Of The Oakland Press
The admission by Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit that he was sexually abused by a priest when he was 15 is "just the tip of the iceberg" of the sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church, a local victim said Wednesday.
Gumbleton, 75, disclosed his abuse Wednesday in support of a bill pending in the Ohio House that would lift a one-year limit for sex abuse victims to sue the church for alleged abuse that occurred up to 35 years ago.
"I regret that we need this type of legislation, but I insist we do need it," he said before meeting with House lawmakers who are undecided on the bill.
Gumbleton said he was a 15-year-old seminary student in Detroit when a priest took him and other boys to a cabin northeast of the city. The priest started wrestling with him playfully, then put his hand down Gumbleton's pants. He said he quickly removed himself from the situation.
The archbishop of Detroit, Cardinal Adam Maida, said in a statement that he is "always disheartened whenever he hears of a claim of clergy sexual abuse." He said he was "especially saddened by the report that Bishop Thomas Gumbleton ... was apparently a victim himself many years ago."
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Jim Siegel and Dennis M . Mahoney
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton yesterday broke 60 years of silence about the sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a priest, hoping to convince Ohio lawmakers that other victims deserve their day in court.
Gumbleton surprised Roman Catholic Church leaders in Ohio when he showed up in Columbus to publicly support a bill allowing sex-abuse victims to sue for crimes that occurred up to 35 years ago. Ohio bishops have spent months lobbying to defeat the provision.
"It’s the only way that priests or bishops in the church who either were perpetrators or covered up the perpetrators will be truly held accountable," Gumbleton told a room filled with reporters and cameras. "It seems that on our own, we’re not willing within the church to hold ourselves accountable to the victims for what has happened."
Gumbleton also criticized a pro- posal by the Catholic Conference of Ohio to create a registry of church sex abusers instead of giving victims one year to sue for past sex crimes.
"It would not meet the needs of the victims," he said. "We need to be interested in whatever is going to make every victim as healed as possible."
OREGON
Statesman Journal
ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal
January 12, 2006
Six adult siblings -- three women and three men -- filed suit Wednesday accusing three now-deceased priests of sexually abusing them in the late 1960s and early 1970s when they were children.
The plaintiffs, ranging in age from 43 to 52, live in Salem, Keizer, Falls City, Amity and Sherwood. The suit identifies them only with initials.
They are seeking a total of $19.5 million, citing enduring emotional pain and suffering left by childhood sexual abuse. They say the abuse was inflicted by the Rev. Bernard Harris; his brother, the Rev. James Harris; and the Rev. Maurice Grammond.
Grammond, who died in 2002, left behind a long string of alleged abuse victims. He has been named in other priest-abuse lawsuits, which remain unsettled because of the 2004 bankruptcy filing of the Portland Archdiocese.
OREGON
The Oregonian
Thursday, January 12, 2006
BOAZ HERZOG
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court claims that three Catholic priests sexually abused four boys and two girls -- all siblings -- several decades ago after their Silverton family home burned down in a fire and they needed help.
The lawsuit named the Archdiocese of Helena, Mont.; the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus; and the personal representative of the estate of the Rev. Maurice Grammond as defendants.
The Rev. Paul Janowiak of the Northwest Jesuits said he had seen the lawsuit and could not comment. The Helena Archdiocese and the representative for Grammond could not be reached for comment.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Philadelphia Daily News
By CARRIE SPENCER GHOSE
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A bishop in the Detroit Archdiocese said yesterday that he had been touched inappropriately by a priest when he was a teenager, making him the first U.S. Catholic bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, spoke at a news conference in support of an Ohio bill that would remove time limits that have prevented victims from suing the church over their alleged abuse. He said some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will be is through the courts.
Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have vigorously lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago.
"I regret that we need this kind of legislation, but I insist we do need it," Gumbleton said before meeting with House lawmakers who are undecided on the bill.
BELLEVUE (KY)
Community Recorder
BY KATIE WEITKAMP | COMMUNITY RECORDER STAFF WRITER
BELLEVUE -- The Covington Diocese is investigating another allegation of sexual abuse.
Bishop Roger Foys spoke at services Saturday and Sunday at Divine Mercy Parish in Bellevue and St. Bernard Church in Dayton to say the pastor at both locations, the Rev. Richard Frazier, has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
Tim Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Covington Diocese, said he attended one of the Masses on Saturday, Jan. 7.
"The bishop told the congregation that allegations have come forward implicating Father Frazier in ... sexual abuse of children," Fitzgerald said.
He said at the Mass he attended he did not see nor hear a reaction from the congregation. He said he did hear parishioners express their support for Bishop Foys following the service.
Fitzgerald said he didn't know if there were one or multiple accusers in this case. He said he didn't know when the abuse allegedly occurred.
"It was when Father Frazier was a seminarian, so prior to his ordination in (1996), when he became a priest, so sometime prior to 1996," Fitzgerald said.
ROCKVILLE CENTRE (NY)
New York Newsday
BY EDEN LAIKIN
STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2006
Five siblings have started a $25-million lawsuit against the Diocese of Rockville Centre and Bishop William Murphy, alleging that a Long Island priest abused them repeatedly when they were children.
A summons filed Tuesday in State Supreme Court in Mineola says the Rev. Daniel Babis, who died in 1978, abused Richard Regan, his sister JoAnn and three unnamed siblings.
"Filing the suit is a way of getting the attention of the church and to help other victims of Babis come forward," said Richard Regan, 62, of Penn Yan, N.Y., near Rochester.
JoAnn Regan, of Hamburg, Germany, said she felt she had "no choice" but to join the lawsuit.
"I want them to be punished," she said of the diocese.
Sean Dolan, a diocese spokesman, declined to comment on pending litigation.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce was either a delusional, impulsive madman devoid of self-restraint or a calculating, cold-blooded killer who knew exactly what he was doing when he killed fellow inmate John J. Geoghan.
Those were the conflicting portraits proffered by defense and prosecution lawyers yesterday as Mr. Druce’s murder trial started in Worcester Superior Court.
In his opening statement to the jury, defense lawyer John H. LaChance did not dispute that his client strangled Mr. Geoghan in the defrocked pedophile priest’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the morning of Aug 23, 2003.
He said Mr. Druce was mentally ill at the time and lacked criminal responsibility for his actions. Mr. LaChance told the jury the evidence would show Mr. Druce was suffering from dissociative disorder when he killed Mr. Geoghan, 68, a convicted child molester, and was living in a “fantasy world” in which he viewed himself as “the savior of the kids.”
Mr. LaChance also said he would offer evidence that David Lonergan, a correction officer who was on duty in the protective custody unit at Souza-Baranowski on the day of the slaying, was aware of Mr. Druce’s planned attack on Mr. Geoghan and “approved or at least acquiesced.” Officer Lonergan later denied the allegation, after being called as Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy’s first witness in the case.
Mr. Murphy promised in his opening statement to present evidence, including the defendant’s own words when he confessed to the killing, to show that Mr. Druce had been plotting Mr. Geoghan’s slaying for some time before carrying it out. In his outline of the government’s case, the prosecutor said the evidence would show Mr. Druce saw Mr. Geoghan as a “prize” and that he waited patiently for an opportunity to sneak into the ex-priest’s cell, jam the cell door to prevent intervention and kill him.
Mr. Murphy said Mr. Druce told investigators he took Mr. Geoghan’s life to keep him from abusing other children after the former priest was released from custody.
At the time of the killing, Mr. Druce, now 40, was serving a life sentence for a 1989 conviction for the murder of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking. His insanity defense in that case was unsuccessful.
Mr. Geoghan, who had been accused in civil lawsuits of molesting as many as 150 boys, was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for fondling a 10-year-old boy.
Officer Lonergan testified that he was the only correction officer in the protective custody unit at Souza-Baranowski, a maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line, when Mr. Geoghan was killed. Officer Lonergan said another officer assigned to the unit had been temporarily called away to another part of the prison when he received word from an inmate that there were two prisoners in Mr. Geoghan’s cell.
It was shortly before noon, and the 26 inmates in the J-1 unit, including Mr. Druce and Mr. Geoghan, had been let out of their cells moments earlier to return their food trays, according to Officer Lonergan. He said he rushed to Mr. Geoghan’s cell, peered through the narrow window in the door and saw Mr. Druce jumping from the bed onto the floor, where Mr. Geoghan lay with his hands bound behind his back.
Officer Lonergan told the jury he tried to open the cell door, both manually and by computer, but to no avail. The door was jammed and “jumping on the track,” he said.
He testified that he radioed for assistance and that a prison “response team” arrived. Within 3 to 4 minutes, the door to Mr. Geoghan’s cell was forced open and Mr. Druce was dragged out by correction officers, Officer Lonergan said.
It was later determined that Mr. Druce had jammed the door with a pair of nail clippers and a paperback copy of a book titled “The Cross and the Switchblade.”
When asked by Mr. Murphy if he had any advance knowledge that Mr. Druce planned to do anything to Mr. Geoghan that day, Officer Lonergan responded, “Absolutely not.”
Under cross-examination by Mr. LaChance, Officer Lonergan, who said he has been on medical leave and suffering from post traumatic stress disorder since the day of the killing, denied ever discussing Mr. Geoghan with Mr. Druce, but acknowledged that he and Mr. Druce were from the same town and had mutual acquaintances.
“Didn’t you, in fact, look the other way when he slipped into that cell?” Mr. LaChance asked.
“Not at all,” said Officer Lonergan.
“You’re absolutely certain of that?” the defense lawyer asked.
“Absolutely certain,” Officer Lonergan said.
Sgt. Lee Bradley of the Souza-Baranowski staff said he tried to revive Mr. Geoghan after finding him face-down on the floor of his cell.
Sgt. Bradley said the victim’s face was purple, his hands were tied behind his back with a T-shirt and that a “tourniquet” consisting of a sneaker, a pair of socks tied together and a pillow case were wrapped around his neck. There was urine and a small amount of blood on the cell floor, the officer said.
Correction Officer Travis Canty said he was one of four officers who escorted Mr. Druce to the prison’s health services unit after he was removed from Mr. Geoghan’s cell.
During cross-examination, Mr. LaChance showed Officer Canty three photographs depicting injuries to Mr. Druce’s face. The defense lawyer asked if Officer Canty or any of his fellow officers had caused the injuries while accompanying Mr. Druce to the infirmary. Officer Canty said they had not.
He acknowledged having his right hand looked at by medical personnel in the health services unit and said he believed the injury occurred when he struck his hand on a door frame while escorting Mr. Druce.
Testimony was scheduled to resume today.
PORTLAND (OR)
Reuters
By Teresa Carson
PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - A federal bankruptcy judge sent a group of priest sex abuse cases back to court on Wednesday for trial or settlement after an 18-month delay because of the Portland Catholic archdiocese's bankruptcy proceedings.
"I really hope we can move forward," federal bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris told the packed courtroom.
Facing huge financial claims from scores of priest sex abuse lawsuits, the Portland archdiocese became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy in July 2004.
The archdioceses of Spokane, Washington and Tuscon, Arizona have since made similar filings as other Catholic archdiocese around the nation have scrambled to pay claims. In Boston the archdiocese has sold 60 churches and schools.
OHIO
CBS News
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 12, 2006
(AP) A bishop in the Detroit Archdiocese said Wednesday that he was touched inappropriately by a priest when he was a teenager, making him the first U.S. Catholic bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, spoke at a news conference in support of an Ohio bill that would remove time limits that have prevented past victims from suing the church over their alleged abuse. He said some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will be is through the courts.
Ohio bishops agree with extending the time limits for future abuse cases but have vigorously lobbied against a provision allowing a one-year window for victims to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago.
OHIO
USA Today
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
A 75-year-old Detroit Catholic bishop stunned his church, Ohio legislators and victims of sexual abuse nationwide Wednesday when he revealed one reason he supports victims' rights to sue, no matter how long ago the abuse occurred: He was molested by a priest more than 60 years ago.
"I have more insight into why it is so difficult for victims to come forward within the legal time limits, to expose themselves, open up their privacy to the public," Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton said.
When he was a 14-year-old student in a high school seminary, Gumbleton said, a professor in his 40s took him to a cottage, wrestled with him and put his hands down his pants.
"I knew it wasn't right, and I didn't want it to happen anymore," he said in a telephone interview before a news conference in Columbus, Ohio.
There, he joined with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests in lobbying the Ohio House of Representatives. The House is considering legislation, already passed unanimously by the state Senate, to open a one-year window in the statute of limitations on sexual abuse by clergy.
UNITED STATES
The Sunday Times
By Andrew Stern in Chicago
12jan06
A ROMAN Catholic bishop from Detroit said this morning he was sexually abused by a priest as a teenager, becoming the highest-ranking clergyman and the first prelate to declare himself a victim in the scandal tainting the church.
"I speak out of my own experience of being exploited as a teenager through inappropriate touching by a priest," Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton said in testimony for the Ohio state legislature.
Bishop Gumbleton said he supports efforts in Ohio and several other states to follow California's lead in suspending the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits that allege abuse by clergy and subsequent cover-ups by the church hierarchy.
The scandal first erupted in 2003 in Boston and has since involved virtually every US diocese.
WORCESTER (MA)
Sun News
DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press
WORCESTER, Mass. - Moments after guards first pried open the jammed door of John Geoghan's prison cell, Joseph Druce confessed that he killed the child-molesting former priest to protect other youngsters, a guard testified Wednesday as the prisoner's murder trial began.
Four guards brought Druce to the prison hospital unit, where he sobbed while confessing to killing Geoghan, guard Travis Canty said. According to prosecutors, Druce had jammed the door of Geoghan's cell shut with a book, then strangled the defrocked priest with a pillowcase, socks and a sneaker.
"He said that he did it for the children," Canty said, "that when Geoghan got out he was going to do it again."
The defense and prosecution agree Druce killed Geoghan to "save the children" in 2003, but disagree over whether he was sane when he did it.
INDIA
Newindpress
Thursday January 12 2006 00:00 IST
COIMBATORE: Tension prevailed on the premises of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) as relatives of pastor Charles, who committed suicide after accusations of child abuse, refused to accept his body.
The pastor threw himself before the train after Lakshmi, a girl who was staying in his orphanage, lodged a complaint of sexual abuse with district rural police.
On Wednesday, his relatives refused to take back his body after post-mortem demanding further inquiry into the whole episode. Ditto, son of pastor Charles, gave a petition to Rural SP Thenmozhi that his father was ‘‘framed’’ in the case by local politicians, leading to his suicide.
IRELAND
Irish Post
A DOZEN firms of solicitors are facing a formal disciplinary inquiry over allegations they overcharged clients who received awards because of institutional abuse in Ireland.
The Law Society of Ireland this week confirmed it has referred 12 different legal practices to an independent disciplinary tribunal arising out of complaints from 22 individuals who were former residents of industrial schools.
Law Society director general Ken Murphy said a total of 162 complaints had been received to date.
But he stressed the number of solicitors referred to the disciplinary tribunal represented just over one-inevery 200 cases which had come before the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
The independent disciplinary tribunal can impose a range of sanctions including fines, suspensions and striking off from the profession if it finds misconduct.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Nashville Weekly
by John Spragens
On Thursday, Dec. 15, former Father Ryan High School student Mike Coode was kicked off his alma mater’s campus. He and two women had stopped by to look at archived yearbooks from the mid-1950s—and, hopefully, to reproduce pages from them—when they were told that they could not take digital photos of the books, nor could they view them at all. In fact, after checking with principal Jim McIntyre, a development office administrator instructed the three to leave the premises immediately.
Coode was surprised but not shocked. After all, as a victim of long-ago sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, he’s dealt with the Diocese of Nashville many times. On this occasion, he and two leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) were hoping to find a picture of Coode at the age when he was being abused, as well as use the yearbooks to piece together old webs of classmates and priests who were suspected to have molested them. School officials, citing privacy concerns, said that wouldn’t be an option.
But only weeks before, according to Coode and SNAP co-director Ann Brentwood, they had been welcomed at the Father Ryan development office and allowed to look through all available yearbooks. “If there had been cookies and coffee, we would have joined them for cookies and coffee,” Brentwood says of the pair’s amiable November visit. “It was a very relaxed, laid-back atmosphere.”
ROCKFORD (IL)
Rock River Times
Group plans meetings for second Friday of every month; January meeting set for Jan. 13
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has established an Illinois Chapter in Rockford.
SNAP was launched in 1992 as a volunteer self-help organization for men and women who have been sexually abused as children and minors by the spiritual leaders of the Roman Catholic Church (bishops, priests, brothers, nuns and teachers).
DETROIT (MI)
PRNewswire
DETROIT, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Adam Maida, archbishop of
Detroit, says he is always disheartened whenever he hears of a claim of clergy
sexual abuse, and is especially saddened by the report that Bishop Thomas
Gumbleton, a Detroit auxiliary bishop, was apparently a victim himself many
years ago. "The Detroit archdiocese was never made aware of this," Cardinal
Maida says.
As it relates to Bishop Gumbleton's remarks on how these cases are
handled, Msgr. Ricardo Bass, Cardinal Maida's delegate for clergy matters,
notes there is no time limit on a person bringing forward a complaint to the
archdiocese. "Bishop Gumbleton's experience is indeed regrettable," says
Msgr. Bass, "and, no doubt, it frames his personal opinion on this matter. As
we would with any person in his situation, the archdiocese stands by its
commitment to provide counseling assistance as needed." Regarding the statute
of limitations, Msgr. Bass adds, "it has served our society well in protecting
the rights of everyone, especially after a long passage of time.
NEW YORK
Irish Echo
By Ray O'Hanlon
rohanlon@irishecho.com
A prominent New York priest is to be tried before an ecclesiastical court on charges of having an inappropriate relationship with a high school student. The priest in question, Monsignor Charles Kavanagh, said he is relieved by the announcement from the Archdiocese of New York that he will finally have his day in court.
"I'm delighted. All I've asked from the beginning is for a full and fair hearing," Kavanagh told the Irish Echo.
The beginning of Kavanagh's case was May 2002. The accusation against him stretches back more than 20 years.
Since the accusation first surfaced, Kavanagh, who is 68, has been in a canonical version of a legal limbo, uncertain if he would ever have a chance to clear his name.
But the Vatican recently gave the go-ahead for a rare hearing before a panel of canon law experts.
TEXAS
Fort Worth Weekly
By JIMMY FOWLER
At 72, with worn sneakers and rolled-up sleeves, sitting in his book-lined office at Southern Methodist University, he looks like the low-key thinking man and professor that he is.
And yet, as a Catholic priest and brilliant religious scholar, his actions were apparently so heinous that an archbishop once accused him of “sowing scandal” among the faithful. What he taught was so scary that the Catholic Church’s modern-day successor to the Inquisition barred him permanently from teaching at Catholic colleges. Before the ban, he was so well-liked and respected that the entire theology faculty at his former university once went on strike to help save his job.
What did Father Curran believe and teach that caused such uproar? Well, in large part, the kinds of things you might suspect would get someone in trouble with the Vatican — that the church was wrong to strictly ban all abortions, all premarital sex, all homosexual relationships, all forms of birth control except crossing your legs for part of the month; that the church should allow women and gays to be priests; that priests should be allowed to marry. And that the church has screwed up royally in its handling of the pedophilia crisis, with repercussions that have been felt everywhere from Fort Worth to the farthest reach of church territory (which is to say, the whole world).
WORCESTER (MA)
San Francisco Chronicle
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
(01-11) 09:27 PST Worcester, Mass. (AP) --
A prison inmate strangled pedophile former priest John Geoghan to "save the children," both sides in his trial agreed in opening statements Wednesday, but they differed over whether he should be convicted of murder for it.
Prosecutors said Joseph Druce had planned the 2003 killing in Geoghan's cell for weeks. Druce's lawyer said he was suffering from a mental illness and driven by an "irresistible impulse" to kill the defrocked priest.
"This case isn't so much about what happened," defense lawyer John LaChance said. "It's about why it happened."
LaChance doesn't dispute the allegation that his client strangled Geoghan after sneaking into his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and jamming the automatic door with a book.
COLUMBUS (OH)
CNN
Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Posted: 1:17 p.m. EST (18:17 GMT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit revealed in written remarks for an appearance Wednesday that he was abused by a priest 60 years ago.
He is believed to be the first U.S. bishop to disclose that he was a victim of sexual abuse by clergy.
"I speak out of my own experience of being exploited as a teenager through inappropriate touching by a priest," Gumbleton, 75, wrote.
He also wrote that there is "a strong likelihood" some perpetrators have not yet been exposed, and the only way to ensure they will be is through the courts.
Gumbleton has endorsed proposals in several states to remove time limits that have prevented many victims of sex abuse from suing the church.
OHIO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
I am Thomas Gumbleton, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you regarding Senate Bill 17.
From the outset I wish to make it very clear that I do not speak in any official capacity on behalf of the Archdiocese of Detroit, nor any regional nor national group of bishops. However, I come before you as a priest of the Catholic church for almost 50 years and a bishop for almost 38 years. I have had many years of pastoral and administrative experience at both the parish and diocesan levels.
I also speak from my experience of listening and attempting to be responsive to the tragic stories of victims of sexual abuse. Finally, I speak out of my own experience of being exploited as a teenager through inappropriate touching by a priest.
I know you have listened for hours to the grim stories of many victims and their family members of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. I thank you for doing this. And, if I may, I extend a very sincere apology to the men and women in this room who were sexually assaulted by Catholic priests and other church leaders. I also apologize to the parents, spouses, siblings and other family members and friends of the victims. I know you, too, have suffered. I am so sorry for what each of you has endured. I know that there is no way to repair shattered innocence or to restore stolen childhoods. But I do offer my sincere apologies to all of you for what you have suffered.
ByAbuse Tracker
Speaking before the Ohio House Judiciary Committee today Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit is to reveal that he was "inappropriately touched" by a priest as a teenager 60 years ago, the first U.S. bishop to reveal himself as a victim of clergy sex abuse.
The revelation comes in a statement from Gumbleton endorsing legislation in Ohio that would open a one-year window for victims to file lawsuits over sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it took place. The legislation is opposed by the bishops of Ohio.
The Washington Post published a story about Gumbleton's testimony today. NCR obtained a copy of the bishop's statement, the complete text of which follows this story.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
01/11/2006
A Navy pilot's son has sued a priest who spent time in St. Louis in the early 1980s, alleging that the priest sexually abused him while serving as a Navy chaplain in Key West, Fla.
The suit, filed in Florida last week against the Diocese of Brooklyn and the Archdiocese for the Military Services, says Romano Ferraro sexually abused the young boy in the late 1960s at a naval air station when the boy's father was stationed there
The suit says the Brooklyn Diocese transferred Ferraro to Key West even though they knew he was a serial pedophile. Ferraro is serving a life sentence in Massachusetts for raping a boy.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Suzanne Le Mignot
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO A young mother says Father Jason Martin is a father alright. A woman accuses him of promising to leave the priesthood. CBS 2's Suzanne LeMignot reports on the woman’s claim that instead he left her, and their new baby.
"He just played house and then decided to play priest again," said Sandra Ring talking about the man she dated in high school and reconnected with in 2003. His name is Fr. Jason Martin.
"He told me that he had thought a lot about me over the years and he told me [that] had our relationship progressed he wouldn't have even gone into the priesthood," said Ring.
Fr. Martin left the religious order of the Discalced Carmelite Friars. He started living with Ring. He even proposed, setting a wedding date.
JERSEY CITY (NJ)
The Jersey Journal
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
A court has ordered the longtime pastor of a Baptist church in Jersey City, and the church itself, to pay more than $100,000 to a former organ player who says the pastor sexually harassed him.
The ruling came after the pastor, the Rev. Sammie Lee Hawkins, left the courtroom during a hearing on the matter in August and did not return.
Hawkins, head of St. John's Baptist Church on Bramhall Avenue for 15 years, was accused by a former church employee of conducting a "campaign of sexual harassment" that drove him to quit his $33,000-a-year job as the church's organist in 2003.
Kevin Profit, who is married with children and now lives in Connecticut, alleges that he quit after Hawkins made numerous "lewd sexual comments" about his "sexual organs," as well as telling Profit that he wanted to have sex with him and "other men," according to court documents.
On May 28, 2003, Profit alleges Hawkins said he had a "fetish" for him, and that he "loved" him and "dreamed about him," according to court documents.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | January 11, 2006
Did we all make a New Year's resolution to forget the lessons we have learned the hard way?
Nice kids do drink and drive. Pillars of the community do molest children in their care.
We could have been living in Pleasantville instead of Greater Boston in the last week for the level of denial in circulation. First, it was the unwillingness to face the likelihood that alcohol played a part in the crash that killed two teenage sisters in Southborough. Now, it is incredulity that a popular high school teacher could stand accused of molesting a student in Maynard.
After all the booze-fueled car wrecks that have claimed the lives of football stars and merit scholars, after all the rape trials that have resulted in the convictions of beloved priests and trusted teachers, why do we persist in this kind of magical thinking?
Not her. Not him. Not here. Not us.
Prosecutors and child abuse therapists have to struggle against our collective wish not to think the worst of those of whom we are so inclined to believe the best. How could a teacher who has been so kind to his students, so instrumental in their academic success, and so supportive of their dreams be accused of exploiting their innocence?
Because that is how child molestation often happens. No one jumps out of the bushes. No one waits in the dark. Someone ingratiates himself into a child's life. Someone takes the time to win his trust. There is even a name for it: grooming.
Those of us in Boston should know that better than most. We have spent the last three years processing the hard reality that so many predatory men in Roman collars molested so many vulnerable children.
Did those men look like ogres, or did they look like respected authority figures? The Rev. Paul Shanley ministered to runaways and drug addicts on the city's streets in the 1960s and 1970s; he also abused many of them. The Rev. Robert E. Kelley was solicitous of the little girls in his parishes; he also raped dozens of them. The Rev. Ronald H. Paquin took altar boys on overnight camping trips to Maine; he raped some of them there.
BOSTON (MA)
The Republican
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
By DAN RING
dring@repub.com
BOSTON - Victims of clergy sexual abuse and activists yesterday rallied on Beacon Hill for legislation that would end the $20,000 cap on liability for churches and other nonprofit groups in certain civil lawsuits.
In speeches, proponents also called for approval of a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sex abuse of children.
"Accountability is the first step toward preventing future abuse," Peter C. Pollard of Hatfield, coordinator in Western Massachusetts for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told a crowd at the Statehouse.
"With accountability, the silence can be broken. With accountability, healing can begin for everyone involved," Pollard said.
Rep. Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, is a lead sponsor of the bills to lift the $20,000 limit on liability for churches and nonprofit groups. The bill would abolish the $20,000 limit only for cases of sexual abuse of a minor.
Massachusetts is one of several states with caps on the amount of money nonprofits can be forced to pay for negligence.
HUDSON (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HUDSON, Wis. - Parishioners at St. Patrick's Catholic Church want the bishop to apologize and acknowledge mistakes when he meets with them to discuss a former priest who a judge ruled probably killed two funeral home workers nearly four years ago, the parish's priest says.
The parish, in proposing some changes to Bishop Raphael Fliss of the Superior Diocese, also wants the diocese to pay more attention to parishioners and their concerns, make more information available about the seminary selection and education processes and improve background checks on potential priests, the Rev. John Parr said.
"What the parish is recommending is that there is a wisdom in God's people that needs to be recognized and tapped into more deeply," Parr said.
Fliss will meet with the congregation for the first time Sunday about the late Rev. Ryan Erickson, 31, who hanged himself about a year ago after police questioned him about the slayings.
"These events are going to take a long time (to heal) and a lot of God's grace," Parr said.
Erickson was a priest at the 1,800-member church from 2000 to 2003 and drew criticism from some parish members over his behavior and conservative religious views.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, January 11, 2006
ALBANY -- The head of a survivors group for priest abuse victims wants state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Spargo removed from a church protest case, citing bias in favor of the Catholic diocese and conflicts of interest.
"It is my belief that a very serious miscarriage of justice has occurred and will continue to occur unless the court immediately reviews these facts," Mark Lyman said Monday in papers filed with the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court.
Lyman has organized Sunday morning protests outside Holy Cross Church in Albany for the past 30 weeks, since its pastor, the Rev. Daniel Maher, was accused of sexually assaulting a Colonie child twice in 1973. Demonstrations outside the Western Avenue church continue, even after a diocesan review board cleared Maher of wrongdoing.
Last fall, Spargo signed a temporary restraining order barring protesters from being any closer than 100 feet from church and school entrances.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 11, 2006
When a sad twist of fate reunited Sandra Ring with her former high school sweetheart in 2003, it seemed to prove to the heartbroken Canadian that God works in mysterious ways.
Ring's one-time sweetheart Jason Martin was a Roman Catholic priest. Within seven months, Martin vowed to leave the priesthood, proposed marriage and fathered a son, according to allegations in a lawsuit that Ring filed in a Canadian court.
But in July 2004, Martin's religious order, the Discalced Carmelite Friars, transferred him to Chicago, where he now recruits candidates in the Midwest. Ring sued Martin, 33, and the Carmelites for child support.
"In essence he played house and decided he liked priest life better," said Ring, 32, of Ingersoll, Ontario. "And the church is protecting him without any regard for [his son]."
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Opening statements were scheduled today in the trial of Joseph L. Druce, the prison inmate charged with murder in the strangulation and beating death of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.
Mr. Druce is raising an insanity defense, claiming he lacked criminal responsibility for the Aug. 23, 2003, slaying in a protective custody unit at the Souza-Baranowksi Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line. Mr. Druce allegedly confessed to the killing, telling investigators he beat the former priest and strangled him with a pair of socks tied together to prevent him from molesting other children upon his release from prison.
At the time of the killing, which occurred in Mr. Geoghan’s cell, the 68-year-old ex-priest was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for sexually abusing a 10-year-old boy. Mr. Druce, 40, was serving a life sentence imposed after he was convicted in 1989 of murdering a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking. He raised an unsuccessful insanity defense in that case.
Prosecutors contend Mr. Druce methodically planned the murder of Mr. Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, and that he was legally sane when the killing was carried out.
A 16-member jury made up of 10 men and six women was impaneled in Worcester Superior Court over the last two days to hear the case. Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy and Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, were expected to make their opening statements to the jurors this morning.
The trial, which will include expert testimony from both sides on the issue of Mr. Druce’s mental state at the time of the slaying, is expected to last about two weeks.
Jury selection, which began Monday and concluded yesterday afternoon, involved individual questioning of more than 100 prospective jurors by Judge Francis R. Fecteau, who will preside over the trial. Potential jurors were asked, for example, whether they had formed any opinions about the case based on pretrial publicity or had any strong feelings about psychiatric defenses, in general, that might affect their impartiality.
One prospective juror who was excused yesterday by the judge said a member of his family was a victim of Mr. Geoghan. The man also said he was self-employed and could not afford to take two weeks off from work.
Another potential juror was excused after telling the court he was molested as an altar boy. Yet another said he believed that what Mr. Geoghan allegedly did to children was so “horrific” he “probably didn’t deserve to live.”
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Page A03
Breaking ranks with his peers, a Roman Catholic bishop called yesterday for state legislatures to temporarily remove the time limits that have prevented many victims of sex abuse from suing the church.
In making that extraordinary appeal, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit also unburdened himself of a secret. As a teenager 60 years ago, he said, he was "inappropriately touched" by a priest.
Gumbleton, 75, is the first U.S. bishop to disclose that he was a victim of clergy sexual abuse. He is also the first to endorse proposals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and other states to follow California's example and open a one-year window for victims to file lawsuits over sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it took place.
"I don't want to exaggerate that I was terribly damaged. It was not the kind of sexual abuse that many of the victims experience," Gumbleton said in a telephone interview. But, he said, he knows why sex abuse victims often cannot file lawsuits within the period allowed by the statute of limitations, which in many states is two to five years after the alleged crime.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 11, 2006
WORCESTER, Mass. --Lawyers have winnowed a pool of 100 candidates down to 16 jurors who said they could be impartial in the case of a prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan, the convicted pedophile priest who became the face of Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal.
The 10 men and six women were to hear opening statements on Wednesday in the trial of Joseph Druce, a 40-year-old man already serving a life sentence for murder who officials say bragged about killing Geoghan to "save the children."
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, doesn't dispute the allegation that his client sneaked into Geoghan's cell in August 2003 and strangled the defrocked priest accused of molesting 150 boys.
LaChance does, however, question whether his client is legally responsible for his actions. Druce, LaChance has said, was sexually abused as a child and suffers from a "major mental illness."
Druce tried an insanity defense during his 1989 trial on charges he murdered a hitchhiker who allegedly made a sexual pass at him.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.11.2006
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is expected to contribute $200,000 to the Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy settlement fund.
Federal Bankruptcy Judge James M. Marlar on Tuesday set a hearing for Feb. 7, when the agreement with the Phoenix diocese should be approved.
Until 1969, churches in the Diocese of Phoenix were part of the Diocese of Tucson. Several of the cases involving sexual abuse of children by priests that were settled under the Tucson Diocese's bankruptcy plan were alleged to have occurred before 1969 and named churches and priests in Phoenix. The contribution from Phoenix would be added to the $22.2 million bankruptcy settlement trust.
WORCESTER (MA)
Daily News Transcript
By Denise Lavoie
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
WORCESTER -- A jury was seated yesterday to hear the case of a prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan, the convicted pedophile priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal in Boston.
The final member of the jury of 10 men and six woman was selected yesterday afternoon in the trial of Joseph Druce, clearing the way for opening arguments this morning.
Druce allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in August 2003 after sneaking into his cell and jamming the door shut. Druce, who claims he was sexually abused as a child, later bragged to investigators that he did it to "save the children."
Druce, 40, is already serving a life sentence for murdering a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
He unsuccessfully used an insanity defense during that 1989 trial, and his attorney, John LaChance, has said he plans to argue again that Druce was not criminally responsible for his actions because of severe mental illness.
WISCONSIN
Pioneer Press
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
Three emotional months after a judge found that the Rev. Ryan Erickson likely had killed two men and sexually abused a teenage boy, the bishop of the Superior Diocese will visit St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Sunday to meet parishioners still reeling from the priest's divisive tenure in Hudson, Wis.
Bishop Raphael Fliss' long-awaited trip will include private meetings with several parishioners, including members of the O'Connell family who have criticized the bishop for what they contend was an inappropriate response to the matter.
A judge ruled in October there was probable cause Erickson, 31, fatally shot mortician Dan O'Connell, 39, and 22-year-old intern James Ellison on Feb. 5, 2002, at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home. The St. Croix County judge also found that Erickson, who later committed suicide amid an advancing police investigation, likely sexually abused at least one boy and had aroused the suspicions of O'Connell, who attended St. Patrick's.
Erickson's stormy three-year tenure at the 1,800-member parish was polarizing, pitting parishioners against each other and prompting some to quit attending the church even before the priest was linked to the homicides. Fliss will attempt to heal that divide, meeting first with the parish council, then the parish, followed by individuals.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
January 11, 2006
By PATRICIA MONTEMURRI and DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton revealed
Wednesday that he had been sexually molested by a priest when he was a teenager attending Detroit Sacred Heart Seminary's onetime high school for boys.
With his revelation, Gumbleton, 75, became the first Catholic
bishop in the United States to acknowledge such abuse. He also broke
ranks with the nation's Catholic leadership by calling for new laws
that would allow victims' lawyers and investigators to dig into past
cases, now largely left off limits because too many years have passed.
Gumbleton said he was a high school freshman or sophomore at
Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary High School in the mid-1940s when a priest
took him and another teenager away to a cottage.
WASHINGTON (DC)
ClickonDetroit.com
WASHINGTON -- Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, arguing for more time for sex abuse victims to sue the Roman Catholic Church, says he was abused by a priest 60 years ago.
Gumbleton, 75, told The Washington Post in an interview published in Wednesday's editions that he was "inappropriately touched" by a priest in 1945 when he was a ninth grader at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit.
He is believed to be the first U.S. bishop to disclose that he was a victim of clergy sexual abuse and also the first to endorse proposals in several states to remove time limits that have prevented many victims of sex abuse from suing the church.
"I don't want to exaggerate that I was terribly damaged," Gumbleton told the Post in a telephone interview. "It was not the kind of sexual abuse that many of the victims experience."
But he said the experience helps him understand why sex abuse victims often cannot bring themselves to file lawsuits within the period allowed by the statute of limitations, which in many states is two to five years after the alleged crime.
WORCESTER (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
WORCESTER, Mass. -- Lawyers have winnowed a pool of 100 candidates down to 16 jurors who said they could be impartial in the case of a prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan, the convicted pedophile priest who became the face of Boston's clergy sex abuse scandal.
The 10 men and six women were to hear opening statements on Wednesday in the trial of Joseph Druce, a 40-year-old man already serving a life sentence for murder who officials say bragged about killing Geoghan to "save the children."
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, doesn't dispute the allegation that his client sneaked into Geoghan's cell in August 2003 and strangled the defrocked priest accused of molesting 150 boys.
LaChance does, however, question whether his client is legally responsible for his actions. Druce, LaChance has said, was sexually abused as a child and suffers from a "major mental illness."
Druce tried an insanity defense during his 1989 trial on charges he murdered a hitchhiker who allegedly made a sexual pass at him.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.10.2006
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is expected to contribute $200,000 to the Diocese of Tucson’s bankruptcy settlement fund.
Federal Bankruptcy Judge James M. Marlar on Tuesday set a hearing for Feb. 7, when the agreement with the Phoenix diocese is expected to be approved.
Until 1969, churches in the Diocese of Phoenix were part of the Diocese of Tucson. Several of the cases involving sexual abuse of children by priests that were settled under the Tucson Diocese’s bankruptcy plan were alleged to have occurred before 1969 and named churches and priests in Phoenix. The contribution from Phoenix would be added to the $22.2 million bankruptcy settlement fund, and part of it would be used to pay Phoenix claimants’ legal fees.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Mike Rutledge
Enquirer staff writer
BURLINGTON - One Northern Kentucky clergy-abuse victim who urged a judge to approve an $85 million class-action settlement with the Diocese of Covington hugged not only her own lawyers, but the main attorney for the diocese after a 3½-hour hearing Monday.
Attorneys for the victims and the Roman Catholic diocese showed solidarity as they asked Special Judge John Potter of Louisville to approve the settlement, which could pay as many as 382 victims an average of $250,000.
Potter will issue a written ruling in two to three weeks.
"It's not a grudging settlement," Carrie Huff, the Chicago attorney representing the diocese, told Potter. "It's a very, very amicable settlement."
UNITED STATES
Wake Forest University News Service
By Cheryl Walker
336.758.5237
January 9, 2006
The Catholic Church plays an increasingly important role in state politics, according to a new book by Wake Forest University sociologist David Yamane.
"The Catholic Church in State Politics," published by Rowman and Littlefield, documents how conferences of Catholic bishops in 33 states and Washington, D.C., bring the church's theology into the legislative arena as they lobby on major issues such as abortion, capital punishment, education, health care and same-sex marriage.
Despite their importance among religious lobbying organizations at the state level, these bishops conferences operate effectively out of the public spotlight.
"A major goal of this book is to divulge the secret that is the state Catholic conferences," Yamane says. "It does so by examining their history and organization, the issues they engage, their bases of legitimacy, and how they bring their religious arguments into the public square."
Among the book's key findings is that the clergy sexual abuse scandal — the "Catholic Watergate" of 2002 — did not significantly or uniformly diminish the political influence of state Catholic conferences.
WORCESTER (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
WORCESTER, Mass. -- A jury was seated Tuesday to hear the case of a prison inmate accused of killing John Geoghan, the convicted pedophile priest at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal in Boston.
The final member of the jury of 10 men and six woman was selected Tuesday afternoon in the trial of Joseph Druce, clearing the way for opening arguments on Wednesday morning.
Druce allegedly beat and strangled Geoghan in August 2003 after sneaking into his cell and jamming the door shut. Druce, who claims he was sexually abused as a child, later bragged to investigators that he did it to "save the children."
Druce, 40, is already serving a life sentence for murdering a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
IRELAND
IOL
10/01/2006 - 18:45:55
Four people who attended an industrial school in Galway have complained of suffering sexual abuse, it emerged tonight.
St Joseph’s Industrial School in Clifden was run by the Sisters of Mercy until 1983 but no nun was involved in the alleged abuse.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse heard that two sisters who attended the school had complained that they had been taken from their beds and forces to engage in inappropriate touching by an unknown woman.
CONCORD (NH)
Bloomberg
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- St. Paul's School, a private boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, that has struggled with allegations of sexual abuse and financial misconduct, named William R. Matthews Jr. as the new rector, effective immediately.
Matthews, 62, has been interim rector since predecessor Bishop Craig Anderson left St. Paul's at the end of the academic year in June, according to statements posted on the school's Web site. He is a 1961 graduate of the school, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church.
Matthews previously served as St. Paul's director of development, director of admissions and vice rector for students. He is taking over a school that agreed to annual financial oversight from the New Hampshire Attorney General's office in 2004, and which had to apologize for allegations of sexual abuse during the 1970s.
WORCESTER (MA)
Pravda
19:58 2006-01-10
Jury selection continued Tuesday in the trial of a prison inmate accused of killing convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, the man who came to personify Boston's priest sex-abuse scandal. More than 60 jurors were dismissed for the trial of Joseph Druce, most because of work or school conflicts, though some were let go after conceding they could not impartially decide a case involving the slaying of a convicted child molester. One prospective juror said he was a gay man sexually abused as a child, adding, "I have no sympathy whatsoever for Geoghan."
Ten jurors, five men and five women, were chosen by mid-morning Tuesday. With the initial jury pool of 72 people exhausted, a new group of candidates was being brought in. The highly publicized case will likely be less about whether he beat and strangled the former Roman Catholic priest in his prison cell in August 2003 than about whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, has said he plans to use an insanity defense, arguing during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness" when he killed Geoghan, one of the men at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal. On Monday one juror was dismissed after she told lawyers she found it "a little hard to believe" that Druce was insane.
KEY WEST (FL)
The Citizen
BY BECKY IANNOTTA
Citizen Staff
KEY WEST — A former Key West resident has filed a $10 million civil lawsuit, alleging a Catholic priest sexually abused him in the late 1960s while serving as a Navy chaplain at Naval Air Station Key West.
Attorney Jeffrey Herman, representing a man identified as "John," said Father Romano Ferraro invited boys who attended Mass at the Navy base chapel to come to his house for pizza parties and movie nights. Ferraro, who was sentenced in 2004 to life in prison in Massachusetts for raping a boy, would walk around naked in his Key West home and then request that the boys sit on his lap, Herman said.
"John" was about 11 years old at the time of the alleged abuse and did not file reports to law enforcement officials, Herman said.
"We do believe there are many other victims in Key West, because he has memories of being put in a bath tub with four other boys," Herman said. "[Ferraro] would host these nights for the boys ... then he would abuse the kids."
DENVER (CO)
CBS 4
(AP) DENVER Two lawsuits accusing the Archdiocese of Denver of doing nothing regarding a priest who had been accused of abusing children should be moved to federal court because of constitutional questions, attorneys for the church argued Monday.
At least 10 men have filed lawsuits in Denver District Court alleging they were abused as boys by Harold Robert White starting in the 1960s. The lawsuits name only the archdiocese as the defendant.
OHIO
Toledo Blade
The Ohio Board of Education today will consider permanently revoking the school principal license of Dennis Gray, a former priest who worked as a dean at Toledo Public Schools’ Rogers High School.
Mr. Gray voluntarily surrendered his certificates on Dec. 12.
The former cleric left the priesthood in 1987 and was later hired as a dean of students in Toledo Public Schools. Mr. Gray was accused in nine lawsuits filed in 2002 of abusing and raping boys at his cottage in Michigan in the 1980s.
After The Blade revealed accusations from his past on Sept. 16, 2002, he was transferred by TPS to a job supervising janitors at night.
MONSEY (NY)
PRNewswire
MONSEY, N.Y., Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Upon being informed of the campaign
of defamation, smears and libel, Rabbi Mordecai Tendler responded by calling
the accusations "a ludicrous pack of utter fabrications and outright libel.
The people who disseminated these vicious lies are simply devoid of any fear
of heaven and should be pitied."
As a courtesy to the reader attached is a link to related articles as
background material. Further releases will follow.
For Related Articles and Background Information
http://www.ravtendlerdocuments.com/articles/
The Commission for Rabbinic Integrity is a commission formed as a courtesy
for the public to be informed of the truth regarding these proceedings.
MICHIGAN CITY (IN)
The News-Dispatch
By Deborah Sederberg The News-Dispatch
The Rev. Richard Emerson has been on leave for more than a year on allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor
While the Rev. Richard Emerson has resigned his pastorate, he has not resigned from the Roman Catholic priesthood, area priests say.
Emerson, 58, the former pastor of Notre Dame Catholic parish, has been on administrative leave since Dec. 18, 2004, following charges of sexual misconduct with a minor.
The charges, coming from an Orlando, Fla., man who is now 29, date back to the 1980s and early 1990s.
After Notre Dame's 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday, many parishioners expressed their continued belief in Emerson's innocence. He faces no criminal charges.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Gleaner
January 10, 2006
LOUISVILLE (AP) -- An 80-year-old former Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing four boys was sentenced Monday to five years of house arrest.
The Rev. Edwin Scherzer will also be required to file as a registered sex offender for abusing boys in his care during the 1950s and 1960s. Scherzer pleaded guilty in November to four counts of indecent or immoral acts or practices with a child younger than 15. Scherzer was sentenced to five years for each count.
The sentences will run concurrently, due in part to Scherzer's failing health, according to the Commonwealth's Attorney office.
Scherzer is living in an assisted living facility in Louisville.
CANADA
The Globe and Mail
By GREG MCARTHUR
Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Page A2
In what lawyers are calling an unusual legal tactic, an Ottawa church is suing its former youth pastor, a convicted sex offender.
The Calvin Christian Reformed Church, along with its insurance company, is seeking $150,000 from Herbert de Ruyter, who recently pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting a member of the congregation when she was a teenager.
Legal experts say the lawsuit is a new offensive for churches that have been haunted by sex scandals and are in financial ruin because of multimillion-dollar settlements with victims.
"I've never seen that happen in the United States in all my research," said Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer who represents about 300 people who claim they were sexually abused by Catholic priests across Massachusetts.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Times Daily
By KIM CURTIS
Associated Press Writer
A high-ranking Vatican official was deposed for seven hours Monday about how the Portland diocese handled priest sex abuse allegations during his tenure there.
Former Archbishop William Levada was served with a subpoena before he left for Rome last summer to take over as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the position formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI. It is the highest Vatican post ever held by an American.
Plaintiffs' attorney Kelly Clark described Levada as articulate and intelligent and said it "was a productive day." Clark was prevented by a court order from discussing any specifics of the deposition, but said it was "a remarkably uncontentious deposition."
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
The Rev. Edwin Scherzer, a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville, was sentenced yesterday to five years of house arrest for abusing four boys between 1956 and 1966.
Scherzer, 81, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of indecent or immoral practices with a child under 15.
He will have to register as a sex offender.
Scherzer retired in 1995. Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly removed him from public ministry in 2002.
Earlier this year, the Vatican ordered him to lead a life of prayer and penance but did not remove him from the priesthood. Scherzer cannot perform any public ministry, present himself as a priest or have unsupervised contact with minors.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Ely Times & County
Staff and agencies
10 January, 2006
By Adam Tanner Mon Jan 9, 4:16 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - One of the Vatican ‘s highest officials gave a legal deposition behind closed doors on Monday in the priest sex scandal that prompted the Catholic archdiocese in Portland, Oregon, to declare bankruptcy.
William Levada, the Vatican‘s chief doctrinal enforcer, was Archbishop of Portland from 1986-1995, and it is in that capacity he was subpoenaed to provide testimony on sex abuses of children by priests.
"We expect to find out what he knows and when he knew it," Michael Morey, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told reporters as he headed into a deposition by lawyers, which could last all day.
Although the Roman Catholic Church has faced lawsuits alleging abuses across the United States, the Archdiocese of Portland was the first to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors. Since then the archdioceses in Spokane, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona, have also filed for bankruptcy.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Seán McCárthaigh
A DOZEN firms of solicitors are facing a formal disciplinary inquiry over allegations that they overcharged clients who received awards from the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
The Law Society of Ireland confirmed yesterday that it has referred 12 different legal practices to an independent disciplinary tribunal arising out of complaints from 22 individuals who were former residents of industrial schools.
Director general of the Law Society Ken Murphy said a total of 162 complaints had been received to date. However, he also highlighted the fact that the number of solicitors who have been referred to the disciplinary tribunal represented just over one-in-every 200 cases which had come before the RIRB.
He also pointed out that the vast majority of cases had already been examined by the society's complaints committee with the remainder due to be completed by the end of January.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— Jury selection was scheduled to resume today for the trial of Joseph L. Druce, the inmate charged with murder in the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan.
Mr. Druce, who allegedly beat and strangled the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan in the ex-priest’s cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on Aug. 23, 2003, has raised an insanity defense to the murder charge. Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, maintains his client was suffering from a major mental illness at the time of the slaying at the maximum-security prison on the Lancaster-Shirley line and was not criminally responsible for his actions.
Courtroom security was tight yesterday as jury selection began in Worcester Superior Court. Four court officers remained in the courtroom during the proceedings and several correction officers were stationed in the hallway outside. Mr. Druce’s ankles were shackled over his trousers. He wore a striped tie and a pale blue dress shirt that concealed the tattoos covering his arms, but not those on his wrist and hand.
By the end of the day, nine jurors were seated to hear the case. A total of 16 jurors, including four alternates, will be impaneled.
Prospective jurors were questioned individually by Judge Francis R. Fecteau in an effort to ensure that those chosen would be able to decide the case based solely on the evidence. Potential jurors were asked, for example, whether they would be able to find Mr. Druce not guilty by reason of mental illness if the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proving not only that he committed the murder, but also that he was legally sane at the time.
They were told that Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence at the time of the slaying, but not that he was convicted in 1989 for the murder of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking. They were asked if the fact that Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence for molesting a young boy when he was killed would affect their ability to decide the case impartially.
More than two dozen prospective jurors were excused from service by Judge Fecteau, including two who said they had concerns about the validity of insanity defenses, one who said he was a victim of molestation and had no sympathy for Mr. Geoghan and another who said he would hold it against Mr. Druce if he did not testify in his own defense.
Mr. LaChance exercised eight of his 16 pre-emptory challenges of prospective jurors. Assistant District Attorney Lawrence J. Murphy used two of his. The pre-emptory challenges allow the lawyers to exclude potential jurors from the case without giving any reason for doing so.
The nine jurors who were seated yesterday, five women and four men, were asked to return to court at 2 p.m. today. It was not clear whether the lawyers would make their opening statements today or tomorrow. The trial is expected to last about two weeks once a jury is impaneled.
Mr. Druce allegedly confessed to the slaying, telling investigators he killed Mr. Geoghan to prevent him from sexually abusing other children after his release from prison. The ex-priest, accused in civil lawsuits of molesting more than 150 boys, was at the heart of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Victims of sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington announced an agreement with insurance companies yesterday that would reduce the maximum total payout to abuse victims to $85 million, down from what could have been a record $120 million.
Lawyers for victims and the diocese say they're still satisfied with the settlement, which was the subject of a hearing yesterday in Boone Circuit Court.
Lawyers for both sides originally settled the lawsuit last year and set up a fund that could have gone as high as $120 million -- the highest payout by any diocese in the nation. The diocese pledged to pay $40 million directly and to seek up to $80 million from its insurers.
The two insurance companies involved objected. But lawyers Stan Chesley for the victims and Carrie Huff for the diocese said yesterday the insurers have now agreed to pay about $45 million.
COVINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
Insurance companies for the Diocese of Covington have agreed to kick in nearly $45 million to a fund that will pay those who were sexually abused by priests or other church employees.
With the diocese contributing another $40 million, that will give victims a guaranteed $85 million, attorneys for those suing the diocese said during a fairness hearing Monday in Boone Circuit Court.
The fairness hearing was set to determine whether Special Judge John Potter would sign off on the settlement of the class-action lawsuit, filed against the diocese alleging a half-century of covering up sexual abuse.
The agreements with the two insurance companies - Catholic Mutual and the Fireman's Fund - were reached just minutes before the fairness hearing was to begin in Boone County, said Stan Chesley, one of the attorneys for plaintiffs in the case.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Kentucky.com
By Brett Barrouquere
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BURLINGTON - Attorneys announced a settlement yesterday in a federal lawsuit that would lessen the total amount that could be paid out to alleged victims of sexual abuse in the Covington Diocese.
The settlement in the federal case would mean alleged victims of abuse would receive a total of up to $85 million instead of the $120 million first proposed in the state class-action case, attorneys said.
The federal suit was brought by the diocese against its insurers.
The announcement yesterday was made during a hearing in Boone County Circuit Court in which a judge heard testimony on whether to accept a proposed settlement in the class-action suit. The suit accuses the diocese of a 50-year cover up of sexual abuse by priests and other employees. The judge did not immediately issue a ruling in that case.
WORCESTER (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
WORCESTER, Mass. -- About 40 potential jurors were dismissed on Monday in the trial of a prison inmate accused of killing convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, the man who came to personify Boston's priest sex-abuse scandal.
Though most were excused because of work or school conflicts, some jurors were let go after conceding they could not impartially decide a case involving the slaying of a convicted child molester. One prospective juror said he was a gay man sexually abused as a child, adding, "I have no sympathy whatsoever for Geoghan."
In the end nine jurors -- four men and five women -- were chosen Monday for the trial of Joseph Druce. Jury selection was to continue on Tuesday.
The highly publicized case will likely be less about whether he beat and strangled the former Roman Catholic priest in his prison cell in August 2003 than about whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, has said he plans to use an insanity defense, arguing during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness" when he killed Geoghan, one of the men at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
SwissInfo
By Adam Tanner
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - One of the Vatican's highest officials gave a legal deposition behind closed doors on Monday in the priest sex scandal that prompted the Catholic archdiocese in Portland, Oregon, to declare bankruptcy.
William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer, was Archbishop of Portland from 1986-1995, and it is in that capacity he was subpoenaed to provide testimony on sex abuses of children by priests.
"We expect to find out what he knows and when he knew it," Michael Morey, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, told reporters as he headed into a deposition by lawyers, which could last all day.
Although the Roman Catholic Church has faced lawsuits alleging abuses across the United States, the Archdiocese of Portland was the first to seek bankruptcy protection from creditors. Since then the archdioceses in Spokane, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona, have also filed for bankruptcy.
Dressed in a suit, Levada went to a central San Francisco office building for the deposition. Eyewitnesses said he avoided a few protesters by using a side door.
WORCESTER (MA)
Forbes
By ADAM GORLICK , 01.09.2006, 06:15 PM
Jury selection got under way Monday for the trial of a prison inmate accused of killing convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, with some prospects expressing doubts they could be impartial in the highly publicized case.
The trial of Joseph Druce will be less about whether he beat and strangled the former Roman Catholic priest in his prison cell in August 2003 than about whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, has said he plans to use an insanity defense, arguing during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness" when he killed Geoghan, one of the men at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Nine jurors - four men and five woman - were seated by the end of Monday's session. About 40 were dismissed from a potential jury pool of about 60 people, most for schedule conflicts.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram.com
TELEGRAM.COM STAFF
WORCESTER— Joseph L. Druce, whose trial on murder charges in the 2003 strangulation and beating death of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan began today in Worcester, sits in court during jury selection.
While jurors were selected, Mr. Druce shuffled paperwork, jotted notes and occasionally turned around to look at those assembled, including some Corrections Officers.
He held this envelope toward members of the press. The third line, which is partially blocked from view, reads "exculpatory." John J. Conte is the District Attorney for Worcester County.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
WAVE 3
By Maureen Kyle
(LOUISVILLE) -- A former Louisville priest who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four young boys nearly a decade ago was sentenced Monday. Edwin Scherzer served as a priest at St. Therease and St. Edward Catholic parishes in the 1950s and 1960s. WAVE 3's Maureen Kyle was there.
As a priest, Edwin Scherzer once granted forgiveness. On Monday, however, he was seeking forgiveness from Jefferson Circuit Court after pleading guilty to four criminal counts of sexual abuse of a minor.
The prosecution and defense came to an agreement after Scherzer completed a pre-sentencing evaluation.
BURLINGTON (KY)
Kentucky.com
BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Ky. - Attorneys announced a settlement Monday in a federal lawsuit that would lessen the total amount that could be paid out to alleged victims of sexual abuse in the Covington Diocese.
The settlement in the federal case would mean alleged victims of abuse would receive up to $85 million instead of the $120 million first proposed in the state class-action case, attorneys said.
The announcement was made during a hearing in Boone County Circuit Court in which a judge heard testimony on whether to accept a proposed settlement in the class-action suit that accuses the diocese of a 50-year cover up of sexual abuse by priests and other employees. The judge did not immediately issue a ruling in that case.
The diocese had originally agreed to pay up to $120 million to abuse victims, saying it would pay out $40 million and its insurance companies would pay up to $80 million. The diocese sued its self-insurance plan to force it to contribute its share to the settlement fund.
WORCESTER (MA)
Forbes
By ADAM GORLICK , 01.09.2006, 02:42 PM
Jury selection got under way Monday for the trial of a prison inmate accused of killing convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, with some prospects expressing doubts they could be impartial in the highly publicized case.
The trial of Joseph Druce will be less about whether he beat and strangled the former Roman Catholic priest in his prison cell in August 2003 than about whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, has said he plans to use an insanity defense, arguing during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness" when he killed Geoghan, one of the men at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Five jurors - three men and two woman - were seated by early Monday afternoon. About a dozen were dismissed from a potential jury pool of about 60 people.
All the would-be jurors said they'd seen some media coverage about the case, and one prospect was dismissed after she told lawyers she found it "a little hard to believe" that Druce was insane. Others were let go after conceding they could not impartially decide a case involving the slaying of a convicted child molester.
MASSACHUSETTS
Ledger-Enquirer
ADAM GORLICK
Associated Press
BOSTON - Potential jurors arrived in court Monday for the trial of a prison inmate accused of beating and strangling convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, one of the men at the center of the clergy sex abuse scandal.
The trial of Joseph Druce will be less about whether he killed the former Roman Catholic priest in his prison cell in August 2003 than about whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Prison officials said they found Druce inside Geoghan's cell at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center with the door jammed shut so no one else could enter. They said Druce bragged openly about killing "the child molester" and told investigators he did it to "save the children."
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, has said he plans to use an insanity defense, arguing during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness."
KENTUCKY
The Cincinnati Post
By Brett Barrouquer
Associated Press
Receiving a settlement check for sexual abuse at the hands of a priest didn't stop Kay Montgomery's memories of what happened to her.
Montgomery, who settled with the church in January 2005 for an undisclosed amount, thinks victims in the class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington will find a similar lack of satisfaction.
"It would be nice if it were that easy," said the woman abused as a teenager in the 1960s by a priest from Blessed Sacrament Church in Fort Mitchell, Ky. "We still have to live our lives and deal with what happened to us."
The victims in the case against the Covington Diocese have another day in court today when Judge John W. Potter is expected to rule on whether to grant final approval to the proposed settlement of up to $120 million, which would let the church and insurance companies begin paying some of the 373 victims - among the largest pools of known victims in the country. The hearing is in Boone County Circuit Court .
NEW JERSEY
Gloucester County Times
Monday, January 09, 2006
A Pennsauken cab driver who is a church youth leader has been arrested on charges he sexually assaulted a girl under 10 years old, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said.
Rafel Pena, 33, of Day Avenue was being held in lieu of $200,000 bail on charges of aggravated sexual assault on a minor female and endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.
The sexual assaults allegedly took place between August and December 2005 in Pennsauken. Pena was arrested Friday after a family member of the victim contacted police, authorities said.
Pena served as a volunteer youth leader at the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church on 6th Avenue in Mount Ephraim, according to authorities.
Anyone with information relevant to the investigation is urged to call the Camden County Prosecutor's Office Child Abuse Unit at (856) 614-8000.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 9, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8 (AP) - A high-ranking Vatican official is expected to attend a deposition on Monday where lawyers plan to ask him how the diocese in Portland, Ore., handled accusations of sexual abuse by priests during his tenure there.
The official, former Archbishop William Levada, was served with a subpoena before he left for Rome last summer to take over as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the position formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI. It is the highest Vatican post ever held by an American.
Archbishop Levada served as archbishop in Portland from 1986 to 1995 before transferring to San Francisco. In 2004, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to declare bankruptcy, citing sexual abuse lawsuits that sought more than $155 million in damages.
About 150 of those lawsuits are still pending, said the lawyer for the plaintiffs, Kelly Clark.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston Globe
By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | January 9, 2006
The lawyer for Joseph L. Druce, charged with killing a former priest who was being held for pedophile acts, said yesterday that he hopes to convince jurors that Druce was insane when he allegedly choked and beat the priest, a convicted pedophile, to death in a state prison two years ago.
Druce's trial is scheduled to start today with jury selection in Worcester Superior Court. Druce is accused in the August 2003 killing of John Geoghan, the former priest. Geoghan was serving a 9- to-10-year sentence for having groped a 10-year-old boy.
The two men were placed in the same protective custody unit at the maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, where Druce, who was serving a life sentence for another murder, allegedly strangled Geoghan and then is reported to have stomped on his body.
''We believe that he has a major mental illness that prevented him from being able to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law," Druce's lawyer, John H. LaChance of Framingham, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
MASSACHUSETTS
Chicago Sun-Times
January 9, 2006
BY DENISE LAVOIE
BOSTON -- The question for jurors won't be whether Joseph Druce killed convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan, who was beaten and strangled in his prison cell, but whether he should be held criminally responsible.
Prison officials said they found Druce inside Geoghan's cell, with the door jammed shut so no one else could enter, and that Druce bragged openly about killing "the child molester" and told investigators he did it to "save the children."
With jury selection to start today, Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, plans to use an insanity defense. He argued during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness."
Druce, a convicted murderer who is serving a life sentence, has been hospitalized at least twice for ingesting foreign objects. In September 2003, just two weeks after Geoghan was killed, Druce swallowed pieces of a pencil. Three months ago, he swallowed a piece of television cable and a piece of his eyeglasses.
Druce, 40, unsuccessfully used an insanity defense during his 1989 trial for the killing of a man who allegedly made a sexual advance toward him after picking him up hitchhiking.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
The Mercury News
KIM CURTIS
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Former Archbishop William Levada was expected to answer questions from lawyers Monday about how the Portland diocese handled priest sex abuse cases during his tenure there.
Levada was served with a subpoena Aug. 10, right before he left for Rome to take over as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the position formerly held by Pope Benedict XVI. It's the highest Vatican post ever held by an American.
Levada served as archbishop in Portland from 1986 to 1995 before transferring to San Francisco. In 2004, Portland became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to declare bankruptcy, citing sex abuse lawsuits seeking more than $155 million in damages.
About 150 of those suits are still pending, according to plaintiffs' lawyer Kelly Clark.
"The bankruptcy judge has to figure out the value of those claims," Clark said. "We are trying to prove that the archdiocese of Portland, over the last 40 years, had a policy and practice of responding to child abuse claims in a less-than appropriate manner."
PORTLAND (OR)
Corvallis Gazette-Times
By WILLIAM McCALL
Associated Press writer
PORTLAND — The leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland says the church will follow its own law on ownership of its property despite a ruling by a federal bankruptcy judge declaring it potentially subject to sale to satisfy claims by victims of alleged priest sex abuse.
Archbishop John Vlazny told the Catholic Sentinel that he considers church buildings and land the property of individual parishes, not the archdiocese.
His comments to the religious newspaper directly contradict a Dec. 30 ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris, who said that property was controlled by the archdiocese.
Her ruling means that parish and Catholic school real estate “worth hundreds of millions of dollars can be tallied when the court decides how much claimants will be paid,’’ the Catholic Sentinel said.
The Portland archdiocese was the first Catholic diocese in the nation to declare bankruptcy when it sought protection from creditors in July 2004.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - Marilyn Vise of Fairview Heights has been hired to be St. Clair County's first-ever webmaster.
Vise, a former News-Democrat reporter, will earn $36,000 in the full-time job to help design and maintain a Web site for the county.
"She is talented and well-qualified for the spot," said St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern. ...
In the mid-1990s, Vise wrote an influential series of stories about sexual abuse of minors by Belleville Diocese priests that were among the early news accounts in the nation to highlight what was part of a widespread problem. The stories won a first-place award for best news story in 1995 from the Illinois Press Association.
MASSACHUSETTS
The Salem News
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
Former Salem resident Joseph Druce, already serving a life sentence for killing a Gloucester man in 1988, goes on trial next week for the murder of convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan.
When Geoghan was beaten and strangled in his prison cell in August 2003, authorities had plenty of evidence against Druce. Prison officials said they found him inside Geoghan's cell, with the door jammed shut so no one could enter. A defiant Druce allegedly bragged openly about killing "the child molester" and told investigators he did it to "save the children."
With Druce's trial scheduled to begin next week, the question for the jury won't be whether Druce killed Geoghan, but whether he should be held criminally responsible. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Worcester Superior Court.
His lawyer, John LaChance, plans to use an insanity defense. He argued during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness."
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/07/2006
The St. Louis archdiocesan newspaper has been running advertisements from a travel agency it once banned from its pages because the agency was under a cloud - the priest who ran it was accused of sexually molesting minors.
The archdiocese said in May 2002 that it would no longer accept advertising in its weekly newspaper, the St. Louis Review, from Golden Frontier, a travel agency in Swansea run by a Belleville priest, the Rev. Robert Vonnahmen.
At the time, Jim Orso, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said, "We feel it is inappropriate to continue running these Golden Frontier ads as long as Father Vonnahmen, who is out of favor in his own diocese, continues to have an affiliation with Golden Frontier."
Jim Rygelski, the Review's editor, said last week that the newspaper resumed accepting advertising from Golden Frontier three years ago, within months of banning it. The paper is under the editorial direction of the Rev. Robert W. Finn (now bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese).
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | January 8, 2006
Amid school portraits of smiling boys and girls who were allegedly sexually abused by priests, advocates for victims gathered yesterday with a message for the Archdiocese of Boston: Four years after the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in the Catholic Church, much remains to be done.
Members of five advocacy groups gathered at the Savin Hill Yacht Club to remember the week in January 2002 when news of a massive coverup of clerical sexual abuse first hit the front page of the Globe.
Reflecting on the past four years, advocates said they were glad that awareness of the abuse crisis has spread across the country and the world. Yet they also expressed frustration over how little they say has changed within the church.
''Our calendar is only four years old," said Paul F. Kellen, executive secretary of the advocacy group People of Conscience, which has been critical of the Catholic Church's handling of the scandal. ''My New Year's greeting is: Nothing changes, if nothing changes."
Anne Doyle, a member of BishopAccountability.org, a website that posts church documents, said that, as a Catholic, she is ''ashamed of the leadership of my church." When the news of the scandal broke four years ago in the Globe, Doyle remembered, ''it was a Sunday morning in January, [and] I was just about to wake up my kids and bring them to Mass."
KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal
By Brett Barrouquere
Associated Press
Receiving a settlement check for abuse at the hands of a priest did not stop Kay Montgomery's memories of what happened to her.
Montgomery, who settled with the Catholic Church in January 2005 for an undisclosed amount of money, predicted that victims in the class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, Ky., will find a similar lack of satisfaction.
"It would be nice if it were that easy," said Montgomery, who was abused as a teenager in the 1960s by a priest from Blessed Sacrament Church in Fort Mitchell.
"We still have to live our lives and deal with what happened to us."
The victims in the case against the Covington diocese will get another day in court tomorrow.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
Kentucky.com
BRETT BARROUQUERE
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Receiving a settlement check for abuse at the hands of a priest didn't stop Kay Montgomery's memories of what happened to her.
Montgomery, who settled with the church in January 2005 for an undisclosed amount, thinks that victims in the class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, Ky., will find a similar lack of satisfaction.
"It would be nice if it were that easy," said Montgomery, who was abused as a teenager in the 1960s by a priest from Blessed Sacrament Church in Fort Mitchell. "We still have to live our lives and deal with what happened to us."
The victims in the case against the Covington Diocese will get another day in court on Monday. That's when Judge John W. Potter is expected to rule on whether to grant final approval to the proposed settlement of up to $120 million, which would allow the church and insurance companies to begin paying some of the 373 victims - among the largest pools of known victims in the country. The hearing is in Boone County District Court in Burlington.
NEW YORK
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN and MICHAEL LUO
Published: January 7, 2006
After waging a public battle against the Archdiocese of New York, the most prominent Roman Catholic priest in the archdiocese to be accused in the sexual abuse scandals was granted a church trial yesterday by the Vatican to determine whether he should receive the ultimate punishment of removal from the priesthood.
The priest, Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh, former head fund-raiser for the archdiocese and an immensely influential figure in Catholic circles, has fought Cardinal Edward M. Egan since 2002, when the cardinal suspended him and asked the Vatican to bar him from returning to the ministry.
Monsignor Kavanagh is the first Catholic cleric in New York to be granted a trial since the sexual abuse scandals emerged in 2002. Twelve others were denied trials by the Vatican and either defrocked or sentenced to a life of prayer and penance, archdiocese officials said.
Monsignor Kavanagh, 68, was suspended after a former student at the high school he had run told the archdiocese that during a six-year friendship more than 20 years ago, the monsignor touched him in a sexual manner and twice lay atop him and rubbed against him.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | January 7, 2006
BOSTON --When convicted pedophile priest John Geoghan was beaten and strangled in his prison cell, authorities had plenty of evidence against the man charged in his killing.
Prison officials said they found inmate Joseph Druce inside Geoghan's cell, with the door jammed shut so no one could enter. A defiant Druce allegedly bragged openly about killing "the child molester" and told investigators he did it to "save the children."
With Druce's trial scheduled to begin Monday, the question for the jury won't be whether Druce killed Geoghan, but whether he should be held criminally responsible. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Worcester Superior Court.
Druce's lawyer, John LaChance, plans to use an insanity defense. He argued during pretrial hearings that Druce was suffering from a "major mental illness."
A convicted murderer who is already serving a life sentence, Druce has been hospitalized at least twice for ingesting foreign objects. In September 2003, just two weeks after Geoghan was killed, Druce swallowed pieces of a pencil in his prison cell. Three months ago, Druce swallowed a piece of television cable and a piece of his eyeglasses.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Critics assailed Cardinal Roger M. Mahony on Friday for trying to settle only a small percentage of the hundreds of sex-abuse legal cases filed against the Los Angeles Archdiocese and questioned why he waited to negotiate seriously until the eve of trial for an accused priest.
"I think it's another media stunt," said Steven Sanchez, a Glendale resident who said he was molested as a teen by the late Father Clinton Hagenbach.
The Times reported Friday that Mahony and lawyers for 45 alleged victims of abuse, after three years of desultory negotiations, are moving toward a settlement that would pay an average of at least $1 million per claim. The settlement, if approved, would involve less than 10% of the more than 560 cases filed against the archdiocese, and would come almost entirely out of the archdiocese's coffers.
Mahony's lawyer said the roughly four dozen cases were selected for settlement because they are largely not covered by the church's insurers, which the archdiocese blames for stalling negotiations to resolve the bulk of the claims. Insurers have said the archdiocese forfeited its coverage by covering up the sexual misdeeds of its priests.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
By OWEN MORITZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A revered Bronx priest accused of sexual abuse won the right to a church tribunal yesterday after the Vatican ruled the allegations merit a trial.
Msgr. Charles Kavanagh, who has steadfastly maintained his innocence, hailed the move.
"Our ordeal is almost over," said an elated Kavanagh, who was suspended as pastor of St. Raymond's Church in Parkchester in May 2002 after a former seminarian came forward with the charge.
"For four years now, all I have ever asked for was a full judiciary review," Kavanagh said in a statement. "I am fully confident that once I have a chance to present my case, I will be completely vindicated and will return to the ministry that I love."
NEW YORK
New York Post
By STEVE DUNLEAVY
January 7, 2006 -- After four years of trying to clear his name, a Bronx priest accused of sexual abuse will get his day in court — or at least a Vatican-ordered tribunal, the Archdiocese of New York said yesterday.
Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh, once a leading figure in the Catholic Church's hierarchy, was suspended in May 2002 amid allegations he had molested an ex-seminarian — which he vehemently denies.
"This is what I have constantly asked for from the outset, a full and fair judicial process within the church," said the priest of 42 years, a veritable fixture at St. Raymond's parish in The Bronx.
Meanwhile, his lawyer, John Dearie, an ex-Bronx assemblyman who was baptized, took communion and was confirmed at St. Raymond's, took issue with the archdiocese's spin on the latest news.
NEW YORK
NEPA News
The Associated Press 01/06/2006
A priest accused of sexual abuse will be tried by a church tribunal in Pennsylvania following a ruling by the Vatican, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York announced Friday.
Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh, once a leading figure in the church hierarchy, was suspended in May 2002 after he was accused of molesting a former seminarian. He has vehemently denied the charges.
Following an internal investigation by the archdiocese, the case was referred to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which determines how to proceed.
The Congregation found the allegations merit a trial.
FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel
Christopher Sherman | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 7, 2006
A Roman Catholic priest accused of abusing a Central Florida boy during the late 1980s and early 1990s has resigned from his Indiana parish.
The Rev. Richard Emerson resigned from Notre Dame Parish in Michigan City, the Rev. Brian Chadwick, spokesman for the Diocese of Gary, Ind., said Thursday. The news was also delivered to diocesan priests through a letter from Bishop Dale J. Melczek.
The Diocese of Gary placed Emerson on administrative leave in December 2004 after a local man accused him of sexual abuse. Emerson had served at three Central Florida churches between 1987 and 1991. Orlando police determined that the time frame of the alleged abuse exceeded the statute of limitations.
In January 2005, the man filed a civil lawsuit against Emerson and the Orlando diocese. A month later, Emerson denied the allegations through an attorney.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
North County Times
By: LINDA DEUTSCH - Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- With the possibility of civil trials looming in the new year, the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese is deep in talks with lawyers for some 45 clergy sexual abuse victims seeking to settle the cases before they reach court, lawyers said Friday.
"The talks are ongoing," said J. Michael Hennigan, who represents the archdiocese and its leader, Cardinal Roger M. Mahoney. "There's never been a time when they stopped."
Responding to a Los Angeles Times report that settlements may be imminent, Hennigan said, "We're closer than we were. But there are a lot of moving pieces here."
HUDSON (WI)
Duluth News Tribune
Associated Press
HUDSON, Wis. - Unclaimed reward money in the slayings of two funeral home workers nearly four years ago will be converted to a civic fund to help groups that assist abused children, the widow of one of the victims said.
"We all have a responsibility to do the right thing. To stand up. I want to help prevent child abuse. And Dan would have supported this wholeheartedly," Jennie O'Connell said.
Her husband, Dan, 39, and James Ellison, 22, were fatally shot at the O'Connell Family Funeral Home on Feb. 5, 2002.
In October, St. Croix County Circuit Judge Eric Lundell ruled there was probable cause that the late Rev. Ryan Erickson of St. Patrick's Catholic Church killed the men and that he had molested at least one teenage boy.
CINCINNATI (OH)
The Catholic Telegraph
Last summer, in a survey conducted by The Catholic Telegraph, a number of readers suggested that Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk offer area Catholics an annual update on both the temporal and spiritual affairs of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Accordingly, he sat down recently with editor Tricia Hempel to discuss such matters. ...
How do you think local priests are doing in light of the sex abuse crisis so prominent in the headlines in the past three years? Do they talk to you about their feelings?
I have been having a series of personal interviews with priests, and that is one of the questions I put to them: Has the crisis affected your ministry? The answer has been spotty: Not everyone is saying it hasn’t and not everyone is saying it has. It depends on the parish circumstances and the personal circumstances of each priest; if one of your best friends is on leave, it takes on a different color.
MICHIGAN CITY (IN)
WFTV
POSTED: 2:54 pm EST January 6, 2006
MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. -- A Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct in Orlando, Fla., has resigned his position with a northwestern Indiana church.
The Rev. Richard Emerson resigned from Notre Dame Parish in Michigan City more than a year after accusations were first made against him, the Rev. Brian Chadwick, Diocese of Gary spokesman, said Thursday. The news was also delivered to diocesan priests through a letter from Bishop Dale J. Melczek.
"It doesn't mean he's confessing his guilt," the Rev. James McGrogan of Sacred Heart Mission parish in Michigan City, told the Post-Tribune of Merrillville.
Emerson in December 2004 was removed from public ministry, which means he can no longer practice priestly duties such as conducting Mass.
NEW YORK
New York Newsday
January 6, 2006, 3:35 PM EST
NEW YORK (AP) _ A priest accused of sexual abuse will be tried by a church tribunal following a ruling by the Vatican, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York announced Friday.
Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh, once a leading figure in the church hierarchy, was suspended in May 2002 after he was accused of molesting a former seminarian. He has vehemently denied the charges.
Following an internal investigation by the archdiocese, the case was referred to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which determines how to proceed.
The Congregation found the allegations merit a trial.
"I am absolutely delighted that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has granted my request for a full and fair trial," Kavanagh said in a statement. "I am fully confident that once I have a chance to present my case, I will be completely vindicated and will return to the ministry that I love."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 2:38 pm PST January 6, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Any settlement of lawsuits pending against the Los Angeles Archdiocese should include the release of church documents on priests accused of sexual abuse, a victims' advocacy group said Friday.
More than 500 alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests have filed lawsuits against the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
After several years of negotiations, lawyers close to the litigation told the Los Angeles Times newspaper that about 45 lawsuits are now moving toward settlement.
"We hope that victims in these cases hang tough and insist on the disclosure of secret church documents, so Catholics and citizens can learn which church officials actively put kids at risk by keeping known predators in parishes," said Mary Grant, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
TRENTON (NJ)
Trenton Times
Friday, January 06, 2006
By KRYSTAL KNAPP
Staff Writer
TRENTON - Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed a bill yesterday that allows victims of childhood sex abuse to sue churches, schools and other nonprofit organizations for their employees' misconduct.
The new law, described by some state legislators as one of the most important bills they have ever considered, removes the long-standing state shield for charities known as charitable immunity in cases of sex abuse.
The state statute of limitations still applies. Suits must be filed within two years of the victim's 18th birthday or within two years of the incident's discovery.
New Jersey is the 48th state to allow victims of childhood sex abuse to sue nonprofit groups for the actions of their staff. The only other states that give charities total protection from civil lawsuits are Alabama and Tennessee.
CANADA
CBC News
Last updated Jan 6 2006 12:18 PM CST
CBC News
Yukon's Catholics are welcoming the news that the church has appointed a new bishop to diocese, saying it's a sign the troubled diocese has begun to turn things around.
Pope Benedict appointed Gary Gordon, a priest from Chilliwack, B.C. as the bishop of the Whitehorse diocese on Thursday. The bishop oversees about 8,000 Catholics in 20 parishes and missions throughout the Yukon and Northern B.C.
"I am a little bit taken aback by the appointment of the Holy Father," Gordon said Thursday. "It sort of comes out of the blue, so it will just be a matter getting up there and getting the lay of the land."
Gordon replaces Bishop Thomas Lobsinger, who was killed in a plane crash in 2000. The position has remained vacant since, though the bishop for Fort Smith has held the job from a distance for three years.
At the time of Lobsinger's death, the church in Yukon was on the brink of bankruptcy because of a number of sexual abuse claims filed by former residential school students. A priest in the diocese says that likely contributed to keeping the position vacant.
PORTLAND (OR)
The Tablet
The bankrupt Archdiocese of Portland has suffered a serious blow in its struggle to keep parishes and schools from being closed to pay for massive clerical sex-abuse damages. A federal court ruled on 30 December that the parishes of western Oregon are not separate entities, but belong to the archdiocese. Parochial assets, which total an estimated $500 million (£290 million), can therefore be sold to pay for settlements being sought by plaintiffs. The archdiocese, which sought bankruptcy protection last year, has already paid out £30 million over 130 previous claims; this week a trial opened with alleged victims of a single priest, Fr Maurice Grammond, now dead, seeking £80 million.
OAKLAND (CA)
Los Angeles Times
From Associated Press
OAKLAND — The civil trial of a former priest accused of child sex abuse will go ahead as planned in Northern California, rather than moving to Southern California, where the alleged abuse occurred, a judge ruled.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that the case against Mario Cimmarrusti, a former instructor at St. Anthony's Seminary in Santa Barbara, was already far enough along in Northern California and therefore should proceed to trial March 6.
The alleged victim, referred to in court papers as John Doe 39, said he filed the suit in the Bay Area because that is where the Franciscan Order has a regional headquarters and because he now lives in the area.
The man alleged that he was abused as a high school sophomore and that he told at least two priests about the alleged abuse but nothing was done.
IOWA
Radio Iowa
by Stella Shaffer
The Iowa head of a priest-abuse-survivors group says he disagrees with the new policy that law-enforcement won't automatically be notified when someone comes forward to report abuse they've suffered at the hands of clergy. The idea is to offer a degree of confidentiality that might encourage more to report abuse, but Steve Theisen of "SNAP" says police should get all the reports.
Theisen says he understands what the victim is feeling, but says perpetrators have, at a conservative estimate, a hundred victims for each offender. He says getting them reported starts a victim on their "journey to healing." Theisen says it's also important to protect other kids who might become victims of the molester, since in his opinion they're at risk to offend again all their life. He notes when a priest confesses to higher-ups in the church, they often are not reported to law-enforcement authorities or charged with a crime, which means they won't appear on any sex-offender registry.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 5, 2006
The archdiocese of Dubuque today released the names of several priests, living or dead, who have credible allegations of abuse against them.
In addition, Joyce Connors, Director of the Archdiocesan Office for Protection of Children and Young People, reported that Pope Benedict XVI has dismissed the Rev. William T. Schwartz from the clerical state. The Vatican notified Schwartz in November. Final details of Schwartz's defrocking were completed in December.
Archbishop Jerome Hanus had asked that the Rev. William A. Goltz, another alleged abuser, be defrocked. The Vatican determined that Goltz, who is of advanced age and was disciplined earlier, spend the rest of his life in prayer and penance. He does not celebrate Mass publicly, does not administer the sacraments, cannot wear clerical garb or present himself publicly as a priest.
The archdiocese also reported spending $25,276 in the past year for counseling and other medical assistance to abuse victims and $305,000 in settlements to survivors.
NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger
Friday, January 06, 2006
BY DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff
Acting Gov. Richard Codey yesterday signed into law a measure that will allow lawsuits against churches, private schools and other nonprofit institutions for past negligent hirings of employees who sexually abused children.
In a flurry of bill-signings, Codey also gave his approval to a measure that permits local governments to ban political donations by contractors.
Nonprofit organizations such as churches and private schools have long had ironclad immunity against such lawsuits. The Charitable Immunity Act allows the victims of sexual abuse to sue nonprofit institutions for negligence in the hiring or continued employment of a perpetrator. New Jersey is the 48th state to pass such a law.
"This provides real justice for those who were sexually assaulted and abused," said Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), who pushed to enact the law for six years. "This ensures that institutions, whether for profit or not, are held accountable for their actions."
Prompted largely by the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the Roman Catholic Church, the bill (S540) applies across the board to private schools, Scout troops, Little Leagues and others.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
A number of area legislators are joining with survivors of clergy sexual abuse to reform state laws that they believe make it easier for sexual perpetrators to avoid being held accountable.
Groups that support making these reforms will hold an “advocacy day” starting at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Statehouse to push for further support of their bills. The impetus for the reform comes from the clergy sexual abuse scandal that has gripped the Roman Catholic Church — but legislation will affect all religious groups and other non-religious organizations in the state.
Susan Renehan of Southbridge, who said she was sexually abused by a priest as a youngster in another state and is co-director of the statewide Coalition to Reform Sex Abuse Laws in Massachusetts, said she is pleased with the response of legislators.
“I’m optimistic, and that we have gotten this far shows the change in attitudes,” she said.
She said she was abused from ages 11 to 14 by a priest at her Catholic parish where she grew up in New Jersey. Ms. Renehan said she did not begin to deal with the trauma until she was 30 and she did not reveal the abuse until after her parents died.
“I never wanted them to know what happened. I was filled with shame and guilt although I was a child when it happened,” she said.
More than 60 legislators, including several from Central Massachusetts, are co-sponsors of a bill to restructure the statute of limitations on sexual crimes against minors.
Also, legislators this year will be asked to drop the so-called charitable immunity cap on churches and other groups and nonprofit organizations that currently limits judgments to victims of sexual abuse to $20,000. They are considering laws to make religious institutions give a public accounting of their finances.
State Sen. Edward M. Augustus, D-Worcester, is among the lawmakers pushing for a change in the charitable immunity cap on court judgments in sexual abuse cases. On changing the laws surrounding the statute of limitations, Mr. Augustus said he understands the issue of trying to get records and testimony from older cases but he said many victims are reluctant to disclose the abuse immediately and they can be coerced into not reporting abuse until the statute had expired.
State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said he supports any measures to make children safe. He said part of his thinking of child safety came about in the last 10 years because Holly Piirainen and Molly A. Bish, young girls abducted and murdered, lived in his district. He said as a Catholic he supports the 96 percent of “good and decent priests” but will support legislation to protect children from the 4 percent of priests who “would sully the priesthood.”
Edward F. Saunders, director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy and lobbying arm of the state’s Catholic bishops, said they see the legislation “as an attack on the Catholic Church that is very different today than when the problems occurred.” Mr. Saunders said the Catholic Church has acknowledged the problems and has worked to change the way it handles allegations of abuse and has put policies and programs in place to deal with these issues.
He added that opposition to this legislation is coming not only from the Catholic Church, which he sees as the target of the proposed changes, but from a wide variety of religious faiths and denominations that also would be affected by any changes in the law.
The Massachusetts Council of Churches, which represents the state’s Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches, opposes a bill that would increase the financial reporting provisions for religious organizations.
Mr. Saunders said many religious groups, and not just Catholics, oppose the financial disclosure legislation. “This is crossing the line between separation of church and state,” he said.
Changes to the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases can be problematic on old allegations because records are lost over time, memories fade and it can be difficult to get reliable testimony, he said. The conference also opposes any change in the charitable immunity cap on judgments in civil suits.
Area co-sponsors of a bill to alter the statute of limitations on sexual abuse allegations include state Rep. Mark J. Carron, D-Southbridge, state Rep. Lewis G. Evangelidis, R-Holden, state Rep. John P. Fresolo, D-Worcester, state Rep. Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester, Sen. Brewer and state Sen. Richard T. Moore, D-Uxbridge.
Other dioceses in Massachusetts waived the cap to make larger settlements with victims of clergy sexual abuse but the Diocese of Worcester held to the cap and settlements in recent lawsuits have been below the cap.
State Rep. Vincent A. Pedone, D-Worcester, said he “tends to support” changing the charitable immunity cap and is still looking at laws that would change the financial disclosure laws. He said one bill calls for requiring religious group to have an outside audit. “The intent may be good but there may be unintended consequences,” he said.
BEND (OR)
East Oregonian
Associated Press
BEND (AP) — A pastor accused of sexually abusing a girl has been ordered to stay away from his church and children other than his own.
Jeremy Hall, 34, of Sisters was arraigned Wednesday on charges of unlawful sexual penetration and sex abuse involving a child under 14, according to a document filed by the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.
Hall was pastor at Christ’s Church of New Beginnings, which meets in Sisters Elementary School, when the girl came forward, a church board member told The Bulletin newspaper. Hall has temporarily stepped down, the paper reported.
Deschutes County Judge Barbara Haslinger told Hall at Wednesday’s arraignment that he could no longer go to the church.
DUBUQUE (IA)
Diocese of Dubuque
The annual report of the Dubuque diocese and its response to sexual abuse allegations can be found here along with a list of accused priests.
WATERLOO (IA)
Courier
By PAT KINNEY, Courier Business Editor
WATERLOO --- A Roman Catholic priest accused in civil suits of sexually abusing boys in Waterloo in the 1960s and '70s has been dismissed from the priesthood by Pope Benedict XVI.
Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus announced Thursday the pope's dismissal of the Rev. William Schwartz.
Schwartz has been named in three civil suits in state and federal courts filed in 2005 against himself and the Dubuque archdiocese, alleging he abused boys while serving as associate pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Waterloo in the 1960s, and during the 1970s while he was spiritual director at Columbus High School.
The archdiocese and Schwartz each have denied the allegations in court and say the claims are barred from adjudication by the statute of limitations. The archdiocese removed Schwartz from regular priestly duties in the early 1990s and he was directed not represent himself in public as a priest. Those cases are still pending.
IOWA
The Globe Gazette
By JULIE BIRKEDAL, Of The Globe Gazette
The Archdiocese of Dubuque detailed efforts to protect children and outlined recent sanctions against two men once priests in North Iowa in a report this week.
Investigations of several priests have been conducted by the Archdiocese and results submitted to the Vatican, it said. Some cases are still in process and some await determination by the Vatican.
For a list of priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct, CLICK HERE.
For a copy of the Archdiocese of Dubuque's complete report, CLICK HERE.
The Vatican directed Archbishop Jerome Hanus to impose “a penal precept upon the Rev. William A. Goltz, obliging him to lead a life of prayer and penance,” according to the report. Now retired and advanced in age, Goltz was disciplined earlier according to church law. He is not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly, administer sacraments, wear clerical clothing or present himself as a priest.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione and Glenn F. Bunting, Times Staff Writers
After several years of fitful negotiations, the Los Angeles Archdiocese and attorneys for about 45 alleged victims of sexual abuse are moving toward settlements that would pay out an average of at least $1 million per claim and resolve many cases that have occurred during the tenure of Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, according to lawyers familiar with the discussions.
Although the agreement would involve fewer than 10% of the more than 560 cases pending against the archdiocese, the resolution of cases involving alleged clergy abuse since Mahony became archbishop of Los Angeles in 1985 would have great significance.
If concluded as currently described, the settlement of the 45 cases would become the third largest in the nationwide clergy sex abuse scandal. It would also set a tentative benchmark for the total cost of the remaining cases against the archdiocese, which is the nation's biggest. Plaintiffs' lawyers have said the total could surpass $1 billion — a figure that would dwarf all previous payouts by the Catholic Church in such cases.
And, according to sources close to the negotiations, the settlement would include some of the archdiocese's most notable cases: those involving Michael Baker, Richard Henry, Carlos Rodriguez and Michael Wempe. Despite earlier abuse allegations against them, the clergymen allegedly molested children after Mahony allowed them to remain in ministry without alerting police or parishioners.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 6, 2006
The Vatican has defrocked a retired Iowa priest accused of sexually assaulting several Waterloo Columbus High School boys in the 1960s and '70s.
Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus on Thursday announced that Pope Benedict XVI had removed William Schwartz from the clergy in November, and the process was finished in December.
Schwartz, 73, who is believed to be living in Arizona, is the second Iowa priest to be defrocked in the sex abuse scandal that has swept the U.S. Roman Catholic Church since 2000.
In 2004, Pope John Paul II removed James Janssen, 83, of Davenport from the priesthood. Fewer than 100 U.S. Roman Catholic priests have been defrocked in connection with child sexual abuse.
DES MOINES (IA)
Sioux City Journal
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque said in a report that 20 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children have been filed in recent months involving eight priests.
The annual report, dated Jan. 4, summarizes activities involving allegations of abuse in the past year and names the priests.
Lawsuits have been filed in recent months against the archdiocese in connection with the Revs. Albert Carman, Albert Forster, William Goltz, Patrick McElliott, John Peters, William Roach, John Schmitz and William Schwartz, the report said.
Carman, Forster, McElliott, Peters, Roach and Schmitz are dead.
Goltz, 80, who had several allegations of abuse logded against him is prohibited by the Vatican from celebrating Mass or administering sacraments publicly and from wearing clerical garb or presenting himself publicly as a priest. He was named in three lawsuits filed last year.
BEND (OR)
KGW
09:56 AM PST on Thursday, January 5, 2006
Associated Press
BEND, Ore. -- A pastor accused of sexually abusing a girl has been ordered to stay away from his church and children other than his own.
Jeremy Hall, 34, of Sisters was arraigned Wednesday on charges of unlawful sexual penetration and sex abuse involving a child under 14, according to a document filed by the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office.
Hall was pastor at Christ's Church of New Beginnings, which meets in Sisters Elementary School, when the girl came forward, a church board member told The Bulletin newspaper. Hall has temporarily stepped down, the paper reported.
Deschutes County Judge Barbara Haslinger told Hall at Wednesday's arraignment that he could no longer go to the church.
SYRACUSE (NY)
News 10 Now
1/5/2006 3:47 PM
By: News 10 Now Staff
A former Syracuse pastor will have to wait at least until next month to find out his fate. Jaree Jones was back in court Thursday morning.
Jones, a former pastor of the Refuge Temple, faces rape and criminal sexual act charges here in Syracuse. Authorities say he sexually attacked a teen several times following youth group sessions after church. Jones was arrested last month on an outstanding warrant in Connecticut for sexual abuse in Waterbury in 2000.
DES MOINES (IA)
WQAD
DES MOINES, Iowa The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque says 20 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children have been filed in recent months involving eight priests.
The annual report by the archdiocese summarizes activities involving allegations of abuse in the past year and names the priests.
The report says lawsuits have been filed in recent months against the archdiocese in connection with the Reverends Albert Carman, Albert Forster, William Goltz, Patrick McElliott, John Peters, William Roach, John Schmitz and William Schwartz.
Six of the men are dead.
The archdiocese says other allegations have been made but have not been made public for various reasons.
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Weekly
By Ron Russell
Published: Wednesday, January 4, 2006
The Salesians of St. John Bosco is a Roman Catholic order of priests and lay brothers that prides itself on being "an international organization of men dedicated full time to the service of young people." Secured behind heavy iron gates, the center of its activities for the western United States is a three-story red brick "provincial house" at 1100 Franklin St., on the same hill as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption and around the corner from the offices of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
A block in the other direction is Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, with its nearly 1,200 high school students.
For decades, the Salesians have helped run parishes and schools at the city's landmark Saints Peter and Paul Church in North Beach, Corpus Christi Church in the Outer Mission, and Salesian High School in the East Bay.
But another distinction of the order's presence on Franklin Street is perhaps less well known: Five of the eight Salesians listed in a recent personnel directory as holding positions of responsibility at the provincial house are also accused child molesters. One of them, Father Bernard Dabbene, who once held a prominent post as former San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada's chief liaison to parishes in the archdiocese, is a convicted sex offender who struck a plea bargain with prosecutors to avoid going to jail.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laura Crimaldi and Maggie Mulvihill
Thursday, January 5, 2006 - Updated: 01:02 PM EST
Among the 20 Department of Correction employees on paid leave is a 38-year-old administrator accused of raping a teenage girl at a state-funded youth shelter where he held a second job as an overnight “awake counselor.”
Ibrahim Rahim, the DOC’s director of diversity, was placed on paid leave from his $62,790-a-year job Sept. 30 after allegations he sexually assaulted the girl in 2003 and 2004 while she was at the Survival Shelter in Weymouth.
Rahim of Brockton strongly denies the charges, his lawyer said.
The 16-year-old alleged victim, in an interview with the Herald, said she is still frightened of Rahim, who also has worked as a DOC Muslim chaplain. “He would come into my room when the other staff went to sleep,” she said. “I would do anything to get out of that room.”
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Weekly
By Ron Russell
Published: Wednesday, January 4, 2006
In April 2004, when questioned under oath by lawyers for victims sexually abused by priests, San Francisco's former archbishop, William J. Levada, was asked about Father Joseph Baccellieri, a parish priest accused of child molestation whom Levada removed from ministry in 1992 while archbishop of Portland. Levada restored Baccellieri to his post two years later.
"I believe there was some allegation that occurred while I was there," he said, when asked about Baccellieri's circumstances. A lawyer for the archbishop quickly interrupted to prevent Levada from saying anything more about the priest. A few months later, in a letter from Levada defending his decision to place Baccellieri back in ministry despite knowing that he had molested -- published in the archdiocesan newspaper Catholic San Francisco -- Levada wrote: "With regard to Father Baccellieri, I removed him from ministry in 1992 when I received an allegation of sexual abuse back in the 1970s."
But Levada wasn't telling all that he knew.
SF Weekly has learned that in 1993 -- the year before the archbishop's controversial decision to restore Baccellieri to his priestly duties -- Levada knew about allegations that the priest had abused not one but three male victims, and that Levada authorized secret payments to each of them after they threatened to make the allegations public in a lawsuit.
HUDSON (WI)
KSTP
HUDSON, Wis. (AP) - A bishop has agreed to meet Jan. 15 with parishioners of St. Patrick's Catholic Church to discuss issues involving a former priest who a judge has ruled likely killed two Hudson funeral home workers nearly four years ago.
Some church members have publicly wondered whether the killings could have been prevented had the diocese acted when parishioners complained about the late Rev. Ryan Erickson, who hanged himself about a year ago after being questioned by police in the slayings.
"There is certainly anger, but I am hopeful that we can express the anger in ways that are constructive rather than destructive and helpful rather than hurtful," said the Rev. John Parr, St. Patrick's pastor. "At least that's my prayer."
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KAMC 28
A former chaplain at Covenant Medical Center, suspended in 2002 after allegations of sexual abuse, was back to work in Pennsylvania on Wednesday ... until KAMC-28 contacted his employer.
Father Anthony Eremito, a priest under the New York Catholic Diocese, worked at Covenant Medical Center from the late 1990`s until 2002. That`s when he was formally suspended from the church, and from his job as chaplain, because of allegations of sexual abuse against him.
Father John Bambrick, now a priest himself in New Jersey, claims Eremito abused him when he was just 15-years-old.
"I was molested by Eremito in 1980," Bambrick told KAMC-28 on Wednesday. "Those of us who are survivors have the responsibility to other children to continue to be advocates on their behalf."
MICHIGAN
The Detroit News
Justin C. Ravitz /
Four years ago a Massachusetts judge ruled Catholic Church documents about clergy sex abuse were relevant to public safety and authorized their release. A month later, a Boston Globe series launched the on-going scandal about the church's cover-ups of horrific child sex crimes committed by Catholic clergy.
In response, judges and lawmakers from coast to coast have issued rulings and enacted laws slowly to bring sorely needed sunlight to these deeply held secrets.
But Michigan judges, by providing a stilted interpretation of the state's statute of limitation laws, have kept the cover-up of clergy sex crimes shrouded in secrecy.
OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
GCN
05 January 2006
Rev. Lonnie Latham, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee, has been arrested and charged with offering to engage in an act of lewdness.
Latham was arrested by Oklahoma City police after asking an undercover officer posing as a male prostitute to join him in his hotel room for oral sex. He was booked into an Oklahoma County jail and released on $500 bail.
The arrest took place in the parking lot of the Habana Inn, where locals have complained about male prostitutes flagging down cars.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer
A local hospice provider yesterday dismissed a Catholic priest it had hired as a bereavement counselor, saying it did not know he was an accused sex abuser.
Odyssey HealthCare of Philadelphia Inc., based in Blue Bell, said it immediately removed the Rev. Anthony J. Eremito, who is about 63, after learning that he had been suspended from ministry nearly four years ago by the Archdiocese of New York.
"He was in our employment for about three months as a bereavement counselor or coordinator," said Brad Bickham, general counsel for Odyssey's parent company, based in Dallas.
Bickham said Odyssey had conducted standard background checks on Eremito before hiring him but found no evidence of wrongdoing "because he was never criminally charged" with sex abuse.
"Unfortunately, this kind of conduct is not easily ascertainable," Bickham said.
OKLAHOMA CITY (OK)
ChannelOklahoma.com
OKLAHOMA CITY -- An executive committee member of the Southern Baptist Convention was arrested on a lewdness charge for propositioning a plainclothes policeman outside a hotel, police said.
Lonnie Latham, senior pastor at South Tulsa Baptist Church, was booked into Oklahoma County Jail Tuesday night on a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in an act of lewdness, police Capt. Jeffrey Becker said. Latham was released on $500 bail Wednesday afternoon.
Latham, who has spoken out against homosexuality, asked the officer to join him in his hotel room for oral sex. Latham was arrested and his 2005 Mercedes automobile was impounded, Becker said.
Calls to Latham at his church were not immediately returned Wednesday.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By NATHANIEL JONES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH — An arrest warrant for an Arlington minister accused of sexually assaulting five women was issued last week after he failed a drug test, according to court documents.
Bishop Terry Hornbuckle was arrested Dec. 29 at his Grapevine home because the failed drug test violated conditions of the $1.005 million bail set 10 days earlier by state District Judge Scott Wisch.
It was the third time Hornbuckle, 43, has been arrested for drug violations since March 11, when he was indicted on four of the six sexual assault charges and a drug possession charge.
Hornbuckle was being held late Wednesday without bail in the Tarrant County Jail.
TOLEDO (OH)
The Plain Dealer
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Associated Press
Toledo - Prosecutors who have accused a priest of stabbing a nun to death in 1980 now say the killing was not premeditated, according to a court filing.
A motion filed in Lucas County Court dropped the words "with prior calculation and design" from a grand jury's indictment. The filing also would reduce the original aggravated murder charge to murder.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson is accused of strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a 1980 Easter weekend killing that investigators have described as ritualistic. The priest and the nun worked together at a hospital.
NEW YORK
Forward
By Rukhl Schaechter
January 6, 2006
An ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court in Monsey, N.Y., has waded into the battle over a beleaguered rabbi facing allegations of sexual harassment.
Rabbi Benzion Y. Wosner, head of the Shevet Levi rabbinical court in Monsey, issued a ruling last week (dated Hanukkah 2005) stating that Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, the spiritual leader of a synagogue in nearby New Hempstead, is unfit to serve as an Orthodox rabbi. The ruling was widely distributed to the rabbis and congregants of the local Orthodox synagogues, including Tendler's synagogue, Kehillat New Hempstead. Tendler did not return phone calls from the Forward.
The ruling comes just one week after Adina Marmelstein, a former congregant of Tendler's synagogue, filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan against Tendler, the scion of a prominent rabbinical family, accusing him of giving her "sex therapy" when she went to him for counseling. Tendler was expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America, a Modern Orthodox organization, in March 2005, after a yearlong investigation of allegations that he sexually harassed women who came to him for spiritual guidance.
PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'ReillyInquirer
Staff Writer
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected a Philadelphia parish's attempt to quit the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, but ruled that the parish - not the diocese - holds title to its assets.
In a decision released last week, the high court affirmed two lower court rulings that St. James the Less parish in East Falls cannot leave the diocese unilaterally.
But the Supreme Court also reversed portions of the decisions of the lower courts and said that St. James' antebellum church buildings and other assets belong to the parish, which holds them "in trust" for the diocese.
Attorney Valerie Munson, who argued the case for St. James, said Tuesday that much of the case was narrowly decided and had implications only for the parish. The court noted that the parish's founding charter of 1846 made clear that it was a part of the diocese and theAbuse Tracker Episcopal Church, the predecessor of the Episcopal Church USA. ...
Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering calls from sex-abuse victims and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office to establish a one-year "window" of opportunity to file lawsuits for assaults committed years ago.
"This case gives us some indication of what the [Pennsylvania] court is thinking" about parish property, said Munson, who specializes in church property law.
(Last week an Oregon bankruptcy judge ruled that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, not individual parishes, owns all parish assets.)
CLEVELAND (OH)
Ohio News Network
CLEVELAND -- The city's Roman Catholic bishop, who will celebrate 25 years in that post on Friday, has asked the Vatican to consider appointing his replacement.
Bishop Anthony Pilla declined to reveal the reasons for his retirement request, saying a letter he had written to the Vatican was private.
The date of his retirement is at the discretion of the Vatican, said Pilla, who is awaiting a response from Pope Benedict XVI and his staff. ...
He has spent the past few years dealing with the clergy sex-abuse scandal and coping with health problems. Pilla had a quadruple bypass operation in November 1997, then was diagnosed the next month with a life-threatening staph infection. He also had prostate surgery in fall 1999.
IRELAND
The New York Times
By VIRGINIA GARDINER
Published: January 5, 2006
DUBLIN
LETTERFRACK, a bleak and boggy village in western Ireland, was once best known for a reform school run by the Christian Brothers that was rife with physical and sexual abuse. Some 100 boys died there in its 87 years of operation, before it finally closed in 1974 - a dismal record even by the standards of church-run Irish reformatories.
Thirteen years later, when the Letterfrack Furniture College opened, it could not afford a new building, and instead took up residence in the prisonlike, seemingly haunted reform school. It was an odd start for an institution intended to reverse the depressed town's fortunes, and for several years the college operated on a meager budget with a skeletal staff, offering vocational training in furniture design and production to local students. But now Letterfrack is becoming famous for the furniture college, which as of 2002 has a stylish modern campus designed by the celebrated Dublin architecture firm O'Donnell & Tuomey. The school, now known for the exceptional quality of its graduates' wood furniture, attracts applicants from all over Ireland and Europe.
OREGON
KGW
01/05/2006
Associated Press
A pastor accused of sexually abusing a girl has been ordered to stay away from his church and children other than his own.
Jeremy Hall, 34, of Sisters was arraigned Wednesday on charges of unlawful sexual penetration and sex abuse involving a child under 14, according to a document filed by the Deschutes County District Attorney's Office.
Hall was pastor at Christ's Church of New Beginnings, which meets in Sisters Elementary School, when the girl came forward, a church board member told The Bulletin newspaper. Hall has temporarily stepped down, the paper reported.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Thursday, January 05, 2006
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - For the third time in three years, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has been found to be in full compliance with the U.S. bishops' policy to prevent abuse of minors, the diocese announced yesterday.
The diocese also announced that Patricia Finn McManamy has been hired as the diocesan director of counseling, prevention and victim services, replacing Laura Failla Reilly, who resigned in the summer.
The diocese was notified recently that the Gavin Group of Boston determined it was in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the policy created by U.S. bishops several years ago to prevent abuse of minors.
NASHVILLE (TN)
Quad-City Times
By Deirdre Cox Baker
THE Rev. David Choby has stepped into some rarified company in the Diocese of Nashville, Tenn., and his journey to the top was helped by spiritual development in Davenport.
Choby was named bishop of the diocese Dec. 20 before an enthusiastic crowd of 200 supporters. He is the 11th bishop of Nashville, and the third who came via St. Ambrose University, Davenport, and its seminary program.
“I really loved Davenport, I was crazy about it,” said Choby, 58, a 1969 graduate in philosophy. He also is one of several priests to have been educated in Iowa before leading parishes in their native Tennessee. ...
But the church has done a lot to address the sexual abuse problem, and Choby noted other faiths and organizations are now contacting Catholic institutions for information and assistance on the issue.
AVONDALE (AZ)
East Valley View
John Machay
staff writer
A former Avondale priest accused of sexual misconduct with children has returned to Arizona to face the consequences of his alleged actions, authorities said.
Father Joseph Cervantez Briceno, the onetime pastor of St. William Church in Avondale, was extradited Tuesday from El Centro, Calif., where he’s been jailed since his Dec. 16 arrest, said Lt. Paul Chagolla, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s deputies escorted the 59-year-old priest aboard MCSO’s fixed wing plane, which landed in Phoenix at about noon, Chagolla said.
Shortly after his arrival, Briceno made an initial appearance in a Fourth Avenue Jail courtroom, where bail was set at $250,000 cash, said Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. He’s also been ordered to surrender his passport and, should he be bailed out, wear a Global Positioning System monitoring device so authorities can keep track of his whereabouts, FitzGerald said.
ALBANY (NY)
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: January 4, 2006
ALBANY, Jan. 3 - Lawyers for dozens of men and women who say they were molested by Roman Catholic priests asked the state's highest court on Tuesday to compel church officials to answer the charges even though they date back decades.
The lawyers, appearing for more than an hour before the State Court of Appeals, said that Catholic Church officials in New York shuffled priests from parish to parish to keep their serial abuse hidden, falsely assured some victims that abusive priests had been removed from the ministry, and paid off other abuse victims to keep them quiet.
All of this, the lawyers said, was aimed at staving off lawsuits until the statute of limitations had expired. Such a scheme, the lawyers said, should disqualify the church from invoking the statute now.
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic News Service
By Ed Langlois
Catholic News Service
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Despite a court ruling that could significantly boost the amount the Portland Archdiocese must pay for sex-abuse settlements, archdiocesan leaders said the local church and its work will endure.
"The archdiocese is committed to continuing its religious and charitable mission to Catholics and others, including thousands of schoolchildren, its parishioners, and the poor and dispossessed, as it has for its 157-year history in Oregon, no matter what obstacles confront it," said an archdiocesan statement issued after the Dec. 30 decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris.
In a ruling that asserted the primacy of secular law over church law in the matter of bankruptcy, Perris said the archdiocese is the owner of parish and school properties.
That means parish and school real estate worth hundreds of millions of dollars can be tallied when the court decides how much claimants will be paid. The archdiocese has 124 parishes, 40 of them with elementary schools, and three archdiocesan high schools.
NEW YORK
The Jewish Week
Gary Rosenblatt - Editor and Publisher
Three years ago Mordechai Tendler, a controversial Modern Orthodox rabbi, met with nine leading haredi rabbis in his community of Monsey, N.Y., who challenged him on a number of his halachic rulings and on allegations that he had acted improperly with women.
Since then, Rabbi Tendler has said publicly that he was exonerated by the rabbinical panel, which he has described as a bet din, or religious court.
This week a statement signed in May by seven of the rabbis became public through the Internet and in selected mailings, asserting that Rabbi Tendler’s assessment of the meeting was “an outright lie,” and urging people not to seek his advice on halachic matters on marriage, divorce, conversion or family harmony. (One of the original nine rabbis moved to Israel and another said he agreed with the others but wanted to remain private.)
There has been little harmony in Rabbi Tendler’s community for some time now, particularly since he was expelled last March by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the largest Orthodox rabbinic association, for “conduct inappropriate to an Orthodox rabbi.”
NEW YORK
Yahoo! News
NEW YORK, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Concerned about a suspended and allegedly abusive priest who recently resurfaced as a chaplain in Philadelphia, clergy molestation victims are writing to New York's top Catholic official urging him to warn neighbors and prospective employers about the cleric and reach out to any of his victims "who may still be suffering in shame, isolation and self- blame."
They're also hoping that outreach efforts may turn up more recent victims who could criminally prosecute the priest.
Leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are worried about Father Anthony J. Eremito, a New York Archdiocese priest who apparently was recently hired by Odyssey Hospice in Philadelphia. Eremito was suspended from active ministry in 2002 because of credible allegations of molesting boys.
TOLEDO (OH)
Beacon Journal
Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - Prosecutors who have accused a priest of stabbing a nun to death in 1980 now say the killing was not premeditated, according to a court filing.
A motion filed in Lucas County Court dropped the words "with prior calculation and design" from a grand jury's indictment. The filing also would reduce the original aggravated murder charge to murder.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson is accused of strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a 1980 Easter weekend killing that investigators have described as ritualistic. The priest and the nun worked together at a hospital.
Arlington Catholic Herald
By Russell Shaw
Herald Columnist
(From the issue of 1/5/06)
The Church asks of homosexuals who wish to be priests what it also asks of heterosexuals — along with much else, that is, the willingness and demonstrated ability to live chaste, celibate lives. As will become clear once the current shouting dies down, that is the basic message of the new Vatican document on admitting homosexuals to the seminary which stirred up so much noisy comment when it was released late last month.
Naturally the media weren't much help. Two headlines in The Washington Post and The Washington Times on the same day (Nov. 30) illustrate that. Here's the Post: "Bishop Says Edict Allows Some Gay Priests." And the Times: "Vatican Bars All Gays as Priests." Take your pick. If media covered the weather like that, people would be understandably upset. But this — so it sometimes seems — is only religion, so what difference does it make?
The key passage in the document from the Congregation for Catholic Education says this: "The Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called 'gay culture.'" ...
This is not to deny what was said last year by the all-layAbuse Tracker Review Board created by the bishops to monitor their response to the sex abuse crisis: As the numbers show, the vast majority of abuse cases involved homosexual behavior. Moreover, in the 1970s and 1980s a "gay subculture" had come to exist in some seminaries, and it's important to find out whether that problem has been corrected. But the notion that this is only an investigative process aimed at rooting out gay seminarians and faculty is simplistic at best. In many ways, it should be understood on the model of a secular academic accreditation process.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Kathy Donaghy
THE high-powered Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is set to re-examine the controversial Church/State deal to cover compensation claims by victims of abuse in residential institutions.Committee Chairman Michael Noonan told the Irish Independent the deal would have to be looked at again in the context of the final bill being in the region of €1.3bn - twice what the Department of Education said it would cost.
The Government agreed a €128m deal with the religious institutions in 2002 to cover the payouts to abuse victims.
Mr Noonan pointed out that when the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) John Purcell said it was going to cost as much as €1bn, he was heavily criticised.
"It lookes as if it's going to exceed that now and reach €1.3bn," said the Limerick East Fine Gael TD for Limerick east. "I think we need to get back into that issue.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Fergus Black
A CHARITY set up by former inmates to defend the reputation of industrial schools admitted yesterday that a majority of its members had succumbed to "financial lure" by claiming compensation for abuse.
More than 100 former residents from the schools formed the Let Our Voices Emerge (Love) group two years ago, claiming the State compensation awards scheme for abuse victims left carers from the institutions open to massive fraudulent allegations.
But last night, a co-founder of the charity claimed 80pc of its members had "given in" at the last minute by claiming compensation from the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
It was set up to make fair and reasonable awards to persons who, as children, were abused while resident in industrial schools, reformatories and other institutions subject to State regulation or inspection.
GRENADA
Grenada Broadcasting Network
Police in Baltimore in the United States want regional law enforcement officers to help them investigate allegations of sexual abuse against Trinidadian pastor Gerald Griffith.
A senior police officer from the Baltimore Police Department says contact has already been made with the police in Grenada and Barbados, and Trinidad is next on the list.
He said the Baltimore police will be linking up with Law enforcement officers in all the Caribbean islands where Pastor Gerald Griffith has held crusades.
When he was arrested the pastor was planning crusades for Barbados and St. Lucia.
These have since been cancelled. Griffith is out on bail on the condition that he does not leave Baltimore County or try to contact the alleged victims in the matter.
DES MOINES (IA)
Quad-City Times
By The Associated Press
DES MOINES (AP) — A group representing clergy sex abuse victims delivered a letter to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Des Moines on Tuesday asking church officials to take stronger action against abusers.
Diocese spokeswoman Anne Marie Cox said Bishop Joseph L. Charron was not in the building to meet with the group. She said Chancellor Tom Chapman accepted the letter and he assured them that the letter would be given to Charron.
The letter asks Charron to warn local families about Bishop Emeritus Lawrence Soens of the Sioux City diocese.
Houston Voice
By DYANA BAGBY
Friday, December 30, 2005
EDITORS’ NOTE: As 2005 draws to a close, many media outlets will announce their selections for person of the year. In past years, Houston Voice editors have selected a Story of the Year instead.
This year, the Story of the Year was, in our view, the extraordinary efforts of one individual to not only put a halt to the acceptance of gay people legally and within the mainstream culture, but to roll back such acceptance to an earlier, less tolerant and more discriminatory time.
Presiding over what some describe as the “strongest bully pulpit in the world,” Pope Benedict XVI, just eight months into his tenure, has unilaterally targeted gay men and lesbians as moral threats to society.
From banning gay priests to publicly lobbying against same-sex marriage rights in Spain and Italy, Pope Benedict XVI appears to be taking a swift approach to excluding gay people from equal rights across the globe. ...
In November 2002, in the midst of the church sex abuse crisis, the Vatican press office announced that the Congregation for Catholic Education was drafting guidelines for accepting candidates for the priesthood that would address the question of whether gays should be barred. However, the document reportedly had been in the works well before then.
Gay Catholics and others have criticized the Vatican for blaming gay priests for the child sex abuse scandal, which they argued had nothing to do with homosexuality.
ALBANY (NY)
Newday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
January 4, 2006
ALBANY - For the 37 men and five women who say they were molested by Roman Catholic priests as children and teenagers in Brooklyn and Queens, it was their last best hope.
For the church, it was a last effort to quash a novel legal argument that could energize other expired cases of priest sex abuse and mean huge financial liability.
Both sides squared off yesterday before the state's highest court over whether New York's strict statutes of limitation should be waived to allow days in court for several dozen adults who were abused, in some cases, decades ago.
A ruling in favor of the victims would likely force dioceses across the state, including Rockville Centre and the Archdiocese of New York, to face numerous suits that were dismissed because of time bars.
BOSTON (MA)
WHDH
BOSTON (AP) -- When the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted here four years ago, Bill Garrity was not among the more than 500 people who sued the archdiocese and settled claims in 2003.
However, Garrity -- who said he was abused by a parish priest as a 12-year-old altar boy -- is among a group of about 200 alleged victims with new claims against the archdiocese.
Lawyers representing 172 alleged victims met Tuesday to discuss a counter offer for the archdiocese, which has offered $7.5 million to about 100 of the latest plaintiffs.
"I didn't want to be dragged through what everybody else was dragged through," said Garrity, now 46, of the first round of lawsuits. "I didn't want to be standing out in front of a church or a rectory. I just hoped it would go away, and it didn't."
BOSTON (MA)
Hartford Courant
January 4, 2006
By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press
BOSTON -- The sexual-abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese has not gone away. Instead, it has offered $7.5 million to about 100 people in a group of about 200 with new claims of sexual abuse.
But lawyers for the most recent plaintiffs denounced the offer as "demeaning" and say the archdiocese is treating them differently from the victims who participated in an $85 million global settlement in September 2003.
The archdiocese's proposal for the latest claims would provide settlements ranging from $5,000 to $200,000. The average would be $75,000. In 2003, the 554 plaintiffs received settlements ranging from $80,000 to $300,000 each, with an average of about $155,000.
The archdiocese said its financial condition has deteriorated since the 2003 settlement and it cannot afford to pay the new round of plaintiffs as much.
ALBANY (NY)
The Observer-Dispatch
Tuesday, Jan 3, 2006
Rocco LaDuca
ALBANY -- The New York state Court of Appeals heard arguments today whether the statute of limitations should not shield Catholic priest the Rev. James Quinn from allegations he sexually abused a young parishioner in Utica more than 30 years ago.
Utica attorney Frank Policelli argued Quinn’s case should be reinstated for trial because Quinn and the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse had concealed the alleged abuse of John Zumpano between 1963 to 1970.
That prevented Zumpano from realizing he could “take action against the wrongful acts,” Policelli argued.
Mark Schulte, the attorney for the diocese, argued, however, there were no allegations of specific “subsequent acts of wrongdoing” that prevented Zumpano from taking action.
EVANSVILLE (IN)
Courier & Press
By PHILIP ELLIOTT Courier & Press staff writer 461-0783 or elliottp@courierpress.com
January 4, 2006
Evansville Bishop Gerald Gettelfinger cautioned against "lapses in morals," whether they come in the form of child abuse, lax discipline against abusive clergy or children's access to pornography.
Addressing Rotarians on Tuesday, the Roman Catholic bishop also lauded the gradual decay of the "code of silence" that allowed a public airing of decades of sexual abuse at the hands of members of the clergy.
"I can tell you, dear friends, we have learned a lot as bishops," said Gettelfinger.
He said new instances of abuse "virtually dropped to zero" last year, but said he does not expect a total end.
ALBANY (NY)
NBC 3
ALBANY, N.Y. The state Court of Appeals will determine whether the dioceses of Syracuse and Brooklyn can avoid lawsuits because those alleging the abuse waited too long to seek damages.
A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs could force dioceses across the state to face numerous suits that were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.
In one case argued yesterday before the court, John Zumpano said the abuse he suffered while in parochial school in Utica from 1963 to 1970 rendered him mentally incapable of bringing a suit before time ran out to do so.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
PHOENIX — A fugitive priest who was captured in Mexico last month and returned to the United States is now back in Arizona to face sex-related charges.
Joseph Briceno was booked Tuesday into the Maricopa County jail after being flown in from California, where he has been held since his arrest, a sheriff's spokesman said. Briceno waived extradition.
Briceno was indicted in Arizona in 2003 on six counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of attempted sexual conduct with a minor and one count of sexual abuse.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | January 4, 2006
Support is growing on Beacon Hill for legislation to lift charitable immunity protections for the Catholic Church and other nonprofit organizations in sexual abuse cases involving minors.
More than 60 lawmakers have signed onto a bill that, in civil cases involving such abuse, would eliminate the current $20,000 limit on liability for churches and other nonprofit organizations. That charitable immunity limit, supporters say, has discouraged sexual abuse victims from coming forward and has sharply limited payments in other cases.
Two other bills would restructure the complicated laws governing the statute of limitations in criminal and civil cases involving sex crimes against juveniles. Current laws lay out various limitations based on the number of years that elapse after a sexual crime is allegedly committed.
The House is also slated this month to take up a fourth bill, sponsored by Senator Marian Walsh, a West Roxbury Democrat, that would force the Archdiocese of Boston and other religious organizations to file public financial disclosure reports with the attorney general's office. In November, the Senate approved the measure, which is strongly opposed by several religious and nonprofit organizations. Governor Mitt Romney has expressed his support.
BOSTON (MA)
Leading the Charge
Staff and agencies
04 January, 2006
By Belinda Yu Tue Jan 3, 8:20 PM ET
BOSTON - Lawyers for victims of sexual abuse by priests rejected on Tuesday a settlement offer by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston that they called "demeaning," "cruel," and "immoral."
The archdiocese has offered average payments of $75,000 per person to settle claims from about 100 people who say they were sexually abused during a pedophile priest scandal that surfaced in Boston in 2002 and spread to other U.S. parishes.
"Every part of the proposal is unacceptable," Carmen Durso, a lawyer representing 33 plaintiffs, told a news conference.
In a 2003 settlement with 540 victims of sexual abuse, the Boston archdiocese paid an average award of $153,000, or a total of about $85 million.
ALBANY (NY)
Law.com
John Caher
New York Law Journal
01-04-2006
The emotion-laden issue of clergy sexual abuse faced the cold calculation of the law Tuesday when New York's Court of Appeals heard pivotal arguments on whether the statute of limitations should be equitably tolled to give dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of victims their day in court.
Zumpano v. Quinn, 1, and Estate of Boyle v. Smith, 2, could expose Roman Catholic dioceses to liability for acts that occurred decades ago. But the cases could also significantly weaken the statute of limitations in myriad other tort actions if the court were to find that an allegation of coverup, especially when related to harm done to children, automatically triggers the equitable estoppel exception to the time bar.
Both cases involve plaintiffs who claim they were abused by priests as far back as 1960. A key question is whether the dioceses involved, Brooklyn and Syracuse, were complicit in perpetuating the sexual abuse of minors and effectively concealed their complicity from the victims, and whether concealment alone is enough to implicate a rule that says a wrongdoer should not be permitted "to take refuge behind the shield of his own wrong" (see General Stencils v. Chiappa, 18 NY2d 125, 1966).
ALBANY (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Yancey Roy
Albany bureau
(January 4, 2006) — ALBANY — Judges on New York's highest court Tuesday sounded skeptical about allowing a former Utica-area resident to sue a Roman Catholic diocese over allegations of sexual abuse that occurred more than three decades ago.
The state Court of Appeals heard arguments that the statute of limitations prohibited such lawsuits. The Utica-based lawsuit, filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, had been combined with allegations against 13 priests in the Archdiocese of Brooklyn.
In most such lawsuits, the time limit for filing a case can be one or three years, or 10 years if the wrongful action triggered insanity.
In each case argued Tuesday, lawyers for the alleged victims said the church should not benefit from its own wrongdoing. That is, the church shouldn't be allowed to conceal abuse for decades and then be protected by a statute of limitations. But the seven-judge panel pointed out that, for better or worse, that's the nature of the law.
DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
January 4, 2006
A half-dozen clergy sexual-abuse survivors and family members demonstrated outside the Des Moines Diocese headquarters Tuesday, asking that a retired Sioux City bishop be sanctioned by other Iowa bishops.
Carrying signs asking, "Why the double standards for bishops?," the group is asking that action be taken against Bishop Lawrence Soens. The group had staged similar "sidewalk press conferences" in two other Iowa Catholic dioceses last month.
Soens "remains a cleric in good standing despite the fact that there have been 10 claims of child sexual abuse filed against him in the Davenport Diocese," said Steve Theisen, Iowa director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests.
Soens, who retired in 1998, has denied the allegations, which stem from a period when he was a priest in the Davenport Diocese.
PHOENIX (AZ)
KVOA
PHOENIX Fugitive priest Joseph Briceno was returned to Arizona today.
Briceno had earlier waived extradition after he was captured last month in Mexico near the border with Calexico, California.
The Maricopa County sheriff's office says Briceno was flown this morning to Arizona after being jailed in El Centro, California.
Briceno had been hiding out in Mexico before he was caught.
ALBANY (NY)
Newsday
By MARK JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer
January 3, 2006, 4:42 PM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The state's highest court heard arguments Tuesday involving sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests to determine whether the victims in those cases waited too long to seek damages under state law.
A ruling in favor of the victims could force dioceses across the state to face numerous suits that were dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.
Nationwide, "hundreds and hundreds" of cases have been dismissed for the same reasons and many more never get filed, said David Clohessy,Abuse Tracker Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests _ also known as SNAP _ a national support group for clergy abuse victims.
CANADA
The Guardian
The Canadian government has offered a cash settlement for indigenous people forced into residential schools as children, Anne McIlroy reports
Tuesday January 3, 2006
They were plucked from their families as young children and sent to live in church-run schools where they were forbidden to speak their own languages. The idea was to prepare indigenous children for life in white society.
Many were beaten, sexually abused and subjected to daily cruelties throughout their traumatic childhoods. It was, in the words of Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, "the single most disgraceful, harmful and racist act" in Canada's history.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Appleton Post-Crescent
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — David Schauer is relieved to have 2005 over with.
The 28-year-old Green Bay native took the witness stand July 26 to tell the world how a former Catholic priest molested him as a fifth-grader. Schauer took the stand a second time on Sept. 16 to tell a Brown County judge how the assaults by Donald Buzanowski wreaked havoc with his life.
Schauer, who is a semester away from a nursing degree, is looking to 2006 as a year to reinvent himself — without the pressure forced on him by pains of the past. The criminal case was 15 years in the making.
"I'm looking forward to starting my career," Schauer said in a phone interview from his home in Marshfield. "My wife graduated in December and is starting a job as a fourth-grade teacher.
"We're trying to get our life squared away and on track while still certainly dealing with the things we need to."
IOWA
Quad-City Times
By Dustin Lemmon
A national organization representing victims of clergy sexual abuse is asking three Catholic bishops to reach out to abuse victims and help them monitor the whereabouts of a priest who is an admitted abuser.
The letters concern Rev. William Wiebler, who has admitted molesting several minors during the 1970s and 1980s. Wiebler left the Quad-City area in the 1980s and moved to Mississippi. He recently has been living in the St. Louis area.
Recently an official with the Diocese of Davenport traveled to St. Louis to try to find Wiebler, but failed to find him at his residence and the place where he works. Wiebler never has been convicted of abusing a child, but has been the subject of multiple lawsuits from victims.
NEW YORK
The New York Times
By ANDY NEWMAN
Published: January 3, 2006
Several men say they were abused by Roman Catholic priests when they were boys in the 1960's. They say they suffered profound psychological damage as a result. In 2002, they learn from news accounts that for years, senior church officials took elaborate steps to cover up for sexually abusive priests. Appalled, they sue the church.
But under New York's statute of limitations, they are too late, by several decades.
However, the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, will hear arguments today for the first time in cases seeking to allow old claims like these against the church to proceed.
A ruling for the plaintiffs could open the door for dozens of suits against the church that have been blocked by New York's statute of limitations, one of the strictest in the nation. The statute requires negligence suits against institutions to be filed within three years, or before the plaintiff turns 21, whichever is later.
ALBANY (NY)
Fox 23
(Albany, NY) AP 01/03/06 -- The state's highest court hears arguments Tuesday in the case of a Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a Utica teenager more than 30 years ago.
The outcome could set the standard for dozens of similar cases statewide.
The issue is whether someone can bring an abuse lawsuit against a priest long after the statute of limitations has expired and whether the Syracuse Diocese acted in a way that led the alleged victim to keep silent for many years.
Two lower courts dismissed John Zumpano's $150 million lawsuit against the Reverend James Quinn. The lawsuit accuses Quinn of sexually abusing Zumpano while he was a student at St. Agnes Church in Utica during the 1960s. Quinn has denied the allegations.
CANADA
Anglican Journal
STAFF
The East Algoma division of the Ontario Provincial Police, based in Elliot Lake, Ont., on Oct. 24 charged a former Anglican priest, Kenneth Graham Gibbs, 72, with three counts of sexual assault.
The alleged incidents “occurred between 1969 and 1974 in Elliot Lake,” said an OPP statement and are related to “a historical sexual assault investigation.” Det. Sgt. Randy Gaynor, of the East Algoma detachment, said he could not comment further.
BOSTON (MA)
The Day
Published on 1/2/2006
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is trying to settle a suit by alleged sex abuse victims on the cheap. The archdiocese, which has been hobbled financially since settling another sex-abuse suit in 2003, is offering the plaintiffs about half as much money as it paid the litigants in the earlier case.
In settling the 2003 case, the archdiocese distributed $85 million to 554 alleged victims, or a median of $155,000. Now, according to the litigants' lawyers, the archdiocese has offered to settle the case with 100 plaintiffs for $7.5 million. That would amount to a median settlement of $75,000.
CANADA
Anglican Journal
MARITES N. SISON
STAFF WRITER
The Anglican Church of Canada is renegotiating the terms of the 2003 residential schools agreement that it signed with the federal government following an announcement Nov. 23 of a new $1.9 billion compensation package that will be offered to tens of thousands of aboriginal Canadians who attended Indian residential schools.
In its renegotiations, the Anglican church has invoked the “most favoured nation” clause in its agreement that states that if the federal government reaches more favourable terms with another denomination involved in the residential schools, Anglicans can ask for the same terms.
Under the terms of the new agreement in principle, signed by the government and legal counsel for former students and churches and announced by Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan, the Roman Catholic church agrees to fund healing and reconciliation programs, but “is not required to pay any compensation,” noted Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By DAN MANGAN
January 1, 2006 -- An ironclad contract is keeping the Catholic church from firing the sexy secretary who was caught visiting a hot-sheets hotel with the former top priest at St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Post has learned.
The four year-deal that pays Laura DeFilippo around $100,000 yearly was negotiated by her former boss, Monsignor Eugene Clark.
DeFilippo is still getting paid even though she hasn't gone into work since the scandal broke last summer over her Hamptons visit with Clark.
ALASKA
Duluth News Tribune
MARY PEMBERTON
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A priest accused of sexually abusing boys more than two decades ago has been dismissed from the priesthood, the Catholic Diocese of Juneau said Sunday.
The dismissal of Michael Patrick Nash stems from an investigation that began in late 2002, when a former Juneau resident claimed that he had been abused by Nash in the early 1980s.
"I am relieved we are coming to a sense of resolution and some conclusion to what all around has been a tragic affair," Bishop Michael Warfel said Sunday.
The diocese decided that Joel Post, who now lives in Duluth, Minn., had "suffered grave harm at the hands of Mr. Nash" and agreed to pay him $175,740 to settle his claims.
After the allegations became public, a number of other men came forward and made similar claims, according to the diocese.
BOSTON (MA)
The Eagle-Tribune
By Michael Kunzelman
Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Archdiocese has offered to settle another round of sexual abuse claims for less per person than it paid in hundreds of cases two years ago.
The offer was for $5,000 to $200,000 per claim, depending on the severity of the abuse, according to lawyers for both the plaintiffs and the archdiocese.
The Boston Globe, quoting unidentified plaintiffs' lawyers, reported yesterday that the payout would total about $7.5 million for about 100 plaintiffs. That would amount to an average payout of about $75,000 if everyone were paid. The 2003 settlements, $85 million to 554 people, averaged $153,000.
Carmen Durso, who represents 33 plaintiffs, said that as part of the settlement offer, some of the alleged victims — those considered to have the weaker of the cases — would have to prove to an arbitrator that the abuse took place and some could face cross-examination by church lawyers.
Victims who were awarded settlements in 2003 also went before arbitrators, but they were not subject to cross-examination.