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IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Dan Buckley
ABUSE groups have challenged the Christian Brothers to produce proof after the head of the order claimed evidence of abuse was contaminated and motivated by the prospect of compensation.
Giving evidence to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the order’s provincial, Brother David Gibson branded as “tainted” evidence of abuse at some of his order’s institutions, including the notorious Letterfrack Industrial School in Galway. He told the
commission there had been “contamination of evidence” and complaints against one institution were applied to others.
Brother Gibson said a large number of meetings were organised by solicitors around the country where former residents of industrial schools were brought together. He said groups of solicitors had copied more than 1,000 copies of RTÉ programmes and had given them to former residents.
IRELAND
One in Four
One in Four, the national charity which supports women and men who have experienced sexual violence today welcomed the launch an advertising campaign by the Commission of Investigation into Clerical Sexual abuse in the Dublin Arch Diocese calling upon people with evidence relevant to its work to come forward. This campaign marks the commencement of the investigation which was first promised by Government in October 2002 following the broadcast of the RTE Primetime documentary Cardinal Secrets. The commission will examine the handling of complaints of child sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests from or attached to the Archdiocese of Dublin.
One in Four first called for this investigation in 2002 and has been involved in ongoing consultation and discussions with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform over the past four years in that regard. Our Advocacy Service continues to support a large number of women and men who have crucial evidence relevant to the work of the Commission. Today, Deirdre Fitzpatrick, Advocacy Co-ordinator at One in Four, encouraged those who have experienced sexual abuse perpetrated by priests in or attached to the Dublin Archdiocese to come forward.
DARIEN (CT)
The New York Times
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN
Published: May 24, 2006
DARIEN, Conn., May 23 — About 200 protesters gathered at the town's oldest Roman Catholic church to protest the Bridgeport Diocese's demotion on Tuesday of a priest, Father Michael Madden, who was put in charge of their parish only last week.
The change in Father Madden's responsibilities at Saint John Parish followed the unexpected announcement he made at Mass on Tuesday morning that unbeknownst to the diocese, he had helped hire the private investigator who cataloged instances of financial impropriety on the part of the previous pastor, Father Michael Jude Fay.
Those findings embarrassed the diocese and became part of the criminal investigation swirling around Father Fay.
Parishioners smarting over revelations that Father Fay may have been living the high life at their expense were angry that Father Madden, or Father Mike, as they call him, might have paid a price for having tried to put an end to it.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Bella English, Globe Staff | May 24, 2006
It was 1970 when James Moran took to the Yellow Pages and began calling rape crisis centers asking for help. No one would talk to him. Men were seen as the perpetrators, women as the victims.
Moran, 25 at the time, was a deacon in the Archdiocese of Boston, and his alleged attacker was an older priest at Sacred Heart in Roslindale, where Moran had just been assigned. On a day off, he accepted an invitation from the Rev. Anthony Laurano to a puppeteer's convention in Connecticut. A teenager from the parish would also be going.
According to Moran, the trio stayed at the home of Laurano's relative. Sometime during the night, he says, Laurano entered his room, held him down, and raped him. The next day, Laurano approached Moran. ``He informed me that he had no remorse, that I had asked for it. He said he used to come into my bedroom at the rectory and watch me sleep," said Moran. ``I was shocked. I was frozen."
More than 35 years later, Moran sparked a controversy in the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., with a homily he gave last month detailing his abuse and criticizing church leaders. Because of his remarks, Moran was relieved of his priestly duties six weeks before his early retirement on a medical disability.
STAMFORD (CT)
New York Post
By DAN MANGAN
May 24, 2006 -- A Connecticut church yesterday lost a pastor for the second time in a week after the newly appointed top priest confessed to hiring a private eye who uncovered financial wrongdoing by the former pastor.
"I made a huge mistake which has further complicated matters," said the Rev. Michael Madden in a letter to parishioners at St. John Catholic Church in Darien.
Madden apologized and resigned as acting administrator after meeting with a reportedly furious Bridgeport Diocese Bishop William Lori. By hiring a private eye on his own, without consulting his bishop, Madden breached the Catholic chain of command.
"I am deeply saddened that the situation in the parish has been worsened by today's events," Lori said.
IRELAND
Highland Radio
May 24, 12:19 pm
A Donegal priest has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the alleged rape of a teenage parishioner over 20 years ago whom he told he wanted to experience sex in bed.
The 48-year-old accused has denied three charges of raping the woman on dates in 1985 and one charge of indecently assaulting her in 1984.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | May 24, 2006
Sympathy for Dr. Robert M. Haddad was in short supply yesterday at Bay Sweets Market in West Roxbury , where Lebanese customers were stocking up on olives and spinach pies.
Disapproval, rolling eyes, and mirth, on the other hand, were plentiful.
Female employees at Caritas Christi Health Care System have said that Haddad, president of the system, hugged them, kissed them on the lips, rubbed their backs, and called them late at night. Haddad issued a statement Monday saying that his behavior was an extension of his Lebanese heritage, ``where hugs and kisses are not only expected, but warmly given and received," and that the behavior was misinterpreted by his accusers.
That explanation was met with skepticism and laughter among Lebanese-Americans at Bay Sweets and beyond.
``Shame on him," said Fayze Ishac, spitting out the words in Arabic, when told of Haddad's situation. ``It's not Lebanese. It's not true."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Eileen McNamara, Globe Columnist | May 24, 2006
Get a lawyer, ladies.
Litigation is the only language the Archdiocese of Boston understands.
Sue Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley for trying to insulate Dr. Robert M. Haddad from charges of sexual harassment, or you will help perpetuate the wrist slapping that passes for disciplining sexual predators in the Catholic Church.
File suit against the alleged perpetrator, even if public outrage prompts O'Malley and the board of governors to do today what they should have done last week: fire the physician-administrator with the roving lips and hands, the one who is reputed to earn more than $1 million a year as president of the Caritas Christi Health Care System.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Steve Bailey, Globe Columnist | May 24, 2006
Does the board of directors of Keane Inc., the Charlestown technology-services company, hold its chief executive to a higher standard of personal conduct than does the board of Caritas Christi Health Care System, the Catholic Church's hospital chain?
The comparison is irresistible. Earlier this month the Keane board forced out its chief executive, Brian Keane, after he was accused of sexual harassment. Last week the Caritas board privately reprimanded its chief executive, Dr. Robert Haddad, after he was also accused of sexual harassment. Of course, the circumstances were different: Two women came forward to accuse Keane of inappropriate behavior; four women came forward initially to complain about Haddad's hugging and kissing. The number is now well into double digits.
Yesterday, Haddad was edging to the exit. But in this era of heightened director responsibility, the board's passive response to the serious charges against its chief executive is stunning. And all the more stunning -- even bizarre -- considering the church's immediate sorry history of dealing with victims of sexual abuse. Did the Caritas board learn nothing at all?
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Jill King Greenwood
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
A former Lawrence County pastor has been charged with 192 counts of possession of child pornography.
The Rev. Robert D. Schmidtberger, 50, of New Castle, faces a preliminary hearing Thursday after a yearlong investigation by state police. He resigned April 22 as pastor of Rose Point Reformed Presbyterian Church in New Castle.
Schmidtberger is one of two area men charged in recent days with possession of child pornography.
Authorities said they seized computers, CD-ROMs and other hardware from his home and found 161 images of child pornography and bestiality on the CD-ROMs and 31 images of child pornography on ZIP drives. Investigators found six e-mails on the CDs that contained attachments of child pornography.
TOLEDO (OH)
Lima News
By KIMBERLY R. SIMMONS
419-993-2101
05/24/2006
ksimmons@limanews.com
TOLEDO — Amidst allegations of sexual abuse that date back nearly 30 years, a Catholic priest has been barred from public ministry.
The Rev. Robert J. Yeager, 68, was placed on administrative leave of absence Tuesday by the Diocese of Toledo.
The Diocese, in a written statement, reported that the Diocesan Review Board regarded the allegations, which were made two years ago, as credible. The statement also reported that the case would be referred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome in accordance with church law.
The Rev. Thomas Gorman, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Delphos said he knew Yeager when the two came to Delphos in the late 1950s.
BURBANK (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 24, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter
A Roman Catholic priest stepped down from his position at a Burbank parish over the weekend amid allegations of sexual misconduct with minors, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Chicago said Tuesday.
The priest, who the Sun-Times isn't naming because he has not been charged with a crime and because archdiocesan officials say they have not yet finished their own investigation, removed himself from St. Albert the Great in Burbank at Cardinal Francis George's request late last week, said archdiocesan spokesman Jim Dwyer.
The allegations, involving more than one person, date to the 1980s, Dwyer said. The archdiocese learned of them about 10 days ago, he said.
The Burbank priest's case marks the first time since the Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged criminally in January that archdiocesan officials have implemented a new policy where a priest is effectively put on "desk duty" pending the outcome of an investigation.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
A Toledo priest who spearheaded a $60 million capital campaign for the diocese in 2001 has been barred from ministry over allegations of child sexual abuse.
The Rev. Robert J. Yeager, 68, is accused of molesting a boy nearly 30 years ago.
The diocese said in a statement yesterday that the abuse allegations first surfaced in 2004 but that it took until now for its review board to obtain "specific information sufficient to conclude that the allegations [are] indeed credible."
Father Yeager, who led the diocese's "One Faith ... Many Blessings" fund-raising campaign in 2001 and 2002, worked as a "planned giving consultant" for the diocese from 1997 until his retirement in July, 2005.
He is still listed as executive director of Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference, a private firm based in Waterville that provides dioceses around the country with advice on financial investments and spiritual growth.
BURBANK (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 24, 2006
Cardinal Francis George has asked a southwest suburban pastor to temporarily step down while authorities investigate at least two 20-year-old allegations of sexual misconduct with minors, church officials said Tuesday.
Officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago said they informed parish leaders last week that Rev. Robert Stepek, pastor of St. Albert the Great Church in Burbank, took a leave at the cardinal's request while the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and prosecutors investigate claims that date to the early 1980s when Stepek served at St. Symphorosa parish in Chicago.
Church officials said Tuesday they asked parish leaders to convey the information to parishioners, though it is unclear what churchgoers heard at masses this weekend.
Stepek has not been charged with any crimes or accused of any wrongdoing by the church. Unlike previous cases in which Catholic priests were removed from parishes, the archdiocesan review board has not yet reviewed the allegations.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
A woman who refrained from making a complaint about a priest who sexually assaulted her because it would have upset her mother, yesterday said she wished her mother was alive to see her vindicated in court after the priest was convicted and given a suspended sentence.
Mary Morgan (46) had told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that she had waited until her mother had died before she made the complaint that Canon Denis Forde had sexually assaulted her in a sacristy because it would have been too upsetting for her mother, who worked as a sacristan.
"My mother would say that to be in the sacristy and be with a priest was the closest thing to God, he [ Forde] became her saviour and I couldn't destroy it - I would have destroyed her by telling her," said Ms Morgan after yesterday's hearing.
"I suffered all my life and she had no idea why I suffered the way I did - I just wish she could be here today if she knew what had happened and saw his conviction," said Ms Morgan, adding that it was Forde's conviction rather than sentence that meant most to her.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
It would not be fair comment to say there was a culture of excessive punishment and systematic abuse at Artane industrial school, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was told yesterday.
Brother Michael Reynolds, deputy provincial of the Christian Brothers, St Mary's (northern) province, said some Brothers there never used corporal punishment while others did regularly.
However, he said that "in the round, it was the same as the others [institutions]."
He said there had been six instances of Brothers who sexually abused boys at Artane, with "five prior to 1944". He rejected suggestions by counsel for some of the complainants, Marcus Dowling, that Artane was seen by Brothers posted there as "a dumping ground" or "punishment". Br Reynolds said "the vast majority of Brothers would not accept it" nor would he.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 5:03 pm EDT May 22, 2006
UPDATED: 7:06 am EDT May 23, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A former pastor of a church on Jacksonville's Westside -- who was recently referred to as a great hero of the faith -- remains behind bars and at the center of a sexual battery investigation.
Police arrested 80-year-old Dr. Robert Gray on Friday evening. The former Trinity Baptist Church of Jacksonville pastor was charged with two counts of capital sexual battery after two of his alleged victims reported they were only 6 years old when Gray abused them.
Two women, currently in their 30s, told police Gray molested them in his office at Trinity Christian School on the Westside. They claimed Gray would then offer them money and candy.
"These charges are based on acts that happened a number of years ago, but a capital sexual battery has no statute of limitations," said Libby Senterfitt of the State Attorney's Office. "Such a charge can be brought anytime."
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 6:46 pm EDT May 23, 2006
UPDATED: 8:08 pm EDT May 23, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A woman who said she has been quietly suffering for six excruciating decades with memories of being molested by a former Jacksonville pastor breaks her silence after others come forward.
Dr. Robert Gray, 80, the former Trinity Baptist Church of Jacksonville pastor was arrested Friday and charged with two counts of capital sexual battery after two of his alleged victims reported they were only 6 years old when Gray abused them.
Two women, currently in their 30s, told police Gray molested them in his office at Trinity Christian School on the Westside. They claimed Gray would then offer them money and candy.
After seeing a story on TV about Gray, Mary Lou Hall, 67, called Channel 4 and said she was also a victim of the pastor.
SANTA ROSA (CA)
CBS 5
(BCN) SANTA ROSA The Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa announced Monday that the Rev. Xavier Ochoa, assistant pastor at St. Francis Solano Parish in Sonoma, was removed from the ministry after he voluntarily admitted a recent incident of sexual misconduct with a minor.
In a written statement Bishop Daniel Walsh said, "Consistent with diocesan policy, I have removed him from his duties as parochial vicar and have also removed his canonical faculties which exclude him from all public and private exercise of his priestly ministry."
Walsh said the incident was promptly reported to civil authorities and the diocese will cooperate with the investigation. The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department is investigating Ochoa's admission.
Sgt. Dennis O'Leary said the investigation started the last week in April when the diocese contacted authorities. Ochoa has not been arrested. O'Leary said the case is unusual because the sheriff's department doesn't normally acknowledge an investigation is under way, but the diocese informed parishioners about Ochoa's admission.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
BLADE STAFF
A priest who spearheaded a $60 million capital campaign for the Toledo Catholic Diocese in 2001 has been barred from ministry over allegations of child sexual abuse.
The Rev. Robert J. Yeager, 68, is accused of molesting a boy nearly 30 years ago, the diocese announced.
The diocese said the allegations first surfaced in 2004, but that it took until now to obtain specific information for its review board to conclude that the allegations are credible.
Father Yeager, who led the diocese's "One Faith ... Many Blessings"
fund-raising campaign in 2001 and 2002, worked as a "planned giving consultant" for the diocese from 1997 until his retirement in July, 2005.
BURBANK (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 23, 2006
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
A suburban priest who had planned to celebrate his 25th anniversary in the ministry last week has voluntarily stepped down amid allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct.
The allegations involve abuse of minors more than 20 years ago and an investigation has just begun, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago confirmed Tuesday.
The Rev. Robert Stepek has "has voluntarily and temporarily absented himself" from St. Albert the Great Parish in Burbank, archdiocese spokesman Jim Dwyer said. More than one allegation has been reported, Dwyer said, but he would not specify how many.
"The action is not a judgment nor is it a removal from ministry," Dwyer said. "Father Stepek has agreed to live in a private setting away from the parish until these allegations are resolved."
STAMFORD (CT)
WFSB
STAMFORD, Conn. -- A priest hired to replace a pastor accused of using church money to pay for a lavish lifestyle with another man has resigned, admitting he was the one who hired a private investigator to look into the pastor.
Bishop William Lori said he agreed to the request Tuesday by the Rev. Michael Madden to resign as acting administrator of St. John Church in Darien. Madden was appointed last week to replace the Rev. Michael Jude Fay in response to suspicions of financial wrongdoing. Fay resigned last week.
Vito Colucci Jr., an investigator based in Stamford, said he documented at least $200,000 in church money Fay spent on limousine rides, dinners at famous restaurants, cruises and gifts. Local and federal authorities are investigating Fay, who has not been charged.
Madden admitted Tuesday that he and the parish bookkeeper hired the private investigator with their own money even while working with the diocese in connection with its own probe of Fay.
MICHIGAN
WXYZ
By Mary Conway
Web produced by Sarah Morgan
May 23, 2006
A once prominent member of a local church was arraigned, Tuesday, after being accused of molesting a young relative.
The 68-year-old former elder of Community of Christ Church in Ann Arbor was accused of sexually abusing a relative when the child was between 7 and 11-years-old.
Police have been investigating for the past two months after the victim, who is now 15-years-old, came forward.
OHIO
WTVG
WTVG-- May 23, 2006 - Lebanon maximum security prison holds about 1,000 inmates
It looks like the retired Toledo priest charged with killing a nun back in 1980 will be kept in a prison just north of Cincinnati. Father Gerald Robinson, 68, is now being held at the Warren Correctional Institution. That's a maxium security facility with over 1,000 inmates.
The prison's website lists that Robinson is being held for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl with a minimum of 15 years behind bars. It shows his first chance at parole will be in March of 2021. There has been talk about an appeal in Robinson's case, but no word on that yet. He's also the focus of a civil suit involving sexual abuse.
NEW YORK
Virtue Online
WBNG, Inc.
May 22, 2006
Another man has come forward, talking only with Action News, claiming he too was abused by an Episcopal priest.
Last week we told you 79-year-old Ralph Johnson resigned from the priesthood. It followed a five month investigation into allegations he sexually abused a boy in the 1970s.
After watching our report, another man says he was also abused by Johnson years ago.
"Memories came flooding back. I had tried to put this out of my mind for years," said the Montrose man, who does not want to be identified.
CANADA
The Gulf News
NATALIE MUSSEAU
The Gulf News
By the end of the month, Catholic properties along the southwest coast will once again be safe under the ownership of St. George’s Diocese.
Bishop Douglas Crosby said the diocese has raised enough money through donations from across the country — about $5 million — to buy back the properties at their fair market value.
It’s the news that parishioners like Marlene Augustus of Ramea and Madonna Hynes of the Codroy Valley have been waiting for.
And still are.
Both Mrs. Augustus and Ms. Hynes say they haven’t received confirmation from the diocese that the church properties are safe. ...
The next court-ordered payment of $3.75 million to the sexual abuse victims of former priest Kevin Bennett is due in July. They were awarded a $13 million settlement after the priest was convicted of molesting boys in various churches.
About $5 million of the total amount has been paid to date.The final two payments come due in July 2007 and January 2008.
YPSYLANTI TOWNSHIP (MI)
ClickOnDetroit
POSTED: 12:04 pm EDT May 23, 2006
A leader of a local community church is in trouble with the law after events that occurred in his Ypsilanti Township home.
Police said the man, whose name is not being released, was either a layman or a pastor for the Community of Christ Church of Ann Arbor. He resigned his position after the investigation against him began.
The man took his granddaughter in when she was 7 years old after her mother died, and is now accused of sexually abusing her, Local 4 reported.
The events involving his granddaughter occurred over a four-year span, and police believe they ended about four-years ago.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News/Enquirer
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 5/23/2006 9:24:54 AM
Following an I Team report on the issue, Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk is admitting that hiring a convicted felon to conduct background checks for the Archdiocese was a mistake.
In a letter sent to priests, Pilarczyk wrote, "I deeply regret the serious lapse in judgment," referring to the hiring of Alex Henties. The rest of the letter is below.
Vincent Frasher, the man who directly hired Henties, remains under investigation and on administrative leave.
Henties claimed Frasher sexually abused him when he was a child.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Walter V. Robinson and Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff | May 23, 2006
More than 10 women have come forward since Sunday with fresh allegations of sexual harassment by Dr. Robert M. Haddad, the embattled president of the Caritas Christi Health Care System, prompting Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley yesterday to call a new meeting of the Caritas governing board.
The cardinal had privately reprimanded Haddad last week for allegedly sexually harassing four other female employees, and the Caritas board on Thursday endorsed the cardinal's action, despite a recommendation from the system's top human resources official, Helen G. Drinan, that Haddad be fired.
O'Malley set the meeting for tomorrow at 7 p.m., amid evidence that support on the board for Haddad has ebbed sharply since the Globe disclosed on Sunday the reprimand and the initial four cases. Those women complained that Haddad had hugged and kissed them, both in public and in private.
Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for Drinan, the senior vice president for human resources at Caritas, said that after the Globe story, more than 10 additional female employees contacted Drinan to report that they too had experienced sexually-harassing conduct similar to that of the four initial victims. Schwartzman said that Drinan and her aides are interviewing the women.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk admitted Monday that church officials made a mistake by hiring a felon to help check the backgrounds of church employees.
"I deeply regret the serious lapse in judgment," Pilarczyk said in a letter sent Monday to priests. He said the archdiocese never should have hired Alex Henties, who had a theft conviction, to supervise the background-check program. Henties, now in prison on theft-related charges, was fired last year.
Church officials previously said they hired Henties because they thought he deserved a second chance.
Pilarczyk's letter came just days after church officials suspended with pay Vince Frasher, the archdiocese's personnel director, pending the outcome of an investigation into Henties' claims that Frasher abused him when he was a child.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - The head of a Catholic religious order said Monday a plan to supervise a priest who admits he sexually abused boys consists solely of having him sign out whenever he leaves a Belleville retirement home.
Using a sign-out sheet to safeguard children from potential attack by the Rev. Real Bourque, an admitted child molester, drew sharp criticism Monday from the executive director of a national group that monitors how the Catholic Church hierarchy deals with abusive priests.
"What do they expect? That if he's going to molest a child he'll write down on the sign-out sheet, 'Going to molest a child.'?" said David Clohessy, executive director of the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "Belleville citizens should be outraged. This isn't supervision," Clohessy said. "Bourque clearly can do ... whatever he wants."
The Rev. Allen Maes, local head of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate of which Bourque is a member, said the Oblates agreed to supervise Bourque. He said the supervision consists of a sign-out sheet.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
ABUSE victims reacted with fury last night to claims by the Christian Brothers that former inmates of an industrial school conspired with lawyers to claim compensation.
The startling assertion was made at the Child Abuse Inquiry by Brother David Gibson, the Provincial of St Mary's Province.
He said claims against former members of the congregation at Letterfrack, Co Galway, had spiralled after groups of solicitors spread the word that inmates could be due financial redress.
In dramatic evidence, Brother Gibson told the inquiry that claims mushroomed from an initial three after the Order apologised to former students in 1998; to 449 after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern made their apology known and announced the Redress Board a year later.
Brother Gibson said: "Evidence has come to our attention that some of the complaints may be motivated by the setting up of the Redress Board.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
May 23, 2006
DR. ROBERT HADDAD should resign from his position as president of the Caritas Christi Health Care system. The recent finding that he sexually harassed four women, inappropriately hugging and kissing them, indicates that he lacks the judgment to be the top administrator of the six-hospital system.
An independent lawyer found that Haddad had violated state and federal sexual harassment laws as well as Caritas Christi policies. A statement from the archdiocese said the lawyer concluded that, ``Dr. Haddad's conduct while clearly improper was not of an exceptionally egregious nature."
After consulting other lawyers, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and Caritas Christi's board agreed that Haddad should receive a stern reprimand and undergo sexual harassment training.
One person who called for Haddad's dismissal was Helen Drinan, vice president of human resources at Caritas Christi. In a May 8 letter to O'Malley, Drinan wrote, ``I implore you to accept the recommendation to terminate Dr. Haddad immediately, and remove him from the workplace. I further ask that you take whatever actions necessary to offer support and assistance to his victims."
PASCAGOULA (MS)
The Mississippi Press
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
PASCAGOULA -- Former church youth minister Paul H. Valentine will serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to two counts of sexual battery and touching a teenager for lustful purposes by a person in a position of trust.
Valentine, 36, of Ocean Springs, was ac-cused of having oral sex on two separate occasions in September 2004 and touching the girl in incidents that occurred around the Labor Day holiday the same year.
He was arrested in September 2005 and indicted shortly afterward.
The girl, who attended St. Paul United Methodist Church in Ocean Springs while Valentine was her youth minister, was 15 at the time of the crimes, District Attorney Tony Lawrence said.
One of the crimes was committed while Valentine stayed at the victim's family's home after Hurricane Ivan damaged Valentine's home, Lawrence added.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
First Coast News
By Jeannie Blaylock
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Jacksonville Sex Crimes Detective Lt. Annie Smith once again confirmed a number we first broke Friday night on First Coast News.
At least 15 women have now come forward and alleged Dr. Bob Gray molested them when they were young girls.
Dr. Gray, arrested Friday afternoon, was pastor at Trinity Baptist Church for 38 years.
Since we talked with Lt. Smith two more women have contacted us about their alleged sexual abuse. As of 5:45 Monday evening the total is 17.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
By TREVOR MAXWELL, Portland Press Herald Writer
The leader of Maine's 235,000 Roman Catholics is recovering at home after emergency surgery on Sunday morning.
Bishop Richard Malone underwent gall bladder surgery at Mercy Hospital in Portland, said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. ...
As bishop, Malone has been front and center during the sexual abuse scandal, which exploded nationwide in 2002 and continues to divide some of the state's Catholics. Malone also has led the reorganization of Maine's 135 parishes, as the number of priests dwindles. His plan consolidates the parishes into 27 clusters, and allows for more power and responsibility among lay ministers.
CANADA
London Free Press
By JOE BELANGER, FREE PRESS REPORTER
Tired of "suffering in silence," male survivors of sexual abuse are demanding government fund services and treatment for victims.
A London group calling itself The Brotherhood of Friends will meet at 3 p.m. Friday at Interfaith, 144 Dundas St., along with a group of therapists and counsellors, to develop a strategy to push for services that now are almost non-existent. ...
Berube said that's because many men choose to "suffer in silence" because they're ashamed, feel guilt, blame themselves or fear no one will believe them.
"They're hidden, the silent victims," said Berube, 51, a former school principal who is now on disability after suffering years of depression.
He was abused by a priest as a child in the northern Ontario town of Warren, east of Sudbury, where he was raised.
POLAND
Gulf Times
Published: Tuesday, 23 May, 2006, 09:36 AM Doha Time
WARSAW: A Polish court Monday sentenced a Catholic priest to five years in jail for repeated sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl in his presbytery.
The 38-year-old priest, named only as Miroslaw W, abused the girl in 2003 and 2004, said the court in the eastern city of Lublin, cited by the PAP news agency.
The priest had pleaded guilty.
Los Angeles Times
May 23, 2006
EVEN SOME OF HIS MOST heartfelt admirers acknowledge that the late Pope John Paul II was slow to comprehend the magnitude of the harm caused by priests who sexually abused young people. The same cannot be said of Pope Benedict XVI after the pontiff's disciplining of a Mexican priest favored by John Paul.
On Friday, the Vatican announced that 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of a conservative order known as the Legion of Christ, had been ordered to renounce any public ministry and devote himself to "prayer and penance" after an investigation of allegations that he had molested several seminarians. A papal spokesman said Maciel would be spared a church tribunal because of his advanced age and delicate health.
The Vatican statement falls short of the clear-cut condemnation that some victims' advocates would have preferred. That allowed the Legion to declare on its website that, while Maciel accepted the discipline with "faith, complete serenity and tranquillity of conscience," he had "declared his innocence and, following the example of Jesus Christ, decided not to defend himself in any way."
Still, for all its circumlocution, the Vatican statement leaves no doubt that church investigators found merit in the allegations. It thus contrasts dramatically with the way accusations of abuse against another prominent cleric were handled under John Paul.
VERMONT
Times Argus
May 23, 2006
Vermont's Catholic Church last week announced it hopes to put certain assets out reach of plaintiffs in sexual abuse lawsuits by placing them into charitable trusts.
In a letter to his 118,000 members, Bishop Salvatore Matano said he felt it necessary to "do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault." That statement, he later explained, was not intended to be critical of people who had filed lawsuits against the Church alleging sexual abuse, but rather a reference to "a legal system that sometimes places us in a position where we can't really reach out in justice to all parties."
Frankly, we think the Bishop's explanation is as unsatisfactory as his actions. Coming on the heels of the Church's attempt to remove the presiding judge in the first priest misconduct trial from hearing any of the 19 new lawsuits that have been filed, the attempt to shield its assets does it no credit.
Bishop Matano is rightly concerned about the possible impact of jury awards on the Church's finances and the stability — or even the existence — of Vermont's 128 parishes. It is an understandable impulse to want to protect them. And it is understandable that the Church would take steps through the court system to ensure it receives a fair hearing in the lawsuits.
BURLINGTON (VT)
Burlington Free Press
Published: Tuesday, May 23, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has structural assets in Vermont worth more than $405 million, according to an insurance appraisal of church-owned buildings performed for the diocese.
The appraisal indicates that 52 of the 128 diocesan parishes in the state have church facilities valued at more than $1 million apiece. Burlington, the home base of the diocese, has church-owned buildings worth $62.8 million.
A copy of the appraisal was obtained by The Burlington Free Press from court records collected in anticipation of the trial in the first of 19 cases pending in Chittenden Superior Court involving claims by alleged victims of priest sexual abuse.
The appraisal was conducted in 2004 by Gallagher Bassett Services Inc. of Itasca, Ill. The appraisal was conducted to determine the replacement cost of each of the 610 buildings the church owns in the state. The figures do not include the value of the land on which the buildings sit.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
May. 23, 2006 12:00 AM
Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley testified Monday that he didn't bring felony charges against suspended Monsignor Dale Fushek four years ago because there was no evidence that the Mesa priest had touched anyone sexually.
But Romley also testified that shortly before he left office Jan. 1, 2005, he authorized the investigation that led to the seven misdemeanor sex counts against Fushek. He is scheduled to stand trial June 2.
Fushek was placed on administrative leave from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix in December 2004, when he was accused in a civil suit of watching as another priest sexually abused a teenage boy. advertisement
Romley testified that in 2002, he relied on the advice of Deputy County Attorney Cindi Nannetti, the former head of the sex-crimes unit, in weighing charges against Fushek.
IOWA
Courier
IOWA CITY (AP) --- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport was presented Monday with 14 new cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests, including seven new claims against the former bishop of the Sioux City diocese.
The claims accuse four priests who served in parishes throughout eastern Iowa dating back to the 1950s.
Each of the claims were filed by men and have been submitted to the diocese for mediation, said Craig Levien, an attorney representing the victims.
"The motivation behind many victims who come forward is they want the truth to come out about an abusive priest," Levien told The Associated Press. "And they feel the only way to get answers is to make a claim and seek the information from the diocese."
BOSTON (MA)
Times Leader
MARK JEWELL
Associated Press
BOSTON - The head of eastern Massachusetts' Roman Catholic hospital system faced new allegations of sexual harassment Monday after he was reprimanded but not fired by the Archdiocese of Boston amid reports of unwanted hugging and kissing of female employees - complaints he says are rooted in cultural misunderstanding.
In response, Cardinal Sean O'Malley asked the governing board of Caritas Christi Health Care to meet again Wednesday to reconsider its response to the allegations against Dr. Robert M. Haddad, president and chief executive of the network of six hospitals and 12,000 employees.
In a statement, the archdiocese said, "New complaints of misconduct involving Dr. Robert Haddad have been received and are being investigated."
Haddad, who is of Lebanese descent, said Monday a cultural misunderstanding was at issue.
MALTA
Malta Today
Matthew Vella
The Church’s investigations into sexual abuse by priests are destined to gather dust in the curial secret archives unless civil authorities intervene to unlock the information on cases of sexual abuse which were never reported to the police.
Police will not act upon “rumours or public information” with respect to investigations by the Curia Response Team on priests accused of sexual abuse, unless victims take their case straight to the police.
A spokesperson for the ministry of justice and home affairs told MaltaToday the police are empowered to act on “reports, information and complaints”. The ministry did not answer as to whether the police have ever demanded information from the Curia on its investigations into sex abuse by priests.
But despite media reports on the Curia Response Team’s handling of sex abuse cases in the church, the police will still not take action on anonymous reports or information unless these are flagrant offences.
In January 2006, a Nadur priest fled from Gozo to the United States after complaints of alleged child sex abuse by the priest were referred to the Curia for investigation. Nadur archpriest Mgr Salvu Muscat had confirmed he referred complaints to the Curia from parents whose children they claimed had been sexually abused by the priest.
MARYLAND
JTA
A Maryland rabbi was indicted on charges relating to sexual overtures toward a minor.
Rabbi David Kaye, 56, is scheduled to be arraigned June 9 by a U.S. district court on charges of “coercion and enticement” and “travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual contact with a minor.”
The charges stem from a “Dateline NBC” investigation last fall of alleged Internet predators. Kaye resigned his position as vice president of programs for the Rockville, Md.-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values days before the “Dateline” episode aired.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
WAWS
Last Update: 5/22/2006 3:40:48 PM
A former Jacksonville pastor has been charged with molesting his young parishioners several decades ago. Now, police believe more victims could be out there.
Dr. Robert Gray, founder of Trinity Christian Academy, remains in jail without bond after investigators say he spent decades keeping a dirty little secret.
"Right now, he is being charged with two counts of capital sexual battery and there are two different victims," says Lt. Annie Smith with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office sex crimes unit.
So far, investigators say 15 women who attended his church or school have come forward claiming Dr. Gray molested them when they were children. Sources close to the case say the alleged victims broke their silence after learning that Gray was returning to Jacksonville after serving as a missionary in Germany.
ST. PETERS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Amanda C. Tinnin
Of the Suburban Journals
St. Peters Journal
05/21/2006
ST. PETERS
A Florida inmate has filed a lawsuit alleging a St. Peters priest sexually abused him when he was a student at All Saints Catholic School.
Michael K. Orf, 42, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in St. Charles County Circuit Court. In the suit, Orf names the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Pastor Louis Kertz as defendants.
Kertz died of cancer in 1985. He was 62.
Orf is serving a five-year prison sentence at Tomoka Correctional Institute in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was convicted in 2003 for committing sex acts with a teenage girl.
Orf's release date is in September 2007.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 22, 2006
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS Advertisement
A West Side priest already facing several sex abuse-related charges was formally indicted on two counts of sexual abuse on Monday.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was indicted on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Marcy Jensen.
Authorities filed the charges earlier this month, but McCormack was formally indicted on those counts Monday, Jensen said.
In the latest charges, McCormack is accused of fondling an 11-year-old boy who was a student at Presentation School, 3900 W. Lexington Ave., Chicago, on a regular basis, according to an assistant state's attorney. He also is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy on one occasion at St. Agatha Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., Chicago, the assistant state's attorney said.
The priest already has been charged with abusing three boys, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was investigating reports that "at least five" youths alleged they were abused, DCFS Director Bryan Samuels said in February.
By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News
A 26-year-old pastor of a Grand Prairie church was sentenced to 45 years in prison Friday after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in his congregation. Jurors deliberated less than 30 minutes before convicting Jerry Castle of two charges of aggravated sexual assault.
UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail
By Chris Buratta
An Oxfordshire priest who has helped raise thousands of pounds for a South African hostel for homeless teenagers is facing child sex charges in the country.
Father Tony Hogg, of St James the Great Church in West Hanney, near Wantage, was arrested and charged with the indecent assault of a 10-year-old during a recent charity trip.
Since 1997, he has encouraged parishioners to raise more than £50,000 for the Don Bosco street project in Cape Town.
Hogg has denied the allegations and his lawyers claim he is the victim of a blackmail attempt.
LAKE HIGHLANDS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
11:49 PM CDT on Sunday, May 21, 2006
By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News
The pastor of St. Patrick Church in Lake Highlands has been suspended, the Dallas Diocese said Sunday, pending an investigation of improper conduct with a minor more than 20 years ago.
The Rev. Monsignor Richard E. Johnson, 76, has been relieved from his pastoral duties at the church, according to a story on the Web site of Texas Catholic, the official diocesan newspaper. It said Dallas Bishop Charles V. Grahmann reported the allegation to authorities and called for the convening of a diocesan review board.
James C. Beakey Sr., a member of St. Patrick since 1968, said he couldn't believe the allegations against the church's pastor of 22 years.
"He has done a wonderful job for our parish; I will support him 110 percent," Mr. Beakey said. "I'm extremely surprised and will fight it with all my might."
ISRAEL
YNet News
Eitan Amit
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, who escaped Israel after three women accused of him sexually abusing them, is either Colorado or Massachusetts, according to the New York Post.
The newspaper reported that Gafni, 46, who was born Marc Winiarz, sexually exploited young Jews in New York as well. In the 1980s, Gafni was an adviser for educational programs in Jewish public schools, but he offered female students more than spiritual advise, the paper said.
Two American women provided the Post with details on how they were sexually exploited by the rabbi 20 years ago, when they were 16 and 13.
"Judy, whose last name is being withheld by The Post, said she was 16 and suffering in a "tumultuous" home environment, including ailing parents, when Gafni invited her to stay at his Flatbush home, where he lived with his second wife, to 'escape,'" the Post reported.
IRELAND
Mirror
Adapted By Helen Carroll
BEATEN cruelly by her father and raped on the eve of her first communion, Kathy O'Beirne silently endured a hellish childhood.
She emerged from a mental institution, only to be sent to one of the infamous Irish Magdalene laundries, where the torture and torment continued. Here, Kathy, now in her 40s and from Clondalkin, Dublin, tells how she is fighting for justice for herself and her fellow Magdalene girls.
'AFTER a day in the furnace-like atmosphere of the laundry I I would collapse into bed, exhausted. The nuns considered the Maggies, as we were known, to be the scum of the earth - sinners who would never earn redemption and fallen women heading straight for the burning fires of hell.
The Devil himself could not have dreamed up a better hell than the Magdalene laundry.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 21, 2006
Darren M. Allen
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano says he is in a "no-win situation" because he is trying to balance the interests of the church with those who were abused by it.
In a rare interview, Matano told my colleague Kevin O'Connor that his decision to begin sheltering the assets of parish churches and schools was just and proper.
"I want to reach out to victims," he said. "But I also have to be conscious of the people in the pews. It's certainly just to ask the church to be accountable, but is it just to destroy parishes, schools and other agencies of care to do so?"
Those are fair questions, and the answers will have sweeping consequences for the 118,000 Vermonters who are "in the pews." But they come too late, and they have the patina of pity the church wants from its adherents and critics alike.
Perhaps the bishop – and his predecessors and those in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church – should continue their soul search and continue to question why a culture of sexual abuse at the hands of priests was not only covered-up for decades but allowed to flourish.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Walter V. Robinson and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | May 22, 2006
Dr. Robert M. Haddad, the Caritas Christi Health Care system president who was reprimanded last week for sexually harassing four women, admitted to an investigator for the Boston Archdiocese that he had engaged in hugging and kissing with others as well, one of the archdiocese's lawyers said yesterday. He also said witnesses had supplied still more names of women they had seen Haddad hugging and kissing.
David M. Mandel, an employment law specialist working for the archdiocese, said in an interview that the archdiocese is launching a further investigation of Haddad following reports that he ''leered and winked" at one of the four victims on May 10, after the archdiocesan investigation was all but concluded. If the inquiry establishes that the incident happened, Mandel said, then the Caritas board of governors that agreed to the ''stern reprimand" would have to consider possible further sanctions.
Mandel said the board was told Thursday that there were more than the four women involved before they endorsed Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley's recommendation that Haddad be reprimanded and receive instruction in sexual harassment guidelines.
Many women, and several employment law specialists, expressed surprise and dismay that Haddad had not been fired for repeated instances of hugging, kissing, and other touching with the four women, but the archdiocese said he would be dismissed if there were any further incident or any retaliation by Haddad.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
First Coast News
By Angela Williams
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Some say it's a safe haven of worship, and now the ministry of Trinity Baptist Church assures their members they are just that.
During evening service, which is broadcast on the church's website, the church's General Counsel, Attorney David Gibbs III, spoke to the congregation about the latest allegations surrounding former pastor, Dr. Robert Gray.
"With the criminal allegations that have been made against Dr. Gray, the pastor and the deacons want to assure you that they take these allegations very seriously," says Gibbs.
Captial Sexual Battery charges were brought forth by women accusing Dr. Gray of molesting them when they were young.
Gray is credited with founding Trinity Baptist College in 1974, but the progress of the ministry at the college was delayed when he retired.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 11:19 pm EDT May 21, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A retired Baptist minister remained in jail without bond Sunday as his former congregation attended services that made no mention of his arrest or the accusations that he sexually molested children decades ago.
Robert Gray was arrested Friday night and charged with capital sexual battery on two 6-year-old girls -- now women in their 30s -- when they were students at Trinity Baptist Church's school.
According to his arrest report, several other women also allege abuse by Gray.
Gray, 80, resigned in 1992 after nearly 40 years as pastor of Trinity Baptist on Hammond Boulevard and president of an affiliated college he founded.
A woman identifying herself as one of Gray's victims told Channel 4's Nancy Rubin on Sunday that the number of complaints will continue to rise as word of his arrest gets out.
CANADA
London Free Press
Mon, May 22, 2006
By CP
TORONTO -- A bespectacled Rick Brazeau barely resembles the enlarged black and white photo of himself as a pre-teen about 40 years ago.
Just eight months after the snapshot was taken in January 1963, Brazeau said his life was forever changed when he was sexually abused by his parish priest.
"I wasn't the one who was abused. It was this 11-year-old child who didn't know what to say, didn't know what to do, didn't know how to speak out about it," he said.
Brazeau joined nearly 100 people yesterday who took to the streets of Toronto for the inaugural Walk to Stop the Silence -- Stop Child Sexual Abuse, a fundraiser to encourage other abused children to speak out.
VERMONT
Bennington Banner
The Associated Press
Monday, May 22
BURLINGTON (AP) — A South Burlington man who was abused by a Catholic priest as a boy is harshly criticizing a comment by Bishop Salvatore Matano, who said victims' lawsuits are an "unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault" on the church.
"Those were just horrible words," said Michael Gay, 38, in response to the comments by the head of the Catholic Diocese for Vermont. "How does anyone dare to say it was us, the victims, who assaulted them?
"How dare they do what they did to all of us kids and now they are trying to push us all back in a corner?" he asked. "That was a slap in our faces."
Gay, who settled his suit against the diocese last month for $965,000, also said he was angry about court papers filed by the church's lawyers last week that brought up information about Gay's sexual history and marital issues.
The diocese was seeking to have the judge in that case, Ben Joseph, removed from future cases involving sexual abuse by priests.
Told of Gay's comments, Matano said he was very sorry if his comments had hurt Gay or other victims of sexual abuse by priests. He said that applied as well to the 19 who have filed suit against the diocese in Chittenden Superior Court.
DARIEN (CT)
Stamford Advocate
By Vesna Jaksic
Staff Writer
Published May 22 2006
DARIEN -- Bishop William Lori yesterday apologized to parishioners of St. John Roman Catholic Church for a scandal involving their priest and vowed that the Bridgeport Diocese will investigate the church's finances.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, pastor of the Post Road church since 1991, accepted Lori's request to resign Wednesday after the diocese discovered that he had stolen church money, officials said.
Lori and other diocesan officials said yesterday Deloitte & Touche has been hired to conduct a full forensic investigation of St. John's finances.
During a 10 a.m. Mass, Lori told the standing-room-only crowd that he wanted to be with them in their difficult time.
"It is precisely in these moments of tension, disappointment, anger and sadness that the quality and capacity of our love is tested," he said. "I'm deeply sorry this parish is going through such a severe test and came in person to apologize."
According to published reports, a Stamford private investigator, Vito Colucci Jr., documented that Fay used at least $200,000 of church money to pay for trips, dinners and limousine rides as part of a relationship with another man.
UNITED STATES
Crisis Magazine
By Francis X. Maier
“We got a new law passed in California that opens up the statute of limitations for all victims of sexual abuse. It’s something we’ve been trying to do in several states for years. And I’m not waiting for it to click in. I’m suing the sh–t out of [the Catholic Church] everywhere: in Sacramento, in Santa Clara, in Santa Rosa, in San Francisco, in Oakland, in L.A., and everyplace else.”
—Jeffrey Anderson, plaintiffs’ attorney
April 2003 interview
My wife and I were watching the news one evening last summer when the camera cut away to an attorney on the steps of Colorado’s state capitol. He announced to a cluster of reporters that he was suing the Archdiocese of Denver for $10 million for each of the various sexual abuse victims he now represented.
The attorney was Florida’s Jeff Herman. Herman is one of several high-profile litigators—along with Minnesota’s Jeffrey Anderson—who has made a business of suing the Catholic Church over the past decade. Under Colorado law, plaintiffs’ attorneys may not name the damages they seek to recover in civil suits. That’s a matter reserved for courts and juries.
Herman may or may not have known this. In either case, he couldn’t resist a photo op and sound bite. Ten million dollars has a nice ring to it. In Colorado, as elsewhere, the guerrilla theater of sex-abuse litigation has some very practical goals: shocking the public, frightening Catholics, polluting jury pools, and influencing judges and lawmakers.
NEW HAVEN (CT)
San Francisco Chronicle
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, May 20, 2006
(05-20) 12:31 PDT New Haven, Conn. (AP) --
As founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the Rev. Marcial Maciel is a central figure for the thousands of followers in the Roman Catholic order. Students study his life, portray him in skits to celebrate his birthday and follow his instructions on everything from table manners to how to wear their hair.
But the controversial order likely will face dramatic changes with the conclusion of a Vatican investigation into allegations that Maciel sexually abused seminarians decades ago. Pope Benedict XVI requested Friday that Maciel no longer celebrate public Masses, and that he should live a life of "prayer and penance."
The church did not say if the allegations were true, but experts say the Vatican would not have imposed a severe penalty without finding at least some validity to the complaints.
"It would be like teaching the Franciscans they shouldn't talk about St. Francis," said the Rev. James Martin, associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America. "I think the order will survive, but it will be a very difficult few years for them."
JOLIET (IL)
Daily Southtown
Sunday, May 21, 2006
By Ted Slowik
Special to the Daily Southtown
From day one, Bishop Joseph Imesch has preached forgiveness.
On Aug. 28, 1979, Joseph Leopold Imesch was installed as the third bishop of the Joliet Diocese by the late John Cardinal Cody, archbishop of Chicago.
During the ceremony, Imesch relayed a message from his predecessor, the ailing Bishop Romeo Blanchette.
"He asked me to tell you of his great love and admiration for all," Imesch told the audience of dignitaries gathered in St. Raymond Cathedral in Joliet. "He thanks you as a shepherd and a priest. He asked to be forgiven for any wrongs he may have inflicted on any of you. And finally, he asks that you pray for him as he prays for you."
Of late, Imesch has sought forgiveness himself, from people who were sexually abused by Joliet priests when they were children.
He's also appealed to faithful parishioners who felt betrayed by his response to reports of sordid sexual escapades.
ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post
By MATTHEW WAGNER
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, a charismatic but controversial leader of the Jewish renewal movement, was dismissed last week from his position as spiritual leader and lecturer at Bayit Hadash, a Tel Aviv-based prayer and study community, amid allegations of sexual misconduct and exploitation of employee-employer relations.
With the help of sympathetic rabbis, Gafni, co-founder of Bayit Hadash, has been dodging accusations and rumors of sexual wrongdoings both here and in the US for two decades.
But even Gafni's most ardent supporters were forced to backtrack when, on May 9, three women filed a police complaint against him and provided attorney Eitan Maimoni with a sworn statement of his misconduct, and a fourth women, from an institution where Gafni previously worked, gave similar testimony before Bayit Hadash heads.
Jacob Ner-David, a co-founder of Bayit Hadash, who has known Gafni for 24 years, told The Jerusalem Post that he felt betrayed by him.
YNet
Andrew Friedman
In 2002, U.S. Rabbi Baruch Lanner was convicted of aggravated sexual contact and sexual contact, and of endangering the welfare of two teenage girls by touching their breasts while serving as principal of the Hillel Yeshiva in Ocean Township, New Jersey. The girls testified that Lanner also telephoned them at home, made lewd and sexually suggestive comments, and promised one that he would marry her.
But the real tragedy of the story is that Lanner had been accused for years of sexual impropriety, inconsistent and occasionally violent behavior, but students' calls for help were routinely ignored by Lanner's superiors, both at school and at the Orthodox Union, the parent group of theAbuse Tracker Conference of Synagogue Youth group that Lanner headed. It took a media expose by the New York Jewish Week to finally force the rabbi to resign both posts and Orthodox Union officials to admit they had allowed a dangerous situation to fester by ignoring warning signs that Lanner posed a danger to his students.
Years of accusations
Israel now finds itself in a similar position with regard to Mordechai Gafni , the charismatic but troubled former leader of the Bayit Chadash community in Jaffa who now stands accused of rape and sexual misconduct. Like Lanner, Gafni is a talented speaker with a magnetic personality. And also like Lanner, he has been dogged by accusations of impropriety (sexual and non-sexual) for years. And, again like Lanner, Gafni has managed to avoid prosecution and punishment for his accused actions for years.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
WAWS
Last Update: 5/21/2006 6:39:49 AM
Members of The Trinity Christian Church are expected to discuss sex abuse charges against a former pastor during services today. The Academy issued a statement Saturday announcing the staff will hire independent attorneys to investigate allegations that a former school administrator molested students several decades ago.
Robert Gray is being held in jail without bond. He waived his right to a first court appearance Saturday. The well known former pastor and school administrator was arrested Friday after two women filed police reports, alleging he sexually molested them when they were in elementary school. They alleged he was able to keep them quiet at the time by giving them candy and money.
According to a report we obtained from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, at least 6 other adult women came forward recently as well, making similar claims about their childhood relationships with Gray.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
WAWS
Last Update: 5/20/2006 9:32:21 PM
A local pastor is accused of molesting children. Pastor Robert Gray of Trinity Christian Academy was arrested Friday night for a crime that happened about 30 years ago.
Police say back then, he brought at least two six year olds into his office where he molested them. Since Gray’s arrest, police say six other people have come forward with similar stories of inappropriate behavior.
We went to Trinity Christian Academy but no one could answer our questions . We checked the web and his picture has been taken down and his name is no longer in their phone directory.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
WAWS
Last Update: 5/20/2006 9:31:41 PM
The Trinity Christian Academy will hire independent attorneys to investigate allegations that a former school administrator molested 6 year old students several decades ago.
Former Pastor Robert Gray was arrested Friday, charged with molesting two people who were former students. Since the arrest, a report on file at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office says at least six other women have made similar claims against Gray.
Tonight Trinity Christian Academy released this statement:
“Yesterday, the former pastor of Trinity Baptist Church was arrested on criminal allegations. The church has taken further steps to address this issue. At this time, the Pastor, Deacons, and General Counsel have hired independent attorneys to investigate this matter further and make recommendations to the church. These attorneys have special expertise in the legal issues involved and are fully informed of the spiritual mission of Trinity Baptist Church.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
First Coast News
By Victor Blackwell
First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- For nearly 40 years, Dr. Robert Gray clasped his hands to lead members of Trinity Baptist Church in prayer. Now those same hands are cuffed as he's being arrested.
Dr. Gray faces Capital Sexual Battery charges.
At least six women say Dr. Gray molested them when they were just girls and he was an administrator at Trinity Christian Academy
"It finally came out,” said a man who says he’s been a member of Trinity Baptist Church for more than 30 years. We’ll call him John.
"Some of the deacons knew, the pastor knew," said John. "I've know it for years, but it was just kind of covered up, swept under the rug by everybody in charge,” he added.
John remembers a Wednesday night service back in the late eighties. He says pastor at the time, stood in front the congregation and told hundreds of members about those allegations.
"Then, Brother Gray mentioned that he categorically denied all charges,” said John.
ROCKVILLE (MD)
WJZ
A rabbi was charged with traveling across state lines to engage in sex acts with a 13-year-old boy after being caught in a nationally televised sting operation.
David Kaye, 56, of Rockville, Md., made an initial appearance Friday in U.S. District Court on charges of coercion and enticement and travel with intent to engage in illegal sexual contact with a minor. He was detained pending a detention hearing Monday.
Kaye did not speak during Friday's hearing and his lawyer declined comment.
Kaye resigned from his position as vice president of Rockville-based PANIM: the Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values, in the wake of the sting.
In November, NBC's "Dateline" program ran a sting operation in northern Virginia in conjunction with an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice. Kaye was one of 19 people who showed up at a Herndon, Va., home after chatting online with individuals they believed to be underage boys and girls.
ALEXANDRIA (VA)
WTOP
May 20th - 6:37am
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A rabbi has been charged with traveling across state lines to engage in sex acts with a 13-year-old boy after being caught in a nationally televised sting operation.
Fifty-six-year-old David Kaye of Rockville appeared in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.
He's being held pending a detention hearing Monday.
Kaye resigned from his position as vice president of the Rockville-based Institute for Jewish Leaders and Values in the wake of the sting.
In November, NBC's "Dateline" program ran a sting operation in northern Virginia with an Internet watchdog group called Perverted Justice.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By ANGELA MONTEFINISE
May 21, 2006 -- A popular New Age rabbi accused of sexually abusing three co-workers in Israel has fled to the United States - to the horror of several New York women who say he molested them as children and walked away scot-free.
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni - born Marc Winiarz - was fired this month from the Israeli spiritual center he founded after three women filed complaints of sexual misconduct with Israeli police. He is believed to now be in Massachusetts or Colorado.
Gafni, 46, worked in New York in the 1980s as a rabbi for the now-defunct Jewish Public School Youth program. But he was offering young girls more than spiritual counseling, his alleged victims claim.
Judy, whose last name is being withheld by The Post, said she was 16 and suffering in a "tumultuous" home environment, including ailing parents, when Gafni invited her to stay at his Flatbush home, where he lived with his second wife, to "escape."
One night 20 years ago this month, Judy said Gafni came into her room, told her he knew what she wanted and took off her clothes. He climbed on top of her as if preparing for intercourse, then asked her when she last had her period.
WASHINGTON
Herald
By Julie Muhlstein
Herald Columnist
Pretend you're in the refectory of the Dominican convent at Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. You stand before the real thing, Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper."
Step closer, if it's allowed. Is the figure to Jesus' right really Mary Magdalene, not the apostle John?
Oh wait, that's fiction, convincingly created by novelist Dan Brown in his mega-bestseller "The Da Vinci Code." I read it, couldn't put it down. The wild plot debunks Christianity top to bottom. In Brown's scenario, Jesus wasn't divine, he married Mary Magdalene, and their descendants survive to this day.
"The Da Vinci Code" movie, which opened Friday, is said to be less compelling. Even so, Catholic leaders the world over see a need to vocally discredit what's essentially a potboiler of a murder mystery. ..
Now a spiritual counselor with Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, Waldie described one devastating encounter.
"It wasn't even direct abuse, but the fallout," she said. "I was working with a man in his 90s who was dying slowly at a nursing home run by the Sisters of Providence, a good nursing home, in Issaquah.
"This poor man was so angry, and the root of that anger was that his church had betrayed him," Waldie said. Disillusioned by revelations of abuse, and having financially supported the church and attended Mass all his life, "he didn't know if he could even believe in God," Waldie said. "It was heart-breaking."
"Nobody has a right to take that away from people, particularly not priests and bishops," she said. "Always, the church does a tremendous amount of good. Its job is to be a light to the world. The church is supposed to work at being holy and pure."
When I told Waldie I found it odd the Catholic Church is so intent on bashing fiction, she said, "I think 'The Da Vinci Code' is the perfect foil. It's great timing, a perfect distraction. It's something they can control. It makes them look good, and people can speak on it with authority."
IRELAND
The Sunday Times
Enda Leahy and Nicola Tallant
A Health Service Executive (HSE) employee who has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography was being funded by the state body to do a masters degree in child psychology at the same time as undergoing a treatment programme for paedophiles.
Seamus Fennelly, 48, who worked as an administrator in the HSE offices in Kilkenny, had access to sensitive information on children in care. Earlier this month he pleaded guilty to serious child pornography charges at Kilkenny district court and he is due to be sentenced tomorrow.
The former Capuchin brother was sent by the HSE to the Granada Institute in Dublin, one of the few Irish clinics to specialise in the treatment of sexual offenders. The agency paid for his treatment, which costs €2,400 for an assessment and €90 per session afterwards.
ROME
Taipei Times
THE GUARDIAN , ROME
Sunday, May 21, 2006,Page 6
Advertising Pope Benedict threw his authority behind a new and uncompromising approach to sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church on Friday when he ordered one of its most influential figures, who faces multiple allegations, to give up his ministry and retire to a life of "prayer and repentance."
A statement issued by the Vatican said 86-year-old Father Marcial Maciel, the founder of the ultra-orthodox Legion of Christ, had only escaped a full trial in an ecclesiastical court because of his "advanced age [and] frail health."
Father Maciel's case had been repeatedly shelved by Church leaders over a period of 30 years.
The statement made a point of noting that the sanctions against the priest had been personally endorsed by the pontiff.
His landmark ruling astonished and delighted campaigners for the victims of abuse. It represented a clear departure from the timorous policy of John Paul II, and appeared to be a first step toward fulfilling the new pontiff's vow to sweep "filth" from the Church.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
WQAD
BELLEVILLE, Ill. A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Belleville says a defrocked priest who has admitted to molesting children and lives in a religious order's retirement home is not the responsibility of the bishop of Belleville.
The diocesan vicar general, the Reverend Jack McEvilly, says that despite a priest sexual abuse policy of zero tolerance, religious orders are not bound by the agreement.
Apparently without the knowledge of then-Bishop Wilton Gregory, the Reverend Real Bourque (RAY'-al BORK), was transferred four years ago to the St. Henry Oblate Retirement Home in Belleville.
Hartford Courtant
May 21, 2006
By GERALD RENNER, Special to The Courant
They finally feel vindicated by the Vatican's imposing of sanctions on the high church leader who they say sexually abused them when they were young boys and teenagers.
For years they tried futilely to call to the attention of church authorities the indignities they suffered in seminaries under the man they called "Nuestro Padre," Our Father, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado.
The former members of Maciel's Legionaries of Christ are now old men who have made a success of their lives after leaving the legion.
But burning in their souls has been a desire to seek justice and a recognition by the Vatican of the wrongs done them in seminaries in Spain and Italy in the 1950s and '60s.
That recognition came Friday when the Vatican announced, after a year's investigation, that Maciel, 86, had been asked to give up appearing in public as a priest and to live "a reserved life of penitence and prayer."
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Walter V. Robinson, Globe Staff | May 21, 2006
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley last week decided to privately reprimand Caritas Christi Health Care System's president, Dr. Robert M. Haddad, for multiple instances of kissing and other physical touching involving four women employees, despite an investigation by senior Caritas Christi officials that concluded that Haddad should be fired, according to internal documents and e-mails obtained by the Globe.
In response to questions from the Globe, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston late yesterday acknowledged taking the internal action. It said the cardinal decided on a ''stern reprimand" against Haddad after hiring outside counsel to investigate the allegations and after the governing board of the church's sprawling healthcare system voted unanimously, with one abstention, to endorse the sanction.
The statement described Haddad's actions as ''hugging or kissing of hospital employees . . . in public and private," and said Haddad had personally promised O'Malley he would never offend in that way again and would enroll in a sexual harassment sensitivity training program. A repeat occurrence or any retaliatory action will result in his dismissal, the statement said.
Those were the first such allegations received by the church about Haddad, the statement added.
BOSTON (MA)
Casper Star Tribune
Sunday, May 21, 2006
BOSTON - Cardinal Sean O'Malley has reprimanded the president of an archdiocese-run hospital system who is accused of kissing and touching four employees, according to a published report.
An investigation, however, determined that Robert M. Haddad, president of Caritas Christi Health Care System, should have been fired, The Boston Sunday Globe reported. Haddad is accused of sexually harassing four women in the second-largest health care system in New England.
The Boston Archdiocese acknowledged that O'Malley last week gave Haddad a "stern reprimand," a move endorsed by the health care system's board.
"Cardinal Sean took these allegations extremely seriously and sought to resolve them as expeditiously as possible, in a manner that is fair to all involved parities," the archdiocese said in a written statement to the newspaper.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
First Coast News
By First Coast News Staff
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A man who spent 38 years as pastor at a well-known church on the First Coast is under arrest, accused of molesting two girls decades ago.
Exclusive First Coast News video shows detectives arresting Bob Gray at his home Friday evening and walking him into JSO headquarters a short time later.
Gray is being held on capital sexual battery charges.
The young girls are now adults in their thirties and forties, and they're aren't the only ones saying Gray molested them.
A First Coast News investigation has learned at least fifteen women say Gray molested them as young girls.
First Coast News has been working alongside sex crimes investigators and the State Attorney's office in putting the pieces of this case together.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
WJXT
WJXT-TV
7:49 a.m. EDT May 20, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A retired pastor and college president was arrested Friday evening, accused of molesting two girls in his church office decades ago. Robert Gray is being held on capital sexual battery charges after two women came forward and told investigators he molested them when they were children. The women are now in their 30s and 40s.
The Rev. Bob Gray spent years as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church on Hammond Boulevard on the Westside. He founded Trinity Baptist College in 1974 and was president of the school for nearly 20 years.
Gray is still active in Bible conferences around the country and is well known around the country for his long involvement in Baptist organizations.
According to the arrest report, the two women said Gray touched them inappropriately inside his church office when they were of early elementary-school age.
MOUNT KISCO (NY)
The Journal News
By SEAN GORMAN
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 21, 2006)
MOUNT KISCO — When the Rev. Molly Blythe Teichert speaks about becoming pastor of the Mount Kisco Presbyterian Church, she says the congregation is in a period of "resurrection" following the turmoil three years ago when sexual misconduct allegations engulfed former minister Jack Miller.
"Everything is new here now," said Teichert, 41. "This church, while it is in a period of resurrection and rebirth, has not forgotten the past ... There is not an ignoring or sweeping the past under the rug."
Teichert, who has served as pastor since December, will be formally installed in a ceremony today. For 11 years, she was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Port Jefferson on Long Island, where a previous pastor also faced sex-abuse allegations.
"Churches can recover. Churches do recover," Teichert said. "To have walked that path with one church, I think, enables me to have the confidence to hold one hand on God and one hand on them (the congregation) and just say 'We're going to walk through this.' "
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Sunday, May 21, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
Michael Gay thought the waves of emotion rippling inside him would subside after he accepted $965,000 to settle his priest sex abuse lawsuit with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington last month.
He now knows he was wrong.
"I thought I would feel better, but I don't," he said in an interview last week. "I feel the same feelings I had before, the anger and hate and humiliation. I want to go on with my life, but I can't. Money can't heal the pains of the heart."
For that, in large measure, he blames Bishop Salvatore Matano.
Gay, 38, said any hope he had of getting past his pain were dashed when he read Matano's letter to Catholics released last weekend.
He said he was particularly offended by a remark in the bishop's letter about putting the church's parishes into individual charitable trusts to protect them from "unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault."
LAS VEGAS (CA)
Pahrump Valley Times
LAS VEGAS (AP) - A civil lawsuit stemming from allegations that a priest abused teenage boys at his Henderson parish is heading for binding arbitration, lawyers in the case said.
Al Massi, attorney for at least six boys who claim they were abused, and Philip Hymanson, attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas, said an arbitrator will hear evidence in the case and decide if the plaintiffs are due monetary damages.
``It will be presented just like a nonjury trial,'' Massi said.
Hymanson declined to discuss specifics but said arbitration was in the best interest of the diocese.
VATICAN CITY
Zenit
VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Holy See won't continue with a canonical investigation into accusations against Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, and has invited him to renounce all public ministry.
A communiqué issued today by the Vatican press office said that "since 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has received accusations, which were already made public in part," against Father Maciel, 86, "for offenses reserved to the exclusive competency of the dicastery."
"In 2002, Father Maciel published a statement to deny the accusations and to express his disgust for the offenses against him by former Legionaries of Christ," the statement said. "In 2005, for reasons of advanced age, Reverend Maciel retired from the office of superior general of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ."
"After submitting the results of the investigation to careful study," continued the statement, "the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, has decided -- taking into account both the advanced age of Father Maciel as well as his poor health -- to drop the canonical process and invite him to a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing all public ministry. The Holy Father has approved these decisions."
VATICAN CITY
Spirit Daily
Vatican Information Service
VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2006 (VIS) - With reference to recent news concerning the person of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the Holy See Press Office released the following communique:
"Beginning in 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith received accusations, already partly made public, against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, for crimes that fall under the exclusive competence of the congregation. In 2002, Fr. Maciel published a declaration denying the accusations and expressing his displeasure at the offence done him by certain former Legionaries of Christ. In 2005, by reason of his advanced age, Fr. Maciel retired from the office of superior general of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.
"All these elements have been subject to a mature examination by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and - in accordance with the Motu Proprio 'Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela,' promulgated on April 30 2001 by Servant of God John Paul II - the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, authorized an investigation into the accusations. In the meantime, Pope John II died and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the new Pontiff.
MEXICO
The Age
By Alistair Bell, Mexico City
May 21, 2006
THE founder of a powerful Catholic order disciplined by the Pope is a charismatic charmer who sexually abused trainee priests to get "revenge on God" for having been abused himself as a child, a victim has said.
Jose Barba (pictured above), now a Mexican university professor, said he was abused by Marcial Maciel in the early 1950s when, aged 16, he was studying for the priesthood in Rome.
"He asked me to give him a massage but it was masturbation. He said the Pope gave permission for that kind of thing," Professor Barba, 68, said. Other abuses followed, he said.
The censure of Maciel was Pope Benedict's first major decision involving sexual abuse charges since his election last year, and raised eyebrows because the conservative order had found favour under the late Pope John Paul.
Begun by Maciel in 1941, the Legionaries of Christ has about 600 priests and 2500 seminarians in more than 20 countries. It also runs a major pontifical university in Rome.
MEXICO
IPS
Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, May 19 (IPS) - It took the Catholic Church more than half a century to acknowledge the numerous allegations of sexual abuse against the leader of a conservative order founded in Mexico, the Legionaries of Christ. But the Vatican, which has frequently praised Father Marcial Maciel over the years, finally decided to punish him.
However, he will not be brought to justice by the courts.
Maciel, who for decades has denied charges that he molested former students for the priesthood in the seminaries run by the order, "deserves criminal punishment, rather than this mild decision by the Church," Joaquín Aguilar, Mexico director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told IPS.
On Friday, the Vatican reported that it had "invited" the 86-year-old Maciel to "a life reserved to prayer and penitence, renouncing any public ministry." The decision, which was approved by Pope Benedict, was taken after a Church carried out a probe into the accusations voiced by a number of former seminarians.
Although Maciel will not undergo a church trial, he can no longer celebrate mass or give speeches or interviews.
MIDDLETON (MA)
Tri-Town Transcript
By Nadine Wandzilak/ tri-town@cnc.com
Friday, May 19, 2006
Archbishop Cardinal Sean O'Malley will visit Middleton next Saturday, May 27, to a offer Mass at St. Agnes Church. The appearance is part of a "pilgrimage of repentance and hope: a novena to the Holy Spirit" in nine communities that experienced "an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests and, at one parish, a lay youth worker."
Christopher Reardon, who ran the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program and the youth ministry at St. Agnes parish, pleaded guilty in 2001 to 75 counts including rape, indecent assault and battery on a child and disseminating pornography and was sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison.
"The services will include a public acknowledgement of the sins and crimes committed," according to the Archdiocese, "and an act of reparation that will enable the Cardinal and clergy to join in an expression of repentance for priests and bishops whose actions and inactions gravely harmed the lives of children and young people entrusted to their care."
A person who was assaulted will speak at the service, according to archdiocese spokesperson Betsy Kelly.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By Patrick J. Schiltz
Twenty-third in a series; first of three parts.
I am often invited to present the "other side" of the clergy sexual-abuse "story." I receive these invitations because, as first a practicing attorney and then a law professor, I have advised every major Christian denomination in connection with more than 500 clergy sexual-abuse cases in almost all 50 states. My clients have included Catholic dioceses, orders, bishops and priests, and thus people assume that, if there is another side of this story to be told, I will be able to tell it.
There is, in fact, much about this story that has been ignored or distorted by the media. Before I elaborate, though, I must be clear about the following: Hundreds of pastors --- Catholic and non-Catholic --- did indeed sexually abuse thousands of children and vulnerable adults. Many bishops and other church leaders did indeed learn of abusive pastors, cover up abuse, and do little to protect children and vulnerable adults. The acts of these pastors and bishops did indeed cause incalculable harm.
All of this is true, and not one word of this article is meant to excuse any of it. I have spent hundreds of hours talking with victims of clergy sexual abuse --- some who were suing my clients, some who were helping my clients to rid themselves of abusive pastors, and some who just wanted to help me to advise my clients better. Listening to victims describe their pain can be unbearable. I cannot imagine how much worse it must be to experience that pain. I take a back seat to no one in my loathing of clergy sexual abuse.
That said, it also frustrates me that the media have distorted many aspects of the abuse crisis and left the public terribly misinformed. My purpose in this article is to examine the conduct of the media as carefully as the media have examined the conduct of bishops and priests. The most remarkable thing about the news coverage of the recent past is that almost nothing covered has been new.
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
May 19, 2006
The Vatican issued the following statement on May 19, 2006:
Beginning in 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith received accusations, already partly made public, against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, for crimes that fall under the exclusive competence of the congregation. In 2002, Fr. Maciel published a declaration denying the accusations and expressing his displeasure at the offence done him by certain former Legionaries of Christ. In 2005, by reason of his advanced age, Fr. Maciel retired from the office of superior general of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.
All these elements have been subject to a mature examination by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and — in accordance with the Motu Proprio 'Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela,' promulgated on April 30 2001 by Servant of God John Paul II — the then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, authorized an investigation into the accusations. In the meantime, Pope John II died and Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the new Pontiff.
After having attentively studied the results of the investigation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the guidance of the new prefect, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, decided — bearing in mind Fr. Maciel's advanced age and his delicate health — to forgo a canonical hearing and to invite the father to a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry. The Holy Father approved these decisions.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - A defrocked priest who has admitted to molesting children and lives in a religious order's retirement home is not the responsibility of the bishop of Belleville, the Rev. Jack McEvilly, diocesan vicar general, said Friday.
And despite a priest sexual abuse policy of zero tolerance developed in 2002 at theAbuse Tracker Bishop's Conference in Dallas, religious orders are not bound by the agreement.
"I think that the bishop is within the Dallas accords," said McEvilly about Bishop Edward Braxton's decision to allow the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to decide what to do about the Rev. Real Bourque, 78. In Belleville, the Oblates operate the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows and a retirement home near Althoff Catholic High School.
"They have accepted that it is their responsibility to provide a residence and adequate supervision for Father Bourque," McEvilly said about the outcome of a meeting on Tuesday at the chancery between him and local Oblate leader the Rev. Allen Maes.
VATICAN CITY
Time
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
Posted Thursday, May. 18, 2006
By punishing a powerful conservative ally accused of decades of pedophilia, Pope Benedict XVI has proven that the Vatican's oft-stated commitment to crack down on abusive priests has real teeth. And that in turn, makes Catholic returnees to Mass look a little smarter.
A senior Vatican official has confirmed to TIME's Jeff Israely the news (reported earlier today by theAbuse Tracker ) that just before Easter the Vatican essentially forbade Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, 86, founder of the powerful Legionaires of Christ movement, all further public appearances, including the celebration of the Mass.
The move amounts to a major statement because the Legionairies, which Maciel founded in 1941, have been one of Catholicism's most vital and successful forces in the last few decades. Started in Mexico and now operating aggressively in 20 countries, the theologically and politically conservative group — which, including its lay branch, Regnum Christi, has some 53,000 members — bears some similarities to the Da Vinci Code punching bag, Opus Dei. Unlike Opus, which is almost wholly a lay organization, the Legionaries have been extremely successful at producing priests at a time when the Church faces a severe shortage. They enjoyed enthusiastic support from Pope John Paul II, and from backers of a more doctrinaire Church. Says Fr. James Martin, an editor at the (relatively liberal) Catholic publication America, "For years, people have been saying, 'If only the religious orders were more conservative, like the Legionairies — see how fast they’re growing.'" Maciel's followers, many of whom regard him as a living saint, hoped that after his death he might achieve canonization, as did Opus’s Josemaria Escriva.
DARIEN (CT)
The New York Times
By STACEY STOWE
Published: May 19, 2006
DARIEN, Conn., May 18 — With his condominium near the beach, Upper East Side apartment and penchant for Barbour jackets, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay had much in common with his neighbors here in one of the nation's most affluent communities, according to a private investigator connected with St. John Roman Catholic Church. But when Father Fay could not pay for his lifestyle on his priest's salary, the investigator said, he dipped into the collection plate and ran up the church credit card for more than $200,000. ...
Public records show that Father Fay owns a condominium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with Clifford A. Fantini, who is also known as Cliff Martell. Mr. Fantini is identified on a bridal industry Web site as a fashion show director and producer who has worked with Bride's Magazine and the designer Oleg Cassini.
Last year, Father Fay and Mr. Fantini paid $449,000 for the Florida property. Public records also show that both men have lived at an apartment on East 63rd Street in Manhattan.
LUBBOCK (TX)
KCBD
A Lubbock daycare was ordered by the state to shut down immediately following multiple charges of indecency with a child.
You'll remember, 51-year-old Royce Jiminez was charged with seven counts of indecency with a child. He bonded out shortly after his arrest.
Jiminez is pastor of the Light of the World Christian Church as well as an owner and board member of the church's daycare, Sunlight Daycare. He is accused of touching a seven-year-old boy inappropriately on seven different occasions.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services completed its investigation Thursday concerning the report containing the charges against Jiminez. There are seven different counts against him, including: engaging in sexual contact by touching the genitals of the child.
LITCHFIELD (CT)
Register Citizen
TRACY KENNEDY, Register Citizen Staff
05/20/2006
LITCHFIELD - The case against an area religious leader accused of molesting a 5-year-old girl stalled Friday after a judge learned the child’s mother was arrested recently for fabricating evidence.
Hope Vaughn, of Torrington, was arrested in March and charged with two counts of tampering with physical evidence and two counts of issuing a false statement. She is accused of making false statements about the evidence collected against the defendant, according to court records.
The Rev. James Willie Johnson, 50, a pastor for the Community Tabernacle Outreach Center on Hewlett Street in Waterbury, was arrested in January 2005 and charged with first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor for allegedly having sexual contact with Vaughn’s daughter in May 2004. He waited in the gallery of the Litchfield Superior Court Friday for his case to be called, but left before Judge John Pickard addressed the case.
Johnson is accused of molesting the child in the living room of Vaughn’s home after the mother asked him to pick up her daughter from preschool, according to court records. A physical examination revealed the child suffered from injuries consistent with sexual abuse, according to an arrest warrant prepared by Torrington Police.
Johnson maintained since his arrest that he didn’t molest the girl.
JACKSONVILLE (FL)
News4Jax
POSTED: 7:28 am EDT May 20, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A retired pastor and college president was arrested Friday evening, accused of molesting two girls in his church office decades ago.
Robert Gray is being held on capital sexual battery charges after two women came forward and told investigators he molested them when they were children. The women are now in their 30s and 40s.
The Rev. Bob Gray spent years as pastor of Trinity Baptist Church on Hammond Boulevard on the Westside. He founded Trinity Baptist College in 1974 and was president of the school for nearly 20 years.
Gray is still active in Bible conferences around the country and is well known around the country for his long involvement in Baptist organizations.
OWEGO (NY)
Press & Sun-Bulletin
By William Moyer
Press & Sun-Bulletin
OWEGO -- A former rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church has resigned from the priesthood following a five-month investigation of sexual allegations against him.
Ralph E. Johnson, 79, voluntarily renounced his ministerial orders amid allegations that he sexually abused a boy in the 1970s while he was rector of St. Paul's, but he has not admitted guilt, said Bishop Gladstone B. Adams, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York.
The attorney for another former rector -- the Rev. David G. Bollinger -- said Johnson's resignation is vindication for his client.
David Gouldin, of Levene, Gouldin & Thompson of Vestal, said Bollinger, years earlier, had alerted Episcopal officials to Johnson's alleged sexual misconduct, but was rebuffed by the regional bishop.
VATICAN CITY
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Rachel Zoll
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Even as he was dogged by claims of sexual abuse, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ religious order remained a favorite of Pope John Paul II.
Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI showed a bold willingness to correct his beloved predecessor by disciplining the Mexican priest.
It's the latest move by Benedict away from John Paul's legacy.
"Benedict was certainly a big fan of John Paul's and probably even considers him a saint, but saints aren't perfect," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, former editor of the Jesuit magazine America and an expert on the Vatican. "Benedict is acknowledging this and correcting some of the things he thinks John Paul did wrong."
The case against the Rev. Marcial Maciel had been building for years, with no official response from Vatican leaders. Nine former seminarians first accused him in 1996 of having abused them when they were boys or teenagers during the 1940s to 1960s. Later, other alleged victims came forward.
ROME
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer
May 20, 2006
ROME — The Vatican announced Friday that it was disciplining the Mexican founder of an influential Roman Catholic order after an investigation into decades of allegations that the now elderly priest sexually abused seminarians and boys in his care.
Father Marcial Maciel appears to be the highest-ranking priest to be sanctioned in an abuse case. Maciel enjoyed protective support from the late Pope John Paul II for many years, but Pope Benedict XVI, in his first major decision in the church's sex abuse scandal, put aside his predecessor's wishes.
Maciel has denied the allegations, and his organization, the Legion of Christ, repeated that position Friday.
The Vatican said in a statement that Maciel, 86, had been instructed to refrain from all public ministries and to adopt a "life of prayer and penitence." The statement did not specify whether the charges were true, but experts said the Vatican's decision indicated that church investigators believed at least some of the accusations.
Hartford Courant
May 20, 2006
By GERALD RENNER, SPECIAL TO THE COURANT
The Vatican's sanctions against the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado serve notice that under the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, such high-ranking insiders will no longer get a pass when serious allegations of sexually abusing children are raised against them.
The charismatic founder of the conservative religious order, the Legionaries of Christ, Maciel avoided for nearly 30 years answering complaints that he abused young boys in seminaries.
Pope John Paul II never responded to formal complaints against Maciel made through official church channels in 1978 and 1989, and a canon law case against him was quashed without explanation in 1999.
But now, in the wake of his experience handling sex abuse cases as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict is bent on removing what he called "filth" in the church in a widely publicized sermon last year.
VATICAN CITY
El Diario
20 de Mayo del 2006
Actualizado: 12:19:45 AM hora de Cd. Juárez
NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI disciplined the founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ, a favorite of Pope John Paul II who for decades has been dogged by sexual abuse allegations — effectively making the elderly prelate a priest in name only.
In its announcement Friday the Vatican did not say whether it had determined if the accusations against the 86-year-old Mexican priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel, were true. But canon law experts said the Vatican would not have imposed such a severe penalty unless it found at least some validity to the complaints.
The Vatican said its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had "invited the priest to a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry," — meaning he cannot celebrate Mass or other sacraments in public.
Maciel is the most prominent Catholic Church official to be disciplined by the Vatican for alleged involvement in child sexual abuse. In addition, it marks the first major abuse penalty approved by Benedict since he became pope last year, and shows he is not afraid pursuing prelates who enjoyed particular favor with Pope John Paul II.
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006
Bishop Salvatore Matano acts as though the Catholic Church were the victim in a string of sexual assaults of altar boys by at least one priest in the 1970s.
The bishop moved this week to shield the church's property from lawsuits stemming from the alleged abuse, moved to have the judge thrown off the cases for alleged bias, and argued the church was under "unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault" by lawyers for the now-grown altar boys.
All this legal outrage was designed to protect the church's assets and discredit those standing up for the alleged victims.
But the church has never been the victim in any of these cases. It is the children, now adults struggling with the alleged abuse in their youth, who deserve the bishop's compassion. His outrage should be focused on the crimes of the past. His efforts should focus on doing right by the true victims.
ROME
The Detroit News
Rachel Zoll / By Ian Fisher and Laurie Goodstein New York Times
ROME -- The Vatican announced Friday that it had disciplined the most prominent priest to be accused of sexual abuse, taking a step that Pope John Paul II had long resisted.
Without addressing specific allegations, the Vatican statement said the priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, 86, the founder of the conservative Legionaries of Christ, had been asked to give up his public ministry in favor of a quiet life of "prayer and penitence."
But in veering so close to a finding of guilt, the decision was widely seen as a defining moment for Pope Benedict XVI on a delicate issue for the Roman Catholic Church.
The statement said that Maciel, who started the order in Mexico, would be spared an ecclesiastical trial because of his "advanced age" and "weak health." The Vatican did not disclose the allegations, but at least nine men have accused him of molesting them as youthful seminarians. The case against Maciel had been building for years, with no official response from Vatican leaders.
VATICAN CITY
Lexington Herald-Leader
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said yesterday that it had asked the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of "prayer and penance" following its investigation into allegations he sexually abused seminarians.
The Legionaries said in a statement that the Rev. Marcial Maciel, while declaring himself innocent of charges spanning several decades, accepted the Vatican decision "with faith, complete serenity and tranquility of conscience."
Pope Benedict XVI approved the sanctions against Maciel -- making it the first major sexual abuse disciplinary case he has handled since taking office last year. The move was first reported Thursday by the U.S. newspaperAbuse Tracker .
The case is significant because Maciel is the most prominent Roman Catholic Church officials disciplined by the Vatican for alleged involvement in child sexual abuse. It is also noteworthy because Maciel was so warmly regarded by Pope John Paul II.
VATICAN CITY
Gulf Times
Published: Saturday, 20 May, 2006, 11:56 AM Doha Time
VATICAN CITY: The Vatican said yesterday that it had disciplined the ageing Mexican founder of an influential Catholic religious order who has been accused of sexual abuse, instructing him to retire to a life of “prayer and penitence”.
The censure of Father Marcial Maciel, 86-year-old founder of the Legionaries of Christ, is significant because he and his conservative order had found favour under the late Pope John Paul II, making the decision by Pope Benedict XVI even bolder.
The instruction was the new Pope’s first major decision involving sexual abuse charges since his election last year. Before he was elected, Benedict decried the “filth” in the Church.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
Newsday Staff Writer
May 20, 2006
Juan Vaca of Holbrook thought he might go to his grave without ever getting justice from the Roman Catholic Church.
But Friday, the former Roman Catholic priest was vindicated in his 30-year campaign against the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the powerful founder of the international order, the Legionaries of Christ. Vaca had accused Maciel of repeatedly raping him and 20 other seminarians as adolescents and young men-an accusation he first made as a Rockville Centre priest in 1976 at the urging of the late Rockville Centre Bishop John McGann.
After investigations that spanned three decades, the Vatican announced Friday that Maciel had been asked to live a life of "prayer and repentance, renouncing every public ministry" - meaning he cannot publicly celebrate Mass or any other sacrament.
Although the statement was silent on whether the Vatican had found merit to the accusations, canon law experts say that it would not have imposed such a severe penalty unless it believed they were substantive. The penalty, one step short of defrocking, means that Maciel will be a priest in name only.
OWEGO (NY)
Ithaca Journal
By William Moyer
Gannett News Service
OWEGO — A former rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church has resigned from the priesthood following a five-month investigation of sexual allegations against him.
Ralph E. Johnson, 79, voluntarily renounced his ministerial orders amid allegations that he sexually abused a boy in the 1970s while he was rector of St. Paul's, but he has not admitted guilt, said Bishop Gladstone B. Adams, of the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York.
The attorney for another former rector — the Rev. David G. Bollinger — said Johnson's resignation is vindication for his client.
David Gouldin, of Levene, Gouldin & Thompson of Vestal, said Bollinger in 2002 alerted Episcopal officials to Johnson's alleged sexual misconduct, but was rebuffed by the denomination's regional bishop.
ROME
Chicago Tribune
By Tracy Wilkinson, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times; staff writer Hector Tobar in Mexico City contributed to this report
Published May 20, 2006
ROME -- The Vatican announced Friday that it was disciplining the Mexican founder of an influential Catholic order after an investigation into decades of allegations that the now-elderly priest sexually abused boys in his care.
Rev. Marcial Maciel appears to be the highest-ranking priest to be sanctioned in an abuse case. Maciel enjoyed protective support from the Pope John Paul II for many years, but Pope Benedict XVI, in his first major decision in the church's sex-abuse scandal, put aside his predecessor's wishes.
Maciel has denied the allegations, and his organization, the Legion of Christ, repeated that position Friday.
The Vatican said in a statement that Maciel, 86, has been instructed to refrain from all public ministries and to adopt a "life of prayer and penitence." The statement did not specify whether the charges were true, but experts said the Vatican's decision indicated that church investigators believed at least some of the accusations.
OMAHA (NE)
Casper Star Tribune
Saturday, May 20, 2006
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A Douglas County judge has dismissed a Wyoming man's sexual abuse lawsuit against Girls and Boys Town and a priest who had worked there.
The plaintiff, Darren Boudreau of Cheyenne, said in his lawsuit that the Rev. Richard Colbert had molested him several times when Boudreau was a student at the home for troubled youths from 1985 to 1989.
Colbert, now assigned to a Missouri diocese, had denied the allegations.
The lawsuit named Girls and Boys Town as a defendant, alleging it knew -- or should have known -- what Colbert was doing and should have better supervised him.
The lawsuit said Boudreau suffered from a mental disorder that had kept him from suing.
San Francisco Chronicle
Alan Cooperman, Washington Post
Friday, May 19, 2006
After a fitful, decade-long investigation of sex abuse allegations, Pope Benedict XVI has disciplined the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, an elderly Mexican priest who was close to Pope John Paul II and is venerated by many Catholics around the world, a Catholic newspaper reported Thursday.
In a dispatch from Rome, theAbuse Tracker said the pope has restricted Maciel's capacity to celebrate public Masses, to give lectures or other public presentations, and to speak to the news media.
The action "amounts to a finding that at least some of the accusations against the charismatic 86-year-old Mexican priest are well-founded," NCR's Vatican correspondent John L. Allen Jr. wrote, calling Maciel "perhaps the highest-profile priest in the Catholic Church to be disciplined for allegations of sexual abuse."
National
The decision by the Vatican in the case of Fr. Marciel Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, that he be restricted in his public ministry after being found guilty of multiple acts of sexual abuse spanning decades brings some resolution to a particularly disturbing chapter in recent church history.
While there is much to be said about the final disposition of this case, we start by expressing our sincere sorrow to members of the Legion. We know all too well how we have pressed for judicial proceedings against Maciel on these pages, convinced that the truth would not be served unless the victims were given full and fair hearing at the highest levels of the church. We are aware that we have been highly critical at times of the Legion's defense of its founder and of some of the tactics it has employed in establishing itself in new ministries in the United States.
That said, we know that those differences notwithstanding, we all profess the same faith, and we love and claim membership in the same Catholic community. No division, then, is deep or wide enough to prevent a sincere expression of our concern for those who have dedicated their lives to the mission of the church and who now have to deal with the news of the Vatican finding.
SYRACUSE (NY)
Newsday
May 19, 2006, 9:40 AM EDT
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) _ A 79-year-old Episcopal priest has resigned after a five-month investigation of allegations he sexually abused a boy in the 1970s while serving as rector of a church in Owego, diocesan officials said.
Ralph E. Johnson voluntarily renounced his orders but has not admitted guilt, said Bishop Gladstone Adams.
Johnson has no clerical authority, cannot perform the sacraments and cannot wear a clerical collar, Adams said. Johnson, who was retired but could still act as a priest, retains his pension from the 16,000-member Syracuse-based diocese.
In an affidavit given to the diocese, a former Owego resident said Johnson molested him at least 20 times in the St. Paul's Church rectory and at a cabin in Gibson, Pa. The man, who was about 15 at the time, now lives in Florida.
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
BREAKING NEWS: Capping a decade-long on-again, off-again investigation of accusations of sexual abuse, the Vatican has asked Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to observe a series of restrictions on his ministry. In effect, Vatican sources told NCR this week, the action amounts to a finding that at least some of the accusations against the charismatic 86-year-old Mexican priest are well-founded.
Full NCR coverage can be found on NCRonline.org: Maciel's ministry restricted.
The Vatican's statement on the Maciel case is available here: Vatican Press Office communiqué.
The Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement issued a statement in response tothe communiqué of the Vatican. Here is that statement.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
By COLIN JAMES
20may06
THE Anglican Church is re-examining whether to sell off part of its official residence in North Adelaide to pay compensation claims to victims of child sex abuse.
A special committee, looking for funds to cover a $4 million legal bill from the activities of pedophile church official Robert Brandenburg, is understood to be considering sub-dividing Bishop's Court, the traditional home of the Adelaide Anglican Archbishop.
The 0.5ha property on Palmer Place - which will be open to the public tomorrow as part of History Week - is worth at least $4 million and consists of a two-storey mansion, outbuildings and extensive gardens. Moves to sell Bishop's Court were blocked late last year by the Anglican Adelaide Synod after clergy and lay-people secretly voted against a motion which proposed its sale for a minimum net profit of $3 million.
CAPE COD (MA)
Cape Cod Times
By AMANDA LEHMERT
STAFF WRITER
The Fall River Diocese will foreclose on the home of a priest alleged to have embezzled from two Cape churches, a diocese spokesman said yesterday.
The Rev. Bernard Kelly, who is scheduled to be in Barnstable Superior Court today to answer to criminal charges for the same incident, has been unable to sell his Cummaquid estate and horse barn in the year since he agreed to use the proceeds of the sale to pay a $1.3 million settlement to the diocese.
A diocese audit of financial records from St. Joseph's in Woods Hole and Our Lady of Lourdes in Wellfleet found that Kelly diverted $860,000 for his personal use, according to court papers.
''Parishes will be returned all the money misappropriated by Father Kelly plus interest,'' diocese spokesman John Kearns said.
Kelly was suspended and later retired from St. Joseph's in 2003, after questions emerged about his relationship with Paul Nolin, who was convicted of killing a Falmouth man.
Investigators alleged Kelly was having a sexual relationship with Nolin, reportedly a handyman at the church.
VATICAN CITY
BBC News
The Vatican has told the Mexican founder of the influential Legion of Christ order to retire to a life of prayer after sexual abuse allegations.
The Pope had approved sanctions against Marcial Maciel after seeing the results of an inquiry, a statement said.
It added there would not be a Church trial because of Father Maciel's age - he is 86 - and poor health.
Father Maciel - who founded the conservative order in 1941 - has long denied any wrongdoing.
ROME
The New York Times
By IAN FISHER
Published: May 19, 2006
ROME, May 19 — The Vatican cautiously acknowledged today long-standing allegations of sexual abuse by the founder of prominent Catholic community, asking him to give up his public ministry in favor of a quiet life of "prayer and penitence."
The announcement marked the first public action by Pope Benedict XVI on the sensitive issue of sexual abuse in the church. And it came against a priest with a particularly high profile: the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, 86, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, one of the fastest growing Catholic communities, praised often by Pope John Paul II.
The statement said that Father Maciel would not undergo a church trial for the allegations against him, which were not disclosed, though at least nine men had accused him of molestation. The reasons, the statement said, were Father Maciel's "advanced age" and "weak health."
VATICAN CITY
ANSA
(ANSA) - Vatican City, May 19 - Pope Benedict has approved disciplinary action against the founder of an influential Catholic religious order who has been accused of sexual abuse .
Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, who founded the Legion of Christ order in Mexico in 1941, has been told to observe a "reserved life of prayer and penitence" and to avoid saying mass in public. The Vatican issued a statement on Friday announcing its decisions and noting that they had been approved by the pope. It did not go into details about the accusations levelled at the priest .
The move, coming at the end of a long investigation, was seen by Vatican-watchers as showing that top officials believed at least some of the allegations were true .
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by:
Laure Quinlivan
Photographed by: Phil Drechsler
Updated: 5/18/2006 12:24:00 PM
Some people abused by priests are angry the Archbishop has not put the Archdiocese personnel director on administrative leave.
It's more reaction to I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan's story which aired Sunday night.
Priests accused of sexual abuse are immediately put on leave. But Archdiocese Personnel Director Vincent Frasher was allowed to take vacation.
The I-Team showed you how Frasher has had a personal relationship with the man he hired to do criminal background checks on Catholic volunteers.
The man is Alex Henties, who has a long criminal record. Henties has told people, including police, that Frasher sexually abused him when he was young and that he had sexual relations with Frasher over the years in exchange for money and jobs.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Fox 19
May 19, 2006 09:01 AM EDT
The personnel director for the Cincinnati Archdiocese is on administrative leave because a former church employee is accusing him of abuse. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or "SNAP" is calling for the county prosecutor to investigate.
31 year old Alex Henties is currently serving a two year prison sentence on drug charges but from prison he's causing quite a stir in the Catholic Church. S.N.A.P. wants Prosecutor Joe Deters to investigate allegations Henties was abused by the Church's personnel director, Vince Frasher. "This isn't a priest that they're covering for now, this is a lay person." says SNAP's Christy Miller.
The archdiocese says it has a letter written by Henties saying exactly the opposite: "I have never been abused in such a way as this and have never been abused by Vince whatsoever or at all." But the church still plans to investigate what they call serious allegations. "We have a letter written by him but we haven't talked to him, that's part of what needs to be done in this investigation." says Archdiocese spokesman Dan Andriacco.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff 05/19/2006
NEW BEDFORD -- Vowing to continue to fight for crime victims and deal "head-on" with challenges like gangs, illegal guns and child exploitation, District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. announced his candidacy for re-election Thursday. ...
The 16-year incumbent made it official to seek another four-year term at his Ashley Boulevard campaign headquarters, which was filled with supporters and a handful of unhappy relatives of victims of violence who interrupted him with shouting.
Pointing to some of his accomplishments, the district attorney mentioned the cases of James Porter, the first priest convicted and sent to prison in the Roman Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal; James Kater, the longest-running murder case in the state’s history; the bizarre religious cult cases out of the Attleboro area that ended in criminal convictions, including that of Jacques Robidoux; and the successful prosecution of Raymond Cook, who murdered Fall River Police Officer Thomas Giunta.
Porter died in prison. Kater, Robidoux and Cook are spending life in prison.
CONNECTICUT
New York Post
By JEANE MacINTOSH in Darien, Conn., and DAN MANGAN in N.Y.
May 19, 2006 -- A Catholic priest at a wealthy Connecticut church swiped hundreds of thousands of dollars in parish funds to lavish on his "very good" male friend - buying him steak dinners, furniture and even a romantic Caribbean cruise where they shared a queen-sized bed, sources said.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, whose salary was just $28,000 a year, spent $3,000 a week on food and beverages alone, the sources said.
"You name it, he spent our money on it," said an outraged parishioner at St. John Catholic Church in Darien, where the 55-year-old Fay had been pastor since 1991.
Public records show that Fay bought a $450,000 oceanfront condo in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year with his male friend - Philadelphia wedding planner Cliff Martell Fantini - and that the two well-coifed men share a pied-a-terre studio in a ritzy apartment building on Manhattan's East Side.
VERMONT
Times Argus
May 19, 2006
Rutland Herald
A judge released a stack of background paperwork Thursday related to the Vermont Catholic Church's call to bar him from presiding over 19 priest misconduct lawsuits.
But he made no decision on its recusal request.
In a main motion made public Monday, church lawyer David Cleary claims Judge Ben Joseph's rulings in the recent civil case of Michael Gay, 38, of South Burlington, versus the Rev. Edward Paquette have jeopardized the statewide Diocese of Burlington's ability to receive fair hearings in the future.
Cleary had hoped the court wouldn't release either the main motion or background paperwork, saying they contain private and confidential information.
But Joseph decided Thursday to release the documents as long as they don't contain the names of other alleged victims and priest-perpetrators.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 5/18/2006 5:44:06 PM
The personnel director for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati has been put on leave following Sunday's I-Team investigative report.
The I-Team showed you how Personnel Director Vincent Frasher hired a criminal, Alex Henties, to conduct criminal background checks on Catholic volunteers.
Henties himself has been convicted of theft, menacing and disorderly conduct.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Monsters and Critics
CINCINNATI, OH, United States (UPI) -- A Cincinnati archdiocesan official has been put on leave after claims he sexually abused a former employee and hired a criminal to conduct background checks.
WCPO-TV in Cincinnati first reported allegations by Alex Henties that former boss and archdiocesan Personnel Director Vincent Frasher molested him when he was young. The archdiocese hired Henties in 2003 to run its criminal background checks on church employees and volunteers.
VATICAN CITY
Renew America
(From the May 25 edition of The Wanderer)
Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, one of the fastest-growing priestly communities in the Church, has been officially restricted by the Holy See in his public ministries, according to officials of the Holy See.
The restrictions, to be released officially by the Holy See perhaps as early as the week of May 21, essentially will conclude that at least some of the sex abuse accusations against Fr. Maciel are well founded. A source to the Vatican said that more than 100 interviews have been conducted by Msgr. Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's promoter of justice and investigator in the Maciel case.
At press time, May 18, after a request for an interview, Legion of Christ spokesman Jay Dunlap said, "We know nothing about this. We do not have anything to say."
While priestly laicization is an extremely rare canonical step, this action, approved prior to Easter by the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, is very serious, and will limit Fr. Maciel's public activities such as offering Holy Mass publicly, giving public lectures and presentations, and giving media interviews, among others.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 4:31 pm EDT May 18, 2006
UPDATED: 6:22 pm EDT May 18, 2006
BOSTON -- A priest was removed from his post after he spoke out about being sexually abused as a seminarian.
NewsCenter Five's Amalia Barreda reported Thursday that the Rev. James Moran's openness cost him his life's vocation.
"They knew I was a victim, but still they didn't care. They just (said), 'you know this is the way it is. This is the rule. This is the law. You've broken it. We don't like the way you work. You're gone,'" Moran said.
Moran, 60, is a priest in title only. His sacramental duties were stripped away within hours after he revealed in a homily during Holy Week that he was raped when he was a 25-year-old seminarian assigned to Sacred Heart Parish in Roslindale.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
Gerald Robinson, the retired Toledo priest who was convicted last week of killing a nun, was transferred yesterday morning from the Lucas County jail to an Ohio prison reception center, authorities said.
Robinson was taken to the state’s Correctional Reception Center in Orient, southwest of Columbus.
There he will undergo multiple screenings, reviews, and assessments, including medical, mental health, and family history. The process can take four to five weeks, according to Andrea Dean, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Until it is completed, it will not be known which prison will house Robinson, Ms. Dean said.
WAILUKU (HI)
The Maui News
By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – A Maui Catholic Church deacon on Wednesday pleaded guilty "because it’s true" to 62 counts of sexual assault involving a 12-year-old boy.
Ron Gonsalves, 69, entered the guilty plea to 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault and 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault. The incidents occurred over three years, beginning when the victim was 12, at the victim’s home and at St. Ann Church in Waihee, where Gonsalves served as administrator.
In accepting the plea, 2nd Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto asked Gonsalves, "Why are you pleading guilty?"
"Because it’s true," Gonsalves replied.
VATICAN CITY
AGI
(AGI) - Vatican City, May 19 - 'Taking account both of the advanced age of reverend father Marcial Maciel Degollado as well as his poor health, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the leadership of new prefect, Cardinal William Levada, has decided to 'give up on a canonical trial and ask the father to spend his life in prayer and penitence, renouncing all public ministries'.
HAWAII
KGMB
The leader of a Maui Catholic church admitted in court he sexually abused a boy for three years. But the deal struck with prosecutors may only send the deacon to prison for a year.
Deacon James Gonsalves pleaded guilty to 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault and 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault.
But under a plea agreement, the 69-year-old would only spend a year in prison, three months under house arrest and 20 years on probation.
The victim, who remains unnamed, says the abuse started in 2002 when he was 12 years old and occurred nearly every day for three years. The assaults happened at St. Ann Church in Waihee and at Gonsalves' home.
WAILUKU (HI)
Honolulu Advertiser
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
WAILUKU, Maui — A Catholic deacon who pleaded guilty this week to 62 sexual assault charges will seek a year of jail and 20 years of probation under a special "expedited sentencing program."
James "Ron" Gonsalves, 69, of Wailuku, is well-known in the island's Catholic community and was administrator at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e when he was indicted in July for sexual contact with a boy who was 12 when the crimes began in 2002. The assaults, which included oral sex and attempted sodomy, continued until June 2005 at Gonsalves' home and at the church.
Although other Hawai'i clergy have been accused of sexual abuse, Gonsalves is the first to face criminal charges since the problem became a national scandal for the Catholic Church. Other recent claims of sexual abuse by Hawai'i clergy have been made many years after the conduct was alleged to have occurred, past the statute of limitations for prosecution.
Gonsalves pleaded guilty Wednesday in 2nd Circuit Court to 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault and two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault. The first-degree offenses are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, and the third-degree charges by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Hartford Courant
May 19, 2006
By GERALD RENNER, Special To The Courant
Pope Benedict XVI has restricted the ministry of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Rome-based Legionaries of Christ, who has been accused for years of having sexually abused young seminarians in his charge, according to a report published Thursday.
The Vatican would not confirm the report but said it would issue a statement about its investigation into the charismatic, 86-year-old priest as early as today.
The restrictions were reported online by theAbuse Tracker , an independent weekly newspaper, following a week of rumors of some kind of action against Maciel.
John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the newspaper, reported that Vatican sources said the restrictions placed on Maciel amount to a finding that at least some of the accusations against him are well founded.
SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By JOHN K. WILEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE -- A federal judge Thursday rejected a $45.7 million settlement negotiated with victims of sexual abuse in the bankruptcy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams threw out the settlement during a telephone conference hearing. The judge strongly urged the dozens of lawyers representing the diocese, victims, parishes and other parties to enter into mediation.
Shaun Cross, a Spokane lawyer representing the diocese, said portions of the settlement, including a schedule of payment for victims, would be kept in a final bankruptcy plan.
"I think the elements of the settlement we proposed with the 75 victims still have merit. The judge clearly found concerns with some elements," he said.
VATICAN CITY
Washington Post
By Philip Pullella
Reuters
Friday, May 19, 2006; 7:49 AM
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Friday it had disciplined an aging Mexican founder of an influential Catholic religious order who has been accused of sexual abuse, instructing him to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence."
The move against Father Marcial Maciel, 86-year-old founder of the Legionaries of Christ, is significant because he and his conservative order had found favor under the late Pope John Paul, making the decision by Pope Benedict even bolder.
The instruction was the new Pope's first major decision involving sexual abuse charges since his election last year. Before he was elected, Benedict decried the "filth" in the Church.
The sanctions against Maciel made him one of the most prominent persons to be disciplined for alleged sexual abuse and could be devastating for the order and its lay branch Regnum Christi, which claims tens of thousands of members.
OMAHA (NE)
Chicago Tribune
Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published May 19, 2006
OMAHA, NEBRASKA -- A judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Girls and Boys Town and a priest who worked at the home for wayward children, saying the plaintiff failed to proceed with the case.
Judges now have thrown out three of five sex abuse lawsuits filed against the former Boys Town, the home founded by Father Edward Flanagan in 1917 and immortalized in the 1938 movie of the same name.
SPOKANE (WA)
Gainesville Sun
The Associated Press
May 19. 2006 6:01AM
A federal judge rejected a $45.7-million settlement Thursday for 75 people who have filed sex abuse claims against the bankrupt Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams threw out the agreement during a telephone conference hearing. The judge urged the dozens of lawyers representing the diocese, victims, parishes and other parties to enter into mediation.
The deal, announced earlier this year, was controversial from the start because it covered only a fraction of those who had filed lawsuits contending they were abused by priests in Spokane. About 185 individual claims have been filed against the diocese, although Williams has said some are duplicates and others are invalid.
"I think the elements of the settlement we proposed with the 75 victims still have merit. The judge clearly found concerns with some elements," said Shaun Cross, a lawyer representing the diocese.
VATICAN CITY
The Columbian
May 19, 6:12 AM EDT
By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican said Friday it had asked the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ to renounce celebrating public Masses and live a life of "prayer and repentance" following its investigation into allegations he sexually abused seminarians.
the Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had approved the sanctions against the Rev. Marcial Maciel - making it the first major sexual abuse disciplinary case handled by the pope since he took office last year.
Maciel is one of the most prominent Catholic Church officials the Vatican has disciplined for alleged involvement in child sexual abuse. The case is also significant because Maciel was so warmly regarded by Pope John Paul II.
Benedict's decision to approve the sanctions showed he was not beholden to John Paul's legacy when it comes to dealing with what he once called the "filth" in the Catholic Church - a widely understood criticism of clerical sex abuse.
STAMFORD (CT)
Sacramento Bee
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 5:17 am PDT Thursday, May 18, 2006
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest resigned amid suspicions of financial wrongdoing and questions about his "suitability for priestly ministry," church officials said Wednesday.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay of St. John Roman Catholic Church in Darien resigned upon request after a preliminary review by the Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop William E. Lori said.
The bishop's announcement came the same day a private investigator gave results of his investigation to Darien police. Investigator Vito Colucci Jr. said he documented at least $200,000 in church money used to pay for Fay's lifestyle with a male companion.
STAMFORD (CT)
San Francisco Chronicle
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
(05-17) 21:23 PDT Stamford, Conn. (AP) --
A Roman Catholic priest resigned amid suspicions of financial wrongdoing and questions about his "suitability for priestly ministry," church officials said Wednesday.
The Rev. Michael Jude Fay of St. John Roman Catholic Church in Darien resigned upon request after a preliminary review by the Diocese of Bridgeport, Bishop William E. Lori said.
The bishop's announcement came the same day a private investigator gave results of his investigation to Darien police. Investigator Vito Colucci Jr. said he documented at least $200,000 in church money used to pay for Fay's lifestyle with a male companion.
NEW YORK
The Citizen
By The Citizen staff report
Thursday, May 18, 2006 2:49 PM EDT
A Catholic priest who once served at St. Alphonsus Church in Auburn has been charged with inappropriately touching a 12-year-old girl.
The Rev. John Steger, 80, who has served since 1968 as pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Church in Gates, a Rochester suburb, has been charged by police with four misdemeanors for the alleged abuse.
Steger has been a priest with the Diocese of Rochester since 1951.
He had also previously been assigned to St. Theodore Church in Gates and St. Joseph Church in Wayland.
The Diocese of Rochester said in a news release Wednesday that Steger has been placed on administrative leave and will not be allowed to engage in public ministry.
SPOKANE (WA)
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 18, 2006
Filed at 6:12 p.m. ET
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -- A federal judge rejected a $45.7-million settlement Thursday for 75 people who have filed sex abuse claims against the bankrupt Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams threw out the agreement during a telephone conference hearing. The judge urged the dozens of lawyers representing the diocese, victims, parishes and other parties to enter into mediation.
The deal, announced earlier this year, was controversial from the start because it covered only a fraction of those who had filed lawsuits contending they were abused by priests in Spokane. About 185 individual claims have been filed against the diocese, although Williams has said some are duplicates and others are invalid.
''I think the elements of the settlement we proposed with the 75 victims still have merit. The judge clearly found concerns with some elements,'' said Shaun Cross, a lawyer representing the diocese.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
The role of the vow of obedience taken by Sisters of Mercy in how industrial schools were run was queried at a public hearing of the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse yesterday.
Noel McMahon, senior counsel for the committee,quoted article 28 of the sisters' constitution: "The Sisters of Mercy are always to bear in mind, that by the vow of obedience they have for ever (sic) renounced their own will and resigned it to the direction of their Superiors.
They are to obey the Mother Superior, as holding her authority from God . . ." He continued with article 29: "They are to execute without hesitation all directions of the Mother Superior, whether in matters of great or little moment, agreeable or disagreeable . . ."
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
The Sisters of Mercy have denied there was "any deliberate, severe injury to anybody" at St Vincent's industrial school in Goldenbridge, Dublin which they ran.
They also insisted the food there was always adequate, and progressed from being adequate to being varied and appetising, the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was told yesterday.
As the committee's phase III public hearings continued, Sr Helena O'Donoghue, leader of the Sisters of Mercy south central province, said the order denied that any child at Goldenbridge was referred to by number. "Every child was known by their own name," she said, "numbers were used for laundry purposes only".
IRELAND
One in Four
Irish Examiner
Nuns were actively discouraged from showing affection towards the children in their care in Saint Joseph’s Industrial School in Clifden, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse heard yesterday
Sr Margaret Casey, from the Sisters of mercy, admitted to the investigation there was an “embargo on hugging” young girls and boys in the school, which closed in 1983 after more than a century in operation.
The commission heard that one nun, praised for her kindness by residents during the inquiry, would have given a hug to children “on the sly” and “when no one was looking”.
Sr Casey agreed that this would have been the case.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
A Dominican priest has been given a suspended sentence of three years by Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for sexually abusing a then eight-year-old boy.
The 62-year-old priest, who has two previous convictions for abusing young boys, pleaded guilty to a total of five charges of sexually assaulting the victim at a church in Co Louth on dates between May 1st, 1991 and April 30th, 1992.
Judge Hogan made an order on the application of Ms Mary Rose Gearty, prosecuting, that the priest not be named in media reports to protect the victim's identity.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
A LESBIAN sex abuse investigation is underway at one of the country's most prestigious girls' schools.
The investigation, being carried out by the Health Service Executive (HSE) West, has centred on alleged inappropriate sexual activity at Kylemore Abbey secondary school for girls in Connemara, Co Galway.
The Irish Independent understands the investigation has centred on alleged sexual interference with schoolgirls by at least one nun.
HSE investigators were called in by the Benedictine Nuns after an audit of all instances alleging sexual abuse was undertaken in the wake of the Ferns report.
The trawl uncovered alleged sexual abuse, solely involving females, at the picturesque Kylemore Abbey school run by the Benedictine Nuns in the heart of Connemara.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
THE Benedictine Nuns who run the prestigious Kylemore Abbey school in Connemara confirmed last night that an investigation is under way into alleged abuse at the all-girls school.
Details of the investigation by the Health Service Executive (HSE) into alleged lesbian sexual abuse were published in yesterday's Irish Independent.
It is understood that the HSE investigators are examining claims made by a former schoolgirl of alleged sexual interference by a nun.
While the incidents are alleged to have taken place 20 years ago at the picturesque Connemara school over 20 years ago, the allegation is believed to have been made more recently.
A church-led investigation into the claims failed to result in any prosecution and it is believed that the nun accused of carrying out the abuse denied the allegation.
VATICAN CITY
San Luis Obispo Tribune
NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said Thursday it would issue a statement on its investigation into allegations the Mexican founder of the conservative order Legionaries of Christ sexually abused seminarians decades ago.
The statement is expected to be issued Friday, Vatican officials said. TheAbuse Tracker said on its Web site Thursday that the Vatican had asked the Rev. Marcial Maciel to limit his public activity by not celebrating public Masses or giving lectures or interviews.
The reported action was taken after the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded its long-running investigation into allegations by former seminarians that the 86-year-old Maciel sexually abused them. Nine former seminarians accused Maciel in the 1990s of having abused them when they were boys or teenagers from the 1940s to 1960s.
The Vatican officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the statement had not been issued, declined to say what the Vatican's findings were or what action, if any, was taken against Maciel.
OMAHA (NE)
Belleville News-Democrat
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. - A Douglas County judge has dismissed a sexual abuse lawsuit against Girls and Boys Town and a priest who had worked there.
The plaintiff, Darren Boudreau, of Cheyenne, Wyo., said in his suit that the Rev. Richard Colbert had molested him several times when Boudreau was a student at the home for troubled youths from 1985 to 1989.
Colbert, now assigned to a mid-Missouri diocese, had denied the allegations.
The suit named Girls and Boys Town as a defendant, alleging it knew - or should have known - what Colbert was doing and should have better supervised him.
The suit said Boudreau suffered from a mental disorder that had kept him from suing.
ISRAEL
YNet News
Ahiya Raved
Three young women in their twenties who reside in the heart of Israel filed a complaint several days ago with Haifa police against Rabbi Mordechai Gafni, claiming he sexually harassed them during Torah lessons conducted at his Jaffa center.
The women's attorney, Tami Olman, told Ynet that the police did not take the allegations seriously, allowing the rabbi to meanwhile leave the country.
Haifa police officials admitted they have collected the complainants' testimonies, in which they claim the rabbi promised each of them separately he would marry her if she had sex with him. Some of the women were Gafni's students.
According to Attorney Olman, the complainants accused Gafni of rape, sexual harassment and indecent assault and notified police that once the rabbi learns of the complaint against him he is likely to try to flee the country. However, Olman said, no measures have been taken to prevent Gafni's departure.
ISRAEL
JTA
A U.S.-born rabbi was forced to resign from an Israeli synagogue following allegations of sexual misconduct.
Rabbi Mordechai Gafni had stepped down from the Bayit Hadash center in Jaffa after several female congregants filed police complaints against him, alleging that he had abused his position by seducing them. According to the report, Gafni, who is back in the United States, admitted his guilt and apologized.
In his apology, he said he would seek treatment for his “sickness.”
ISRAEL
Haaretz
Last update - 13:59 18/05/2006
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Three female members of the international spiritual community "Bayit Chadash" (New Home) last week filed complaints of sexual exploitation against the head of the community, Rabbi Mordechai Gafni.
The three were Gafni's students and worked beside him within the community. They accuse him of using his authority over them to take advantage of them.
Gafni, 44, is the founder of Bayit Chadash, a self proclaimed "neo-Orthodox" spiritual-cultural Jewish community. Gafni is also known for his research work as well as being the author of several books and host of a television show on Channel 2.
The three women, along with another woman who has decided not to make an official complaint, all claim that they were manipulated into having sex by Gafni, who used his authority as their rabbi. The women told the police Gafni swore them to secrecy after having sex with them.
The affair came out accidentally when two of the women discussed their respective sexual relationships and realized both of them had been sexually exploited by Gafni. After discovering that two other women had had similar experiences, the four women approached "Bayit Chadash" leaders and told them about the encounters.
Move seen as confirmation of sex abuse allegations against Maciel
By John L. Allen Jr.
National , May 18, 2006 9:12 a.m.
Capping a decade-long on-again, off-again investigation of accusations of sexual abuse, the Vatican has asked Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, to observe a series of restrictions on his ministry.
In effect, Vatican sources told NCR this week, the action amounts to a finding that at least some of the accusations against the charismatic 86-year-old Mexican priest are well-founded.
Maciel has not been laicized, but the restrictions issued shortly before Easter by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith limit Maciel's public activity, such as his capacity to celebrate public Masses, to give lectures or other public presentations, and to give interviews for print or broadcast.
The restrictions have been approved by Pope Benedict XVI, and the Vatican is expected to issue a brief statement shortly.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The Toledo Catholic Diocese has taken the unusual step of going to court to keep a former priest away from a West Toledo chapel because children are nearby.
A civil complaint filed in Toledo Municipal Court seeks to prevent Chet Warren, who was barred from ministry over allegations of child sexual abuse, from entering a secluded chapel at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church on Bellevue Road, near Bowman Park.
At least eight women have accused Mr. Warren of abusing them when they were children.
ISRAEL
Forward
By JENNIFER SIEGEL
May 19, 2006
An Israeli-based spiritual institute has fired its main rabbi over sexual abuse claims, less than two years after several prominent American religious figures rallied to defend him against earlier allegations.
At least five female students and staff members have come forward to accuse Rabbi Mordechai Gafni of luring them into sexual relationships through intimidation, psychological manipulation and deception. Late last week, Gafni, an Orthodox-trained rabbi who has become a star of the New Age-style Jewish Renewal movement, was dismissed from his position as the head of Bayit Chadash, a center on the Sea of Galilee that he co-founded six years ago.
Gafni subsequently issued a public apology for having "hurt people I love," and said that he would seek in-patient treatment for what he called "a sickness."
A number of prominent American rabbis who publicly backed Gafni when allegations surfaced in the fall of 2004 have said that they now regret their previous support. Among those voicing regret are Rabbi Saul Berman, the leader of the liberal Orthodox organization Edah; Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, an Orthodox author best known for his accessible books on Judaism; Rabbi Arthur Green, dean of the rabbinical school of Hebrew College in Newton, Mass., and former president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, leader of Congregation Nevei Kodesh, a Jewish Renewal community in Boulder, Colo., and Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia and a leader of the Jewish Renewal movement.
GLENDALE HEIGHTS (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published May 18, 2006
GLENDALE HEIGHTS -- A visiting Polish Catholic priest has been sentenced to 2 years in prison for criminal sexual abuse of a 24-year-old Glendale Heights woman.
Rev. Tadeusz Ulman, 45, of Krakow, who was sentenced Tuesday in DuPage Circuit Court, was visiting the United States for several months last year. He was staying at the home of the woman's family when he approached her in her bedroom as she slept.
Ulman, who has been in the DuPage County Jail since his arrest for the Oct. 3 incident, is expected to be deported to Poland after completing his sentence.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Margaret Ramirez
Tribune religion reporter
Published May 18, 2006
A Wheeling man filed a $250,000 civil lawsuit Wednesday against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging that a priest molested him as a child and church officials purposefully hid the abuse from police and parishioners.
Keith Laarveld, 32, a former altar boy at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Wheeling, said he was repeatedly sexually abused by former priest Vincent McCaffrey from 1982 to 1986. Laarveld was between the ages of 8 and 12 at the time.
McCaffrey is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for possession of child pornography. In court documents, he admitted to sexually abusing 40 children "hundreds and hundreds" of times.
He served as a priest in the Chicago archdiocese from 1978 through 1991, when the archdiocese removed him from ministry. He resigned the priesthood in 1993 and pleaded guilty to the child porn charges in 2002.
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 5/17/2006 3:30:43 PM
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has hired an investigator to look into issues raised by Channel 9's I-Team in a Sunday night report.
In the report, Alex Henties, an ex-convict hired to run background checks on Archdiocese workers, claims Archdiocese official Vince Frasher has "about 2,200 nude photos" of Henties.
Henties, who has a long criminal record involving drug, domestic violence and theft charges, once said, "[Frasher] has screwed me up time and time again... he sold me time and time again. There's a sick man."
Also, Henties' father and brother told the I-Team that Frasher sexually abused Henties when he was young.
The Archdiocese says it has a hand-written letter from Henties, dated April 28, 2006, which states "I have never been abused in such a way as this and have never been abused by Vince what so ever or at all."
The Archdiocese has hired a private investigator to probe further, according to a news release e-mailed Wednesday afternoon.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati launched an investigation Wednesday into a sexual-abuse allegation against its personnel director.
Church officials said they hired a private investigator after a fired church employee accused Vince Frasher, his former boss, of abusing him when he was young.
The accusations were broadcast Sunday in a report on WCPO-TV (Channel 9). The report quoted a police interview with Frasher's accuser, Alex Henties, in which Henties claims Frasher abused him.
Henties, 32, said the abuse took place while he was growing up in Montgomery and continued for several years.
Church officials say Frasher, who is on vacation and could not be reached, denies the allegations. They say they also have a letter, signed by Henties in April, denying any abuse took place.
WAILUKU (HI)
Los Angeles Times
By Associated Press
3:16 AM PDT, May 18, 2006
WAILUKU, Hawaii -- A Roman Catholic deacon on Maui pleaded guilty to more than 60 counts of sexually abusing a boy during a three-year period.
James "Ron" Gonsalves, 69, of Wailuku, could receive one year in jail, three years of home confinement and 20 years probation under a plea agreement with prosecutors.
When Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto asked the deacon why he was pleading guilty, Gonsalves replied, "Because it's true."
Gonsalves pleaded guilty Wednesday to 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of attempted first-degree sexual assault and 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Chicago Defender
by Gene C. Johnson Jr.
May 18, 2006
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) — After being accused of sexual advances toward an underage member of his congregation, Rev. Sylvester Laudermill Jr. has been permanently removed as senior pastor of Ward AME Church.
An attorney representing the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Joseph Stanley Sanders, said Laudermill has been “in effect, defrocked” following a minor’s complaint about the minister’s alleged improper behavior during “late February or early March” of this year.
Neither Laudermill nor his attorney, Leonard Levine, returned phone calls seeking comment.
Sanders, who refused to directly discuss the gender of the minor or the details of the alleged sexual attack, may have inadvertently revealed the child’s gender in an interview. The alleged victim first reported the incident to “his” parents, who then went to the church’s presiding elder, the Rev. Norman Copeland, Sanders said.
UNITED STATES
Chicago Tribune
By Laurie Goodstein
New York Times News Service
Published May 18, 2006
A new study has found that the scandal over sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church has not caused American Catholics to leave the church, or to stop attending mass and donating to their parishes.
The study shows that Catholic participation in church life and satisfaction with church leadership dropped noticeably at the height of the scandal in 2002, but has now largely rebounded to prescandal levels.
The only significant decline is in the percentage of Catholics who contributed to their diocesan financial appeals--annual campaigns that are usually run by bishops. While the percentage of Catholics who contributed to their local parishes remained steady, those who gave to their diocesan appeals dropped to 29 percent in 2005 from 38 percent in April 2002.
"There's been an expectation that there would be more Catholics exiting the faith, and clearly the polls show that there wasn't any evidence of that," said Mark Gray, research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, which conducted the study.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
(STNG) A lawsuit filed Wednesday accused a priest, who is already serving time for possessing child pornography, of sexual abuse and claims the church attempted to cover up the crimes.
The suit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, contends the Catholic Bishop of Chicago lost and or destroyed materials concerning Father Vincent McCaffrey "in order to thwart the victim's case," according to a release issued by the unidentified boy's attorney's.
The Catholic Bishop of Chicago was the only defendant named in the suit.
The suit alleged the Archdiocese ignored numerous reports of sexual abuse and molestation committed by McCaffrey and enabled him to retain unrestricted access to young children.
GATES (NY)
WHEC
A Roman Catholic priest from Gates is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.
Gates police arrested Reverend John Steger Wednesday afternoon. He's been the pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Church in Gates for nearly 40-years. Steger is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of sexual abuse. Rev. Steger has been placed on administrative leave pending the sexual abuse charges involving a 12-year old girl.
NEWS10 NBC learned Pastor Steger is about to celebrate his 80th birthday with more than 700 people next week. People in the community said these allegations won't stop them from celebrating with him. Paulette Kryk said her 9-year-old daughter Celina is an alter server during Steger's Sunday mass. "I can not imagine that this man could be connected to any type of abuse situation,” said Kryk.
Gates Police Chief Tom Roche held a news conference Wednesday to announce the arrest of Pastor Steger, a man who works with the Gates Fire Department and literally helped build St. Judes. "the police investigation rose to a level of probable cause," said Chief Roche.
Officials said a 12-year-old girl told her parents Steger inappropriately touched her while she was doing assigned chores in a private area of the rectory, located right next door to St. Judes. The alleged crimes happened in late April and early May. Chief Roche says it was a good thing the child in this case had a good rapport with her parents, because that isn't often today.
NEEDHAM (MA)
Needham Times
Thursday, May 18, 2006
St. Joseph Church in Needham is one of nine parishes directly affected by the clergy sexual abuse crisis that Cardinal Sean O'Malley will visit during the last week in May to "ask forgiveness" of those hurt by the Church, according to the Archdiocese of Boston.
O'Malley will lead a prayer service at St. Joseph's on Tuesday, May 30, 7:30 p.m., as part of a "Pilgrimage of Repentance and Hope." The Novena services will be held in nine communities "that have experienced an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests, and at one parish, by a lay youth worker," according to the archdiocese.
Lawsuits were filed in Suffolk Superior Court against Paul J. Mahan, a defrocked priest who served at St. Joseph Parish from 1979 to 1982, alleging that Mahan molested more than 13 children from the 1960s to the 1990s. Two of those lawsuits were filed by former Needham residents who alleged Mahan repeatedly molested them in 1980 and 1982, while the priest served at St. Joseph's.
Prior to his serving in Needham, Mahan reportedly was accused of molesting an 8-year-old girl in Dorchester.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 18, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano, in a rare interview Wednesday, defended the statewide Diocese of Burlington's decision to place its 128 parishes in charitable trusts.
Matano's move to shield churches from the cost of 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against the diocese drew protests earlier in the day from the national lay Catholic organization Voice of the Faithful, which called the action "fraudulent, deceitful and irresponsible."
In response, the bishop said the plan to shelter local parishes and cover lawsuit costs with state diocesan assets was his way of accommodating both past victims of child sexual abuse by clergy, and Vermont's 118,000 practicing Catholics.
"I want to reach out to victims, but I also have to be conscious of the people in the pews," Matano said in a telephone interview. "It's certainly just to ask the church to be accountable, but is it just to destroy parishes, schools and other agencies of care to do so?"
GATES (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle
Ernst Lamothe Jr.
Staff writer
(May 18, 2006) — GATES — Gates police have charged a priest at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Gates with four misdemeanors involving a 12-year-old girl.
Father John J. Steger, 80, was arrested Wednesday and accused of inappropriately touching the girl in late April and early May.
Steger was charged with two counts of second degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
"This is an especially sad and difficult case," said Gates Police Chief Tom Roche, who knew Steger personally and had previously attended the church. "It's always difficult especially when there is a child involved."
Police learned of the allegation after the girl reported the two incidents to her parents. The parents contacted the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, who then contacted the police.
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
May 17, 2006
The following are two affidavits submitted by Father Robert Hoatson, who is suing the New York and Newark archdioceses and the Albany diocese. They are two of six documents filed in response to the defendants' motions to dismiss. The second affidavit is from Father Kenneth Lasch.
GATES (NY)
WROC
5/17/2006 6:00 PM
(WROC-TV)
Reverend John J. Steger, pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Church on Lyell Road in Gates, is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year old girl inside the church rectory on two separate dates.
Steger is charged with two counts of sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Her turned himself into police Wednesday afternoon.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has placed Steger on administrative leave. Steger will not be allowed to engage in any public ministry.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Amsterdam News
by Gene C. Johnson, Jr.
Special to the NNPA from Wave Community
Originally posted 5/17/2006
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) — After being accused of sexual advances toward an underage member of his congregation, Rev. Sylvester Laudermill Jr. has been permanently removed as senior pastor of Ward AME Church.
An attorney representing the African
Methodist Episcopal Church, Joseph Stanley Sanders, said Laudermill has been “in effect, defrocked” following a minor’s complaint about the minister’s alleged improper behavior during “late February or early March” of this year.
Neither Laudermill nor his attorney, Leonard Levine, returned phone calls seeking comment.
Sanders, who refused to directly discuss the gender of the minor or the details of the alleged sexual attack, may have inadvertently revealed the child’s gender in an interview. The alleged victim first reported the incident to “his” parents, who then went to the church’s presiding elder, the Rev. Norman Copeland, Sanders said.
Copeland, in turn, lodged a complaint with Bishop John R. Bryant, presiding prelate of the AME Church’s Fifth Episcopal District, which includes California and Missouri. A hearing was held April 27 in Pasadena by the AME Church’s Ministerial Efficiency Committee, which consists of five pastors from different AME churches in California “to take testimony from the accused and from witnesses,” Sanders said.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published May 17, 2006
Bishop James Peter Sartain, welcome to the Chicago metropolitan area. You will arrive from Little Rock next month with the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI--and with more knowledge than we hold of the troubled Diocese of Joliet that you inherit.
In introducing you Tuesday as his replacement, Bishop Joseph Imesch reminded us all of how small a void he'll leave. He has been a tremendous disappointment to those who long relied on Roman Catholic leaders in Illinois to offer strong moral voices on such crucial matters as education, health care and social policy. Owing to the refusal of Imesch and other leaders to interrupt patterns of crime, those voices don't carry the authority they once did.
Imesch has been a greater disappointment, as you know, to what should have been his first allegiance: his flock. He is a spectacular study in how to squander the trust of the faithful.
We've noted previously on this page that Americans curious about the failure of many bishops to report sexual abuse by clerics owe gratitude to Imesch. During a deposition he gave last August, he put words to the code of silence that protected his diocesan subordinates--if not the innocents they allegedly exploited:
- During the deposition, an attorney quizzed Imesch about a deacon's report to diocesan officials in 1985 that a Woodridge priest might be having an improper relationship with a 14-year-old girl. Did Imesch contact police? "I would not do that," the bishop responded. "There is no verification. There is no hard evidence that this was happening. And I'm not going to go say, `Hey, police, go check on my priest.'"
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel
05/17/2006 Archbishop John Vlazny
Nineteen years ago on May 19 I was appointed a diocesan bishop. As I look back upon that day, I can’t help but entertain the image of a lamb being led to the slaughter! Little did I realize then that pastoral ministry for me included a lengthy sojourn into very troubled and unfamiliar waters, namely, litigation resulting from claims of child sexual abuse by clergy. The journey continues, and the “ship” moves relentlessly forward and many of the passengers, including this one, often become quite seasick.
Back then in my former diocese, lawsuits had been filed claiming child sexual abuse by a priest. Confronted with the ghastly credibility of the claims, other people and I did our best to seek just compensation for victims while trying to be faithful to our evangelizing mission as a faith community. Everyone had advice, including psychologists, insurance carriers, lawyers and parishioners, but there was no manual to guide the captain and crew about the best course to take. Little by little, with the help of some wise confreres and the grace of God, we managed to work through all kinds of confrontations, challenges and deeply distressing situations. The demands for compensation and punishment then were excessive as they remain today, but no one knew for certain the worth of such claims. Personally I am grateful to those who helped me patiently and perseveringly seek the truth and work for justice for all concerned.
“Liberation” came in October of 1997 when I was appointed the 10th Archbishop of Portland. For two years no similar claims came to my desk. But it all ended abruptly in early 2000 when 25 claims surfaced alleging abuse by one of our priests in previous decades, dating all the way back to the 1950s. It was a high-profile event for the Oregon media, and we were brought to our knees both in terms of the financial and non-monetary demands. I apologized. We prayed. Policies were revised and improved. There was even public acclaim from the Oregonian for the way we had handled this matter. But it was only a beginning, certainly not a happy ending.
IRELAND
PinkNews
17-May-2006
PinkNews.co.uk writer
One of Ireland’s most prestigious girls school is under investigation for lesbian sex abuse, according to reports.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) West is looking into allegations of inappropriate sexual activity at Kylemore Abbey school in County Galway, in the West of Ireland.
The claims date back 20 years at the top tourist attraction, which is run by Benedictine Nuns, the Irish Independent reports.
None of the current employees or students are believed to be involved.
The paper claims that a church investigation forwarded stories of alleged sex abuse to the Vatican in the 1980s, but no charges were brought.
STONEHAM (MA)
Stoneham Sun
By Nadine Wandzilak/ Correspondent
Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - Updated: 10:21 AM EST
Cardinal Sean O’Malley will visit Stoneham next Friday, May 26, for a prayer service as part of a "Pilgrimage of repentance and hope: a novena to the Holy Spirit" in nine communities that experienced "an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests."
Paul Shanley, a defrocked Roman Catholic priest in jail after being convicted of indecent assault and battery and rape of a child while he was at a Newton parish in the 1980’s, served at St Patrick’s parish here as his first assignment, Rev. Bill Schmidt of St. Patrick’s said Monday.
O’Malley will speak at the prayer service at St. Patrick’s Church and the local parish will ask the family of a victim of clergy sexual abuse to talk about the years the abuse was held as a secret, Schmidt said. Victims and families share two emotions, Schmidt said: shame and isolation.
"They do not have to be ashamed," he said.
"Cardinal O’Malley, recognizing the abuse of young people that took place at Saint Patrick Parish during the 1960’s, will make Saint Patrick Parish the first parish that he visits as part of the Novena," Schmidt wrote in Sunday’s church bulletin.
UNITED STATES
The News-Sentinel
BY ED HOUSEWRIGHT
The Dallas Morning News
Sean Smith looks the part.
At 6 feet 7 inches tall and 320 pounds, he comfortably carries the title of director of security for the Potter's House in Dallas.
When Pastor T.D. Jakes travels, Smith never strays from his side.
"If someone were to try to do him bodily harm, my job is to try to thwart that as best I can," said Smith, a former professional football player.
Few pastors need as much protection as Bishop Jakes, an internationally known preacher and author.
But places of worship of all sizes are spending more time and money safeguarding their staff, congregants and property. Measures range from installing sophisticated surveillance systems to conducting criminal background checks on volunteers and workers.
Churches are thinking like businesses, developing risk management strategies to head off physical, financial, even emotional damage. Ongoing stories of clergy sexual abuse, across denomination lines, have helped awaken congregations to the myriad risks they face.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
1978: The Rev. Gary Berthiaume, who served with Imesch at Our Lady of Sorrows in Michigan, is convicted and sent to prison for sexually abusing a boy. Later, Berthiaume transfers to Cleveland where he faces more abuse allegations, then is accepted by Imesch into the Joliet Diocese in 1987 and placed in ministry as a hospital chaplain.
1980: Parishioners from Lombard write to Imesch, urging him to remove then-priest Lawrence Gibbs because of the priest's conduct with young boys. Imesch writes back, saying police found no evidence of wrongdoing. Imesch transfers Gibbs to several other parishes before pulling him from ministry after a lawsuit is filed in 1993.
1983: A mother confronts Imesch with love letters that the Rev. A.J. Ross sent to her son. Imesch sends Ross to California for counseling, then places him at three more parishes over the next decade. In 1993, the son confronts Imesch, who sends Ross to California to serve as a prison chaplain.
In the wake of publicity in 2002, Ross is removed and apologizes for molesting the boy.
ALBANY (NY)
North Country Gazette
ALBANY---Child sexual assault victims and representatives from child sexual abuse victim support groups joined together at a Capitol news conference Tuesday in support of legislation that would grant victims of child sexual assault a greater period of time to seek justice by extending the statutes of limitations for criminal and civil actions for these offenses.
Attending the news conference were Assembly sponsors of the legislation, as well as representatives from the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a national organization formed in response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis, the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a Chicago-based nationwide organization for clergy molestation victims and the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NYSCASA).
MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
05/17/2006
A man who is in a Florida prison for committing sex acts on a teenage girl filed a lawsuit Tuesday, claiming a late priest from All Saints Parish in St. Peters sexually abused him in the late 1970s when he was a teenager.
The man, Michael K. Orf, 42, who is serving a five-year prison sentence in Daytona Beach, filed the lawsuit in St. Charles County Circuit Court against the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He claimed that beginning in 1976 and ending in 1979, the Rev. Louis Kertz had Orf "engage in sexual activities," telling him that it "would help overcome the problems .[th].[th]. (Orf) was having with his classmates."
Kertz died of cancer in 1985 at age 62. He was transferred from All Saints to a church in Flat River in 1981 a few weeks after another teenager accused him of sexual abuse. The alleged victim filed a suit as "Matt Doe" in August in St. Louis Circuit Court. That suit is pending.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat and Chronicle
An Aug. 2 jury trial has been scheduled for Father Dennis R. Sewar, a Roman Catholic priest charged with fondling a 14-year-old boy.
City Court Judge John E. Elliott set the trial date Tuesday. Sewar, 55, is charged with a misdemeanor of third-degree sexual abuse for allegedly touching the boy’s clothed genitals in 1999. If convicted, Sewar faces a penalty ranging from probation to 90 days in Monroe County Jail.
Sewar is on administrative leave.
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Wednesday, May 17, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph on Wednesday put off a decision on whether to withdraw as presiding judge in 19 pending priest sex abuse cases. His withdrawal is being sought by the Roman Catholic Diocese.
"I took the motion home but I haven't finished studying it," he said during an emergency court hearing convened to discuss whether to seal the church motion seeking his recusal, or removal from the case, as the diocese had also requested.
"Until I make a decision regarding the motion, the case is still assigned to me," Joseph said. "Just filing the motion does not mean I am removed from the case." Joseph said he did not receive the diocese's request that he step down until Monday morning.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Hal Dardick, Crystal Yednak and David Heinzmann, Tribune staff reporters
Published May 17, 2006
As he formally announced his retirement, Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch said Tuesday that the Catholic Church's priest sex-abuse scandal had nothing to do with the decision.
That may be true--this summer he will be 75, the age at which the Vatican requires all bishops to submit their resignation. But the scandal has plagued the last few years of Imesch's 27-year tenure.
While the Joliet diocese has been less a focus of attention than the much larger Chicago archdiocese, accusations have persisted that Imesch tried to protect and cover for priests since the scandal broke nationally in 2001 and 2002. Victims accused Imesch of transferring some priests to new parishes when accusations were leveled, blocking police investigations and intimidating victims and their families with church lawyers.
Imesch and his attorneys have fought multiple court battles with news organizations in recent years as he tried to keep sex-abuse files under wraps. He lost most of the battles, and found himself defending his actions again this February when hundreds of pages of files--including a deposition he gave in a sex-abuse lawsuit last year--were made public.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The expenses in the murder trial of Toledo priest Gerald Robinson have topped $56,000 and the bills are still coming in, court officials said yesterday.
Lucas County Common Pleas Court spent about $16,650 on the trial, starting with jury selection April 17 and ending May 11, when the 68-year-old priest was convicted in the 1980 ritual killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, according to Court Administrator Jean Atkin.
The county Prosecutor's Office estimated its expenses at $38,000 including fees paid to expert witnesses including Henry Lee and Paulette Sutton, transportation, and other costs such as research, testing, and materials, according to Prosecutor Julia Bates.
That figure does not include salaries of staff members who worked on the case, some of whom were involved from the time the Lucas County cold-case unit reopened the case in December, 2003.
PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 17, 2006
BY EDWARD FITZPATRICK
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A lawyer who has handled priest abuse cases in Rhode Island filed a lawsuit yesterday against a Jewish congregation in Warwick, claiming a former religion instructor victimized other children before molesting a 12-year-old boy who was preparing for his bar mitzvah at Temple Am David.
Stanley Rosenfeld, 72, of Hillside Avenue, pleaded no contest in 2001 to two counts of second-degree child molestation and was given a 10-year suspended sentence. After violating probation, he was sent to prison for 18 months, court records show.
Yesterday, Providence lawyer Timothy J. Conlon filed a lawsuit in Superior Court on behalf of the victim and his mother, who are identified in court papers as John and Jane Doe.
The complaint claims that Temple Am David knew, or should have known, that Rosenfeld had previously sexually assaulted boys "by using positions of trust, including positions at other temples."
HILDALE (UT)
St. Petersburg Times
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published May 17, 2006
HILDALE, Utah - Prophet. Religious zealot. Dangerous extremist.
These are some of the words used to describe Warren Jeffs since the 50-year-old leader of a polygamous sect was put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list recently alongside such figures as Osama bin Laden.
Jeffs, head of a renegade Mormon splinter group called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is accused of arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. He is charged with child sexual abuse in Arizona and being an accomplice to statutory rape in Utah.
Jeffs exercises extraordinary control over 10,000 or so followers who live mostly in the side-by-side towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Church dissidents say that during Jeffs' four-year rule, the number of underage marriages - some to girls as young as 13 - escalated into the hundreds. Families have been fractured in the process.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
A retired Anglican priest has welcomed moves to cut millions of dollars from the budget of the Anglican Church in South Australia to fund a $4 million payout to sexual abuse victims.
Thirty-six people who were allegedly abused by Anglican youth worker Robert Brandenburg are close to settling a class action against the church.
The retired priest, Andrew King, was a vocal critic of the church's handling of sex abuse complaints under former archbishop Ian George.
He says the settlement will bring some closure for the victims.
ILLINOIS
CBS 2
Mike Parker
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO The difficult times continue for the new bishop of the Joliet Diocese.
He faces a barrage of lawsuits and whiplash from anger.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports on one accuser who charges that he church covered up the sex abuse scandal.
"He wanted to share with me some secrets, some secret things that priests did," the alleged abuse victim said.
This man says when he was a young boy in the 1960s, a Lombard priest molested him. He also says that Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch later protected the priest, even refusing to tell police about another child sex case. The man, who wants to conceal his identity, is not unhappy that Imesch is stepping down.
ARKANSAS
ABC 7
By Chuck Goudie
May 16, 2006 - Bishop Imesch's replacement is James Peter Sartain, who currently runs the diocese in Little Rock, Arkansas. He will oversee a diocese still struggling with priest sex abuse cases, lawsuits and questions about how the hierarchy has handled them. This Intelligence Report looks at how the new bishop may respond.
If you have never heard of Bishop Sartain, don't feel uninformed. The editor at our ABC affiliate in Little Rock didn't know the bishop was leaving and said he was rarely covered by reporters.
That could be because the diocese that covers the entire state of Arkansas has been almost unscathed by the priest sex abuse scandal, according to the bishop himself, who now finds himself consumed by questions about how he will handle one of the most troubled dioceses in the nation.
WASHINGTON (DC)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: May 17, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh on Tuesday to be the next archbishop of Washington, D.C., replacing Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, a natural diplomat who raised the church's profile in the capital despite the scandal over sexual abuse by priests.
Bishop Wuerl, 65, is well regarded in the Vatican, where he once worked, and by fellow American bishops as a pragmatic conservative, church experts said. In 18 years as bishop of Pittsburgh, he won respect by consulting parishioners in a major reorganization of parishes and by insisting that the Vatican defrock a priest with a history of sexual abuse. ...
Cardinal McCarrick's five and a half years in Washington coincided with a devastating scandal over sexual abuse by priests, during which he stepped into the news media spotlight to describe the church's response. He also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for church projects and will ordain 12 new priests this month — a bounty compared with most dioceses.
"He has no enemies in this archdiocese," said the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and a former member of Congress.
PITTSBURG (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On his visits to Rome, before repairing to the Spartan dormitory at the North American College, Bishop Donald Wuerl would end his day in St. Peter's Square, usually with other young priests or seminarians, to recite the Apostles Creed.
"It says who we are as Catholics," he explained. ...
On his arrival, Bishop Wuerl quietly suspended priests accused of sexual misconduct. In 1993, that policy put him in a rare confrontation with the Vatican after the church's supreme court ordered him to reinstate Anthony Cipolla, a priest accused in a civil lawsuit of molesting a teenager.
Bishop Wuerl defied an order by the Signatura to reinstate Mr. Cipolla, instead maneuvering an appeal through the Vatican courts. Two years later, the Vatican court reversed itself.
"That's a case where something that was terrible turned out to have some good ramifications," said the Rev. Frank Almade, a member of Bishop Wuerl's senior staff at the time.
CALIFORNIA
The Bakersfield Californian
BY MARK BARNA, Californian staff writer
e-mail: mbarna@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, May 16 2006 9:45 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 16 2006 10:06 PM
Pinpointing when something immensely popular becomes a cultural phenomenon is not easy. But in the case of "The Da Vinci Code," it's as simple as forecasting a sunny summer day in Kern County.
Friday.
That's when Dan Brown's novel, which has already sold more than 40 million copies, premieres as a Hollywood movie, with Tom Hanks as its star and Ron Howard as its director. ...
Why is a novel that portrays the Catholic Church as suppressors of a great secret -- that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and had a child -- so captivating?
Clergy response mixed
Several local clergy members said the sexual abuse scandals and subsequent coverups by the Catholic Church have primed people to believe that the church is capable of going to extremes, including murder, as described in Brown's novel, to keep a secret.
SPOKANE (WA)
The Oregonian
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
SPOKANE -- Lawyers representing people not covered by a proposed settlement in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane bankruptcy have filed an alternative method of paying victims of clergy sexual abuse.
The proposal filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court would assess individual parishes nearly two-thirds of the market value of their churches and schools in exchange for avoiding possible foreclosures.
The alternative payment plan was filed by creditors' committees representing sex-abuse victims left out of the diocese's settlement offer, in which 75 claimants would be paid a total of $45.7 million.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams could decide as early as this week whether the diocese settlement offer is legally acceptable.
Competing plans are not unusual in large bankruptcies, but only one reorganization plan can be accepted.
JOLIET (IL)
Daily Herald
By Christy Gutowski
Daily Herald Legal Affairs Writer
Posted Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Three decades after he was molested by a priest, George Knotek said he was “victimized again” when he reached out for Bishop Joseph Imesch’s help.
“He was guarded and outwardly gracious but legally cunning,” the Minnesota man said. “I was basically told I’d have to appear before a review committee rather than given an apology. They err on the side of protecting themselves rather than caring for survivors and children.”
But Rev. Thomas White — a beloved Wheaton priest who was accused, then cleared, of sexual abuse — offered a sharply different perspective. Imesch promptly placed him on leave in late 2003 after an Aurora man claimed White abused him 24 years earlier. Five months later, his accuser recanted and an exonerated White returned to St. Daniel the Prophet Catholic Church.
“I told (Imesch) it was a damn lie and he agreed,” said White, now retired. “But he did what he had to do and put me on leave. There’s all kinds of people trying to tear him apart, but he was a great bishop as far as I’m concerned. This man has served the church faithfully for 50 years.”
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 17, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
The statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington is suing its former insurer in hopes of recovering a record $965,000 priest-misconduct settlement it paid last month.
The diocese, which currently doesn't have insurance for sexual wrongdoing, has taken out loans to cover its settlement of the civil case of Michael Gay, 38, of South Burlington, versus the Rev. Edward Paquette — the first of 20 child abuse lawsuits against Vermont Catholic clergy.
But the diocese says it held a comprehensive liability insurance policy with the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co. at the time of Paquette's molestation of Gay in the 1970s. As a result, the church has filed a lawsuit in Chittenden Superior Court in Burlington seeking compensation from the insurer.
"There's no question we had a Cadillac policy with the highest and best coverage," church lawyer William M. O'Brien said Tuesday. "Unfortunately for us, we cannot locate the actual physical policy, and we've been searching for months."
ROMEOVILLE (IL)
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
staff writer
ROMEOVILLE — The Vatican on Tuesday named the replacement for Bishop Joseph Imesch, who is retiring after nearly 27 years as head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet.
Monsignor James Peter Sartain, 53, bishop of the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., will be installed June 27 as Joliet's fourth bishop during a ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Raymond. ...
Imesch told reporters at the diocese's St. Charles Borromeo Center that his departure was in no way related to criticism about his responses to reports of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
"It certainly has nothing to do with the sex abuse crisis. I'll be 75. That's the determining issue," he said.
ROMEOVILLE (IL)
The Herald News
By Joe Hosey
staff writer
ROMEOVILLE — The Diocese of Joliet's first new bishop in nearly 27 years is tackling his job with an open mind.
"Do I come here with a mission or an agenda? Not at all," said Bishop James Peter Sartain, the successor of outgoing Bishop Joseph Imesch.
"I have much to learn," Sartain said. ...
Sartain said he hopes to "continue in earnest the healing already begun here and needed so badly throughout our country following the scourge of sexual abuse by some clergy and others acting in the name of the church."
He said there were no credible cases reported in his former diocese after a 2004 comprehensive investigation and report of the previous 54 years. That report found 11 of the 500 priests working in the diocese during that time had been accused of sexual abuse of a minor, he said.
JOLIET (IL)
Detroit Free Press
May 17, 2006
BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER
Bishop Joseph Imesch, a Michigan native now based in Illinois and one of the nation's most widely known Catholic leaders, will retire just days after his 75th birthday in June, Imesch announced Tuesday.
Pope Benedict XVI is moving Bishop J. Peter Sartin from the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., to the Diocese of Joliet, Ill. On June 27, six days after Imesch's birthday, Sartin will be installed in Joliet. ...
In recent years, Imesch has been widely criticized for not being aggressive enough in rooting out sexually abusive priests. In March, he publicly apologized for insensitive statements he made about the sexual abuse of minors.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 17, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Joseph Imesch -- the embattled, longtime head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet -- and will replace him with the bishop of Little Rock, Ark., the Vatican announced Tuesday.
Imesch, who has led the Joliet diocese since 1979, will turn 75 next month, the mandatory retirement age for bishops under church law. Bishops must tender their resignations to the pope, who may choose to accept them (which he most often does) or not.
Imesch has been under fire for the past few years for his handling of clergy sex abuse cases in the Joliet diocese, and he has made no secret of his desire to retire. He wrote to Benedict XVI in November 2004 reminding the pope that his 75th birthday was approaching and that he'd very much like to retire, Imesch said.
"This has nothing to do with the sex abuse crisis," he said.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Margaret Ramirez and Hal Dardick, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune staff reporter David Heinzmann contributed to this story
Published May 17, 2006
The man who will succeed beleaguered Bishop Joseph Imesch as head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet was described Tuesday as a warm, engaging leader--a bishop who never stopped being a good priest.
Bishop J. Peter Sartain, 53, is a Southern-born-and-bred Catholic who has led the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., since 2000. In his new role, he takes over a diocese of about 650,000 Catholics, about six times the size of Arkansas' 107,000 faithful.
He also inherits feelings of anger and betrayal over Imesch's handling of sex-abuse allegations against diocese priests--an ongoing controversy on a much larger scale than anything Sartain has faced in his young career.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
The role of the vow of obedience taken by Sisters of Mercy in how industrial schools were run was queried at a public hearing of the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse yesterday.
Noel McMahon, senior counsel for the committee,quoted article 28 of the sisters' constitution: "The Sisters of Mercy are always to bear in mind, that by the vow of obedience they have for ever (sic) renounced their own will and resigned it to the direction of their Superiors.
They are to obey the Mother Superior, as holding her authority from God . . ." He continued with article 29: "They are to execute without hesitation all directions of the Mother Superior, whether in matters of great or little moment, agreeable or disagreeable . . ."
Sr Margaret Casey, leader of the Sisters of Mercy Western Province, said it was not accepted or the norm to complain to a person in authority about how a place was run. "It would show an inability to cope with the religious life," she said.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
The Sisters of Mercy have denied there was "any deliberate, severe injury to anybody" at St Vincent's industrial school in Goldenbridge, Dublin which they ran.
They also insisted the food there was always adequate, and progressed from being adequate to being varied and appetising, the investigation committee of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was told yesterday.
As the committee's phase III public hearings continued, Sr Helena O'Donoghue, leader of the Sisters of Mercy south central province, said the order denied that any child at Goldenbridge was referred to by number. "Every child was known by their own name," she said, "numbers were used for laundry purposes only".
Water was available, though it was curtailed after tea time where bed-wetting children were concerned, she said. After 1944 all the reports on medical care of children were very positive, she added.
LITTLE ROCK (AK)
Pine Bluff Commercial
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 10:49 AM CDT
LITTLE ROCK - The Rev. J. Peter Sartain, bishop of Little Rock, was named by Pope Benedict on Tuesday as the new bishop for Joliet, Ill.
Sartain, 53, was installed in Little Rock on March 6, 2000, after Little Rock bishop Andrew J. McDonald retired.
Sartain, a native of Memphis, Tenn., is the sixth bishop in the diocese of Little Rock's 163 years, leading Arkansas' 90,000 Catholics.
When Pope John Paul II named Sartain as bishop of Little Rock, he had been a priest in Memphis for 22 years. Sartain had been vicar general of the Diocese of Memphis and pastor of St. Louis Church since 1992. He was ordained a priest in 1978.
Sartain is to replace Bishop Joseph Imesch, who recently apologized for his handling of a sexual abuse case that allegedly took place in the diocese in the 1960s. Imesch has resigned because he is soon to turn 75.
VATICAN CITY
CBS 2
(CBS) VATICAN CITY The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet is getting a new bishop.
The Vatican on Tuesday said Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Monsignor James Peter Sartain bishop in Joliet. Sartain is currently the bishop in Little Rock, Ark.
Sartain will replace Bishop Joseph Imesch, who like all bishops must resign when he turns 75.
Imesch will turn 75 on June 21. He was ordained in December of 1956 and has been bishop in Joliet since August of 1979.
Imesch has scheduled a news conference at 10 a.m., but the Joliet diocese was not releasing further information before that time.
The Joliet diocese has been under fire recently following abuse allegations of sexual abuse by priests. A class-action lawsuit was filed against the diocese in February seeking to force church officials to release the names of all priests and other employees accused of molesting children since 1950.
WASHINGTON (DC)
The New York Times
By JOHN O'NEIL
Published: May 16, 2006
Bishop Donald W. Wuerl of Pittsburgh was named by Pope Benedict XVI today as the new archbishop of Washington, succeeding Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.
Bishop Wuerl, 65, has served as Pittsburgh's bishop since 1988, and has been described as one of the more prominent of the younger conservatives among the nation's church leadership.
Cardinal McCarrick submitted his resignation to the Vatican last July when he turned 75, as church policy requires. ...
In 2003, he was mentioned as a possible successor to Cardinal Law Bernard Law of Boston, who was forced to resign in the face of widespread anger among parishioners over his handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests. At the time, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that Bishop Wuerl has "been roundly praised for his prudent handling of sexual abuse allegations within the Pittsburgh Diocese."
CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by:
Laure Quinlivan
Photographed by: Phil Drechsler
Updated: 5/14/2006 10:47:06 PM
9News Anchor, on set:
The following I-Team report began after concerned Catholics asked us to investigate.
Thousands of people who volunteer and coach at Catholic schools may be at risk for identity theft, thanks to a bad hire by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
In 2003, the Archdiocese began fingerprinting and criminal background checks of all church and school volunteers. but the I-Team finds the person they hired to conduct criminal background checks -- was a criminal himself.
I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan has the exclusive story. [0]
Laure Quinlivan, I-Team reporter, on set:
The Archdiocese personnel director knew Alex Henties had a criminal record, and hired him anyway.
CLEVELAND (OH)
Boston.com
By Thomas J. Sheeran, Associated Press Writer | May 15, 2006
CLEVELAND --The bishop who briefly led the Archdiocese of Boston after Cardinal Bernard Law quit amid the priest sex-abuse scandal was installed Monday to lead a Catholic Diocese of Cleveland that must deal with declining numbers of priests and possible parish closings.
The Most Rev. Richard G. Lennon, 59, his thick Boston accent underscoring his New England roots, was escorted to the cushioned marble bishop's seat, symbol of his authority, by Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, head of the church's Ohio province.
"I pledge myself to work with all of you," Lennon said after his installation.
VERMONT
Times Argus
May 16, 2006
By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald
A national organization of people sexually abused by clergy is blasting Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano for "attacking deeply wounded men and women who were raped as kids by priests."
In a recent letter to the state's 118,000 Catholics, Matano explained why the statewide Diocese of Burlington, fearing the costs of 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against it, just placed its 128 local parishes in charitable trusts.
"In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault," Matano wrote.
In response, David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is asking the bishop to help instead of blame victims.
"It's a terribly hurtful and un-Christian move to lash out at struggling victims of horrific childhood sex crimes and cover-up," Clohessy said Monday in a statement from St. Louis. "If you were raped and sodomized as a child by a trusted priest, and shunned and lied to as an adult by church officials, you may well feel a moral duty to protect others and expose corruption through the time-tested, open American judicial system."
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 16, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont's Catholic Church may soon receive a decision on its call to bar the judge who oversaw a record $965,000 settlement against it from presiding over 19 more priest misconduct lawsuits.
In a motion made public Monday, church lawyer David Cleary claims Judge Ben Joseph's rulings in the recent civil case of Michael Gay, 38, of South Burlington, versus the Rev. Edward Paquette have jeopardized the statewide Diocese of Burlington's ability to receive fair hearings in the future.
"There exists substantial doubt regarding the impartiality of Judge Joseph," Cleary begins his 32-page motion against the judge.
Cleary questions many of Joseph's rulings and comments, such as when the judge asked why the diocese had announced a parish closing and consolidation plan one month before the scheduled start of the trial. The lawyer believes Joseph "clearly was indicating that in his view, the diocese was attempting to create sympathy."
Cleary claims the state judge wouldn't let religious officials rely on Universal Roman Catholic Church law, noting Joseph told a treasurer he was "not as forthcoming frankly as he might have been" when asked about diocesan assets.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
By Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 16, 2006; 7:48 AM
Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick as Archbishop of the Washington Archdiocese, and appointed Pittsburgh Bishop Donald W. Wuerl as his successor, the Vatican announced this morning.
Wuerl, a close friend of McCarrick's who has led the Pittsburgh diocese for 18 years, will be installed June 22, archdiocesan spokeswoman Susan Gibbs said.
The two men will appear together at a news conference at 10 a.m.
McCarrick's five-year stewardship of the Washington Archdiocese has been marked by prolific fundraising and outspoken but folksy leadership on topics ranging from clergy sexual abuse to communion for those who believe in abortion rights to the selection of Pope Benedict XVI last year.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
The Anglican Church in South Australia is planning to cut back its services to fund a $4 million payout to sexual abuse victims.
After months of negotiation, the lawyer leading a class action against the church says a settlement is just weeks away.
Peter Humphries represents 36 people who were allegedly abused by church worker Robert Brandenburg.
Mr Humphries says more claims against the church are yet to be settled.
"We have about 40 claims that are made against persons other than Brandenburg within the Anglican Church, other churchmen and Boys Society leaders or clergy, a collection of individuals, some accounting for multiple abuse."
WASHINGTON (DC)
U.S. Newswire
WASHINGTON, May 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Proposals to conduct compliance audits of U.S. dioceses and eparchies with the U.S. bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People are being sought by theAbuse Tracker Review Board of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Letters of Intent are due June 5.
The complete request for proposal can be found at http://www.usccb.org/ocyp.
The proposals would cover a three-year cycle beginning July 1, 2007, and involve auditing all 195 dioceses the first year. The type and number of audits for 2008 and 2009 may vary, based on 2007 audit results and the direction of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The Charter, which was approved in 2002, commits the bishops to deal appropriately and effectively with sexual abuse of minors by priests, deacons, and other Church personnel and to reach out to victims and their families.
CANADA
London Free Press
By PETER GEIGEN-MILLER, FREE PRESS REPORTER
Two former Port Dover altar boys are hoping their multi-million-dollar lawsuits will help others cope with the devastation of sexual abuse.
Trevor Kannawin and Philippe Lauriault, both 22, are each seeking $3.1 million in damages in sexual abuse suits filed yesterday in the Superior Court of Justice in London.
One reason the two men want to share their story is to give other victims the strength to report abuse, London lawyer Rob Talach said at a news conference called to announce the suits.
"Their hope is to save others from the fate they have and will continue to endure for some time to come."
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Tuesday, May 16, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington has unveiled a two-pronged strategy to deal with potential fallout from a recent $965,000 settlement in the first of 19 priest sex abuse cases it is faces in Chittenden Superior Court.
In a letter written by Bishop Salvatore Matano and read to attendees at Mass over the weekend around the state, Matano said he has placed the diocese's 128 parishes in individual charitable trusts "to protect the vested interests of our parishes.
"In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault," Matano wrote in his letter.
Monday, court officials also confirmed the diocese has filed a motion seeking to have Judge Ben Joseph, the presiding judge in the abuse cases, withdraw from overseeing the remaining priest abuse cases pending in the court.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
By Joe Hosey
staff writer
The Joliet Diocese still will not disclose what the mysterious "stress" and "accusations" were that drove the pastor of St. Joseph Church to resign from his parish — but they insist they have nothing to do with sex.
The Rev. James Radek announced he was ending his nearly four-year tenure at St. Joseph with statements read at the Mother's Day weekend Masses.
The statement explained that Radek, 42, resigned due to "stress, accusations and the conflicts of recent times."
But none of this has anything to do with any sexual dalliances, said Thomas Kerber, spokesman for the diocese.
"The accusations mentioned in the statement read at Sunday Masses referred only to some internal parish matters," Kerber said. "There are no allegations of sexual misconduct."
BOSTON (MA)
Catholic Online
By Christine Williams
5/15/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
BOSTON, Mass. – Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley is inviting Boston Catholics to join him in a novena and "pilgrimage of repentance and hope" that will take him to parishes throughout the Boston Archdiocese that have experienced "an especially painful history" of sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
The novena to the Holy Spirit is designed to promote healing and renewal of the archdiocese in the wake of the clergy abuse crisis, which burgeoned into a national scandal following a January 2002 expose in Boston of decades of clergy sexual abuse of minors.
"Publicly acknowledging the church's faults and failures is an important element of asking forgiveness of those who have been harmed by the church," said Cardinal O'Malley in a statement announcing the parish visits.
"The sexual abuse crisis has caused intense suffering for survivors and their families and has been a source of shame and sorrow for our entire church community," he added. "Our hope is that these services will bring together survivors, their families and friends, as well as clergy, parishioners and members of the broader community."
CANADA
London Free Press
Mon, May 15, 2006
By PETER GEIGEN-MILLER, LONDON FREE PRESS REPORTER
Two former Port Dover altar boys are each seeking damages of $3.1 million in a sexual-abuse lawsuit filed Monday against a priest, the Roman Catholic Diocese of London and past and present diocesan bishops.
The suits by Trevor Kannawin and Philippe Lauriault, both 22, were announced at a press conference in London Monday morning.
Named as a defendant in the civil action is Rev. Konstanty Przybylski, 56, who served as a parish priest in Port Dover between 1993 and 2000.
BROOKLYN (NY)
New York Magazine
By Robert Kolker
'Does it hurt?"
The boy and his teacher were in the front seat of the teacher’s blue Plymouth sedan. The boy was 12 years old, pale and shy, and new to Brooklyn—plucked out of another life in Toronto after his mother remarried. He’d lost his father when he was 7, and the promise of a fresh start had appealed to him—a new family, a new world to explore. But a few months had passed, and the boy was lonely. His new stepsisters ignored him; he had trouble making friends at his new school. So when a popular teacher who lived nearby took an interest in him, it seemed like welcome news.
The teacher was in his early twenties—closer in age to many of his students than to his colleagues—tall and athletic, with a shock of red hair, and the kids liked him: He wasn’t the type who’d shake his fist at the heavens if he’d heard someone had gone to see a movie. The teacher taught first grade, and the boy was too old to be in his class, but they were neighbors. On the way to the bus stop, the boy would spot the teacher walking from his modest ground-floor newlywed apartment, coffee mug in hand, to his car. And on many days, the teacher was happy to offer the boy and a few other neighborhood kids a lift.
The teacher would usually park on the access road alongside Ocean Parkway, and they’d all walk into school together. But on this cold autumn morning, a few months into the school year, the boy would later remember, the teacher didn’t leave the car right away. As the boy and his friends began emptying out of the backseat, the boy remembers the teacher turning to him.
“Stay a few minutes. I want to talk to you.”
The other kids left.
“Come to the front,” the boy remembers the teacher saying. “Come sit beside me.”
Was he in trouble? Had he done something wrong? He couldn’t think of anything, but he did as he was told.
The Plymouth had a wide bench seat up front, with no split down the middle.
“Come sit on my lap,” said the teacher.
Then the teacher picked him up, the boy remembers, and put him on his lap. The teacher’s penis was erect.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
WTNH
(Bridgeport-AP, May 14, 2006 3:40 PM) _ A handyman who was jailed on charges of molesting a 4-year-old girl at a synagogue in 2000 and acquitted in a second trial is suing the parents.
Alfredo Vargas is winning support from a rabbi and another family who say the same parents made sexual abuse accusations against their children, though no one else was prosecuted.
The 69-year-old Vargas spent about five years in prison fighting the case. Leaders of a Bridgeport synagogue say that after he was convicted, the parents of the girl won a settlement that gave them the synagogue that Vargas had built by hand.
Within weeks of the settlement, Vargas was acquitted of the charges in a second trial in January. He was deported back home to Nicaragua.
365Gay.com
May 15, 2006 - 12:01 am ET
(London) The Roman Catholic Church was in the midst of damage control on Sunday following the firing of a key aide to the Cardinal in London for being gay and the reported arrest of a top Vatican official in Rome for trying to pick up a gay or transsexual prostitute.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has reportedly fired his top aide after discovering the man is gay. ...
The Ansa news agency and Italian newspapers report that the 48-year-old priest - whose rank was withheld and who was identified only by the initials CB - works in the office of the secretary of state of the Vatican.
"Information disseminated this morning by newspapers concerning a cleric in service at the Vatican are totally without foundation," a Vatican statement said.
The media outlets are standing by their stories.
CANADA
CD98.9
Posted by Newsroom on 2006/5/15 5:54:26 (24 reads)
The two victims that were sexually assaulted by a former Port Dover priest will be holding a press conference today in London. Father Konnie Pryzyblyski pled guilty to three counts of sexual assault stemming between 1995 and 2000 in Port Dover. Pryzyblyski appeared in court last week where the court heard the victim impact statements and determined that sentencing will take place in another month.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 15, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont's Catholic Church, fearing the potential costs of 19 priest misconduct lawsuits against it, hopes to shield its 130 local parishes by placing each in a charitable trust.
"In such litigious times, it would be a gross act of mismanagement if I did not do everything possible to protect our parishes and the interests of the faithful from unbridled, unjust and terribly unreasonable assault," Bishop Salvatore Matano has written in a letter to be shared this month with the state's 118,000 Catholics.
Matano, however, doesn't explain how the diocese will pay off its debt, which totaled $127,947 at the start of its fiscal year July 1 and ballooned tenfold when the church took out a loan last month to cover a record $965,000 settlement in the first priest misconduct lawsuit against it.
And the lawyer representing all 19 men accusing priests of child sexual abuse says he'll fight the charitable trust move in court, saying "what the diocese is doing is committing fraud."
CANADA
Ottawa Sun
By Canadian Press
CORNWALL — Toronto’s former top cop says he has “some knowledge” of events surrounding a sweeping investigation in the 1990s of allegations of systemic sexual abuse by community leaders here.
But Julian Fantino says he isn’t sure how valuable his information is to the Cornwall public inquiry examining how the allegations were handled.
“The relevance of what I might have to offer is beyond my determination,” Fantino said Saturday.
“I have knowledge, some knowledge, of course, of some of these events. I will be at the disposal of due process.”
Now Ontario’s commissioner of emergency management, Fantino would not specify what information he has on the four-year investigation known as Project Truth.
Police laid 114 charges against 15 men after the investigation, but few of the cases ever made it to court and police said they never found any evidence of a pedophile ring.
The probe was launched after former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop began a crusade to uncover what he believed to be widespread sexual abuse of children by prominent members of the community.
Over the course of several years in the 1990s, Dunlop collected thousands of documents related to the alleged abuse of dozens of victims and alleged perpetrators.
While testifying at a subsequent criminal trial involving a Cornwall priest, Dunlop admitted he was uncertain as to whom he could trust within the justice system, so he delivered some documents to Fantino — then chief of police in London, Ont.
During his testimony, Dunlop called Fantino “the only honest cop” in the province.
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UNITED STATES
The Electric New Paper
TO some, he is a prophet. To the FBI, he is a fugitive from justice.
To cult-busters, he's a Waco-style mass murderer waiting to happen.
And to at least 70 women and girls, he is their husband.
The name of Warren Jeffs, 50, was added to FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list last week, alongside the likes of Osama bin Laden, drug lords and other vicious criminals.
He is formally charged with sexual conduct with a minor and forcing teenage girls to marry older men against their will. But he is accused of much, much more.
Jeffs is a prophet to an estimated 10,000 followers of a secretive sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).
According to the US authorities, Jeffs' male followers each 'marry' dozens of girls as young as 12.
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
WTNH
(New Britain-WTNH, May 14, 2006 6:35 PM) _ New Britain priest Krikoris Keshishian, who is accused of sexual assault, is getting support from some of his parishioners.
by News Channel 8's Darren Duarte
Keshishian is a priest at Saint Stephen's Armenian Apostolic Church.
Outside parishioners react to allegations of sexual abuse against their priest.
"That's a shame. That's a shame."
Inside Father Krikoris Keshishian gave his first sermon since his arrest Tuesday on child sexual assault charges.
MINNESOTA
Spero News
Monday, May 15, 2006
by Elizabeth Schwab
Father George Welzbacher, pastor of the Church of Saint Agnes, has issued a statement regarding the unexpected reassignments of both himself and Father Robert Altier. Sometime in mid-June, Father Welzbacher will be leaving Saint Agnes parish at his own request and move to an unspecified location. But the biggest surprise is Archbishop Harry Flynn's shocking decision to remove Father Altier from Saint Agnes and appoint him as assistant chaplain of a nursing home in an outlying district 30 miles southeast of Saint Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota. ...
VIRTUS and its related program Talking About Touching (TAT) are the answers proposed by the Bishops of the United States to the sex-abuse scandal which broke out in 2002. Unfortunately, these graphic sex-ed programs are in direct violation of Vatican teachings on human sexuality and do nothing to stop predators but instead place the burden of protection on young children themselves. Archbishop Flynn served as chairperson of the USCCB's Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse which developed these programs and he chose to proliferate it throughout his archdiocese beginning in the 2006-2007 school year, with pilot program testing to start in the spring of 2006. As the material content of these programs became more widely known, concern grew over their appropriateness.
And because many aspects of VIRTUS and TAT are contrary to Church teaching (see samples lessons here ), Father Altier felt it was his duty to inform parents in an effort to protect the young children who would have their innocence irrevocably shattered by such programs. As parents became aware of the dangers of VIRTUS and TAT, they explored the possibility of using an alternative program: Formation in Christian Chastity (FICC) from the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (For information, visit here)
UNITED STATES
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By PAT McDONOUGH
Special to Newsday
Forty million hardcover copies have been sold, the paperback is a bestseller, and the movie will open to sellout crowds this week. What's driving The Da Vinci Code craze? Is it something in the story or in us?
Sure, it's got a winning combination of suspense and secrets, spiced with art history and a little romance. But is there something more fundamental fueling the success of Dan Brown's fiction?
The Roman Catholic Church, quick to condemn its theology, can't ignore its sociology. Christians want to know Jesus, how he lived and who he loved. It's a task easily accomplished through the Gospels, which are proclaimed and preached at Mass every day. But my guess is that Catholics will pack theaters rather than parishes to gain a glimpse of the holy on Friday, in spite of the Vatican's urging the faithful to boycott The Da Vinci Code.
Disillusioned by the priest sex-abuse scandal, worn out by the clergy crisis and conflicts between culture and church teaching, Catholics -- young Catholics in particular -- might look toward Hollywood for hope and healing this week. It will be a futile attempt to replace faith, but nonetheless a sign that broken hearts still want to believe.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
NO DIRECT evidence tied a Toledo priest to the bizarre ritualistic murder of a Roman Catholic nun 26 years ago, but plenty of circumstantial evidence did.
To the jury's credit in reaching its surprisingly swift guilty verdict against the Rev. Gerald Robinson, justice may have been delayed - by a quarter century or so - but ultimately, it was not denied.
When Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found murdered in the sacristy of the Mercy Hospital chapel where she and Robinson worked, he was an early suspect. But according to police testimony, an investigation into the priest was just beginning when it was abruptly terminated. No one was charged in the crime.
The man convicted a generation later of killing Sister Margaret Ann actually presided over her funeral and went on to serve as pastor in three Toledo Diocese parishes.
MARYLAND
WUSA
Created:5/13/2006 4:47:49 PM
Last Updated:5/13/2006 10:46:28 PM
Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Family Crimes Division have been investigating the report of sexual abuse by a priest that occurred 26 years ago, but was reported to them in March of this year.
The investigation revealed that the now-42-year-old male victim from Silver Spring, had been abused by his priest when he was 17 years old. In 1980, he had sought counseling from the priest who served St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Olney, because the victim was going through a difficult time in his life. A meeting was scheduled with the priest in his rectory which was then located in a single-family home at 104 King William Drive in Olney.
When the victim arrived, he was escorted by the priest to his bedroom which he also used as an office. After an initial verbal discussion, the priest offered the victim a massage which escalated to a sexual act. The victim continued to attend the church but avoided contact with that priest. On March 11, 2006, the victim reported the previous sexual assault to police because he had just recently come in contact with him while the victim was working at a local store, and the now former priest had requested by note that they meet socially.
BELLINGHAM (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Rick Holland
Sunday, May 14, 2006 - Updated: 02:56 AM EST
BELLINGHAM -- She says she’s old enough to remember being taught that priests were always right, but Jeanne E. Garrior is glad Cardinal Sean O’Malley is coming to Bellingham to acknowledge that the clergy is not infallible.
Late last week, O’Malley announced he will visit Bellingham as one of nine communities "that have experienced an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests," according to a press released issued by the Archdiocese of Boston.
O’Malley will perform a prayer service at St. Blaise parish on June 2 at 7 p.m.
St. Blaise was named the receiving parish for members of Assumption parish in South Bellingham, which was rocked by scandals involving sexual abuse by three of its former priests, Paul Desilets, Robert Morisette and Richard Matte.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The murder trial of Roman Catholic priest Gerald Robinson ended with a dramatic conviction Thursday, but the verdict did not mark the end of legal proceedings for the retired Toledo cleric.
As Robinson sits in Lucas County jail awaiting transfer to an Ohio prison, a civil lawsuit against the 68-year-old priest is scheduled for a pretrial conference June 5 before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Ruth Ann Franks.
A Toledo-area woman in her 40s, who filed anonymously as Jane Doe with her husband as co-plaintiff Spouse Doe, alleges in the suit that she was raped and tortured in ritual abuse by Robinson when she was a young girl.
The civil suit also names the Toledo Catholic Diocese as a defendant.
COLORADO CITY (AZ)
Los Angeles Times
By David Kelly and Gary Cohn, Times Staff Writers
May 12, 2006
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — In a place where outside authorities ignored sexual abuse and local police acted as church enforcers, a girl couldn't even count on her parents for help.
Sara Hammon said she made that discovery early.
Her father, the late J.M. Hammon, was a respected church figure in a community dominated by his religious sect. He was a contender for prophet, the highest post in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was also a child molester.
Hammon said her father began abusing her when she was about 5. This was the same father who would deliver stern Sunday sermons on purity, propriety and, above all, unquestioning obedience of wives to husbands, children to parents and everyone to the prophet.
COLORADO CITY (AZ)
Los Angeles Times
By David Kelly and Gary Cohn, Times Staff Writers
May 13, 2006
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — There is nothing physically imposing about Warren Jeffs. He's tall and reedy with a quavering voice and, acquaintances say, an especially limp handshake.
Family members describe the church leader as secretive, strict and "very militant about his religion."
Jeffs, 50, grew up in a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints compound in Salt Lake City, where he served first as a teacher and then principal of the sect's Alta Academy.
"Warren was very reserved, very starchy," said his brother Ward. "He was an intelligent man, and my father always favored him."
Warren Jeffs is accused of repeatedly raping his then-5-year-old nephew Brent while Jeffs was at the academy. In a lawsuit filed in 2004 by Brent Jeffs, who is now 23, the church leader is said to have a history of molesting children dating back to when he was 14. The suit said the church had received complaints for years that he was abusing children yet did nothing to stop him and instead made him school principal.
UTAH
Deseret Morning News
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
Warren Jeffs seemed to know that law enforcement was closing in on the Fundamentalist LDS Church.
Warren Jeffs "In the last moments ... the final preparation ... the storm clouds are gathering against us," he said in a secretly recorded priesthood sermon obtained by the Deseret Morning News. "Only the Lord can protect us from the trials ahead."
In the Aug. 10, 2003, Sunday meeting recorded by a member shortly before the member was excommunicated, Jeffs railed against "sinners" within his flock. Later that day, Jeffs addressed his entire congregation in Hildale and cancelled church meetings. Within months, dozens were purged from FLDS ranks.
SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
Daily Herald
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY -- A week of focused attention on the search for Warren Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a southern Utah-based polygamist sect, has The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints calling for more accurate reporting from news agencies worldwide.
In a statement issued Thursday, the LDS Church said references to polygamist groups as "Mormons" or "Mormon sects" are "misleading and confusing to the vast majority of audiences who rightfully associate the term 'Mormon' with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
Church spokesman Dale Bills said the public affairs office has fielded numerous media requests after the FBI added Jeffs to its Ten Most Wanted list.
"There is no reason why the church would wish to comment about a legal action concerning a group with which it has no affiliation or connection," Bills said in a statement posted on the church's Web site on Thursday.
The statement cites two examples of media confusion, including a report by CNN on Tuesday that superimposed the face of Jeffs over an image of the church's Salt Lake Temple, implying a connection between the two.
Los Angeles Times
By David Kelly and Gary Cohn, Times Staff Writers
May 13, 2006
To his followers, Warren Jeffs is a teacher and spiritual leader who channels divine revelations — the man they call their prophet.
To the FBI, Jeffs is an accused rapist and fugitive on its 10 Most Wanted list with a $100,000 bounty on his head — a man it calls armed and dangerous.
Despite the conflicting images, one thing is clear: Jeffs' four-year reign as the patriarch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, has been the most tumultuous in at least 50 years.
His authoritarian rule has sparked internal conflict and lawsuits alleging sexual abuse and other criminal misconduct. And that, in turn, has attracted rare public scrutiny of this secretive sect of 10,000 polygamists and its remote enclave on the Utah-Arizona border.
SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Already riled by the HBO series "Big Love," the LDS Church this week faced a new public relations problem as the story of fugitive polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs became worldwide news.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, criticized media outlets from CNN to Fox News for not adequately distinguishing between the mainstream LDS Church and polygamist groups, particularly the sect led by Jeffs.
Jeffs is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which has historically occupied by the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. He made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list last Saturday, triggering a week-long deluge of media coverage on the FLDS and polygamy in general.
"Too often news reports refer to these groups as 'Mormons' or 'Mormon sects,' the statement posted on the church's Web site said. The reference is "misleading and confusing" because it implies an association with the LDS Church, the statement continues.
COLORADO CITY (AZ)
Los Angeles Times
By David Kelly and Gary Cohn, Times Staff Writers
May 12, 2006
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — For half a century, while polygamous members of this remote enclave engaged in widespread sexual abuse and child exploitation, government authorities on all levels did little to intervene or protect generations of victims.
Here in the sparsely populated canyon lands straddling Arizona and Utah, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS — an offshoot of Mormonism — live by their own rules.
The religious sect of about 10,000 portrays itself as an industrious commune of the faithful, choosing to live apart from a hostile world. But their simple lifestyle and self-imposed isolation have concealed troubling secrets that are only beginning to emerge.
Court records, undisclosed investigative reports and interviews by The Times over the last year show that church authorities flout state and federal laws and systematically deny rights and freedoms, especially to women and children.
TOLEDO (OH)
San Francisco Chronicle
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, May 13, 2006
(05-13) 10:51 PDT Toledo, Ohio (AP) --
Few people dared to say anything bad about priests in 1980, when Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found stabbed to death in a hospital chapel. Even when the hospital's chaplain emerged as the only suspect, witnesses were reluctant to implicate the priest.
But the sex abuse scandal that has since swept through the Roman Catholic Church has changed the way people view clergy.
"Times are very different in many ways," Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates said after the Rev. Gerald Robinson was convicted last week of murdering the nun 26 years after her death.
Prosecutors reminded jurors of that in their final arguments, telling them it would have been difficult right after Pahl's death to convince a jury that a priest was capable of murder.
"All the scandals that have occurred have certainly changed the climate," Chris Anderson, an assistant prosecutor, said after the verdict. "People still hold priests in high reverence, but this may change things."
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By HIROKO SATO, Sun Staff
LOWELL -- Nowhere in Greater Lowell did the clergy sex-abuse scandal hit home harder than at St. Michael Parish in Lowell's Centralville neighborhood.
The late Rev. Joseph Birmingham is believed to have abused at least a dozen boys while he was assigned there in the 1970s.
So it's no surprise that Cardinal Sean O'Malley is including the church as part of his 10-day pilgrimage of "repentance and hope" to parishes with painful histories of clergy sexual abuse.
O'Malley's "Novena to the Holy Spirit" begins Ascension Thursday, May 25, with a Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston at 7:30 p.m. He will then visit nine parishes before concluding his tour on Pentecost Sunday, June 4, the end of the 50-day Easter season.
PORT CHARLOTTE (FL)
The News-Press
By Staff Reports
Originally posted on May 13, 2006
Fourteen people, including a priest from Port Charlotte, were arrested in a prostitution sting in Fort Myers on Thursday, police said.
Undercover female officers with the Fort Myers Police Department posed as street prostitutes at Hanson Street and Cleveland Avenue, or U.S. 41. They pulled off the sting after receiving complaints from residents in the neighborhood, police said.
Among those arrested was Demetrios Kavouras, 69, of Cape Coral, who is a priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Port Charlotte, according to police spokeswoman Maureen Buice.
NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger
Saturday, May 13, 2006
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff
A married Roman Catholic priest who battered his wife, bullied his children and fondled a boy was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail.
After listening to his four children and wife describe the violent episodes they endured for years, the Rev. William Winston, 52, the former pastor of St. Virgil's Catholic Parish in Morris Township, faced them in the packed Morristown courtroom and gave a tearful apology.
"I have failed as a father, and as a husband," he said. "I wish I could say it to you on a daily basis for every day of the rest of our lives."
In February, Winston pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and child abuse, admitting that he assaulted his wife, Janet, twice in 2004. He knocked her to the ground and continued to kick and punch her. On Nov. 1, 2004, Winston inflicted a permanent injury to her jaw.
The admitted alcoholic acknowledged that while drunk, he fondled a boy, now 11, at least four times between February 1999 and February 2002.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Ken Leiser
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/13/2006
A retired Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing children in Iowa during the 1970s and '80s before moving to the St. Louis area nearly two years ago has been defrocked, the Davenport Diocese confirmed Friday.
William Wiebler sparked concerns among neighbors after leaving the St. John Vianney Renewal Center in Jefferson County in spring 2004 and moving to an apartment building in University City.
In a news release this week, the Davenport Diocese announced that Bishop William Franklin had received formal notification from the Vatican that Wiebler had been laicized, or defrocked. The decree by Pope Benedict XVI cannot be appealed.
VERMONT
Burling Free Press
Published: Saturday, May 13, 2006
Free Press Staff Report
The judge presiding over more than 20 Roman Catholic priest sex-abuse cases pending in Chittenden Superior Court has ordered that no more documents connected with the cases be released until he holds a hearing on a request to release additional documents.
Judge Ben Joseph issued two orders this week in response to a motion filed by Robert Hemley, a lawyer representing The Burlington Free Press and WCAX-TV seeking access to more church records related to the 20 cases filed with the court.
The statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington is facing allegations it failed to protect altar boys at various parishes in the state from being molested by certain priests. Last month, the diocese paid $965,000 to settle the first of the cases.
When the settlement was announced, Joseph agreed to lift a gag order he previously imposed to ensure an unbiased jury would be selected for a trial in the case.
PORT CHARLOTTE (FL)
Herald-Tribune
By KRISTEN KRIDEL
kristen.kridel@heraldtribune.com
PORT CHARLOTTE -- The pastor of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was arrested Thursday during a prostitution sting in Fort Myers.
The Rev. Demetrios Kavouras, 68, of Cape Coral, was charged with soliciting prostitution, a first-degree misdemeanor.
"Everyone loved and respected him," said parish member John Dietrich. "I can say most people are shocked to hear this."
Kavouras, the church's pastor for eight years, was one of 14 people arrested during the prostitution sting, according to a Fort Myers Police Department press release. Undercover female officers posed as prostitutes.
CAMDEN (NJ)
Courier-Post
Saturday, May 13, 2006
By RENEE WINKLER
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
A former religion teacher and coach of several athletic teams at St. Joseph's High School in Hammonton was sentenced Friday to four years in federal prison for possessing as many as 300 images of child pornography.
Michael McColgan, 35, of Fay Ann Drive in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, was arrested in 2005 after he e-mailed to an undercover FBI agent an image showing the rape of a young girl. Investigators said the child in that photo appeared to be about 6 years old.
In sentencing McColgan, U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler recommended he be sent to a prison with a therapy and counseling program for sex offenders.
McColgan will not have to report to prison until after mid-June, the anticipated closing date for the sale of his home.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was "a classic textbook satanic cult killing," according to Lucas County Assistant Prosecutor Dean Mandros, but he thought it would not be a wise strategy to pursue in the murder trial of Toledo priest Gerald Robinson.
In an interview in his office yesterday, the day after Robinson was convicted of murdering Sister Margaret Ann on Holy Saturday 26 years ago, Mr. Mandros said he "did not want to go in that direction" of trying to prove that the crime was a satanic slaying.
"There was a tremendous amount of evidence that would have allowed you to make that argument," he said. "We had professionals with expertise in the occult say, 'Yes, this is a classic textbook satanic cult killing' - more than any case they'd ever seen."
But prosecutors felt it was better to try the 68-year-old priest on a straight murder charge. That legal strategy proved successful for prosecutors Thursday morning when a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury convicted Robinson of murder. Judge Thomas Osowik immediately sentenced the retired priest to 15 years to life in prison, with eligibility for parole in 10 1/2 years.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By CHRISTINA HALL
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Gerald Robinson was treated like other inmates during his booking at the Lucas County jail: patted down, fingerprinted, and photographed.
There were even catcalls from other inmates near the booking desk. Nothing nasty, jail officials said, just people recognizing who he was and asking, "Did you do it?"
Robinson is in cell No. 9 on the second-floor medical area. As a precaution, he is under a "strict code 1," which is for suicidal inmates or those who may cause physical harm to themselves or others. Jail authorities check on him within every 10 minutes, and he is not allowed linens, towels, or shoestrings.
"We do that for a lot of people who are sentenced and are new to the criminal justice system," said Jim O'Neal, corrections administrator.
PORT CHARLOTTE (FL)
Tampa Bay's 10
Port Charlotte, Florida - Church officials say a priest has been suspended from his duties after he was among 14 people arrested on prostitution-related charges.
Police say the Reverend Demetrios Kavouras of Cape Coral was charged with soliciting or inducing another to commit prostitution, a misdemeanor.
Fort Myers police say Kavouras solicited sex from a female undercover police officer posing as a street prostitute.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
May. 13, 2006 12:00 AM
A suspended Roman Catholic priest wants the sex charges against him dropped, with his attorney arguing that fading memories and the deaths of potential witnesses damage his defense.
The charges against Monsignor Dale Fushek, once among the most influential priests in the Diocese of Phoenix, stem from his relationships with teenage boys between 1985 and 1994.
Fushek faces trial June 2. He is fighting for both his reputation and his freedom, with some counts carrying a three month jail term and others six months in jail.
"By and large, the allegations in this case relate to incidents where there are no witnesses" beyond Fushek and his accusers, said Thomas Hoidal, one of Fushek's attorneys.
UNITED STATES
Brockton Enterprise
Every time we think the Catholic Church in the United States has done everything it can to make amends for allowing priests to abuse thousands of children over many decades, something happens to make us wonder if Catholic leaders have learned any lesson at all.
The latest affront comes in the form of U.S. Roman Catholic leaders aggressively attacking lawyers who represent sexual abuse victims. The group of archbishops and advisers is running a campaign to portray the lawyers as money-hungry ambulance-chasers. They are telling abuse victims to deal directly with the church — and save the legal fees. They also are battling legislation in several states that would make it easier for sexual abuse victims to sue.
This approach is wrong and will likely backfire against the church. We have no doubt that some of the lawyers representing sexual abuse victims are in it for the money. This is their job, after all. But without aggressive lawyers who fought to uncover the deep, dark secrets of the church, thousands of abuse victims and their families would continue to suffer in silence. It isn't the fault of the lawyers or the legal system that the church has been forced to pay more than $1.5 billion to abuse victims. It is the fault of church leaders — cardinals, bishops and others — who knew that children were being systematically abused and did nothing to stop it.
CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America
The following is most of the text of two motions filed May 11, 2006 in Illinois. They involve lawsuits against the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a priest of the Chicago archdiocese who is charged with molesting five boys.
SOUTH AFRICA
Saturday Star
May 13, 2006 Edition 2
SHEENA ADAMS AND CHIARA CARTER
A British priest charged with indecently assaulting a homeless 10-year-old South African boy has been given his passport back, and permission to return to the UK.
The 52-year-old alleged sex tourist, who appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court yesterday, is the vicar of three English parishes. Child rights supporters and people associated with homeless children shelters protested outside the court when the man appeared yesterday.
His advocate, William King, successfully applied for his client, who may not be named until he pleads to a charge of indecent assault, to have his passport returned so that the clergyman may travel home to his quaint village church in the Oxfordshire countryside. It is believed he is an Anglican vicar but this was not disclosed in court yesterday.
According to an article posted on an Oxfordshire-based website, the accused travels to South Africa twice a year and has been "supporting a hostel in Cape Town for several years".
MARYLAND
Washington Post
By Cameron W. Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 13, 2006; Page B02
Montgomery County police yesterday arrested a former Roman Catholic priest living in Rockville on charges of abusing a minor in 1980.
William McSherry Stock, 63, was ordained in 1969 and served five area churches before leaving the priesthood in 1985, said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Stock was registered to work as a substitute public school teacher from the fall of 2003 until March 2004, but Brian Edwards, a spokesman for the Montgomery County public schools, said the system did not have records indicating whether he taught.
Police began their investigation in March after a 42-year-old Silver Spring man reported that Stock, while an associate pastor at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Olney, had offered him a massage that escalated to a sexual act. The Silver Spring man was 17 at the time and had sought counseling from Stock.
CANADA
London Free Press
By KATE SCHWASS, SUN MEDIA
SIMCOE -- One victim says he is "broken," while another says he feels immense shame because of the sexual abuse he suffered.
Philippe-Alexandre Lauriault and Trevor Kannawin, both 22, gave victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing of Rev. Konstanty Przybylski.
Przybylski pleaded guilty in February to sexually abusing Lauriault and Kannawin between 1995 and 2000, while he was a priest at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church in Port Dover.
Przybylski has lived in London since 2000. When he was arrested nearly a year ago, he was not assigned to a parish, a spokesperson for the Diocese of London said.
SPOKANE (WA)
The News Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: May 13th, 2006 01:00 AM
SPOKANE – A federal judge will decide whether a newspaper can see sex abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which wants to block their release to avoid possible disclosure of unfounded allegations against priests.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams has scheduled a hearing Monday on The Spokesman-Review’s request to look at versions of the claims with claimants’ names deleted.
The newspaper has formally objected to a diocese motion to seal court records in the case. Copies of the claims already have been made available to attorneys and others working on the case.
There are about 175 individual claims against the diocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2004 because of the sex abuse scandal.
A recent court filing in a related lawsuit said that more than a dozen abusers whose identities have not been made public are named in the claims that the newspaper seeks.
CENTREVILLE (MI)
Sturgis Journal
By Corky Emrick
Sturgis Journal
CENTREVILLE — Charges against a former pastor of a Sturgis church were amended Thursday at a preliminary examination in St. Joseph County District Court.
Steven Lynn Ruger, 42, of Vicksburg was originally charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in one case, and two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a second case. Ruger now faces six counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
District Judge Jeffrey Middleton set a circuit court arraignment date for June 16. He also denied a request to lower Ruger’s bond.
The first of two cases against Ruger was held in a closed courtroom to protect the 13-year-old victim.
MISSISSIPPI
Clarion-Ledger
By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter delayed a decision today on whether the Rev. Jeffery Stallworth's name should be removed from the state sex offender registry.
Stallworth, pastor of Word and Worship church in Jackson, contends he should not be on the registry because his misdemeanor fourth-degree sex conviction and sentence were removed by a judge and the crime he pleaded guilty to in Maryland would not require a person to register as a sex offender in Mississippi.
CONCORD (NY)
WCAX
CONCORD, N.H. The attorney general's office says New Hampshire's Roman Catholic Diocese has given a constructive response to how it will improve its sexual abuse prevention program.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker says the state won't publicize details of the response before prosecutors and church officials have a chance to discuss the issue in person, perhaps as early as next week.
BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Demcorat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE -
Admitted child molester the Rev. Real "Ray" Bourque should be removed from the diocese or housed under strict supervision, according to a letter delivered Thursday for Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton.
"Once again we find ourselves forced to beg a bishop to protect the innocent and vulnerable from a sexual predator," stated the letter from the St. Louis-based citizen's group, Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests. Four group members delivered the letter at the chancery. Braxton was not there.
Bourque, 78, is a retired and defrocked priest of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a world-wide priestly order that operates theAbuse Tracker Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in Belleville. Both Braxton and former Belleville bishop Wilton Gregory, now archbishop of Atlanta, have stated they were unaware of Bourque's background until reading about it in the News-Democrat. Gregory has said had he known, he would not have allowed Bourque's transfer, which occurred in 2002 when Gregory was president of the U.S. Conference of Bishops.
"It's hard to imagine that a religious order would secretly transfer a known predator into (the) diocese at the height of the clergy sex scandal, without the knowledge of church officials," the letter said.
FOXBORO (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laurel J. Sweet
Friday, May 12, 2006 - Updated: 11:28 AM EST
A retired Foxboro priest pleaded guilty yesterday to raping a child nearly 40 years ago after prosecutors divulged the victim’s parents would put him in bed with her to sleep off his drunken stupors.
The Rev. Gerard McMahon, 70, frail and hard-of-hearing, faced dying behind bars. He was instead sentenced to life on probation by Norfolk Superior Court Judge Issac Borenstein, who forbade him from being around children.
“What happened to the little girl wasn’t right,” said McMahon’s defense attorney, Joseph Machera, “but my belief is that if they had put this priest on the couch he never would have gone looking for her in her bedroom.”
Prosecutor Jeanmarie Carroll said the sexual abuse occurred between the summers of 1967 and 1970, when McMahon left St. Mary’s Church to become a Navy chaplain in the Vietnam War.
The parents of the victim, who was 6 when McMahon first molested her and is now 44, “were very involved with the local parish,” Carroll said. “Father McMahon was a frequent visitor in her family’s home.
NEW JERSEY
Dail Record
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD
The former pastor of St. Virgil's Roman Catholic Church in Morris Township was handcuffed and sent to the Morris County jail this morning for 180 days for battering his wife in 2004 and touching his son in a sexual way.
William L. Winston, 52, was confronted in a courtroom this morning by his wife, Janet, and his four children, who all emotionally said they wanted answers to why he served parishioners so well but treated his family with such contempt.
"We're very confused by this gigantic claim of alcoholism," Janet Winston said, referring to her husband's excuses that alcoholism accounted for his years of abuse. She said she tried to hang on to her marriage for years but was beaten down by 2004 when Winston knocked her to the floor of the rectory, kicked her and damaged her jaw.
"I wish it could have ended differently, but I held on till the bitter end," Janet Winston said.
Turning to face his wife and children in the courtroom, William Winston apologized repeatedly, saying he only meant to love his family and he realizes how he has failed as a father and husband.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
BLADE STAFF
Defense attorneys for Catholic priest Gerald Robinson said they intend to appeal a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury’s verdict finding their client guilty of the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on April 5, 1980.
“We certainly respectfully disagree with the jury’s verdict and intend to appeal,” defense attorney Alan Konop said at a press conference after the trial. “It’s been a very difficult verdict. We felt there was reasonable doubt. Obviously the jury disagreed ...That’s the way the system works.”
Mr. Konop said there were “some appealable issues,” but declined to comment further.
However, co-counsel John Thebes said one of the things defense attorneys felt should have been admissible in court was the comments made by Robinson when he was alone in the interrogation room. A tape of some of those comments was played in court, but was largely indiscernible.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
THE Church of Ireland has become the first national province of the worldwide Anglican Communion to incorporate 'good practice' child protection measures in its constitution.
The decision was described by the Bishop of Cork, Paul Colton, as "an innovative lead within Anglicanism on the part of the Church of Ireland".
The three-day General Synod - the Church's parliament - which ends today also made provision in its ecclesiastical laws for the funding of two child protection officers, one full-time in the North, the other part-time in the Republic.
It also emerged at the Synod that the election for a successor to Archbishop Robin Eames, who will retire as Primate in December, will take place early next year. But the favourite to succeed him as Archbishop of Armagh, Dr John Neill, currently Archbishop of Dublin, declined yesterday to say if he would be a candidate.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Star
A former missionary priest is due in court today to face charges of indecent assault on two young boys 30 years ago.
Patrick Maguire (70), a priest with the Missionary Society of St Columban at Dalgan Park in Navan, Co Meath, is accused of the indecent assault at the Health Centre in Naul during the ‘70s.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Friday, May 12, 2006
James Ewinger
Plain Dealer Reporter
Toledo- A Lucas County jury on Thursday convicted a Roman Catholic priest for the slaying he's lived with for 26 years, finding that the Rev. Gerald Robinson murdered Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980.
Robinson stood as Common Pleas Judge Thomas Osowik read the verdict about 11:30 a.m., but he displayed the same cool detachment he had throughout the nearly monthlong trial.
Osowik immediately sentenced Robinson to the mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison. Armed bailiffs whisked the priest - his hands cuffed behind his back - out of the courtroom just four minutes after the judge read the verdict. As he entered the hallway and headed for the county jail, applause greeted the priest.
"It isn't something to applaud. It's a homicide case," Assistant County Prosecutor Dean Mandros said later at a news conference. "We were trying to hold the person accountable. I don't see it as a reason to celebrate. We didn't go back to the office high-fiving."
CANADA
CD98.9
It will be another month until a sentence is given to a former Port Dover priest. Yesterday father Konnie Pryzybylski made another court appearance stemming from the 3 counts of sexual assault he plead guilty to in February. The court heard impact statements from the 2 victims and one of the investigating officers.
FOXBORO (MA)
TurnTo10
FOXBORO, Mass. -- A retired Foxboro priest was sentenced to life on probation for molesting a young girl years ago.
The Rev. Gerard McMahon was ordered to stay away from children and register as a sex offender. He had served at St. Mary's in Foxboro in the late '60s.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
A murder case unsolved for 26 years was brought to an unexpectedly quick and dramatic end yesterday after jurors convicted a 68-year-old Toledo priest, Gerald Robinson, in the brutal, ritualistic murder of a nun.
The 12 jurors in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court trial deliberated just over six hours before reaching a unanimous verdict.
Robinson, wearing his clerical collar, showed no emotion as Judge Thomas Osowik read the verdict and then polled the seven female and five male jurors individually.
Judge Osowik then asked Robinson if he wished to say anything and the priest — who did not take the witness stand and never spoke during the three-week trial — declined. The jammed courtroom was eerily silent but for an immediate gasp, followed by the stifled sobs of the priest’s sister-in-law, Barbara Robinson of Toledo.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By CLYDE HUGHES
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lucas County assistant prosecutor Dean Mandros acknowledged yesterday that prosecutors initially had doubts two years ago when cold-case investigators wanted to reopen the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
And Toledo police Sgt. Steve Forrester and Tom Ross, an investigator with the Lucas County prosecutor's office, were constantly hammered by defense attorneys for Catholic priest Gerald Robinson during his trial for the 71-year-old nun's murder.
So Mr. Ross said he felt "vindicated" yesterday with the conviction of the 68-year-old retired priest in a crime that took 26 years to be resolved.
"This is a vindication as much as for us as the [detectives] back in 1980," Mr. Ross said during a news conference. "If they had the technology we have today … they would have brought this to a successful conclusion in 1980. I think it was handled quite well. Back in 1980, they focused on the right suspect."
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By TAD VEZNER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Catholic officials responded yesterday to the murder conviction of Gerald Robinson with formal, prepared statements urging healing and forgiveness.
Meanwhile, others who had pledged support to the 68-year-old retired priest expressed an equally steadfast refusal to accept the jury's judgment.
Shortly before a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury's announcement it had found Robinson guilty of the brutal 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, a spokesman for the Toledo Catholic Diocese contacted The Blade to say the diocese would have a prepared statement on the verdict but would not take questions at a press conference.
In his prepared statement, Bishop Leonard Blair called for healing and prayers for all involved in the trial - including Robinson.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By IGNAZIO MESSINA
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Harold Workman, who closely followed the trial of Catholic priest Gerald Robinson for the murder of a nun more than 26 years ago, was pleased yesterday that a religious vocation did not mean an automatic acquittal.
"A lady was killed, she was dehumanized in a ritualistic way, and someone should pay," said Mr. Workman, a maintenance worker at Toledo Hospital.
"I don't care if he has a collar. … He was the only one in the area."
Reaction among the lunch crowd to the guilty verdict shortly before noon was mixed, but many people expressed satisfaction, even joy, when the decision against Robinson was announced.
Gyasi Pullum, a technician who works downtown, said he was not surprised by the verdict, even though the jury reached its decision in less than six and a half hours.
FOXBORO (MA)
Sun Chronicle
BY DAVID LINTON / SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
FOXBORO -- A retired priest pleaded guilty in Dedham Superior Court Thursday to molesting a young girl while serving at St. Mary's Church in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Father Gerard McMahon, 70, who now lives in Pensacola Fla., was sentenced by Judge Isaac Borenstein to a lifetime of probation, which will be served in Florida.
He must undergo a sex offender evaluation and obtain any treatment determined by the probation department. In addition, McMahon must register as a sex offender.
McMahon pleaded guilty at arraignment in a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors.
The victim, who was 7 at the time the incidents began, was consulted about, and agreed with the disposition of the case, said David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating. McMahon knew the girl and her family and stayed overnight at her home, where the incidents occurred.
DES MOINES (IA)
WQAD
DES MOINES, Iowa The Davenport diocese has acknowledged that its former vicar general sexually molested children.
Monsignor Thomas Feeney has been named in at least two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse. The diocese had not previously commented on the allegations but issued a statement today saying it has found evidence that the former second-in-command abused children.
Feeney, who has been dead for 25 years, is accused of sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy while he was pastor of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in the 1960s. Another lawsuit alleges Feeney sexually abused a seven-year-old boy while on bird-watching trips to Credit Island.
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
12:00 AM CDT on Friday, May 12, 2006
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Catholic Diocese agreed Thursday to pay $2.5 million to a girl who was sexually assaulted six years ago by a parish child-care worker and who still suffers today, her representatives say, from nightmares and self-destructive compulsions.
"She used to be a very giggly little girly girl," said the mother of the girl, who is now a teenager. "Now she doesn't even like to wear dresses. ... Now she'll say, 'Mom, you don't know how bad I want to cut myself.' "
The settlement is the largest to date for victims of Julio A. Marcos, who worked at St. Pius X's child-care center for much of the 1990s. Eight girls have won a total of about $8.1 million in lawsuit settlements, attorneys for both sides confirmed.
Nonetheless, a statement posted on the diocesan newspaper Web site said, "Settlement terms were not specified, but parties said they were consistent" with those in the seven previous deals.
A ninth victim of Mr. Marcos has a suit pending. Additionally, a claim is pending from a victim of Patrick Willhoite, who worked with Mr. Marcos at the child-care center.
Both men have been convicted of sexual abuse and are in prison.
All the lawsuits accuse church employees of ignoring warning signs of abuse. Evidence and pretrial testimony showed that church officials left Mr. Marcos and Mr. Willhoite on duty after receiving warnings that they were behaving inappropriately with girls.
DES MOINES (IA)
Press-Citizen
By The Associated Press
DES MOINES -- Two former Iowa City priests have been defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI, according to a statement released Thursday by the Diocese of Davenport.
William Wiebler and Paul Deyo had been restricted from active ministry while the Vatican reviewed their cases. The decision by the pope doesn't allow for any appeal.
Wiebler, who is facing several sexual abuse lawsuits, was located in February in Missouri after leaving a treatment program in St. Louis. Wiebler, who served as an assistant pastor from August 1967 to August 1969 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, was been accused of abuse dating to the 1970s and 1980s.
A 2004 report stated that Wiebler admitted to several acts of abuse with several minors. His last pastoral position ended in 1985 in Ottumwa and he retired in 1991.Deyo was accused of sexually abusing a boy in 1998 while serving at an area parish. Deyo served at St. Patrick's in Iowa City from 1991 to 1992, St. Peter's in Cosgrove from 1996 to 1997 and at St. Wenceslaus' from 1998 to 2000. He also taught at Regina High School from 1991 to 2000.
The defrocking of Deyo was voluntary.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
By Charles Thomas
May 11, 2006 - The mothers of two of Father Daniel McCormack's alleged victims say they are expanding their lawsuit to include the Chicago archdiocese after learning McCormack was accused of abusing children after the church started monitoring his activities.
The motion for punitive damages alleges that since 1988 the Chicago archdiocese had been getting complaints about the Chicago Roman Catholic priest and that nothing was ever done. The mothers of two victims spoke publicly for the first time this afternoon in their lawyers' offices downtown.
The mothers spoke with their backs to the cameras to protect the identities of their sons. The women allege the boys were sexually abused at St. Agatha's church and school on the West Side by the Reverend Dan McCormack, who faces criminal charges in both cases.
One of the mothers remembered when her 10-year-old son told her how he had been fondled.
TOLEDO (OH)
BBC News
A Roman Catholic priest in the US has been found guilty of the murder of a nun 26 years ago in what prosecutors said was a ritualistic killing.
Rev Gerald Robinson, 68, was sentenced to a mandatory 15 years to life in prison by a judge in Toledo, Ohio.
The body of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, who was stabbed and strangled, was found in a hospital chapel in 1980.
The case was reopened after a woman told a panel on sexual abuse of alleged satanic rituals involving Robinson.
CHICAGO (IL)
NBC 5
CHICAGO -- The mothers of two victims of alleged sexual abuse by a Chicago priest are seeking to have their lawsuits expanded to include punitive damages against the Archdiocese of Chicago for allegedly ignoring reports of abuse and failing to report them to police, according to a release from the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The mothers, who are not named in the suits, claim church officials “repeatedly violated criminal statutes” by not reporting to police suspected child abuse by the Rev. Daniel McCormack and by ignoring at least four reports of abuse, according to the newly amended civil child molestation pleadings filed Thursday.
Some of those reports of sex crimes, both verbal and written, date back to the late 1980s, when McCormack was still in the seminary, attorney Marc Pearlman said in the release.
McCormack currently faces five criminal charges, including new ones issued last week in which prosecutors claim he sexually abused one young boy on a daily basis from September 2005 through January 2006, despite being monitored by a fellow priest, who didn’t live in the same parish, the release said.
The amended filing claims the Archdiocese “was utterly indifferent to the rights of countless children and families,” Pearlman said in the release.
OHIO
The New York Times
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: May 12, 2006
CLEVELAND, May 11 — A priest was found guilty on Thursday of murdering a nun 26 years ago in what another priest testified was a ritual intended to defile the nun.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, was sentenced to 15 years to life.
The defendant, the Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, showed no emotion as the jury verdict was read in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in Toledo. Judge Thomas J. Osowik sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison.
Father Robinson's lawyer said he would appeal the verdict, which the jury handed up after seven hours of deliberations.
The body of the nun, Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, was found on April 5, 1980, in the chapel at Mercy Hospital in Toledo. She had been preparing the Eucharist for Easter services. Her killer laid an altar cloth across her body before stabbing her 31 times. Nine stab wounds to the chest were in the shape of an upside-down cross.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 12, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont's Catholic Church wants the judge who oversaw a record $965,000 priest misconduct settlement to be barred from presiding over 19 similar lawsuits.
In a motion that will be filed as early as today, church attorney David Cleary is expected to claim Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph's rulings have jeopardized the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese's ability to receive a fair trial. As a result, the church wants Joseph to recuse himself from all its future cases or be removed by the state's chief administrative judge.
"The diocese has great concern over the lack of a level playing field," Cleary said in an interview. "We're not trying to hide anything. We're trying to keep prejudice from building."
But Jerome O'Neill, the lawyer representing all 20 men accusing clergy of sexual abuse, says the church, facing a file cabinet of evidence against it, is simply "shooting the messenger."
SPOKANE (WA)
The Seattle Times
By The Associated Press
SPOKANE — A federal judge will decide whether a newspaper can see sex-abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which wants to block their release to avoid possible disclosure of unfounded allegations against priests.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams has scheduled a hearing Monday on The Spokesman-Review's request to look at versions of the claims with claimants' names deleted.
The newspaper has formally objected to a diocese motion to seal court records in the case. Copies of the claims already have been made available to attorneys and others working on the case.
There are about 175 individual claims against the diocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004 because of the sex-abuse scandal.
TOLEDO (OH)
The News-Herald
TOLEDO - For more than two decades, the Rev. Gerald Robinson developed a faithful following in his hometown, especially in the neighborhoods where he delivered sermons and heard confessions in Polish.
He ministered to the sick and dying at nursing homes and hospitals after retiring from three Roman Catholic parishes.
What his followers were unaware of until two years ago was that the priest had been the prime suspect in the slaying of a nun a day before Easter in 1980.
Robinson, arrested in 2004 after investigators reopened the murder case, was convicted Thursday of choking and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel.
He was immediately sentenced to the mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison and led away in handcuffs to the county jail.
KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
A national advocate for victims of sexual abuse by clergy says Catholic bishops still have unfinished business in responding to the crisis, such as better monitoring of fellow bishops accused of abuse.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, visited Louisville yesterday for a series of events with the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a group seeking reform in the Catholic Church.
"No abusive bishops are being defrocked," Clohessy said in a news conference across the street from the Cathedral of the Assumption. "Few disclose their whereabouts. Fewer still, we fear, are being monitored."
After he spoke, he and five members of Voice of the Faithful read prayers as they took shelter from the rain beneath an overhang.
MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News
By Stacie N. Galang
Staff writer
In the aftermath of the priest sex scandal, the Archdiocese of Boston wants parents and children informed about preventing abuse.
By the end of the year, the church is asking every parish religious education program and every Catholic elementary school in the state to bring its abuse-prevention program — "Talk About Touching" — to children and their parents.
"This is the good that comes out of the disaster," said Ellen Fitzgerald, director of religious education at St. Ann Catholic Church in South Peabody, one of 155 parishes in the archdiocese working to put the program in place for its after-school religious education classes. "It's extra work we wish we didn't have to do, but the reality is the value of it. If some little child is saved from something, it's all worth it. "
For churches like St. Ann, the time is now, said Anthony Rizzuto, director of the archdiocese's Office of Child Advocacy, Implementation and Oversight. He said all of the state's Catholic schools and 50 percent of parishes have already implemented the program.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 12, 2006
The Willowbrook mother whose child accused Rev. Daniel McCormack last August of sexually abusing him at a West Side Roman Catholic school said Thursday that Cardinal Francis George had endangered other children by not believing her son.
Cook County prosecutors have since charged the priest with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of five boys, including two who allegedly were abused after the mother alerted the archdiocese of Chicago that there might be a problem.
At a news conference Thursday, the woman sat beside a North Lawndale mother who says McCormack abused her son while the priest's contact with minors was supposed to be monitored by a peer at St. Agatha parish, where McCormack was pastor.
Both women, neither of whom wanted to be identified, filed a motion Thursday seeking punitive damages on top of civil lawsuits filed earlier this year.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
BOSTON -- Cardinal Sean O'Malley plans to make a pilgrimage of "repentance and hope" to nine parishes where there has been an especially painful history of sexual abuse of children by priests.
In a letter sent this week to victims of clergy sexual abuse, O'Malley said he plans to begin a Novena to the Holy Spirit later this month, visiting nine churches across the five regions of the Boston archdiocese to offer special prayers for victims and to apologize for the priests and church officials who hurt children.
In Roman Catholicism, a novena is a nine-day prayer.
"The Novena services will acknowledge in a particular way the sins of clergy sexual abuse that violated the innocence of children and are an offense against God," O'Malley said in his letter.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates declined to say yesterday whether the conviction of Gerald Robinson could lead to obstruction charges against other members of the Toledo Catholic Diocese in the slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
Cold-case investigators probing the 26-year-old homicide have said they believe some local Catholic officials misled them in 2004 during their reopened investigation into the 71-year-old nun's death on April 5, 1980.
While the prosecutor would not discuss the matter, some in the community are calling on her office to delve deeper into the case.
"It would be a serious abrogation of Julia Bates' responsibility to turn away," said the Rev. Stephen Stanbery, a pastor at two Henry County parishes and a vocal critic of the diocese's handling of sex-abuse cases. "There is an impression that [Mrs. Bates] will turn the other way for fear of Catholic anger. That simply isn't right," he said.
Mrs. Bates, who said during a press conference that this case was not about the church but about a man who killed a woman, could not be reached yesterday to respond to Father Stanbery's comments.
TOLEDO (OH)
9News
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - A priest was convicted Thursday of stabbing a Roman Catholic nun to death as she prepared for Easter services at a hospital 26 years ago, a murder prosecutors say was steeped in religious ritual. ...
"Let us hope that the conclusion of the trial will bring some measure of healing for all those affected by the case as well as for our local church," Leonard Blair, bishop of the Toledo Diocese, said in a statement. "The diocese has remained steadfast in the work of the Church and its ministries throughout this trial, and will continue to do so."
TOLEDO (OH)
Fox News
Thursday, May 11, 2006
A timeline of events surrounding the killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl:
April 5, 1980 — Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's body is found in the chapel at Mercy Hospital. She had been strangled and stabbed in the chest and neck about 30 times.
April 9, 1980 — The Rev. Gerald Robinson celebrates Sister Pahl's funeral Mass.
April 18-19, 1980 — Robinson is questioned by police. He also is given two polygraph tests.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
TOLEDO, Ohio — The jury that convicted the Rev. Gerald Robinson Thursday listened to 41 witnesses during the three-week trial, but they did not hear every piece of information authorities uncovered in the course of their investigation.
Prosecutors were barred by law from presenting some evidence against the priest. Other information was deemed irrelevant to the murder of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl or open to too many interpretations to benefit their case. Among the things jurors did not hear:
The polygraph. Two weeks after the murder, Robinson failed a lie detector exam given by a police investigator. A retest administered by a polygrapher hired by the Catholic diocese the next month was inconclusive. The defense has said the priest was too exhausted and stressed from the police interrogation for the test to be effective.
S&M allegation. In 2003, a nun told a diocesan panel that she was sexually abused by Robinson when she was 15. She claimed that another priest paid her father to let Robinson engage her in sadomasochistic acts involving a whip. The same woman also alleged she was raped repeatedly as a girl during satanic rituals led by priests. Authorities have not been able to substantiate or disprove her charges.
SPOKANE (WA)
The Seattle Times
The Associated Press
SPOKANE — A federal judge will decide whether a newspaper can see sex abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which wants to block their release to avoid possible disclosure of unfounded allegations against priests.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Patricia Williams has scheduled a hearing Monday on The Spokesman-Review's request to look at versions of the claims with claimants' names deleted.
The newspaper has formally objected to a diocese motion to seal court records in the case. Copies of the claims already have been made available to attorneys and others working on the case.
There are about 175 individual claims against the diocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2004 because of the sex abuse scandal.
TOLEDO (OH)
AOL News
By JOHN SEEWER, AP
TOLEDO, Ohio (May 11) - A priest accused of stabbing a Roman Catholic nun to death as she prepared for Easter services 26 years ago was found guilty Thursday of murder that prosecutors say was steeped in religious ritual.
Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was stabbed 31 times through an altar cloth, with the punctures forming an upside down cross. Her killer then anointed her with a smudge of her blood on the forehead to humiliate her in death, prosecutors said.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson, now 68, had been early suspect in the killing but wasn't charged until two years ago.
The priest had worked closely with Sister Pahl at the hospital chapel where her body was discovered. He was sentenced to the mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison.
TOLEDO (OH)
NewsNet 5
UPDATED: 11:51 am EDT May 11, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio -- After six hours of deliberations, a jury in Lucas County Common Pleas Court found a priest guilty of killing a nun in a Toledo hospital chapel in 1980.
There were gasps in the courtroom as the verdict was read just after 11:30 a.m.
The jurors did not look at the Rev. Gerald Robinson as they left the courtroom.
A judge sentenced him to 15 years to life. That makes him eligible for parole after 15 years.
TOLEDO (OH)
TheWBALChannel.com
TOLEDO, Ohio -- A priest has been convicted of killing a nun a day before Easter in 1980.
The verdict follows nearly six and a half hours of deliberations in the trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson, who was accused of stabbing and strangling Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel.
Robinson now faces a mandatory life prison sentence.
Pahl was killed in a hospital chapel. The killer stabbed her in the chest in the shape of an upside-down cross.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cincinnati Post
By John Seewer
Associated Press
TOLEDO - The slaying of a Roman Catholic nun in 1980 was sparked by a priest's simmering anger over her domineering ways and not part of a "satanic cult killing," a prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments of the priest's trial.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson not only choked and stabbed Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, but he also humiliated her in death, Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Dean Mandros told jurors.
Robinson stabbed her in the chest in the shape of an upside-down cross, anointed her with her own blood and stripped off her underwear "to degrade her, to mock her, to humiliate her," Mandros said.
TOLEDO (OH)
Yahoo! News
TOLEDO, Ohio - A priest accused of stabbing a Roman Catholic nun to death as she prepared for Easter services 26 years ago was found guilty Thursday of a murder prosecutors say was steeped in religious ritual.
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
The Herald
By Jason Vallee
05/11/2006
NEW BRITAIN - Parishioners from St. Stephen's Armenian Apostolic Church have rallied behind their beloved priest, Krikoris Keshishian, saying the allegations of sexual assault against him are both shocking and likely untrue.
Keshishian, who has been with the church since September 1994, was arrested on Tuesday on a sealed warrant for charges of fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury or impairing morals of a child stemming from an alleged incident in May 2005.
For parishioners and staff at the church, the charges come as more than a surprise. Several of the church's congregants said that despite what comes out in court, they would be unable to believe he is guilty of any wrongdoing.
"There is no doubt in any of our minds that he is the best of the best. He is pure at heart," said Diana Cummings, parishioner for five years. "I would trust him with any of my kids. He shows general affection in a beautiful, caring way and it's sad that it might be seen in a wrong light like this."
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
Jurors deliberated about four hours yesterday before calling it a night and will return this morning to the Lucas County Courthouse to resume reviewing dozens of items of evidence and discussing testimonies in the Rev. Gerald Robinson's murder trial.
Attorneys wrapped up their cases with nearly four hours of closing arguments yesterday in what is believed to be the first U.S. trial of a U.S. Roman Catholic priest charged with murdering a Roman Catholic nun.
Before the closing arguments, the prosecution called two rebuttal witnesses to dispute contentions that tests conducted on the victim's exhumed body may have compromised evidence.
For the first time in the trial, which began April 21 in Judge Thomas Osowik's court, the prosecution yesterday suggested that Father Robinson, now 68, choked and stabbed Sister Margaret Ann Pahl to death on April 5, 1980 - Holy Saturday - in the sacristy of Mercy Hospital because he was angry at her and mad at God.
CANADA
The Journal of Turkish Weekly
Canada has approved a C$1.9bn ($1.7bn; £925m) deal to compensate ex-pupils of indigenous schools, physically and sexually abused from the 1930s-1970s.
The schools attempted to erase the students' native culture.
The lump sum payment is designed to release the Canadian government and the churches that ran the schools from future liability.
About 78,000 people are eligible for compensation. The payments still have to be approved by provincial courts.
Addressing the Canadian parliament in Ottawa, the Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said that the government recognises the sad legacy of the schools.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Lisa Richardson, Times Staff Writer
May 11, 2006
The African Methodist Episcopal Church has relieved a Los Angeles minister of his duties after concluding that he sexually molested two underage victims, according to a spokesman for the church, even though no criminal charges have been filed and the pastor denies the allegations.
The Rev. Sylvester Laudermill Jr., a prominent minister in the AME Church, assumed the pulpit of Ward AME Church in 2004 after pastoring a church in St. Louis for 10 years. He has maintained his innocence since allegations against him first surfaced in December 2005, when a 25-year-old man told St. Louis police that Laudermill began a sexual relationship with him when he was 14 that continued until he turned 21.
Another accuser then came forward in Los Angeles, but neither church officials nor police will elaborate on the nature of his allegations, except to say that he is a minor.
AME Bishop John Bryant, who heads the church's 5th Episcopal District that includes St. Louis and Los Angeles, held a closed-door session Monday evening and told the 200 congregants who filled the sanctuary of the accusations against Laudermill, the substantiation and the defrocking.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Brett Barrouquere
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE - David Clohessy is worried about "creeping complacency" by the Catholic Church in dealing with sex abuse allegations.
"The church wants us to believe its all ancient history," said Clohessy, head of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "It's not, not at all."
So, Clohessy, of Chicago, is planning a "pilgrimage" to Louisville today, with stops at various churches around the city where documented cases of sexual abuse took place. After touring the city, Clohessy said, he'll head to the Bardstown area to visit parishes where priests who molested children were later moved.
"We're going to go down and around to some places where prominent abusive priests worked," Clohessy said.
Archdiocese spokeswoman Cecilia Price said the church is aware of Clohessy's visit.
VIRGINIA
Washington Post
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 11, 2006; Page B02
The Catholic Diocese of Arlington has put a 61-year-old priest on administrative leave after receiving "credible" allegations that he touched two girls inappropriately between 1975 and 1980, a diocesan spokesman said yesterday.
The priest, the Rev. Tran Dinh Nhi, has worked in nine Northern Virginia parishes since he came to the United States from Vietnam in 1975. Most recently, he was assigned to St. Ambrose in Annandale last year.
Diocesan spokesman Soren Johnson said Nhi has denied the allegations, which came to officials' attention in March after one of the alleged victims attended a program about how to spot child abuse. Discussions with her led to a second woman, and a review of both cases by a diocesan board found that the reports met "a basic threshold of credibility," Johnson said.
COLORADO
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
May 10, 2006
The Rev. Robert Hoatson, who is suing the Newark and New York Catholic archdioceses and the Albany Catholic diocese, is criticizing Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput for his opposition to legislation in Colorado that "would have given sex-abuse victims unlimited time to file lawsuits against public and private institutions that have been found to cover up sexual abuse."
House Bill 1090 was "left to die" on May 8. (See this story from Zenit News Agency.)
"It is disheartening that the Catholic Church continues to place stumbling blocks in the way of justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse," said Hoatson, via e-mail. "The Colorado Catholic Conference should be ashamed of itself for sensationalizing the effects that necessary and just legislation would have on the church. Archbishop Chaput, the supposed pastoral leader of Colorado Catholics, became a master of political spin, while the politician, Senator Joan Fitz-Gerald, became pastor and prime mover of justice for the injured."
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
Hartford Courant
May 11, 2006
By DON STACOM, And HILDA MUNOZ Courant Staff Writers NEW BRITAIN -- A small group of parishioners spent Wednesday trying to organize a show of support Sunday for the Rev. Krikoris Keshishian, the longtime priest at St. Stephen's Apostolic Armenian Church who was charged Tuesday with molesting a 12-year-old girl.
"Several parishioners on their own are calling the list of church members, asking them if at all possible to come to church on Mother's Day as a show of solidarity for the priest," said George Rustigian, adviser to St. Stephen's trustees.
Keshishian is scheduled to lead the services at 10 a.m. at the church on Tremont Street.
Keshishian, 53, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. He was driving to Massachusetts to meet with a priest who has been assigned by the Armenian Prelacy in New York to investigate the incident,according to a church leader.
TEXAS
Midland Reporter-Telegram
By Bob Campbell
Staff Writer
Midland Reporter-Telegram
05/11/2006
Opposing attorneys in a lawsuit alleging the sexual abuse of a boy by his priest have submitted an agreed-on scheduling order to 142nd District Court Judge George Gilles that would convene the civil trial in March next year.
Gilles on Wednesday had not ruled on a mid-December defense motion for a summary judgment dismissing the allegations against the Rev. Domingo "Father Mingo" Estrada, the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo, Bishop Michael Pfeifer and Estrada's priestly order, the Oblate Fathers.
Defense lawyers Bill Clifton of Midland and Don Griffis of San Angelo and plaintiff's attorney Lori Watson of Dallas indicated optimism that a ruling on the scheduling order would be forthcoming.
"All lawyers have asked the court for a trial date next spring to ensure that all the depositions and other discovery can be completed by then," Watson said this week.
VIRGINIA
WVEC
05/10/2006
Associated Press
A northern Virginia priest has been placed on leave following allegations he engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with two girls more than 25 years ago, church officials said Wednesday.
The Diocese of Arlington was investigating claims against the Rev. Tran Dinh Nhi of St. Ambrose Church in Annandale stemming from 1975 to 1980, when the girls were between the ages of 13 and 17.
One allegation was made by a woman after she attended a program sponsored by the diocese on recognizing and reporting child abuse. In an interview with the first woman, the diocese learned the name of a possible second victim, who was immediately contacted.
NEW YORK
New York Daily News
BY AUSTIN FENNER
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
A Brooklyn rabbi and his yeshiva were hit with a $20 million civil lawsuit yesterday, accusing him of molesting two students more than 25 years ago.
One of the alleged victims said Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, 60, sexually assaulted him when he was a seventh-grade student attending Yeshiva-Mesivta Torah Temimah, an Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, religious school.
"It happened in his car on the way to school and at recess during summer camp," the 48-year-old man said at a press conference.
The plaintiff, identified by his Miami lawyer, Jeffrey Herman, only as John Doe No. 1, was allegedly molested during the early 1970s over a two-year period, Herman said.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 10, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — If nothing else, advocates for survivors of sexual abuse by priests had hoped that the steady drumbeat of media attention focused by allegations of bizarre rituals and depraved assaults against children, committed, they maintained, over three decades by disgraced priest Chet Warren and others, would in the end lead the state legislature and the church to greater accountability.
It was clear, said Claudia Vercellotti, an activist with the Toledo chapter of SNAP, that law enforcement could do little, the allegations were too old, and whatever hard evidence there may have been about the claims had long since been obscured or erased by time.
TOLEDO (OH)
San Francisco Chronicle
By JOHN SEEWER, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
(05-10) 10:32 PDT Toledo, Ohio (AP) --
A Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun 26 years ago in a hospital chapel shaped stab wounds into an inverted cross on her chest to humiliate her, a prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments at his murder trial.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson was so angry with Sister Margaret Ann Pahl that he also tried to anoint her with her own blood in a "bastardized" version of the last rites, prosecutor Dean Mandros told the jury.
The defense countered that DNA evidence doesn't link Robinson to the crime. The nun's underwear and fingernails had traces of DNA that was likely from a man but not from Robinson, said his lawyer, John Thebes.
VIRGINIA
Catholic Herald
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of 5/11/06)
Father Tran Dinh Nhi, 61, parochial vicar at St. Ambrose Church in Annandale since 2005, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation of allegations that he engaged in inappropriate conduct with two minor girls between 1975 and 1980, when they were between the ages of 13 and 17. After a preliminary review of the allegations on Monday evening, the Arlington Diocesan Review Board advised Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde that the allegations had an initial appearance of credibility. Father Nhi has denied any wrongdoing.
One allegation was made by a woman who contacted the diocese after attending a diocesan-sponsored program on recognizing and reporting child abuse. She met with diocesan child protection staff and the diocese offered her assistance. In accordance with its child protection policy, the diocese reported her allegations to the civil authorities and placed Father Nhi on leave while her allegations are investigated.
TOLEDO (OH)
Beacon Journal
Associated Press
Key points from two weeks of testimony in the trial the Rev. Gerald Robinson.
PROSECUTION:
_ Two medical examiners said blood stains on a chapel altar cloth could have come from the Rev. Gerald Robinson's sword-shaped letter opener.
_ An assistant coroner testified that a letter opener found in the priest's room was a "perfect fit" when inserted into a wound in Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's jawbone.
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
The Herald
By: Jason Vallee, Herald Staff
05/10/2006
NEW BRITAIN - Police arrested a New Britain priest Tuesday after an investigation revealed that he may have had sexual contact with a 12-year-old female last May.
Krikoris Keshishian, 53, of 21 Garry Drive, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to or impairing the morals of a child by sexual contact.
According to the Police Department, Keshishian, who serves as priest of St. Stephen's Armenian Church on Tremont Street in New Britain, had been investigated by the Youth Division of the Detective Bureau for an alleged incident that took place in May 2005.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
Published: May 10, 2006
Last Modified: May 10, 2006 at 02:17 AM
FAIRBANKS -- A former pastor of Fairbanks Immaculate Conception Church, who stepped down last year after allegations he sexually abused children in Western Alaska, died in his sleep Sunday at Colombiere Jesuit Community in Portland, Ore., church officials said. He was 63.
The Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey had "longstanding cardiac and pulmonary problems," a news release said.
McCaffrey was relieved of his pastoral duties a year ago by Fairbanks Catholic Diocese Bishop Donald Kettler after the allegations. Kettler officially removed McCaffrey from ministry in the diocese three months later, in the wake of an independent investigation by the diocese.
McCaffrey maintained his denial of any wrongdoing.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
A RELIGIOUS order admitted yesterday that boys at two of its industrial schools were left cold and hungry while priests dined in comfort.
The clerics further admitted boys in their care were brutally beaten although the State banned corporal punishment in 1982.
Beatings continued at the Ferryhouse Industrial School in Co Tipperary until 1993 despite a letter from the Department of Education sent in 1989 warning that the ban also applied to industrial as well as national schools, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse heard. The commission was told that the boys lived in an atmosphere of constant fear and anxiety, and were punished excessively, sometimes brutally. ...
And despite the pervasive fear, anxiety and sex abuse that was rife in the institutions at the time, boys who ran away were "dealt with severely".
CHICAGO (IL)
WQAD
CHICAGO A Cook County judge has set bond at 200 thousand dollars for the Reverend Daniel McCormack in the latest round of sexual abuse charges filed against the Roman Catholic priest.
The bond set yesterday brings the 37-year-old McCormack's total bail to 700 thousand dollars.
McCormack turned himself in Friday night after the latest round of charges were filed, and was released Yesterday about two-and-a-half hours after appearing in court via closed-circuit television.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Welwyn & Hatfield Times
10 May 2006
EDITORIAL - whtimes@archant.co.uk
A CHURCH choir master has escaped a prison sentence after police found over 1,000 images of child pornography on his computer.
Andrew Crookall, of Downfields, WGC, regularly fantasised about touching the children he taught, St Albans Crown Court heard on Friday.
The 43-year-old, who is director of music at WGC's St Francis Assisi Church, was caught with around 26,000 images of youngsters, 1,027 of which were illegal.
A police raid on his home on March 1 also uncovered a 20-minute film showing an adult man having sex with a young boy.
YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic
By CHRIS BRISTOL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
A lawsuit accusing the Catholic Diocese of Yakima of forcing an employee to quit has been thrown out by a judge as a constitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
Robert Fontana, formerly the diocesan director of evangelism, sued the church last year, claiming he was forced to quit for complaining about Bishop Carlos Sevilla's handing of allegations against a priest who was suspected of downloading photographs of nude boys off the Internet.
But Yakima County Superior Court Judge Susan Hahn, who heard arguments last week to dismiss the suit, ruled Tuesday that case law clearly spells out a so-called "ministerial exception" that prohibits the government and courts from interfering in matters of religious belief.
Fontana's lawyer argued his job duties were more properly defined as educational and administrative. Hahn disagreed, saying his job was to "perpetuate dogma and teachings of the church."
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The Rev. Gerald Robinson's defense rested yesterday after calling 11 witnesses in two days, probing police and forensic experts to build its case that there is insufficient evidence to convict the priest of murder.
Father Robinson is charged in the 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, who was choked to the verge of death, then stabbed 31 times on Holy Saturday in the sacristy of the former Mercy Hospital. Prosecution witnesses in the case in Lucas County Common Pleas Court have testified it was a ritual killing, the first nine stab wounds were in the near-perfect shape of an upside-down cross, and the wounds were allegedly made by the priest's medallion letter opener.
Closing arguments are set for tomorrow, after which the 12 jurors will begin their deliberations. Jurors, who must reach a unanimous verdict, will not be sequestered except when deliberating.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Zenit
WASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 9, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Congregation for Bishops has granted its "recognition," its permission to implement, to the U.S. bishops' revised norms on dealing with clerical sex-abuse allegation.
The Vatican dicastery gave its permission for the "Essential Norms for Diocesan/Eparchial Policies Dealing with Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Priests or Deacons," adopted by the bishops' conference last June.
The decree of the congregation, signed by its prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, grants the "recognitio" indefinitely.
The decree, dated Jan. 1, was received by Bishop William Skylstad, president of the episcopal conference, during an April meeting at the Vatican congregation which was part of the annual spring meetings of the officers of the bishops' conference with the heads of offices of the Holy See.
Bishop Skylstad has issued a decree promulgating the revised "Essential Norms." They are in force as of next Monday, and bind, as particular church law for the United States, all dioceses and eparchies (dioceses of the Eastern Catholic Church) of the U.S. bishops' conference.
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
Boston.com
May 10, 2006
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. --The priest of an Armenian church was charged Tuesday with molesting a 12-year-old girl last year, and his parishioners responded by rallying in support of him and protesting the arrest.
Krikoris Keshishian, 53, leader of St. Stephen's Apostolic Armenian Church in New Britain, was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and impairing the morals of a child by sexual contact. He was released on a promise to appear in New Britain Superior Court on May 23.
New Britain police Sgt. Michael Baden said the allegations involve a single incident in May 2005, but more counts involving the same girl may be added. He said a relative of the girl called police after she told her family about the alleged abuse.
Police said Keshishian was acting in his official capacity when he inappropriately touched the girl.
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
The Hartford Courant
May 10, 2006
By DANIEL E. GOREN, HILDA MUÑOZ, And DON STACOM Courant Staff Writers NEW BRITAIN -- Clara Semerdjian rushed in her car through the rain to the home of her parish priest and friend of more than a decade.
Semerdjian had come to check on Krikoris Keshishian, 53, the longtime priest at St. Stephen's Apostolic Armenian Church on Tremont Street, who was arrested Tuesday on charges that he molested a 12-year-old girl.
Word spread quickly in the tightly knit Armenian community that their patriarch had been accused of a terrible crime. The church's parishioners quickly rallied behind their pastor, protesting the charges and wondering if he was being framed. They said their church, regardless of what happens in the courts, will be devastated.
Police said Keshishian, of 21 Garry Drive in New Britain, inappropriately touched the girl while acting in his official capacity. He is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and impairing the morals of child by sexual contact. He was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled to be arraigned in New Britain on May 23. Fourth-degree sexual assault is a felony punishable by 1 to 5 years in prison.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff | May 10, 2006
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and leaders of the Jewish community are attempting to reinvigorate efforts to build Catholic-Jewish relations, following a period of moral and financial troubles in the church.
In a widely anticipated first address to the Jewish community tonight, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley intends to emphasize the commitment of the church to the revolutionary 1965 document Nostra Aetate that repudiated centuries of teaching and tradition that held the Jewish people eternally responsible for the death of Jesus. ...
But with the death of Zakim in 1999, the beginnings of the clergy sexual-abuse scandal and Law's resignation in 2002, and financial woes that continue to trouble the archdiocese, the interfaith effort faded from public prominence.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
A nationally known advocate for victims of clergy sexual abuse will speak tomorrow to the Louisville chapter of Voice of the Faithful, which seeks reforms in the Catholic Church.
David Clohessy is national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. The meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Barn, behind the Passionist monastery at 1924 Newburg Road.
Clohessy, who was abused by a priest as a boy, has been an advocate for victims for years. He spoke at the historic 2002 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Dallas, where bishops adopted stricter policies on abusers amid a nationwide crisis over revelations that they had covered up abusers in their ranks.
Clohessy said in a phone interview that he will discuss "the need for continued vigilance and legislative reform."
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 9, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — He was dismissed from his order a decade ago, and though Chet Warren has never been formally expelled from the priesthood, he has been barred from performing any of his clerical duties within the Toledo Diocese. In an almost unprecedented step, the Bishop years ago denounced him from the pulpit, and the church has even gone so far as to warn parochial school principals last year to steer clear of a tutoring service run by a woman with links to him. In the years since the allegations against him first surfaced, he has been the subject of news articles, and even a casual search of the Internet turns up an armload of stories and blogs detailing three decades of allegations of his sexual abuse of children.
In short, the man who still calls himself Father Chet Warren, and who still enjoys the support of many in the diocese, may well be the most heavily publicized suspected pedophile in Ohio, perhaps even the country. Warren, who is living in enforced retirement in Sylvania, Ohio, could not be reached for comment.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
May 10, 2006
CATHOLICS who know how the church is organised in Australia are driven mad by the media presumption that George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, is the official spokesman for Australian Catholicism. He's not. If it's anyone, it's the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. Pell represents no one but himself and the archdiocese of Sydney.
The media, of course, love him because he takes a boots-and-all approach to issues, especially controversial ones. This is a deliberate decision. Some time back he said: "Catholics need a style a mite more confrontational and certainly less conciliatory to secular values. The cross is a sign of contradiction." ...
He certainly doesn't have the numbers in the bishops' conference. The president is elected directly by the bishops by secret ballot, and Philip Wilson, the Archbishop of Adelaide, was elected last Friday.
Wilson, one of the younger bishops at 55, was ordained a priest for the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle and was previously bishop of Wollongong. He inherited a difficult situation in Wollongong when he was appointed in 1996, with a neglected diocese, sexual abuse cases and the activities and so-called apparitions of the Little Pebble, William Kamm.
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
Published: May 9, 2006
Last Modified: May 9, 2006 at 09:42 AM
FAIRBANKS -- A former pastor of Fairbanks Immaculate Conception Church, who stepped down last year following allegations that he sexually abused minors in western Alaska, died in his sleep Sunday at Colombiere Jesuit Community in Portland, Ore., church officials said. He was 63.
The Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey had "longstanding cardiac and pulmonary problems," a news release said.
McCaffrey was relieved of his pastoral duties a year ago by Fairbanks Catholic Diocese Bishop Donald Kettler following the abuse allegations. Kettler officially removed McCaffrey from ministry in the diocese three months later, following an independent investigation by the diocese.
SALT LAKE CITY (UT)
The New York Times
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 9, 2006
Filed at 7:50 a.m. ET
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah has launched an organized-crime investigation into a polygamist sect and its fugitive leader Warren Jeffs, now on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
Jeffs is already wanted on Utah and Arizona charges alleging he arranged plural marriages of underage girls. Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Monday that his office is also looking at Jeffs and his church for ''double books, cooking books, offshore accounts and fraud.''
''I believe Warren Jeffs ran the FLDS church and the UEP as an organized crime-type setup,'' Shurtleff said. ''We just have to get the evidence to prove it.''
ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER, Staff Writer
The embattled former pastor of Fairbanks Immaculate Conception Church died in his sleep Sunday at Colombiere Jesuit Community in Portland, Ore.
The Rev. Richard L. McCaffrey was relieved of his pastoral duties a year ago by Fairbanks Catholic Diocese Bishop Donald Kettler following allegations of sexual abuse of minors 25 years ago in western Alaska. It is believed he died of natural causes.
Three months later, following an independent investigation by the diocese into three claims of sexual misconduct, Kettler officially removed McCaffrey from ministry in the diocese.
McCaffrey maintained his denial of any wrongdoing.
AUSTRALIA
Catholic News
Cardinal George Pell has said that statistics show that marriage will not prevent pedophilia, with 90 per cent of pedophile crimes committed by married men.
In the first of a series of two commentaries on the virtues of celibacy, Cardinal Pell said there are "no statistics to demonstrate that most priests are homosexually oriented, much less that they are homosexually active".
"Some of those who claim otherwise are too much influenced by their own circle of acquaintances," he said.
The commentary, first published in this week's Sunday Telegraph, appeared yesterday on Sydney's Archdiocesan website.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
WCRA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A long-time priest in Sacramento's Catholic Diocese has been suspended amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a boy in the 1980s.
Parishioners at St. Philomine's were stunned Sunday to hear an announcement from Bishop William Wiegand that their parish priest, Rev. Rodolfo Delgado, has been suspended and is under investigation.
Delgado was ordained in the Sacramento diocese 24 years ago.
St. Philomene's has an elementary school with 250 students and offers masses in English, Croatian and Spanish.
The accuser is a 38-year-old man now living in Oregon. He alleges the incidents were ongoing from 1983 to 1985, and took place at St. Joseph Parish in Rio Vista, at the main cathedral in Sacramento, and at a private home in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood.
SACRAMENTO (CA)
Sacramento Bee
By Jennifer Garza -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 8:10 pm PDT Monday, May 8, 2006
The Catholic Diocese of Sacramento has suspended the pastor of St. Philomene's Parish, citing allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor more than 20 years ago.
The Rev. Rodolfo Delgado, 54, who has served at the church for two years, was placed on administrative leave effective Saturday.
"Preliminary indications are that there is a sufficient semblance of truth to warrant further investigation," said a statement by the Rev. David Deibel, the diocese's vicar episcopal for canonical affairs. The announcement was read to parishioners at Mass last weekend.
Delgado is the third priest in the Sacramento diocese to be suspended while serving in active ministry.
Delgado's alleged victim is a 38-year-old professional male now living in Oregon who does not want to be publicly identified, said his attorney Joseph George of Sacramento.
The alleged victim claims he met Delgado as a 15-year-old boy in 1983 soon after the priest befriended his family. The alleged sexual misconduct occurred at St. Joseph's Parish in Rio Vista and at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, said George. It lasted two years.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
After calling 11 witnesses in two days, the defense rested today in the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson.
Closing arguments are set for Wednesday morning, after which the jury will begin deliberations in the murder trial of the priest, accused of killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on April 5, 1980 — Holy Saturday. She was strangled, then stabbed 31 times in the sacristy of Mercy Hospital.
The prosecution plans to introduce one rebuttal witness, strictly for procedural reasons, and Judge Thomas Osowik said that testimony will be “extraordinarily brief.”
The trial began April 21 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, with the prosecution calling 31 witnesses to the stand.
TOLEDO (OH)
Washington Post
By JOHN SEEWER
The Associated Press
Monday, May 8, 2006; 8:39 PM
TOLEDO, Ohio -- A best-selling mystery author testified Monday that investigators may have compromised evidence while examining a puncture wound in the jawbone of a nun killed 26 years ago.
Prosecutors claim the Rev. Gerald Robinson used a letter opener to kill the nun, and an assistant coroner testified earlier that the opener was a "perfect fit" when inserted into the jawbone.
Kathleen Reichs, who is also a forensic anthropologist, said inserting the opener could have damaged the bone.
"It just makes common sense not to do that," said Reichs, who helped inspire story lines on the television show "Bones," about a real-life forensic detective.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Derrick Blakley
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO There are new charges against a Roman Catholic priest already charged with sexually abusing three boys.
Father Daniel McCormack is now accused of abusing two more young boys.
CBS 2’s Derrick Blakley reports the cardinal says the new charges are upsetting.
“Every time one hears of this, you're devastated again,” Francis Cardinal George said.
Cardinal George reacted Monday to the latest charges against Father Daniel McCormack, who charged last weekend with molesting two more West Side boys.
“This is a cancer that eats away at all of us because in the church we're connected and in the society we're connected,” George said.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Archdiocese has consolidated two expert panels -- one examining child sex abuse allegations, the other looking at relevant Catholic Church policies -- into a single board of doctors, clerics, legal experts and educators who will continue to monitor the diocese's handling of child sexual abuse complaints.
UNITED STATES
The Christian Science Monitor
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Small polygamous groups have existed in the southwestern US under the watchful yet fairly benign eye of authorities ever since a sect known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) separated itself from mainstream Mormonism in 1890.
That year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned "plural marriages," a move declared to be based on a "revelation" from God. The decision was also required for Utah to become a state.
Now, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs has been added to the FBI's list of "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives," a move that caps law enforcement's dramatic change of approach toward the polygamous group in recent years. The group's belief that men need more than one wife to reach heaven, which FLDS defenders argue is a matter of religious freedom and pluralism in the United States, is not the main catalyst for the tougher stance. Rather, it's the impact that the group's practices, law enforcement officials say, are having on the most vulnerable within the sect, particularly children and women.
When the FLDS under Mr. Jeffs (and his father before him) grew to some 10,000 followers in several southwestern communities with estimated assets of $110 million; when it became clear that government officials, school authorities, and police in those communities had become intertwined with the sect; when ex-members increasingly reported child and sexual abuse charges (mainly involving underage girls forced to marry older men); and when the sect began to use secluded compounds, state and federal authorities started to crack down more vigorously.
NEW JERSEY
Courier-Post
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
By KEVIN RIORDAN
Courier-Post Staff
The conflicts in "Agnes of God" -- religion vs. science, faith vs. reason, head vs. heart -- are timeless.
But John Pielmeier's 1982 play, now onstage in a stark new production by the Woodbury-based Luna Theater Company, has not aged well.
The story of a possibly insane young nun accused of killing her newborn daughter, "Agnes of God" seems more contrived than it did two decades ago. Perhaps the ongoing sexual abuse coverup scandal has demythologized the Catholic Church or the seams in the playwright's strenuously schematic work have begun not only to show, but to give way.
DENVER (CO)
Colorado Springs Gazette
By KYLE HENLEY THE GAZETTE
DENVER - Colorado lawmakers coasted to a finish Monday, putting the wraps on the 2006 General Assembly session two days early.
Unlike in previous years, lawmakers didn’t have to scramble to hammer out lastminute compromises on major legislation in the waning hours of the 120-day session.
Most of the heavy lifting was done weeks ago, such as the statewide smoking ban that begins July 1. The remaining deals, such as an agreement fixing the state pension fund, were inked last week.
The biggest event of the last day, the 118th day, was what lawmakers didn’t do.
Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, opted against a final vote on embattled legislation that would have lifted the statute of limitations on lawsuits in childhood sexual abuse.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/08/2006
The African Methodist Episcopal church has found that the Rev. Sylvester Laudermill Jr., a former pastor in St. Louis, committed "child sexual abuse" here and in Los Angeles.
The church on Monday stripped Laudermill of his duties. A church attorney said Laudermill was "in effect, defrocked."
Laudermill was pastor at St. Peter AME Church, at Margaretta and Shreve avenues in St. Louis, from 1994 to 2004 before leaving for Los Angeles.
Among the accusations he faces: a seven-year sexual relationship with a male in St. Louis that started when the boy was 14.
Criminal charges have not been filed against Laudermill. He is being investigated by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, which is also working with the Los Angeles Police Department. A civil suit has not been filed in the St. Louis case.
CHARLOTTE (NC)
WSOC
According to a police report obtained by Eyewitness News, the student at Charlotte Catholic told police that sometime between June and September 2004 the teacher engaged in sexual activity with him against his will. The name of the teacher allegedly involved has not been released.
Students at Charlotte Catholic say they know who the teacher is. "There's one teacher that hasn't been to school," senior Ali Deschenes told us. The Catholic Diocese told us the teacher is still on suspension.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
James Ewinger
Plain Dealer Reporter
Toledo - Testimony in a priest's murder trial showed how the Toledo Catholic Diocese got inside information from police about their investigation and worked behind the scenes on the priest's behalf.
A senior detective testified Monday that a deputy police chief interceded in a way that made him livid, and that he found to be inappropriate.
A 1980 letter introduced by prosecutors contains references to the diocese seeking a lawyer for the priest. The Rev. Gerald Robinson is on trial now for murder in the 1980 stabbing death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, a nun in the hospital chapel where both worked. He was not charged then but was the prime suspect.
Robinson was only indicted in 2004, after a second investigation and the discovery of new evidence. This unfolded against the backdrop of revelations that the Toledo diocese had tried to handle complaints of sexual abuse by priests outside legal channels, with help from Toledo police officers.
A 2003 sexual-abuse claim triggered the renewed murder investigation. After a woman went to the diocese and felt that she was rebuffed and ignored, her complaint found its way to Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates, who created a cold-case unit after her election in 1996.
The 2003 sexual-abuse complaint named Robinson, and investigators recognized him as the suspect in the 1980 homicide.
UNITED STATES
San Francisco Chronicle
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
Monday, May 8, 2006
(05-08) 12:51 PDT (AP) --
As the cost of clergy sex abuse surpasses $1.5 billion, some U.S. Roman Catholic leaders are taking an aggressive, public stand against attorneys who represent victims.
The new development in the long-running clergy abuse crisis was partly triggered by proposals in several statehouses this year that would create a brief period when molestation claims could be filed — even if the time limits for lawsuits had passed.
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput portrayed the legislation introduced in Colorado as part of a conspiracy between advocacy groups and attorneys to enrich lawyers at the church's expense.
"Victims' groups may act as stimulants to sympathetic news media and state lawmakers," Chaput wrote in the May edition of the journal First Things. "Plaintiffs' attorneys may then offer help in drafting new legislation from which they themselves hope to benefit."
TOLEDO (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - Police didn't do anything to stymie the investigation of a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun inside a hospital chapel in 1980, a former deputy chief testified Monday.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson was not charged until two years ago after police reopened the case. Police say he was not arrested earlier because there was not enough evidence.
Under questioning by a defense attorney, retired Deputy Chief Ray Vetter, who is Catholic, said Robinson's standing in the Catholic community did not cause detectives to look the other way.
Defense attorney Alan Konop asked Vetter if he had done anything to protect Robinson.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Bob Roberts Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- A West Side priest now charged with molesting at least five children appears again Monday before a Criminal Courts judge on the two latest charges.
Fr. Daniel McCormack appears at 12 noon in Violence Court (Br. 66).
WBBM Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts reports one of the complaints, lodged late Friday, accuses Fr. McCormack of fondling a 10-year-old boy who played on the basketball team he coached at Presentation School. It allegedly happened once, in the rectory of Saint Agatha's Church, at 3142 W. Douglas Blvd.
The second complaint accuses Fr. McCormack of fondling another Presentation School student, an 11-year-old boy, almost daily in classrooms at the school, at 3900 W. Lexington St., between last September and Jan. 15 -- a time during which he was already under suspicion.
DENVER (CO)
Colorado Daily News
Sunday, May 7, 2006 9:14 PM MDT
The Associated Press DENVER
Even if the Legislature fails to act to aid victims of sex abuse by clergy, victims' lawyers say their lawsuits will proceed.
Some victims are blaming the Roman Catholic Church for lobbying against legislation to extend the statute of limitations for sex-abuse victims.
“The lawsuits against the Catholic Church will go forward, with or without the legislation,” lawyer Adam Horowitz of Miami told The Denver Post. Twenty-four lawsuits have already been filed.
“The existing lawsuits were brought before this legislation came about,” said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., attorney who has sued dioceses across the country, including in Colorado. “This failure by public-policy makers will have no impact on the lawsuits. There are arguments around the statute of limitations we have right now.”
TENNESSEE
The Chattanoogan
posted May 4, 2006
The pastor of Middle Valley Methodist Church has been charged with three counts of statutory rape and three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure.
Authorities said Rev. Gregory Stanley Dempsey was interviewed at the County Jail and admitted to the allegations.
Bond was set at $75,000 by General Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon for Dempsey, 42. He made the bond.
HIXON (TN)
WDEF
by Joe Legge
WDEF News
May 4, 2006 12:06 AM EDT
A local pastor arrested yesterday for sex crimes leaves jail after posting a 75-thousand-dollar bond.
Gregory Stanley Dempsey faces three counts of statutory rape and three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure.
Dempsey serves as the Senior Pastor at Middle Valley Methodist Church in Hixson.
HIXON (TN)
WDEF
WDEF-TV News 12
May 4, 2006 5:31 PM EDT
Shock fills a church congregation in Hixson tonight as word spreads about their pastor. Hamilton County authorities arrested Gregory Stanley Dempsey yesterday on sex charges.
Dempsey faces three counts of statutory rape and three counts of sexual battery by an authority figure. He's free tonight on $75,000 bond.
Dempsey will not be in his church's pulpit this weekend. The Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church suspended Dempsey after charges he had sexual relations with a minor.
"This case come about from a complaint we received from a young man," says Sheriff John Cupp.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Irish Times
The Presentation order of brothers has "no knowledge" that sexual abuse of children took place in its industrial school at Greenmount in Cork city, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has heard.
An allegation of sexual abuse at the school in 1955 and a subsequent inquiry led to the resignation of one brother and another moving to a different post.
Gardaí were called following another incident in 1956. The school was closed in 1959.
Br Dennis Minihan, representing the order, said there was no record of any inquiry and it appeared none had been kept. The order had no information about any other abuse, he said.
CANADA
CBC News
Last Updated Mon, 08 May 2006 07:23:21 EDT
CBC News
Lawyers who have been representing residential school abuse survivors are expected to get the biggest payment ever recorded for a Canadian class action case.
Former NWT premier Stephen Kakfwi isn't happy that lawyers are making so much from the residential school deal. (CBC)
A draft copy of the final residential school agreement shows that the federal government will pay $40 million each to a Regina law firm and a national consortium of lawyers.
The legal fee payout is expected to be higher because more than a dozen other lawyers are involved who are not part of the class action lawsuits.
The aging survivors of the residential school system will get an average of $30,000, the draft copy shows.
About 78,000 aboriginal people are estimated to have attended residential schools, most of them church-run, until the system was dismantled in the 1970s. Many have spoken out about the physical, sexual and emotional abuse they suffered after being removed from their families at a young age.
UNITED STATES
Winston-Salem Journal
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald
RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
For as long as preachers have been engaging listeners, critics have been muttering nearby about the need for more enlightened leadership. Even Moses couldn't catch a break from his band of desert-wandering Israelites, who feared that he was trying to kill them.
Now, thanks to Weblogs (called blogs) and other Internet postings, critics in every faith tradition are getting a hearing far beyond the parking lot of the synagogue, church or mosque. Forced to listen, because others are, religious leaders are responding in ways that show how religious authority is shifting in the 21st century. ...
• In Worcester, Mass., a housewife runs a Web site to report on efforts to prevent sexual abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester.
CHICAGO (IL)
NBC 5
POSTED: 8:50 pm CDT May 6, 2006
UPDATED: 9:15 pm CDT May 6, 2006
CHICAGO -- A priest accused of sexual abuse is in the custody of his brother on Saturday night after posting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bond money.
A Central Bond Court judge on Saturday had increased the bond for the Rev. Daniel McCormack, the West Side priest accused of two additional counts of sexual abuse.
Bond was raised by $200,000 to $700,000 for McCormack, who appeared in Central Bond Court on Saturday during the noon call.
McCormack was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a class two felony, said Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman John Gorman.
In the latest charges, McCormack is accused of fondling an 11-year-old boy who was a student at Presentation School, in the 3900 block of West Lexington Avenue, on a regular basis, according to an assistant state's attorney.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 7, 2006
The Associated Press
BURLINGTON — The attorney for a group of people suing Vermont's Roman Catholic Church is accusing the diocese of "judge shopping" by asking the presiding judge in the abuse cases to recuse himself.
Attorney James O'Neill said in court documents that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington was upset because Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph allowed the release of documents that showed how church officials protected pedophile priests
"Hiding information is deleterious to the victims, and if defendant diocese could think it through, deleterious to itself," O'Neill said in the memorandum. "The diocese in effect is judge shopping."
Diocese attorney David Cleary called O'Neill's allegation offensive.
"Judge shopping is inferring you are looking for someone who will give you a better deal," Cleary said. "We are looking for an even playing field, and right now, we don't have it."
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 7, 2006
BY MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporter
A former West Side priest already charged with molesting three boys abused another boy "on a daily basis" during the time he was being monitored by the Archdiocese of Chicago, prosecutors alleged Saturday.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was released from Cook County Jail on Saturday afternoon, about three hours after a judge raised his bond to $700,000. McCormack was arrested Friday on two new counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving two boys, ages 10 and 11.
McCormack, 37, former pastor of St. Agatha in North Lawndale, already faces charges of molesting three boys at the parish between September 2001 and December 2005. He has pleaded not guilty to those counts of criminal sexual abuse.
The alleged victims in the new cases were students at Presentation School on the West Side, where McCormack was a teacher and basketball coach, said Kathleen Muldoon, a Cook County assistant state's attorney.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Jason George and Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporters
Published May 7, 2006
Rev. Daniel J. McCormack repeatedly fondled an 11-year-old boy while he was supposed to be monitored, according to the newest allegations of sexual abuse involving the Catholic priest.
Also, unlike earlier sex-abuse claims against McCormack that were alleged to have occurred at St. Agatha Catholic Church on the West Side and its adjacent school, details read in Cook County Bond Court Saturday revealed an alleged daily pattern of abuse at another Catholic school campus.
The two new counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involve the 11-year-old's alleged abuse at Our Lady of the Westside School, Presentation Campus, and the one-time alleged abuse of a 10-year-old boy inside the rectory of St. Agatha.
McCormack pleaded not guilty in March to abusing three other boys at St. Agatha from September 2001 to January 2005.
CHICAGO (IL)
WQAD
CHICAGO A Cook County judge has set bond at 200 thousand dollars for the Reverend Daniel McCormack in the latest round of sexual abuse charges filed against the Roman Catholic priest.
The bond set yesterday brings the 37-year-old McCormack's total bail to 700 thousand dollars.
McCormack turned himself in Friday night after the latest round of charges were filed, and was released Yesterday about two-and-a-half hours after appearing in court via closed-circuit television.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Sunday, May 7, 2006
By Monifa Thomas
A former West Side priest already charged with molesting three boys abused another boy "on a daily basis" during the time he was being monitored by the Archdiocese of Chicago, prosecutors alleged Saturday.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was released from the Cook County Jail on Saturday afternoon, about three hours after a judge raised his bail to $700,000.
McCormack was arrested Friday on two new counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving two boys, ages 10 and 11.
McCormack, 37, former pastor of St. Agatha in North Lawndale, already faced charges of molesting three boys at the parish between September 2001 and December 2005. He has pleaded not guilty to those counts of criminal sexual abuse.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
May 6, 2006
A co-founder, president and CEO of a Mesa-based international Catholic youth organization resigned Friday, effective May 15.
Phil Baniewicz helped establish the Life Teen program in 1985 at St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa.
Under his leadership, the program expanded to almost 950 parishes in 20 countries, involving about 120,000 teens.
Baniewicz did not indicate future plans. “I feel God is leading me and my family to something different after two decades of youth ministry,” he wrote in a news release.
Baniewicz and the Rev. Dale Fushek, also a Life Teen cofounder, remain defendants in a civil lawsuit alleging they and another priest sexually abused a teenager in 1985.
IRELAND
Limerick Post
THE founder of the One in Four organisation, announced that he is to stand for the Progressive Democrats in his native Wexford at the PD conference in Limerick.
One in Four offers support to victims of clerical abuse and Colm O’Gorman was most recently involved in the case of deceased Limerickman, Peter McCloskey.
The announcement has been warmly welcomed by Minister of State for health and children, Tim O’Malley who describes Mr O’Gorman as being "one of the most patently sincere and articulate voices to have emerged in Irish public life over the last 20 years”.
WYOMING
Star-Tribune
By KATHLEEN ST. JOHN
Star-Tribune staff writer Saturday, May 06, 2006
"Garbage in, garbage out."
That's how Pat Walsh, youth missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming, describes sexual abuse prevention programs that merely screen for possible offenders.
He said another key is to monitor the behavior of children and their caretakers.
"You're going to see behaviors or warning signs you can act on," he said. "A lot of groups don't monitor."
Walsh is an instructor for "Safeguarding God's Children," the diocese's sexual abuse prevention program that's a requirement for all adults working with children, as well as members of the vestry of each church.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Observer
David Smith
Sunday May 7, 2006
The Observer
The archbishop of Canterbury's adviser on child protection has caused anger by arguing that courts should consider sparing paedophiles from jail.
Janet Hind, the Church of England's first national child protection adviser, said community rehabilitation orders were a more effective way of dealing with many sex offenders.
Hind, who is married to the Bishop of Chichester, told The Observer: 'People can be reinforced in their behaviours by being with other offenders. Many sex offenders end up in prison with other sex offenders, which can encourage their offending thoughts and fantasies, whereas a good treatment and supervision programme in the community can be more helpful in the long run for the protection of children.'
VERMONT
Burlington Free Press
Published: Saturday, May 6, 2006
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer
The state's Roman Catholic Diocese is engaging in "judge shopping" by calling for the removal of the presiding judge in 15 priest sex-abuse cases now pending at Chittenden County Superior Court, the lawyer for the alleged victims charged Friday.
In a terse memorandum filed with the court Friday morning, attorney Jerome O'Neill wrote that the diocese wants to hide its role in protecting pedophile priests over the years and is angry that Judge Ben Joseph has ruled documents exposing the church's conduct be made public.
"Hiding information is deleterious to the victims, and if defendant diocese could think it through, deleterious to itself," O'Neill said in the memorandum. "The diocese in effect is judge shopping."
David Cleary, the diocese's lead attorney, said Friday evening in a telephone interview that O'Neill's judge-shopping allegation was offensive.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Saturday, May 06, 2006
James Ewinger
Plain Dealer Reporter
Toledo - The first five defense witnesses in a priest's murder trial were all detectives who investigated the case - three of them when the slaying occurred in 1980.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson's lawyers have said the evidence against him is incomplete and contradictory, with many missing records.
Robinson, 68, is accused of choking and fatally stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel.
Alan S. Konop, the lead defense lawyer, spent most of Friday picking away at details in the Toledo detectives' reports. But Assistant County Prosecutor Dean Mandros seized an opportunity late in the afternoon, using his cross-examination of one detective to summarize much of his case against Robinson.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
Two times more than 20 years apart, the Rev. Gerald Robinson told investigators that he never left his apartment at Mercy Hospital the morning a nun was found slain in 1980 until he was called about the killing.
But Lucas County prosecutors wrapped up their murder case against the priest yesterday by calling two witnesses who testified they saw Father Robinson in a hallway near Mercy Hospital’s chapel shortly before — and soon after — Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found dead in the adjacent sacristy.
A third witness testified he did not know Father Robinson at the time but added that the defendant fit the description of the priest he saw while racing to respond medically to the fatally wounded nun.
Leslie Kerner, a former EKG technician at Mercy, said she arrived for work about 6:50 a.m. on April 5, 1980 — Holy Saturday. After punching the time clock, she said she looked down a hallway and saw Father Robinson standing near the open doors of the chapel.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
The Rev. Gerald Robinson’s defense team opened its case yesterday by calling five police officers to the stand and grilling them over inconsistencies and omissions from investigations into the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on April 5, 1980 — Holy Saturday.
Alan Konop, one of Father Robinson’s four defense attorneys, pointed out that Leslie Kerner, a witness for the prosecution, testified Thursday in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court trial that on the morning of the murder she saw Father Robinson standing at the doors of the chapel in Mercy Hospital — adjacent to the sacristy where the nun was slain.
Under questioning yesterday, Toledo police Sgt. Steve Forrester acknowledged that 1980 police reports based on interviews with Ms. Kerner made no mention of a priest.
Ms. Kerner and another witness for the prosecution testified in Judge Thomas Osowik’s courtroom that they knew Father Robinson and that they saw him at or near the chapel around the time of the murder.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Desert Sun
Robert Jablon
The Associated Press
May 6, 2006
LOS ANGELES - Retired Roman Catholic priest Michael Wempe was sentenced to three years in state prison Friday on one count of child molestation in a case that began with his admission that he had sexually abused many other boys decades ago.
Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe sentenced the 66-year-old priest to the maximum term allowed by law, but that was reduced to just 479 days after deductions for the time he already served behind bars and credits for prison work and good behavior.
The defense estimated Wempe could be paroled in half that time.
He also was fined $600 and must register as a sex offender.
Wempe said nothing at the hearing, and defense attorney Leonard Levine said his client would not make statements of remorse because they would sound "hollow" and because of a pending lawsuit against Wempe.
"There are no winners in this case," Levine said. "There are just people trying to put their lives back here and move on."
PATERSON (NJ)
Herald News
Saturday, May 6, 2006
By CRISTIAN SALAZAR
HERALD NEWS
PATERSON - A former priest accused of abusing boys has received notice he is being evicted from his apartment.
At about 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Superior Court Officer Ralph Trionfo parked his van at the curb in front of the blue-gray, two-story house at 280 McBride Ave., where 69-year-old James T. Hanley has been renting an apartment since at least January. Trionfo said he posted a notice informing the ex-priest that the apartment has been given over to the landlord. Hanley was not home when Trionfo delivered the removal notice. He said the tenant would have to make arrangements to take his belongings.
"It looks like it hasn't been lived in for months," Trionfo said of Hanley's apartment.
Hanley was removed from the Roman Catholic priesthood by the Vatican in 2003. In a sworn statement to an attorney representing about 20 alleged victims of the ex-priest in a lawsuit against the Diocese of Paterson, Hanley admitted that he molested numerous boys from 1968 to 1982 at parishes in Mendham, Pompton Plains and Parsippany.
GREENWOOD (MO)
Associated Baptist Press
By Hannah Elliott
Published May 5, 2006
GREENWOOD, Mo. (ABP) -- A Baptist music minister convicted of molesting children at three churches since 1998 sits in a Kentucky prison May 4 while police continue to investigate what his supervisor, a senior pastor in Missouri, knew about the abuse.
Police started an investigation in July 2005 against Shawn Davies, 33, the music pastor at First Baptist Church in Greenwood, Mo., after a young boy came forward with charges of sexual molestation. Now, while Davies sits convicted on counts of statutory sodomy, sex with a minor and sexual abuse, police continue to investigate senior pastor Mike Roy, whom they say allowed Davies to work around children at the church four months after they notified Roy of the investigation.
Roy had planned to run for state representative in Missouri’s 47th district but reportedly has cancelled those plans.
Davies went to prison last December, but KCTV-5, the local CBS affiliate, uncovered more evidence May 1 leading authorities to believe that Davies abused at least two more boys at Greenwood Baptist before Roy fired him.
PUEBLO (CO)
CBS 4
(AP) PUEBLO, Colo. A sexual misconduct board of the Catholic Church began reviewing a high school teacher's case about three years before church officials have said they learned of molestation allegations against him, The Pueblo Chieftain reported Thursday.
The newspaper said it obtained letters to and from Pueblo Diocese officials indicating the panel took up the case of William Mueller, a former member of the Marianist order, in 2002.
More than 15 lawsuits have been filed against the diocese and the order, claiming Mueller sedated and molested students when he taught at the church-run Roncalli High School from 1966 to 1971. The lawsuits allege the diocese and the order did not protect the students.
Mueller, 67, voluntarily left the Marianist order in 1986 and now lives in San Antonio. He has denied sexual misconduct.
The diocese and the order also have denied wrongdoing in the way they handled Mueller's case.
COLUMBIA (MO)
TheKansasCityChannel.com
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Teachers, coaches and other volunteers know that working with children first requires a criminal background check to ferret out potential abusers. Now, so will the families who host the nearly 30,000 foreign exchange students who arrive in this country each year.
Under new rules adopted by the State Department Thursday in response to several recent high-profile cases of abuse by host parents, exchange students will also receive information on how to identify and report sexual abuse. ...
And in LaBelle, Fla., a retired Roman Catholic priest who also worked as an exchange program coordinator continued to host foreign high school students on his own after two programs cut ties with him in 2002 after learning of multiple sex abuse investigations.
Accusations against ex-priest William Romero ultimately led to several monetary settlements from civil lawsuits filed by his victims.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTLA
By Jessica Garrison, Times Staff Writer
May 5, 2006, 10:12 PM PDT
Michael Edwin Wempe, the pedophile priest whom Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he regretted returning to the ministry, was sentenced today to three years in prison for molesting a boy more than a decade ago.
The 66-year-old retired priest was found guilty in February in the first significant criminal conviction of a Los Angeles cleric since the church's sexual abuse scandal erupted four years ago.
Wempe received the maximum sentence, but has already served 600 days, so he will spend about another year in prison.
He made no statement to the court.
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By April M. Washington and Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News
May 6, 2006
Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald said she didn't sleep a wink Thursday night.
For weeks she'd worked on a measure that would let childhood victims of past sex assaults sue their alleged abusers.
Her proposal died Thursday afternoon.
And so did a small piece of Fitz-Gerald, a piece that grieves for adults who were molested as children and have never healed.
"We lost a lot last night," said Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon.
Fitz-Gerald's proposal was an amendment to House Bill 1090. The bill is still alive in the Senate, but its future is doubtful, and its demise could come as early as Monday, when lawmakers hope to adjourn.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Mike McPhee
Denver Post Staff Writer
Lawyers for alleged clergy-abuse victims say the 24 lawsuits already filed against the Roman Catholic Church in Colorado will go forward despite the legislature's rejection of an extended statute of limitations for sex-abuse victims.
"The existing lawsuits were brought before this legislation came about," said Jeff Anderson, a St. Paul, Minn., attorney who has sued dioceses across the country, including in Colorado. "This failure by public-policy makers will have no impact on the lawsuits. There are arguments around the statute of limitations we have right now."
Added Adam Horowitz, a Miami attorney who also has sued the church in Colorado on behalf of multiple clients, "The lawsuits against the Catholic Church will go forward, with or without the legislation."
Current law requires sexual-abuse lawsuits to be filed within six years of the victim turning 18.
ARIZONA
he Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
May. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
The president of a Catholic youth ministry, facing a civil lawsuit in a sexual misconduct case, has stepped down after 21 years on the job.
Phil Baniewicz of Mesa helped found the Life Teen ministry with Monsignor Dale Fushek in 1985. The Life Teen program is used in 950 Catholic parishes worldwide.
In a lawsuit filed in January 2005, Baniewicz was accused of threatening and sexually abusing William J. Cesolini of Phoenix. The lawsuit also accuses Fushek of masturbating as he watched another priest abuse Cesolini. Fushek was suspended in December 2004 when an attorney for Cesolini brought the matter to the attention of Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted. advertisement
Defendants also included the Phoenix Diocese; Olmsted; Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien, former diocesan leader; Life Teen; and Mark Lehman, a former priest who served 10 years in prison for molesting students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Phoenix.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 6, 2006
BY LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporter
The Rev. Daniel McCormack returned Friday night to the Chicago Police station he has visited before -- again to surrender to authorities as even more sex abuse charges were filed this week against him.
McCormack, accompanied by his attorney, surrendered to police at Harrison Area headquarters on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, involving two youngsters ages 10 and 11, said John Gorman, a spokesman for the Cook County state's attorney's office .
McCormack was jailed overnight and scheduled to appear in Bond Court at 26th and California today at noon.
In April, Chicago Police presented prosecutors with allegations that McCormack molested three more children. Those allegations are similar to the ones in a previous case for which McCormack already faces charges, a law enforcement source had said in April.
This latest case involves only two victims, Gorman said.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 6, 2006
The Associated Press
BURLINGTON — Vermont's Catholic church wants a judge to step down from a clergy sex abuse case.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington said Judge Ben Joseph's decision to remove a gag order involving church paperwork in a recently settled case make it difficult for the church to have a fair trial.
David Cleary, the church's attorney, said lifting the gag order has led to widespread media coverage.
"It is now absolutely impossible for the diocese to receive a fair trial in these matters because of the pre-trial publicity surrounding these events," the court motion said. "The present court (Judge Ben Joseph) should recuse himself from this case."
Joseph would not comment on the church's request after receiving the sealed motion. The trial is expected to start July 1.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A Cincinnati woman will get another chance to prove in court that a Catholic priest impregnated her 40 years ago and then coerced her into putting the baby girl up for adoption.
The woman, who has not been identified, sued the Archdiocese of Cincinnati two years ago, accusing church officials of covering up the priest's misconduct and pressuring her to keep quiet about the child's father.
A judge threw out the lawsuit last year after concluding the allegations were too old to pursue under Ohio's statute of limitations.
The Ohio 1st District Court of Appeals overturned that decision Friday, saying the woman should get a chance to prove that fraud and harassment by church officials prevented her from filing the lawsuit sooner.
The court also ruled that the woman should have the opportunity to prove that her religious indoctrination contributed to her fear of acting against the church.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published May 6, 2006
COOK COUNTY -- Cook County prosecutors have added two more counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse to the charges facing Rev. Daniel McCormack, a once popular Roman Catholic priest already awaiting trial.
Sources said the two new victims are boys, ages 10 and 11, allegedly abused inside the rectory of St. Agatha Church, the North Lawndale parish where McCormack worked.
John Gorman, spokesman for Cook County State's Atty. Richard Devine, said, McCormack was charged and scheduled to appear in Bond Court on Saturday.
According to sources, one victim was abused after Chicago archdiocese officials asked another priest living in the rectory to monitor McCormack's restricted contact with children after an initial abuse allegation in August.
CHICAGO (IL)
Aberdeen News
Associated Press
CHICAGO - A priest already accused of molesting three boys was charged Friday with sexually abusing two others, authorities said.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, said Cook County state's attorney spokesman John Gorman. McCormack is accused of molesting a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old.
He pleaded not guilty in March to charges that he molested three boys between September 2001 and January 2005. The boys were 8, 9 and 11 years old at the time.
A telephone message left with McCormack's attorney, Patrick Reardon, was not immediately returned Friday night. McCormack was in police custody and was scheduled to appear before a judge Saturday, Gorman said.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
TOLEDO, Ohio — A Catholic priest standing trial for the murder of a nun 26 years ago got a prescription for Valium the day of the brutal slaying in a hospital chapel, a retired detective testified Friday.
Officers found a bottle of the anti-anxiety drug in the Rev. Gerald Robinson's quarters at Mercy Hospital while searching for evidence in the killing of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl, according to the detective, David Weinbrecht.
The drug was "issued on the day of the murder from the hospital pharmacy," Weinbrecht told jurors.
The 71-year-old nun was strangled and stabbed to death on the morning of April 5, 1980, in a murder prosecution witnesses have described as ritualistic.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Georgetown University
Washington, D.C. - Reactions to sexual abuse allegations among Catholic clergy have not led to any measurable numbers of Catholics leaving the Church nationally.
A new working paper by the Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University shows that the proportion of the U.S. population identifying themselves as Catholics has remained constant since 2000. The study also shows stability in weekly levels of Mass attendance from 2000 to 2005.
“Although most Catholics have expressed dissatisfaction with some aspects of the Church’s handling of the issue of sexual abuse, most are also loyal to their faith in that they have not changed their patterns of Mass attendance or parish giving,” the study’s conclusion states.
The study indicates that Catholics have become less likely to give financially to their diocese. The percentage of Catholics indicating giving to their diocesan annual appeal declined from a high of 38 percent in 2002 to 29 percent in 2005.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 3, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — For more than a decade, accused pedophile priest Chet Warren maintained a close relationship with a retired local schoolteacher and sometime private tutor. But despite the church's own findings that the disgraced cleric was a "known child molester" who was "in the residence while tutoring was taking place," little was done to limit his access to children.
Warren, now 78, could not immediately be reached for comment.
But according to interviews, documents and published reports, the disgraced cleric has been identified by several women since the mid-1980s as one of an apparent group of pedophile priests in the Toledo area who allegedly preyed on children, some as young as preschoolers, dating to the 1970s. In some of the most chilling accounts, Warren allegedly participated in bizarre Satanic rituals in which the predators were dressed as nuns, and, among other things, sexually penetrated their young victims, in some cases with crucifixes.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 5, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — Prompted by complaints from parishioners concerned about the presence of Chet Warren, an accused child molester and defrocked priest, at a small chapel inside Blessed Sacrament Church, the Diocese of Toledo has asked a municipal court judge to bar Warren from access to the chapel.
According to documents filed in the Municipal Court of Toledo and provided to Crime Library by local representatives of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) and other church leaders, church officials allege that Warren had violated an agreement to visit the chapel only during specific hours.
In its complaint, filed in December, the Diocese laid out the allegations of past sexual abuse. "Chet Warren has a history of being publicly accused of engaging in illegal and harmful sexual contact with minors at a Toledo Catholic parish in the 1970s," the complaint states. "The Diocese of Toledo has concluded that credible reports and allegations of sexual abuse of minors were made against defendant Warren and has published that conclusion." The complaint also goes on to state that the Bishop of Toledo "has publicly apologized to those victims," and notes that Warren has "been expelled from his religious order. His priestly faculties have been suspended and he is prohibited from any form of religious ministry in the Diocese of Toledo."
WEYMOUTH (MA)
Catholic Online
By Gail Besse
5/5/2006
National Catholic Register (www.ncregister.com/)
WEYMOUTH, Mass. (National Catholic Register) – A shy smile creased the face of Father Charles Murphy as the congregation’s applause enveloped him. Father Murphy had just returned to public ministry after what he called “dark days.”
He had fought a 30-year-old sexual abuse claim that a civil court eventually dismissed and a church review board declared unsubstantiated.
His ordeal began with what another Boston priest called the church’s “KGB cure” in response to the abuse crisis: A priest facing an abuse claim must cease his ministry, vacate the rectory as if he were guilty, and then prove his innocence.
It was Divine Mercy Sunday, nearly two years since the 72-year-old priest had last celebrated Sunday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church. He walked in past a “Welcome Home” sign.
MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
BY STEVE SCOTT
Pioneer Press
Two Minnesota men who said they were sexually abused by members of a Catholic order of priests and brothers have sued the group, asking that it publicly identify all past offenders.
The Crosier Fathers and Brothers, who have a provincial headquarters in Shoreview, released a third-party audit four years ago that identified eight members of the order who had been credibly accused of molesting a minor. The Crosiers said all such offenders had been removed from public ministry.
But the suit filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court said more molesters have since become known and that the Crosiers should identify them.
"We've identified 14,'' said attorney Jeff Anderson, representing the two men in Thursday's court action. "If we know of that many, there have to be so many out there.''
MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Margaret Zack, Star Tribune
Last update: May 04, 2006 – 9:38 PM
Two men who said they were abused by members of the Roman Catholic Crosier Order filed suit Thursday in Ramsey County District Court asking not for monetary damages but rather that the order release names of those accused of sexually abusing children.
Mark Mallinger, who said he was abused as a student at the Onamia, Minn., seminary in the 1970s, and Charles Spahn, 46, a former altar boy in Onamia who said he was abused from age 9 to 14, said they want to protect other children from going through what they did.
Spahn said he has been through treatment for drugs, alcohol and sexual addiction, as well as five years of therapy.
"The seminary at Onamia was truly a house of horrors," Mallinger said Thursday at a St. Paul news conference about the filing of the suit. "I know classmates were abused, and I know people suffered in silence and shame."
BURLINGTON (VT)
WCAX
BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Vermont's Catholic church wants a judge to step down from a clergy sex abuse case.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington said Judge Ben Joseph's decision to remove a gag order involving church paperwork in a recently settled case make it difficult for the church to have a fair trial.
David Cleary, the church's attorney, said lifting the gag order has led to widespread media coverage.
"It is now absolutely impossible for the diocese to receive a fair trial in these matters because of the pre-trial publicity surrounding these events," the court motion said. "The present court (Judge Ben Joseph) should recuse himself from this case."
PATERSON (NJ)
WNBC
PATERSON, N.J. -- A former Roman Catholic priest who is at the center of a highly publicized sexual abuse case was charged with animal cruelty Thursday after a kitten was found alone in his car with an empty bag of cat foot and without water.
The temperature inside James Hanley's vehicle was approaching 100 degrees, according to an animal control officer.
More than two-dozen men who said they were abused in the past by Hanley sued the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese and agreed to a $5 million settlement last year. They claimed that church officials failed to take action to protect the youths.
DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
May 5, 2006
The House resoundingly rejected a compromise late Thursday on a controversial child sex abuse bill that leaves the fate of the measure in doubt.
Lawmakers earlier Thursday ripped out the most contentious feature of the child sex abuse bill - a one-year window that would have allowed alleged victims to sue for incidents stretching back to 1971.
Under the revised bill, a childhood sex abuse victim would have had until age 53 to sue, almost 30 years longer than current law allows. The Senate passed the revised bill 18-17.
But as the clock neared 11 p.m., House members trampled the compromise bid on a 63-2 vote. It then voted to "adhere to the House position" - a move that keeps the House's original version of the bill alive although its political prospects were uncertain late Thursday.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Mark P. Couch
Denver Post Staff Writer
The Roman Catholic Church scored a major legislative victory Thursday when Colorado lawmakers scrapped a proposal to let past victims of childhood sexual abuse file lawsuits against the employers of their abusers.
And a growing divide between the House and Senate threatened to kill all attempts to give victims more time to file lawsuits.
The legislation collapsed after Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden, sponsor of House Bill 1090, concluded she didn't have enough Republican votes to pass the bill as it was amended by the Senate.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Jefferson County, had added a provision to temporarily lift the statute of limitations to allow lawsuits over alleged assaults dating to 1971. Current law gives victims two years after they turn 18 to make a claim.
LAWRENCEVILLE (GA)
Gwinnett Daily Post
05/05/2006
By Andria Simmons
Staff Writer
andria.simmons@gwinnettdailypost.com
LAWRENCEVILLE - Child molestation charges that haunted the pastor of a small church in Norcross for the past 15 months have been dropped.
The announcement Thursday afternoon at a press conference at Faith Life Fellowship Church confirms what the family and congregation of the Rev. Nathan Ridgeway have maintained all along - Ridgeway is innocent.
"When something like this comes about in a pastor's life, it tarnishes their reputation in the community," Ridgeway said in a brief telephone interview earlier Thursday. "I have been wounded in a very bad way. I need a chance to go on."
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said there was not enough evidence to prosecute Ridgeway on allegations that he molested a 3-year-old member of his immediate family.
"Basically what we had available to us was the statement of the victim that was unsupported by any other evidence," said Porter, who said the decision to drop charges was made on April 6. "There was just not enough to support the victim's statement, and there were some inconsistencies within the statement that we just didn't believe was sufficient to prosecute."
GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By MARK DAVIS
mrdavis@ajc.com
Published on: 05/05/06
A Gwinnett County pastor jailed last year on charges that he molested his grandson will not be prosecuted.
The Rev. Nathan Ridgeway, pastor of Faith Life Fellowship Church of Norcross, was unfairly accused of sexually molesting the child during a three-day period in January 2005, said Ridgeway's lawyer, Doug Peters of Decatur. The child was 3 at the time, he said.
"There will be no indictment," said Peters, who spoke for Ridgeway Thursday while the 59-year-old minister stood behind him in the church sanctuary. "There will be no trial. This case has ended."
Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter said his office issued an administrative dismissal of the case April 6.
MASSACHUSETTS
Billerica Minuteman
By Margaret Smith/ Staff Writer
Thursday, May 4, 2006
The Archdiocese of Boston plans to remove a former St. Mary's Catholic Church pastor from the priesthood, after he pleaded guilty last week to child molestation charges in Charleston, S.C.
In a press release, the archdiocese said it would resume a so-called canonical process to strip ministry status from Rev. James Nyhan, 60, who served as St. Mary's pastor for about four years and who was suspended from ministry in 2002 in the midst of abuse allegations. He resigned as pastor of St. Mary's in 2004.
Under provisions of canonical law implemented in 2002, any priest who admits or who is found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor must be removed permanently from the priesthood, archdiocese officials explained in a press release.
No criminal charges are currently pending against Nyhan regarding molestation allegations in Massachusetts, according to Emily LaGrassa, spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley.
At. St. Mary's, parishioners were sad about the ruling, but determined to move forward and help foster a climate of open communication, according to Jack Clancey, a member of the parish council and a long-time parishioner.
NEW YORK
News 10 Now
5/4/2006 6:35 PM
By: Bill Carey
For years, two sisters named Hansen and a woman identified only as Jane Doe have pressed their complaints that Father Thomas Keating had sexually abused them. But, after New York State's Court of Appeals upheld the statute of limitations in cases of clergy abuse, attorneys for Father Keating and the Syracuse Diocese have sought to have their case dismissed. A state supreme court justice, Edward Carni, is now considering doing just that.
Victims groups are crying foul.
“I mean even look at our pledge of allegiance. With liberty and justice for all. I never saw a footnote that said, unless you're sexually molested by a priest,” said clergy abuse activist Charles Bailey, Jr.
The Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese and diocese across the country have attempted to deal with the scandal year after year. And they've had some success.
Guardian
Patrick Wall, or Brother Wall as he used to be known, is feeling a little jetlagged. He has just arrived in London on the red-eye from Los Angeles and has two hours before he has to catch a train to Cardiff - in pursuit of a special sort of criminal.
"I can't tell you much about the perpetrator until I get to Wales and sue his ass," he says, fixing me with a look that could stop the Vatican bells. "Let's just say that there are in excess of 20 victims - boys and girls - and that the alleged abuse dates back to the late 1970s."
Wall is a former Benedictine monk turned international clerical sleuth, and this is his 200th case since joining the LA law firm of Manly, McGuire & Stewart. His job is to hunt down Roman Catholic priests retired by the Vatican in the wake of the sexual abuse scandals that erupted in Boston and other north-American dioceses in 2002. Many of those priests have effectively gone to ground.
Wall's job is to find them, verify their identities, and then serve them with affidavits setting out their alleged involvement in abuse, as the first stage in bringing suits for damages on behalf of their victims in the US courts. It's a tricky job, one that requires a close familiarity with clergymen - and the cunning of Philip Marlowe.
San Diego Union-Tribune
By Sandi Dolbee
RELIGION & ETHICS EDITOR
May 4, 2006
Four years after the Catholic abuse scandal became part of the national conversation, a priest and two former priests have teamed up on a new book detailing what they say is a trail of violations and denial going back for centuries.
“Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes,” argues that the sexual abuse of minors “has been denied and hidden by bishops and popes who have consistently acted in a conspiratorial manner to prevent instances of abuse from becoming publicly known, especially to law enforcement authorities.”
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 4, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — It was, by all accounts, the chilling account of at least one survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of priests that triggered the investigation that led to the arrest and current trial of Gerald Robinson, a local priest charged with the ritualistic murder of 71-year-old nun in a hospital chapel 26 years ago.
And yet, the allegations of ritualized sexual abuse decades ago by a handful of priests in Toledo tales of children being raped decades ago by chanting clerics in candle lit rooms, of bizarre rituals and Black Masses, of penetration with crosses and snakes have, at least thus far, failed to yield a single prosecution for pedophilia.
While authorities have combed the area around Toledo searching for evidence to support the claims, originally made by one woman identified only as Jane Doe, but since echoed by other alleged victims, they have as yet not disclosed any evidence to support those allegations.
But that, that doesn't mean it didn't happen, says Candace DeLong, a former FBI agent and criminal profiler who spent years as a psychiatric nurse. "I'm guessing it probably did happen," DeLong said, "and there may have been some hint of a 'devil-esque" aspect to it."
TOLEDO (OH)
Beacon Journal
JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - Three employees at a hospital where a nun was stabbed to death a day before Easter in 1980 say they saw a priest charged with killing her just outside the building's chapel within an hour before her body was found inside.
One of the witnesses testified Thursday that she saw the Rev. Gerald Robinson coming out of the chapel doors with a dark duffel bag in his hands. "I nodded, and he nodded," said Grace Jones, who worked in a hospital laboratory.
Robinson, a former chaplain at the hospital, is accused of choking and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
Prosecutors spent the final day of their case trying to cast doubt about what Robinson, 68, told police, including his whereabouts the morning Sister Pahl was killed. The priest has maintained he was in his room until he was called when the nun's body was found.
YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic
By JANE GARGAS
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
In many ways, it's a dilemma that won't go away.
How to handle allegations of priest sexual abuse that have arisen around the country continues as an issue nationally and here in the Catholic Diocese of Yakima.
Members of the local chapter of Voice of the Faithful, a group advocating reforms in the Catholic Church, say not enough has changed since the scandal erupted nationally in 2002.
They also claim that accusers have leveled more allegations against local clerics than the diocese is admitting.
Further, they say, the national image of the church is in trouble, partly because of the actions of two former Yakima bishops.
The Yakima Diocese has said six local clerics have been accused of abuse.
Voice of the Faithful members believe there may be several other instances of abuse in which no charges or lawsuits have been filed.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Hal Marcovitz
Of The Morning Call
When Thomas Meenan rose in Bucks County Court Wednesday to face three of the boys he pleaded guilty to molesting, the 49-year-old Springfield Township man asked for their forgiveness and told them he still loves them.
''I love these guys; I love their families,'' Meenan said. ''They were good to me. They treated me well.''
That comment drew an angry response from Judge Kenneth G. Biehn, who insisted that instead of showing love to the three boys and two other victims, Meenan's assaults on the youths amounted to torture. ...
Meenan told Biehn that he has struggled with alcoholism for nearly his entire life. Meenan said he started drinking at the age of 8 after he was molested by his father and a priest.
''I pretty much withdrew from adults,'' Meenan said. ''I was a loner. I couldn't face people. I had to drink to fit in.''
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Online
By Ed Langlois
5/3/2006
Catholic Information Service for Africa (www.cisanews.org/)
PORTLAND, Ore. – In a letter to western Oregon's 390,000 Catholics, Archbishop John G. Vlazny pointed to positive developments in the church as a "larger context" for understanding the Archdiocese of Portland's bankruptcy case.
The letter, released at Masses April 30, also announced a $1 million budget cutback at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
The archbishop cited the hundreds of Oregonians who entered the church at Easter, the high number of seminarians, the strength of Catholic schools, church assistance to vulnerable people and the continued preaching of the gospel as reasons "for the hope and the faith that I see in the faithful of this archdiocese."
"Regardless of what may happen in the bankruptcy case,” Archbishop Vlazny said, “we face serious cash flow problems." He said $1 million "in services to the parishes and schools" will be trimmed for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.
WEST VIRGINIA
Charleston Daily Mail
By The Associated Press
Wednesday May 03, 2006
A Kanawha County preacher has been accused of sexually abusing a teenage girl who was a student at his church's school.
Timothy Charles Edmonds, pastor of the Chesapeake Apostolic Church, was arrested Tuesday on a felony charge of sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. He was being held Tuesday night at South Central Regional Jail on a $50,000 cash-only bond.
The investigation began after the 16-year-old girl's parents gave to State Police a letter she had written. The letter detailed intimate kissing allegedly between her and Edmonds, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court by State Police Cpl. L.G. Brewer.
The alleged abuse occurred multiple times at the church and at a house Edmonds was remodeling. The girl attended the church's school and Edmonds sometimes supervised the students, the complaint said.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
May 3, 2006
By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald
Vermont's Catholic Church, in debt more than $1 million, is studying its financial options upon learning the number of priest misconduct lawsuits it faces has risen to 19.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, although property-rich with 130 parishes statewide, began its current fiscal year with a $127,947 spending deficit, records show. Then last month, the church took out a loan to pay a state-record $965,000 settlement in the first of a string of child sexual abuse lawsuits against its clergy.
Diocesan leaders, discussing their financial options behind closed doors, may release a statement as soon as today, although "the filing of these new cases has caused some concerns with our attorneys," diocesan spokeswoman Gloria Gibson said Tuesday.
The diocese sparked headlines April 19 when it settled the first of what was then 17 priest misconduct lawsuits against it. As part of the $965,000 agreement — almost seven times the once-record $150,000 the church paid in 2004 to squash one of four past cases — the diocese admitted it knew the priest in question had a history of assaulting boys.
PUEBLO (CO)
The Pueblo Chieftain
By PATRICK MALONE
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A letter from a former Roncalli High School student to church officials alerted them to possible sex abuse by a former Pueblo parochial school teacher more than three years before the local Catholic diocese acknowledged it was aware of any allegations.
The student wrote that he was rendered unconscious by Brother William Mueller, a teacher at Roncalli, but was unsure whether he was sexually abused, according to a letter obtained Wednesday by The Pueblo Chieftain.
Lawyers for former Roncalli High School students who are suing the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and the Society of Mary religious order say they have proof that both entities have been disingenuous by denying that they were aware of sexual abuse allegations against a former brother before lawsuits containing the accusations were filed last fall.
To date, 17 lawsuits have been filed in Pueblo district court against the diocese and the Marianist Province of the United States alleging that Mueller subdued Roncalli students with ether and molested them.
CANADA
Catholic Online
By Deborah Gyapong
5/3/2006
Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)
OTTAWA, Canada – The judge presiding over an inquiry into allegations of child sexual abuse has ruled that a local Catholic diocese is a public institution – a decision that delights alleged victims but concerns others.
In a ruling handed down May 1, Justice G. Normand Glaude said that in response to abuse allegations in Cornwall, Ontario, the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall "is allegedly one of the most significant players in this matter."
In a May 1 statement, Glaude said the diocese is a public institution because of its objectives "such as providing assistance to the poor, strengthening and promoting education, promoting community values, and the elimination of disease and sickness."
Glaude is responsible for presiding over the Cornwall Public Inquiry, which is investigating the response of public institutions and the events surrounding decades of child sex abuse allegations in Cornwall. The Ontario government set up the inquiry in April 2005.
NEWARK (NJ)
The Jersey Journal
Thursday, May 04, 2006
By JOURNAL STAFF
Journal staff writer
AND WIRE REPORT
The Newark Archdiocese has agreed to shell out thousands of dollars to settle sexual abuse claims leveled against Monsignor Peter Cheplic, an alleged predator priest who worked in several Hudson County parishes.
The agreement, arrived at last month, calls for payouts of $50,000 to Joe Capozzi, 37, who now lives in Manhattan, and $25,000 to Raymond Capone, 40, a South Plainfield resident, according to the two men.
A third man will also receive money, but he requested that his identity and the amount of his settlement be kept hidden, said Greg Gianforcaro, the attorney who represented all three men.
The money will help pay legal bills, but it will hardly compensate him for the nightmare he endured, Capone said. He said he came forward not for money, but to prevent other boys from being abused.
"This was only about outing Peter Cheplic for the phony, fraud, sexual deviant and predator that he is," said Capone, who claimed Cheplic molested him in an East Orange parish in 1985. "It was making sure he never misused the church so grossly again."
YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic
By JANE GARGAS
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC
Deciding who is a minister and who is not is one of the core issues in a case unfolding in Yakima County Superior Court this afternoon involving the Catholic Diocese of Yakima and a former employee.
Robert Fontana, former director of evangelism for the diocese, brought suit against the diocese in August, saying that he had been constructively discharged, or forced to resign.
The diocese has countered with a motion to dismiss the case.
Today's hearing in front of Judge Susan Hahn will determine whether the case proceeds.
In the lawsuit, Fontana's lawyer, Gary Lofland, contends that Fontana was forced to leave his job because he was critical of how the diocese was applying its policy on clergy sexual misconduct with vulnerable people.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
The murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson, delayed yesterday because of scheduling problems with out-of-state witnesses, will be pushed back one more day for the same reason, Lucas County Common Pleas Court officials said yesterday.
The prosecution said it expected some of its witnesses to be on the stand longer, and it was difficult at the start of the trial to predict exactly when to schedule each witness. There is a strategy to the sequence in which witnesses are called, and Judge Thomas Osowik agreed to delay the trial rather than force the state to bring in witnesses out of its preferred orrder, Dean Mandros, an assistant county prosecutor, said yesterday.
ILLINOIS
Chicago Sun-Times
May 3, 2006
FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS
During weekend services at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, the Rev. Richard Bennett, church pastor, denied the abuse allegations detailed in a lawsuit filed last week.
"Father Bennett did not celebrate Mass, but what he did do was read a statement from the altar which categorically denied making any sexual advances toward this young man," said a parishioner from Naperville who attended one of the weekend Masses.
On Thursday, an Arizona man filed a lawsuit claiming two priests in the Joliet Diocese sexually abused him beginning when he was 11 years old in 1975. Tim Greco, 43, said in the suit that he was in a shower with the Rev. Philip Dedera in the rectory at St. Pius X Church in Lombard when Bennett walked in and discovered the priest and boy naked together. Greco alleges that Dedera repeatedly abused him for more than a year and that Bennett molested him once.
DITTMER (MO)
Belleville News-Democrat
CHERYL WITTENAUER
Associated Press
DITTMER, Mo. - A Chicago priest, tall and quiet-spoken, said he came to a treatment center here for troubled Roman Catholic priests a broken man, depressed, and keeping "my secret of pedophilia."
"I knew in my heart I needed help," he told The Associated Press for a rare look inside the Vianney Renewal Center, 30 miles outside St. Louis.
In 14 months of "hardball" individual and group therapy, a 12-step addiction program, fraternal support, and spiritual direction, the priest said he's "become honest with myself," and been given the tools to face his problems.
NEW ZEALAND
ninemsn
Thursday May 4 06:58 AEST
Authorities will appeal an Australian decision not to extradite a Catholic priest and monk to face sex offences charges in a New Zealand court.
New Zealand's The Press newspaper reported an appeal would be lodged against an Australian Federal Court decision released two weeks ago overturning an extradition order for Brother Roger Moloney, 71, and Father Raymond Garchow, 58.
The men belong to the St John of God Order and were due to face charges of sexual abuse relating to children at Christchurch's Marylands Special School in the 1970s.
Justice Rodney Madgwick ruled in Sydney the delay in bringing the charges meant the pair would not get a fair trial in New Zealand.
GILBERT (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
GILBERT - A judge on Tuesday refused to force a witness to answer questions about his homosexual relationships before the upcoming trial of suspended Monsignor Dale Fushek.
Fushek's defense attorneys argued last week that Brian Jones must answer the questions to show if he had any biases, but San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman rejected their motion.
Goodman also rejected a defense motion to designate the Fushek case as complex. His ruling makes Fushek's scheduled June 2 trial more likely to go forward as scheduled. He is accused of misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault and indecent exposure.
The charges stem from Fushek's relationship with teenage boys while he was pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, where he founded the international Life Teen Program.
NEWARK (NJ)
Star-Ledger
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
The Newark Archdiocese has reached a settlement with a man who accused a Catholic priest of sexually abusing him two decades ago, his attorney said yesterday.
The agreement was reached last month, said Greg Gianforcaro, attorney for Joe Capozzi, who now lives in Manhattan.
Capozzi, who contacted The Star-Ledger about the settlement yesterday, said the diocese agreed to pay $50,000. He had told the archdiocese that Monsignor Peter Cheplic molested him in the 1980s, when Capozzi was a teenager and Cheplic worked at St. Joseph of the Palisades in West New York.
Capozzi, 37, said his family first met Cheplic in 1977 when the priest worked at St. Matthew Parish in Ridgefield.
SAN ANTONIO (TX)
San Antonio EXpress-News
A Catholic priest admitted Tuesday to having child pornography on his home computer.
Father Jerzy Sieczynski, 55, former associate pastor of St. Matthew Catholic Church, pleaded guilty to four counts of possession of child pornography before 226th District Judge Sid Harle.
Under a plea deal, Sieczynski faces up to 10 years in prison and will have to register as a sex offender for life. Sentencing is scheduled for June 12.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published May 3, 2006
Three men accused Rev. Norbert Maday of sexually abusing them more than 20 years ago at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago and Our Lady of the Ridge in Chicago Ridge in a civil suit filed Tuesday against the priest and the Chicago Archdiocese in Cook County Circuit Court.
Maday is serving a 20-year sentence for molesting two boys during outings to central Wisconsin, where the statute of limitations applies only to residents and did not protect the South Holland priest from criminal prosecution in 1994.
Jeff Anderson, attorney for the three plaintiffs, said one of them had been engaged in a confidential mediation with the archdiocese for several years before deciding to sue.
He said the statute of limitations does not preclude the lawsuit since the statute did not run during the eight years one client served in the military.
OHIO
National
By BILL FROGAMENI
After a heated tussle among Ohio’s Catholic bishops, advocates for survivors of clerical sex abuse and lawmakers, an amended bill passed the state legislature March 29 without the controversial “look-back” provision that would have allowed victims to sue the church for incidents dating back as far as 35 years.
Ohio Senate Bill 17 is now headed to Gov. Bob Taft, whose spokesman said he intends to sign it pending review and no obstacles from the courts.
The original SB 17 passed Ohio’s Senate unanimously in March 2005, but languished in the House Judiciary committee for a year, stalled by the look-back provision, a one-year grace period for filing civil suits covered by the statute of limitations. With current law, the statute of limitations in civil cases expires two years after the alleged victim turns 18. The new version of SB 17 extends the statute 12 years beyond majority. The original bill extended it to 20.
NEW ZEALAND
Scoop
Hamilton lawyer Lex de Jong has been appointed a Family Court Judge, Attorney-General Michael Cullen announced today.
Mr de Jong will be sworn in on 18 May and will sit in Auckland. ...
In addition he has been a member of a multi-disciplinary sexual abuse protocol committee for the Catholic Church since 1993 and convenor of the group for the past 7 years.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Beliefnet
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Employees who work for organizations with religious affiliations are finding out that faith in the security of their pensions has been misplaced.
What some are finding out the hard way is that federal pension laws allow religious organizations can opt out of the requirements for worldly organizations, the New York Times reports. When employers take that option, employee pensions are not covered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. ...
Congress created the exemption out of reluctance to regulate churches and the belief that religious groups could be counted on to do the right thing. But the Times said many organizations have done things that would be illegal for secular organizations, like raiding pension funds to pay operating expenses in a crisis or, in some Catholic dioceses, to pay damages in sexual abuse litigation.
WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette
A Chesapeake preacher was arrested Tuesday on charges of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl at his church and at a house he was remodeling.
Timothy Charles Edmonds, 34, allegedly abused the girl multiple times at a house at 11937 MacCorkle Ave. and the Chesapeake Apostolic Church, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court by Cpl. L.G. O’Bryan of the West Virginia State Police Quincy detachment.
Police first learned of the abuse when the girl’s parents presented a letter she wrote detailing intimate kissing between her and Edmonds, O’Bryan wrote. Edmonds sometimes supervised the children at the church’s school, which the girl attended, according to the complaint.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Mark P. Couch
Denver Post Staff Writer
Colorado lawmakers on Tuesday made their final tweaks in a bill that would give victims of childhood sex abuse more time to file lawsuits against entities that employed the abusers.
The bill now goes back to the House and Senate. If the changes are approved by both chambers, the bill will go to Gov. Bill Owens, who has not said whether he will sign it.
A special conference committee of three senators and three representatives - four Democrats and two Republicans - made two key changes to House Bill 1090.
OHIO
Canton Repository
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS - Gov. Bob Taft on Tuesday signed into law a bill that adds the state’s clergy to professions required to report suspected sexual abuse.
The law also extends the time for victims of abuse by clergy to file lawsuits, although supporters were disappointed that lawmakers removed a provision that would have opened a one-year window for past victims to sue.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
May 3, 2006
A national expert on clergy sex abuse said in court documents filed Monday that the allegations against retired Sioux City Bishop Lawrence Soens could be categorized as sadism.
A sworn statement by A.W. Richard Sipe of La Jolla, Calif., a therapist, researcher and former Benedictine monk, was filed in two Scott County lawsuits against Soens and the Davenport Catholic diocese.
Sipe is listed as an expert witness by Craig Levien, the Davenport attorney for Michael Gould and Dennis Allen, who have filed lawsuits against Soens and the Diocese of Davenport. The men allege they were molested in the 1960s by Soens when they were students and he was principal at Iowa City Regina High School.
"By multiple reports, Soens' persistent habit of painfully twisting, pinching, fondling, massaging or purpling the nipples of male students was commonly known by the students of Regina High School and frequently observed in the hallways of the school," Sipe wrote. " ... Whatever Fr. Soens' motivation in the sexual assaults on minor boys, his behavior was reprehensible and criminal."
BOSTON (MA)
Hartford Courant
May 3, 2006
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, has taken a major step toward healing the wounds of mistrust inflicted by the sexual abuse scandal that resulted in the resignation of his predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law.
The archdiocese opened its books to the public, lancing a painful wound. Disclosure is the only way for the church to assuage fears that money paid out to victims of priest abuse came from parishioners' donations or savings from the closing of 62 parishes. It did not.
The books show a whopping $150 million was paid in settlements and other costs associated with the scandal. As a result of this expenditure, as well as shrinking donations in the wake of the scandal, the Boston Archdiocese has amassed a $46 million deficit. That is believed to be the largest deficit of any diocese ever.
NEW YORK
Catholic Online
NEW YORK (Catholic Online) – Today’s seminary is a spiritual boot camp that forces seminarians to face external and internal challenges, including obedience and celibacy, and a proving ground to test their vocation, said the author of a book published in April about five men who give up careers to study for the priesthood.
Jonathan Englert interviewed more than 50 seminarians as well as spiritual directors, faculty members and officials of several seminaries and researched seminary life over a five-year period in writing The Collar: A Year of Striving and Faith Inside a Catholic Seminary (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, 300 pp., $25.95). ...
It was written within the context of the church going through the clergy sexual abuse crisis and a situation in which the numbers of Catholics in the United States are growing and the numbers of priests are declining dramatically.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
May 3, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter
Three unnamed men sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago on Tuesday over sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of a Chicago priest who's serving a 20-year prison term for molesting two boys on outings in Wisconsin in 1986.
The three men who filed the lawsuit against the archdiocese and Norbert Maday, the former priest, are known as: John Doe 107, a 30-year-old who lives in Maryland and claims Maday molested him from 1985 to 1986 at Our Lady of the Ridge Parish in Chicago Ridge; John Doe 108, a 38-year-old Illinois resident who claims the priest repeatedly molested him from 1979 to 1980 at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago, and John Doe 109, a 42-year-old Illinoisan who says Maday molested him from 1977 to 1978.
The abuse involved "oral copulation" and "genital manipulation," said Jeffrey Anderson, an attorney for all three men. The suit claims at least four other archdiocese priests were either aware of the abuse or had reason to believe Maday was acting inappropriately.
PHILIPPINES
Sun.Star
CEBU CITY -- With the priest she accused of raping her only a few feet away, an 18-year-old woman narrated before an investigating panel the first incident that allegedly happened last July 22, 2005.
She said the abuse happened two more times.
It was the first time Fr. Jose “Joey” Belciña, parish priest of Barangay Maslog, Danao City, and the woman faced each other since the case made headlines.
The closed-door clarificatory hearing Tuesday was held inside the office of Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane, who heads the investigating team along with Edgardo Montenegro and Lineth Lapinid.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
(CBS/STNG) CHICAGO Three people are claiming that as children they were sexually abused by a Chicago priest.
The three victims filed a civil lawsuit on Tuesday against Fr. Norbert Maday.
One victim was allegedly abused from about 1985 to 1986 when he was 10 to 11 years old and a parishioner at Our Lady of the Ridge in Chicago Ridge, according to a release issued by the victim's attorney.
Another victim claims he was abused while a parishioner at St. Bede the Venerable in Chicago from about 1979 to 1980 when he was 12 to 13 years old, the release said.
CAMBRIDGE (MA)
The Christian Science Monitor
By Sara Miller Llana | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – As a dutiful Roman Catholic, Mildred Feloney drives to Saint Peter Parish here for 8 a.m. mass every morning.
But emblazoned on her bumper is an unmistakable token of dissent: "Keep the Faith, Change the Church."
The commute is old. The sticker on her Camry is new. It's a provocation that signals a profound stir among Catholics in Massachusetts.
Four years ago, the scandal of clergy sexually abusing children rocked this heavily Catholic state and drove a wedge between the hierarchy and laity. Today, that rift over trust has widened into a gulf over values. The reason? Tension between the state's liberalism and the church's conservatism, long compartmentalized by Catholics here, has been pushed into conflict by a series of high-profile issues pitting church and state against each other.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Beacon Journal
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. Bob Taft on Tuesday signed into law a bill that adds the state's clergy to professions required to report suspected sexual abuse.
The law also extends the time for victims of abuse by clergy to file lawsuits, although supporters were disappointed that lawmakers removed a provision that would have opened a one-year window for past victims to sue.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Robert Spada, a Cleveland-area Republican, will require identified sex offenders to submit their names, addresses and photos to a state-run civil online abuser registry. It also increases penalties for church employees who fail to report known abusers.
National
Reviewed by BILL FROGAMENI
Since exposure of clerical sex abuse reached critical mass in 2002, Catholic leaders have sometimes defended their mishandling of the problem by claiming insufficient knowledge. Publicly, some bishops said they didn’t understand that pedophilia is incurable; thus the attempts to “rehabilitate” abusive clerics, then shift them from assignment to assignment.
Fr. Thomas Doyle, A.W. Richard Sipe and Patrick Wall have coauthored a book, Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2,000-Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse, that asks, “What did [the Catholic hierarchy] know, and when did they know it?” The answer, the authors emphatically proclaim, is “in a nutshell ... all about it and all along.”
The three authors approach the book as historians but also as advocates of church reform. Fr. Doyle, a canon lawyer, served at the Vatican’s U.S. embassy in the early ’80s. Along with psychiatrist and priest Michael Peterson and church attorney Ray Mouton, he authored a report that predicted the scope of the abuse scandal and recommended methods to meet the challenge. Mr. Wall, a former Benedictine monk and canon lawyer, works for a California law firm that advocates on behalf of alleged victims. Richard Sipe, also a former Benedictine monk, is a practicing therapist who has studied the sexuality of Catholic clergy for many years.
ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
Published May 2, 2006
DUPAGE COUNTY -- A DuPage County judge Monday approved more mental-health examinations for Rev. Frederick A. Lenczycki, 61, a Roman Catholic priest and convicted sex offender who DuPage authorities are trying to have declared a sexually violent person.
Lenczycki was convicted in 2004 of abusing three boys while serving at St. Isaac Jogues Church in Hinsdale in 1984. He was to be released from prison last month but was ordered to remain in a mental health treatment facility until a hearing on the state's allegations.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
A Roman Catholic priest who is an expert in church rituals and the occult testified in the Rev. Gerald Robinson's murder trial yesterday that there were so many occult symbols surrounding Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's murder that he believes "these aren't random acts" but point to a ritual killing designed to mock the victim, the church, and God.
The Rev. Jeffrey Grob, associate vicar for canonical services for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said after studying the case he believes the killer had "professional knowledge" of church rituals.
"A religious sister would have such knowledge. Certainly a priest would have such knowledge. Possibly a seminarian," said Father Grob, who also is assistant to the exorcist for the 2.3-million-member Chicago archdiocese.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
Toledo Police Detective Steve Forrester explained today how and why the Lucas County cold-case unit focused its attention on the Rev. Gerald Robinson in investigating the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
There was a limited window of opportunity, police had eliminated virtually all other hospital employees who could have been suspects, and the killer appeared to be very knowledgeable of church ritual and symbolism, Detective Forrester said in the Lucas County Common Pleas Court murder trial of the 68-year-old priest.
Earlier, jurors watched a 90-minute videotape of a police interrogation of Father Robinson after his arrest on April 23, 2004.
Detective Tom Ross conducted the interview on April 23, 2004, in the Toledo police precinct next door to Father Robinson’s Nebraska Avenue home.
TOLEDO (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
James Ewinger
Plain Dealer Reporter
Toledo -- A priest schooled in the occult testified that the 1980 slaying of a nun was filled with dark symbolism and signs that a ritual transpired.
And only "a nun, a priest or possibly a seminarian" would have the full knowledge of what all the signs meant.
A priest is on trial in the slaying -- the Rev. Gerald Robinson.
He is accused of stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl 31 times -- in cluding nine times in the form of an in verted cross.
CANADA
Ottawa Citizen
Zev Singer, The Ottawa Citizen; with files from the Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, May 02, 2006
A judge's ruling yesterday that a Catholic diocese will be treated as a "public institution" at an inquiry into sexual abuse cases in Cornwall throws open the debate about the balance between church and state, says a University of Toronto expert on public law.
Justice G. Norman Glaude, the commissioner of the Cornwall public inquiry looking into allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall area, ruled yesterday that the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall would be open to the same level of scrutiny as the police and other publicly funded and controlled organizations.
Lorne Sossin of the University of Toronto said the ruling challenges the traditional definition that churches are private organizations.
"If churches are going to be considered public organizations, are they subject to other kinds of public duties and public obligations?" said Mr. Sossin. "Are they subject to the Charter of Rights in some circumstances or the other instruments we have for constraining government actions?"
MARIETTA (OH)
The Marietta Times
By Brad Bauer, bbauer@mariettatimes.com
Victims of clergy sex abuse urged others to come forward at nearly a dozen southeast Ohio churches on Sunday, including St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Marietta.
As parishioners left churches, molestation victims and their families handed out flyers and leaflets detailing their stories of abuse. The literature also accuses Catholic churches in southeast Ohio of continuing to ignore reports of abuse.
“Victims should not be afraid to step out and voice their abuse — even if it has been many years since the abuse took place,” said Helen Schoeppner, of Marietta, a member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Stepping out can be a healing process and it exposes the molesters so that they can be taken out of the priesthood and no longer will be able to molest.”
PORTLAND (OR)
OregonLive.com
5/1/2006, 11:08 a.m. PT
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland Archbishop John Vlazny is warning Catholics throughout Western Oregon that the Archdiocese is facing "serious cash flow problems," and needs to cut $1 million from its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Parishes and schools throughout the western half of the state could be affected by the cutbacks coming from the Portland-based Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
Vlazny wrote about the cutbacks in a letter distributed throughout parish churches on Sunday, which also updated congregants about property and insurance litigation in the Archdiocese's ongoing bankruptcy case.
BURLINGTON (VT)
Boston.com
May 1, 2006
BURLINGTON, Vt. --Facing 20 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of minors by priests, Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese is working on a financial strategy that could include selling some properties.
Five new lawsuits have been filed since the church settled one brought by Michael Gay of South Burlington earlier this month for $965,000.
Lawyers for the church and for plaintiffs were in Chittenden Superior Court on Monday, talking about planning what could be as many as 20 trials. Church officials including Bishop Salvatore Matano, meanwhile, were meeting with financial advisers.
CANADA
Ottawa Sun
CANADA
Ottawa Sun
Mon, May 1, 2006
By CP
CORNWALL - Men claiming they were abused decades ago by community leaders here have been allowed to speak freely at an inquiry examining how their allegations were handled.
Commissioner Normand Glaude ruled Monday that he will allow their testimony, noting it is critical to the fulfilment of the inquiry’s mandate that their voices be heard.
A motion to exclude their testimony had been sought by a lawyer representing Rev. Charles MacDonald, a retired priest accused of being part of a group of pedophiles that allegedly victimized children for decades.
Charges against MacDonald were stayed in May 2002 after a judge ruled his right to a speedy trial had been violated. MacDonald’s lawyer had argued that allowing victims to testify about unproven claims would hurt his client’s reputation.
TOLEDO (OH)
Court TV
By Seamus McGraw
May 1, 2006
TOLEDO, Ohio (Crime Libarary) — They were particularly vulnerable children. Some by their own accounts were still pre-schoolers when the nightmare began. Some were older, though not much. All of them were targeted for the reasons that victims of child abuse are always selected.
In some cases, they came from broken homes. Others were from large and overwhelmed families looking for someone, a priest perhaps, who could offer guidance and support. Still others were the kids who had developed reputations for being disruptive, and would, therefore, be unlikely to be believed, even if they did come forward to report what had been done to them.
Years later, a handful of them did come forward and many of them told the same sordid tale of bizarre ritual abuse. Even now, the few details that have emerged are chilling and paint a portrait of almost unimaginable depravity. They spoke of being brought to a remote location, some remembered it as a farmhouse outside of Toledo, according to one source familiar with their allegations, and there, at the hands of priests, they said, they were subjected to what can only be described as real evil.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
In a videotape of a 2004 police interrogation, the Rev. Gerald Robinson said that another priest confronted him at the scene of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl’s 1980 murder and accused him of killing the sister.
In a 90-minute interrogation of Father Robinson by Detective Tom Ross, shown this afternoon in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, Father Robinson said the Rev. Jerome Swiatecki asked him in front of a group of nuns standing by Sister Margaret Ann’s body why he killed the 71-year-old nun.
Father Robinson said he was shocked and did not have a response, and never discussed it afterward with Father Swiatecki, who is deceased.
TOLEDO (OH)
Toledo Blade
By DAVID YONKE
BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
A Catholic priest known for his expertise in rituals and a retired Toledo detective who led the original investigation into the 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl are expected to testify today in the Rev. Gerald Robinson's murder trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
Father Robinson's defense team, meanwhile, is continuing to press for reasonable doubt with the state's case, based on circumstantial evidence in a murder that happened 26 years ago. They plan to call witnesses later this week or early next week.
The 68-year-old priest maintains his innocence.
The Rev. Jeffrey Grob of the Chicago archdiocese is nationally known for his knowledge of Catholic rituals, both official church liturgy and rituals of the unofficial kind - he wrote his doctoral dissertation on exorcism.
CANADA
CBC News
Last updated May 1 2006 03:24 PM EDT
CBC News
An inquiry into decades old allegations of sexual abuse is back on track after the judge struck down two motions that threatened to derail it.
Dubbed Project Truth, the investigation is looking at how the system responded to allegations that high-profile members of the community and clergy sexually abused children over the course of five decades.
The Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese put forward a motion to be designated a community organization instead of public institution, a move that would have limited access to internal records.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
THE dissident American theologian, Fr Charles Curran, has said that there is a growing lack of credibility in the leadership of the Irish Catholic Church.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish Independent, he said he detected "a move by many people in Ireland away from the church".
Referring to how scandals have racked the Irish Church over the past decade, he observed: "The church itself has not dealt creatively with the problems it is facing internally and with the growing secularisation in Ireland".
Fr Curran, who teaches at Southern Methodist College in Dallas, Texas, added: "The hierarchical leadership has been slow to act and has not responded to the many problems facing the church today".
DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
May 1, 2006
State Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald got choked up last week after succeeding in her months-long crusade to pass legislation targeting the Catholic Church. It's a good thing Lady Justice can't shed tears, too, or she'd be sobbing still.
House Bill 1090 violates so many standards of precedent, fairness and common sense that we hardly know where to begin. So we'll confine ourselves to five issues.
First, the bill is special legislation targeting a single entity, which the Colorado Constitution forbids. No, the bill doesn't mention the Catholic Church in lifting the statute of limitations so adults can sue for incidents that allegedly occurred decades ago. It is superficially neutral. But the bill was conceived for no other purpose than to punish the church; legislative hearings focused on the likely effects on the church; and the coalition of trial lawyers and a national victims' group pushing the bill is geared to move against one and only one institution.
Second, the bill ignores state Supreme Court precedent that says you can't move the legal goal posts by changing a statute of limitation retroactively. In a 1980 case the court said, "Where a statue of limitations has run . . . the right to plead it as a defense is a vested right which cannot be taken away or impaired by subsequent legislation."
LOUISVILLE (KY)
Kentucky.com
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Bishop Charles G. Maloney, who served in the Archdiocese of Louisville for nearly 70 years, died Sunday at a Louisville hospital, the Archdiocese of Louisville said. He was 93.
Maloney became an auxiliary bishop in 1955 and served under three archbishops, including current Archbishop Thomas Kelly. ...
In 2002, at age 89, Maloney was called to give a deposition as part of the dozens of lawsuits filed against the archdiocese by abuse victims. He was asked about his recollection of alleged abuses by former priest Louis E. Miller, but Maloney testified that he had no firsthand knowledge of any abuse by Miller and had only heard "rumors" about it. Miller is serving a 30-year sentence for sexual abuse.
The archdiocese settled the 243 lawsuits in 2003 for $25.7 million.