ABUSE TRACKER

CONNECTICUT
CT Post

David Hennessey, Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

About five years ago, a visiting priest from Haiti was looking for a parish in the Diocese of Bridgeport to call home for a time.

His travels brought him to St. Mary’s Parish on Greenwich Avenue, whose pastor offered the priest, Jean Marie DeGraff, room and board while DeGraff was working in the diocese and advocating for his impoverished home country of Haiti. In return, DeGraff performed duties around the parish as needed, including assisting with Mass and speaking with parishioners, a role he filled between 2007 and 2008.

DeGraff, who became a priest in the Society of St. Jacques in Haiti in 2004, traveled throughout the diocese, which encompasses Fairfield County, with the permission of Bishop William Lori, speaking at parishes about his home country.

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CHILE
The Santiago Times

Monday, 16 January 2012
Written by Hector Soto

(Ed. Note: Fernando Karadima, 81, is the most conspicuous of Chilean priests to have been found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors. Before his unmasking, he ruled over a rich, conservative Santiago parish for more than 40 years. He was famous for shepherding bright young men—including four of Chile’s current bishops—into the priesthood. In February 2011, the Vatican sentenced him to a life of penance and prayer in seclusion.

(Hector Soto is a writer for all seasons. A columnist and film critic for La Tercera, where the following column appeared on Jan. 13, he examines culture in daily broadcasts on Chile’s main classical music station, Radio Beethoven.)

Just when we thought we knew everything about Karadima, another book appears to amaze and appall us. “The Secrets of Karadima’s Rule,” written by Juan Andres Guzman, Gustavo Villarrubia and Monica Gonzalez, is a rigorous investigative report that reads like a novel—for 450 frightening and inflammatory pages.

How is it possible, the reader asks, that such deception and shameless abuse happened unpunished for so long? Apart from the criminal acts the priest committed upon the young boys immediately around him, the book reveals (1) the intellectual atmosphere Karadima imposed on his congregation—superficial, exclusive, anti-woman, secretive, and based on extortion; (2) his command of the flood of money that came to his church; and (3) the way in which he shaped the Santiago archdiocese by getting his fervent disciples into seminary and positions where they made Chilean church policy.

Now, nobody is going to swallow a story of Manichean evil; Karadima must have had amazing skills as an organizer and a fiery charisma that drew people to him. Nothing less could have created the tremendously powerful sectarian apparatus that his parish became. He had a ravenous instinct for power. And he did what he is celebrated for doing: established spiritual study groups, the Union of Pious Priests, strong ties to business benefactors, channels to recruit young males of good family to the priesthood. All to control—or was it to release?—his demons.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY

17 Jan, 2012

THREE men are suing the Catholic church over allegations they were sexually assaulted by a paedophile teacher whose child sex convictions were known to Maitland-Newcastle diocese.

In claims to the NSW Supreme Court the men allege two priests who acted as directors of Catholic education knew Anthony Bambach had convictions for sexually assaulting five boys at Stroud in 1962 when he was employed in 1974 to teach primary school children.

The diocese has denied the directors knew of his offending, despite an affidavit from Bambach in a 2005 court case in which he alleged he told the late monsignors Coolahan and Dilley about his convictions when they interviewed him.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Dave Davis, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Catholic Diocese officials said Monday that it has received $19.5 million related to the closing of parishes and is reinvesting in those that remain.

The total includes proceeds from the sale of parish property and cash that parishes had on hand when they closed.

Money largely followed parishioners to their newly merged churches or to churches assigned the territory of the closed parishes, according to the diocese. But in cases where significant groups of people could not be tracked to a new parish, the money was contributed to the diocese’s Parish Assistance Fund to help any of the remaining 174 parishes with financial hardships or emergencies. That fund now has $1.3 million.

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UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abused and Healing

Virginia Jones

I try not to criticize the Catholic Church in public very much because the people in the pews and the leadership of the Church are all too human. You can’t really motivate people to change through criticism. I am the mother of two teenagers who went from being sweet, wonderful children to still wonderful but rather prickly children as soon as they hit puberty.

My son likes swear words. MY daughter likes creative put downs. I try to listen but sometimes I find myself resorting to long lectures about their bad behavior. The problem is they don’t respond well to lectures. Truthfully, they respond better when I model the behavior that I want them to display.

But my attempts to reform my children fly in the face of the culture around them. Both complain of significant bullying from classmates.

Unfortunately adolescent mood swings are not confined to adolescents because the people in the pews and the leadership of the Church often act like unruly adolescents — inclined to bully anyone who challenges their spiritual safety.

So I try modeling with other Catholics what needs to be done.

But this time, something so bad has happened that I cannot not criticize the Catholic Church.

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BELGIUM
SNAP Wisconsin

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as saying that “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”. It is perhaps fitting that on the day in which we in the United States commemorate Dr. King’s birthday, victim/survivors of clergy childhood sexual assault in the nation of Belgium move one step closer toward obtaining some level of justice for the crimes that were inflicted upon them.

The Associated Press reports today that Belgian authorities have raided the offices of three bishops as part of a two year investigation into reports of clerical child sex crimes. The inquiry known as “Operation Chalice” descended today upon the dioceses of Hasselt, Mechelen, and Antwerp. A spokesperson for the Belgian Catholic Church insisted that the church had cooperated with authorities and had turned over the documents that were requested. Initial indications are that two dozen files were handed over to Belgian authorities.

It is reported that today’s raids were the result of 200 witness accounts and 87 civil claims. An official with Operation Chalice stated that the investigation focuses on “the non assistance to people in danger and is targeted at people higher up in the hierarchy” and “possibly we will be able to charge people”.

In June of 2010 investigators with Operation Chalice conducted a raid at the Cathedral of St. Rombout in Mechelen. It was there that authorities drilled holes into the crypt of Cardinal Joseph Mercier looking for hidden evidence of child sex crimes. Church records were also seized including two and a half truckloads worth of possible criminal evidence. Pope Benedict XVI responded by calling the raid “surprising and deplorable”.

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UNITED STATES
International Business Times

By Melanie Jones

January 16, 2012

Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs may be serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexual assault, but the former head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) continues to control his branch of the Mormon Church behind bars.

According to an insider within the radical Mormon sect, Warren Jeffs has been purging disloyal members and continuing to run the FLDS Church since around mid-November 2011.

But his attempts to keep control of the Church, as borderline illegal as they might be, only seem to be driving his followers away from him, in what may be the biggest split within the fundamentalist Mormon sect since its creation.

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TEXAS
CBS 7

Gary Hinterlong
CBS7 News
January 16, 2012

A priest re-assigned to the Santa Teresa de Jesus Parish in Presidio is being sued by leaders of the Roman Catholic Diocese of El Paso over his alleged handling of parish finances in which some donation checks allegedly were made out to him, not the church.

According to the Associated Press, Rev. Michael Rodriguez is denying wrongdoing and no criminal charges have been filed.

Reports find that the lawsuit filed last Wednesday seeks an accounting and return o funds allegedly meant for San Juan Bautista Church.

According to the lawsuit, back on September 7th, Bishop Armando Ochoa learned from two ex-parishoners that Rev. Rodriguez solicited money for a building project, but requested the checks be made out to him.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

As the recent National Catholic Reporter editorial defending SNAP in the Missouri subpoena situation about which I blogged on the weekend notes, SNAP is a modestly funded organization that is run on a shoestring budget and mostly by volunteers. Its total operating budget for a year is around $350,000.

And place this financial observation beside this report by Judy Thomas in the Kansas City Star last week: the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph (where SNAP is under heavy fire from church-hired lawyers) spent over $1 million in four months of 2011 in connection with cases of sexual abuse by priests. There are 24 pending lawsuits for abuse now facing the diocese and its employees. From 1 July 2002 through 31 Oct. 2011, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has paid out $14.8 million on matters connected related to allegations of clerical sexual abuse.

And we’re asked by the likes of Bill Donohue, who functions as a virtual mouthpiece for the U.S. Catholic bishops, to imagine that the Catholic church is the victim of an ugly conspiracy of SNAP and abuse survivors who want to attack the church and tear it down? And that SNAP and abuse survivors function on a playing field level to that on which the church itself plays?

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BELGIUM
Newser

By RAF CASERT | Associated Press

Belgian authorities on Monday raided three bishops’ administrative offices as an official said investigators were nearing the end of a two-year probe into whether church officials protected child abusers at the expense of their victims. …

The main part of the investigation centers on “the non-assistance to people in danger and is targeted at people higher up in the hierarchy,” the official said. “Possibly, we will be able to charge people.” The official would not expand on who in the church hierarchy could potentially be charged.

“Today we saw the start of the final phase of Operation Chalice,” the official said, using the investigation’s code name. The official said the next step would likely be in a couple of months.

Tommy Scholtes, the spokesman for the Belgian bishop’s conference said, “it is up to the judicial authorities to find out whether there has been negligence.”

Church officials in both Mechelen and Hasselt said that several files taken Monday centered on the 1960s and 1970s. The cases are past the statute of limitation, but could still be used to show “non-assistance to people in danger,” said Jeroen Moens, a spokesman for the Mechelen Bishops’ office.

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BELGIUM
Monsters and Critics

Brussels – New police raids rocked the Belgian Catholic church on Monday, as prosecutors continued a high-profile investigation into child abuse allegations.

Police seized material from the offices of the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels – the head of the Catholic church in Belgium – and from those of bishops in Antwerp and Hasselt, two cities in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders.

‘We were looking for personal dossiers concerning certain clergymen whose names were mentioned in victims’ declarations,’ Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the Belgian Federal Prosecution office, was quoted as saying by Belga news agency.

The investigation, known as ‘Operation Chalice,’ is ‘at an important stage,’ Pellens told reporters.

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BELGIE
Knack

maandag 16 januari 2012

(Belga) Ook in het bisdom Hasselt waren een vijftiental speurders op zoek naar informatie in het kader van de zogenaamde Operatie Kelk. “Wij hebben helemaal niets te verbergen”, aldus woordvoerder Clem Vande Broek van het bisdom. “Van elke klacht en melding bestaat een dossier waarin perfect kan teruggevonden worden wanneer en aan wie bij Justitie wij de informatie hebben overgemaakt.”

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BELGIE
hbvl

14:13 Update Bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt heeft de federale gerechtelijke politie maandag nieuwe huiszoekingen uitgevoerd in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Ook bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen is een huiszoeking aan de gang. Enkele dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in de kerk werden meegenomen. Dat bevestigt de Bisschoppenconferentie.

Bij de huiszoeking bij het bisdom Antwerpen zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen.

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BELGIE
Knack

maandag 16 januari 2012

(Belga) Het federaal parket heeft tien dossiers van overleden priesters meegenomen tijdens de huiszoeking bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen. Dat werd vernomen bij Patrick Dubois, personeelsverantwoordelijke van het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis in Mechelen.

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BELGIE
HLN

HLN update Het federaal parket was tijdens de huiszoekingen bij de bisdommen in Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen vandaag op zoek naar persoonlijke dossiers van specifieke geestelijken, die in de verklaringen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik genoemd zijn. Dat werd vernomen bij Lieve Pellens, woordvoerster van het federaal parket. De huiszoekingen werden uitgevoerd door onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy en een vijftiental speurders in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Het parket heeft tien dossiers van overleden priesters meegenomen tijdens de huiszoeking in Mechelen.

“Het is een belangrijke fase in het onderzoek Operatie Kelk, waarin we doelgericht op zoek gaan naar belangrijke bouwstenen”, meldt Pellens. “Er zijn tweehonderd verklaringen van slachtoffers afgelegd en 87 burgerlijke partijen. We waren op zoek naar persoonlijke dossiers van specifieke geestelijken, die in de verklaringen van de slachtoffers genoemd zijn.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

Written by
Melissa Holmes

BUFFALO, NY- Parishioners at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Buffalo learned over the weekend their longtime priest was removed, but the reason why is still unclear. His is the third unexplained removal of a pastor in the Diocese of Buffalo in recent weeks.

The Rev. Secondo Casarotto has served at the small Court Street Church for more than 25 years, but Diocese of Buffalo officials confirm to 2 On Your Side last week he was removed for “personnel reasons.” The following statement was read to parishioners over the weekend:

“In consultation with Bishop Kmiec and Father Matthew Didone, Provincial Superior of the Scalabrinian Fathers, Father Secondo has been placed on administrative leave of absence. Father Secondo has been called back to the Scalabrinian Provincial House for his leave. He requests your prayers and assures you of his prayers as well.

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BELGIE
Katholiek Nieuws

Justitie heeft opnieuw huiszoekingen verricht bij de Belgische Kerk.

Bij de bisschopshuizen in Antwerpen, Hasselt en Mechelen zijn vandaag ondervragingen verricht en documenten in beslag genomen, melden Belgische media. Begin deze middag was de huiszoeking bij het aartsbisdom Mechelen-Brussel nog altijd niet afgerond. De invallen werden gedaan op bevel van de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim de Troy en staan in verband met beschuldigingen van kindermisbruik.

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BELGIUM
The Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities have raided the administrative offices of three bishops as part of an ongoing child abuse investigation.

Church spokesman Geert Lesage says the offices cooperated during the raids and handed over requested files as much as possible.

In 2010, authorities raided church offices in a move that was highly criticized by the Vatican. The June raid was declared excessive by a Belgian court, but the government said the investigation could continue.

Lesage said Monday it is still unclear what exactly the authorities were seeking. Over the past two years, more than 500 witnesses have come forward with accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy in Belgium, spanning several decades.

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BELGIO
Blitz (Italia)

BRUXELLES – Nuove perquisizioni in alcune diocesi in Belgio nel quadro dell’operazione ‘Calice’ sugli abusi sessuali compiuti da preti. Su ordine del giudice istruttore Wim De Troy, la polizia federale si e’ recata nella diocesi di Anversa e Hasselt per acquisire nuovi elementi nell’ambito dell’indagine in corso. Le perquisizioni sono state confermate da un portavoce della conferenza episcopale belga, il quale ha detto che la diocesi di Anversa e’ stata autorizzata a conservare copie dei dossier sequestrati.

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BELGIEN
kathweb (Osterreich)

Justizbehörden nahmen in den Diözesen Antwerpen und Hasselt Befragungen vor und beschlagnahmten Dokumente

16.01.2012

Brüssel, 16.01.2012 (KAP) Die belgische Justiz hat abermals Haussuchungen bei katholischen Diözesen des Landes unternommen. In Antwerpen und Hasselt seien am Montag bei den Bischofssitzen Befragungen vorgenommen und Dokumente beschlagnahmt worden, berichteten belgische Medien. Die Untersuchungen seien vom Brüsseler Untersuchungsrichter Wim de Troy angeordnet worden und stünden im Zusammenhang mit Vorwürfen des Kindesmissbrauchs.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

Bij het bisdom Antwerpen en Hasselt heeft de Brusselse federale gerechtelijke politie nieuwe huiszoekingen gehouden in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Bepaalde dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in de kerk werden meegenomen. Hiermee krijgen de huiszoekingen van 24 juni 2010 in het aartsbisschoppelijk paleis en de privéwoning en het kantoor van kardinaal Danneels in Mechelen een vervolg. Een overzicht.

De huiszoekingen van juni 2010 kaderden in Operatie Kelk, het gerechtelijk onderzoek dat de Brusselse onderzoeksrechter Wim De Troy voert naar seksueel misbruik van kinderen en een mogelijke doofpotoperatie daarrond binnen de katholieke kerk. De onderzoeksrechter had informatie gekregen van ere-magistrate Godelieve Halsberghe, het voormalige hoofd van het orgaan binnen de Kerk dat klachten van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik behandelde. Zij vermoedde dat het aartsbisdom dossiers over kindermisbruik verborgen hield.

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BELGIE
De Morgen

[met video]

dm UPDATE Bij de huiszoeking van bij het bisdom Antwerpen in het kader van Operatie Kelk zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen. Ook in Hasselt en Mechelen voerden speurders huiszoekingen uit.

De Brusselse onderzoeksrechter De Troy bood zich met enkele speurders van de federale politie aan op het bisdom. “Ze hebben naar een tiental specifieke dossiers en enkele namen gevraagd en wij hebben daar uiteraard onze medewerking aan verleend. We hebben kopieën verkregen van de dossiers, zodat ook wij onze werkzaamheden kunnen verderzetten”, verklaart Olivier Lins. “Formele ondervragingen zijn er niet geweest.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
Buffalo News

Updated: January 16, 2012

By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter

The longtime pastor of a downtown Catholic church was hastily removed from his post over the weekend with little explanation from Diocese of Buffalo officials.

The Rev. Secondo Casarotto, a fixture at St. Anthony of Padua Parish for more than 25 years, was absent from Masses this weekend.

Priests serving in his place at the Masses read a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo indicating that Casarotto had been removed. No definitive reason was provided for the removal, which shocked parishioners of the small church.

The statement read: “In consultation with Bishop Kmiec and Father Matthew Didone, Provincial Superior of the Scalabrinian Fathers, Father Secondo has been placed on administrative leave of absence. Father Secondo has been called back to the Scalabrinian Provincial House for his leave. He requests your prayers and assures you of his prayers as well.”

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UNITED STATES
Catholics4Change

January 16, 2012 by Susan Matthews

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

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BELGIQUE
RTL

16 Janvier 2012 13h50

La police judiciaire fédérale a procédé lundi à une nouvelle perquisition au siège de l’évêché d’Anvers dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, a indiqué le porte-parole de la conférence épiscopale. Une perquisition au siège de l’évêché de Hasselt serait également encore en cours.

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BELGIQUE
7Sur7

7S7 mise à jour Une dizaine de dossiers liés à des abus sexuels présumés et des listes de noms de victimes présumées qui avaient pris contact avec l’évêché ont été saisis lors de la perquisition menée par la police fédérale judiciaire au siège de l’évêché d’Anvers, dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, a indiqué à l’agence Belga Olivier Lins, le porte-parole de l’évêché d’Anvers.

Une perquisition a également été menée au siège de l’archevêché de Malines-Bruxelles, a indiqué lundi Jeroen Moens, porte-parole de l’archevêché. Cette perquisition a également été menée à la demande du juge d’instruction Wim De Troy et aurait démarré aux alentours de 13h00.

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BELGIQUE
rtbf

La police judiciaire fédérale a procédé lundi à une nouvelle perquisition aux sièges des évêchés d’Anvers, de Hasselt et de Malines dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, a indiqué le porte-parole de l’évêché d’Anvers Olivier Lins. Une dizaine de dossiers liés à des abus sexuels présumés et des listes de noms de victimes présumées qui avaient pris contact avec l’évêché ont été emportés.

Selon le porte-parole, des dossiers liés à des abus sexuels ont été emportés et l’évêché d’Anvers a été autorisé à garder une copie de ceux-ci, dans le but de pouvoir poursuivre les indemnisations de victimes d’abus commis par des prêtres ou religieux. La VRT a appris qu’il s’agissait de vieux et de nouveaux dossiers qui portent sur des cas d’abus sexuels commis dans le cadre d’une relation pastorale.

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BELGIQUE
Le Vif

lundi 16 janvier 2012 à 13h19

(Belga) La police judiciaire fédérale a procédé lundi à une nouvelle perquisition au diocèse d’Anvers dans le cadre de l’opération Calice, a indiqué le porte-parole de la conférence épiscopale. Une perquisition au diocèse de Hasselt serait également encore en cours.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

[met video]

ANTWERPEN/HASSELT – Het gerecht heeft maandagvoormiddag huiszoekingen gehouden bij de bisdommen van Hasselt en Antwerpen. Dat gebeurde in het kader van ‘Operatie Kelk’. Sinds 13u maandagmiddag is er ook een huiszoeking in het aartsbisdom in Mechelen aan de gang.

Maandagvoormiddag viel de federale politie binnen bij het bisdom van Antwerpen en dat van Hasselt. Daarbij werden vragen gesteld en verschillende dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in de kerk opgevraagd en meegenomen.

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BELGIE
Nieuws

(Novum) – AMSTERDAM – De Belgische justitie heeft maandag in het kader van een onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik invallen gedaan bij de bisdommen in Hasselt en Antwerpen. Dat bevestigt een woordvoerder van het bisdom Antwerpen in een uitzending van de Belgische publieke omroep VRT.

Onder de codenaam Operatie Kelk loopt al meer dan een jaar een onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Bij de inval zijn volgens de woordvoerder vragen gesteld en dossiers meegenomen. “Wij willen uiteraard meewerken.”

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BELGIE
Knack

maandag 16 januari 2012

De federale gerechtelijke politie heeft opnieuw enkele huiszoekingen bij bidsommen gedaan in het kader van Operatie Kelk.

Bij het bisdom Antwerpen, Mechelen en Hasselt heeft de Brusselse federale gerechtelijke politie nieuwe huiszoekingen gehouden in het kader van Operatie Kelk.

Bij de huiszoeking bij het bisdom Antwerpen zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

In de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt werden maandag huiszoekingen gehouden in het kader van ‘Operatie Kelk’. Beide bisdommen verklaren dat ze daarbij alle nodige medewerking hebben verleend. Er kwam nog geen reactie van het aartsbisdom in Mechelen.

Olivier Lins, woordvoerder van Bisdom Antwerpen, verklaarde in het middagjournaal op Eén alle medewerking te hebben verleend aan het parket. ‘We hebben zo goed mogelijk op alle vragen geantwoord en de dossiers die men opvroeg, meegegeven.’

Lins verklaarde dat er op kerkelijk vlak ook al een tijd een procedure aan de gang is. ‘Wij willen de slachtoffers niet in de kou laten’, klinkt het. ‘Wij hebben dan ook gevraagd naar een kopie van de dossiers die men opvroeg, zodat ook wij kunnen doorgaan met het werk waar we mee bezig zijn.’

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BELGIE
HLN

[met video]

HLN update Bij de huiszoeking van bij het bisdom Antwerpen in het kader van Operatie Kelk zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen. Ook in Hasselt en Mechelen voerden speurders huiszoekingen uit.

De Brusselse onderzoeksrechter De Troy bood zich met enkele speurders van de federale politie aan op het bisdom. “Ze hebben naar een tiental specifieke dossiers en enkele namen gevraagd en wij hebben daar uiteraard onze medewerking aan verleend. We hebben kopieën verkregen van de dossiers, zodat ook wij onze werkzaamheden kunnen verderzetten”, verklaart Olivier Lins. “Formele ondervragingen zijn er niet geweest.”

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BELGIE
Vandaag

vandaag, 14:13

Bij de bisdommen van Antwerpen en Hasselt heeft de federale gerechtelijke politie maandag nieuwe huiszoekingen uitgevoerd in het kader van Operatie Kelk. Ook bij het aartsbisdom in Mechelen is een huiszoeking aan de gang. Enkele dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in de kerk werden meegenomen. Dat bevestigt de Bisschoppenconferentie.

Bij de huiszoeking bij het bisdom Antwerpen zijn een tiental dossiers rond seksueel misbruik in beslag genomen, net als enkele lijsten met namen van slachtoffers die het bisdom gecontacteerd hadden. Het gaat zowel om oudere als meer recente dossiers, zegt woordvoerder Olivier Lins van het bisdom Antwerpen.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Imprisoned Bernie Fine accuser Floyd VanHooser says he made up sex abuse claims against ex-Syracuse assistant

By Michael O’keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

The upstate prison inmate who accused Bernie Fine of sexual abuse said he lied to get back at the former Syracuse assistant basketball coach because Fine did not hire a lawyer for him when he was convicted on burglary charges last year.

Floyd (David) VanHooser, a career criminal and drug abuser who was sentenced in October to 16 years to life as a repeat offender, told the Syracuse Post-Standard on Friday that he lied about the abuse because he was angry at Fine, who took in VanHooser when he was orphaned as a teenager.

“Some of it is true and some of it isn’t,” VanHooser told the newspaper when asked if the allegations he made to investigators were true. “You’re going to tell everyone how sorry I am?”

VanHooser, 56, told Syracuse police detectives in late November that Fine began molesting him when he was 14 or 15 and that the sexual contact continued for four decades. The Daily News reported then that Robert Hoatson, founder of an organization that counsels sex-abuse victims called Road to Recovery, had talked to the family of a fourth victim who said Fine had abused him; VanHoover was that alleged victim. VanHooser told the Post-Standard and the Associated Press in interviews last month that Fine had abused him.

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NEW JERSEY
My Fox New York

[with video]

MYFOXNY.COM – Sex abuse victims in New Jersey are calling out the pastor they say assaulted them.

A demonstration was held Sunday morning outside Our Lady of Mercy in Park Ridge. The protesters say they fighting to protest and warn parishioners about Father Charles Granstand.

The protesters claim Grandstand has sexually abused at least two children and one woman.

The Archdiocese of Newark said a Grand Jury found no evidence of abuse to bring charges.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Courthouse News Service

By JOE HARRIS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CN) – An archivist claims the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph fired him for objecting to pervasive homosexual sexual harassment from priests who “fawned” over a male co-worker.

Larry Probst sued the Diocese for sexual harassment, sex discrimination and retaliation, in Federal Court. The diocese is the only defendant in the case.

Probst worked as an assistant to the diocese’s archivist. He claims his bosses, the Rev. Charles Michael Coleman and Fr. Robert Cameron, “fawned” over his co-worker Michael St. George, and that the three sexually harassed him. Cameron even said St. George “could ‘cum in my hand,” the complaint states.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic News Agency

By Christopher Stefanick *

Something can be learned from every scandal. I lived and worked in the San Gabriel region of the Los Angeles Archdiocese for almost five years. Gabino Zavala was the bishop assigned to our region.

About a month ago, Bishop Zavala informed Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez that he had been living a double life and had fathered two children with the same woman.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to preserve the family’s anonymity out of respect for their privacy and has offered financial help with the children’s college education. The Vatican accepted Bishop Zavala’s resignation on Jan. 4.

The news made me sick, sad and angry all at the same time. Scandal upon scandal has made it an exhausting 10 years for U.S. Catholics.

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ILLINOIS
WCF Courier

By DENNIS MAGEE, dennis.magee@wcfcourier.com | Posted: Sunday, January 15, 2012

GALESBURG , Ill. — A pair of federal bankruptcy trustees and a private attorney grilled the leader of the Buchanan Abbey under oath Friday afternoon.

The creditors meeting in the Knox County Courthouse was designed to determine what assets Ryan St. Anne Scott and his failed venture in Illinois, the Holy Rosary Abbey, still have and where those items, real estate and bank accounts are.

More basic issues had to be answered first.

“Who are you? is the bigger question,” said Renee Hanrahan, a trustee involved in Scott’s separate personal bankruptcy case in Iowa.

Scott introduced himself at the hearing as Ryan Patrich Scott.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SAM ROBERTS

Norman Siegel and Herbert Teitelbaum were classmates at New York University law school. Mr. Siegel is married to Saralee Evans, a former acting State Supreme Court justice. Their wedding ceremony was performed by Emily Jane Goodman, a Supreme Court justice. They all come from Brooklyn. Collectively, they have 161 years of legal experience and a record of impact in and out of court. And now, when most of their contemporaries are contemplating retirement or have already quit, the four of them are starting a new law firm.

“I know lots of lawyers of my generation who’ve been put in a situation where they have to retire,” Mr. Siegel said. “I’m as energetic as ever, and I’m much more experienced. I know which issues are viable and which are policy issues. Herb is a better negotiator than I am. The two judges give us credibility.”

Besides, Ms. Goodman said, “golf seems so boring.”

Mr. Siegel, Mr. Teitelbaum and Ms. Evans (Ms. Goodman is of counsel to the firm for now) will open shop on Madison Avenue in February. The partners have already hired an associate and look forward to training other young lawyers. …

Or anyone else. He and Mr. Teitelbaum have already successfully represented a synagogue in their old Brighton Beach neighborhood whose congregants were concerned about noise from nearby rock concerts, and they are handling the case of a young Orthodox man accusing a rabbi of sexual abuse.

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MISSOURI
Webster -Kirkwood Times

January 13, 2012
The Penn State scandal of sexual abuse has been called a “conspiracy of silence.” Too many people knew it was going on, but no one wanted to speak out. No one chose to contact law enforcement, and so the nightmarish crimes were allowed to continue.

Some readers think we have been strangely silent about a related story. That involves the criminal indictment of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. Finn has local connections. He served as priest in residence at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Webster Groves a decade ago.

Finn faced criminal prosecution last year for allegedly covering up information that may have prevented the sexual abuse of a minor by a priest. The story, involving child porn and other unseemly details, has been in newspapers all over the country. But it hasn’t been in our weekly.

We are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t, in the case of stories like that of Bishop Finn. If we publish it, we are accused of piling on and being anti-religious “like all the mainstream media.” If we don’t publish it, we are accused of timidity and conspiring to keep things hidden.

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NEDERLAND
RTV Oost

[met video]

Frank Oude Geerdink uit Albergen, slachtoffer van seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk, heeft vanochtend kort gesproken met bisschop Eijk. Dat gebeurde na de eucharistieviering in de Lambertusbasiliek in Hengelo.

Daar waren alle Nederlandse bisschoppen bij elkaar om de in 2005 overleden Paus Johannes Paulus II te herdenken. Oude Geerdink hield buiten de kerk samen met zo’n acht lotgenoten een stil protest. Ze zijn teleurgesteld in de kerkelijke leiders. Volgens Oude Geerdink is er vanuit de kerk nooit contact opgenomen met slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik en wordt er ook vanuit de kerk geen enkele hulp aangeboden.

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UNITED STATES
Association of Catholic Priests (Ireland)

Short extract from http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/snap-subpoenas-harm-key-ally-victims about legal moves to force SNAP to hand over records:

If SNAP leaders are compelled to testify in cases of clergy accused of sexually abusing minors and are forced to turn over confidential correspondence from victims, whistleblowers and media, the advocacy group will be irreparably harmed and victims of clergy sexual abuse will have lost a key ally in their fight for justice.

The subpoenas are wrong on a number of counts.

First, the extraordinary breadth of material the subpoenas order SNAP to release is a kind of legal carte blanche that courts should protect against. Lawyers defending accused priests seek documents and correspondence dating back to the organization’s founding 23 years ago — including emails, press releases, drafts of press releases, and any correspondence with members of the press, lawyers and the public, if that correspondence mentions the dioceses, the bishops, the defendants or the accusers.

The lawyers also seek any document that makes mention of “repressed memory.” That opens the possibility that the identity of someone who has never gone public with their story but had written to SNAP at some point mentioning the phrase “repressed memory” would now be revealed. The judge in one of the cases has made one concession to victims’ right to privacy by requiring SNAP to provide the court — not opposing legal counsel — with a log showing dates and times of contact with victims.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priests

1. Assembly: We are working on our plans for an assembly in late April/early May. On January 26th we are having a meeting in Marianella, Dublin at 7.30pm. This meeting is for anyone who wishes to be involved in the preparation of the event. Lay, clergy and religious are welcome to come. We see this as a joint venture between ourselves and others who share our objectives and hopes for the Church.

2. Our membership has increased greatly. We now have 650 members. We had some very successful regional meeting during the Autumn. We would encourage the various diocesan groups to look at the possibility of coming together for a meeting. Some have done so. All it needs is for one or two to organise it. If anyone wishes to know who the members are in your diocese, please get on to us.

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ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

By AARON LEIBOWITZ
01/11/2012 23:07

Our Jerusalem neighborhood of Nahlaot made the news over the past week, with a flurry of reports that police have busted a horrifying pedophilia ring. Initial arrests were made Sunday, with more expected in the coming weeks. The story is a horrific tale of sexual and physical violence against children.

But none of this was news to those of us who live in the area. Since last summer we have been hearing about pedophiles living among us. One social services worker told me that over 100 names of abused children have been mentioned in official interviews with children who have been victimized. Worse, he also told me that there are many suspects still at large, including several individuals they “know” are guilty but do not have sufficient admissible evidence to prosecute.

The official also told me that sexual assaults against Nahlaot children continues to this day.

The first complaints of rape and molestation of children, some as young as one year old, were reported to police in 2010. Investigators have also stated unequivocally that the families of the victims are fully cooperating. Considering these facts, how can it be that children are still being harmed?

IN MY role as a community rabbi, families have told me that while the police and state prosecutor’s office admit that this is a story involving many victims and many pedophiles, they claim the community has overstated the problem and that we are reacting hysterically. Their crass dealing with the issue begs the question: How many children have to be raped and endure horrific physical and emotional abuse in order to justify so-called “hysteria”?

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GEORGIA
Deseret News

The Associated Press

LITHONIA, Ga. — Beleaguered mega-church pastor Eddie Long is back in the pulpit after a leave of absence to deal with his divorce and other personal issues.

Long’s spokesman, Art Franklin, said Tuesday that the senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church returned to preaching at a New Year’s Eve service. Franklin said Long will attend weekly services at the suburban Atlanta church.

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MUNCIE (IN)
Indianapolis Star

Written by
Muncie Star Press

MUNCIE, Ind. — A mistrial was declared Friday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked on the two most serious charges pending against a Muncie pastor.

The jurors did find Matthew A. Kidd, 55, not guilty of the third charge, a felony count of vicarious sexual gratification.

The pastor of Freedom Point Apostolic Church remains charged with child molesting and sexual misconduct with a minor over allegations he abused two teenagers, between 2002 and 2005 while they were member of his congregation.

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ISRAEL
YNet News

Brothers molest kid sister for years, after rabbi advises parents against involving police, telling them such abuse is common

The State Prosecutor’s Office has filed an indictment this week against two brothers who molested their younger sister, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday.

The abuse continued for years after a rabbi advised the parents against involving to the police, saying that such incidents “happen in many families.”

The girl,14, was only 10 years old when her older brothers began sexually assaulting her. The eldest brother, 20, used to rape his sister regularly, while the younger of the two, 19, touched her inappropriately.

When the parents discovered the horrifying abuse they consulted their rabbi, who advised them to deal with the issue at home.

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CALIFORNIA
The Sacramento Bee

By Marcos Breton

Published: Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012

Arrests of youth coaches, educators, pastors and priests on suspicion of molesting children are not an epidemic in Sacramento.

It just seems as if they are.

The sacred bond of a mentor and a protégé, of a wise older soul guiding a youthful innocent, is at the heart of one criminal case after another in the capital region.

On Friday, Arturo Bustamante, a football coach at River City High School in West Sacramento, was arrested on six counts of molesting a child under the age of 18.

David Robert Freeman, the varsity baseball coach at Union Mine High School in El Dorado County, was arrested Jan. 5 on suspicion of engaging in sexual activity with a minor.

Uriel Ojeda, a wildly popular priest in the Sacramento Catholic Diocese, was released on bail last Monday but still faces seven counts of molesting a girl under 14.

In December, Tommy Gene Daniels, a former Baptist pastor from Rio Linda, was convicted of molesting four girls with behavioral issues who had stayed at his home. He faces 165 years to life in prison.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted: Jan. 15, 2012

John L. Smith

As a strict observer of the Nine Commandments, Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe toiled for nearly a decade as a leader of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church and the Las Vegas Diocese.

As a thief in immaculate robes, McAuliffe ripped off $650,000 from church coffers over the years to feed a raging video poker habit. He did not discriminate: He stole from the votive candle fund, the novena fund, and the church gift shop.

On Friday morning, in U.S. District Judge James Mahan’s packed courtroom, McAuliffe sought leniency and did not get it. Mahan heard about McAuliffe’s tragic gambling compulsion from defense expert witness Dr. Timothy Fong of UCLA’s Gambling Studies Program. In addition to displaying all the signs and symptoms of a man in the throes of gambling addiction, McAuliffe also appeared to suffer from depression and social anxiety disorder, the $250-an-hour expert said.

Defense attorney Margaret Stanish gamely tried to portray her client as a deeply remorseful man whose life of good deeds was marred only by a tragic flaw in the form of a gambling addiction.

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PENNSYLVANIA
PhillyBurbs

Child sex abuse: When concern for institutional risk trumps the truth

Posted: Sunday, January 15, 2012

By THOMAS P. MURT

Grand jury investigations into the recent child sex abuse scandals that have rocked Penn State and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia have placed the issue of child sex abuse onto the front burner here in Pennsylvania — where it belongs.

I serve on the Child and Youth Committee and have listened to and read many hours of excruciatingly painful testimony from victims and their families describing the most heinous sexual abuse imaginable. The institutional cover-ups and subsequent ill-treatment of victims have made these terrible situations even worse. It’s a sad day, indeed, when concern for institutional risk management trumps uncovering the truth.

I recently listened to testimony concerning two perpetrators who were Franciscan Friars and who taught at Archbishop Ryan High School in Philadelphia when I was on the faculty there. As a life-long Catholic, a former parochial school teacher, and a religious education instructor, I am filled with anguish over these incidents.

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MUNCIE (IN)
Muncie Free Press

MUNCIE, IN – A hung jury was the result of a Muncie pastor accused of sexually molesting teenage congregation members almost a decade ago.

Members of the Freedom Point Apostolic Church stood by and testified in behalf of Matthew A. Kidd, 55, who was accused of sexually molesting two brothers who testified against him in Delaware Circuit Court 3 this week. Judge Linda Ralu Wolf declared a mistrial Friday after jurors could not reach a verdict on two of the serious charges, sexual misconduct with a minor and child molesting, both felonies. The jury found Kidd not guilty of vicarious sexual gratification, another felony.

Defense attorney Steve Bruce tried to get Wolf to declare a mistrial just days before, and insisted there was no physical evidence of abuse. The victims’ family filed a civil suit against Kidd which Bruce suggested was motivating the criminal case.

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OREGON
Catholic Sentinel

TILLAMOOK — Father Joseph Hoang returned to Sacred Heart Parish here this week after civil and church investigations.

Archbishop John Vlazny placed Father Hoang on administrative leave in 2007 after a member of the priest’s family brought allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Father Hoang vigorously denied the report.

The Multnomah County District Attorney reviewed allegations and declined to proceed. A lengthy civil lawsuit included another in-depth probe.

After the civil suit was settled, a church investigation began and could not conclude that Father Hoang had committed any crime under canon law.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KOAM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – A new report shows the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese spent more than $1 million over a four-month stretch last year in connection with priest sexual abuse cases.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/AxGxLl ) reported that a diocese insurance program incurred $631,553 in costs relating to clergy sexual abuse from July through October. Another $427,707 in spending is tied to an independent investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves at the request of the diocese.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

The Vatican’s inspection of the female religious institutes in the U.S.A has softened

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Three years ago, the former cardinal Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life had started the inspections to look into the “styles of life” of nuns in the United States. After the Vatican received reports of serious problems of doctrinal disobedience and failure to adhere to the Catholic Church’s Magisterium, Cardinal Rodé entrusted Mary Clare Millea, the American mother superior of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with the task of shedding light on the issue. Proof of this “ultra-liberal” drift was the fact that U.S. convents were pointing out groups of nuns who were giving the “go-ahead” to Obama’s health reforms which included women’s right to abortion. Visitations proceeded amid the protests of some nuns’ associations who complained of their religious orders’ loss of independence as a result of being subjected to the “Holy See’s modern Inquisition.” Meanwhile, in Rome, changes were being made to the leadership of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life. The first arrival was that of 59 year old Mgr. Joseph William Tobin from Detroit, formerly superior general of the Redemptorist fathers, who took up his post as the new Secretary of the Vatican dicastery.

He immediately put the U.S nuns at rest with regards to the effects of the Visitation underway, softening its impact before it had even concluded. Cardinal Rodé yielded his post to João Braz de Aviz, former archbishop of Brasilia. And now that the inspection is over, there seems to be a willingness on the part of the Congregation, to create ties with the nuns and to help them improve in a constructive manner without appearing as an external censor whose sole purpose is that of correcting errors. Despite this new portrayal of the Visitation, it appears that not everything has gone smoothly: indeed, it seems that at least a third of U.S. female convents have not opened its doors to the Vatican, which set up its Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Society of Apostolic Life on December 22nd, 2008.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
Vatican Insider

In the Archdiocese of Milawaukee until February 1st to denounce pedophile priests

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

This is a race against time. For the first time since the scandal of pedophile priests exploded in the world, an agreement was signed between priests who want anti-abuse purification of the Church and victims of “disloyal” clergy. This happened in Milwaukee in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, one of the main theaters of the pedophilia scandal. Victims of sexual abuse have signed an appeal so that other victims of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee come forward. Together to prevent it from happening again and to bring the culprits to court.

Two weeks to denounce pedophile priests and uncover those responsibilities. An alliance of priests, victims of abuse by clergy and supporters of the «purification» of the Church. Together they have launched an appeal by signing a poster that appeared in the newspaper, «Milwaukee Journal Sentinel», which encourages victims to come forward before the February 1st deadline for submitting complaints of abuseagainst the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in view of an imminent bankruptcy. The announcement calls otherpriests and religious of the diocese “to unite and press for a full public confession” by the archdiocese, including the uncensored publication of all documents relating to abuses by the archdiocese and by religious orders that serve in its territory. Furthermore, the signatories ask the archdiocese to “provide a detailed and comprehensive list of all clergy and employees who have harmed children and minors”, reports the National Catholic Reporter. Peter Isely, Director of Snap (Survivors Network of Those abused by priests), i.e. the network of victims of abuse by clergy has issued a statement which describes the initiative as a breakthrough in the fight against pedophilia in the clergy.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

Saturday, January 14, 2012, by Waylon Johnston

Sex abuse victim Lawrence Grech has been labelled a liar by defence lawyer Giannella de Marco as she made her case in the appeal of two former priests against their child abuse conviction.

In what must have been an uncomfortable moment for Mr Grech in the public gallery, the lawyer accused him of seeking fame and fortune and “biting the hand that fed him”. Mr Grech shifted uneasily on the already hard and uncomfortable court room bench as the lawyer described his “system of conduct” which, she claimed, supported the theory that his abuse claims were all a lie.

Dr de Marco made the arguments at the start of the appeal proceedings in which her clients, defrocked Francesco Scerri, known as Godwin, and Carmelo Pulis are contesting their conviction.

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SYRACUSE (NY)
Philadelphia Inquirer

January 11, 2012|By Frank Fitzpatrick, Inquirer Staff Writer

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Maybe the strange calm here can be attributed to Syracuse basketball’s position atop the national polls, or to the normal stillness of an Adirondack winter.

Or perhaps it’s because the Bernie Fine scandal has yet to yield criminal charges, sordid grand jury reports, student riots, or the stunning dismissal of both a college president and an iconic coach.

Whatever the reason, nearly two months after several sex-abuse allegations surfaced against Fine, coach Jim Boeheim’s longtime top aide and neighbor, the worst of the storm seems to have passed this rusty Finger Lakes city. …

“It is surprising that things seem so quiet there,” said the Rev. Robert Hoatson of the Road To Recovery, a New Jersey-based organization that aids child sex-abuse victims and has monitored the Syracuse situation closely. “But I really do think this thing has the potential to be worse than Penn State.” …

Curiously, next month, thanks to Syracuse’s own Newhouse School of Communications, the issues surrounding the Fine case could get a fresh rendering.

Hoatson will serve on a discussion panel as will some Syracuse administrators and several reporters who have worked on the case.

“But who knows,” said Hoatson, “what might come out before then?”

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Linsey

National Catholic Reporter has just published an editorial decrying the attack now being mounted on the SNAP organization by lawyers working for the Catholic church. The editorial frames its statement by recounting the story of Bartek Obloj, who hanged himself in Poland in 2007. Obloj was thirteen years old at the time. He left a suicide note stating that his parish priest, Stanislaw Kaszowski, had sexually molested him.

Kaszowski celebrated Bartek Obloj’s funeral Mass. He was then moved to a new parish. He refuses to testify in court at court hearings about the case. As the NCR editorial notes, one of the primary reasons that advocacy groups working to assist survivors of clerical sexual abuse are still needed is that cases like the case of Bartek Obloj continue to reach the news.

The abuse is still happening. And church officials continue to seek to skirt and defy the law when cases of abuse are made public.

NCR’s editorial finds the court orders demanding that SNAP disclose information that has been kept private up to now “wrong on a number of counts.” In the first place, these orders are demanding documents that disclose an extraordinary and unprecedented range of information, and so the court orders represent “a kind of legal carte blanche that courts should protect against” and not facilitate. People who have sought SNAP’s assistance and have no connection whatsoever to the cases in Kansas City or St. Louis where the disclosure of documents is being demanded will have their privacy violated.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 14, 2012 by Susan Matthews

BREAKING NEWS

After reading the linked article below, I’ve lost ALL faith that the Church leadership in Philadelphia will ever do the right thing. I read this and wonder where we would be if the Archdiocese had invested the time, money and thought into evangelization, social services or Catholic education that it has into lawyers and hiding facts from the police.

Click here to read: “Prosecutors: Archdiocese delayed reporting priests’ involvement with child porn,” by John P. Martin, The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 14, 2012

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia waited until last month to tell law enforcement about priests caught with child pornography despite knowing years ago about their “deviant and possibly illegal activities,” prosecutors say.

In a motion unsealed Friday in Common Pleas Court, the commonwealth attorneys do not identify the priests or elaborate on what they call their “involvement” with child porn.

But they contend that the reporting delay supports their claim that the archdiocese and its newly hired lawyers are impeding evidence requests and attempting to influence witnesses in the conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial of four current and former priests.

The motion was filed Monday but remained sealed until Judge M. Teresa Sarmina unsealed it. The lawyers involved either did not respond to The Inquirer’s requests for comment or declined to talk, citing the judge’s gag order in the case.

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EL PASO (TX)
El Paso Times

By Marty Schladen \ El Paso Times
Posted: 01/14/2012

The unusual step by Catholic Bishop Armando X. Ochoa of suing one of his priests exposed a small part of the inner workings of the church in El Paso and it offered a glimpse into the politics inside the diocese, experts said Friday.

By recovering $200,000 and shuttling the Rev. Michael E. Rodriguez off to Presidio, Ochoa might have tried to conceal that one of his priests allegedly misused parish money.

Or Ochoa might be publicly trying to rein in a renegade priest by suing Rodriguez over $27,000 Ochoa says hasn’t been accounted for, an expert said.

Ochoa and Monsignor Arturo Banuelas this week asked that a court lock down Rodriguez’s bank accounts and force him to make a full accounting of the funds he raised from parishioners at San Juan Bautista

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BELGIE
Trouw

De gepensioneerde Brugse bisschop Roger Vangheluwe gaat de schadevergoeding voor slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik deels uit eigen zak betalen. Dat doet hij op verzoek van de bisschoppenconferentie. Vangheluwe heeft ook zelf minderjarigen seksueel misbruikt.

De bijdrage is geen straf maar een vorm van gerechtigheid, vertelt de Antwerpse referent-bisschop Johan Bonny in De Morgen. ‘We willen als bisschoppenconferentie een duidelijk signaal geven dat we de schadevergoedingen heel ernstig nemen. Het is ons menens.’

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

BRUGGE/TORHOUT – 270 priesters, diakens en andere parochiemedewerkers uit het Brugse bisdom hebben gisteren deelgenomen aan een studiedag rond seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk. Bisschop Jozef De Kesel maakte bekend dat er een beeldje komt in de Sint-Salvatorskathedraal als blijvende herinnering aan wat gebeurd is.

Een klein glazen beeldje zal op Paaszaterdag in de doopkapel van de Sint-Salvatorskathedraal worden gezet, als blijvende herinnering aan de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de Kerk. Het beeld zal dus een permanent gedenkteken worden in de kathedraal waar Roger Vangheluwe, die in 2010 moest aftreden omdat bekend raakte dat hij jarenlang een minderjarige seksueel had misbruikt, 25 jaar lang zijn bisschoppelijke zetel had.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger

BRAUNSCHWEIG – Die Braunschweiger Staatsanwältin Ute Lindemann hat einem katholischen Pfarrer aus Salzgitter am Donnerstag sexuellen Missbrauch an drei Jungen in 280 Fällen vorgeworfen. Zum Auftakt des Prozesses vor dem Landesgericht gegen den 46-jährigen Angeklagten sagte sie, er habe die Jungen unter anderem im Pfarrhaus vor Beginn der Messe sowie bei gemeinsamen Urlauben ohne die Eltern missbraucht. Einer der Jungen sei älter als 14 Jahre gewesen, zwei jünger.

Priester Andreas L. hatte bereits im Vorfeld die meisten der ihm vorgeworfenen Taten gestanden. Er sitzt in Untersuchungshaft. Ihm droht eine Haftstrafe von bis zu 15 Jahren. Die Kontakte soll er im Kommunionsunterricht gesucht haben.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Neue Presse

Braunscheig. Der Mann aus Salzgitter soll unter anderem den Kommunionunterricht genutzt haben, um das Vertrauen der Kinder und ihrer Familien zu gewinnen.

Bei Übernachtungen und Kurzurlauben soll es dann zu dem Missbrauch der 9 bis 15 Jahre alten Jungen gekommen sein – insgesamt 280 Mal. Nach einer Beratung von Anklage, Verteidigung und Gericht wurde dem Priester im Gegenzug zu einem Geständnis eine Strafe von sechs bis sechseinhalb Jahren Haft in Aussicht gestellt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Von Julia Jüttner, Braunschweig

Pfarrer Andreas L. hat zugegeben, über Jahre hinweg drei Jungen sexuell missbraucht zu haben. Vor dem Landgericht Braunschweig entschied er sich zur Flucht nach vorn – allerdings nicht freiwillig. Und erst recht nicht mit gebotener Einsicht.

Nicht der Andy sitzt da auf der Anklagebank des Landgerichts Braunschweig. Sondern der Schatten von Andreas L., ehemaliger Pfarrer der katholischen Gemeinde St. Joseph in Salzgitter: Ein schmächtiger Mann, 46 Jahre alt, mit dunklen, kurzen Haaren, Kinnbart und Brille, der nicht mehr viel gemein hat mit dem eloquenten Theologen, den seine Gemeinde so schätzte und dem es leicht fiel, in bestimmten Momenten die richtigen Worte zu finden und Vertrauen zu anderen Menschen aufzubauen. In diesen Momenten war er für viele der Andy.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Hannoveriche Allgemeine

Von Wiebke Ramm |

Der Pfarrer Andreas L., der drei Jungen 280-mal missbraucht hat, steht seit Donnerstag vor Gericht – und zeigt kein Schuldgefühl.

Braunschweig. Dass er Schuld auf sich geladen hat, ist an seiner Körperhaltung nicht abzulesen. Ob er seine Schuld begreift, lässt sich nach dem ersten Verhandlungstag in diesem Prozess schwer sagen.

Der katholische Pfarrer ist angeklagt, drei Jungen über Jahre sexuell missbraucht zu haben. 280 Fälle hat die Staatsanwältin in der Anklageschrift vermerkt. In 223 Fällen soll es sich dabei um schweren Missbrauch gehandelt haben. Das heißt, er hat die Kinder nicht nur gestreichelt. Seit Donnerstag muss er sich vor dem Landgericht Braunschweig verantworten. Der 46-Jährige hat alle Taten gestanden.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Sun

By J. Patrick Coolican

Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012

My heart went out to the parishioners of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton outside a federal courtroom Friday. They were there to support Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe, who was sentenced to 37 months in prison for stealing $650,000 from church funds to feed a gambling addiction.

They were anguished. Connie Calarco had major brain surgery in 2010.

“He prayed for me. He got me through everything. Anytime you needed Monsignor, he was there for us, even when he was going through his own hell,” she said.

Another parishioner said in his seven decades of Catholicism, during which he interacted with 100 priests or more, he’d never met one as special as McAuliffe. He built a parish from near nothing to more than 8,500 families with a church, school and chapel.

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NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Staff

MORRIS TOWNSHIP — In 1999, when he was asked to become headmaster at the exclusive Delbarton School, the Rev. Luke Travers said he responded with “one loud ‘Yes!’” because he was “thrilled and honored.”

But several years earlier, according to a victims advocate, Travers was ready to chuck it all and run away with a former Delbarton student, who is now alleging sexual misconduct by Travers in the early 1990s.

A letter Tuesday from Patrick Marker, the advocate, to the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Va., detailed the allegations and described Travers as a predator who groomed his alleged victim.

As a result of the accusations and an ongoing investigation, Travers has been removed from his position as a non-residential administrator of the Mary Mother of Church Abbey in Richmond, where he has been since 2010. He is prohibited from having contact with juveniles or young adults. He has not been charged with any crime.

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GERMANY
BBC News

A German Catholic priest has admitted 280 counts of sexual abuse involving three boys in the past decade, saying he did not think he was doing harm.

Named only as Andreas L, the priest told a court in Braunschweig that he had first abused the nine-year-old son of a widowed woman parishioner.

After being banned by his diocese from making further contact with the boy, he abused two brothers, aged nine and 13.

Thousands of Germans have left the Church over revelations of abuse.

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NEW JERSEY/VIRGINIA
International Business Times

By Melanie Jones

January 13, 2012

Father Luke Travers, a Benedictine monk and former administrator at the Mary Mother of the Church Abbey in Virginia, is under investigation for sexual misconduct while he was headmaster at Delbarton, a Catholic boy’s school in New Jersey.

Delbarton School is an elite college preparatory academy in Morristown, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s son goes there and the academy is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious schools on the East Coast.

Rev. Traver has been replaced at the abbey and is currently under investigation by church authorities.

‘Because he loved me.’

The Benedictine monk had been serving as non-residential administrator at the Mary Mother of the Church Abbey since 2010 when a letter was sent to church officials alleging that Travers, 55, had sexually harassed at least two former students at Delbarton. …

Mark Serrano, a national advocate for sex abuse victims, was similarly furious with church officials at Delbarton and those higher up in the ACC, saying their handling of the allegations is suspicious at best and questioning why they didn’t inform the Va. abbey of the investigation into Travers that began in June.

“I wouldn’t trust the school’s characterization of the incidents as ‘minor’ until we know all the facts,” Serrano told NJ.com. “In the meantime, we must make sure Travers has no contact with children.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
News-Press

A former worker at the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic diocesan archives is suing the diocese, claiming he was sexually harassed at work then dismissed after repeatedly complaining about it.

The civil lawsuit, filed by Larry Probst in U.S. District Court, alleges that Probst was subjected to sexually offensive language, sexual advances and pornography on the computers at work. The suit seeks relief under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

A spokeswoman said the diocese has not received the lawsuit and is not able to comment on any factual allegations in it.

But the diocese did say in a statement that Probst worked part time in the archives on an intermittent and as-needed basis when funds were available from June 2005 until June 2011.

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GERMANY
Sky News (Australia)

A Roman Catholic priest in Germany has admitted to 280 counts of sexually abusing three boys over a several-year period.

The 46-year-old priest, who has been suspended, went on trial at the state court in Braunschweig. The dapd news agency reported that he showed no remorse.

The man who was not identified was arrested last July after one victim told his mother what had happened. He was charged with abusing three boys aged between 9 and 15.

Hildesheim diocese spokesman Michael Lukas says the defendant’s actions were ‘a catastrophe for the victims and for the Catholic church.’ The trial continues through February 2.

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ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News

By DANA MASSING, Erie Times-News
dana.massing@timesnews.com

The double doors at the end of the hall leading to the League Room at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul used to be solid.

Now there’s a window in the door on the right that looks into the parlorlike room where two couches and a love seat have been taken away.

The addition of the window and the removal of the furniture are among efforts to protect children and adults from sexual abuse in the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

The Erie-based diocese recently revised its Policy for the Protection of Children and Youth from Abuse and Policies for the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation of Adults and of Sexual Harassment of Church Workers.

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YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Vindicator

Staff report

The Diocese of Youngstown has been found compliant with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People during the annual compliance audit.

The charter was developed by the USCCB Ad Hoc Committee for Sexual Abuse in 2002 in response to the sexual abuse crises in the church.

The charter was revised in 2005 and 2011.

The onsite audit, conducted by the independent firm Stonebridge Business Partners of Rochester, New York, took place in October 2011.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A week after sex abuse victims set an ultimatum to reconsider its decision, the Church remains adamant that no compensation will be paid.

Abuse victim and spokesman Lawrence Grech last week told The Sunday Times that victims were giving the Church until the end of February to reconsider its decision to not compensate them financially.

He claimed that despite the Church stating last September that it would make psychological, psychiatric and social professionals available to those sexually abused by clergy members, counselling had yet to materialise.

Asked to respond to Mr Grech’s comments, a Curia spokesman indicated that the onus of action lay with the victims, not the Church.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese spent more than $1 million during four months of 2011 in connection with priest sexual abuse cases, according to a diocesan report.

The report shows a diocese insurance program incurred $631,553 in costs relating to clergy sexual abuse from July through October. It also paid $427,707 in connection with an independent investigation led by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves at the request of the diocese.

No legal costs have been paid from that fund or any other diocesan fund for the defense of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest who was charged last year in state and federal courts with possession of child pornography, the report says. Ratigan’s arrest sparked a flood of lawsuits and resulted in an indictment against Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspicions of child sexual abuse.

The figures — the most detailed the diocese has provided on the costs related to priest sex abuse cases — were released in a five-page document that was published in The Catholic Key, the diocesan newspaper, and posted on the diocese website.

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MALTA
The Malta Independent

by John Cordina

Article published on 14 January 2012

The lawyers of the two priests convicted of sexually abusing boys in their care are basing their appeal on the credibility of one of the victims, claiming that he also influenced the others to involve themselves.

Giannella de Marco and Joseph Giglio are representing Charles Pulis and Godwin Scerri, who were jailed for six years and five years respectively over multiple counts of sexual abuse of boys at St Joseph Home in Sta Venera, which is run by the Missionary Society of St Paul (MSSP). The two priests were subsequently defrocked.

The defence appealed each priest’s conviction and sentence, and the two former priests have not yet started to serve their sentence: They were granted bail and remain at the MSSP convent.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS • An employee at St. Francis Cabrini Academy has been charged with stealing tuition after allegedly admitting the crime to a priest and the school’s principal.

Eric Winters, 30, of the 2600 block of Arsenal Street, accepted tuition money from students that he kept for himself and also pilfered the school’s PayPal account, according to charges filed in St. Louis Circuit Court on Friday. He had allegedly been doing so since March.

Winters faces one count of stealing more than $500.

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IRELAND/UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 13, 2012
By Retta Blaney

The middle-aged man entering the waiting room with a bulging manila folder looks anxious. In his sage-colored pants and jacket, white shirt with no tie, he appears as bland as the room, which is empty but for a straight chair and a sign with an arrow pointing to the left. It is the words on that sign, though, that indicate any trace of blandness is only superficial. White letters on a blue background foreshadow the fire beneath the surface: Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

“I have to go into that courtroom soon, into my past,” the man known as James X says as he waits to be a witness before an Irish government tribunal’s inquiry into institutional child abuse. “Tell them what happened back then when I was 11, but I just want to run and run and run.”

In his one-man play, “James X,” Gerard Mannix Flynn reveals one harrowing incident after another of physical and sexual abuse in Ireland’s Catholic and state institutions. A popular and critical success when it premiered in Dublin in 2009, it is playing at Manhattan’s 45 Bleecker Street at least through Dec. 18. Given the subject and its high-profile backers, I can easily see it traveling from New York to other American cities — Boston and Philadelphia, to name two

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

Detaching seminarians from the mainstream student experience is a retrograde step, writes NOEL WHELAN

SOME YEARS ago, when discussing the issue of whether the newly reconfigured Police Service of Northern Ireland should have a new police college, the then senator Maurice Hayes, a former member of the Patten commission, voiced his own reservations about the concept of a free-standing police training institution. His argument was persuasive. He expressed a concern that creating separate educational institutions and, in particular, separate residential education institutions for police men and women, was unhealthy because it meant that in their key formative years they became detached from the mainstream student experience and potentially from the general community within which they would ultimately have to live and work.

Some argued that learning and living together, and separate from others, was essential to common formation, but Hayes argued it also gave rise to a sense of detachment from and, at times, a sense of superiority over other young workers and professionals.

At its worst, this separate formation could give rise to an overly intense camaraderie which could lead young recruits to confuse their sense of duty to the wider population. Others go so far as to suggest that it can engender an instinct to defend, even when indefensible, the actions of colleagues or of the force they were joining.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

Mary Raftery THERE’S A good deal of old guff handed out to young journalists in the guise of advice to guide them in their careers. The best of it emphasises getting the facts right, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, and possibly making a difference if you work hard and get lucky.

Mary Raftery, a journalist best known for her television work, had succeeded on all those counts when she died in Dublin aged 54 earlier this week. Her singular achievement was to force Ireland to confront the fact that clergy had been sexually abusing children entrusted to their care, and that senior Catholic Church figures had conspired to cover this up.

She was not the first in the field, as RTÉ historian John Bowman has noted. Cathal Black’s independent documentary from 1980, Our Boys , dealt with traumatised former pupils of the Christian Brothers. Veteran TV director Louis Lentin’s 1996 drama documentary Dear Daughter vividly exposed cruelty at a Dublin orphanage run by nuns. But it was the work of Mary Raftery “which brought the conspiracy of silence which had protected the [Catholic] church in the 20th century to a dramatic end”, as historian Tom Garvin put it. Her work and that of her longtime collaborator and researcher Sheila Ahern was thorough, and it stuck.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
York Daily Record

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
Updated: 01/13/2012

PHILADELPHIA—A Roman Catholic monsignor has taken the rare step of asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to intervene before he becomes the first church official in the U.S. to stand trial for allegedly transferring predator priests.

Lawyers have filed a King’s Bench petition on behalf of Monsignor William Lynn, the longtime secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Lynn, 61, faces more than a decade in prison if he’s convicted of criminal conspiracy and child endangerment. He is set to stand trial in March, along with two priests and a former Catholic school teacher charged with raping two boys.

Lynn’s lawyers argue that child endangerment cannot apply to defendants who had no direct responsibility for individual children. Several trial judges in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas have rejected that defense in pretrial motions.

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CANADA
The News

NEW GLASGOW – Victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Antigonish will be getting lesser cash awards than expected.

A letter sent to members of the lawsuit in early November from their lawyer indicates that the victims will receive just under 62 per cent of the amount they had originally anticipated from the settlement reached with the diocese.

Initially, the settlement was supposed to cover approximately 80 victims of sexual abuse. But about 140 people have since joined the lawsuit, and part of the agreement signed by the participants was a clause that resulted in the individual settlements being pro-rated to the number that joined the class action suit.

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BOSTON (MA)
NPR

January 13, 2012

Ten years ago, Michael Rezendes and The Boston Globe colleagues broke a clergy sex abuse cover-up in the Boston Archdiocese. Host Michel Martin speaks with Rezendes about his investigative work. (Advisory: This segment may not be suitable for all audiences.)

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BELGIUM
U.S. Catholic

Friday, January 13, 2012

By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service

OXFORD, England (CNS) — Belgium’s Catholic bishops have pledged a “culture of vigilance” against future sexual abuse by priests and said guilty clergy must compensate their victims even if their crimes are no longer punishable by law.

“We cannot repair the past, but we can take moral responsibility by recognizing sufferings and helping victims recover,” Bishop Guy Harpigny of Torunai and Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, the church’s delegates for abuse, told a Brussels news conference Jan. 12.

“Above all, we ask forgiveness for the suffering we weren’t able to prevent, and we commit to treat this problem differently in future.”

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MISSOURI
Webster-Kirkwood Times

January 13, 2012

Amidst critical school funding issues and a state budget shortfall that must be addressed, state Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, also has child sexual abuse prevention on his radar for the 2012 legislative session.

“As a father, I reacted to the Penn State sex abuse scandal, which is still unfolding, as I am sure many other fathers have. My reaction: How could this happen? How could anyone witness actual sex abuse of children and not report it to legal authorities?

“As a legislator, I think my natural reaction is: How can we address this in our state? What is on the books now? What kind of input do we need to put together a law on this to make sure children are protected and that criminal behavior victimizing them gets reported?” said Schmitt.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Bartek Obloj’s story defies description.

Before reaching his 14th birthday, Obloj hanged himself in 2007, leaving a note that his parish priest had molested him. (See: Polish church faces demands to confront sex abuse.)

The accused priest, Fr. Stanislaw Kaszowski, was moved to a new parish — but not before personally celebrating Obloj’s funeral Mass. Kaszowski continues in ministry and refuses to testify in court.

We grope for a reaction that matches the horror.

Despite assurances that most cases of abuse are in the past and that reporting procedures have been strengthened, the clergy sex abuse scandal continues. That is why the work of groups like the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is invaluable. And that work is now under threat.

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POLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 13, 2012
By Jonathan Luxmoore

WARSAW, POLAND — When Bartek Obloj, a 13-year-old altar boy, hanged himself in his home village of Hludno just before Christmas 2007, he left a letter to his mother complaining of being molested by his parish rector. Police were called and his shocked parents blamed the priest for their son’s death.

A month later, Poland’s Catholic Tygodnik Powszechny weekly reported that Fr. Stanislaw Kaszowski had been moved to a parish 20 miles away after personally saying the boy’s funeral Mass. He’d denied the accusations, the paper added, and defiantly failed to appear at a court hearing.

Hludno’s mayor, Stanislaw Gladysz, testified that locals had long complained of the priest’s “sadistic behavior” and “sexual exploits,” adding that for a decade he’d asked the local ordinary, Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, to move the priest. However, Michalik, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, had given Kaszowski his full confidence, the mayor said, and refused to discuss the claims.

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UNITED STATES
NPR

January 13, 2012

In the decade since The Boston Globe broke the story about the cover-up of pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese, countless Americans have shared their stories of clergy abuse. Bob Hoatson is a former priest who was abused as a teen by church leaders. He speaks with host Michel Martin. (Advisory: This segment may not be suitable for all audiences.)

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Doug McMurdo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Posted: Jan. 13, 2012

A former high-ranking Las Vegas priest was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay full restitution Friday after admitting he stole $650,000 from a Las Vegas Catholic church to support his compulsive gambling.

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe told U.S. District Judge James Mahan he was sorry.

More than 90 parishioners from McAuliffe’s church were inside the courtroom, and many more were turned away.

The federal government sought a prison term of 33 months for McAuliffe, but the priest objected, citing his gambling addiction and prior good works as reasons for a shorter stint behind bars — or probation.

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
New Zealand Herald

A 59-year-old Roman Catholic priest has been sentenced to three years and one month in federal prison for siphoning some $650,000 from his northwest Las Vegas parish to support his gambling habit.

Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe made no reaction as US District Court Judge James Mahan faulted him for abusing a position of trust in his congregation.

Muffled sobs erupted from a courtroom packed with supporters.

Defence attorney Margaret Stanish asked the judge for probation and to let the McAuliffe continue getting counseling for his gambling addiction, keep practicing as a priest and pay restitution to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Summerlin.

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LA CROSSE (WI)
News 8000

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A La Crosse County judge has dismissed fraud charges brought against the Diocese of La Crosse that accused them of covering up a priest who allegedly had a history of child abuse.

In a civil case that began in 2008, Brenda Varga said she was assaulted by Father Raymond Bornbach in 1971, and that the Diocese knew Bornbach had a history of abuse, but did nothing about it.

Bornbach was removed from the ministry in 2004, and died in 2006.

Judge Scott Horne dismissed two counts of fraud, saying there was no evidence of a prior sexual assault.

In a statement, Diocese attorney James Birnbaum says “We are grateful that the court ruled what we have maintained from the start: that the Diocese of La Crosse engaged in no fraud toward Brenda Varga in her 41-year-old claims against the Diocese.”

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MALTA
Malta Today

Jurgen Balzan

The defence lawyer for the two priests convicted of the sexual abuse of minors under their care, has asked the court to hear Bondiplus presenter Lou Bondì as a witness in the priests’ appeal

Defence lawyer Gianella de Marco will present new evidence and witnesses in the appeal of Fr Godwin Scerri and Fr Carmelo Pulis against their prison sentences. She said court should accept the new list of witnesses as they will provide new evidence which emerged after the court sentence was issued. de Marco added that it is up to the court to then decide whether the evidence is relevant or not.

de Marco was representing Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri who were last August given jail terms of six and five years respectively for the sexual abuse of minors under their care at the St Joseph Home in Hamrun. They faced accusations by 11 victims, who were then aged between 13 and 16, were resident at St Joseph’s Home in Sta Venera in the late1980s when the abuse took place.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

January 13, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Please click here to sign a petition to abolish the statute of limitations for child sex abuse in PA.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
NBC Action News

•By: Christina Medina

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City man said he endured sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliation. He said he complained to several people and was then fired last year. Now, Larry Probst is suing the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City –St. Joseph. The civil lawsuit was filed in federal court this week.

According the lawsuit, Probst worked as a part time employee in the Archives Department from 2005 to 2011. His supervisor was Rev. Charles Michael Coleman. He also worked with Rev. Robert Cameron.

The lawsuit said he was “subjected to a sexually hostile work environment” and a co-worker “made sexual advances towards him” and that the priests would talk about other make co-workers in “sexually suggestive ways.” The lawsuit also said co-workers left sexually offensive messages on office computers and even looked at pornography.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Eric Russell, BDN Staff

Posted Jan. 13, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — Though the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department has completed its investigation into the death of the Rev. Robert T. Carlson, Maine State Police are continuing to look into allegations of sex abuse against the longtime religious and civic leader who committed suicide on Nov. 13.

Carlson reportedly left no note before his death, and many questions remain about the man who did so much good for and was trusted in turn by the Greater Bangor community. Among them are questions about his training and background, and whether some claims were exaggerated or fabricated.

Sarah Dubay, director of executive services for Penobscot Community Health Care — Carlson’s final employer — provided the BDN with a biography that she said was drafted by Carlson himself.

When asked about particular claims in the biography and whether anyone at PCHC checked into them before or during Carlson’s employment, Dubay said she doubted it.

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MAINE
Bangor Daily News

By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff

Posted Jan. 13, 2012

BANGOR, Maine — Just hours before the Rev. Robert Carlson was found dead in the Penobscot River on Nov. 13, he met with a local man who is the focal point of a child sex abuse investigation involving Carlson, according to the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department, which recently closed its investigation into Carlson’s death.

The man was an 11-year-old boy when he first met Carlson in the early 1970s and had an ongoing sexual relationship with him, according to the man’s family. The Bangor Daily News is not identifying him because of the possibility that he is a victim.

Maine State Police investigators began their investigation on Nov. 10, just three days before Carlson’s death, after receiving an anonymous letter that said he “sexually abused a young boy several years ago” while he was pastor at East Orrington Congregational Church. Carlson came to the church in 1979 and served there for 23 years, according to the church’s website. …

No charges ever were lodged against Carlson in the 1970s. Under current Maine law, the statute of limitations for prosecuting sex crimes committed against children under the age of 16 extends back to 1985. In 1991, the law was changed and there is no statute of limitations on child sex crimes that occurred after that year. The anonymous letter that sparked the state police investigation last fall did not say exactly what year the alleged abuse occurred.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
KATE HICKEY,
IrishCentral Editor

Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin paid tribute to journalist and documentary maker Mary Raftery, who passed away on Wednesday.

Raftery famously made the 1999 documentary “States of Fear” and the “Cardinal Secrets” in 2002.

Her work was widely viewed as having led to the establishment of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. The Commission reported its findings in May of 2009.

Speaking to RTE radio Archbishop Martin said “Bringing the truth out is always a positive thing even though it may be a painful truth.

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