http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/ A Blog by Kathy Shaw en Copyright 2012 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:59:15 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss KANSAS CITY (MO) National Catholic Reporter by Joshua J. McElwee on May. 16, 2012 NCR Today KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The lawyer representing the priest at the center of the first criminal trial of a bishop in the decades-long clergy sexual abuse crisis has requested the priest's federal trial be delayed. The priest, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, is charged with 13 federal felony counts relating to the possession and production of child pornography. Ratigan's bishop, Robert W. Finn, and his diocese, that of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., face separate criminal trials in a local jurisdiction on charges of suspicion of child abuse, stemming from questions surrounding when they reported Ratigan to police. The motion for a continuance, filed in federal court today and first reported by The Kansas City Star, would delay Ratigan's trial from June until Aug. 27. Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Kuchar says in the filing that he only recently received some 1,000 pages of material from prosecutors and needs time to study it. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066955 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066955 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:59:15 -0500 MISSOURI St. Joseph News-Press Kim Norvell St. Joseph News-Press On Twitter: @KimNorvell A federal public defender has requested to delay a jury trial for a Catholic priest accused of sexually exploiting children. Robert Kuchar filed a motion Wednesday to move the Rev. Shawn Ratigan's federal trial to August, citing more than "1,000 pages of new discovery" recently handed over by the prosecution. "Counsel needs additional time to finish reviewing the discovery and then to discuss the contents of the discovery with Mr. Ratigan," the assistant federal public defender wrote in the motion. "In light of the additional discovery Counsel needs more time to conduct a complete investigation into the newly discovered material." Rev. Ratigan's trial is currently scheduled for June 4 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Mr. Kuchar requested the case be moved to Aug. 27, which would be more than a year since Rev. Ratigan was indicted for 13 counts of sexual exploitation of minors and children. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066954 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066954 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:54:33 -0500 CANADA AFP OTTAWA — A former Catholic bishop convicted of importing child pornography -- including some laced with religious imagery -- into Canada has been stripped of his religious duties, the church said Wednesday. "The Holy See has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state, one of the most serious penalties that the church can impose," said a statement from Brian Dunn, the new bishop of Antigonish. Raymond Lahey, 71, resigned as head of the Nova Scotia diocese in 2009 after a search at the Ottawa airport of his laptop computer uncovered a cache of child pornography. He pleaded guilty in May 2011 to charges of possessing for the purpose of importing child pornography and was later sentenced to 15 months in prison but walked out of court a free man in January after already serving time in jail. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066953 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066953 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:51:36 -0500 CANADA London Free Press By Doug Hempstead, QMI Agency Last Updated: May 16, 2012 4:26pm Disgraced Roman Catholic bishop Raymond Lahey, convicted in January of importing child pornography, has been dismissed from the clerical state. The announcement came today from Lahey's former diocese in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In a statement released to the media, the diocese explained Lahey can no longer work as a cleric or preside over religious services and sacraments following the decision by the Holy See in Rome. It is among the most serious penalties in the Catholic Church. "This decision reminds all of us of the serious harms that come from all forms of pornography, especially child pornography," Antigonish Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn said in a statement. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066952 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066952 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:48:36 -0500 PHILADELPHIA (PA) CBS Philly By Tony Hanson PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — With the prosecution winding down in the clergy abuse case, a last segment of testimony by defendant William Lynn before a grand jury back in 2004 was presented Wednesday. Lynn has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and endangering children by allowing predator priests to remain in ministry. Monsignor William Lynn, Secretary for Clergy from 1992 to 2004, acknowledged before the grand jury that, in hindsight, he did not have the training, background and experience he should have for that job. But he told the jury he still did an adequate job. He also explained his methods–he says an admission by a priest or a diagnosis of pedophilia or ephebophilia, a sexual attraction to adolescents, would result in removal from ministry even though a number of cases cited during this trial did not. He also told the jury that on instruction from Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, he ignored any anonymous or secondhand allegations and indicated that on more than one occasion, the priest’s reputation was a significant concern. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066951 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066951 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:45:40 -0500 UNITED KINGDOM BBC News The Diocese of Portsmouth is challenging a High Court ruling that the Roman Catholic Church can be held liable for the sex crimes of priests. Last year Mr Justice MacDuff gave a decision in favour of a woman, who claims she was raped and assaulted as a child by a priest of the diocese. The woman, now aged 47, alleges she was abused by the late Father Wilfred Baldwin at a Hampshire children's home. The judge ruled the diocese "may be vicariously liable" for his actions. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066950 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066950 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:42:54 -0500 BELGIE De Morgen Door: Kim Herbots − 16/05/12 Op lange termijn heeft de zaak-Vangheluwe geen negatieve impact op het imago van de kerk. Dat blijkt uit een onderzoek aan de KU Leuven. 'Hoe vreselijk zijn daden ook zijn, mensen kunnen het onderscheid maken tussen de persoon en het instituut.' Studenten van de KU Leuven ondervragen sinds een paar jaar systematisch leerlingen, leerkrachten en ouders in katholieke scholen over het katholieke geloof. Sinds bekend raakte dat de voormalige bisschop van Brugge, Roger Vangheluwe, zijn neefje jarenlang misbruikte, wordt er ook gepolst naar hoe dat dossier het beeld van de kerk beïnvloedt. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066949 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066949 Wed, 16 May 2012 17:39:09 -0500 CANADA Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops On May 4, 2011, then Bishop Raymond Lahey entered a plea of guilty in civil court to the possession of child pornography. He was sentenced in accordance with civil law on January 4, 2012. It remained for the Holy See to follow the canonical procedures in effect for such cases to determine what appropriate disciplinary or penal measures would be imposed. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has now been informed by the Holy See that Raymond Lahey has been dismissed from the clerical state. According to Canon 292 of the Code of Canon Law, the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state has the following effects: loss of the rights and duties attached to the clerical state, except for the obligation of celibacy; prohibition of the exercise of any ministry, except as provided for by Canon 976 of the Code of Canon Law in those cases involving danger of death; loss of all offices and functions and of all delegated power, as well as prohibition of the use of clerical attire. Raymond Lahey has accepted the Decree of Dismissal, which also requires him to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in reparation for the harm and the scandal he has caused, and for the sanctification of clergy. May 16, 2012 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066948 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066948 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:15:16 -0500 CANADA National Catholic Reporter May. 16, 2012 By Catholic News Service OTTAWA, Ontario -- Raymond Lahey, the retired bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, who was convicted of importing child pornography, has been laicized by the Vatican, said the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. A statement on the CCCB website Wednesday said the conference learned from the Vatican that "Raymond Lahey has been dismissed from the clerical state." As such, he loses all rights and duties associated with being a priest, except the obligation of celibacy, said the bishops' statement. "Raymond Lahey has accepted the Decree of Dismissal, which also requires him to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in reparation for the harm and the scandal he has caused, and for the sanctification of clergy," the statement said. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066947 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066947 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:12:22 -0500 CANADA Cape Breton Post ANTIGONISH — The Vatican has dismissed Raymond Lahey from the clerical state. This will mean that the former bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish will no longer function as a cleric, will no longer have the rights and duties of being a cleric, is not permitted to exercise any ecclesiastical offices or functions and is not permitted to preside at any of the sacraments or religious services. However, any sacraments that he performed prior to this decision continue to be valid. Lahey was convicted of possessing child pornography. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066946 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066946 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:09:28 -0500 DALLAS (TX) The Dallas Morning News By Jennifer Emily/Reporter jemily@dallasnews.com 1:12 pm on May 16, 2012 Testimony got under way today in the Dallas County trial of a former priest accused of engaging in a murder-for-hire plot to kill a man who accused the priest of molesting him as a boy. Prosecutors allege that John Fiala was distraught over indictments that accused him of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy in his rural West Texas parish when he asked a neighbor to kill his accuser. Fiala faces a charge of solicitation of capital murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison. He’s also been indicted on four charges of sexual assault in Edwards County. The neighbor, Scottie Fisher, testified that Fiala told him about his legal troubles in November 2010 when they were renting rooms at a house in Garland. Fisher said that Fiala was crying and that he tried to comfort the man he had known just three weeks by patting him on the back. “Can you go out and kill him?” Fisher testified that Fiala asked. “I said ‘Hell no.’” http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066945 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066945 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:06:07 -0500 IRELAND Irish Examiner Wednesday, May 16, 2012 The Courts Service has revealed RTE’s bill for defamed priest Fr Kevin Reynolds' legal team was more than €150,000. Declan O’Neill, Taxing Master, ruled Fr Reynolds' solicitor Robert Dore be paid €80,000 for his work on the defamation case. Mr Dore, and his firm Dore and Company, had originally sought an instructions fee of €275,000. He had argued the case occupied his time between mid-June and mid-November, that it pervaded his office, and that the amount of time spent by his practice was enormous. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066944 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066944 Wed, 16 May 2012 16:03:02 -0500 APPLETON (WI) Post-Crescent Written by Jim Collar Post-Crescent staff writer APPLETON — A Port Washington man testified Wednesday that a sense of failure accompanied his long-held secret of being molested in 1978 at the hands of a priest. “I didn’t protect my brother,” Todd Merryfield told a jury as he fought back tears. “I’m the oldest brother. That’s my job and I failed.” Merryfield, 48, opened the second day of testimony in an Outagamie County civil trial alleging fraud by the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay. Merryfield and his brother, Troy Merryfield, are suing the diocese for unspecified compensation, claiming the diocese knew priest John Feeney sexually assaulted other children prior to 1978 and misrepresented his safety around children. The diocese denies the allegations. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066943 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066943 Wed, 16 May 2012 15:59:47 -0500 INDIA Deccan Herald May 17, 2012 By Nalla Ram A Sanskrit scholar burnt the hands of a seven-year-old girl on Tuesday for stealing Rs 2 from a temple’s offering plate on Tuesday. The callous incident, which took place in a temple at Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam, came to light on Wednesday. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066942 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066942 Wed, 16 May 2012 15:56:15 -0500 PHILADELPHIA (PA) Philadelphia Inquirer By Joseph A. Slobodzian INQUIRER STAFF WRITER “On the job training,” was what Msgr. William J. Lynn told the grand jury in 2004, describing the preparation he had to be the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s chief investigator of allegations about priests sexually molesting minors. There was little direction from then Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua and only “rare” questions from the archbishop when he filed a report on a wayward priest, Lynn’s testimony reads. That portrait of Lynn drawn from his grand jury testimony — an innocent, inexperienced priest thrust into a job that required the training of a lawyer, detective and psychologist — has been a mainstay of his defense in the landmark Common Pleas Court trial in which he accused of enabling pedophile priests to continue to prey on children. City prosecutors today continued trying to undercut that portrait using documents from the church’s Secret Archives on abusive priests that were turned over to prosecutors in February on the eve of the trial. A 2002 memo from Bishop Joseph Cistone to Lynn, introduced by Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, refers to the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, the church’s lobbying arm in Harrisburg, and its effort to prevent the legislature from extending the deadline for purported victims of sexual abuse by priests to file lawsuits against the church. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066941 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/05/#066941 Wed, 16 May 2012 15:52:24 -0500