http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/ A Blog by Kathy Shaw en Copyright 2009 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:30:03 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss IRELAND The Irish Times PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent THE DIRECTOR of the child protection service for Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese will take up a new post with the HSE on Tuesday. Phil Garland will be one of four assistant national directors of its children’s and families’ service. Mr Garland has held his position with the Dublin archdiocese since September 2003. He played a key role in putting in place measures for the protection of children throughout the archdiocese as well as training programmes for volunteers who supervise child protection in Dublin’s 199 Catholic parishes. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025341 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025341 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:30:03 -0500 IRELAND The Irish Times THE PUBLICATION of a crucial chapter in the report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation could be delayed by years, according to well-informed sources. The chapter is understood to be significant because it deals with shortcomings in how the State and the Garda Síochána dealt with allegations of clerical child sex abuse in Dublin, including the case of a priest alleged to have committed a large number of offences. Sources emphasised the absence of this chapter would, in their view, render the report skewed and unbalanced as it is “by far the longest, at approximately 60 pages, and one of the most important” chapters. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025340 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025340 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:27:17 -0500 Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions. ... Does anyone on the Hill know the history of the Catholic Bishops Conference and the horrors they allowed to be inflicted on children? How can those Bishops speak with any moral authority? The Catholic Bishops protected and enabled pedophiles and child abusers. And, it's costing them. Last month, the Diocese of Wilmington became the seventh Diocese to file bankruptcy: It joins a list of six other dioceses in the United States that have filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy laws in what lawyers said is an attempt to manage an avalanche of clergy sexual-abuse litigation. ]]> http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025338 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025338 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:16:59 -0500 OHIO Toledo Blade By JANET ROMAKER BLADE STAFF WRITER WAUSEON - The man accused of killing a Swanton girl in 1985 allegedly has made a jail-house confession, telling an inmate that he beat a 14-year-old girl to death because she wanted to break up with him, and he couldn't handle it. ... Some recent motions filed by the VanGuntens are related to the fact that Mr. Zimbeck was arrested more than 20 years after Miss Hill was killed. Defense lawyers are questioning protocols related to lost or destroyed evidence, for instance, and in one motion, the VanGuntens cite proceedings in the case of Toledo priest Gerald Robinson and ask the court to take special note that the Robinson case and the Zimbeck case involve the same cold-case investigator, Sgt. Steve Forrester. Robinson was arrested by Lucas County cold-case investigators in 2004. He was convicted and sentenced in 2006 for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl whose body was found April 5, 1980, on the floor of the sacristy, next to the chapel, of the former Mercy Hospital in Toledo. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025339 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025339 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:10:42 -0500 ELDORADO (TX) The Times (United Kingdom) James Bone in New York A sect member with nine wives has been convicted of sexually assaulting an underage bride in the first case stemming from the controversial raid on a polygamist compound in Texas. Raymond Jessop, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison for the sexual assault on the girl, whom he made pregnant when she was just 15. Jessop is a leading member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that split from the Mormon church after it abandoned polygamy. His nine wives allegedly include three daughters and two sisters of the self-styled prophet of a breakaway sect, Warren Jeffs, who is now in jail. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025337 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025337 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:08:09 -0500 NORTH CAROLINA Star News By Shelby Sebens Shelby.Sebens@StarNewsOnline.com A Brunswick County District Court judge has made it easier for a Leland pastor who was arrested Tuesday on multiple child sex abuse charges to get out of jail. District Court Judge Jerry Jolly on Friday reduced James T. Johnson's bond from $250,000 to $100,000, over objections from Assistant District Attorney Meredith Everhart. She argued that if he gets out of jail, pressure on the victim to recant her story would increase. Johnson, 46, has been charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child, two counts of first-degree sex offense with a child and one count of attempted first-degree rape of a child. The victim was in elementary school when the alleged incidents occurred over a three year period, Everhart said. The victim is now 13 years old. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025336 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025336 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:00:29 -0500 ARIZONA Phoenix New Times By James King in News Fri., Nov. 6 2009 @ 4:43PM ​The Chandler pastor charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl at the Christ Life Church in Tempe has been formally indicted on similar but separate charges in Parma, Ohio. Joshua O'Bannion, 25, was indicted on four counts of sexual battery and three counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The indictments were expected. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025335 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025335 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:56:04 -0500 KANSAS CITY (MO) Examiner November 6, 6:18 PM David Willoughby Kansas City, Mo. - SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) is upset after they claim that Kansas City MO's Catholic officials continue to say and do virtually nothing about two Kansas City priests who became bishops, were sent elsewhere, were sued for molesting boys and have had such suits against them settled. The alleged predators are Bishop Joseph Hart and Bishop Joseph V. Sullivan. ... Yet Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn refuses to disclose lawsuits or settlements involving either predator, acknowledge their guilt, or reach out to their victims. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025334 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025334 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:49:55 -0500 WILMINGTON (DE) The News Journal By BETH MILLER • The News Journal • November 7, 2009 WILMINGTON -- Plaintiffs in scores of child sexual abuse lawsuits pending against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington agreed Friday not to pursue claims against the 28 parishes involved in those suits until the diocese completes its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. In exchange, attorneys for the diocese and parishes agreed to release the records of 11 priests named in the suits, as well as data on insurance policies they hold for such claims. A series of eight jury trials -- all with claims related to former priest Francis G. DeLuca -- was to begin Oct. 19 in Delaware Superior Court. When the diocese filed for bankruptcy the night before, all 141 cases pending against it were put on hold. Because parishes were named as co-defendants in many of the cases, attorneys argued that they should be able to pursue their claims against those parishes, none of which had filed for Chapter 11 protection. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025333 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025333 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:47:26 -0500 WEBSTER COUNTY (MO) Marshfield Mail By Mark Lile and Nicholas W. Inman markl@marshfieldmail nicholasi@marshfieldmail.com Published: Friday, November 6, 2009 Charges were filed Tuesday morning against four officials from the Amish community for failure to report alleged sexual abuse by Johnny A. Schwartz, a member of the Amish community in southern Webster County. Charged with failing to report a sexual crime against a child under 17 years of age were Christian J.F. Schwartz, 40; Jacob P. Schwartz, 79; Emmanuel M.S. Eicher, 44; and Peter M. Eicher, 59. According to online court records, each was charged with one count of the Class A misdemeanor. Webster County Sheriff Roye Cole and Prosecuting Attorney Danette Padgett held a press conference Tuesday morning to announce the charges to the media, and to talk about the case that has evolved following allegations of sexual abuse by Johnny A. Schwartz and charges against his wife, Fannie J. Schwartz, for not reporting that Johnny A. Schwartz was sexually abusing two young female relatives. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025332 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025332 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:44:59 -0500 National Post (Canada) Posted: November 07, 2009 Philip Mathias Is the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) being “bashed” these days, as writer Michael Coren recently claimed on these pages? Coren even goes so far as to say that RCC-bashing is “the last acceptable prejudice” in Western society — which suggests an element of base religious bigotry. On the other hand, is it possible that the torrent of criticism aimed at the Church is both fair and constructive? To answer that question, it’s necessary to realize the RCC is two things. First, it is a community of believers trying to live according to the teachings of Jesus, who said, along with much else, “love your enemy.” If everybody lived by such admonitions, the world would simply be transformed. In that sense, the Catholic church is above reproach, except insofar as its adherents fall short of its magnificent ideals. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025331 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025331 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:41:27 -0500 IRELAND Irish Independent By John Cooney Saturday November 07 2009 The child protection supremo of the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin has left to take up a £100,000 plus job with the HSE as assistant national director for children and families. Diocesan Child Protection Director Phil Garland will take up his post with the HSE at a critical time when the country's largest diocese anxiously awaits the explosive findings of a state investigation into paedophile clergy. A spokesperson for the HSE said that the salary range of an assistant director was between e99,166 and e122, 230. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025330 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025330 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:06:23 -0500 KANSAS CITY (MO) The Kansas City Star By JUDY L. THOMAS The Kansas City Star The bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese has failed to report accusations of sexual abuse and lawsuit settlements to the public, an activist group alleged Friday. “Despite a national sex abuse policy that mandates openness and despite Bishop Finn’s repeated promises to be open about clergy sex cases, at least in this diocese, it’s business as usual,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, at a news conference outside the chancery. Diocesan spokeswoman Rebecca Summers said current Bishop Robert Finn was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and could not be reached for comment. But she said the diocese had numerous policies and practices in place to protect children, including removing from ministry those who were credibly accused, pending a fuller investigation. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025329 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025329 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:03:10 -0500 FLORIDA Stop Baptist Predators Tom Messer is scheduled as a featured speaker for the Florida Baptist Convention when it meets November 9-10 in Pensacola, Florida. Messer, who is pastor of Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville, is shown on the speakers’ line-up for the Monday morning pastors’ conference. My question is this: Why? Why are Southern Baptists of Florida holding up Tom Messer as an example of pastoral leadership? For starters, Tom Messer’s church isn’t even affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It’s an independent Baptist church. More importantly, Tom Messer is the pastor who, reportedly, participated in a huge, long-standing cover-up of the child sex crimes committed by his church’s founding pastor, Bob Gray. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025328 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025328 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:00:52 -0500 SOUTH AFRICA Eyewitness News Micel Schnehage Concerned NGOs have called for the temporary closure of the Albert Street School in the Johannesburg city centre, following allegations of sexual abuse. Scores of minors from the nearby Central Methodist Church attend the school, where teachers have been accused of buying young girls gifts in exchange for sexual favours. One of the teachers was suspended after Eyewitness News exposed claims of abuse in September. http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025327 http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2009/11/#025327 Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:58:40 -0500