CANADA
Sault Ste. Marie This Week

NEWS RELEASE FROM BISHOP JEAN-LOUIS PLOUFFE of Sault Ste. Marie Diocese

From Bishop's Office - Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, ON, November 21, 2009 - This morning in Rome, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI announced the appointment of the Most Reverend Brian Dunn, as Bishop of Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Since his episcopal ordination on October 9, 2008 until today, Bishop Dunn has served as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, particularly in the Sault Ste. Marie and North Shore/ Manitoulin regions.

In response, Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie says: "Bishop Dunn will be missed by many in this diocese and personally, I am losing a very competent and dedicated immediate collaborator. This is a real sacrifice for our diocese, Bishop Simard and me. However, I am sure that out of love for our Church in Canada, all will understand this appointment of the Holy Father at this particular time. It makes our loss easier to accept. In just a year, Bishop Dunn has reached out to every single parish from Manitouwadge to Espanola and all of Manitoulin Island. Even though his episcopal ministry among us was brief, we will always remember him for his kind and jovial approach to people. We wish him well as he undertakes his new and very challenging responsibilities and we assure him of our prayers and most sincere gratitude."

CANADA
The Sault Star

Posted By By Brian Kelly, The Sault Star

An auxiliary bishop with the Catholic diocese of Sault Ste. Marie will replace a disgraced East Coast bishop accused of accessing child pornography.

Pope Benedict named Bishop Brian Dunn as the new leader of the Diocese of Antigonish, N.S., on Saturday.

He succeeds Raymond Lahey, who was allegedly caught with graphic sexual images of boys on his laptop computer in September.

CANADA
GetReligion

If you’ve been following the coverage of allegations against Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey up in Canada, you know that things have not been getting any better for the former leader of the Diocese of Antigonish.

This leads me to a news story that starts with one of those symbolic details that makes you stop and ponder this question: When is enough, enough? When is too much, too much?

I have not made up my mind in this case. Also, the lede on a recent story in the Halifax Chronicle Herald is based on documents from the investigation, which means it is based on a rock-solid form of attribution. When critics tell journalists to just “stick to the facts,” they usually mean to avoid anonymous sources and to stay close to these kinds of documents and the public officials who produce them.

CANADA
The Cape Breton Post

ANTIGONISH — Brian Joseph Dunn was named the new bishop for the Diocese of Antigonish, announced Saturday.

Dunn is presently an auxiliary for the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The announcement came from the Archbishop of Halifax Anthony Mancini in a press release.

“We are grateful to the Holy Father for recognizing the particular needs of our church by naming a new bishop in such a timely manner,” said Father Paul Abbass, spokesperson for the Diocese of Antigonish, in a release. “While our diocese is facing times of challenge and struggle, we are also a diocese with a history of deep faith and working together. It is in this spirit that we continue to seek pathways to healing and rebuilding. We are pleased to welcome Bishop Dunn as he joins us on this journey forward and we offer him our co-operation and support.

CANADA
National Post

Amy Husser, Canwest News Service
Published: Saturday, November 21, 2009

A new bishop has been appointed to lead a Roman Catholic community in Nova Scotia that was stunned two months ago to learn its previous church leader was facing child-pornography charges.

And Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn said he knows he faces major challenges in dealing with the fallout of a scandal that has outraged some Catholics in the Diocese of Antigonish.

CANADA
Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish

[includes French version]

21 November 2009
(CCCB - Ottawa) – His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI today appointed Most Rev. Brian Dunn, Bishop of Antigonish in Nova Scotia. He was previously Auxiliary Bishop of Sault Ste-Marie in Ontario.

Since thee resignation this past September of Most Rev. Raymond Lahey, Most Rev. Anthony Mancini, Archbishop of Halifax and Apostolic Administrator of Yarmouth, had been appointed Apostolic Administrator of Antigonish for the duration of the vacancy, while continuing with his responsibilities for the Archdiocese of Halifax and the Diocese of Yarmouth.

Bishop Brian Dunn was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1955 and ordained to the priesthood in 1980. He was then assigned to a number of parishes in the Diocese of Grand Falls until 1988, when he moved to Ottawa in order to complete his Doctoral studies at Saint Paul University. In 1991, he was assigned to parish ministry and also worked as Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor for the Diocese of Grand Falls while teaching theology in the Maritimes. In 2002, he became a faculty member at St. Peter’s Seminary, in London, Ontario. From 2005 until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Sault Ste-Marie in 2008, he had served as Dean of Studies.

CANADA
The Canadian Press

SYDNEY, N.S. — The Pope has appointed a new bishop to a Nova Scotia diocese shaken by allegations that its former religious leader was in possession of child pornography.

In a statement Saturday, the diocese of Antigonish announced that Pope Benedict named Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn to the post, saying he will start in the new year after he wraps up his responsibilities as auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Sault Ste Marie, Ont.

Father Paul Abbass of the Antigonish diocese said he hopes the appointment will help the rural congregations rebuild in the wake of revelations that the former bishop, Raymond Lahey, had been charged with possessing and importing child pornography.

CANADA
North Bay Nugget

A Pembroke priest facing a number of sex-related charges in relation to five alleged victims will next appear in court Dec. 8.

The date for Monsignor Robert Borne was set following a prehearing this week between the Crown attorney and defence counsel.

The 61-year-old Roman Catholic priest is facing 19 charges including gross indecency, sexual exploitation, indecent assault and breach of trust, in connection with incidents that are alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1993.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Sudbury Star (Canada)

WILMINGTON, Del.-- The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington is obligated to pay retirement benefits to six priests who are confirmed pedophiles, church officials argued in a bankruptcy court filing Thursday seeking permission to keep making the payments.

After filing for bankruptcy last month, the diocese agreed not to make payments to priests accused of sexual abuse without court approval. That agreement was made after objections were raised by attorneys for alleged abuse victims who now sit on a creditors committee.

Attorneys for the diocese now seek authorization to provide pensions, housing costs and medical coverage to six confirmed child abusers. They cited an obligation to care for retired clergy, including priests dismissed from public ministry and facing laicization, or defrocking.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Kim Bielenberg

Saturday November 21 2009

It is hard to imagine a similar response from the faithful 10 or 20 years ago. Last Sunday, a Catholic congregation actually stood and cheered when their priest Father Sean McKenna announced at the altar that he was stepping down, having embarked on a "loving, beautiful and life-giving relationship".

It could have been the somewhat corny denouement of a romantic comedy, or a scene from Ballykissangel.

The Derry priest, who celebrated his silver jubilee earlier this year, has become involved with a local nurse, Elaine Curran. She is a mother of two children, who reportedly separated from her husband before the relationship with Fr McKenna started.

FARGO (ND)
YouTube

[video presentation]

Fargo, North Dakota clergy sexual abuse press conference, Nov. 19, 2009 - John Doe 135 vs. Christian Brothers, Diocese of Fargo, Bishop Samuel J. Aquila, Shanley High School and Raimond Rose.

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

Jennifer MacMillan

.A new bishop has been named to lead the Catholic church in a rural Nova Scotia community rocked by a child porn scandal two months ago.

Bishop Brian Joseph Dunn has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to oversee the diocese of Antigonish, starting early next year.

Bishop Dunn is presently Auxiliary Bishop of the diocese of Sault Ste Marie in Ontario.

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We are grateful that law enforcement officials continue to investigate these horrific crimes. They have sent a very strong and important message to any child who is being abused that help is available. By encouraging anyone who saw or suspected these crimes to come forward they have been able to move forward with this case. When predators are behind bars, children are safer.

Victims of child sex abuse are often trapped in silence and self blame but even more so when the predator is a trusted, respected member of a religious community. We beg anyone who has been hurt to come forward and get the help they need and deserve.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

In new court filings, Delaware’s Catholic bishop is asking a bankruptcy judge to guarantee that he can keep paying priests, including those who’ve been credibly accused of molesting kids, but seeking no guarantees about counseling for abuse victims. He is also hiring, at a minimum cost of $100,000, a high profile California public relations firm that was also used by the scandal-plagued Los Angeles archdiocese.

Leaders of a support group for clergy sex abuse victims decried both moves.

"It's morally wrong for a church official to cry poverty and then pay six figures to a PR firm. And it's morally wrong for a church official to put helping child predators ahead of helping child victims," said Barbara Dorris of St. Louis. She’s the national outreach director for a self help organization called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

By Meredith Heagney

The leader of an independent Catholic denomination headquartered in Columbus said he is tightening background checks for clergy after discovering that a priest is a convicted child molester.

The Reformed Catholic Church ordained the priest, Sean-Michael Lyons, a violation of the church's zero-tolerance policy for sex offenders, said Archbishop Phillip Zimmerman, worldwide leader of the church.

Lyons lied about his past, and the background check on him in Pennsylvania, where he lived when ordained, turned up no red flags, Zimmerman said.

MISSOURI
Fox 4

[video presentation]

Eric Burke

KANSAS CITY, MO - It's been nearly two weeks since charges and startling details about the Mohler child sex scandal became public, as court documents provide almost daily updates on the shocking Lafayette County case. But the investigation actually began long before many people realize.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

After talking this week with one of the sisters in the Mohler child sex case, investigators returned Friday to the family patriarch’s Independence home and carted off more computers and videotapes.

“There is a belief that some of these assaults are on those tapes,” said Col. Ben Kenney of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

An earlier search of Burrell Mohler Sr.’s house in the 1300 block of South Dodgion Street house netted magazine incest porn, videotapes and computers, documents say. Mohler’s wife told investigators that the 77-year-old man had been living in the basement since she found his trove above a ceiling tile.

INDEPENDENT (MO)
Fox 4

[with video]

John Pepitone, edited by Jason Vaughn

INDEPENDENCE, MO - A former member of the Mormom Church who attended services with the victims in the Mohler child sex case says that she remembers the girls talking about sexual abuse at the hands of their father, and even claims that one of the alleged assaults happened at church.

"Nicole," 27, who asked that her identity not be revealed because of fears of retribution, says that her memories of the victims fit with the shocking accusations of sexual abuse. Nicole says that one of the victims worked as a babysitter, caring for her and her siblings.

She says that she remembers the babysitter using Barbie dolls to demonstrate sexual acts.

SAN FRANCISCO
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

Readers will note that I've covered various aspects of the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church rather extensively over the last few years. And, sadly, there's been quite a lot to cover. Too much, in fact.

But other churches and groups have had to deal with sex abuse lawsuits as well. Case in point: Portland attorney Kelly Clark, who's been involved in legal action against the Archdiocese of Portland (click here), is representing three male plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Mormons and the Boy Scouts.

INDEPENDENT (MO)
Examiner

By Kelly Evenson - kelly.evenson@examiner.net
The Examiner
Posted Nov 21, 2009 @ 12:53 AM

Independence, MO — .Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies were once again at the Independence home of Burrell E. Mohler Sr., searching for evidence in a child sex crime case that involves his four adult sons and his brother.

A shed behind the home in the 1300 block of Dodgion was searched Friday for evidence to prove the claims that have been made by Mohler’s grandchildren. This is the second time this week that law enforcement officials have searched the area. Tuesday, deputies found pornography depicting incest. Mohler Sr. lived in the home for 15 years with his wife and another woman.

In the search Friday, more videos were collected, some with graphic covers of pornography.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

Governments and churches have at times failed to live up to the values of compassion, tolerance and the equal dignity of every human being, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Mr Rudd addressed delegates at the annual Australian Christian Lobby national conference in Canberra on Saturday.

During his speech, the prime minister acknowledged the enormous contributions churches had made to Australia's history, which was marked at times by war, depression and political strife.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

The diocese of Wilmington has an understandable dilemma.

Centuries of Catholic teaching and traditions require the church to provide for the needs of retired priests, including those who sin. This religious duty, exercised as a moral obligation, is difficult to bear considering that this lifetime provision guarantee is also available to pedophile priests.

The shameful, indefensible actions of these men have forced the diocese to seek bankruptcy protection as lawsuits against the church multiply.

After filing for Chapter 11 protection last month, the diocese told the judge it would not make any payments to priests accused of sexual abuse, even if the abuse had not been substantiated, without a court order.

SOUTH AFRICA
Eyewitness News

Micel Schnehage

The Central Methodist Church’s Bishop Paul Verryn says management have gone out of their way to separate boys and girls staying at the Johannesburg city centre mission.

A Gauteng Legislature fact finding mission at the church last month found teenagers were sharing the same confined living space in the church and were engaging in sexual activities.

Addressing a special Health and Social Development Portfolio Committee meeting in the legislature, Verryn said he realised this was a problem.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Beliefnet

Rod Dreher

Things are getting hardcore in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC: gay activists have organized to force gay priests out of the closet to protest the Catholic Church's stand against gay marriage. Excerpt from the Church Outing website:

Lastly, we encourage every Catholic priest to trust in God and in the power of the Christ to help you through this difficult, but important act of truth, faith and love. It is not the intention of this site to complicate the lives of closeted gay priests, rather to help them make the difficult choice to stand up against the hateful and harmful new direction the Church hierarchy is taking the Holy Mother Church. ...

Truth to tell, there are a lot of orthodox Catholics who agree with the liberal pro-gay ones when they say, as the Church Outing site does:

Even more shameful, is that many of these priests, while remaining silent, actually lead duplicitous lives rich with romantic and sexual relationships -- both homosexual and heterosexual.
This hypocrisy must end.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

WHEN FR SEÁN McKenna told his parishioners in Derry this week that he was stepping down to pursue “a loving, beautiful and life-giving relationship” in his private life, his parishioners gave him a standing ovation. He didn’t want to live a double life any longer and they understood, writes KATE HOLMQUIST

Later in the week Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said so few young men were joining the priesthood that Dublin’s 199 parishes can no longer be assured of a full-time priest.

Momentum seems to be building for the change that the Catholic church has been putting off for a long-time: married priests with families. Many Catholics now accept the notion, and it would be fascinating to see the priest in the pulpit preaching to a congregation that included his children in the front pew.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune reporter

November 21, 2009

Still reeling from a television news segment alleging racial discrimination in the settlement process for victims of clergy sexual abuse, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago unveiled a report on Friday showing no evidence of such discrimination. The archdiocese's report produced by Chicago law firm Pugh, Jones, Johnson & Quandt, found that the average settlement for African-American claimants is more than 28 percent higher than settlements with white claimants; 19 percent higher than the average.

"It has never been an archdiocesan practice to compile statistics about abuse claims based on race or ethnicity," the archdiocese said in a statement. "However, it felt compelled to do so when these allegations were made."

The television news report, which featured Seattle attorney Phillip Aaron and some of his clients, aired on WMAQ-Ch. 5 in August as the preview of an upcoming class-action lawsuit. Interviewees alleged they received lower monetary settlements than white claimants and that African-American claimants were badgered during the review process and offered no counseling services. The same allegations aired 10 days later on WPWR-Ch. 50.

MISSOURI
Crime Scene KC

That's after authorities filed 11 more charges in the case on Thursday, Don Bradley reports. Today's report has more about the allegations:

The alleged abuse occurred from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, when the sisters ranged in age from 5 to mid-teens. The case broke when one went to police in August. Her siblings have since supported her version of events.

MISSOURI
The Pitch

By Justin Kendall in News
Fri., Nov. 20 2009

​Fox 4 reports that the mother of the alleged sexual abuse victims and a former Mormon bishop in Independence knew about the allegations of sexual abuse inside the Mohler family.

Ex-bishop Paul Tonga told Fox 4 that Burrel Mohler Jr.'s wife came to him several times and relayed fears that her husband was abusing their children.

Tonga, who was the leader of the church where Mohler Jr.'s worshiped, explained that he questioned Burrel Mohler Jr. and the children, but didn't learn anything.

WHITE PLAINS (NY)
The Journal News

By Rebecca Baker • rebaker@lohud.com • November 20, 2009

WHITE PLAINS — An Ecuadorean priest who had been visiting a Mamaroneck church pleaded guilty today to a charge that he groped a parishoner who sought marriage counseling from him in 2004.

The Rev. Richard Ordonez, a 38-year-old member of the Salesians order who had been living at St. Vito’s Roman Catholic Church, will serve no jail time after pleading to a reduced charge of forcible touching, a misdemeanor. He agreed to perform up to 500 hours of community service and to stay away from the victim.

He will be sentenced Jan. 12 to a conditional discharge, meaning he will not be supervised by probation. He remains free on $50,000 bail.

UNITED STATES
Voice from the Desert

Here is an email from my friend Paul Kendrick about Voice of the Faithful’s (VOTF) new dues policy and its role in VOTF’s February, 2010, election of officers.

Following Paul’s remarks, you’ll find a copy of a letter from the Chair of VOTF’s Board of Trustees about their new dues policy.

* * *
Subject: VOTF announces amendment — new rules that will humiliate its less fortunate members

TO: VOTF LEADERSHIP

On October 20, 2009, Voice of the Faithful announced that its members will have to pay $50 ($85 per couple) if they want to vote in VOTF’s national elections. These members will be called “Voting Members”. All others will be called “Members,” but they will not be able to vote.

As such, VOTF has created two different classes of members, the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

AUSTRALIA
The Herald

21 Nov, 2009
HUNTER-based Catholics are shunning Mass in droves, with irrelevance, abuse at the hands of clergy and disagreement with the Church's teachings on sex among the main reasons.

According to research carried out by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, only 10.2 per cent of Catholics in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle attend Mass.

The national average for Mass attendance across the Church's 28 Australian diocese was 13.8 per cent.

UNITED STATES
Catholic League

November 20, 2009

Catholic League president Bill Donohue addresses a serious issue involving gay activists in the District of Columbia:

A new homosexual website, ChurchOuting.org, is intent on publicly disclosing who the gay priests are in the Archdiocese of Washington. The goal of this outing is to intimidate gay priests, as well as heterosexual priests who may be “romantically involved,” into voicing objections to the Catholic Church’s opposition to gay marriage.

This initiative is the work of Phil Attey, self-described as “Liberal-Gay-Ardent Obama Supporter”; he was active in the Obama Pride Metro-DC campaign. According to one news report, “Attey is going to approach priests he thinks are gay, and warn them that they better stop lobbying against gay people, seeing how gay they are…or…else?”

IRELAND
BBC News

Dublin-based priest has denied sexually abusing three County Fermanagh girls more than 30 years ago.

Fr Eugene Lewis, 75, with an address at Cypress Grove House, Templeogue, was arraigned before Dungannon Crown Court on 11 charges involving three sisters.

The charges involve allegations of indecent assault on differing dates in the 1960s and 1970s.

WILMINGTON (DE)
WBAL

Friday, November 20, 2009
WBAL Radio and Associated Press

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which covers the Eastern Shore, is asking a bankruptcy judge to allow it to continue paying retiree benefits to priests who committed sexual abuse.

After filing for Chapter 11 protection last month, the diocese told the judge it would not make any payments to priests accused of sexual abuse, even if the abuse had not been substantiated, without a court order.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Reuters

Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, has sought bankruptcy court approval to continue providing pensions and medical coverage to certain priests accused of sexually abusing children, court papers showed.

The diocese said in a filing on Thursday that it has "an obligation under Canon Law to care for retired clergy" and sought to continue providing medical coverage to the defrocked priest Francis DeLuca.

"While several priests have been dismissed from the public ministry and have laicization proceedings pending against them, for the time being they remain clergy whom the Debtor (the diocese) supports, and must continue to support," the filing said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Associated Press

By RANDALL CHASE (AP)

WILMINGTON, Del. — The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington says it is obligated to keep paying retirement benefits to six priests who church officials have confirmed are pedophiles.

The diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection last month. Officials had told the judge the church would not make any payments to priests accused of sexual abuse without a court order, even if the abuse had not been substantiated.

IRELAND
RTE News

Friday, 20 November 2009 17:22
A Dublin-based Catholic priest has appeared in court in Co Tyrone to face a series of sex charges.

75-year-old Fr Eugene Lewis, with an address at Cyprus Grove House in Templeogue in Dublin, was accused of 11 charges alleging indecent assault involving three sisters.

The charges date back to the years between 1963 and 1973.

CALIFORNIA
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

Part One: The bishop of San Diego used the words "dumping ground" in 1950 when he complained to Rome that too many problem priests were ending up in Banning, Beaumont and other towns in the developing region. By the 1960s the Franciscans had moved 26 priests from San Diego to Santa Barbara, where they then raped dozens of children. The letter to Rev. James T. Booth in Rome April 26, 1950, is Exhibit A attached to two new lawsuits filed Nov. 3, 2009, in Santa Barbara.

The Francicans continue to hide the crimes of their pedophile priests, other evidence in the Complaints shows. Now Franciscan pedophiles who were removed from the priesthood, are showing up as therapists and teachers - Working with Teenagers, Living near Children - in towns around the Northwestern United States.

There are so many new charges, so much new evidence, new stories about old pedophile priests and old stories about new ones in the pages of these two new lawsuits filed November 3 in Santa Barbara that City of Angels has to break our reporting into several different parts.

UNITED STATES
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

Father Michael asks some good questions.

These is no psychological classification of “ephebophile.” An ephebophile is just a homosexual who likes teenage boys, just as there are many adult heterosexuals (such as Roman Polanski) who like teenage girls. The term ephebophile is a smokescreen to disguise the fact that some homosexuals have teenage victims.

I do not know whether homosexuals are more youth-oriented than heterosexuals are. There is some evidence that I cite in my book that they, but it is not overwhelming. What is firmly established is that homosexuals have far more sexual partners than heterosexuals do, and this means more victims.

Have the seminaries changed? I do not know. The bishops say they have changed, but the bishops also assured us there was no problem to begin with. I do not believe any fact that a bishop asserts until I have verified it.

UNITED STATES
Leon J. Podles: Dialogue

Very few cases of clerical abuse of minors involved true pedophilia: the sexual abuse of pre-pubertal children. Pedophiles often claim not to be homosexuals, and they may well be correct is this claim, but pedophilia is not the main problem in clerical abuse.

Most cases involved children at or above the age of puberty, and the vast majority of the reported victims were male. Decades of studies by criminologists and psychologists have shown that boys are far less likely to report abuse than girls are, because boys fear the stigma of homosexuality and because males are supposed to suffer and not complain.

The John Jay report claims that is the abusive priests had equal access to females, they would have had equal number of male and female victims. This I doubt. I won’t go into the nature of the sexual acts that priest did with boys, but let us say that they were focused on the male genitals. Many abusers seem to have been initiated into the culture of abuse by other priests, often in the seminary.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Brendan McDaid
Friday, 20 November 2009

The priest who quit after falling in love with a nurse today spoke out for the first time to make it clear his partner is not pregnant.

Fr Sean McKenna — who resigned his Holy Orders over his relationship with separated mother-of-two Elaine Curran — broke his silence claiming the mounting speculation had caused “great distress” to them both.

The 51-year-old said the rumours that Ms Curran was pregnant or that she had lost custody of her children were “completely untrue”. And he called for his peace and privacy to be respected.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Friday, 20 November 2009

The Republic’s High Court has cleared the way for a damning report into the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese — to be published next week — that “will shock us all”.

However, references to a second priest facing abuse charges are to be censored.

Last night victim support groups, who welcomed the ruling, were bracing themselves for an increase in calls to their services when the report is published, most likely within days of Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

BOTSWANA
The Voice

By Calistus Bosaletswe
The Eloyi church pastor who was jailed for 10 years for having unlawful sex with a 14- year-old girl was back in court again this week demanding bail pending his appeal at the High Court.

Members of the church had assembled in court before the priest arrived dragging leg-iron chains and sporting a clean-shaven head. The defence lawyer, Busang Manewe, a new lawyer representing 23-year-old Samuel Ntsebele told the court that the lawyer who represented Ntsebele lied when he told the court that there was penetration.

Manewe pointed out that Ntsebele had a good prospect of success in his appeal as he was not afforded a fair trial as encouraged by the constitution. He said it appeared that failure of justice transpired between the former attorney and accused as they disagreed on certain elements of the case. The defence further pointed out that they would give sworn evidence before the High Court.

PHILIPPINES
Indian Catholic

MANILA : An Irish missioner plans to target Internet service providers (ISPs) who fail to heed new anti-child pornography legislation, as the next step in his long fight against the exploitation of women and children.

"I am delighted it was signed so quickly," Columban missioner Father Shay Cullen told UCA News after the Philippine president signed the Anti-Child Pornography Act on Nov. 17.

Father Cullen is director of the People's Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation, based in Olongapo City. The foundation aims to protect women and children from exploitation and poverty.

CANADA
CBC News

Priests in the diocese of Antigonish had the opportunity to express their feelings about the child pornography charges against Bishop Raymond Lahey during a two-day counselling session in North Sydney, N.S.

Rev. Paul Abbass, the spokesman for the diocese, said nearly 50 priests attended the sessions to speak about their feelings with peers and discuss ways to intervene with parishioners.

"It just gives them an opportunity to be able to talk very openly and very frankly with one another about what they felt and I think that will bring a nice degree of early healing to this process for them because they want to continue to serve well," he said.

ITALY
euronews

[with video]

Police in Italy are following a crucial new lead in the hunt for Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old girl who went missing after a flute lesson in Vatican City 26 years ago.

Detectives believe they have identified the voice of a man who called the missing girl’s family six days after she vanished.

The case has given rise to many outlandish claims over the years. Theories abound as to who is responsible for her disappearance.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Dearbhail McDonald, Breda Heffernan and Tim Healy

Friday November 20 2009

THE High Court yesterday cleared the way for the publication next week of a damning report into the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese that "will shock us all".

However, references to a second priest facing abuse charges are to be censored.

Last night victim support groups, who welcomed the ruling, were bracing themselves for an increase in calls to their services when the report is published, most likely within days of Tuesday's cabinet meeting.

CANADA
The Daily Observer

Posted By TINA PEPLINSKIE TPEPLINSKIE@THEDAILYOBSERVER.CA

A Pembroke priest facing a number of sex-related charges in relation to five alleged victims will next appear in court Dec. 8.

The date for Monsignor Robert Borne was set following a prehearing Tuesday between the Crown attorney and defence counsel.

The 61-year-old Roman Catholic priest is facing 19 charges including gross indecency, sexual exploitation, indecent assault male and breach of trust, in connection with incidents that are alleged to have occurred between 1977 and 1993.

FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner

by Mary Beth Smetzer / msmetzer@newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — A settlement between the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese and a creditors committee representing nearly 300 alleged sex abuse victims might be resolved by early next week.

Robert Hannon, diocesan chancellor, said Thursday that a recently forged mediated agreement is “broad in principle” and details are being worked out by attorneys on both sides.

“I can’t give specifics, but we have come to economic terms with the committee representing claimants, and the settlement will be announced on record at a hearing scheduled at the bankruptcy court on Nov. 24,” Hannon said.

CANADA
Kelowna

WINDSOR, Ont. – A former Catholic priest charged with molesting teenage boys at the mission the Canadian founded in Haiti will remain in jail for another week while a justice of the peace decides whether to release him on bail.

John Duarte, 43, is charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation involving boys aged 12 to 17 in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the tiny fishing village of Labadie. Hearts Together for Haiti, a charity Duarte founded, operated schools, a health clinic and a sponsorship program for impoverished families.

Canadian law allows citizens to be prosecuted in Canada for sex offences against children committed elsewhere.

MISSOURI
KOMU

COLUMBIA - The church where three Mohler men accused of sexual abuse were once lay ministers denies it ever heard reports of the alleged abuse.

Investigators have said the victims told their mother about the abuse. The mother then reported the matter to Community of Christ church leaders, investigators say. But the church denies the claim.

"We found no reports of sexual abuse of children (were) given to any Community of Christ leaders about the three lay ministers, suspended November 11," the church said in a statement. The three men are Burrell Mohler, Sr. and two sons, David and Jared Mohler.

MISSOURI
United Press International

DARLINGTON, Mo., Nov. 19 (UPI) -- New child molestation charges were filed Thursday against a Missouri grandfather and his four sons, and investigators said they seized more videotapes.

Burrell Mohler Sr., 77, of Independence; Burrell Mohler Jr., 53, of Columbia; Jared Mohler, 48, of Columbia; David Mohler, 52, of Lamoni, Iowa; and Roland Mohler, 47, of Bates City, Mo.; are all in jail in Lexington, Mo. Another member of the family, the elder Mohler's brother, is under arrest in Florida.

Investigators say Jared Mohler's daughters told their mother years ago they were being molested, the Kansas City Star reported. Instead of going to police, she allegedly told her church about the allegations.

MISSOURI
The Examiner

By Jeff Martin - jeff.martin@examiner.net
The Examiner
Posted Nov 19, 2009

Lafayette County, MO — .Lafayette County prosecutors filed 18 new charges in the growing Mohler case Thursday afternoon, raising the total to 49 against a family accused of carrying out sexual assaults spanning almost two decades.

According to probable cause statements, another witness told police Wednesday of incidents that began when she was 5 years old and continued until she was 12. Acts that she was forced to perform include mock weddings, bestiality, and sex with the men.

The new charges were filed against three of the family members allegedly involved.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

Prosecutors filed 11 new charges in the Mohler case this afternoon, raising the total to 42 against men accused of carrying out years of sexual assaults against young children in the extended family.

Also, acting on allegations that some of the assaults were used for pornography, investigators have recovered 65 video tapes from an uncle’s home in Columbia, Mo. Earlier, investigators found incest pornography, video tapes and recording equipment at the Independence home of the victims’ grandfather.

Lafayette County Prosecutor Kellie Ritchie said she did not know what was on the tapes.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

For the young sisters in the Mohler family, summers were the worst because that’s when they had to go to their grandfather’s farm.

That’s what the sisters, now grown women, have told authorities who on Thursday filed 11 more charges in a child sex abuse case that has shocked the country.

In court documents to support the latest charges, the sisters told of bestiality, mock weddings, sex in a church and being made to have sexual contact with each other while their father, grandfather and uncles watched and laughed.

MISSOURI
CNN

By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN
November 20, 2009

(CNN) -- Graphic details of bestiality, child rape and sodomy emerged in court documents filed Thursday in the case of a Missouri family accused of horrific crimes against their relatives.

One of the alleged victims was about 7 years old when she and her sisters attempted to run away in 1988, after enduring years of sexual abuse at the hands of her male relatives, a complaint filed in Lafayette County Circuit Court states.

Before she left, she wrote down the alleged sex acts, put them in a jar and buried it, the complaint says.

MISSOURI
Fox 4

[with video]

INDEPENDENCE, MO - Among the many startling revelations released on Thursday about the Mohler child sex case was that the wife of one of the accused men told their church about the alleged sexual abuse while it was happening, but that the church leader never reported the allegations to police.

FOX 4's Dave Dunn asked the former Mormon bishop about what he was told by the wife of Burrell Mohler, Jr., and is Working for You with the report.

MINNESOTA
You Tube

[Part 2]

[Part 3]

[Part 4]

Part 1
Tim Caroline, a public school superintendent, held a press conference Nov. 16, 2009 to discuss his filing of a civil lawsuit against the Christian Brothers of the Midwest Province. The event was held in the law offices of Jeff Anderson & Associates, St. Paul.

FARGO (ND)
WDAY

By: WDAY Staff Reports, WDAY

(WDAY TV) - Another victim comes forward saying he was sexually abused by a former Shanley high school teacher. This is now the 8th case against Raimond Rose in North Dakota and Minnesota.

The victim will remain anonymous, but the complaint says he was 16 or 17 years old when Raimond Rose molested him while he was sleeping during a football trip in Jamestown.

FARGO (ND)
Inforum

By: Forum staff reports, INFORUM

A second North Dakota lawsuit was filed Thursday in Cass County District Court accusing a former Fargo Shanley High School teacher of sexual abuse.

The lawsuit filed by an anonymous victim, identified in the court record as John Doe 135, alleges that in about 1976, on a trip to a high school football game in Jamestown, N.D., the victim was sexually assaulted by Brother Raimond Rose while he was sleeping in a hotel.

The victim said the abuse came when he was either 16 or 17 years old, when Rose taught at Shanley.

CANADA
Windsor Star

WINDSOR, Ont. -- A former local Catholic priest charged with molesting teenage boys at the mission he founded in Haiti will remain in jail for another week while a justice of the peace decides whether to release him on bail.

John Duarte, 43, is charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation involving boys aged 12 to 17 in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince and the tiny fishing village of Labadie. Hearts Together for Haiti, a charity Duarte founded, operated schools, a health clinic and a sponsorship program for impoverished families. Canadian law allows citizens to be prosecuted in Canada for sex offences against children committed elsewhere.

Duarte was arrested Oct. 20 in the Dominican Republic where he had been living. Canadian authorities picked him up there Oct. 26. He has been held at Windsor jail throughout his bail hearing, which was held Nov. 13 and adjourned to Thursday.

AUSTRALIA
Care Leavers Australia Network

The University of Melbourne strongly supports the Prime Minister’s apology to the "Forgotten Australians", and associated government measures to redress wrongs suffered by many people who were in institutional care early in their lives.

This recognition of injustice is long overdue.

It is also appropriate the University - a community that aspires to serve the public good in every field of knowledge including medical research - takes this occasion to express its deep regret for the part played by researchers linked to its community in vaccination research trials conducted after World War II using children in orphanages as ‘subjects.’

AUSTRALIA
The Melbourne Newsroom

17 Nov 2009 The University of Melbourne's Vice-Chancellor Professor Glyn Davis has written to all staff and students, supporting the Prime Minister's apology to the "Forgotten Australians".

"The University of Melbourne strongly supports the Prime Minister’s apology to the "Forgotten Australians", and associated government measures to redress wrongs suffered by many people who were in institutional care early in their lives.

This recognition of injustice is long overdue.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

THE HIGH Court has cleared the way for publication of most of the report on the the handling by Catholic Church and State authorities of child sex abuse allegations against clerics in the Dublin archdiocese.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan yesterday said publication could go ahead, except for reference in two chapters to specific persons, and all references to the same persons in the rest of the report.

Their identification might prejudice criminal proceedings, he said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
CBS 3

RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) ― An Episcopal priest who was relieved of his duties because of alleged misconduct with a female parishioner has been offered a state government job.

The Rev. Robert Broesler, pastor of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Wilmington, is scheduled to start working Monday for the Department of Health and Social Services.

FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

By Lona O'connor Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

DELRAY BEACH — During the three years from his arrest to his conviction for stealing from his parish, there was a complete lockdown on personal information about the Rev. John Skehan.

Now that he has been moved from the rectory of St. Vincent Ferrer parish in Delray Beach to the lockup at the Martin Correctional Institution in Indiantown, friend and foe alike can find out what Skehan, 82, is thinking, reading, praying about and eating, thanks to a Web site set up by his supporters.

The Web site is written by his friend Michelle Donahue, a former head of the St. Vincent parent organization, who visits him almost every weekend, bearing good tidings from the blog and from friends in Delray Beach.

IRELAND
Kilkenny Advertiser

By Kate O’neill

Father Martin Ryan of Muckalee is launching his book this Sunday which is entitled From Muckalee to Mindanao and back, a Missionary Journey.

After over 50 years in the Philippines as a missionary priest, Fr Ryan has modern and unconventional views about the priesthood in today’s society. ...

Speaking with The Kilkenny Advertiser this week, it is obvious that Fr Martin is very modern in his views on the priesthood. He commended Father Sean McKenna, who this week announced that he was to leave the priesthood to get married.

“Sean was a very popular priest in Derry. More and more priests are leaving the priesthood because they want to marry, I think it’s close to 130,000. The remaining priests now have a huge work load. I have written a letter to the Pope where I ask that a third general council, Vatican 3, be called so we can address this issue. I believe that there should be optional celibacy for priests.”

MICHIGAN
Chicago Tribune

LUDINGTON, Mich. - A Catholic priest who served churches in western Michigan has been sentenced to six months in jail for sexual misconduct.

The Rev. Johnson Jeyabel Pappusamy (pap-uh-SAH-me), former pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Custer and St. Jerome Catholic Church in Scottville, pleaded guilty Oct. 21 to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

IRELAND
RTE News

Thursday, 19 November 2009
The High Court has cleared the way for the publication of the report of the Commission of Investigation into sexual abuse allegations in the Dublin Archdiocese but references which identify another person must be removed.

Last month, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan ruled that the report could be published but that a specified chapter might prejudice court proceedings.

He directed that chapter 19 and all references to the person who is the subject of that chapter could not be published until directed by the court.

Washington City Paper

Posted by Amanda Hess on Nov. 19, 2009, at 9:49 am

A new Web site hopes to use the oldest trick in the book to combat the Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage: A good, old-fashioned forced outing!

At ChurchOuting.org, you’re invited to scroll through a list of every Achbishop, Bishop, and Reverend in the Archdiocese of Washington, zero in on one you know is gay, and then submit your “detailed account of how you know the priest in question is being hypocritical through his silence.” (Alternately, get at them via Twitter or Facebook).

ChurchOuting.Org is the brainchild of self-described “netroots organizing pioneer” Phil Attey. To Attey, publicly detailing your homosexual tryst with a priest is practically a charitable contribution: “Thank you for helping to liberate a closeted gay or romantically involved heterosexual priest from the oppressive anti-marriage equality agenda,” the Web site reads. Wait a minute: Since when was a homosexual witchhunt meant to free people from their political agendas?

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

November 19, 2009
Attorneys for a former priest convicted of sexually abusing five boys at his West Side parish are expected to file a motion today fighting efforts by the state to label him a sexually violent person.

In September, when Daniel McCormack was paroled after serving more than two years of a five-year prison term for sexually abusing five boys in the rectory of St. Agatha Roman Catholic Church, the state's attorney and attorney general filed a joint petition to have McCormack confined to a state treatment facility under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.

Illinois law allows prosecutors to seek continued incarceration if a psychological exam leads them to believe another sex crime is likely if the inmate goes free. In September, a forensic psychiatrist diagnosed McCormack with pedophilia and recommended civil commitment.

IRELAND
The Press Association

Survivors of clerical abuse have demanded a damning report on child sex abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese be published within the next week.

A High Court judge gave the go-ahead for its release, but ruled any reference to a priest who is facing criminal charges be removed amid fears it may prejudice a case.

The Village Voice

By Michael Musto

​And there's a lot of them to out, honey!

Yes, churchouting.org sets out to expose the hypocrisy of Archdiocese of Washington priests who go along with the church's routine emotional assault on gays while living lives of quiet desperation that involve them having gay sex themselves. (Or even straight sex--the site wants to find ANY priest who's always on his knees for ANYTHING other than praying.)

And they say their mission is not to drag these guys out of the closet per se, but to get them to work with the site in battling the church's hierarchical antigay stance and to fight for gay marriage equality.

IRELAND
Ireland Online

The High Court has further restricted publication of the Commission's report into sexual abuse by priests in the Dublin Archdiocese.

Mr Justice Paul Gilligan has ordered the removal of 41 references to a priest and his brother in the report because it could jeopardise criminal proceedings.

The report was commissioned to look at the Catholic hierarchy's handling of abuse allegations in the Dublin archdiocese between 1975 and 2004.

SOUTH BEND (IN)
South Bend Tribune

By JEFF PARROTT
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND — A judge today postponed an extradition hearing for an Irish priest charged with sexually abusing a minor, giving his attorney more time to research Irish law.

The Irish government wants to extradite the Rev. Francis Markey, 81, of South Bend, on charges that he twice raped a boy in 1968 in his native Ireland.

A fact-finding hearing on the extradition request had been set for 10 a.m. today, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher Neuchterlein ordered the hearing continued until Dec. 10, on a motion from Markey's attorney, Robert Truitt.

NEW YORK
The JC

By Ellen Tumposky, November 19, 2009

A report that a Brooklyn man who committed suicide two days after his wedding was a victim of sex abuse has riled the Orthodox community.

Mordechai (Motty) Borger, 24, jumped from the seventh-floor terrace of his hotel on November 5. His bride, Mali Gutman, whom he married on Nov 3 after they met through a matchmaker, was asleep in the room.

A spokeswoman for the NYC medical examiner’s office said the death has been ruled a suicide.

OREGON
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Sharon Burke wears her grey blond hair short….. glasses, loose fitting, comfortable dresses … and gets around her house with a cane or on the arm of her supportive husband, Brad. Multiple Sclerosis short-circuited her career as a teacher twenty years ago. The disease makes life difficult enough that leaving home is a struggle. Sharon faithfully attends Mass at Madeleine Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, that is she attends every Sunday she is well enough to do so.

After retiring from teaching, Sharon never gave up trying to create new meaning in her life. She mastered needlework skills and makes layettes for premature babies and Rosaries and undergarments for homeless and at risk women. She feels that helping others is an important part of her own healing process.

And Sharon has much to give even if her health limits what she can do.

Through The Rosary of Compassion retreat Sharon is able to give one of the few ways she can. The retreat will be held at Ascension Catholic Church at 7507 SE Yamhill Street in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, December 5, 2009, from 12:30 to 4 PM. The purpose of the retreat is to pray for the people of the Church and the community wounded by all forms of abuse --physical, emotional, domestic, sexual and clergy abuse -- through meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary. Sharon wrote the meditations for the retreat along with another Catholic parishioner, Ann Czuba, who will co-lead the retreat with Elizabeth Goeke, a clergy abuse survivor.

NEW CAANAN (CT)
Darien Times

Written by Susan Shultz
Thursday, 19 November 2009

A New Canaan man has threatened to file both civil and criminal lawsuits against Darien over the police department’s response to his attempt to announce news at the end of a Mass at his parish, St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church.

Last month, the parishioner, Michael Nowacki, attempted to take to the church lectern to tell Mass attendees about a priest who has presided over Mass and other events at St. Thomas More. The priest, the Rev. Paul Carrier, has also solicited funds from parishioners for a now-suspended Haitian charity tied to a criminal investigation. Nowacki refused to stop addressing the parishioners until police were called.

The former director of the Project Pierre Toussaint, Douglas Perlitz, is currently facing charges of child abuse.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

The patriarch at the center of the Mohler child sex case has lived in his basement ever since his wife found his trove of incest pornography, new documents say.

When investigators showed up recently with a search warrant, she gave them a key to a locked file cabinet. That’s where they found magazines with names such as Family Taboo and Best of Family Secrets.

Also taken in the search of Burrell Mohler Sr.’s house in Independence were sex toys, video recording equipment and homemade VHS tapes.

MISSOURI
CBS News

LEXINGTON, Mo. (CBS/AP) Three alleged victims of what police call a horrible series of familial Missouri sex crimes, say one of the attackers forced them to help stab a man to death and bury him, according to court documents.

A search warrant, filed Nov. 9, but released to The Associated Press on Tuesday, stated three of the alleged child victims observed "several murders" and were forced to help kill and bury a man in April 1988.

The warrant said one of the accused, Burrell E. Mohler Jr., and the children followed a large man from a shopping center in Independence, Mo., 20 minutes outside of Kansas City, to his home. They parked outside, and then the children lured the man over to their car by telling him that their father was having a heart attack. When the man leaned over to help, Mohler Jr. allegedly "wrapped his arms around the victim's neck" and subdued him, the warrant said.

STATEN ISLAND (NY)
New York Post

By ALEX GINSBERG

A Staten Island priest who admitted swiping $84,000 from his church to fund plastic surgeries and Botox treatments was sentenced yesterday to five years' probation -- and the threat of jail if he doesn't pay it back

William Blasingame, 66, a former pastor at St. Paul's Memorial Episcopal Church, said nothing before Judge Alan Meyer handed down the negotiated sentence for second-degree grand larceny

His lawyer, James Hasson, said Blasingame never meant to steal the church's money, but irresponsibly mixed his own funds with those of the church in a church account -- then spent it

HONG KING
Monsters and Critics

Hong Kong - A Hong Kong student nicknamed the Chinese Warren Buffet has been accused of blackmailing a Catholic priest with intimate images, a court report said Thursday.

Economics student Cheung Ka-wo, 27, appeared in court facing charges of attempting to extort 6.3 million Hong Kong dollars (813,000 US dollars) from the priest by threatening to reveal intimate photographs showing their past relationship.

Cheung, 27, was nicknamed after the successful American investor Buffet by the local press after he made more than 1 million Hong Kong dollars (129,000 US dollars) in two days of derivatives trading.

HONG KONG
Indian Catholic

HONG KONG : A 27-year-old man has appeared in court charged with attempting to blackmail a priest by threatening to release a video that suggests the pair had an intimate relationship.

The video allegedly shows the man, Cheung Ka-wo, and the priest naked, according to media reports.

Cheung, a doctoral student, was accused of conspiring with Li Dora Kay, a laywoman, to extort HK$6.3 million (US$826,000) from the priest and a layperson that the priest had sought help from. The identity of the priest and the layperson were not revealed.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

A wealthy rabbi financed a drug dealing business and offered cocaine to girls in exchange for sex, a court has been told.

Rabbi Baruch Chalomish, 54, of Salford, rented an apartment where he could "relax and have a party", Manchester Crown Court heard.

The rabbi, of Upper Park Road, Salford, admits two counts of possession of cocaine but denies intent to supply.

GEORGIA
Stop Baptist Predators

The Georgia Baptist Convention has disfellowshipped the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Georgia.

Why?

Because the church has a woman serving as pastor. Her name is Julie Pennington-Russell. (That's her in the photo.)

Apparently the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy just goes out the window when a church indulges the “sin” of having a woman in the pulpit.

It’s only for “lesser sins” . . . like indulging clergy child molesters and cover-uppers . . . that local church autonomy really matters. Then it’s all up to the local church and whatever they do or don’t do is just fine.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Thursday, 19 November 2009
The former husband of the Derry woman who has taken up with a local priest has refused to comment on his ex’s new relationship.

Liam Curran has remained in Derry while the whereabouts of his former partner Elaine Curran and Fr Sean McKenna last night remained a mystery.

Fr McKenna and his lover have gone to ground since he declared to a stunned Mass congregation in Derry on Saturday night that he was hanging up his robes after finding love.

WASHINGTON
The Spokesman Review

Kevin Graman The Spokesman-Review

Morning Star Boys’ Ranch has moved the bulk of its assets, including securities and real estate worth millions of dollars, to a nonprofit foundation in advance of the first trial over sexual abuse lawsuits against it.

In 2007, the ranch transferred more than $12 million in securities and other assets to the Morning Star Boys’ Ranch Foundation, an organization that supports youth sports and other charities, according to federal tax documents.

On April 2, the ranch deeded to the foundation 25 parcels of Spokane County real estate with a total assessed value of nearly $3.5 million. The signature appearing on those deed transfers as both grantor and grantee was that of Joe Pickert, a foundation board member who at the time was executive director of both the foundation and the ranch.

UNITED STATES
Opposing Views

By Dignity USA

During their annual meeting this week in Baltimore, the US Catholic Bishops reviewed a preliminary version of a study they commissioned on the reasons for clergy sexual abuse. The study by John Jay College of Criminal Justice researchers found that being gay had no correlation to the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Catholic Church for decades.

“This report confirms many other studies that demonstrate that sexual orientation has nothing to do with the pattern of child abuse by Catholic priests,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA. “We hope that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church will finally accept this finding, since it has been borne out through their own study.

"We urge the bishops to provide support and compensation to the victims/survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, identify perpetrators, press charges, and permanently remove them from contact with children. It is vital that the hierarchy atone for their own role in multiplying the abuse by moving known abusers from place to place.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Public Radio

[with audio]

An advocacy group for victims abused by priests is criticizing a recent study.

The study that's underway is trying to determine why there was more priest sexual abuse in the 60s and 70s, and why it fell after 1985. It's being done for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Barbara Blaine thinks the study is "illogical." She heads the Chicago-based SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

CANADA
Now Toronto

Giller pick
By Susan G. Cole
Reporters on The Bishop’s Man’s Giller triumph have described the book as straightforward storytelling, but that’s not quite right. The story goes back and forth in time to track a man’s growing disillusionment with his role as priest, shedding a powerful light on what goes on behind the scenes in the culture of the Catholic clergy.

Father Duncan is the bishop’s fixer, the guy called on to root out corrupt priests. For years he’s made sure sexual abusers get moved around with no public scandal or personal accountability. When he’s sent to his hometown in Nova Scotia to deal with a growing crisis there, it looks like his personal doubts – he has his own secrets – might threaten his professional duties.

Veteran CBC journalist Linden MacIntyre expertly conveys the sickening logic of abusers and the Church’s determination to do nothing about the growing influence of that thinking. And although the narrative takes a dip while Duncan checks into rehab, MacIntyre grabs it right back and maintains a breathtaking tension through to the end.

BALTIMORE
The Georgia Bulletin

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- An ongoing study of the causes and contexts of sexual abuse by priests delves into a broad assortment of factors, including societal trends, treatment approaches over the decades and the character of seminaries in different generations. An interim report on the "Causes and Context Study" presented to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 17 during their fall general assembly outlines a complex, multidimensional project. The full study, commissioned by the USCCB in 2002 in response to the sexual abuse crisis, is expected to be completed by late 2010.

INDEPENDENCE (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By DONALD BRADLEY
The Kansas City Star

A search of the Independence home of the man at the center of Mohler child sex case turned up incest pornography, recording equipment and old tapes with hand-written titles.

Magazines with titles of “Family Taboo,” “Best of Family Secrets” and “Best of Family Touch” were found in a locked file cabinet in the home in the 1300 block of South Dodgion during a Nov. 11 search.

Burrell Mohler Sr., 77, is in jail in Lexington, Mo., after his arrest last week on allegations of a family child sex case that included rape, sodomy and bestiality. His four sons were also charged for a torrent of alleged sexual assaults in which the family victims were allegedly as young as 5 years old.

INDIA
The Star

Compiled by ZANI SALLEH, BEH YUEN HUI and A. RAMAN

A 36-YEAR-OLD temple priest has sex with a few women in the temple premise in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. To make things worse, he had also recorded his activities on his mobile phone, Makkal Osai reported.

The priest, identified as Deva­nathan, surrendered to a magistrate after being on the run for two months.

The daily said that the father of two had applied for bail but it was rejected by the Madras High Court.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Beliefnet

BALTIMORE (RNS) Gay Catholics and victims of clergy sexual abuse are hailing preliminary results of a study commissioned by U.S. Catholic bishops that says gay priests are no more likely than straight clergy to sexually abuse minors.

Still, some bishops gathered here for the final day of their semi-annual meeting said it is premature to say whether the church leaders who had asserted such a link were wrong.

Researchers from New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Tuesday (Nov. 17) presented initial findings from their multi-year study of the clergy sexual abuse scandal, which has resulted in some 14,000 claims of abuse and cost the U.S. Catholic Church about $2.6 billion in settlements since 1950.

HONG KONG
The Standard

Patsy Moy

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The Catholic Church is facing a new sex scandal after a Chinese University PhD student appeared in court yesterday accused of blackmailing a priest.

Economics student Cheung Ka-wo, 27, is accused of attempting to extort HK$6.3 million from a Catholic priest identified as "X" by threatening to reveal "intimate images" from their past association.

Cheung is also charged with conspiracy to blackmail a Catholic churchgoer identified as "Y."