Abuse Tracker

MARYLAND
Catonsville Times

03/29/07
by mary robbins

A former Woodlawn priest has been removed from his current duties as the head of an Ellicott City parish following accusations by two women claiming he sexually abused them decades ago.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore learned of allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Monsignor Richard Smith, 67, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City "in the past week," according to a written statement from the archdiocese. The alleged abuse occurred in the mid-to late 1960s, while Smith was a priest at the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn, according to the archdiocese. That parish has been known as St. Gabriel since 1997.

One woman alleges she had a series of sexual encounters over a course of months in 1967 when she was approximately 15 or 16 years old, according to the Archdiocese. Another woman said that she and Smith had one inappropriate sexual interaction "sometime in 1966 or 1967 when she was about 15 years old," the statement reads.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Front Page - Saturday, March 31, 2007 Updated @ 10:53:10 AM

The necessity of the Cornwall Public Inquiry has been debated for years, even before it was officially formed by the provincial government. The argument will certainly continue long after it comes to a conclusion as well.

The possibility for the re-victimization of abuse victims or the affect on those accused are cause for concern, while the spiralling costs are far beyond the range of what anyone could have predicted.

Still, the inquiry moved ahead with the belief that the abuse that had been covered up for decades would be revealed and the hope that a healing process would follow.

However, the inquiry suffered its first serious tremors this week as it was discovered that at least two affidavits contained incorrect information. This is a most disturbing development for all those involved, including the community at large.

CANADA
SQLFusion

(Announcement made Thursday 29 March 2007 during hearings at the Cornwall Public Inquiry. The following is taken from the Cornwall Public Inquiry transcript )

Justice Normand Glaude:The challenge of creating an environment of hope for the future, striving for reconciliation, and rebuilding trust continues to be a priority with me.

Phase 2 activities are occurring at the same time as Phase 1 hearings. You will recall that of late I have made various progress announcements about our Phase 2 work, almost monthly, covering proposed research activities, endorsing party research and providing for extension of counselling support.

COLUMBIA (SC)
WIS

(Columbia) March 29, 2007 - A Columbia pastor accused of raping a woman is out of jail on bond. His lawyer says the pastor denies the charge.

Anthony Dicks was at the funeral home he owns in Columbia on Thursday. He would not talk to WIS about the charge he faces.

Dicks has been the pastor at Friendship Baptist Church on House Street for 25 years. WIS interviewed him there for a story on violence last year. Rev. Anthony Dicks said, "You have to have the right security. We have to look out for each other."

HIGH POINT (NC)
Winston-Salem Journal

By Dan Galindo
JOURNAL REPORTER

A pastor at a High Point church has resigned and faces charg-es that he tried to get a 17-year-old boy in his congregation to engage in bondage and to make a video of sex acts.

Kernersville police arrested Todd Turner Brock, 42, on Thursday night at his home at 507 Old Mill Road in High Point.

Brock has been a pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church for 17 years, according to Kernersville police.

He faces four charges: first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor; disseminating obscenity; promoting the prostitution of a minor; and solicitation of another to commit a felony.

KERNERSVILLE (NC)
News-Record

By Sonja Elmquist and Joe Killian
Staff Writers

KERNERSVILLE -- Todd Turner Brock, a High Point pastor arrested Thursday on four felony charges related to sexually exploiting a minor, resigned from his position at Tabernacle Baptist Church before he was arrested, according to a church deacon.

A search warrant released Friday revealed disturbing details about Brock's alleged relationship with a 17-year-old boy who came to him for spiritual guidance after a friend's death of cancer.

When the boy's mother learned that Brock had allegedly begun a sexual relationship with her son she went to the police.

HARTFORD (CT)
Boston.com

March 31, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. --A man who accused a Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse will receive $550,000 under terms of a settlement reached last week, The Hartford Courant reported Saturday.

The payment is the ninth settlement reached by the Archdiocese of Hartford in cases involving alleged abuse by the Rev. Stephen Foley, the newspaper reported. Two other cases are pending.

Foley was accused of using his position as chaplain for local fire departments and the Connecticut State Police to molest the plaintiffs when they were teenagers in the 1970s.

His accusers say Foley, who has not been charged with a crime, lured them by using a car similar to a police cruiser.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Saturday, March 31, 2007

WILMINGTON -- A U.S. District Court jury Friday awarded $41 million in damages to an Archmere Academy graduate who testified he was sexually abused hundreds of times by a faculty priest at the prestigious Catholic school.

The jury award -- which includes $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages -- is believed to be the first made to a victim of child sexual abuse by a Catholic priest in Delaware. The only defendant in the case was the Rev. Edward J. Smith; the school, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and Smith's Norbertine order were dismissed from the suit months ago.

Navy Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 39, of Stafford, Va., a 1986 graduate of Archmere, told jurors Thursday that he was orally and anally raped by Smith, a Norbertine priest, more than 230 times over the course of 33 months. The abuse started, Whitwell said, when he was a 14-year-old freshman at the school.

Smith, who now lives at the Norbertine priory in Middletown, was not present in court and offered no defense to the civil lawsuit. Neither he nor the superior of the Norbertine order, the Rev. James Bagnato, returned phone messages Friday.

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Mike Tobin
Plain Dealer Reporter

Years after church deacon Jerry Bals was accused of molesting teenage girls, the Cleveland Catholic Diocese began sending money to his home.

The diocese said it paid $800 a month to Bals' wife to help raise her children.

But she was not alone. Bals lived in the Eastlake home at the time, according to court records.

The revelation outraged two of six women who sued the diocese and Bals in 1994. The lawsuit was resolved with a confidential settlement, said Mary Brigid, who told police Bals repeatedly groped her between 1972 and 1974.

"Jerry was in the home at the time, so it's like they were paying him, taking care of him," Brigid said.

"It's another example of how the church is taking care of the clergy but not taking care of the people.

"It's really disgusting."

UNITED KINGDOM
Leamington Spa Today

"Disgusting" was the word used to describe the sentence given to disgraced Leamington priest Fr Tony Jones this week after he admitted downloading child pornography.
Fr Tony, 57, who led St Peter's church in Dormer Place and attended governor meetings at St Patrick's Primary School, was given a two-month conditional discharge.
A former parishoner, who asked not to be named, vented her anger at the court's decision.
She said: "The sentencing is all wrong, it's disgusting. He had admitted it. Is it because he is a priest that he is getting away with it?"
Fr Tony, apologised for his actions through a statement from the Archbishop of Birmingham.

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 31, 2007

LOUISA -- A Louisa County judge yesterday set an October trial date for the Catholic priest accused of stealing donations from two parishes he led.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis pleaded not guilty in Louisa Circuit Court to 13 embezzlement counts. He is accused of taking money from the churches from 1995 until last year.

However, it remained uncertain yesterday whether Rodis' case will ever be heard in court because his attorney said Rodis may change his pleas.

Rodis' lawyer, John R. Maus, said many of the financial records requested for the case against Rodis haven't arrived. Without a chance to review records from banks and wire transfer services, Maus said he isn't sure whether his client should contest the charges.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

BY BILL FREEHLING

A former Catholic priest in Louisa County pleaded not guilty yesterday to 13 charges of embezzling funds from the two churches he served.

Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, was arraigned yesterday in Louisa Circuit Court. Judge Timothy K. Sanner read the indictments to Rodis; after each one the priest quietly said "not guilty."

Some members of St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches, where Rodis was pastor for 13 years, whispered and murmured after the first few pleas.

State police have said Rodis may have stolen as much as $1 million from the two rural churches between 1995 and 2006.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
March 31, 2007

In its most extensive accounting of priests accused of sexually molesting minors, the Catholic Diocese of San Diego released the names yesterday of 38 priests with “credible allegations” against them, along with their church service records dating to 1928.

None of the priests is now in ministry here, according to the lists posted on the diocese's Web site. More than half are deceased.

San Diego Bishop Robert Brom pledged to release the names last month, when the diocese filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in bankruptcy court. The diocese became the fifth in the country to seek such protection, filing its petition late on Feb. 27, hours before the first of roughly 150 lawsuits was set to begin trial. ...

Online: To access the names of accused priests and their church service records, go to www.diocese-sdiego.org and click on “Chapter 11 Reorganization.”

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Terri Saunders
Front Page - Friday, March 30, 2007 Updated @ 9:33:56 AM

False statements in at least two affidavits filed at the Cornwall Public Inquiry are only helping fuel the conspiracy fire, a lawyer has argued.

"Affidavits like this only add to some of the rumours and innuendos that we're here trying to separate as fact from fiction," said Giuseppe Cipriano, an attorney representing Rev. Charles MacDonald at the inquiry.

On Wednesday, hearings centered around the fact some of the affidavits filed as part of the standing and funding application by The Victims Group contain factual errors. In one affidavit, a reference to the abuse resulting in a loss of faith in the Catholic church was determined to be false; in another, two individuals were named as alleged abusers despite the fact the complainant has never made allegations against either person.

On Thursday, the subject of the second affidavit took the stand at the inquiry.

CALIFORNIA
California Catholic Daily

Are Catholics more likely to lie under oath? Yes, the March 26 Los Angeles Times seems to say.

Catholic clergy and religious, in particular, are a particularly cagey bunch, according to the Times, because they ascribe to the “doctrine” of mental reservation. Though admitting that mental reservation “is not sanctioned by canon law” and “is infrequently invoked,” “in litigation arising from clergy sex abuse cases in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, at least half a dozen lawyers representing victims report having encountered it,” the Times said.

Ira Zalkin, lawyer for alleged victims of clergy molestation, said he asked an elderly nun about mental reservation, and “she explained in her own way that it is ‘to protect the church from scandal.’” Because of mental reservation, Zalkin said, “you really don’t know” if a Catholic under oath is telling the truth. “It complicates that process when there is a doctrine that allows for a lie to avoid scandal to the church.”

But, quoting Father Thomas Doyle, a canon law expert consulted by clergy-abuse victims’ lawyers, the article asserts the doctrine has been used in modern times to "claim that it is morally justifiable to lie in order to protect the reputation of the institutional church."

COLORADO
The Gazette

By CAROL McGRAW THE GAZETTE
March 31, 2007 - 1:25AM

In the latest volley in the battle for control of Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish, the Rev. Donald Armstrong wrote a blistering letter to his parishioners Friday calling theft accusations against him by the Colorado Episcopal Diocese and Bishop Robert O’Neill “a fantasy” and “spiritual attack.”

The two-page letter outlines Armstrong’s response to allegations after a months-long diocesan investigation. He is accused of theft and other financial improprieties. No decision has been made about pursuing criminal charges, diocesan spokeswoman Beckett Stokes said Friday.

Armstrong said in his letter that O’Neill’s “determination to destroy me” has made it impossible for anyone to grant him a fair hearing in the ecclesiastical system. He said he has not been allowed to dispute the accusations formally and has been treated as “guilty until proven innocent.”

READING (PA)
The Republican & Herald

BY KIMM R. MONTONE
STAFF WRITER
kmontone@republicanherald.com

03/31/2007
READING — Reading police arrested a Pottsville woman on charges that she embezzled more than $46,000 from a Berks County high school.

While the Catholic school, Holy Name High School, is likely to be reimbursed through its insurance policy, the former school bookkeeper, Donna Lynn Botek, 56, of Pottsville, will be prosecuted for stealing $46,645.65. The school is under the purview of the Diocese of Allentown.

Botek is charged with possession of an instrument of a crime (a computer), unlawful use of a computer and other computer crimes, forgery, theft by deception and theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received.

Botek declined to comment Friday afternoon.

Reading Police Capt. Francis F. Drexler said between November 2005 and December 2006, Botek wrote electronic checks payable to herself and afterward deleted the checks from the computer. He said the payments were noted as payroll and bonus checks and that Botek forged the school principal’s, Keith Laser, name on them.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

March 31, 2007

Catholic church doctrine: An article in Monday's California section about the doctrine of "mental reservation" described how San Diego Bishop Robert H. Brom used a hypothetical situation to explain the centuries-old doctrine within the Catholic Church — not sanctioned by canon law — under which it is permissible to avoid telling the truth. The article did not make it clear that the account was based only on the recollections of Irwin Zalkin, a lawyer representing victims of clerical sexual abuse who questioned Brom at a deposition, and that according to Zalkin, the remarks were made when Brom was not under oath. Catholic Diocese of San Diego Chancellor Rodrigo Valdivia, given a copy of Zalkin's remarks in advance of Monday's article, declined to comment on behalf of the diocese.

WILMINGTON (DE)
MoreLaw

Date: 3/31/2007

Case Style: Kenneth Whitwell v. Archmere Academy, Inc., et al.

Case Number: 1:05-cv-00796-SLR

Judge: Sue Robinson

Court: United States District Court for the District of Delaware(New Castle County)

Plaintiff's Attorney:

Steve Neuberger and Tom Neuberger of The Neuberger Firm, P.A.,

Defendant's Attorney:

Anthony G. Flynn of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, Delaware and Neilli M. Walsh of Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor, Wilmington, Delaware for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Inc. and Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KNX

San Diego, CA. (CNS) -- The Catholic Diocese of San Diego has released a list of 38 priests ``against whom there are credible allegations'' of sexual abuse, but it says none of the clergy are active and more than half are dead.

The list, published Friday on the diocese's Web site, reveals the names of clergy and where they served, but does not say when the alleged abuse occurred or the nature of the abuse.

Twenty-six of the clergy were described as being in the San Diego or San Bernardino Diocese and 12 were described as being outside the diocese, but in the San Diego-San Bernardino area.

A few of the clergy were with the diocese as recently as the 1990s, but most left in the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and more than 20 are dead.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 31, 2007
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON And DAVE ALTIMARI, Courant Staff Writers

The Archdiocese of Hartford agreed this week to pay $550,000 to a man who accused the Rev. Stephen Foley of using his position as Hartford County fire chaplain to sodomize him when he was a 14-year-old parishioner in Windsor Locks.

Foley, who has been accused of abuse by at least 11 men since 1993 and was removed from public ministry in 2002, is still affiliated with the county fire organization he belonged to when the alleged assault occurred. He now holds the title of "chaplain emeritus" of the group, according to board members.

The organization, which now goes by the name of Hartford County Fire Emergency Plan, was formed in 1969 as the Hartford County Mutual Aid Association. Foley was its first chaplain, said one of the group's original presidents, Chester J. Haber. Part of the group's mission is to provide mutual aid for member fire departments.

The current president of the group is Windsor Locks Fire Chief Gary Ruggiero. Haber said Ruggiero sent an e-mail to the board of directors Friday criticizing the newspaper for publishing a story last Sunday that exposed Foley's continued use of a police-equipped Crown Victoria with flashing lights, sirens and scanners.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Orange County Register

The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 37 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive list of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

Bishop Robert Brom promised to release the names when he told parishioners in February that the diocese decided to file for bankruptcy protection in the face of more than 140 civil lawsuits filed by people claiming abuse by priests.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Lompoc Record

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago. Here's a list in alphabetical order, with current status:

_Rev. Gustavo Benson (status unknown);

_James T. Booth (left priesthood, married);

_Monsignor Donald F. Doxie (deceased);

_Monsignor Rudolph Galindo (removed);

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Chippewa Herald

By ALLISON HOFFMAN

SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive account of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each. Plaintiff attorneys said the list was incomplete.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry in San Diego, according to diocese counsel Micheal Webb.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

Some have been accused of abuse in lawsuits filed against the diocese, but others have not, Webb said.

Those listed served in a variety of roles _ pastor, deacon, chaplain _ in parishes, schools, seminaries and hospitals throughout San Diego and San Bernardino, which was part of the San Diego diocese until 1978.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA

Andy Sheehan
Reporting

(KDKA) PITTSBURGH He was a Catholic priest defrocked by the Diocese of Pittsburgh after allegations surfaced that he had molested school kids.

However, Jack Hoehl continued to work with young people as a counselor in West Virginia.

That didn't sit well with some who say he victimized them.

They're all grown men now but they say the psychological and emotional scars remain.

For six of Father Hoehl's former students, the situation has been untenable.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

Ted Thompson
Published: March 31, 2007

A March 17 Star Tribune editorial endorsed the idea that the "discovery of childhood sexual abuse scars can take years" and therefore it is a good idea for the Legislature to "reinstate a special statute of limitations for delayed discovery of damages caused by the childhood sexual abuse."

While most legislators agree, there is one key legislator whose doesn't.

The bill in the House of Representatives to restore the right for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue based on delayed discovery is sponsored by more than 25 legislators. Its chances of gaining approval by the whole body are considered excellent. However, because the chairman of the committee that the bill must go through so strongly opposes the bill, it appears very unlikely that it will ever get a chance to become law.

The chair, Rep. Joe Mullery, DFL-Minneapolis, has refused the request of chief author Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, to give the bill a hearing in his committee.

WILMINGTON (DE)
New Orleans Times-Picayune

3/30/2007, 8:30 p.m. CDT
By RANDALL CHASE
The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury awarded $41 million Friday to a Navy officer who said a Roman Catholic priest sexually abused him hundreds of times as a teen.

Jurors awarded Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages.

Whitwell, 39, claimed the Rev. Edward J. Smith raped and sodomized him more than 230 times over several years at Archmere Academy, and that church officials did nothing to stop it. The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Bishop Michael Saltarelli and the high school were dismissed from the lawsuit last year.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Diocese of San Diego

This is the link for the names of priests serving in the diocese who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Monterey Herald

ALLISON HOFFMAN
Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego on Friday released the names of 38 priests who have been accused of sexual abuse, following up on a pledge that it made when it filed for bankruptcy protection a month ago.

Diocese officials said the roster is an exhaustive list of priests facing "credible allegations," listing the dates and parishes in San Diego where each served and noting the current status of each.

At least 20 are dead, according to the documents. None remain in active ministry.

The list does not specify the nature or the extent of abuse claims against those named.

OHIO
Dayton Daily News

By Lou Grieco
Staff Writer

Friday, March 30, 2007

DAYTON — A new indictment of Dennis Bowling, the Riverside pastor already charged with 76 sex-related counts, will take that number up to 84, including a first-degree felony.

In December, Bowling was charged with 11 counts of sexual battery. A January indictment added 65 counts, all but one a felony.

The new indictment, issued by a grand jury Thursday, will replace the January indictment, said Montgomery County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Greg Flannagan.

The 73 counts in the new indictment corrects some dates in the January indictment, which is critical because Ohio law takes age of victim into consideration for some offenses and penalties, Flannagan said.

OHIO
The Advocate

By KIMBERLY DICK
Advocate Reporter

COLUMBUS -- Federal child pornography charges against a former Newark minister's wife were dismissed Wednesday.

In U.S. District Court, Judge George C. Smith dismissed the case against Judy Waser, 54, of Newark.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Solove filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the one felony count of attempted possession of child pornography Judy Waser faced.

"I can't really say why it was dismissed," Solove said. "We don't plan to go forward with it."
Her husband, David Waser, 57, a former minister at Newark's Second Church of Christ, is being detained after pleading guilty last week in federal court to receiving child pornography.

KERNERSVILLE (NC)
News-Record

KERNERSVILLE -- A pastor at a High Point church faces numerous charges involving a 17-year-old boy, Kernersville police announced today.

Todd Turner Brock, 42, of 507 Old Mill Road in High Point, is charged with first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, promoting prostitution of a minor, disseminating obscenity and solicitation of another to commit a felony, according to Kernersville police.

Brock has been pastor for 17 years at Tabernacle Baptist Church in High Point, police stated in a news release.

The case began March 23 after a 17-year-old boy who lives in Kernersville came forward to his parents and a school counselor, said Detective Sammy Peddycord of the Kernersville Police Department.

The victim and Brock knew each other, Peddycord said. He declined to release specifics about the case, citing the continuing investigation in Kernersville and at least one other location.

LOUISA (VA)
The Free Lance-Star

Date published: 3/30/2007

A former Catholic priest in Louisa County pleaded not guilty today to 13 charges of embezzling funds from two Catholic churches he served as pastor.

A weeklong trial was scheduled for Oct. 1-5 for Rodney Lee Rodis, 50, on the charges he stole funds from his former parishes, St. Jude and Immaculate Conception Catholic churches. Police have said the thefts may have exceeded $1 million.

Rodis' bond was increased from $10,000 to $25,000 today and he was taken into custody while arrangements were made for his bond. His lawyer, Jack Maus, said he would be able to make his bond. Rodis was indicted on the first embezzlement charge Jan. 8. and 12 additional charges were added earlier this month. The initial indictment accused Rodis of stealing from the churches between September 2001 and October 2006. The new indictments charge him with stealing during 12 separate six-month periods between September 1995 and September 2001.

The former priest lives in the Sheraton Hills area of Spotsylvania County. He is a native of the Philippines and had to surrender his passport to get bond. He had been living with 44-year-old Joyce Sillador and three girls, but those four recently moved to New Mexico. Rodis remains to face the charges in Louisa.

RIVERSIDE (OH)
WHIO

RIVERSIDE, Ohio -- A Riverside pastor is facing additional sex-related charges.

Pastor Dennis Bowling has now been charged with 84 counts after a new indictment was issued on Thursday. The new indictment includes a felony charge in the rape of a child under 13.

Bowling has been the pastor of Kingdom Harvest Church for 19 years. He was arrested after women from the church accused him of sexual assault.

NORTH CAROLINA
WFMY

Kernersville, NC -- A High Point pastor is under arrest, after police charged him with sexual exploitation of a minor.

Todd Turner Brock, has served as Pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in High Point for seventeen years.

He was arrested by Kernersville Police and charged with First Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Promoting Prostitution of a Minor, Disseminating Obscenity and Solicitation of Another to Commit a Felony.

According to the arrest warrant Brock sent the minor a picture of his genitals via email. When the juvenile's parents saw it, they called police.

TENNESSEE
WATE

March 30, 2007

By HANA KIM
Good Morning Tennessee Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A Dyersburg youth pastor and track coach has an October trial date for his statutory rape charge in Knoxville.

Timothy Neal Byars, 44, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl at Victor Ashe Park in November 2006. The girl was asleep in the back of his SUV before a track meet. Byars was her coach.

Byars was also arrested later on a second sexual battery charge for molesting the girl's sister. He's charged with rape, sexual battery, statutory rape and aggravated statutory rape.

HIGH POINT (NC)
WGHP

By CARON MYERS
FOX8 News
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) -- A pastor at a church in High Point, N.C., faces numerous charges involving a 17-year-old boy.

On Friday, police in Kernersville arrested 42-year-old Todd Brock, the pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church, and charged him with several sex crimes, including first-degree exploitation of a minor and promoting prostitution of a minor.

"Communication began over telephone and Internet with a minor that was 17 years of age," explained Kernersville Police Detective Sammy Peddycord.

Brock, a single man who has pastored the church for 18 years, is in the Forsyth County Detention Center under a $1 million bond. Deacons from Tabernacle Baptist said Brock submitted a letter of resignation before his arrest.

LUMBERTON (NC)
The Robesonian

By Matt Elofson - Staff writer
LUMBERTON - A former Parkton pastor has been sentenced to 15 to 18 years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl who had his baby.

The sentence came Tuesday after 42-year-old Ronald Lee Simpson pled guilty to having sex with the child from late 2003 to August 2004. He also pled guilty to molesting a 14-year-old girl at the Shannon church that he led.

Assistant District Attorney Joe Osman was confident of a conviction had the case gone to trial.

“One of the most important things in this case is the DNA evidence ... that would have proven he had sex with a minor child,” Osman said. “You couple that with the testimony of the second victim and her description of how this occurred at her church by her pastor ... we had a very strong case against this defendant.”

LOUISA (VA)
Richmond Times-Dispatch

BY CALVIN R. TRICE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 30, 2007

The priest accused of stealing as much as $1 million from two Louisa County Catholic churches pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 1.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, this morning entered not guilty pleas to 13 counts of embezzlement.

He is charged with stealing from St. Jude church in Mineral and Immaculate Conception church in Bumpass beginning in 1995, a year after he became pastor of the two parishes.

Authorities discovered the money missing in November.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Baltimore Sun

By Randall Chase
The Associated Press
Originally published March 30, 2007, 4:32 PM EDT
WILMINGTON, Del. // A federal jury today awarded $41 million to a Navy officer who as a teenager was repeatedly sexually abused by a priest.

The jury deliberated for just over two hours before deciding to award Navy Cmdr. Kenneth Whitwell, 39, $6 million in compensatory damages and $35 million in punitive damages.

Whitwell bowed his head and wiped his eyes with his hands as the verdict was read.

Whitwell won a default judgment against the Rev. Edward J. Smith in January after Smith failed to respond to a federal lawsuit.

The case marks the first time that a priest has been found liable in Delaware for child sexual abuse.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Friday, March 30, 2007 at 1:40 pm
WILMINGTON -- A U.S. District Court jury now is deliberating whether an alumnus of Archmere Academy is entitled to damages for the sexual abuse he says he suffered from a priest who was on the faculty at the prestigious Catholic school.

The Rev. Edward J. Smith, a Norbertine priest, offered no defense to the civil lawsuit, which allowed Naval Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 39 of Stafford, Va., to bring the case to a federal jury, though the statute of limitations had expired.

Whitwell testified Thursday that he was orally and anally raped by the priest more than 200 times -- from the time he was a 14-year-old freshman at Archmere in 1982 until the summer of 1985.

LOUISA (VA)
NBC 4

LOUISA, Va. -- A Roman Catholic priest charged with embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from two rural churches pleaded not guilty on Friday.

The Rev. Rodney L. Rodis, 50, is charged with 13 counts of embezzlement. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison on each count.

Rodis stood quietly as Louisa County Circuit Judge Timothy Sanner read the first of 13 embezzlement charges against him. Sanner then asked the priest, "What is your plea?" After a long pause, Rodis finally answered, "Not guilty, your honor."

At that, several grim-faced former parishioners of Rodis bowed their heads, one letting out a heavy sigh.

WILMINGTON (DE)
KYW

(AP) WILMINGTON A psychiatrist is scheduled to testify Friday in the case of a Catholic priest found liable for the sexual abuse of teenager who is now a Navy officer.

Navy Commander Kenneth Whitwell said the priest, Edward Smith, abused him for three years while he was a student at Archmere Academy.

Whitwell said the abuse began when he was a freshman in 1982.

He said the priest was young and cool and had money and nice clothes. And he said the priest held him up in front of other students as someone who was special.

HUTCHINSON (KS)
The Hutchinson News

A church secretary was arrested Wednesday for allegedly embezzling more than $5,000 from her employer.

Mary Jolelle Drush, 40, of 501 Monterey Place, was arrested on suspicion of felony theft and unlawful use of a financial card.

COLORADO
The Gazette

By BRIAN NEWSOME
THE GAZETTE
March 30, 2007 - 12:35AM

The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado is trying to freeze Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish funds and is pursuing legal action against church leaders who voted to break away from the denomination.

Parishioners who want to remain Episcopalian learned about the developments in a meeting with Colorado Bishop Robert O’Neill and the diocese attorney Wednesday night at Colorado College.

Reporters were not allowed at the meeting, but numerous parishioners Thursday confirmed the announcements.

Alan Crippen, a parishioner and spokesman for the breakaway church, said church funds did not appear frozen as of Thursday afternoon.

The diocese declined comment Thursday.

The meeting with the bishop came hours after church members learned of diocesan accusations against the church’s longtime rector, the Rev. Donald Armstrong.

The Colorado diocese suspended Armstrong during a months-long investigation into what the diocese says is his theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars and other financial crimes.

SCOTLAND
The Daily Record

By Gordon Mcilwraith
A PRIEST claimed to have had sex with a Polish student whose body was later found under the floor of his church, a court heard yesterday.

Father Gerry Nugent told a Sunday newspaper he had a relationship with Angelika Kluk, 23, jurors heard.

But her sister, Aneta Kluk, branded the suggestion "outrageous and untrue" when she gave evidence at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The court heard earlier that Father Nugent, 66, the priest at Glasgow's St Patrick's Church, turned "cold" towards Angelika after learning she was having an affair with an older, married man.

SCOTLAND
This is London

A student was murdered and buried under the floorboards of a church after having affairs with a priest and a married man, a court heard yesterday.

Angelika Kluk, a 23-year-old from Poland, came to Britain during her summer holidays to earn money but ended up in a relationship with the priest of the Catholic church where she was staying, it is claimed.

SCOTLAND
Glasgow Evening Times

A DRUNKEN priest's claims he had a sex with a Polish student whose body was found under his church were branded "outrageous and untrue" by the dead girl's sister.

A murder trial heard that 66-year-old Father Gerry Nugent spoke of his affair to police investigating the death of Angelika Kluk, 23.

But the girl's sister, Aneta, 28, branded the priest a liar and a "Jekyll and Hyde" character who drank too much.

The High Court in Edinburgh has heard Angelika was staying at St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow, cleaning and helping out in return for her board and lodging.

UNITED KINGDOM
Ealing Times

HE priest accused of molesting a former pupil at St Benedict's school 20 years ago, told a jury: "The incident never happened and I deny the allegation utterly".

Father Gerald Stanislaus Hobbs - known as Father Stan - said the victim, now a journalist, was making the claims because he couldn't get him for an incident that took place on an Italian holiday.

The priest has admitted that the incident took place on the school holiday when the boy came to him with constipation, but as he cannot be prosecuted for that in this country he said: "Because he could not get me in Italy - he would try to get me in England."

The father, who suffers from tremoring in his hands, told the court he was born into a GP's family in Ealing and had joined St Benedict's Abbey when he was 18.

He told the jury at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday that in his 60 years at the Abbey: "No-one has ever made an allegation of impropriety against me, or anything like that whatsoever".

UGANDA
AllAfrica

The Monitor (Kampala)

Posted to the web March 30, 2007

A Priest who was arrested by police on March 23 has denied allegations of adultery against him.

Esau Abwomugisha, attached to Kigezi Diocese, is detained at Kagadi Police Station. The Rev. Abwomugisha on Monday told Daily Monitor that a person with high moral values like him cannot have a marital affair with a married woman.

Kibaale Officer in Charge of the Criminal Investigations Department Fred Mirondo said the Rev. Abwomugisha is suspected to have had an affair with a married woman Molly Abomugisa.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Gregory W. Griggs, Times Staff Writer
March 29, 2007

A former Thousand Oaks pastor who pleaded guilty to sexually molesting a young female student in the late 1980s was sentenced this week to more than six years in prison.

William Alan Malgren, 52, briefly fainted after hearing his sentence, handed down Tuesday afternoon by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Bruce Clark. Malgren was revived within minutes.

Prosecutor Maeve Fox said the ruling came after the judge reviewed a psychiatric report suggesting that Malgren was open to counseling and could benefit from it. It also followed the reading of a three-page letter from the victim, who is now a married mother in her 30s living in another state.

"This really messed up her life," Fox said of the woman who last summer notified authorities about the molestations. "The judge made a decision that he should be punished."

CARMEL (IN)
Indianapolis Star

By Robert Annis
robert.annis@indystar.com

CARMEL, Ind. -- A Carmel church wants its members to show love and forgiveness to a former elder accused of molesting a 3-year-old girl, causing the child's family and others to leave the congregation.

The girl's father said the family no longer feels welcome because of the support shown for the accused man.

"It's a disgrace that the church would embrace a criminal and turn its back on the victim, especially one that's a young child," the father said.

A counseling director, in defense of the church's position, described College Park Church as "a hospital for sinners."

BOISE (ID)
KTRV

Boise, Idaho -- Victims abused by clergy spoke out about a new Idaho law Thursday.

The group called SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, gathered on the steps of the Statehouse -- informing residents about a bill Governor Otter recently signed.

It extends the civil statute of limitations on child sex crimes to five years from the time the child discovers the crime caused them harm.

Specifically, it allows those who were molested as kids to file lawsuits against anyone who employed their predator.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

Terri Saunders
Front Page - Thursday, March 29, 2007 Updated @ 10:58:14 AM

False statements in at least two affidavits filed with the Cornwall Public Inquiry may lead to a lack of public confidence in the commission's work, lawyers argued Wednesday.

"This deals with the credibility of the process," said Peter Wardle, an attorney representing the Citizens for Community Renewal.

Earlier this month, a series of sworn affidavits signed by members of The Victims Group were removed from the inquiry's website. Commission counsel received information that some of the statements contained in at least two of the documents, prepared by and presented to the inquiry by attorneys from the London-based law firm Ledroit Beckett, were incorrect.

CANADA
SQLFusion

Terri Saunders

Thursday, March 29, 2007 - 10:00

Local News - David Silmser might have left the Cornwall Public Inquiry before all the parties could ask him questions but it looks as if he might have the last word.

On the same day parties began sifting through the evidence Silmser gave during several days on the witness stand earlier this year, a letter he wrote to Comm. Normand Glaude was front and centre at the hearings.

Silmser has testified he was sexually abused by a city priest, a now-deceased probation officer and a teacher in the 1960s and 1970s when he was a teenager. Charges were never laid against the teacher, the probation officer committed suicide before charges could be laid against him and charges against the priest were stayed in 2002 when a judge determined it had taken too long to bring the matter to trial.

Over the course of several days, Silmser testified about the abuse, the effect it had on his life and the contact he had with a variety of public institutions.

UTAH
ABC 4

Story by:
Brent Hunsaker
brent@abc4.com

Since his father Rulon Jeffs died in September 2002, Warren Jeffs has been the prophet of the FLDS polygamist group. Under that mantle, Jeffs has allegedly separated husbands from children and wives, kicked rivals to his rule out of the community and directed the building of a new compound and a temple near El Dorado, Texas.

People familiar with the FLDS leader says his reign has been one of the most tumultuous of any previous leader. But now Jeffs has reportedly denied having authority to do any of that.

The Deseret News reports that in a jailhouse conversation with his brother, Nephi Jeffs, Warren Jeffs confessed that God did not speak to him and that he is "the greatest sinner".

The newspaper says there's a recording of that conversation in the hands of the Washington County attorney, but it has not been made public. Neither the county attorney nor sheriff will even confirm its existence.

NORRISTOWN (PA)
Pottstown Mercury

Carl Hessler Jr., chessler@pottsmerc.com
03/30/2007

NORRISTOWN -- A judge ruled prosecutors do not have sufficient evidence to try a former Royersford pastor on allegations he stole money from a church fund for the needy.

Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter indicated in a one-page ruling that prosecutors failed to establish that a crime actually occurred in connection with William B. Shrout Jr.’s handling of $393 in a Sunshine Fund while he was pastor at the First United Church of Christ.

Carpenter made the decision after reviewing documents, including a church ledger pertaining to distributions from the Sunshine Fund, that prosecutors submitted as evidence against Shrout.

MARYLAND
The Examiner

Mar 30, 2007 3:00 AM (4 hrs ago)
by Ron Cassie, The Examiner

Howard County (Map, News) - Previous allegations of child sexual abuse by Monsignor Richard Smith, former pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, were made by an Anne Arundel County man in May, according to the victim’s mother.

Smith was recently removed from his duties after two women accused him of sexually abusing them as teens about 40 years ago.

The alleged incidents now coming to light took place when Smith served at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church in Riviera Beach, from 1979 until 1983.

Archdiocese officials maintained Sunday in a meeting with parishioners, and Monday in a phone interview, that they were unaware of any previous allegations of sexual impropriety ever made against Smith.

IRELAND
RTE Entertainment

Director: Amy Berg

Duration: 101 minutes

The sexual abuse of children is often described as 'unspeakable', and perhaps this in part is why it is so difficult to combat. 'Deliver Us From Evil' takes a braver approach, choosing to transport us directly into the heart of darkness via the sickening career of the convicted Irish-born paedophile priest Oliver O'Grady. Controversially, O'Grady himself is one of the film's key interviewees. To her credit, the director Amy Berg subverts his evident wish to vindicate or downplay the reality of his crimes by counter-pointing his frequently self-serving testimony with the remarkably frank and moving interviews given to her by his victims and their parents.

Aside from these fundamentally opposite elements, 'Deliver Us From Evil' also includes legal depositions given by O'Grady and his superiors, Bishop (now Cardinal) Mahony and Monsignor Cain, prior to O'Grady's trial and conviction for sexual assault, and interviews with a number of American lawyers and theology experts. It has no narrator; instead utilising to good effect minimal textual and graphic links to supply a sense of time, place and movement.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Register-Guard

By Bill Bishop
The Register-Guard
Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007

A federal judge on Wednesday set the stage for approval next month of a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the Archdiocese of Portland, which in 2004 became the first Roman Catholic diocese in the nation to file bankruptcy on the eve of trials in multimillion-dollar lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse by priests.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones concluded that the one remaining unsettled claim against the archdiocese would cost $100,000 to settle - well below the $13.7 million set aside for unsettled claims under the proposed reorganization plan.

Jones had scheduled public "estimation hearings" for about 20 remaining child sexual abuse claims to determine whether the $13.7 million fund was adequate to cover the potential jury awards. However, after the estimation hearings that began March 13, all but one of those claims has been settled privately.

CANADA
The Ottawa Citizen

Published: Thursday, March 29, 2007
The commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry has announced a series of practical research projects aimed at fostering healing in Cornwall.

The projects are to operate in parallel with the inquiry into reports of systemic child sex abuse, which is expected to run until early 2008.

Judge Normand Glaude posted a proposed research agenda on the commission’s website and invited submissions. Proposals were reviewed by an advisory panel which made recommendations to the commissioner.

People want activities they see as practical and likely to make a difference in the future,” said Judge Glaude in a statement Thursday. “This is why you will see a focus on education and pragmatic activities and less on traditional academic research.”

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 30, 2007
One point the story of Richard Foley makes abundantly clear is that the nation's Roman Catholic bishops struck a deal with the devil when they adopted the policy of allowing priests suspected of sexual abuse to remain in the priesthood and to financially support them.

On Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Hartford evicted the Rev. Foley from St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, where he had been living since 1993. Archbishop Henry Mansell also ordered the Rev. Foley to sell his 2002 Ford Crown Victoria - the official car of the state police, tricked out with emergency lights, scanners and antennae - a holdover from the priest's days as a fire and state police chaplain.

The decision followed an investigative article published Sunday in The Courant reporting that the Rev. Foley was among 14 priests accused of sexual molestation who were part of a $22 million settlement by the archdiocese in 2002. The Rev. Foley continued to live at the seminary, receiving free room and board, health insurance and a monthly stipend from the archdiocese. He also continued to drive a Crown Victoria, a car that figures prominently in the abuse claims against him.

FLORIDA
Naples Daily News

By Denise Zoldan
Friday, March 30, 2007

The head of a powerful panel of lay people chosen by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to oversee the protection of children in the church delivered some straight talk in Naples on Thursday.

Patricia O’Donnell Ewers detailed how far the church has come and how far it still needs to go since the child sex abuse scandal of five years ago.

“A lot of people express outrage but not a lot are willing to do the hard work — send letters, serve on a parish safe environment committee and go back to your own parish and ask questions,” O’Donnell Ewers told an audience of about 60 at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Naples.

“Until we have the parishioners auditing, we have no real security over the effectiveness of what we are doing.”

She is chairwoman of the 13-member USCCB’s National Review Board, which has undertaken massive efforts to ensure further abuse is stopped. The panel reports directly to a committee of 20 bishops, who O’Donnell Ewers says has been supportive of every recommendation the board has made.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
LA Daily News

BY ALLISON HOFFMAN, Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 03/29/2007 09:42:43 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO - The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is offering $95 million to settle more than 140 claims of sexual abuse by priests.

According to documents filed Wednesday in the church's bankruptcy proceedings, the diocese would offer 83 victims who say they were forced to have sex as much as $800,000. Forty-four people who were only touched or forced to masturbate would receive between $176,000 and $575,000.

An additional 16 victims who say they were exposed to lesser types of abuse - being asked to pose for photographs or look at sexual material, for example - would receive between $10,000 and $175,000. Under the proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan, a $3 million fund would also be created to settle any additional abuse claims that have not yet been formally made.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Friday, March 30, 2007

WILMINGTON -- Navy Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell took the stand Thursday in U.S. District Court and told a panel of six jurors what no Delaware jury has heard before: He told them how he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest as a student at Archmere Academy.

Whitwell, 39, of Stafford, Va., described almost three years of sexual abuse -- hundreds of incidents including fondling, oral and anal rape -- by the Rev. Edward Smith, who was a religion teacher, an English teacher and campus minister at Archmere from 1982 to 1984. The abuse started, Whitwell said, when he was a 14-year-old freshman.

Smith never responded to Whitwell's civil lawsuit. When Smith failed to appear in court in January, Judge Sue L. Robinson ruled that he was in default, allowing the case to go directly to a jury to determine damages.

It is the first time a claim of sexual abuse by a priest has reached a Delaware courtroom because the state's statute of limitations -- the time in which a criminal charge or civil claim can be made -- has expired in so many other cases. That is why Robinson dismissed Archmere Academy, the Norbertine religious order Smith is part of, and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington from this case.

JOLIET (IL)
Herald News

March 30, 2007
By JOE HOSEY Staff Writer
JOLIET -- The Diocese of Joliet determined allegations of sexual abuse against a prominent local priest are implausible, but still won't let him serve his parishioners.

The Rev. James Burnett has been on administrative leave since last year and will stay there despite a review committee finding allegations made by one man "not credible," said diocesan spokesman Doug Delaney. The board "has not been able to resolve the credibility" of an accusation leveled by a second man.

The first man, Dan Shanahan, said Burnett molested him repeatedly for four years beginning sometime around 1978, when Shanahan was 8. Some of the alleged incidents occurred in a confessional at St. Mary Church in Mokena, Shanahan said.

The second accuser, identified by Delaney as a "John Doe," also was a parishioner at St. Mary Parish in Mokena.

JOLIET (IL)
Daily Southtown

March 30, 2007
By Duaa Eldeib Staff writer
In a move that has an attorney labeling the Diocese of Joliet as possibly "one of the most dangerous diocese in the country," officials found that allegations of child sexual abuse against an Illinois priest are "not credible."

Daniel Shanahan alleges in his lawsuit that he was molested repeatedly by the Rev. James Burnett almost 30 years ago. He went public last year with his claim of sexual abuse that allegedly began in 1978 -- when he was 8 years old -- and continued through 1982.

"The review committee evaluated the information, and in their opinion, there wasn't enough evidence to find this credible," said Doug Delaney, executive assistant to Joliet's Bishop James Peter Sartain.

JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Hal Dardick
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 30, 2007
The Catholic Diocese of Joliet announced Thursday that its Review Committee found "not credible" one set of sexual abuse allegations against Rev. James Burnett, the former rector of its cathedral.

But in a second case, the details of which are not yet public, the committee "has not been able to resolve the credibility of that accusation," according to a diocesan statement.

In February 2006, Burnett, then rector of Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet, was put on administrative leave by the diocese. He remains "out of ministry" pending the outcome of a state's attorney's review and the resolution of civil lawsuits that have or are expected to be filed against him, the statement said.

The "not credible" finding "doesn't mean it is true or isn't true," said Doug Delaney, executive assistant to Bishop Peter Sartain. "It means they weren't able to substantiate it under their guidelines."

IDAHO
CDA Press

By TOM GREENE
Staff writer

A victim advocates group is praising a bill signed into law by Gov. Butch Otter last week that would give sex abuse victims more time to file lawsuits.

But with some major organizations seemingly exempt from the new law, there is still much more work to do, said Mary Grant, Western regional director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

"I know it's going to be a safer place for kids," Grant said Wednesday. "It's a process of really starting to break down the denial, and that's because of the courage of the victims."

Victims of child sex abuse now must file civil claims in their cases within five years after turning 18.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Mark Sauer and Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
March 29, 2007

In documents that foretell fierce legal battles to come, bankruptcy attorneys for the Diocese of San Diego last night filed their plan for settling about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests.

Attorneys representing the alleged victims promptly labeled the filing “premature” and “meaningless” in the month-old Chapter 11 process, which could last years.

In hundreds of pages, the diocese's Reorganization Plan details how church officials aim to establish a $95 million pool. Payments would range from about $10,000 to $800,000 to victims settling lawsuits for abuse by clergy in incidents dating back decades.

That figure represents roughly half of what plaintiffs were expected to be seeking in four years of closed-door negotiations. Settlements and jury awards in such cases in California have ranged from about $1.1 million to $1.6 million, according to plaintiffs' attorneys.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Fresno Bee

By ALLISON HOFFMAN 03/29/07 14:50:33

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego is offering $95 million to settle more than 140 claims of sexual abuse by priests.

According to documents filed Wednesday in the church's bankruptcy proceedings, the diocese would offer 83 victims who say they were forced to have sex as much as $800,000. Forty-four people who were only touched or forced to masturbate would receive between $176,000 and $575,000.

An additional 16 victims who say they were exposed to lesser types of abuse - being asked to pose for photographs or look at sexual material, for example - would receive between $10,000 and $175,000.

Under the proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan, a $3 million fund would also be created to settle any additional abuse claims that have not yet been formally made.

SCOTLAND
BBC News

A priest's reported claims that he had sex with a student whose body was found at his church have been branded "outrageous" by the dead girl's sister.

The Angelika Kluk murder trial heard that Father Gerry Nugent spoke to police investigating the Polish woman's death about their relationship.

The High Court in Edinburgh also heard evidence from Martin Macaskill who was having an affair with Angelika, 23.

Peter Tobin, 60, a church handyman, denies raping and murdering her.

FAIRBANKS (AK)
KTUU

by The Associated Press
Thursday, March 29, 2007

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- A church official says two civil suits were settled against a former Jesuit priest who fathered at least two children and had sex with several women while serving in Alaska.

Two men and two women from Western Alaska will share in a nearly $2 million agreement, plus therapist's fees, in their suit against the Rev. James E. Jacobson.

The retired 83-year-old Jesuit priest served in Alaska from the early 1960s to 1976.

IRELAND
Southern Star

THE Government, it was announced last week, has insisted it is not responsible for teachers ‘who sexually abuse pupils’ and has warned victims that they will be ‘vigorously pursued for costs’ if they sue the State !

How outrageous, disgusting and anomalous and, particularly, when one recalls that, when it came to child abuse in residential institutions, the same State had no problem with landing the great bulk of the §1.2 billion cost, so far, on taxpayers while the actual perpetrators of the scandal, members of religious orders, got away with a token amount, supposed to be §128 millions but which, according to property valuation reports, could be watered down.

The so-called ‘logic’ used by former Education Minister Dr. Michael Woods, when making this ‘secret’ deal with CORI (the Conference of Religious in Ireland), back in 2001 and 2002, was that, since the State owned the residential institutions, the religious orders running them did not bear legal responsibility for abuse, or any other wrongdoing perpetrated by management and teachers and, thus, the State proceeded to burden innocent taxpayers with the financial repercussions.

UNITED KINGDOM
Ealing Times

A KINDLY Catholic priest molested a schoolboy who came to confess in his office, a court heard.

Father Gerald Stanislaus Hobbs, known as Father Stan to pupils at St Benedict's public school in Ealing, is accused of forcing himself on the young boy, who was 12 or 13 at the time, more than 20 years ago.

The victim, who now works as a journalist, told a jury at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday: "I remember kneeling down in the room and I remember him lifting up his robes.

"He had his hand on my head and he forced it down. I have a strong memory and I have had flashbacks."

The court heard that after the boy was assaulted the priest gave him a medal that was hanging on the back of his door.

CANADA
CFRA

Josh Pringle
Thursday, March 29, 2007

A retired Pembroke-area priest is facing three more charges for alleged assaults in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ontario Provincial Police have charged 72-year-old Msgr. Bernard Prince with buggery, indecent assault and gross indecency.

The OPP says a 13th person has come forward alleging he was sexually assaulted.

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Lancashire

By Staff Reporter

A CATHOLIC priest has denied he committed offences of child abuse against two schoolboys in Bury.

John McCollough (61) appeared at Bolton Crown Court on Monday to plead not guilty to 12 charges of indecent assault and gross indecency with two children, both aged under 16, between 1987 and 1993.

The offences are alleged to have taken place while McCollough was an Anglican rector at Christ the King with Holy Trinity Church in Spring Street, Bury.

UNITED STATES
OpEd News

by Debby Bodkin

As a Catholic wife, mother and advocate for clergy sex abuse victims, it was during Lent last year when I gathered up enough courage to submit my first OPINION article to www.opednews.com, "Hidden Blessings." And, one year later, I am very thankful for the many opportunities offered by OpEdNews and other publications, especially those encouraging public participation in matters relating to public safety, justice and the politically-charged clergy sex abuse crisis. You are truly "Hidden Blessings" -- thank you for allowing our OPINIONS:

TO ALL ATTORNEYS REPRESENTING RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS:

In my OPINION, "Mental Reservation" Church Doctrine & Freedom of Religion have assisted your legal claims in courts of law for many years and you have personally experienced financial gain for these obvious judicial abuses.

WISCONSIN
WEAU

Reporter: Mary Rinzel
Email Address: mary.rinzel@weau.com

A former Rice Lake pastor is charged with raping a 17-year-old boy 20 years ago.
Now, that victim is speaking out.

Doug Guillen says he struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse before putting a gun to his head. He says before he could pull the trigger, he says he realized it's not his fault.

It was a child that saved Doug Guillen from himself.

BREWTON (AL)
Press-Register

Thursday, March 29, 2007
By CONNIE BAGGETT
Staff Reporter
BREWTON -- A part-time Southern Baptist preacher who lives in Brewton and pastors a Florida Panhandle church has been charged with sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl, authorities said Wednesday.

The Rev. Stephen Lyle "Steve" Whittaker, 40, listed on an online church directory as the pastor of Beaver Creek Baptist Church in Baker, Fla., surrendered to Brewton police after the girl's mother reported her suspicions to authorities on March 12, Brewton Police Sgt. Eric Suarez said.

Whittaker remained free on $5,000 bond Wednesday, authorities said. He was charged with first-degree sexual abuse.

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

By JON WILLING

A new complainant has come forward with sexual abuse allegations against a Pembroke-area priest.

OPP yesterday arrested Msgr. Bernard Prince, 72, after investigating the male complainant's claims. Prince was charged with buggery, indecent assault on a male and gross indecency in connection with alleged incidents between 1967 and 1970 in Ottawa.

The charges are in addition to the pile of allegations Prince is currently facing.

Police began investigating Prince in May 2005 after receiving a complaint that he allegedly assaulted a young male while the boy visited Prince in Wilno, near Barry's Bay.

HELMETTA (NJ)
Ashbury Park Press

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/29/07
BY GINA VERGEL
GANNETT NEW JERSEY

HELMETTA — A borough resident and former Catholic priest was arrested Wednesday on charges he sexually assaulted a girl 20 years ago from the time she was 3 until age 7, authorities said.

Ronald Becker, 62, a former priest with the Diocese of Trenton who also had ties to the Diocese of Metuchen, was picked up Wednesday at his Raintree Court residence by members of the Jamesburg Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Unit.

Becker, who is involved with several Jamesburg civic groups, is charged with sexual assault as a result of an investigation that began Feb. 23 involving a female family member who reported Becker fondled her on multiple occasions from the ages of 3 to 7, according to a prepared statement by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Many of these incidents occurred in a family residence in Jamesburg, the report said.

PORTLAND (OR)
KGW

03/29/2007

Associated Press

A federal judge said the one remaining claim against the Archdiocese of Portland would cost $100,000 to settle, well below the $13.7 million set aside for unsettled claims under a proposed bankruptcy reorganization plan.

The finding sets the stage for a bankruptcy judge to approve the reorganization plan next month.

U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones had to decide if a $13.7 million fund was sufficient to cover possible jury awards for about 20 unsettled claims against the archdiocese, most for child sex abuse by priests. The answer, which would be gathered from a series of mini-trials starting in mid-March, was pivotal for the church's plan to reorganize its finances without having to sell church properties to do it.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

March 29, 2007 - 7:19PM

A former Christian Brothers teacher who sexually abused three young boys on camping trips in Western Australia has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Graeme James Down, 56, also a former Fire and Emergency Services Authority employee in Kununurra, was sentenced on Thursday in the WA District Court after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting three of his pupils at Perth's St Marks College between 1981 and 1983.

Prosecutor Caroline Brookes said Down first abused an 11-year-old boy in the winter of 1981 after the child injured himself playing hockey.

Luring the child into his manual arts block office, Down got the boy to strip so he could massage the 11-year-old's thigh, she said.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 29, 2007
By DAVE ALTIMARI, And ELIZABETH HAMILTON Courant Staff Writers

In each of the four years after state police removed the Rev. Stephen Foley as chaplain because of suspected sexual abuse of young boys, the state of Connecticut approved a special permit that allowed Foley to drive a car equipped with sirens and red emergency lights, the same type of vehicle his accusers say he used to lure them.

The state also granted Foley's request for the law-enforcement-sounding vanity plate "HQ-10" in 1993, the same year allegations led the Catholic Church to remove Foley from active ministry, records obtained by The Courant show.

The Archdiocese of Hartford this week ordered Foley to leave St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield and to sell the police-equipped Crown Victoria he has been driving for years. The action follows stories in The Courant revealing that Foley, who was also a chaplain for a number of local fire departments, was still driving a car equipped with flashing lights, sirens and radios.

A 1994 summary from a state police investigation concluded that Foley's accusers "were fascinated with Foley's car because of the lights, siren and radio, and were thrilled to go to a scene." State police did not pursue charges because the statute of limitations had expired.

ALASKA
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

By Mary Beth Smetzer
Staff Writer
Published March 29, 2007

The head of the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province, said Wednesday that an out-of-court agreement has been reached in two civil suits filed against a retired 83-year-old Jesuit priest who served in Alaska from the early 1960s until 1976.

The Rev. John D. Whitney said four people from Western Alaska — two men and two women — will share in a $1.96 million agreement plus therapists fees once paperwork is completed in their suit against the Rev. James E. Jacobson.

Two men sued Jacobson for child support, and two women, one the mother of one of the men, accused him of rape.

Defendants in the cases include Jacobson, the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska and the Society of Jesus in Oregon and Alaska, the latter two sharing in the settlement costs.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Mark Sauer and Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
March 29, 2007

In documents that foretell fierce legal battles to come, bankruptcy attorneys for the Diocese of San Diego last night filed their plan for settling about 150 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests.

Attorneys representing the alleged victims promptly labeled the filing “premature” and “meaningless” in the month-old Chapter 11 process, which could last years.

In hundreds of pages, the diocese's Reorganization Plan details how church officials aim to establish a $95 million pool. Payments would range from about $10,000 to $800,000 to victims settling lawsuits for abuse by clergy in incidents dating back decades.

That figure represents roughly half of what plaintiffs were expected to be seeking in four years of closed-door negotiations. Settlements and jury awards in such cases in California have ranged from about $1.1 million to $1.6 million, according to plaintiffs' attorneys.

UTAH
KSL

John Hollenhorst Reporting

Some former followers of Warren Jeffs were not surprised by reports that Jeffs now expresses doubts about being a true prophet. They say even some of his polygamist true believers are beginning to have doubts. So there's a change in the air.

Isaac Wyler, a former F.L.D.S. member said, "Things are changing drastically. People are way more open."

Isaac Wyler has his finger on the pulse of the Jeffs community because he's knocked on virtually every door. A former F.L.D.S. member, he now delivers delinquent property tax notices. Last year he could hear Jeffs' sermons on tape at nearly every door.

"At least 90 percent of the homes were listening to Warren Jeffs," he said.

But on his rounds this year? Wyler says, "I haven't heard one tape of Warren, not even one, which is really weird."

CHARLESTON (WV)
The Charleston Gazette

By Andrew Clevenger
Staff writer

A former first-grade teacher at St. Anthony Catholic School in Charleston has sued the school for firing her, allegedly after she reported her suspicions that a student was the victim of sexual abuse.

In a lawsuit filed this month in Kanawha Circuit Court, Beverly Elaine Nichols of Putnam County alleges that a student gave her a sexually explicit drawing made by another first-grader. The drawing made Nichols suspect sexual abuse, and she told St. Anthony Principal John Fitzwater, the suit contends.

“Mr. Fitzwater told [her] that he would call the parents and talk to the student about the picture. However, Mr. Fitzwater subsequently threw the picture in the trash and never took any action to investigate the incident,” the suit reads.

WATERLOO (IA)
WCF Courier

By PAT KINNEY, Courier Business Editor

WATERLOO --- One of the nine victims who settled priest sex abuse claims with the Archdiocese of Dubuque Tuesday said the process was difficult, but she is glad she went through it.

"I do feel stronger having gone through this," said Rosalyn Zieser, 71, of Unity, Wis. "I just feel like someone has listened, finally, and I'm believed, and some restitution was made, and I'm valued now."

She spoke with the Courier after her attorneys and archdiocesan officials announced a $2.6 million settlement with the nine claimants. The archdiocese also agreed to pay for counseling. Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus also will issue public and private apologies to the victims, as he did with a similar $5 million settlement with 20 claimants in February 2006.

Zieser, who has lived in Wisconsin since 1976 and is the mother or six grown children, said she was abused at age 10 by the Rev. Patrick McElliott in the late 1940s when he was at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Monti, in Buchanan County.

CANADA
The Cornwall Public Inquiry

On Thursday, March 29, Justice G. Normand Glaude,Commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry, will announce his decision in respect to selection of proposals for Phase 2 research. The announcement is set for 9:30 a.m.

Phase 2 of the Inquiry’s mandate focuses on creating an environment that will foster healing and reconciliation in Cornwall. Last month, Commissioner Glaude released his decision on the proposals he endorsed for funding for Phase 2 research done byparties to the Inquiry.

The announcement on Thursday is a further aspect of an action-oriented Phase 2agenda, recommended by the Inquiry’s Advisory Panel. These projects will provideadditional opportunities in the areas of research, education and building ofinfrastructure for future service and information resources for those affected bychildhood sexual abuse.

CANADA
Standard-Freeholder

By Terri Saunders
Standard-Freeholder

Cornwall

False statements in at least two affidavits filed with the Cornwall Public Inquiry may lead to a lack of public confidence in the commission’s work, lawyers argued today.

“This deals with the credibility of the process,” said Peter Wardle, an attorney representing the Citizens for Community Renewal.

Earlier this month, a series of sworn affidavits signed by members of The Victims Group were removed from the inquiry’s web site. Commission counsel received information that some of the statements contained in at least two of the documents, prepared by and presented to the inquiry by attorneys from the London-based law firm Ledroit Beckett, were incorrect.

UNITED STATES
Voice in the Desert

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

The following story from the March 30, 2007, issue of the National Catholic Reporter should remove any doubt that the bishops in the United States, by not publishing the names of clergy facing credible accusations of sexual abuse, are continuing the criminal cover up that has been ongoing for decades, if not centuries.

* * *
Bishop says no to registry of accused

Chair of clergy sex abuse committee takes stock of five years since charter

By JOE FEUERHERD
Washington

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People told a Georgetown University audience March 20 that he opposes establishing a searchable Internet-based registry containing the names of clergy facing credible accusations of sexual abuse.

“There is very little chance that such a list would be comprehensive or accurate,” said Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas. Such a system would likely lead to a “miscarriage of justice,” he said.

FLORIDA
News-Journal

By LYDA LONGA
Staff Writer

A Jehovah's Witness elder who investigators said raped a girl when she was 8 years old has been arrested, Volusia County sheriff's officials said Monday.

And now police are anxious to learn whether there are any others who may have been attacked by 40-year-old Henry William Hauch of Mims, who has been charged with sexual battery.

Investigators said Hauch, an elder with the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness in Titusville, attacked the girl in 1999 when she was 8.

Information about the assault surfaced in June 2006 when the girl -- now 15 -- was discussing sex and boys with her older sister, according to the report. When the sister asked the accuser whether she had ever had sex, she said, "Yes, but it was wrong."

UTAH
KSL

March 28th, 2007 @ 3:55pm
Amanda Butterfield Reporting

We told you yesterday that a former LDS bishop in Harrisville was arrested and charged with sexually abusing three young sisters in their home. The girls came forward because they saw another sexual abuse case reported on the news. Today, we dug a little deeper into how Timothy O'Sean McCleve was arrested and learned that children coming forward in this way is very rare.

It's not often the Department of Child and Family Services gets a call that a child had watched a news report about sexual abuse and then came forward as a victim in another case. That's what happened when three sisters were watching a story about a teacher arrest in Riverton, which lead to an arrest in Harrisville.

Carol Sisco and her employees at the Department of Child and Family Services cannot remember this ever happening. "That is really unusual," Sisco said. But if abuse did occur, she is glad one of the three girls came forward after watching a news story on Frank Laine Hall, a teacher in Riverton arrested and charged with sexual abuse against some of his students. "Anything that gives the little child the courage to say 'Someone hurt me' is really important," Sisco said.

NEW JERSEY
The Cranbury Press

Ronald Becker, a former Roman Catholic priest, was arrested at his home in Helmetta and charged with fondling a young girl in the early 1980s.

Ronald Becker, of Raintree Court, was arrested by members of the Jamesburg Police Department and the Middlesex County prosecutor's office Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Unit.

According to a press release issued by the prosecutor's office, a female family member reported that she had been fondled on her breast and vaginal areas on multiple occasions between the ages of 3 and 7 by Mr. Becker more than 20 years ago. Many of these incidents occurred in a family residence in Jamesburg, the release said.

UTAH
ABC 4

Story by:
Brent Hunsaker
brent@abc4.com

Court observers were shocked yesterday by the appearance of Warren Jeffs and by a report that Jeffs may have made a jailhouse confession denying he was ever a prophet.

You would think the people would be interested in what's going on with the man they think is a prophet. But there's one problem: the faithful are forbidden from reading the news paper or watching television.

Sam Brower, a private investigator said Jeffs looked "much worse for wear" and more gaunt.

After the trial, his followers weren't talking. Very few of the FLDS followers are aware of Jeffs' reported confession or his apparent fragile health.

WISCONSIN
WEAU

A former Rice Lake pastor is charged with raping a 17-year-old boy 20 years ago.
Now, that victim is speaking out.

Doug Guillen says he struggled for years with drug and alcohol abuse before putting a gun to his head. He says before he could pull the trigger, he says he realized it's not his fault.

It was a child that saved Doug Guillen from himself.

"I wanted to shoot myself but I cant, I have a little girl. I'll be damned if I'm going to shoot myself and he's still out there," Guillen says.

Guillen, who used to live in Rice Lake, now calls Fort Lauderdale, Florida home. He has a wife and 16-year-old daughter.

Guillen was just 17, when he says his pastor raped him.

ILLINOIS
ABC 7

By Chuck Goudie
March 28, 2007 - In this I-Team report: the fight over a plan to let child sex abuse victims file claims against their accused molesters, regardless of how long ago they were abused.

Currently, in Illinois, you have five years to file a child sex abuse claim. It is known as the statute of limitations. But an Illinois Senate bill would suspend the statute of limitations to cover incidents that happened even 40 or 50 years ago. The Catholic Church is among the organizations trying to block the law.

"We are not going to close our eyes," said Illinois Senator Terry Link.

Lake Bluff Democrat Terry Link introduced a bill in the State Senate that would give child sexual abuse victims a two year period to file legal claims, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Senator Link was asked by the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests to introduce the legislation in Springfield, which now has the backing of nearly two dozen senators and a powerful Roman Catholic lay organization.

CALIFORNIA
LA Weekly

By JUSTIN CLARK
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - 4:30 pm

Two Sundays ago, while having coffee with an Irvine woman he’d recently met on the Internet, Rabbi Juda Heschel made the inevitable disclosure. He recounted the felony that, seven years ago, destroyed his marriage, estranged his children, forced his synagogue to fire him and sent him to federal prison.

“I’m a registered sex offender,” he told his date, heart banging in his chest.

As an Orthodox Jew, Heschel wasn’t accustomed to going to confession. Seven years ago, he was a highly respected rabbi at Mount Freedom Jewish Center, an Orthodox synagogue in Randolph Township, New Jersey. But he was also a lifelong porn addict, and his addiction peaked after he was shown how to use the synagogue’s computer. Two weeks before the High Holy Days, the synagogue’s computer technician discovered two pictures of child pornography that Heschel had viewed on an adult Web site. By enlarging the images, Heschel had unwittingly downloaded them to his Web browser’s temporary-file cache.

“It was 2000,” Heschel says, explaining why the synagogue’s elders went directly to the FBI. “That was during the height of the lawsuits against the Catholic Church.”

CLEVELAND (OH)
Plain Dealer

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Mike Tobin
Plain Dealer Reporter

The Anthony M. Pilla Charitable account wasn't a secret fund but rather the former bishop's personal savings account, a lawyer for the Cleveland Catholic Diocese said.

The information emerged in a motion filed in U.S. District Court as part of the criminal case against Joseph Smith and Anton Zgoznik, two former employees accused of bilking the diocese out of $784,000.

Lawyers for the two men filed a motion last month in which they accused the diocese of maintaining hundreds of secret bank accounts used to funnel money to employees, including a $600,000 account controlled by Pilla.

DANBORO (PA)
PRWeb

Danboro, PA (PRWEB) March 27, 2007 -- Pewsitter.com, a unique Catholic web site launched today, combines the concept of a news aggregator site, like DrudgeReport, with that of a user-generated content site, like Yahoo's You Witness News web site, to give the lay Catholic faithful a powerful, new voice within the Church. ...

For far too long, faithful Catholics have witnessed abuse after abuse within the Church and have been powerless to do anything about it. No more! By submitting newsworthy items to Pewsitter, the laity can help shape and influence the Church and be a powerful force for positive change.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

Jury trials begin this summer in the L.A. Clergy Cases so I spent some time in Room 106 of Superior Court today to see what type of documents have been filed in the last few weeks.

There have been settlements. About 30 documents down from the top, “Motions of Good Faith Determinations” on the part of the Congregation of the Mission also known as “the Vincentians” and 10 plaintiffs. There are still other defendants in these cases, the RCC Archbishop "DOE 1" and St. John’s Seminary "DOE 2" but at least the Vincentians have dropped out of the lawsuit insanity.

Over and over again the LA Archdiocese refuses to turn over documents and exhibits while at the same time filing motions to strike and quash cases because the plaintiffs don’t have documents and exhibits.

Your eyes start to blur as you open one document after another.

It’s hard to tell which cases connect with which priests. For example on July 9 the jury trial is for “Hagenbach Cases”

But one Hagenbach case alone names 28 priests who were apparently part of an inner circle of pedophiles in Southern California.

CANADA
CBC News

A retired Vatican official and priest faces new sex charges dating back to the late 1960s, with a 13th victim allegedly assaulted.

Monsignor Bernard Prince, 72, was charged Wednesday with buggery, indecent assault (male), and gross indecency for incidents that took place in Ottawa between 1967 and 1970, said an Ontario Provincial Police news release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Prince has been released from custody on conditions and is scheduled to make a court appearance in Pembroke on April 10.

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.

Another man has come forward with a sexual assault complaint against an Eastern Ontario priest, who's now facing 34 charges.

OPP detectives today arrested Monsignor Bernard Prince for incidents that allegedly occurred between 1967 and 1970 in Ottawa. He was charged with buggery, indecent assault and gross indecency.

Police began investigating Prince in May 2005 after a male complainant came forward with allegations against the priest. The complainant told police he was assaulted as a boy at Prince's home in Wilno.

There are now 13 alleged male victims.

COLORADO
The Gazette

March 28, 2007 - 1:26PM

The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado accuses the Reverend Donald Armstrong of theft and fraud involving hundreds of thousands of dollars belonging to Grace Church and St. Stephen’s Parish in a letter to congregation members.

The letter from Bishop Robert O’Neill was sent Tuesday and outlined the charges of a presentment, the Episcopal equivalent of a court indictment. It came a day after the Colorado Springs church’s leadership voted to abandon the Episcopal Church and instead affiliate with an Africa-based Anglican church. O’Neill called that action invalid, saying that “while people can leave the Episcopal Church, parishes cannot.”

Armstrong denied any wrongdoing and accused the bishop of slander. “I believe their numbers are wrong, their assumptions are wrong and their conclusions are wrong,” he said about the diocese and the findings of its investigation. He said he will address his congregation about the accusations April 14 and added that an independent audit is being done to bolster his case to parishioners.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
(03-28) 09:42 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A former dean of education at the University of San Francisco was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to five years and three months in prison for possessing child pornography obtained on the Internet.

William Garner, 67, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to pay $50,000 in restitution to a charity, the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center.

The sentence and restitution were agreed to by prosecution and defense when Garner pleaded guilty before Walker in San Francisco in December to one count of pornography possession.

Attorneys on both sides agreed in sentencing memoranda filed with Walker that Garner had collected 5,537 images of child pornography Garner told the judge Tuesday, "I deeply regret the shock and embarrassment I caused to my wife, my friends and my colleagues. I deeply regret what I've done to myself."

Garner taught at USF, a Jesuit Catholic University, from 1979 until he retired in July 2006 and was dean of the School of Education from 1983 to 1987. Walker said the crime was "fueled by defendant's drinking problem" and agreed to a defense request to recommend that Garner be assigned to a prison with a 500-hour alcohol rehabilitation program.

FRESNO (CA)
Fresno Bee

03/28/07 09:00:37

A pastor was ordered to trial on child molestation and rape charges after two girls testified he had abused them for years, allegedly raping one after she became pregnant.

A Fresno County Superior Court Judge ruled Tuesday that there was enough evidence to try Pastor Charles Dickerson, 36, on several counts of rape and lewd and lascivious acts with a minor.

Dickerson, pastor of Pearly Grove Baptist Church in Fresno, was arrested last year. He has been a community leader who has spoken out against street violence and encouraged people to support black-owned businesses.

THOUSAND OAKS (CA)
Mercury News

The Associated Press
Article Launched: 03/28/2007 10:51:27 AM PDT

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.- A former pastor who pleaded guilty to molesting a student at a church-run school in the 1980s has been sentenced to six years and four months in prison.

Shortly after being sentenced Tuesday, William Alan Malgren, 52, collapsed in a holding cell and had to be revived.

Malgren was arrested in March for sexually abusing the girl at church events and on church school grounds in 1988 and 1989.

At the time, Malgren was a pastor at the Thousand Oaks Baptist Church school and the girl was a student there. She is now a woman in her 30s.

UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

By Andrew Ffrench

Residents rallied around Oxford vicar Father Michael Wright as his suspension over unfounded child abuse allegations was lifted.

Father Wright, 69, vicar at St Barnabas Church, Jericho, arrived home at the vicarage on Tuesday after being acquitted at London's Blackfriars Crown Court of six counts of a serious sexual offence and six charges of indecent assault.

His congregation held prayers during the trial, and supporters travelled to the court to hear the verdict.

Father Wright said he would return to the pulpit before his forthcoming retirement.

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

Posted by The Star-Ledger March 28, 2007 4:27PM

Ronald Becker, a former priest and president of the Jamesburg Historical Association, was arrested today for sexually assaulting a female family member nearly 20 years ago, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Becker, 62, was taken into custody at his Helmetta home after the alleged victim, now 26, called police on Feb. 23, authorities said.

The woman accused Becker of fondling her many times at a family home in Jamesburg from the time she was 3 until she was 7, authorities said.

Becker was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1973. The Diocese of Trenton received complaints that caused them to remove him from his priestly duties in 2002, but officials from the diocese refused to be more specific.

CUMBERLAND (MD)
Cumberland Times-News

From Staff, Wire Reports

CUMBERLAND - A 67-year-old Ellicott City priest who also served at the St. Mary parish in Cumberland has been removed from the ministry after the Archdiocese of Baltimore learned of two accusations of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred in the 1960s.

Monsignor Richard E. Smith, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, admitted to some of the allegations when he was confronted by officials within the past week, the archdiocese said Monday in a release.

Smith served at St. Mary's from 1968 to 1973. He was ordained in 1966.

Parishioners and staff were informed of the allegations Sunday, the archdiocese said.

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

Wed, March 28, 2007

By CANADIAN PRESS

CORNWALL — A man who walked out in the middle of cross-examination at an inquiry has written a letter to the judge heading the probe into the institutional response to allegations of systemic sexual abuse in the Cornwall area.

David Silmser’s letter, addressed to Commissioner Normand Glaude, was received at the commission’s office on Monday, Peter Engelmann, lead counsel for the inquiry, said Tuesday. Silmser testified earlier this year about the sexual abuse he says he suffered at the hands of a priest, a teacher and a probation officer when he was a teenager in the 1960s and 1970s.

The letter has been forwarded to counsel representing the various parties with standing at the inquiry, but has not been handed over to the commissioner.

Glaude said he must only review documents entered as part of evidence at the inquiry and until the letter is made a part of proceedings he will not read it.

Silmser left the inquiry in February after a doctor determined he was emotionally incapable of continuing testimony. This week, parties were expected to begin debating what to do with Silmser’s unfinished evidence, including whether or not cross-examination could be achieved without requiring Silmser to return to the witness stand.

JAMESBURG (NJ)
Home News Tribune

By GINA VERGEL
STAFF WRITER
gvergel@thnt.com
JAMESBURG: A Helmetta resident and former Catholic priest was arrested this afternoon on charges he sexually assaulted a young girl from the time she was 3 until was age 7, authorities said.

Ronald Becker, 62, a former priest with the Diocese of Trenton, was picked up on Wednesday at his Raintree Court residence by members of the Jamesburg Police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Unit.

Becker is charged with sexual assault as a result of an investigation which began on Feb. 23 involving a female family member who reported that Becker fondled her on multiple occasions from the ages of 3 to 7, according to a release issued by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

Many of these incidents occurred in a family residence in Jamesburg, the report said.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Tidings

Statement of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles regarding the L.A. Times' story of March 26.

The March 26 Los Angeles Times story, "Catholic doctrine is cited in priest abuse cases," is insulting to all Catholics.

The Times' story gives attorneys suing the Church over sexual abuse unchecked reign to define Church teaching and to assert that all bishops, priests, nuns and church employees are predisposed to lie under oath in order to protect the Church.

The fact is, Catholics, like anyone else, are required to tell the truth under oath in a court of law. If the Times reporter had merely opened the "Catechism of the Catholic Church," he would have discovered paragraph #2476, which states: "When it is made publicly, a statement contrary to the truth takes on a particular gravity. In court it becomes false witness. When it is under oath, it is perjury."

ANCHORAGE (AK)
KTUU

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Father Jim Jacobson, who fathered two children and is accused of raping at least one of their mothers talked openly about his need for sex and using church dollars to pay prostitutes.

Jim Jacobson, 83, admitted his indiscretions in a deposition aired tonight on CNN. He also said the number of women he slept with was higher than the five he initially admitted.

"I'd say maybe seven," Jacobson said. "I would change it to seven."

When asked where he got money to pay prostitutes, Jacobson said he used church funds.

HARTFORD (CT)
News Times

HARTFORD (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest accused in lawsuits of child molestation may be looking for a new home.

The Hartford Courant reported that Archdiocese of Hartford on Tuesday ordered the Rev. Stephen Foley to leave St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield. Foley also was ordered by Archbishop Henry Mansell to sell the police-equipped Crown Victoria he's been driving for years even though he no longer serves as a police or fire chaplain.

Foley is accused by at least 11 men of using his position as chaplain for local fire departments and the state police to molest them when they were teenagers in the 1970s. His accusers say he lured them by using a car similar to a police cruiser.

UTAH
ABC 4

According to a local paper report, Warren Jeffs, the prophet of the FLDS sect, made a confession that he's not actually a prophet, but the greatest of all sinners.

Jeffs reportedly made these comments to his brother, Nephi, in a jailhouse conversation they had in January. It is suspected that the alleged conversation was recorded, which could bring changes not only for the case, but for the FLDS community as well.

ABC 4 News caught up with Rowenna Erickson, the co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy, and a former polygamist member. Erickson spent decades and decades with that group and was finally excommunicated after she says she had a revelation and denied their beliefs. When she heard of Jeffs alleged confession, she immediately thought of the FLDS community. She says those members are going to have a tough time dealing with the fact that they may have been living a lie for generations.

HARRISVILLE (UT)
ABC 4

A former LDS bishop is under arrest for allegedly molesting young girls. Harrisville police arrested Timothy Osean Mccleve after three girls accused him of fondling them.

Late Monday afternoon, the District Attorney in Weber County filed three first degree felony charges of forcible sex abuse against McCleve.

Harrisville police Chief Max Jackson said McCleve served as the family bishop two years ago and befriended the family. According to a police affidavit, the victims even called him "Bishop Sean."

Police said McCleve would wait for his victims to come home from school. With the parents gone, he allegedly abused the girls in their own house. Police said McCleve's former position as a LDS bishop got him through the front door.

HARRISVILLE (UT)
Salt Lake Tribune

By Nate Carlisle
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 03/28/2007 03:00:01 AM MDT

As the one-time bishop of the local LDS ward, many people in Harrisville know Timothy O'Sean McCleve.
Residents of the small Weber County community turned to him for guidance and counseling and advice. Police say he used that trust to gain access to three sisters he is accused of molesting.
McCleve was charged Monday - his 51st birthday - with three counts of forcible sex abuse.
The charges, filed in 2nd District Court in Ogden, carry a possible sentence of life in prison.
And more charges could follow. Harrisville Police Chief Max Jackson said Ogden police also have opened a case on McCleve.
Jackson said an Ogden investigator has e-mails between McCleve and a girl who was a teenager when McCleve was her bishop. The e-mails suggest the two had a relationship, Jackson said.

HARRISVILLE (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News
A former LDS bishop police say frequently visited the home of three young girls while their parents were away was charged Monday with three first-degree felonies stemming from allegations he sexually abused them.
Harrisville resident Timothy O'Sean McCleve, who turned 52 the day he was charged in Ogden's 2nd District Court, was arrested over the weekend by police.
The forcible sexual abuse charges were filed after an investigation that began about 10 days ago. Police, along with investigators from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, are now looking into the possibility of other victims.
Police were first alerted after a girl heard the news about a Rosamond Elementary School first-grade teacher, Laine Hall, now charged with 14 counts of aggravated sex abuse of a child. The girl told her parents the same thing happened to her, said Harrisville Police Chief Max Jackson.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
ST. GEORGE — Looking skeletal and frail, Warren Jeffs stood and raised his hand.
Scott G. Winterton, Deseret Morning NewsPolygamist leader Warren Jeffs asks the judge Tuesday for permission to approach the bench. Plea was denied. "May I approach the bench?" the Fundamentalist LDS Church leader asked the judge at the end of a long day of hearings here in 5th District Court Tuesday. "I need to just take care of one matter."
Judge James Shumate refused to hear it, urging Jeffs to speak to his lawyers.
"Can I take care of it now?" Jeffs asked again.
Jeffs began bending over, trying to write something on a pad of paper. He feebly tore at the paper, appearing to have trouble even holding himself up. Washington County sheriff's deputies swarmed around him and ordered the courtroom to be cleared.
Jeffs' lawyers took the writing from him.

TUCSON (AZ)
Tucson Citizen

RYN GARGULINSKI,
Tucson Citizen

A Pima County pastor may be saying extra prayers after his arrest last week for allegedly ripping off the church he once served, according to a Pima County Sheriff's Department report released Tuesday.
Jose Galvan, 37, a pastor at Iglesia De Dios Sinal for about seven years, was arrested with his wife, Maria, 53, and the church's treasurer, Cristella Iguardo, 26, on Friday, the report said.
The report said Galvan had recently been suspended as pastor after "improprieties," which the Sheriff's Department would not list.
Instead of trying to reconcile, he announced he was severing all ties with the Church of God denomination, of which Iglesia De Dios Sinal is a part.

NORRISTOWN (PA)
Pottstown Mercury

Carl Hessler Jr., chessler@pottsmerc.com
03/28/2007

NORRISTOWN -- A judge has taken under advisement a former Royersford pastor’s request that all charges be dismissed against him in connection with allegations he stole antique Bible books and ripped off a church fund for the needy.

Montgomery County Judge William R. Carpenter indicated he’ll rule on William B. Shrout Jr.’s request after he reviews documents, including a church ledger pertaining to distributions from the so-called "Sunshine Fund" for the needy, that prosecutors submitted as evidence against Shrout.

Shrout, the former pastor of First United Church of Christ in Royersford, asked the county judge to review a district judge’s Feb. 1 decision ordering Shrout to stand trial on charges of theft by deception, receiving stolen property and conspiracy in connection with incidents that occurred while he was pastor of the church.

ELYRIA (OH)
Chronicle-Telegram

ELYRIA — A former Open Door Christian School junior high student is suing the school, the superintendent and her former math teacher because the teacher sexually abused her.
The girl, who attended the school run by the Church of the Open Door from 2001 through 2003, claims in the lawsuit, filed in county Common Pleas Court, that even though the abuse was reported to church officials as far back as 2001, nothing was done until the teacher was fired in May 2002. The only other sanction the teacher, Travis Mulanax, faced, according to the lawsuit, was being told he could not go on a school outing.
Mulanax — who had also served as the school’s junior high principal and athletic director — was convicted in March 2003 of sexual imposition and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in county Juvenile Court. He was sentenced to six months in jail and two years of probation, according to the lawsuit.

FRESNO (CA)
ABC 30

By Sontaya Rose
A well known southwest Fresno pastor will face a trial for charges of child molestation and rape. Pastor Charles Dickerson leads the Pearly Grove Baptist Church. A judge decided there is enough evidence to try him on several counts.

Charles Dickerson was disappointed, but according to his attorney, is looking forward to trial so he can get more of "his version" of things out. Many of the accusations are so graphic, they are inappropriate for television.

Charles Dickerson sat quietly, at times closing his eyes, as he listened to testimony from two teenage accusers. Action News is protecting their identity because of the nature of the crimes.

The girls both testified in graphic detail how Dickerson made sexual advances on numerous occasions. The teenagers told Judge Bruce Smith the abuse often began with Dickerson asking for a hug and that ended up to be much more.

DUBUQUE (IA)
WHO

The nine latest claims of clergy sexual abuse against the Archdiocese of Dubuque involved six previously accused priests:

_ John Brickley, who died in 1998. Abuse claimed at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Nevada in the 1950s and 1960s. A lawsuit against him was settled earlier without a trial.

_ Timothy DeVenney, who lives in Washington, D.C. He served four years of a 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to fondling several boys at St. Columbkille Catholic Church in Dubuque in the mid-1990s. He is on probation, does not function as a priest and likely will never do so again, according to Dubuque Archbishop Jerome Hanus.

_ The Rev. Patrick McElliot, who died in 1987. Abuse claimed at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Ryan in the 1940s and after he was retired in the 1970s. He was named in previous abuse lawsuits.

_ Joseph Patnode, who died in 1977. Abuse claimed in the Anamosa area in the 1970s. In previous lawsuits, Patnode was accused of sexual abuse 30 years before that at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Key West.

_ Allen Schmitt, who lives in Dubuque. He works at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center after being removed from parish duties in 2002. Abuse claimed at Sacred Heart Church in Waterloo in the early to mid-1970s. The Vatican is reviewing Schmitt's case and might render a final decision on his priestly status later this year.

_ William Schwartz, formally defrocked by the Vatican in 2005. Abuse claimed at Columbus High School in Waterloo in the 1970s. He also was named in previous lawsuits. Schwartz lives in Chandler, Ariz., and receives a pension from the archdiocese.

YOUNGSTOWN (OH)
Vindicator

By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Bishop George V. Murry prefers music by Mozart, vintage sports cars and books of American history.

That's how he'll spend his spare time as he tackles the challenges facing the Diocese of Youngstown — challenges that haven't daunted him. ...

There are many reasons for the shortage of clergy, he said. Years ago, immigrant families with two sons expected one to get married and have children and the other to become a priest.

That trend lessened as those families have assimilated more into middle-class society.

Effects of scandal

Another factor is the clergy sexual abuse scandal, the bishop said.

"I've talked to many young men who say they are hesitant to enter the priesthood because they don't want to be associated with that," he said.

One has to look at the big picture: Although it was an unfortunate period when the behavior of some priests damaged the lives of young children, it was a small number of priests, the bishop said.

The majority of priests are men of faith, integrity and commitment, he said.

DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
March 28, 2007
Three clergy sex-abuse cases against the Archdiocese of Denver are free to go forward, and two new cases may lie ahead.

Denver District Judge John McMullen on Monday denied the church's motions to dismiss three lawsuits, accusing the archdiocese of "negligent supervision" of the alleged abuser, the late Rev. Harold Robert White.

McMullen's ruling said the cases could go forward even though they involved alleged incidents that happened more than 40 years ago, and therefore exceeded the statute of limitations.

The archdiocese called the ruling disappointing and said it would continue to "vigorously defend itself."

MISSOURI
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
March 28, 2007

The following article is from the latest newsletter (not yet available online) of Roman Catholic Faithful, headed by lay Catholic activist Stephen Brady. (Portions of the article have been slightly edited.)

Bishop Robert Finn, 53, a priest of the St. Louis archdiocese, is looked upon by some orthodox Catholics as a good bishop. This view exists in part because of his involvement in Opus Dei, as well as actions he took once installed (on May 24, 2005) as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri. ...

While Finn's actions mentioned above are a good sign, they do not necessarily prove the bishop is orthodox. The last two popes have appointed so many faithless, pervert bishops in the past 30 years that any orthodox action taken by a bishop suddenly makes him a hero in the eyes of many starving Catholics. Praising a bishop for being pro-life or defending canon law is equivalent to praising a mother for feeding her newborn. Finn may be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Read on to find out why.

It was the summer of 2006 when I received my first phone call from a parishioner at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Nevada, Missouri. I was told of a situation involving the pastor, Fr. Anthony Pileggi, but was not given many details. The caller assured me that the 'good' bishop had promised to remove Pileggi and RCF was contacted for information only. This individual wanted to keep the scandal quiet. 'The bishop will take care of it.'

It was October 2006 when I received a second call from St. Mary's in Nevada. This time the parishioner wanted RCF's help. They felt betrayed by their bishop. Finn had removed Pileggi, only to appoint him pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown, Missouri. The parish in Raytown has a school, K — 8th grade. Parishioners at both parishes were puzzled as to why their pastors were swapped. No one knew the secret and Finn apparently wanted it that way.

Later that month, Ron (an RCF member who works in our office) and I made the eight hour drive to Raytown to gather additional information before RCF took any action.

UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

By Matt Wilkinson

A vicar cleared of sexually molesting a boy has spoken of his "incredible relief" after walking free from court.

Father Michael Wright, vicar at St Barnabas Church, in Jericho, Oxford, said yesterday his life had been turned into a nightmare after being accused of being a paedophile.

The 69-year-old arrived home at the vicarage last night after he was acquitted at London's Blackfriars Crown Court of six counts of serious sexual offences and six charges of indecent assault.

HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

March 28, 2007
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON, And DAVE ALTIMARI Courant Staff Writers

The Archdiocese of Hartford has ordered the Rev. Stephen Foley, suspected of being a child molester, to leave St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield and sell the police-equipped Crown Victoria he's been driving for years even though he no longer serves as a police or fire chaplain.

The decision was made by Archbishop Henry Mansell and communicated to Foley Tuesday afternoon in a phone call from the Rev. Gerard G. Schmitz, the vicar for priests, according to diocesan spokesman the Rev. John Gatzak.

"The bishop has taken immediate action," Gatzak said. "Stephen Foley is no longer welcome to reside at St. Thomas Seminary. He has been asked to make immediate plans to vacate and he's been told to get rid of the car."

Gatzak said he doesn't know what, if any, response Foley made to Schmitz.

DENVER (CO)
Denver Post

By Howard Pankratz
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/28/2007 01:17:43 AM MDT

A Denver judge ruled Monday that lawsuits filed by three men against the Denver Roman Catholic Archdiocese may go to trial even though alleged abuse by now-deceased priest Harold Robert White occurred more than 30 years ago.

"This is an important ruling for all victims of sexual abuse in Colorado," Jeffrey Herman of Miami, the lawyer for the three, said of Denver District Judge John McMullen's ruling.

"It means even though victims were abused over 30 years ago, they can pursue their claims. We are extremely pleased with the ruling."

In contrast, the archdiocese issued a statement saying it was "disappointed to receive the Court's decision refusing to apply the Colorado statute of limitations in three cases where the alleged abuse occurred 41, 41 and 47 years ago."

DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 28, 2007

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has paid $2.6 million to another nine people who claimed they were sexually abused by priests, attorneys for the individuals announced Tuesday.

The money will be distributed based on the nature and extent of the abuse, and the impact the abuse has had on the person's life, according to the settlement, which was the result of mediation between the victims and the archdiocese. No lawsuits were filed.

Although neither the lawyers nor church officials announced the names of the six priests at two separate news conferences Tuesday morning, the archdiocese did post the names in a report on its Web site, www.arch.pvt.k12.ia.us. The six priests - three who are living but have been removed or restricted from the priesthood and three who are deceased - are accused of abusing both boys and girls between the 1940s and the mid-1990s.

BALTIMORE (MD)
The Catholic Review

Archdiocese of Baltimore

In the past week, the Archdiocese of Baltimore learned of two allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Monsignor Richard E. Smith, 67, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City. The alleged abuse occurred in mid-late 1960s while Richard Smith was a priest at Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn (known as St. Gabriel since 1997).

One woman alleges she had a series of sexual encounters over a course of months in 1967 when she was approximately 15-16 years old. Another woman has indicated that she and then-Father Smith had one inappropriate sexual interaction sometime in 1966 or 1967 when she was about 15 years old.

Richard Smith was informed of the allegations. He admitted to some of the allegations and couldn’t recall other details of his interactions with them.

These incidents were immediately reported to the appropriate civil authorities. Richard Smith has been removed from ministry and his faculties to function as a priest have been removed. The Archdiocese’s investigation continues. In accordance with Archdiocesan policy, counseling assistance has been and will be offered to those affected.

ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News

Published: March 27, 2007
Last Modified: March 27, 2007 at 06:01 PM

The story of a promiscuous priest who worked in Alaska decades ago will be featured tonight on CNN's 360 Degrees program.

The Anderson Cooper program starts at 6 p.m. and will show again at 9 p.m. The Rev. Jim Jacobson is being sued in Alaska for child support by two men who say he fathered them but never provided for them as children and by two women who say he sexually assaulted them.

A settlement of the lawsuit is in the works, but lawyers weren't ready Tuesday to release details.

AUSTRALIA
Blayney Chronicle

A CATHOLIC priest was yesterday found guilty of sexually assaulting two boys at Burnie's Marist College in the 1970s.

Gregory Laurence Ferguson, 70, was charged with maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 and indecent assault.

The Launceston Supreme Court jury returned the guilty verdicts yesterday afternoon after several hours of deliberation.

Ferguson had denied all allegations against him.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
KVOA

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- The jury pool for the trial of a polygamist sect leader accused of ordering a 14-year-old girl to submit to sexual relations in a 2001 spiritual union with a cousin has been so biased by news reports that Warren Jeffs can't get a fair trial in southern Utah's Washington County, his lawyers contend.

Judge James L. Shumate was to hear arguments Tuesday during which Jeff's lawyers were to introduce polling data in support of their motion to move the trial to Salt Lake City, 270 miles north.

Jeffs, 51, has pleaded not guilty to two first-degree felony charges of rape as an accomplice. Prosecutors contend they can prove two instances when Jeffs used his position of trust as a prophet to prevail upon the girl to have sex with a 19-year-old cousin she testified she always hated.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
ST. GEORGE — A judge here denied a pair of legal motions seeking to derail the criminal case against Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. Defense attorneys argued that Utah's rape as an accomplice law was unconstitutionally vague and that the order to bind Jeffs over for trial should be quashed.
"It is plain and simple arbitrary enforcement," Jeffs' lawyer Richard Wright said this morning, challenging the rape law. He argued the statute is too broad and anyone would be open to prosecution.
"Any words to encourage her to go against her will could be seen as enticement," 5th District Judge James Shumate said, denying the motion.

DOTHAN (AL)
WTVY

Reporter: Rayne McKenzie
Email Address: rayne@wtvynews4.com

Dothan Police have arrested a Dothan preacher on sexual abuse charges.

An investigation has been underway for several weeks and now, police have enough information to make a case.

Fifty-three-year-old Earl Holland has been accused of sexual abuse.

Holland is charged with four counts of first degree sexual abuse.

Police say he was taken into custody for abusing two eight-year-old girls who attend his church.

Police have not released the name of the church, but say it is a Baptist church in the city of Dothan.

CANADA
Canada.com

Sue Bailey, Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2007

OTTAWA (CP) - Opposition MPs assailed the Indian Affairs minister in the Commons on Tuesday, calling his refusal to apologize for widespread abuse in native residential schools an insulting betrayal.

Generations of people are still suffering the effects of church-run federal schools that First Nations children were once forced to attend, said Liberal MP Gary Merasty.

"The children confined to these schools ... were taken from their families, taken from their communities," said the member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation in Northern Saskatchewan.

"And unspeakable acts were committed upon them.

PINEVILLE (MO)
Neosho Daily News

By John Ford / Daily News Associate Editor
Published: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 5:10 PM CDT

PINEVILLE - A McDonald County church deacon has been bound over for trial.

Paul S. Epling, 54, a deacon in the Grand Valley Independent Baptist Church near Powell, faces an unclassified felony charge of rape. He is accused of having sex with a 6-year-old girl in the summer of 1977.

He will be arraigned at 9 a.m. April 3 in McDonald County Circuit Court with Judge Timothy Perigo presiding.

In January, a now-35-year-old woman testified Epling had sex with her while she was staying the night at Grand Valley Farms, the present site of the church.

UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

By Matt Wilkinson

A priest walked free from court today (Tuesday) after a jury cleared him of sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy helper more than 30 years ago.

Father Michael Wright, 69, was accused of plying the schoolboy with drink and repeatedly molesting him at a church in Lewisham, se London, in the early 70s.

But Mr Wright, vicar of St Barnabas Church in Jericho, Oxford, since 1980, insisted the alleged abuse was a 'figment' of his accuser's imagination.

And the jury at Blackfriars Crown Court cleared him of 12 sex charges after he said: "I'm not a paedophile."

The complainant, now a 44-year-old man, claimed he was sexually assaulted and the victim of a 'group rape' incident involving Wright and a number of other men after a service.

DENVER (CO)
My Fox Colorado

DENVER --
A judge has refused to halt a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver filed by three men who allege they were sexually abused by a priest when they were children.

The archdiocese had asked for summary judgment in its favor on grounds the men had waited too long to sue.

In a ruling dated yesterday, Denver District Judge John McMullen disagreed. He says church attorneys had cited legal precedents that don't apply to this case.

The men who sued have been identified only as John Does Three, Five and Six.

They allege the archdiocese was negligent in the way it supervised the priest, Harold Robert White.

PAWTUCKET (RI)
Providence Journal

By Channing Gray
Journal Arts Writer

For a play lifted from court documents, Sin: A Cardinal Deposed is a pretty engaging evening of theater.

The show, now at the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, focuses on the testimony of former Cardinal Bernard F. Law about the molestation scandal that rocked the Boston Catholic Church.

The deposition pits Law against fictitious attorney Orson Krieger, played by an unrelenting Scott Winters. Law has not been charged with molestation, but is being deposed on a charge of negligence in handling the sex-abuse scandal that led to his resignation.

And during his 90-minute deposition, Law, played by a devious and duplicitous Sam Babbitt, does not come off looking very good.

FRESNO (CA)
The Fresno Bee

By Chris Collins / The Fresno Bee 03/27/07 03:31:35

Charles Dickerson, a pastor and black leader in southwest Fresno, molested two girls in his family for seven years -- and raped one of them after she became pregnant, one of the girls testified in court Monday.

In a quiet voice, the girl described the alleged abuse. Meanwhile, Dickerson, 36, sat silently with an elbow resting on a table and his face buried in his hand.

At the end of the preliminary hearing, which continues today, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Bruce Smith will decide whether a jury should determine whether Dickerson is guilty of the rape and child molestation charges he faces.

TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD

From the KOLD News 13 Newsroom

A Tucson pastor, his wife, and another woman have been arrested and accused of stealing more than a $100,000 dollars from a local church.

Jose Galvan was behind bars at the Pima County Jail on theft and fraudulent scheme charges.

His wife and their friend have been released.

Detectives started investigating Galvan in late February after he was suspended by the governing board of the Church of God denomination which runs Iglesia de Dios Sinai on Nogales highway.

PORTLAND (OR)
KGW

09:23 AM PDT on Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Associated Press

The pastor of a downtown Portland church has acknowledged taking church money intended for charity and gambling with it.

The board of First Christian Church asked Rex Loy to resign after an audit determined that at least $30,000 was taken in 2006 from a fund designed to help struggling members with rent, bills and food.

"I am overwhelmed with shame and remorse for the damage caused by my illness," Loy said in an e-mail to the congregation last week. "I have lied to you, and I have stolen from you . . . which means I have lied to and stolen from God."

UNITED KINGDOM
News Shopper

By Court Reporter

JURORS trying a gay priest accused of molesting an 11-year-old helper retired today to consider their verdict.

Father Edward Michael Wright, 69, is said to have repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped the schoolboy more than 30 years ago.

Wright, the vicar of the anglo-Catholic St Barnabas Church in Jericho, Oxford, since 1980, was also allegedly involved in a gang rape attack involving a number of men.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
KESQ

LAS VEGAS A Roman Catholic priest who was suspended in February amid allegations that he improperly spent parishioners' money has been reinstated.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the Reverend William Kenny returned to the pulpit Sunday at Christ the King Catholic Church.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

The former Archbishop of Cardiff, John Aloysious Ward, has died suddenly at the age of 78, it has been announced.

He retired after 18 years in the post in 2001 because of ill health but after criticism for ignoring warnings about paedophile clergymen.

Archbishop Peter Smith said he was "deeply saddened" at his death.

IOWA
KWWL

The Archdiocese of Dubuque will pay $2.6 million in a settlement with nine sexual abuse victims involving their priests. Thomas Staack and Chad Swanson, the lawyers who are representing the victims announced the details of the settlement during a news conference this morning.

he settlement was reached through private mediation and will not go to trial. The nine victims in include seven males and two females.

The claims relate to sexual abuse involving six priests: Patrick McElliot who served at St. Patricks in Ryan; William Schwartz who served at Columbus High School in Waterloo; John Brickle of St. Patrick's in Nevada; Joseph Patnode of St. Patrick's in Nevada; Timothy Devenney, of St. Columkille's in Dubuque; and Allen Schmitt, who served in Sacred Heart in Waterloo.

IOWA
WOI

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP)-- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque has settled claims with nine people who claimed they were sexually abused by priests, attorneys for the individuals announced Tuesday.

Attorneys for the accusers said the diocese agreed to pay $2.6 million in cash, to be distributed based on the nature and extent of the abuse, and the impact the abuse has had on the person's life.

The accusers named six priests, who were assigned to parishes in Ryan, Nevada and Dubuque and a parish and school in Waterloo. The alleged abuse occurred in separate incidents from the 1940s to the mid-1990s, the attorneys said.

The diocese agreed to post the names of the priests on its Web site.

DUBUQUE (IA)
Radio Iowa

Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 11:58 AM
by Elwin Huffman, KOEL, Oelwein
Details of another settlement are being announced today in nine more cases of alleged sex abuse involving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque. Waterloo attorney Thomas Staack, who represents the latest accusers, says the Archdiocese has agreed to pay 2.6 million dollars to the nine victims.

Staack says: "All of these people are the courageous people here. They've had the nerve, they've had the courage, they've had the intestinal fortitude to come forward and to confront this issue head-on." He says the terms of the agreement were reached through private mediation, which occurred late last week in Dubuque.

Staack says the cases were settled without filing a lawsuit, and thus, no victims' names have been made public and they'll be kept confidential unless one of the victims decides to step forward. The claims settled relate to alleged sexual abuse involving six priests who were assigned to parishes in Dubuque, Nevada, Ryan and Waterloo, and a school in Waterloo.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
The Examiner

by Ron Cassie, The Examiner

Ellicott City (Map, News) - Shock and disbelief. That's what parishioners of a Howard County Catholic church are expressing over the ouster of a monsignor accused of being a pedophile.

At a meeting following Sunday masses, Archdiocese of Baltimore officials met with Our Lady of Perpetual Help parishioners and announced two creditable accusations of pedophile abuse had been made against Monsignor Richard Smith, 67.

In a news release Monday afternoon, the archdiocese said the alleged abuse occurred in mid to late 1960s while Richard Smith was a priest at Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn. The church has been known as St. Gabriel since 1997).

“One woman alleges she had a series of sexual encounters over a course of months in 1967 when she was approximately 15-16 years old,” the archdiocese said in its written statement. “Another woman has indicated that she and then-Father Smith had one inappropriate sexual interaction sometime in 1966 or 1967 when she was about 15 years old.”

LAKEWOOD (CO)
Arizona Daily Star

LAKEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A pastor faces charges of sexually assaulting two children in his wife's home day-care at least a dozen years ago, authorities said Monday.
Stephen J. Heese, 51, pastor of The Church in South Denver, is accused of assaulting a girl, now 17, and her brother, now 20, when they attended the day-care operation roughly between 1992 and 1994, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
He faces two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and two counts of sexual assault on a child with a pattern of conduct. The charges were filed last month. Heese, who is free on $25,000 bond, is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Coventry

Mar 27 2007

By Marc Meneaud

A WARWICKSHIRE priest who admitted downloading child porn has apologised for the distress he caused.

Father Anthony Jones said in a statement issued through the diocese, he accepted responsibility and was deeply sorry.

As reported in the Telegraph on Saturday, Fr Jones walked free from Warwick Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to three charges of making indecent images.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By MILES BLUMHARDT
MilesBlumhardt@coloradoan.com

Former St. Elizabeth Ann Seton priest Tim Evans' conviction on three counts of sexual assault has some parishioners at the Catholic Church wondering how to address the issue with their children and how it will affect the church.

Liz and Tim Osius, of Fort Collins, are members of the church, and one of their four children had his first communion performed by Evans. Now, they're struggling with how or if they should explain the wrongdoings of the former priest.

"We're torn, and it disturbs us greatly,'' Liz Osius said. "I felt a need to hide the newspaper from my oldest child last week during the trial because of the front page news. I don't know how we would explain it. I keep telling Tim at some point they will hear of it. How do you explain something like this to kids that are told by the person not to sin?"

Liz Osius is convinced about one thing.

"I feel he is guilty, that it wasn't an isolated incident,'' she said. "I'm sorry it took so long and feel bad for the families who went through this ordeal.''

NEW ALEXANDRIA (PA)
Altoona Mirror

By David Hurst, dhurst@altoonamirror.com

The former pastor locked in a legal battle with his former congregation at the “Jesus Saves” church faces criminal charges.

Investigators say Randy L. Rugh of New Alexandria illegally cashed more than $25,000 of Chickaree Union Church’s savings between June 2005 and early 2006.

The two deposits consisted of offerings and fundraiser money the church collected to keep the Route 22 parish going, the congregation’s attorney says.

“He basically cleaned the church out,” Ebensburg attorney Timothy Burns said Monday.

ST. GEORGE (UT)
Deseret Morning News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News

ST. GEORGE — Warren Jeffs has reportedly renounced his title as "prophet" of the Fundamentalist LDS Church in a jailhouse conversation with one of his brothers.
"He said he is the greatest of all sinners and, in so many words, worked his way to be the leader and prophet when he knew he wasn't called of God to be a prophet," a law enforcement source familiar with the conversation told the Deseret Morning News.
Jeffs, 51, made the comments during a January conversation with his brother, Nephi Jeffs, who has visited him in the Purgatory Jail in Hurricane. The conversation was recorded by jail officials, who monitor most of the FLDS leader's phone calls and visits.
A tape is reportedly in the hands of the Washington County attorney, who is prosecuting Jeffs on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her older cousin.

FRESNO (CA)
ABC 30

By Liz Harrison
A Fresno pastor arrested on sexual abuse charges listened today as one of his accusers described the abuse to a judge. Pastor Charles Dickerson of the Pearly Grove Baptist Church in West Fresno is facing rape and child molestation charges involving two teenage girls.

The charges against the pastor surfaced last fall when two teenage girls told their mother they were sexually abused by Dickerson over a period of eight or nine years. (Action News will not be revealing the identities of the girls or their mother to protect their privacy.)

During Monday's preliminary hearing, the mother of the two girls told Superior Court Judge Bruce Smith her daughters reported to her individually that they had been sexually molested by Dickerson.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com

Parishioners at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton were saddened and hurt Monday after a former priest with the Catholic Church was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy 10 years ago, but they also believe justice was served.

After less than three hours of deliberations Monday morning, the five-man, seven-woman jury found Timothy Evans guilty of three counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, including one charge of pattern of abuse.

"I am hurt but agree with the jury,'' said Lisa Stadele, 53, a longtime volunteer at the parish. "I won't judge all clergy because of the actions of a few. These actions by Father Tim or any other pastor of any other denomination is not indicative of clergy but an individual problem that a priest or pastor has.''

Stadele and Ray Sons, a parishioner at the church for the past 15 years, initially didn't want to believe that the former priest could commit such an act. But both said they now believe Evans committed the crimes.

JUNEAU (AK)
Anchorage Daily News

By STEVE QUINN
The Associated Press

Published: March 27, 2007

JUNEAU -- James Niksik sat with palms down on a table and eyes welling with tears as he talked to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.

The 48-year-old man from St. Michael told lawmakers of a childhood he says was filled with sexual abuse at the hands of a deacon.

His hope, he told the legislators, is that they will approve a bill creating a one-year period for the now-adult victims of child sex crimes to file civil lawsuits against assailants currently protected by statutes of limitations.

"I couldn't do anything. I was a small boy; he was a big man," Niksik said, often interrupting his speech with long pauses to regroup.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
Washington Post

By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page B04

A Catholic monsignor has been removed as pastor of an Ellicott City parish and banned from serving as a priest after two women alleged that he sexually abused them 40 years ago when they were about 15 or 16 years old, the Archdiocese of Baltimore said yesterday.

Monsignor Richard E. Smith, 67, the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City, was a newly ordained priest on his first assignment at Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Woodlawn when the alleged sexual abuse occurred, said Sean Caine, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

When confronted Friday by the archdiocese, Smith "admitted to aspects" of the allegations involving his old church, which was renamed St. Gabriel in 1997, Caine said. "Other aspects he could not recall," Caine said.

Staff and parishioners were informed of the development in meetings that followed a brief announcement at Sunday Masses, Caine said, and letters were sent yesterday to parents of children at the parish's elementary school.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
March 27, 2007
A jury in Larimer County on Monday convicted former Catholic priest Timothy Evans of sexual assault on a child.

Evans, 44, is the first priest to be convicted in Colorado since sweeping allegations of abuse by the clergy surfaced nationwide in 2002, leading to broad reforms within the church.

The jury found Evans guilty of pinning a 17-year-old boy while wrestling with him on his bed in the church rectory then caressing him under his boxer shorts. They found him guilty on one other occasion of grabbing the boy's buttocks with both hands for 20 seconds while hugging him goodbye.

The jury was handed the case late Friday afternoon and recessed for the weekend. It reached its decision after about two hours and 20 minutes of deliberation Monday.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 27, 2007
By DAVE ALTIMARI, And ELIZABETH HAMILTON Courant Staff Writers

The state police have opened a criminal investigation into how the Rev. Stephen Foley obtained a Crown Victoria outfitted with emergency lights, police scanners and antennas.

At least 11 men have alleged that Foley used his position as chaplain for local fire departments and the state police - which included the use of a car outfitted with lights, sirens and scanners - to molest them when they were teenagers.

Department of Public Safety Commissioner John A. Danaher III said Monday that an investigation was initiated after a story in The Courant Sunday revealed that Foley is driving a car that looks much like a state police cruiser.

The Courant reported that he purchased the car through a New Hampshire car dealer under the guise of the New England Association of Fire Chiefs and then transferred it to himself three months later. Officials from the association of fire chiefs say they never authorized Foley to use their name.

BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun

By Liz F. Kay
sun reporter
Originally published March 27, 2007

The Archdiocese Of Baltimore has removed the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Ellicott City from ministry after he admitted to sexually abusing two girls nearly 40 years ago.

The incidents took place while Monsignor Richard E. Smith served as a priest at the former Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn from 1966 to 1967, according to a news release. That parish is now known as St. Gabriel.

One woman called the archdiocese March 16 after seeing a photograph of Smith in The Catholic Review, said archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine. She said she and Smith had one sexual encounter in 1966 or 1967 when she was 15. The woman also referred the archdiocese to another possible victim, who said Smith abused her during several months in 1967 while she was 15 or 16 years old, Caine said.

Smith, 67, confirmed some but not all of the claims Friday and was removed that day, Caine said.

SPOKANE (WA)
Spokesman Review

John Stucke
Staff writer
March 27, 2007

A person raped by a priest as a child can receive a settlement of up to $1.5 million from the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Bankruptcy Court records show.

The diocese has released its payment plan, or matrix, that describes the legal process necessary to assign dollar amounts to specific acts of sexual abuse. The payments are part of a diocese plan to emerge from bankruptcy protection and settle claims of priest sex abuse dating back decades.

The matrix has four main categories that include a variety of sexual acts, such as intercourse, masturbation, touching a clothed child, phone sex and playing sexual games, such as strip poker.

Dozens of victims have already met with court-appointed claims reviewer Kate Pflaumer – a former U.S. attorney in Seattle – to give sworn statements and present evidence. Pflaumer will decide first whether a claim is credible, and if so, where the victim fits on the claims matrix. That action determines how much money the diocese will pay the victim.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Denver Post

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/27/2007 01:15:31 AM MDT

Fort Collins - Jurors said Monday that they didn't buy the claims of a former Fort Collins priest that his manhandling and caressing of a 17-year-old boy was an innocent expression of his love.

Instead, the five-man, seven- woman panel convicted 43-year- old Timothy Joseph Evans of three counts of sexual assault of a child by a person in a position of trust. The third count also included a sentencing-enhancing charge of "pattern of abuse," which means Evans faces a mandatory prison sentence of 10 years.

Evans could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison on May 30. He was the first Catholic priest in Colorado to face criminal charges since clergy- abuse allegations hit the national stage in 2002.

Colorado State University student Jamie Cohn, who served all last week on the jury, said Evans had little or no credibility with the panel. His tape-recorded statements that he was "obsessed" with his victim showed his guilt, Cohn said.

"Who says that to a boy, especially a priest?" Cohn said. "And he never denied it."

DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register

By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR

March 27, 2007

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque today will settle nine more cases of child sexual abuse allegedly committed by the clergy.

The formal announcement of the agreement will take place at 9 a.m. at the offices of Waterloo attorneys Thomas Staack and Chad Swanson. The archdiocese will hold its own news conference at 10 a.m. at the archdiocesan pastoral center, 1229 Mount Loretta Ave., said Monsignor James Barta, vicar general.

The settlement is the second round of settlements by the archdiocese. In February 2006, the archdiocese paid $5 million to 20 men and women who said they had been sexually abused by priests.

Today's announcement will settle the claims of nine people for a sum that has not yet been disclosed. None of the nine had filed lawsuits against the archdiocese, and the agreement was reached through private mediation, according to Swanson. All nine had come forward since the 2006 settlement.

COLORADO
The Coloradoan

Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput released the following statement today after a Larimer County jury convicted Timothy Evans, a former Fort Collins priest:

"Today, the Larimer County District Court convicted Timothy Evans, former pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Ft. Collins, on sexual assault charges.

"I express my sorrow for anyone who has been harmed by Timothy Evans’ actions. On behalf of the Archdiocese of Denver, I offer my prayers for the victims and for Timothy Evans. We hope the conclusion of this trial begins a process of healing for all those affected by these sad events.

"Testimony at the trial confirmed that the Archdiocese of Denver promptly reported the matter to the attention of law enforcement authorities when it first received the allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. I immediately removed Timothy Evans from ministry in the Archdiocese of Denver. The Archdiocese of Denver does not tolerate (permit or allow) any priest in ministry in the archdiocese with a credible claim of sexual abuse of a minor against him. We remain committed to these policies."

HARTFORD (CT)
The Advocate

Associated Press

Published March 26 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The state police defended the department's decision to destroy records from a years-old criminal investigation into alleged child sex abuse by a former state police and fire chaplain, saying a review conducted Monday shows the records were properly handled.

"Everything was done within the boundaries of the law," said Lt. J Paul Vance, spokesman for the Connecticut State Police.

He said John A. Danaher III, the new public safety commissioner, and state police Col. Thomas Davoren, re-examined when records of a criminal probe into the activities of former Roman Catholic priest Stephen Foley were destroyed. Both officials, he said, determined the paperwork was properly retained for 10 years, according to state law, before being destroyed.

Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, who appeared at a news conference Monday with one of Foley's accusers, said he has questions about the timing.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Caroline O’Doherty
VICTIMS of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Ferns could face delays in receiving compensation because of a dispute between the diocese and the Government over legal fees.

The diocese owes €2.7 million to lawyers for representation during two abuse inquiries, the initial Birmingham Investigation and the follow-up Ferns Inquiry, chaired by Judge Frank Murphy who concluded it should be reimbursed its legal costs. A year after submitting its bill to the Department of Health and Children, however, no money has been paid, and administrators have been trying to secure a meeting with the minister to seek an explanation for the delay.

In a tersely worded statement issued to the Irish Examiner, however, the department says no promises were ever made that legal costs would be paid.

“In co-operating with a non-statutory inquiry into a substantial number of allegations of child sexual abuse against clerics of the Catholic Diocese of Ferns, the diocese availed of legal representation and incurred legal costs,” the statement reads. “The Government has not given any commitment to the diocese in respect of assisting it with its legal costs.”

OREGON
The Oregonian

Posted by The Oregonian March 26, 2007 13:33PM

Catholic parishioners have been sent details of a proposed class action settlement with the Archdiocese of Portland, which declared bankruptcy following an avalanche of claims of sex-abuse by priests.

Each parish is invited to sent representatives to question-and-answer sessions with lawyers and class action representatives that are being held in Grants Pass and Eugene. A meeting took place in the Portland area last week.

In April, a bankruptcy judge is expected to approve a $75 million plan to bring the archdiocese out of bankruptcy.

Insurance companies will cover nearly $52 million of the plan, which will pay more than 150 people who claim they were abused by priests, nuns and other church officials.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By Coloradoan staff

Former Fort Collins priest Timothy Evans was found guilty just before 11:30 a.m. on three counts of sexual assault on a child.

The verdict came less than three hours after jurors began deliberations this morning. The case went to the jury late Friday afternoon.

Evans sat emotionless in Larimer District Court as the verdict was read. He was taken to the Larimer County Detention Center, where he will await sentencing at 9 a.m. May 30.

Evans’ attorney, Andy Gavaldon of Fort Collins, declined comment as did family mem-bers of Evans’ victims.

BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ

(WJZ) BALTIMORE The Archdiocese of Baltimore is investigating two allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Monsignor Richard E. Smith. Smith, 67, is pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City.

The Archdiocese says the abuse occurred in the mid-late 1960s while Smith was a priest at Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn. That parish has been known as St. Gabriel since 1997.

One woman alleges she had a series of sexual encounters over a course of months in 1967 when she was approximately 15-16 years old. Another woman has indicated that she and then-Father Smith had one inappropriate sexual interaction sometime in 1966 or 1967 when she was about 15.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
WMDT

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) -

The archdiocese of Baltimore has removed a priest from ministry after receiving allegations of sexual abuse against girls in the 1960s.

The archdiocese says that when Monsignor Richard E- Smith was informed of the allegations, he admitted to some of them and couldn't recall other details of his interactions with the girls.

Smith was most recently pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ellicott City. But the allegations date to his time as priest at the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Woodlawn -- now called Saint Gabriel parish.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Denver Post

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/26/2007 12:57:30 PM MDT

Former Catholic Priest Timothy Evans was convicted of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust on March 26, 2007. Fort Collins -- Former Catholic priest Timothy Evans was convicted this morning by a Larimer County jury of molesting a boy who was 17 at the time.

Evans was convicted of two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, and one count of sexual assault on a child in a position of trust/pattern of abuse.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Rocky Mountain News
March 26, 2007
A Larimer County District Court jury today found former Catholic priest Timothy Evans guilty of sexual assault on a child.

Evans, 44, is the first Colorado Catholic priest to be convicted since sweeping allegations of clergy abuse surfaced nationwide in 2002, leading to broad reforms within the church.

Prosecutors alleged that Evans pinned a 17-year-old boy while wrestling with him on his bed in the church rectory, then caressed him under his boxer shorts. They said that on one other occasion he grabbed the boy's buttocks with both hands for 20 seconds while hugging him goodbye.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Post Independent

March 26, 2007

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest was convicted Monday of charges of sexually assaulting a young parishioner.

Timothy Joseph Evans, 44, was convicted of two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust and one count of sexual assault on a child with a pattern of abuse.

He showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He could face up to life in prison at his sentencing, scheduled May 30.

Evans’ attorney, Andy Gavaldon, and victims’ family members declined to comment.

CONNECTICUT
WTNH

Posted March 26, 2007
3:30 PM

(Hartford - WTNH) _ A 44-year-old former Waterbury man says he was abused by a priest who lured young men into his car at fire and police emergencies. He alleges it is the same priest that was the focus of a major investigation in Sunday's Hartford Courant.

Tony Lembo, author of the "The Hopeville Fire Department," sheds light on accusations made against Father Stephen Foley throughout the years and the deceptive practices he used over the years to harm young boys.

News Channel 8 first reported back in 2003 that a man then called "Anthony Doe" had filed a lawsuit against Foley, the former Chaplain of the Connecticut state police. It is reported that the Catholic church has paid millions in settlements because of the actions of this priest.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
Baltimore Sun

By Liz F. Kay
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 26, 2007, 1:47 PM EDT
The pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Ellicott City has been removed from the ministry after admitting to some allegations of sexually abusing two girls nearly 40 years ago, according to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Two women accused Monsignor Richard E. Smith, 67, of abusing them while he served as a priest at Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help from 1966 to 1967, the archdiocese stated in a written release. The Woodlawn church has been known as St. Gabriel since 1997.

Archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine said the allegations were reported to the Baltimore County state's attorney. Archdiocesan officials met with Our Lady of Perpetual Help's congregation yesterday to tell them about the allegations.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
CBS 4

(CBS4) FORT COLLINS, Colo. A jury in Fort Collins returned a verdict of guilty against a former Catholic priest on Monday. Timothy Joseph Evans was found guilty on all counts of sexual assault and abuse.

The jury reached the verdict shortly after returning from a weekend off.

The prosecution completed its case against Evans last Friday.

A second man who says he was molested by Evans testified about the alleged abuse last Thursday. He was the final prosecution witness.

The first accuser testified last Tuesday.

DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register

SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR

March 26, 2007

The Dubuque Roman Catholic Archdiocese on Tuesday will settle nine more cases of alleged child sexual abuse.

The formal announcement of the agreement will take place at 9 a.m. at the offices of Waterloo attorneys Thomas Staack and Chad Swanson. The archdiocese will hold its own press conference addressing the settlement at 10 a.m. at the archdiocesan pastoral center, 1229 Mt Loretta Ave., Dubuque, according to Monsignor James O. Barta, vicar general.

The settlement is the second round of settlements by the archdiocese. In February 2006, the archdiocese paid $5 million to 20 men and women who said they were sexually abused by priests.

Tuesday’s announcement will settle claims of nine abuse survivors for a yet undisclosed amount. None of the nine had filed lawsuits against the archdiocese and the agreement was reached through private mediation, according to Chad Swanson. All nine came forward since the February settlement.

CANADA
CBC News

Last Updated: Monday, March 26, 2007 | 8:09 AM NT
CBC News
Officials with the Roman Catholic Church in Newfoundland and Labrador should have contacted authorities in 2001, when it heard allegations that one of its priests had had sex with a minor, says the former chair of child protection at Memorial University.

Kathleen Kufeldt does not agree with the church's decision not to inform authorities about a young woman who said she had had sex with Rev. Wayne Dohey when she was a teenager.

Dohey, 44, was charged earlier this month of sexual assault and sexual exploitation. He has been suspended from duties as priest in Placentia.

LONDONDERRY (NH)
The Union Leader

By JON CAMPISI
Union Leader Correspondent

LONDONDERRY – It's a good thing the Rev. Bob Couto can take a joke, because there were plenty made at his expense Saturday evening.

The spiritual leader of St. Jude's Parish for the past eight years, Couto was recognized during a dinner celebration at the Londonderry Senior Center this weekend as a priest with a healthy sense of humor and a warm heart.

The event, attended by parishioners and other community members, was organized to both honor Couto and bring attention to the philanthropic deeds of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic men's organization celebrating its 125th anniversary this week.

But what it was really about was recognizing all men of the cloth, many of whom perform good deeds that go unnoticed, especially in a day and age when the Catholic Church's image has been tainted by child sexual abuse scandals.

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Coventry

Mar 26 2007

A WARWICKSHIRE priest who searched the internet for "homosexual fantasy stories about incest and child sex" has walked free from court.

Father Anthony Jones used a computer at St Peter the Apostle Church, in Dormer Place, Leamington, to view an image of an older person having sex with a boy aged about 14.

Jones was handed a conditional discharge at Warwick Crown Court yesterday after admitting three charges of making indecent images.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By John Spano, Times Staff Writer
March 26, 2007

An elderly nun, under questioning by a lawyer, recently said she could remember almost nothing about his client, a child who had been sexually molested by a Roman Catholic priest.

Lawyer Irwin Zalkin was puzzled because church records showed she had heard several complaints about the San Diego priest, and the file noted that she had reported them to higher authority.

Finally, Zalkin asked whether she was familiar with "mental reservation" — a 700-year-old doctrine by which clerics may avoid telling the truth to protect the Catholic Church.

"She explained in her own way that it is 'to protect the church from scandal.' She said she subscribed to the doctrine," Zalkin said. "What are you going to do?"

Mental reservation is not sanctioned in canon law, experts say, and is infrequently invoked. But in litigation arising from clergy sex abuse cases in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, at least half a dozen lawyers representing victims report having encountered it.

BLOOMFIELD (CT)
Sun Journal

Monday, March 26, 2007
BLOOMFIELD, Conn. (AP) - A priest accused in lawsuits of child molestation continues to drive a police-style car like the one his accusers say he used to lure young boys, the Hartford Courant reported Sunday.

Stephen Foley, a former fire and police chaplain, has a black Ford Crown Victoria with emergency lights in the grill and front and back windows as well as scanners and antennas, despite having no associations with any police or fire agencies, the newspaper reported.

Many of the men who have accused Foley of molesting them when they were boys in the 1970s say they were fascinated by his cruiser-like vehicle. But they say once they got into the car with him, he offered them alcohol and molested them.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
TCS Daily

By Stephen Bainbridge

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego recently declared bankruptcy, becoming the fifth and largest American diocese to initiate a bankruptcy proceeding in the face of massive tort lawsuits arising out of priest sex abuse allegations.

No person of good will denies that true victims of priest sex abuse deserve compensation for any physical or mental injuries they may have suffered. Likewise, no person of good will denies that priests proven to have abused their position deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, as do bishops who may have protected such priests from criminal or civil action.

Yet, the victims and their lawyers aren't going after just the priestly abusers and their enablers in the hierarchy. Instead, they're going after the deep pockets by suing the dioceses in which the priests served. Typically, the diocese is sued directly for negligent hiring or supervision of priests; more rarely, the plaintiff may seek to hold the diocese vicariously liable for a priest's sexual misconduct.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 25, 2007
By ELIZABETH HAMILTON And DAVE ALTIMARI, Courant Staff Writers

Stephen Foley was a priest first. But he was also a fire and police chaplain who sped to crime scenes and fires in a black sedan tricked out with all the bells and whistles of an official police cruiser - flashing lights, sirens, antennas, two-way radios, scanners.

Young teenage boys, understandably, were lured by Foley's car. Once they were in the front seat, however, it quickly became apparent that the car was a trap. According to the men who have since sued Foley, the priest plied the boys with alcohol and then molested them.

But despite the millions the Archdiocese of Hartford already paid to his accusers, and despite the fact that Foley is no longer associated with any fire or police agencies, the priest continues to drive a black Crown Victoria, The Courant has learned, with emergency lights in the grill and front and back windows, scanners, and antennas. The Crown Victoria is the official car of the state police.

It's not like the archdiocese shouldn't have noticed, either.

Foley parks his car at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, where he has lived for the past 14 years, performing no official duties as a priest but receiving free room and board, health insurance and a monthly stipend from the archdiocese.

VIRGINIA
Washington Post

By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; Page B02

The Fairfax County prosecutor who agreed last week to reduce charges against a minister accused of raping and beating a woman, paving the way for a 16-month sentence and no requirement to register as a sex offender, did not tell her bosses or the victim that she had done so.

The sentence handed to the Rev. Eugene A. Marriott Jr., a pastor at Ebenezer AME Church in Fort Washington, was surprisingly light compared with those of other sexual assault cases heard in Fairfax, many veteran lawyers said. But the deal offered to Marriott by Assistant Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Toni S. Fay is what has the courthouse buzzing.

Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he "had no idea" that the charges had been reduced four months after Marriott's conviction and that the victim "absolutely" should have been consulted: "That's Rule One. You just don't go and change a plea that the victim had agreed to." He said he had spoken to Fay but declined to say why she reduced the charges or failed to tell either the victim or the detective. Fay did not respond to phone messages seeking comment.

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Cheshire

Mar 23 2007

By Richard Fletcher, Chester Chronicle

A CHURCH leader who intended to rape a woman was 'like Borat', a jury was told.

Charlotte Worsley, defending African pastor Yves Aristide Nahangame, 31, said her client's mannerisms might remind them of the comedy character.

But a jury of 12 took just over an hour and a half to find Nahangame, from Burundi in Africa, guilty of assault with intent to commit rape.

Ms Worsley added: 'If this case was not so serious you may have found him like Sacha Baron Cohen's character Borat. He uses completely inappropriate language. Subtleties are lost with him.'

CALIFORNIA
Union-Tribune

By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 25, 2007

In the world of faith, which speaks in the language of forgiveness and deals in the currency of hope, the request would seem simple enough: An ex-con introduces himself in church and asks to become a part of the congregation.

Except when the ex-con is a registered sex offender.

The request has plunged Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad into the center of a gathering storm, fueled by an explosion of information about sex offenders on Web sites, fear of recidivism, and the revulsion people feel toward child molesters and rapists.

As soon as Pilgrim's dilemma became public – after a mother at the church's preschool started a protest petition – response was swift. It has been the talk of San Diego, from radio and TV shows to Internet blogs, and has drawn national attention.

TRENTON (NJ)
The Times

Sunday, March 25, 2007
BY JEFF TRENTLY
TRENTON -- Paul Ashton knows the awful truth.

He knows about priests who lied, priests who abused children, priests who got away with it for years.

And he knows the new truth.

No more lies. No more looking the other way. No more fear.

"We were supposed to protect kids and we didn't," Ashton told a group of area Catholics last week who have made it their mission to change all that. "This is not going to happen again because of you."

Ashton is a psychologist who specializes in child sexual abuse prevention and healing. He spoke Friday to diocesan Catholics as part of "Protecting God's Children," a church-run workshop teaching adults to recognize the warning signs of child sex abuse and how to respond appropriately.

CALIFORNIA
North County Times

By: GABRIELLE AZZARO - Commentary

For the last four years Catholics have repeatedly been exposed to reports about sexual abuse by priests. Yet, the ordinary Catholic in the pew has virtually remained untouched by these heinous crimes, and that makes the news a two-edged sword.

The good news is that there are not more people who had to endure the lifelong effects of sexual molestation by a religious person. The bad news is that without understanding these deadening effects, it is too easy to pretend that this has not, and is not, happening in monumental proportions.

I believe if a victim were to be allowed to speak at all Masses in the dioceses, Catholics would have a much better understanding of their agony, and perhaps support the victims to make sure that this does not happen ever again. But even if that does not happen, we need to keep this news in the headlines to ensure that the authorities finally do whatever it takes to keep innocent children and vulnerable adults from being raped and sodomized.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
CBS 4

(AP) FORT COLLINS, Colo. The Fort Collins jury in the sexual assault trial of a former Roman Catholic priest has been given the weekend off after getting the case.

The prosecution completed its case against Timothy Joseph Evans, who is accused of alleged sexual abuse of parishioners, on Friday.

A second man who says he was molested by Evans testified about the alleged abuse Thursday. He was the final prosecution witness.

The first accuser testified Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Monsignor Thomas Fryar, the priest in charge of the Catholic Church's Denver central offices, said he reported three incidents of alleged misconduct by Evans against minors between March 2003 and April 2004 to the Arvada, Lakewood and Fort Collins police departments.

TRENTON (NJ)
The Times of Trenton

Posted by The Times of Trenton March 24, 2007 3:16PM
TRENTON -- Prayers mixed equally with videos of child sex abusers talking about their methods at a meeting Friday night of church officials and area Catholics at the diocese's Pastoral Center.

Bishop John M. Smith was scheduled to speak to volunteers who run "Protecting God's Children," a church-run workshop teaching adults to recognize the warning signs of child sex abuse and how to respond appropriately, but sent his representative, Msgr. Gregory Vaughan, the vicar general, instead.

Vaughan is the diocesan response officer who hears any complaints about priest sex abuse and turns the information over to civil authorities.

Also speaking at the meeting was Paul Ashton, a psychologist who specializes in child sexual abuse prevention and healing.

IRELAND
RTE News

Video

Áine Lawlor reports on the abuse suffered by children in primary schools and the difficulties the victims faced when they pursued legal action against the Department of Education

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

Compensating the victims of child abuse in residential institutions could cost an estimated €1.16 billion, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin told the Dáil.

Ms Hanafin said, however, that the revised estimate, like earlier estimates, was tentative as the Residential Institutions Redress Board had some 7,250 outstanding applications to process at the end of last year, and the level of awards in those remaining cases could vary substantially. "The final cost of the scheme will not be known until the board has completed its work, which may take up to a further three years."

Ms Hanafin said that expenditure associated with the redress board, to the end of last year, was approximately €564 million. At that time, 7,290 applications, out of a total of 14,540 received, were processed by the board.

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

An RTÉ television investigation has claimed that the Minister for Education, through the Chief State Solicitor's Office, wrote to victims of abuse in litigation with the department threatening them with legal action.

Last night's Prime Time revealed that the letters instructed victims to remove any reference to the department from civil proceedings or risk the department pursuing them for costs.

IRELAND
One in Four

Irish Examiner

THE idea of a child being sexually abused by their teacher is every parent’s nightmare.

And while the risk may be minimal, for all that, judging by the evidence on last night’s Prime Time investigation, the possibility of a boy or girl being abused in the classroom is real.

In the aftermath of the programme, parents who serve on boards of management at the country’s 3,300 primary schools could be forgiven for reconsidering their positions.

From the evidence presented by Mary Raftery, who rocked the system in the States of Fear exposé of widespread abuse of children in State institutions, it is patently clear that boards of management could now end up being sued by the victims of predatory teachers.

UNITED STATES
Orthodox Reform

March 23, 2007 |
Continuing editorials on the Fr. Nick Katinas charges, which are being “mismanaged so grossly that it … raises serious ethical questions” from a March 23rd article on The National Herald

Time to come clean

The case of Rev. Nicholas Katinas, the suspended former pastor of the Dallas community who is accused of sexual misconduct with minors, has shocked the community.

Instead of being resolved in a proper way, however, it is being mismanaged so grossly that it not only raises serious ethical questions, but also demonstrates a lack of understanding of such proportions about the potential implications – and the threats those implications pose to the financial welfare of the Archdiocese – it’s almost frightening.

UNITED STATES
Orthodox Reform

March 23, 2007 |
Bishop Savas is the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese chancellor in charge of sexual misconduct cases. Although Fr. Michael Kontogiorgis handles much of the day-to-day operations of sexual misconduct cases, Bishop Savas is ultimately responsible. Will he be removed? The March 23 issue of The National Herald has this headline:

BISHOP SAVAS TO BE REMOVED AS ARCHDIOCESE CHANCELLOR?

During the recent Synod, a heated argument arose with the Archdiocese Clergy Sexual Abuse Committee, chaired by Archdiocese Chancellor Bishop Savas of Troas, who was reportedly critical of the Synod to lay members of the Committee.

When members of the Synod suggested that the Synod must be more informed about, and more involved with, cases concerning clergy sex abuse, Savas is said to have reacted forcefully: “It can not be done because members of the Synod leak to the Press (the National Herald, ostensibly),” he said.

BOSTON (MA)
Orthodox Reform

March 24, 2007 |

A revealing article from the March 23 issue of The National Herald:

BOSTON – Archbishop Demetrios of America is so far refusing to send Rev. Nicholas Katinas, former pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas, to Spiritual Court for defrocking, effectively keeping him on suspended status indefinitely.

The Archbishop reportedly told members of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Church in America last week that Father Katinas wishes to avoid being defrocked because he wants to be buried as a priest, not as a layman.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By JP EICHMILLER
JPEichmiller@coloradoan.com

Witness testimony concluded and prosecution and defense lawyers provided closing arguments Friday in the trial of former Fort Collins priest Timothy Joseph Evans, accused of sexual misconduct against a minor.

A jury panel of five men and seven women was instructed by District Judge Jolene Blair to choose a foreman and determine a timetable of deliberation. The jurors, who met for about an hour after closing arguments before leaving at 5 p.m., must determine whether Evans committed sexual assault against a child by a person in a position of trust and if he displayed a pattern of abuse against the alleged victim, who claimed to be touched improperly on two occasions in 1998 and 1999 while 17 years old.

"He befriended them, he isolated them, he confused them and he used his position to assault them," said Deputy District Attorney Leah Bishop during closing arguments about Evans' alleged improper conduct toward four witnesses who testified during the four-day trial.

PORTLAND (ME)
Portland Press Herald

By KELLEY BOUCHARD, Staff Writer

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Roman Catholics should push for a stronger role in the church and seek greater accountability from the clergy, a noted theologian told an audience of 80 people in Portland Friday evening.
The Rev. Donald Cozzens, a Catholic priest, professor and author, said the denial and secrecy that pervaded the church's reaction to the priest sexual abuse scandal exposed its feudal structure, in which priests are viewed as lords of the manor and church members are expected to be docile serfs.
Cozzens said the church must abandon its feudal roots to survive and grow beyond the priest scandal and other challenges facing parishes around the world.
"These are not easy times for the church and these are not easy times for people who love the church," Cozzens said. "This is the laity's moment and we need good leadership."

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
March 24, 2007
FORT COLLINS - Was it sexual assault or just hugging and horseplay?
In their closing arguments, defense lawyers for former Catholic priest Timothy Evans tried to convince a Larimer County jury Friday that the "physically demonstrative" man did not fondle a 17-year- old boy, as alleged.

Prosecutors countered that Evans was "a manipulative, scheming, deceptive man" who abused his ultimate position of trust to use the boy for his own sexual gratification.

Evans is the first Colorado Catholic priest to be tried since sweeping allegations of clergy abuse surfaced nationwide in 2002, leading to broad reforms within the church.

HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

0:42 PM EDT, March 23, 2007
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HARTFORD -- An attorney representing four men who say they were sexually abused as boys decades ago by a former state police and fire chaplain said Friday that state police may have prematurely destroyed documents from a criminal investigation into the abuse claims.

Attorney Robert I. Reardon Jr. questioned the handling of a 1990s investigation of The Rev. Stephen C. Foley. Foley was never charged with a crime, but was named in 11 civil claims filed against the Archdiocese of Hartford, archdiocese spokesman Rev. John P. Gatzak said. Eight of the claims have been settled.

Foley could not be reached for comment Friday, but has previously denied the molestation claims. A call was left seeking comment with Foley's attorney.

State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's powerful Judiciary Committee, is expected to speak at a news conference Monday over the matter. Lawlor would not discuss the news conference Friday, but an advisory he provided reporters said participants would "reveal and discuss a possible cover-up by Connecticut law enforcement agencies and others over the sexual abuse of children."

FORT COLLINS (CO)
Denver Post

By Monte Whaley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/23/2007 10:49:23 PM MDT

Fort Collins - A former Fort Collins priest accused of molesting a 17-year-old parishioner was described Friday by prosecutors as a manipulative, sexual predator of young boys.

Timothy Joseph Evans, 43, faces two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust. The counts stem from two incidents involving the youth while Evans was the priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins.

Evans' week-long trial ended Friday afternoon with closing arguments from both sides. Jurors will begin deliberations on Monday.

Evans' attorney, Joseph Gavaldon, said the priest got involved in horseplay with boys. But he argued that as the "hysteria" surrounding other priest abuse cases grew, alleged victims turned that into a criminal act.

LAMBERTVILLE (NJ)
The Express-Times

Saturday, March 24, 2007
By ANDREA EILENBERGER
The Express-Times
A priest who stole more than $10,000 from his Lambertville parish must pay $4,000 in restitution and complete 50 hours of community service under the terms of an alternative sentencing program he entered this week.

If the Rev. Marian Drozd successfully completes the yearlong pretrial intervention program, the third-degree theft charge he faces will be dropped.

"He still feels horrible and very remorseful," his attorney, Stephen A. Caputo, said Friday. "He's still very embarrassed by the whole situation; he's a good guy and a good priest and I believe he'll turn this negative into a positive."

CHARLESTON (SC)
ABC News 4

Charleston, SC - A former local Catholic priest is defrocked. Father James Nyhan has been dismissed by the Vatican for past sexual abuse of children within the Church.

It's been nearly 30 years since 40-year-old Allen Sires says he was sexually abused by Father James Nyhan at Charleston's Church of the Nativity. And while his emotional wounds have never healed, Sires says learning of Nyhan's dismissal by the Vatican has made telling his story worthwhile.

"I am really happy about it. It brought some vindication to all the guys that came forward," says Sires.

But while Sires is happy for closure in that sense, Nyhan's dismissal hasn't solved everything.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
North County Times

By: North County Times wire services -

LOS ANGELES --- Activists called on Cardinal Roger Mahony to resign in light of allegations he told his congregants a watered-down story about an alleged molestation, while telling Vatican officials a video provided proof of a crime.

Court records show that at least six months after Mahony told Vatican officials a video provided proof of a priest's crimes against high school boys, he publicly said the tape showed no sexual activity between the Rev. Lynn Caffoe and the youths, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"It should shock no one, but Cardinal Mahony tells his boss one thing and tells his flock something radically different," said Joelle Casteix, southwest regional director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "By most standards, that's deceit. By some standards, it's lying. By all standards, it's wrong. Cardinal Mahony should resign."

ZIMBABWE
New Zimbabwe

By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 03/22/2007 10:28:15
ONE of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's most vocal ecclesiastical supporters has been disowned by the church he founded following his arrest of rape charges.

Reverend Obadiah Msindo is no longer a member of the Destiny of Africa Network, the church’s directors said in a notice.

There was no mention of Msindo's crime in the notice, but church sources said it was likely that the dramatic action was in response to the rape allegations and further claims that he embezzled church funds.

NEW JERSEY
The Express-Times

A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST TIED TO STEALING DONATIONS FROM HIS CHURCH ENTERS INTO A PRETRIAL PROGRAM in the NEW JERSEY section: A priest accused of stealing more than $10,000 from his Lambertsville parish mush pay $4,000 in restitution and complete 50 hours of community service under the terms of a pretrial program he entered into this week. If the Rev. Marian Drozd successfully completes the year-long program, the third-degree theft charge he faces will be dropped. Drozd was the parochial vicar of St. John the Evangelist Parish when he allegedly took cash from Masses between August and January.

HARTFORD (CT)
Newsday

By SUSAN HAIGH and JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
Associated Press Writers

March 23, 2007, 8:58 PM EDT

HARTFORD, Conn. -- An attorney representing four men who say they were sexually abused as boys in the 1970s by a former state police and fire chaplain is accusing the state police of prematurely destroying documents from a criminal investigation into the abuse claims.

The Rev. Stephen C. Foley was never charged with a crime, but was named in 11 civil claims filed against the Archdiocese of Hartford, archdiocese spokesman Rev. John P. Gatzak said. Eight of the claims have been settled.

Foley could not be reached for comment Friday, but has previously denied the molestation claims. A call was left seeking comment with Foley's attorney.

Attorney Robert I. Reardon Jr., who has three clients with pending civil lawsuits against the archdiocese, is expected to speak at a Monday news conference with state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the legislature's powerful Judiciary Committee, to discuss an alleged cover-up by the police and others.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
9News

written by: Jeffrey Wolf , Web Producer
and Adam Chodak , 9NEWS Northern Reporter created: 3/23/2007 4:10:29 PM
Last updated: 3/23/2007 6:28:33 PM

FORT COLLINS – A jury has begun deliberating in the trial of a former priest accused of sexual assault, but they were released for the weekend late Friday afternoon.

Timothy Evans, 44, is accused of sexually molesting a 17-year-old boy twice in 1999 when he was a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Roman Catholic Church in Fort Collins.

Specifically, Evans is accused of groping the young man's buttocks one occasion, and, another time, reaching below his waistline toward his groin.

During Friday's closing arguments, the prosecution argued that Evans was in a position of trust and used that position to take advantage of the accuser.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A jury in Fort Collins has now been handed the case against a former Roman Catholic priest accused of alleged sexual abuse of parishioners.

A second man who said he was molested by Timothy Joseph Evans also testified about the alleged abuse during the trial.

Monsignor Thomas Fryar, the priest in charge of the Catholic Church's Denver central offices, said he reported three incidents of alleged misconduct by Evans against minors between March 2003 and April 2004 to police.

Evans' lawyer said the allegations are false and the result of anger.

CHICAGO (IL)
Naperville Sun

March 23, 2007
sun-times news group
A Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting a young boy in the late 1980s filed suit Tuesday against the lawyers for the boy, as well as two organizations that work to advocate on behalf of survivors of abuse by priests and to seek greater accountability by bishops.

The priest, Rev. Chester J. Pryzbylo, now pastor of the Shrine of Christ the King in Winfield, was sued last year for alleged abuse of a 13-year-old Polish immigrant. The abuse allegedly happened while Pryzbylo served as a priest at Five Holy Martyrs parish on the southwest side of Chicago.

In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday, Pryzbylo said the lawyers who represented the boy who was allegedly molested, as well as Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and BishopAccountability.org have defamed him with the accusations.

The Shrine of Christ the King, which according to the suit is "a not-for-profit corporation (which works to) promote, preserve and extend the use of the Tridentine Latin Mass of the Roman Catholic Church," is not recognized by a Roman Catholic Archdiocese.

One of the lawyers in the suit against Pryzbylo "specializes in suing priests, clergy, the Catholic Church and other religious organizations and has generated well over $60 million in legal fees from having filed more than 600 such cases," Pryzbylo's suit claims.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan

By JP EICHMILLER
JPEichmiller@coloradoan.com

The defense rested its case this morning in the trial of Timothy Evans, the former Fort Collins priest accused of sexual misconduct against minors.

Evans declined to take the stand in his own defense.

Before resting its case, defense attorney Joseph Gavaldon continued attempts to discredit the alleged victims who have claimed Evans improperly touched them.

Gavaldon has called a series of current and former employees of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton — the church where Evans formerly worked as head priest — who have questioned the character and honesty of two of the witnesses against Evans.

Combative and often argumentative, the Rev. Lawrence Christiansen, the current administrator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and self-described, “best friend” of Evans appeared this morning on the behalf of the defense.

Upon cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Leah Bishop, Christiansen admitted to spending every off day with Evans. The witness also testified that he and Evans cook and shop for each other and take frequent vacations together.

FORT COLLINS (CO)
CBS 4

(CBS4) FORT COLLINS, Colo. Closing arguments have started in the trial of former Roman Catholic priest Timothy Joseph Evans, who is accused of molesting a teenage boy in Fort Collins.

Evans was caught on tape saying he "screwed up." The tape was played during opening statements of the Timothy Evans trial in Larimer County district court.

A 25-year-old man says Evans abused him in the late 1990s.

Evans' attorney says the accuser is acting out of anger toward a priest who tried to help him.

SALEM (MA)
Salem News

By Tom Dalton , Staff writer
Salem News

Two former North Shore priests, who lived a few years apart at the same Salem rectory, have been defrocked by the Vatican.

The Archdiocese of Boston announced yesterday Anthony Laurano, a former pastor of St. Mary's Italian Church in Salem, and W. James Nyhan, former chaplain at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, have been dismissed from the church. Both were accused of sexually abusing children,

"With these decisions by the Holy See, both men have ceased to receive any financial support from the archdiocese and may no longer function as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying," the archdiocese said in a statement.

Laurano, 82, was arraigned in Brockton Superior Court in 2005 on two counts of child rape. He pleaded not guilty to raping a child on at least two different dates in 1991 while serving at St. Mary's Church in Plymouth. In 2006, new charges were brought against him by the Plymouth County district attorney, according to the archdiocese.

SOUTH CAROLINA
WCBD

Friday, Mar 23, 2007 - 05:57 AM

Associated Press

The Vatican has dismissed a Boston priest who pleaded guilty last year to sexually assaulting a boy while working at a Lowcountry church.

W- James Nyhan pleaded guilty last spring in Charleston, South Carolina, to charges of molesting two boys there 25 years ago.

The Boston archdiocese suspended Nyhan in 2002 after a Quincy man said Nyhan molested him repeatedly in the 1970s.

TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By TERRY LEE GOODRICH
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
DFW Lay Council, a year-old Catholic group, will conduct a forum Saturday in Arlington to encourage Catholics to get more involved in church issues, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth said it has not been consulted about the gathering and does not sanction it.

The 12-member council invited Lena Woltering, a leader in the emerging national Catholic lay movement, and Sister Kate Kuenstler, a canon lawyer, both from Belleville, Ill., to speak.

About 70 people have registered to attend and participate in small group discussions.

Topics will include women's roles in the church, the declining number of priests, the inclusion of gays and lesbians in parish life, and how laity and parishes can be more responsive to sexual abuse by the clergy.

While church law states that church members have a "right and duty" to make their opinions and concerns known to pastors and church leaders, this must be done while they "maintain communion" with the church, Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann said in a brief statement on the diocese's Web site.

TEMPE (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 23, 2007 12:00 AM

The Legion of Christ, a religious order that recently took over administration of a parish in the Phoenix Diocese, is a dangerous movement in the church, according to one of the first journalists to report in depth on the clergy abuse crisis.

Jason Berry, co-author of the book Vows of Silence, will be in Tempe on Saturday to speak and present a documentary on the book, which details the story of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the influential founder of the Legion who was suspended by the pope in 2006 and ordered to lead a life of prayer and penitence. Maciel was accused by nine men of sexually abusing them when they were young.

"I don't trust the religious order," Berry said. "Not that every member is untrustworthy. But it is bizarre, a money machine all based around the idea of sainthood for this man."

Several dioceses, including Minneapolis-St. Paul and Los Angeles, have banned the order. But Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted welcomed the Legion to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Queen Creek in September.

"Our experience with members of the Legion has been very positive," said Jim Dwyer, spokesman for the diocese. "The priests have been very well-received. We consider them well-trained, highly qualified, multilingual servants of the faith."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

THE compensation bill for victims of child abuse is set to cost taxpayers over €1bn.

Education Minister Mary Hanafin revealed last night that the Residential Institutions Redress Board will require a further €600m in addition to the €564m it had already received.

She said the total estimated cost had now reached €1.16bn but the final bill would not be known until the board completed its work in three years' time.

CALIFORNIA
North County Times

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer

Area churches may find a cautionary lesson in the ongoing debate about whether a Carlsbad congregation should allow a registered sexually violent predator to join them in worship.

"I hope everyone goes to their church on Sunday and asks, 'Do we have a safe-church policy?' " said the Rev. Madison Shockley, pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad.

Shockley said he thought about such a policy only after being approached by Mark Pliska, who introduced himself as a twice-convicted registered sex offender who wanted to attend his church.

UNITED STATES
American Chronicle

James Nimmo
March 21, 2007
Catholic Priest Child Abuse Convictions and Bankruptcies Have a Silver Lining for Gay People of the World

The Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace (also a practicing Roman Catholic) is in the news for stating unequivocally that gay people are immoral.

On a tour of his homeland in the late summer of 2006, Pope Benedict XVI, Pace's titular chief of the Holy Spirit, said that the movement for gay equality is an ephemeral social trend. ...

The Massachusetts Justice system pursued child rapists, aka priests, employed by the Boston archdiocese and managed by Law. His Grace, Cardinal Law, is currently living incommunicado in a church in Vatican City, which is both a religious and legal hideout, answerable to no one other than the CEO, Benedict, aka Ratzinger, god's own Rottweiler.

Cardinal Law is enjoying, no doubt, the reclusive peace of his cosseted sanctuary, well away from financial and legal worldly cares as he prayerfully considers his close escape from a Massachusetts extradition order.

It was not only the Boston franchise that had its pedophilia ring exposed.

UNITED KINGDOM
Oxford Mail

By George Gaynor

A vicar accused of molesting an 11-year-old church helper admitted having a gay lover but branded the child abuse claims a figment of the boy's imagination.

Father Edward Michael Wright, 69, allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted the schoolboy more than 30 years ago, jurors heard.

Wright, the vicar of St Barnabas Church, in Jericho, Oxford, since 1980, was also allegedly involved in a 'group rape' attack involving a number of men.

The Edinburgh-born clergyman denies a catalogue of sex crimes while at St Stephen's Church, in Lewisham, south-east London, in the 1970s.

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WPRI

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The state Appeals Court upholds a lower court ruling requiring the Catholic Diocese of Springfield to turn over thousands of pages of documents from sexual abuse claims to its insurance companies.

The judge rejected claims that most of the seven-thousand pages of documents were protected from public disclosure by state law.

The diocese is suing six insurance companies to get them to cover claims of people who say they were sexually abused by priests.

DOVER (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Thursday, March 22, 2007

DOVER -- Robert Quill drove two days from Marathon, Fla., to tell his horror story to a state Senate committee and urge lawmakers to change Delaware's civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

Quill said he was a victim of the Rev. Francis G. DeLuca -- the retired Delaware priest arrested in the fall in Syracuse, N.Y., and charged with sexually abusing a teen there.

"If I constructed a complete and accurate narrative of my adolescence, recounting in detail each of the hundreds of episodes of DeLuca's craven sexual abuse of a child, few could listen to the entire story without being physically sickened," Quill said.

AUSTRALIA
The Wimmera Mail-Times

By PAUL CARRACHER

THE Catholic Church will apologise to parishoners and the community for the `terrible legacy' of sexual abuse by former priests.

In a letter to parishoners, Bishop Peter Connors said he had personally met with many victims of past crimes.

Bishop Connors said he had asked his Ballarat Diocese, which includes the Wimmera, to celebrate Sunday's services as `Towards Healing' Sunday.

"It is my hope that this will provide an opportunity for us to acknowledge the suffering of victims and ask for God's grace and mercy as we commit ourselves to working for the healing of victims, their families and the wider community and to rebuild trust," he said in his letter.

SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican

Friday, March 23, 2007

By JACK FLYNNjflynn@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - In a legal setback for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld a lower court ruling requiring the diocese to turn over thousands of pages of documents from sexual abuse claims to its insurance companies.

In an 11-page ruling, Justice Fernande R.V. Duffly ordered church officials to turn over most of the 7,000 pages of documents at the center of a two-year legal skirmish.

The judge rejected claims that most of the documents were protected from public disclosure due to religious autonomy and spiritual guidance exemptions in state laws.

But Duffly sided with the diocese by ruling that some of the documents could remain sealed under lawyer-client privilege.

The ruling - which affects more than 35 cases involving alleged abuse by priests dating back to the 1960s - echoes the findings of Superior Court Associate Justice John A. Agostini in an 11-page decision handed down in December.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

For years, Janet Goodner blamed herself for the sexual relationship she had with former Roman Catholic priest Bruce Ewing in the 1970s, when Goodner was a teenager.

"I felt that I corrupted a Catholic priest," Goodner said in an interview.

But yesterday, a Jefferson Circuit Court jury put the blame on Ewing, finding him guilty of third-degree rape after deliberating for less than two hours. The jury -- made up of six men and six women -- acquitted Ewing on two charges of sodomy.

Ewing, 59, hung his head after the rape verdict was read. He remains free on $2,500 bond, pending his formal sentencing May 17 by Judge Martin McDonald. He did not comment as he left the courthouse.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald

By Associated Press
Friday, March 23, 2007 - Updated: 06:00 AM EST

BOSTON - The Vatican has dismissed two former Boston archdiocese priests who have been convicted of or face charges of sexually abusing children.

Anthony J. Laurano, 82, of Hull, and W. James Nyhan, 61, of Billerica, were cut off Thursday from receiving any financial support from the archdiocese and may no longer function as priests except to offer absolution for dying persons, the archdiocese said in a prepared statement.

”For those who have been sexually abused by members of the clergy, I sincerely apologize for the suffering you and your families have endured,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley said in the statement. ”Sexual crimes perpetrated against children or vulnerable adults by priests are shameful and grievous.”

BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com

BOSTON -- The Archdiocese of Boston dismissed two priests Thursday after reports of sexual abuse of a minor.

Anthony J. Laurano and W. James Nyhan will no longer receive any financial support from the archdiocese and may no longer function as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying, the archdiocese said in a statement.

Laurano, who retired in 1995, has been restricted from any public ministry since 2002 due to allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. He was indicted on two counts of child rape and was arraigned in Plymouth Superior Court in April 2005. In 2006, new charges were brought against him by the Plymouth district attorney.

Nyhan, who was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston in 1973, was placed on administrative leave in 2002 after the archdiocese received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. Last year, Nyhan was convicted of criminal charges involving the sexual abuse of children while he served in Charleston, S.C., more than 25 years ago.

POLAND
Catholic World News

Warsaw, Mar. 22, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The secretary of the Polish bishops’ conference, Bishop Piotr Liber, will soon be named to head the troubled Plock diocese, according to a report in the newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Bishop Liber, who is currently serving as an auxiliary in the Katowice diocese, would replaced Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, who led the Plock diocese for 7 years before he was selected by Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) to become the Archbishop of Warsaw. Archbishop Wielgus was forced to resign from that new post in January, prior to his installation, because of charges that he had collaborated with the Communist secret police. Meanwhile the Plock diocese has been shaken by recent charges of sexual abuse at the seminary.

LAS VEGAS (NV)
KVBC

If he can come up with the money, Father George Chaanine will be able to get out of jail. A judge set his bail Thursday at $1 million.

Chaanine's lawyer says he doesn't think the priest will be able to make bail. Many times defense lawyers say their clients don't have the money to make bail but then those defendants are able to get it.

Chaanine has been held without bond since being brought back to Nevada in early February. He spent almost a week on the run after being charged with attempted murder, sexual assault, battery and kidnapping.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

After deliberating less than two hours, a Jefferson Circuit Court jury this afternoon found former Roman Catholic priest Bruce Ewing guilty of 3rd degree rape of a teenager in the 1970s.

However, the jury — six men and six women — acquitted Ewing on two counts of sodomy.

Ewing, who could face up to five years in prison on the rape conviction, hung his head after the verdict was read.

A previous trial in September 2004 ended in a mistrial when one juror refused to convict Ewing.

BOSTON (MA)
Houston Chronicle

Associated Press

BOSTON — Two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists — including a reporter who helped break the clergy-sex abuse scandal — are among 24 people The Boston Globe is cutting from its newsroom staff through a buyout program aimed at avoiding layoffs.

The buyouts, which staffers had to apply for, were announced Wednesday. The departures will occur over the next few months.

"It is always difficult to say goodbye to co-workers and friends," Globe Editor Martin Baron wrote in a memo to staff. "Wonderful people who have dedicated themselves so fully to the success of the Globe will no longer be working with us side by side."

Columnist Eileen McNamara and investigative reporter Stephen Kurkjian are among the staff members to accept the buyouts.

McNamara, 54, won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. She said she will teach journalism at Brandeis University.

Kurkjian, 63, was a founding member of the Globe's Spotlight Team investigative unit and shared in three Pulitzers. Two came for local investigative reporting: in 1972 for exposing political corruption in Somerville and in 1980 for documenting the high costs and poor service at the region's transportation agency. The third came in 2003 for public service for uncovering the Roman Catholic church's clergy sex abuse scandal.

BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com

BOSTON -- The Archdiocese of Boston dismissed two priests Thursday after reports of sexual abuse of a minor.

Anthony J. Laurano and W. James Nyhan will no longer receive any financial support from the archdiocese and may no longer function as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying, the archdiocese said in a statement.

Laurano, who retired in 1995, has been restricted from any public ministry since 2002 due to allegations of sexual abuse of a minor. He was indicted on two counts of child rape and was arraigned in Plymouth Superior Court in April 2005. In 2006, new charges were brought against him by the Plymouth district attorney.

Nyhan, who was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston in 1973, was placed on administrative leave in 2002 after the archdiocese received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor. Last year, Nyhan was convicted of criminal charges involving the sexual abuse of children while he served in Charleston, S.C., more than 25 years ago.

WINSTON-SALEM (NC)
Journal

By Titan Barksdale
JOURNAL REPORTER

A judge sentenced a Winston-Salem woman to at least five years in prison yesterday for stealing about $300,000 in tithes and offerings from the church that employed her.

Karen Charlene Lunsford, 38, pleaded guilty to embezzlement in Forsyth Superior Court. Members of Oaklawn Baptist Church watched as Lunsford, who was at one time the church's financial secretary, admitted to spending the money on vacations, clothing and weekend getaways to gospel concerts.

“I'm here to accept responsibility, and I apologize,” she told Judge Ronald Spivey. “I just wanted to live a better lifestyle.”

NEWARK (OH)
Coshocton Tribune

COLUMBUS (AP) - A former pastor pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to receiving child pornography across state lines, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

David Waser, 57, former pastor of Newark's Second Church of Christ, faces five to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in U.S. District Court.

Authorities said Waser ordered 11 child pornography videos in June 2006 by sending a $130 money order to an address listed on an Internet advertisement that had been posted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Officials said some of the videos involved children as young as 4.

A postal inspector who posed as a letter carrier delivered the videos to Waser's home in July and obtained a search warrant immediately afterward. The inspector found the package opened and one of the videos inserted into a VCR, the government said.

BOSTON (MA)
MarketWatch

By Val Brickates Kennedy
Last Update: 9:25 AM ET Mar 22, 2007

BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- As part of a previously-announced cost-cutting plan, the Boston Globe said on Thursday it was buying out the contracts of 24 of its editorial staff, including Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Eileen McNamara and investigative reporter Stephen Kurkjian, who spearheaded coverage of the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Florida Catholic

By Agostino Bono, Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In a spirited exchange with victims of child sex abuse, the head of the U.S. bishops' child protection committee said March 20 that bishops must work together to prevent cover-ups of clergy child sex abuse.

Cover-ups cannot be condoned and several bishops and priests have resigned over cover-ups, some after being told to do so by the Vatican, said Bishop Gregory M. Aymond of Austin, Texas.

"We can't hold each other responsible. We are responsible to the pope," he said of U.S. church leaders' efforts to prevent cover-ups.

Bishops rely on "fraternal correction" by which they try to influence a fellow bishop to alter his approach to sex abuse, he said.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Nikita Stewart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; B01

The D.C. Council would abolish the statute of limitations for filing criminal and civil cases that involve sexual abuse against children under a bill proposed yesterday by council member Marion Barry.

The legislation would allow the indictment of abusers in decades-old crimes and would give victims the ability to sue all parties involved in the abuse.

The proposed change in D.C. law is similar to legislation enacted in California that led to prominent cases involving abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

In the District, the measure would not only extend the time limits for criminal and civil cases but also "provide a two-year period for people whose claims were barred by a previous statute of limitations to bring those claims," according to the bill's text.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Robert Gavin, Globe Staff | March 22, 2007

The Boston Globe reduced its newsroom staff by 24 people, or 6 percent, through a buyout that included several of its most prominent and longtime journalists, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, columnist Eileen McNamara and investigative reporter Stephen Kurkjian.

The buyout program was an effort to cut costs but avoid layoffs in the face of some of the harshest conditions for newspapers and other mass media in years. Staffers seeking a buyout had to apply for it. Most were notified yesterday that their applications were accepted, and their departures will occur over the next few months. ...

Kurkjian, 63, a Boston native, joined the Globe in 1968. He was a founding member of the Globe's investigative unit, known as the Spotlight Team, and shared in three Pulitzer prizes. Two came for local investigative reporting, in 1972, for exposing political corruption in Somerville, and in 1980, for documenting the high costs and poor service at the MBTA. The third, in 2003, was awarded for public service for exposing the sexual abuse scandals of the Catholic Church.

By KIMBERLY DICK
Advocate Reporter

NEWARK (OH)
The Advocate

NEWARK — A former Newark minister who authorities caught with videotapes depicting juvenile sex pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to receiving child pornography.

David Waser, who was a minister at Newark’s Second Church of Christ, is being detained while a pre-sentence investigation report is being completed. He will be sentenced at a later date.

As part of a plea agreement, Waser pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one of his two felony charges and agreed to forfeit the 11 videotapes and his computer.

His wife, Judy Waser, will face one count of attempted possession of child pornography at a trial set for April 16, also in front of Judge George C. Smith.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
CBS 13

Sam Shane
Reporting

(CBS13) SACRAMENTO A CBS13 investigation of a fugitive priest has brought another victim forward.

Father Gerardo Beltran is accused of molesting two young girls in Sacramento then fleeing to avoid prosecution. CBS13 tracked Beltran to Igualita, Mexico. After seeing our stories, a third victim says he can remain silent no longer and says he wants to bring Gerardo Beltran to justice.

We first introduced you to Hector Rubio last month, only then we called him "John Doe". Today, in a press conference with the survivors network for those abused by priests, Hector came forward, telling the world that he too had been abused by Father Gerardo Beltran.

CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald

Associated Press
Posted Thursday, March 22, 2007

Prosecutors and defense attorneys discussed a possible plea agreement on Wednesday for a Chicago priest accused of sexually abusing children.

The possibility of such a deal arose during a hearing in Cook County court, where a judge agreed to a meeting with the Rev. Daniel McCormack’s attorneys and prosecutors.

They withdrew with Judge Thomas Sumner to his chambers, but no deal was announced when they emerged an hour later. Sumner then set May 1 as the next court date.

While the talk