Abuse Tracker

DALLAS (TX)
Orthodox Reform

Orthodox Reform interviews Tahira Khan Merritt. She represents clients who claim Fr. Nicholas Nikolas, a Greek Orthodox priest, sexually abused them over a period of years while the clients were altar boys at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

Orthodox Reform: In a nutshell, tell us about this lawsuit.

Tahira Khan Merritt: The lawsuit involves the sexual abuse by Fr. Katinas of two former altar boys at Holy Trinity between 1983 and 1986.

Orthodox Reform: Why is this lawsuit necessary?

Tahira Khan Merritt: The officials who were in charge of Fr. Katinas as well as Fr. Katinas himself must be held accountable for their actions in civil court. Because the victims are now more than 28 years old, criminal charges are not possible.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Voice from the Desert

On Saturday, April 28, 2007, the Voice of the Faithful affiliate in Bridgeport, Connecticut, held a financial accountability conference at Fairfield University. Among the interesting reports: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport has assets estimated at over $1 billion.

ST. ALBANS (VT)
WCAX

St. Albans, Vermont - April 30, 2007

Stephen Nichols, a priest from St. Elizabeth's Church in Lyndonville, plead guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of a prohibited act for lewd behavior.

As part of his plea deal, Nichols admitted that on 2 separate occasions in 2005, he brought an 18 year old parishioner to Canada. On one of those occasions, the teenager got drunk. When they returned to the priest's Richford home, Nichols tried to fondle him.

The victim in the case has never been made public, but an advocate read a letter to the court in his behalf.

FRESNO (CA)
California Catholic Daily

In the wake of the clergy molestation scandal, the Fresno diocese, like others, has put in place a religious education program to train students (Kindergarten-12th grade) to respond to abuse. But does this “safe environment program, called “Keeping the Promise,” keep the promise it makes?

According to Bishop John Steinbock’s foreword, the program’s “Parent Resource and Catechist Guide” was drawn up “to make a practical connection of Christian values to personal and interpersonal safety skill development that may reduce a child’s vulnerability without compromising their innocence.” Further, “it respects the parents’ discretion regarding how and when the more sensitive topics related to child abuse are introduced to their children in regards to individual readiness.”

Parents may opt their children out of safe environment sessions. Parents who participate receive a copy of the guide, which promises them, “Classroom presentations to young children will not teach the proper names of body parts, especially those areas that are often referred to as ‘private parts.’ Giving specific examples of what is ‘good touch vs. bad touch’ will not be included...”

DURHAM (NC)
The News & Observer

Yonat Shimron, Staff Writer
DURHAM - The removal of the Rev. Stephen M. Garrity as pastor of Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church couldn't have come at a worse time.

Just Saturday, a concrete floor had been poured at the site of the new $2.8 million sanctuary two miles from the church's current location on the campus of N.C. Central University. The 67-year-old Garrity was the force behind the construction and fundraising.

When he didn't show up for Mass on Sunday morning, members were shocked to hear he had been "recalled" by his religious order, the Jesuits. According to the order, Garrity confessed to sexual relations with five adults 25 years ago. One of those people contacted the Maryland province of the order, which whisked Garrity away before he had a chance to say goodbye.

Apr 30 2007

UNITED KINGDOM
ic Coventry

by Steve Chilton

ANOTHER former altar boy at one of Coventry's Roman Catholic churches is claiming he was sexually abused by disgraced priest Christopher Clonan.

Now aged 33 and living in Warwickshire, he is suing the archdiocese for up to £150,000 damages.

He maintains he was abused over a period of about five years from 1986.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

April 30, 2007
Collateral damage.

It's a phrase you expect to hear about Iraq or other wars past and present.

But some San Diego Roman Catholics are starting to use it about themselves.

“It's becoming real for parishes,” Carl Sarrazolla said.

Chris Heitman nods. “It's hitting home.”

On a chilly morning outside a bagel shop, these two men, along with fellow Catholic Dan Hughes, sat talking about how the diocese's bankruptcy case is beginning to worry them.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Though they have never met, Jose Castro and Dan Hughes have certain things in common. Both were raised as Roman Catholics and both are keenly interested in the outcome of the Diocese of San Diego's ongoing scandal over allegations of child sexual abuse by priests and other clergy.

Castro, 55, is among approximately 150 men and women who have filed suit against the diocese. He said he was fondled and otherwise sexually abused repeatedly by the Rev. Rudolph Galindo when Castro was an altar boy in the early 1960s at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Otay.

When he reported the abuse to his mother, Castro said, she beat him; then she marched him down to Galindo. The priest, who now lives in a Texas retirement home and in recent years has admitted abusing children, also beat him, Castro said, and the sexual abuse continued.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Register-Guard

By Kelly Clark
For The Register-Guard
Published: Sunday, April 29, 2007

Cases against the Catholic Church may end, but the struggles of the abuse victims go on.

Kelly Clark is a Portland trial attorney who has represented nearly 150 people abused as children. As a state legislator in 1989, he co-authored the law banning possession of child pornography in Oregon, as well as the law lifting the statute of limitations in cases of child abuse.Amidst the congratulations going around concerning the long-awaited resolution of the bankruptcy of the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, I have noticed a particular tendency among nearly all involved to want to "move on" and "put the past behind us."

At one level, I wholeheartedly agree: It is time for this archdiocese to heal. As a lawyer who has represented more than 100 people with claims against the Catholic Church, including 41 in this bankruptcy case, I have pledged my assistance to the archbishop and to his lawyers in doing whatever I can do to facilitate that healing. The archdiocese needs it, the larger faith community needs it and our state needs it.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

Document diving last week I was stunned at the amount of pleadings, motions, and notices filed by church attorneys. Going down four screens, with about 30 documents per screen, there were motions to strike, motions to question jurisdiction, and in one stream 17 notices of Association of New Counsel. I was document diving in search of orders signed by the judge, and did find a couple, but they were from hearings at least two weeks back. In January a clerk showed me where paper copies of documents were placed and at that date five file cabinets overflowed into piles on a table in the room. By this week the entire room must be consumed by paper, as are likely the judge and plaintiffs’ attorneys. Where is the order from the judge re the April 12th conference that I’ve been looking for now for weeks?

Tony DeMarco says 16 attorneys showed up when they tried to depose Francis Weber and “Defense counsel completely frustrated plaintiffs’ discovery efforts by repeatedly instructing the witness not to answer.” As I document dive, a few motions on screen two are attempts by plaintiffs to get interrogatories from Weber and others.

And 17, count them, 17 notices of association of new counsel in one afternoon. The eyes blur as you try to read them. With hundreds of church attorneys already knocking out motions by the dozen stopping only to word process in different plaintiffs’ names, six church attorneys here a half dozen there flying around the country to depose plaintiffs, why do they need more attorneys?

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

Ron McCartan broke down and cried in Court Number 4 at the Four Courts in Dublin last Tuesday as his family gathered around to comfort him. It had been a seven-year battle, but was a moment he had yearned for almost his entire life. It was also a moment which should have the most profound implications for the largest compensation scheme ever established in this country, writes Mary Raftery.

Ron is 61 years old. At the age of 10, he was sent to Artane Industrial School, where he was raped repeatedly by one Christian Brother and severely beaten by others. In this regard, as he says himself, he was not unusual.

"Many, many other boys suffered the same," he told me yesterday. "We've had to live our whole lives feeling humiliated and worthless because of what they did to us as children."

IRELAND
One in Four

Irish Examiner

ONE of Ireland’s most notorious paedophiles, Oliver O’Grady, jailed in the US in the 1990s, has claimed he is voluntarily registered with gardaí as a sex offender.

Disgraced former priest Oliver O’Grady, whose confessions about molesting up to 25 children in the US forms the basis of the Oscar-nominated documentary Deliver Us From Evil, has made contact with a Dublin residents’ group through his legal representation.

The priest is living in the Phibsboro area of Dublin and residents had expressed grave concerns that he poses risks to children in a primary school which is just yards from his residence.

DURHAM (NC)
WRAL

Posted: Apr. 28 9:49 p.m.
Updated: Today at 7:24 a.m.

Durham — A religious order recalled one of its priests from a Durham parish after it received information involving sexual misconduct 25 years ago.

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of the Diocese of Raleigh announced Saturday that the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus asked the Rev. Stephen M. Garrity, pastor of Holy Cross Church, to return to the Provincial House in Baltimore.

The Jesuits acted in light of information alleging Garrity engaged in sexual misconduct with adults. The alleged acts did not take place in North Carolina, Burbridge said.

DURHAM (NC)
News & Observer

John Murawski, Staff Writer
A priest at the Holy Cross Catholic Church in Durham was removed from duty last week after admitting to sexual encounters with five people a quarter-century ago, church officials announced Saturday.

The Rev. Stephen M. Garrity, 67, the pastor at Holy Cross, left North Carolina on Saturday for a weeklong evaluation at an undisclosed treatment center, said Kate Pipkin, a spokeswoman for Garrity's religious order, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. The Maryland Province recalled Garrity.

Garrity admitted to church officials last week to having inappropriate sexual contact with five adults about 25 to 30 years ago, Pipkin said. At the the time, the adults were ages 18 to 23, about half Garrity's age. He was assigned in Baltimore and Philadelphia, she said.

BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

By Will Kilburn, Globe Correspondent | April 29, 2007

After nearly three years of operating as an all-volunteer organization, the Presentation School Foundation in Brighton took on its first full-time employee this month : executive director Steven Krueger , who will lead the group's efforts to turn the former Catholic elementary school into a community center.

Krueger is well known to followers of the ongoing fallout from the Boston Archdiocese's clergy sex abuse scandal. In 2002, he was the founding executive director of the Catholic lay group Voice of the Faithful . He later helped an effort to reform statutes of limitations on sex crimes against minors, and worked with a Newton parish whose pastor was fired after he criticized the archdiocese. But Krueger, whose position is funded largely by the latest in a series of grants from the Boston Foundation, stresses the point that the foundation has moved beyond its beginnings as an organization of parents who had once hoped to keep the school open.

LA VERNE (CA)
San Gabriel Valley Tribune

By Frank C. Girardot Staff Writer

LA VERNE - Less than a decade has passed since the Bonita Unified School District agreed to set aside $100,000 for a program to prevent and identify sexual abuse in the district.

The fund, a condition of the district's excess liability insurance, grew out of a $2.1 million settlement the district paid in 1999 to a female student molested by David Dangleis, a teacher at San Dimas High School, according to school officials and court documents. ...

The anti-sexual abuse program was developed by the district and the Agos Group, a Boston-based human resources firm that has also consulted the Catholic Church on similar issues, according to Bob Brinegar, the district's assistant superintendent of human resources.

Brinegar said the company provides training materials including films that are designed to highlight the profiles of offenders and victims alike.

FORT WORTH (TX)
For Worth Star-Telegram

By MELODY McDONALD
Star-Telegram staff writer

FORT WORTH -- She says the paddlings began when she was in the sixth grade.

Her family's pastor, the Rev. Sherman Clifton Allen, would order her to grab her ankles, she said, and he paddled her until her bottom turned purple. The woman, now 41, says she was punished if Allen was told that her room was messy, that she had made a bad grade or that she had committed some other infraction.

In the beginning, the woman said, the pastor made her pull her dress tight. Later, he ordered her to drop her panties. Finally, she said he made her lie nude on the bed during the paddlings.

UNITED STATES
Dickson Herald

By ANITA WADHWANI
Staff Writer

A half-decade after the Catholic Church's clergy sex abuse scandal broke open, Southern Baptist Convention leaders are now facing questions about offenders within their own ranks.

Abuse victim advocates who criticized the Catholic hierarchy for years are now confronting the nation's largest non-Catholic denomination, highlighting cases of preachers accused or convicted of child sex abuse, including four in Tennessee in the past five months.

SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is accusing Baptists of not taking strong enough steps to protect children and has called on the Nashville-based denomination to create an independent review board to act on reports of child sex abuse.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
California Catholic Daily

By Christopher Zehnder

Notes from A Cultural Madhouse

Church records have caught Orange’s Bishop Tod Brown “in a lie -- or at least an inconsistency,” charged Gustavo Arellano in an April 24 Orange County Weekly “Breaking News” release. Brown, said Arellano, while promising complete disclosure of all sex abuse cases, kept one under wraps. His own.

In his 2004 “Covenant with the Faithful,” Brown promised, “We will be open, honest and forthright in our public statements to the media, and consistent and transparent in our communications with the Catholics of our Diocese.” A month later, according to Arellano, the bishop released a list of names of priests accused of molesting youth “in the form of a one-page press release,” with the names “bunched together in one paragraph,” and no other information. In Dec. 2004, the diocese reached a $100 million settlement with over 90 victims and promised to release the personnel files of priests and diocesan employees accused of molestation. ...

I admit the priestly molestation crisis has uncovered some rather ugly details of bishops hiding evidence of abuse and shuffling priests from parish to parish, where they could prey on more victims. I confess I myself do not have the highest confidence in the veracity of a good number of men who hold episcopal office. I will even say that many churchmen are getting what’s coming to them, in the lawsuits, the public shame, the growing distrust. Too many bishops have not been shepherds, but hirelings; they have not acted as fathers but as CEOs.

Our anger at the failings of men in the Church, however, must not blind us to justice. I am no fan of Bishop Tod Brown, but, given the evidence against him as detailed in Arellano’s article, I am not convinced Brown is guilty. One man’s claim that he was molested is not good evidence. It is no warrant to ruin another man’s reputation.

CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown

The Daily Southtown received four Peter Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism on Friday night from the Chicago Headline Club -- for deadline news reporting, editorial writing, in-depth education reporting and column writing. ...

And columnist Tim Placher won the column-writing competition for his evocative first-person piece about sexual abuse at the hands of a Joliet Diocese priest and his attempts to involve Bishop Joseph Imesch in confronting the problem. "This is strong, honest and brave writing that will stay with readers for a long time," the judges wrote.

CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer

BY JOHN JOHNSTON | JJOHNSTON@ENQUIRER.COM

David Hoehne still fights an emotional and spiritual battle 27 years after he was sexually abused by the priest of his Catholic parish.

Hoehne was 12 when it happened. He remembers that the headboard of the bed where the abuse occurred was against the western wall. The comforter on the bed was white. He remembers where he sat, where his molester stood, where the abuser's hand went.

"These memories never leave or fade away," the 39-year-old Akron man told about 150 people on Saturday at a sexual abuse conference at Xavier University's Cintas Center.

PEORIA (IL)
Peoria Journal Star

April 19, 2002: Jenky announces changes in policies to handle clergy sex-abuse allegations and establishes a commission to review such allegations and make recommendations to the bishop.

May 30, 2002: The bishop asks seven priests to step down from public ministry after "credible allegations" of sexual misconduct are brought against them. Another priest is accused a week later.

Sept. 4, 2002: Edward Bush, one of the priests to be accused of sexual misconduct earlier in the year, sues the diocese, Jenky and Monsignor Steven Rohlfs, then vicar general, for defamation of character. "Either Edward Bush is not telling the truth or I am not telling the truth," Jenky said a week later.

SALEM (OR)
Statesman Journal

ALAN GUSTAFSON
Statesman Journal

April 29, 2007

For almost four years, a dark cloud of suspicion has hovered over the Rev. Michael Sprauer.

The Salem priest, long respected by Catholic parishioners, has been branded a pedophile by his accusers. Since mid-2003, more than 15 men have sued Sprauer, alleging that he sexually abused them while he was chaplain at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in the 1970s.

Starting Tuesday, Sprauer goes to court for trial of a civil lawsuit pitting him against three of his accusers: Robert Paul Jr., Randy Sloan and Norman Klettke Jr.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Margaret Ramirez
Tribune religion reporter
Published April 29, 2007

When Cardinal Francis George stepped into his role as leader of the Chicago archdiocese in May 1997, his flock was still mourning the beloved Joseph Bernardin. The new archbishop realized he was facing a difficult transition and introduced himself humbly: "I am Francis, your neighbor." ...

In 10 years as archbishop, George has shepherded the archdiocese through painful school closings and shameful sexual abuse scandals. He denounced racism as a sin and marched for immigrant rights. More recently, he waged a battle with bladder cancer.

In guiding the church and tending to his own struggles, the cardinal was transformed in the eyes of many observers from obstinate outsider to faithful pastor of Chicago's church. Priests and others who initially viewed George as cold and excessively critical now say they see him as personable and compassionate.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

(Calendar for next week listed below)

It takes a court order to get Roger Mahony to comply with discovery law. On May 16th Katherine Freberg asks Judge Haley Fromholz to compel the archbishop to answer interrogatory questions and produce documents needed for the July 9 Hagenbach cases jury trial. In addition plaintiffs request a Discovery Referee in a hearing May 16th as every time plaintiffs try to depose a witness, the church blocks them.

When Mahony did respond he gave this answer to almost every question: “Responding party responds that discovery is just commencing. Based on this, current lack of information responding party must respond that it denies this request.” (Responding party must respond that he does not respond?)

“Plaintiffs have filed numerous motions to compel due to Defense Counsel’s egregious conduct,” writes Tony DeMarco. “Repeatedly defendants have used the tactic of instructing witnesses not to answer appropriate questions designed to illicit information bearing on key elements of plaintiffs’ cases.

NEW JERSEY
Daily Record

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bob Sheridan used to be known as Mr. Green Wave, a member of the Delbarton School Hall of Honor, a former lacrosse star who gave back to his alma mater, the school he loved.

He planned class reunions, organized fundraisers, volunteered as an assistant lacrosse coach and gave up his Saturday nights a few months a year to coach indoor winter lacrosse. He felt so close to the Rev. Luke Travers, the headmaster, that he invited him to be his guest in 2001 when he was inducted into the New Jersey Lacrosse Foundation Hall of Fame.

Delbarton was in some ways Bob Sheridan's life -- until he publicly disclosed allegations five years ago that a former teacher who had been a monk and a deacon once tried to molest him. Since then, he has said over the years, he has not exactly felt welcome on campus.

UNITED KINGDOM
NW Evening Mail

Published on 28/04/2007

A 60-YEAR-OLD priest from Dalton faces jail for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Father Edmund Cotter, who is currently under suspension from Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Church, which is part of the Diocese of Lancaster, pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault when he appeared at Preston Crown Court on Friday.

The offences involved a girl under 14 and took place between February 1981 and December 1984 when Cotter was based at St Gregory’s RC Church in Preston.

UNITED STATES
The Tidings

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien

Now that nearly every U.S. diocese has a safe environment program to protect children against sexual abuse, attention needs to be focused on the programs' quality and effectiveness, which vary widely, a panel of experts told participants at the National Catholic Educational Association convention.

Two officials of the Boston Archdiocese, where the clergy sex abuse crisis first came to light, and a representative of a nonprofit group working to improve children's well-being addressed an April 12 workshop session at the NCEA convention in Baltimore.

Teresa Kettlekamp, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, also was scheduled to be at the workshop but was snowbound in Chicago. Her section of the workshop was presented by the other panelists.

BURLINGAME (CA)
Daily Journal

By Michelle Durand, Daily Journal Staff
The Burlingame church volunteer accused of stealing $6,000 for a stay at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Half Moon Bay and drug store shopping spree was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to repay a number of victims, including those for whom she was not convicted.

Jessica Corbyn Lack, 38, must serve at least half the sentence before being eligible for parole. She receives eight days credit toward her term and returns to court May 18 for a further restitution hearing. Amounts are still pending for a number of sources, including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Planet Pooch, Office Depot and Wells Fargo Bank. Some of them reimbursed the church after Lack’s activities came to light.

Other reported victims, such as the owner of the Cycle Shack in South San Francisco, disputed the amount they were owed, leading to a delay in Lack’s sentence while the probation department prepared more restitution statements.

APPLE VALLEY (CA)
Daily Press

RYAN ORR
2007-04-28 00:02:00
APPLE VALLEY — A former Apple Valley resident has filed a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse against the Apple Valley Cheyenne Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is named in the complaint as ROE, and her biological father, a church minister.

Melanie D. Popper, 29, now an attorney in Berkeley, said she is doing this for her healing and for others who might be victims of incest.

The suit alleges that her father, identified in the suit only as “John Doe,” began sexually abusing her when Popper was 8 years old. The alledged abuse continued from 1985 and 1995. The acts may have included rape and oral sex by force or fear, according to the complaint filed in Victorville Superior Court.

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER— A retired priest found mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting a child will undergo another psychiatric examination.

The Rev. John Szantyr, 76, of Waterbury Conn., is awaiting trial in Central District Court on charges of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14. The allegations date back to the mid-1980s, when Rev. Szantyr was assigned to Our Lady of Czestochowa parish on Ward Street.

The assaults are alleged to have occurred from June 1, 1985, to Dec. 12, 1987. The alleged victim is now in his 20s.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

April 28, 2007 11:00 AM

It was once said that the Church of England could be likened to the proverbial fish that understood how desperately it needed water only when it landed in the bottom of a boat on the end of a hook. Many faithful and sincere Anglicans (and Roman Catholics before them) have only recently grasped just how much the Anglican community relies on trust - now that they have so little of it.

What the latest church-related sexual abuse scandal has done is to highlight an ongoing erosion of trust. Trust is a social practice. Humans are social beings who swim in an ocean of trust. What happens when this ocean begins to drain away - as is the case with many Christian churches - is that we become sceptical, often cynical and perhaps even a little paranoid. The case of the ex-choirmaster, Peter Halliday (jailed on Thursday for 30 months after admitting sex offences from the 1980s), yet again highlights the failure of church leaders to act. Some of the more disturbing aspects of the Halliday case were the attempts by the Anglican Church to control information, prevent public disclosure and silence dissent, even in this case, the anguished cries of abused children and their families. In fairness, cultures of this sort are not unknown. Tendencies toward centralisation of power and control of information exist in all institutions. The fact is that well-governed institutions ensure full disclosure of information, institutionalise checks and balances on the exercise of power and establish independent boards to advise and participate actively in choosing the chief executive officer. The church is no ordinary institution. For believers the church is guided by the Holy Spirit - a community in which God's saving work is accomplished and God's kingdom proclaimed. But the church is also a human institution, managed by humans with all their failings, including susceptibility to the corruptions of power and mistaken judgment.

SCOTLAND
Scotsman

JOHN ROBERTSON
LAW CORRESPONDENT
THE priest at the centre of the Angelika Kluk murder trial was accused yesterday by a parishioner of lying to a jury and to "his own God".

Father Gerry Nugent, 63, had said in evidence that he did not know of a hatch in the floor of St Patrick's Church, Glasgow, down which the body of the murdered Polish student had been hidden.

However, Sarah Howie insisted that he had known about it, "without a shadow of a doubt". She also dismissed Fr Nugent's claim that there had been a sexual relationship between them.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By TOM HEINEN
theinen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 27, 2007
Wautoma - In a case that could have broad impact, the Wisconsin Supreme Court heard arguments this week over whether four men who say they were sexually abused as minors should be able to sue the Archdiocese of Milwaukee decades later on allegations of fraudulent coverups and negligent supervision of two priests.

If the seven justices overturn the lower court dismissals of their lawsuits, the men would be able to seek some internal church documents and request trials in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

The Legislature changed state law in 2004 to make it easier for childhood victims to sue clergy and the religious institutions that supervise them for future acts of sexual abuse, but three decisions by the state Supreme Court in 1995 and 1997 have continued to make it virtually impossible for victims to sue for molestation that occurred many years ago.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Rachel Williams
Saturday April 28, 2007
The Guardian

A Roman Catholic priest who admitted having a sexual relationship with a Polish student whose body was later found under a chapel floor chased and harassed a church guitarist, a court heard yesterday.

Sarah Howie, 45, also alleged that Father Gerard Nugent knew years ago of a trapdoor above the hole where Angelika Kluk's remains were found in September, despite his insistence he was unaware of its existence.

The married mother of two denied the priest's claim that she also had a sexual relationship with him.

UNITED STATES
The Tidings

This summer the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops will begin its 2007 Safe Environment Parish Audit throughout the country.

Each parish/school site will have to demonstrate that they have implemented the list of requirements necessary in order to be in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

The Charter, which was approved by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops in June 2002, and revised in June 2005, is the guiding vision to help the faithful create a safe environment for children and young people, and to protect young people from child sexual abuse.

PENNSYLVANIA
Intelligencer Journal

By Lori Van Ingen, Staff
Intelligencer Journal

Published: Apr 27, 2007 1:46 AM EST

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - The "death of a soul" is how Pat and Lou Serrano describe what happened to their son, Mark, and to other children sexually abused by priests.

The Serranos, of Mendham, N.J., told their son's story to about 20 people Thursday night at Highland Presbyterian Church at a meeting of Parents Reaching Out to Parents of Sexually Exploited Children.

"He was a lovely, sweet, innocent boy," Pat said. "We lost him when he was 9. We never saw him again. We have a wonderful son now, but we never saw that happy-go-lucky boy again."

Many years later, the Serranos found out their son was violated repeatedly by their priest from the time he was 9 years old until he was 16.

DALLAS (TX)
Orthodox Reform

Two alleged victims of Fr. Katinas have today filed a lawsuit seeking reparations including punitive damages to deter future such abuses in the Greek Orthodox Church. A third alleged victim, not part of the suit but referred to as ‘DZ’, gives testimony to their nightmare of abuse.

The abuses described by one of the plaintiffs occurred numerous times on church property:

The abominations described herein involved hundreds of acts of sexual perversion over approximately three years, usually every Sunday before or after mass.

MISSISSIPPI
WDAM

A former youth minister and pastor has pleaded guilty to one count of gratification of lust in Smith County Circuit Court, says District Attorney Eddie Bowen.

Ralph Hall was accused of sexually abusing his then 7-year-old grandson, Bowen said. Bowen said Hall entered the plea Thursday.

"It saves the family from having to go through the embarrassment and it prevents the kid from having to testify. That's always good because sometimes children don't know how to react to things like this," Bowen said Friday.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A vicar accused of abusing young boys told a teenager he was the "centre of his life" in a series of emotional letters, Bristol Crown Court heard.

The Rev David Smith, 52, vicar for St John's, Clevedon, wrote to the boy when he ignored his calls, the jury heard.

"Obviously the centre of your world has moved from a middle-aged vicar to a 19-year-old nubile girl," one read.

PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

04/27/2007
An ordeal is over for victims of child sexual abuse and Catholics in the Archdiocese of Portland, says a Catholic military chaplain and leader in Oregon’s ecumenical movement.

“No one of us in the archdiocese is so presumptuous as to think that this settlement will bring an end to the suffering of those injured,” says Father Rick Sirianni, discussing last week’s court approval of a plan to end the Archdiocese of Portland’s 33-month bankruptcy. “It is more likely the case that the settlement is merely the first step in bringing some closure and healing to the pain they have experienced over many years.”

The pastor of St. Henry Parish in Gresham, Father Sirianni says he is grateful for the Catholic community itself.

PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

04/27/2007 Ed Langlois
Lawyers defending the Archdiocese of Portland against allegations of child sexual abuse had to get through a thicket created by Oregon law and culture.

Few if any other states have such a combination of statutes and anti-establishment opinion making it so hard for employers with a worker accused of sexual misconduct.

Here are some of the factors:

• Employers can be held liable for acts of abuse by their employees more easily in Oregon than in any other state. A 1999 case in the Oregon Supreme Court, Fearing vs. Bucher, established automatic vicarious liability for Oregon employers. In most states, supervisors are liable only if they received prior notice that the worker had misbehaved in the past. It was no coincidence that sex abuse suits against the archdiocese began coming in shortly after that ruling. Between 2000 and 2004, the archdiocese settled 140 claims.

SPRINGFIELD (OR)
The Register-Guard

By Rebecca Nolan
The Register-Guard
Published: Friday, April 27, 2007

A Springfield man is suing the Archdiocese of Omaha, alleging that he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a priest nearly 30 years ago.

Cary Claar, 41, asserts in a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Nebraska that the archdiocese knew of the priest's alleged abuse and that church officials, including some in Portland, worked to cover it up.

Reached at home Thursday, he declined to comment on the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages for physical and emotional pain and suffering, loss of income, health care costs and attorney fees.

BULGARIA
Sofia News Agency

27 April 2007, Friday

A Bulgarian clergyman was arrested Friday for the sexual abuse with an underage girl in the town of Parvomai, Darik News reported.

The 55-year-old man was the parish priest of three villages around the town. A complaint against him was lodged in the local court, which states he abused sexually a 13-year-odl girl.

SCOTLAND
Glasgow Evening Times

THE priest who had sex with Angelika Kluk knew about a trapdoor in the church floor where her body was found, a murder trial heard today.

Father Gerry Nugent, 63, has told the High Court in Edinburgh he didn't know about the hole in the floor of his church where the 23-year-old Polish student's body was found.

But today parishioner Sarah Howie, 45, of Shawlands, Glasgow, told jurors the priest was wrong.

Mrs Howie claimed Father Gerry knew seven or eight years ago about the trapdoor in the then bare floor which, last September, became the entrance to Angelika's temporary tomb.

SCOTLAND
The Herald

The priest who claimed he had an affair with murder victim Angelika Kluk was a liar and a sex pest, a parishioner has claimed in court.

Father Gerry Nugent, 63, has told the High Court in Edinburgh he did not know about the hole in the floor of his church where the Polish student's body was found.

The former parish priest also claimed a sexual relationship with parishioner Sarah Howie - before back-tracking and telling the trial he meant only intimacy but not sexual intercourse.

On Friday mother-of-two Mrs Howie, 45, of Shawlands, Glasgow, told jurors that the priest was wrong on both counts.

CANADA
Standard Freeholder

Terri Saunders
Local News - Friday, April 27, 2007 @ 08:00

A judge berated a lawyer representing victims at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Thursday for not ensuring affidavits filed with the commission were accurate.

Comm. Normand Glaude told Dallas Lee he wasn't interested in hearing excuses for why a number of victim-sworn affidavits contain errors. "We are dealing with a law firm that purports to act in the best interests of these people, and we have people that are swearing affidavits," said Glaude. "I want . . . to bring home to your clients and to your firm that this type of thing cannot happen again."

Last month, errors were identified in at least two affidavits filed with the inquiry on behalf of members of The Victims Group who are represented at the inquiry by lawyers from the London, Ont.-based law firm Ledroit Beckett. In one case, the affidavit incorrectly named a priest as a perpetrator of abuse when no allegation had been made against the priest by that particular individual, a witness identified at the inquiry as C-10.

ST. ALBANS (VT)
Burlington Free Press

Published: Friday, April 27, 2007
ST. ALBANS — A priest whose sex case was to go to trial next month has requested a change-of-plea hearing.

The Rev. Stephen J. Nichols, 47, pleaded not guilty last September to allegations that he fondled a naked 18-year-old. He is charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, the only current Vermont priest facing a felony charge.

His trial was set for May 9. But a change-of-plea hearing has been scheduled for Monday in Vermont District Court in St. Albans.

CANADA
Medicine Hat News

By ANGUS HENDERSON
Apr 27, 2007, 01:07

A storm of controversy erupted over the Jesus Seminar on the Road Thursday when two U.S. organizations objected to a retired American priest being one of two presenters, because of unproven allegations of sexual abuse.
Former priest Edward Beutner is scheduled to speak at the two-day seminar starting Friday at All Saints Anglican Church in Medicine Hat.
The seminar explores what has been learned about the historical Jesus over the years through the Bible and other historical documents.
An organization called Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) held two press conferences in Wisconsin in places where the former priest worked and decried the fact that his bishop hadn’t informed Medicine Hat and area residents of the allegations.

DES MOINES (IA)
Des Moines Register

April 27, 2007

After working hard to make sure we provided accurate and clear information to the Register, I was dismayed to find a headline that not only was misleading, but could encourage people to refrain from coming forward with allegations of sexual abuse of a minor by priests.

"Diocese Withheld Details of Abuse, Critics Say," April 18, suggests that in some way the diocese was trying to protect itself. That suggestion would be completely inaccurate.

Yes, the diocese withheld information that would identify a victim at the victim's request. In fact, even the school president was quoted as saying he did not know details of the allegation. This is a testament to the extent to which the diocese honored the victim's request.

CANADA
Ottawa Sun

By CP

CORNWALL — A judge berated a lawyer representing victims at an inquiry probing the institutional response to allegations of systemic sexual abuse in the Cornwall area for not ensuring affidavits filed with the commission were accurate.

Commissioner Normand Glaude told Dallas Lee he wasn’t interested in hearing excuses for why a number of victim-sworn affidavits contain errors.

“We are dealing with a law firm that purports to act in the best interests of these people, and we have people that are swearing affidavits,” Glaude said Thursday. “I want ... to bring home to your clients and to your firm that this type of thing cannot happen again.”

JOLIET (IL)
ABC 13

(4/27/07 - JOLIET, IL) - A Catholic priest previously convicted of child molestation has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two teenage brothers in the 1990s.

Louis Rogge, 76, of Joliet pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Under a deal with prosecutors, he will likely serve 30 days in jail and four years of probation. He had faced a sentence of three to seven years in prison.

The Will County State's Attorney's office accused Rogge of abusing the first boy in 1996, when he was 15, and the second in 1999, when he also was 15.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Mary Ann Sieghart: Thunderer
Turn on the Today programme, and most days you will hear some stonewalling corporate affairs sap, who has undergone “media training” and been told to stick to his script no matter what. It always makes me splutter into my coffee. Asked to defend the leaking of an oil pipeline, he will say: “The important thing is that best-practice policies are in place to ensure that clean-up procedures are strictly adhered to, and we at Polluting Petroleum want to assure you that we have the best interests of local people at heart.” Translation: they’re covered in oil and their crops are ruined, but I don’t suppose many of them have shares in PP or will make a fuss at the AGM. As long as we get through today, we’ll be OK.

You might expect such flannelling from business people and politicians. But from the Church of England? Surely not. Yet yesterday produced the worst splutterfest ever.

The hapless spokeswoman was the Rev Pearl Luxon. She had been put up by the Church to talk about its role in failing to prevent a paedophile choirmaster, Peter Halliday, from abusing children. As one of the victims said: “When your first sexual experience is of a 40-year-old man forcing himself on you, it’s pretty horrific.” But the Church told neither the police nor social services and simply asked Halliday to leave.

UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

By Richard Smith Richard.Smith@Mirror.Co.Uk 27/04/2007

A PERVERT choirmaster who abused three boys cheated justice for 17 years because cynical, self-serving Church bosses decided not to turn him in.

And Church of England spokesman Rev Mark Rudall cravenly tried to justify their actions yesterday, saying: "What was done was the way things happened in those days."

Paedophile Peter Halliday - described as a "revolting, fierce bully" - cruelly abused three boys aged nine to 14 between 1985 and 1990. Some were assaulted up to 30 times. And there may be scores more victims.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Express

Friday April 27,2007
By David Pilditch
THE Church of England was accused yesterday of cover­ing up child sex abuse.

The claim came after a paedophile choirmaster escaped justice for 17 years because officials refused to report him.

Peter Halliday, 61, admitted he had sexually abused young boys after one of his ­victims raised the alarm.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sun

By JAMIE PYATT
April 27, 2007

THE Church of England was blasted yesterday over a cover-up that protected a paedophile choirmaster from justice for 17 years.

The row came as depraved Peter Halliday, 61, was jailed for 2½ years for sexually assaulting at least three choirboys on dozens of occasions.

Attacks went on for five years. But the court heard that when a 13-year-old eventually told a vicar about his ordeal, the Church decided NOT to inform police.

SPOKANE (WA)
KXLY

Erik Loney / KXLY4 Reporter
Last updated: Thursday, April 26th, 2007 08:19:54 PM

SPOKANE -- In an effort to pay off numerous expenses, the Catholic churches in the Spokane area will be relying on fundraising and church members to help out.

Starting in May, local catholic churches will take steps to raise more than $10 million to pay bankruptcy, attorney fees and victims of priest sexual abuse.

This fundraising campaign is being called, "From Justice to Healing and Renewal," and the church hopes that people will step forward to help out their institutions.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
North County Times

By: DAVE VAN HOOMISSEN - Commetary:

We gratefully congratulate the Hon. Robert H. Brom, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Diego, for his courageous public admission to our congregation Sunday of widespread sexual abuse among his clergy that has caused bewilderment in the consciences of those who trust our church to be a leader in truth. It is a shocker of a revelation. But the real shocker should be that it has all been so unnecessary. It never should have happened -- never would have happened -- except that it was born in a culture of secrecy and censorship that we now have hope will hereafter be exiled to the history of the Middle Ages, where it was born.

Let's look briefly at the roots of this cancer on the integrity of the Catholic Church as we proceed to excise it and move on to the great work that the Body of Christ is among us to unfold. It is the teaching of the church itself that the clergy are mere men -- just like ourselves -- and that they will be tempted to yield to the flesh just as we are all tempted -- and they will sometimes yield. This is where our complicity comes in.

VERMONT
Rutland Herald

April 27, 2007

By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff

A Vermont priest placed on leave after saying he was not guilty of a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct is scheduled to appear in court Monday to change his plea.

The Rev. Stephen J. Nichols, 47, is set to appear in Franklin District Court in St. Albans in regard to allegations by the state attorney general's office that he fondled a naked 18-year-old man after taking him to Canada and buying him beer.

In a court hearing last September, Nichols pleaded innocent, saying in paperwork that his accuser — a St. Johnsbury man identified only by his initials — "was the sexual aggressor and afterwards asked for money to keep quiet."

ILLINOIS
Daily Southtown

April 26, 2007
By Stewart Warren
An elderly Catholic priest pleaded guilty today to sexually abusing two boys in the 1990s.

Will County Judge Richard Schoenstedt seems inclined to send Louis P. Rogge, 76, a member of the Carmelite order, to jail. When the portly, gray-haired priest stood in his courtroom, the judge implied the state recommended a plea deal that didn’t include jail or prison time. Schoenstedt indicated that he didn’t agree.

"I believe that there are reasons ... that I should and would impose a jail sentence," Schoenstedt said.

BALTIMORE (MD)
The Jewish Daily Forward

Nathan Guttman | Fri. Apr 27, 2007
Baltimore - A series of exposés on sexual abuse at a well-known yeshiva is roiling the Baltimore Jewish community and inflaming the already strained relations between the local Jewish newspaper and the city’s sizable Orthodox population.

The controversy revolves around allegations in the Baltimore Jewish Times that the late principal of the Talmudical Academy, Rabbi Ephraim Shapiro, may have molested Jewish students at the school and other youngsters who came to him for bar mitzvah classes.

In the wake of the allegations, local Orthodox rabbis have delivered sermons on the need to speak out against abuse and do a better job of responding to allegations that do arise. At the same time, the articles have upset members of the city’s Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox population who feel that the paper crossed the line by identifying Shapiro — almost two decades after his death.

NEW YORK
FailedMessiah

The NY Sun reports:

Several religious groups are fighting a health department proposal that for the first time would require permits for some faith-based nursery schools. ...

Why the opposition from Agudah?

"The concept of permitting is offensive to us because the permit process encompasses many things that relate to what actually takes place in the religious classroom," an executive vice president of Agudath Israel, David Zweibel, said. "Who is fit to be a teacher? How many students can there be in the classroom? Things that go to the autonomy of the educational experience, which to us in the religious community is a matter of religious freedom."

Of course, it might just be that several haredi teachers would fail those background checks.

Even after Baltimore and the various Brooklyn scandals, including the Rabbi Yehuda Kolko travesty, Agudath Israel has still not learned its lesson. As I have written many times, the only way thugs like Zwiebel will learn is if they are hit hard in the pocketbook or jailed.

NEW YORK
The Sun

By ELIZABETH SOLOMONT
Special to the Sun
April 25, 2007

Several religious groups are fighting a health department proposal that for the first time would require permits for some faith-based nursery schools.

Representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and Agudath Israel of America, among others, voiced their concerns at a public hearing April 19 on the health department's proposed amendments to article 47 of the city's health code, which regulates child care services.

The measures, which officials said were designed to improve child safety, would require about 500 nursery programs to obtain city permits, meet certain education standards among teachers, and conduct criminal background checks on their employees for the first time. Currently, religious preschool programs that are attached to elementary schools are exempt from permit requirements, thanks to their longstanding "No Permit Required" status.