Abuse Tracker

CANADA
John McKiggan’s Abuse Claims Blog

A disgraced former Roman Catholic Bishop convicted of sexual abuse has died. Hubert O’Connor was convicted of sexually abusing children at the Cariboo Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

During his trial O’Connor’s lawyers sought access to the victims’ psychological records. The right of an accused to make an application for a court order to receive copies of a victim’s therapeutic records was eventually upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada; a procedure that became known as an “O’Connor application”.

TENNESSEE
Kingsport Times-News

Published 07/30/2007
By Kacie Dingus Breeding

A Christian radio station employee and Bristol pastor has been charged with indecent exposure as well as DUI and violation of the open container law.

WZAP-AM 690's owner, Al Morris has issued a brief statement Monday afternoon saying, "As many of you are aware Tommy Tester, an employee of WZAP was recently arrested in Washington County, Tenn.

"The allegations, as reported by the news media, are serious and are in no way condoned or accepted by the ownership and management of WZAP.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
National Catholic Register

BY SUE ELLIN BROWDER
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

August 5-11, 2007 Issue | Posted 7/31/07 at 11:11 AM

LOS ANGELES — As the Archdiocese of Los Angeles prepares to sell off property and slash expenses to pay its share of the $660 million sexual-abuse settlement reached with more than 500 claimants, faithful Catholics here report a sense of “sadness” but also of moving forward.

This latest settlement will cost the Church $250 million. About 100 cases against religious orders that work within the archdiocese remain outstanding.

Shortly after the settlement, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his pain and concern over the “devastating scale” of clerical sexual abuse in Los Angeles, according to Catholic News Service.

National Catholic Reporter

When people cry out for justice, no one can maintain the suppression of information at the expense of human rights -- whether it’s in Guatemala or the Los Angeles archdiocese.

But is truth enough? We say it’s not. The next step is reconciliation.

In No Future Without Forgiveness, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells us that negotiations, peace talks, forgiveness and reconciliation happen most frequently not between those who like one another. They happen precisely because people are at loggerheads and detest one another as only enemies can.

In Guatemala, researchers are now uncovering secret police archives that document the torture and killing of the country’s citizens for more than a century. In Los Angeles, the release of confidential priest personnel files is an important part of the recent settlement agreement. These files document pain and unimaginable suffering, but simply releasing their contents to a judge is not by itself a comforting action. For many victims and their loved ones, the future has become unimaginable because the present is held captive by past grievances and offenses. They struggle with feelings of guilt, anger and resentment. And while anger and hurt are fitting and proper, unlike fine wine, they do not improve with age. Lewis Smedes once said that one of God’s better jokes was to give us the power to remember the past without the power to undo it.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling
How many people believe there was only one person in Riverside diocese, then part of the LA Archdiocese, raped and sexually demeaned for life by the Rev. Paul Shanley while he was living in Palm Springs in the 1990s? Anyone? Anyone? What about victims of Father Mark Falvey who preyed on children at Blessed Sacrament School in the 1960s and 70s? Do you really think the nine people who quietly settled for $14 million dollars last May were the only victims of Mark Falvey on that Hollywood elementary school playground?

The LA Archdiocese got off so easy with the recent settlement because the stories of 500-plus plaintiffs’ experience with priests -- the details of how these demonic men mixed religious sacraments with mind-control while raping children over and over again -- will now not be told in open court as so many of us were anticipating.

Plus I’m certain there are numerous damaged humans wandering around Los Angeles today who are untreated victims of this crime, with no legal recourse. Many of them are probably a few blocks away from me right now on Santa Monica Boulevard selling their bodies for another night’s survival. In all the interviews I’ve seen about LA plaintiffs, I’ve never seen one with a homeless prostitute drug addict, which in my observation, is a state many pedophile priest rape crime victims end up living their lives.

JOHNSON CITY (TN)
WSLS

Associated Press
Jul 31, 2007

Police in Johnson City, Tennessee arrested a Bristol, Virginia, minister for driving under the influence and indecent exposure.

Police say 58-year-old Tommy Tester urinated in front of children at a car wash while wearing a skirt. He will remain free on bond until an October court hearing.

He is also charged with having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle.

Tester is a minister of Gospel Baptist Church and works for Christian radio station WZAP. The owner of the radio station, Al Morris, is asking for people to pray for Tester.

MINNESOTA
Virtue Online

By David W. Virtue
www.episcopalian.org
7/31/2007

The Diocese of Minnesota's Episcopal House of Prayer has welcomed back a defrocked clergyman who is an admitted, convicted and registered sex offender as a diocesan retreat leader.

A special board meeting, called in mid-March, that included Bishop James Jelinek reviewed prior decisions and arrangements concerning long-time retreat facilitator Lynn Bauman's work with the House of Prayer. As a result, the full board, with the Bishop's approval allowed the sex offender to be a facilitator at the retreat center.

They passed the following resolution:

"Resolved: Having listened carefully to concerns expressed by others, and supporting healing and reconciliation at all levels, and wanting to be as helpful to retreatants as possible, the Board of Directors of the Episcopal House of Prayer, after prayerful consideration, ratifies previous decisions to permit Lynn Bauman to serve as a retreat facilitator at the Episcopal House of Prayer and reaffirms the Episcopal House of Prayer's relationship with Lynn Bauman as a retreat facilitator, subject to existing terms and conditions established for his participation in retreats, and subject to the further requirement that all who register for retreats with Lynn Bauman will be informed in writing of his background as part of the registration process."

GREAT NECK (NY)
Business Wire

GREAT NECK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Keen Realty, LLC has been designated to market and sell another property for The Catholic Diocese of Spokane. The property is 20+/- total acres of residential land located in Spokane, Washington. Keen Realty, LLC was retained pursuant to a Bankruptcy Court Order dated April 13, 2006.

The property, a portion of The Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, is located between South Ben Burr Road and East Jamieson Road in Spokane, WA, and consists of two contiguous parcels of residential land, each 10+/- acres in size. The parcels are zoned Rural Traditional, which allows for large lot residential uses and resource-based industries including ranching, farming and wood lot operations. Additionally, the property is located less than 5 miles from Interstate 90, 10 miles east of Spokane International Airport, and just 6 miles southeast of The City Center, Downtown, Spokane.

MERCER ISLAND (WA)
Kitsap Sun

By Associated Press and Kitsap Sun Staff
Monday, July 30, 2007

MERCER ISLAND

A priest who once headed a Bremerton parish is under investigation for his conduct with a minor and has accepted voluntary administrative leave, the Archdiocese of Seattle has announced.

The action involving the Rev. Dennis Kemp, pastor of St. Monica Roman Catholic Church on Mercer Island, was announced at weekend Masses and follows a police investigation, said Greg Magnoni, a spokesman for the archdiocese.

The current allegations are unrelated to Kemp's tenure in Bremerton, Magnoni said. Bremerton police detectives said Monday they'd received no complaints involving Kemp.

DENVER (CO)
The Gazette

By ED SEALOVER
THE GAZETTE
July 31, 2007 - 6:16AM

DENVER - An ecclesiastical court made up of Episcopal Church leaders could revoke the ordination of the Rev. Donald Armstrong today in the messy split between the former Grace Church and Saint Stephen’s pastor and the denomination he left.

Armstrong seems unconcerned with the outcome of the rare proceeding scheduled for 9 a.m. in Denver: A spokesman for the reorganized Grace CANA Church said the pastor will spend the day mountain biking.

Armstrong and Episcopal Church leaders have battled publicly since the church inhibited him — essentially putting him on administrative leave — in December while investigating allegations of theft and fraud.

PENNSYLVANIA
BishopAccountability.org

By Paul Likoudis
The Wanderer
July 12, 2007

http://usweb06v.newsmemory.com/ee/wandererpress/#

A well-liked, highly-regarded priest of the Diocese of Altoona­Johnstown killed himself by jumping off the highest bridge in Cambria County after Bishop Joseph Adamec informed the 80,000 Catholics under his jurisdiction that an investigation of the priest was underway for a 36-year-old allegation of sexual molestation.

Fr. William A. Rosensteel, 64, jumped 190 feet to his death at 7: 43 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, after Bishop Adamec issued a letter saying the priest had been accused of abusing an altar boy in 1971 while he was pastor of St. Patrick’s Church in Johnstown, and had been placed on administrative leave in March of this year. Bishop Adamec published the letter in the June 25 issue of the diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Register, and asked all priests serving in parishes where Fr. Rosensteel had served throughout his priesthood to read the letter during Sunday Mass, reported the Altoona Mirror. ...

In 1996, The Wanderer published a six-week series on Bishop Adamec’s “reign of terror” in the diocese, his persecution of priests and his malicious treatment of concerned laity who objected to his lavish personal lifestyle, his tolerance of liturgical abuses, the cultivation of his cult of personality and the dubious selection of seminarians.

In the course of the series of articles, allegations were made that Bishop Adamec had purchased his bishopric, with a multi-million dollar donation to the building of the U.S. bishops’ new headquarters in Washington, D.C. near the campus of the Catholic University of America. Allegedly, Adamec obtained the funds through the Slovak Federation. The allegations published by The Wanderer received no official response, but at that year’s meeting of the conference of bishops, the bishops spent most of their executive session discussing punitive actions against The Wanderer for publishing the expose on Adamec.

MOBILE (AL)
My Fox Gulf Coast

By Bob Grip

MOBILE, Ala. --
Brother Victor Bendillo worked at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School for almost 40 years, coming in contact with thousands of students.

During this interview in 2003, Mobile Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb told me he first heard allegations about Brother Victor's sexual contact with teenage boys around 1997. He said,

But in 1998, the Archbishop says he received a more specific complaint, which led him to contact the head of Brother Vic's religious order: "I called his provincial that day. The following day, the provincial and I met with him, and that afternoon, the provincial took him back to New Orleans," said the Archbishop.

UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Nate Carlisle
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 07/31/2007 12:14:21 AM MDT

George P. Lee, a former member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy and candidate for Navajo Nation president, was arrested Friday in southwest Utah on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender.
A spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections on Monday said it had been three years since keepers of the state's sex offender registry knew Lee's whereabouts.
For a sex offender to fail to update his contact information is a felony punishable by as much as five years in prison, though Lee has not been formally charged. Lee, 64, was released Friday from the Washington County jail on $5,000 bond.

CLINTON (NY)
Utica Observer Dispatch

July 31, 2007
By Rocco LaDuca

CLINTON — The pastor at Resurrection Assembly of God recently resigned prior to being indicted last week for allegedly touching a 7-year-old girl at his residence.

The Rev. William Procanick, 53, is due to be arraigned Aug. 7 on charges of felony first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child.

The charges stem from an incident that prosecutors say occurred at his Kirkland Avenue residence in March, according to Oneida County court records.

MICHIGAN
The Enquirer

Stacy Hanna
The Enquirer

As a loyal member of a local congregation, I understand and admire the members of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church for coming together in public support of their youth pastor, a man who recently was charged with using a computer to solicit a minor for sex.

We are taught, as citizens of the United States, that every person charged with a crime is innocent until proved guilty. And many of us learn in church or at home that we should love the sinner, not the sin.

While I agree with both of those sentiments, I think we should be careful that while forgiving the sinner we not excuse the sin.

In Monday's Enquirer, a handful of Chapel Hill parishioners shared their reactions regarding youth pastor Troy Deal's alleged indiscretions and, frankly, I found some of them to be dismissive of the fact that Deal has been arraigned on 11 counts of soliciting a minor for sex via a computer and accosting a child for immoral purposes.

KIRKLAND (NY)
WCAX

Associated Press - July 31, 2007 3:15 AM ET

KIRKLAND, N.Y. (AP) - A pastor at a Kirkland church has been indicted after police say he touched a 7-year-old girl.

That's according to Oneida County Court records.

The Reverend William Procanick, 53, is due to be arraigned August 7th on charges of first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. The charges stem from an incident that prosecutors say occurred at his home in March.

Procanick is the pastor at Resurrection Assembly of God in Kirkland.

LAGUNA NIGUEL (CA)
The Orange County Register

By KIMBERLY EDDS
The Orange County Register

The former music director of St. Timothy Roman Catholic Church in Laguna Niguel pleaded not guilty Monday to sexually assaulting one of his teenage choir members - more than a decade after the alleged abuse occurred.

Albert Lee Schildknecht, 56, of Laguna Niguel was charged Friday with two counts of oral copulation and one count of digital penetration of a minor in alleged attacks on a 16-year-old singer in his parish in 1995 and 1996.

His female accuser, now 28, sued Schildknecht and the Diocese of Orange three weeks ago, blaming the church leadership for orchestrating a "conspiracy of silence" to protect pedophiles within the church. Authorities are withholding her name because of the sexual-abuse allegations.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

A copy of the report made by the court-appointed financial expert on finances of the San Diego diocese can be found at this link.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Sandi Dolbee and Mark Sauer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

1:13 a.m. July 31, 2007

The Diocese of San Diego's key contention in bankruptcy court that it does not own or control tens of millions of dollars worth of parish assets is at odds with pledges it made to its auditors, banks and investors, according to a financial expert's report filed late Monday night.
The parish-ownership issue has been at the center of the contentious legal stand-off between the Roman Catholic diocese and attorneys representing about 150 victims of child sexual abuse by priests.

The 175-page report, filed by court-appointed financial expert R. Todd Neilson, found no overall system of accounting. “As a result (church officials) are often woefully unaware of the specific financial operations of the individual parishes,” it said.

Among key findings in the report, which is not yet complete, is that financial statements filed by Bishop Robert Brom and other church officers make “no disclosure of a trust relationship” between the diocese and its 98 parishes.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
The Washington Post

By ALLISON HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 31, 2007; 7:36 AM

SAN DIEGO -- A handful of parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego deliberately concealed or inappropriately handled about $500,000 in funds in sometimes "purposeful attempts" to circumvent federal bankruptcy proceedings, according to an auditor's report.

The San Diego diocese filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Feb. 27, just hours before going to trial in more than 140 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by priests. The filing automatically halted court proceedings in the lawsuits.

Church finances, specifically the question of how much the diocese is worth, has been hotly contested since the bankruptcy petition, which came after four years of unsuccessful settlement negotiations.

The "openly questionable activities" appear to be limited to a small number of parishes, and most pastors and lay personnel demonstrate a good faith effort to comply with church financial procedures, the report said.

DELAWARE
The Philadelphia Inquirer

By Maureen Paul Turlish
On July 10, a history-making event took place in Delaware when Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed into law what is believed to be the most comprehensive civil legislation concerning the sexual abuse of minors.

Delaware residents, over a period of two years, worked very hard to make the Child Victims Act (Senate Bill 29) a law. It provides for a two-year moratorium on the statute of limitations on lawsuits for sexual abuse. Victims have until July 10, 2009, to seek damages regardless of when the assaults occurred.

There is no question that the signing of this bill will provide the necessary impetus for states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, and the District of Columbia, to pursue this type of legislation. Victims whose lawsuits previously were barred due to time limits will now have their day of justice in a court of law.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
California Catholic Daily

Over the past year, Cardinal Roger Mahony has met individually with 70 victims of clergy sexual abuse. Archdiocesan spokesman Tod Tamberg told the July 30 Los Angeles Times that Mahony has scheduled more meetings with sexual abuse victims and that “he has said he will meet with any victim who wants to meet with him.”

But Lee Bashworth, 37, who claims abuse by former priest Michael Wempe, told the Times, that, though he would “relish an opportunity to tell Mahony one-on-one what I think of him,” such a meeting would “mean playing into [the cardinal’s] massive P.R. machine, and I refuse to do that.”

Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the Times, has “cautioned members against meeting with Mahony” because “such discussions could cause them further harm.”

What harm?

“Oftentimes people think they’ll get a very sympathetic, compassionate response, and sometimes they don’t,” Survivors’ Network spokesman David Clohessy told California Catholic Daily. “Or sometimes they’ll expect that a bishop will be more forthcoming, especially, for example, “where there’s no dispute about the veracity of their claim. And yet they still walk away, feeling disappointed and hurt that they haven’t sort of gotten more.”

MERCER ISLAND (WA)
KOMO

By Molly Shen
MERCER ISLAND - Sunday Masses at St. Monica Catholic Church on Mercer Island brought two surprises.

The first: the presence of Archbishop Alex Brunett to deliver mass.

And second, his announcement that their pastor is on leave because of allegations of inappropriate behavior with a 12-year-old boy, who is a church member.

"The Archbishop was very concerned about the effect on the parish of this announcement," said Seattle Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni. "Clearly it was a very difficult liturgy for the parishioners here at St Monica. He wanted to be here and present with them himself."

LOS ANGELES (CA)
KSBY

Associated Press - July 30, 2007 7:54 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles court commissioner has acknowledged talks are under way for a possible plea for a former LA Cathlic priest accused of child molestation.

Court Commissioner James Bianco ordered both sides to return to court on September seventh to disclose whether a deal is near for Michael Stephen Baker.

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old man who claims his life was ruined when he was sexually abused by Baker in a separate case made an obscene gesture when Baker entered the courtroom.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Union-Tribune

By Andrew Glazer
ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:29 p.m. July 30, 2007

LOS ANGELES – A man who claims his life was ruined when he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest raised his middle fingers in court Monday during a hearing where a judge said a plea deal was being discussed for the now-defrocked defendant in a separate case.

Superior Court Commissioner James Bianco acknowledged the talks and ordered both sides to return to court on Sept. 7 to disclose whether a deal was near for Michael Stephen Baker.

Baker, 60, has pleaded not guilty to one count each of oral copulation of a minor and sexual penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object, and three counts of sodomy of a minor.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
TortDeform

This L.A. Times article discusses the massive lawsuit against the L.A. Roman Catholic Church for the sexual abuse that has gone on for decades without much response from the church, despite countless reports of child molestation and sexual assault. An injury like this one is so personal, lasting, and sensitive that no court can ever fully make a victim whole. But one thing that taking their injuries to court has done for these particular victims is it has given them an opportunity to sit down and speak with the man who was charged with protecting the church and with listening to parishoners concerns. As settlement agreement details get ironed out, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who has headed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 1985, has invited plaintiffs to sit down and talk with him about what happened.

At least two victims took that opportunity to ask the Cardinal whether he thought he handled their reports of abuse as Jesus would have—in other words, whether he believed he fulfilled his obligation to the church. This is essentially the same as the fiduciary duty concept—the idea that if you’re charged with a special duty to protect but fail in that duty and directly cause another person’s harm, then you are legally responsible for that harm.

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

04:21 PM CDT on Monday, July 30, 2007
From Staff Reports

An Ursuline Academy of Dallas teacher has been arrested on an accusation of inappropriate relationship with a student, Dallas police said.

David B. Novinski, 35, turned himself into police Monday at Lew Sterrett Justice Center and has since posted bond, said his attorney David Finn.

Police received a report that a teacher had engaged in sexual contact with a 17-year-old student at the private Catholic all-girls school. A relationship allegedly began Feb. 10 and an offense report was filed last week, Dallas police said.

School administrators said they received a report of improper conduct in June and contacted the state child abuse hotline.

SEATTLE (WA)
NorthJersey

Sunday, July 29, 2007
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE -- Eight men, including five brothers from two families, have sued Seattle University and the Jesuit order, alleging sexual abuse by a Catholic priest who was named in a lawsuit that was settled last fall.

The latest case centering on the Rev. Michael Toulouse, a Jesuit priest who taught philosophy at the university from about 1950 until his death in 1976, was filed in King County Superior Court.

Plaintiffs allege that some senior priests in the order, including some who had worked at the school, knew Toulouse had molested minors. The plaintiffs contend the priests sometimes informed their superiors but did not act effectively to stop him.

TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star

2007-07-30
Stephanie Innes
After the local diocese emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005 I thought it was all over.

It nearly was.

Last week I reported on a criminal investigation that had opened, looking into alleged abuse by the Rev. Kevin Barmasse, and that led to today’s story about the monitoring of suspended priests like Barmasse who were never criminally convicted.

Why is it hard to write such stories? No one likes them and I struggle with the fact that our stories sometimes come across as being hard on the local diocese, which does great things each day.

In fact, our diocese was one of the first in the country to make public a list of clergy with credible accusations of sexual misconduct with a minor against them.

The problem really stems from practices more than 30 years ago that would never be accepted today – abusers moving around from diocese to diocese and leaders thinking they could be ‘cured.’

Daily Southtown

July 27, 2007
The Rev. Andrew Greeley Columnist

"How can the Pope say that the other denominations are defective when American Catholicism had to pay $2 billion because of predator priests?"

-- From an angry e-mail writer

Good question.

The media did not accurately convey what the Vatican was trying to say. Like everyone else in the curia, the media relations people simply do not make mistakes. Got it?

If American Catholics are embarrassed by these non-mistakes, the reasons are weak faith, secularism, materialism, consumerism, etc.

However, there is an aspect of the contretemps that is worth noting. One of the weaknesses of the other denominations, the Pope observes, is that they don't have apostolic succession -- they can't trace their leaders back to the apostles.

This continuity with the past indeed is important to Catholicism. Many bishops are proud of the link. I often wonder, however, if they realize with what kind of men they are claiming continuity?

TRINIDAD
Hardbeatnews

Hardbeatnews, PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, Mon. July 30, 2007: A rape charge against an 85-year-old Hindu religious leader has been dismissed by a Trinidad court after police claimed they could find no evidence to support the allegation.

Swami Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj of India had been accused and charged with the rape of a 22-year-old Guyanese woman in May. The charge made international headlines because of the popularity of the priest.

But on Friday, the charges were dismissed after police said the case was false.

MERCER ISLAND (WA)
Seattle Times

By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

The Rev. Dennis Kemp, pastor of St. Monica Roman Catholic Church on Mercer Island, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct with a minor.

The announcement was made during weekend Masses at St. Monica.

The allegations were reported earlier this month to the Seattle Archdiocese, which immediately contacted Mercer Island police, said archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni.

After a police investigation, the King County Prosecutor's Office determined no criminal charges would be filed.

MERCER ISLAND (WA)
The Bellingham Herald

AP State

MERCER ISLAND, Wash. -- A Roman Catholic priest on Mercer Island is on voluntary leave pending an investigation into his conduct with a minor. The action involving the Reverend Dennis Kemp, pastor of St. Monica Roman Catholic Church, was announced at weekend Masses. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Seattle, Greg Magnoni, says church officials learned of the issue this month.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Rebecca Trounson, Tami Abdollah and John Spano, Times Staff Writers
July 30, 2007

They arrived at the civil courthouse in downtown Los Angeles with their spouses, their parents, girlfriends or siblings. One group of childhood friends, now in their 50s, came together; as girls, they had been molested by the same priest.

Some sought an apology, others reconciliation. And some just hoped to vent their outrage and be heard, directly, by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who has headed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 1985.

"I wanted to speak on behalf of myself and others who couldn't do it for themselves," said Mark Gauer, 47, who said in a lawsuit he was sexually abused by a priest at his Catholic school, Los Angeles' Daniel Murphy High School.

CANADA
The Vancouver Sun

CanWest News Service
Published: Monday, July 30, 2007
Funeral services will be held in Vancouver Tuesday for former Prince George Catholic Bishop Hubert O'Connor.

O'Connor, who was convicted in 1996 of raping one native teenage girl and indecently assaulting another, died of a heart attack last week in Toronto. He was 79.

The funeral will be at St. Augustines's Parish. He will be buried in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Cemetery in Mission, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a news release.

UNITED STATES
Renew America

Matt C. Abbott
July 29, 2007

I must say, I got a bit of a kick out of a recent post on the blog of Commonweal:

'The Los Angeles abuse settlement continues to reverberate to a degree that surprises me. There were several powerful letters to the New York Times after their news story and editorial, including one from Anne & Ed Wilson of the VOTF chapter here in Brooklyn, and one from the venerable Msgr. Harry Byrne, who now has his own blog. But there was also a truly brilliant parody that apparently sought to find humor in this dark saga, and at the same time puncture many of the silly contentions and connections made by some advocates of a liturgical silver bullet for the crisis. The letter is from, of all people, the 'rite-wing' Catholic polemicist Matt Abbott. In full it reads:

'To the Editor:

'I am pleased that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has settled with more than 500 survivors of sexual abuse. The settlement is long overdue.

'Despite the moral corruption that has permeated the church in the United States over the last few decades, I still believe in the truths of the faith, and I applaud Pope Benedict XVI for loosening the restrictions on use of the traditional Latin Mass and for reiterating the church's central role in salvation.

ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star

By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.30.2007

Recent news about a decades-old local case of sexual abuse by a priest has victims' rights advocates asking why no one is monitoring clerics, including the Rev. Kevin Barmasse, who have been suspended but never prosecuted over child-abuse accusations.

Barmasse is one of 34 clerics and other church personnel, dating back to the 1950s, whom the local diocese has identified as having "credible allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor" against them.

He is also one of 15 clerics and other church personnel on the list who are still believed to be alive and are living freely without any monitoring by diocese or civil authorities.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

July 29, 2007

Catholic church: Two articles in the July 22 Opinion section about the recent settlement of abuse cases by the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles stated that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony is of Irish heritage. Mahony is of German and Italian heritage. His father was adopted as a boy by an Irish American family with the last name of Mahony. One of the articles, which focused on the role of the church in L.A. politics, also stated that the archdiocese was founded in 1840. A distinct archdiocese for the Los Angeles area was established in 1936.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling
Been thinking a lot about the origin of this “sex problem” in the church with the priests. Going back to the actual definition and origin of the words: priest, secret, and sacred.

Someone told me recently that one of the most revolutionary ideas delivered by Christ was: “We are all priests.” Instead of having to go through layers of human hierarchy and sacramental rites as in times BC, through Christ you just open your heart and talk directly to God. That democratization of religion was the main reason they crucified him.

So how did the Catholic Church end up with a structure that is almost the opposite of what it says to do in the New Testament?

The answer is: Don’t trust anything written about Christ after 100 AD.

IRELAND
One in Four

The Irish Times

A Government-commissioned review of the Catholic Church's Our Children, Our Church child protection guidelines, published in December 2005, has identified "some difficulties" with it.

These included "a certain lack of integration between Our Children, Our Church and the guidelines produced by different State organisations." It also said "the area dealing with abuse by persons outside the church requires some further development to bring it more in line with State guidelines". The review was prepared by Dr Helen Buckley of TCD's social studies department, who was also a member of the Ferns inquiry team.

She was appointed to review Our Children, Our Church by the then minister of State for children Brian Lenihan in March last year when it emerged the guidelines were not being implemented in Northern Ireland after it was established that it did not comply with child protection legislation there.

JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News

July 29, 2007
By Ken O'Brien STAFF WRITER
JOLIET -- When he was introduced last year to replace Bishop Joseph Imesch, Bishop J. Peter Sartain talked about healing the wounds of people who said that they had been sexually abused by priests.

Two months before Sartain moved to Joliet, the Diocese of Joliet released the names of 22 priests accused of sexually abusing children. Of those, six of the men were criminally convicted, 11 have been named in civil lawsuits and the others were announced in 2002 when they were removed from ministry.

Imesch became a lightning rod for how he handled the cases. Critics charged that he protected priests at the expense of children.

In the last year, Sartain said he has met with victims of priest sexual abuse in the diocese. He said those meetings "were gut-wrenching" and resulted in him praying for them "for healing in whatever way they need it."

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Defender

by Shurley Sterling
July 27, 2007

The historic 114-year-old Our Lady of the Westside will enter into the 2007-2008 school year with a new name and principal. The announcement was made during Sunday services, July 22. The Catholic powerhouse has been an anchor in the African-American community on the West side since the 1960s, and the new pastor, Rev. Larry Dowling, said he felt it was time for the school to move into a new direction. The new name of the school is St. Agatha Catholic Academy with two locations, 3151 W. Douglas Blvd., and 3900 W. Lexington St. the new principal is Charlemeine Zemelko, long time administrator over Edison Longwood Charter School. Dowling, 54, has been at the church for five months and replaced previous pastor Rev. Daniel Mccormac who left due to charges of child sexual abuse. He pleaded guilty in July and was sentenced four years in prison.

MARYLAND
ABC 2

Posted By: yianis fournelis

The deacon of a church in Edgewood, Harford County has been charged with sexually abusing two teen-age girls.

Investigators say Kevin Rondell Glenn made sexual advances toward the young women, and touched them inappropriately.

Glenn served as a deacon with the “Fountain of Life Fellowship Church” since it was founded eight years ago. The church helps at-risk children and provides services for a number of low-income people in the community. The church’s pastor, Tony McDonald, said he hopes the arrest of a trusted deacon won't end that mission.

VERMONT
Times Argus

July 29, 2007

By DENNIS O'BRIEN

The headlines in the July 1 edition of the Sunday Rutland Herald and Times Argus in connection with the sexual abuse cases involving the Catholic Diocese of Burlington were at best incomplete, if not misleading. "Records show Vermont church knew of sexual abuse cases." Given the current legal situation of the Diocese, one could well conclude "they knew about sexual abuse and did nothing." The case being discussed was that of Alfred Willis. If one read the full article, the charge of "doing nothing" was not, it seemed to me, well substantiated. A great deal was done from psychological counseling to suspension to final dismissal from the priesthood.

Lest there be any doubt about the failure of the diocese in his case, the editorial that appeared shortly afterwards in the Rutland Herald and The Times Argus spelled out the faults in then-Bishop Marshall's actions. The editorial reads as a brief for the prosecution, well-salted with the wisdom of hindsight. It is not the only construction of the events, and it omits several crucial facts that could be noted in defense of the bishop's actions.

The editorial paints a picture in which church officials knew of Willis' misconduct for years "since his days in the seminary" starting in 1972. According to the newspaper's own story, there were "allegations" against Willis of "homosexual conduct." The allegations from the seminary "failed to reveal substance." Was the diocese acting improperly in putting aside unsubstantiated allegations of homosexuality? In hindsight, one can trace a problem, but at the time, presumed innocence could well be seen as the right decision. (It is worth pointing out that "homosexual conduct" and "pedophilia" are by no means the same.)

ZIMBABWE
The Zimbabwean

Bulawayo
The authenticity of images purporting to show sex romps between Archbishop Pius Ncube and Rosemary Sibanda shown repeatedly on national television and in government newspapers last week is being questioned.
Ncube's lawyers believe the pictures were computer generated, as modern technology makes this simple and effective. Doctored pictures of Mugabe himself, such as the one above, have been doing the rounds on the internet for years.

ZIMBABWE
allAfrica

Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)

27 July 2007
Posted to the web 27 July 2007

CIVIC society organisations and human rights groups in Bulawayo this week joined hands with political parties to launch a coalition that will mobilise resources for Archbishop Pius Ncube who has been sued for adultery.

The civic groups convened a meeting in Bulawayo on Monday and committed themselves to defending and standing in solidarity with the archbishop until the conclusion of his $20 billion adultery case in the courts.

On Tuesday over 200 people who included leaders of 30 civic organisations thronged the City Hall in Bulawayo to launch the Archbishop Pius Ncube Solidarity Coalition.

ZIMBABWE
allAfrica

The Herald (Harare)

28 July 2007
Posted to the web 28 July 2007

Bulawayo

Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, the head of the Church in Bulawayo facing a $20 billion lawsuit for alleged adultery, this week inched closer to a dramatic court battle.

Mr Munyaradzi Nzarayapenga, a lawyer representing Mr Onesimus Sibanda -- the Bulawayo man suing Archbishop Ncube -- on Thursday furnished the High Court with specific details pertaining to the allegations levelled against the archbishop.

This was in response to last Wednesday's formal request by the archbishop's lawyer, Advocate Nicholas Mathonsi, for further particulars of the claim.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Jordan Falls News

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - They were best friends, the kind who shared everything but their darkest secret: sexual abuse at the hands of the same Roman Catholic priest.

Yet that money will never undo the guilt that comes with silence. It will never replace the innocence the three teens shared before a new and terrible bond brought them even closer together.

The Associated Press does not normally identify victims of sexual abuse, but in this case the three men agreed to have their names released.

When the Rev. Kevin Barmasse first showed up at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Tucson in 1985, the kids loved him. Barmasse was "on loan" from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, but he seemed to fit right into their world.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Washington Post

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
Saturday, July 28, 2007; 2:02 PM

SAN DIEGO -- The maintenance trailer outside St. Joachim's Elementary School in Costa Mesa looked harmless from the outside, but once the door slammed shut it was hell on earth for Joe and Paul Livingston.

Lured with doughnuts, candy and games of checkers, the boys were repeatedly molested over several years by the church janitor who lived inside.

The Livingstons, now in their early 40s, are among a handful of the 508 sexual abuse victims who reached a $660 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles last week who were not assaulted by Roman Catholic priests.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
Mercury News

By ALLISON HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 07/26/2007 03:24:32 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO—A parishioners' group claiming to represent more than 1 million Catholics asked a federal bankruptcy judge Thursday to prevent churches, schools and charitable missions from being closed or sold to settle sex-abuse allegations against the San Diego diocese.

"We believe sincerely and deeply in our hearts, as Catholics, that if a settlement reduced the ability of the church to educate its children or to do its charitable work, that would be unjust," said Patrick Hazel, president of Parishioners for Churches and Schools. "The parishioners who provided donations had no knowledge of the abuse, didn't condone it, didn't authorize it. They are innocent."

The group wants to join a trial set for this fall in bankruptcy court that will determine whether parish properties can be seized or liquidated through the diocese in any settlement.

DAVENPORT (IA)
The Catholic Messenger

A series of recommendations on parish financial governance have been reviewed and supported as “best practices” by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Budget and Finance.
The bishops’ Accounting Practices Committee made the recommendations following widely publicized financial scandals in the Catholic Church and a national study that concluded a need for tighter internal controls over finances. The Accounting Practices Committee, a group of lay financial experts, represents the Catholic Church before regulatory bodies in the formulation of accounting principles and reporting standards that would affect the church.

DAVENPORT (IA)
The Catholic Messenger

By Frank Wessling

The scandal of sex abuse by priests hasn’t made American Catholics abandon the church. We’ve been shocked, shaken and stirred to pity for victims, but few of us think that bad behavior by some priests and questionable action by some bishops completely ruin our spiritual home. Our faith and hope are still fed here. New surveys confirm this.
But how long must we live half-focused on the past?
As a community we’ve lived with this scandal in the background of our awareness for more than five years now, ever since it exploded with revelations in the Boston Archdiocese. Stories of abuse had come up now and then in earlier years, but after Boston in 2002 a rolling horror of stories surfaced across the country, followed by a rush to reform in the church and to the courts by victims. Here in the Davenport Diocese the pressure from victims and their lawyers for monetary compensation became so intense and open-ended that the bishop felt he had to declare bankruptcy before all Catholic physical assets were in jeopardy.

DAVENPORT (IA)
Gazette

By Gregg Hennigan
The Gazette
gregg.hennigan@gazettecommunications.com

The official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport said in an editorial published Thursday that its sympathy for people abused by priests was "strained'' by the lawsuits filed by those alleged victims.

"Repairing the past is essential work, but if it comes at a cost of depleting resources for the future, we the people of the church and our local communities are the ones hurt,'' the editorial in The Catholic Messenger states.

Bishop Martin Amos is the publisher of the weekly newspaper, and its editorials are intended to reflect the views of the diocese, editor Barb Arland-Fye said.

UNITED STATES
U.S. Catholic

Robert J. McClory

The priest sex abuse crisis is the U.S. Catholic Church’s Iraq War. The comparisons are hard to miss: the mounting list of casualties, the ever-increasing cost, the reluctance of leadership to admit mistakes, the ill-advised strategic moves, the obsession to conceal documents lest the truth come out, the loss of confidence by the public in the top decision-makers, the powerlessness of ordinary citizens to have their voice heard, and the growing conviction on the part of many that it will never end.

It was in the spring of 2003 when President George W. Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and under a banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished,” announced, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.” Nine months later Bishop Wilton Gregory, then president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, held up two volumes on the history and proposed solution to the abuse crisis, and told reporters, “The terrible history recorded here is history.” He assured everyone that no stone had been left unturned to stop that scandal and that no known offenders were still at large.

But the fog of war has enshrouded both these campaigns. It has been five years since the bishops met in Dallas and agreed on a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, the National Review Board to monitor the effort, and an office to assess progress. Still the battle occupies the news almost daily with new revelations and accusations, new court filings, new charges of deceit and cover-up, new TV specials. Catholics look on with a wide spectrum of attitudes including outrage, patient endurance, despair, and even confident hope.

Joseph Lynaugh, a retired HMO executive from New Jersey, says this sort of crisis is inevitable in a closed society. “The big problem here is a complete lack of accountability and transparency. And I don’t think anything significant is going to happen. When I look to the prospects for the next generation of Catholics, my prognosis is grim.”

MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun

By Rona Marech | sun reporter
July 27, 2007

A convicted pastor's tearful plea for leniency, impassioned testimony about his character and a courtroom jammed with supporters failed to sway a Howard County Circuit Court judge, who sentenced the religious leader yesterday to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a teenage boy who said he once viewed the man as a father figure.

As Gerald Fitroy Griffith, 41, was led away in handcuffs, some supporters from Redemption Christian Fellowship Church in Woodlawn who had been quietly crying and sniffling broke into wails and sobs, and one thrashing man was restrained by companions. The screaming and crying continued as the pastor's supporters, who had filled two buses and could not all fit into the courtroom, filed out of the courthouse and onto the parking lot.

Under the terms of the sentence imposed by Judge Diane O. Leasure, Griffith also is to serve five years of supervised probation upon his release, register as a child sexual offender and undergo a psychosexual evaluation and follow-up treatment. He cannot have contact with the victim or spend unsupervised time with any child younger than 18.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Ann O'Loughlin
Saturday July 28 2007

A FIRM of solicitors has won its legal bid to overturn a Law Society committee's determination that it overcharged two abuse victims.

The Law Society said the firm had overcharged when it processed their claims before the Residential Institutions Redress Board.

High Court judge Mr Justice Liam McKechnie yesterday upheld the Cork firm's claim that Consumer Affairs director Carmel Foley's remarks about the complaints in October 2005 gave an appearance of bias.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal

By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

An advocate for victims of sexual abuse is calling on new Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz to urge those who may have been sexually abused by priests to come forward for help.

Ann Brentwood, southeast regional director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), will hold a press conference today outside the archdiocese’s headquarters asking Kurtz to help prosecutors in the upcoming retrial of Daniel C. Clark, a former priest whose sexual-abuse conviction in Bullitt County was overturned earlier this year by the Supreme Court of Kentucky.

She plans to deliver a letter calling on the archbishop to release the names of all offending clergy — those from the Archdiocese of Louisville and those from other dioceses who have spent time here.

NEW LEXINGTON (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch

Friday, July 27, 2007 3:37 AM

DISPATCH STATE SERVICE
NEW LEXINGTON, Ohio -- A Perry County church-camp counselor testified in court yesterday that he walked into a cabin to find another counselor, Timothy Stephen Keil, lying on a bunk bed caressing a young boy who was face to face on top of him.

The boy's shirt was up and his shorts were down, and Keil was caressing his back and buttocks, counselor John Gornall testified in Perry County Court.

"I removed the child. I told Tim to get his stuff, get out and don't come back," Gornall said. The boy was "petrified," he said.

A short time later, he said, the staff at Scioto Youth Camp called the county sheriff and Children Services.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
The Connecticut Post

MICHAEL P. MAYKO mmayko@ctpost.com

BRIDGEPORT — A judge's ruling in a case involving a prominent Fairfield County defense lawyer accused of destroying a client's computer containing child pornography could affect the way lawyers deal with their clients in the future.
At least that's what several dozen members of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association believe.

So on Friday, they packed Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas' courtroom in a show of support for a motion to dismiss an obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence charge against Philip D. Russell, 48, of Stamford Road, Stamford.

After hearing nearly two hours of argument, Nevas reserved decision on the motion, choosing, instead, to set a Sept. 6 jury selection date for Russell's trial.

Michael Fitzpatrick, a past president of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said the issue before Nevas "transcends this case."

"What happens here will affect the way all lawyers handle client problems," he said. "If the judge resolves this case in favor of the government, it means from that day forward lawyers are going to be walking around on pins and needles." Russell is accused of destroying the child-pornography-filled computer belonging to the music director of Christ Church in Greenwich, where President George H.W. Bush and members of his family worshipped.

HARFORD COUNTY (MD)
WJZ

Mike Hellgren
Reporting

(WJZ) HARFORD COUNTY, Md. A Harford County deacon faces serious charges as he is facing sexual abuse allegations.

Kevin Glenn, 50, was arrested Thursday morning. Prosecutors claim he sexually abused two teenage girls for more than two years.

Glenn is a deacon at the Fountain of Life Fellowship Church in Edgewood.

Prosecutors say Glenn inappropriately touched the girls, ages 13 and 17, and made other sexual advances towards them.

ELLICOTT CITY (MD)
WMDT

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) -

The pastor of a Woodlawn church has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing a boy.

Forty-one-year-old Gerald Griffith of Bowie was convicted in May of two counts of child sexual abuse and was sentenced yesterday in Howard County Circuit Court.

Griffith was a pastor at Redemption Christian Fellowship Church.