Abuse Tracker

MEXICO CITY
IPS

By Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Jan 31 (IPS) - Marcial Maciel, the founder of the influential conservative Catholic order Legionaries of Christ, "took with him to the grave secrets and guilt for which he never asked forgiveness," said activist Joaquín Aguilar, referring to the numerous accusations of pedophilia faced by the Mexican priest, who died in the United States.

"It’s a pity that he was never held accountable by the justice system," Aguilar, the Mexico director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), told IPS.

In a statement on its web site Thursday, the Legionaries of Christ reported that Maciel, who was born in the Mexican state of Michoacán in 1920, died in the United States, but did not provide further details.

MEXICO CITY
REUTERS

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican founder of an ultra-conservative Catholic movement who was accused of child abuse and sanctioned by the Vatican has died aged 87, his Legionaries of Christ group said on Thursday.

Marcial Maciel died of natural causes in the United States on Wednesday, the Legionaries said on their Web site. Maciel founded the group in 1941 and it now operates in 40 countries.

Pope Benedict ordered Maciel to retire to a life of "prayer and penitence" in 2006 after years of allegations that he had sexually abused boys and young men.

MEXICO CITY
EARTHTIMES

Mexico City - Father Marcial Maciel, the controversial founder of the Catholic congregation known as the Legion of Christ, has died at age 87. Maciel died of natural causes on Wednesday in the United States, where he had lived in retirement, Alvaro Corcuera, the Legion's director general, said Thursday on the congregation's website.

For decades, Maciel - who was close to the late Pope John Paul II - fought accusations of sexual abuse against priests, former seminarians and former students.

Following a lengthy internal investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the church asked him to retire from public life in May 2006. The Legion always maintained its leader was innocent.

VATICAN CITY
ABC NEWS

By MADDY SAUER
Jan. 31, 2008

A well-connected Vatican insider who was accused of molesting young priests in training has died. Father Marcial Maciel never faced a trial nor was he punished by the Vatican despite the fact the church had asked him to stop all public ministry appearances.

A number of former priests had told Vatican investigators they were abused by Father Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, a small but wealthy Catholic order that operates in United States and 25 other countries.

The allegations were presented to Pope Benedict XVI in 1998 when he was a cardinal. Some of the accusers said then-Cardinal Ratzinger attempted to cover up the case because of Maciel's prominence and close relationship with Pope John Paul II.

ROME
ZENIT

[With background links, including the text of the statement disciplining Maciel.]

ROME, JAN. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ and the Catholic lay Regnum Christi movement, died Wednesday at age 87.

A communiqué from the Legionaries of Christ reported that Father Maciel died in the United States and that he had "communicated to Father Álvaro Corcuera, general director of the congregation, his desire that the funeral be celebrated in a climate of prayer, in a simple and private way."

"The Legionaries of Christ and the members of the Regnum Christi movement announce with sorrow the loss of their dear father founder who was the instrument of God in beginning this work at the service of the Church and society," the note added.

MEXICO
SPERO NEWS

By Martin Barillas

Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, died on January 30. In an official statement, Rev. Alvaro Corcuera - the current General Director of the Legionaries - said that Rev. Maciel went to heaven. The funeral for Maciel will take place in his hometown of Cotija in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, but a date has not been set.

Legionaries of Christ
Regnum Christi

Father Álvaro Corcuera, General Director, together with the Legionaries of Christ
and the members of the Regnum Christi Movement
announce the departure of their beloved founder, Father
MARCIAL MACIEL, LC
to heaven on January 30, 2008,
and express their deep gratitude to all those who wish to unite in prayer
for the eternal repose of his soul.

VATICAN CITY
PR-inside

2008-01-31 18:57:52 -

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Rev. Marcial Maciel, the most prominent Roman Catholic official to be disciplined by the Vatican for alleged involvement in child sex abuse, has died, the conservative order he founded said Thursday.
The 87-year-old Mexican priest died on Wednesday in the United States of natural causes, said a statement on the web site of the Legionaries of Christ. The order was a favorite of the late Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican spent eight years investigating allegations against Maciel made by former seminarians, and in 2006 _ a year after the election of Pope Benedict XVI _ it asked him to conduct «a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry,» meaning he could not celebrate Mass in public and was a priest in name only.

DENVER (CO)
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY

Denver, Jan 31, 2008 / 12:36 pm (CNA).- Father Álvaro Corcuera, General Director of the Legionaries of Christ, announced today that their Founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, has died in the United States at the age 87 from natural causes.

In the official statement, Fr. Corcuera announced "the departure of their beloved founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado to heaven on January 30,” as well as the Legionaries “deep gratitude to all those who wish to unite in prayer for the eternal repose of his soul".

By the will of Father Maciel, the funeral will be celebrated privately, "in an atmosphere of prayer and simplicity in his hometown, Cotija, in the state of Michoacán, Mexico."
Fr. Marcial Maciel was born in Cotija de la Paz, Mexico on March 10, 1920.

VATICAN CITY
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Rev. Marcial Maciel, a Mexican priest who founded the Legionaries of Christ religious order and was disciplined by Pope Benedict XVI after sex abuse allegations, has died in the United States, his order said Thursday. He was 87.

Maciel died Wednesday of natural causes, the conservative religious order said on its Web site. It did not say exactly where he died.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
THE SACRAMENTO BEE

By Dorothy Korber

Aiming to quell gossip that has upset students and parents, the president of Jesuit High School in Carmichael on Monday addressed campus rumors involving the school's principal, the Rev. Edward Fassett.

President Greg Bonfiglio, who heads the exclusive Catholic boys school, said the rumors stem from a photograph Fassett inadvertently displayed to faculty and staff in October -- an incident that was handled at the time. Bonfiglio emphasized that Fassett has not resigned and has not been dismissed, contrary to stories that had Jesuit students buzzing last week.

. . .

During an Oct. 23 meeting with a dozen faculty and staff members, Fassett booted up his laptop computer and the screen displayed a photograph attached to an e-mail sent to him by someone else, according to Bonfiglio.

The photo depicted a nude man in a pose reminiscent of Michelangelo's David, recalled David Novak, a Jesuit High assistant principal.

ITALY
IL GAZZETTINO

S. Giustina in Colle
(V.M.) Quattro amici al bar! Così si è trasformata la serata di don Sante Sguotti a S. Giustina, dopo due giorni di autentico boicottaggio alla calata dell'ex-parroco nell'Alta Padovana. In mattinata gli organizzatori avevano deciso di annullare l'incontro, ma l'ex-sacerdote si è lo stesso presentato all'appuntamento con un seguito di una decina di fedelissimi. Molto pochi i locali: solo una decina, più che altro per curiosare sul personaggio, anche se qualcuno ha ribadito che "il diritto di parola, non può essere negato a nessuno".

[translation]

AND AT S. GIUSTINA IN COLLE
Four friends..... in the coffee shop around the corner

(V.M) Four friends at a coffee shop ! That was how it came to be the evening of Rev. Sante Sguotti at S. Giustina after two days of authentic boycott against the visit of the former parish priest coming from North of Padua. In the morning the organizers decided to cancel the meeting, but the former priest went to the appointment with about ten of very faithful followers. A small number, an additional ten, were the local people who were present mostly out of curiosity for the personage, even if someone just reaffirmed "the right of speech can't be denied to anybody".

Having been the doors of the town's hall locked, the debate was rerouted to a small room of a nearby coffee shop, transforming into a meeting among friends. The Rev. Sante, as usual, stated again his convictions and spoke about the necessity the ecclesiastical hierarchies open a debate for those cases in which a priest falls in love. He cited the episode of a friend of his, almost his same age, who had performed his duty in a nearby parish at S. Giustina, and that once he had confessed his love for a woman he was rejected and discriminated, as if he were an outcast.

LOUISVILLE (KY)
ASSOCIATED PRESS

[A more complete version of an article blogged previously.]

By Brett Barrouquere

About 240 people have now been awarded more than $79 million in a class-action settlement between victims of sexual abuse at the hands of church officials and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Northern Kentucky.

Two special masters in the case reviewed claims from 400 people. A statement Monday from plaintiffs' attorney Stan Chesley said the special masters approved 243 and rejected 157 claims, with 100 of those rejections being appealed to a judge.

The settlement, reached in February 2006, is between the Covington Diocese and more than 350 people who said they were abused by priests and diocese employees since the 1950s in 57 counties across a large swath of Kentucky.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
METROPOLITAN NEWS-ENTERPRISE

By Steven M. Ellis

Suits against a religious order of the Catholic church by two men who claim that they were sexually molested by a priest while minors is barred by the statute of limitations because the men cannot show that the order had prior knowledge of similar conduct by the priest, this district’s Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.

Rejecting the men’s argument that the Salesian Society’s lack of records regarding allegations of abuse against the priest and other clergy members raised an inference that the society received such allegations but failed to document them, Div. Eight affirmed a trial court ruling that the men’s claims were barred under Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 340.1 because they could not establish that the society knew or had reason to know that the priest molested other children prior to the alleged incidents.

The men, identified as Gil Doe and Richard Doe, alleged that Richard Presenti, one of the society’s priests, abused them in 1962 and 1972, respectively, while they were attending the society’s Boy’s Camp in Middletown, just north of Santa Rosa. Their suits, brought in different counties, were made part of a coordination proceeding and assigned to Alameda Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

[Includes links to previous articles, an archive of coverage, and the Milwaukee archdiocese website.]

By Tom Heinen

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is facing a $3 million deficit in its current budget and will need to make substantial cuts in staffing and services for the fiscal year that begins July 1, partly because a deal to sell the Cousins Center fell through, an archdiocesan spokesman said Wednesday.

Money from that sale was to have been used to pay off a loan the archdiocese incurred to cover about $4.6 million of its $8.25 million portion of a nearly $17 million settlement of 10 sexual abuse lawsuits in California in 2006. Depending on the sale price, more than half of the money would be used for that, with the remainder available for other needs.

Archdiocesan officials have not identified who the expected buyer was. However, hedge fund operator Stark Investments had been interested in buying the property and announced last week it was buying other land instead.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
NORTHERN LIFE

[Includes video]

By Laurel Myers

Father Rene Hebert was a priest at L’Annonciation parish in Sudbury and enjoyed working with the youth, so much so that he took the boys on camping trips. But these trips weren’t about singing around the campfire and honing the boys’ outdoors skills. Hebert fed the boys alcohol and took advantage of their innocence.

R. D. Sabourin was a victim of the priest’s deviance. Fifteen at the time of the sexual abuse, Sabourin walked roughly a dozen miles out of the bush one night to get away from a man he trusted, to inform his parents.

A meeting was held with the Bishop, assurances were given and prayers were encouraged, but nothing ended up happening to Father Hebert.

CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES
CEBU DAILY NEWS

By Bernadette Parco

Two Cebu diocesan priests who were involved in separate sexual misconduct cases in the past will resume their duties together in a different parish.

Fr. Oscar Ornopia and Fr. Joey Belciña are part of a new six-member team ministry in Minglanilla town.

Before returning to active duty, both priests “underwent a process of spirituality,” according to Msgr. Esteban Binghay, episcopal vicar.

UNITED STATES
Patrick J. Wall
Clergy Abuse and the Catholic Church

More than a month ago, Sister Sheila McNiff of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus published a Los Angeles Times Op-Ed piece claiming that the clerical sexual abuse problems in Los Angeles have come to an end.

I do not blame her for attempting to close the door on an ugly decades-old chapter of the Archdiocese’s history - she was just doing her job. Those of us who have worked for the Roman Church were all taught to protect the Bishop. And that is exactly what she is doing.

The op-ed’s chart and accompanying text do the “numerator/denominator shuffle” by portraying the state of the local church as one with new procedures that have miraculously stopped bishops, priests, and deacons in the archdiocese from sexually abusing minors and vulnerable adults.

That is simply not the case. The truth is actually much scarier: only the simple criminals have been caught. The craftier clerical pedophiles and ephebophiles remain. Or better put: how can a couple of rules stop a 2000-year SECRET history of sexual abuse? The church (under the rule of the Pope) has been secretive for its entire history - how can one Cardinal change it? More importantly, why would he want to?

ITALY
IL GAZZETTINO

Abano Terme
Altri dieci giorni e per don Sante Sguotti la situazione potrebbe peggiorare. Respinto il ricorso presentato dal prete papà per ottenere la sua riammissione nella parrocchia di Monterosso la Congregazione per il Clero ha confermato le decisioni assunte dal vescovo Antonio Mattiazzo.

[translation]

In ten days.......

In ten more days and for the Rev. Sante Sguotti the situation could get even worse. Rejected the appeal presented by the "priest father" to be reinstated in his parish of Monterosso, the Congregation for the Clergy confirmed the decisions taken by bishop Antonio Mattiazzo. But the "priest father" had already taken that decision for granted. The real lightning in a clear sky is the request advanced by the clergy: within ten days the Rev. Sante, in order to remain in the catholic church, must convert, that means in simple words to continue to support (economically) his son but stop his relationship with the woman he loves, Tamara Vecil. In case of refusal he'll be reduced to the lay state. That means if the Rev. Sante will decide not to abandon his lover he'll have to renounce to being a "Reverend" and face all the consequences. Not only that. Just in these days reliable sources confirmed that some women faithful pressured Tamara Vecil to leave Rev. Sante Sguotti. "Converting? Just in the next ten days will occur Ash Wednesday - he explained with his usual irony - I'll go and receive the ashes from the Rev. Giovanni Brusegan, if he'll be able to convert me I'll say good-by to my family otherwise I'll continue along my path".

But another expiring date could keep the rebel priest of Monterosso sleepless. Within 30 days he must decide if he wants to present an appea against the decisions taken by bishop Antonio Mattiazzo at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature. "It was clear my appeal would be rejected - explained Rev. Sante - but that forced the Church to read all my speeches, watch all my TV appearances and for that I feel some satisfaction. Besides the same Congregation for the Clergy confirmed the bishop behaved very harshly with me". The sentence, issued within a very surprising short period, only after the Rev. Sante's confession during the "Buona Domenica" TV talk show, according to the "priest father" showed that when the procedure against him was opened bishop Antonio Mattiazzo had no concrete evidence against him. Meanwhile the town of Santa Giustina in Colle changed its decision and denied the priest the possibility to have a debate in the town hall.

Riccardo Bastianello

ITALY
IL GAZZETTINO

(V.M.) "E' una sconfitta per la democrazia e la libertà di pensiero: non potevamo immaginare che un dibattito pubblico con una persona anche scomoda come l'ex-parroco di Monterosso, don Sante Sguotti , potesse scatenare una tale contrapposizione in paese".

[translation]

(V.M.) "It's a defeat of democracy and freedom of thought: we couldn't imagine that a public debate with a person even if not so much orthodox as the former parish priest of Monterosso, Rev. Sante Sguotti, could unchain such a turmoil in the town". That is concisely the thought of the organizers of the meeting on "celibacy and marriage in the catholic church of the third millennium", which featured as a guest the former Paduan priest and that was cancelled even if the former parish priest was present in the town anyway. And the debate, instead of being held in town's hall as scheduled, took place instead in an adjacent coffee shop, attended by about thirty people.

Meanwhile, in the past two days, the organizers received anonymous telephone calls and cards full of invectives. Against the initiative were lined up some town administrators and councilmen, notwithstanding mayor Federico Zanchin had given his placet.

Evidently the personage Rev. Sante Sguotti doesn't get the sympathy of the "ultra catholics" and therefore to avoid further divisions it was decided to cancel the appointment. It's however likely that in the end that unexpected and forced epilogue won't be devoid of consequences.

SACRAMENTO (CA)
THE SACRAMENTO BEE

A victims rights group has criticized the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento for waiting six months to disclose that a priest had been accused of sexual molestation.

Leaders of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said Tuesday that church officials were "extraordinarily reckless to keep a child-abuse allegation secret for that long."

David Clohessy, national director of the victims support group, called the delay "an egregious violation of the bishops' promise to openly and promptly suspend priests credibly accused."

Church officials announced Monday that the Rev. Francisco Hernandez-Tover, 59, was removed from ministry this week after investigation of a complaint that he had molested a teenage boy in the 1980s at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Colusa.

LONDON, ONTARIO (CA)
LEDROIT BECKETT

By Robert P.M. Talach
January 29, 2008

[This statement was read by Talach at a press conference in Sudbury, Ontario. Survivors also spoke at the press conference. For video excerpts, see Ending the silence: Plaintiffs detail years of abuse by priests. See also Family support has been key for victims.]

We are here today to expose the crimes of six men, six priests, six predators who have violated the very essence of what they represented. Rather then being a force of good they descended into evil. And it is their own victims who following decades of struggling with the impact of that evil have found the strength to come here today to set the record straight.

They come to you, the media and the public for three main reasons.

First, this conference is intended to empower them and other victims like them. It is to send a message that they are not alone. They wish others to not despair for where there are forces of evil there are forces of good.

Secondly, they seek assistance in proving the ugly truth which they all know to well. Few crimes of this nature transpire without others knowing, suspecting or even experiencing them. It is those others who these victims reach out to today. They need their help in letting the truth be told.

Thirdly, they want positive change for the future. They demand that the light of day illuminate the problem of childhood sexual abuse. For many it is a taboo subject, especially in cases such as theirs. But it is only through exposure that this plague can be identified and confronted. In cases involving clergy there is an extra level of disbelief and denial which must be overcome. Today is a step in that direction.

The above objectives though cannot be achieved by remaining in the abstract so let me outline the tragedies which these individuals have experienced. I will do so chronologically so that you can appreciate both the duration and depth of what we are dealing with.

In 1956, Greg O'Connor was a keen Grade 9 student at Scollard Hall in North Bay. He was younger and smaller then his colleagues because he had skipped a grade in elementary school. His academic prowess quickly faded after he caught the eye of Father Magnus J. Fedy. Fedy was serving in the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie but was a Religious Order priest from the Congregation of the Resurrection in Ontario, which is based out of Waterloo. Over the course of three school years Fedy abused Greg. The abuse took place in Fedy's quarters and involved fondling, masturbation and anal penetration. Greg eventually dropped out and the abuse ended but the impact has been with him ever since.

At the same time that Greg's abuse commenced Thomas Miller who lived beside Scollard Hall meet another member of Scollard Hall's staff. Father Victor Killoran was also a member of the Congregation of the Resurrection. Though not a student, Thomas frequented the school grounds and Killoran quickly provided Thomas with treats such as access to the gym, the showers and the roof. But such admission had a sinister price tag, which eventually consisted of fondling, masturbation, oral sex and anal penetration. The abuse lasted almost four years.

SPOKANE (WA)
THE SPOKESMAN REVIEW

[A reposting by the Spokesman review, identical to a previous post, except that this version includes a photo of O'Donnell and a summary at the top of the article. Both versions also include a link to the Spokesman Review's comprehensive coverage of the crisis and bankruptcy in Spokane.]

By John Stucke

* With ex-priest Patrick O'Donnell as their neighbor, La Conner residents are frustrated with the system – and angry they didn't know about his history of sex abuse.

La Conner, Wash. -- In this idyllic town nestled near the Puget Sound and surrounded by tulip fields, residents of the Shelter Bay neighborhood are in an uproar: They have inherited a Spokane problem that has left them in disbelief.

Patrick G. O'Donnell, a former priest in the Spokane Catholic Diocese and notorious pedophile who has admitted to molesting dozens of teenage boys over three decades, has lived quietly among them for the past four years.

Now 65, O'Donnell smiles and says hello to the children playing in front yards or walking along the street and lives in a house with pleasant views of a community park and playground.

WALTHAM (MA)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

A huge repository of documents outside Boston is becoming an online destination for lawyers and historians studying the sex scandals in the Catholic Church.

The office of bishopaccountability.org in Waltham holds tons of documents pertaining to the investigations and allegations against priests accused of sexual abuse.

The Boston Globe said Tuesday [see Vast archive on abuse aids victims, scholars] that the operators of the site want to make it a "go-to" Web destination for historians and for the release of new documents in the sprawling scandal.

CHESTERTOWN (NY)
THE NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE

Queensbury—More accusations of sexual abuse by a priest allegedly occurring more than a quarter century ago when he was assigned to churches in Queensbury and Glens Falls surfaced this week when four more men pointed their fingers.

The Rev. Gary Mercure who currently serves as the pastor of Sacred Heart and St. Williams Churches in Troy was placed on a paid leave of absence earlier this month when allegations of sexual misconduct involving a teenage boy were made when Mercure served as associate pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish in Queensbury during the 1980s.

Four more men came forward this week to accuse Mercure of sexual misconduct more than 25 years ago. During a news conference conducted by SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Michael Flynn of Clifton Park and Lake George, accused Mercure of engaging in sexual misconduct when Mercure was assigned to St. Teresa of Avila Church of Albany during the 1970s as did another man who did not want to be identified.

MARYSVILLE (CA)
APPEAL DEMOCRAT

By Howard Yune

A former Catholic priest in the Mid-Valley has been stripped of his title after allegations he sexually abused a 13-year-old boy in Colusa more than 20 years ago.

Bishop William Weigand of the Diocese of Sacramento on Monday announced the penalty against The Rev. Francisco Hernandez-Tovar, who served at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Colusa from 1986 to 1988.

"He'll never work as a priest and he'll never minister again," Kevin Eckery, a diocese spokesman, said Tuesday. The 59-year-old Hernandez-Tovar, a priest for 27 years, is not allowed to work for any diocese in any capacity and cannot draw a salary.

SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

By Bob Egelko

A state appeals court rejected a lawsuit Tuesday by two Bay Area men who said a clergyman molested them in 1962 and 1972 at a Sonoma County camp run by a Catholic order, which responded to their complaints by giving the clergyman two promotions.

The Second District Court of Appeal said the two men, identified only as Richard and Gil Doe, had presented no evidence that the Salesian Society knew Father Richard Presenti posed a risk of sexual misconduct before he allegedly molested them.

A California law gave victims of childhood sexual abuse that occurred many years earlier a one-year period, in 2003, to file civil suits against churches and other institutions that employed the molesters. Plaintiffs had to be able to prove the institution knew of the employee's illegal conduct and failed to take protective measures.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA (CANADA)
TIMES COLONIST

By Rob Shaw

Former Ontario police officer Perry Dunlop, who is the subject of an arrest warrant for refusing to testify at a sex abuse inquiry, says he won't run from police and will await arrest at his Vancouver Island home.

"I don't run from fights," he said in an interview yesterday. "I never have ... I guess I wait until they come and get me."

An Ontario court issued a warrant for Dunlop's arrest earlier this week after he disobeyed a court order to appear before a public inquiry into sexual abuse allegations he first helped investigate in Cornwall, Ont., in the 1990s. Dunlop said he has lost faith in the legal system and won't participate in the inquiry.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE SUDBURY STAR

By Carol Mulligan

We will never know the full story behind claims of sexual abuse against Roman Catholic clergy and the people who make them, says Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe.

Plouffe isn't denying there have been instances of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, but they are hard to prove when the priests named in lawsuits are dead.

"Let's put it this way: 'They've taken it to their grave,' " said Plouffe on Monday in a 55-minute interview with The Sudbury Star.

Plouffe was responding to a news conference held hours earlier at which seven lawsuits against Roman Catholic dioceses and a religious order of priests were announced by Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers of London, Ont.

TORONTO, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE GLOBE AND MAIL

By Bill Curry

Ottawa, Ontario - Catholic bishops pledged their support yesterday for a truth commission on Indian residential schools, saying Catholics will speak publicly at the hearings to “balance” the official history of what happened for decades behind closed doors.

Participation from the Catholic Church, which ran about 70 per cent of the schools jointly with the federal government, was far from certain until now.

Sylvain Lavoie, the Archbishop of the Keewatin-Le Pas diocese spanning northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, said the public will learn that abused students were not the only victims in the federal schools policy that lasted more than 100 years.

ALBANY (NY)
WXXA-DT/TV, FOX 23

By Kristin Lowman

Father Gary Mercure, pastor of both Sacred Heart and St. William's Parishes in Troy, was granted a leave of absence last week while being investigated by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

The leave of absence stems from an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a minor. The allegation dates back to the mid-1980's when Father Mercure was Associate Pastor of Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish in Queensbury.

Today, at a press conference organized by Snap, The Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, four more men announced Father Mercure abused them.

CINCINNATI (OH)
KYPOST.COM

By the Associated Press and Bob White

About 240 people have now been paid more than $79 million in a class-action settlement between victims of sexual abuse at the hands of church officials and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Northern Kentucky.

Two special masters in the case reviewed claims from 400 people. A statement Monday from plaintiffs' attorneys says the special masters approved 243 and rejected 157 claims, with 100 of those rejections being appealed to a judge.

The settlement is between the diocese and more than 350 people abused by priests and diocese employees since the 1950s in 57 counties across a large swath of Kentucky.

JOHANNESBURG (SOUTH AFRICA)
THE MAIL & GUARDIAN

By Pearlie Joubert

Joannesburg, South Africa - A Catholic priest who brought a defamation suit against a family which charged him with sexual misconduct involving their daughter, has withdrawn his case.

In addition to charges of inappropriately touching girls, teenagers and women, 63-year-old Father Bernard van der Hulst, of the Fish Hoek parish, also frequents the Grand West casino so often that he qualified for a “Most Valued Guest” gold card. He has also been seen in the adult section of his local video shop reportedly hiring pornographic videos.

Van der Hulst was allegedly under police investigation on at least seven charges of sexual misconduct involving young girls in Pretoria when the church transferred him to Fish Hoek about 20 years ago. A few years later, at least four more charges were laid with the police in Fish Hoek.

CINCINNATI (OH)
WCPO-9, ABC-TV

By Jenell Walton

A few years ago, there was a lot of talk about whether or not there would be enough priests to serve all of the Catholic parishes in Greater Cincinnati and across the country.

However, the head of the Cincinnati Archdiocese's Vocations office said recruitment for Seminarians is up.

Recruiting Catholic priests is a top priority for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

In fact, the Archdiocese formed a special vocations committee in 2005. Those efforts are paying off.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO (CANADA)
CANWEST NEWS SERVICE in THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

Seven multimillion-dollar lawsuits have been launched against three Ontario Catholic dioceses, with an eighth suit set to be launched in two months.

The lawsuits are against seven Roman Catholic priests, six of whom are dead, for alleged sexual abuse, said lawyer Rob Talach Tuesday.

Talach's firm, London, Ont.-based Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers, is representing the seven plaintiffs who are seeking $4.5-million each for pain and suffering and mental distress stemming from the alleged sexual assaults.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

By Sandi Dolbee

She pushed in the courtroom. He coaxed behind closed doors. She set deadlines. He crafted bridges.

Then, as a settlement neared, she postponed a crucial showdown to give him a few more days to seal the deal.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Louise DeCarl Adler and U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo S. Papas insist it would be wrong to say the two judges coordinated their efforts toward resolving the largest Catholic bankruptcy case in the country.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Filed at 11:19 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The state Supreme Court ruled Monday against a Roman Catholic priest who wanted his molestation conviction thrown out because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

The unanimous decision overturned an earlier ruling by a state appeals court. That court reversed the conviction of Fernando Lopez after finding that the prosecutor erred during his trial by expressing her personal opinion to the jury. The case now goes back to the state appeals court.

Lopez, a Colombian citizen, was convicted of molesting three boys over three years at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish and sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in 2005. The case marked Los Angeles County's first successful prosecution of a Catholic church clergy abuse case after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a California law that had lifted the statute of limitation in old molestation cases.

ITALY
IL GAZZETTINO

Santa Giustina in Colle. (V.M.) Anche la sezione dell'Udc di Santa Giustina in Colle esprime disagio per la serata sul tema "Celibato e matrimonio nella Chiesa Cattolica del terzo millennio", che vedrà l'intervento di don Sante Sguotti (nella foto a fianco) nella sala pubblica comunale questa sera alle 21.

[translation]

Udc against the "bad teacher" Rev. Sante

(*Udc is the Union of the Christian Democratic party)

Santa Giustina in Colle. (V.M.) The Udc branch of Santa Giustina in Colle expresses uneasiness for this evening's meeting on the theme "Celibate and marriage in the Catholic Church of the third millennium", where the Rev. Sante Sguotti is scheduled to speak in the Town Council room at 9 p.m.

In a note of the party's secretary, Matteo Beghin, is there affirmed: "The Udc obviously recognizes the inviolable right to freedom of thought and speech, in addition to the importance of a debate with different point of views. However, it doesn't deem opportune the diffusion of messages contrasting the values and the sensibility of our community. In the respect of anybody's personal vicissitudes - Beghin continues - we can't share the stance of those who instead of taking responsibility for their own choices and act consistently, prefer the research of a questionable media attention and an easy notoriety, in contrast with the sobriety of their freely chosen mission, fomenting contrasts and divisions among the community of the faithful which was entrusted to him and provoking a deep uneasiness for the Bishop and the entire ecclesiastic community".

SACRAMENTO (CA)
THE SACRAMENTO BEE

By Jennifer Garza

A Catholic priest accused of sexual misconduct with a 13-year-old boy in the 1980s has been permanently removed from the ministry after a diocesan investigation found the allegation credible, church officials announced Monday.

The Rev. Francisco Hernandez-Tovar, 59, will no longer be allowed to work as a priest in the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento or any other diocese. Bishop William Weigand barred Tovar from the ministry at the recommendation of a diocesan review board.

"Right now, we're in the process of looking for more victims if there are any," said Kevin Eckery, diocesan spokesman. "The person who came forward is a very brave man."

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE NORTH BAY NUGGET

In 1956, Greg O'Connor was a keen Grade 9 student in North Bay and had even skipped a grade, but that soon faded and he eventually dropped out of school after suffering what he says were three years of abuse at the hands of a priest.

O'Connor and six others Monday announced they were suing the Roman Catholic dioceses of Sault Ste. Marie and London, Ont., as well as the Congregation of the Resurrection in Ontario.

The seven lawsuits - each seeking $4.5 million for pain and suffering, mental distress and special damages - name six priests, who the men and women allege abused them as children decades ago. Only one of the six priests is still alive.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE SUDBURY STAR

By Carol Mulligan

Some audience members were stone-faced as their loved ones sat before reporters listening to details being read out by their lawyer of sex abuse they allege they suffered at the hands of priests decades ago.

Claims of fondling, masturbation, oral sex, anal penetration, digital penetration, mutual masturbation and other sexual acts were read off like shopping lists.

Not all of those in the audience were stoic as lawyer Robert Talach of Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers in London, Ont. tried to sum up years of sexual abuse - and decades of the after-effects of it - in 30 minutes for reporters.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE SUDBURY STAR

By Carol Mulligan

At 65, Greg O'Connor has accomplished a great deal in his lifetime. He earned a degree in biology. He graduated at the top of his class in the former Cambrian School of Nursing. He serves as deputy-mayor of Mattawa in the Township of Calvin.

But O'Connor lowered his head Monday and wept as he recounted the impact the sexual abuse he said he suffered more than 50 years ago by a Roman Catholic priest in North Bay has had on his life.

O'Connor is one of six plaintiffs represented by Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers of London, Ont., who are suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie for $4.5-million each for sexual misconduct they claim to have suffered as children by priests employed by the diocese.

SPRINGFIELD (MO)
THE SPRINGFIELD NEWS-LEADER

By Linda Leicht

After 23 years as bishop of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese, the Rev. John Leibrecht says it is "time for the changing of the guard."

The 77-year-old bishop will become a parish priest again March 31, when the Rev. James Vann Johnston is ordained the sixth bishop of the diocese. Johnston's appointment was announced Thursday.

"I'm a very, very happy person," said Leibrecht, referring both to his time as bishop and the choice for the new bishop. He is also happy that he will be able to continue to serve in the diocese as a "senior priest in service."

ALBANY (NY)
CAPITAL NEWS 9

[Includes video]

Latham, NY - A local group is angry with the Albany Catholic Diocese who granted a leave of absence to a priest accused of abusing children.

The group, SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, gathered in Latham to speak to the press about the alleged abuses by Father Gary Mercure while involved in the Albany Diocese. Bishop Howard Hubbard authorized Father Mercure's voluntary leave about a week ago. Group members say they want to help bring justice for the victims of abuse.

If a predator can keep their victims silent long enough, they can basically walk away, commit a crime and walk away scot free. We want to change that. We need to change that," said Mark Lyman, SNAP Upstate Coordinator.

ALBANY (NY)
THE TIMES UNION

By Scott Waldman

Troy, New York - At least seven men have come forward in the last week to claim they were sexual abuse victims of a Troy priest.

The Rev. Gary Mercure, 59, pastor of the Sacred Heart and St. William parishes in Troy, was granted a paid leave of absence by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany after he was accused on Jan. 11 of sexual misconduct with a teenage boy in the mid-1980s.

The subsequent allegations stemmed from Mercure's time at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Queensbury and St. Teresa of Avila in Albany.

GLEN FALLS (NY)
THE POST STAR

Four more men came forward Monday to accuse a Catholic priest who formerly was assigned to churches in Queensbury and Glens Falls of child sexual abuse.

Two of the men told reporters that father Gary Mercure molested them for years when he was the priest at Our Lady of the Annunciation church in Queensbury in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Both spoke at a news conference in Latham on condition their names not be used, and said Mercure abused them over 7 years, beginning when they were 8 years old.

Two others told reporters that Mercure committed sexual misconduct with them when Mercure was assigned to St. Teresa of Avila Church in the 1970s. One, Michael Flynn of Clifton Park and Lake George, gave his name, while the other did not.

SUDBURY, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE SUDBURY STAR

A plaintiff in one of six new $4.5-million lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie is calling on the church to show leadership to ensure no other child suffers sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

Sudbury businessman Thomas Miller, 59, was eight years old when he alleges he was sexually abused by Father Magnus J. Fedy at Scollard Hall, a then all-boy's Catholic school in North Bay.

Miller is one of the plaintiffs in seven new lawsuits in total launched by Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers against two Roman Catholic dioceses and one religious order for historic cases of child sexual abuse by clergy.

TORONTO, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE CANADIAN PRESS in THE GLOBE AND MAIL

Sudbury, Ontario - Victims of alleged sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests announced seven multimillion-dollar lawsuits in Sudbury yesterday.

Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers of London, Ont., are representing seven people suing the Catholic dioceses of Sault Ste. Marie and London as well as the Congregation of the Resurrection in Ontario.

The litigation names six priests, only one of whom is still alive.

Each of the plaintiffs is seeking $4.5-million for pain and suffering, mental distress and special damages.

SEATTLE (WA)
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS in THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

La Conner, Washington - Former Spokane priest Patrick G. O'Donnell, who has admitted to molesting dozens of teenage boys over three decades, has been quietly living in this Western Washington town for the past four years, to the surprise of neighbors.

O'Donnell was named in 66 of the 176 claims alleging sexual abuse by priests in the Spokane Catholic Diocese, more than any other single priest, and the diocese considers him "credibly accused."

That history has his neighbors upset.

"It's unbelievable this can happen," said Jennifer Smith, who lives down the street from O'Donnell.

LONDON, ONTARIO (CANADA)
THE LONDON FREE PRESS

By Joe Matyas

A lawsuit is the only means of justice left for some adults sexually abused as children by pedophile priests, a London litigation lawyer said yesterday.

Five of six priests named as abusers in lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic dioceses of Sault Ste. Marie and London are dead, said Rob Talach of Ledroit Beckett.

Some were charged or convicted of offences in the past, he said.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO (CANADA)
CBC NEWS

An Ontario court issued a warrant Monday for the arrest of a former Cornwall, Ont., police officer who disobeyed a court order to testify at a public inquiry into sexual abuse allegations in Cornwall.

Perry Dunlop, who now lives in Duncan, B.C., refused to show up at the Cornwall inquiry on Jan. 14 despite the order issued by a divisional court in November, when he was found guilty of contempt of court.

The provincial inquiry is looking into the way sexual abuse allegations made in eastern Ontario over decades were handled by authorities.

BOSTON (MA)
ASSOCIATED PRESS in THE BOSTON GLOBE

Augusta, Maine - A former Roman Catholic priest has been ordered to pay $4.2 million for allegedly sexually assaulting a boy in the late 1980s.

Superior Court Justice Joseph Jabar ordered Raymond Melville to pay $3.2 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to William Picher of Augusta.

Picher, 34, filed the lawsuit last February against Melville and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland claiming he was repeatedly abused by the Melville between 1986 and 1988 when he was a student at St. Mary's School in Augusta.

AUGUSTA (ME)
KENNEBEC JOURNAL

By Betty Adams

Augusta - A superior court justice has ordered a Roman Catholic priest to pay $4.2 million for allegedly sexually assaulting a boy in Augusta in the late 1980s.

Justice Joseph Jabar ordered the Rev. Raymond Melville, who was most recently in Oklahoma and is no longer working as a priest, to pay $3.2 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to William J. Picher, 34, of Augusta.

Picher, through his attorney, Walter McKee, had accused Melville of sexual assault and battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress between Sept. 2, 1986, and June 9, 1988.

PORTLAND (ME)
WCSH6-TV

[Includes photo of priest]

By Rhonda Erskine

A Maine court has awarded four million dollars in damages to a man who says he was sexually abused by a priest years ago. Raymond Melville was a priest at St. Mary's in Augusta back in the late 1980's.

William Picher was a 12-year-old parishoner.

Picher's attorneys say those in charge of the diocese knew that Melville had a history of sexually abusing children, yet they continued to assign him to Maine parishes.

BOSTON (MA)
THE BOSTON GLOBE

By Michael Paulson

Waltham - In a drab office building on Main Street, Terry McKiernan and Anne Barrett Doyle are quietly amassing a vast archive of abuse: thousands and thousands of documents chronicling the sprawling crisis that has confronted the Catholic Church.

Atop a bookcase sits a valise sent by a victim from West Roxbury, crammed with news clippings, church bulletins, the victim's mother's handwritten notes on conversations with church officials, and a letter the victim wrote the pope, never acknowledged.

A closet-sized room is lined with file cabinets, filled with 100 boxfuls of papers donated by a Texas lawyer who painstakingly amassed a database of 3,000 Catholic priests nationwide accused of abuse.

ITALY
IL GAZZETTINO

Santa Giustina in Colle
(V.M.) Ha scatenato un vero e proprio putiferio l'incontro organizzato per domani sera nella sala pubblica comunale, con l'ex-parroco di Monterosso, "don" Sante Sguotti. L'iniziativa, in particolare non è per niente piaciuta al consiglio pastorale della parrocchia di Fratte, e così ieri mattina, direttamente dal pulpito, è arrivata l'espresso invito a non partecipare alla conferenza.

[translation]

SANTA GIUSTINA

The arrival of Rev. Sante bringing the issue of priests' celibacy provokes turmoil in the parish of Fratte

Santa Giustina in Colle

(M.V) A real and true turmoil was stirred for tomorrow evening meeting to be held in the public town hall with the former parish priest of Monterosso, the "Rev." Sante Sguotti. The initiative, wasn't particularly well received by the pastoral council of the parish of Fratte, and for that reason, yesterday morning, directly from the pulpit, came the express invitation not to participate to the conference.

It was easy to imagine that the official church public stance provoked different reactions. As soon the Masses were over the argument on everybody's mouth was more related to the presence of the former parish priest in the town than to the issue to be discussed: "celibacy and marriage in the church of the third millennium".

Many parishioners however shared at once the position of the church expressed during Mass, declaring unambiguously that "each person is free to do what he thinks best, but there was no need to give so much publicity to personal choices". Other parishioners didn't instead miss to stress the point that the theme of the meeting wasn't related to the personal choices of the former parish priest, but to the necessity to understand if the evolution of the sacerdotal ministry could change in respect to the present rules.

To sum it up the organizers' intention of the meeting, to be held at 8.30 p.m. in the public room of Saint Giustina, is meant to offer a chance for a debate and the possibility to confront with different opinions. That the official ecclesiastical hierarchies were against the debate and that they would enter intervene so heavily nobody would have ever guessed. For that there is the necessity to wait until tomorrow to understand what will prevail, if the curiosity for the personage or the prohibition of the church.

ALBANY (NY)
WTEN-TV

This Sunday, victims of clergy sex abuse gathered outside Sacred Heart Church in Troy. They say they were there to expose what they were calling the "predatory behavior" of a local priest.

But, the protestors themselves received an earful from parishioners as they made their way inside for services. One exchange heard from the street, went as followed:

Protestor: "We are just trying to protect children,"
Parishioner: "We are too. We love children, and so does everybody,"

The protestors, aligned with S.N.A.P. (the Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests), held signs referring to Father Gary Mercure. Last week, the Albany Diocese announced that Father Mercure had taken a voluntary leave of absence while the Diocese investigates allegations of sexual abuse against the priest, dating back to the mid-1980's.

LOS ANGELES (CA)
INJURY BOARD.COM

By Cheryl Buchanan

Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say that they are the last lying? But, I've always had trouble with the whole question over when to use "lying" or "laying" in a sentence. If one means not telling the truth and the other means hiding out in the weeds and avoiding responsibility and continuing to hope it will all just go away... well then I guess they both work. Its just a matter of semantics.

Anyway, on January 22nd Plaintiffs represented by Kiesel, Boucher and Larson filed an amended complaint for Punitve Damages against the Salesian Order of priests. This particular complaint pertains to the sexual molestation by: Father Titian (aka "Jim") Miani, Father Larry Lorenzoni, and Brother Ralph Murguia who are the perpetrators named in the trial scheduled for this April 2008. The Salesians are the only Order left who did not take part in the global settlement with the Los Angeles Archdiocese in July of 2007. Several other Salesian cases involving additional perpetrators: Brother John Verhart, Brother Mark Epperson, Brother Anthony Juarez, Brother Ernie Martinez, and Brother Jessie Dominguez are also currently being scheduled for trial.

Father John Itzaina, described as "second in command of the Salesians of the West Coast" recently told the Los Angeles Times on January 24, "We abhor any abuse, especially of the young, be it sexual or psychological, physical, or emotional." He went on to say that the Salesians do not defend Miani, but "absolutely deny" that the Order had any notice that he posed a danger to youth. (Siblings File Abuse Lawsuit Against Catholic Order, LA Times, 1/24/08)

PHOENIX (AZ)
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

By Edythe Jensen

A popular Chandler youth mentor has died at 39.

Those who knew him say Robert "Scott" Detherage changed the lives of hundreds of disadvantaged teens by coaching them in a public housing basketball team and encouraging them to study, stay in school and stay out of trouble.

. . .

What most people didn't know was Detherage was also an alleged crime victim preparing to testify against Monsignor Dale Fushek, former pastor of St..Timothy's Catholic Community in Mesa. Fushek is facing sex charges for his alleged conduct with church youths in the 1980s. Court documents allege that Detherage was one of Fushek's victims, but a statement released by the Maricopa County Attorney's office said prosecutors knew of his declining health and dismissed the charges related to him so he wouldn't have to testify.

"The Maricopa County Attorney's Office is saddened by the death of this courageous witness. A charge (in the Fushek case) related to this witness was dismissed some time ago, in large part because of his health," said the statement, released Friday.