Abuse Tracker

MARYLAND
Examiner

Filed under: BALTIMORE , Jaime Malarkey , Statute of Limitations

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Facing staunch opposition from the Catholic Church, Del. Eric Bromwell withdrew a bill this week that would have suspended time limits for sex-abuse victims to file lawsuits against their alleged molesters.

Under existing law, civil suits for child sex-abuse claims must be filed by the victim’s 25th birthday. Bromwell’s bill — which was co-sponsored by five other lawmakers — would have opened 2009 to lawsuits, regardless of the victim’s age. After 2009, the statute of limitations would extend until the victim’s 50th birthday.

Bromwell initially proposed the bill to help victims who are often not ready to come forward until decades after their abuse. He said Wednesday he would give “serious consideration” to sponsoring it during the next General Assembly session. It is the second year in a row that the bill died.

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Lancashire

By Terry Morgan

A PRIEST accused of abusing young boys in Bury has been cleared of all charges.

John McCollough was found "not guilty" this afternoon (Friday Feb 29) at Bolton Crown Court of 11 indecent assaults and one act of gross indecency against a child.

The jury of seven men and five women was out from 10.30am to 3.45pm today, and returned not guilty verdicts.

Mr McCollough told the Bury Times: "I am extremely relieved. At the end of the film US Marshal, Wesley Snipes was asked the same question "how do you feel?", and his response was "righteous"."

UNITED KINGDOM
Chester Evening Leader

A priest has been cleared of the sexual abuse of two boys in Bury.

Father John McCollough, 63, had been accused of preying on the youngsters while a minister at Holy Trinity Church in the 1990s.

But after a two week trial at Bolton Crown Court he was found not guilty of 11 counts of indecent assault and one charge of gross indecency.

Both youngsters, now adults, claimed he had abused them by touching them sexually on numerous occassions.

In the Vineyard

Carolyn Disco, VOTF NH

Many obituaries for Legion of Christ founder Father Marcial Maciel, who died January 30, 2008, noted the sexual abuse charges against the priest by eight former seminarians in the 1940s and 1950s; his restriction to a life of penance by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006; and the suspension of the canonical case against him due to age. None went into much detail about the survivors, whose stories deserve recognition on the occasion of Maciel’s passing.

The church never adjudicated the sexual molestation charges, leaving those survivors in limbo. Who are they? They include a Mexico City university professor with a doctorate from Harvard; a faculty member at the US Defense Languages Institute in Monterey, CA; a retired priest in Madrid; a professor of psychology and sociology in Westchester County, New York; and also in Mexico, a lawyer, rancher, former university president, and private school professor.

All wanted to forget what happened and get on with their lives after leaving the Legion. It took many decades of chance encounters for them to find each other, gradually share their abuse histories, and only as Maciel continued gallingly to reap high praise from Pope John Paul II did they finally galvanize and file a canon law case in Rome. None wanted money; they only wanted justice, racked as they were by horrific memories, and fear for other victims after them. How many might there be? To date, John Allen, the veteran journalist at the National Catholic Reporter, reports Vatican sources cite “more than 20 but less than 100” victims.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY (NY)
Press & Sun-Bulletin

By Eric Reinagel
ereinagel@pressconnects.com
Press & Sun-Bulletin

A former Vestal priest posted bail Thursday at Montgomery County Jail after being charged with inappropriate sexual conduct with at least four children ages 5 to 11.

The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, of Nicholville, was charged with three counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, one count of sexual abuse in the second degree, both felonies, and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, misdemeanor, according to State Police Investigator Paul Cituk.

The charged stem from a complaint that State Police received from a Montgomery County family. The parents called Broderick their “spiritual advisor” and stated that Broderick befriended the family, according to Cituk. Cituk said over the course of several month in 2007 Broderick inappropriately had sexual contact with at least four family members at the family’s home.

ILLINOIS
Catholic Explorer

ROMEOVILLE—Mary Breslin, editor and general manager of the Catholic Explorer since June 1, 1998, announced Feb. 22 that she will retire from the leadership position at the diocesan newspaper. ...

In 2001, when news of the sexual abuse scandal in the church first surfaced, on the recommendation of the Explorer Advisory Board, Breslin established an editorial policy of transparency, establishing and encouraging an environment of credibility in the diocese.

UNITED STATES
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling
At age 10 Tom Economus was traveling companion for a pedophile priest, doing scams at fundraisers by day and getting alcohol and raped by night. Then as a young adult Tom sought counseling and his therapist, another priest, stripped down to his underwear and begged Tom for help with his own sex identity crisis. Still spiritually passionate, Tom entered a seminary where he got hit on for sex right and left. He dropped out, sank into drugs and alcohol, made it to rehab, became ordained with the Independent Catholic Church and in 1992 was named director of Linkup, one of the first organizations for survivors of Catholic priest sex crimes.

An email came in to City of Angels Blog yesterday: “Tom Economus’ Birthday Tomorrow: An unusual birthday.. An unusual man. A fierce warrior for our cause. Must never be forgotten by us!!"

JAY NELSON: “I still miss Tom's sense of humor, his fearlessness. He would wear his Roman collar to meetings with Bernardin just to drive the hierarchy crazy.”

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, February 29th 2008, 4:00 AM

The principal forced out of Cardinal Hayes High School for "inappropriate images" on his computer was removed from another Catholic school earlier in his career for mishandling funds.

Christopher Keogan also hired a teacher at Hayes last September knowing he had been charged with a felony for stealing from his ex-girlfriend, a soldier serving in Iraq.

Keogan admitted both improprieties in an interview with the Daily News.

He said he was caught mishandling money at Newark's Essex Catholic High School in 1989.

AUSTRALIA
Courier Mail

Alison Sandy
February 29, 2008 11:00pm

BRISBANE'S Holy Trinity Anglican Church has been dubbed the "Unholy Trinity" after it has been revealed a pedophile, an alleged pedophile and a practising priest with his own seedy past are leading its Sunday services.

Following revelations in The Courier-Mail this week that convicted pedophile priest Robert Sharwood, who was released from jail only three months ago, has been allowed to sing in the choir with children, it has now been discovered that Canon Barry Greaves, who will stand trial on child sex charges in August, participates in bible readings.

Their role in the Fortitude Valley church has been approved by the Parish Council, headed by rector Trevor Bulled, who was convicted of indecent behaviour in a public toilet almost 20 years ago.

LOWELL (MA)
The Pilot

By Christine Williams
Posted: 2/29/2008 BRIGHTON -- The Apostolic Signature, the Catholic Church’s supreme court, has rejected an appeal of the suppression of St. Jeanne d’Arc Parish in Lowell, the Archdiocese of Boston confirmed Feb. 27.

In 2006, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy denied the appeals of St. Jeanne and about a dozen other former parishes that were closed in the process of archdiocesan reconfiguration. Representatives from 10 other parishes still have pending appeals to the Apostolic Signature, said Kathleen Heck, special assistant to the moderator of the curia.

Heck said the archdiocese received the St. Jeanne ruling in Latin and the translation to English was completed Feb. 26.

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

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

WORCESTER— A psychiatrist testified yesterday that he found the Rev. John Szantyr mentally competent to stand trial on child sexual assault charges in an evaluation conducted last summer.

A hearing got under way yesterday in Central District Court to determine whether Rev. Szantyr, a 76-year-old retired priest now living in Waterbury, Conn., is competent to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting two altar boys more than 20 years ago in Worcester. The assaults allegedly occurred in the 1980s, when Rev. Szantyr was assigned to Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish on Ward Street. The charges were lodged in 2003.

In September 2006, Judge Dennis J. Brennan, since retired, found Rev. Szantyr mentally incompetent to stand trial based on an evaluation done at that time by Dr. John Murphy, a neurologist.

OAKLAND (CA)
California Catholic Daily

Following three-year investigation, Oakland bishop reinstates priest once accused of molesting minor

Bishop Allen Vigneron, heeding the recommendations of a Diocese of Oakland review panel, has reinstated to active ministry a priest once accused of molesting a minor.

“I think it is a disgrace, an utter disgrace,” Joey Piscitelli, Northern California director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, told the Feb. 26 San Jose Mercury News, referring to Vigneron’s decision.

Piscitelli opined that "it's because of a shortage of priests" that dioceses reinstate priests like Franciscan Father Chris Berbena, who will shortly resume ministry at St. John Vianney parish in Walnut Creek. Berbena was parochial vicar there until 2004, when the diocese put him on a leave of absence.

MARYLAND
Examiner

Filed under: BALTIMORE , Marci A. Hamilton , BA Opinion

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Under pressure from the Catholic Church, Maryland lawmakers shelved legislation to identify predators among us. With HB858, Maryland was part of a national movement to eliminate statutes of limitations for childhood sexual abuse. This bill offered the hope of a “window” to allow claims previously barred.

Our legal system favors predators over the protection of children. By the time victims are capable of coming forward, the law lets predators escape through the statute of limitations — again and again.

Those predators now live and work near — often with — our children, but we do not know who they are because we keep the courthouse locked against victims.

NEW YORK
New York Post

By DAN MANGAN
KEOGAN

February 29, 2008 -- A Bronx Catholic HS principal who resigned last week amid allegations of inappropriate photos on his work computer used $10,000 from a charity set up to aid the academy to buy furniture for his own apartment, The Post has learned.

Christopher Keogan, the ousted principal of Cardinal Hayes HS, was given the money at about the same time that he was moving out of his residence on the school campus, several sources said.

Keogan was listed as a director of the nonprofit charitable foundation the Cardinal and Gold Fund Inc. at the time the group is said to have authorized the payout.

JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
Belleville News Democrat

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Associated Press Writer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. --A former Catholic school student in suburban St. Louis should have quickly realized that a Marianist brother's back-room "experiments" on the boy were a form of sexual abuse, an attorney for the religious order argued Thursday before the Missouri Supreme Court.

Robert Visnaw, a former student at St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, sued William Mueller in 2006, more than two decades after the alleged abuse occurred.

Visnaw argued that he didn't remember any sexual acts until a year before filing suit. The religious order countered that Mueller's alleged behavior - which reportedly included blindfolding Visnaw and stripping the teen to his underwear while holding a knife to his throat - were clearly sexual in nature.

HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

By DAVE ALTIMARI | Courant Staff Writer
February 29, 2008

A rare civil trial involving a priest and a former altar boy began playing out in a Hartford courtroom Thursday, with signs that the case could provide explosive details about how the Catholic church has dealt with sex-abuse allegations.

F. Glenn Sutherland claims that the Rev. Stephen C. Foley molested him in the 1970s while he was an altar boy at a Bloomfield church and that the Archdiocese of Hartford did nothing about it.

Foley, who also served as state police and fire chaplain, has been sued by 11 men who say he molested them when they were children. All but Sutherland and one other have settled, with the archdiocese paying hundreds of thousands of dollars.

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

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

The Kentucky House approved a bill yesterday that would strengthen penalties for sexual abusers and those who fail to report them to authorities.

The vote on House Bill 211 -- which now goes to the Senate -- was 96-0.

Passage came after the bill's sponsor told colleagues of the decades of turmoil his late father had suffered after being molested as a boy by a Roman Catholic priest in 1930.

"A tragedy occurred that night," said Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville. "In his 70s, he told his family about this tragedy and how upsetting it was and how really it impaired his relation to God as well as to his church."

ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News

By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com | ldemer@adn.com

Published: February 29th, 2008 12:27 AM
Last Modified: February 29th, 2008 01:01 AM

The Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska is in turmoil. Priests from around the state are seeking removal of the top official here, Bishop Nikolai Soraich. They say he is hurting the church and ruling by intimidation.

"The clergy and probably a large percentage of the laity in the church have reached the point where they believe they can no longer serve with or under Bishop Nikolai Soraich," said the Rev. Michael Oleksa, archpriest at St. Alexis in Anchorage and the best-known Orthodox pastor in Alaska. ...

Some of the discord arises from a May 2007 situation in Kodiak involving allegations against the second-ranking church official in Alaska, Chancellor Archimandrite Isidore, of drunken sexual misconduct. The accuser, Paul Sidebottom, a teacher at St. Herman's seminary, has filed a sexual harassment complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to The Associated Press, the complaint alleges he was fired by the chancellor and bishop after complaining to Metropolitan Herman.

Bishop Nikolai said an investigation by the church's New York headquarters has already found the allegations unsubstantiated.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

An Anglican Church board will hear evidence on Saturday which could lead to a priest jailed over child sex offences being stripped of his orders.

Robert Francis Sharwood, 62, of Brisbane, was jailed for 12 months in November 2006 after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in Brisbane more than 30 years ago.

Sharwood was released from jail in November last year, attracting calls by child protection advocates for him to be immediately stripped of his holy orders.

JEFFERSON CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Virginia Young
POST-DISPATCHJEFFERSON CITY BUREAU CHIEF
02/29/2008

JEFFERSON CITY — Robert Visnaw says he never forgot the secret psychology "experiments" conducted by Brother William "Bill" Mueller when Visnaw was a senior at Vianney High School in Kirkwood.

Visnaw alleges in court documents that in one incident in 1985, Mueller told him to strip down to his underwear, blindfolded him, held a knife to his throat and made him hyperventilate to the point of unconsciousness.

What Visnaw didn't remember for many years was the sexual abuse that went along with the experiments, he says. That memory surfaced in 2005, he says, when he read a Post-Dispatch article recounting other allegations against Mueller.

RICHMOND (CA)
San Jose Mercury News

By Scott Marshall
STAFF WRITER

Article Launched: 02/28/2008 08:41:18 PM PST

RICHMOND -- A woman came forward Thursday and alleged that she was sexually abused by a Catholic clergyman at Salesian High School in the 1960s, during visits to the school with her family and also at her home.

It was the second public allegation against the former clergyman, John Vas, now 86 and living in Florida, who formerly was a band instructor at the private school and a brother in the Salesian order.

Since the 1950s, when Salesian was a seminary, six clergymen there have been accused of abuse. Another three who once worked there were accused after they left the campus.

MACON (MO)
Macon Chronicle

Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008 11:16 AM CST

Christopher C. Sprinkel, 32, formerly of Shelbina was sentenced in Macon County Circuit Court yesterday in front of Judge Hadley E. Grimm. Sprinkel was sentenced to eight years, execution of sentence suspended, but was placed on five years probation for felony child molestation.

He was found guilty of child molestation in the first degree charge at a trial on Jan. 3 and 4 at the Macon County Courthouse on a change of venue from Shelby County. A jury found Sprinkel guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of having sexual contact with a child under the age of 14 on or about Jan. 9, 2006.

Sprinkel, formerly served as youth minister at the United Methodist Church of Shelbina according to a February 2006 article from the Shelbina Weekly newspaper.

PORTLAND (OR)
The Oregonian

2/28/2008, 12:39 p.m. PST

By WILLIAM McCALL The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An attorney for victims of alleged sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests is challenging an Archdiocese of Portland request to appoint a federal judge to decide whether to release church documents on the priests.

The archdiocese settled about 175 lawsuits last April for $50 million to end the first bankruptcy in the nation filed by a Catholic diocese.

As part of the settlement, the archdiocese agreed to release documents that victim advocates say will show church leaders knew more about the abuse than they have acknowledged.

KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

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

The Kentucky House voted 96-0 today to approve a bill that would toughen penalties on sexual abusers and those who fail to report them to authorities.

The bill — which now goes to the Senate — passed after its sponsor told colleagues of the decades of turmoil his late father had suffered after being molested as a boy by a Roman Catholic priest in 1930.

“A tragedy occurred that night,” said Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville. “In his 70s, he told his family about this tragedy and how upsetting it was and how really it impaired his relation to God as well as to his church.”

SCITUATE (MA)
The Patriot Ledger

By Kaitlin Keane
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Feb 28, 2008 @ 12:22 PM

SCITUATE — Their churches were closed by the Boston Archdiocese more than three years ago, but parishioners believe the churches and their assets should belong to them.

More than 60 parishioners from St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Scituate and St. Jeremiah Church in Framingham packed a courtroom at the state appeals court in Boston Wednesday as lawyers again argued that church assets should belong to parishioners, not the archdiocese.

In January 2007, a Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by parishioners against Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Parishioners appealed the decision.

BUFFALO (NY)
WNED

Chris Caya
BUFFALO (2008-02-28) For the second time in just a few months, Church officials in Rome have agreed with Bishop Edward Kmiec's decision to merge St. Adalbert and St. John Kanty.

The Vatican's highest canonical court notified the Diocese earlier this week that it has upheld a December ruling by the Congregation for the Clergy and the Court has rejected the latest appeal made by some parishoners of St. Adalbert.

Diocesan Spokesman Kevin Keenan says now it's up to the parishes to set a timetable for moving forward.

MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local

By Jessica M. Smith, Staff Writer
Thu Feb 28, 2008, 11:21 AM EST

Allston-Brighton - A former Brighton man who alleges that he was abused by three St. Columbkille’s priests won an intermediate judicial victory in Superior Court.

The victim, who spent his childhood in Brighton, told the court that he was sexually abused by two priests in the rectory of St. Columbkille’s Parish and by a third priest outside Brighton.

The accused clergy, named as defendants in court documents, are Father Eugene Sullivan and Father Edward T. Kelly. Sullivan and Kelly were seeking a summary judgment, which is when a judge decides the case before it goes to trial.

JACKSONVILLE (FL)
Fox 30

[video]

Don Simpkins says he counseled former Pastor Gilyard years ago, but eventually turned him in.

UNITED KINGDOM
Whitby Gazette

By Staff Copy
A LOCAL vicar fighting for reinstatement after he was removed from office for having an affair with a married woman will have his appeal heard next month.

Reverend David King was banned from practising for four years following a Church of England disciplinary tribunal held in November last year – the first Church of England disciplinary tribunal of its kind.

The Chancery Court of York will sit at Leeds Combined Court Centre on Monday 10 March to hear the appeal by Rev King.

NEW YORK
WTEN

Posted: Feb 28, 2008 08:23 AM EST

A Roman Catholic priest is in jail this morning, facing several felony sex abuse charges. Father John Broderick, who is in the Montgomery County Jail, is accused of having inappropriate contact with at least four children, all of them in the same family.

Police say the alleged abuse took place over the course of several months last year. The victims' parents tell investigators that Broderick was a trusted friend.

NEWS10's Demetra Ganias has more on the relationship between Broderick and his alleged victims.

MASSENA (NY)
Watertown Daily Times

By CHRIS GARIFO
TIMES STAFF WRITER
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2008
MASSENA — A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested here on several felony counts of having sexual contact with children, state police in Montgomery County said.

John W. Broderick, 47, Nicholville, was arrested Monday on three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of second-degree sexual abuse and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. The sexual abuse charges are all felonies and the endangering of a child charges are misdemeanors.

Broderick was arraigned in the town of Palatine Court and was sent to the Montgomery County Jail, Fultonville, where bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond.

State police made the arrest on a complaint from a Montgomery County family. The victims' father said Broderick befriended his family and had become its spiritual adviser, state police said.

NEW YORK
New York Post

By DAN MANGAN

February 28, 2008 -- The former principal of a prestigious Catholic high school who resigned amid allegations of inappropriate images on his work computer was allowed to stay on the job for nearly five months after a priest wrote the New York Archdiocese accusing him of serious misconduct, The Post has learned.

"It's just another stall tactic," said the Rev. Robert Hoatson of the slow response by the archdiocese to his Oct. 5, 2007, letter to Cardinal Hayes HS principal Christopher Keogan.

He claimed copies of the note were sent to the archdiocese, the Bronx school's superintendent and president, and prosecutors.

"The church wants to minimize its damage, and they continue to cover up and coddle these people until something more dramatic comes up and then they have to make a move," Hoatson said.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By CARA BUCKLEY
Published: February 28, 2008
The principal at a prominent Catholic boys’ high school in the Bronx was ousted late last week after photos of nude men were discovered on his computer, a law enforcement official confirmed on Wednesday.

No criminal charges were filed against the principal, Christopher Keogan of Cardinal Hayes High School, because the photos were of adults.

The dismissal, reported in The New York Post on Wednesday, deeply shook morale at the school, which prides itself on upholding strict codes of discipline and ethics, and sees its mission as plucking boys from struggling city neighborhoods and shaping them into ambitious young men. Among the school’s alumni, who refer to themselves as “Hayes Men,” are Regis Philbin, Martin Scorsese and the novelist Don DeLillo. George Carlin, the comedian, lasted three semesters at Cardinal Hayes before getting kicked out.

GENEVA (IL)
City of Angels

(This came to City of Angels Blog email, signed by “Integrity”)

One time the Geneva Police came into Saint Peter Church during Mass because a man in his late 60's was stalking a woman going to mass. This is not the first time this man has stalked and harassed women going to mass or attending mass at St. Peter. Another time someone locked the bathroom doors at St. Peter during mass. Later that day it was posted on CTL: hope the people who were at mass and needed to use the washroom wet their pants.

Monsignor Jarmoluk was seen at the Fall '07 St. Peter Barn Sale leading fake "CTL NYC" camera men around the grounds. Monsignor Jarmoluk was conducting interviews with unsuspecting parishioners (adults, children, teens). The so-called CTL camera crews (who knows who these men really are) filmed the interviews. As far as we know these children and teens were interviewed and filmed without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

BY ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, February 28th 2008

The Bronx Catholic school principal forced to resign over alleged "inappropriate images" on his computer has been accused by former staffers of other improprieties.

Two ex-faculty members and a priest familiar with the school have accused former Cardinal Hayes High School Principal Christopher Keogan in letters and affidavits of theft, an affair with a male subordinate and of faking transcripts to help that man get into college.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily News yesterday, Keogan denied all the allegations and said he is the victim of a smear campaign by disgruntled employees and others carrying out a "vendetta" against him.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY (NY)
Capital News 9

[with video]

Updated: 02/27/2008 09:35 PM
By: Web Staff
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, N.Y. -- A local priest is facing sex abuse charges after accusations he had inappropriate contact with several members of a family, who considered him their spiritual advisor.

Parents of the victims, who range from five to eleven years old, said John Broderick, 47, of Nicholville abused the children over the course of several months.

SCRANTON (PA)
The Citizens Voice

[with letter]

After the rejection of several requests to speak with Bishop Joseph F. Martino and other Diocese of Scranton officials, King’s College professor, the Rev. Patrick J. Sullivan, C.S.C., Ph.D., is speaking out against the bishop’s rejection of the teachers union.

“The Church has already suffered from too many losses and scandals. May we not add more pain and shame,” Sullivan wrote in a letter directed to Martino, sent to Times-Shamrock Newspapers on Tuesday.

AUSTRALIA
Brisbane Times

February 28, 2008

A former Anglican priest convicted of indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy has lost his appeal to the High Court.

Raymond Frederick Ayles was sentenced to four years' jail after pleading guilty to two of six counts of indecent assault but not guilty to the four other counts and two counts of buggery.

The charges date back to 1971, and took place between then and 1973, when Ayles was a priest at Para Hills in Adelaide and the victim was from a family of his parishioners.

KITSAP COUNTY (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By CLAUDIA ROWE
P-I REPORTER

A pastor described by police as charismatic and controlling pleaded guilty Wednesday to numerous counts of child rape and molestation involving five young girls in Kitsap County.

Robbin Leeroy Harper, 60, leader of a fringe religious group called The Church, faces more than 26 years in prison, though prosecutors and his own lawyer have agreed to recommend a 23-year term when Harper is sentenced April 9.

"We're happy with this," said Brenda, the mother of one victim, who asked that her last name not be published in order to shield her daughter's identity. "Everybody is relieved. My daughter is happy about it, too."

CANADA
Standard Freeholder

A city lawyer who felt he was treated unfairly at the Cornwall Public Inquiry last November has turned down an opportunity to return to the stand.

Sean Adams had been seeking another chance to answer questions about his involvement in a $32,000 settlement between an alleged sexual abuse victim and the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese.

In December, Gordon Cameron, one of Adams' attorneys, filed a motion with the commission that stated questions posed by lead counsel Peter Engelmann had done "irreparable harm" to his client's reputation.

NEW YORK
WSYR

[with statement from the Diocese of Syracuse]

Fonda, New York (AP) - An upstate New York Roman Catholic priest is facing several counts of felony sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

State police say Father John Broderick engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with at least four children in a Montgomery County family over the course of several months in 2007. The children range in age from 5 to 11. The victims' parent told investigators Broderick befriended his family and was considered their spiritual adviser.

Broderick left the area sometime in May and was associated with the Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena. He was arrested Monday without incident.

MASSENA (NY)
News 10 Now

[with video]

02/27/2008 09:38 PM
By: Web Staff
MASSENA N.Y. -- A priest is arrested in Massena on sex abuse charges after accusations he had inappropriate contact with the children of a Montgomery County family.

Police said John Broderick of Nichoville in northern New York, had sexual contact with the children over the course of several months. The victims range in age from five to eleven-years-old.

Broderick was arrested at the Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena.

PALATINE (NY)
WNYT

[with video]

PALATINE - A priest is accused of sexually abusing at least four children in a Montgomery County family. Father John Broderick now faces felony charges. According to the attorney representing the family of the children, Father John Broderick was treated like a family member until the mother of the children became suspicious.

State police say Broderick had inappropriate sexual contact with at the four siblings who ranged in age from five to 11. The charges range from sexual abuse to endangering the welfare of a child. State Police say Broderick was the spiritual advisor to the mother of the children who they say Broderick abused. That is confirmed by the attorney who now represents the family. He says at first other family members became suspicious of Broderick's behavior but it wasn't until the mother became suspicious, that police were asked to investigate.

UNITED KINGDOM
This is Lancashire

By Staff Reporter

A PRIEST has rejected claims he abused two young boys at a vicarage in Bury and on trips to London.

John McCollough gave evidence at Bolton Crown Court on Monday, accused of 11 indecent assaults and one act of gross indecency against a child.

It is alleged he performed sex acts with the young boys, touched them inappropriately and tried to kiss them while McCollough was an Anglican rector at Christ of King with Holy Trinity Church in Spring Street, Bury, during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer

First published: Thursday, February 28, 2008

PALENTINE -- A priest accused of molesting at least four children in a Montgomery County family he had befriended has been charged with four felonies, State Police said.

The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, of Nicholville, was considered the family's "spiritual adviser" when the alleged abuse occurred over several months last year, according to State Police. The children's ages range from 5 to 11.

State Police said Broderick is assigned to the Syracuse Diocese of the Catholic Church, though he was suspended earlier this year. It wasn't clear why.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY (NY)
Daily Gazette

By Steven Cook
Gazette Reporter

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A Catholic priest acting as a Montgomery County family’s spiritual adviser has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing the family’s four children, state police said Wednesday.

John W. Broderick, 47, of Nicholville, St. Lawrence County, is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with the children, ages 5 to 11, over several months last year.

State police in Fonda began investigating after receiving a complaint from a Montgomery County family. The parent told police Broderick befriended the family and became their spiritual adviser.

SYRACUSE (NY)
The Post-Standard

Posted by Renée K. Gadoua February 27, 2008 8:25PM

Syracuse, NY -- A priest of the Syracuse Diocese has been charged with felony sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child in Montgomery County.

The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, was suspended from ministry early this year for incidents unrelated to sexual abuse, said Danielle Cummings, assistant chancellor and diocesan spokeswoman. She said she could not discuss specifics, but confirmed that Broderick was disciplined for "lack of pastoral judgment."

Cummings said she and diocesan officials learned today about Broderick's arrest on Monday.

State police in Fonda say Broderick engaged in inappropriate sexual contact last year with at least four children, ages 5 to 11. The victims' family told investigators Broderick was considered their spiritual adviser.

MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

MASSACHUSETTS — It shouldn’t have to take a legislative act to warn teachers they cannot use their positions to engage students, even if they are over the age of consent, in a sexual relationship.

But apparently it does. The Legislature held a hearing Tuesday on a bill that would criminalize sexual relations between teachers and students younger than 18. ...

If it sounds familiar, one only has to go back to the clergy sex abuse scandal and see many of the young victims had emotional upheaval in their lives and the priests who were supposed to be the shepherds became wolves.

The bill should be expanded to include anyone in a position of authority – coaches, counselors, administrators – who has contact on a regular basis with a teen. The measure should also cover any type of sexual contact, not just intercourse.

PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel

A federal bankruptcy judge in Portland will hold a hearing next month to decide if hundreds more Archdiocese of Portland documents pertaining to clergy sex abuse should be unveiled for public view.

The archdiocese last June released scores of decades-old private letters, formal depositions and memos. The documents, posted on the Internet, show that church officials at the highest levels often knew about abusive priests, but operated under the standards of the times and attempted to handle matters internally.

Lawyers for accusers have been negotiating for more documents to be released, but a key attorney, Kelly Clark, left the talks, despite archdiocesan officials’ belief that the process was working. Erin Olson, a Portland attorney representing accusers, refused to enter negotiations. She has asked Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris to unseal many of the same documents that were being considered in the talks. Perris has set a hearing for March 13. The archdiocese has asked that Perris appoint U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan to decide the question, delay action until mediation and arbitration are complete, or take no action.

PALATINE (NY)
Albany Times Union

By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer

Last updated: 4:08 p.m., Wednesday, February 27, 2008

PALENTINE -- A priest accused of molesting at least four children in a Montgomery County family he had befriended has been charged with four felonies, State Police said.

The Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, of Nicholville, was considered the family's "spiritual advisor" when the alleged abuse occurred over several months last year, according to State Police. The children's ages range from 5 to 11 years old.

State Police said Broderick is assigned to the Syracuse Diocese of the Catholic Church, though his faculties were suspended earlier this year. It wasn't clear why.

MASSACHUSETTS
Metro

BOSTON. The clergy sex abuse scandal may not make daily headlines anymore, but the need to protect children from pedophiles is something that will not be pushed to the background. Victims and advocates converged on the State House yesterday, pushing for stricter child protection laws.

The Joint Committee on the Judiciary yesterday held a hearing on more than a dozen proposed bills concerning child sex abuse and sex offenders. Among them was comprehensive legislation drafted in the wake of the Catholic church abuse scandal — which prompted scores of victims to come forward over the past decade.

“This bill is about helping children. ... It’s about prevention. It’s about deterrence,” said Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who has represented more than 100 victims in suits against the Catholic church.

SOUTH KITSAP (WA)
Kitsap Sun

By Josh Farley
Originally published 09:30 a.m., February 27, 2008

A plea deal has been struck between Kitsap County Prosecutors and Robbin L. Harper, a former South Kitsap pastor accused of the sexual abuse of at least 10 girls during the time he was head of The Church in South Colby.

Prosecutors and Harper's attorney, Tom Weaver, will both recommend to Judge Karlynn Haberly that Harper be sentenced to 279 months incarceration — about 23 and 1/4 years — when he is sentenced April 9 in Kitsap County Superior Court.

Harper, 60, was charged Nov. 1 by prosecutors with eight felonies that emerged from accusations of molestation or rape by five women or girls, all members of the South Kitsap church Harper is said to have established.

PALATINE (NY)
Daily Gazette

PALATINE — A priest now living in the Massena area has been charged with having sexual contact with four young members of one Montgomery County family.

State police investigators in Fonda say Rev. John W. Broderick, 47, of Nicolville, just south of Massena, befriended a family and served as a spiritual advisor while living in the area in 2007. But over several months, investigators said, Broderick had sexual contact with four members of the family, ranging in age from 5 to 11.

Investigators said Broderick left the area in May 2007 and was found by state police at the Holy Name of Jesus Academy in Massena, where he was arrested. Broderick was assigned to the Syracuse Diocese at the time of the alleged abuse, investigators said, though he was not assigned to a specific church or school. Investigators said his official faculties were suspended earlier this year.

BUFFALO (NY)
Business First

The Diocese of Buffalo said Wednesday that a Vatican office has upheld the decision of Bishop Edward Kmiec to merge St. John Kanty and St. Adalbert parishes located in the City of Buffalo.

In a decree written on Feb. 13, 2008, and delivered to diocesan officials on Feb. 25, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest canonical court, upheld an earlier Vatican ruling, stating "The recourse presented has been rejected."

MARYLAND
Baltimore Messenger

02/27/08
by Bryan P. Sears

The General Assembly is considering legislation to extend the statute of limitations on filing sexual abuse lawsuits.

But the bill, sponsored by Del. Eric Bromwell, is drawing opposition from the head of Calvert Hall College high school in Towson.

Bromwell wants to give people alleging sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits.

BALTIMORE (MD)
WJZ

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
There's anger from members of one Baltimore Catholic church. Their priest was removed after he was accused of sexually abusing a teenager.

Denise Koch reports months later, these parishioners say they're being kept in the dark and they're demanding answers.

"You know, the light shines on this candle but certainly we're not getting any light from our council or our church," said Giovanna Blatterman.

There's outrage from members of Saint Leo's Roman Catholic Church over the abrupt departure of their beloved priest Father Mike Salerno.

UNITED STATES
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling
"A more clear question for ‘Anonymous:’ how has the PRIESTHOOD where all of this filth thrived been changed? How has the training and recruitment of priests changed? What has the LA Archdiocese changed in priests' lives to ensure your priests aren't wacko sickos who only come to the church because they know that there, in the seminaries and confessionals, they can get away with all these sex crimes and NO ONE WILL STOP THEM?

“How has the archdiocese addressed that problem, the real problem that exists in the Catholic church and the Catholic church alone, because of its sick preoccupation with sexuality in the first place. Phew.”

The above quote is my response to a person called “Anonymous” who jumps in to the comments section here at City of Angels Blog after almost every post. He/she copy and pastes articles from The Tidings and archdiocese press releases to show what a great job Roger Mahony and the bishops have done handling perpetrator priests. The more he posts, the more I see the holes in the church’s claims.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Police have agreed to re-examine allegations of child abuse made against a former Roman Catholic priest.

West Midlands Police is reviewing the case after admitting it failed to investigate when a complaint was made about Father James Robinson in 2003.

Father Robinson, who denies the claims, worked in Sutton Coldfield, Cradley Heath and Newcastle-under-Lyme, but moved to California in 1985.

UNITED KINGDOM
icCoventry

Feb 27 2008

By Emma Stone, Crime Reporter

A FORMER Coventry priest faces extradition from California, 25 years after allegedly abusing altar boys.

Fr James Robinson was assistant parish priest at St Elizabeth's, Eld Road, Foleshill, Coventry, during the early 1980s.

At least two men in the city claim they were sexually abused as boys by him and have been given compensation by the archdiocese of about £25,000 apiece.

UNITED STATES
Duluth News Tribune

Kristine Ward, Duluth News Tribune
Published Wednesday, February 27, 2008
To heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable.” That is the mission of a sometimes controversial, mainly volunteer-led support group called SNAP, or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. I have known of, supported, and followed SNAP’s work for years.

Sometimes SNAP gets criticized for helping to expose credibly accused child molesters who haven’t been formally sued, suspended or charged. I understand such criticism. Sometimes SNAP gets blasted for helping to expose alleged sexual predators whose cases — whether criminal, civil or canonical — haven’t yet been finally resolved. That’s somewhat understandable.

But I’ve never seen SNAP get attacked for shedding light on the whereabouts or activities of convicted child-molesting clergymen, especially when those men used religious titles and positions to hurt children and still have religious titles and positions. Not until the News Tribune’s Feb. 13 editorial, “Little gained by exposing abusers on sex offender list.”

EBENSBURG (PA)
PennLive

by The Associated Press Wednesday February 27, 2008, 7:46 AM
EBENSBURG -- A state prison inmate pleaded guilty to extorting money from a chaplain accused of having sex with him at the prison.

William Victor, 37, was sentenced to two years of probation after pleading guilty to theft by extortion on Monday in Cambria County Court. The sentence will begin after he completes a term of more than 42 years for sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint and trying to rob the woman and her husband at a resort in the Poconos.

Prosecutors said Victor extorted $7,600 from the Rev. Gerard M. Connolly, a Franciscan priest who was a chaplain at the State Correctional Institution-Cresson. Connolly, 66, of Altoona, faces trial on 12 counts of institutional sex assault and five counts of taking contraband alcohol into prison.

AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun

Mark Buttler

February 28, 2008 12:00am
A MELBOURNE priest did not report a child sex abuse confession by a parishioner who went on to strike again.

But clergymen are not subject to mandatory reporting laws and the priest will not be charged.

The case has stirred debate over the role of the church in handling confessions by lawbreakers.

The allegations came to light when a Croydon man recently went to a police station and told officers he had sexually assaulted his daughter, believed to be aged four.

MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune

Published Friday, February 22, 2008

I applaud the good work of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group better known as SNAP. The organization has done much good in exposing clergy sexual abuse, secrecy and cover-up by authorities in the church and in demanding policies and practices to guard against abuse and cover-up. The group also does a great service in assisting the victims of clergy sexual abuse with financial settlements, counseling and healing. I have been involved with the good work of SNAP.

The Feb. 12 story, “Group criticizes involvement of convicted child molesters in state Episcopal diocese,” reported that two priests convicted of the sexual abuse of minors have been involved in the Episcopal diocese. One of them, a former Episcopal priest, led a workshop at a retreat house in Collegeville, Minn. The other, a former Catholic priest, served on a diocesan council. It was important to note that no children or young adults were involved in either the workshop or the council. Neither man is a clergy person any longer. Both have been deposed, or removed from the clerical state.

LOCKPORT (NY)
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

Staff Reports
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

The Rev. Daniel A. Young, who has served as pastor of St. Joseph’s and St. Anthony’s parishes, has been appointed temporary administrator of the new All Saints Parish at St. Patrick’s.

St. Joe’s, St. Anthony’s and St. Patrick’s merged into All Saints, at the site of St. Patrick’s on Church Street. St. Mary’s was to be the fourth parish to combine into All Saints. However, St. Mary’s is appealing the Diocese of Buffalo decision to close the church on Saxton Street.

The Rev. Francis Schimscheiner has been serving as pastor of St. Patrick’s.

“Priests will have applied for that position,” said Kevin Keenan, director of the diocese Office of Communications. “The Priests Personnel Board will make the decision, and it will be announced at a later date. Father Young will run the parish.”

NEW YORK
New York Post

By DAN MANGAN

February 27, 2008 -- The principal of one of the city's premier Catholic high schools was forced to resign over the weekend after inappropriate images were found on his computer at the Bronx scho