Abuse Tracker

CHARLESTON (WV)
The Charleston Gazette

By Kellen Henry
Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A South Charleston priest charged Monday with felony drug possession has been suspended from his priestly responsibilities and removed from his position, pending an investigation.

The Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston said it is investigating James Edward O'Connor, according to a news release. O'Connor, 58, was arrested Sunday during a traffic stop and charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

O'Connor, 58, has been a priest at Blessed Sacrament in South Charleston since 2006. The diocese plans to cooperate fully with authorities while conducting an internal investigation.

"The personnel policy of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston is very clear, as are laws of the state of West Virginia, that the use or possession of illegal drugs is prohibited," said diocese spokesman Bryan Minor.

ALBANY (NY)
WNYT

ALBANY - A rabbi who teaches at Hebrew Academy in Albany is accused of sexually abusing one of his students.

Yaakov Weiss of Loudonville was arrested Thursday afternoon.

Albany police say the 28-year-old rabbi had sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy multiple times between November 2007 and April 2008. They say the abuse happened at least once at a location on Whitehall Road and at least twice at a location on New Scotland Avenue.

Police were alerted after New York State Child Protection Services received an anonymous tip about Weiss. After conducting interviews over the summer, police finally determined they have enough evidence to arrest him.

ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9

09/30/2008 11:56 AM
By: Web Staff

ALBANY, N.Y. -- A local rabbi is facing charges after police said he had sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy.

Rabbi Yaakov Weiss, 28 of Loudonville was arrested Monday and charged with one count of second-degree sex abuse, two counts of third-degree sex abuse and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

LOUDONVILLE (NY)
CBS 6

September 30, 2008 - 11:15AM
CBS 6 Staff
A local rabbi is facing several charges after being arrested for having inappropriate sexual contact with a 13 year-old boy.

Yaakov Weiss, 28, of Loudonville was arrested Monday after detectives revealed he sexually abused the teen from November of 2007 to April of 2008. Weiss is alleged to have had sexual contact with the victim at a location on Whitehall Road at least once and on New Scotland Avenue on at least two occasions.

The victim was a student of Weiss, who is employed at the Hebrew Academy, according to Albany Public Safety spokesman Det. James Miller. Miller says their investigation began after Child Protective Services had received an anonymous tip about the abuse.

ALBANY (NY)
Newsday

September 30, 2008
ALBANY - An Albany-area rabbi is facing charges he sexually abused a 13-year-old boy.

Yaakov Weiss of Loudonville was arrested Monday and charged with two counts of third-degree sex abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Weiss was the boy's teacher at the Hebrew Academy of Albany.

JOLIET (IL)
WBBM

JOLIET, Ill. (STNG) - A former Elmhurst priest is being sued for allegedly stealing a man’s wife during marriage counseling sessions.

In the case, Stephen B. Crane seeks $50,000 in damages from Christopher Floss, who was a priest providing counseling, the Diocese of Joliet, and Bishop J. Peter Sartain.

Crane contends the diocese knew the priest was having a sexual relationship with his wife, Maureen Crane, and should have removed him from the church. In his complaint, Crane alleged that he and his wife had counseling sessions with Floss in 2006 at their Elmhurst home and at Elmhurst Visitation Church.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Voice from the Desert

Bishop Edward K. Braxton would have the people of the Belleville, Illinois diocese accept as fact that the paying a 5 million dollar jury award in the case of the Rev. Raymond Kownacki, a known sexual predator, “would diminish diocesan resources and significantly limit the church’s ability to continue to serve our people, our parishes, (and) our schools,” yet no financial statements have been produced to support the bishop’s claims.

What is known, however, is that the diocese is said to be earning approximately 3.5 million dollars a year in interest from investments. If true, that fact alone would go a long way in weakening the bishop’s arguments.

Like the words of too many bishops, Braxton’s words indicate that there is still a long way to go before the transparency and accountability promised in 2002 becomes a reality.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

If Bishop Braxton truly wants to heal the wounded and protect the vulnerable, he should take three immediate steps.

First, he should immediately and publicly apologize to Jim Wisniewski. In a letter sent to southern Illinois parishes this weekend, Braxton called Jim "an alleged victim." This is wrong, hurtful and intimidating.

It's wrong because Jim is NOT an alleged victim. An impartial jury heard the evidence, and found that he WAS molested by Fr. Raymond Kownacki. Furthermore, Catholic officials never even disputed this.

WINDSOR (PA)
York Daily Record

Article Last Updated: 09/30/2008 07:45:49 AM EDT

The Windsor pastor accused of inappropriate contact with teen girls waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday.

Pennsylvania State Police charged the Rev. Scott Allen Snyder, 35, of Windsor with two counts of corruption of minors Aug. 11.

Officers say Snyder kissed a 13-year-old girl from his congregation and sent thousands of text messages, including some obscene images, to her and another girl, who is 14.

TEXARKANA (AR)
Texarkana Gazette

By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 09/30/2008

Two Little Rock lawyers and one from Texarkana will make up the defense team for Tony Alamo when he goes to court on charges he transported minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

“He denies everything and we’re going to put the government to its proof. He’s not pleading to anything,” said lead defense attorney John Wesley Hall Jr. of Little Rock. “I met with Pastor Alamo in jail this morning (Monday) in Arizona and we’re already interviewing witnesses.”

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Jewish Voice

Child abuse is an uncomfortable topic to broad, but if we want to protect our children from this trauma we must speak up. The subject has been in news lately, so we would like to give you the evidence on how to protect your children.

Child molestors can often be trusted family members or friends, men or women. The Catholic priests do not have a monopoly on the scourge of pedophilia. In fact, the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault details over 100 cases of Jewish Rabbis and other community leaders who have betrayed our trust. In our area, Cantor Phillip Wittlin of Chisuk Emuna Congregation in Harrisburg and Ari Sorkin of Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park have been convicted of molesting children under their care.

NEWARK (NJ)
The Jersey Journal

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
NEWARK - A Catholic priest pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to possession of child pornography.

The Rev. James Kuntz, 59, a former adminstrator at Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, admitted using a computer or an interactive computer service to gain possession of somewhere between 10 and 150 images of child pornography last February, according to his plea agreement. Kuntz is no longer at the school.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Allison Steele
Inquirer Staff Writer

A Trenton pastor who was accused this month of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Philadelphia boy has been cleared by a judge, who determined that there was insufficient evidence.

Charges against Charles Brinson, 48, were dismissed after a preliminary hearing Friday in the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas.

Brinson had been charged with contact with a minor, solicitation, and corruption of a minor, according to police.

SOUTH CHARLESTON (WV)
Daily Mail

by Charlotte Ferrell Smith
Daily Mail staff
by Ashley B. Craig
Daily Mail staff

South Charleston Patrolman S. W. Miller was on duty Sunday evening with his K-9, Vader, when the odor of marijuana filtered into his police cruiser.

It was that odor that eventually led to the arrest of a local priest, shocking a congregation and a community.

The scent was odd, even to Miller. As he recounted in a telephone interview with the Daily Mail, strange smells can make their way into vehicles through windows and air vents but the distinct odor of marijuana leaves no room for speculation.

With no other cars around except for the silver Chrysler mini-van in front of him, Miller turned on his lights and siren at Kanawha Turnpike and Elm Street.

ARKANSAS
Democrat-Gazette

BY ANDY DAVIS

Posted on Tuesday, September 30, 2008

TEXARKANA — At court appearances Monday, the parents of four girls taken from Tony Alamo’s religious compound in southwest Arkansas waived their right to a hearing on the state’s decision to take them from the church, allowing the girls to remain in foster care for at least three more weeks.

The two pairs of sisters were among six girls, ages 10 to 17, taken into protective custody Sept. 20 after a raid by more than 100 police officers and social services caseworkers investigating allegations of physical and sexual abuse and child pornography at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Fouke.

SOUTH AFRICA
IOL

By Mziwandile Nkosi

Reports of sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Church's stance on contraception and divorce took centre-stage at the first synod of the Archdiocese of Johannesburg.

Congregates on Sunday packed the historic Regina Mundi Cathedral in Soweto for the mass, which was officiated by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale to mark the end of the five-day synod. ...

"On the issue of sex scandals, it was found that most were untrue and no information was published to dispel them. This saw the church experiencing some damage, which is unfair," said Tsoke.

"Most of these allegations were reported under anonymity, and I think there should be no secrecy in telling the truth," he said.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian

Steven Morris The Guardian, Tuesday September 30 2008

A Catholic priest who sexually abused seven girls 30 years ago and was finally caught when two of the victims swapped memories of him on the Friends Reunited website was jailed for a year yesterday.

Peter Carr, 73, sponged stage paint on to the naked bodies of girls taking part in plays at a school where he taught in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

AUSTRALA
NEWS.com.au

September 30, 2008 12:14pm

AN 81-year-old retired Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing an altar boy almost 40 years ago has chosen not to appear in a New South Wales court for a mention of his case.

Kelvin Gerald Sharkey was due to face Wollongong Local Court, where his 10 charges of indecent assault and two counts of buggery were mentioned today.

He had been summonsed following an investigation into claims he sexually abused an altar boy between 1969 and 1976.

UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

30/09/2008

A catholic priest whose sexual abuse of seven schoolgirls was exposed on Friends Reunited 30 years later was jailed for 12 months yesterday.

Father Peter Carr, 73, rubbed stage-paint on the pupils' naked bodies before school plays between 1969 and 1975.

But two victims now in their 40s - one a solicitor, the other a singer - then swapped online memories of his intimate make-up applications.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Express

Tuesday September 30,2008
By John Twomey

A JAIL sentence imposed on a priest who sexually abused at least seven children was yesterday labelled “too soft.”

Father Peter Carr molested girls aged between 10 and 11 after getting them to strip naked so he could apply stage make-up for school pantomimes.

The paedophile’s crimes came to light 30 years later after two victims – a lawyer and a singer – met up on the Friends Reunited website.

The women exchanged painful memories of how Carr made them strip for productions of Sinbad the Sailor and Tom Thumb so he could paint on their bodies or wash it off afterwards.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- --

Members of three church watch-dog groups called Monday on Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton to conduct an outside audit of diocesan finances to determine whether money exists to pay a $5 million sex abuse judgment.

Dave Clohessy, national director of the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said an outside audit is needed because the diocese may be hiding assets.

"In 20 years, I have yet to see a diocese that when pressed by legal pressure hasn't disclosed more wealth and assets and insurance coverage and property than they typically disclose in their routine audits," he said. "They almost always come up with more wealth and they initially disclose."

JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News

September 29, 2008

By STEWART WARRRN swarren@scn1.com
JOLIET -- After his wife left him last year for the priest who acted as their marriage counselor, an Elmhurst man is suing him, the Diocese of Joliet and Bishop J. Peter Sartain.

In the complaint filed last week in Will County court, Stephen B. Crane accused the priest of alienation of affection and the diocese of negligence.

The diocese allegedly knew the priest was having a sexual relationship with his wife and should have removed him from the church, according to the complaint.

BROOKLYN (NY)
Brooklyn Eagle

by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 09-29-2008

By Samuel Newhouse & Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
JAY STREET – Pastor Dieuvais Surin was sentenced Monday to about 10 to 40 years at Kings County Supreme Court for repeatedly molesting and abusing a young girl in various locations, such as his van, his apartment, and the church basement.

Surin was convicted on 22 felony counts of sexual abuse in June, after the story of his abuse of an 11-year-old child surfaced. Some church members attended the sentencing.

For each felony, he received 1 and 1/3 years to 4 years. Some of these sentences were set to run concurrently and some consecutively, said court officials.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- Members and leaders of three watch dog groups today called on Bishop Edward Braxton to conduct an outside audit of church finances to determine if money exists to pay a $5 million sex abuse judgment.

Dave Clohessy, national director of the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said an outside audit is needed because the diocese may be hiding assets.

In August a St. Clair County jury awarded $5 million to former altar boy James Wisniewski, 47, of Champaign. During the trial Wisnewski testified he was sexually abused for years by the Rev. Raymond Kownacki of Dupo, a 73-year old priest removed from ministry in 1995 because of sexual abuse of minors. Kownacki has declined comment.

Clohessy and the other group representatives, Lena Woltering of Call To Action and Anne Harter of Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity, called on Braxton to reverse his decision announced in a letter to parishioners during the weekend to seek a new trial in the Wisniewski case. If the request for a new trial is rejected, then a formal appeal to the 5th Appellate Court in Mount Vernon could be filed.

OREGON
Yakima Herald-Republic

A Tieton man is expected to enter a not guilty plea in an Oregon court today to charges of encouraging child sex abuse, according to his lawyer.

Juan Jose González Rios will appear in the Marion County Circuit Court to say he is innocent of the charges, Zillah attorney J.J. Sandlin said.

González, 37, was arrested in Tieton last March on a fugitive warrant charging him with viewing child pornography while he was studying to be a Catholic priest in an Oregon seminary five years ago.

TEXAS
Deseret News

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Monday, Sept. 29, 2008 12:34 p.m. MDT

Three men recently indicted by a Texas grand jury investigating crimes within the Fundamentalist LDS Church have surrendered to authorities.

Abram Harker Jeffs, 27, and Lehi Barlow Jeffs, 29, surrendered Monday morning at the Schleicher County Sheriff's Office in Eldorado, where they were booked on charges of sexual assault and bigamy. Keith William Dutson Jr., 23, was also booked on a sexual assault charge.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A Catholic priest whose abuse of girls was uncovered after his victims swapped memories on the Friends Reunited website has been jailed for a year.

Father Peter Carr rubbed stage-paint on to pupils' naked bodies before plays at a school in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, between 1969 and 1975.

Carr was brought to justice after two women got back in touch through the website and spoke out about the abuse.

GERMANY
IOL (South Africa)

Berlin - A Catholic priest in Germany went on trial on Monday charged with a total of 101 crimes including blackmail, fraud, breach of trust, coercion and assault.

Forty-six of the charges including causing bodily harm and extortion facing the 39-year-old, who has not been named, relate to a relationship to a woman whom he met through his priestly duties in 2003.

SOUTH CHARLESTON (WV)
Daily Mail

by From staff reports
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The pastor at Blessed Sacrament Church in South Charleston and a member of the congregation face felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

The priest, James Edward O'Connor, 58, and Michael Joseph Deegan, 59, of Cross Lanes, were arrested Sunday in South Charleston.

South Charleston Patrolman S.W. Miller made the arrests. The circumstances remained muddled today, and South Charleston officials were unable to clarify them.

SOUTH CHARLESTON (WV)
Herald-Dispatch

September 29, 2008 @ 02:40 PM

Herald-Dispatch.com

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) _ A South Charleston priest and a member of his congregation who is also a former drug counselor have both been charged with felony possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

The Rev. James Edward O'Connor, 58, is the priest at Blessed Sacrament. He and a passenger in his vehicle, Michael Joseph Deegan, 59, were charged Monday morning, according to Kanawha County Magistrate Court records.

TEXAS
PRWeb

Austin, TX (PRWEB) September 29, 2008 -- JKP, Barsana Dham, a non-profit, religious and charitable organization of the Hindu faith, responded today to allegations made by unnamed sources in a story published in the Austin American-Statesman.

Barsana Dham vehemently denies the claims made against its spiritual leaders and expressed disappointment that the American-Statesman published a story based on false and malicious allegations made by a few anonymous people.

"Anyone who has met these two respected spiritual leaders knows that these hurtful allegations are totally false," said Diwakari Devi, president of Barsana Dham. "Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj is 85 years old and Shree Swami Prakashanand Saraswati is almost 80. I encourage people to take advantage of their profound spiritual teachings while they still have the direct opportunity."

Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj is revered around the world. His ashrams, temples, schools and hospitals serve hundreds of thousands of people. His talks are widely watched on Indian, Nepalese and American television. When he speaks in a city, tens of thousands come for the opportunity to be present during his epic discourses.

TEXAS
Austin American-Statesman

By Eric Dexheimer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, September 28, 2008

In the mid-1980s, the leaders of a Hindu organization trying to gain a foothold in the United States contemplated how to raise money. Eventually, Prakashanand Saraswati and his devotees within the International Society of Divine Love — later called Barsana Dham, after they'd established themselves in Austin — ended up with an unorthodox source of support: infomercials.

The result has been a peculiar but apparently profitable alliance between the sacred and secular. Through overlaps between temple leaders and direct marketing executives and their companies, it has paired Prakashanand, a 79-year-old Hindu holy man also known as Shree Swamiji, with such late-night fare as promotions for the Miracle Blade, Abflex, homeopathic impotency treatments and the Ionic Pro air purifier.

There is nothing illegal about the religious organization benefiting from its ties to direct-marketing companies. AndBarsana Dham is not the only spiritual enterprise to have business-savvy disciples who contribute generously to support their spiritual homes.

But questions about where the Austin organization received its money were raised recently when ashram director and infomercial executive Peter Spiegel pledged $10 million to guarantee that Prakashanand would return to a Hays County courtroom to face charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The charges stem from incidents involving two teenage girls in the 1990s.

TEXAS
United Press International

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A Hindu organization based in Texas has used TV infomercials for consumer products to raise funds, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Sunday.

The newspaper said its investigation found that Prakashanand Saraswati and his devotees within the International Society of Divine Love have teamed with direct marketing companies to sell such things as the Miracle Blade, Abflex, homeopathic impotency treatments and the Ionic Pro air purifier.

There is nothing illegal about the sect benefiting from its ties with marketing companies, the newspaper said. However, questions were raised recently about where the Austin organization received its money, when ashram director and infomercial executive Peter Spiegel pledged $10 million to guarantee that Prakashanand would return to court to face charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact.

CALIFORNIA
Lobdell's OC

Mi amigo, Gustavo Arellano, wrote another insightful commentary about the Diocese of Orange and, in particular, one of its former rising stars, Bishop Jaime Soto (who now heads the diocese of Sacramento). Gustavo couldn't be more correct in his analysis.

Soto is one of the Catholic Church's rising stars because he's -- how to put this delicately? -- an ass-kisser. He delivers to his bosses what they want: silence on most of his sexually abusive brothers, a passionate defense of the fellow priest convicted of 46 counts of child molestation, and now a stinging rebuke for those who engaging in same-sex sex.

Among those commenting on Gustavo's post was Richard Sipe, a former monk who's an clergy sexual abuse expert and has long been ahead of the curve on the scandal. He writes:

You are absolutely right. Priests do not speak up about the abuse they know about. The reason: Most, I repeat most, have had or are having some kind of sexual contact, experience, relationship, or habit. They run the risk of exposing themselves, or in some cases superiors or bishops with whom they have had sex-play, experience, or a relationship. Even temporary involvement of priests in sexual relationships with other priests or sexual experimentation puts them in a fearful state.

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

Diane Dimond

America has a doctrine that very clearly separates our government from our various religions, a definite separation of Church and State. Our founding fathers wrote about the need to keep the two institutions detached way back in 1791 when adopting the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Being a career journalist I especially like the First Amendment. You know, the one that guarantees free speech and makes it illegal to infringe on freedom of the press? It's also the amendment that includes language guaranteeing the "free exercise of religion" and prohibits the government from taking steps to prohibit it.

The amendment does not guarantee a citizen's right to abuse children in the name of God, marry multiple wives, withhold taxes from the government or use deadly snakes in services. But all of that -- and more -- has occurred in the name of religion.

Consider characters like 74 year-old Tony Alamo who runs a Christian ministry headquartered in tiny, isolated Fouke, Arkansas. Federal agents moved into the compound last week to rescue several young girls. The FBI arrested Alamo a few days later at a motel in Arizona on suspicion of transporting minors across state lines for sexual purposes. ...

I have no answers but I wonder if the specter of that first amendment protection is one of the reasons child sex abuse by Catholic priests flourished for as long as it did. Did it have something to do with Jim Jones and his People's Temple being allowed to flee America to the jungles of Guyana where 900 of the faithful died? I wonder to what extent the doctrine continues to cripple authorities from rescuing children trapped in polygamist compounds where girls are forced to wed.

LAFOLLETTE (TN)
Tennessean

Associated Press • September 29, 2008

LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. — A former pastor of an East Tennessee Presbyterian church is accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a mentally unstable young woman.

Malcolm M. King III, his church, First Presbyterian Church of LaFollette, and the Presbytery of East Tennessee are defendants in a $40 million Campbell County Circuit Court lawsuit filed last month.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

A Roman Catholic priest whose sexual abuse of seven schoolgirls was uncovered 30 years later after two women shared memories of him on the Friends Reunited website is due learn his fate.

Father Peter Carr, 73, who rubbed stage-paint into the pupils' naked bodies before school plays between 1969 and 1975 will be sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court.

BOSTON (MA)
City of Angels

[photos]

Dear Kay,

We continue to vigil here in Boston on the sidewalk in front of the Cathedral. It was a warm rainy day today, with Hurricane Kyle just off the coast. That didn't dampen our spirits or prevent us from "calling to order" our weekly meeting.

Stan Doherty displayed his new designed "Reserved Space" signs for the rod iron fence which we have used to prop up our posters for the past six and a half years. Into her eighties now, Rosemary Morgan to continues participate each Sunday from her lawn chair with her prestigious title "Our Lady of the Lawn Chair."

MEXICO
News: Free Expression and Struggles

Journalist and author Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor has said that the Samborns bookstore chain, which is owned by powerful businessman Carlos Slim and is one of the most popular bookstores in Mexico, has blocked the sale of two books in which she documented cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in Mexico. Martínez Montemayor has had a long career as a journalist for Mexican media outlets. In 2006, she won Mexico's National Award for Journalism, and she is the author of several books, including "Manto Púrpura" ("Purple Cloak")and "Prueba de Fe" ("Test of Faith"). "Manto Púrpura" was published in November 2006 by the Grijalbo publishing house. Eight thousand copies of the book were printed, recounting the testimonies of individuals who have accused Catholic priests of sexual abuse. In the book, Martínez Montemayor alleges that Cardinal Norberto Rivera, the archbishop of Mexico City, protected priest Nicolás Aguilar, who has been accused of sexually abusing 26 boys in the United States in 1987. Rivera approved Aguilar's transfer to the United States, even though he presumably knew of alleged sexual abuses committed by the priest inMexico.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
Whispers from the Loggia

Hit last month with a $5 million civil judgment for "fraudulent concealment" of an abusive priest, the diocese of Belleville has moved for a retrial:

Bishop Edward Braxton has directed the diocese's lawyers to ask St. Clair County Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto for a new trial in the 2002 lawsuit brought by James Wisniewski, 47, of Champaign. He alleged he was sexually abused for five years beginning about age 13 as an altar boy at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem in the 1970s. The priest named was the Rev. Raymond Kownacki who was removed from ministry in 1995 by a diocesan review board for sexual abuse of minors.

UNITED KINGDOM
Wales Online

Sep 28 2008 by Gavin O'Connor, Wales On Sunday

‘He was a vicar, so you gave him respect. Now you look at him as some kind of a monster.'

Beguildy – a sleepy little hamlet in deepest Mid Wales – was rocked this week when its vicar, the Reverend Richard Hart was jailed for three-and-a-half years after being found guilty of possessing around 57,000 images of child pornography. GAVIN O’CONNOR visited the village to find its residents trying to rebuild their lives in the shadow of scandal...

IT’S little more than a collection of chocolate box cottages spread across a strikingly beautiful little patch of Welsh countryside.

But for years the picturesque hamlet of Beguildy in Mid Wales hid a terrible secret.

This week, the Reverend Richard Hart was jailed for 3½ years at Cardiff Crown Court for amassing a huge collection of child pornography.

IRELAND
The Post

Sunday, September 28, 2008

By John Burke
The commission set up to investigate clerical child sexual abuse in Dublin Archdiocese has failed to meet its deadline for a second time, due to the number of alleged victims making contact with the investigating team.

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation was due to conclude its work by the end of next week, but is now set to enter into its fourth year of operation.

The government granted it a last-minute reprieve last week, when the cabinet approved an extension of the commission’s work to the end of January 2009.

It is understood that the delay is related to the increasing numbers of alleged victims who are making contact with the commission on a weekly basis.

DOVER (DE)
CBS 3

DOVER, Del. (AP) ―
A second former altar boy has filed a lawsuit in Delaware alleging that he was abused in the 1950s by the late Reverend Walter Power.

Edward Banks, a 66-year-old attorney from Maryland, filed his lawsuit Friday. Also suing the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington over Power's alleged molestation is 65-year-old William Fleming, who lives in Denver.

OREGON
The Oregonian

by Michelle Roberts, The Oregonian
Saturday September 27, 2008, 10:11 PM

Diane Bach gives her horse Star Point a smooch on the nose at her home near St. Helens. A former member of the Tony Alamo ministry in Arkansas, Bach lived there from age 17 to 31 and was thrown out in the early 1980s after her then-husband sewed her a shirt from factory scraps and Tony Alamo called it stealing. She still struggles daily with diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of brainwashing.

It's been 23 years since Diane Bach left the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in Arkansas, but she still struggles to make decisions for herself.

As a St. Helens waitress hands Bach a menu during a recent lunch meeting, she swallows hard. Her hands begin to tremble; she shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Soon, she's sweating and red blotches pool on her chest like spilled wine.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I have a lot of trouble ordering from a simple menu because, to this day, I have trouble making my own choices."

BARTLETT (IL)
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

He must have been lying, because I know for a fact there had been a previous report of child abuse about Father Thomas Barry Horne.

Sitting here thinking about why am I so angry, at one point last week even scared this anger would give me a heart attack, in the middle of writing about something else, some other lies some other criminal priest or bishop told a different survivor -- it just came out of me. I wrote it down, repeated it to a person or two, cogitated on it --

Then this morning it SLAMMED into my head as I was adjusting the caption under my picture from age five that is at the top of this blog. Just typing away I was on a new caption and then SLAM into my head.

HE WAS OUTRIGHT LYING
He must have been.

ARKANSAS
Texarkana Gazette

By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 09/27/2008

Tony Alamo, who was in federal court Friday in Arizona for his first judicial appearance following his arrest, will be brought back to Arkansas to face prosecution.

Alamo was arrested Thursday on charges of transporting minor children across state lines for sexual activity.

ARKANSAS
Texarkana Gazette

By: Lynn LaRowe - Texarkana Gazette - Published: 09/27/2008

The State of Arkansas will maintain custody of at least two of the six girls removed from the Tony Alamo Ministries compound one week ago, Circuit Judge Jim Hudson decided Friday.

An adjudication hearing to address the girls’ permanent custody is scheduled for Oct. 20.

CALIFORNIA
City of Angels

[video presentation]

"Before (Loomis) became a priest, he taught at Pater Noster High school where he was known as Brother Beckett (and) routinely molested children," reads the original complaint from Case #BC307934 in Clergy Cases 2007. Today Msgr. Richard Loomis is listed as pastor of Saints Felicitas and Perpetua Church in San Marino, CA.

Watch video at http://cityofangels4.blogspot.com/ of Joelle Casteix with other survivors in front of Our Lady of the Angels Thursday afternoon with a big empty file box, and a lot of questions.

MINNESOTA
KARE

[with video]

Decades after they were allegedly sexually abused by a nun, three women announced Thursday they have reached a settlement with the Sisters of St. Francis in Rochester.

The women -- Karen Britten of Illinois, Patricia Schwartz of Eden Prairie and Christine Bertrand of California -- sued the convent in 2005 and 2006.

The three women, all in their 50s, allege they were sexually abused by Sister Benen Kent several times in the 1960s.

Kent was a music and piano teacher. She died in 2003. The women repressed the abuse, their attorney said, until years later.

FRAMINGHAM (MA)
MetroWest Daily News

By Julia Spitz/Daily News staff
MetroWest Daily News
Posted Sep 27, 2008 @ 12:11 AM

FRAMINGHAM — The state Court of Appeals has rejected St. Jeremiah parishioners' February appeal of a Middlesex Superior Court ruling that courts can't intervene in church law.

"Unfortunately, the court ruled we didn't have standing to bring the suit," Mary Beth Carmody, chairwoman of the St. Jeremiah appeals committee, said yesterday. The appellate court ruling states "the attorney general is the only one that has the right to bring suit" involving donations to a public charity.

"I find that very distressing," said Carmody. It sends a message "the members of a parish have no way to protect their rights.

ELMHURST (IL)
Daily Herald

By Christy Gutowski | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 9/27/2008

Stephen Crane and his wife, Maureen, accompanied their Elmhurst church choir on a pilgrimage to Rome in January 2007.

Despite recent marital woes, Crane thought the couple would renew their vows in Italy. Instead, his wife of nearly 10 years told him she wanted a divorce.

The Elmhurst man filed a lawsuit this week alleging his former priest, Christopher Floss, who later left the church, caused the divorce by having an affair with his wife while he served as their marital counselor.

The jilted husband's lawyers filed the suit in Will County, naming Floss and the Joliet Diocese as defendants. Besides emotional harm, the suit alleges Crane suffered economic loss by having to quit his full-time job to care for the former couple's three children, ages 18, 16, and 8.

ARKANSAS
KTHV

Posted By: Charles Crowson

Two of the six girls taken into state custody following the Sept. 20 raid of the Tony Alamo Christian Church in Fouke, Ark., will remain in foster care.

Miller County Circuit Judge Jim Hudson released his verdict around 6:00 p.m. Friday at the county courthouse in Texarkana. His decision came after more than nine hours of testimony in a courtroom that was closed to media and the public.

Arkansas Dept. of Human Services Communications Director Julie Munsell says the safety of the six girls, each between 10- and 17-years-old, is the state?s top priority, as they continue their investigation into self-proclaimed world pastor Tony Alamo.

Alamo, whose real name is Bernie Lazar Hoffman, was arrested Thursday by federal agents in Flagstaff, Ariz. He?s charged with violating the Mann Act, which involves the interstate trafficking of minors for sex. Alamo had been in California at the time of the Sept. 20 raid in Fouke but was highly vocal, proclaiming his innocence, to both local and national media.

TEXAS
Austin American-Statesman

By Eric Dexheimer
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Sexual advances from the two spiritual gurus of the Barsana Dham temple were a part of life for some women who lived on, or frequently visited, the ashram south of Austin, according to the recollections of five women who spent a collective 60 years living, working and worshipping at the Hindu temple.

The intimate contact between the gurus — Prakashanand Saraswati, known as Shree Swamiji, and his spiritual master, Maharajji Kripalu, also called Kripalu — and some women on the ashram was known and accepted among other devotees, added the women, who all said they experienced the advances firsthand. Many of the incidents they recounted occurred years before: The latest with Prakashanand was a decade ago; with Kripalu, in 2003. All of the women have since quit the organization.

The organization did not make the gurus available for comment. But temple representatives vigorously denied the accusations, suggesting they were part of an orchestrated plan to disparage the organization by disgruntled ex-devotees. Ashram director Kathleen Williams called the women's recollections "preposterous" and insisted that the incidents did not happen.

CANADA
680 News

September, 26, 2008 - 06:56 pm

THE CANADIAN PRESS
CAYUGA, Ont. - A 68-year-old former priest from Picton, Ont., has been charged with sex-related offences dating back 30 years.

Police say Donald Grecco has been charged with gross indecency and indecent assault for alleged offences against a boy.

SCRANTON (PA)
The Times-Tribune

By Laura Legere
Staff Writer
Published: Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Diocese of Scranton has released the name and history of a priest who was found by the church to have sexually abused one boy in the 1970s and who is suspected of abusing at least three more. The diocese had never before disclosed the Rev. Robert Gibson as a sex offender.

The diocese’s account of the priest opens a window on an internal process designed in the 1990s to allow the church to investigate and discipline its own spiritual leaders while also addressing emerging concerns about sexually abusive members of the clergy.

The diocese released the account to address concerns voiced by one of the Rev. Gibson’s victims, now a 48-year-old retired Navy officer, who criticized the diocese’s policy for dealing with abuse victims after reading a story about other victims’ similar concerns published in The Sunday Times in July.

FLAGSTAFF (AZ)
Chicago Tribune

September 27, 2008
FLAGSTAFF — Evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo waived his right to fight extradition to Arkansas after his arrest on charges that he took minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

Alamo appeared briefly Friday in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff. It will be at least a week before he is moved to Arkansas, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office there said.

SAN ANGELO (TX)
Abilene Reporter-News

By Brian Bethel
Friday, September 26, 2008

The Catholic Diocese of San Angelo is, for the fifth year in a row, in complete compliance with requirements issued in 2002 to protect children from sexual abuse.

The yearly audit was conducted by the independent auditing group, William Gavin, in Winthrop, Mass. An auditor from Gavin spent almost a week reviewing the diocese.

The effort is designed to provide a "safe, healthy and sacred environment for all of our people, especially our children," said Bishop Michael Pfeifer, whose diocese oversees 29 counties in West Texas, including Abilene churches.

VATICAN CITY
OpEd News

Diary Entry by Debby Bodkin

Wall Street and the U.S. economy is crumbling and the Vatican toots its own horn about financial investment success! What is wrong with this picture?

In response to "The Vatican's Midas Touch" at http://blog.beliefnet.com/pontifications/2008/09/the-vaticans-midas-touch.html, as a Catholic wife, mother and United States citizen, still struggling with the truths revealed since the clergy sex abuse crisis erupted in 2002, the Vatican's arrogance is just a bit too much to ignore. The Vatican toots its own horn for financial success while the United States economy crumbles before our eyes. Thoughts...

1. The Vatican was granted immunity by President Bush in 2005, for approximately 100,000 sex crimes committed against children in the United States ("Deliver Us From Evil" documentary). In addition, the Catholic Church and other religious institutions continue to plead in criminal and civil courts of law throughout the U.S. that freedom of religion privilege and tax exempt status, is a free pass to sexually abuse children and adults, without financial and moral accountability to socieity.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
09/27/2008

Bishop Edward Braxton asked for a new trial Friday in St. Clair County court after a jury there last month said the Roman Catholic diocese of Belleville conspired to hide allegations of sexual abuse by one of its priests. A former altar boy was awarded $5 million in the trial.

In a letter to his priests that the bishop asked be read to parishioners this weekend, Braxton said while he recognized asking for a new trial "may seem to prolong the suffering of everyone whose lives are touched by the misdeeds of the past … simply complying with the judgment as written would diminish diocesan resources and significantly limit the Church's ability to continue to serve our people."

Asking for a new trial, Braxton wrote, "is the only recourse available to give the Diocese the time needed to assess further all of the possible pastoral options available … without putting any of these options in jeopardy."

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN • The News Journal • September 27, 2008

Two state civil lawsuits were filed Friday against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington alleging that the late Rev. Walter D. Power sexually abused two men when they were altar boys in the 1950s.

Power, who retired in 1983 and died in 1998, was named by the diocese in 2006 as one of 20 priests who had "credible or substantiated complaints of sexual abuse of minors" against them.

William Fleming, 65, who now lives in Denver, alleged Power molested him while he was serving as an altar boy at St. Helena Church in the late 1950s.

Edward G. Banks Jr., 66, who is now an attorney in Maryland, claims Power sexually abused him more than 50 times when he was serving as an altar boy in the rural St. Francis De Sales parish in Maryland from 1952 to 1954.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

[with link to the bishop's letter]

BELLEVILLE --A motion filed Friday clears the way for the Diocese of Belleville to appeal a $5 million jury award given last month to a former altar boy who testified that a priest sexually abused him for years.

Bishop Edward Braxton has directed the diocese's lawyers to ask St. Clair County Circuit Judge Lloyd Cueto for a new trial in the 2002 lawsuit brought by James Wisniewski, 47, of Champaign. He alleged he was sexually abused for five years beginning about age 13 as an altar boy at St. Theresa's Parish in Salem in the 1970s. The priest named was the Rev. Raymond Kownacki who was removed from ministry in 1995 by a diocesan review board for sexual abuse of minors.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

Edward Braxton, bishop of the Belleville Catholic Diocese, offers 5 million reasons why the diocese plans to appeal the recent verdict in a civil sexual abuse case. And certainly, paying the $5 million judgment would strain diocesan finances.

But here are three reasons why we think an appeal will cost Catholics even more spiritually and emotionally:

• It is clear that James Wisniewski was sexually abused as a child in the early 1970s by the Rev. Raymond Kownacki. There was no testimony at the trial to even try to refute that.

• It is clear that diocesan leaders knew Kownacki had abused children yet did nothing to stop him. They didn't call the police, they didn't remove him from contact with children, they didn't even tell Kownacki to stop. They just moved him to other unsuspecting parishes. In the 1990s, they concealed some of the records from then Bishop Wilton Gregory that showed the extent of Kownacki's actions.

FLAGSTAFF (AZ)
News Channel 8

Evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo has waived his right to fight extradition to Arkansas after his arrest on charges that he took minors across state lines for sexual purposes. Alamo appeared briefly Friday in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff. U.S. marshals will move him as soon as possible, although it isn't known exactly when. The one-time rock promoter and street preacher was arrested by the FBI (web) while leaving a Flagstaff hotel Thursday on charges of violating the Mann Act, usually used in interstate prostitution cases.

Federal prosecutors sought Alamo's arrest after interviewing six girls taken into state custody during a raid of his southwestern Arkansas compound Saturday.

Alamo told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark E. Aspey he had legally changed his name to Tony Alamo from his birth name, Bernie Lazar Hoffman. He also said he was legally blind.

DOVER (DE)
The Daily Times

Associated Press • September 26, 2008

DOVER — A Colorado resident has filed a lawsuit in Delaware claiming he was sexually abused as a child by a Catholic priest.

Attorneys for 65-year-old William Fleming of Denver filed the lawsuit today alleging that officials with the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington failed to protect Fleming from the Rev. Walter Power.

A spokesman for the diocese declined to comment.