Abuse Tracker

UNITED STATES
PWInsider

by Mike Johnson @ 2009-03-31 16:32:33

The legal counsel for former TNA and ECW star Pat "Simon Diamond" Kenney issued the following press release today in regard to a lawsuit Kenney has brought against a cleric he claims sexually abused hm as a teenager.

In speaking to Kenney this afternoon while confirming the press release was legitimate, he noted that he had the option of filing the suit with anonymity but decided to go ahead publicly in hopes of helping others to come forward with their own claims and help their own healing process.

Since his departure from TNA, where he worked as an agent, Kenney is now working full-time outside of the wrestling business and has no plans for an in-ring return, feeling that chapter in his life has closed.

The Freethinker

A WHILE back – in 2006 – the Vatican was forced to “discipline” the Rev Marcial Maciel Degollado following allegations by nine men who claimed they were abused by cleric while studying under him in Spain and Rome in the 1940s and 1950s.

According to his obituary, Maciel was apparently partial to an occasional “groin massage” administered by young semenarians seminarians.

The group, which included respectable academics and former priests, lodged formal charges in Latin at the Vatican in 1998, but were told the following year that the case had been shelved by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, then headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

VATICAN CITY
Zenit

VATICAN CITY, MARCH 31, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is appointing a team of prelates for an apostolic visitation to the institutions of the Legion of Christ.

The work of the apostolic visitors will consist in getting to know the operations and apostolates of the congregation. The visitors will then compile a report of their findings and submit it to the Holy See.

The decision of the Holy Father was communicated to the Legion by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, in a letter sent to the general director, Father Alvaro Corcuera. The letter was released today on the congregation's Web site.

DELAWARE
Pro Wrestling

By Jason Powell Mar 31, 2009 - 03:50 PM

Former TNA wrestler and backstage agent Pat Kenney (a/k/a Simon Diamond) filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against a teacher and preist who worked at a Delaware high school. "Pat Kenney, who wrestled under the name Simon Diamond, used a landmark Delaware Law, the Child Victims Act, to come forward and tell his story of childhood sexual abuse at Wilmington's Salesianum High School, where he says he was sexually molested by known predator Denis Killion," reads a press release issued by Kenney's attorney.

"Pat has a goal," said his attorney, J. Michael Reck of Manly & Stewart of New York and Newport Beach, CA. "He wants to make sure that what happened to him never happens to another child. Pat spent an entire career being strong and ignoring the effects of his abuse. Now, he realizes that the best work he can do will be to keep kids safe, urge them to report abuse, and hold abusers and their protectors accountable."

MAINE
MPBN

Maine's Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Malone is praising as "a prophet" the founder of a religious order who warned in the 1950's that pedophile priests were incorrigable and should not be returned to the ministry. Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of a program to rehabilitate sexually abusive priests, expressed that view in letters he wrote regularly to U.S. bishops and Vatican officials, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The letters, obtained from plaintiffs' lawyers, appear to challenge assertions by some church officials that they were not aware that moving abusive priests from parish to parish posed a risk to children.

BUFFALO (NY)
Catholic Culture

March 31, 2009
The Diocese of Buffalo has sold two closed parishes to the International Sangha Bhiksu Buddhist Association for $360,000. In all, eight recently closed parishes have been sold to other congregations for worship, and 31 others are for sale.

ROME
Catholic Culture

Rome, Mar. 31, 2009 (CWNews.com) -

Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has ordered an apostolic visitation of the Legionaries of Christ (LC), in response to the turmoil roused by new revelations that the group's founder, the late Father Marcial Maciel, had apparently led a double life, marked by sexual and fiscal improprieties.

Father Alvaro Corcuera, the LC superior revealed plans for the apostolic visitation in a March 29 letter to members of the order. "With deep gratitude we have experienced the closeness of the Holy See at this phase in the life of our congregation," Father Corcuera wrote. He said that the Vatican investigation would provide "additional help to face our present vicissitudes related to the grave facts in our father founder’s life."

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news) had notified the LC leadership of the Pope's decision 3 weeks earlier. In March 10 letter to Father Corcuera, the Vatican Secretary of State announced that "the Holy Father has decided to carry out an apostolic visitation to the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ through a team of prelates." The cardinal assured the LC leader that "you can always count on the help of the Holy See, so that with truth and transparency, in a climate of fraternal and constructive dialogue, you will overcome the present difficulties."

WISCONSIN
My Community Now

By Linda Richter
Tuesday, Mar 31 2009, 10:35 AM

On March 14, Mary Lazich had a Conservatively Speaking blog entry titled “State Budget Watch: Provision in Governor’s Budget Puts Children in Harm’s Way”.

But speaking of putting children in harm’s way, what about drunk driving? Men, women, children and unborn children have been injured or killed by drivers operating vehicles while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

What is Senator Lazich (R-New Berlin) doing about it? What has she done to reform Wisconsin’s lenient OWI laws? What bills has she introduced? What legislation does she support? ...

A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial titled "Helping the victims" contends that stigma, shame, and fear result in sexual crimes being notoriously underreported. It argues that’s why serial predators can operate so long without detection.

The editorial states, “It’s time for legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations in civil cases for victims of past child sexual assaults.” It notes that SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests), an organization familiar with the reluctance of victims to step forward, pushed to get the State Legislature to change laws. Indeed, in the previous legislative session, Sen. Julie Lassa (D-Stevens Point) proposed a Child Victims Act. It would have opened up a 3-year window for victims to file a suit against their perpetrators, regardless of how long ago the crime was committed.

The Cathoholic

Joan Frawley Desmond

Today, Regnum Christi posted an announcement confirming that the Holy See has ordered an Apostolic Visitation of the "institutions of the Legionaries of Christ" that is likely to commence after Easter. The announcement included two letters: one from Father Alvaro Corcuera, the Director General of the Legionaries of Christ, and a second from the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

Notably, the letter from Cardinal Bertone is dated March 10, underscoring the fact that the Legion has taken time to absorb the Holy See's decision and establish a plan to communicate that decision to its members. Though many Catholics expected an updated annoucement from the order to include explicit information regarding the founder's misdeeds, neither letter provides or confirms additional information regarding Father Maciel's past actions that placed the order's future into doubt.

UNITED STATES
U.S. News & World Report

By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

A new Gallup poll is out that finds almost no difference between mainstream American Catholics and non-Catholics when it comes to deciding the moral acceptability of abortion (a majority of both say no) and embryonic stem cell research (a majority of both say yes).

When you look further into it, the poll shows that rank-and-file American Catholics—whether they go to church on a weekly basis or not—are not as conservative as regular churchgoers from other religions, which I assume means observant Jews, Muslims, and Christians. ...

A few years back, like most Catholic families, we had to make a decision when the pedophile scandal hit: were we going to stay or go? We all know people who left. Of those who stayed, there were two types: the hard-core crowd and the ones the hard-core crowd calls the "cafeteria Catholics"—folks who pick and choose which Church teachings to follow. Even though our parish was spared from the scandal, I think that was a donnybrook for many families: they'd stay, but it would be on their own terms. Like many others, I'm not quite willing to put our kids in Catholic schools and be altar servers, but I'll raise them in the broader Catholic tradition of service and faith as best I can. I thought that the pedophile scandal exposed how out of touch the Church leadership was with American families, and with women and children in particular. The conservative leadership of our Church lost some of its moral authority in the way it handled the whole thing.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Mar 31, 2009 / 09:57 am (CNA).- Fr. Alvaro Corcuera, L.C., General Director of the Legionaries of Christ, announced Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI has requested an Apostolic Visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ that will likely begin after Easter.

In an announcement sent to members of the Legion, Fr. Corcuera makes public the decision announced by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, in a letter dated March 10.

"I have thanked the Holy Father from the bottom of my heart for offering us this additional assistance in facing our present vicissitudes related to the grave details of our father founder’s life," Fr. Corcuera says in a letter.

ROME
Zenit

"Continue Seeking the Good of the Church and Society"

ROME, MARCH 31, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the letter Benedict XVI's secretary of state sent March 10 to Father Álvaro Corcuera, the general director of the Legionaries of Christ, announcing an apostolic visitation to the congregation. The letter was released by the Legionaries of Christ today.
...

Reverend Father,

In this holy season of Lent, a time of grace and salvation, I am pleased to remember that many people benefit from the works of education and apostolate which the Legionaries of Christ carry out in various parts of the world, moved by your desire to establish Christ’s Kingdom according to the demands of justice and charity, among intellectuals, professional people and those engaged in teaching and social action.

ROME
Zenit

"The Holy Father Has Decided That There Will Be an Apostolic Visitation"

ROME, MARCH 31, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Here is the letter Father Álvaro Corcuera, the general director of the Legionaries of Christ, sent Monday to the members of the congregation to annonce an apostolic visitation. The letter was released by the Legionaries of Christ today.
...
To all Legionaries of Christ,

Dear Fathers and Brothers in Christ,

With deep gratitude we have experienced the closeness of the Holy See at this phase in the life of our congregation. The Holy Father and his closest collaborators have confirmed us in our mission at the service of the Church, and with fatherly concern they have offered us their advice and support.

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says it is sending a team of inspectors to the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ after the conservative Roman Catholic order disclosed that its late founder had had a mistress and fathered a child.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, announced the Apostolic visitation in a letter to the head of the order, the Rev. Alvaro Corcuera, that was posted Tuesday on the Legionaries Web site.

Bertone said the Vatican was stepping in to help the order overcome its "current difficulties."

ROME
AFP

ROME (AFP) — Pope Benedict XVI has ordered a probe into the ultra-conservative Legionaries of Christ after allegations that the order's late founder Marcial Maciel secretly fathered a child, the Zenit agency reported.

A team of bishops and priests will carry out the inquiry into the movement after reports that Maciel, who died in January 2008 aged 87, had fathered a daughter, the agency reported.

Benedict's right-hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, announced the decision in a letter which the movement published on its web site.

VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has ordered an investigation of an influential Roman Catholic priestly order whose founder was discovered to be a sexual molester and to have had at least one child with a mistress.

The Legionaries of Christ announced the inspection, known in Church language as an "Apostolic Visitation," on Tuesday. The Vatican privately informed the order on March 10.

The conservative Legionaries, have been shaken over the past several years by a string of scandals tied to their founder, Father Marcial Maciel, who died last year at the age of 87.

Beliefnet

David Gibson

The Vatican has officially launched an investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, the controversial, scandal-ridden order whose late founder, Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, was last year found to have fathered a child out of wedlock. He is also suspected of sexually abusing seminarians and financial misdeeds and various other sins, all of which have profoundly tarnished what was once one of the most powerful "brands" in ultra-orthodox Catholicism.

The news emerged on the Legion's own site, which posts the letter from Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

John Thavis of CNS writes from Rome:

The announcement of the unusual investigation was posted on the Web site of the Legionaries of Christ March 31, along with the text of a letter informing the Legionaries of the pope's decision.

VATICAN CITY
BBC News

Pope Benedict XVI has ordered a probe into the Legionaries of Christ, after the conservative order revealed its late founder had fathered a child.

The Vatican said a team of priests would carry out the investigation to help the Mexican order to deal with its problems with "truth and transparency".

In February, the order said its founder Marcial Maciel, who died in 2008, had fathered a daughter with a mistress.

ROME
Telegraph (United Kingdom)

By Nick Squires in Rome
Last Updated: 6:08PM BST 31 Mar 2009

The Legionaries of Christ revealed in February that its Mexican founder, Rev Marcial Maciel, who died last year at the age of 87, had a daughter who is now in her twenties.

For decades he was also faced allegations that he sexually abused seminarians, and was disciplined by the Vatican on the charges in 2006.

Pope Benedict XVI will now send senior clerics to all the institutions run by the influential order, one of the fastest-growing in the Church.

ROME
ANSA

(ANSA) - Rome, March 31 - Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an investigation into the activity of influential Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ after reports of sexual impropriety by its late founder.

It was revealed in February that Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, who died last year at the age of 87, had fathered a daughter now in her 20s.

Father Maciel had previously been disciplined by the Vatican in 2006 for the sexual abuse of seminarians and young priests in the 1940s and 1950s.

NEW YORK
eMediaWire

New York (PRWEB) March 31, 2009 -- Just yesterday evening news broke that New York Assemblyman Vito Lopez is at it again. Lopez recently failed to derail Assemblywoman Margaret Markey's four year effort to get a Child Protection Bill passed when his competing Bill was defeated in the NY State Assembly Codes Committee earlier this month. Now he's back with a "new and improved" version.

"Assemblyman Lopez's bill harms clergy abuse victims and directly serves the interests of the Catholic Dioceses of New York," explained Irwin Zalkin, a leading sexual abuse attorney who has negotiated more than $200 million in clergy abuse settlements nationwide. "Lopez's bill runs counter to the interest of protecting children. What the bill really does is protect the Catholic Dioceses of New York from the truth coming out about the decades of abuse of children they allowed to happen."

The Lopez Bill differs from Markey's Bill (AB2596), which has already been approved by the NY Assembly Codes Committee, in that it will not allow victims whose claims are barred by the current New York Statute of Limitations from having an opportunity to come forward. The Lopez proposal is meant to distract from the importance of AB2596 and to further a public relations campaign by the Catholic Church that suggests that these revival statutes are targeted against them. However, AB2596 is facially neutral and does not include or exclude any particular institutions.

OSV Daily Take

Pope Benedict XVI has ordered an apostolic visitation of the Legionaries of Christ following acknowledgment by the order that its founder, Father Marcial Maciel, lived a double life (not least of which included fathering a child).

No word yet on the makeup of the team of bishops that performs the visitation, which the Legion says is expected to start "after Easter."

Whispers in the Loggia

Good morning from Timmytown and the rollout of plans for the Main Event.

More on that soon... in the meantime, however, it's emerged that Pope Benedict has ordered an Apostolic Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ.

The move was communicated to the community's superior-general, Fr Alvaro Corcuera del Rio, in a 10 March decree signed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, the Vatican Secretary of State. In the letter, Bertone said that the inquest will be carried out by an unnamed "team of prelates."

The Decree announcing the move was first released earlier today by Robert Mickens, Rome correspondent of The Tablet.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 31, 2009
By John Thavis, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican has ordered an apostolic visitation of the institutions of the Legionaries of Christ following disclosures of sexual impropriety by the order's late founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado.

The announcement of the unusual investigation was posted on the Web site of the Legionaries of Christ March 31, along with the text of a letter informing the Legionaries of the pope's decision.

The letter, written by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, said the pope wanted to help the Legionaries of Christ deal with its present problems with "truth and transparency." It said the visitation would be carried out by "a team of prelates," who were not identified.

UNITED STATES
The Age (Australia)

New York
April 1, 2009
THE founder of a religious order that treats Catholic priests who molest children concluded in the 1950s that offenders were unlikely to change and should not be returned to the ministry, according to his letters, which were obtained by plaintiffs' lawyers.

Father Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Servants of the Paraclete, was so sure of the priests' inability to control themselves that he tried to buy an island to isolate them.

Father Fitzgerald discussed the issue with Pope Paul VI and in correspondence with several bishops, according to the independent National Catholic Reporter on Monday. ...

The Los Angeles law firm Kiesel, Boucher & Larson persuaded a judge in New Mexico to unseal the letters in 2007, one of its lawyers Helen Zukin said.

The lawyers verified the documents at depositions with Father Fitzgerald's successor as the Paracletes' servant general, Ms Zukin said.

ATLANTA (GA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Paulk will be remembered for his abuse of innocent kids, exploitation of vulnerable adults, and his unseemly and mean-spirited legal maneuvers designed to mislead his flock and protect his secrets. His 'ministry' will be forever clouded and tarnished by his self-serving and repeated abuses of power.

We know his passing makes Atlanta a safer place. We hope his passing brings some comfort to his victims. And we hope that others who saw, suspected or suffered Paulk's crimes and misdeeds will step forward, get help and start healing.

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

This is clear proof that America's bishops were told, decades ago by their own hand-picked expert, how dangerous child predators are. Top church officials, however, ignored common sense, common decency, criminal laws and the advice of their most experienced advisor, selfishly and callously choosing, time and time again, to endanger kids and mislead parishioners.

These records are a 'smoking gun' that will hopefully dispel forever the bishops' lame excuse "gee, we just didn't understand abuse."

NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

The Lopez is a 'feel good' bill, enabling the naive to feel like they've protected kids, when in fact, they've protected predators. The Markey bill is a 'do good' bill, enabling the wounded to protect the vulnerable by exposing child molesters through the time-tested American justice system.

Why does Assemblyman Lopez want to give a free pass to child molesters who've managed to escape detection and prosecution by intimidating victims, threatening witnesses, destroying evidence, fabricating alibis and being ousted from one job around kids, only to take another such job elsewhere?

UNITED STATES
WFAA

By REESE DUNKLIN / The Dallas Morning News
rdunklin@dallasnews.com

The leader of a Catholic order that operated one of the biggest U.S. treatment centers for sexually abusive priests told bishops and the Vatican in the 1950s that the predators were "devils" and "vipers" who should be confined to an island and kicked out of the clergy.

The leader's views were expressed in letters previously placed under seal by a New Mexico court as part of litigation involving a notorious Dallas priest. They undercut the bishops' longstanding claim that they didn't understand the scope and seriousness of the abuse problem until recent years. "If I were a bishop, I would tremble when I failed to report them to Rome" for removal from the priesthood, wrote the Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald of the Servants of the Paraclete order in 1957. "It is blasphemous to let them offer the Holy Sacrifice."

Fitzgerald's correspondence, first reported Monday by the independent weekly National Catholic Reporter, represents a historic benchmark in the U.S. church's embarrassing scandal, which has led to the removal of hundreds of priests who had been kept in the ministry despite credible evidence, criminal prosecution and billions in legal settlements to victims.

OLEAN (NY)
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz

A second request for the Vatican to overturn a Catholic parish reconfiguration in Olean has been denied.

Members of Transfiguration Church tried for a second time to appeal Bishop Edward U. Kmiec’s decision merging the parish with nearby St. John and converting Transfiguration into an oratory, where liturgies would be held occasionally.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
WTNH

[with video]

Story by: Alan Cohn
Bridgeport (WTNH) - What did the Cardinal know and when did he know it? For years, attorneys, without success, have been trying to question New York's Cardinal Edward Egan about a priest he supervised while Bishop of the Bridgeport Diocese.

The former priest, John Castaldo, is a convicted sex offender, and he's being sued for at least the third time for allegedly molesting a young boy.

And the cardinal is being named as a defendant in the law suit.

The alleged victim News Channel 8 spoke to revealed he will not settle this case until he and his attorney have the opportunity to force Cardinal Edward Egan to answer their questions. They want to know why Cardinal Egan ordained Father John Castaldo despite being warned this man was not fit to be a priest.

MINNESOTA
Winona Daily News

By Jerome Christenson / Winona Daily News

Loras Watters, 93, the fifth bishop of Winona, died peacefully in the predawn hours Monday.

“He was a wonderful, simple bishop who went about doing his work quietly every day, unassumingly, and for this, the Lord will reward him well,” Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington said Monday afternoon. “After so many years as a great bishop and now gone home to his eternal rest ... I’m sure he is delighted.” ...

The sexual abuse scandals, particularly the case of Thomas Adamson in the Winona diocese, wounded him deeply.

“It was so foreign to him,” Kubista said, “It really destroyed Watters to think that could happen.”

Even so, he was unfailingly kind and gracious even to those who were abusive and confrontational.

UNITED STATES
Beliefnet

David Gibson

That is just one of the remarkable and poignant quotations from Tom Roberts' new story at NCR on a old topic--clerical sexual abuse--and an even older warning, from back in the 1950s. In correspondence Roberts dug up between Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Servants of the Paracletes, an order established in 1947 to deal with problem priests, and the U.S. bishops of the time, as well as the Vatican and even the pope. Fitzgerald was convinced that most of these abusers were incurable and should be laicized, and made his views known loud and clear:

In a 1957 letter to an unnamed archbishop, Fitzgerald said, "These men, Your Excellency, are devils and the wrath of God is upon them and if I were a bishop I would tremble when I failed to report them to Rome for involuntary layization [sic]." The letter, addressed to "Most dear Cofounder," was apparently to Archbishop Edwin V. Byrne of Santa Fe, N.M., who was considered a cofounder of the Paraclete facility at Jemez Springs and a good friend of Fitzgerald.

Later in the same letter, in language that revealed deep passion, he wrote: "It is for this class of rattlesnake I have always wished the island retreat -- but even an island is too good for these vipers of whom the Gentle Master said it were better they had not been born -- this is an indirect way of saying damned, is it not?"

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Examiner

Kay Ebeling
LA City Buzz Examiner

Part 2: I hope SIN will end up on HBO or Showtime, not as a special, but as the pilot for a series. Even with all the drama found in the lines from legal docs in the Boston cases and used in the play, every city in America has the same level of drama, deceit, duplicity, and corruption in case files re lawsuits against the Catholic Church for its handling of pedophile priests.

In L.A. Superior Court alone are enough documents to write a series. So I hope the play will end up as: Sin: A Cardinal Deposed-Boston, then Sin: A Cardinal Deposed-Los Angeles, then Peoria, Chicago, Belleville, Dallas-Fort Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Phoenix, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland Oregon, the entire state of Washington, Portland Maine, every state in New England - need I go on. I’ll be glad to go with any playwright or producer and show them where to find the case files on the terminals in Room 106 of Superior Court downtown.

THE CAST in Thursday night’s show was so realistic. I swear, actor Gary Cole was channeling Jeff Anderson (pictured above right) and Mitchell Garabedian (pictured above left) combined, in the role of a composite of plaintiff attorneys, the character Orson Krieger.

NEW YORK
Injury Board

Paul Kiesel

For reasons that are seemingly illogical, New York Governor David Paterson told Newsday that he opposes an Assembly bill that would allow sex abuse victims to have their day in court.

In siding with the Catholic Church, Gov. Paterson told Newsday, "These types of cases could go back, 20, 30, 40 years, and since the evidence probably doesn't exist in any way to convict the perpetrator [. . .] the accusation would hinder the career of any person who was accused."

Probably? How would the governor know that each case filed would PROBABLY have no evidence to back any claims of sexual abuse by priests? He doesn't know that and is speaking rather glibly.

UNITED STATES
The Associated Press

By RACHEL ZOLL

The founder of a religious order that treats Roman Catholic priests who molest children concluded in the 1950s that offenders were unlikely to change and should not be returned to ministry, according to his letters, which were obtained by plaintiffs' lawyers.

The Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Servants of the Paraclete, was so sure of the priests' inability to control themselves that he tried to buy an island to isolate them.

Fitzgerald discussed the issue with Pope Paul VI and in correspondence with several bishops, according to the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper that reported the full content of the letters Monday.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By CHRISTOPHER QUINN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday, March 30, 2009

Archbishop Earl Paulk, a metro Atlanta pastor whose fame and megachurch ministry crumbled under accusations of sexual improprieties, will be buried Saturday.

The funeral will be at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at 4650 Flat Shoals Parkway in Decatur beginning at 1 p.m.

CONCORD (NH)
WCAX

Associated Press - March 30, 2009 7:45 PM ET

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The founder of a religious order that treats Roman Catholic priests who molest children concluded in the 1950s that offenders were unlikely to change and should not be returned to ministry.

The Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald expressed that view in letters turned over recently to lawyers representing abuse victims. In one 1957 letter, Fitzgerald told Bishop Matthew Brady of New Hampshire that abusive priests only pretended to repent and change so they could keep doing what they were doing.

KINGMAN (AZ)
Deseret News

By Suzanne Adams
Kingman Daily Miner

KINGMAN, Ariz. — The Arizona case against Warren Jeffs is temporarily on hold as his attorneys battle with Texas authorities over when police knew phone calls leading to last year's raid on the YFZ Ranch were false.

Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs' attorneys, Michael Piccarreta and Richard Wright, asked the Mohave County Superior Court Monday to strike Arizona's response to a motion to suppress evidence from Texas or order a second round of interviews with three Texas law enforcement officers.

Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn has already agreed to defer ruling on the Arizona motion to suppress evidence until after a similar motion has been ruled on in Texas.

NEW YORK
The Jewish Week

by Hella Winston
Special to the Jewish Week

POSTED Monday, March 30, 5:30 PM

In a surprise move, a bill that appeared to have died in the New York State Assembly Codes Committee has been revived, causing concern among survivors and advocates for victims of child sexual abuse, The Jewish Week has learned.

The bill, sponsored by Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn), was initially filed on Feb. 19 as an alternative to legislation proposed by Margaret Markey (D-Queens), but did not make it out of the Assembly Codes Committee - something that must happen before a bill can be voted on by the full Assembly. It has been reintroduced, with several changes, and is set to be voted on Tuesday, March 31 by the Codes Committee.

NEW YORK
My Fox New York

[with video]

MYFOXNY.COM - Disturbing questions are springing up around a former priest who is now working in the public school system. Michael O'Herlihy was defrocked in 1993 amid allegations of sexual misconduct with a former student.

O'Herlihy is now an assistant principal for math and science at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day HS.

Several years after the allegations were made against O'Herlihy, some of his alleged victims sued but the statute of limitations had expired. Now, a new bill might change that.

SEAFORD (NY)
1010 WINS

SEAFORD, N.Y. (AP) -- Authorities have arrested a Seaford pastor on charges that he allegedly "touched" a female at a church event.

Ronald Klose ,58, of 3833 Marion Ct., Seaford was arrested on charges of "forcible touching" in connection with an alleged incident that took place in October 2008.

INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Robert King

Nobody in their right mind likes to see a pastor at a church caught up in some sort of scandal.

Aside from the embarrassment factor, scandals can split churches, drive away members and give people who love to bemoan hypocrisy in the church just one more example for their collection.

But it is also true that the way a church and the pastor handle the trouble can help set the stage for better days. Dealing with the issue properly can be a way, in a sense, to remove a cancer. If the accusations prove false, the process can also show that the organization has the ability to sort out fact from reality.

UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News

Jeffrey Weiss/Reporter

The National Catholic Reporter reports:

As early as the mid-1950s, decades before the clergy sexual-abuse crisis broke publicly across the U.S. Catholic landscape, the founder of a religious order that dealt regularly with priest sex abusers was so convinced of their inability to change that he searched for an island to purchase with the intent of using it as a place to isolate such offenders, according to documents recently obtained by NCR.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

[Copies of letters Fitzgerald exchanged with U.S. bishops and one pope.]

Mar. 30, 2009
By Tom Roberts

As early as the mid-1950s, decades before the clergy sexual-abuse crisis broke publicly across the U.S. Catholic landscape, the founder of a religious order that dealt regularly with priest sex abusers was so convinced of their inability to change that he searched for an island to purchase with the intent of using it as a place to isolate such offenders, according to documents recently obtained by NCR.

Fr. Gerald Fitzgerald, founder of the Servants of the Paracletes, an order established in 1947 to deal with problem priests, wrote regularly to bishops in the United States and to Vatican officials, including the pope, of his opinion that many sexual abusers in the priesthood should be laicized immediately.

Fitzgerald was a prolific correspondent who wrote regularly of his frustration with and disdain for priests "who have seduced or attempted to seduce little boys or girls." His views are contained in letters and other correspondence that had previously been under court seal and were made available to NCR by a California law firm in February.

UNITED STATES
The Daily Dish

Andrew Sullivan

The new president may have ended torture by the US government, and shifted toward economic policies favored by the Vatican, but he's still non grata for Cardinal DiNardo of Houston. A reminder about DiNardo, named one of America's five worst cardinals by the Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priests:

Cardinal DiNardo suspended a priest accused of sexual abuse but kept his action and the sex abuse allegations against Fr. Stephen Horn secret for two months while he was named and promoted to cardinal, according to SNAP. When then-Bishop DiNardo served in Iowa, he similarly mishandled allegations of sex abuse against a priest, only disclosing them long afterwards, according to SNAP.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Ruth Gledhill

Gordon Brown and Buckingham Palace have been in talks about ending the 300-year discrimination against Roman Catholics in Britain which still prevents an heir to throne from marrying a Catholic. See today's report by me and Francis Elliott and also the BBC reports it here. ...

Incidentally, at the Catholic MPs' meeting yesterday, the Nuncio was present. Addressing the question of who will succeed Father Cormac, he said: 'Nobody knows.' I understand the Pope is likely to decide today, with an announcement next week or early in Holy Week. If the Pope decides to go for a 'safe pair of hands', it seems Arthur Roche of Leeds will be his choice. A number of sources are pointing in this direction, including some who were at a farewell dinner for the Cardinal in Westminster this week, from which the Archbishop of Birmingham was absent.

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Damian Thompson

Yet another source rings me and tells me (managing to contain his joy) that he thinks Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds has got Westminster. We'll see, but that's where I'd put my money now, no doubt about it.

Quite possibly the last time you will see this picture

American readers of this blog, and possibly some British ones too, won't be familiar with the phrase "reverse ferret", defined as "a term used in the British newspaper industry to denote a sudden and complete about-face on an issue". If Holy Smoke were to do one, it might read, Private Eye-style:

Bishop Arthur Roche: An Apology

We are sorry that, in reporting the actions of Bishop Arthur Roche, we inadvertently gave the impression that he was a power-crazed, Cinnabon-scoffing former ice skater who padlocks thriving parishes and sits plotting his next career move from his Gormenghast-style headquarters in Hinsley Hall. We now realise that, in the light of his appointment to Westminster, Bishop Roche is a cheerful, decisive, bluff but holy Yorkshireman who is orthodox in his teaching and loved by his flock. We are very sorry if we gave the wrong impression.

UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Damian Thompson

Wow. I knew the "Stop Arthur Roche" campaign was gathering momentum, but I didn't expect Cathcon, the influential traditionalist website run by Chris Gillibrand, to make the case against the Bishop of Leeds so forcefully.

Here is Gillibrand's post, headed: "Bishop Roche - Just say No!" As I explained yesterday, the Holy Father may well choose +Arthur and, if so, the time will come for the bishop's critics to offer him their support.

SEAFORD (NY)
Newsday

BY LAURA RIVERA | laura.rivera@newsday.com
March 30, 2009
A Seaford church pastor has been charged with misdemeanor forcible touching in connection with an incident in October, according to court records.

The Rev. Ronald M. Klose, 58, was arrested Monday and arraigned Tuesday at Nassau First District Court in Hempstead.

District Judge Andrea Phoenix ordered him held on $2,000 bond or $1,000 cash bail and issued a temporary order of protection against him, records show. A spokesman for the Nassau County District Attorney's office said he could not provide further details yesterday because he did not have access to the case file.

MINNESOTA
Farmington Independent

Jon Swedien, RiverTown Newspaper Group
Published Monday, March 30, 2009

A Red Wing church is out $94,000 after Internet thieves apparently hacked church computers.

The Church of St. Joseph, 426 West Eight St., reported to Red Wing police on March 20 that a large sum of money was taken from the church’s bank account without consent.

“What’s more shocking than the amount is that we’ve been attacked by an Internet crime,” said church priest Thomas Kommers.

In a letter written to church members, Kommers said on March 19 the thieves used a sophisticated Internet virus to gain confidential information that was used to execute electronic money transfers. The money was then divvied up into smaller amounts and sent to other banks in the U.S.

NEW YORK
Forward

By Rebecca Dube
Published March 25, 2009, issue of April 03, 2009.

Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn, a leading voice in the fight to end child sexual abuse in Orthodox communities, is backing down from some of his previous claims and backing away from one of his most confrontational stands against an alleged pedophile.

In an interview with the Forward, Hikind dramatically scaled down a previously reported estimate of the number of abuse cases he knew about. He also said he could not keep a pledge to force a prominent yeshiva to remove an alleged pedophile from its staff.

Hikind said that he adjusted his tactics in order to be most effective. “Some people want me to yell and scream; they want me to burn the town down. I know how to do that, but I would lose the war immediately,” Hikind said in his office in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Boro Park.

MANCHESTER (NY)
WCAX

Associated Press - March 30, 2009 8:35 AM ET

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - The leader of the Catholic Church in New Hampshire has told the founder of a group that tracks reports of clergy sexual abuse that he'll consider posting names of some accused priests.

The conversation between Bishop John McCormack and Terry McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org happened after a Sunday Mass in Manchester while McCormack was greeting parishioners in the church hall, the New Hampshire Union-Leader reports.

INDIA
Kerala Online

Pathanamthitta, Monday 30 March 2009: Tension prevailed for a few hours at College Junction, near here, on Sunday night when a group assembled in front of the house of a priest, Geevarghese, protesting against the visit of Bishop John Thattumkal, who was suspended by the Vatican last year after he adopted a young woman.

The 58-year-old former Bishop was attached to the Verapoly Archdiocese of the Latin Catholic Church. He had adopted a 26-year-old woman from Pathanamthitta as his daughter. There were reports that Fr. Geevarghese had adopted the woman earlier.

INDIA
Thaindian

Pathanamthitta, (Kerala) March 30 (IANS) Bishop John Thattumkal of Kerala is in a fresh trouble. He has been found staying with the woman he had adopted as a daughter last year, which led to his suspension by the Vatican.

The woman, Sony Joseph, in her mid 30s, resides with her guardian C.K. Joseph, a priest of the Thumpamon diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church based here. C.K. Joseph has also been stripped of all parish duties because of his association with the woman.

MANCHESTER (NH)
New Hampshire Union Leader

By JIM FENNELL
New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER – Confronted by the founder of a Web site dedicated to exposing "bishops who have abused children or vulnerable adults, or have aided abusers," Bishop John B. McCormack agreed yesterday to consider posting names of some accused clergy.

McCormack helped celebrate Mass at St. Catherine of Siena and was greeting parishioners in the church hall when Terry McKiernan asked him about the diocese's policy of not listing accused priests on the Diocese of Manchester Web site.

McKiernan founded BishopAccountability.org as a way to publicly list accused clergy.

"Our list now has over 3,000 people on it, which is pretty sad, and the bishops have admitted to over 5,000," McKiernan told the New Hampshire Union Leader moments after his conversation with the bishop. "I suspect the real number is something like 10,000, which is pretty gross when you consider what we are talking about."

NEW YORK
New York Post

By DOUGLAS MONTERO and DAN MANGAN

A man defrocked as a priest in 1993 -- and who later was sued for allegedly molesting a former student at a Catholic high school -- is now working at a public high school as an assistant principal.

And Michael O'Herlihy's accuser -- who claimed he was abused at 16 by the then-priest at Cardinal Hayes HS in The Bronx in 1979 -- hopes a proposed law will let him relaunch a suit against O'Herlihy and the New York Archdiocese.

O'Herlihy is an assistant principal for math and science at Manhattan Comprehensive Night and Day HS, where he previously taught science.

NEW YORK
Reform the Statute of Limitations on Child Sexual Abuse

Assembly Bill A02596 (Child Victims Act) has passed the Codes Committee of the New York Assembly and is expected to move to a full vote! Go to our N.Y. Resources page here to view a few articles about who voted and where it goes from here. The next step is for the Assembly to pass the bill and then move on to the Senate. We still have a way to go so keep letting your representative know how important passage of the Child Victims Act truly is!

Why Must We Reform the SOLs?

Child sexual abuse is a larger national problem than we, as a society, anticipated. Research has shown that as many as one in four women and one in five men suffered abuse as a child and that almost 90% of abuse never gets reported.

BECKLEY (WV)
The Register-Herald

By Bev Davis
Register-Herald senior editor

With donations from Raleigh General Hospital in Beckley and Perry Memorial United Methodist Church in Shady Spring, a child advocacy center in Beckley will begin training in April for churches, businesses and other organizations that want to be more informed about preventing child sexual abuse.

“We have been given a donation by Raleigh General Hospital to make this training available via scholarship to about 100 people, and we also have a donation from Perry Memorial United Methodist Church for an additional 10 people,” said Christina Bailey, prevention coordinator for Just For Kids in Beckley.

Stewards of Children, a division of Darkness to Light, an organization that provides the training and education, has seen good results in its efforts, Bailey said.

VIRGINIA
Daily Progress

By Tasha Kates

Published: March 30, 2009

Nearly three years after being accused of possessing child pornography, a former pastor is scheduled to go to trial Tuesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

For most of that time, lawyers have been dealing with questions about the age of the females in the images that authorities said they found on Gregory M. Briehl’s computer in July 2006. An expert was brought in to try to identify their ages by sight, and the prosecution has tried to find out more information about the females in the images from an Australian Web site without success.

On March 17, Circuit Judge Paul M. Peatross Jr. denied a motion to dismiss the charges filed by Briehl’s attorney, Rhonda Quag-liana. The judge ruled that the prosecution “pursued reasonable efforts” to find the exculpatory evidence.

AUSTRALIA
The Murray Valley Standard

BY BEN BRENNAN
30/03/2009 4:26:00 PM
THE Archbishop of Adelaide will launch a “preliminary investigation” into a long running rift between Murraylands Anglican church members and Murray Diocese Bishop Ross Davies.

In a carefully worded statement, Archbishop Doctor Jeffrey Driver said the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of the Murray had asked him to consider ways to resolve the issues between Bishop Davies and his parishioners.

“A preliminary investigation will take place in the first instance to enable me, and those advising me, to understand the issues and determine how best to proceed,” he said.

AUSTRALIA
Christian Today

By: Bill Muehlenberg
Christian Today Australia Columnist

The acronym ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) could as easily stand for the Atheist Broadcasting Corporation. Or perhaps Anti-Biblical Christianity. It is an incredibly secular, leftist and trendy network, pushing almost all the wrong ideologies. A good case in point is its “religious” program Compass aired on Sunday nights.

One can count on one hand the number of programs actually supportive of biblical Christianity on Compass. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, it is either featuring programs bashing Christianity, or showcasing other religions in a very favourable light.

Consider some recent episodes as well as some upcoming viewing on Compass. On 15 March 2009 we had the “Hand of God”. It is described on the Compass website this way: “This moving personal story about the sexual abuse of a 14-year old altar boy in 1960s America examines the personal cost to one family and their faith.”

Now all child sexual abuse is to be deplored and condemned. But why are we not surprised that this is yet another story about the big bad Catholic Church and abusive priests? How many times will the ABC run this story?

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 29, 2009
By DANIEL BURKE, Religion News Service

WASHINGTON -- Two of the U.S. bishops criticized by an anti-abortion activist and the American archbishop who heads the Vatican's supreme court said they follow the guidelines approved the the U.S. bishops in 2004.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, formerly of St. Louis, has apologized for the "confusion and hurt" caused by his criticism of fellow bishops who do not deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

He was interviewed earlier this month by an anti-abortion activist in Rome, where he now is Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

Burke implicitly criticized Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington and Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, Va., for not denying Communion to Catholic politicians who buck the church's anti-abortion stance. Wuerl and Loverde were singled out because so many politicians live and work in their jurisdictions.

OMAHA (NE)
NTV

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Omaha Archdiocese has announced it will close 1 of its north Omaha parishes this spring because of declining participation.

The news was shared with St. Richard parishioners on Sunday. About 50 to 75 people attend weekly services there.

UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Post

Mar 30 2009 by Edward Chadwick, Birmingham Post

A decision which could see the Archbishop of Birmingham become the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales looks set to be made within weeks.

As Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor prepares to step down from the post he has held for nine years, religious spectators have placed the Most Rev Vincent Nichols among the front-runners.

The 63-year-old has made his name as a robust defender of Catholic schools, adoption agencies and the presentation of the Catholic Church in the media.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — An evangelical pastor whose leadership of an Atlanta-area megachurch ended in a sex scandal has died.

Atlanta Medical Center said Archbishop Earl Paulk, who was in his 80s, died early Sunday. The hospital could not release a cause of death. Paulk had been in bad health for the past couple of years after a battle with cancer.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By DONNA LEWIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Earl Paulk, the founder of an Atlanta-area megachurch whose leadership was marked by sex scandals, died Sunday at Atlanta Medical Center.

Paulk, who was in his 80s, had been in bad health for the past couple of years after a battle with cancer. The hospital could not release a cause of death.

Paulk built a huge, racially integrated congregation at the Cathedral at Chapel Hill in South Dekalb County with his passionate evangelism, but many members left because of his sexual indiscretions.

UNITED STATES
Because it Matters - Freedom in Christianity

By Danni Moss

One of the accusations hurled at me regularly regarding this blog is that I am over-exaggerating the seriousness of the situation of abuse in the church. I am told that the problems of both clergy sex abuse and domestic violence in the church are rare and limited to strange, extreme, non-mainstream churches.

I have addressed the fallacy of this assumption elsewhere on my blog, but another thought occurred to me today. To give a little bit of a picture of how big this “molehill” really is, here are some facts.

Click on the link in the right sidebar for “Protestant Clergy Sex Abuse in the News.” See how many pastors and church workers appear there. Now, remember that my collection is quite incomplete — I don’t find every news story. Also, by far, most instances of clergy sex abuse are never reported. Almost all of the ones I know about personally have never been reported.

ATLANTA (GA)
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Bishop Earl Paulk, a charismatic preacher brought down by a series of sex scandals, has died. He was 81.

Paulk died near midnight Saturday at the Atlanta Medical Center, a nursing supervisor confirmed to CNN. The bishop had been at the hospital for several days, she said.

Paulk's death came after an "extended and horrible battle with cancer," Paulk's nephew, Bishop Jim Swilley, wrote in a blog post

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Pat Donnelly 03-25-2009

While researching John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer-winning play Doubt at Centaur Theatre (where it continues to play to sold-out houses through Sunday, March 29), I stumbled upon a newstory in a Los Angeles paper which revealed that victims of pedophiles took issue with the movie based on the play and didn't want it to win any Academy Awards.

Doubt is a tightly written play in which a tough-minded nun becomes determined to nail a priest, who may or may not be guilty of child abuse. The movie stars Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. At Centaur, the lead roles are played by Brenda Robins and Alain Goulem.
Further investigation led me to the discovery of the website of SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests). And another one run by those who would hold bishops accountable.
People who express themselves on these sites have problems with the ambiguities of Doubt, which leave open the possibility that the priest may be the victim of false accusations. (Something that could happen, too. Innocent people, some of them good priests, do get falsely accused of wrongdoing. Which is why we have a presumption of innocence rather than a presumption of guilt in law. My uncle Francis, who was a priest, was a decent, honest person. Like the vast majority of his colleagues, did his job and stuck to the rules.)

TEXAS
San Angelo Standard-Times

As we near the one-year anniversary of the raid on the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, it is appropriate to look back at lessons learned in this historic case.

On April 3, 2008, Child Protective Service and law enforcement authorities raided the polygamist compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They were acting on a phone call alleging abuse at the ranch - a tip that authorities have since determined was a hoax.

Over the next few days, officials removed 439 children from the ranch to ensure that no children were being abused. Ultimately, state appellate courts returned most of the children to their parents.

Although the call turned out to be a fake, the evidence uncovered there was not - and the state did the right thing by taking action.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Raquel Rutledge, Dan Egan and Linda Spice of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Mar. 29, 2009

The expensive shoes and basketball jerseys, meals and miniature golf outings were great, but there were more important things that drew teenage boys to Daniel John Acker.

"When I needed to vent, he would be there to listen," said Travis Rentschler, a 19-year-old who lives around the corner from Acker's former home on W. Rogers St. in West Allis.

Acker, 61, appeared in court on Saturday, shackled at his wrists and ankles, and said little other than that he will comply with court orders not to contact another 19-year-old man who is at the center of charges filed Friday accusing the longtime swimming instructor of sexual abuse. No friends, family or accusers were in the courtroom as the commissioner set Acker's bail at $65,000. ...

Acker attended St. Rita at the same time that George Nuedling was associate pastor at the church. Nuedling died in 1994. Eight years later, 10 people alleged Nuedling had abused them as children in the 1960s and 1970s.

Peter Isely, Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said he had seen dozens of names of those who reported being abused by Nuedling and that Acker's was not one of them. But, he said, Nuedling is suspected of sexually abusing more than 100 children, so it is possible. Even so, Isely cautioned against connecting sexual abuse as a child to becoming an abuser as an adult.

"The science just doesn't support it," he said.

CONNECTICUT
The Hour

NORWALK

By FRANCIS X. FAY JR.
Hour Senior Staff Writer

The Voice of the Faithful in the Bridgeport Diocese announced gifts amounting to $12,500 to eight non-profit organizations during its seventh annual conference Saturday at Fairfield University.

The 100 attendees also saw Joseph F. O'Callaghan, Ph.D., of Norwalk receive the first Saint Anselm Award as the VOTF Volunteer of the Year.

UNITED STATES
USA Today

I was wrong in my posting Friday on Catholic bishops, says Tod Tamberg, director of Media Relations for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where Cardinal Roger Mahony is archbishop.

I originally included Mahony and Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, in a list of bishops who were publicly criticizing another bishop (holocaust-denying British Bishop Richard Williamson) outside their ecclesiastical jurisdiction. David Clohessy, a survivor of clergy sex abuse, complained that bishops stayed mum -- in public -- about other bishops' errors during the scandal.

Tamberg says:

Cardinal Mahony co-wrote an op-ed -- meaning he spoke out together with -- two well-known officials of the American Jewish Committee. The purpose of the op-ed was to address folks like yourself, who seem to believe that just because the pope lifted his excommunication, Williamson is Catholic. He isn't.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

The News Journal • March 29, 2009

The March 7 story of writer William Lobdell, "Reporting on church scandals, a writer loses his faith," inspired the accompanying letter from the Rev. John Lunness of New Castle.

For a more extensive explanation of his decision not to leave the Church, Lunness agreed to be interviewed by The News Journal's Editorial Board. ...

What you call the media's seeming exaltation of the suffering, could also been seen as a valid effort to expose the forces that makes this abuse possible and thrive, could it not?

No. The breaking of the sexual abuse scandal, starting with Boston, was good. God tells us that things done in darkness will be brought into the light. That is a good thing. My abuse took place in the suburbs of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. In 2005 when the District Attorney's Office, headed by Lynn Abraham, released its grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse in Philadelphia, I was devastated. My abuser was named as someone who abused others also. But that report spurred me on to seek the help that I desperately needed, another good. There is a difference in reporting news and events and exploiting them.

BRAZIL
The New York Times

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: March 27, 2009
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The waiting room at Pérola Byington Hospital resembles a small day care center many days. Young girls play on the cold tile floors or rock hyperactively in plastic chairs, while their mothers stare pensively at the red digital readout on a wall, signaling their place in line.

But this is a women’s health clinic specializing in treating victims of sexual violence. Of the 15 such cases the hospital averages each day, nearly half involve children under 12. ...

Weighing just 79 pounds and barely four feet tall, the 9-year-old girl, from Alagoinha, a town in the northeast, underwent an abortion when she was 15 weeks pregnant at one of the 55 centers authorized to perform the procedure in Brazil. Abortion is legal here only in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is at risk.

The doctors’ actions set off a swirl of controversy. A Brazilian archbishop summarily excommunicated everyone involved — the doctors for performing the abortion and the girl’s mother for allowing it — except for the stepfather, who stands accused of raping the girl over a number of years.

COLUMBIA
Reuters

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Colombian man accused of sexually abusing his daughter from a young age and fathering eight children with her was arrested on Saturday, causing an outcry over the lack of child protection in the Andean nation.

Arcebio Alvarez, 58, was led away in handcuffs by agents from Colombia's attorney general's office after his daughter told police that he had abused her since she was a young girl.

Alba Nidia Alvarez, 35, from the central town of Mariquita, said an evangelical Christian pastor had convinced her to come forward about the alleged abuse.

KENYA
The Standard

By Martin Mutua

A row has erupted between Nairobi Archbishop Cardinal John Njue and priests who are now up in arms against his leadership style.

The priests, who spoke to The Standard on Sunday on condition of anonymity, are accusing Njue of being "dictatorial, arrogant and proud".

The priests said they were angered by a move by the cardinal to limit their monthly allowances and control offerings from their parishes.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Opening up a window for victims to file suit against their perpetrators would provide one form of justice.

Posted: Mar. 27, 2009

After a car crash, some walk away with mere bruises. Others spend the rest of their lives suffering deep and persistent pain. That lifelong, wracking pain is a trademark characteristic resulting from sexual abuse.

There is much to shock the conscience and strain belief in the case of Daniel Acker of Waukesha, the part-time aquatics program coordinator suspected of sexually assaulting young boys and teens for more than 30 years.

But why victims don't step forward - even over 30 years - shouldn't be among the articles of disbelief. Stigma, shame and fear conspire to render sexual crimes notoriously underreported. It is why serial predators can operate for so long without detection.

It remains important, however, for victims to come forward - in this case and all others. On Friday, Greenfield police asked federal authorities to investigate whether Acker could be connected to dozens of sexual assaults and children who have disappeared since the 1970s.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Meg Kissinger of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Mar. 27, 2009

People who have molested children for years typically get away with it for so long because the victims are not inclined to tell others, said Dale Bespalec, a psychologist for 30 years who has specialized in sex crimes against children.

Victims, especially young children, might feel threatened, he said.

"The molester might say, 'If you tell, Mommy or Daddy will go to jail.' Or, 'Your dog will die,' " Bespalec said.

Child molesters are master manipulators, said Bespalec, who worked with sex offenders for 10 years with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and now is on the staff of the Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology.

Peter Isely, Midwest director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an organization to aid those abused by clergy, said molesters get away with their crimes for so many years because society typically doesn't understand how child molesters act.

"No one understands the mind of a child better than a child molester," Isely said. "Most of their crimes never go reported."

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Jennifer Burke/Catholic Courier

The New York State Catholic Conference is urging Catholics to contact their state legislators and voice their opposition to the proposed Child Victims Act of New York, A2596/S2568 -- also known as the "Markey bill" -- and their support for alternative legislation, A5708a/S3107a, called the "Lopez bill." Visitors to the conference's Web site, www.nyscatholic.org, can click on the "Take Action Now!" button to find a prewritten letter of opposition to the Markey bill and support for the Lopez bill. People may edit this letter as they choose, and it will be sent to the appropriate legislative representatives when they enter their address information into an online form.

Those wishing to stay informed about this and other issues on the Catholic conference's radar may join its Catholic Advocacy Network by clicking on the "Join the Network" button on conference's Web site. Through this network members will receive e-mailed action alerts about various legislative issues of concern to the Catholic conference.

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Amy Kotlarz/Catholic Courier

Even those critical of the Catholic Church’s past responses to clergy sexual abuse agree that the way it handles present-day abuse allegations has improved since establishment of a nationwide program to protect children.

In 2002, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops created the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which established norms for responding to abuse allegations and for creating safe-environment programs in dioceses throughout the country.

Since that time, the USCCB has required all bishops to remove from ministry any priests found to have committed abuse. Policies are in place in dioceses nationwide for reporting abuse to civil authorities, conducting background checks of employees and volunteers, and training adult employees and volunteers on how to identify and prevent abuse.

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Mike Latona/Catholic Courier

The consequences of similar legislation in California and Delaware raises significant concern among Catholic leaders in New York -- and in other states where such measures have been floated -- about the proposed Child Victims Act of New York.

The New York proposal contains a provision to temporarily suspend the civil statute of limitations for cases of child sexual-abuse, giving alleged victims a one-year "window" in which to file suits that have been time barred by the current statute, no matter how long ago the abuse allegedly happened.

The Child Victims Act is similar to legislation passed in California in 2002, which created a one-year window for alleged victims of child sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits that had been time barred under the previous civil statute.

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Jennifer Burke/Catholic Courier

State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) and state Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) agree on one important point: The sexual abuse of children is a horrific crime, and steps should be taken to prevent its occurrence.

That's about as far as their agreement goes. Both have proposed bills intended to address the issue by reforming New York's statute of limitations as it relates to the sexual abuse of children, but the two bills go about this in vastly different ways.

Markey, who was elected to the Assembly in 1998, first introduced her bill, titled the Child Victims Act of New York, to the Assembly in 2006.

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Annette Jiménez/Catholic Courier

Opponents of proposed legislation that would temporarily waive the statute of limitations on child sexual-abuse lawsuits say the bill unfairly targets the Catholic Church and other private institutions because it would not apply to public entities.

New York's current statute of limitations requires alleged victims of child sex abuse to file civil lawsuits by the time they are 23. But separate statutes for claims against such public entities as municipalities, public schools, public hospitals and government-run institutions require the alleged victims in cases of any nature to file statements of their intent to sue -- called notices of claim -- within 90 days of the incident.

In effect, public entities would be free of any previously time-barred lawsuits under the Child Victims Act of New York (A2596, S2568), although several studies in recent years show that sexual-abuse cases are prevalent in public schools.

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Amy Kotlarz/Catholic Courier

Two competing bills in the state Legislature are calling for changes in how civil lawsuits related to child sex-abuse can be filed in New York.

The Child Victims Act of New York (A2596) -- also known as the "Markey bill" -- is being sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) and available to be voted on at any time by the full Assembly. State Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan) has introduced an identical bill into the state Senate (S2568).

An alternative bill -- A5708a, also known as the "Lopez bill" -- is being sponsored by Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) and at press time was under consideration in the Assembly codes committee. The Lopez bill's state Senate companion (S3107a) is sponsored by Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn).

NEW YORK
Catholic Courier

(Publication Date: 03-27-2009)

By Amy Kotlarz/Catholic Courier

The New York State Catholic Conference has mounted a statewide campaign to educate Catholics about the Child Victims Act of New York -- also known as the "Markey bill" -- which would temporarily waive the state's civil statute of limitations on child sexual-abuse lawsuits against individuals and private institutions. It also would lengthen the period in which alleged victims may sue individuals and private organizations for child sexual abuse in the future.

Sponsors of the proposed state legislation (A2596, S2568) claim it will bring justice to victims of child sex abuse, but the state Catholic conference, which represents the state’s bishops in matters of public policy, charges that the proposal unfairly targets the Catholic Church and other private institutions.

New York's current statute of limitations requires alleged victims of child sex abuse to file civil lawsuits by the time they are 23. But separate statutes for claims against public entities -- such as municipalities, public schools, public hospitals and government-run institutions -- require the alleged victims in cases of any nature to file statements of their intent to sue -- called notices of claim -- within 90 days of the incident. In some cases, a judge might consider an extension to this 90-day time frame, though the Catholic conference said this is rare.

CLEVELAND (OH)
WKYC

CLEVELAND -- Several more churches of the Cleveland Diocese slated to close next yea, filed appeals with Bishop Richard Lennon by Friday's 5 p.m. deadline.

Parishioners of St. Colman on West 65th Street hand delivered 3,300 handwritten letters of petition to the Diocesan offices downtown.

The forms had been filled out by church members and supporters, and in each people were free to say why they thought St. Colman's should stay open.

IOWA
The Messenger

By BILL SHEA, Messenger staff writer
POSTED: March 27, 2009

State Rep. Helen Miller is seeking to require background checks for anyone involved in a children's center in response to concerns about a registered sex offender living in a Webster County facility.

The Fort Dodge Democrat has introduced an amendment mandating those checks that she hopes will be acted on next week. Her proposal doesn't mention the Anchor Character Training Center. However, she said she introduced the measure in response to revelations that a registered sex offender is housed there.

Miller's amendment directs the state Department of Human Services to ''apply criminal and abuse registry background check requirements for the persons who own, operate, staff, participate in or otherwise have contact with the children receiving services from a children's center.''

Anchor Character Training Center, 1940 225th St., is a coed home for troubled teens operated by Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge.

COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We applaud these brave victims who are speaking out, protecting kids and seeking justice in the open, time-tested American judicial system. Lawsuits like this will safeguard kids, stop crimes, and deter future recklessness, deceit and secrecy by those who might otherwise be tempted to shield known and suspected child molesters.

We hope that others who saw, suspected or suffered this cleric's crimes will also be brave enough to come forward, call police and get help.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

There is no clearer proof than these numbers that secrecy about clergy sex crimes and cover-ups remain the top priority of bishops.

Catholics should be outraged that the names of dozens of accused child molesting clerics have been kept hidden from the public while the Manchester diocese was under scrutiny by the state’s top law enforcement official. This raises two obvious and troubling questions. What other sex offending priests is Bishop McCormack protecting from disclosure. And how much more secrecy will we see in the Manchester diocese now that state oversight is ending?

LORAIN (OH)
The Chronicle-Telegram

Steve Fogarty | The Chronicle-Telegram

At least two Lorain churches plan to appeal their proposed fates under the massive restructuring plan announced March 14 by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, which calls for the closing of nearly 30 churches and the merger of 41 more parishes with neighboring churches by June 2010.

Friday was the deadline for Catholic parishes in the Cleveland diocese to appeal their planned closings or mergers with other churches.

EASTLAND (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
begerton@dallasnews.com
The Rev. Thomas Teczar couldn't stomach his 25-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a child. In 2007, he persuaded a Texas appeals court to grant him a new trial.

As gambles go, it was a bad one.

Jurors in Teczar's second trial sentenced the notorious Catholic priest to 50 years in prison on Friday, his 68th birthday. ...

Teczar is a central figure in the cover-up scandal that has cost the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese several million dollars, led to the unmasking of several other predator priests and damaged the reputation of veteran church leaders, most notably the late Bishop Joseph Delaney.

The scandal began unraveling in 1998, when The Dallas Morning News discovered that Teczar had fled Texas a few years earlier after refusing to answer questions from an Eastland County grand jury. Officials there were investigating allegations that two of Teczar's neighborhood friends had molested children and that he had encouraged them to destroy photographic evidence.

EASTLAND (TX)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

By Celinda Emison SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
A Catholic priest found guilty Thursday of sexual assault and indecency was sentenced to 50 years in prison by an Eastland County, Texas, jury yesterday.

The Rev. Thomas Teczar, 68, was sentenced to 50 years each for three counts of sexual assault and 15 years for one count of indecency with a child. He also was assessed a $10,000 fine for each count. The sentences run concurrently and Rev. Teczar must serve a quarter of the time before he is eligible for parole according to Texas laws in 1990, when the offenses were committed. ...

Barbara Blaine of Chicago, a founding member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said she was pleased with the conviction and the sentence. She said she was glad the case was tried in court.

“Any time a sexual predator is in jail, then we know he can’t hurt any other child,” she said.

Barbara Blaine of Chicago, a founding member of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said she was pleased with the conviction and the sentence. She said she was glad the case was tried in court.

“Any time a sexual predator is in jail, then we know he can’t hurt any other child,” she said.

SAN ANGELO (TX)
San Angelo Standard-Times

Courtesy of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo
Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Most Rev. Michael Pfeifer, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo, is very happy to share with the people of West Texas the good news of all the efforts that the Catholic Church is making to provide protection for children and young people.

The Diocese of San Angelo is included in the 2008 Annual Report that follows, and has been given high marks for all the efforts to implement the Charter to provide a safe environment for all people, especially young people.

Dioceses spent more than $23 million nationwide in 2008 to prevent child sexual abuse, an increase of $2 million from 2007.

EASTLAND (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By DARREN BARBEE and MITCH MITCHELL
dbarbee@star-telegram.com

The Rev. Thomas Teczar gambled — and lost — at his second trial by letting a jury decide his punishment for raping an 11-year-old boy in Ranger in 1990.

At his first trial in 2007, a judge sentenced the former parish priest in the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese to 25 years in prison.

On Friday, an Eastland County jury sentenced him to 50 years.

Teczar, 68, was convicted Thursday of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child.

PUEBLO (CO)
Colorado Springs Gazette

March 27, 2009 - 10:28 PM
NEWS SERVICES
PUEBLO • A former Catholic priest faces a lawsuit filed by two men who say they were abused in southern Colorado 20 years ago.

The lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and former priest William Groves alleges abuse in the 1980s at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Walsenburg and St. Ignatius Church in Ignacio. Groves was a priest at those sites.

The plaintiffs are identified only as "John Doe." The men are seeking more than $1 million each. They say the diocese knew of the abuse and failed to stop it.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

By Naomi Loomes

A paedophile vicar who abused boys for years asked for his jail term to be cut - saying he was a nice man at heart.

Colin Pritchard was jailed for five years after he was convicted of running a campaign of sexual abuse against a young boy.

The 64-year-old, of St Augustine’s Close, Bexhill, preyed on the victim as well as a second boy who was assaulted by another priest, who was a friend.

The offences were committed up to three decades ago when Pritchard was a parish priest at St Andrew's Church in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Foster's Daily Democrat

By ADAM D. KRAUSS
akraussfosters.com
akrauss@fosters.com

Saturday, March 28, 2009
DOVER — Seven of the 26 accused clergy members identified in recently released files by the Attorney General's Office worked in Seacoast churches.

The cases originated out of Somersworth, Rollinsford, Rochester, Exeter and either Ossipee or Effingham, with the 879 pages also detailing allegations of sexual abuse against previously accused priests. One report involved a Massachusetts priest accused of abuse while in Alton.

The allegations span several decades, with several local cases originating between the 1960s and 1970s and taking place inside churches, homes and a golf course, according to case descriptions and e-mail correspondence.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press Writer

[BishopAccountability.org home page]

[exerpts from documents]

[audit records from BishopAccountability.org]

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- A group that tracks reports of clergy sexual abuse said Friday that new files on abuse allegations released by the state attorney general show why time limits on prosecuting such cases should be eliminated.

The files identify 26 clergy members newly accused of sexual abuse since 2002, though most of the alleged abuse took place decades ago.

The information was released after the state's final audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester under a landmark 2002 agreement.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Union Leader

By GARRY RAYNO AND KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader

MANCHESTER – A group tracking priest sexual abuse yesterday called for the elimination of the statute of limitations on criminal and civil cases after files released by the Attorney General's office included 26 new names of clerics and two nuns and more than 100 new allegations.

The allegations have not previously been released to the public, and members of BishopAccountability.org said keeping the information from the public prevents victims from healing and puts additional children at risk.

"We have reasons for our lack of trust in the diocese," said Carolyn Disco of Merrimack. "It took the point of a legal gun to get them to cooperate."

EASTLAND (TX)
Abilene Reporter-News

By Celinda Emison
Originally published 06:41 p.m., March 27, 2009
Updated 06:41 p.m., March 27, 2009

A Catholic priest found guilty Thursday of sexual assault and indecency was sentenced to 50 years in prison by an Eastland County jury Friday.

The Rev. Thomas Teczar, 68, was sentenced to 50 years each for three counts of sexual assault and 15 years for one count of indecency with a child. He also was assessed a $10,000 fine for each count. The sentences run concurrently and Teczar must serve a quarter of the time before he is eligible for parole according to Texas laws in 1990, when the offenses were committed. Judge Steven Herod handed down the sentence.

“I am very pleased,” said 91st District Attorney Russ Thomason. “This man left a trail of damaged youngsters from Massachusetts to Texas and now he can’t do that any more.”

EASTLAND (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

06:55 PM CDT on Friday, March 27, 2009
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
begerton@dallasnews.com

Jurors sentenced a priest to 50 years in prison Friday in a retrial on sex-abuse charges in Eastland County, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth.

That’s twice what the Rev. Thomas Teczar got in his first trial, in which he chose not to have a jury.

Teczar — who worked for the Fort Worth Catholic Diocese despite a long history of misconduct with boys in a Massachusetts diocese — turned 68 Friday.

“Victims got to celebrate his birthday,” District Attorney Russ Thomason said. “This is effectively a life sentence.”

EASTLAND (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By Darren Barbeed
barbee@star-telegram.com

EASTLAND -- Convicted child molester the Rev. Thomas Teczar was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison for raping an 11-year-old boy while a priest of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese in the 1990s.

The predator priest won a new trial last year after his first conviction was set aside because of what an appellate court decided were inadequate qualifications of an expert witness.

Teczar gambled -- and lost -- by letting a jury decide his punishment in the new trail. A judge in 2007 sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

UNITED STATES
USA Today

Victims of the clergy sexual abuse crisis are watching with anger and dismay as bishops from Phoenix to Rome mouth off at each other -- invading each others ecclesiastical turf -- on who is in or out of line on hot potato political issues.

But during the most horrific days of the abuse scandal, bishops held fire on each other, with no public chastising of bishops or, most notably, of Cardinal Bernard Law, whose mismanagement as Archbishop of Boston allowed hundreds of sexual abusers to go undetected or unpunished for decades.

In 2002, when the scandal erupted, bishops said they were offering fraternal corrections in private but had no right to publicly point out each other's errors or interfere across diocesan boundaries. Bishops answer to God and the pope, not each other.

"It's galling, really galling, that they are so eager to speak out now on things they have no influence at all, when they kept silent when they could have done some real good," says David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

PUEBLO (CO)
KRDO

Associated Press - March 27, 2009 12:44 PM ET

PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - A former Catholic priest now faces a lawsuit from two men who say they were abused in southern Colorado two decades ago.

The lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and former priest William Groves alleges abuse in the 1980s at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Walsenburg and St. Ignatius Church in Ignacio. Groves was a priest at those sites.

The plaintiffs are identified only as "John Doe." They are seeking more than $1 million each. They say the diocese was aware of the abuse and failed to stop it.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
WCAX

[exerpts from documents]

[audit records from BishopAccountability.org]

Associated Press - March 27, 2009 3:55 PM ET

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A group that tracks reports of clergy sexual abuse says new files released by New Hampshire prosecutors show why the statute of limitations on reporting such abuse should be eliminated.

The files, which publicly identify 26 accused clergy members for the first time, were released after the state's final audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

A group called BishopAccountability.org says that could spur more victims to come forward, but the statute of limitations will rule out many prosecutions.

SYRACUSE (NY)
10 News Now

Updated: 03/27/2009 05:34 PM
By: Bill Carey

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- John Aretakis has been here before. He's waged an ongoing battle with the Syracuse Roman Catholic Diocese over what it did or did not do in the case of Father John Broderick, a priest arrested last year for allegedly abusing four young boys in the same family. The priest has since been convicted on one misdemeanor count in the case.

Aretakis has filed a new civil case to free up diocesan records on Broderick.

“They knew about him. They allowed him to roam free. They moved him from parish to parish, or, in this case, they allowed him to walk around like a gypsy priest on his own. To travel down to Albany, to North Carolina, up to Massena and then down to Pennsylvania. And he really was, most times, unsupervised and not supervised at all,” said Aretakis.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
NECN

[with video]

(NECN: Lauren Collins, Manchester, NH) - There is new information about the clergy sex abuse crisis in New Hampshire. Documents reveal the names of more than two dozen priests, accused of misconduct.

These names are public record because of victim advocate groups, and media outlets filed right to know requests with the Attorney General. The victim advocates say they shouldn't have had to work this hard to get that information.

The files, which publicly identify 27 accused clergy members for the first time, were released after the state's final audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

A group called BishopAccountability.org says that could spur more victims to come forward, but the statute of limitations will rule out many prosecutions.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
NHPR

March 27, 2009

[with audio]

[See also a transcript of the Delker interview]

By Mark Bevis

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has released files that publicly identify 26 clergymen accused of sexual abuse.

The list comes after the close of the state's final audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

During that audit, the Church had agreed to report any other accusations to the Attorney General's office and remove those accused from their jobs.

FLORIDA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Andy Reid | South Florida Sun-Sentinel March 27, 2009
A day after getting a four-year prison sentence for stealing church funds, a former Delray Beach pastor maintained that the charges against him were overblown and the punishment was unfair.

In an interview with WPTV-Ch. 5 on Thursday, the Rev. Francis Guinan said he did not steal hundreds of thousands of dollars as alleged but instead used about $10,000 on trips that included Las Vegas, the Bahamas and Ireland. Guinan said he returned to Ireland for his sister's funeral.

Guinan on Wednesday was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to repay $99,999 — the maximum amount allowed.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
BishopAccountability.org

Diocese of Manchester and New Hampshire Attorney General
Released March 7, 2009

Click the excerpts to view each complete allegation file. These excerpts are intended to introduce you to the audit records and the allegations against priests who are newly accused in this document release. The excerpts are not exhaustive. These audit files do not state or imply that individuals facing allegations are guilty of a crime or liable for civil claims. The reports contained in the audit record are merely allegations. The U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements.

See also the main page of our feature on the Audit Records with links to all the released documents.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
BishopAccountability.org

Released on March 7, 2009 and March 26, 2009

In March 2009 the attorney general of New Hampshire released 879 pages of files assembled by the AG's office during a five-year audit of the Diocese of Manchester. The audit was stipulated in the 12/10/02 agreement between the AG and Bishop John B. McCormack that allowed the Manchester diocese to avoid indictment and probable conviction for violation of New Hampshire's child endangerment statute. The agreement also provided for the publication of a report by the AG, as well as the release of nearly 10,000 pages of investigative files.

Now that the audit is completed, the Concord Monitor and the Union Leader newspapers have requested release of the audit files under New Hampshire's Right to Know law. See New Hampshire Names 27 Clerics in Abuse Cases, by Abby Goodnough, NY Times (March 26, 2009). Compliance by the AG's office entailed release of the files to the public. BishopAccountability.org has acquired the audit files and posted them on this page, to facilitate public access.

Note: As an introduction to the audit files, we recommend that you view the allegations against clerics accused publicly for the first time in these audit files. This two-page feature is much easier to read than the 879 pages in their entirety. The feature also gives you a preview of the kinds of documents you will encounter.

UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Telegraph

By Staff Copy
A paedophile vicar who was jailed for a campaign of sex abuse against a young boy has failed in an Appeal Court challenge to his five-year sentence.

Colin Ivor Pritchard, 64, of St Augustines Close, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, was parish priest at St Andrew's Church in Wellingborough when he committed the offences three decades ago.

It was not until July last year that he was brought to justice when he was jailed at Northampton Crown Court after admitting indecent assault and indecency with a child.

WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

The Rev. Thomas H. Teczar, a Roman Catholic priest formerly from Worcester, has been found guilty for a second time of sexually molesting an 11-year-old boy in Texas almost 20 years ago.

Rev. Teczar had been convicted in Texas on March 7, 2007, of three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of indecency with a child but the conviction was thrown out last fall by an appeals court, which ruled that state District Judge Steven Herod had made errors during the trial.

A new trial was ordered and the priest was found guilty yesterday on the same charges. ...

Alleged victims of the priest, along with organizations supporting individuals abused by clerics, lauded the jury for its action.

“It’s great that he’s been convicted,” said George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, who charged that he was abused by Rev. Teczar at St. Mary’s Church in Uxbridge during the 1970s. “But, then again, every time an abusive priest appears in the news it brings nightmares to victims. I’m especially concerned about those who haven’t come forward and have no one to turn to.”

by
Hajrudin Somun

BOSNIA
Today's Zaman

"Bosnian imam convicted of pedophilia" -- this was the news that spread amongst a shocked public in Bosnia and the Balkans last month.

A Bosnian court found a local Islamic cleric guilty of sexually abusing an underage girl and sentenced him to 18 months in prison. It was the first such case involving a religious figure in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent times.

I would not comment on the event if it had not happened in Bosnia, if an Islamic cleric had not been involved or if a young schoolgirl had not been the victim. I would not comment on it particularly if the girl did not belong to a Muslim family from a remote and poor mountain village, Gluha Bukovica, a name that is already symbolic, meaning "deaf beech village."

KENYA
Daily National

By BETTY CAPLAN Posted Thursday, March 26 2009 at 18:46

Pope Benedict XVI has now left the continent having preached to thousands in Angola and Cameroon. But doesn’t the epithet that “those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” apply to him? ...

Cases of sexual abuse of minors have been reported in countries as far apart as Australia and Mexico. The Pope himself suppressed publication of a report which revealed the extent of this exploitation.

In 2007, child sex abuse cases cost the church $615 million (Sh49 billion), an increase of 54 per cent over the previous year, most of which went towards settling in court. Therapy for the victims and the accused took care of $23 million.

New allegations of abuse in 2007 totalled 689, most of the sufferers being young males between the ages of 10 and 14 when the abuse began.

FLORIDA
Florida Today

BY KAUSTUV BASU • FLORIDA TODAY • March 26, 2009

A Rockledge youth group counselor was arrested Wednesday night on an out-of-county warrant on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct related to sexual acts against minors, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said.

The sheriff’s office said David Frank Martin, 40, was arrested after one minor who attended a retreat in Vero Beach this month told law enforcement that he had been sexually molested by Martin. Another boy complained about his behavior, too.

Martin was a part-time employee at the Faith Fellowship Church in Melbourne, according to Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Tod Goodyear.

MISSOURI
Belleville News-Democrat

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER - News-Democrat

A former Lutheran minister who was charged with raping a boy who is less than 6 years old, now faces a domestic battery charge.

James K. Gullen, 53, was arrested by Jacksonville police after they said he struck his wife. Gullen was free on bond on aggravated predatory criminal sexual charges, but after his arrest, Troy police returned him to Edwardsville after his bond was revoked Thursday, said Detective James Newcombe.

Gullen served as the minister of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Troy until he received a felony driving under the influence charge last year. The congregation there accepted his resignation March 31, 2008.

CANADA
National Post

Jason van Rassel, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, March 26, 2009

CALGARY -- A retired Calgary pastor who claimed he was sexually harassed by a four-year-old girl he molested is on parole and slated for deportation back to Canada.

Kenneth Cooke, 74, was released Thursday from a jail in Dixon County, Illinois, but went right back behind bars when U.S. immigration authorities arrested him pending a deportation hearing.

"Mr. Cooke was turned over to our custody [Thursday] and he will be placed in our removal process," said immigration enforcement spokesman Tim Counts.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Police in New Castle County, Delaware, have arrested the pastor of a Philadelphia congregation on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

The Rev. Harry R. Benson Jr., 40, senior pastor of Eastwick United Methodist Church on Lindbergh Road in Southwest Philadelphia, was arrested Tuesday on charges of rape in the first degree, one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child, 12 counts of unlawful sexual contact in the first degree, and one count of sexual solicitation of a child, according to the New Castle County Police Department. The assaults, police said, lasted years. Police provided few other details, to protect the victim. Benson was arrested after the boy told a counselor at his high school about the abuse. Benson, who resides in Newark, Del., was being held in Howard Young Prison after failing to post $126,000 secured bail.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By TERRI SANGINITI • The News Journal • March 27, 2009

A Newark-area man who is charged with sexually assaulting a boy over six years has been suspended as pastor of a southwest Philadelphia church.

The Rev. Harry Benson Jr., 40, who is a licensed pastor at Eastwick United Methodist Church, was charged late Tuesday with one count of first-degree rape, 12 counts of unlawful sexual contact and one count of sexual solicitation of a child, according to New Castle County police.

A statement released by Bishop Peggy A. Johnson of the United Methodist Church in the Philadelphia area said Benson was suspended immediately pending the outcome of the investigation.

GILBERT (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

by Astrid Galvan - Mar. 26, 2009 11:26 AM
The Arizona Republic .
Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted prayed for the recovery of abuse victims as well as for the perpetrators themselves in a special Mass in Gilbert for victims of clergy abuse.

The Mass for Healing and Reconciliation was held at St. Anne Roman Catholic Parish on Wednesday. It coincided with the Annunciation of the Lord celebration, a Catholic tradition that celebrates the day an angel told the Virgin Mary she was with child.

KENTUCKY
WCPO

Web Produced: Jessica Noll
Email: jessica.noll@kypost.com
Reported by: Shannon Kettler
Web Produced: Jessica Noll
Last Update: 3/26 6:16 pm

A new legal battle is brewing among lawyers who worked on the class action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington over allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Attorney Barbara Bonar has filed a motion for a new trial in Boone County Court.

Court documents state a class action victim whose name was not revealed has stepped forward claiming attorneys Stan Chesley and Robert Steinberg coerced the victim to lie in order to block Bonar from getting attorney fees.

HARTFORD (CT)
Hartford Courant

By ARIELLE LEVIN BECKER | The Hartford Courant March 27, 2009

He typed up testimony and went to Thursday's hearing, prepared to tell lawmakers about being one of the children pictured in the stash of pornography found in the former home of Dr. George Reardon. He planned to ask them to imagine a boy, once happy, wondering what had happened to him, afraid to ever speak of it.

He planned to tell them that he was too old to bring legal action, but that he should be heard, that the state should make an exception to the statute of limitations in extraordinary cases like this one.

But he got to the judiciary committee hearing Thursday and saw more people than he expected. It was too emotional.

So the man, who asked that his name not be used, did not get the chance to tell lawmakers why, despite his age, he filed the lawsuit against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, where Reardon worked. It was the same reason that John Conran, another man who says he was sexually abused by Reardon as a child and now is too old to sue, wanted the chance to bring his case.

UNITED KINGDOM
South Wales Echo

Mar 27 2009 by Matt Withers, South Wales Echo

THE Archbishop of Cardiff, Peter Smith, has emerged as one of the favourites to become the top Roman Catholic in Wales and England.

As the current Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor prepares to step down from his post, the 65-year-old Cardiff Archbishop is being touted as a possible successor.

Viewed as a “safe pair of hands” by the Catholic Church and a good media performer, the Archbishop has acted as spokesman for the Church on sensitive and complex issues such as euthanasia and abortion. Bookmaker Paddy Power is currently taking bets on the next Archbishop of Westminster and the Archbishop of Cardiff is currently second favourite at 13-8. ...

In regard to sexual abuse cases, he declared that he “wanted to help people bind up the wounds and bring healing”. He had previously been Bishop of East Anglia. Only last weekend he made headlines after blaming the Pope’s press advisers for a series of public relations disasters. The archbishop said the Vatican’s press officers understood they had “to get their act together”.

AUSTRALIA
Eureka Street

Frank Brennan March 27, 2009

On Monday I passed St Mary's Church South Brisbane, en route to a national human rights consultation at the local Convention Centre. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were flying outside the church as were proclamations of Aboriginal treaty and the protest chant, 'We shall not be moved'.

I had seen and heard Fr Peter Kennedy in the media. His interview on Richard Fidler's ABC Conversation Hour was one of the most moving presentations about priestly pastoral ministry I have heard on the national airwaves. He wept openly as he recalled the death of an Aboriginal man in jail. His Q&A appearance with Tony Jones left me a little perplexed about what he actually believed about Jesus and the Church.

Knowing him and Archbishop Bathersby I was saddened that the standoff between such a pastoral bishop and a pastoral priest had come to this. Talk of mediation by retired High Court judge Ian Callinan has done nothing to lift my sadness. These disputes are not about property rights, and they are not resolved by assertion of property rights or conflicting claims of orthodoxy and pastoral practice.

EASTLAND (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
begerton@dallasnews.com

A Catholic priest was convicted Thursday in a retrial on sex-abuse charges in Eastland County, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth.

The sentencing hearing for the Rev. Thomas Teczar will continue today.

Jurors took about 50 minutes to decide that Teczar molested and sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy in 1990. The Fort Worth Catholic Diocese had assigned him to work in rural Eastland County, largely unsupervised, despite his long history of sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Worcester, Mass.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
The New York Times

By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: March 26, 2009
BOSTON — The attorney general’s office in New Hampshire has released files on dozens of sexual abuse accusations against clergy members, including 27 clerics whose names had not been made public. Most of the alleged episodes took place decades ago.

The files provide a rare window on communications between prosecutors and church officials after the sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church erupted in 2002. The attorney general, Kelly A. Ayotte, is not pursuing many of the cases in the Diocese of Manchester because the clerics are dead or the statute of limitations has expired.

A senior assistant attorney general, Will Delker, said that his office was investigating accusations against a former employee of the diocese who was not a priest, and that a religious order was investigating a priest who was accused of abuse in New Hampshire. In another case, Mr. Delker said, prosecutors brought charges against a cleric, but they later were dropped. Some accusations have proved unfounded. ...

But leaders of a group that tracks reports of abuse cases, BishopAccountability.org, said the diocese should have publicly identified the clerics as it received the accusations. A director of the group, Anne Barrett Doyle, said more than 60 clergy members from the diocese had been publicly identified earlier by the attorney general’s office, in lawsuits or, in a handful of cases, by the diocese.

EASTLAND (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
begerton@dallasnews.com

A Catholic priest's retrial on sex-abuse charges resulted in another conviction today. A sentencing hearing for the Rev. Thomas Teczar is occurring this afternoon in Eastland County, about 100 miles west of Fort Worth.

Jurors took about 50 minutes to decide that Teczar molested and sexually assaulted an 11-year-old boy in 1990. The Fort Worth Catholic Diocese had assigned him to work in rural Eastland County, largely unsupervised, despite his long history of sexual misconduct in the Diocese of Worcester, Mass.

An appeals court overturned Teczar's 2007 conviction because of expert-witness qualification issues and testimony about abuse for which he was not criminally charged.

EASTLAND (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By DARREN BARBEED
Barbee@star-telegram.com

For a second time, the Rev. Thomas Teczar has been found guilty of sexually abusing a boy in Ranger in the 1990s, special prosecutor Tahira Khan Merritt with the Eastland County district attorney's office said today.

In 2007, Teczar was sentenced to 25 years in prison -- but his conviction on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child was overturned on appeal.

Thursday, on the fourth day of his retrial, an Eastland County jury took less than an hour to find that Teczar raped and molested an 11-year-old boy in Ranger in the early 1990s. Ranger is about 90 miles west of Fort Worth.

THE VILLAGE (OK)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Rarely do sexual predators strike only once. So we believe there are others who've been hurt by this Baptist minister.

We hope that anyone who saw, suspected or suffered crimes or questionable misdeeds by this clergyman calls police immediately. When victims and witnesses speak up, there's a chance for justice, healing and prevention. But when victims and witnesses stay silent, predators walk free and kids get hurt.

We applaud this brave teenager for having the courage to report to law enforcement. It's crucial that clergy sex crimes be treated as crimes and disclosed to the independent professionals in law enforcement, not the biased amateurs in church offices. We hope that this arrest will bring this teenager some measure of comfort and healing.

CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant

March 20, 2009
An op-ed Sunday by Anne Hendershott of The King's College in New York, "Catholic Dissidents Pressing for Liberalization of Church Authority," misstated official positions of Voice of the Faithful, an organization of Catholics that supports victims of clergy abuse and seeks increased lay participation in the church.

Contrary to Ms. Hendershott's claims, VOTF had no role in drafting a bill at the state legislature to change how Catholic corporations are formed. Also, the national VOTF does not advocate for "reducing the power of the Catholic hierarchy, eliminating the requirement for priestly celibacy and supporting the ordination of women," as Ms. Hendershott claimed, although the organization has called for debate on the celibacy question and on the role of women in church ministry and governance.

The Courant regrets the errors.

UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 26, 2009; 2:59 PM

A Catholic bishop who believes pro-abortion rights politicians should be denied communion has apologized that his comments are being used as an attack on Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and Arlington Diocese Bishop Paul S. Loverde.

Archbishop Raymond Burke, former St. Louis bishop who now heads the Vatican supreme court, said today that a videotaped interview he made with anti-abortion activist Randall Terry was used out of context. He said in a statement that he didn't realize it would be used "as part of a campaign of severe criticism of certain fellow bishops."

EASTLAND (TX)
Abilene Reporter-News

By Celinda Emison
Originally published 02:23 p.m., March 26, 2009

EASTLAND — A jury found the Rev. Thomas Teczar, who was being retried in the 91st District Court in Eastland, guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child.

The jury began deliberating at 1:15 p.m.

Teczar, a Catholic priest, was indicted in 2003 for the offenses perpetrated against an 11-year old boy in June and July of 1990.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By Thomas C. Fox
Politics

Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, issued an apology today to “my brother bishops” for statements he made earlier this month that were released yesterday in a videotape at the National Press Club in Washington.

In that video, released by anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, Burke chided bishops for failing to withhold Communion from Catholic politicians who back legalized abortion. ...

In Burke’s statement of apology he said that Terry and some of his associates had visited him in Rome and had asked to videotape an interview “to share with pro-life workers for the purpose of their encouragement.” The interview was conducted on Mar. 2.

“Sadly, Mr. Terry has used the videotape for another purpose which I find most objectionable,” the Burke statement went on to say. ...

Terry, the former leader of Operation Rescue, has initiated a campaign to lobby Vatican officials to remove U.S. Catholic bishops who were not doing enough to stop abortions.

He called for the removal of Bishop Loverde of Arlington and Archbishop Wuerl of Washington DC.

Among other U.S. prelates singled out by Terry for “rejecting church teachings” were Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony and the former archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Terry specifically accused them of not denying Communion to certain Catholic politicians.

NEW YORK
WROC

Reported by: WROC-TV
Thursday, Mar 26, 2009 @02:15pm EST

The Diocese of Rochester has won a lawsuit brought forward by an anonymous couple, claiming that a priest took advantage of the wife.

The New York Court of Appeals dismissed the suit brought forward by John and Jane Doe. The Does claimed the Diocese failed to properly supervise Father Peter DeBellis, who was the priest at Our Mother of Sorrows church.

NEWARK (DE)
CBS 3

NEWARK, Del. (CBS 3) ―

A Delaware pastor has been arrested after police learned of his involvement in the long-term sexual abuse of an area youth.

Harry Benson, 40, was charged with rape, sexual abuse of a child and related offenses Tuesday.

Police said a young male notified a high school resource officer that Benson, the senior pastor at Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church, had been sexually abusing him for several years.

NEWARK (DE)
Fort Mill Times

(Published March 26, 2009)
NEWARK, Del. — Police in Delaware say a Newark man who is a pastor at a Philadelphia church has been charged with sexually abusing a boy for years.

New Castle County Police say 40-year-old Harry Benson, the senior pastor of Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church, was arrested Tuesday. He has been charged with rape and continuous sexual abuse of a child.

The arrest came after the teen told his high school resource officer Tuesday about the sexual abuse.

NEW YORK
WHAM

Albany, N.Y. (AP) - New York's top court has dismissed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester involving a priest who was accused of having a sexual relationship with a woman he was counseling.

The Court of Appeals says the woman, identified only as Jane Doe, failed to prove she was uniquely vulnerable and incapable of protecting herself from the priest.

NEW YORK
Press & Sun-Bulletin

By Cara Matthews • Albany Bureau • March 26, 2009

The state’s highest court today threw out a claim against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester connected to an alleged sexual relationship between a priest and a parishioner.

The Rev. Peter DeBellis was accused of conducting a sexual relationship with a female member of Our Mother of Sorrows Church in Greece for more than three years. The married parishioner allegedly began a sexual relationship with DeBellis shortly after she started marriage counseling with him in November 2000.

The woman and her husband claimed in court papers that the counseling and sexual relationship continued until June 2004, despite repeated complaints to the Diocese of Rochester by the couple, and DeBellis’ transfer to a church in Geneva in May 2001.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

Judgment was reserved in a £5 million damages claim brought by a former City lawyer from west London who claims he made a mess of his life because he was sexually abused at a Jesuit-run school.

Patrick Raggett was subjected to years of "insidious" abuse by Father Michael Spencer, a teacher at Preston Catholic College in Lancashire, who died in 2000 aged 76, his counsel, Robert Seabrook QC, told Mrs Justice Swift at London's High Court. Mr Raggett, 50, claims that, while he was naked, the priest measured him "to chart his growth", filmed him performing exercises, photographed him and touched him inappropriately. He said that he did not connect his experiences at school with years of under-achievement at work, a failed marriage and binge drinking until he had therapy after an April 2005 breakdown.

CONNECTICUT
The Daily Campus

Bryan Murphy
Issue date: 3/26/09

With "news" commentators like Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann outrating their reporter counterparts and the blogosphere threatening to subsume traditional newspapers, opinion is the new fact. And hell, seeing as how I make a buck off the trend well enough, I guess I can't complain. But give me one indulgence: If I say some pretty stupid stuff in this column, at least it's obsessively-researched stupid stuff.

But what with the ease of Google, I'm still slightly surprised by the number of people willing to clamber up onto their modernized Dolby Digital Soapbox 2.0s without having made a reasonable effort to insure that they know what they're talking about. Take Connecticut's most recent Catholic blow-up, wherein thousands of angry Catholics stormed Hartford to protest a proposed bill that Bishop Lori of Bridgeport called a "thinly-veiled attempt to silence the Catholic Church." The nefarious bill would have forced the Church to make its financial control democratic and public. Its anti-religious impetus was a desire to prevent fiascos, such as the recent case of a Darien pastor who swiped over $1.3 million dollars from his parish so as to buy French jewelry, fast cars and hot vacations for himself and his live-in gay lover.

Wait - you didn't hear about the Darien thing? It probably didn't get a whole lot of press; the Catholic Church is less concerned with gay priests stealing money from their parishioners to buy sports cars than with the threat of public audits and democratic finances.

PENNSYLVANIA
WPVI

March 26, 2009 (WPVI) -- New Castle County Police have arrested a 40-year-old preacher who they say raped a boy.

Harry Benson, who resides in the unit block of Hillcroft Road in the community of Windy Hills in Newark, was arrested late Tuesday.

Benson is the senior pastor at the Eastern Pennsylvania United Methodist Church.

AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

By Rae Wilson

A youth pastor spent the night in custody after a jury found him guilty of maintaining a sexual relationship with a teenage boy from his church.

The 28 year old man gasped and shook his head as the 12 person jury convicted him of maintaining a sexual relationship, sodomy and eight counts of indecent treatment while the boy was aged 13 and 14.

He looked back from the prisoner’s dock of Maroochydore District Court to his family, many of whom were crying and visibly upset by the verdict.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By Thomas C. Fox
Politics

Archbishop Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis prelate who now leads the Vatican supreme court, has called on parishioners to pressure reluctant bishops to withhold Communion from Catholic politicians who back legalized abortion. ...

Terry, tbe former leader of Operation Rescue, came to Rome earlier this month with a delegation of US anti-abortion advocates to ask Vatican officials to remove U.S. Catholic bishops who were not doing enough to stop abortions.

He called for the removal of Bishop Loverde of Arlington and Archbishop Wuerl of Washington DC.

UNITED STATES
Bill's 'Faith Matters' Weblog

Now and again it's worth taking a look at how the clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic Church is continuing to play out.

News out this week indicated that the church paid out less last year than the year before ($436 million versus $615 million) but that the church received more abuse claims last year than the year before.

In total, the Associated Press calculates that the church has paid some $2.6 billion in claims against abusive priests. Imagine that. And imagine how that money could have been spent instead.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reports that dioceses in the U.S. spent more than $23 million last year (an increase over the previous year) to prevent child sexual abuse. For the church's full just-released annual report, click here.

One astonishing fact you'll learn if you read that full report is that the number of dioceses and eparchies that refuse to be audited by church authorities for compliance with child protection measures increased this past year from five to seven. It seems to me that the proper response to this by church members and leaders should be outrage, followed by moves to remove those dioceses from full communion with the church if they do not come into compliance.

THE VILLAGE (OK)
NewsOK

BY JOHNNY JOHNSON
Published: March 26, 2009Buzz up!

THE VILLAGE — A youth minister at Village Baptist Church was arrested this week after a 15-year-old told police she had a sexual encounter with him.

A youths and parents meeting was set Wednesday night at the church.

Doug Davis, 30, was arrested Monday at the church on complaints of second-degree rape, rape by instrumentation and making lewd proposals to a minor under the age of 16.

Police said the girl is not affiliated with the church and is not a member of the youth group.

FLORIDA
Palm Beach Post

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Both Palm Beach County priests who stole from their parishioners will spend time in prison, as they should. And even though Francis Guinan was found guilty of a lesser crime than John Skehan, Guinan rightly got a much longer term.

Both priests amply helped themselves to money from the collection plate at St. Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach. How much they took or misappropriated never will be known, but it's more than they're being held accountable for. The statute of limitations got them off the hook for some of the money. Bad record-keeping - exacerbated by the dishonest priests - obscured some of the other thefts.

In the end the 81-year-old Skehan pleaded guilty to grand theft over $100,000 and was sentenced Tuesday to 14 months in prison. The 66-year-old Guinan was convicted last month of grand theft of between $20,000 and $100,000 and was sentenced Wednesday to four years. Among other things, the money went for luxury travel, jewelry and other gifts, and girlfriends.

FLORIDA
Irish Independent (Ireland)

By SHANE HICKEY

Thursday March 26 2009

AN IRISH priest who stole thousands of dollars from his US parishioners has been sentenced to four years in prison for what a Florida judge said was a flagrant abuse of authority.

Fr Francis Guinan (66) was yesterday led away to custody after a damning indictment of his actions in which he and another priest, Fr John Skehan (81), skimmed money from their parish to live an affluent life.

"No matter how many good works you have performed in your many years as a priest, your legacy will always be one of thievery and deceit," Judge Krista Marx told Fr Guinan, who is originally from Co Offaly.

UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Telegraph

By Frances Burscough
Thursday, 26 March 2009

A former City lawyer has launched a £5m High Court action — the largest of its kind ever seen in Britain — for compensation against his school, claiming that he has messed up his life as a direct result of being sexually abused there by one of the teachers in the 1970s. The teacher in question was a priest from the Jesuit order which owned and ran the school.

The man claims that the priest, who has since died but was the school football coach, would force him to strip naked and do warm-up exercises while he filmed him on a cine camera. He says that the priest forbade the boys in the football team from wearing underwear, would measure their genitals “to chart their growth” and joined them in the showers after training, often “touching them playfully” in the process.

It’s sickening, certainly, but it’s the kind of story I’d read time and time again. But then I saw the name of the school and the priest and the claimant and it really struck home.

UNITED STATES
National Review

By Michael Augros & Father Thomas Berg

‘Catholics and Catholicism are at the receiving end of a great deal of startling vituperation in contemporary America, although generally those responsible never think of themselves as bigots.”

With these words, the historian Philip Jenkins opened his 2003 study entitled The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice. Mr. Jenkins might well consider it time to produce an updated edition. In it, he might ponder whether the recent renewal of anti-Catholic politicking is only an opening salvo in an unprecedented campaign to curb religious liberties in the United States. In which case, all of us — not just Catholics — stand to lose big.

Consider. ...

In New York State, a proposed new law would lift the statute of limitations in cases of sexual abuse, allowing individuals to sue institutions for abuses alleged to have taken place decades ago. But there’s a catch: only if the alleged abuse occurred in a private institution. For abuse in government-run institutions, such as public schools, the current law gives victims only 90 days to file their claim (or, if the victim was a minor, 90 days after reaching the age of 18), and the proposed law would not change that. Never mind that accusations of sexual misconduct against New York City public-school employees are at an all-time high: 595 allegations were made last year alone, of which 105 have been substantiated, as reported by the New York Post. (It appears the New York Times did not deem that news “fit to print.”)

CANADA
National Post

Sue Montgomery, CanwestNews Service
Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2009

MONTREAL - Dozens of Quebec boys were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the Les Freres de St. Croix religious order, who taught at Montreal's College Notre-Dame, a motion filed in Quebec Superior Court this week claims.

The motion seeks permission to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of students who attended the prestigious boys' private school between 1974 and 2001, who claim they were sexually abused by either the brothers, laypeople who worked for them, or the brothers' relatives.

The school and order's authorities not only knew the abuse was happening since at least 1972, but covered it up "to the detriment of the children in their care," the motion claims.

HOPKINS COUNTY (KY)
WFIE

[with video]

By Cory Stark

HOPKINS CO., KY (WFIE) - A Hopkins County official is facing new charges related to his conduct as a paramedic, including rape and sexual abuse of patients in a hospital emergency room.

Rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse are the newest charges against 40-year-old Hopkins County Magistrate Wesley Lynn.

Not only is Lynn an elected official, according to his bio on the Hopkins County website, he also serves as pastor of Waggoner General Baptist Church in Dixon, Kentucky.

BOSTON (MA)
Acton Institute

The Faithful Departed: The Collapse of Boston's Catholic Culture
Philip F. Lawler
Encounter, 2008

Lord Acton’s quotation concerning the corrupting effect of power is widely known. Less so is the fact that the target of his criticism on that particular occasion was the power possessed not by government but by church officials. Acton’s understanding of ecclesiastical authority (as distinct from power) is debatable, but his insight into human nature is not. A case study—not that we need another to file away in the vast archives of the history of human frailty—is the collapse of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

Philip Lawler documents the details in this skillfully written account of the triumphs and travails of Boston’s Catholics. The history is episodic rather than thorough, but Lawler chooses his episodes well. The bulk of his attention goes to the last forty years, and much of that is focused on the sexual abuse scandals of the last ten. For anyone who has followed these developments closely, there will be little in the way of new revelations. Yet Lawler’s style, at once sympathetic and bluntly critical, is engrossing. The devout Catholic reader who was dismayed by the character and scale of the abuse scandal will be drawn back to those unpleasant times when it seemed that each new day brought fresh reasons to be ashamed of one’s faith.

This kind of reaction is exactly what Lawler wants. The more tractable problems within the Catholic Church have been addressed, he admits, but the more difficult have not. Shame, indignation, even anger, are the emotions he wishes to incite in the faithful Catholic and in every friend of the church, for he doubts that the major unsolved problem will be tackled otherwise. That problem is the leadership of the church, the bishops, and that returns us to Acton’s quotation and to the story of Boston Catholicism.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Chestnut Hill Local

by WALTER FOX

Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, a retired auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and an internationally known peace activist, urged his listeners at Our Mother of Consolation Church to do whatever they can to change a world in which injustice and poverty abound to one “where justice prevails.”

Speaking Sunday afternoon at a program sponsored by the church’s Peace and Justice Committee, Gumbleton stressed the plight of the world’s poor, one billion of whom, he said, live in what he described as “absolute poverty.” ...

A longtime activist for peace and justice issues, Gumbleton was arrested twice outside the White House for participating in civil disobedience with groups protesting nuclear weapons and the Iraq War – the only Roman Catholic bishop in America to have done so. He has also been an advocate within the Church for homosexuals and victims of clerical sexual abuse, and has been honored by numerous awards and honorary degrees for his work.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By GARY SOULSMAN • The News Journal • March 26, 2009

With the Diocese of Wilmington ready to accept pledges for charities, pastoral and sports programs as well as schools during the annual Catholic Appeal in late April, Bishop Francis Malooly was set to release a letter on finances this month in which the impact of sexual abuse lawsuits would be one of the issues addressed.

However, the letter will be delayed until after Easter, given that a jury is to be chosen in the next few weeks for a case filed by lawyers for Doug McClure, an alleged victim who says he was raped by Rev. Edward B. Carley at Wilmington's St. Ann's Church between 1954 and 1956. McClure was 8 at the start of the alleged abuse.

The diocese has delayed the release of the bishop's letter to avoid any charges that the timing would influence the jury pool, according to parties familiar with the case who asked not to be quoted.

EASTLAND (TX)
Abilene Reporter-News

By Celinda Emison
Thursday, March 26, 2009

EASTLAND -- A Catholic priest is being retried on sexual assault and indecency charges in Eastland County.

The Rev. Thomas Teczar was convicted on three counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of indecency with a child in 2007, but the conviction was overturned last fall by an appeals court. The case is being retried in 91st District Court in Eastland County with Judge Steven Herod presiding.

Teczar posted a $30,000 bond in February, according to the Eastland County Sheriff's Department. As a requirement for his release, Teczar must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet on his ankle until this trial is concluded.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway • Free Press Staff Writer • March 26, 2009

SOUTH ROYALTON -- The jury in a 2008 clergy sexual abuse trial was misled by a Burlington judge into awarding nearly $8 million in punitive damages to the victim, a lawyer for the state's Roman Catholic diocese told the Vermont Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"The threshold concern here is what did the trial judge charge the jury," Rutland lawyer Kaveh Shahi told the five justices during a hearing on the church's appeal that lasted an hour, twice the time usually allotted for oral arguments before the high court.

Shahi said Judge Matthew Katz, who presided over the trial involving claims the Rev. Edward Paquette molested a Burlington altar boy in the late 1970s, did not follow the law when he allowed the jury to consider punitive damages in the case. Of the $8.7 million awarded to the plaintiff in the case, $7.75 million was in punitive damages.

FLORIDA
The Irish Times (Ireland)

THE SECOND of two Irish Catholic priests was sentenced to prison yesterday in a case involving the misappropriation of more than $8 million (€5.89 million) from a church in Florida.

Fr Francis Guinan and Fr John Skehan were accused in 2006 of skimming money from collection plates and bequests at their church in Delray Beach, Florida, and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate, travel, rare coins and girlfriends.

Fr Guinan (66), originally from Co Offaly, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison after taking the case to trial and being found guilty of a lesser charge of theft under $100,000.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
WPTV

Reported by: Tim Malloy
Email: tmalloy@wptv.com
Photographer: Dan Puente

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- Judge Krista Marx looked down from the bench at Rev. Francis Guinan and delivered a withering assessment of his legacy.

"You are in this situation because of your greed and gall.Because of your corruption, your greed, the charitable heart of many has been stifled. People will remember you stood on the pulpit and said, give to the poor and we will give to the poor. That didn’t happen," she said.

With that, Guinan was off to County jail with a cell awaiting him in the State prison system. ...

The Guinan-Skehan scandal has been closely watched in Ireland where both priests were born.

Correspondent Aoife Kavanagh is preparing a one hour special for the Irish TV network RTE and has spent the last week covering the trial here with her camera crew and producer.
"There's a lot of people reading the newspapers and watching TV trying to find out what happened. Financial scandals haven't happened too much in Ireland. All sorts of other scandals .There's quite alot of lapsed Catholics going; Here we go again. Another scandal with the Catholic Church”, ended Kavanaugh.

FRESNO (CA)
CBS 47

The former Bishop of the Fresno Archdiocese takes the stand in the sexual abuse trial against the Catholic Church.

Bishop Joseph Madere told jurors on Wednesday that he never knew of alleged abuse by a Wasco priest.

The topic for much of the morning’s questioning was about the priest file for Monsignor Anthony Herdegen. The Bishop told jurors that during his time as Bishop, he never knew of or never received any complaints about the Monsignor and alleged sexual abuse by the Wasco priest.

VERMONT
MassLive

3/25/2009, 4:01 p.m. EDT
By JOHN CURRAN
The Associated Press

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt. (AP) — Calling an $8.7 million jury verdict in a priest sex case "inherently unfair," the Diocese of Burlington appealed Wednesday to Vermont's highest court in a bid to have it overturned.

The church's lawyers say jurors in the trial shouldn't have been allowed to consider punitive damages and that a judge failed to tell them that they had to find that the Diocese acted with malice.

VERMONT
Burlington Free Press

By Sam Hemingway, Free Press staff writer • March 25, 2009

SOUTH ROYALTON — The jury in a 2008 clergy sexual abuse trial was misled by a Burlington judge into awarding nearly $8 million in punitive damages to the victim, a lawyer for the state’s Roman Catholic diocese told the Vermont Supreme Court Wednesday.

“The threshold concern here is what did the trial judge charge the jury,” Rutland lawyer Kaveh Shahi told the five justices during an hearing on the church’s appeal that lasted an hour, twice the time usually allotted for oral arguments before the high court.

Shahi said Judge Matthew Katz, who presided over the 2008 trial involving claims the Rev. Edward Paquette molested a Burlington altar boy in the late 1970s, did not follow the law when he allowed the jury consider punitive damages in the case. Of the $8.7 million awarded to the plaintiff in the case, $7.75 million was in punitive damages. ...

Elizabeth Miller, a Burlington lawyer hired to represent the victim at the Wednesday hearing, told the justices that Katz had instructed the jury properly. The victim, an altar boy at Christ the King Church in 1976 and 1977 1978, claims Paquette fondled him between 20 and 50 times at the church.

Miller said Katz correctly told the jury it could award punitive damages if it found the diocese was “reckless” in its supervision of Paquette.“This diocese had actual knowledge this priest had abused boys,“ Miller said. “We didn’t have just inaction or inattention here.”

FLORIDA
Belfast Telegraph (Northern Ireland)

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

An Irish priest has been sentenced to four years in prison for stealing money from his church in Florida.

66-year-old Father Francis Guinan was found guilty last month of stealing $100,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach.

He is the second Irish priest to be jailed for stealing from the congregation - 81 year old Father John Skehan was sentenced to 14 months in prison yesterday after he admitted stealing over $370,000.

NATCHEZ (MS)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

It's tragic every time a trusted adult sexually exploits a child or teen, but especially when that grown up is a supposed religious authority figure. Our hearts ache for this girl and her family.

We desperately hope that anyone who saw, suspected or suffered from this clergyman's crimes will come forward, call police, get help, and protect others by courageously reporting to law enforcement as this brave but wounded girl has done.

VERMONT
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

For decades, punitive damages have deterred future wrongdoing. Why should church officials be exempted?

Kids are both precious and vulnerable. One key way to protect them is to punish those who endanger them. That's what America's bishops have failed to do. From our perspective, it would be irresponsible NOT to issue stern consequences for repeated recklessness and deceit that led to serial child rapes.

We hope Vermont's Supreme Court will act responsibly, honor the jury's verdict, and send a strong, clear signal to employers that it's immoral and devastating to protect powerful adults' reputations over innocent kids' safety.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Catholic officials recruited, educated, ordained, hired, trained, supervised, transferred and shielded Fr. Robert Gale. It's irresponsible for the church to take no responsibility for protecting kids from him now. The church hierarchy should insist that he move to a secure, remote treatment facility for sex offenders, regardless of the cost, so that he can get therapy and so that children will be safer.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Brian Haas | SunSentinel.com 9:39 AM EDT, March 25, 2009
WEST PALM BEACH - The Rev. Francis Guinan has been sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $99,999.99 in restitution to his former church.

A parade of priests and other supporters pleaded with a judge for mercy this morning in the case of the second priest convicted of stealing from a Delray Beach church.

Saying that Guinan has suffered enough with a three-year court case and spending the last month in jail, his supporters pleaded for Circuit Judge Krista Marx to spare him prison time.

"He has lost his own identity as a priest. He has lost his canonical rights in the church," said the Rev. Nicholas King, pastor of an Orlando Catholic church who has known Guinan for 45 years. "This should have been handled internally and could have been handled effectively."

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
The Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A second priest has been sentenced to prison for stealing money from the same Florida church.

The Rev. Francis Guinan was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison after the 66-year-old was found guilty in February of second-degree grand theft. Prosecutors had charged him with stealing $488,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach. But jurors found him guilty on the lesser charge of stealing less than $100,000.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

WEST PALM BEACH — Four years prison for Father Francis Guinan was the sentence this morning for stealing offering money from his Delray Beach congregation.

Guinan has been jailed since his conviction last month of grand theft. He was in a blue jail jumpsuit, looking very drawn.

Guinan testified, apologizing, asking Circuit Judge Krista Marx if his month jail seems sufficient punishment. Marx, who is known for speaking her mind, pursed her lips.

Marx did indeed speak her mind later: "Because of your corruption the charitable hearts of many have been stifled," she said.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Intelligencer

BOTH SIDES HAVE HAD plenty to say following the sentencing of Anthony Cappuccio, a former chief deputy district attorney in Bucks County, who was ordered to serve three to 23 months of house arrest after he pleaded guilty last month to corrupting the morals of three teenage boys.

Cappuccio admitted to having a consensual sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and furnishing him and two other teens with alcohol and marijuana. County Judge C. Theodore Fritsch Jr. pronounced the sentence, which was within state guidelines that ranged from probation to three years in prison.

Immediately after Fritsch announced his decision, the howls of protest began, particularly among the boys' families and friends. They felt the sentence was way too lenient and entirely inappropriate, not only because Cappuccio was a deputy district attorney but also because of his position as a volunteer church youth group leader. Critics claimed Cappuccio used that latter role to gain the victims' trust, which he then abused.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Times

Ninety per cent of Austrians support both Catholic priests’ right to marry and an end to the requirement that priests take a vow of celibacy at their ordination.

Seventy-two per cent said the Church should allow priests to marry, and 18 per cent said it should probably do so in a recent poll by the Linz market-research firm "market."

Sixty-eight per cent said priests should not have to take a vow of celibacy, and 22 per cent said they probably shouldn’t have to. Five per cent expressed support for a vow of celibacy, and five per cent had no opinion.

UNITED STATES
CNN

By Jessica Ravitz
CNN

(CNN) -- Along the Rust Belt and in cities dotting the Northeast and Upper Midwest, Catholic communities are mourning the loss of parishes. It's a five-year trend of sweeping church closures that most recently hit Cleveland, Ohio.

Wally Martens, a Cleveland native, can look out his kitchen window and see the spiritual home that has served his family for five generations. St. Ignatius of Antioch has been with him and his loved ones through life and death.

"It's the place where most of us were baptized, most of us got married, most of us graduated from grade school and some of us were buried," Martens, 68, said of the west side urban parish that serves 1,200 households. To find out that the building is set to be shuttered is "like losing somebody in your family."

VERMONT
WCAX

South Royalton, Vermont - March 25, 2009

The Vermont Catholic Diocese today will argue that it should not have to pay more than $7 million to a former altar boy who was molested by a priest.

The appeal before the Vermont Supreme Court comes nine months after a jury awarded more than $7 million in punitive damages to a former altar boy. The jury agreed that the Catholic Diocese was negligent because it failed to protect the boy from a known pedophile, Father Edward Paquette, 30 years ago.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A meeting between Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America and top leaders of the Archdiocese of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania has quelled talk of merger with the scandal-ridden Philadelphia archdiocese.

Although there had been merger discussion, the reaction of local church leaders at Sunday night's meeting in St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, McCandless, was persuasively negative, Metropolitan Jonah said yesterday.

"The decision is ultimately up the Holy Synod [of Bishops] and the Holy Synod is not going to do something that the people oppose. The consensus of the meeting last night was that the merging of the two dioceses was not a realistic possibility, at least not at this time," he said.

MIDDLETON (NH)
WMUR

MIDDLETON, N.H. -- A defrocked priest and predatory sex offender recently released from custody in Massachusetts wants to move back to New Hampshire.

Robert Gale served time for raping an altar boy in Massachusetts. A judge wants Gale to serve his 25-year probation in New Hampshire. Gale is petitioning to spend his 25-year probation in Middleton, where he owns a house, WMUR News 9's Adam Sexton reported.

New Hampshire can refuse Gale's requests -- Middleton police and some of the people in Gale's old neighborhood said they hope that's exactly what happens.

MIDDLETON (NH)
New Hampshire Union Leader

By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent

MIDDLETON – A former priest who spent more than four years in a Massachusetts prison for raping an altar boy is trying to move back to his lakeside cabin here, raising concern among residents and town officials alike.

Robert V. Gale, 67, was paroled earlier this month and is living in Everett, Mass., just north of Boston, according to that state's sex offender registry. He recently applied to move back to his cabin at 100 Lakeshore Drive on Middleton's Sunrise Lake, where he was arrested in 2002 on charges of child rape.

Gale pleaded guilty in December 2004 to four counts of child rape for repeatedly molesting an altar boy at St. Jude Church in Waltham, Mass. during the early 1980s.

MIDDLETON (NH)
Foster's Daily Democrat

By JOHN QUINN
jquinn@fosters.com

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
MIDDLETON — Police Chief Randy Sobel said he is concerned about the fact a defrocked priest who is a convicted sex offender is trying to return to town after being released from prison.

In 2002, police arrested Robert V. Gale, 67, at his property at 100 Lakeshore Drive, on a charge of being a fugitive from justice after he was indicted in Massachusetts on four counts of rape of a child between 1980 and 1984 — when the boy was 10 to 14 years old.

Gale, who was defrocked in 2006, pleaded guilty in 2004 to raping an altar boy. A civil suit claims that Gale, who was a priest at St. Joseph's Parish in Quincy, Mass., took a 12-year-old altar boy to a cabin at Camp Fatima in Barnstead, and then to his sister's home in Manchester, where he was accused of raping him in 1979.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

WEST PALM BEACH — Despite uniform requests for probation from the Diocese of Palm Beach, prosecutors and the defense, it's prison for Father John Skehan, the 81-year-old former longtime pastor of St. Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach.

Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath sentenced Skehan this afternoon to 14 months prison, followed by seven years probation. He must surrender himself to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office on or before May 1. He will be adjudicated guilty - a priest for more than 50 years now turned convicted felon.

Skehan left the courthouse, swarmed by cameras, shielding his face, without stopping to comment. He previously pleaded guilty to grand theft over $100,000 and expressed his remorse, admitting he took money he was not entitled to even though he knew it was wrong.

SOUTH AFRICA
The Star

Four children who were allegedly sexually abused by a Randburg Catholic priest may be subjected to further psychometric testing and interviews. The priest is accused of attempting to get into bed with four children at a Brits religious camp. The trial, due to have started in the Brits Regional Court on Monday, has been postponed until June 1 because the accused's advocate, Andrew Kerr-Phillips, claims he needs further psychometric tests done on the children. The Teddy Bear Clinic, which conducted the tests, is refusing to hand out the information either to the State or to the defence, claiming it is confidential. Jennifer Cronjé, senior State advocate for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, claims they are irrelevant to the case, but the accused's attorney has applied to the Johannesburg High Court for access to the records. - Anna Cox

NEW YORK
National Catholic Register

By STEPHEN VINCENT
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

ALBANY, N.Y. — A bill in the New York state Legislature suspending the statute of limitations for sex-abuse claims could “bankrupt” the Church, says a spokesman for the state’s bishops.

The bill had been voted down the past three years, but now has a chance of passing in a Democratic-dominated Legislature.

Dennis Poust, director of communications for the New York State Catholic Conference, said the bill is unfair in its application to private and public institutions and would open the window for charges to be brought against priests for incidents that may have happened 50 to 60 years ago.

CANADA
The Vancouver Sun

By Sue Montgomery, Montreal GazetteMarch 24, 2009
MONTREAL — Dozens of Quebec boys were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the Les Freres de St. Croix religious order who taught at Montreal's College Notre-Dame, a motion filed in Quebec Superior Court this week claims.

The motion seeks permission to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of students who attended the prestigious boys' private school between 1974-2001 who claim they were sexually abused by either the brothers, laypeople who worked for them, or the brothers' relatives.

The school and order's authorities not only knew the abuse was happening since at least 1972, but covered it up "to the detriment of the children in their care," the motion claims.

BUCKEYE (AZ)
12 News

by Melissa Gonzalo - Mar. 24, 2009 06:07 PM
12 News .
Charles Lawrence Carfrey is facing charges of assisting a criminal syndicate, having sexual conduct with a minor and sexual abuse. The 59-year-old worked as pastor of The Lord's House church in Buckeye. Buckeye police said Carfrey moved the church from Oregon to Arizona around the year 2000. Court documents show before moving to Arizona, Carfrey was charged and convicted of molesting his daughter who was 16 years old at the time and sexually assaulting another woman while on probation.

UNITED KINGDOM
Coventry Telegraph

Mar 24 2009 by Emma Stone, Coventry Telegraph

THE CATHOLIC church is set to be rocked by a further three compensation claims from men who allege they were abused as young boys by a paedophile priest in Coventry.

High Court hearings are scheduled for the coming months to hear the claims of Mr P, Mr K and Mr J, who claim they were sexually abused by Fr Christopher Clonan - an assistant parish priest in the city during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

All three men, who are being named by letters to protect their identities, are seeking six-figure compensation packages from the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

FLORIDA
RTE News (Ireland)

Tuesday, 24 March 2009 20:34
An Irish priest accused of stealing millions of dollars from a parish in the US has been jailed for 14 months.

John Skehan, 81, originally from Co Kilkenny will also have to serve seven years probation after his release.

He is to pay back more than $700,000 (€520,000) in property, cash and other assets that he stole from Delray Beach parish in Florida.

NATCHEZ (MS)
WREG

By Associated Press
1:02 PM CDT, March 24, 2009

NATCHEZ, Miss. (AP) — Authorities say a pastor in Adams County has been charged with statutory rape after DNA evidence showed he was the father of a baby born to a 14-year-old girl.

Adams County Sheriff's Deputy Maj. Jody Waldrop says the Rev. Freddie L. Parker, pastor of the True Bibleway Church, was arrested Monday. Parker was released on $10,000 bond after an initial court appearance.

MICHIGAN
Lansing State Journal

Kevin Grasha • kgrasha@lsj.com • March 24, 2009 • From LSJ.com

A Lansing Township pastor accused of possessing child pornography has resigned from his church and faces up to seven years in prison.

Lloyd M. Hall Jr. last week submitted his letter of resignation to Plymouth Congregational Church, where he had served for about seven years, said Jim DeLine, a spokesman for the church.

The church's board of trustees met Sunday morning and decided to accept 69-year-old pastor's resignation, DeLine said.

CANADA
CNW Group

QUEBEC CITY, March 24 /CNW Telbec/ - The First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission pursues its efforts to help the communities to rebuild their social fabric, which has been tattered by the effects of the governments' repeated assimilation policies. Therefore, two awareness tools have been launched today in Quebec City, in presence of several health and social services interveners, Chiefs and former students of Indian residential schools: a vivid documentary about "The legacy of Quebec Indian residential schools" and a "Kit to prevent youth violence in First Nations".

The documentary on the Indian residential schools has been produced with the aim of encouraging reflection and discussions in First Nations communities, to better assist the preparation of the activities planned within the healing, truth, reconciliation and commemoration project: "We strongly wish that this documentary rises discussions and that it answers many
questions that the younger ones have the right to ask in our communities. We also must inform the Québécois about this part of their history that has been hidden for too long", said the general director of the FNQLHSSC, Mrs. Guylaine Gill.

FLORIDA
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Andy Reid | South Florida Sun-Sentinel 4:11 PM EDT, March 24, 2009
A priest convicted of stealing from his Delray Beach church was sentenced to 14 months in prison this afternoon.

Rev. John Skehan, 81, pleaded guilty in January to grand theft of more than $100,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church. Investigators say he stole $370,000 that he spent on a girlfriend, trips and homes and property in Florida and his native Ireland.

Skehan could have been sentenced to between 22 months and 30 years in prison for his crimes.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
Palm Beach Post

By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

WEST PALM BEACH — Father John Skehan, 81, the Delray Beach priest who pleaded guilty to grand theft, was sentenced this afternoon to 14 months in prison.

Some supporters cried silently as Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath read his order: prison time, 7 years probation, must report May 1 for prison.

The 14 months less than the prison state sentencing guidelines of 20 months.

NATCHEZ (MS)
The Natchez Democrat

By Adam Koob | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, March 24, 2009

NATCHEZ — The Pastor of True Bibleway Church was arrested and charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sexual relations with, and impregnating, a 14-year-old congregant.

On Monday, the Rev. Freddie L. Parker was arraigned and released on a $10,000 bond.

Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Maj. Jody Waldrop said deputies became aware of the case when Parker's victim, now 15, came forward to file a complaint against Parker in February after giving birth to a child alleged to be his.

MIDDLETON (NH)
New Hampshire Union Leader

By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent

MIDDLETON – A former priest who spent more than four years in prison in Massachusetts for raping an altar boy is looking to move back to his lakeside camp here, Police Chief Randy Sobel said this morning.

Sobel said he was notified yesterday afternoon by New Hampshire parole authorities that Robert V. Gale, 67, wants to transfer his parole from the Bay State and move into his home on Sunrise Lake.

State Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons confirmed parole officials on Friday received a request from Massachusetts authorities to move Gale’s parole here, but he could not say where Gale plans to live because the application is confidential.

UNITED STATES
Examiner

[with videos]

Kay Ebeling
LA City Buzz Examiner

Unfortunately reports on the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church came out during the 'Flashpan Era' of American journalism, where the story is only as important as the number of cameras pointed in its direction. The cameras never stay longer than they need to produce a five minute story, so there is no place in modern journalism for articles that require legwork, weeks of interviewing, hours of waiting in boring courtrooms, and reading through mounds of documents. No corporate media outlet will pay a reporter to be that unproductive in today’s media. Plus by the time a reporter can do that much research, the Flash in the Pan would be on another topic. So the total story of pedophilia in the Catholic Church is yet to come out for mainstream readers. The result when it comes to the pedophile epidemic in the Catholic Church is, they got away with it.

In past decades the church has turned five thousand, (5000) pedophiles loose on the American landscape and thousands of children were fondled, penetrated, and seriously damaged as a result. (THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN . (Read bishopaccountability accounts http://bishopaccountability.org/ ) These criminals were so empowered by the treatment they got from church hierarchy that by the sixties and seventies in Southern California the pedophile priests did not even hide what they were doing. It was obvious.

The predators came into elementary school classrooms and catechism classes, picked out the same vulnerable sad miserable children, took them off somewhere, the children came back even more sad and miserable. Or pedophiles stood on playgrounds and had children dive deep in the pockets of their priest robes for candy, having children fondle them openly.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We're grateful that this priest has been forbidden to function publicly as a priest, though that's a small price to pay for apparently molesting kids. We hope archdiocesan staff will closely monitor him and make sure that he abides by this restriction, because often church officials do not supervise predator priests and these dangerous men often violate the conditions they once agreed to honor.

OAKLAND (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We urge Catholics to be vigilant and skeptical about their new bishop. Bishop Salvatore Cordileone comes from an especially corrupt diocese that was almost kicked out of bankruptcy court for being deceptive. He and his San Diego colleagues chose to protect their own reputation instead of protecting children by exploiting bankruptcy law to continue hiding clergy sex crimes. It is a tempting assumption to believe a new bishop will be more open, compassionate and proactive than the old bishop was. That, however, is risky and naïve. Oakland Parishioners should continue pushing for real reform and genuine openness about clergy sex crimes and cover-ups.

OAKLAND (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Religion Writer

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday named a Spanish-speaking theological conservative from San Diego as the bishop of Oakland, the principal voice of morality for some 550,000 Catholics in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Salvatore Joseph Cordileone's roots run deep in California. He has been the auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of San Diego, the diocese in which he was born, attended church as a child, went to seminary and served as a parish priest. He also served as a parish priest in Calexico, the Imperial County border town.

He inherits a diocese that is rapidly changing, particularly along demographic lines, yet is striving to knit itself together as a cohesive community. People in the diocese attend Mass in 13 languages in places as diverse as Danville, Pittsburg and Berkeley. It has bet $180 million that the heart of the community will be its new cathedral in downtown Oakland - a bold challenge at a time when urban parishes are withering. One of Cordileone's principal goals will be to raise the remaining $42 million in costs.

"Erase that debt and he's a rock star," said the Rev. Jayson Landeza, rector of St. Columba in North Oakland.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

The Rev. Gerard J. Hoffman, parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, in Doylestown, has been removed from the ministry by Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, after an investigation revealed that Hoffman sexually abused a minor 30 years ago.

Hoffman, former principal of Roman Catholic High School, also has served at these parishes: St. Teresa of Avila, Valley Forge; Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul; St. Basil the Great, Kimberton; St. Isaac Joques, Wayne; King of Peace and St. John the Evangelist, Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer

When the Rev. Gerard J. Hoffman was accused last year of sexually abusing a minor decades ago, he denied it, and the Philadelphia Archdiocese was unable to prove the charge.

But yesterday, following allegations by a second person, the archdiocese announced that Cardinal Justin Rigali had permanently removed Hoffman, former principal of Roman Catholic and Pius X High Schools, from all priestly ministry.

No criminal or civil charges can be brought against him, since the statute of limitations has long since run out on the alleged offenses.

UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 03/23/2009 03:44:48 PM MDT

A man convicted of molesting three girls who were in his Sunday school class at a Syracuse ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will spend at least 10 years in prison, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has decided.

Aaron Marcos Montoya, 37, will get another chance to request release in January 2015.

Montoya, who worked as a bailiff at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, was convicted in 2005 of five counts of first-degree felony aggravated sexual abuse of a child and sentenced to five years to life in prison on each charge.

NAPLES (FL)
Naples Daily News

By Naples Daily News staff report
4:33 p.m., Monday, March 23, 2009

NAPLES — A local religious group has canceled a planned worship service planned for March 26.

Voice of the Faithful of Southwest Florida, a lay organization of Catholics, will no longer hold a prayer service Thursday at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church in North Naples, local Voice of the Faithful President Peg Clark said in an e-mail release.

"Please take this hour that you may have reserved to spend in church with the (Voice of the Faithful of Southwest Florida) and use it in prayer for the intention for which the Mass/Liturgy was to have been offered," Clark said in the release.

Clark gave no reason for the cancellation.

UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

By Tom Kelly
Last updated at 1:08 AM on 24th March 2009

A former City lawyer told yesterday how he suffered years of terrifying sexual abuse by a Jesuit priest as he began a £5million compensation claim against his school.

Patrick Raggett, who is now 50, wept as he recounted harrowing ordeals at the Roman Catholic college which shattered his previously 'golden childhood' and cast a shadow over the rest of his life.

He claims Father Michael Spencer, a French teacher, used his 'cloak of priestly godliness and respectability' to film and photograph him naked and touch him inappropriately.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Times

Monday, March 23, 2009 4:07 PM EDT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been removed from duty after a church panel found evidence he sexually abused a minor more than 30 years ago.

The Archdiocesan Review Board found credible the abuse allegation against the Rev. Gerard J. Hoffman, who was a principal or faculty member at four Philadelphia-area schools over a 26-year period.

UNITED STATES
Connecticut Post

By Amanda Cuda
Staff writer
Updated: 03/23/2009 04:32:55 PM EDT

Catholicism has long been a cornerstone of Kerry Kennedy's life.

Kennedy, daughter of the late senator and U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, came from a devoutly Catholic family, where she was the seventh of 11 children. They prayed every day, and went to church every Sunday. The Catholic church, she said, has been a tremendous influence in her life. "It's been very central to my sense of values, my sense of justice, my belief system," said Kennedy during a recent phone interview.

Yet, like many devout Catholics, Kennedy has had her faith challenged. She has disagreed with the Catholic church's stance on many issues, including abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage, and was hurt and disappointed by the handling of the sexual abuse scandal in the church.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent

Tuesday, 24 March 2009

A former City lawyer who claims that the sexual abuse he suffered at a Catholic boys' school stopped him from fulfilling his potential and led him to have a breakdown nearly 30 years later has launched a £5m compensation claim.

Patrick Raggett told the High Court that he was subjected to years of molestation by Father Michael Spencer at Preston Catholic College in Lancashire, but that he only realised he had been sexually abused three decades later during a Sunday lunch with friends.

Mr Raggett, 50, said he did not connect his underachievement with the alleged abuse until after his breakdown in April 2005. Yesterday he told the court: "My employment record is so far away from what it should have been. To know what one could have been and not be anything remotely approaching that is very painful."

FRESNO (CA)
ABC 30

[with video]

By Andres Araiza
Fresno, CA (KFSN) -- The trial involving some of California's top Catholic leaders is entering the final week in Downtown Fresno.

Two brothers are suing the Diocese of Fresno accusing church officials of covering up sexual abuse.

Another victim testified about the abuse he faced from Monsignor Anthony Herdegen. Bishop John Steinbock also faced questions about his handling of another local case.

BUCKEYE (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

by Jackee Coe - Mar. 23, 2009 05:02 PM
The Arizona Republic .
A Buckeye pastor was arrested Friday on suspicion of using his position to sexually assault troubled women during counseling sessions, police said.

Charles Lawrence Carfrey, 59, pastor of the Lord's House Church, was booked on counts of running a criminal syndicate, sexual conduct with a minor and sexual abuse, police said. He's being held without bond.

Carfrey, who started as a pastor in Oregon in 1990 and moved to Buckeye in 2000 or 2001, allegedly fondled three adult and teenage women in Buckeye and one in Oregon during counseling sessions, said Buckeye police Det. Doug Dodge.

BUCKEYE (AZ)
AZFamily

Buckeye Police Department
BUCKEYE -- The following is a press release from the Buckeye Police Department:
The 59-year-old pastor of a Buckeye church has been arrested on charges that he used his position to develop relationships with troubled young women and sexually assault them.

Charles Lawrence Carfrey, pastor of The Lord's House Church, 408 E. Eason Ave., was arrested Friday by the Buckeye Police Department with assistance from the U. S. Marshal's Service Child Predator Apprehension Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Carfrey was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail and held without bond on charges of running a criminal syndicate, sexual conduct with a minor and sexual abuse.

INDIA
Union of Catholic Asian News

JABALPUR, India (UCAN) -- Police in central India arrested and then released a Catholic priest on a molestation charge, but Church people have dismissed it as an attempt to defame the Church.

Father D. Davidson of Bhopal archdiocese was arrested on March 21 on charges of molesting a woman in his parish house in Berkhera near Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh state. He was released the same day.

A police official said they had registered a case of sexual molestation under a section of the criminal code which allows the local police station to grant bail without taking the accused to a court. "So we released the priest on bail but will continue the investigation," he added.

PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Sam Wood
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A priest from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been removed from the ministry by Cardinal Justin Rigali following an investigation by church officials that found he sexually abused a minor more than 30 years ago.

Gerard J. Hoffman - former of both Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia and St. Pius X in Pottstown - has agreed to accept a supervised life of prayer and penance at a home for retired priests in Delaware County, said Donna Ferrell, a diocese spokeswoman.

Since he was first accused of abuse in July 2008, the 64-year-old Hoffman has been prohibited from wearing clerical garb, presenting himself as a priest, or administering any of the Sacraments.

DELAWARE
Community News

By Adam Zewe
Community News
Posted Mar 23, 2009 @ 02:28 PM

Wilmington, Del. — .The nation’s most active support group for survivors of clergy sexual abuse of children is calling on the the Diocese of Wilmington bishop to release the names accused priests, according to a press release by the organization.

“Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) respectfully calls on Bishop Malooly to immediately release the names of all credibly accused religious order perpetrators who have worked in the Diocese of Wilmington or are currently living there,” said Delaware SNAP Director Judy Miller in the release.

It went on to say that SNAP has information that there are at least nine accused abusers living at the Oblates of St. Frances de Sales retirement home in Childs, Md. and that "their presence has never been disclosed to the surrounding communities" nor their movements restricted, despite documentation that "child molesters rarely stop abusing children."

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Agency

Vatican City, Mar 23, 2009 / 10:31 am (CNA).- This morning Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone to become the next Bishop of Oakland, Calif. Currently serving as an auxiliary bishop of San Diego, Bishop Cordileone will become the shepherd of 400,000 Catholics in the Oakland area.

Bishop Cordileone will be taking over after Archbishop Allen Vigneron was appointed to lead the Archdiocese of Detroit in January of this year.

The speed of the appointment may be connected with the news that the interim administrator of the diocese, Fr. Dan Danielson, was accused of blessing homosexual unions prior to being named to oversee the diocese.

UNITED KINGDOM
Lancashire Evening Post

23 March 2009
By lep.newsdesk@lep.co.uk

An ex-pupil at Preston Catholic College was the victim of "insidious" abuse by a priest, a court has heard.

Patrick Raggett, 50, says he was measured naked, indecently touched and forced to shower with Father Micahel Spencer.

Mr Raggett, who has waived his right to anonymity, is suing the Jesuit-run school for £5m in a landmark case at the High Court.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

Mar. 23, 2009
By Joe Feuerherd

Four years ago I put a theoretical question to Patrick Reilly, president of the Virginia-based Cardinal Newman Society and self-appointed ayatollah to Catholic academia in this country. Reilly is back in the news today because President Obama will deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame in May. The overseer of false orthodoxy doesn’t like that one bit.

“It is an outrage and a scandal (emphasis in the original) that ‘Our Lady’s University,’ one of the premier Catholic universities in the United States, would bestow such an honor on President Obama given his clear support for policies and laws that directly contradict fundamental Catholic teachings on life and marriage,” according to a letter to Holy Cross Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame, from Reilly and thousands of petitioners he’s drummed up online. ...

Meanwhile, for the head of an organization whose mission includes “urging fidelity to the church’s magisterium,” Reilly is keeping some strange company. He serves on the advisory board of another extremist group – “Catholic Citizens of Illinois” – which is currently publicizing an effort by whacky anti-abortion advocate Randall Terry to replace Washington Archbishop Donald Wuerl and get Arlington Bishop Paul Loverde replaced. Terry was in Rome recently making the case to Vatican officials that Wuerl and Loverde are insufficiently zealous because they refuse to deny Communion to pro-choice politicians in their dioceses.

UNITED KINGDOM
Evening Standard

Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent

A FORMER City lawyer suing a Jesuit-run school for a record £5 million today told a court how his career had been ruined by sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

Patrick Raggett, who can be named for the first time, wept as he described how he tried to blank out what was happening to his young body.

At the age of 11 he would be bent naked over a desk by the priest who coached his football team.

"I was very interested in astrology and I would pretend I was in a solar system somewhere just so long as I was not there," he told the High Court in London.

UNITED KINGDOM
Metro

A former City lawyer today launched a £5million lawsuit against a Jesuit-run college where he was allegedly abused by a priest.

Patrick Raggett was subjected to years of "insidious" abuse by a teacher at Preston Catholic College in Lancashire, his counsel Robert Seabrook today told the High Court in London.

VERMONT
Fox 44

Associated Press - March 23, 2009 7:55 AM ET

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) - The Vermont Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday the appeal of an $8.7 million priest sex abuse verdict against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington.

The Supreme Court will hear the case during its annual day at the Vermont Law School in Royalton.

PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star

The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.23.2009

PHOENIX — A special victims Mass is scheduled this week by the Phoenix Catholic Diocese to help heal and reconcile past actions against church members.

The Mass, scheduled for Wednesday evening at Gilbert’s St. Anne Roman Catholic Parish, will be officiated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted.

UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A former City lawyer is claiming £5m damages against a Catholic school over sexual abuse he alleges he suffered there during the 1970s.

The man claims he suffered a breakdown after losing his job in 1997 over his aggressive behaviour and drinking.

The High Court will hear the case against the Jesuit order and governors of Preston Catholic College.

KENTUCKY
The Associated Press

By JEFFREY McMURRAY

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Catholic charity in Kentucky faced an uproar over its efforts to buy a home for four registered sex offenders, continuing what supporters say is a never-ending cycle for low-income offenders trying to get their lives back on track.

Members of the Catholic Action Center said they expected to hear fears and objections from the community when they held a forum at a Baptist church in January on their carefully planned purchase. They didn't expect to hear death threats.

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI has named a San Diego clergyman to be bishop of Oakland, California.

A brief statement by the Vatican's press office Monday said that Monsignor Salvatore Joseph Cordileone has been chosen for the Bay Area diocese.

OAKLAND (CA)
Business Wire

NOTE TIME VALUE: Bishop Salvatore Cordileone will be available at a news conference on Monday, March 23, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Christ the Light. Media should enter through the main conference center entrance at 2121 Harrison Street, Oakland.

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, 52, as the Fourth Bishop of Oakland. Bishop Cordileone until now has been Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego. His installation as Bishop of Oakland will take place at noon on May 5, 2009 at Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light.

On January 5, 2009, Oakland’s Bishop Allen Vigneron was appointed Archbishop of Detroit and was installed in that office on January 28. At that time priests in Oakland’s College of Consultors elected Fr. Daniel E. Danielson as Diocesan Administrator, to manage day-to-day business of the Diocese until a new bishop was named.

GREECE
Pokrov

Date Published: 3/21/2009
Publication: Kathimerini

The case of the jailed ex-bishop of Attica, Panteleimon, took another twist yesterday when Church of Greece sources suggested that he had informed them he would not seek to be reinstated in his former position upon his release from jail.

Speculation had mounted over the last 10 days that the disgraced cleric would try to return to his post after the Holy Synod decided he would not have to face a Church court on charges of embezzlement.

Panteleimon has been serving a six-year jail sentence in Korydallos Prison for embezzling 195,000 euros from an Attica monastery.

AUSTRALIA
Sunshine Coast Daily

A former Sunshine Coast pastor has gone on trial in a Maroochydore District Court charged with the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy.

The court heard the abuse started about four months after the pastor joined the church in 2004.

The pastor’s alleged victim was 13-years-old at the time and a member of the church.

ZAMBIA
ZNBC

The National Initiative for Citizens Awareness -NICA- says it will appeal against the acquital by a Lusaka magistrate Court of a Kafue pastor facing a charge of sexual abuse.

NICA president, Kelvin Sampa, says his organisation is not happy with the court's decision to acquit Pastor James Gondwe.

Mr. Sampa says NICA will also petition the Director of Public Prosecution-DPP-to reopen the case.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

Published: March 22, 2009
For decades, priests who preyed sexually on children did so with shocking ease and impunity. Their superiors acted as functional accomplices, shuttling abusive priests among parishes and buying or bullying victims into silence. Shame and guilt did the rest, burying abuses under a shroud of secrecy that often far outlasted the statute of limitations for prosecutions or lawsuits.

Those victims deserve a day in court. The New York Legislature should grant it to them, by passing a bill that would temporarily lift the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits involving the sexual abuse of children.

The bill would open a one-year window during which accusers would be allowed to sue in civil court, no matter how old the case. After a year, the statute of limitations would be restored, but an accuser would have up to 10 years after turning 18 to make a claim, instead of five. The statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions would not be changed.

PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

by Astrid Galvan - Mar. 23, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic .
In the wake of nearly a decade of cases involving sexual molestations and violence by priests, the Roman Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars on efforts to combat abuse.

Those programs cost $21 million in 2007 and $23 million last year, according to a report released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops this month.

But the Diocese of Phoenix goes one step further by celebrating a Mass of "healing and reconciliation," officiated by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, for victims of abuse once a year.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

A former top City lawyer is suing Catholic priests for £5 million - claiming his career was wrecked by sex abuse he suffered at school.

The 50-year-old man, who is not being named, is seeking the largest amount of damages for sex abuse in the UK. The action against the Jesuit order and governors of Preston Catholic College in Lancashire will be heard at the High Court in London.

NEW YORK
Failed Messiah

[UTJ Letters On Sexual Abuse]

According to statistics, one out of every 4 children will be abused by the time they reach the age of 18. Considering there are just under 20,000,000 people living in the state of New York, means there is roughly 5000,000 survivors of child sexual abuse living in the state.

Both adult survivors and children, who have not yet been abused -- living in the state of New York need your immediate help to insure the passage of The Child Victims Act of New York.

Attached are 2 links – the first with all NY state Assembly e-mail addresses, and the other is a listing of the NY Senate. Please make as many phone calls as you can to the New York senators and Assembly members.

Mormon Times

By Kristine Frederickson
Sunday, Mar. 22, 2009

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ spoke clearly and unequivocally to those who would be his followers and inherit eternal life. Knowing the end from the beginning, conversant with events and practices in our day as well as his day, he commanded: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." There can be no clearer condemnation of pornography than the Savior provides here. ...

Pornography is a $5 billion industry. Pornographers make that which is seductive and destructive attractive. Make no mistake about its power to enslave and destroy. In 2004, before a U. S. Senate Committee on Brain Science Behind Pornography, Dr. Judith Reisman described the "addictive properties of sexually explicit images." She explained: "We now know that emotionally arousing images imprint and alter the brain triggering an instant, involuntary, but lasting, biochemical memory trail. Once (these) neurochemical pathways are established they are difficult or impossible to delete. Erotic images also commonly trigger … emotions of fear, shame, anger and hostility. These media erotic fantasies become deeply embedded, commonly coarsening, confusing, motivating and addicting many of those exposed."

Reisman explained: "Pornography triggers a myriad endogenous, internal, natural drugs that mimic the 'high' from a street drug. ... As pornography became mainstreamed and pushed the envelope of moral sexual conduct, law enforcement reported that sex crimes mimicking comparable acts were being inflicted on women and children. ... Testimony from victims and police commonly finds pornography to be an on-site sex-abuse manual."

SCOTLAND
Sunday Mail

Mar 22 2009 By Derek Alexander

A PRIEST is being investigated by police over claims he acted inappropriately towards teenagers.

Father Stephen Miller has been suspended and ordered out of his parish, St Brendan's RC Church in Motherwell.

He is also chaplain at the town's Our Lady's High School and Monklands Hospital.

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

Posted by Michael F. O'Malley and Robert L. Smith/Plain Dealer Reporters

Several churches ordered closed by Bishop Richard Lennon of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese are preparing to file appeals, hoping the bishop will change his mind.

St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Colman, St. Adalbert, St. Peter and St. Emeric, all in Cleveland, believe they have good cases to carry them through the church's legal system known as canon law.

But what are their chances in an institution that bestows immense power and autonomy on its bishops?

Not good, says Michael Dunnigan, a canon lawyer at the St. Joseph Foundation, a parishioners advocacy group in San Antonio, Texas, that offers free legal counsel.

VERMONT
Rutland Herald

By KEVIN O’CONNOR
STAFF WRITER - Published: March 22, 2009

How do you convince Vermont’s Supreme Court to overturn a record $8.7 million child-sex verdict?

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington hopes to find out Wednesday in an unusual public hearing.

The state’s largest religious denomination, the target of nearly 40 negligence lawsuits in Chittenden Superior Court, was hit last spring with a record fine for its 1970s hiring and supervision of a pedophile priest.

The church is appealing the potentially bankrupting case to the Supreme Court. Justices not only will hear it this week, but also do so in front of students, teachers and the public at South Royalton’s Vermont Law School.

UNITED STATES
Newsday

BY BART JONES | bart.jones@newsday.com
March 22, 2009
In Los Angeles, the Roman Catholic archdiocese cut its central staff in half and sold its 12-floor headquarters. In Tucson, the diocese sold 85 pieces of property in the Arizona desert. In Davenport, Iowa, church officials posted a "for sale" sign on the bishop's residence - then moved him into a modest bungalow.

Catholic dioceses across the United States have been hit with hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from child sex abuse cases in the past decade. Now, as lawmakers in Albany consider legislation that would create a one-year open window for victims to sue regardless of how long ago the alleged abuse occurred, church officials warn it could bankrupt the Catholic Church in New York.

If the bill passes, it would become the third child sex abuse "open window" law in the country, after California and Delaware, whose two-year window closes in July. Legal experts said that in New York they anticipate hundreds of abuse victims, whose claims could involve not just the Catholic Church but also other religious institutions, public agencies and even long-ago cases of incest.

NEWPORT BEACH (CA)
Daily Pilot

By Joseph Serna
Updated: Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:14 PM PDT

Due to a lack of evidence, criminal investigators are not filing charges against a Newport Beach Mormon church member accused of molesting a boy in the congregation, according to prosecutors.

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police investigated Todd C. Summers, 37, of Costa Mesa, for accusations that he had carried on a sexual relationship with a boy in the church. Newport Beach police determined that any potential crimes occurred in Costa Mesa, Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Costa Mesa detectives investigated the claims and turned over their findings to prosecutors, who declined to file charges.

Summers, a former Sheriff’s Department reserve officer, was also investigated by the department on allegations that he used his authority to enter a young boy’s home, he said in a deposition. Charges were not filed in that case. Summers and the department severed ties last year, said department spokesman Jim Amormino.

NEW YORK
Newsday

BY JAMES T. MADORE | james.madore@newsday.com
March 22, 2009
ALBANY - Gov. David A. Paterson has cast doubt on the future of a bill that would temporarily lift the statute of limitations on lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children.

The legislation, now headed to the Assembly floor for a vote, gives abuse victims a special one-year window to file suit in civil court regardless of how long ago the assault occurred. The one-year period would start when the bill, from Assemb. Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth), is signed into law by the governor.

Paterson expressed reservations Friday. "These types of cases could go back, 20, 30, 40 years, and since the evidence probably doesn't exist in any way to convict the perpetrator ... the accusation would hinder the career of any person who was accused," he told Newsday.

PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Sunday, March 22, 2009
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A United Methodist pastor has continued to minister at two Jefferson County churches even though he has been awaiting trial since August 2007 on charges that he molested two women at a mental health center.

The Rev. Michael Clair Garvey, 59, of Worthville, also faces a lawsuit filed by one of those women. He serves the Coolspring United Methodist Church in Coolspring and Ramseytown United Methodist Church, Knoxdale.

No church members are involved in the cases pending against him. He was arrested for molesting two clients and a counselor at Brookville Behavioral Health, where, according to court records, he also was a counselor until July 2007.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By Paul Cherry, The Gazette March 20, 2009

Det.-Lt.Guy Bianchi considers it the most rewarding work of his career. ...

“Many people ask me ‘well it’s child pornography. Why is it so serious?’ ” he said.

“There are plenty of studies that say there is a direct correlation between people who consume child pornography and sexual assaults,” Bianchi said. “There are actually studies that say at least twice in their life, a person who consumes child pornography will do a direct act towards molesting a child.”

UNITED STATES
Washington Post

U.S. Catholic leaders processed more than 800 allegations of clergy sexual abuse last year, a 16 percent increase from 2007. The majority of the allegations involved abuse that occurred decades ago.

A report issued last week by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops showed 803 allegations were filed by 706 victims last year against 518 clergy members. The church also spent more than $436 million in legal settlements, attorneys' fees and counseling costs.

Just 13 of the 803 cases involved alleged abuse of a minor that occurred during 2008. Nearly all of the cases involved accusations of molestation that occurred decades ago. The church said 83 percent of those accused were dead, defrocked or missing.

TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

By DARREN BARBEE dbarbee@star-telegram.com

A California man filed a lawsuit Friday accusing the Rev. Rudolf Rentería of sexually abusing him when he was the priest’s altar boy in Arlington in the 1980s.

The man, now in his 40s, is also suing the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese, accusing it of covering up the priest’s actions. His father told another priest at the time of the alleged May 1981 incident, but Rentería was allowed to continue in the ministry, according to the suit. Rentería was "recycled into ministry in the Dallas Diocese," the suit alleges.

Rentería, who lives in Dallas County, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Diocese spokesman Pat Svacina said, "We’re aware of the alleged incident" but declined to comment further because officials have not seen the lawsuit.

ANGOLA
Arizona Daily Star

By Victor L. Simpson
the Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.21.2009

LUANDA, Angola — Pope Benedict XVI, welcomed to this sweltering capital Friday by the biggest crowds of his African pilgrimage, condemned sexual violence against women in Africa and chided those countries on the continent that have approved abortion.

Benedict arrived in Luanda on the second leg of his African tour, with tens of thousands pouring into the streets along his motorcade route, honking car horns and slowing traffic to a crawl. Many of the faithful wore white T-shirts emblazoned with the pope's picture and "Welcome to our land" written in Portuguese. ...

"Particularly disturbing is the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure, not to mention the unspeakable practice of sexual violence and exploitation which causes such humiliation and trauma," Benedict told government leaders and foreign diplomats in the late afternoon.

CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
March 20, 2009

When Susan Duncalfe summoned the courage to report her father’s sexual assaults on her, her story would uncover not only the calamity of a childhood’s stolen innocence, but also how a religious fellowship in the Fraser Valley failed her.

Over the past 20 years, scandals involving illicit sexual relations within churches and the way they were either ignored or covered up have caused untold damage to reputations of churches in Canada and resulted in civil damages that have entered the hundreds of millions of dollars.

In an Abbotsford courtroom earlier this month, Provincial Court Judge John Lenaghan sentenced Susan’s father, Kenneth Duncalfe, now a frail 69-year-old, to nine months in jail.

Lenaghan passed judgment, too, on Duncalfe’s Mennonite church, the Abbotsford Church of God in Christ, for knowing of his transgressions since 1990 but failing to report them to the police.

MARYLAND
The Catholic Review

By Matt Palmer
The Catholic Review

The Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Child and Youth Protection office is partnering with the Baltimore Child Abuse Center for two milestone informational events in April.

The April 2 and April 23 events will take place at Archbishop Borders School and St. Bernardine Catholic School respectively. The goal will be to provide information on how to protect children and the signs to look for in an abused child.

The activities come during Child Abuse Prevention Month.

CHARLESTON (SC)
The Post and Courier

By Adam Parker
The Post and Courier
Saturday, March 21, 2009

The S.C. Supreme Court has denied a request from a Greenville attorney to bypass the normal appeals process and hear a case about allegations of conspiracy and collusion in a class-action settlement between the Catholic Diocese of Charleston and lawyers representing victims of sexual abuse, according to an order released Thursday.

David Flowers' petition for "original jurisdiction" was an unusual move the attorney hoped would expedite the court review process. The case is likely to reach the high court sooner or later, he said. ...

It alleges that the $2.5 million fee awarded to Larry Richter and David Haller, the two attorneys who represented the class of victims, was excessive and based on sloppy or fabricated records of hours worked.

Richter and Haller, the two attorneys who represented the class of victims, strongly denied the allegations. In an e-mail, Goodstein said she could not comment on the case.

NEW JERSEY
Home News Tribune

By LEO D. ROMMEL • Staff Writer • March 20, 2009

MIDDLESEX COUNTY — A former pastor of St. James R.C. Church in Woodbridge is guilty of one of two charges that he sexually abused a minor more than 25 years ago at another parish, a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical court ruled earlier this month.

Monsignor Michael J. Cashman remains a priest but was permanently removed from public ministry after a ruling said he was guilty of sexually abusing a child between 1980 and 1983, when he was an associate pastor of Our Lady of God Counsel parish in West Trenton and then an associate pastor of Immaculate Conception R.C. Church in Spotswood.

Which parish the incidents took place in was not clear, said Diocese of Metuchen spokeswoman Joanne Ward.

INDIA
IBN Live

Naveen Nair / CNN-IBN

Thiruvananthapuram: After a former nun dropped a bombshell by revealing in her autobiography about the sexual abuse and mental harassment nuns go through in the Catholic Church, a sitting cardinal has written a book in which he says many nuns are ill-treated.

The book titled Straight from the Heart by Varkey Vidayathil talks about how a section of the priests treat the nuns making them wash their clothes and cook food, all without any pay.

The biographer who is also the spokesperson of the Catholic Bishops' Council says he has penned down exactly what the cardinal has told him.

INDIA
Press Trust of India

Usha Ram Manohar
Kochi, Mar 21 (PTI) Nuns in the church are being discriminated against and treated shoddily by priests who force them to wash clothes and cook meals, a cardinal has claimed.

The candid admissions by Cardinal Mar Varkey Vithayathil, who is also the Major Archbishop of the Syro Malabar church, has been made in a book titled, 'Straight from the Heart', released recently.

"There have always been complaints that religious women are used as task force by parish priests. They just bear up the ill treatment, fearing the priests may not say Mass for them or fulfil their spiritual needs if they protested. These things are happening in a number of places," Vithyathail says.

FLORIDA
The Irish Times

AN IRISH priest accused of misappropriating millions of dollars from a parish in the United States yesterday said that he was truly ashamed of his actions.

Fr John Skehan (81), originally from Co Kilkenny, was speaking during an almost two-hour sentence hearing at a court in West Palm Beach, Florida.

His sentence was postponed as Judge Jeffrey Colbath said that he had too many things to consider to hand down a sentence yesterday. He said that he would issue his sentence “this time next week”.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Pope has been forced to intervene in a damaging power struggle over who will become the next spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Pope Benedict XVI will decide next week who should succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as Archbishop of Westminster. It is possible that he will shun all five candidates vying for the post and instead impose a Vatican diplomat.

The highly unusual move is the result of his advisers’ failure to reach a consensus on the best candidate.

WEST PALM BEACH (FL)
WPBF

[with video]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Interest was so high that the proceeding had to be moved to a bigger courtroom. And television crews from Father John Skehan's native Ireland crammed the hallways.

The decision that Judge Jeffrey Colbath was to make Friday was deciding appropriate punishment for Skehan, 81, who admitted to stealing more than $100,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church in Delray Beach.

"We feel the fact that Father Skehan will no longer be able to function as priest is a penalty itself," said Vicar General Charles Notabartolo of the Diocese of Palm Beach. Notabartolo was the government's only witness. The prosecution and the defense agreed the former pastor should not serve prison time.

DELRAY BEACH (FL)
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By Dianna Cahn | South Florida Sun Sentinel 4:05 PM EDT, March 20, 2009
DELRAY BEACH - A priest who confessed to stealing from the church he served for over 40 years will have to wait until next week to find out if he is going to prison.

The victims, the prosecutor and defense attorney all told the court today that the Rev. John Skehan should not be imprisoned for his actions after he pleaded guilty in January to grand theft of over $100,000 from St. Vincent Ferrer church.

But Circuit Judge Jeffrey Colbath, nonetheless torn by what he called "aggravating and mitigating" factors, said he needed more time to consider the appropriate sentence for Skehan.

ILLINOIS
GetReligion

I know, it’s hard to read the following story and not get mad about the central image of a pastor spanking a 12-year-old girl with a piece of wooden crown molding, with the permission of her parents, because these adults in her life doubted her claims that she had been sexually molested.

Before I get to my journalistic question about this Chicago Tribune report (Does the “special to” byline mean this is a freelance story?), let’s get the context.