Abuse Tracker

SAVANNAH (GA)
Savannah Morning News

Catholic Diocese of Savannah reaches settlement with alleged victim, takes proactive steps to guard against future child abuse.

DEFENSELESS CHILDREN have a right to be protected from predators. All organizations, and society as a whole, will be judged by how well they follow that principle.

On Wednesday, the Catholic Diocese of Savannah agreed to pay dearly to reconcile an egregious wrong allegedly committed 30 years ago by a then-local priest.

FAIRBANKS (AK)
Second Rape: The Diocese of Fairbanks and Sexual Abuse

The Diocese of Fairbanks is doing its best to convince the world that offering $5,500 to victims of child rape is fair. In press reports, they even had the nerve to say that victims were being insensitive by calling the offer a “second rape.”

Victims are insensitive? Really? Living with the effects of abuse their whole lives, shunned by the church, suffering in shame and silence, losing sleep, grappling with thoughts of suicide, while Bishop Kettler shakes a finger at them and tells them to go away?

Kettler and his officials are the definition of insensitive.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Rosita Sweetman

Saturday October 31 2009

I was just beginning to feel all warm and fuzzy towards Nuala Fennell, fellow founding sister of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement (IWLM) -- how caring she was, how practical, how very nice -- when I read something she wrote about me and was suddenly reminded what a serious bite in the bum she could deliver if deemed necessary; Nuala Fennell was no pushover.

Incredibly sadly, this book was completed just before her untimely death earlier this year and I think if she hadn't been ill, she would have pushed the narrative further along. ...

Lest any of us forget, Ireland of the early 1970s still had its very own Taliban of celibate clergy and supine politicians who had, since the founding of the State, carefully forgotten the calls, and promises, for sexual equality, and through countless laws and strictures, daily reinforced by the clergy, ensured their way ruled.

It wasn't just that there was male domination; for most women there was no alternative to marriage. Once inside a marriage a woman lost virtually all of her personal human rights. Her husband could beat her, beat her children, abandon them, go to another jurisdiction, divorce her, re-marry, thereby bastardising his first family, and get the family home.

WAUCONDA (IL)
News Sun

October 31, 2009

NEWS SUN STAFF REPORT

A Lake County jury has found a Wauconda man not guilty of sex charges.

Two years ago, Zachary Carlson, 19, of 400 N. Main St., was charged with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, a Class X felony, and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony.

"We are very happy with the results," Carlson's attorney, Stephen Simonian, said Friday after the verdict. "We felt there was not enough evidence against Zachary."

Carlson was working as a counselor at Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, 25225 W. Ivanhoe Road, Wauconda, in August 2007 when he was accused of having sex on multiple occasions with an 8-year-old girl and a 7-year-old girl. Carlson was arrested on a warrant in December 2007 at Wauconda High School.

ANDALUSIA (AL)
Andalusia Star-News

By Stephanie Nelson | Andalusia Star-News

Published Friday, October 30, 2009

The former pastor accused of sexually molesting and torturing young boys while on camping trips is expected to get his first sit-down with both sides of the legal fence sometime in the coming days.

Ralph Lee Aaron, 54, was charged earlier this week with 152 counts of sex-related crimes including the production and possession of child pornography, sexual abuse and torture and sodomy. He is currently in the county jail under a $24.5 million bond.

District attorney Greg Gambril said Thursday Aaron has requested a preliminary hearing and been given counsel in the form of a court-appointed attorney, Al Smith of Elba.

ALABAMA
Andalusia Star-News

By Stephanie Nelson | Andalusia Star-News

Published Saturday, October 31, 2009

Communication and parental involvement are two key factors that can protect children from sexual abuse like that recently suffered by the victims of a pastor accused of more than 150 sexual offenses against young boys.

Tuesday, Ralph Lee Aaron was charged with committing the sexual offenses against multiple boys ranging in age from 8 to 12. The encounters all occurred during church-related camping trips and activities. Aaron was the boys’ pastor at the time of the alleged offenses.

“The thing about child abuse is that it is so dependent upon secrecy,” said Grace Jeter, who has prosecuted many sex offenders. “Parents need to talk to their kids. Keep very open lines of communication with them.”

FAIRBANKS (AK)
United Press International

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- An attorney for the Catholic diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, said the diocese has offered an $11 million settlement to resolve sex abuse claims.

Kasey Nye. a bankruptcy attorney said the settlement would offer each abuse victim a minimum of $5,500, the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News said Friday.

Some individuals would receive larger payments, Nye said.

ALASKA
KTVA

Matthew Simon

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTVA-CBS 11 News) A group of Alaska Natives, who survived Fairbanks Catholic Diocese sexual abuse, say a new settlement proposal makes them feel like they have been raped again.

The dispute surrounds a new $11 million settlement plan from the Diocese which proposes to pay nearly 300 claims with settlements starting at $5500 per claim.

St. Mary's Victim and advocate Elise Boudreau says, "It is unacceptable. It is devastating that our lives are worth so little to the Fairbanks Diocese. It is a second rape."

CONNECTICUT
Waterbury Republican-American

BY TRACEY O'SHAUGHNESSY | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

How about a conciliatory gesture between Christians? A homecoming gift, if you like. Now that the Vatican has extended an invitation to Anglicans to join its flock, it may want to sweeten the pot with a little candor.

I am referring, of course, to the 12,000 pages of sexual abuse documents the Bridgeport Diocese insists are just too secret to share with the rest of us.

Now that the Roman Catholic Church, of which I am a part, wants to open its doors to disaffected Anglicans, perhaps the church will open those dusty old files, too. It would be a refreshing — if improbable — gesture of frankness.

MIAMI (FL)
Beliefnet

(RNS) The Archdiocese of Miami has banned the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic movement, saying it broke a promise to restrict its ministry to members and was "involved" in several schools without approval.

In an Oct. 29 letter to Miami priests, Monsignor Michael Souckar, the archdiocese's chancellor, said individual priests belonging to the Legionaries had been granted permission to work "but their ministry was restricted to their own members."

"Because the Legionaries of Christ have not abided by these restrictions, Archbishop (John) Favalora has barred them from any ministry in the Archdiocese of Miami," Souckar said.

MIAMI (FL)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami

The Legionaries of Christ are prohibited from functioning in the Archdiocese of Miami. Furthermore, Regnum Christi - a group of lay Catholics related to the Legionaries of Christ - is not and has never been approved by Archbishop Favalora to work in any parish, school or other Archdiocesan entity.

The Archdiocese of Miami recently sent a statement to the clergy regarding the Legionaries of Christ.

From time to time the archdiocese will issue statements of clarification, often when we receive phone calls, letters or emails inquiring about issues, programs, visitors, speakers, etc. Such statements are not unusual, as they provide clear communications for clergy, parishioners and the South Florida community. In addition, the Archdiocese of Miami has policies and procedures for groups and individuals wishing to make presentations; at all times, these must be followed.

MIAMI (FL)
Catholic News Agency

Miami, Fla., Oct 30, 2009 / 11:40 am (CNA).- On Thursday the Archdiocese of Miami published a short disclaimer on its website, without any link, announcing both in English and Spanish that “the Legionaries of Christ are prohibited from functioning in the Archdiocese of Miami.”

“Furthermore, Regnum Christi - a group of lay Catholics related to the Legionaries of Christ - are not and have never been approved by Archbishop Favalora to work in any parish, school or other Archdiocesan entity,” the short web post says.

On the same day, all parishes in Miami received a memorandum signed by the Chancellor, Monsignor Michael Souckar, stating that “the Legionaries of Christ are prohibited from functioning in the Archdiocese of Miami, effective immediately.”

MIAMI (FL)
Zenit

MIAMI, Florida, OCT. 30, 2009 (Zenit.org).- The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is "surprised and disappointed" that Archbishop John Favalora of Miami has decided to prohibit the order from functioning in the archdiocese, says a spokesman.

Msgr. Michael Souckar, the archdiocesan chancellor, communicated to the local clergy on Thursday that members of the Legionaries of Christ are barred from any ministry in the archdiocese, effective immediately.

In a statement sent to ZENIT late Thursday, Legionaries of Christ spokesman Jim Fair said the Legion will respect the decision: "We will be obedient to Archbishop Favalora’s directives. We also hope to gain a clearer understanding of his concerns and demonstrate our ability to serve the local church.

MIAMI (FL)
The Catholic Review

By Catholic News Service

MIAMI – Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora has barred the Legionaries of Christ from exercising any ministry in the archdiocese, effective immediately.

In a letter addressed to all the priests in the archdiocese, Msgr. Michael Souckar, archdiocesan chancellor, said the decision was made because the order had not adhered to the condition set by the archdiocese that they minister only to their own members.

"Because the Legionaries of Christ have not abided by the restrictions, Archbishop Favalora has barred them from any ministry in the Archdiocese of Miami," the priest said.

Voice from the Desert

Dr. James Jenkins

Wednesday, 21 October 2009, I learned from the NY Times of the announcement in Rome by William Cardinal Levada, the Vatican’s chief doctrinal watchdog, that the Roman Catholic Church was taking steps to ease the way, more likely grease the skids, for conservative, reactionary Anglican bishops and priests to be fully accepted into the Catholic communion. ...

After years of revelations of the exploitation of children by sexually rapacious clerics, and the moral betrayal of supposed shepherd-bishops, shell-shocked Catholics are now treated to the spectacle of Vatican politicians, Benedict chief among them, of trying to cherry-pick the low hanging fruit off the Anglican branch of the vine.

I can almost hear the Anglicans, and their fellow American Episcopalians, heaving a giant sigh of relief that finally someone is willing to take their embarrassing problems off their hands.

BRIDGEPORT (CT)
Voice from the Desert

Sister Maureen Paul Turlish

October 15, 2009

The October 5, 2009, decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in response to the Bridgeport, Connecticut Diocese’s request to keep church files and records sealed is likely to be significant in that it sets a precedent for motions by any religious denomination whose leadership would seek to conspire to cover up for sexually abusive ministers.

In addition, such a precedent could compel other public and private institutions to unseal their records in similar situations.

This is a step in the right direction and the high court should be applauded for this decision as should the secular newspapers which pursued the release of these documents.

Voice from the Desert

Dear Archbishop Tomasi,

I recently read the statement attributed to you and addressed to the United Nations. This of course, was the Holy See’s response to the statement of the International Humanist and Ethical Union of September 8, 2009.

I am aware that statements of this nature, when presented by officials of the Holy See, are usually prepared by staff members. In this instance it would benefit the Holy See and you as well to dismiss the staff member who prepared this report in your name. I say this because the report contains blatantly inaccurate information and reflects a level of research that is amateurish at best. There is a great deal of up-to-date data on sexual abuse by Catholic clergy available yet your writer chose secondary sources based on out of date information which of course seriously damages the credibility of the statement.

NEW YORK
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York

By Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York

October is the month we relish the highpoint of our national pastime, especially when one of our own New York teams is in the World Series!

Sadly, America has another national pastime, this one not pleasant at all: anti-catholicism.

It is not hyperbole to call prejudice against the Catholic Church a national pastime. Scholars such as Arthur Schlesinger Sr. referred to it as “the deepest bias in the history of the American people,” while John Higham described it as “the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history.” “The anti-semitism of the left,” is how Paul Viereck reads it, and Professor Philip Jenkins sub-titles his book on the topic “the last acceptable prejudice.”

NEW YORK
Catholic News Agency

New York City, N.Y., Oct 30, 2009 / 11:14 am (CNA).- The New York Times declined to publish an op-ed presented by the Archbishop of New York, Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan, in which he made the point that the “Gray Lady” has been reporting stories with a strong anti-Catholic bias.

In his new blog on the archdiocese’s website, Archbishop Dolan explains that his article was submitted in a slightly shorter form to the New York Times as an op-ed, but the Times declined to publish it. ...

On October 14, in the pages of the New York Times, reporter Paul Vitello exposed the sad extent of child sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community.

“Yet,” Archbishop Dolan observes, “the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency.”

MIAMI (FL)
Zenit

MIAMI, Florida, OCT. 29, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Archbishop John Favalora of Miami has officially prohibited members of the Legionaries of Christ from exercising any ministry in the archdiocese, effective immediately.

Msgr. Michael Souckar, the archdiocesan chancellor, communicated the ban today in a letter addressed to all priests of the archdiocese. ZENIT confirmed the veracity of the letter with the office of the chancellor.

Both Msgr. Souckar and Legionary of Christ spokesman Jim Fair were unavailable for comment.

MIAMI (FL)
Catholic Culture

October 30, 2009

The Archdiocese of Miami has prohibited the Legionaries of Christ from functioning in any capacity in the archdiocese.

“In the past, their priests were given individual approval by the Vicar General each time they wished to come to the Archdiocese of Miami but their ministry was restricted to their own members,” said archdiocesan chancellor Msgr. Michael Souckar in an October 29 memo to all priests. “Because the Legionaries of Christ have not abided by these restrictions, Archbishop [John] Favalora has barred them from any ministry in the Archdiocese of Miami.”

ALASKA
Second Rape: The Diocese of Fairbanks and Sexual Abuse

Fr. Lom Loyens, leader of the Jesuits in Fairbanks, Alaska from 1976 to 1980 and holder of a doctorate in cultural anthropology, was deposed by victims’ attorneys in 2004 regarding Fr. Jules Convert. Convert has been accused of molesting at least eight children in the Fairbanks Diocese and died in 1995.

When asked if priests molesting young boys would have a negative effect on boys, Loyens said that Alaska Natives were “fairly loose” on sexual matters. He also claimed that Alaska Native women fondled the testicles of their boy children.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Posted: Oct. 29, 2009

On a 6-2 vote, the Assembly Committee on Children and Families approved this week a measure that would help victims of childhood sexual abuse get a piece of their soul back, as one advocate put it. The bill would allow past victims to sue their assailants for damages, something many of those victims can't do now. The bill, the Child Victims Act, deserves the same kind of vote in the full Assembly and Senate.

At a public hearing on the bill last week, the Journal Sentinel's Annysa Johnson reported, victims and child safety advocates voiced support for the bill, calling the existing statute of limitations arbitrary and saying many factors conspire to keep victims silent. The bill would apply to all abuse cases, most of which involve family members, neighbors and family friends.

The bill would have an impact on the Catholic Church, which has been famously beset by a clergy abuse scandal, and other churches and nonprofit organizations. But supporters have a point when they say the only way to get information about abusers has been to sue.

CHATHAM (NJ)
Daily Record

By PEGGY WRIGHT • STAFF WRITER • October 30, 2009

The custodian charged with killing St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church pastor the Rev. Edward Hinds kept a secret for 21 years — that he is wanted in Philadelphia for ''corruption of minors" and ''indecent assault," a prosecutor said Thursday.

Appearing dazed and weary, murder suspect Jose R. Feliciano shuffled into a courtroom in Morristown in shackles Thursday for a review of the $1 million bail set upon his arrest last Saturday for the Oct. 22 fatal stabbing of the cleric in the kitchen of his rectory.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade asked Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan to modify the $1 million bail to cash only, saying that police have learned there is a 1988 warrant for Feliciano's arrest out of Philadelphia. Feliciano also has multiple birthdates, Social Security numbers, and has gone by other names such as Carlos Feliciano, Wade said.

NEW JERSEY
The Express-Times

By Express-Times staff
October 30, 2009, 12:33AM

In March, the Diocese of Paterson began a push to make sure everyone serving in its parishes and schools had undergone a background check.

The Rev. Edward Hinds' discovery that St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church janitor Jose Feliciano had either not undergone a check or failed one may be why the priest is dead today.

“In March, it just so happens, we re-emphasized and redoubled our efforts to ensure that every single school, every single parish, was compliant,” said Kenneth Mullaney, an attorney for the Paterson Diocese. “My speculation is that perhaps the current issue had to do with that effort.”

CANADA
Toronto Star

In his first public comment on a child pornography scandal rocking his church, the archbishop of Toronto said the Catholic Church must act "clearly and effectively" to root out the problem and ensure justice is served.

Child pornography is "evil," Archbishop Thomas Collins told the 30th Cardinal's Dinner Thursday, and it's all the worse when perpetrated by clergy. "Although ... this massive evil industry is hardly being sustained by the patronage of the clergy of any faith, if a priest or bishop engages in this iniquity, the outrage is all the more intense, and rightly so," Collins said.

Antigonish Bishop Raymond Lahey was charged with possession of child pornography this month, just days after he resigned. He is free on $9,000 bail and living in Ottawa.

UNITED KINGDOM
Derbyshire Times

Published Date: 30 October 2009
A Church of England vicar has been charged with downloading indecent images of children from the internet, it has emerged.

The Diocese of Lichfield said the Rev Dominic Stone, from Marchington, near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, had been charged with 16 counts of making indecent photographs of a child contrary to the Protection of Children Act 1978.

The 46-year-old priest, who is the team vicar of Marchington, Marchington Woodlands, Kingstone and Leigh, is on police bail and will appear before magistrates in Burton-upon-Trent next month.

KENYA
Coastweek

KISUMU (Xinhua) -- As the world prepares to celebrate children’s universal day on Nov. 20, dark clouds hung over Nyanza, an expansive province in western Kenya, where child abuse has been on a sharp rise in the recent past.

In many parts of this province that straddles Lake Victoria, children have nowhere to hide.

Child rapists are everywhere—in schools, homes, churches, in market centers and on the streets.

NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Friday, 30 October 2009
Victims of child abuse in church and state-run institutions in Northern Ireland have called for an investigation similar to the Ryan report.

A Belfast solicitor acting for some of the victims has written to the First and deputy First Minister detailing their demands.

The victims say they have been discriminated against because inquiries in the Republic have not been extended to the North.

ANDALUSIA (AL)
Fox News

Thursday, October 29, 2009

ANDALUSIA, Ala. — Prosecutors plan to seek multiple life sentences if they get a conviction against a former Andalusia pastor accused of sexual abuse and torture of young boys on camping trips.

Covington County deputies arrested 54-year-old Ralph Lee Aaron on Wednesday on 152 counts of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and possession of obscene matter involving children. Aaron was fired as pastor of Grace Christian Fellowhip Church after he was arrested and held on $24.2 million bond.

NEW YORK
Gothamist

[the archbishop's blog]

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is on the information superhighway—the leader of the New York Archdiocese has a blog called The Gospel in the Digital Age, where he tackles things like sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (today's entry is an op-ed he submitted to the NY Times, which declined it) and baseball—"It’s been hard for this bishop to be against angels, but fortunately that crisis of conscience has passed with the Yankees 5-2 victory last night over the Los Angeles Angels, giving them their 40th American League pennant and sending the Bronx Bombers back to the World Series."

FAIRBANKS (AK)
The News Tribune

By LISA DEMER
ldemer@adn.com

The Catholic diocese of Fairbanks, struggling for years with claims of sexual abuse by priests and church volunteers, is pitching an $11 million plan in bankruptcy court to resolve hundreds of claims.

Individual victims would be guaranteed a minimum of $5,500 and those that suffered serious abuse would get significantly more, said Kasey Nye, the diocese's Tucson, Ariz.-based bankruptcy attorney.

But a lawyer and an advocate for victims say the proposal is unacceptable and insulting. Elsie Boudreau, an abuse victim turned advocate, called it "a second rape."

CANADA
National Post

[text of the bishop's speech]

Charles Lewis, National Post
Published: Friday, October 30, 2009

Scandals involving clergy should be viewed as dramatic exceptions to the day-to-day reality of the Roman Catholic Church, but problems will be inevitable because of the frailty of human beings, Archbishop Thomas Collins told a charitable dinner in Toronto last night.

According to his prepared remarks, Archbishop Collins told 1,700 people attending the Cardinal's Dinner, the largest Catholic charitable event in Canada, that all of society has to reflect on how a multibillion dollar pornography industry is sustained.

In September, Raymond Lahey, head of the Diocese of Antigonish, was travelling through the Ottawa airport when he was pulled aside by customs officials. A few weeks later he was charged by Ottawa police with possession of child pornography. Bishop Lahey resigned his post without explanation prior to the allegations being made public.

ELDORADO (TX)
Standard-Times

Trish Choate choatet@shns.com / 202-664-9439

SAN ANGELO, Texas — ELDORADO — The child sexual assault trial of a polygamist sect member came to a screeching halt just before 3 p.m. today because a jurist’s child may have swine flu.

Judge Barbara Walther sent the jurors home and told her bailiff to tell the jurors the court would call them in the morning.

Walther, 51st Judicial District judge, announced that a juror’s child younger than 5 has a high temperature. Walther said they would not continue until the child gets better.

She told the attorneys in the trial of Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, to stay and they would take up other matters.

ELDORADO (TX)
The Salt Lake Tribune

By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune

Four witnesses testified about collection and handling genetic evidence in the state's case against Raymond Merril Jessop on Thursday when the hearing was suddenly halted with an announcement that a juror's child is sick and possibly has the H1N1 flu.

Fifty-first District Judge Barbara Walther stopped proceedings around 2:45 p.m. and told the courtroom that the juror's child, who is under the age of five, is running a high fever and "may have swine flu."

"We are in recess at least until the child is well," the judge said.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer
First published in print: Friday, October 30, 2009

An advocacy group for those abused by priests is asking people to be sensitive about the victims who come forward.

Mark Lyman, Capital Region director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said supporters of the Rev. Salvatore Rodino, a Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany priest accused of sexual abuse, should not malign the person who made the allegations.

Rodino was suspended Saturday as pastor of St. Jude the Apostle Church in Wynantskill after the diocese found "reasonable grounds" to believe he had sexual contact with a male teenager 27 years ago while at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany. As they filed into Sunday Mass, some parishioners of the church Rodino has led since 2005 said his accuser was coming forward only to collect settlement money.

MORRISTOWN (NJ)
WCBS

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (CBS)
The man accused of brutally murdering a Chatham priest has reportedly confessed to the crime, and prosecutors revealed even more disturbing information about the suspect Thursday, including the likely motive.

He walked into the court with his head down, his hands cuffed, and a look of confusion on his face. Jose Feliciano is the janitor police say killed Father Edward Hinds, stabbing him 32 times in the rectory of St. Patrick's Church. In court, prosecutors told the judge Feliciano has confessed to the murder, and said there was also compelling evidence against the 64-year-old Pennsylvania resident taken from his home and the park across the street.

"We have a confession because it was skillfully obtained by Capt. Paul, but he tried to deceive the police," said Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade.

ALASKA
KTUU

by Rachel D'Oro
The Associated Press
Thursday, October 29, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Elsie Boudreau received $1 million from the Fairbanks Catholic diocese to settle her sexual abuse claims against a priest, so four years later she's appalled that almost 300 more victims are being offered a guaranteed $5,500 each.

Boudreau says it's like another round of abuse from the diocese, which this week submitted a second reorganization plan to a bankruptcy court judge.

MORRISTOWN (NJ)
The Associated Press

By DAVID PORTER (AP)

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A janitor who confessed to stabbing a New Jersey priest to death last week had been trying to cover up a two-decade-old arrest warrant by using fake names and identification, a prosecutor said Thursday in requesting the man's bail remain at $1 million.

State Superior Court Judge Thomas Manahan agreed to the request by Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Leslie Wade to keep Jose Feliciano's bail at $1 million but changed it from cash, bond or property to cash only.

NEW JERSEY
69 News

[with video]

Bail for a janitor accused of murdering a priest in New Jersey is staying put at $1-million. 69 News was there as Jose Feliciano was led into state Superior Court in Morristown earlier today. The Easton man is charged with stabbing the Rev. Ed Hinds 32 times inside a church rectory in northern New Jersey.

ANDALUSIA (AL)
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen
Thursday, October 29, 2009
ANDALUSIA, Ala. (ABP) -- A former Alabama Baptist pastor is being held on $24.2 million bond after his arrest Oct. 21 on 152 counts of possessing child pornography and sexual abuse of young boys.

Ralph Lee Aaron, 54, was fired as pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship, a non-denominational church in Andalusia, Ala. Before coming to the church a little more than three years ago, Aaron was pastor of Victory Baptist Church in the county-seat town of 9,000 in southern Alabama.

According to media reports, Aaron was investigated while at his former church in 2005 for allegedly making a verbal sexual advance to a youngster. No charges were filed, because it was a misdemeanor and the statute of limitations had run out by the time the complaint was filed.

MIAMI (FL)
Archdiocese of Miami as posted on American Papist

The Legionaries of Christ are prohibited from functioning in the Archdiocese of Miami, effective immediately.

In the past, their priests were given individual approval by the Vicar General each time they wished to come to the Archdiocese of Maimi but their ministry was restricted to their own members. Because the Legionaries of Christ have not abided by these resrictions, Archbishop Favalora has barred them from any ministry in the Archdiocese of Maimi.

UNITED STATES
City of Angels

By Kay Ebeling

"First indict Cardinal Roger Mahony for aiding and abetting about a hundred pedophiles in Central and Southern California." (Posted on a Hollywood Reporter story saying Roman Polanski may voluntarily be extradited.)

Note the cool graphic above the headline here at City of Angels announcing a performance of “For Pete’s Sake” in New York, as a benefit for Road to Recovery. Reading of the one-act play will be December 11th, 8PM in Manhattan at 2 West 64th Street, the NY Society for Ethical Culture ceremonial hall. Wow. Tickets are $15 and the show is a fundraiser for Road to Recovery, the East Coast nonprofit that provides direct support to survivors of pedophile priest sex crimes.

Somewhere in New Jersey there are likely more victims of Monsignor Pete Cheplic, namesake of "For Pete's Sake." Playwright Joe Capozzi talked to City of Angels recently: “I hear from people,” Capozzi said. “I know he’s had guys suddenly pull out of his life, guys he was close to all of a sudden once they get married, they cut him out, for whatever reason. I know he had relationships with a bunch of other guys. Was it the same with them, I don't know, unless they want to come out and say. They were the same age range, they would also go drinking with Cheplic and to dinner.”

ALASKA
Second Rape: The Diocese of Fairbanks and Sexual Abuse

Statement by Elsie Boudreau

It is unacceptable and devastating that the lives of our Native children are worth so little in the eyes of Bishop Kettler and the Fairbanks Diocese. Their minimum offer of $5500 to children who were raped, sodomized, deprived of cultural integrity, robbed of language rights, separated from families, and basically treated as second class citizens is nothing more than a second rape.

Diocese officials knew that they were sending predator pedophiles into our villages where children were so trusting and were shown by example to respect those wearing the white collar. Officials knew that these men raped innocent boys and girls by the hundreds, but allowed them to continue serving as “Christ on earth.” And all the while, officials have denied the abuse, told victims to keep quiet, and refused to pay for services to help them.

DOVER (DE)
WJZ

RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer
DOVER, Del. (AP) ― A judge has ruled in favor of a religious order on several issues in a priest sex abuse lawsuit.

Judge Calvin Scott this week granted summary judgment to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales on several counts filed by Charles Sheehan, who claims he was abused by an Oblate priest.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

Victims of clerical child abuse in Northern Ireland have called for an inquiry into how they were treated.

The solicitor acting for victims of abuse in both Catholic and state-run institutions has written to the first and deputy first ministers detailing their demands.

They say they have been discriminated against because inquiries in the Irish Republic have not been extended here.

EASTON (PA)
Lehigh Valley Live

By Jim Deegan
October 29, 2009, 2:49PM

A church janitor from Easton accused of killing the parish priest in Chatham, N.J., had been wanted since 1988 in Philadelphia for indecent assault of a minor, authorities said today in court.

Jose Feliciano, 64, of the 100 block of Ann Street, is charged with the stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds a week ago in the rectory of Saint Patrick Church.

Feliciano had been using multiple identifications and Social Security numbers over the years to hide his past, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade told Judge Thomas Manahan in Superior Court in Morristown, N.J.

CHATHAM (NJ)
Chatham Courier

CHATHAM - Jose Feliciano, charged in the death of St. Patrick Church pastor Father Edward Hinds, had a past that he had covered up.

Feliciano, 64, employed as a janitor at the church, had used aliases, false Social Security numbers and had been charged with an indecent assault on a child 21 years ago in Philadelphia, said the prosecutor at Feliciano's court hearing today.

Feliciano appeared before Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morristown, who ordered the janitor's bail to be kept at $1 million, cash only.

CHATHAM BOROUGH (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Staff
October 29, 2009, 5:30AM
CHATHAM BOROUGH -- Minutes before he was killed, the Rev. Edward Hinds dialed 911 from his cell phone, but help never arrived. The State Police received the call, but the dispatcher was unable to determine the location of the emergency.

An investigation into last week’s murder of the beloved 61-year-old Catholic priest from Chatham has highlighted a glaring flaw in the state emergency response system. It is not a fault of the police, but of the technology.

State officials said dispatchers are sometimes unable to locate a distressed caller using a cell phone. While the state has spent at least $60 million on upgrades in the past five years, outdated phone technology and lagging police equipment — and the occasional glitch — can hamper emergency efforts.

NEW JERSEY
United Press International

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Oct. 29 (UPI) -- New Jersey state officials said the killing of a priest in Chatham, N.J., highlights the need for an updated emergency response system.

Outdated phone technology and police equipment are blamed for emergency dispatchers' inability to locate where the Rev. Edward Hinds was calling from prior to his death last week, The (Newark) New Jersey Star-Ledger reported Thursday.

Hinds called 911 last Thursday, but authorities were unable to determine the location of the emergency after the call was disconnected.

CHATHAM (NJ)
Courier-Post

The janitor charged with killing the pastor of St. Patrick's parish is scheduled to make his first court appearance today as details were finalized for the Rev. Edwards Hinds funeral and a hate group making a tour of New Jersey announced they planned to picket the funeral.

Jose Feliciano, who is charged with murdering Hinds on Oct. 22, will be brought before a Superior Court judge for a bail review. Bail for Feliciano is set at $1 million and could be adjusted during the hearing, which is also held to make certain a defendant has been apprised of his or her legal rights.

Feliciano currently is lodged at the Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton, where mentally unstable, suicidal or violent defendants are detained. Judges in Morris County in the past have had defendants transported from Ann Klein to court for first procedures to make sure their legal rights are preserved.

CHATHAM (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By Jim Lockwood/The Star-Ledger
October 29, 2009, 2:18PM
CHATHAM -- A Chatham church janitor accused of killing the parish priest in the rectory had been wanted in Philadelphia since 1988 for an indecent assault of a minor, authorities said in court today.

Jose Feliciano, 64, who is charged with the stabbing death Father Edward Hinds at Saint Patrick Church a week ago, also had been using multiple identifications and social-security numbers over the years to hide his past, Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade told Judge Thomas Manahan in Superior Court in Morristown.

“There was an open arrest for this defendant out of Philadelphia … a bench warrant for indecent assault of a minor,” Wade said.

NEW JERSEY
The Associated Press

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — A janitor accused of killing a New Jersey priest by stabbing him 32 times will remain jailed on $1 million bail.

Jose Feliciano made his first court appearance Thursday in a New Jersey Superior Court, where Judge Thomas Manahan adjusted the bail from cash, bond or property to cash only.

CHATHAM (NJ)
Daily Record

BY PEGGY WRIGHT • STAFF WRITER • October 29, 2009

St. Patrick Church custodian Jose Feliciano is wanted in Philadelphia for a 21-year-old charge of indecent assault on a child and has used aliases and false Social Security numbers, a prosecutor said today at his first court hearing.

Feliciano, 64, was brought in handcuffs before a Superior Court judge in Morristown this afternoon appearing dazed and moving sluggishly. He said nothing during the 15 minute bail review where bail was modified to $1 million cash only.

Feliciano, a custodian at the church for 17 years, is charged with stabbing pastor the Rev. Edward Hinds, 61, to death on Oct. 22 in the church rectory.

GERMANY
Express

[This article discusses children born to Catholic priests in Germany]

Von A. KAHLMEIER und R. HUB

Eigentlich dürfte es sie nicht geben. Sie müssen ihre Herkunft verleugnen, sind gefangen in einem Netz von Schuld und Scham: Priesterkinder.

Der Münsteraner „Tatort“ (Sonntag, ARD, 20.15 Uhr) greift das große Tabu-Thema der katholischen Kirche auf.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Ireland Online

29/10/2009

Hundreds of child abuse victims in the North demanded a full inquiry today into the mistreatment they suffered in institutions run by the Catholic Church and the state.

The victims have called for a major investigation similar to the Ryan report that catalogued abuse by Catholic clergy.

A lawyer for the victims said they suffered sexual and physical abuse in cases dating back to the 1940s, but believed they have been discriminated against since inquires in the Republic did not extend to the North.

SVANNAH (GA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah

The Diocese of Savannah announced today it has reached an agreement through a court-ordered mediation in South Carolina with Mr. Allan Ranta who alleged he was sexually molested by former priest Wayland Y. Brown during the period from 1978-83. Mr. Ranta also alleged the Diocese had foreknowledge of Mr. Brown’s propensities.

The $4.24 million settlement brings to a resolution all claims Mr. Ranta has with all parties excepting Mr. Brown. The decision to settle was to avoid the expense and burden of a lengthy trial by all parties.

Bishop J. Kevin Boland said, “I am sorry for all the pain and suffering experienced by Mr. Ranta and my prayers go out not only to him, but to all victims of child sexual abuse that each may find the healing they seek.”

SAVANNAH (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Catholic Diocese of Savannah has announced a $4.24 million settlement with a 40-year-old man who says he was sexually abused by a former priest.

.The Diocese said in a statement Wednesday that the settlement was to avoid the expense and burden of a lengthy trial.

Savannah native Allan Ranta filed a civil suit in Jasper County, S.C., in 2008 saying he was molested by former priest Wayland Y. Brown from 1978 to 1983.

UNITED KINGDOM
Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A TEACHER who tricked boys into sending him indecent images of themselves by pretending to be a promiscuous teenage girl has been jailed for 18 months.

Pervert Stephen Grant, 31, also a former town councillor in Mirfield, admitted his crimes in a confession box and was told by a priest to give himself up.

IRELAND
The Corkman

By TRISH O'DEA

Thursday October 29 2009

THE chairman of the Catholic Church's National Board for Safeguarding Children, Ian Elliot, told a new North Cork group that he would welcome the opportunity to talk to the DPP's office about why complaints of clerical sex abuse are largely returned to Gardai with directions not to prosecute.

Mr Elliot met on Thursday night with a new survivors' support group which is made up, so far, of seven survivors of alleged abuse at the hands of one particular priest and both parents of an eighth, deceased, survivor. The group is evolving continually, as survivors become aware of each other through the Gardai. This priest was identified as 'Priest B' in Ian Elliot's explosive report into allegations of clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne, published in December 2008.

Of eight comprehensive files, including detailed victim statements, forwarded to the DPP in relation to 'Priest B', six have already been returned with the direction not to proceed to prosecution; two further files are still pending the DPP's decision.

IRELAND
Wicklow People

Wednesday October 28 2009

THE VATICAN is investigating an allegation of child sex abuse against a Kiltegan Father based in Africa.

Archbishop Richard Burke (60), from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was ordained a priest for St Patrick's Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, in 1975.

He was ordained a bishop in 1996, and installed as Archbishop of Benin, Nigeria, in March 2008.

ELDORADO (TX)
Los Angeles Times

By Nicholas Riccardi

October 29, 2009

Reporting from Eldorado, Texas - The first criminal prosecution stemming from a controversial raid on a polygamous sect's compound here began Wednesday with a state prosecutor telling jurors he would prove that a key member of the group illegally had sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Raymond Merrill Jessop, now 38, is charged with sexual assault on a minor, allegedly having fathered a child with the daughter of the sect's self-styled prophet, Warren Jeffs. The girl was one of Jessop's wives, but prosecutors argue that the marriage is not legal in Texas.

"We will ask you to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Raymond Merrill Jessop is guilty of sexual assault on a woman less than half his age," Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Nichols told the jury of eight men and four women in a brief opening statement.

CANADA
Winnipeg Free Press

By: Ian Hitchen

BRANDON - A pastor who claims he stole donation money from a city church to send funds to an orphanage in Tanzania has pleaded guilty to break, enter and theft.

However, Judge Krystyna Tarwid delayed sentencing when it appeared Crown and defence lawyers were about to recommend a conditional sentence.

Such a sentence would allow Raju Madanu to avoid jail and serve his time in the community under house arrest. Tarwid said lawyers are going to have to argue for a sentence that excludes jail.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
The Advocate

By Michael P. Mayko
STAFF WRITER

NEW HAVEN --The hearing was expected to take hours, but lasted only minutes.

Rather than press their request to have accused molester Douglas Perlitz released on $5 million bond and into the custody of a dozen Fairfield residents, his lawyers withdrew their bid Wednesday.

The defense team vowed, however, to renew the application on behalf of the former Fairfield resident charged with sexually abusing street orphans at a Haitian charity he established to help them.

Meanwhile, a small busload of 15 Haitians, who made the trip from New York, saw the action as the first of what they hope will be a string of court victories in the prosecution of Perlitz, a Fairfield University graduate honored by his alma mater in 2002 for working with young Haitian street boys through his charity, Project Pierre Toussaint. He was indicted on federal charges in September.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
New Haven Register

By Randall Beach, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Attorneys for a former state resident accused of sexually abusing nine boys in Haiti were unable to win his release from custody Wednesday, as federal prosecutors maintained he would be “a danger to the community.”

Douglas Perlitz, 39, formerly of Fairfield, is awaiting trial on allegations he molested boys at the school he founded in Cap-Haitien.

Prosecutors Tuesday filed a supplemental memorandum supporting their motion to keep Perlitz incarcerated, charging he used his computer while in the U.S. to search for boys.

ISRAEL
RT/YouTube

[video presentation]

A self-styled rabbi has arrived in Israel after being extradited from Brazil to stand trial on grotesque child abuse charges.

ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Liel Kyzer, Haaretz Correspondent

Israeli legal authorities plan to treat Elior Chen, the spiritual leader of an ultra-Orthodox sect in Jerusalem alleged to have carried out severe child abuse, as a suspect in attempted murder.

According to Israel Police, the abuse which Chen is suspected to have perpetrated was intended to inflict grievous bodily harm to the point of murder.

Chen arrived in Israel on Wednesday after being extradited from Brazil. He and several of his followers allegedly used knives, hammers and other instruments to abuse children as young as 3 and 4 years old in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit in February and March 2008.
Advertisement

ISRAEL
YNet News

Efrat Weiss

After being questioned by police Wednesday night, the remand of so-called 'abusive rabbi' Elior Chen, suspected of instructing his followers to abuse their children, was extended by eight days by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Justice Yitzhak Shimoni ruled that there was a risk of disruption of proceedings and a flight risk. Chen's lawyer, Ariel Atari said in response, "There is no flight risk. Chen has never violated a court order. He left the country before he was summoned for questioning."

At the remand hearing on Thursday, police attributed to Chen charges of attempted murder and submitted evidence to the court they say supports this clause.

ISRAEL
The Jerusalem Post

'Rabbi' Elior Chen, who allegedly influenced some of his followers to abuse their children, is also suspected to have attempted murder, police said Thursday. They did not say whether the suspicions pertain to one of the children Chen allegedly hurt.

Chen, who was brought to the Jerusalem District Court Thursday for an extension remand hearing, claimed he had been "wronged," but expressed confidence that justice would be done.

His father told reporters at the courthouse that Chen was innocent and added that the family wished the abused children a speedy recovery.

CANADA
Telegraph-Journal

Benjamin Shingler
Telegraph-Journal

An 83-year-old former priest from Tracadie-Sheila has pleaded guilty to 19 sex-related offences involving 14 different boys.

Lévi Noel appeared in a Tracadie-Sheila courtroom Wednesday to face charges including gross indecency and indecent assault on a minor.

"He pleaded guilty to all of them," said Const. Francois Poirier.

Noel will be appearing in court again Jan. 20 for victim impact statements and sentencing is expected to be handed down two days later.

ALABAMA
Andalusia Star-News

By Stephanie Nelson | Andalusia Star-News

Published Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Members at Grace Christian Fellowship Church said “there isn’t a strong enough word to describe” what they felt when they learned their now-former pastor had allegedly used their church as a platform to sexually abuse and torture multiple young male church members.

One church member, who is related to one of Aaron’s victims and agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity Monday, said as soon as Ralph Lee Aaron, 54, was placed in handcuffs on the initial charges of sexual abuse of a child under 12 and sodomy, he ceased to be the church pastor. On Wed., Oct. 21, the church officially terminated him.

Tuesday, law enforcement officials announced Aaron is now facing 152 charges that include possessing and producing child pornography and allegedly abusing and sexually torturing multiple young boys while on church camping trips.

SAVANNAH (GA)
Savannah Morning News

By Dana Clark Felty
The Catholic Diocese of Savannah has agreed to pay more than $4 million to the alleged victim of an abusive former priest in order to avoid going to trial.

The Diocese released a statement Wednesday afternoon announcing the $4.24 million agreement reached with former St. James Catholic School student Allan Ranta Jr.

Ranta had filed a complaint in a Jasper County, S.C., civil court stating he was molested from 1978 to 1983, starting when he was 10 years old, by former priest Wayland Y. Brown.

NEW JERSEY
The Times of Trenton

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Linda Stein
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Activists said the Catholic Church should be doing more to reveal the names of priests who have been linked to sexual abuse, after molestation charges against a former New Jersey priest came to light.

Mark Crawford, director of the New Jersey chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), held a news conference this week outside the Trenton Diocese headquarters to let people know about accusations against the Rev. Zbigniew "Gregory" Patejko, a priest who served in the Trenton Diocese in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A molestation case against Patejko in North Dakota was settled for an undisclosed sum, but church authorities in New Jersey did not inform congregations where Patejko worked about the case, Crawford said.

PHILIPPINES
Manila Standard Today

CATHOLIC officials in Detroit claimed they have contacted the Tagbilaran diocese and have made officials there aware of the “criminal history” of the former lay brother who is now a priest in Bohol.

Ned McGrath, Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit, claimed in a statement published at its Website that they only became recently aware of the ordination of Joseph Skelton Jr. as a priest in Tagbilaran.

He said they were not consulted prior to the ordination but “the Detroit archdiocese has since contacted the bishop of Taglibaran, to whom Skelton reports, regarding the priest’s criminal history in Michigan.”

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with audio]

By Gus Goswell for PM

The Roman Catholic clergy is under fire over a Victorian woman's accusation that a Catholic priest in Ballarat sexually abused her when she was seven years old.

Her lawyers sent a letter outlining the woman's claims to every parish in Victoria, asking that it be read to all Victorian congregations.

The alleged victim says she was sexually abused by Gerald Ridsdale, a former priest who is currently serving a prison sentence for abusing more than 20 children.

SAVANNAH (GA)
Catholic Culture

October 29, 2009

The Diocese of Savannah has agreed to the second-largest abuse settlement with an individual victim of clerical sexual abuse. The diocese offered $4.24 million to Allan Ranta in order to “to avoid the expense and burden of a lengthy trial by all parties,” according to a diocesan statement. Mr. Ranta alleged that he was abused repeatedly by ex-priest Wayland Brown from 1978 to 1983.

According to local media reports, Brown had been ordained by Bishop Raymond Lessard in 1977 over the objections of the diocesan vocation director, who was concerned that Brown might be abusing children.

SAVANNAH (GA)
WTOC

By WTOC staff

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - The Catholic Diocese of Savannah has reached an agreement to pay Allan Ranta more than $4 million in a sexual abuse lawsuit.

Ranta claimed former priest Wayland Brown, molested him more than 30 years ago and that the Diocese knew about Brown's propensities.

Brown was arrested in June 2002. He was serving time for abusing a 12-year-old boy more than three decades ago in Maryland.

ALABAMA
WSFA

Posted by Bryan Henry

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - So far there is no evidence that any of the alleged sex crimes pastor Ralph Lee Aaron is accused of took place at Grace Christian Fellowship Church in Andalusia.

The church fired Aaron immediately after his arrest. WSFA 12 News also learned that once investigators recovered his computer and camera equipment from his home, he was invited to the Covington County Sheriff's Office. Aaron never showed up at the appointed hour.

"The next day on Wednesday Mr. Aaron failed to show up for his 2:00pm interview. Around 3:00pm he was arrested and placed in the Covington County Jail," said Sheriff Dennis Meeks.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
Connecticut Post

By Michael P. Mayko
STAFF WRITER

NEW HAVEN -- The former Fairfield man accused of molesting Haitian street orphans at a charity he established to help them will remain in jail indefinitely after his plan to post bond today was withdrawn.

Lawyers for Douglas Perlitz, a graduate of Fairfield University who was given an honorary degree by the school in 2002 for his charitable work, told federal Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis this morning they need more time to complete paperwork as they try to raise Perlitz's $5 million bond. They also are trying to find more people in the area willing to host Perlitz in their homes while he awaits trial.

The delay in Perlitz's attempt to post bond came hours after a federal prosecutor advised the judge that the accused was trolling Internet sites shortly before his Sept. 16 arrest in Colorado, "conducting Google searches" for "gay boys black" "Colorado Haitians" and "africa boyz" and Yahoo searches for "gay black boys," according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel.

CANADA
CBC News

The former priest of a Manitoba church has pleaded guilty to stealing money from his parish.

Raju Madanu pleaded guilty on Monday to breaking and entering and theft in connection to the crime at St. Augustine of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church in the town of Virden, located about 275 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

"Incredulous. When the [police] sergeant informed me of the arrest, I couldn't believe my ears," said Rev. Dominic Yuen, Madanu's former boss.

SAVANNAH (GA)
Savannah Morning News

By Dana Clark Felty
The Catholic Diocese of Savannah announced today it has reached a $4.24 million settlement with a 40-year-old man who says he was sexually abused by a former priest.

In a civil suit filed in 2008 in Jasper County, S.C., Savannah native Allan Ranta claimed he was molested by former priest Wayland Y. Brown from 1978 to 1983. Ranta, who was 10 to 14 years old and a student at St. James Catholic School at the time of the alleged abuse, claimed the Diocese ignored signs Brown posed a danger to children.

In 2003, Brown was convicted in the sexual abuse of two Maryland boys, ages 12 and 13, nearly 30 years earlier. He was released from prison in April, 2008, after serving half of his sentence and was on parole in the Baltimore area.

NEW MEXICO
The Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state's highest court has denied a request from sect leader Wayne Bent for prison release on bond while he appeals his convictions for sexual misconduct with teenage female followers.

The Supreme Court denied the petition without explanation, as had the Court of Appeals.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
The Fairfield Mirror

October 28, 2009
By: Chris Simmons

After a flurry of motions the day before, the hearing on the detainment of Doug Perlitz ‘92 was largely anticlimactic.

On a rainy Wednesday morning, Perlitz was led into the Court Room 3 at the Richard C. Lee U.S. Court House in New Haven with a denim jacket covering his khaki prison jumpsuit, with his family sitting behind him for support. Meanwhile, a group of Haitian supporters sat across the court room, stating they were providing a voice for the children.

William F. Dow III, Perlitz’s lead lawyer, opened by saying that the federal Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis had set forth conditions for release, but the defense had not yet met the requirements. Dow asked for the right to continue the matter at a later date if the defense should choose to. The government’s petition for detainment was granted without prejudice.

CANADA
CBC News

A retired priest from the Acadian Peninsula has pleaded guilty to 19 sex-related offences involving 14 young boys.

Levi Noel, 83, entered his pleas in a crowded Tracadie-Sheila courtroom on Wednesday.

The charges include gross indecency and indecent assault on a minor. Eleven other charges were withdrawn.

ISRAEL
YNet News

The 'abusive rabbi', Elior Chen, arrived at the Jerusalem Police headquarters in the Russian Compound and was immediately transferred for investigation.

ISRAEL
United Press International

Published: Oct. 28, 2009
JERUSALEM, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- A self-styled Jewish rabbi wanted for child abuse has been extradited from Brazil to Israel, officials say.

Elior Chen, who was apprehended by Brazilian police in Sao Paolo in June, was flown overnight to Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

ISRAEL
YNet News

Deputy Inspector General Bruno Stein of the Jerusalem police said on Wednesday, "We attribute to Elior Chen personal involvement in the abuse cases – harming the children and the mother."

Chen, dubbed the 'abusive rabbi', landed in Israel on Wednesday after he fled the country 18 months ago to Canada and later moved to Brazil.

ISRAEL
YNet News

Efrat Weiss

The charges against so-called 'abusive rabbi' Elior Chen in connection with the horrific abuse of children are false, his attorney said Wednesday.

Chen, who is accused of posing as a rabbi and ordering his followers to abuse their children and infants to "correct their corrupt souls", landed at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport Wednesday afternoon after being extradited from Brazil. He was taken directly from the airport to a Jerusalem police station, arriving in a police convey at around 4 pm.

Speaking to journalists at the police station, attorney Ariel Atari said he is waiting to see the charges attributed to his client.

CONNECTICUT
The Fairfield Mirror

October 27, 2009
By: Chris Simmons

Two motions were filed on Tuesday in the Douglas Perlitz ‘92 case in preparation for his detention hearing on Wednesday Oct. 28.

Memorandum in Further Support of Release on Bond

The first motion, filed by Perlitz’s lead attorney, William F. Dow III, submits a revised proposal for Perlitz’s release. The initial proposal included a bond secured by four parcels of real estate owned by Perlitz’s mother, brother and step-father, appraised at a value between $1.9 and $2.3 million.

In the memorandum filed Oct. 27, Dow says: “Defendant has secured commitments from approximately 19 additional individuals or couples … Most of these commitments are for $100,000; some are considerably higher, as high as $325,000. The total of the commitments from Connecticut residents is approximately $1.1 million; the total of the commitments from out-of-state residents is approximately $1.8 million.”

CONNECTICUT
The Denver Post

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN Associated Press Writer

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A Colorado man charged with sexually abusing nine boys at a school he founded in Haiti was using his computer while in the United States to search for boys, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities made the accusations in court papers as they argued that Douglas Perlitz should not be released from prison while he awaits trial. A judge kept him detained after his attorney said at a hearing Wednesday that he needed more time to come up with a large bond package.
Perlitz, 39, has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, William Dow III, also denied his client was doing anything illegal in the U.S.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER • The News Journal • October 28, 2009

A New Castle County woman asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday to allow her to reopen her late husband’s child sexual abuse case against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, despite the diocese’s protected status in bankruptcy, because it has not complied with nonmonetary terms of the settlement.

In the filing, Nancy McClure, whose husband, Doug, 63, received a settlement of more than $1.5 million from the diocese a day before his death in April, says two letters of apology – required under the terms of the settlement – have never been received by his family.

In addition to the financial settlement, the diocese issued a carefully worded news release in April apologizing for “any abuse” McClure suffered.

CONNECTICUT
Waterbury Republican-American

By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN

A Colorado man charged with sexually abusing nine boys at a school he founded in Haiti was using his computer while in the United States to search for boys, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities made the accusations in court papers as they argued that Douglas Perlitz should not be released from prison while he awaits trial. A judge kept him detained after his attorney said at a hearing Wednesday that he needed more time to come up with a large bond package.

Authorities accuse Perlitz of enticing children at the Project Pierre Toussaint school in Cap-Haitien into sex acts by promising them food, shelter, cash, cell phones, electronics and shoes. They say he also withheld benefits and threatened to expel the boys if they refused his wishes.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Thomas C. Fox on Oct. 28, 2009 NCR Today

Cardinal Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for the Religious, and the person charged by Pope Benedict to conduct the Apostolic Investigation of U.S. women religious congregations, last March ordained six new deacons for Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest at the institutes mother house in Gricigliano, Italy, near Florence, Italy.

Looking at these photos, one is reminded of the cultural, ecclesial, and socio-psychological diversity that make up our church. Living, as we do, in the early 21st century, we should recognize we are products of a mix of complex and unprecedented pre-modern, modern, and post-modern influences and temperaments.

Looking at these photos, one is moved to ask if Cardinal Rodé, who, according to John Allen's profile, is a charming person and a product of old European, Slovenian, anti-communist forces, is, indeed, so far removed from contemporary U.S. cultural and social settings, that he cannot possibly fairly fathom the lives and work of our women religious. The cardinal, whose penchant for a traditional, monarchical, European styled, pre-counciliar church, is clearly evident in these photos, told John that Vatican II triggered "the greatest crisis in church history." Our women religious have dedicated their lives to carrying out the council's mandates of service and reform.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Fr. Joseph M. Siegel, pastor of the parish of the Visitation in Elmhurst (USA), as auxiliary bishop of Joliet in Illinois (area 10,920, population 1,842,000, Catholics 667,000, priests 268, religious 718, permanent deacons 199) in the United States. The bishop-elected was born in Joliet (Illinois, USA) in 1963 and ordained priest in 1988.

CHATHAM BOROUGH (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Staff
October 27, 2009
CHATHAM BOROUGH -- Two days before he was found stabbed to death in a church rectory, a New Jersey priest told a school principal a missing background check might force him to lay off the parish janitor, who was later charged in the priest’s slaying, according to court documents.

Father Edward Hinds, 61, pastor at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, on Oct. 21 told Marianne Hobbie, principal of St. Patrick School, he might "let go" of 64-year-old Jose Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn’t passed a background check, according to the court records filed today at district court in Wind Gap, Pa. ...

Kenneth Mullaney, an attorney for the Paterson Diocese, said he was unaware of any recent background check performed on Feliciano, but since Feliciano was an employee of the church, rather than of the diocese, he would not necessarily have been informed of it

CHATHAM BOROUGH (NJ)
The Star-Ledger

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
October 28, 2009
CHATHAM BOROUGH -- A church janitor accused of killing a parish priest last week will have his first court appearance in court Thursday before Judge Thomas Manahan, a Superior Court judge in Morristown, officials said.

A bail hearing for Jose Feliciano, 64 of Easton, Pa. who was arrested Saturday and charged with killing Rev. Edward Hinds of St. Patrick Church in Chatham on Thursday, was scheduled to be held Tuesday in Superior Court in Morristown. It was abruptly postponed, and Feliciano was transferred from Morristown Memorial Hospital to the Ann Klein Forensic Center, a psychiatric hospital in Trenton. ...

Court records filed Tuesday said Hinds, 61, on Oct. 21 told Marianne Hobbie, principal of St. Patrick School, he might "let go" Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn’t passed a background check.

CHATHAM (NJ)
philly.com

CHATHAM, N.J. - Court records show a New Jersey priest spoke about firing the janitor accused of killing him because of a background check.

The Rev. Edward Hinds told the principal of St. Patrick School in Chatham he might "let go" of 64-year-old Jose Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn't passed the check. The conversation took place two days before the priest was found stabbed 32 times with a kitchen knife in the church rectory on Oct. 23.

BRAZIL
YNet News

Elior Chen, who is accused of posing as a rabbi and ordering his followers to abuse children and infants, is currently making his way from Sao Paolo to Tel Aviv after Brazilian authorities extradited him to Israel.

Chen boarded the aircraft before the rest of the passengers accompanied by an Israeli detective. He began ranting and screaming, yelling the extradition was not legal, prompting local policemen to forcefully sit him down in his seat.

ISRAEL
YNet News

Guy Ronen

A year and a half after fleeing Israel, faux rabbi Elior Chen will land at Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday afternoon. Chen, who is suspected of ordering his followers to abuse toddlers and children, boarded a flight Israel on Tuesday night after being turned over to Israel Police representatives in Brazil.

About two weeks ago, Ynet revealed the upcoming extradition process. Chen, who was arrested in Brazil in June 2008, boarded a direct 14-hour El Al flight from San Paolo to Tel Aviv, together with the Israeli policemen sent to Brazil. He was to be guarded throughout the flight by a Brazilian police officer as well.

ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

Elior Chen, the self-styled rabbi who allegedly influenced some of his followers to abuse their children in order to "correct their corrupt souls," was extradited to Israel overnight Tuesday.

Chen, 29, fled to Brazil more than a year ago after a terrifying affair of child abuse in a haredi family in Jerusalem was exposed. According to prosecutors, Chen instructed the mother of the family and others to beat the children severely, saying this would mend their behavior.

ISRAEL
RT (Russia)

A man claiming to be a rabbi is being accused of burning and cutting toddlers as part of a religious purification ritual in a West Bank settlement in 2008. He will be extradited from Brazil to face court in Israel.

Elior Noam Hen is the self-appointed rabbi of a small West Bank sect. He allegedly instructed his followers to tie up their children and force them to drink alcohol mixed with turpentine. They were made to eat feces and were kept locked in a suitcase for days at a time. In addition, they were hit by hammers and cut by knives, with one three-year-old ending up in a coma.

It took 45 days for Brazilian police to track down Hen, finally arresting him in June 2008. He lost his fight against extradition when the Brazilian Supreme Court decided there were reasons for him to stand trial. Moshe Friedman, a criminal lawyer, says:

“It is always more difficult to find someone in a religious neighbourhood, like Jerusalem, because with a beard and religious outfit, it’s easy to hide. We have a lot of cases of extradition because the fight against international crime has become a major issue.”

ISRAEL
Jerusalem Post

The plane carrying alleged child abuse cult leader Elior Chen and the Israeli and Brazilian officers accompanying him is scheduled to land in Israel at 2:45 p.m., police said on Wednesday.

Chen will be transported in a police vehicle directly from the runway to the Russian Compound, where his questioning is slated to begin.

ISRAEL
Haaretz

By Liel Kyzer, Haaretz Correspondent

Elior Chen, the spiritual leader of a Jerusalem sect suspected of severe child abuse, arrived in Israel on Wednesday after being extradited from Brazil.

Chen and several of his followers allegedly used knives, hammers and other instruments to abuse children as young as 3 and 4 years old in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit in February and March 2008.

Jerusalem police said they would interrogate Chen upon his arrival on Wednesday, and plan to request that his remand be extended during a court hearing on Thursday.

ISRAEL
YNet News

Roee Mandel

Elior Chen, who is accused of posing as a rabbi and ordering his followers to abuse their children and infants to "correct their corrupt souls", landed at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion Airport Wednesday afternoon after being extradited from Brazil.

Chen boarded an aircraft in Sao Paolo before the rest of the passengers accompanied by Israeli and Brazilian officers. During the flight he began ranting and screaming, claiming that the extradition was not legal, prompting local policemen to forcefully sit him down.

From Ben-Gurion Airport Chen is expected to be taken directly to the police station at Jerusalem's Russian Compound for questioning. His arraignment will apparently be held within the next 24 hours.

NEW HAVEN (CT)
Connecticut Post

By Michael P. Mayko
STAFF WRITER
Updated: 10/28/2009

NEW HAVEN -- Early this afternoon, former Fairfielder Douglas Perlitz will learn if he will remain in jail until his trial on charges that he sexually abused Haitian street boys that he set out to help, or be released on approximately $5 million bond to stay in the home of a disabled Fairfield lawyer and his wife while awaiting trial.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel maintained in court papers filed late yesterday that some "very preliminary findings" by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement forensic investigation of the computer obtained from Perlitz when he was arrested Sept. 16 in Colorado shows that the user "Doug was conducting Google searches" for "gay boys black" "Colorado Haitians" and "africa boyz" and Yahoo searches for "gay black boys."

"Moreover, the initial findings indicate that Perlitz's activities on the computer included access to forum pages which included places where people could post personals, arrange for meetings and identify cruising places," the prosecutor charged.

AUSTRALIA
The Age

BARNEY ZWARTZ
October 29, 2009

CATHOLIC Archbishop Denis Hart has sent a letter to every Melbourne parish warning priests not to read to congregations a letter from a woman who says she was procured by nuns so a priest could rape her when she was a child.

Archbishop Hart's letter, sent on October 20, says the sexual abuse occurred in another diocese and has no connection with Melbourne, and that a complaint has been dealt with under the national protocol, Towards Healing.

The alleged victim, Jenny Tiffin, received $12,000 compensation in 2006 from the Sisters of Nazareth who ran the Nazareth House children's home in Ballarat. But a second application to the diocese of Ballarat was rejected. Ballarat Bishop Peter Connors told The Age yesterday he could say with certainty there was no assault.

UGANDA
Daily Monitor

Ephraim Kasozi & Anthony Wesaka
Mengo

Two Pentecostal pastors who allegedly entered Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral with intent to insult and or injure its leader, Pastor Robert Kayanja, were yesterday arraigned before Mwanga II Magistrates Court amid drama.

Pastors Bob Robert Kayiira of Omega Healing Centre and Michael David Kyazze of Omega International Ministry pleaded not guilty to criminal trespass and conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour before Grade One Magistrate Janeve Natukunda. ...

Pastor Kayanja came under the spotlight early this year when his fellow pastors accused him of hiring youth members of his church for homosexuality; allegations he denied. A Police investigation also found no evidence against the pastor.

CONNECTICUT
Tracey O'Shaughnessy

How about a conciliatory gesture between Christians?

A homecoming gift, if you like.

Now that the Vatican has extended an invitation to Anglicans to join its flock, it may want to sweeten the pot with a little candor.

I am referring; of course, to the 12,000 pages of sexual abuse documents the Bridgeport, Conn., diocese insists are just too secret to share with the rest of us.

NEOSHO (MO)
The Neosho Daily News

By John Ford
Neosho Daily News
Wed Oct 28, 2009, 12:56 AM CDT

Neosho, Mo. -
A rural Neosho self-proclaimed pastor sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this year on charges of felony first-degree child molestation and child enticement charges was back in court Tuesday.

Randall “Danny” Russell, 50, pastor of Acts II Church in rural Neosho, appeared before Presiding Judge Timothy Perigo Tuesday on what Newton County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Dobbs deemed a “housekeeping matter.”

“We had him charged under a revised statute and it wasn’t applicable to the date of the offense,” Dobbs said. “The event occurred in late ’96 or early ’97. At that time, child molestation in the first degree was a Class C felony.”

ALASKA
KTUU

by Channel 2 News staff
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska has filed an amended plan for reorganization with the federal bankruptcy court.

In an attempt to resolve the claims filed by victims of sexual abuse, the revised plan reflects a new funding structure that would provide $11 million to victims and creditors.

The new revision was prompted by September court rulings.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune reporter

October 28, 2009

Punished, forgiven, then punished again.

The 15-year saga of a South Side priest expelled from public ministry, reinstated, then removed again ended this week with his permanent ouster from the priesthood.

John Calicott, the former pastor of Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, received word earlier this month that he is no longer a member of the clergy, the Archdiocese of Chicago said Tuesday, citing a decree from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Vatican decree caps an arduous and circuitous journey since allegations first surfaced in 1994 that Calicott abused two teenagers during his first assignment at St. Ailbe Catholic Church on the city's South Side.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Albany Times Union

By DENNIS YUSKO, Staff writer
First published in print: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

WYNANTSKILL -- The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese had received a complaint "some time ago" alleging that the Rev. Salvatore Rodino had made inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The diocese recently suspended Rodino, a priest at St. Jude the Apostle Church since 2005, after finding "reasonable grounds" to believe he had sexual contact with a male teenage minor 27 years ago while at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany. Rodino, 58, was placed on administrative leave after the diocese looked into the allegations, made this summer.

But speaking Tuesday night outside St. Jude's, where church and diocese officials were meeting with upset parishioners, diocese spokesman Kenneth Goldfarb said it had received a prior allegation "some time ago" that Rodino allegedly had inappropriate sexual contact with a minor.

ALBANY (NY)
WRGB

October 28, 2009
Ashe Reardon
WRGB
The Albany priest removed from St. Jude Apostle Catholic Church last week faced similar allegations of sexual misconduct during the 1990s, according to a diocesan spokesperson.

Father Salvatore Rodino was placed on paid administrative leave from the Albany Diocese last week after an investigation into sexual abuse allegations emerged over the summer. That abuse incident reportedly occurred in the mid-1980s while Rodino served at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Albany.

The diocese also got a complaint against Rodino in the 1990s, according to the diocese, but spokesperson Ken Goldfarb said there wasn't enough evidence at that time to remove Rodino.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

By JOHN McKIGGAN
Wed. Oct 28

In 2002, Ronald Martin received a telephone call that his brother, David Martin, had been missing in the woods of British Columbia for two weeks. Sixteen days later, David’s body was found, with a suicide note stating he could not endure the pain caused by sexual abuse he had suffered as a child at the hands of Father Hugh Vincent MacDonald, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Antigonish.

Ron Martin had been sexually abused by the same priest, but neither brother was aware of what the other had suffered. On the day that Ron Martin had to identify his brother’s body, he made a promise that there would be accountability for the abuse they had suffered.

David Martin’s death was the start of an arduous journey for Ron Martin. After learning there were many other victims, all suffering as he and his brother did, all needing justice and accountability from the Church, Ron decided to file a class-action against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Antigonish and Bishop Raymond Lahey.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Troy Record

By Tom Caprood
The Record

WYNANTSKILL — The former parishioners of the Rev. Salvatore “Sam” Rodino continued to show strong support for him Tuesday after his suspension from ministry following allegations that he sexually abused a minor 27 years ago.

Parishioners of St. Jude the Apostle Church met together both on their own and with Rev. Ronald Menty, who handled weekend services, throughout the evening to discuss their questions and concerns about Rodino’s absence.

A separate vigil was held outside of the church by member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, in an effort to encourage other survivors of sexual abuse to come forward.

EASTON (PA)
Lehigh Valley Live

The day before his murder, the Rev. Edward Hinds told a school principal he might have to fire janitor Jose Feliciano over a missing background check. Feliciano, an Easton resident, is now charged with stabbing the priest to death.

Hinds, 61, pastor at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, N.J., on Oct. 21 told Marianne Hobbie, principal of St. Patrick’s Catholic School, he may “let go” Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn’t passed a background check.

A check mark was missing, Hinds told Hobbie, according to court records filed this afternoon at district court in Wind Gap. Hobbie told police Hinds provided no further information.

LACROSSE (WI)
WKBT

[with video]

The bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse is reportedly being considered for a position in the Milwaukee Archdiocese.

NewsChannel 8's sister station in Milwaukee, WTMJ-TV, is reporting Bishop Jerome Listecki is among four bishops being considered for the archbishop position in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
WISN

[with video]

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee is still waiting on a decision from the Vatican on who the new archbishop will be, but it's clear that the task ahead will not be easy for him.

Many of the challenges that new Archbishop will face revolve around the church sex abuse scandal.

The crisis has led to a crisis of faith among some followers and a financial crisis for the church. ...

On Tuesday, the Archdiocese lost a Milwaukee County court ruling allowing 14 fraud lawsuits by alleged clergy sexual abuse victims to continue.

"Judge Cooper called this an open sore on the faith community. It has to be dealt with," said victim advocate Peter Isely.

CANADA
The Windsor Star

By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star
October 27, 2009 4:02 PM

WINDSOR, Ont. — Former Windsor priest John Duarte appeared Tuesday afternoon in provincial court in Windsor facing multiple charges of molesting teenage boys in Haiti at the mission he helped found.

Duarte, who waived reading of the charges against him, was remanded into custody and will appear in court Oct. 29 to set a date for a bail hearing.

Duarte was handed over to Canadian police by Dominican authorities Monday and left from Punta aboard Air Canada Flight 1837. Upon arrival in Montreal, Duarte was arrested by Montreal police on a Canada-wide warrant, said OPP spokeswoman Const. Shawna Coulter.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER • The News Journal • October 27, 2009

A New Castle County woman today asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court to allow her to reopen her late husband’s child sexual abuse case against the Diocese of Wilmington, despite the diocese’s Chapter 11 protection process, because it has not complied with non-monetary terms of the settlement.

In the filing, Nancy McClure, whose husband Doug received a settlement of more than $1.5 million from the diocese two days before his death in April, says two letters of apology -- required in the terms -- have never been received by his family.

The failure of the diocese to send the required letters shows it cannot be trusted to follow through on its promises, said Steven Neuberger, whose firm represented McClure in his suit against the diocese and St. Ann's Church for claims of abuse by the late Rev. Edward Carley.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

October 27, 2009
A Roman Catholic priest who previously was removed from public ministry because of credible allegations of sexual misconduct with children has now been removed from the priesthood, the Archdiocese of Chicago said today.

John Calicott was removed from ministry at Holy Angels Parish on the South Side in the mid-1990s over abuse allegations from two men. Later, a third man filed a civil lawsuit alleging Calicott abused him.

Calicott has never been charged criminally.

HUNGARY
Pestiside

A priest from Jászberény is under fire after it was revealed he had offered Ft 80,000 (€300) for a "homosexual encounter" with a 29-year-old gay porn actor but then refused to pay. According to Blikk, one Richárd Kósa (right, in foreground) has identified the double-dealing john as L. atya ("Father L"). Kósa said he met the 56-year-old Father L at Budapest's Nyugati tér, where the priest had allegedly been scoring boys for the last dozen or so year, and fornicated with the unholy father on several occasions.

UNITED STATES
Reuters

The U.S. bishops will vote on five United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) chairs-elect of five committees at their November 16-19 General Assembly in Baltimore. ...

Coverage of the assembly is open to credentialed media. There will be media conferences after all open sessions, November 16-18, and they will be available through live streaming on the USCCB Web site.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

By Judy Gross

Just two of 61 U.S. archdioceses and dioceses contacted by NCR said they would dip into local church coffers to support the Vatican's controversial visitation of U.S. women religious congregations.

NCR called and e-mailed every archdiocese in the country, as well as a sampling of 29 dioceses across time zones. Twenty-two archdioceses responded to the inquiry, while only seven dioceses did. Many refused to comment, while others cited the difficult economy as a reason they would not contribute to the three-year visitation process, which the Vatican estimates will cost $1.1 million.

Cardinal Franc Rodé, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, has asked the U.S. bishops to support the three-year study. "I am asking you, my brother bishops, for your help in offsetting the expenses which will be incurred by this work for the future of apostolic religious life in the United States," Rodé said in a July 14 letter to every U.S. bishop. If every one of the 178 Latin rite dioceses contributed equally, the tab would be nearly $6,200 each.

IRELAND
Irish Indpendent

By John Cooney

Tuesday October 27 2009

A DISGRACED Tipperary-born archbishop was regularly wined and dined at the Irish Embassy to Nigeria at the taxpayers' expense.

Irene Christina Lynch, the wife of Ambassador Joseph Lynch, has recalled that when they were living in Nigeria from 1998 to 2003, Archbishop Richard Burke was among six Irish bishops who "came to our residence annually and whose company we very much enjoyed."

At that time, Archbishop Burke was Bishop of Warri, prior to his promotion last year as Metropolitan Archbishop of Benin City by Pope Benedict XVI.

Last Sunday Archbishop Burke hit the international news headlines when it was reported that a 40-year-old married Nigerian woman, Dolores Atwood, initiated an investigation against him by the Vatican for allegedly sexually abusing her at a hospital in Warri, when she was a minor and he was a priest.

THAILAND
Indian Catholic

SAM PHRAN, Thailand : Final-year seminarians have been told they must show greater respect for nuns and women co-workers after a report revealed simmering tensions between the two groups.

Priests are accused of being high-handed and disrespectful in some cases and of inappropriate behavior in others, according to Sister Kanlaya Trisopha, former chaplain of the Catholic Commission for Women.

Sister Kanlaya was speaking on the issue at a seminar and workshop for about 20 final-year seminarians and nuns about to take their final vows. The event, held in Ban Phu Wan pastoral training center in Sam Phran, west of Bangkok, aimed at helping participants avoid such tensions in the future.

DETROIT (MI)
Catholic Culture

October 27, 2009

The Archdiocese of Detroit and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are engaging in a verbal skirmish over whether the archdiocese should have done more to publicize two abuse cases.

Father Joseph Skelton Jr., who pled guilty to-- and was convicted of-- sexually abusing a teenage boy in his Michigan seminary room before leaving the seminary in 1988, eventually was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Tagbilaran in the Philippines. In addition, the Archdiocese of Washington recently settled an abuse suit with a man who alleged that Father Skelton, while a seminarian, joined Father George Stallings in abusing him. Father Stallings was later excommunicated for starting the breakaway Imani Temple.

ELDORADO (TX)
San Angelo Standard-Times

Trish Choate Standard-Times reporter

ELDORADO — The judge in a child sexual assault trial that is receiving media attention from as far away as England and France was optimistic late Monday that she’d be able to dismiss many of the more than 150 members of a jury panel soon after their return at 9 a.m. today.

Defendant Raymond Merril Jessop is accused of sexually assaulting a child, an underage girl he is alleged to have taken as a wife. The clean-cut 38-year-old resident of the YFZ Ranch and member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints could serve two to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

He watched quietly all day Monday as 51st Judicial District Judge Barbara Walther worked to move forward the selection of 12 jurors and two alternates from among 153 Schleicher County residents who answered a summons for jury duty, including 17 members of Jessop’s sect.

TEXAS
BBC News

The sexual assault trial of a member of a US polygamy sect is to continue with a second day of jury selection at a Texas court.

Raymond Jessop, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty of the charge related to his alleged marriage to an under-age girl.

It is the first criminal case stemming from a raid on the sect's ranch last year.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Oct. 26, 2009

Six months after Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan left for New York, speculation is mounting that his successor will be appointed soon.

Four names have emerged in recent days as likely candidates - including Gerald F. Kicanas, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - fueled by their mention on a popular Vatican commentator's blog.

The Milwaukee Archdiocese said Monday it had no knowledge of a pending announcement and would not speculate on candidates.

RAPID CITY (SD)
Rapid City Journal

Mary Garrigan Journal staff | Posted: Monday, October 26, 2009

A Milwaukee newspaper reported Monday that Rapid City Bishop Blase Cupich is among a field of four front-runners to be named head of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Cupich, who has led the Diocese of Rapid City for 11 years, had no comment on the story.

The Journal Sentinel's story was based on speculation by prominent Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo on his Web site, Whispers In the Loggia. Palmo reported that Cupich was one of four finalists for the job vacated nine months ago by Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who left to become head of the Archdiocese of New York.

CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2

Jay Levine

CHICAGO (CBS)

It's is a bittersweet victory for alleged victims of sexual abuse by a Chicago priest.

The Vatican has now formally removed Father John Calicott from the priesthood. Those victims first came to CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine with their story more than five years ago.

It was the priest's denials that drove the victims to despair.

TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star

By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.27.2009

There's talk that Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas may be moving to Milwaukee.

Respected and prolific Catholic blogger Rocco Palmo, known for his connections to the Vatican hierarchy, has named Kicanas as one of four finalists to fill the position of archbishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee in Wisconsin. The diocese has been without an archbishop since Feb. 23 when Timothy M. Dolan was named archbishop of New York.

Bishops do not choose their assignments, and the ultimate decision on who replaces Dolan rests with Pope Benedict XVI. But high-ranking church clerics offer recommendations.

NEW YORK
CBS 6

[video presentation]

Allegations of local priest's sexual abuse from the mid-80s are drawing widely varying reactions from the community . Randy Simons has more on Reverend Salvatore Rodino.

ALABAMA
WSFA

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Shocked and stunned in Covington County.

"Makes me really want to protect my two children even more," said Anthony Faircloth.

Covington County Chief Deputy David Anderson says it is by far the biggest sex abuse case he's ever worked after 30 years in law enforcement in Covington County.

"You hear about it in other places but not here," said Anderson.

The suspect is 54-year old Ralph Lee Aaron, charged with 3 counts of sexual abuse of a boy who is younger than 12-year olds. Those counts include first degree sodomy.

The child was a member of Grace Christian Fellowship Church on Shreve Road just outside of Andalusia where Aaron served as pastor. And this appears to be only the beginning of a much larger case against pastor Aaron. Since his arrest, more victims have come forward, according to Chief Deputy Anderson, more boys and their ages vary.

IRELAND
Irish Central

By JAMES O'BRIEN, IrishCentral.com
An Irish-born Archbishop has been suspended by the Vatican over an allegation that he carried on a 20-year relationship with a woman that began when she was only 14.

The archbishop is currently said to be in the U.S. and once served in New Jersey.

Archbishop Richard Burke, from Fethard, County Tipperary, a member of the Kiltegan Fathers, a missionary order in County Wicklow, has been removed from his post as Archbishop of Benin in Nigeria after church officials described the person who made the allegations, Dolores Attwood (40) now resident in Canada as as "a credible witness."

CANADA
The Canadian Press

By Michael Oliveira (CP)

TORONTO — Linden MacIntyre is better known for his decades of investigative work with the CBC rather than his more recent foray into book writing, so he fully expected that readers would ask him about the real-life inspirations for "The Bishop's Man," which is one of five novels shortlisted for this year's Scotiabank Giller Prize.

The story details the life of a priest, middle-aged Duncan MacAskill from Cape Breton, who's nicknamed the "exorcist" for his ability to snuff out sex scandals committed by his colleagues before they can become public and bring shame to a church.

When he first set out to write the novel, the controversial subject of sexual abuse committed by priests had drifted somewhat from public awareness, MacIntyre said.

IRELAND
The Catholic Review

By Cian Molloy
Catholic News Service

DUBLIN, Ireland – An Irish archbishop who serves in Nigeria has withdrawn from active ministry while the Vatican investigates allegations of sexual abuse.

The St. Patrick’s Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, said Oct. 25 that the allegations against Archbishop Richard Burke of Benin City, Nigeria, are being investigated by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The charges came from a Nigerian woman, Dolores Atwood, 40, who now lives in Canada, where she is married and has run for public office.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, refused to comment on the issue Oct. 26.

JAY (OK)
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen
Monday, October 26, 2009

JAY, Okla. (ABP) -- A former Southern Baptist pastor in Oklahoma has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after confessing to sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl who attended his church.

Joshua Spires, 28, now of Odessa, Texas, pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to 10 counts of lewd molestation that occurred while he was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jay, Okla.

Delaware County Judge Alicia Littlefield sentenced Spires to a 20-year prison sentence with 10 years suspended on each count to be served concurrently, meaning he would be eligible for parole in 8 1/2 years. If convicted by a jury, he could have been sentenced to up to 200 years in prison -- the full 20 years for each count.

KENYA
Daily Nation

By DANIEL NYASSY
Posted Monday, October 26 2009 at 22:00

A priest sparked a rare debate during Sunday Mass at St Anthony Catholic Cathedral in Malindi when he raised the sensitive issue of marriage between two Kenyan gay men in London recently.

Fr Ambrose Muli invited the wrath of the women in the congregation when he suggested that the marriage between Mr Daniel Chege Gichia, 39 and Mr Charles Ngengi, 40, on October 17, was a result of failure by women. ...

“Women, from the way I see it, have become too complicated and unattractive in marriage. You don’t provide what God intended you to give in marriage. You have frustrated the men so much leading them to trying among themselves whether they will get the joy that comes with marriage”.

Women could not take it lying down. They shouted back at the priest saying the problem was not with them, but with the men.

DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

The head of a group that fights child abuse by priests said today that Catholic officials in Detroit failed to publicize the abuse cases of a Catholic seminarian from Detroit who had previously abused children, but is now working as a priest in the Philippines.

Barbara Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said today that the Archdiocese of Detroit failed to make the public aware of the case of Joseph Skelton Jr., a Detroit native who once studied at a Catholic seminary in Plymouth. He pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in his seminary room. He resigned from the seminary in 1988.

And this month, a settlement was reached involving allegations that Skelton was involved in the abuse of a 14-year-old boy in Washington, D.C., in 1984, according to attorneys involved in the case.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Borys Novozhylov, the director-general of the Artek international children's centre (Crimea), received intimidation calls from an unidentified person, Yurii Lutsenko, the minister of interior affairs, has told the press on October 26 in Simferopol.

In his words, the investigation has found out that a Ukrainian resident called Novozhylov and uttered threats of killing him if not obey his demands.

"A call from a citizen residing in a Ukrainian city came. He threatened to 'turn the counter on' in three days starting from Saturday [October 24] for the director of Artek. If he does not fulfill his demands, he said this would be his last day, he would be murdered," ...

Webzines published a copy of an appeal made to President Viktor Yuschenko (allegedly drafted by Parliamentary Deputy Hryhorii Omelchenko of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) by parliamentary deputies, in which they claimed that Artek's Director-General Novozhylov, the centre's chief doctor Heinrich Ratt, its priest Vadym Paevksyi, and Parliamentary Deputy Viktor Ukolov of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc were involved in harassment of children at the Artek international children's center.

UGANDA
The New Vision

By Madinah Tebajjukira

THE National Coalition Against Homosexuality and Sexual Abuses has petitioned Parliament, demanding an independent inquiry into homosexual reports in the country.

The petitioners want Parliament to investigate how the Police handle homosexual complaints.

The petitioners, led by Pastor Solomon Male of Arising Christ Church, presented the petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, yesterday.

UGANDA
UGPulse

Police in Kampala has today interrogated four prominent Born Again pastors for allegedly tarnishing the name of Pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral.

Pastors: Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Center Namasuba, Martin Sempa of Makerere Community Church, Solomon Male of Arising for Christ Ministry and Bob Kayiira of Omega Healing Church, Namasuba have been interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Central Police Station in Kampala close to five hours. ...

Male and his colleagues say they are ready for jail but they will not protect defilers, rapists and sodomisers in Born Again churches.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
WTEN

By MARIE LUBY

WYNANTSKILL, N.Y. -- A longtime priest is thrown out of the ministry amid accusations of sexual abuse. Saturday the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese put out a notice to the media explaining that Father Salvatore "Sam" Rodino is now on administrative leave.

58-year-old Rodino currently presides over St. Jude the Apostle in Wynantskill.

NEWS10's Marie Luby has details on the decades-old allegations.

Father Rodino has been pastor at St. Jude since 2005, but not anymore. The Albany Diocese believes he sexually abused a teenager 27 years ago.

NEW YORK
Albany Times Union

[with copy of the press release from the Diocese of Albany]

October 25, 2009 at 4:21 pm by Scott Waldman

Rev. Salvatore Rodino was suspended amid allegations that he sexually abused a minor about 27 years ago, according to the Albany Diocese. Rodino is currently the priest of St. Jude the Apostle parish in Wynantskill. At the time of the alleged incident, he was at Sacred Heart in Albany.

Here are the schools in the area where he worked. La Salle Institute, North Greenbush; Bishop Maginn High School, Albany; and St. Patrick’s Academy, Catskill. Prior to ordination he served as a lay faculty member at Catholic Central High School in Troy.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney Religion Correspondent

Monday October 26 2009

THE Irish Church's standing in Rome has been dealt a further damaging blow with a high-level Vatican investigation into a complaint of child sexual abuse against a Tipperary-born archbishop.

This is the first instance of an official charge of clerical child molestation being made against an archbishop of Irish nationality, and it comes as the Irish Church is preparing "for the worst" with publication of the Murphy report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

It was learned yesterday that Richard Burke, the 60-year-old Archbishop of Benin, a city in southern Nigeria, stepped aside earlier this year pending the outcome of an ecclesiastical trial by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

NEW YORK
Fox 23

In Rensselaer County, an outpouring of support at some local churches after a priest is removed.

The Albany Catholic Diocese has placed Reverend Salvatore "Sam" Rodino on administrative leave, saying there are reasonable grounds to believe he sexually abused a minor at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Albany 27 years ago.

One man says he has known Rev. Rodino since he was a child, being taught by him at Catholic Central High School.

SAN ANGELO (TX)
Austin American-Statesman

By Michelle Roberts
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Monday, October 26, 2009

SAN ANGELO — The first jury trial in more than a decade in the West Texas town of Eldorado involves allegations of polygamy and sexual assault of an underage bride, a far cry from the drunken-driving cases that occasionally occupy the Schleicher County court system.

Today, attorneys will begin culling the largest jury pool that has ever been called in Eldorado. They are trying to find 14 people in the county of 2,800 who can set aside what they have heard about the polygamist sect that was raided by authorities last year because of allegations that marriages involved underage girls. More than 400 children were taken into state custody.

TEXAS
Austin American-Statesman

By Corrie MacLaggan
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Sunday, October 25, 2009

A Texas Child Protective Services investigation has found that of the 439 children removed from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas earlier this year, 275 were abused or neglected.

The final report, released Tuesday, said that 12 girls were victims of sexual abuse because they entered "spiritual marriages" between the ages of 12 and 15. Seven of them have had children, the report said. It also said that 263 other children suffered neglect.

But the report does not include specific information on how investigators determined whether each child was abused or neglected, citing confidentiality requirements in state law.

KENYA
Xinhua

KISUMU, Kenya, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- As the world prepares to celebrate children's universal day on Nov. 20, dark clouds hung over Nyanza, an expansive province in western Kenya, where child abuse has been on a sharp rise in the recent past.

In many parts of this province that straddles Lake Victoria, children have nowhere to hide. Child rapists are everywhere -- in schools, homes, churches, in market centers and on the streets.

Police and child rights activists say incest was on the rise. Even teachers and church leaders who would have been expected to protect the child have been accused of defiling children under their care, some as young as five years.

UNITED STATES
The Commercial Appeal

By Lindsay Melvin
Posted October 26, 2009

An Atlanta minister has launched a Web site to track sexual abuse by clergy of the world's largest African-American Pentecostal denomination.

DL Foster has compiled nearly 30 reports of sexual misconduct by ministers of the Church of God in Christ at reportcogicabuse.com.

Foster created his Web site, he says, because immoral acts by COGIC clergy were being ignored.

MICHIGAN
ConnectMidMichigan

By Dave Kinchen
Sunday, October 25, 2009

SAGINAW COUNTY -- Victims of alleged sexual abuse gathered in Saginaw County to launch a series of prevention programs aimed at stopping future cases of abuse through churches, or other religious entities. The Group SNAP or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests met to encourage possible victims to report the crimes to authorities and help add to the list of registered sex offenders in the state.

“Bay County just had the sweep (with) their police force and looked for all the sex offenders on the list and found that out of nine, five weren’t on the list. That’s because they moved. We’re trying to get the known sex offenders, the ones that are not on that list, on the list,” said Brad Sylvester, president of the Saginaw chapter of SNAP.

The group also discussed a report from a Philadelphia Grand Jury that criticizes Bishop Joseph Cistone of the Saginaw Catholic Diocese, for mishandling abuse cases on behalf of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

By DAN LEGER
Mon. Oct 26 - 4:46 AM

MAYBE SOME, "a few, a few of them, many of them, most of them — who knows? — had some kind of inkling that this was wrong and could have said: ‘No, thank you very much.’"

Those words were uttered by the man who preceded Raymond Lahey as Bishop of Antigonish, quoted in a book on the Church scandal by author Leon Podles. Colin Campbell, Bishop of Antigonish from 1986 to 1992, made the statement in response to allegations of child sexual abuse by priests.

Campbell suggested that children could have rebuffed the men molesting them, men who embodied the mystic power and authority of the Church. That they didn’t implied they welcomed the sexual come-ons, that they "wanted it."

Years later, Lahey looked like a Church leader with far greater vision than his predecessor when he negotiated a multi-million-dollar settlement with victims of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Antigonish.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Albany Times Union

By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer
First published in print: Monday, October 26, 2009
WYNANTSKILL -- The faithful crowded into St. Jude the Apostle Church Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after the news broke that their priest had been suspended after being accused of sexual abuse.

The Rev. Salvatore Rodino was placed on administrative leave after a sexual misconduct review board for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany found "reasonable grounds to believe he sexually abused a minor about 27 years ago." At the time of the alleged incident, which involved a teenager, Rodino was at Blessed Sacrament parish in Albany.

Mark Lyman, the Capital Region director of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, slammed the diocese, saying it does not conduct its investigations of priests in the open and allows priests to receive pay and benefits when they've been accused of a crime. He said he understands the reactions of parishioners who have just begun to contemplate the serious accusations against their spiritual leader.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Troy Record

By Dave Canfield
The Record

WYNANTSKILL — By and large, parishioners at St. Jude the Apostle Church appear to be sticking by Rev. Salvatore “Sam” Rodino, their pastor of four years now on administrative leave following allegations he sexually abused a minor 27 years ago.

“I don’t believe a word of it,” said parishioner William Millette as he arrived for services Sunday morning. “That man has done more for this church in the last four years than anyone before him.”

At the conclusion of both Sunday Masses, a letter from Bishop Howard J. Hubbard was read to the church by Rev. Ronald Menty, who handled the weekend’s services at the Wynantskill church. Hubbard, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, explained to parishioners in the letter that he took the action after finding “reasonable grounds” to believe the allegations of abuse, alleged to have occurred at Albany’s Blessed Sacrament Parish in the early 1980s.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

MICHAEL O'REGAN

THE VATICAN is investigating an allegation of child sex abuse against an Irish-born archbishop based in Africa, his missionary order confirmed yesterday.

Sixty-year-old Archbishop Richard Burke, from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was ordained a priest in the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, in Co Wicklow, in 1975. He was ordained a bishop in 1997, and installed as Archbishop of Benin, Nigeria, in March of last year.

In a statement yesterday, the society said it had received a complaint last December from a 40-year-old woman against the archbishop. “She alleged that she was sexually abused as a child by Richard Burke. We expressed the deep sorrow and regret of the society for the suffering the complainant and her family are going through, and we affirmed the society’s commitment to child protection,” it added.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Monday, 26 October 2009

The Irish Church's standing in Rome has been dealt a further damaging blow with a high-level Vatican investigation into a complaint of child sexual abuse against a Tipperary-born archbishop.

This is the first instance of an official charge of clerical child molestation being made against an archbishop of Irish nationality, and it comes as the Irish Church is preparing “for the worst” with publication of the Murphy Report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

It was learned yesterday Richard Burke (60), Archbishop of Benin, a city in southern Nigeria, stepped aside earlier this year pending the outcome of an ecclesiastical trial by the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Albany Times Union

By SCOTT WALDMAN, Staff writer
Last updated: 4:29 p.m., Sunday, October 25, 2009
WYNANTSKILL -- The faithful crowded into St. Jude the Apostle Church this morning, less than 24 hours after the news broke that their priest had been suspended after being accused of sexual abuse. ...

Parishioners who agreed to speak to a reporter before the church's 11 a.m. Mass today defended their pastor and blamed the accuser. Wendy Billingsley, a parish member for about five years, said she simply didn't believe it shortly before she entered the packed service.

"I feel terrible for father. Everything involves money," she said, referring to the settlements the Diocese has paid to other abuse victims. "Follow the money. Whoever is behind this, that's what they're looking for."

IRELAND
The Irish Times

MICHAEL O'REGAN

The Vatican is investigating an allegation of child sex abuse against an Irish-born archbishop based in Africa, his missionary order confirmed today.

Archbishop Richard Burke (60), from Clonmel, Co Tipperary, was ordained a priest for St Patrick’s Missionary Society, known as the Kiltegan Fathers, in Co Wicklow, in 1975. He was ordained a bishop in 1997, and installed as Archbishop of Benin, Nigeria, in March of last year.

In a statement, the society said it had received a complaint last December from a 40-year-old woman against Archbishop Burke.

“She alleged that she was sexually abused as a child by Richard Burke. We expressed the deep sorrow and regret of the society for the suffering the complainant and her family are going through and we affirmed the society’s commitment to child protection,’’ it added.

IRELAND
The Press Association

An Irish archbishop is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Africa before having a 20 year affair with her, it has emerged.

The Vatican is investigating a complaint made against Archbishop Richard Burke, who stepped down as Archdiocese of Benin in Nigeria earlier this year.

He is one of the most senior members of the Catholic Church to be accused of assaulting a minor.

UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: October 24, 2009
WASHINGTON

Once, in the first grade, I was late for class. I started crying in the schoolyard, terrified to go in and face the formidable Sister Hiltruda.

Father Montgomery, who looked like a handsome young priest out of a 1930s movie, found me cowering and took my hand, leading me into the classroom.

Sister Hiltruda looked ready to pop, but she couldn’t say a word to me, then or ever. There was no more unassailable patriarchy than the Catholic Church.

Nuns were second-class citizens then and — 40 years after feminism utterly changed America — they still are. The matter of women as priests is closed, a forbidden topic. ...

The church enabled rampant pedophilia, but nuns who live in apartments and do social work with ailing gays? Sacrilegious! The pope can wear Serengeti sunglasses and expensive red loafers, but shorter hems for nuns? Disgraceful!

SAGINAW (MI)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT: At a “town hall meeting,” clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will discuss
-- a grand jury report which criticizes Saginaw’s new Catholic bishop
-- describe ways to make kids safer in churches from child molesting clergy.

WHEN: Sunday, October 25, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Four Points by Sheraton Ballroom (near Damon’s Grill), 4960 Towne Center, Saginaw MI

AUSTIN (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT:
As church-goers enter a noon service, victims of clergy sex abuse will hand out fliers harshly criticizing Texas Episcopal officials for
-- using "an archaic, predator-friendly legal loophole" to get 3 cases against a child molesting clergyman tossed out of court,

WHEN:
Sunday, October 25 at 11: 45a.m.

WHERE:
Outside All Saints Episcopal Church. 209 W. 27th Street, Austin, TX 78705 (http://www.allsaints-austin.org/ - 512 476 3589)

IRELAND
RTE News

[with audio]

The Vatican is investigating a complaint of sexual abuse against an Irish archbishop who is based in Africa.

The Kiltegan Fathers says that Rome is investigating allegations by Dolores Atwood, who lives in Canada, against Archbishop Richard Burke.

The missionary society has said that one of its Irish members, who is an Archbishop in Africa, had a romantic relationship with a Nigerian woman about 20 years younger than him for over two decades.

UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses

Elizabeth wrote this survival kit to help other clergy abuse survivors cope with their wounds. With a few refinements, these suggestions work for anyone who has been emotionally abused or traumatized in any way.

Suggestions from my Spiritual Survival Kit.

Techniques, which I have found helpful in recovering a sense of spirituality after abuse by priest/church.

Explore within your comfort zone. Go where you feel welcome, wanted and safe. If it is safe for your body and your soul, your heart and your head, it is place you can grow and heal.

LOUISIANA
City of Angels

[The article contains graphic language)

By Kay Ebeling

Almost forty years after Father Gilbert Gauthe stuck a gun into his mouth and forced him into a violent sex act, Ted Lausche is part of the $5.1 million settlement for twenty-one persons this week in Louisiana, because of abuse at the hands of priests and nuns in and around New Orleans Archdiocese and Lafayette.

The charges from 1971 push the years of reported sex crime activity by renowned pedophile Catholic priest Gilbert Gauthe forward by several years.

IRELAND
Herald

By Fiona Dillon

Saturday October 24 2009

THE Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has experienced a 16pc surge in calls to its 24-hour helpline in the first six months of this year.

New statistics show that the centre received 7,560 calls to the helpline for victims of rape and sexual abuse over that period, compared to 6,522 calls in the same period in 2008.

It said that the increase was due mainly to the huge surge in calls to the helpline following the Ryan report.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

The latest shocking report on child sex abuse reveals a painful and sordid tale of ecclesiastical cover-ups, writes Maeve Sheehan

Sunday October 25 2009

THE report on the Catholic hierarchy's handling of child sex abusers in the Dublin archdiocese is expected to criticise civil authorities for contributing to a culture of impunity surrounding paedophile priests.

While senior clergy will carry the blame, the report also implicates some senior gardai and health authorities for failing to follow through on complaints against paedophiles. According to informed sources, the report singles out the lax response of gardai in certain investigations and also criticises the former health boards in the Dublin area for failing to protect children from exposure to paedophile priests.

"The report will indicate that some senior gardai did not see investigating church men as their role. There was a view that the church was outside the remit of the garda," said an informed source.

WYNANTSKILL (NY)
Troy Record

By Danielle Sanzone
The Record

WYNANTSKILL — Alleged sexual impropriety from 27 years ago has come back to haunt Rev. Salvatore "Sam" Rodino who has been suspended from his position at St. Jude the Apostle Church.

The longtime priest with the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese was placed on administrative leave this week after charges emerged that he "had engaged in sexual misconduct with a teenager in the 1980s at the Blessed Sacrament parish in Albany," stated a press release from the diocese.

Parishioners were given the news during Mass on Saturday and will be told in Masses today in the form of a letter from Bishop Howard Hubbard which was read aloud.

DELAWARE
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER • The News Journal • October 25, 2009

It's not supposed to be this way. Bishops shouldn't need a judge's permission to pay church bills. Parishioners shouldn't wonder if placing money in a collection plate is a good investment. And a child should fear no evil from a priest.

But those are the problems and questions facing the 230,000 members of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington in a new way after Bishop W. Francis Malooly announced last Sunday that the diocese had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The announcement, made the night before a series of child sexual abuse trials related to former priest Francis G. DeLuca were to begin, put the brakes on all 131 lawsuits pending against the diocese -- canceling courtroom testimony, disclosure of evidentiary documents and cross-examination.

ALBANY (NY)
CBS 6

October 24, 2009

The Albany Catholic Dicoese has placed a priest on administrative leave.

The church says there are reasonable grounds to believe he sexually abused a minor back in the 1980's.

Reverend Salvatore "Sam" Rodino was removed from the ministry today.

NEW YORK
Fox 23

In Rensselaer County, the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has placed a priest on administrative leave. It comes after they said there were reasonable grounds to believe he sexually abused a minor nearly 30 years ago.

The Diocese received a complaint that Rev. Salvatore Rodino engaged in sexual misconduct with a teenager in the 80's at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Albany.

ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
Last updated: 5:12 p.m., Saturday, October 24, 2009

ALBANY -- A veteran Roman Catholic priest has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly sexually abusing a teen about 27 years ago, according the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

The decision by the diocese to put the Rev. Salvatore "Sam" Rodino, 58, on administrative leave follows a recommendation by their sexual misconduct review board. Rodino, who has been serving as pastor at St. Judge the Apostle in Wynantskill since 2005, has been barred from celebrating mass, performing any other sacraments, and publicly wearing clerical garb.

CONNECTICUT
The News-Times

The Associated Press
Updated: 10/24/2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn.—A man charged with molesting boys in Haiti is heading to Connecticut for a bail hearing before a federal judge.

A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New Haven in the case of Douglas Perlitz, who has been held without bail since he was arrested Sept. 16 at his home in Eagle, Colo. He has pleaded not guilty.

CANADA
The Windsor Star

By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star
October 24, 2009

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Dr. Andrea Steen fears she may never hear from Kenderna and Richardson again.

The Windsor physician sponsors the Haitian boy and girl through Hearts Together for Haiti, the aid organization once directed by former local priest John Duarte, who remains in jail in the Dominican Republic awaiting extradition to Canada to face multiple charges of molesting teenage boys at the mission he founded on the island's north coast.

"All I can say is I hope I was able to help them for the two years I sponsored them," Steen said Friday. "I hope they continue to carry on with their school and do the right thing. I hope it works out. But I feel sad and worried. There's no way of knowing."

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

According to Artek's press service, two plain-clothes police officers were posted to pretect Borys Novozhylov, the director-general of the Artek international children's center (Crimea), after he was transferred from the hospital's intensive therapy unit to a regular October 23. ...

A suspect has been arrested in connection with this criminal case, and a court has extended the period of detention of the suspect to four months. Internet-based publications have published a copy of an appeal made to President Viktor Yuschenko (allegedly drafted by Parliamentary Deputy Hryhorii Omelchenko of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) by parliamentary deputies, in which they claimed that Artek's Director-General Novozhylov, the center's chief doctor Henrich Ratt, its priest Vadym Paevksyi, and Parliamentary Deputy Viktor Ukolov of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc were involved in perversion of children at the Artek international children's center.

CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald

By VIRGINIA HENNESSEY
Herald Salinas Bureau
Updated: 10/24/2009

The sex-crime case against the Rev. Antonio Cortes can proceed, a judge ruled Friday.

Judge Larry Hayes said there was sufficient evidence presented at a June 4 preliminary hearing to hold Cortes for trial on charges of engaging in sodomy with a minor and possessing child pornography.

In a courtroom packed with Cortes' supporters, Hayes rejected a motion by Cortes' defense attorney, Eugene Martinez, who argued that prosecutor Rolando Mazariegos failed on multiple levels to provide probable cause to hold the priest. The evidence was presented during a preliminary hearing before Judge Terrance Duncan.

CALIFORNIA
The Salinas Californian

BY SUNITA VIJAYAN • svijayan@thecalifornian.com • October 24, 2009

A defense lawyer lost his argument Friday that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to justify a trial for a Salinas priest accused of sexually assaulting a minor.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Larry E. Hayes ruled that the District Attorney's Office, which introduced evidence during a June 4 preliminary hearing, showed sufficient probable cause to move the case forward.

The Rev. Antonio Cortes was ordered to stand trial on felony charges of sodomy with a minor and misdemeanor counts of possession of child pornography.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Claire O’Sullivan

Saturday, October 24, 2009

THE author of the damning investigation into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Cloyne has applauded the Catholic Church for having undertaken "a truly remarkable" journey to a place where it could yet become a champion of child protection.

Chief executive of the Catholic Church’s National Board for Safeguarding Children (NBSC), Ian Elliot robustly defended recent efforts by the Church to right its dismal record describing an "increasingly evident" sense of purpose and commitment to child protection.

"There are champions for children in the Church that deserve the highest praise. They are at all levels of the Church and many are within the hierarchy. The aim of establishing the Church as an exemplar for best safeguarding practice has gained major support. We are in a very different place to where we were two years ago."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney Religion Correspondent

Saturday October 24 2009

THE Catholic Church in Ireland has made greater progress in the past two years than in the previous two decades in safeguarding children from paedophile clerics, its independent child protection "enforcer" claimed yesterday.

In his first major address since his appointment two years ago as chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children, Ian Elliott, a Presbyterian from the North, hit out at cover-ups which led to four state inquiries.

Speaking in Cork yesterday to the Association of Social Workers, Mr Elliott accepted that the Ferns Report in Co Wexford; the Ryan Report into systematic abuse in industrial schools; and the forthcoming reports into the Dublin and Cloyne dioceses were necessary because the Irish Catholic Church was guilty of placing the needs of itself and the clergy before those of the vulnerable child.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

By Archbishop Anthony Apuron • October 24, 2009

My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: Thank you for your prayers and support during these challenging days. While we remain steadfast in our stance against Bill 185, there are a few clarifications I would like to make that have surfaced in public conversations that I believe need to be addressed.

In response to my Pastoral Letter that was released last Sunday, I want to make it clear that persons with same-sex attractions were not the target of my Pastoral Letter, nor was it meant to condemn anyone in any way. If I have hurt anyone, please forgive me. Our Lord Jesus Christ has given your archbishop and clergy, and all of us, the mission to proclaim God's unconditional love for all God's children, especially those who are struggling to experience the freedom that only chastity can give. The Lord has been raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father so that he could send us the pledge of his love -- the Holy Spirit. This Spirit comes to assure us that in the moment of doubt, suffering, and confusion we are not alone. ...

Additionally, a number of charges appeared in the media regarding the care with which the Archdiocese guards children against sexual abuse. I want to assure everyone that the Archdiocese takes seriously its responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all minors who are in the care of Archdiocesan personnel. A policy with clear procedures for action is in place and will be quickly enforced when reports of any improper behavior on the part of Archdiocesan personnel are received. Proper investigative authorities will be immediately notified if and when allegations of abuse or improper conduct are imposed. Again, the Catholic Church does not and will not tolerate any kind of sexual abuse.

UNITED KINGDOM
Religious Intelligence

Friday, 23rd October 2009

By: Michael Brown.

An English diocese has launched a review of the records of all its clergy following the jailing of a "wicked" vicar for the rape of boys.

The review by the Bradford diocese will also look at licensed lay readers and youth workers in its patch in a bid to uncover any "causes for concern". The diocese in addition intends to submit the findings of the review to an independent body or responsible individual to see whether any lessons can be learned to improve the care of children in its charge.

The moves follow the jailing for 14 years at Bradford Crown Court last Friday of Peter Hedge, 47, who was found guilty of the rape of two young boys and a catalogue of sex abuse against other youngsters.

SCRANTON (PA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton

Updated with timeframe and how the case proceeded.

On Oct. 19, 2009, Father Robert M. Timchak was charged with sexual child abuse for allegedly having child pornography images on his computer. This is a very distressing and unfortunate situation.

Since this news was reported, there have been some questions about the time that elapsed between the initial allegation being made in December 2008 and Father Timchak’s departure as assistant pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, Milford , and St. John Neumann, Lord’s Valley in April 2009. Father Timchak was also a student teacher in the 4th grade at Notre Dame Elementary School in East Stroudsburg from September through November 2007, and then was an occasional substitute teacher there in December 2008. After that time he occasionally celebrated Mass at the school and possibly attended school functions. He was also a substitute teacher in area public elementary schools.

It is important to understand the timeframe for this case and why it proceeded as it did.

SCRANTON (PA)
Times-Leader

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter

SCRANTON – In response to questions raised about the handling of the Rev. Robert Timchak’s arrest on charges of possessing child pornography, the Diocese of Scranton issued a revised statement Friday providing more details.

Timchak, 43, turned himself in to authorities in Pike County on Oct. 19. State police at Dunmore charged him with 17 counts of sexual abuse of children and a single charge of criminal use of a communication facility and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. He was released on his own recognizance with a preliminary hearing set for Nov. 4.

The revised diocese statement notes there have been questions about “the time that elapsed between the initial allegation … and Father Timchak’s departure as assistant pastor of St. Vincent de Paul, Milford, and St. John Neumann, Lord’s Valley, in April 2009.”

MILFORD (PA)
The Pike County Courier

MILFORD — Authorities have arrested a local Catholic priest on charges of possessing child pornography.

On Monday, Pennsylvania State Police and Pike County District Attorney announced the arrest of 43 year-old Robert M. Timchack. Father Bob, as he is known, served at parishes including Saint Vincent’s in Dingman and Saint John Neumann in Lords Valley.

Timchack has been charged with: 16 counts, Sexual Abuse of Children (F2); 1 count, Sexual Abuse of Children (F3); 1 count, Criminal Use of Communication Facility (F3); and 1 count, Tampering with/or Fabricating Physical Evidence.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
WDSU

[with video]

NEW ORLEANS --
A New Orleans man who is part of a $5 million church sex abuse settlement told WDSU he was raped by a priest inside St. Louis Cathedral.

The claim is the first account of sexual misconduct by religious leaders inside one of the nation's best known and oldest churches.

Bernard DeFranza Sr. became emotional when describing the abuse he endured as a 10-year-old boy. He told I-Team reporter Travers Mackel he was assaulted more than 40 years ago inside the historic French Quarter house of worship.

CANADA
Nanaimo News Bulletin

The latest sexual scandal to rock the church broke earlier this month when it was revealed that Bishop Raymond Lahey was charged with possession and importation of child pornography.

It is sad whenever any human being engages in sexually exploiting others; those in leadership roles (especially in the church) are held to higher standards by our society and so we read and hear about these examples.

The reason why clergy are especially highlighted by news media is not only because we exercise authority over our parishioners/members, but because the Christian church has traditionally been highly moralistic (and some would say preoccupied) about sexuality. ...

Ian Gartshore is a minister and therapist in Nanaimo

IRELAND
RTE News

[with video]

The National Board for Safeguarding Children has described the progress made by the Catholic Church over the past two years in implementing child protection guidelines as 'truly remarkable'.

Chief Executive Ian Elliott says while a great deal of work still remains to be done, there are 'champions for children' within the Church who deserve the highest praise.

In the wake of several damaging, high-profile clerical child sex abuse scandals, the Catholic Church established the National Board for Safeguarding Children in May 2006.

WILMINGTON (DE)
RTE News (Ireland)

[video presentation]

Charlie Bird, Washington Correspondent, reports that the Diocese of Wilmington has been thrown into chaos.

CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times

The Monterey County Herald
Herald Staff

There was more than enough reason to hold the Rev. Antonio Cortes for trial on charges of engaging in sodomy with a minor and possessing child pornography, a judge ruled this morning in a courtroom packed with the priest's supporters.

Judge Larry Hayes rejected a motion by Cortes' defense attorney, Eugene Martinez, who argued prosecutor Rolando Mazariegos failed on multiple levels to provide probable cause to hold the priest during a June 4 preliminary hearing before Judge Terrance Duncan.

CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register

By ELAINA J. KROLL
Founder, CEO of The Innocence Mission, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eradicating child sexual abuse

At a recent Huntington Beach City Council meeting, former Westminster School District Trustee Judy Ahrens read a scene from Maya Angelou's memoir "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" where an 8-year-old girl is raped. Ahrens' intention was to shame and embarrass the council so that it would support banning the book from school libraries.

Ahrens said that banning the book would preserve the innocence of the high-school-age children who would be exposed to the tragic scene. Unfortunately, she has it all wrong.

The only way we can preserve the innocence of our children is by allowing an open and honest dialogue about sexual abuse and never allowing a victim's story to be hidden in shame and secrecy. Banning the book tells victims that they should remain silent, and when victims remain silent, perpetrators continue to hurt children.

NEW YORK
The Jewish Light

JEWISH LIGHT EDITORIAL

Recent stories in The New York Times and The New York Jewish Week about alleged child molestation and attempts to use rabbinical courts to block investigations or even cover up crimes are, to say the least, extremely disturbing. The sexual and physical abuse of children and other forms of domestic violence are among the gravest of sins. Wherever such incidents occur, within or outside the Jewish community, they must be vigorously investigated and if the evidence suggests, prosecuted in secular courts.

A detailed front-page story by Paul Vitello in the The New York Times last week reports that for decades, Brooklyn prosecutors substantially ignored molestation from the local ultra-Orthodox Jewish community — about 800,000 followers of Hasidic and other sects who make up the largest such cluster outside Israel. But in the past year, there have been 26 cases of alleged child molestation within the Haredi community, and the story notes that the district attorney's office has "brought charges against a variety of men — yeshiva teachers, rabbis, camp counselors, merchants and relatives of children. Eight have been convicted; 18 await trial."

UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses

I write my story of abuse as a way of saying thank you to the many survivors of priest/church abuse who have shown me the path to my own truth by their bravery. For the past five years I have mentored others along the path to healing as an advocate for those abused. I have heard the stories of several dozen survivors. Each person who told me pieces of their story made it easier for me to face my own fragments of truth, deal with my psychic and spiritual wounds and weave those pieces of self together in a story of injury and journey into recovery of self.

Here is my attempt to tell a story that is still unfolding. I tell my story, not as an expert, but as a traveler on a confusing and twisting journey. I tell my story with the hope that my sharing will create space for seeds of hope and glimmers of insight as we stumble along together through the valley of abuse by priest/church. In my telling, survivors will find themes and points where my story intersects with theirs. At many points we share a story. We have different and unique lives and pains. We also share a bonding experience.

CANADA
National Post

Jorge Barrera, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, October 23, 2009

A former Canadian priest currently sitting in a Dominican Republic jail cell awaiting extradition to Canada on multiple sexual molestation charges was working as a scuba diving instructor at a hotel before local authorities arrested him this week.

Joao Jose Correira Duarte, a former Windsor, Ont., priest also known as John Duarte, faces nine counts of sexually exploiting 12 to 17-year-old boys in Haiti over a 10-year span. He was arrested Tuesday by Dominican immigration and counter-narcotics agents in a joint operation, local authorities said.

Mr. Duarte, 44, had been living quietly in Sousa, Puerto Plata, where he found work at a local hotel, first as a waiter and then as a scuba diving instructor where he mainly taught tourists, according to a statement from the National Directorate for Drug Control.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2137597#ixzz0UmXuHg9X
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CANADA
Telegraph-Journal

Elizabeth W. McGahan
Commentary

A few years ago, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend wrote Failing America's Faithful, in which she discussed the wide ranging role of religion in American society, suggesting at one point that it was "reveille" for the Christian churches. Townsend's call may resonate for Maritime Catholics as the tragedy in the diocese of Antigonish unfolds.

Stunned and embarrassed, many Catholics listened as various priests and bishops offered a plethora of tepid bromides - "we are all flawed" or "he has been accused but not convicted" or "he who is without sin, throw the first stone." Each observation on its own contains a measure of validity. But in a world-wide Church roiling for more than two decades from public scandals, some in the laity might have expected to hear these initial reactions balanced by reflection on the Church's requirements for recruitment and membership within the priesthood, and for the advancement of priests to the hierarchy. Sadly, various spokesmen talked in terms of individual weakness while overlooking possible limitations in organizational structures.

With respect to the Lahey crisis, one asks, how carefully did the committee that drew up the terna (list of candidates sent to Rome) review the priest-candidates who were recommended for the position of bishop of Antigonish? Did they scrutinize Lahey's career in Newfoundland? Have any members of the committee spoken since this story broke?

LITTLE ROCK (AR)
The Morning Call

JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A fugitive accused of beating two teenagers on evangelist Tony Alamo's orders must pay $3 million in restitution, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes awarded $1.5 million each to Spencer Ondrisek and Seth Calagna, who were both raised in Alamo's church in Fouke in southwestern Arkansas. The teens accused Alamo's alleged enforcer, John Kolbek, of battery, false imprisonment, outrage and conspiracy.

MISSOURI
KSDK

[with video]

By Mike Owens
KSDK -- An O'Fallon, Missouri woman is speaking out about the Franciscan order of Catholic priests, saying they haven't paid out enough money to take care of her son, who she says is dying of cancer.

Pat Bond says she fathered her 22-year-old son Nathan with Father Henry Willenborg while they were both living in Quincy, Illinois.

Bond says she went to a religious retreat run by Father Willenborg. She was looking for solace since her marriage was ending and she needed direction. She says Willenborg helped her and the two began a sexual relationship in the early 1980s. The relationship lasted five years.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By David Quinn

Friday October 23 2009

WHEN the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, accused the Department of Education the other day of leading a "very determined and doctrinaire" attack on Protestant schools he could have as easily accused them of attacking denominational schools in general.

This week, it transpired that the department has written to the Catholic hierarchy asking them for a list of schools they are willing to hand over to the State or some other managerial body.

Admittedly, this was prompted by remarks made by one or two bishops to the effect that the Catholic Church controls too many schools (it does) and that in principle they would be willing to give up some of them.

UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Without accountability, power corrupts.

It’s a truth as old as time, but Southern Baptists have yet to learn it.

We have seen this truth played out over and over again in the countless cover-ups of Baptist clergy sex abuse. And we also see this truth played out in the financial arena of Baptistland.

Even in these tough times, good hard-working people continue to put money in Baptist offering plates because they believe it will be used to spread the gospel and because they’ve been taught to tithe.

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

By Susan Weich
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
10/23/2009

An O'Fallon, Mo., woman who had a five-year affair with a Roman Catholic priest, pleaded Thursday for other women who had sexual liaisons with the Rev. Henry Willenborg to step forward.

Pat Bond said that without them, she feared that Willenborg, a Franciscan who is currently under investigation by the order, will be reinstated soon to another church. She said others, including a teenager and a nun, told her about affairs with Willenborg.

Bond, whose story was detailed in a New York Times article last week, said that during their relationship in the 1980s, Willenborg impregnated her twice. The first time, Willenborg suggested she abort the child; she later had a miscarriage.The second time, Bond bore a son: Nathan Halbach, now 22, who has brain cancer and is gravely ill. Bond claims that St. Louis officials with the Franciscan order have acted callously toward her, and that Willenborg has shunned their son.

ANDALUSIA (AL)
Andalusia Star-News

By Stephanie Nelson | Andalusia Star-News

Published Thursday, October 22, 2009

The pastor of an Andalusia church has been arrested, following allegations of sex abuse.

According to the Covington County jailer’s daily report, Ralph Lee Aaron, the pastor of Grace Christian Fellowship, was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree sodomy.

Aaron, a 54-year-old resident of Andalusia, is currently being held in the Covington County Jail without bond.

CANADA
Western Catholic Reporter

DEBORAH GYAPONG
CANADIAN CATHOLIC NEWS
CORNWALL, ONT. - The child pornography charges laid against Bishop Raymond Lahey cast a pall over the weeks leading up to the annual gathering of Canada's Catholic bishops.

In his last report to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops as president, Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber said it "might be tempting" to use the phrase annus horribilis to describe them. But the phrase is not part of our Catholic tradition, he said.

"For Christians, it is always Annus Domini, the year of the Lord," he said. "Our overall perspective is that of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and of being called to labour in his vineyard."

GUAM
KUAM

by Mindy Aguon

Guam Youth Congress Speaker Derrick Hills says he doesn't see the Archbishop Anthony Apuron's latest letter to parishioners as an apology. Apuron on Thursday night clarified several points relating to discussions about homosexuality and allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy on Guam.

The leader of Guam's Catholic faithful wants to make it clear that homosexuals were not the target of his pastoral letter, which he says was not meant to condemn anyone. Apruon said, "If I have hurt anyone, please forgive me."

As for claims made regarding sexual abuse of children at the hands of clergy on the island, Apuron made assurances, saying the Catholic Church does not and will not tolerate any kind of sexual abuse.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By BETH MILLER • The News Journal • October 23, 2009

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week stopped more than 100 child sexual abuse cases from advancing in the court system, but it has not stopped the progress of the cases against Catholic parishes and religious orders.

The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, who operate Salesianum School, have no plans to file for bankruptcy according to their attorney Mark Reardon, and a Superior Court judge this week told attorneys to prepare for trial in James Sheehan's child sexual abuse case against the order.

Sheehan's case was among those stayed by the diocese's bankruptcy filing Sunday night. But Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott Jr. told attorneys in a pretrial conference Wednesday that Sheehan's case against the Oblates, which seeks damages for abuse by the late Rev. Francis L. Norris in 1962, will begin Nov. 16 as scheduled.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Guam - Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron has assured the island's faithful that the Archdiocese will not tolerate any kind of sexual abuse and has procedures in place to notify authorities whenever allegations of improper conduct occur.

On Tuesday of this week, Vice Speaker BJ Cruz said that a case of abuse was recently brought to the attention of the Archdiocese.

Neither the Guam Police Department nor the Attorney General's office have received any recent complaints from the Archdiocese. No can they recall any complaints ever being filed in the past.

Guam Police Spokesman Allan Guzman tells PNC News that neither he, nor Police Chief Paul Suba, can recall ever having received any complaints referred from the Archdiocese regarding sexual misconduct by priests or lay employees of the Archdiocese.

TENNESSEE
Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville

Father John Sappenfield has been removed as pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin, effective immediately, after he admitted a violation of the Diocese of Nashville’s policies against the Abuse of a Professional Relationship involving an adult female member of the parish. He has moved out of the parish rectory and he will have no active priestly ministry. Father Sappenfield has served as pastor of St. Philip since July 1, 2008.

Father Bala, the associate pastor at St. Philip will take over as temporary administrator of the parish, also effective immediately.

FRANKLIN (TN)
WSMV

FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- Father John Sappenfield has been removed as pastor of St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin, after he admitted he violated church policies.

According to the church's Web site, Sappenfield lost his job because "he admitted a violation of the Diocese of Nashville’s policies against the Abuse of a Professional Relationship involving an adult female member of the parish."

The Diocese of Nashville described that violation as an "act of sexual misconduct between a cleric or a layperson."

CANADA
The Windsor Star

By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star
October 23, 2009

The OPP are making plans for officers to travel to the Dominican Republic to take custody of a former Windsor priest who is facing multiple charges here of molesting teenage boys at the mission he founded in Haiti.

Const. Shawna Coulter, media relations officer for the Essex OPP detachment, said Thursday that John Duarte, 44, of Windsor, is in custody in the Dominican Republic and extradition proceedings are under way.

Duarte is charged under the Criminal Code with nine counts of sexual exploitation of boys between the ages of 12 and 17.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Philadelphia Inquirer

The best way for Wilmington's Roman Catholic Bishop W. Francis Malooly to demonstrate his stated concern for "all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese" would be to give those victims their day in court.

Instead, Malooly's eleventh-hour decision Sunday to file for bankruptcy protection effectively halted the first of eight clergy sex-abuse trials set to start the next day. That will have the net effect to further delay or perhaps thwart many victims' long quest for justice.

The bishop wrote to the diocese's 230,000 faithful that the "painful decision" to file for bankruptcy was intended to ensure that funds are available so that all of the victims get a fair settlement.

GUAM
KUAM

by Nick Delgado

Archbishop Anthony Apuron has issued another letter to parishioners, this time clarifying some points in a pastoral letter read during masses last week. The clarification comes as the debate over same-sex civil unions appears to have hit a plateau.

The leader of the island's Catholic faithful wants to make it clear that he did not intend to target or condemn homosexuals when he issued a pastoral letter last week. Apuron says the Catholic Church continues to love and embrace all individuals.

As for claims made regarding sexual abuse of children at the hands of members of the clergy on the island, the Archbishop assured parishioners that the Archdiocese of Agana takes its responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all minors in its care seriously. He added a policy with clear procedures for action is in place and will be enforced quickly should there be any reports of improper behavior of the clergy. Apuron stressed that the Catholic Church does not and will not tolerate any kind of sexual abuse.

Vice-Speaker B.J. Cruz meanwhile says since he admitted to being sexually abused by a priest when he was a teen in California he's been approached by more people giving their own accounts of alleged abuse. "Ever since our interview the other day, I've been getting e-mails, people telling me their incidents. Before I came here a man called me from the States, and he says 'I want to tell you that I support you', and then he started to cry and tell me that he had been working for one of the parishes here and suffered the same thing.

FRANKLIN (TN)
The Tennessean

By Harriet Vaughan • THE TENNESSEAN • October 23, 2009

FRANKLIN — Parishioners of St. Philip Catholic Church in Franklin spent Thursday digesting the news of Tuesday's removal of their well-liked pastor, Father John Sappenfield.

The Diocese of Nashville announced that Sappenfield had admitted to violating the diocese policy against Abuse of a Professional Relationship with a female adult member of the parish.

Diocese director of communications Rick Musacchio would not give details of Sappenfield's conduct beyond the official announcement.

Several parishioners and staff members contacted Thursday were equally reluctant to talk.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- The Catholic Diocese of Belleville has paid $1.2 million to settle a 6-year-old "John Doe" lawsuit filed by a former altar boy who said he was molested by his parish priest.

The settlement, announced Thursday by the diocese, was confirmed by Belleville attorney Mike Weilmuenster, who said the money has been paid to his client. Negotiations were worked out last week.

It is the first time since the early 1990s when sexual abuse of minors by priests became a widespread public scandal in the Belleville Diocese that the diocese has paid money to a victim as part of a settlement.

UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

By Terry Sanderson

Of course, in a strictly secularist sense, the NSS should not concern itself with the internal machinations of religious organisations. If the Pope wishes to stab the Archbishop of Canterbury in the back (in a wholly ecumenical sense, of course) then that’s nothing to do with us. If the Pope wants to change the rules of his club so that he can steal personnel from the opposition, that’s his business. Let them slug it out, betray each other, lie and steal from each other. Or, as Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper put it “The Vatican’s welcome ... is a Trojan horse. It appears to enhance Christian goodwill while inflaming the doctrinal battles between and within the two churches.” As long as they don’t try to involve the state in their hostilities, they can rip each other to shreds as far as we are concerned. ...

The Catholic priesthood claims to disown its own erotic nature in order to remain “pure” – and yet endless court cases show many of the “fathers” to have been wallowing in a pit of unimaginable sexual depravity. They concoct elaborate lies to sustain their “teachings” (“There are tiny holes in condoms through which HIV can pass”), they care little for the death, destruction and suffering their senseless dogmas create in the developing world. They are more concerned about the damage the child abuse crisis has done to the Church than about what it has done to the people they tortured. As Matthew Parris said in The Times: “The more reactionaries Pope Benedict can gather around himself and his Church, the faster the whole thing will sink under the weight of its own weirdness.”

GERMANY
Christian Today

By: John Malhotra
Friday, 23 October 2009

The controversial 'Amen: the Autobiography of a nun' has just gone global after the famous Frankfurt Book Fair.

The author of the book, Sr Jesme, was a special invitee at the world's largest book fair held annually in mid-October at the Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany.

At the event, participated by more than 100 countries, excerpts from Jesme's startling memoir was read to a large audience mostly comprised of French and German people.

CANADA
CBC News

A former Windsor priest arrested in the Dominican Republic and accused of sexually abusing teenage boys in Haiti will be tried in Ontario, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Wednesday.

John Duarte, 44, is currently being held in custody in the D.R. awaiting extradition to Canada, according to Const. Shawna Coulter. He has been charged with nine counts of sexual exploitation, she said.

The charges against Duarte are related to allegations involving "a number of male youths in Haiti during the years 1995 to 2005," Coulter said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Baltimore Sun

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore has issued a statement on the Chapter 11 petition filed this week by the Diocese of Wilmington. The Diocese of Wilmington includes the Eastern Shore of Maryland and it is headed by Bishop W. Francis Malooly, a Baltimore native who was an auxiliary bishop in the Baltimore archdiocese until being tapped for Wilmington last year. The diocese joins with the archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington in the Maryland Catholic Conference.

O’Brien’s statement:

Troubled and saddened by the news of the Diocese of Wilmington's filing for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, I extend the sympathy and support of the people of the Archdiocese of Baltimore to Bishop Malooly, to our Catholic sisters and brothers in the Diocese of Wilmington, and to all who are impacted by this painful and unfortunate decision.

BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat

BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK - News-Democrat

BELLEVILLE -- The Diocese of Belleville has paid $1.2 million to settle a 6-year-old "John Doe" lawsuit filed by a former altar boy who said he was molested by his parish priest.

The settlement, announced Thursday by the diocese, was confirmed by Belleville attorney Mike Weilmuenster, who said the money has been paid to his client. Negotiations were worked out last week.

It is the first time since the early 1990s when sexual abuse of minors by priests became a widespread public scandal in the Belleville Diocese that the diocese has paid money to a victim as part of a settlement.

UNITED STATES
GetReligion

As you can see from the numerous posts on media coverage of the Pope’s outreach to conservative Anglicans this past week, clerical celibacy has been a subplot (not solely fostered, but certainly abbeted by a speculative press). And then there is of course, the shadow side we have seen covered before — the sex abuse scandals of the past 25 years. These involve mostly pederasts — clergy abusing children.

But there’s another angle to this story — Catholic clergy who have affairs with women, which is what was so fascinating about the now-Episcopal Father Cutie. Without minimizing the drama of that soap opera, it didn’t wrench at your heartstrings in the same way as the story of Pat Bond, her son Nathan Halbach and his father — a Franciscan priest, Henry Willenborg. One big difference — Fr. Cutie isn’t a Catholic priest anymore. Although suspended, Fr. Willenborg, with a 22-year-old son, still is. Which leads, of course, to the question

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Editorial, Kyiv Post

Children and justice are disregarded in the nation’s latest dirty scandal.

Sludge – as in thick greasy mud, sewage or sediment – and fest, as in festival. That's what is shaping up in Ukraine over a child sexual abuse scandal. The case has degenerated into an unconscionable travesty of justice, with leading presidential candidates seeking to gain politically from horrific accusations – and possibly horrific abuse – ahead of the Jan. 17 presidential election.

Lost in the mudslinging, however, are the interests of at least two sexually abused children. Victimized once by pedophiles, they were re-victimized after the scandal broke out publicly on Oct. 13. They were victimized once again by inept law enforcers, who learned of the accusations in April and were in a position to resolve the case by now. The children were yet again savaged by politicians and journalists who publicly disseminated what should be confidential details.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Nataliya Bugayova, Alina Pastukhova, Oksana Faryna, Kyiv Post Staff

The Ukrainian presidential campaign kicked off on Oct. 19 with allegations of pedophilia, rape, extortion and blackmail.

And there’s still nearly three months left for the debate to sink deeper into the muck before the Jan. 17 vote.

The child sex abuse scandal exploded onto the national scene on Oct. 13 like ignited gasoline. A flurry of accusations and denials has played out ever since. The children involved were named by some media and exposed to public scrutiny. They became pawns in guerrilla political warfare that also possibly spoiled any criminal investigation. ...

While it is hard to gauge the depth of the pedophilia problem, the nation has been seen as a hotbed of child pornography and sexual abuse. Official statistics are not considered a reliable measure of the problem. Punishment is considered light, even if the offenders are convicted. In Ukraine, child sex abusers get up to three years in prison for the first offence, in contrast to 14 years in Great Britain, for instance.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
The Canadian Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Police say a Canadian missionary who worked as a priest in Windsor, Ont., has been arrested in the Dominican Republic.

Jonathan Arias of the police force in the Dominican city of Puerto Plata says John Duarte, also identified in local media reports as Joao Jose Correira Duarte, was arrested Tuesday.

Arias says Duarte was apprehended near Puerto Plata and is currently in police custody in Santo Domingo.

SANTA ROSA (CA)
The Press Democrat

By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Former Santa Rosa Catholic Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann died early Thursday at an Arizona monastery where he had lived since resigning from leadership of the North Coast diocese 10 years ago.

Ziemann, 68, who suffered from pancreatic cancer, passed away at 3:28 a.m., said Fred Allison, spokesman for the Diocese of Tucson.

An energetic and engaging church leader, Ziemann served as Santa Rosa's fourth bishop from 1992 to 1999, when he abruptly resigned after admitting his homosexual relationship with another priest.

CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

By Duke Helfand

October 22, 2009

G. Patrick Ziemann, the former Roman Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa who resigned in 1999 amid sexual and financial scandals, has died. He was 68.

Ziemann died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at a monastery in Arizona, said his brother, Joe.

The bishop gave up his post at the Diocese of Santa Rosa after a priest filed a lawsuit alleging that Ziemann had coerced him into a two-year sexual relationship in exchange for keeping silent about the priest's admitted theft of money from a Ukiah parish.

UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Elizabeth wrote out her story to give share with other Catholics and clergy abuse survivors alike. I have included the whole thing as Elizabeth wrote it here. Sooner or later I will interview Elizabeth to get the epilogue and how the work we have been doing together the past three years has helped her heal even more.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Otar Dovzhenko gives an “F” to Ukraine’s media.

The word “scandal” doesn’t do justice in describing the bombshell that exploded in the Ukrainian media a week before the official Oct. 19 start of the presidential election campaign. By its destructive potential and its ability to shape the political campaign, “the pedophile case” can be already compared to the “tapegate” scandal of nearly 10 years ago.

The tape scandal involved the surreptitious taping of ex-President Leonid Kuchma by presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko. The recordings – purportedly catching Kuchma and top officials running the nation as a criminal enterprise – were released soon after the September 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. It took many years for the Melnychenko tapes scandal to die down, and many potential witnesses to the crimes described lost their lives along the way.

But the pedophile scandal, from the start, demolished the lives of two children and cast doubts on the honor and career prospects of several adults, including some parliament deputies. The scandal has the potential to alter the choice of Ukrainian voters in the Jan. 17 presidential election.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Jamie L Manson on Oct. 22, 2009 Young Voices

On Friday, Oct. 16 the most e-mailed article on The New York Times Web site was the story of Pat Bond’s fight to receive financial support for the terminally ill son that she conceived with a Franciscan priest over 20 years ago.

Four days later, the eighth most e-mailed Times article told of the Pope’s new initiative to welcome larger numbers of Anglican priests and seminarians, regardless of marital status, into the Roman Catholic clergy.

The Pontiff is putting this plan into practice in an attempt to offer a spiritual home to those who have either left or are considering leaving the Anglican Communion because of their opposition to the ordination of women and openly-gay priests as well as the blessing of same-sex unions.

Ms. Bond, who was impregnated and abandoned by a Catholic priest, cannot get funding for her son’s brain cancer treatments. The priest receives little disciplining from his superiors. She is told by the Franciscan order, who never encouraged the priest to leave the ministry, that they have already gone “far beyond what the law would require,” in their financial support. They also reminded her that, by speaking publicly, she is in jeopardy of paying a penalty because she is in violation of a confidentiality agreement that she signed years ago.

HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Press

By Craig Malisow in Courts, Crime
Thu., Oct. 22 2009
​Episcopalians going to today's noon service at Christ Church Episcopal Cathedral can expect to be harassed by those dang folks from the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Network co-founder and president Barbara Blaine is in town to drum up awareness over the November 3 trial involving three former Austin Episcopal boarding school students who say the Episcopal Diocese of Texas covered up sexual abuse they allegedly suffered at the hands of now-defrocked priest James Tucker.

Specifically, Blaine is outraged by what appears to be the diocese's insistence to settle and seal the case. Blaine, who herself is a victim of a priest's abuse, says it's crucial that victims not be forced to keep any part of their experiences in the dark.

"They shouldn't have to keep any secrets....the victims speaking out is a gift to the church," Blaine told Hair Balls. "We kept our secrets for years, and that's how so many of our perpetrators got to more kids....Tucker was only stopped after kids started telling."

MASON CITY (MI)
The Grand Rapids Press

By John Tunison | The Grand Rapids Press
October 22, 2009
MASON COUNTY -- A Catholic priest removed from two Mason County parishes earlier this year amid allegations of sexual misconduct at a Meijer store has pleaded guilty to a sex assault charge.

The Rev. Johnson Jeyabal Pappusamy, 38, began serving a 30-day jail sentence Wednesday after entering a plea to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in Mason County Circuit Court.

Officials at the Mason County prosecutors office said Pappusamy wanted to start the jail time now, even though his sentencing is set for Nov. 18.

FAIRFIELD (CT)
Fairfield Minuteman

by Meg Learson Grosso, Staff Writer
10/22/2009

Two members of SNAP, Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests - an organization that, despite its name, includes those abused by rabbis and Protestant ministers as well as priests - stood in the pouring rain last Thursday to hold a "media event" outside the entrance to Fairfield University. The survivors, Jim Hackett and Gail Howard, asked that institution to use its resources to do two things: urge other victims of Fr. Eugene O'Brien to come forward and ask Judge Joan Margolis to keep Doug Perlitz in jail when his bail-hearing continues on Oct. 28.

O'Brien is a Jesuit who was principal of Fairfield Prep in the mid-1980s, and was at Fordham Prep during the 1960s and 1970s and at St. Peter's Prep in Newark before that. Doug Perlitz has been recently indicted on ten counts of sexually abusing minors.

MICHIGAN
Luddington Daily News

Jennifer Linn - Staff Writer

Thursday, October 22, 2009

The Rev. Johnson Jeyabel Pappusamy, former pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Custer and St. Jerome Catholic Church in Scottville pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal sexual conduct, fourth degree, Wednesday.

Pappusamy, was charged in April for an incident that allegedly occurred during the evening of Feb. 11 at the Ludington Meijer.

In 51st Circuit Court Wednesday Pappusamy entered his plea.

KENTUCKY
The State Journal

By Kevin Wheatley

A former Good Shepherd associate pastor, who was suspended in July for alleged sexual misconduct in Frankfort going back to the 1980s, has been indicted on similar charges.

Rev. Joseph N. Muench (pronounced “minch”), 54, of Lexington, sexually abused one victim by force between July 1, 1980, and Dec. 31, 1981, and another by force between July 1, 1984, and Dec. 31, 1985, the indictment says.

The two victims were in their late teens or early 20s at the time, and their names won’t be released, Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland said.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Hoy Digital

Joao José Correira Duarte enfrenta al menos doce cargos por abusar a jovencitos de entre 12 a 17 años

Migración y la Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas (DNCD) arrestaron a un misionero canadiense, de origen portugués, acusado de abusar sexualmente de decenas de niños aprovechando su condición de ministro religioso.

Joao José Correira Duarte, alias John Duarte, fue capturado en un hotel de Puerto Plata, donde estaba hospedado como turista, dijo el presidente de la DNCD, mayor general Rolando Rosado Mateo, quien informó que será procesado en una corte criminal de Ontario, Canadá, desde donde fue solicitado en extradición a las autoridades dominicanas.

CANADA
CBC News

A former Windsor priest has been arrested in the Dominican Republic and faces charges of sexually assaulting teenage boys in Haiti, says a local media report.

Father Joao José Correira Duarte, also known as John, 43, was arrested Tuesday at a hotel in Puerto Plata, Hoy Digital, a Spanish-language news website based in Santo Domingo, D.R., reported Wednesday.

He faces 12 charges of sexually assaulting boys aged 12 to 17, the site reported.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

The police intend to launch a criminal case soon in connection with extortion of USD 2 million from a parliamentary deputy representing the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

Interior Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko announced this to journalists.

"There can be only one response: the result of the criminal case that will be launched soon, and those guilty of blackmail with the aim of extorting money will be brought to criminal justice," Lutsenko said.

According to him, interrogations will also be conducted.

CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America

By Matt C. Abbott

Yet another bizarre case in the Windy City.

From an Oct. 21 I-Team report by ABC7 investigative reporter Chuck Goudie:

'A Chicago pastor was found in his Southwest Side home, stabbed more than twenty times and it was ruled a suicide.

'The I-Team has been looking into this two-week-old case that has stunned those who knew the priest. The death of Fr. Waclaw [S. Jamroz] didn't receive much attention outside his parish near Midway Airport. ...

'The pastor had some personal concerns. He was recently accused of civil racketeering in a lawsuit filed by the husband of a parishioner in a messy divorce.

'According to the suit, Fr. Waclaw raised $577,000 from churchgoers to help the woman pay legal bills. Then the priest testified against an attorney in the case at a state disciplinary hearing-describing 'threats' by the lawyer. Fr. Waclaw said the attorney told him to steal money from the church and when he refused was offered $5,000 cash to forget about it. The lawyer's license was suspended by the state on September 28.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYuT) MP Ruslan Bohdan has said that a new criminal case was opened after his meeting with Andriy Tsyhankov, the lawyer for the mother of two sexually abused children, which was held in the presence of police officers.

The MP said this in a statement published by the BYT press service on Thursday.

Bohdan said that he had met with Tsyhankov at the lawyer's request.

"During the meeting, Tsyhankov proposed that Bohdan pay two million [dollars] in exchange for the injured party's not giving testimony against him, and, in such a way, suggested excluding the MP from those involved in the [child molestation] case," reads the statement. ...

Moreover, the media reported that a priest of the Uman Eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) is also involved in the child sex abuse scandal.

MICHIGAN
WKLA

posted by: Alan Neushwander on Thu. Oct. 22 2009

A Catholic Priest from Mason County has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted someone at the Ludington Meijer store. Father Johnson Pappusamy is the former pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Custer and St. Jerome's Catholic Church in Scottville.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Today

Santo Domingo.- the Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) today announced the arrest Monday of a Canadian missionary, of Portuguese origin, accused of sexually abusing dozens of children, and who’ll be criminally charged.

It said that Joao Jose Correira Duarte (alias John Duarte) was arrested in a hotel in Puerto Plata, where he was staying as a tourist. DNCD chief Rolando Rosado said the minister will be tried in a criminal court in Ontario, Canada, which requested his capture by Dominican authorities.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Latin American Herald Tribune

SANTO DOMINGO – A Canadian missionary accused of sexually abusing dozens of young boys in neighboring Haiti was arrested in the northern Dominican province of Puerto Plata, authorities said Wednesday.

Joao Jose Correira Duarte, who goes by John Duarte, was captured on Tuesday in a hotel where he was staying as a tourist, the DNCD counternarcotics agency said in a communique.

He is accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys by taking advantage of his status as a religious minister.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Dearbhail McDonald and Louise Hogan

Thursday October 22 2009

THE publication of a damning report on clerical sex abuse in the Dublin archdiocese will be delayed for at least several weeks.

Lawyers acting for Justice Minister Dermot Ahern yesterday asked High Court judge Mr Justice Paul Gilligan to consider a new issue, which had not been brought to his attention when he heard the main case regarding publication of the report earlier this month.

The new issue is believed to concern potential criminal proceedings that could yet result from a current garda investigation, amid fears that elements in the report might jeopardise a possible prosecution.

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune

By JOY POWELL and KATIE HUMPHREY
Star Tribune staff writers, Star Tribune

A few parents were uneasy about the longtime scoutmaster of Troop 650 in Burnsville, in part because he was known to spend time alone with individual scouts, which is prohibited. But until this week, most of those scouts and their parents had no idea just how bad the allegations against Peter R. Stibal would become.

Stibal, 44, of Burnsville, was charged Wednesday with six felony crimes for allegedly molesting three scouts. Several parents whose sons were not the victims say that Stibal often broke the rule that required two adults to be present on all outings with scouts. ...

Wednesday's charges in Dakota County District Court allege Stibal molested three boys between 2002 and 2008, including acts of sexual penetration. Burnsville police are continuing to investigate Stibal, who also interacted with young people during trips and other youth activities through his church. He also worked as a substitute school bus driver in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
Fox 8

Reported by: Sabrina Wilson, Reporter
Email: swilson@fox8tv.net
Last Update: 10/21 6:40 pm

Archbishop Gregory Aymond says he will meet with an advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by preists. (FOX 8 News) New Orleans - Archbishop Gregory Aymond said Wednesday afternoon that he will respond directly to a group which advocates for people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests.

Archdiocese spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey said Aymond is willing to meet with members of S.N.A.P, the Survivors Network Of Those Abused By Priests.

SNAP is demanding that Aymond go public with the names of those accused of abuse years ago at Madonna Manor and Hope Haven, facilities which took in the young as part of programs run by Catholic Charities.

CANADA
Orangeville Citizen

Constance Scrafield- Danby

Although the matter is no longer on the front pages of newspapers here in Ontario, there are many communities still reeling from the revelations of Bishop Raymond Lahey's (formerly bishop for the Diocese of Antigonish, N.B.) predilection for pornography. He was stopped at Ottawa airport by agents when, upon checking his laptop, they found graphic sexual images.

Worst, the pictures discovered on his laptop were not those of naked women, nor videos of consenting, giggling adults - that sort of "normal" indulgence - Bishop Lahey's obsession involves little boys and young men.

So intense is the reaction to the charges against of Bishop Lahey and his apparent betrayal of his position that he was forced to leave the town where he was staying in New Brunswick and request accommodation from a Roman Catholic Archdiocese. He was found a place to stay in a priests' house in Ottawa.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

Tribune staff report

October 22, 2009

Victims' advocates protested Wednesday outside the South Side home of a Christian Brother accused by a former student of molesting him during a field trip in 1977.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in North Dakota, David Gaffaney, 47, of Minnesota, accuses Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose, now 76, of fondling him at a Ramada Inn in Orlando, Fla., while Gaffaney was sleeping. The two were on a field trip sponsored by Shanley High School, a Roman Catholic School in Fargo, N.D.

Gaffaney came forward when he learned about five other lawsuits filed against Rose last summer. Rose faces multiple suits for allegedly abusing students at two schools run by the Christian Brothers in Minnesota.

By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star
October 21, 2009

A former local priest, who founded a mission to aid the poor in Haiti, has been arrested in the Dominican Republic and is awaiting extradition to Canada to face charges of sexually abusing teenage Haitian boys.

John Duarte, 43, former leader of the Windsor-based Hearts Together For Haiti, was picked up Tuesday in the city of Puerto Plata by Dominican authorities on a warrant issued in Canada, according to a statement released by the Dominican Immigration Office and National Drug Control Directorate.

It is alleged Duarte had been engaging in sexual relations with a group of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 in Port-au-Prince.

PUEBLO (CO)
Pueblo Chieftain

By JEFF TUCKER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
A new lawsuit has been filed against the Diocese of Pueblo alleging sexual abuse by two late priests.

In the suit, Puebloan Tom Roldan alleges that Rev. Andrew Burke and Rev. John F. Martin sexually abused him more than a dozen times while he was a teenager in the 1970s.

Martin's name has not surfaced before in the number of abuse cases filed against the Pueblo Diocese.

PUEBLO (CO)
The Denver Post

Posted: 10/22/2009

A 56-year-old Pueblo man is suing the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo for negligence in not preventing or stopping sexual abuse allegedly committed against him in 1971 by two diocesan priests, now deceased.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Pueblo District Court, Tom Roldan alleges that the Revs. Andrew Burke and John F. Martin sexually assaulted him in the rectory basement on more than a dozen occasions over two years. Many assaults against Roldan, then a St. Pius X Parish janitor, occurred before his 18th birthday, the complaint alleges.

UNITED STATES
Baltimore Sun

Dan Rodricks

October 22, 2009

The Vatican's just-announced effort to recruit unhappy Anglicans away from a church that has embraced female priests and elected an openly gay bishop provides the Catholic Church with a way to deal with its shortage of priests - without allowing Catholic women to be ordained and without ending the celibacy rule.

If Anglican clergy and seminarians are among those who convert, the Vatican potentially gets more married men in its ranks of priests while continuing to forbid Catholic priests and seminarians to wed.

In fact, this very thing has been happening on a small scale for years. Since the early 1980s, dozens of former Episcopal priests, a good many married with children, have become Catholic priests in the United States. Published reports put the number at about 200 by now.

CANADA
Montreal Gazette

By JORGE BARRERA, Canwest News Service
October 22, 2009

A former Ontario Catholic priest wanted for allegedly sexually abusing Haitian children was arrested in the Dominican Republic yesterday on a Canadian warrant, according to authorities in the country's capital, Santo Domingo.

Joao Jose Correira Duarte, a former Windsor, Ont., priest, is facing extradition to Canada, where he is expected to face 12 charges in the sexual abuse of Haitian youths, age 12 to 17, the Immigration Office and National Drug Control Directorate said in a statement provided to Canwest News Service.

Duarte was arrested yesterday in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, and taken to prison to await the trip back to Canada, the statement said.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

By PAUL LEDROIT
Thu. Oct 22

A young child abused by a priest faces many powerful emotions. The child has been taught to believe the priest is God’s representative on Earth. In a child’s eyes, a priest can perform miracles. He can transform bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. He can forgive sins. The priest is the most respected member of the community, held in great esteem by the child’s parents. The child is taught to honour and obey this man, whom he perceives as not just holy, but truly God himself. I know. I was once such a child.

Philip Latimer, the oldest of his seven brothers living in Havre Boucher, could think of nothing better to please his parents than to become an altar boy. He was so proud when Father Allan MacDonald agreed.

But soon Fr. MacDonald started sexually abusing Philip. The abuse got steadily worse over the next few years.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By MAUREEN MILFORD • The News Journal • October 22, 2009

Following the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's first court appearance Wednesday, lawyers for sex abuse victims said they would seek to include parish property in the bankruptcy proceedings.

James Stang, the lawyer for the unofficial committee of abuse survivors, said he will challenge the diocese's assertion that the parishes have a separate status from the diocese. He spoke outside the courtroom in downtown Wilmington.

The diocese sought protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware late Sunday night in an effort to manage the potential liability resulting from an avalanche of sexual-abuse claims against the diocese. The diocese estimated assets of up to $100 million and debts up to $500 million.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

By DAVENE JEFFREY Staff Reporter
Thu. Oct 22 - 4:46 AM
Professional counsellors are helping some of the province’s Catholics deal with the emotional fallout from Bishop Raymond Lahey’s child porn allegations.

"I think that it is a bit unique," said Rev. Paul Abbass, spokesman for the Diocese of Antigonish said Wednesday as he explained that parishes are struggling with the fact their bishop is facing charges at the same time they are facing up to historical abuse cases.

"We’re trying to be just very pastoral. . . . If we don’t do this to the best of our ability then we’re not church," Father Abbass said.

[Read the archbishop's letter]

Guam - Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron has released a letter to the media in response to Vice-Speaker BJ Cruz'sassertion that there are currently priests within the Archdiocese of Guam who have sexually abused children.

Archbishop Apuron has chosen not to respond directly to questions from the media about these allegations.

Instead, he released a letter to the media Thursday evening in response to the media reports.

In the letter, the Archbishop writes "I want to assure everyone that the Archdiocese takes seriously its responsibility to ensure a safe environment for all minors who are in the care of Archdiocesan personnel."

WILMINGTON (DE)
WGMD

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, all lawsuits against the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington have been put on hold. Today a judge agreed to allow the Diocese to use existing money to pay employee wages and benefits.

WISCONSIN
NBC 15

[with video]

Reporter: Zac Schultz
Email Address: zschultz@nbc15.com

Madison: In 1953, Arthur Budzinski started attending St. John's School For the Deaf near Milwaukee.

"He was molested while he was at that school. He feels like he's immoral now." With his daughter Gigi translating, Arthur testified at the Capitol about being molested. "They had to sleep in bunks, and they would be molested in the closets. Father Murphy molested him three times."

Father Lawrence Murphy is on the list of restricted priests due to substantiated reports of sexual abuse. The list came out in 2004, but Arthur was not able to file a civil suit against the church, because he was older than age 35 and had reached the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims.

A bill at the Capitol would remove the age limit, and create a three year window for past victims to sue. "Some will claim this bill singles out the Catholic Church," says Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison). "Let me be clear. This bill singles out people who have raped children."

DALLAS (TX)
KERA

KERA News & Wire Services (2009-10-21)
DALLAS, TX (KERA) -

Two Dallas-area men who were part of a $4.6 million settlement over alleged sexual abuse by a now-deceased Catholic priest are urging other victims to speak out.

Robert Sanchez and Jaime Cantu made their first public comments Wednesday since they and four other men reached a deal in their case against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas and the Oklahoma religious order of the late Rev. Thomas Behnke.

PUEBLO (CO)
The Denver Post

By The Denver Post

A 56-year-old Pueblo man is suing the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo for negligence in not preventing or stopping sexual abuse allegedly committed against him in 1971 by two diocesan priests, now deceased.

In the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Pueblo District Court, Tom Roldan alleges that Father Andrew Burke and Father John F. Martin sexually assaulted Roldan in the rectory basement on more than a dozen occasions over two years. Many assaults against Roldan, then a St. Pius X Parish janitor, occurred before his 18th birthday, the complaint alleges.

Burke, who left the priesthood in 1973 citing a "psychosexual behavior disorder," committed suicide in September 2005 at age 62 as allegations against him began to surface. Martin died in the late 1970s,said Roldan's attorney, Florida-based Adam Horowitz, but the date of his death could not be comfirmed.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Libby Purves: Analysis

The welcoming of Anglican clergy into the Catholic Church highlights the differences, and difficulties, of approach Attack is the best form of defence. On the eve of another damning report on clerical abuse and cover-up in Ireland, that seems to be Pope Benedict’s tactic. His sudden invitation to Anglican defectors will certainly take the spotlight off a continuing child abuse scandal fed, for decades, by the masculine and intimidating structures of authority in the Catholic hierarchy. Words like “poaching” may seem harsh, but there is more than a whiff of power politics in this move. A “rush to Rome” would resolve Catholicism’s shortage of priests, win back some ancient church buildings annexed at the Reformation, and reduce Anglicanism to an anxious, liberal rump. Result! It is not, after all, so long since Catholics prayed weekly for “the conversion of England”.

CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By Jorge Barrera, Canwest News Service
October 21, 2009

A former Ontario Catholic priest wanted for allegedly sexually abusing Haitian children was arrested in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday on a Canadian warrant, according to authorities in the capital of Santo Domingo.

Joao Jose Correira Duarte, a former Windsor, Ont., priest, is now facing extradition to Canada, where he's expected to face 12 charges in the sexual abuse of Haitian youths, aged 12 to 17, the Immigration Office and National Drug Control Directorate said in a statement sent to Canwest News Service.

Duarte was arrested Tuesday in Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, and taken to prison to await the trip back to Canada, the statement said.

DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel

DENVER -- A Colorado court has ruled that the personnel file of a deceased priest accused of sexual abuse should remain sealed despite a new lawsuit claiming he molested a teenage boy.

The attorney for the man making the new claim decried Tuesday's ruling in Pueblo District Court, saying the public should know what's in the personnel files of priests accused of abuse.

"The reason we do these cases is to expose the truth. People should know who enabled these pedophiles," said Adam Horowitz, who has represented several people who have claimed abuse by priests. In a previous attempt to open the priest's file, attorneys have argued that it would show when church officials learned about sexual misconduct allegations.

DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News

10/21/2009

Two Dallas-area men who were part of a $4.6 million settlement over alleged sexual abuse by a now-deceased Catholic priest are urging other victims to speak out.

Robert Sanchez and Jaime Cantu made their first public comments Wednesday since they and four other men reached a deal in their case against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas and the Oklahoma religious order of the late Rev. Thomas Behnke.

TROY (OH)
WHIO

TROY, Ohio -- A Tipp City man who was being held in the Miami County Jail in Troy since June 16 on four counts of gross sexual imposition is a free man.

Shawn P. Rickert, 38, was released from jail on Friday and the four charges against him were nullified after his rights for a speedy trial were violated explained Miami County Prosecutor Gary Nasal.

The prosecuting attorney blamed human error in his office. He is now investigating what happened and is looking at his options.

TROY (OH)
Dayton Daily News

By Nancy Bowman, Contributing Writer
4:19 PM Wednesday, October 21, 2009
TROY – A Tipp City area man jailed since mid-June on allegations of rape and gross sexual imposition is free after charges were dismissed because Miami County prosecutors didn’t try the case in time.

Shawn P. Rickert, 38, who was a youth leader and director of children’s church at Vandalia Baptist Temple, was accused of sexual activity with a girl under age 13 beginning in 2005.

“I am extremely upset for the victim and this family. They should not be subjected to the fact he’s out,” Prosecutor Gary Nasal said Wednesday, Oct. 21.

NORTH DAKOTA
Anderson Advocates Blog

By Patrick Noaker

While preparing the paperwork for the sixth lawsuit against Bro. Raimond Rose and his employers in Fargo, North Dakota, I took the time to review the Shanley High School yearbook for 1978. It was a powerful reminder that we are dealing with kids who were manipulated and sexually abused by very dangerous men. Sometimes the fact that we are dealing with kids gets lost when cases are brought on behalf of adult men and women for abuse that occurred when they were children. Photographs have an unusual way of reminding us just how young, naïve and vulnerable we really were when we were kids. Whether it is the 1970’s hair style (I had an afro) or the wide-collared shirts, there is no question that we were once young.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By MAUREEN MILFORD • The News Journal • October 21, 2009

Lawyers for alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse indicated in federal court today they would seek to include property owned by parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Inc. in the diocese's bankruptcy proceeding.

In the diocese’s first appearance in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, James Stang, lawyer for the unofficial committee of abuse survivors, said he will challenge the diocese’s assertion that parishes have a separate legal status from the diocese.

The diocese Sunday night sought protection in bankruptcy court in an effort to manage an avalanche of clergy sexual-abuse claims. One goal in seeking bankruptcy is to preserve the diocese’s assets and make sure “they will be distributed equitably to all creditors, not just a select view,” said Monsignor J. Thomas Cini in a declaration filed with the court. The second goal is to continue the ministries of the Catholic Church within the diocese, he said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Reuters

By Tom Hals
WILMINGTON, Del., Oct 21 (Reuters) - The bankrupt Catholic Diocese of Wilmington began its court fight on Wednesday with victims claiming sexual abuse by its priests over the value of its estate and how much will be available for claims.

Attorneys for most of the 142 victims indicated they may seek to expand the bankruptcy to include parishes that operate in the Delaware-based diocese but were not part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on Sunday.

The attorneys for the diocese pledged an open process that they said would be the quickest way to resolve the claims that stem from alleged abuse beginning as far back as 1954.

PENNSYLVANIA
Off My Knees

It is already beginning. The troops are rallying around the disgraced priest. If you read the online reports of the arraignment of Father Bob Timchak in the various news outlets you will find comments by people weighing in on both sides of this issue. Parishioners and former students are expressing shock and disbelief. Some are even rallying around him. Many are questioning their faith and wondering how a man who has been so outspoken on issues important to his parishioners could fall from grace in this manner. They lament that he was so involved with children in the respective parishes and schools he has been affiliated with over the years and they can’t reconcile the man and the crime with which he is accused. And yet this “good, kind man” now stands accused of possessing child pornography and tampering with evidence. Not very priestly activity when you think about it.

Watching news reports online, I am amazed at both the support for Father Timchak and the lack of concern for victims. Yes, the kids in those photos are victims. A state trooper interviewed for one Scranton TV news report lamented that this case will make it more difficult for other priests in the diocese. Excuse me? You are worried about the other priests? Where is the concern for the kids in the photos? Some of them could be from parishes or schools where this man worked. At a minimum, these photos need to be reviewed by the organizations that search for lost and exploited children. They are living (I hope), breathing people who need protection from the filth that exploits them. Not just the people with the cameras and websites, but from the people who get off on photos of children.

UNITED STATES
Blogger News Network

Posted on October 21st, 2009 by Hugh McNichol in All News

The recent petition of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington for Chapter 11 protection illustrates the real need for resolution in all of the cases throughout the Catholic Church of alleged sexual abuse by priests over the past decades. Remarkably most of the Catholic priests that have been suspended or removed from active ministry have never been charged with any criminal actions. What has seemingly happened is they have not only been denied their American constitutional rights of due process, they have also been denied any vehicle of explanation or defense of any of these alleged charges. Before anyone misunderstand this article, the author believes there are no circumstances that justify any form of sexual abuse on any level. However, the domino effect of these allegations has now caused our Catholic Dioceses to resort to litigation more in keeping with civil law, rather than principles that are inherent to the Gospel message.

UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

The Southern Baptist Convention claims that it has no power to provide any sort of oversight for clergy who carry the Southern Baptist name. It claims that it doesn’t even have the power to keep records on ministers reported for sexual abuse, or to warn people in the pews. “We have no bishops,” they say . . . . “Our hands are tied . . . local churches are autonomous . . . there’s nothing we can do.”

And so ministers reported for child molestation simply church-hop through the porous sieve of the Southern Baptist network.

Now mind you, the Southern Baptist Convention is a plenty powerful organization when it wants to be. But ONLY when it wants to be. And therein lies their sleight-of-hand.

COLORADO
The Gazette

October 21, 2009 12:36 PM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER • A Colorado court has ruled that the personnel file of a deceased priest accused of sexual abuse should remain sealed despite a new lawsuit claiming he molested a teenage boy.

The attorney for the man making the new claim decried Tuesday's ruling in Pueblo District Court. Adam Horowitz says the public should know what's in the personnel files of priests accused of abuse.

IRELAND
The Westmeath Independent

by Adrian Cusack

An Athlone-born priest will reveal his artistic response to sexual abuse in the Church. The art installation by Fr Joe Walsh, who is Guardian of the Franciscan Friary in Multyfarnham, will be among the exhibits.

At the week-long arts festival which gets underway in the Westmeath village on November 27. Fr Joe is currently working on the project, which he described as "a visual response to the Ryan report."

Discussing its controversial subject, he said the work was not intended to create a stir.

UNITED STATES
The Awareness Center

[with video]

Rabbi Hershel Schachter explains the laws of mesira pertaining to sex crimes. Rabbi Schachter is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University. There are several things he is saying that is inaccurate about the percentage of times in which adults and children make up stories of sex crimes. According to statistics it is less then 2% of the cases are false.

iIRELAND
The Meath Chronicle

Later this week, potentially the most explosive report on clerical sex abuse in this country will be published. It is a report, we are being forewarned, that will shake the Church in Ireland to its core.

The 700-page report of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation comes four years after the Diocese of Ferns report which saw that diocese branded as the "worst in the world". This latest report is expected to be even more devastating than Ferns and will focus on the failure of the Church authorities and the State to curb the activities of predatory priests, serial sex abusers within the Church and the subsequent systematic cover-ups of these activities by those in authority.

There have been grim warnings all week both in the media and, indeed, from church pulpits, that the revelations contained within the Dublin Archdiocese report will make for very uncomfortable reading. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin himself warned several months ago that the report would shock everyone. Just a few months after everyone learned of the sickening depravity visited upon children in reformatories and industrial schools in Ireland in previous decades, the latest revelations are set to make the Catholic Church in Ireland a "far humbler Church", in the words of Archbishop Martin.

NORTHERN IRELAND
The Anglo-Celt

A Catholic priest is to stand trial on six charges of sexually abusing three young Fermanagh sisters. Fr. Eugene Lewis was at one time Superior of the House at St. Augustine's College at Blacklion, now Loughan House open prison.

The 75-year-old missionary priest appeared before a Preliminary Enquiry at Fermanagh Court on Monday of last week. He faces three charges of indecently assaulting one of the sisters on dates unknown between August 27, 1962, and August 27, 1967. He faces a further two charges of indecently assaulting a second sister on dates unknown between May 23, 1966, and May 23, 1974.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Los Angeles Times

RANDALL CHASE
Associated Press Writer

October 21, 2009 | 9:14 a.m.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A bankruptcy judge has granted first-day motions in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's bankruptcy.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy Sunday on the eve of what was to be the first of eight trials in lawsuits brought by alleged victims of priest sexual abuse.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Citizens of Delaware, especially the Catholic ones, should be wary about the motives of Bishop Malooly in filing for bankruptcy. It seems that he wants to keep the truth hidden regarding how much diocesan officials knew and how little they did to protect the children.

It is highly suspicious that the bankruptcy is filed on the eve of the trial that would have allowed the truth to be exposed and diocesan officials to be cross examined under oath where they would have had difficulty explaining why the children were not protected instead of the predators.

Clearly the bishop has lots of options other than filing for bankruptcy. He could seek a bank loan, seek a church loan, seek a government-backed loan, sue recalcitrant insurers, settle insured cases. Instead he chose to file and to keep victims from getting their day in court and from having the truth exposed.

CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and photos at a news conference, clergy sex abuse victims disclose and discuss a new civil lawsuit that accuses a Chicago cleric who lives near an all boys Catholic high school ...

WHEN
Wednesday, October 21, 1:00 pm.

WHERE
Outside where the predator lives, 3347 S Michigan Ave. (near 34th) on Chicago’s south side

DENVER (CO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT: At a news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
-- disclose and discuss a new child molestation and cover up lawsuit against a priest ...

WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 1:00 PM

WHERE: At the Entrance to the Archdiocesan Center of Denver, 1300 S Steele St at E. Louisiana Ave. (Main Gate)

DALLAS (TX)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conferences,, clergy sex abuse victims will
-- speak publicly for the first time about their recent $4.6 million settlement with Catholic officials ...

WHEN
Wednesday, October 21 at 1:45 pm

WHERE
Outside St Mary of Carmel Catholic church, 2900 Vilbig Rd., (in the Oak Cliff area) in Dallas

IRELAND
RTE News

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 15:38
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan has adjourned until tomorrow week the hearing of an issue which is delaying publication of the report on clerical child abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese in Dublin.

Following an 'in camera' hearing in the High Court lasting about 30 minutes, the judge opened the court to the public.

He said an application had been made with respect to an issue which has not been raised at the three most recent hearings on the report.

WALES
Pink News

Father John Owen, the priest who said earlier this year that gay men are the main perpetrators of paedophilia in the Catholic Church has resigned as a chaplain at Cardiff University.

Speaking on BBC1's Big Questions programme in May, which focused on child abuse scandals in the church, the communications officer for the archdiocese of Cardiff stated that "most of the offences are being committed by homosexuals".

Father Owen, also said that teenage boys were the group affected by the “majority” of abuse cases in the United Kingdom, adding: "Now what does that tell you? Now that is a fact."

UNITED STATES
The Garden of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

I started working on the clergy abuse scandal in the summer of 2002, about a year after my children and I were baptized Catholic. The priest who baptized us was removed when one of his survivors came forward. My parish was torn apart by grief and anger. Church leadership held several forums to help parishioners grieve and heal divisions.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor

Wednesday October 21 2009

The publication of the report into abuse in the Dublin archdiocese is going back to the High Court.

The possibility of criminal prosecutions being jeopardised by its publication is causing the delay in the findings being made public.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern (right) last night instructed his officials to go back to the court to clarify matters.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Ukraine's parliament has set up an ad hoc commission to investigate an alleged case of child sexual abuse in the Artek International Children's Camp in Crimea.

A total of 418 MPs out of 438 MPs registered in the session hall voted for a relevant resolution on Tuesday.

IRELAND
Drogheda Independent

Wednesday October 21 2009

The Government has reportedly delayed publication of the report into how the Dublin archdiocese handled allegations of clerical sex abuse between 1975 and 2004.

The findings of a special commission of investigation were expected to be published this week after the High Court ruled last week that all but one chapter could be made public.

However, reports this morning say Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has instructed his officials to return to the High Court to seek clarification of certain matters.

MISSOURI
The Joplin Globe

By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com

NEVADA, Mo. — Newton County authorities will again attempt to contact two women who previously accused the pastor of a rural Granby church of molesting them while they were underage, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The women will play a large part in determining whether the case against George Otis Johnston, the pastor of Grandview Valley Baptist Church, proceeds. The women also will help determine whether there are “additional investigative avenues that have not been exhausted,” said Assistant Newton County Prosecutor Bill Dobbs.

Johnston, 66, originally was one of a half-dozen people connected with fringe churches in Newton and McDonald counties, and who in 2006 found themselves facing multiple charges after a probe into alleged sexual abuse of children.

CANADA
VOCM

The president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has spoken out on the Bishop Raymond Lahey case, at the annual meeting of Canada's Catholic Bishops in Cornwall, Ontario. CCCB president, Winnipeg Archbishop James Weisgerber in his speech to the delegates, suggested the arrest of Bishop Raymond Lahey has been especially painful, not only because of the seriousness of the charges but also because it involves a former member of the Assembly, an Episcopal colleague, a close associate and, for many, a friend.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE REPORT into the handling by Church and State authorities of allegations of the abuse of children by Catholic priests in the Dublin Archdiocese is to be referred back to the High Court.

Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, on advice from the Attorney General, has instructed department counsel to return to the High Court as quickly as possible to clarify issues which have arisen following further discussion on the report by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Attorney General (AG) and at the Department of Justice.

It means that the Commission of Investigation, Dublin Archdiocese report will not now be published this week.

FARGO (ND)
KFGO

FARGO, ND - The Fargo Catholic Diocese, Shanley High School and a former teacher at the school have been named in a sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a former student.

David gaffaney, now living in Forest Lake, MN, claims he was fondled by Brother Raimond Rose while Rose taught at Shanley in 1977.

FARGO (ND)
Chicago Tribune

By DAVE KOLPACK
Associated Press Writer

FARGO, N.D. - A former student at a local Catholic high school filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his former teacher, the school and the Fargo Roman Catholic Diocese, saying he was sexually assaulted on a school-sponsored trip in 1977.

David Gaffaney, 47, who now lives in Minnesota, is seeking more than $50,000 to cover expenses for medical and psychological help. His lawsuit, filed in state court in Fargo, says he was 14 years old when Charles Anthony "Raimond" Rose sexually assaulted him in an Orlando, Fla., hotel during a school trip.

FARGO (ND)
KYFR

A former student at Fargo Shanley High School is suing his former teacher, the school, the Catholic Diocese and others.

He claims he was sexually assaulted on a school-sponsored trip in 1977.

David Gaffaney, 47, is seeking more than $50,000 to cover expenses for medical and psychological help.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Advertiser

October 21, 2009

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Archdiocese of New Orleans and Catholic Charities has agreed to pay more than $5 million to settle 20 lawsuits, most alleging sexual and physical mistreatment of children decades ago at homes for boys from troubled families.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond said the $5.182 million settlement, announced Tuesday, came after years of mediation and negotiation with the 20 victims and their families.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
NECN

[with video]

(NECN/WGNO: New Orleans, La.) - The Catholic Church apologized for sexual abuse over the last 50 years as Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced the number of cases settled and for how much on Tuesday.

The Church admitted that many of the sexual offenses dated back as far as 50 years ago, and most stemmed from incidents occurring at Hope Have and Madonna Manor Orphanage in Marrero.

WGNO interviewed Stacey Brown, a victim since dead, five years ago.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

By Amritha Alladi • Pacific Daily News • October 21, 2009

As the domestic partnership bill approaches key action by senators soon, the local Catholic Church leadership and some of the island's senators met yesterday morning in a dialogue initiated by the church.

But the breakfast meeting at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa turned sour as it occurred a day after Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz accused the Catholic Church of hypocrisy on Monday, revealing that he was a victim of sexual abuse by a priest in Los Angeles when he was 13.

Cruz has said he didn't mean to disclose that part of his past, but felt compelled to do so after Archbishop Anthony Apuron, addressing churchgoers during Mass on Sunday, condemned homosexuality and called on Catholics to oppose Bill 185.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A long-awaited report into clerical child sex abuse will be a painful reflection on society, the Archbishop of Dublin warned today.

Diarmuid Martin said the report on the Dublin diocese, expected to be published later this week, will also help point the way forward for dealing with paedophilia.

“I think it will provide a painful but an important reflection on society and where we should be going to address the sexual abuse of children,” the Archbishop said.

“It’s a terrible problem.”

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Associated Press

WILMINGTON, Del. — A status hearing is scheduled in the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's bankruptcy, which was filed just before a trial on alleged sex abuse could begin.

The Delaware diocese filed for Chapter 11 protection Sunday after negotiations with alleged victims of priest sexual abuse broke down on the eve of what was to be the first of eight trials.

NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune

By Bruce Nolan, The Times-Picayune
October 20, 2009, 9:10PM

The Archdiocese of New Orleans and its charitable arm, Catholic Charities, said Tuesday they will pay $5.182 million to an undisclosed number of adults who claimed that years ago as children they were beaten, berated and sexually molested at two Catholic orphanages that were supposed to shelter them because their families were in disarray.

The archdiocese announced a package settlement of 20 lawsuits, most of them filed by adults alleging that in the 1950s and 1960s they were abused at Madonna Manor and nearby Hope Haven on the West Bank.

"I hope these mediations and negotiations will bring some peace and reconciliation to those victims and all those involved, " Archbishop Gregory Aymond said in announcing the settlements

WILMINGTON (DE)
GetReligion

Sunday evening the Catholic diocese of Wilmington, Del. filed for bankruptcy protection — just ahead of the start of Monday morning trials to weigh the claims of potentially hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse. This is big news here in the United States — and also abroad. As in the Irish Times article just referenced, it is being treated as a business story as well as, if not more, than a religion story.

But the writer of the Telegraph article seems to have suffered a spot of hopefully temporary amnesia.

“This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make,” the Rev W. Francis Malooly, the bishop of the diocese, said in a statement on the diocese’s website.

The Wilmington diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics.

Well, no. The sexual abuse scandals, or the revelations and lawsuits and victim’s rights movements, didn’t begin to erupt seven years ago. If you want an official beginning, one where the press really began to pay attention, it would be with the charges and trial of the Rev. Gilbert Gauthe in a small Louisiana community more than 25 years ago. Read that story (or this article), and you get what was a fresh look at the tragedies whose repercussions have at intervals rocked the Catholic Church since.

PENNSYLVANIA
Wayne Independent

Tue Oct 20, 2009, 06:03 PM EDT

Pike County, Pa. -
Pennsylvania State Police and the Pike County District Attorney announced the arrest of Father Robert M. Timchak, 43, last known to be living in Milford, in an on-line child porn case.
Timchack has been charged with; 16 counts, Sexual Abuse of Children (F2); 1 count. Sexual Abuse of Children (F3); 1 count, Criminal Use of Communication Facility (F3); and 1 count, Tampering with/or Fabricating Physical Evidence.

The investigation started on December 17, 2008 when The Pike County District Attorney's Office received correspondence from the Diocese of Scranton reference an anonymous letter they had received. The Diocese advised that the letter contained explicit photographs and comments of young males, possibly children, that reportedly had been recovered during a search of a certain e-mail address on both "You Tube" and "XTube."

CANADA
The Chronicle Herald

By EVA HOARE Staff Reporter
Sat. Oct 17

An image of a naked boy wearing only rosary beads was among those found on Bishop Raymond Lahey’s laptop computer, a search warrant has revealed.

The RCMP’s child exploitation unit obtained the warrant in order to search the bishop’s home in Antigonish and his apartment in Sydney. The document sheds more light on what Canada Border Services Agency officers found on the bishop’s computer after it was seized at the Ottawa airport on Sept. 15 as he was returning to Canada from overseas.

Bishop Lahey, 69, was charged Sept. 25 with possessing and importing child pornography. He resigned as bishop of the Antigonish diocese the next day.

IRELAND
The Times (United Kingdom)

David Sharrock

Raped and infected with gonorrhoea when she was just 8 years old, then shortly afterwards, seized and sentenced to eight years in a children’s institute run by sadistic nuns, Kathleen O’Malley has spent most of her life hiding from herself. But having emerged stronger from her horrific childhood she has set herself a new challenge: to find the sister who suffered with her.

The facts of Kathleen O’Malley’s life would probably not have been believed ten years ago, not before the dam finally burst on the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

A long-awaited report into clerical abuse in the Diocese of Dublin is expected to be published this week and bishops are bracing themselves for another round of public anger. It will be a horror story of how known paedophile priests were shunted from parish to parish by their religious seniors. The number of children who suffered as a result of the Church’s cover-up could run into thousands.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Bloomberg

By Jef Feeley and Phil Milford

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Delaware Catholic Diocese of Wilmington’s decision to file for bankruptcy to deal with more than 100 lawsuits over sexual abuse by priests saddened Lynne Sadusky, a lifelong Catholic.

“I don’t think the diocese had much of a choice,” Sadusky, a 48-year-old homemaker, said in an interview. Multimillion dollar awards to abuse victims would devastate the diocese’s finances and imperil services, said Sadusky, a Eucharistic minister at Holy Cross Parish in Dover, the state’s capital.

The Oct. 18 filing, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, came on the eve of a trial scheduled to start in state court in Dover over abuse allegations leveled at a former priest in the Wilmington diocese. The filing forced lawyers for the plaintiff to put the case on hold.

WHITE PLAINS (NY)
The Journal News

By Rebecca Baker • rebaker@lohud.com • October 20, 2009

WHITE PLAINS - Had the Rev. Patrick Dunne been convicted after trial for stealing $432,000 from his White Plains church, he could have been sent to state prison for 15 years.

Instead, he was convicted through a plea bargain and won't serve any more than six months in the county jail.

Dunne, the 63-year-old former pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Church, pleaded guilty today to the top count against him, second-degree grand larceny, a felony, in Westchester County Court in exchange for "shock" probation, in which he will serve five years' probation with some time in jail.

NEW YORK
NBC New York

A New York parish priest has pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from church accounts, including a fund for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Patrick Dunne pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony grand larceny, Westchester County prosecutors said.

Dunne had pleaded not guilty in June. Prosecutors said he changed his plea as the case neared trial. He faces a maximum five to 15 years in prison when he's sentenced Jan. 12.

CANADA
The Compass

BILL WESTCOTT
The Compass

"Let us rejoice that we see around us on every hand the decay of institutions and instruments of power....For it is precisely when every earthly hope has been explored and found wanting...that Christ's hand reaches out sure and firm."

- Malcolm Muggeridge from his book, The End of Christendom.

How would you feel if you were told without any doubt someone you thought you knew and looked up to was a prostitute? Shocking would not be strong enough I imagine.

Well, that's exactly how I was made to feel again on Oct. 3 when I learned about the allegations of perverse conduct of a Roman Catholic bishop from Newfoundland. Raymond Lahey a while back let a tiny ray of light back into the Church when last year he steered the historic settlement for victims of sexual abuse by priests in his Nova Scotia diocese in the 1950s. A short ten months later he was arrested for allegedly possessing and importing child porn. Shortly after that he resigned his trusted and sacred post as Bishop of Antigonish.

GUAM
Guampdn

What Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, a former Guam chief justice, did in revealing that he was abused by a priest as a child took courage.

Some may argue it was a strategy in the ongoing debate on Bill 185, but it would be wrong to characterize it as such.

The vice speaker's actions will hopefully encourage other victims of sexual abuse to speak out. The debate on Bill 185 shouldn't diminish the struggle of victims of abuse. Our community can't be allowed to create an environment that discourages abuse victims who come forward. The bill would allow two people, including same-sex couples, to enter into domestic partnerships.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

By Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News • October 21, 2009

Although Archbishop Anthony Apuron declined to comment yesterday about allegations of clergy on Guam sexually assaulting children, the archbishop expressed "personal regret for the event that painfully affected" Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz.

Cruz, a former Guam chief justice and Superior Court of Guam judge, on Monday publicly disclosed he was sexually abused by a priest at age 13 while attending school in California. Cruz also alleged that incidents of sexual abuse by clergy had happened on island.

"Unfortunately, sins committed by individuals from every walk of life bear consequences that are painful and should be prevented," Apuron said, reading from a prepared statement at a press conference at the Chancery Office in Hagåtña yesterday.

FARGO (ND)
WDAY

By: Christina Vaughn, WDAY

(WDAY TV) - A civil lawsuit will be filed tomorrow against a former Shanley teacher who's had a list of civil suits brought against him in both Minnesota and California. Brother Raimond Rose taught at Shanley High School for four years back in the 1970's. Now, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP are filing a suit against him, the Fargo Diocese, Shanley, and the Christian Brothers of the Midwest Province.

This newest civil suit is the sixth one against Raimond Rose. It involves a Minnesota man, who was 14 and a student at Shanley at the time of the alleged abuse. He says it happened on a school trip to Orlando around 1977, a trip sponsored by Brother Raimond Rose.

Attorneys, and victims say one of the most disturbing parts of this suit is Brother Rose didn't know the victim, he was chosen at random.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Australian

WILMINGTON, Delaware: A bankruptcy filing by the Catholic diocese of Wilmington was the best way to ensure reconciliation and compensation for all victims of clergy sexual abuse in the diocese, a bishop says.

But alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of US Catholic priests expressed outrage yesterday after the diocese in Delaware filed for bankruptcy on Monday, the eve of a trial, delaying the claims of more than 140 people.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy protection after hours of settlement negotiations failed with about a dozen alleged victims, including eight plaintiffs whose cases were scheduled for trial. More than 100 other alleged victims are pursuing compensation through dispute resolution instead of trials.

UNITED STATES
Houston Voice

In a little noticed piece published on the Washington Post’s web site, Catholic League president Bill Donohue takes complete leave of rational thought and launches a diatribe against “cultural nihilists.”

He assails “radical gay activists,” Democrats and basically anyone who believes in separation of church and state.

Here’s just one gem: “The culture war is up for grabs. The good news is that religious conservatives continue to breed like rabbits, while secular saboteurs have shut down: they're too busy walking their dogs, going to bathhouses and aborting their kids. Time, it seems, is on the side of the angels.”

Conservatives may be breeding like rabbits, but those prodigious offspring aren’t attending Mass. Catholic Mass attendance has been in a freefall since its peak in the late 1950s, according to a national Gallup survey. Gallup reported that, on average, just 40 percent of Catholics in 2003 said they attended Mass within the previous seven days, compared to 74 percent in 1958.

The Catholic Church has lost its way and its appeal in the developed world and its growth is now found in developing countries. Just this week, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, facing a raft of sex abuse lawsuits, became the seventh diocese to file for bankruptcy protection.

UKRAINE
Kyiv Post

Suspects from Tymoshenko camp say charges are untrue.

(Kyiv Post Staff) - Three parliament deputies are implicated in an escalating child sex-abuse scandal, while the father of two children allegedly victimized has been arrested as the main suspect in the case. At least two of the lawmakers have publicly denied the accusations.

Dmytro Polyukhovych, a journalist from ICTV television channel and a contributor to the respected Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper, was detained two months ago and remains in custody on court orders, according to prosecutors. He is the key suspect in the criminal case, which commenced in May.

Three parliamentarians from the Bloc of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are also named as accomplices, as well as officials from Artek, a popular children’s camp on the Crimean peninsula, and a priest.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Boston, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Francis X. Irwin, in accordance with canons 411 and 401 para. 1 of the Code of Canon Law.

WYOMING
Wyoming Tribune Eagle

By Baylie Evans
bevans@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE -- After waiting for more than a year, Catholics in Wyoming now have a new shepherd.

Pope Benedict XVI has announced that Paul D. Etienne from Indiana will take over as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne when he is officially ordained here, most likely in early December. ...

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, expressed apprehension at the appointment of the new bishop.

"Etienne does come from an archdiocese with a particularly secretive and callous track record on abuse cases," wrote Barbara Dorris, SNAP's national outreach director, in a release. "We've seen no evidence that he ever spoke up about or objected to such hardball tactics, and we're troubled by this."

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune reporter

October 20, 2009

Attorneys representing a convicted former priest moved on Monday to keep private most of the court proceedings and seal the records related to an effort to have him committed under a state statute for sex offenders.

Under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act, the Illinois attorney general and the Cook County state's attorney filed a joint petition last month to have Daniel McCormack confined to a state treatment facility. The law allows prosecutors to seek continued incarceration if a psychological exam leads them to believe another sex crime is likely if the inmate goes free.

Last month, a forensic psychiatrist diagnosed McCormack with pedophilia and recommended civil commitment, a recommendation attached to the joint petition.

UKRAINE
Breaking News 24/7

KIEV - Ukraine’s parliament will discuss Tuesday the allegations about involvement of its three unnamed members and others in child sex abuse at a well-known holiday camp, a report said.

The Artek camp, located in the southern Crimea on the country’s Black sea coast, has been in the news since Oct 13, when a lawmaker from Ukraine’s opposition political party alleged that two siblings had been raped at the camp and top officials were involved in this case.

Members of the Supreme Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) are expected to hear investigation reports from the prosecutor general, the interior minister and a parliamentary human rights envoy.

MISSOURI
KTVI

[with video]

O'FALLON, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - An O'Fallon, Missouri woman who says a Franciscan priest, previously based in St. Louis, fathered her child is accusing the church of abandoning her when she needs them the most. The child is now gravely ill and the priest has been suspended. Father Henry Willenborg has been at a Wisconsin catholic church for four years. Officials there say he recently admitted to fathering a child but was suspended after questions came up about another relationship he may have had, possibly with a minor.

Meanwhile, the O'Fallon woman, Pat Bond, says the church has not done enough for her terminally ill son. She spoke out even though she signed a legally binding confidentiality agreement.

"No, they haven't made life easy," said Pat as she talked about dealing with the Franciscan Province of the Sacred Heart based in South St. Louis. She said Willenborg, one of the order's priests, fathered her son Nathan Halbach in Quincy, Illinois. Pat showed us several pictures of her and Willenborg together including a photo of Willenborg baptizing Nathan. Pat said she and Willenborg had a relationship for several years that eventually ended. She told us the church has paid between $100,000 and $150,000 to help support Nathan under three different agreements. But Bond told us there have been numerous legal battles and delays from the church in payments.

UKRAINE
MIGnews.com.ua

According to Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko, spreading information about second name of injured children, seat and data of examinations and tests in the mass media reports is immoral. “I know how to defend my children and I will defend these children too. I will not give any data about the course of investigation online”, the head of Interior Ministry emphasized.

The head of Main Directorate of Interior Ministry in Crimea Hennady Moskal claimed minors had been raped in Artek earlier. “There were two facts – children at the age of 9 and 10 were raped and cases were not disclosed”, he reported.

According to him, a priest was involved into the case. Earlier he was convicted for similar crimes in the Russian Federation. “The name of the priest emerged relating to those cases. He attended Artek together with ex-presidents and their wives. When law enforcement began to check him after they had learned about rape, he disappeared. When he was checked in the database of the Russian Federation, he turned out to be convicted for perversion of minors, pedophilia and other crimes”, Hennady Moskal told.

PENNSYLVANIA
Catholic Culture

October 20, 2009

Father Robert Timchak, 42, a priest of the Diocese of Scranton has been arraigned on 19 child pornography charges.

In December, the diocese had received an anonymous tip and contacted police. A police search of the priest’s laptop revealed photographs of underage males.

UNITED KINGDOM
Times-Series

By Alex Hayes

POLICE have confirmed they are investigating an allegation of assault by a teacher on a 12-year-old pupil at Bishop Douglass School in East Finchley.

Officers from the Barnet and Enfield child abuse investigation team were called in to the Hamilton Road school after an allegation was made against a member of staff on September 7.

Police would not confirm the name of the teacher involved in the inquiries. Headteacher Angela Murphy has been suspended from the Catholic School following a complaint from a parent.

MAINE
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

We are heartened by the Diocese of Portland removing public tributes to Fr. Joseph McGowan who has been credibly accused of child sexual assault. We hope they will not stop there. We hope that the bishop will personally visit every parish where McGowan worked and encourage anyone who has been hurt by a member of the clergy to come forward and get the help they need and deserve. Anyone who saw or suspected abuse should be required to report these horrific crimes to law enforcement. Many times employees and church volunteers fail to report what they know about these misdeeds in the misguided notion they are protecting the church.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Catholic Review

By Catholic News Service

WILMINGTON, Del. – Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington announced Oct. 18 that the diocese has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in order “to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our diocese.”

“This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make,” he said in a statement. “However, after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisers and counselors, I believe we have no other choice.”

He said that, given the diocese’s “finite resources,” the bankruptcy filing offers “the best opportunity” to compensate abuse victims.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By GARY SOULSMAN • The News Journal • October 20, 2009

Catholics in the Diocese of Wilmington reacted to news of Sunday's bankruptcy filing with a mixture of disbelief, fear, pain, sadness and a desire to know more about what the future holds for the region's 233,000 faithful.

"I was shocked when I saw the headline," said Bob O'Neill of Lewes.

Anthony Albence, head of the parish council of St. Anthony of Padua parish in Wilmington, agreed.

"This was not something I saw coming, and as I speak with people, I find everyone is concerned and eager to understand what this means," Albence said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Times (United Kingdom)

Tim Reid in Washington

Alleged victims of sexual abuse at the hands of US Catholic priests expressed outrage yesterday after a diocese in Delaware filed for bankruptcy on the eve of a trial, delaying the claims of more than 140 people.

The bankruptcy filing by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington delayed the civil trial that had been due to begin yesterday, the first of eight abuse hearings scheduled in the state.

Thomas Neuberger, a lawyer representing 88 alleged victims, described the bankruptcy filing as a “desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal thousands of pages of scandalous documents” from being aired in court.

CANADA
CBC News

Former Nunavut politician Peter Irniq has withdrawn his call for Inuit who attended Indian residential schools to boycott a truth and reconciliation commission that was relaunched last week.

Irniq, a former residential school student himself, proposed a boycott of the commission earlier this year, when no Inuit commissioners were appointed.

But Irniq, who attended the commission's official relaunch in Ottawa on Thursday, said he has now changed his mind and feels it is important for Inuit who experienced the residential schools to talk to the commission.

CANADA
The Telegram

PETER JACKSON
The Telegram

The news of Bishop Raymond Lahey and his laptop computer has been floating around for a month now, and reaction, while heated, has been largely predictable.

Lahey, who resigned his post as archbishop of Antigonish, N.S., shortly before being arrested on child pornography charges, was a former professor at Memorial University in St. John's, as well as a bishop on Newfoundland's west coast.

The Catholic Church expressed the usual dismay and sorrow over the news. If Lahey's sins had only been confined to the 1990s, when the extent of pedophilia among Catholic clergy was blown wide open, he could be seen as simply "one who got away." But the fact that he was apparently still indulging his unholy urges in 2009 makes one wonder whether the Catholic Church has really and truly "got it" yet. ...

What's needed is an honest, unhindered examination of the priesthood itself - its structure, its customs and its role in the community.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

It is no surprise that some abuse victims are planning to take legal action against religious orders who ran industrial schools and orphanages in Northern Ireland.

Following the publication of the Ryan Report which found that rape, sexual molestation and abuse was endemic in Catholic run institutions in the Republic and that the civil authorities turned a blind eye to what went on, it was always going to be just a matter of time before similar allegations surfaced on this side of the border.

The image of the Catholic Church in Ireland had been severely dented long before the Ryan Report was published earlier this year. Large numbers of paedophile priests were unmasked and brought before the courts. These priests carried out their evil deeds in Northern Ireland as well as in the Republic, most often when serving in parishes throughout the country.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Zimbabwe News.Net

Monday 19th October, 2009

A Catholic diocese has decided to file for bankruptcy prior to a child sex abuse trial which was intended to compensate eight victims of child abuse.

The diocese, based in the state of Delaware, is involved in a scandal involving more than 90 victims.

The bankruptcy protection request came on the eve of a civil trial involving the diocese, automatically ensuring another delay in the case which has already been postponed seven times.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The New York Times

By IAN URBINA
Published: October 19, 2009
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Del., said Monday that it had filed for bankruptcy to manage the potential liability resulting from a flood of lawsuits on sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The Chapter 11 filing, which freezes all pending litigation against the diocese, came as the first of some eight lawsuits was scheduled to go to trial in Kent County Superior Court.

Lawyers for the diocese and the plaintiffs spent much of the weekend in an effort to negotiate a settlement. The breakdown of those negotiations makes the diocese the first on the East Coast to file for bankruptcy, joining six other dioceses that have sought protection in bankruptcy under the weight of claims of sexual abuse.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Washington Post

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

With the first in a series of major sex abuse trials set to start Monday, the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for bankruptcy late Sunday after settlement talks with 13 alleged victims broke down.

The diocese, which includes Delaware and Maryland's Eastern Shore, is the seventh to file for bankruptcy in recent years under the weight of claims of sex abuse against priests, and the first on the East Coast.

Diocesan officials portrayed the filing as a way to fairly compensate all victims of its abusive priests through a single process established by the bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy filing in Wilmington automatically delays the start of the sex abuse trials.

MAINE
Kennebec Journal

BY BETTY ADAMS
Staff Writer

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has ordered the removal of tributes to a former Winthrop pastor after substantiating sexual abuse complaints against him.

The same day the former Father John J. Curran Bridge in downtown Augusta was renamed, Diocesan officials ordered the name of the Rev. Joseph R. McGowan stripped from memorials or tributes at St. Francis Xavier Church in Winthrop.

Also, the Winthrop council of the Knights of Columbus will remove McGowan's name from their charter at the request of Bishop Richard Malone.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Catholic News Agency

Wilmington, Del., Oct 19, 2009 / 11:57 pm (CNA).- The Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware has announced that it has filed for bankruptcy, in part because of the expenses incurred in paying lawsuits by the victims of clerical sexual abuse. Bishop of Wilmington W. Francis Malooly called the move a “painful decision” he had hoped and prayed to avoid.

After consultation with advisors and experts, Bishop Malooly said in a Sunday letter, he came to believe the diocese had no other choice. Filing for bankruptcy “offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our Diocese.”

“The Chapter 11 filing is in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct by clergy – or for mistakes made by Diocesan authorities,” Bishop Malooly’s letter read. “Nor does the bankruptcy process enable the Diocese to avoid or minimize its responsibility to victims of abuse. Instead, the Chapter 11 filing will enable the Diocese to meet its obligations head-on and fulfill its responsibility to all victims.”

MILFORD (PA)
Times-Leader

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

The Rev. Robert Timchak turned himself in on Monday to face 19 criminal charges in connection with possessing child pornography.

Timchak, 43, was arraigned before a district judge in Milford, Pike County, and released without bail on his own recognizance to await his Nov. 4 preliminary hearing.

According to a release from state police at Dunmore, Timchak, a Catholic priest, was charged with 17 felony counts of sexual abuse of children and single charges of criminal use of a communication facility and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

PENNSYLVANIA
Times-LeaderI

Tuesday October 20, 2009 | 01:00 AM
Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com

News that Father Bob Timchak turned himself in on child pornography charges in Pike County hit me like a punch in the gut. Why now? Why for this? Why him?

The Diocese of Scranton has struggled for years with epic problems of debt, diminishing contributions and Mass attendance, shifting demographics and a declining number of priests.

Bishop Joseph Martino came in and tried to right the ship but triggered more angst and anger when he administered the overdue cure of extensive school and church closings. His remote style exacerbated the process as he shunned secular media and rarely made personal appearances before the parishioners enduring the upheaval. Some pronouncements – particularly regarding Catholic colleges and teacher unionization – felt confrontational.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O'Reilly and Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writers

WILMINGTON - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for bankruptcy protection just hours before eight clergy sex-abuse trials were set to begin yesterday - the first wave in dozens of cases against its priests that, by diocesan estimates, could cost it $100 million to $500 million.

In 2007, the Delaware legislature enacted a special two-year moratorium on the statute of limitations, allowing adult victims of sex abuse to sue for assaults perpetrated even decades ago. By the time the moratorium closed last July, 142 plaintiffs had filed lawsuits against the Wilmington diocese, which comprises Delaware and nine counties in eastern Maryland.

The diocese asked for Chapter 11 protection about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. In addition to the eight in Kent County Superior Court, 22 trials were scheduled to start in the weeks ahead. All have been temporarily halted.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Baltimore Sun

By Matthew Hay Brown | matthew.brown@baltsun.com

October 20, 2009

Facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential liability for sex abuse claims, the diocese that ministers to Eastern Shore Catholics filed for federal bankruptcy-law protection hours before the civil trial of a former priest was to have started Monday.

Bishop W. Francis Malooly described the Chapter 11 petition filed late Sunday as a difficult but necessary step that would enable the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., to "fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the bankruptcy court."

But Wilmington attorney Thomas S. Neuberger, who is representing 88 plaintiffs in lawsuits against the diocese, its parishes and priests, called it "a desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal thousands of pages of scandalous documents from the public."

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN, MAUREEN MILFORD and GARY SOULSMAN • The News Journal • October 20, 2009

WILMINGTON -- The bankruptcy filing Sunday night by the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, just hours before the start of Delaware's first clergy sex-abuse trial, shows the diocese is playing hardball, according to bankruptcy experts, attorneys and advocates.

If the diocese had sought protection in federal court on Friday, or even Saturday, there would have been time to ask the bankruptcy court to allow cases to go forward in Delaware Superior Court, said Lynn LoPucki, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

"When you have a trial like that set up, there are a lot of people involved. There are witnesses flown in, jurors are summoned for a panel, a courtroom is set aside. And all of them end up being inconvenienced," LoPucki said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

October 20, 2009

2002: A scandal erupts nationwide over how the Catholic Church handled accusations of child sexual abuse against hundreds of priests. The Vatican outlines a new policy defining abuse and outlining how bishops should deal with allegations.

Jan. 2003: The Diocese of Wilmington says it has received credible allegations of sexual abuse of children against 18 priests dating to 1952. Three are named: two who had resigned and one who had been relieved of his duties. The diocese refuses to release the names of the remaining 15 priests, saying seven were dead and none was in active ministry.

Jan. 2004: The diocese acknowledges that 60 people have accused priests of abuse in the past 50 years, and that the diocese has paid $1.6 million to victims and families. The diocese says substantiated claims had been made against one now-deceased priest, bringing the total to 19.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Daily Times

October 20, 2009

News that the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy shocked some Delmarva residents Monday. It's the first Catholic diocese on the East Coast to do so, but not the first in the country.

This action -- in Wilimington and in other dioceses -- was a response to 142 claims of priest sexual abuse filed against the diocese by lawyers on behalf of victims of clergy sex abuse stemming from a combination of past offenses and the Delaware Child Victim's Act, which enabled victims to file claims during a two-year period even though the statute of limitations had expired for reporting such abuse.

This bankruptcy is intended to preserve the ability of the diocese to fairly compensate all victims --not just those whose claims come to court early in the process. The diocese does not have unlimited resources. With the first trial originally scheduled to begin on Monday, Bishop W. Francis Malooly indicated concern that the first few cases to be tried might limit the ability of the diocese to provide equal compensation to plaintiffs in later trials.

PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker

By JEREMY G. BURTON (Staff Writer)
Published: October 20, 2009

A Diocese of Scranton priest who once served in the Hazleton area was charged Monday with 17 counts of sexual child abuse for allegedly having files of naked, underage boys on his computer.

The Rev. Robert Timchak, 43, most recently of Milford, turned himself in to a Pike County district judge and was released without bail on his own recognizance, state police said.

An attorney for the priest, John Petorak, said Timchak didn't physically violate any children or personally create the pornography he is charged with possessing.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Guam - Archbishop Anthony Apuron choose not to speak with the media immediately following his meeting with Senator Cruz and other lawmakers Tuesday morning.

He waited until 4pm Tuesday afternoon and read a prepared statement in which he thanked the senators for keeping the dialouge open, for their willingness to defend marriage and for accepting that the defense of marriage is not a condemnation of anyone.

After reading the statement he declined to answer any questions regarding the allegations Cruz raised that some members of Guam's clergy have sexually abused children.

MILFORD (PA)
Pocono News

MILFORD – A priest, who had presided at two Catholic parishes in Pike County until last spring, surrendered, Monday, to face child pornography charges. Fr. Robert Timchak faces on multiple charges alleging possession of sexually explicit images of young boys, based on information initially provided by the Diocese of Scranton, last December.

The arrest culminates a lengthy investigation that began when authorities were contacted by the Diocese of Scranton, regarding an anonymous letter, containing explicit photographs and comments. The photos were associated with Timchak’s personal e-mail address.

Timchak’s home was searched and computers seized. That led to his arrest on 18 felony counts of sexual abuse of children, alleging possession of sexually explicit images . He also faces one count of tampering with evidence, based on an apparent attempt to delete images of nude underage males from his computer.

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Guam - After a shocking revelation of Sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest Vice-Speaker BJ Cruz and other

Senators met with Archbishop Anthony Apuron and other clergy members in Tumon this morning. The topic of discussion was the highly controversial and divisive same sex civil union debate.

During this mornings closed door meeting the Vice-Speaker says he told the Archbishop to get rid of any pedophile priests he may have on Guam before focussing on keeping same sex civil unions from occuring on the island.

Cruz is a self admitted victim of sexual abuse by the clergy. The Vice-Speaker says his first sexual experience happened when he was 13 years old. He was attending a Salesian run Catholic School when a priest would regualarly wake him in the middle of the night and have sex with him. Cruz says they would then “bathe brush their teeth and then the priest would serve me mass”

SCRANTON (PA)
Off My Knees

In case you are one of the people who believe that the worst of the sex scandal in the Catholic Church is over, I have more bad news. Another priest in the Diocese of Scranton has been reported, this time for child pornography.

According to news reports, and this is a story that is just breaking this evening, Father Robert Timchak was in court in Milford to begin answering charges for possession of child pornography and tampering with evidence. According to news channels in Scranton, the investigation has been ongoing since December 2008 when someone tipped off the Diocese of Scranton that he had child pornography on his computer. ...

I have to ask the obvious question here, why did it take the Pennsylvania State Police 11 months to check this guy’s computer and arrest him? Why did the Diocese of Scranton leave this “priest” in the parish since December 2008? I would love to ask if the Diocese of Scranton went into the community looking for possible victims. I wonder how many families in the parish where close to Father Timchak? Of those families, how many had young boys that were left alone with Father Timchak? Are any of the photos on the computer children of the parishes to which he was assigned?

CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7

A former Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing children is fighting to keep part of his court proceedings closed to the public.

In July of 2007, Daniel McCormack pleaded guilty to abusing five boys. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

Pacific Daily News • news@guampdn.com • October 20, 2009

Several island senators have concluded a meeting with Archbishop Anthony Apuron and other members of the Catholic Church on Guam this morning in the wake of Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz's allegations he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest while he was a teen in Los Angeles.

The archbishop left the closed-door meeting without giving interviews to local members of the press who were waiting outside the meeting venue.

"No comment, I need to look further into this," Apuron said.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Reuters

* Diocese bankruptcy filing follows six others
* Chapter 11 filing puts civil trials on hold
* Victims say bankruptcy aimed at hiding truth (Adds diocese news conference, victims' attorneys, court filings)

By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Del., Oct 19 (Reuters) - Delaware's Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to block the start of the first civil trial relating to more than 140 sex-abuse claims against diocese priests.

The diocese became the seventh in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection and its filing on Sunday put on hold the scheduled start of eight consecutive civil trials relating to a defrocked priest.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Telegraph (United Kingdom)

Delaware's Catholic Diocese of Wilmington has filed for bankruptcy ahead of a high-profile sexual abuse case in which 100 people claim they were abused by a former priest.

Published: 1:06AM BST 20 Oct 2009

The sex abuse case against the diocese and a former priest will be delayed after the diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of trial.

The bankruptcy filing late on Sunday delays a lawsuit that had been set to start on Monday in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Irish Times

NIALL STANAGE in New York

THE CATHOLIC diocese of Wilmington has become the seventh diocese in the US to file for bankruptcy protection while facing a barrage of claims for compensation from people who allege they were abused by clergy.

The diocese, which serves about 233,000 Catholics in the states of Delaware and Maryland, made the filing late on Sunday. A civil case brought by a 57-year-old man who claims he was molested more than 100 times by a now-defrocked priest was due to start yesterday.

The bishop who heads the diocese, Dr Francis Malooly, described the filing in a statement as “a painful decision, one that I hoped and prayed I would never have to make”. He believed the diocese had no other choice and that the filing was “in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct”.

Guam - Senator BJ Cruz says that the recent aggressive stance taken by the Archbishop against his domestic partnership bill sparked his revelation that he was allegedly abused by a priest when he was young. Read the Pastoral Letter

In a Pastoral Letter read at island churches last week, Archbishop Anthony Apuron said if the Legislature passes Cruz's domestic partnership bill "it will forfeit its moral authority to continue to govern the island." He urged parishoners to sign a petition opposing the bill.

On the K-57 Breakfast Show this morning Cruz called the Church's stance "hypocritical" and said the Archbishop's stance prompted him to reveal his own abuse at the hands of a priest when he was a child growing up in Los Angeles.

SCANTON (PA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton

The Diocese is saddened by the situation regarding Father Robert M. Timchak. These charges are distressing and would be very unfortunate if proven true.

On Dec. 9, 2008, the Diocese received information from an anonymous source about possible improper use of a computer by Father Timchak. Subsequently the Diocese contacted the Pike County district attorney, without any notification or involvement by Father Timchak. The Diocese has been cooperating with the investigation.

All employees of the Diocese, including priests, must obtain criminal background and child abuse history clearances. Father Timchak received these clearances. The Diocese had no indication that he had ever engaged in any improper conduct.

PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

By Wendy McNew
5:06 PM EDT, October 19, 2009

A Roman Catholic priest in the Poconos has turned himself into police on child pornography charges.

Father Robert Timchak is charged with having child pornography and tampering with evidence after police said they found child pornogrpahy on the priest's computer.

Father Timchak had no comment to reporters Monday as he left district court outside of Milford after turning himself into state police.

MILFORD (PA)
Pocono Record

October 19, 2009

A priest in Pike County was arraigned on Monday in Milford on charges related to possessing child pornography on his computer.

Father Robert Timchak, 43, turned himself in on Monday on 19 charges after an investigation launched when an anonymous letter to the Diocese of Scranton tipped off church officials that someone using Timchak's e-mail address had been accessing child pornography.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune

BY JEREMY G. BURTON (STAFF WRITER)
Published: October 19, 2009

A Diocese of Scranton priest was charged today with 16 counts of child sexual abuse for allegedly having files of naked, underage boys on his computer.

The Rev. Robert Timchak, 43, of Milford, turned himself in to a Pike County magisterial district judge and was released without bail on his own recognizance, state police said.

The investigation into the Rev. Timchak began in December 2008, when the diocese alerted the Pike County district attorney's office of a letter it had received containing explicit photographs of young males, according to state police.

VATICAN CITY
America Magazine

Posted at: 2009-10-19 14:32:24.0
Author: James Martin, S.J.

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, former archbishop of St. Louis and currently prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the Vatican's highest court) has been named to the Congregation of Bishops, where he will have a great deal of say in who is chosen to become a bishop in the United States (along with Cardinal Bernard Law). Commentary on the appointment by Rocco Palmo and David Gibson. Palmo opines on Burke's potential influence in the Congregation. Gibson wonders if this, and other moves, show that the pope is "exorcising liberal demons" from the church.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese
Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Abuse victims across Northern Ireland are to launch a landmark legal case against several religious orders, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.

Decades after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of nuns and priests in church-run industrial schools and orphanages a growing number of victims are now turning to the courts for retribution and closure. They are also planning legal action against the government bodies that were responsible for child welfare at the time, for failing to protect them.

The move comes as the Northern Ireland Executive faces growing pressure to conduct a full assessment of the level of physical and emotional child abuse within institutes run by the religious orders.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

RITE AND REASON: The Dublin Archdiocese report will have a profound impact on the Catholic Church’s authority in Ireland, writes PATSY McGARRY

OVER COMING days we are likely to witness something definitive where the Catholic Church in Ireland is concerned. Publication of the Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation report is expected to confirm much, but it will shock even more.

This shock factor is unlikely to be centred on the abuse stories involved, or on their scale.

Following the Ryan report last May, it might be said that the Irish public has become almost inured to such depravity. But it is the scale of the cover-up in Dublin and the moral audacity of senior clergy involved which is likely to shock most of all.

WILMINGTON (DE)
communitypub

By Antonio Prado
Community News

Wilmington, Del. — The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington faces a financial challenge that not even the second collections held regularly at Sunday Mass can help.

The diocese has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to allow it to operate while addressing sexual abuse law suits, said Bishop W. Francis Malooly in a prepared statement.

“Our hope is that the Chapter 11 proceedings will enable us to fairly compensate all victims through a single process,” Malooly said. ...

Attorney Thomas S. Neuberger, co-counsel for 88 survivors of rape and other childhood sexual abuse by dozens of priests, harshly criticized the filing in a statement. So did Bartholomew J. Dalton of Dalton & Associates, an attorney for more than 50 victims of sexual abuse who filed lawsuits under Delaware's Child Victims Act.

WILMINGTON (DE)
Washington Post

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
The Diocese of Wilmington, which filed for bankruptcy Sunday night just as a sex-abuse trial against the diocese and a former priest was set to get underway, is the seventh U.S. Catholic diocese facing sex-abuse claims to file for bankruptcy. (And the first on the East Coast.)

The bankruptcy filing in Wilmington automatically delayed the start of the sex abuse trial, which was supposed to start on Monday. It would have been the first of eight trials scheduled against the diocese, which covers Delaware and the Maryland Eastern Shore.

Wilmington bishop Rev. W. Francis Malooly said he had no other choice.

WILMINGTON (DE)
WXXI

(2009-10-19)
(Reuters) -
By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - Delaware's Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to block the start of the first civil trial relating to more than 140 sex-abuse claims against diocese priests.

The diocese became the seventh in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection and its filing on Sunday put on hold the scheduled start of eight consecutive civil trials relating to a defrocked priest.

An attorney for the victims called the bankruptcy part of a cover-up. But the church said it was the best way to resolve the cases fairly.

MONTANA
Havre Daily News

(Created: Monday, October 19, 2009 12:15 PM MDT)

John Kelleher Havre Daily News jkelleher@havredailynews.com

Richard L. King had long been involved in public activities at Fort Belknap and was well-respected in Native American circles. He grew up on a ranch near Fort Belknap, attend Catholic and public schools, eventually received a master's degree from the prestigious University of Chicago, served on the tribal supreme court and was a drug and alcohol counsellor. So it wasn't surprising when an investigator for the Attorneys for Justice asked him for help in locating victims of priest sex abuse. Because King was so involved in the community, he might be able to help convince victims to come forward, the investigator felt. He asked King to get back to him. A few days later, King called the investigator. "I found a victim for you," King said. "Who?" The investigator asked. Nearly five decades of torment passed through King's mind as he responded. "Me," he answered.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By GARY SOULSMAN • The News Journal • October 19, 2009

An attempt by the Diocese of Wilmington to reach a group settlement of 13 sexual abuse cases broke down after 8:30 p.m. Sunday, leading to a filing for bankruptcy that night.

Without the filing, the diocese would have borne the costs for 12 weeks of trial, and if the awards were large, they could have depleted resources available to all the 142 claimants suing in 131 cases.

That was how Bishop W. Francis Malooly and diocesan lawyers Tony Flynn and Robert Brady explained the filing at a press conference today.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Two Roman Catholic dioceses have reached a $225,000 settlement with a Houston man in a sex-abuse case involving a former auxiliary bishop from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The dioceses of Corpus Christi and Baton Rouge settled with Glenn Hymel, who alleged that Bishop Joseph Vincent Sullivan molested him three decades ago. Sullivan was an auxiliary bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese from 1967 to 1974. He is not to be confused with Bishop John Joseph Sullivan, who was the leader of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph from 1977 to 1993.

Hymel alleged that the abuse occurred repeatedly between 1978 and 1982 while he was at a seminary for minors and on trips he took with Sullivan, who was bishop of the Diocese of Baton Rouge at the time. Sullivan died in 1982.

WILMINGTON (DE)
KYW

by KYW's Steve Tawa

The Diocese of Wilmington, Del. announced on Monday that it is filing for bankruptcy, one day before a sex abuse trial against it was set to begin.

Bishop Francis Malooly (in file photo at right), who leads about 230,000 Roman Catholics in Delaware and the eastern shore area of Maryland, says the Chapter 11 filing offers the best opportunity, given limited resources, to provide the fairest treatment for all victims of sexual abuse by priests of his diocese.

The filing, which freezes all lawsuits under an automatic stay, came just hours before the first of several high-profile sexual abuse trials against clergy members.

Monday, October 19, 2009

WILMINGTON (DE)
JURIST

Safiya Boucaud

[JURIST] The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington Delaware [diocesan website] on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy protection [press release], one day before eight clergy sexual abuse trials were set to begin. The filing will delay the trials, which were scheduled to take place in the Kent County Superior Court. The lawyer representing some of the alleged sexual abuse victims has criticized the move saying that it is an attempt to cover up the scandal. In the press release issued by the diocese, Bishop W. Francis Malooly said:

The Chapter 11 filing is in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct by clergy – or for mistakes made by Diocesan authorities. Nor does the bankruptcy process enable the Diocese to avoid or minimize its responsibility to victims of abuse. Instead, the Chapter 11 filing will enable the Diocese to meet its obligations head-on and fulfill its responsibility to all victims.

GUAM
Pacific Daily News

By Brett Kelman • Pacific Daily News • October 20, 2009

Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz yesterday said he was sexually abused by a priest while attending a Catholic school in Los Angeles as a boy.

The priest would wake him before sunrise, take the 13-year-old Cruz away to his bedroom and allegedly require him to perform sexual acts, the senator said yesterday.

"He sexually abused me, then we would bathe, brush our teeth, go into the chapel and he would say Mass. I would serve Mass and he would hand me communion," said Cruz, 58. "And this went on for four years."

ST. LOUIS (MO)
River Front Times

By Kristen Hinman in Gettin' All Religious Up in Here

​The St. Louis chapter of SNAP (Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests) is on the lookout for girls or women who may have been abused by a Roman Catholic priest named Fr. Henry Willenborg, following a revelation last week that an O'Fallon resident fathered a child with Willenborg two decades ago.

"Willenborg lived and worked here [for eight or nine years] and we want to know if anyone was hurt by him," says Barbara Dorris, spokeswoman for SNAP's St. Louis chapter.

Pat Bond, of O'Fallon, told the New York Times that she and Willenborg were lovers for five years in the 1980's and that she conceived two children by him. The first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage (Bond told the NYT that Willenborg urged her to abort). The second pregnancy resulted in the birth of Nathan Halbach.

MAINE
MPBN

10/19/2009
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland says it's "substantiated" complaints that Fr. Joseph R. McGowan engaged in sexual abuse several decades ago while serving as pastor at a church in Winthrop.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is removing memorials and tributes to a deceased priest they say likely engaged in sexual abuse several decades ago.

Diocese officials say the incidents took place betweeen 1936 and 1949 while Fr. Joseph R. McGowan was serving as pastor at St. Francis Xavier Church in Winthrop. They say the complaints against McGowan have been "substantiated," and they've ordered that any memorials or tributes in McGowan's name on church property be removed.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

October 19, 2009

Attorneys representing a convicted former priest moved today to keep the court proceedings related to an effort to have him committed under a state sexual offender law closed to the public.

Authorities have filed a petition to have Daniel McCormack sent to a state facility. The Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act allows prosecutors to seek continued incarceration if a psychological exam leads them to believe another sex crime is likely if the inmate goes free.

The hearing today in Cook County court was attended by only one member of the news media, a Tribune reporter who before the hearing ended stood and requested time to consult counsel.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The Times (United Kingdom)

A sex abuse case against Delaware’s Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and a former priest will be delayed after the diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of trial, AP reports. The bankruptcy filing on Sunday delays a lawsuit that had been due to start today in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware. In a separate development, the Catholic hierarchy, religious, priests and laity in Ireland are braced for the publication of a report on Friday into sex abuse by priests in the Dublin archdiocese. The Government report is the result of an investigation into how allegations of child sex abuse involving a sample of 46 priests were handled by State and church authorities between January 1975 and April 2004, when Cardinal Desmond Connell retired as Archbishop of Dublin.

IRELAND
Sunday Tribune

John Downes, News Investigations Correspondent

Ahern: concerned about prejudicing prosecutionsA damning report into how allegations of child sexual abuse were handled by successive bishops in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin may not be released this week as expected.

The Sunday Tribune understands that, while justice minister Dermot Ahern wants to release it as soon as possible, serious difficulties arising from last week's High Court judgment on its publication mean it may take longer to publish than expected.

The report has been described by a senior source with knowledge of its contents as "Ferns on a grand scale", in a reference to the 2005 Ferns report which identified over 100 allegations of abuse against 21 priests in that diocese between 1962 and 2002.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 19 OCT 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed Fr. Paul D. Etienne of the clergy of the archdiocese of Indianapolis, U.S.A., vice rector of the Bishop Brute Seminary and pastor of the parish of St. Paul in Tell City, as bishop of Cheyenne (area 252,552 population 515,000, Catholics 52,203, priests 61, permanent deacons 20, religious 35), U.S.A. The bishop- elect was born in Tell City, U.S.A. in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1992.

WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal

By MAUREEN MILFORD • The News Journal • October 19, 2009

The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, which has pastoral charge of 233,000 Roman Catholics, sought protection Sunday night in federal bankruptcy court in an attempt to manage the potential liability resulting from a flood of clergy sexual-abuse lawsuits, the first of which was scheduled to start today

The Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware lists assets of as much as $100 million and liabilities of as much as $500 million. The diocese encompasses 58 parishes, 21 missions and 27 schools in Delaware and on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The diocese, founded in 1869 in Wilmington, has 126 diocesan priests.

"This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," Bishop W. Francis Malooly said in a statement. "However, after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisors and counselors, I believe we have no other choice, and that filing for Chapter 11 offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our Diocese. Our hope is that Chapter 11 proceedings will enable us to fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the Bankruptcy Court." ...

"I'm confident that the federal courts will protect all the rights of the survivors," said Neuberger, who plans to hold a news conference today at 1 p.m. in Wilmington.

"This filing is the Diocese's last, desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal the thousands of pages of scandalous documents and stunning testimony that would have been exposed to the light of day in open court during the first of six consecutive priest sex abuse trials involving their criminally convicted priest, Father Francis DeLuca," Neuberger said in a statement.

CONNECTICUT
The Voice (United Kingdom)

AMERICAN PASTORAL minister Douglas Perlitz, 39, a volunteer and founder of the Project Pierre Toussaint school in Cap-Haitien, is to again face a court on October 19 to answer charges that he sexually abused nine schoolboys.

Perlitz, from Eagle, Colorado, was recently indicted by a federal grand jury with seven counts of travelling outside of the United States with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with individuals under the age of 18.

Once seen as a ‘saviour’ of Haiti’s poor children, Perlitz also faces three counts of engaging in sexual conduct in foreign places with persons under the age of 18, Caribbeannews360.com reported.

IRELAND
Boston Globe

By Kevin Cullen
Globe Columnist / October 19, 2009

It started as an academic exercise, which is not surprising, because James Smith is a professor of English at Boston College. It has become a cause, a quest, a rickety bridge between the country of his birth and the place he now calls home.

Ten years ago, he was working on his PhD dissertation at BC and one chapter was about the Magdalene laundries, institutions in his native Ireland, run by nuns, where “fallen women’’ were sent to work off their sins. A few years ago, he decided to do a whole book.

“Academics write books for promotion and tenure. That’s what we do,’’ he said, sitting in his small, cramped office on the third floor of Connolly House at BC. “I had to affect academic detachment.’’

But his research changed him. Some of the “fallen women’’ had fled abusive husbands. Some of the “fallen women’’ were unwanted children. As an academic, he was frustrated by the refusal of the religious orders to release their records. As a human being, he was infuriated by the refusal of the Irish government to accept responsibility for its complicity in the indentured servitude of women and children.

CANADA
Halifax News Net

More details have come to light about the images found on Bishop Raymond Lahey's laptop seized at Ottawa International airport last month after his return to Canada from a trip abroad. It's very disturbing, especially considering this guy is a Roman Catholic bishop. A police search warrant, used to search the former Antigonish bishop's homes and office here in Nova Scotia, details images of young naked males including one boy wearing only rosary beads around his neck. The warrant states he appears to be 9 to 12 years old. The warrant also claims Lahey had sex-related chats online with people he believed to be adults. Lahey's back in court next month in Ottawa on child pornography charges. RCMP here in Nova Scotia might also lay charges of their own against the bishop after they sift through the computers and other electronic devices seized in last week's raids.

While the Roman Catholic church here has shunned Lahey and won't pay his legal bills for a very pricey Ottawa lawyer, his bud Terrance Prendergast has taken him under his wing. Prendergast is the former Archbishop of Halifax. He is now the bishop in charge of the Ottawa diocese. Lahey is living in a church apartment in Ottawa while his criminal charges go through the courts.