Abuse Tracker

UNITED STATES
San Francisco Bay Times

By Wayne Besen
Published: September 30, 2010

Virulently homophobic mega-church pastor Bishop Eddie Long stands accused of coercing four young men at his church to have sex with him, while lavishing these victims with money, vacations and cars. An adherent of the “prosperity gospel”, we now know that Long was sincere when he preached that all one had to do to gain material blessings was get on bended hand and knee and submit to His will.

In fairness to Long, this case still has to be tried in a court of law and it remains possible that he is innocent of the lurid charges. Every day, good people are accused of crimes they did not commit. Opportunists try to take advantage of rich and powerful people for financial gain or for notoriety in the age of reality television.

So, it would be premature to say that Long is a hypocritical scoundrel who abused his pastoral authority to gain access to sex and used anti-gay rhetoric to obscure his own homosexuality.

However, Long’s rambling Sunday sermon addressing the salacious allegations did not help his cause. It appeared that he penned the precise speech one would write if he were guilty and trying to parse words to keep power, while avoiding legal trouble.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

JOANNE MCCARTHY
01 Oct, 2010

The Catholic diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is selling its aged-care assets, potentially valued at $100million or more, and withdrawing from aged-care delivery as its ‘‘substantial’’ total compensation bill for child sex abuse victims continues to climb.

The diocese called for expressions of interest from three specialist Catholic aged-care providers to buy and manage facilities ranging from the 135-bed St Joseph’s Home at Sandgate, to seven aged-care villages and more than 150 independent living units across the Hunter Region.

The decision could affect more than 1700 elderly clients and their families, and more than 600 staff, whose concerns about potential redundancies were acknowledged by Bishop Michael Malone in a statement.

ROME
Catholic News Agency

Rome, Italy, Sep 30, 2010 / 07:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate to the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, announced today in Rome the names of the four counselors who will assist him in fulfilling his duties in the reorganization of the Mexican-born congregation. He also announced the apostolic visitor to Regnum Christi, the lay movement associated with the Legion.

The counselors to Archbishop De Paolis will be Bishop Brian Farrell, LC, Msgr. Mario Marchesi, Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ, Father Agostino Montan, SC.

The visitor to Regnum Christi will be Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez of Valladolid, Spain.

NEDERLAND
Nieuws

(Novum) - Stichting Mea Culpa United gaat de paus voor miljarden euro's aanklagen. Dat meldt het televisieprogramma EenVandaag. Mea Culpa United komt op voor de belangen van mensen die seksueel misbruikt zijn in kerkelijke instellingen.

Bob van der Goen, de advocaat die de stichting vertegenwoordigt, stelt in een brief aan het Vaticaan de paus 'hoofdelijk aansprakelijk voor het leed dat duizenden slachtoffers is aangedaan'. De paus was volgens hem zelf betrokken bij het toedekken van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk.

[summary]

The Mea Culpa Foundation, which represents interests of people sexually abused in religious institutions, is suing the pope. Bob van der Goen, lawyer representing the foundation, said in a letter to the Vatican that the pope is liable for the suffering of thousands of victims and was involved in covering up sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - Op zondag 3 oktober om 20.10 uur kan je op Canvas kijken naar de reportage ‘Het kruis van de Kerk’. Reporter Ludo Penninckx onderzocht wat voorafging aan de zaak-Vangheluwe, die een vloedgolf aan meldingen van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken teweegbracht, met als centrale vraag ‘Hoe is het zover kunnen komen?’. Hoe komt het met andere woorden dat slachtoffers zolang gezwegen hebben? En werden zij die wel spraken, wel beluisterd?

EUROPE
Europees Parlement

Een nieuw voorstel om seksueel misbruik van kinderen te bestrijden, heeft een breed debat geopend over de vraag of het blokkeren van websites al dan niet een efficiënte maatregel is. Afgelopen woensdag spraken de europarlementsleden tijdens een hoorzitting met deskundigen over het wetsvoorstel dat tot doel heeft om de weerzinwekkende misdaden tegen kinderen aan te pakken door middel van preventie, vervolging en bescherming.

Het voorstel voor de nieuwe wetgeving moet de huidige wetgeving uit 2004 vervangen. Het wetsvoorstel omvat hogere straffen, het strafbaar stellen van het zogenaamde 'grooming' (het online lokken van kinderen met als doel het kind te misbruiken) en sekstoerisme. Het omvat ook preventiemaatregelen tegen het terugvallen van daders (daders kunnen in de gehele EU geen baan krijgen waarin zij contact hebben met kinderen) en maatregelen om de toegang tot kinderpornografie op internet te beperken.

NEDERLAND
Limburgs Dagblad

De paus moet zelf volle aansprakelijkheid erkennen voor de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door geestelijken in ons land. Tegelijk dient de kerk snel voorschotten uit te keren, vooruitlopend op de vele miljarden schadevergoeding die straks mogelijk worden vastgesteld.

door Wim Doesborgh

Dat laat Bob van der Goen, advocaat van Mea Culpa en andere slachtoffers van seksueel geweld in een brief aan de paus weten. Met het doorsturen van slachtoffers naar praatcommissies als Hulp & Recht en de commissie-Deetman moet het volgens de advocaat afgelopen zijn. De paus moet zijn verantwoordelijkheid nemen en betalen.

NEDERLAND
de Volkskrant

MAASTRICHT/UTRECHT - De congregatie van de broeders franciscanen is bereid schade te vergoeden aan slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik op het internaat Sint Maria ter Engelen in Bleijerheide (bij Kerkrade) in en rond de jaren zestig van de vorige eeuw.

Dat heeft een vertegenwoordiger van de Duitse congregatie medio deze maand geschreven in een brief aan hun advocaat. Hij schrijft dat de congregatie er 'alles aan doet de schade vast te stellen, te onderzoeken en deze te vergoeden'.

Dat zegt Bert Smeets, voorzitter van Mea Culpa United, een belangenorganisatie van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk. Hij en bijna 50 andere oud-leerlingen van het internaat in Bleijerheide zeggen op het internaat in Bleijerheide misbruikt te zijn door minstens veertien franciscaner broeders. Ze claimen een schadevergoeding bij het bestuur van de Duitse Ordensgemeinschaft der Armen Brüder des heiligen Franziskus, gevestigd in Düsseldorf. Deze congregatie, één van de vele vertakkingen die de franciscaners in de loop van de tijd hebben meegemaakt, zwaaide destijds de scepter over het internaat.

NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

ANTWERPEN (RKnieuws.net) - Wat begon op 26 februari met de onthullingen over misbruik door tien salesianen in het Don Rua-internaat in ’s Heerenberg in de jaren 1960-’70, veroorzaakte in Nederland een sneeuwbaleffect. De onderzoekscommissie Hulp en Recht kreeg sindsdien 1.700 meldingen, vooral uit 1950-’70. Hulp en Recht werkt al sinds 1995. Daarmee was Nederland het eerste land met een onafhankelijke commissie waar mensen klacht kunnen indienen en waar hulp wordt aangeboden.

Door de vele meldingen besloten de Nederlandse bisschoppenconferentie en de Konferentie Nederlandse Religieuzen op 9 maart een onafhankelijk onderzoek te gelasten naar het seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Oud-onderwijsminister en oud-Kamervoorzitter Wim Deetman was bereid de onderzoekscommissie voor te zitten. Twee doelstellingen staan voorop: waarheidsvinding en zorg voor de slachtoffers. Het onderzoek dat ongeveer een jaar zal duren, moet ook leiden tot aanbevelingen voor maatregelen ter voorkoming van misbruik. Het onderzoek richt zich alleen op de rooms-katholieke kerk, al vinden sommigen een breder maatschappelijk onderzoek wenselijk. Bisschop Gerard de Korte, de referent voor seksueel misbruik, vindt het niet de taak van de commissie-Deetman om zo’n samenlevingsbreed onderzoek te voeren. “Het vuil van een ander maakt ons eigen straatje niet schoner”, merkte De Korte snedig op. De kerk moet voor haar deur vegen en mag zich niet verschuilen achter het feit dat seksueel misbruik evenzeer voorkomt bij andere instellingen of in gezinnen. De Korte denkt veeleer dat het kerkelijke onderzoek een voorbeeld voor die instanties kan zijn.

IOWA
KCCI

[with video]

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A civil lawsuit claims a Des Moines church ignored several warning signs regarding a former pastor who abused teenage boys.

St. John's Lutheran Church and former pastor Duane Martinson are at the center of the lawsuit, which comes 25 years after Martinson pled guilty to assault with intent to commit sex abuse.

Martinson was an associate pastor at St. John's Lutheran Church in Des Moines at the time he was accused of abusing six to seven teenage boys.

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Examiner

By: GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court has ruled that psychiatric and other confidential records of Franciscan friars accused of sex abuse should be made public.

The ruling from the 2nd District Court of Appeal, issued Thursday, is significant for clergy abuse victims who have been fighting for the public disclosure of records that the Roman Catholic church kept of abusive clergy.

The ruling arose from sexual molestation lawsuits filed against the Franciscan Friars of California Inc. by 25 plaintiffs

ROME
Financial Times

By Guy Dinmore in Rome

Published: September 30 2010 16:39

Rome magistrates leading an investigation into a suspected breach of money laundering regulations by the Vatican bank questioned its top two officials for several hours on Thursday for the first time since the probe was opened and €23m in Vatican funds were seized.

Leaving the judiciary complex in Rome after their meeting, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, head of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR) as the Vatican bank is formally known, repeated to reporters the Vatican’s explanation that the events were the result of a “misunderstanding” which he intended to clarify.

Nello Rossi, the magistrate leading the probe, declined to comment after questioning Mr Gotti Tedeschi and Paolo Cipriani, IOR director-general, in the presence of their lawyer

ROME
Catholic Culture

September 30, 2010
Italian banking investigators questioned Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the head of the Vatican bank, at length on September 30.

Tedeschi and his top subordinate, Paolo Cipriani, spent 4 hour in a prosecutor’s office on Thursday. As they emerged, Tedeschi repeated his argument that a money-laundering investigation into the Vatican bank was based on a “misunderstanding” that could be quickly clarified.

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Nicole Sotelo on Sep. 30, 2010
COMMENTARY

For the last 128 years, millions of Catholic men have faithfully served the church through the Knights of Columbus' mission to help those in need. But do today's 1.8 million members and their supporters know that their Supreme Knight, Carl Anderson, is endangering their legacy by contributing their hard-earned charitable dollars not to the needy, but to political battles?

In October 2008, the Knights of Columbus and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) announced that they had formed a partnership. The Knights would fund the bishops' anti-marriage equality campaigns and Carl Anderson himself would sit as a consultant to the bishops’ ad hoc committee on the same topic.

Since then, the Knights of Columbus have contributed millions of dollars to restrict the freedom to marry in state-based political battles ranging from California to Maine.

Let me be clear that this was engagement in political battles -- not efforts to simply promote among Catholics the Vatican's teaching on same-gender marriage, a teaching the majority of U.S. Catholics reject as unjust discrimination.

MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

By Jesse Logan
Sep 30, 2010

WEYMOUTH — The Boston Archdiocese has cleared a Weymouth priest accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1970s.

After a review, the Archdiocese ruled that the allegations against Rev. Charles J. Murphy, a priest at St. Francis Xavier Parish, were unsubstantiated.

On Wednesday, Church officials told Murphy that he would be allowed to return to his post, after stepping down during an investigation by the Archdiocesan Review Board–an advisory committee comprised of clergy sex abuse victims, parents, and a judge.

The attorney for the victim, Mitchell Garabedian, says his client is not satisfied with the ruling.

“He’s extremely disappointed, disheartened and feels re-victimized by the review boards actions,” Garabedian says.

BAHAMAS
The Freeport News

The alleged sexual scandal against mega church pastor, Bishop Eddie Long has tongues wagging across the Western World, not just among churches, but in the clubs, in the offices, at the water coolers and mostly in cyber space.

While the allegations against Bishop Long remain just that - allegations, the situation is nothing new and brings forth once again a series of messages.

It reminds us that those set in authority over kids, young people and those emotionally vulnerable must exercise prudence, compassion and sincerity. Such authority does not give those who possess it a right to abuse and take advantage of those left in their care.

UNITED STATES
Tri-State Defender

It always fascinates me what stories the mainstream press decides to focus on in a given week. We are a nation at war, there is a huge mid-term election pending, the economy continues to remain in a rut and yet, the biggest story in the news last week was about a nasty preacher and his predilection for young boys.

It’s bad enough that this story is more social and sexual voyeurism than anything substantive, but an even more serious story dealing with the Catholic church, with much larger implications for average Americans, barely cracked the front pages.

Last week four young men filed suit against Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, one of the largest most powerful and well attended churches in America. New Birth isn’t your typical mega church in a large metro area. The church has its hand in schools, the local economy and social policy, and the flamboyant Bishop Eddie Long has a laundry list of influential friends from former presidents to celebrities that attend his church on a regular basis.

UNITED STATES
Lez Get Real

09/30/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Ohio Representative Steve Austria is a devout Roman Catholic who supports the right of the Government and the Church to tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies, and opposes any and all attempts to broaden the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpeople. As a member of the House of Representatives, he has voted against the Matthew Shepard Act as well as against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. However, it was his vote to protect Catholic Bishops from lawsuits when he was an Ohio State Senator that is now coming back up in the wake of the breaking story of Wisconsin Senatorial candidate Ron Johnson.

The bill itself might seem like it was done to protect victims of child abuse, but the way that the bill was written means that it would be very easy for the Church and its bishops to avoid liability.

To begin with, the law states that it is a misdemeanor for someone to fail to report child abuse and does not specify how long a person has between disclosure of the child abuse, suspected or actual, and the need to disclose the abuse to the authorities. It would be easy for a bishop to claim that they had no knowledge or make some other excuse for why they did not report the abuse.

MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot Ledger

BRAINTREE — A local priest has been cleared of sexual abuse allegations for a second time, and returned to the ministry.

The Rev. Charles J. Murphy, whose last assignment was at St. Francis Xavier Church in Weymouth, had been accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy while Murphy was assigned to St. Agatha’s Church in Milton during the early 1970s.

In April, the Rev. Murphy voluntarily stepped down from public ministry during the investigation.

VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Spanish archbishop, who was part of the Vatican-led investigation of the Legionaries of Christ, will be the apostolic visitor of the congregation's lay movement, Regnum Christi.

Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez of Valladolid, Spain, is one of a number of appointees named recently to help the papal delegate, Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, in his task of governing the Legionaries and helping reform the order.

The four advisers who will help Archbishop De Paolis are Bishop Brian Farrell, a member of the Legionaries and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and three canon lawyers: Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Sacred Heart Father Agostino Montan, and Msgr. Mario Marchesi, according to media reports.

UNITED STATES
Healing and Spirituality

Dr. Jaime Rome

I am grateful to survivors and survivor supporters who share their journeys to promote healing and end sexual abuse. Today’s blog highlights an interview with Mr. Frank Douglas, a member of the National Survivors Advocacy Coalition and the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, who manages the blog, Voice of the Desert.

JJR: What got you involved in this work to promote healing and end sexual abuse, particularly religious authority sexual abuse?

FD: At first, I was motivated by the injustice to victims, by the extraordinary incompetence of church officials in their woeful “management” of the abuse phenomenon, by their consistent and persistent cover up of these heinous crimes, and by the world-class hypocrisy of popes, bishops, and the top managers of religious orders. Subconsciously, I’ve been motivated in this work all along by my own childhood abuse by a trusted woman family member.

I’ve come to the conclusion that healing is an overused buzzword and never really happens fully. I think it occurs only partially, because the memories and scars are always there and are very often deeply hidden in the subconscious.

IRELAND
Catholic News Service

By Sarah Delaney
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Irish archbishops will travel to Rome in early October to meet with Vatican officials about the apostolic visitation of their dioceses ordered by Pope Benedict XVI in response to the priestly sexual abuse scandal, the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference announced.

The four archbishops were called by the leadership of the Congregation for Bishops to help prepare for the visitation, which the pope said would help them address the sexual abuse scandal, improve assistance to victims and perfect preventative measures.

The Irish church leaders -- Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, Northern Ireland; and Archbishops Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly, and Michael Neary of Tuam -- will meet with the prelates conducting the visitations and with Vatican officials for a "preparation and planning meeting," Martin Long, spokesman for the Irish bishops' conference, told Catholic News Service by telephone Sept. 30.

AUSTRALIA
ABC - Lateline

Transcript
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Our guest, Alan Dershowitz is one of the foremost lawyers and jurists in the United States.

He's defended some of the most high-profile clients in recent history, including Claus von Bulow, Mike Tyson and O.J. Simpson.

He's a distinguished defender of civil liberties, a widely-read commentator on the Arab-Israel conflict and a vocal supporter of Israel.

He's been widely published in magazines and newspapers. He's the author of 27 works of fiction and non-fiction.

Well he's in Australia this week for the Festival of Dangerous Ideas at the Sydney Opera House where he'll debate the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC.

ROME
The Associated Press

ROME — The two top officials of the Vatican's bank have been questioned by Italian prosecutors probing alleged violations of Italy's anti-money laundering laws.

Chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and the director general Paolo Cipriani spent about four hours at the prosecutor's office Thursday, a week after Italian authorities seized €23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account as a precaution.

The chairman told reporters as he left the courthouse that the allegations resulted from a "misunderstanding" which he hoped would be cleared up. He said they asked to be interrogated.

UNITED KINGDOM
St. Albans and Harpenden Review

By Alex Lewis »

A TECHNOLOGY teacher at Nicholas Breakspear School in St Albans was caught with thousands of indecent pictures of children after he handed in his laptop without deleting the contents.

Jonathon Collings, 60, gave his laptop back to the school when he retired at the end of the last term.

He thought he had deleted the files, but staff preparing the computer for another teacher found indecent pictures and alerted police.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Press Association

A former schoolteacher who used his work laptop to view child pornography has been given a three-year community order.

The material was found on a computer loaned to Jonathan Collings when he handed it back on retiring from his job as a technology teacher at a Catholic secondary school.

The 60-year-old from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, had failed to wipe all the images before he left Nicholas Breakspear Catholic School in St Albans, Hertfordshire, last August.

CANADA
CBC News

A Roman Catholic order in Quebec was aware of allegations of sexual abuse by brothers in the religious group, according to evidence discovered by Radio-Canada.

A nine-page document, written by a long-term member of the Order of Holy Cross, chronicles specific allegations of abuse over the years at Montreal's College Notre Dame. The document lists a dozen Holy Cross brothers from various institutions.

It also outlines how alleged abusers at the order's flagship private school were not reported to the police and instead were allowed to stay on as teachers or support staff.

UNITED STATES
Politics Daily

David Gibson

Pope Benedict XVI has for months been battered by criticism over his history of dealing quietly with sex abuse by clergy, but in October he could make his most eloquent response yet when he canonizes a 19th-century Australian nun who was once excommunicated in part because she complained about priests who molested children.

Mother Mary MacKillop, co-founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, an order dedicated to the religious instruction of children and care for the poor, will be Australia's first native-born saint when Benedict canonizes her at a Mass at St. Peter's in Rome.

But MacKillop was always an unlikely candidate for sainthood because she had a reputation for "insubordination" and she was excommunicated for several months by her bishop for reasons that were never clear.

MASSCHUSETTS
WATD

The Boston Archdiocese says a priest accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1970s has been cleared of wrongdoing and returned to ministry.

In April, the Rev. Charles J. Murphy stepped down from his postat St. Francis Xavier Parish in Weymouth while the archdioceseinvestigated the charge.

On Wednesday, the archdiocese said the charge against Murphy wasfound to be unsubstantiated. The case was investigated by theArchdiocesan Review Board, an advisory committee which includesclergy sex abuse victims, parents and a judge.

The attorney for the victim, Mitchell Garabedian, called theboard a "kangaroo court" that's biased in favor of thearchdiocese. He said his client was interviewed by archdiocesan investigators, but never questioned by the board.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor

By Ben Leubsdorf / Monitor staff
September 30, 2010

A priest who spent three years as a chaplain and teacher at Magdalen College in Warner admitted yesterday to sexually touching an 11-year-old girl in northern Virginia.

The Rev. Felix Owino, 44, entered a guilty plea in Fairfax Circuit Court to a felony charge of aggravated sexual battery.

Under a plea agreement, which must be approved by a judge, Owino will serve no more than five years in prison and could face deportation to his native Kenya, WTOV-TV reported. He will be sentenced in December.

UNITED STATES
Guardian (United Kingdom)

Anthea Butler
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 September 2010

The most compelling story in religion this week is that of Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the 25,000-member church New Birth, located outside Atlanta, Georgia. Accused of sexual coercion in four separate civil lawsuits filed by four men, Long's ministry has come under intense media scrutiny.

What makes this a story is Long's prominence in social and political realms. He presided over the funeral of Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr's wife, at his church and four US presidents attended the funeral. Bernice King, daughter of MLK, is an assistant pastor at New Birth. Long also opposes same-sex marriage and homosexuality, holding a march opposing gay marriage in Atlanta drawing 5,000 marchers and earning him the title from the Southern Poverty Law Centre as "one of the most virulently homophobic black leaders in the religiously based anti-gay movement".

Long's troubles are not simply about his potential hypocrisy in preaching against homosexuality while allegedly engaging in same-sex acts; it is also about money. Theologically, Long and his church are rooted in the prosperity gospel, a belief that promotes giving tithes and offerings to God in a covenantal relationship. A church member gives, and God enters into a covenant with the believer that prospers them financially, physically and spiritually.

STREATOR (IL)
Peoria Journal Star

STREATOR — Bishop Daniel Jenky of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria Diocese has issued official decrees to close all four of Streator's Catholic parishes.

Under the decrees issued last week, the four parishes — St. Stephen's, St. Anthony's, Immaculate Conception, and St. Casimir's — will be suppressed on Wednesday. Unless appeals by the four parishes are accepted by diocesan authorities, they will be consolidated in the newly created St. Michael The Archangel Parish. St. Michael was established in July and is currently using the building which formally housed St. Stephen's.

NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

Victims of sexual abuse during the 1960s and 1970s by members of a Franciscan order in the Dutch province of Limburg are to receive compensation. The Franciscan order has long been dismantled in the town of Kerkrade, the monks ran a boys' boarding school, St Maria ter Engelen.

The Franciscan order which is based in Germany has written to 46 victims of sexual abuse informing them of the decision. The amount is yet to be determined.

The Franciscan order set up a school for Dutch and German boys in Kerkrade in 1875. In 1918, Dutch monks took over the work from their German brothers. Only two are known to be still alive. The victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergymen have joined forces in the organisation Mea Culpa United.

ATLANTA (GA)
11 Alive

ATLANTA -- Attorney B.J. Bernstein, who filed four lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long, is speaking out for the first time the pastor of the mega church addressed the allegations head on Sunday.

Jamal Parris, one of the young men accusing mega-church leader Eddie Long of sexual coercion tells an Atlanta television station his former pastor is "a monster."

"Jamal was at the grocery store in the middle of the night. He wasn't expecting a reporter to be there. You can see by his face he is kind of, um, shocked," Bernstein said. "He was so emotional yesterday. He texted me last night. Unfortunately I am in another state and I was asleep and in the morning he was telling me what happened. It was a very emotional converstation."

Bishop Long's attorney issued a statement in response:

"Unfortunately the plaintiffs and counsel are attempting to try their lawsuits in the media. The appropriate place to try lawsuits is in the court room. There are rules on how civil litigation is to take place and how counsel should conduct themselves, we intend to follow those rules."

UNITED STATES
Lez Get Real

09/29/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told a conference of 150 religion reporters on 24 September that the mass media seems more hostile to Christian values. He called upon journalists “to understand believers and religious institutions as they understand themselves.” Indeed, this is wonderful advice right out of the pages of Sun Tzu’s Art of War “know your enemy as you know yourself.” Of course, this is not what he is urging because what he is actually upset about is the fact that the media has not done things like ignore the fact that Senatorial candidate from Wisconsin Ron Johnson’s testimony in order to destroy a bill that would have extended the statute of limitation in pedophile cases aimed at the Roman Catholic Church or the fact that Roman Catholic priests actually rape children.

He went on to say “Freedom of the press clearly includes the right to question the actions and motives of religious figures and institutions. But freedom doesn’t excuse prejudice or poor handling of serious material, especially people’s religious convictions. What’s new today is the seeming collusion –or at least an active sympathy — between some media organizations and journalists, and political and sexual agendas hostile to traditional Christian beliefs.”

In his talk “Religion, Journalism, and the New American Orthodoxy”, he also said “This new orthodoxy seems to influence the selection of religious news and how that news gets presented. It seems to frame which opinions are appropriate and which ones won’t be heard. And it seems to guide the historical narrative that media present to their audiences.

SOUTH DAKOTA
The Daily Republic

By DIRK LAMMERS Associated Press Writer, The Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.

Several adults who say they were physically and sexually assaulted decades ago at an American Indian orphanage spoke out Wednesday against a new South Dakota law aimed at shielding churches and schools from dated sexual abuse claims.

The former residents of the Tekakwitha Orphanage appeared together during a news conference in front of the Catholic cathedral in Sioux Falls. The orphanage, now closed, was in Sisseton, about 150 miles north.

Six former former orphanage residents who spoke said they want to see repeal of a law that took effect July 1. It prohibits anybody 40 or older from recovering sexual abuse damages against any organization or person except the person who committed the act.

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

David A. Love

Just about everyone knows about the problems facing Bishop Eddie Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. Specifically, there are the four young men who allege that the prominent Atlanta-area pastor coerced them into a sexual relationship, and possibly more waiting in the wings. They claim that Long used his status to seduce them with money, clothes, bling, cars, foreign trips, access to celebrities and the like. The men allege that they called Long "dad" or "daddy," which sounds awfully cultish. One of the plaintiffs even claims that he was 14 when his relationship with Long started, which brings up issues of child abuse and statutory rape.

These accusations will be addressed in court, and who knows, maybe there will be a quiet out-of-court settlement. To be sure, this is not the first religious leader to face accusations of sexual and professional misconduct and abuse of authority, nor the last. Similarly, the Bishop is not the first homophobic preacher to be outed as a gay man.

But Bishop Long's sexual orientation ultimately is not the subject of this commentary, although it provides some valuable context. Now, if these accusations are true, then Bishop Long is at least guilty of hypocrisy and self-hatred. And if the charges are not true, he is still an anti-gay minister who has damaged many people. Either way, he is a prosperity preacher who preys on the black community and shames the legacy of the civil rights movement. And that's most of what we need to know.

CALIFORNIA
Willows Journal

By Rob Parsons/Tri-County Newspapers

Former Willows pastor Carlton F. Hammonds groped the breasts and buttocks of two teenage girls from his congregation in 2006 for his own sexual gratification, a Glenn County Superior Court jury ruled today.

The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for nearly four hours before handing down convictions on all charges: three felony counts of committing lewd acts with a teenager and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

Hammonds, 57, appeared emotionless as the court clerk read the verdict, but his friends and family wept quietly as Judge Peter B. Tweed excused the jury and ordered the Probation Department to prepare a sentencing report.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Rapid City Journal

Several adults who say they were physically and sexually assaulted decades ago at an American Indian orphanage spoke out Wednesday against a new South Dakota law aimed at shielding churches and schools from dated sexual abuse claims.

The former residents of the Tekakwitha Orphanage appeared together during a news conference in front of the Catholic cathedral in Sioux Falls. The orphanage, now closed, was in Sisseton, about 150 miles north.

Six former former orphanage residents who spoke said they want to see repeal of a law that took effect July 1. It prohibits anybody 40 or older from recovering sexual abuse damages against any organization or person except the person who committed the act.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Argus Leader

Beth Wischmeyer • bwisch@argusleader.com • September 30, 2010

A group of Native Americans who say they were physically and sexually abused when they were children at a Catholic-run orphanage in South Dakota voiced their frustration Wednesday in Sioux Falls about a new state law that puts limitations on lawsuits from abuse victims..

Former residents of the now closed Tekakwitha Orphanage in Sisseton gathered during a news conference in front of St. Joseph Cathedral, some sharing their accounts of abuse.

Many said they want to see a repeal of a law that says any abuse victims older than age 40 can sue only the individuals who abused them and not churches, schools or other institutions with which an abuser was associated. The law went into effect July 1.

WISCONSIN
Green Bay Press-Gazette

By Steve Contorno • scontorno@greenbaypressgazette.com • September 30, 2010

DE PERE — U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson has tried to comply with an advocacy group's request by urging the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay to be open in its investigation of alleged pedophile priests, but members of the group say that isn't enough.

The Republican asked the diocese on Wednesday to be transparent regarding decades-old allegations of child abuse among priests and particularly the Rev. John Patrick Feeney, who was sentenced to prison in 2004 for molesting two brothers in Freedom.

Johnson used to serve on the diocese's financial council and in January testified in Madison against the Child Victims Act — a Wisconsin bill aimed at making it easier for childhood sex abuse victims to sue their attackers — on behalf of the diocese, among other groups. Johnson's statements focused on the financial impact of the bill on nonprofits that serve minors.

CHICAGO (IL)
WLS

Another lawsuit has been filed against Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese by another man who said he was molested as a child by defrocked priest and convicted child sexual abuser Daniel McCormack.

The John Doe suit accuses the archdiocese and Cardinal Francis George of ignoring allegations lodged against McCormack for years, leaving children vulnerable.

This most recent suit claims the victim was abused over a period of roughly four years, starting in the 2002-03 school year when the boy was in 8th grade and playing basketball for McCormack, the coach.

BRAZIL
9 News (Australia)

Stan Lehman

Police say they have caught a Roman Catholic priest who disappeared after he was convicted of sexually abusing young girls in southern Brazil.

A police officer in the state of Rio Grande do Sul says the Reverend Avelino Backes was arrested on Monday after being found in a hospital in the town of Santa Rosa.

The officer said on Wednesday he does not know why Backes was hospitalised. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

WASHINGTON
The Daily Evergreen

Caleb Palmquist
The Daily Evergreen

Published: 09/30/2010

Pope Benedict XVI was accused earlier this year of preventing a priest who had sexually abused minors from facing penalties. Irresponsible journalism and gross misjudgments cast the pope in a foul light. For Benedict, born as Joseph Ratzinger, these accusations could not be further from the truth.

While there are without a doubt real cases of abuse within the Catholic Church, Benedict does not deserve the blame for said abuses, nor has he attempted to prevent the prosecution of abusers. To the contrary, Benedict has been a crusader for harsher punishment of offenders and spearheaded the movement in 2001 to require bishops to report incidents of abuse to the Vatican.

In 1980, Benedict accepted an invitation from Pope John Paul II to take over as the prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the office responsible for dealing with policy on issues like sexual abuse within the church. In 2002, he was elected as the dean of the College of Cardinals, and in 2005, following the death of Pope John Paul II, he was elected pope.

AUSTRALIA
USA Today

Here's a saint for our times -- a patron and companion in heaven for global victims of the sexual abuse crisis. She could be a 19th century Australian nun, Sister Mary MacKillop, who was once punished by the church for denouncing clerical child abuse.

Francis X. Rocca at Religion News Service picked up the story from a new Australian TV documentary that he says will air next month, a week before Sister MacKillop is canonized in Rome. Rocca writes:

"Some priests had been uncovered for being involved in the sexual abuse of children," the Rev. Paul Gardiner, the official advocate for MacKillop's canonization, told Australia's ABC television.

WEST VIRGINIA
Wheeling News-Register

By JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH

WHEELING - A priest with ties to a pair of local communities pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated sexual battery against a child.

Barbara Kenney, a spokeswoman for Fairfax County, Va., Circuit Court, confirmed Felix C. Owino entered the plea on Wednesday in a case involving a minor younger than 13 years old. She said Owino - former associate pastor of St. Paul's Parish in Weirton who also taught at Wheeling Jesuit University - is set to again appear in circuit court Dec. 17 for sentencing.

Lt. Sonny Cachuela, information officer for the Fairfax County Sheriff's Department, said Owino remains lodged in the county's jail system.

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John M. Guilfoil
Globe Staff / September 30, 2010

A South Shore Catholic priest has been cleared of sexual misconduct by the Archdiocese of Boston for the second time, as the lawyer for the alleged victim decried the review process as biased and unfair.

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The Rev. Charles J. Murphy was accused in April of fondling a teenage boy four times between 1970 and 1971, when he was at St. Agatha Parish in Milton.

The case was handled by attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented about 700 victims of clergy sexual abuse. ...

Garabedian angrily rejected the findings and questioned the review process. He said his client, a man who is now 53, was not asked to take part in the hearing. Instead, Garabedian said, a written statement was used.

“The process to determine whether the abuse occurred should not be left in the hands of the Archdiocese of Boston, which is biased in the matter,’’ Garabedian said in a phone interview yesterday. “Any fair process would have the victim testify before the hearing officers to make a determination. It makes sense to have the victim there, so the hearing officers can see his demeanor, hear his voice, and ask him questions.’’

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

By Herald staff
Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Archdiocese of Boston yesterday announced a review board has found sexual abuse allegations against the Rev. Charles J. Murphy were unsubstantiated and he is being restored to senior priest status.

Murphy was placed on leave in April, accused of sexually abusing a minor in 1970 and 1971. He was previously cleared of a 2004 allegation. Mitchell Garabedian, the lawyer for Murphy’s accuser, slammed the decision yesterday, saying the board did not question his client on the allegations.

MASSACHUSETTS
Dedham Transcript

BRAINTREE — A local priest has been cleared of sexual abuse allegations for a second time, and returned to the ministry.

The Rev. Charles J. Murphy, whose last assignment was at St. Francis Xavier Church in Weymouth, had been accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy while Murphy was assigned to St. Agatha’s Church in Milton during the early 1970s.

In April, the Rev. Murphy voluntarily stepped down from public ministry during the investigation.

WATERTOWN (WI)
WTMJ

By Michael George
Story Created: Sep 29, 2010

WATERTOWN- Investigators say Father Thomas Marr fell victim to a Nigerian financial scam. But now, he’s under arrest and facing jail time. Police say to get the money to participate in the scam, Marr stole from the church and scammed his own parishioners, friends, and family.

Father Marr of St. Bernard Parish in Watertown was allegedly convinced by a parishioner that he could get millions of dollars if he funded a money transfer out of Nigeria. After spending tens of thousands of dollars of his own money, Marr allegedly started lying to others, claiming he needed the money to help a church member in need.

He allegedly claimed he needed the money for a house, and in some cases claimed the money was to help a parish member save their farm.

AUSTRALIA
The Record

Thursday, 30 September 2010
Internationally-known human rights lawyer and prominent atheist Geoffrey Robertson QC, who wanted Pope Benedict XVI arrested during his recent visit to the UK, has been stung by an Australian Bishop’s response to some of his claims in a recent article

By Anthony Barich

British QC Geoffrey Robertson’s claim that the Church has merely admonished priests it knows “to be guilty of raping children” is false and malicious, Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Julian Porteous said.

His comment came after Robertson challenged Bishop Porteous to point out any errors after the prelate stated in the Catholic Weekly on 16 September that the QC’s latest book The Case of The Pope: Vatican accountability for Human Rights Abuses “contains many false claims”.
Bishop Porteous expanded on these claims in a column published on 22 September in The Record.

In a 26 September statement issued to The Record after Robertson’s challenge, Bishop Porteous said the QC’s claim of “the Church” admonishing guilty priests and switching them between parishes is false.

ROME
The New York Times

By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: September 29, 2010

ROME — When Rome magistrates opened an investigation last week into the Vatican bank over transparency issues, it was not only a bold assertion of state over church, it also pointed to one of the Vatican’s greatest continuing challenges: facing modernity.

As in the sexual abuse scandal, in which for years the Vatican appeared to declare itself outside — or above — civil law, this time the issue is the Vatican’s famously opaque finances, which for the first time are being held to tightened European Union anti-money-laundering statutes.

While Europe remade itself after the Second World War, balancing its powers through treaties and linking itself together through banking agreements, the Vatican remains an anomaly as the last absolute monarchy in the West. But today, its ancient ways are running up against civil institutions that increasingly view the church as they do any other multinational.

MASSACHUSETTS
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

(Braintree, MA) September 29, 2010… The Archdiocese of Boston today announced that, after a thorough investigation and review, the Archdiocesan Review Board has found an allegation against Reverend Charles J. Murphy of sexual abuse of a minor to be unsubstantiated. The Review Board, an interfaith advisory committee comprised of psychiatrists, social workers, survivors of clergy sexual abuse, parents, an educator, retired law enforcement agent, judge and a pastor, advises the Cardinal on complaints and policy matters relating to the protection of children. Cardinal Seán O’Malley accepted the recommendation of the Review Board and met with Fr. Murphy late yesterday to inform him he is being restored to the status of senior priest.

In April 2010, Father Murphy was placed on administrative leave following the receipt of an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor dating back approximately 40 years (1970-1971.) After receiving notice of the allegation, the Archdiocese immediately notified law enforcement and initiated an investigation into the complaint.

Fr. Murphy was the subject of previous allegations made in 2004 relating to conduct alleged to have occurred decades ago. After a complete investigation into the initial allegations and an evaluation of those claims by the Archdiocesan Review Board, the allegations were found to be unsubstantiated and the related civil claims were dropped.

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald

The Boston Archdiocese says a priest accused of sexually abusing a minor in the 1970s has been cleared of wrongdoing and returned to ministry.

In April, the Rev. Charles J. Murphy stepped down from his post at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Weymouth while the archdiocese investigated the charge.

On Wednesday, the archdiocese said the charge against Murphy was found to be unsubstantiated. The case was investigated by the Archdiocesan Review Board, an advisory committee which includes clergy sex abuse victims, parents and a judge.

UNITED STATES
America Magazine

Posted at: Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Author: Jim Keane, S.J.

The stunning news that a soon-to-be-saint was excommunicated for urging the church to take action against a sex offender is a reminder of the virulence of the crimes of clerical abuse. And the astonishing story of Mother Mary MacKillop, an Australian sister and foundress of a women’s religious order, who will be canonized on Oct. 17, says a great deal about sanctity, about sin, about women in the church and, finally, about hope.

The saga of Mother Mary MacKillop’s excommunication was thought to be well documented, widely acknowledged as an almost unprecedented stop on her circuitous path to sainthood. After all, few saints have been excommunicated—the church’s harshest penalty, which denies reception of any sacrament to a person. But in 1870 Laurence Sheil, the bishop of Brisbane, formally ejected her from the church. Until recently the story of MacKillop’s punishment was understood mainly as the result of a conflict between her and the bishop, who cited insubordination as the official reason for this extraordinary move against the foundress of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

But the full story is that Mary MacKillop was excommunicated out of “revenge,” in the words of one priest familiar with her life, for uncovering a case of sex abuse by a Father Keating, in a nearby parish. The Rev. Paul Gardiner, the man in charge of MacKillop’s canonization process, told an Australian television documentary a few days ago, “Priests being annoyed that somebody had uncovered it--that would probably be the way of describing it--and being so angry that the destruction of the Josephites was decided on.” A statement from the Sisters of St. Joseph has confirmed that the documentary’s reports are “consistent with” studies of the event.

CANADA
The Chatham Daily News

Jane Sims
QMI Agency

LONDON — It could have been a civil case that would have put the Roman Catholic Diocese of London's knowledge of Rev. Charles Sylvestre's sexual abuse of children under the microscope.

Instead, Anne Heathcote's case against the diocese, retired bishop John Sherlock and Bishop Ronald Fabbro ended abruptly with a settlement Wednesday, but not before a jury heard the opening remarks of both sides.

That was remarkable given that 64 civil cases concerning Sylvestre's sexual abuse of young female parishioners have been settled before reaching the trial stage. More than 10 remain to be completed.

UNITED STATES
NPR

by Lee Hill

A newly surfaced television interview with Jamal Parris, the third of four men accusing Atlanta-area megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long of sexual coercion, is making its rounds online.

The local Fox affiliate in Atlanta, WAGA-TV, landed the "exclusive" interview after it dispatched its "Senior I-Team Reporter" Dale Russell to hunt for Parris in Colorado, where he now lives — but the city was not disclosed.

Apparently, the feverish hunt was successful.

Parris appears in the report looking as though he has been ambushed by Russell and his determined TV crew in a grocery store parking lot.

NORTH CAROLINA/GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Spencer LeGrande, the fourth young man to file a lawsuit accusing Bishop Eddie Long of sexual misconduct, said Wednesday he continues to pray for the megachurch pastor.

"I pray for him too," he said. "I really do."

LeGrande, 22, who was interviewed by Channel 2 Action News at his home in Charlotte, N.C., said he told his family and a few friends, including a police officer, about the sexual relationship, but he didn't decide to come forward until he heard others had accused the bishop of sexual coercion.

"They said bishop has been accused of something, and my heart dropped," he said. "And that was my time that God told me to release what I had to say."

ATLANTA (GA)
The Associated Press

ATLANTA — One of four men accusing megachurch Bishop Eddie Long of coercing them into inappropriate sexual relationships says that he and the pastor would have encounters before and after services on church grounds.

Jamal Parris told WAGA-TV in Atlanta that they engaged in sexual acts at Long's home, in his car and his office at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. Parris made similar claims in a lawsuit last week.

Also Wednesday, Spencer LeGrande told WSB-TV in Atlanta that he has been free since filing a lawsuit against Long. He says he has no hate for anyone and is praying for Long.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Christian Boone and Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bishop Eddie Long's ex-wife claimed in divorce papers that he was physically abusive, alleging he beat her when she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple's only child.

Dabara S. Houston said she was the victim of "cruel treatment" and was afraid of Long's "violent and vicious temper," according to Fulton County Superior Court records. She and her son "had to flee [the couple's Fairburn home] in order to ensure their safety," the documents say.

The couple was married in 1981 and separated after a couple years, according to the documents. Long's first wife made the abuse allegation in a counterclaim after he petitioned for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

In a statement to the AJC Wednesday afternoon, Long's attorney Craig Gillen said, "The allegations of a divorce pleading that is nearly 30 years old are absolutely ‘not true.' It's offensive and disappointing that the media would drag up these outrageous allegations and make them a part of their reporting."

FLORIDA
Miami Herald

The Associated Press
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- A South Florida priest on indefinite leave will get equal time and custody of the child he conceived with a former stripper.

David Dueppen's attorney, Raymond Rafool, confirmed Wednesday that his client and the child's mother, Beatrice Hernandez, entered into a settlement agreement earlier this week. Under the agreement, which must be finalized by a judge, Dueppen will also pay monthly child support.

Dueppen joined the priesthood in 1999 and stepped away in August after Hernandez approached the archdiocese. He is no longer a practicing priest.

PITTSBURGH (PA)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

By Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

A priest who lived at St. Bede Parish on and off between 1997 and 2006 pleaded guilty today to molesting an 11-year-old girl in Virginia, according to a court official.

The Rev. Felix Owino, 44, was arrested on July 8, in Fairfax County and charged with aggravated sexual battery, according to police. The girl is a member of the family Owino was staying with in Herndon, Va., police said.

NEW YORK
MPNnow

Rochester, N.Y. — A Rochester pastor has been indicted on charges of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a young boy – a member of the church.

Joe Flowers plead not guilty in from of Judge John DeMarco in Monroe County Court Tuesday afternoon.

In court papers, Flowers is accused of showering, touching and sleeping naked in bed with the boy.

NEW YORK
WHEC

Police are wondering if more victims will come forward now that a local pastor has been accused of sexually abusing a young boy in his congregation.

Bishop Joe Flowers is the senior pastor at Walk of Life Christian Center which holds its services at the Auditorium Theatre on East Main Street.

Prosecutors say he molested an 11-year-old boy two or more times from 2007 to 2010 when the boy would stay at Flowers' home.

NEW YORK
WHAM

Posted by: Rachel Barnhart
Email: rbarnhart@13wham.com

(Rochester, N.Y.) – A pastor accused of sexually abusing a boy will return to court Thursday morning for an appearance with a new lawyer.

Pastor Joe Flowers was indicted on a felony charge of course of sexual conduct against a child. He remained in the Monroe County Jail Wednesday afternoon, with bail set at $25,000 cash and $50,000 bond.

Flowers, founder of Walk of Life Christian Center, is accused of molesting a boy under the age of 13 at his home for a period of three years. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD (AP)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has named a Spanish archbishop to investigate a cult-like group affiliated with the Legionaries of Christ, the conservative religious order disgraced by revelations its founder sexually abused seminarians and fathered three children.

Monsignor Ricardo Blazquez, archbishop of Valladolid, Spain, will head the probe into the so-called consecrated women of the Legion's lay movement Regnum Christi, according to an internal e-mail from the Legion's administrative branch. The Vatican confirmed the nomination late Wednesday.

Regnum Christi is a community of some 70,000 Catholics in 30 countries who have regular jobs and families yet help promote the movement's aim of bringing people closer to Christ through missionary-type work.

WISCONSIN
The Huffington Post

Jason Linkins

Last week, I encouraged readers to get to know their Ron Johnson, the GOP insurgent who's lately been up in the polls against veteran Democratic Senator Russ Feingold in the Wisconsin Senate election. Now, here's a new fun fact, courtesy of Zaid Jilani, at ThinkProgress -- in Johnson's "one prominent act of political participation" prior to his Senate run, he testified in front of the state legislature against the Wisconsin Child Victims Act.

The Wisconson Child Victims Act essentially eliminates the statute of limitations for bringing suit againt "any person" for "injury caused by...an adult's sexual contact with anyone under the age of 18." For the purposes of the statute, "person" was defined as "an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity."

Now, me, personally, I have no problem with easing the burden on children victimized by "an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, or government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity."

WISCONSIN
WBAY

By Emily Matesic

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) is hoping to benefit from Republican senatorial candidate Ron Johnson's affiliation with the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.

The victims advocacy group is calling on Johnson to demand the diocese release the names of 51 known clergy sex offenders.

SNAP says it's asking Johnson to do this because back in January he testified on behalf of the Green Bay Catholic Diocese against the Crime Victims Act -- legislation that would lift the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases.

SOUTH DAKOTA
KTIV

Associated Press - September 29, 2010

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Former residents of an American Indian orphanage who say they were sexually abused there decades ago are criticizing a South Dakota law that sets limits on lawsuits against institutions such as churches or schools.

Under the law that took effect July 1, no person 40 or older could recover damages from any person or organization other than the person who committed the act of sexual abuse.

Joelle Casteix of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says such limits are unfair, as it often takes many years for adults to come forward about childhood abuse. Casteix's group is helping the former orphanage residents.

FAIRFAX (VA)
WTRF

FAIRFAX, Va. -- The Rev. Felix Owino entered a guilty plea to aggravated sexual battery Wednesday in Fairfax County, Va., Circuit Court according to court officials.

Authorities said Owino was arrested July 8, in Fairfax for the aggravated sexual battery of a minor.

Today after entering the plea, Owino learned he will be sentenced for the crime on Dec. 17.

BRASIL
Diario Do Grande ABC

Um padre condenado pela Justiça de Santa Catarina a sete anos de prisão por crime contra a liberdade sexual foi preso em Santa Rosa (RS), na última terça-feira.

Avelino Backes, 70 anos, é acusado de ter aproveitado de coroinhas e alunas de catequese nas paróquias onde atuava. Os crimes foram cometidos na década de 90.

BRASIL
O Globo

SÃO PAULO - O padre Avelino Backes, de 70 anos, condenado pelo Tribunal de Justiça de Santa Catarina a uma pena de sete anos de reclusão, em regime fechado, por abusar de coroinhas e alunas durante a catequese em cidades do oeste catarinense, teve mandado de prisão cumprido nesta terça-feira no interior do Rio Grande do Sul. Backes foi encontrado internado num hospital em Santa Rosa e agora está sob custódia da Brigada Militar. A polícia aguarda avaliação médica do padre.

O padre tentou recurso contra a condenação no Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) no início do mês. Em 26 de março de 2008, a 2ª Câmara Criminal do Tribunal de Justiça confirmou sentença da Comarca de Capinzal para condenar o padre pela prática de atentado violento ao pudor contra meninas das paróquias de Piratuba e Ipira, naquela região, na década de 90. As vítimas tinham idades entre nove e 10 anos.

BRAZIL
The Associated Press

By STAN LEHMAN (AP)

SAO PAULO — Police say they have caught a Roman Catholic priest who disappeared after he was convicted of sexually abusing young girls in southern Brazil.

A police officer in the state of Rio Grande do Sul says the Rev. Avelino Backes was arrested Monday after being found in a hospital in the town of Santa Rosa.

The officer said Wednesday he does not know why Backes was hospitalized. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 29, 2010

Victims of clergy sex abuse Wednesday called on U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson, who once sat on the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay's finance board, to urge the church to release the names of priests it believes have committed sexual offenses against children.

The demand comes two weeks after the diocese argued in a Nevada court that it should not be forced to provide those names as part of a lawsuit involving John Patrick Feeney, a now defrocked priest who is serving a prison term for molesting Wisconsin boys.

Members of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests gathered outside a Green Bay parish Wednesday afternoon distributing documents showing the diocese knew of Feeney's long history of abuse - a history documented in previous Journal Sentinel stories - and calling on Johnson to put pressure on the church to release names of all of its offender priests.

OAKLAND (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a national support group for victims of sexual abuse by religious authority figures, came together Tuesday outside the Cathedral of Christ the Light in support of a newly filed sexual battery and negligence lawsuit against Father Stephen Kiesle and the Diocese of Oakland.

The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court Tuesday, alleges that Kiesle sexually molested a female victim -- named Jane Doe in the document to protect her anonymity -- in 1995. This is the eighth sexual battery complaint brought against Kiesle this year.

GEORGIA
CNN

By Jonathan L. Walton, Special to CNN
September 28, 2010

Editor's note: Jonathan L. Walton is assistant professor of African-American religions at Harvard Divinity School. He is the author of "Watch This! The Ethics and Aesthetics of Black Televangelism" and the resident ethicist on the Tavis Smiley radio show.

(CNN) -- Over the past two decades, Bishop Eddie Long has built his public ministry at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church near Atlanta, Georgia, upon a testosterone-laden theology and a hypermasculine image.

His books bear titles such as "Taking Over," "Called to Conquer" and "Gladiator." Typical names for his sermons are "Conquer and Subdue" and "Reign or Maintain." The ministry motto, "Taking Authority," is signified by a golden sword and shield that adorns the bishop's ring finger.

This is why I was saddened to watch Eddie Long duck and dodge allegations that he seduced multiple teenage boys into sexual relationships. One would think that someone who constantly preaches about male headship, rulership, and power would deny these allegations with the same bravado that he defends his right to drive a $300,000 automobile.

GEORGIA
The Huffington Post

[with video]

Jamal Parris, 23, spoke on camera about the alleged sex crimes committed against him by Atlanta-area Bishop Eddie Long.

ABC News reports that a journalist from a Fox News affiliate confronted Parris outside of a Colorado grocery store, and heard from the alleged victim these shocking words:

"I cannot get his voice out of my head. I cannot forget the smell of his cologne...I'm not able to take enough showers to wipe the smell of him off of my body."

Parris is one of four young men who have filed suit against the megachurch Bishop, who is outspokenly anti-homosexual and known for preaching abstinence. The first lawsuits were filed last week, alleging that Bishop Long used money, cars, and travel to entice or coerce the men into sex. The alleged victims were 17 or 18 years old at the time of the abuse.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Larry Hartstein and Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bishop Eddie Long's attorney ripped his client's accusers and their lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, on Wednesday for "attempting to try their lawsuits in the media."

"There are rules on how civil litigation is to take place and how counsel should conduct themselves, we intend to follow those rules," lawyer Craig Gillen said in a statement regarding a televised interview with Jamal Parris, one of four young men to file civil lawsuits accusing Long of sexual coercion.

Parris told WAGA-TV that he loved the Lithonia pastor but now considers him "a monster."

"This man manipulated us from childhood," Parris told WAGA-TV, who interviewed the 23-year-old outside a Colorado grocery store. "This was our father and we loved him."

CALIFORNIA
KTVU

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is facing a fifth lawsuit over a former priest accused of sexually abusing multiple children.

A woman filed a lawsuit Tuesday, saying she was molested in 1995 by Stephen Kiesle when she was 10. According to the lawsuit, Kiesle got to know the plaintiff's family as a parish priest in Pinole in the 1970s.

The Alameda County Superior Court lawsuit accuses the diocese with negligence for failing to warn parishioners during the '70s that Kiesle already had been the target of sexual abuse allegations.

WISCONSIN
AMERICAblog

by Joe Sudbay (DC) on 9/29/2010

Now this is starting to make sense.

On Monday, we posted video of Wisconsin's GOP Senate candidate testifying against a bill to aid victims of child sex abuse. I asked

Seriously, who sides with child sex abusers over victims?

Now, the first response for me, and I suspect many others, was: The Catholic Bishops, of course.

And, guess who was sitting on the Finance Council of the Green Bay Diocese, which was being sued by victims of child sex abuse? Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Ron Johnson.

WISCONSIN
WTAQ

DE PERE, Wis. (WTAQ) - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson says organizations like schools and churches shouldn't be punished, but the perpetrators and those who protect them should be held accountable when it comes to abuse by priests.

In a statement Wednesday released by his campaign, Johnson said:

"I call upon the Green Bay Diocese to provide the utmost transparency in order to answer any lingering questions or doubt among victims of child abuse and those who seek to prevent child abuse in the future."

WISCONSIN
Chicago Tribune

Associated Press

DEPERE, Wis. — U.S. Senate candidate Ron Johnson has complied with an activist group's request by urging the Green Bay Diocese to be open in its investigation of alleged pedophile priests.

The Republican asked the diocese Wednesday to be transparent regarding decades-old allegations of child abuse there.

Johnson used to serve on the diocese's financial council.

WISCONSIN
WLUK

Reporter: Mark Leland
DE PERE - The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, is urging Republican Senate Candidate Ron Johnson to challenge the Green Bay Diocese.

SNAP is calling on Johnson to urge the diocese to release the names and case histories of more than 50 priests believed to have assaulted children over the past several decades.

Johnson is being pulled into the group's ongoing efforts to expose abusive priests, after SNAP officials became aware that Johnson testified at a state senate committee hearing in January opposing the Child Victims Act.

VIRGINIA
WTOV

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- A priest with ties to the Ohio Valley pleaded guilty Tuesday to sexually battering a young girl in Virginia.

The Rev. Felix Owino testified he had been drinking the night he inappropriately touched an 11-year-old girl. If a Fairfax County, Va., judge approves the plea agreement, Owino won't serve more than five years in prison. Officials said Owino also faces deportation back to his home country of Kenya.

Owino most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Paul's parish in Weirton. Until June, he was also a faculty member in the philosophy department of Wheeling Jesuit University.

NEDERLAND
NOS

46 slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen de Rooms-Katholieke kerk krijgen een schadevergoeding. Dat schrijft de congregatie van de Broeders van de Heilige Franciscus in een brief aan de adovcaat van de slachtoffers.

Het is voor zover bekend voor het eerst dat een grote groep slachtoffers in Nederland een schadevergoeding krijgt vanwege misbruik binnen de RK-Kerk. De hoogte van het bedrag is onbekend.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

LUIK - 'Het is goed dat de slachtoffers van seksueel geweld nu durven praten. Wij moeten naar hen luisteren en het lijden erkennen dat hen werd aangedaan door priesters.' Dat schrijft monseigneur Aloys Jousten, bisschop van Luik, in een brief aan de priesters van zijn bisdom.

Op het eerste zicht is het lange zwijgen van de slachtoffers volgens de Luikse bisschop verbazend. 'Onlangs belde een man om een eerste keer te spreken over seksueel misbruik dat meer dan zestig jaar geleden plaatsvond. Men had hem niet het zwijgen opgelegd, maar hij had niet de moed gehad er eerder over te spreken. Zou men hem geloofd hebben op het ogenblik van de feiten? En later schaamde hij zich wellicht om er over te praten', aldus de bisschop.

NEDERLAND
parool

UTRECHT - Slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik binnen een katholieke instelling die zich bij onderzoekscommissie-Deetman hebben gemeld, komen woensdag voor het eerst samen met die commissie. De bijeenkomst is in Utrecht en is besloten. De onderzoekscommissie verwacht ongeveer honderd mensen, meldde een goed ingevoerde bron woensdag aan het ANP.

TEXAS
Odessa American

September 29, 2010

Prosecutors are awaiting the results of trace evidence testing before asking 358th District Court Judge Bill McCoy to set a trial date in the case against an Odessa youth pastor charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Layh told McCoy Tuesday that a “rush” had been placed on the test and should be done in late November.

The trial of Second Baptist Church of Odessa pastor Robert John Weber should be set once test results on that evidence is returned to the district attorney’s office.

DES MOINES (IA)
KCCI

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A new civil lawsuit is expected to be filed for claims of clergy sexual abuse at a Des Moines church dating to 1983.

The lawsuit involves Saint John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Des Moines. The suit states that the church knew or should have known that a newly hired associate pastor was investigated for sexual abuse at his previous church in Minnesota.

The lawsuit goes on accuse that pastor of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in Des Moines over a two-year period from 1983-1985.

VIRGINIA
WTOV

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- A priest with ties to the Ohio Valley is expected to enter a plea Tuesday after accusations he inappropriately touched a young girl.

The Rev. Felix Owino most recently served as an associate pastor at St. Paul's parish in Weirton. Until June, he was also a faculty member in the philosophy department of Wheeling Jesuit University.

Owino is charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery stemming from allegation of an incident involving a child in Herndon, Va. The court proceedings are taking place in Fairfax County, Va., where the alleged sexual battery took place.

UNITED STATES
Newswise

Released: 9/29/2010 10:00 AM EDT
Source: Vanderbilt University
Expert Available

Newswise — In light of the charges against Bishop Eddie Long, Vanderbilt sociologist Richard Pitt is available for comment to media. Pitt’s research interests include the intersection of sexual identity and religion. He looks specifically at homosexuality and the black church in his papers “Killing the Messenger: Gay Black Men’s Negotiation of Anti-Gay Religious Messages,” and “Still Looking for My Jonathan: Gay Black Men’s Management of Religious and Sexual Identity Conflicts.”

Regarding the questions surrounding Bishop Eddie Long . . .

“The burning question is, ‘What will the barbershop talk about this be?’ Will black America move to important questions about the black church’s silence about sex and sexuality, prosperity theology, the power of (black) spiritual leaders over their congregations or will this quickly become another opportunity for the black community to engage in paranoid fantasies about a down low epidemic (“now it’s in the church”) or to conflate loving, adult, gay relationships with pedophilic and coercive ones. Would his chances of surviving this, ministry and reputation soiled but intact, be increased if women were accusing him of this impropriety? Regardless of how this comes out, I worry that the fallout won’t hit the right targets.”

IRELAND
Independent Catholic News

The four archbishops of Ireland are travelling to Rome next week, at the invitation of the Congregation of Bishops, in preparation for the forthcoming Apostolic Visitation to the four archdioceses of Ireland.

The archbishops: Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin; Archbishop Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel and Emly; and Archbishop Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam, will meet with the four Apostolic Visitors in advance of their visitation which was announced last March in the Pastoral letter of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland.

In a statement, the Church said: "The purpose of the Apostolic Visitation is to offer assistance and to contribute to the spiritual and moral renewal of the Church in Ireland. The Visitation will facilitate reflection, evaluation and review of Church life."

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By John Cooney

Wednesday September 29 2010

IRELAND'S four senior Catholic churchmen have been summoned to Rome next week to prepare for a special Vatican investigation into the state of the scandal-ridden Irish church.

The unprecedented probe was ordered by Pope Benedict last March in response to the shocking Murphy Report into top level cover-ups of paedophile clerics.

Cardinal Sean Brady will be joined by Archbishops Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly and Michael Neary of Tuam for high-level talks with heads of Vatican congregations.

IRELAND
Herald

By Gerry O'Sullivan

Wednesday September 29 2010

The Vatican has finally turned its attention back to Ireland. Preoccupied with the Papal visit to the UK and caught by the summer break, it is only now as early October approaches that the Vatican is ready to begin the Visitation promised by the Pope last March.

The four Irish bishops have been asked to go out and attend the meetings but much of the work on the terms of reference of the Visitation are believed to have been worked out already.

It may well be the case that the meetings will serve to cross the 'T's and dot the 'I's and make sure that the four Irish archbishops are fully informed in order to ensure full compliance.

IRELAND
BBC News

The four Catholic archbishops of Ireland are due to travel to Rome next week ahead of the special inquiry into sexual abuse in their archdioceses.

The forthcoming inquiry, known as the Apostolic Visitation, was announced by Pope Benedict in March in his pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland.

The archbishops are to meet the Pope's team of inspectors which includes the retired Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor.

BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

Abt Nathanael van de abdij van Westmalle ontkent dat hij Roger Vangheluwe onderdak heeft geboden. “Als hij van de ene sint-sixtusabdij naar de andere zou verhuisd zijn, dan had hij toch net zo goed in Westvleteren kunnen blijven?” zegt hij.

Ons artikel in de weekendkrant, over het korte verblijf van Roger Vangheluwe in Westmalle, heeft nogal wat stof doen opwaaien. Niet in het minst bij de paters-trappisten zelf. Zowel Philippe Van Assche, directeur van de brouwerij, als abt Nathanael ontkennen dat ze de ex-bisschop van Brugge hebben opgevangen nadat die op 11 september uit Westvleteren was vertrokken.

ITALIA
La Stampa

Un alto funzionario bancario europeo ha commentato l'affermazione secondo cui lo IOR (Istituto per le Opere di Religione) abbia preso un impegno pieno rispetto alle nuove normative europee contro il riciclaggio di denaro sporco.

MARCO TOSATTI

Un alto funzionario bancario europeo ha commentato l’affermazione secondo cui lo IOR (Istituto per le Opere di Religione) abbia preso un impegno pieno rispetto alle nuove normative europee contro il riciclaggio di denaro sporco. Jeffrey Owens, che dirige la politica fiscale per l'organizzazione per la cooperazione economica e lo sviluppo economico (OCSE), ha detto che la Banca del Vaticano deve ancora fare "un impegno formale agli standard di trasparenza e allo scambio di informazioni a fini fiscali." Dirigenti dello IOR hanno parlato con i funzionari OCSE dei loro piani per essere in piena conformità con le norme europee, ha confermato Owens.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUSSEL (RKnieuws.net) - “Het rapport-Adriaenssens is geen moedig en evenmin een historisch document. De auteur heeft 124 onverwerkte en triestige verhalen samen geplakt, en daar wat cijfers en e-mails met steunbetuigingen aan zijn persoon aangehangen".

Dat stelt Jelle Flo, advocaat in Brussel, in het Tertionummer dat vandaag verschijnt.

"Er zijn 475 meldingen over een periode van niet 30 maar 70 jaar, na de grootste campagne om aangifte te doen die het land ooit heeft gezien. Dat is niet indrukwekkend als je nagaat hoeveel gevallen per jaar dat zijn, en dat afzet tegen de historische aantallen geestelijken, de kinderen met wie die in aanraking zijn gekomen, en tegen de actuele cijfers van seksueel misbruik. Ondertussen zijn er de overige honderden die minder heisa wensten. Ook de tienduizenden anonieme slachtoffers van recent seksueel misbruik in om het even welke relatie in onze samenleving herbeleven hun pijn nu opnieuw, met dank aan dat rapport en met dank aan de pers. Het is betwijfelbaar of de afgelopen maanden de gelukkigste uit hun leven waren. Het is niet passend en niet juist dat de hoofdredacteuren van onze kwaliteitskranten met hun geween en tandengeknars geen betere blijf wisten dan het publiceren van bladzijden en bladzijden harde kinderporno”.

NEDERLAND
Liwwadders

.....In het schooljaar 1960-1961, toen de jongen op Groot-Rolduc verbleef, werd hij drie keer seksueel misbruikt door de collega van Gijsen, schrijft hij in het klaagschrift. Dat gebeurde op de kamer van de priester, aan het einde van de herengang. Het klaagschrift: “Klager walgt letterlijk van het steeds bij hem terugkomende beeld van de omhoog getrokken zwarte toga van deze aangeklaagde en de geur die hem daarbij tegemoet kwam. Klager werd niet alleen zelf betast maar moest ook de docent bevredigen.’..........

Aldus Joep Dohmen in een artikel in de NRC van 15 september j.l. over het ongewenste seksueel gedrag van de latere bisschop Gijsen in het kleinseminarie Rolduc. Het bericht vormde het voorlopige hoogtepunt in een reeks van onthullingen over seksueel misbruik van jongens door katholieke priesters in de eerste decennia na de oorlog. Ik volg deze berichten met verbazing en zo nu en dan met verbijstering. Als katholieke jongen, die begin jaren zestig bij de paters Jezuïeten op school ging, had ik mijn ogen en oren natuurlijk niet in mijn zak zitten. Er gebeurde wel eens wat, maar we deden daar niet moeilijk over. Zoals ik eerder schreef in mijn log Masturbi et mastorbi van 3 maart vorig jaar: het hoorde er gewoon bij.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

September 28, 2010

Another young man sued the Chicago Archdiocese on Tuesday, alleging that former Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack sexually abused him while he was a grammar school student.

The John Doe lawsuit says the abuse started around 2002 when the Chicago man was an eighth-grader and continued until about 2007, when he was a junior or senior in high school and playing basketball for McCormack in a high school league.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Breaking News

September 28, 2010

Another young man sued the Chicago Archdiocese on Tuesday, alleging that former Catholic priest and convicted sex offender Daniel McCormack sexually abused him while he was a grammar school student.

The John Doe lawsuit says the abuse started around 2002 when the Chicago man was an eighth-grader and continued until about 2007, when he was a junior or senior in high school and playing basketball for McCormack in a high school league.

"McCormack inappropriately sexually touched, hugged, rubbed, and/or abused Doe," according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

WISCONSIN/NEVADA
Milwaukee News Buzz

A man who alleges he was molested twice at the age of 13 by a priest in Las Vegas is suing both church officials in Nevada and the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, where the priest had worked before moving to Las Vegas.

The Wisconsin diocese sought to remove itself from the lawsuit, but the Nevada Supreme Court refused earlier this month, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The priest, John Patrick Feeney, served in the Green Bay diocese from 1952 to 1983, when he was discharged after allegations of abuse arose.

Feeney wasn’t convicted, however, until 2004. He was found guilty of four counts of sexually abusing two brothers who were minors while Feeney worked as a priest in Freedom, a small town outside Green Bay. Feeney was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

HONG KONG
CathNews

A Hong Kong diocesan official has warned priests to be careful that their behavior not give rise to wrong impressions in light of the clergy sex abuse scandals in various parts of the world.

“Watching movies alone with a laywoman should be avoided in order not to create misunderstandings, even though you regard her as a younger sister,” said vicar general Father Michael Yeung Ming-cheung.

The priest was speaking at a Sept. 25 seminar on pastoral ministries and social values organized by the Chinese diocesan weekly Kung Kao Po.

AUSTRALIA
Irish Central

By CATHY HAYES, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

In 1871 Sister Mary MacKillop exposed a pedophile Irish Catholic priest in Australia and was excommunicated. Now she is being canonized as Australia's first saint.

Sister MacKillop, a co-founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, discovered that children were being abused by Father Patrick Keating in Kapunda Parish, near Adelaide in South Australia. She reported it to the other co-founder of the Josephites, Father Julian Tenison and Keating was sent back to Ireland where he continued to serve.

A friend of the pedophile priest, Father Charles Horan, swore revenge on Sister MacKillop and she was excommunicated after for years as a nun by Adelaide's bishop Laurence Shiel who was originally from Wexford. She was left on the streets with no money.

ROME
AFP

ROME — Vatican bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, under investigation as part of a money laundering probe, said Tuesday that the institution had "nothing to hide".

"We have nothing to hide and we are hiding nothing," Gotti Tedeschi said during the launch of a book about the decline of the post-war Italian economy.

Gotti Tedeschi refused to answer questions from journalists, but said he had attended the book launch to show the bank's "desire for absolute transparency".

DENVER (CO)
The Pilot

By Anna Maria Basquez

Posted: 9/29/2010
DENVER (CNS) -- A new sentiment in the mass media seems more hostile to Christian values, Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput told a conference of 150 religion reporters Sept. 24.

He urged the journalists from across the nation and overseas "to understand believers and religious institutions as they understand themselves" and to have humility in their work.

"Freedom of the press clearly includes the right to question the actions and motives of religious figures and institutions," the archbishop told the gathering.

"But freedom doesn't excuse prejudice or poor handling of serious material, especially people's religious convictions," he said. "What's new today is the seeming collusion --or at least an active sympathy -- between some media organizations and journalists, and political and sexual agendas hostile to traditional Christian beliefs."

NEW YORK
WHEC

By: Christine VanTimmeren | WHEC.com

Investigators call it a disturbing case of sex abuse.

A local bishop is accused of molesting one of his church members several times. The details are graphic and police believe there are more victims.

Officers say Bishop Joe Flowers from the Walk of Life Christian Center Church had a sexual relationship with a young boy for three years.

Investigators say he touched, showered and slept naked in the bed with the victim. The victim in this case is an 11-year-old boy.

NEW YORK
Democrat and Chronicle

Jon Hand • Staff writer • September 29, 2010

The pastor of a local church pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge alleging he had sexual contact with a boy multiple times during a three-year period.

Bishop Joe N. Flowers Jr., 41, of Henrietta, founder and senior pastor of the Walk of Life Christian Center, Inc., was accused by a grand jury indictment of a course of sexual conduct, which indicates two or more acts with a person younger than 13.

Flowers is accused of repeated sexual contact with a boy he knew, said Assistant Monroe County District Attorney Kristy Karle. The conduct is alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 31, 2010.

WISCONSIN
Lez Get Real

09/28/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Senator Russ Feingold may be the luckiest man in politics right now. While one may think that Chris Coons is lucky because he is facing Christine O’Donnell who believes that evolution is a myth, there are a lot of people in the US who feel that it is. It might be easy to think that Scott McAdams is lucky because he is facing Joe Miller who feels that it is time to get rid of unemployment insurance. There are people who believe just like Miller does. It is, however, hard to find people who will support the right of the Roman Catholic Church to move priests around in order to protect them and it from lawsuit over child sexual abuse. Unfortunately for Ron Johnson, he did just that earlier this year in front of the Wisconsin Legislature.

This is, of course, Wisconsin where Father Lawrence C. Murphy is alleged to have raped and molested some two hundred deaf boys at the St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Johnson testified earlier this year to the state’s Senate at the behest of the Green Bay Diocese Finance Council in opposition of the Child Victims bill which would have made it easier for victims of child sexual abuse to get justice. Currently, the law has a statute of limitations which makes it harder for children to come forward since many are reluctant to do so until after the limit has expired.

AUSTRALIA
Catholic Culture

September 29, 2010
An Australian Anglican tribunal has found one of its bishops guilty of eight counts of “disgraceful conduct and wilful violation of church ordinances.”

Bishop Ross Davies of Murray, who resigned on September 24, was accused by two fellow Anglican bishops of engaging in verbal abuse, covering up sexual abuse, promoting the Catholic faith instead of his own, and worshiping at a Catholic parish in Adelaide. Before his resignation, Bishop Davies was on sick leave for a year and was living outside his diocese.

FLORIDA
Miami New Times

By Michael Miller, Wed., Sep. 29 2010

​It's not just disgraced Latin American dictators who come to South Florida to bury their dirty pasts. Apparently, men of the cloth do as well.

Walter Philip Coleman, a retired priest now living in Pompano Beach, has been hit with a lawsuit for allegedly molesting an altar boy in Connecticut in the 1970s. Lawyers for the plaintiff say they are concerned there might be more victims in the Miami area, where Coleman conducted mass in 1996.

"I don't think the Archdiocese of Miami was told about Coleman's background or the complaints against him," says attorney Jason Tremont. "That's the scary thing."

ATLANTA (GA)
WMAZ

ATLANTA (AP) -- Prosecutors say Bishop Eddie Long wanted to drop burglary charges against one of the young men now accusing the megachurch pastor of coercing him into a sexual relationship.

DeKalb County Chief Assistant District Attorney Don Geary said Tuesday through a spokesman that Long asked for the charges to be dropped against Maurice Robinson in August.

That's about two months after authorities say Robinson and Anthony Boyd broke into New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia.

GEORGIA
11 Alive

DULUTH, GA -- He's investigated some of the highest profile missing persons cases in the country. The disappearance of Natalee Holloway made private investigator T.J. Ward a superstar on cable news. Now he's been hired by Bishop Eddie Long.

11Alive News spoke to Ward in his Duluth home.

"I was called by attorney Dwight Thomas," Ward said. "They said they needed somebody that was experienced in doing investigations to look into these allegations that have been brought against Bishop Eddie Long and the church."

Dwight Thomas stood behind Long as he held a press conference inside New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia on Sunday. Ward has been been hired by the Bishop's team to investigate each of the allegations made against Long and to investigate the four young men making the claims.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jamal Parris, one of four young men to accuse Bishop Eddie Long of sexual coercion, told a local television station that he loved the Lithonia pastor but now considers him "a monster."

."This man manipulated us from childhood," Parris told WAGA-TV, who interviewed the 23-year-old outside a Colorado grocery store. "This was our father and we loved him."

Parris, who alleged that Long used church funds to lavish him and the other victims with gifts, said he reached out to the bishop privately before filing suit.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

There is no criminal investigation against Bishop Eddie Long and no new suits will be filed Tuesday, officials said.

.Last week, four young men filed civil lawsuits in DeKalb County, alleging Long coerced them to have sex. The suits were filed against Long and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.

Officials with the DeKalb County Police Department and DeKalb District Attorney’s Office told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that there currently is no criminal investigation into the allegations.

GEORGIA
Fox News

[with video]

One of four young men accusing a prominent Georgia pastor of sexual abuse describes in an interview with the Atlanta Fox affiliate a love-hate relationship with a man he once called "daddy."

The alleged victim, Jamal Parris -- speaking out for the first time since the men's civil lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long -- told the TV station he joined Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church as a 14-year-old with no father figure. He said Long wanted Parris to call him "daddy" and to trust him with spiritual guidance.

"I loved him," Parris, now 23, said. "I always have loved him for what he taught me. How he left us hurt more than anything else in my life."

UNITED STATES
My Fox Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - One of the men accusing Atlanta preacher Eddie Long of sexual impropriety is speaking out for the first time.

The man told an Atlanta Fox 5 news investigative reporter he couldn't take enough showers to get the smell of Bishop Long's perfume off his clothes.

He said Long was a father figure to him until he started using scripture to justify sex with the young man.

ATLANTA (GA)
The Associated Press

ATLANTA — One of the young men accusing megachurch Bishop Eddie Long of coercing him into a sexual relationship told a TV interviewer that he loved the pastor and considered him a father figure, but still called him a "predator" and a "monster."

"I loved him and I'm always going to have love for the things he taught us, but how he left us hurt worse than anything I ever felt in my life," Jamal Parris told Atlanta's Fox TV affiliate WAGA in an interview broadcast Tuesday. "This man turned his back on us when he had no more need for us. That's not a father, that's a predator."

Parris, 23, is one of four men suing the TV preacher in state court, claiming that he abused his "spiritual authority" and gave them cars, clothes, cash and trips to lure them into sexual relationships while they were teen members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta.

WATERTOWN (WI)
Wisconsin State Journal

By DOUG ERICKSON | derickson@madison.com | 608-252-6149

The former priest of a Watertown church was charged Tuesday with two felonies for allegedly stealing church funds and deceiving parishioners into giving him money for bogus reasons.

The Rev. Thomas Marr allegedly told parishioners at St. Bernard Catholic Church he needed money to help people down on their luck.

Instead, he invested the money — and $160,000 from his own savings — with parishioner Arthur Eith, who claimed the money would help secure the release of millions of dollars due Eith from Nigeria, according to the criminal complaint.

CONNECTICUT
The Daily Fairfield

by Greg Canuel

The Diocese of Bridgeport once again finds itself under fire in a sexual abuse scandal. A former altar boy at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Fairfield has claimed that a priest there molested him more than 38 years ago. Eric Sauers, now 48 and living in Iowa, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Bridgeport Superior Court against the Diocese, which takes in all of Fairfield County. Sauers, who grew up in Fairfield, claims the Rev. Walter Philip Coleman repeatedly abused him starting when he was just 10 years old.

"[Coleman] is a known pedophile, as far as I'm concerned," said Jason Tremont, who is representing Sauers. "He worked [in the diocese] for a long time, with a lot of transfers."

The lawsuit alleges that Coleman began abusing Sauers in 1972. The priest offered to give the boy a ride home after Sunday Mass, but instead took him to a secluded location and sexually abused him, the suit says. Sauers claims the molestation lasted for more than a year.

CALIFORNIA
Orland Press Register

Tuesday, Sep 28 2010
By Rob Parsons/Tri-County Newspapers

The second of two reported victims in the Carlton F. Hammonds sexual abuse trial shook the Glenn County Superior Court when she testified today that the former Baptist minister had raped her in 2006.

Rape had never been part of the case until the reported victim dropped the bombshell during the second day of testimony at the Orland courthouse.

The fresh allegation caught both prosecutors and the defense off guard, and both sides appeared suspicious of the claim.

ROME
Catholic Culture

September 28, 2010
A top European banking official has disputed claims that the Vatican bank has made a full commitment to compliance with new European regulations against money-laundering.

Jeffrey Owens, who heads tax policy for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said that the Vatican bank, the Institute for Religious Works, still needs to make “a formal commitment to the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.”

IOR leaders have spoken with OECD officials about their plans to enter into full compliance with European rules, Owens confirmed. But the process is incomplete. “The speed of the negotiations depends very much on them,” Owens said.

DEUTSCHLAND
Jetzt reden wir

Am 15. April 2010 demonstrierten ehemalige Heimkinder im Berliner Regierungsviertel
gegen schwarze Pädagogik und sexuellen Missbrauch in Heimen und Internaten.

Die Demo mit der überlebensgroßen "Prügelnonne" stieß international auf große Medienresonanz.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

IRELAND’S FOUR Catholic archbishops are to go to Rome next week to discuss the forthcoming apostolic visitation to Ireland.

The visitation was announced by Pope Benedict last March, following his meeting with the Irish bishops in Rome at which they were asked to account for their handling of the cases of sexual abuse of children by priests.

In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, he said the visitation would take “certain dioceses in Ireland, as well as seminaries and religious congregations”. It would be conducted by officials of the Roman Curia to see whether practices are in conflict with the Vatican.

IRELAND
Zenit

MAYNOOTH, Ireland, SEPT. 28, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican's congregation of bishops has invited Ireland's four archbishops to Rome to prepare for the apostolic visitation that Benedict XVI announced in his letter to Irish Catholics regarding sexual abuse by clergy.

Cardinal Seán Brady, archbishop of Armagh; Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin; Archbishop Dermot Clifford of Cashel and Emly; and Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam will be in Rome next week for the preparatory meetings.

They will meet with the four apostolic visitors who will come to their archdioceses.

CALIFORNIA
Orland Press Register

Tuesday, Sep 28 2010
Tri-County Newspapers

The second of two reported victims in the Carlton F. Hammonds sexual abuse trial shook the Glenn County Superior Court today when she testified that the former Baptist minister had raped her.

“You wanted to ambush Pastor Hammonds,” defense attorney Adam B. Ryan countered in cross examination. “You wanted to surprise him and have a courtroom moment like on TV.”

The woman replied she was scared.

NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A County Down priest has stepped aside from his pastoral duties voluntarily while an allegation made against him is investigated.

The Down and Connor diocese said a complaint "in relation to child safeguarding" had been made against Drumaroad priest Father Peter Donnelly.

It said the complaint dated back to the 1980s.

UNITED STATES
Christian News Wire

Contact: Colleen Smith, 303-331-0680

DENVER, Sept. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Sexual misconduct scandals within the Roman Catholic Church have made headlines in recent years, fueling a longstanding fiery debate about whether to allow priests to marry. Colleen Smith examines the issue of priestly celibacy in her novel, Glass Halo, which chronicles the relationship between a stained-glass artist and the rector of a cathedral. While Smith's novel does not provide an answer to the debate in the novel, the author provides insights that may lead readers to a more informed perspective of a controversy that divides contemporary Catholics.

Glass Halo is a finalist for the 2010 Santa Fe Writer's Project Literary Award, chosen from nearly 450 entries. Judges for the literary award include a Pulitzer Prize-winner and recipients of many of the nation's most prestigious literary scholarships and grants.

Smith says that the priest in her novel, "is a composite of a number of progressive priests I've known from my years attending Catholic schools and my 20 years of working in communications for the church."

BOONVILLE (MO)
Boonville Daily News

By Eric Berger
Boonville Daily News
Posted Sep 28, 2010

Boonville — A preliminary hearing for a former Boonville priest suspected in several sexual assaults has been rescheduled for Nov. 8.

Gerald Howard appeared in the 18th Circuit Court for Cooper County Monday for a scheduled hearing.
Columbia attorney Chris Slusher is representing Howard. He said he asked for the continuance because he is in the process of collecting depositions from witnesses around the country.

Howard once worked as a priest at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Boonville.

WATERTOWN (WI)
NBC 15

WATERTOWN - Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced that on September 28, 2010, attorneys for the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), acting as special prosecutors for Jefferson County, filed a summons and criminal complaint in Jefferson County Circuit Court against Thomas Marr (age 64), now of Madison, Wisconsin, alleging a count of theft in a business setting and a count of theft by fraud.

The maximum possible penalty for theft is a term of imprisonment not to exceed 10 years or a $10,000 fine, or both, as to each count.

Thomas Marr’s initial appearance is scheduled for October 18, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. in the Jefferson County Circuit Court, Jefferson, Wisconsin.

WISCONSIN
WITI

WITI-TV, WATERTOWN -
A Watertown priest is charged with theft in a business setting and theft by fraud.Thomas Marr served as a priest of a Watertown parish from 2007 to 2009.

The criminal complaint against Marr alleges hetook money from various parish accounts. The complaint also says Marr allegedly solicited funds from members of the parish, family members, other clergy and friends. The money was to be used to help parish members in financial distress.

MARYLAND
Gazette

by Alex Ruoff | Staff Writer

A former Germantown youth pastor found guilty of sexually abusing an altar boy in 2009 has not been receiving court-ordered counseling, and county prosecutors say they intend to find him a program to fulfill the terms of his probation.

The Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, 58, now of Gaithersburg, was found guilty in November of sexually abusing an altar boy in 2001 and 2002 and was sentenced to 10 years of probation, five of which were to be supervised while staying with the Dominican Order of Fathers and Brothers in New York City, under which he was ordained.

Cote was called to Montgomery County Circuit Court today on charges he violated that probation by not entering counseling. Prosecutors say they do not intend to follow through with the charges, claiming the order would not care for him.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

September 28, 2010

BY LISA DONOVAN Cook County Reporter
Another lawsuit has been filed against Chicago’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese by another man who said he was molested as a child by defrocked priest and convicted child sexual abuser Daniel McCormack.

The John Doe suit accuses the archdiocese and Cardinal Francis George of ignoring allegations lodged against McCormack for years, leaving children vulnerable.

This most recent suit claims the victim was abused over a period of roughly four years, starting in the 2002-03 school year when the boy was in 8th grade and playing basketball for McCormack, the coach.

UNITED STATES
Earned Media

Contact: Twila Belk, 563-332-1622, twilabelk@mchsi.com

ATLANTA, Ga, Sept. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Male survivor of sexual abuse/bestselling author Cecil Murphey makes the following statement regarding the Pope and Bishop Eddie Long:

"Another sad bit of news in the Roman Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal involves a lawsuit from men who were once students at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin. The reported abuse began as early as the 1960s and claims that Father Lawrence Murphy sexually assaulted about 200 of them. Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) who was head of the church's Doctrinal Enforcement Institute knew of the abuse and failed to discipline Murphy. The Cardinal is now pope and one lawsuit is aimed at him.

"Last week, four young men accused Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Lithonia, GA, of sexually abusing them when they were in their teens.

"CNN anchor Don Lemon held an hour-long newscast, September 25, and talked about the abuse issue. Lemon himself admitted that he had been abused but didn't speak about it until he was more than 30 years old.

"The good news is that we're now reading and hearing about sexual abuse of boys; the bad news is that it happens.

LITHONIA (GA)
CNN

By John Blake, CNN

(CNN) -- Jonathan Walton was walking through Bishop Eddie Long's church one day when he saw something that disturbed him.

He stared at a 30-foot banner draped behind the pulpit of New Birth Missionary Baptist. Church. It displayed a profile of a grinning Long with the caption: "What is God up to?"

"Everywhere you went in that church, his name and face was there," says Walton, an assistant professor of religion at Harvard Divinity School in Massachusetts. "His image has replaced the cross."

MARYLAND
The Catholic Review

Statement from the Archdiocese of Baltimore

The Archdiocese of Baltimore is fully committed to the safety of the children entrusted to its care and to reaching out to victims of sexual abuse to offer them and their families counseling and pastoral care.

Anyone who has any knowledge of child sexual abuse is urged to come forward, and to report it immediately to civil authorities. If clergy or other church personnel are suspected of committing the abuse, we ask that you also call the Archdiocesan Office of Child and Youth Protection Hotline at 1-866-417-7469.

The Archdiocese will seek from the Vatican the laicization or dismissal from the clerical state of Michael Barnes, who was sentenced earlier this month in Worcester County Circuit Court upon being found guilty following his Alford Plea to one count of Child Abuse-Custodian related to an allegation that he sexually abused a minor over a period of time from 1977 to 1983.

In March 2009, the Archdiocese of Baltimore publicly disclosed that it had learned of the allegation of sexual abuse against Barnes, who left the priesthood in 1988. At the time of the alleged abuse, Barnes was assigned to St. Clare’s Parish in Essex. ...

The Archdiocese will also seek the laicization of Thomas Bevan who was found guilty following his Alford Plea September 24 in Frederick County Circuit Court to one count of child abuse stemming from an allegation that he sexually abused a minor in 1976 while he was Associate Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick.

Bevan was removed from ministry following two allegations of child sexual abuse and had his faculties to function as a priest removed in August 2009. In November 2009, the Archdiocese announced Bevan would be permanently barred from active priestly ministry, citing the conclusion of its investigation and the allegations of two additional individuals that they were abused by Bevan as minors in the early-mid 1970s.

UNITED STATES
Beliefnet

Mark Silk

Tuesday September 28, 2010
At the Religion Newswriters Association meeting in Denver last weekend, the local Catholic ordinary, Archbishop Charles Chaput, delivered himself of a classic culture-war critique of the news media's coverage of religion: Journalism is composed of knowledge-class professionals who make secularist assumptions about American society that shows they are out of touch with real Americans. Coverage of Christianity in particular is negative, focused on stories about fundamentalism and decline and infighting and repression. This kind of thing was a lot more common back in the 1990s than it is today--but then, Chaput has never been known for being up to date.

I could get on my hobby horse about how the media tend to view religion not through secularist glasses but in categories derived from Western religion. Take, for instance, the Eddie Long story that has been so much in the news in recent days. Like other allegations of clerical sexual abuse, it turns on the issue of hypocrisy. Over at GetReligion (whose picking apart of religion coverage Chaput singled out for praise), Brad Greenberg opines, "More importantly, though, such acts become no more heinous just because they are seen as hypocritical." Well, maybe not in a court of law--but in the court of Christian public opinion they've been so ever since Jesus denounced the "scribes and Pharisees" as "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness." Hypocrisy is a religious trope.

DENVER (CO)
Spero News

Full text of remarks by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Colorado.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

By Charles J. Chaput

In an address delivered on September 25 to the Religion Newswriters Association, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver commended journalists of religion and challenged them to approach their work with integrity, fairness, and humility.

It's good to be with you today. Of course, most speakers say that, but I actually mean it-for two reasons. First, I've been a heavy reader all my life. A lot of my reading has been, and still is, newspapers and news magazines, although now I mainly read them on my Kindle. And second, I love my country. I think there's something wrong with a man unless, somewhere in his heart, he really loves his homeland-its people, its beauties, and its best ideals and institutions.

A free press is part of the American identity, and also one of its best institutions. I respect that. I value what journalists do for the same reason I value the importance of religious faith in American life-both in the private home and in the public square. A responsible press and a faith shaped by the God of charity and justice share two things in common: a concern for human dignity, and an interest in truth. We might define that word "truth" differently, and the differences might be serious. But an honest search for it creates a kind of maturity. And that maturity allows us to make a decent future through our choices here and now.

IRELAND
UTV

Ireland's four most senior churchmen have been summoned to Rome to discuss final preparations for a Vatican investigation of the church in Ireland.

The delegation, which includes Cardinal Sean Brady, will travel to Rome next week.

In March, Pope Benedict announced plans to send a high-powered delegation to Ireland to investigate devastating reports into the church's mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse made against priests.

PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

Karin Mallett | Reporter

Days after the Allentown Diocese removed two priests over sexual abuse allegations, there are renewed calls for better laws to protect victims.

Activists said the current laws don't go far enough in aiding victims of sexual abuse.

"They don't have to register," said Juliann Bortz with the Allentown chapter of SNAP, which stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "That's what we want. That's what SNAP wants. That's what people should want in general. You want to know if there's a pedophile living next door."

NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A Co. Down parish priest has agreed to voluntarily step down from his duties following a complaint in relation to child safeguarding.

The complaint which has been made against Father Peter Donnelly who is a parish priest in Drumaroad near Castlewellan dates back to the 1980's.

Parishioners in his parish which is in the diocese of Down and Connor were informed of the development during weekend masses.

NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A Catholic priest facing a child abuse allegation has stood down, it has been revealed.

Father Peter Donnelly, of Drumaroad parish, near Ballynahinch, Co Down, is under investigation over a complaint going back to the 1980s.

Fr Donnelly took up the ministry in Drumaroad three years ago and the Catholic Church has not disclosed where the alleged crime took place.

A spokesman from the diocese of Down and Connor stressed that the priest denies the claim.

CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Daniel Tepfer, Staff Writer
Published: 12:41 p.m., Tuesday, September 28, 2010

BRIDGEPORT -- A former Fairfield man claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport that he was sexually abused by a priest at a Fairfield church in the early 1970s.

Eric Sauers, who now lives in Iowa, states in his lawsuit filed in Bridgeport Superior Court, that he was abused by the Rev. Walter Philip Coleman while he was an altar boy at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Fairfield. He claims the abuse began when he was 10 years old.

"Father Coleman used his position as a parish priest to befriend children in order to ultimately sexual abuse them. Simply put, The Diocese should have prevented this from occurring," said Cindy Robinson, who, with Jason Tremont, represents Sauers in the lawsuit.

UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

By Christa Brown

Christa Brown is the author of “This Little Light: Beyond a Baptist Preacher Predator and His Gang,” a memoir and exposé on clergy sex abuse and cover-ups in the Southern Baptist Convention. She is the founder of the StopBaptistPredators.org website and is currently a PhD student in religious studies.

The case of Baptist pastor Eddie Long isn’t about gay sex; it’s not about black churches; and it’s not about megachurches. The case is about allegations of clergy sex abuse and the systemic lack of accountability for Baptist clergy.

As most of the country knows by now, four young men filed lawsuits last week in which they accused Baptist pastor Eddie Long of having repeatedly coerced them into sexual acts when they were 17 and 18 years old.

The four young men belonged to the church when they were teens. The lawsuits assert that Long hand-picked the boys for spiritual mentoring and referred to them as his “spiritual sons.” According to court documents (and as reported by Sarah Posner here on RD and by the Seattle Times), the boys went through a bonding ritual, called a “covenant ceremony,” in which Long quoted Bible verses “to discuss and justify the intimate relationship between himself” and the teen boys.

OAKLAND (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

What:
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will
-- disclose and discuss a new lawsuit against a notorious pedophile priest and the Oakland diocese,
-- urge others who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes to come forward and call police,
-- blast Catholic officials for doing “little or nothing” to protect kids and help get him prosecuted, &
-- prod them to permanently post on the diocesan website the names of all local child molesting clerics.

When:
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1:00 P.M. Pacific

Where:
Outside the Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison Street, Oakland, CA 94612

ROME
Bloomberg

By Jeffrey Donovan and Sonia Sirletti - Sep 28, 2010

The Vatican has yet to formally commit to financial transparency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said one week after Italian magistrates opened a probe into its bank for alleged violations of money-laundering laws.

While the Holy See said last week that it’s in talks with the OECD about getting on the Paris-based group’s so-called White List of nations that comply with global norms, it has not taken the first step toward transparency, said Jeffrey Owens, head of the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration.

“The speed of the negotiations depends very much on them,” Owens said by phone from Singapore. “The first thing is for them to make a formal commitment to the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.”

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

September 28, 2010
Discussing the effects of the clerical abuse scandal on their vocations, some seminarians told Our Sunday Visitor about the contempt and ridicule they have received, while one spoke of his distrust for older clergy.

“Lots of people will make joking references to the sex abuse scandal upon learning that I am studying to be a priest,” said Patrick Brosamer of the Archdiocese of Anchorage. “When I wear clerics in public, I often get dirty looks from strangers. Many people hate the Church.”

“I find that it is difficult to not question the judgments of any priest or religious who has been ordained or professed longer than ten years,” said Dominican Brother Gabriel Thomas Mosher. “I’m always wondering if they have done something bad and have not been caught, or if they knew about something bad and didn’t report.”

UNITED STATES
GetReligion

Posted by Mollie

Time Magazine has an interesting story. Here’s how it begins:

Alta Jacko is the mother of eight children. She is also a starting pitcher for the New York Yankees. Jacko says that playing baseball is what she was born to do.

Just kidding. Here’s how it actually begins:

Alta Jacko is the mother of eight children. She is also an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Jacko, 81, who earned her master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University, a Jesuit Catholic school, says that being a priest is what she was called to do.

Really. That’s REALLY how the article “Efforts Rising to Ordain Women as Roman Catholic Priests” by Dawn Reiss begins. What to say other than … this is not true. There is no mother of eight children who is an ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church. How do I know this? Because I know that the church doesn’t ordain any female, whether they’ve gotten a degree from a Catholic university or not. Whether or not you are an “ordained priest in the Roman Catholic Church” is similar to whether or not you are a starting pitcher for the Yankees. It’s not about what you feel called to do. It’s not about feelings at all. And a journalist can check out this fact just as easily as she can check out the roster for a baseball team.

OREGON
Oregon Faith Report

September 28, 2010

Oregon Faith Report News Note:

Several Hundred Oregon Catholics skipped Sunday morning mass to hold a gathering in downtown Portland to promote a wider involvement of women in Catholic ministries and clergy roles. The gatherings was put on by One Spirit, One Call and described the event as “…a symbolic opportunity to give public witness to the unjust and unequal treatment of women in the church. It is a powerful statement that we will be gathering during the time we usually are at Mass…” See video of the event here.

The Archbishop of Portland, John Vlazny, told The Oregonian
“I’m not happy about it, Whenever people are disturbed, it’s a good idea to get together and pray. But my job is one that tries to promote the unity of the church, to encourage the church in our evangelization. I’ve tried my best to treat people with fairness.”

IRELAND
The Irish Times

CARL O'BRIEN

THE ASSOCIATION of Catholic Priests has insisted that a campaign to boycott weekend Masses received substantial support.

The newly formed group also criticised statements by the Catholic hierarchy – which claimed Mass numbers had not been affected – as unhelpful and “bordering on triumphalism”.

Jennifer Sleeman (81), from Clonakilty, Co Cork, had called on women to stay away from Mass in protest at their treatment as “second-class citizens” by the church.

BELGIE
HLN

De commissie-Adriaenssens, die onderzoek deed naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk, stelde geen doofpotoperatie vast. "Wat we wél aantroffen, is het probleem van de incestproblematiek", zegt Degrieck. "Op een bepaald moment verneemt de moeder het misbruik. Ze wil dat niet meer gebeurt en beschermt haar kind, maar ze wil haar gezin ook niet opgeven. De moeder zit dus gevangen in haar moederrol. Kan je haar dan beschuldigen van crimineel gedrag? Van doofpot als een bewuste strategie? Neen. Ik ben van mening dat ze gevangen zit in haar moederrol waarvan achteraf blijkt dat dit geen gelukkige oplossing is. En ik meen dat de Kerk ook in die situatie verzeild is. Men verwijt de Kerk dat ze gezwegen heeft en men noemt dat zwijgen misdadig."

Moeders
Als priester vraagt Degrieck zich af wat er omgaat in de moeders die zich in zo'n incestsituatie bevinden en zwijgen. "Wat moet het voor dat moederhart niet betekenen wanneer zij haar situatie herkent in de media en in de samenleving die huilt en roept dat dit crimineel gedrag is? En hoe luisteren de andere geledingen van de samenleving die met gelijkaardige problemen kampen? Dit zijn vragen met maatschappelijk belang, me dunkt."

ILLINOIS
Chicago Catholic News

(POSTED: 9/27/10) More than 600 members of a Roman Catholic parish in Oak Park signed a petition expressing "solidarity" with "those who support women and married men who are called to ordination."

Among those to sign: the pastor, the Rev. Larry McNally, who delivered the signatures to his boss, Cardinal Francis George, earlier this month.

The Catholic Church only ordains men -- almost always unmarried men -- as priests. Women who go through "unofficial" ordination ceremonies are ex-communicated.

UNITED STATES
Healing and Spirituality

Dr. Jaime Romo

I saw the CNN show, “What the Pope Knew.” It makes me think about the expression, ‘the reason people blame things on previous generations is that there’s only one other choice.’ We are responsible for our lives, our happiness. Being responsible means living with the ability to respond, the ability to adjust, the ability to adapt. It means that we have at least a basic understanding of the context in which we live, and that we have thought about how we would like to move forward. It seems that the pope or others who protect religious institutions or images more than children, are, as one discussant of the CNN program said, are both part of the problem and the solution. It seems that Religious Authority Sexual Abuse survivors offer examples of being the solution.

For religious authority sexual abuse survivor-thrivers, being responsible means that we will no longer be victims and we cannot deny our past abuse. For survivor supporters, it may mean that we will no longer pretend that the healing or problems related to widespread religious authority sexual abuse is finished. For all of us, it might mean recognizing and doing something more constructive with our rage related to betrayal and abuse of power.

UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Eugene Robinson
Tuesday, September 28, 2010

One of the small ironies of the Bishop Eddie Long scandal is the preacher's self-pitying complaint, in a Sunday sermon vetted by his lawyers, that he feels "like David against Goliath."

Really? Let's see, on one side we have one of the most prominent and influential clerics in the country, the pastor of a suburban Atlanta megachurch that claims 25,000 members. On the other, we have four young men who claim in lawsuits that Long abused his clerical authority to lure and coerce them into having sex with him. Unlike the bishop, as far as I know, none of the accusers is driven around in a Bentley. Or is constantly attended by a retinue of aides and bodyguards. Or cultivates and maintains first-name relationships with famous politicians, athletes and entertainers.

I'm pretty sure the preacher has that whole David-Goliath thing backward.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY
28 Sep, 2010

Retired Maitland Newcastle diocese Catholic priest Dennis Corrigan will appear in court next month to answer charges of allegedly sexually abusing two boys in the Windale area in the 1980s.

Father Corrigan, 68, of Mayfield, was granted bail yesterday after Lake Macquarie police charged him with multiple offences in 1987 and 1988 involving boys aged 10-14.

In a statement released yesterday Maitland Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone informed all diocese priests that Father Corrigan had been charged with ‘‘a number of criminal offences relating to alleged acts of child sexual assault’’.

NEW YORK
WHEC

Many people were crying when they left Saint Salome’s Church for their last time Sunday. They've made a lot of memories in this church.

Many of these Parishioners grew up here, got married here, and had children of their own baptized in this church. So, you can understand why many people were hurt and angry that the church closed.

Bishop Matthew Clark decided to close both churches to save money. Although several hundred people worshipped here; they needed to pool resources.

AUSTRALIA
Big Pond News

Monday, September 27, 2010

The Anglican Archbishop of Adelaide says an embattled Anglican bishop who was due to face a tribunal hearing in Adelaide today has resigned.

Dr Jeffrey Driver says Bishop of the Murray Bishop Ross Davies has chosen to resign after a long period of illness.

Bishop Davies was facing nine charges under Anglican church law and Dr Driver says the charges will still go before the Anglican Church's Special Tribunal today.

CALIFORNIA
Willows Journal

Monday, Sep 27 2010

By Rob Parsons/Tri-County Newspapers
A pattern of escalating sexual abuse against teenage girls in his congregation was outlined by Glenn County prosecutors on the first day of the trial of a former Willows pastor today.

An eight-woman, four-man Superior Court jury heard testimony from three women who said Carlton F. Hammonds groped them on multiple occasions and at various locations, but most frequently the reported abuse occurred inside the Willows Baptist Church and in Hammonds’ real estate office in Willows.

“He would always say ‘I love you,’ ‘you’re so special,’ ‘you mean so much to me,’” one of the reported victims testified. “I didn’t know how someone I’d known for so long could do that. I have a hard time trusting people (now).”

UNITED KINGDOM
Lynn News

Published on Tue Sep 28

FORMER pastor of Lynn Baptist Fellowship church Malcolm Hoare, accused of sexually abusing a young church member, has been found guilty of five charges.

Hoare, 68, of Whitefriars Road, Lynn, had denied four charges of having sex with an underage girl and eight of indecently assaulting her.

But on Thursday he was found guilty of five offences of indecently assaulting the girl, by a jury at Norwich Crown Court on majority verdicts. The offences took place when the victim, now a woman in her 40s, was aged between 13 and 15.

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
San Antonio Express-News

One night, a few years ago, when a young man walked into a Catholic Church on San Antonio's West Side, it was more akin to Daniel walking into the lions' den than David facing Goliath.
Those Biblical references are used because of what Bishop Eddie Long, superstar pastor of megachurch New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta said on Sunday morning. For the first time, Long responded publicly to four lawsuits filed by young men who allege that Long lured them into sexual relationships when they were teens.

Long said he wasn't a perfect man and that he would fight the charges, but, curiously, what he never said was that he was innocent or that the young men are lying. Not once did he take the opportunity to deny the charges. But he did compare himself to David up against Goliath and said that he still had five stones to throw.

Most of Long's congregation are standing by him and doing some denying he himself hasn't done, and that's to be expected. He's their pastor to whom they've entrusted their spiritual needs, and they should demand to see more proof before deciding on his innocence or guilt.

But the same suspension of judgment they want for Long, they should also reserve for the young men before dismissing, outright, the allegations.

ONTARIO (CA)
Contra Costa Times

Liset Marquez, Staff Writer

ONTARIO - Parishioners and friends of a Catholic priest accused of molesting two teen brothers have created a group to help prove his innocence.

Prayer vigils and marches are just two of the ways the Coalition to Exonerate Father Alex is showing its support for the Rev. Alex Castillo of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, who is facing accusations of sexual misconduct.

He was removed from active duty in late June and is not allowed to interact with parishioners.

IRELAND
BBC NEWS

By Audrey Carville
BBC News, Dublin

The Catholic Church has a huge influence in the Irish Republic The Catholic Church has dominated almost every aspect of Irish life for centuries.

It has directly influenced government policy and social change. Nowhere is that more evident than in education.

But now, after hundreds of years, the Church is preparing to give up control of some primary schools.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Tracy Jordan
Of The Morning Call

A Berks County couple became suspicious of the Roman Catholic priest who was supposed to be helping their daughter, so they secretly set up a video camera in the basement of their home -- and caught him having sex with the 18-year-old.

That's according to a lawsuit in which the parents also say the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito got their daughter pregnant.

Bonilla seduced the girl while she was 17 and a senior at Reading Central Catholic High School, and they had a sexual relationship that led to her giving birth at age 19, the suit says.

PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

[with video]

Shock and disappointment sums up the feelings of some Roman Catholic parishioners in Schuylkill County after news that two Catholic priests have been removed from their duties because of child sex accusations.

The findings were made by the Diocese of Allentown and have given to prosecutors in three counties.

Some of the anger against one priest began last year when the Diocese of Allentown ordered the demolition of Saint George Catholic Church in Shenandoah. The priest who oversaw the project was Monsignor Bernard Flanagan, one of the now accused priests.

The church removed him from ministry after finding evidence that he sexually abused a child 25 years ago.

GEORGIA
Prime Writer News Network

Four men have filed lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long in what is becoming a widespread scandal. Though Eddie Long has addressed his congregation many feel that his statement was not enough and that he never fully denied the allegations. You may read the civil lawsuits filed by Anthony Flagg, Maurice Robinson, Jamal Parris and Spencer LeGrande in the links below. ...

Spencer LeGrande Lawsuit against Eddie Long

Jamal Parris Lawsuit against Eddie Long

Maurice Robinson Lawsuit against Eddie Long

Anthony Flagg Lawsuit against Eddie Long

NEW YORK
Catholic New York

By MARY ANN POUST

Msgr. Wallace A. Harris, the former pastor of St. Charles Borromeo parish in Harlem who was once the most prominent black priest in the archdiocese, has formally resigned his post—two years after he was suspended from ministry on charges of abusing high school students that he taught in the 1980s.

Archbishop Dolan announced the resignation Sept. 2 in a letter to parishioners, many of whom had asked the outcome of the case and whether the monsignor would return.

"The answer is, no," the archbishop wrote. "He will never again publicly function or present himself as a priest."

CONNECTICUT
New Haven Register

By Helen Bennett Harvey

Doreen Ahern of Glades Street claims in the suit that she had "a long psychiatric history, including emotional problems," when she went to the Rev.

Matthew Kappalumakkel for counseling, then became embroiled in an "intimate" relationship.

Kappalumakkel's attorney, Hugh Keefe of New Haven, said Monday that his client "denies the allegations" and will fight the claims.

WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post

By Hamil R. Harris

The decision by an Atlanta pastor to fight charges of sexual impropriety filed by members of his megachurch has sparked a call by ministers across the Washington area to check the lives they lead in and out of the pulpit.

With network cameras rolling, Bishop Eddie L. Long, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, vowed to "vigorously," defend himself, amid lawsuits filed by four young males who charged that he coerced them into sexual acts.

While Long is using his 25,000 member pulpit to go on the offensive to save his spiritual empire that is replete with lucrative TV contracts, expensive cars, homes and other wealthy, a number of ministers say the issue comes down to integrity.

UNITED STATES
NPR

by Malik Washington

I am a drinking, cursing and fornicating Christian.

Somehow, I don't think that makes me unique. But in the church community that I know, it at least leaves me less vulnerable to ridicule than a man who happens to like other men. ...

There were those of us who were not the least bit surprised by the allegations levied against Bishop Eddie Long, and for no reason other than we've seen it before. I know of high-ranking clergy and plenty of members who are living double lives regarding their sexuality. I know of clergy, and even the married pastor of a megachurch, who have had sexual encounters (both homosexual and heterosexual) with young, though not underage, members of their churches.

I can't imagine that I'm the only one who knows these things and discussions with friends from similar backgrounds revealed similar stories. I even talked to one friend, a journalist and member of the church, who had first heard of sexual misconduct allegations against Eddie Long, three years ago.

UNITED STATES
NPR

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

September 27, 2010

When he stepped to the pulpit and faced some 8,000 congregants on Sunday, Bishop Eddie Long said he wanted to preach on handling "painful and difficult situations." And it is likely that the pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga. — who started from practically nothing and is now a millionaire — has never encountered troubled waters like these.

Long is facing allegations that he sexually abused four men who received his mentorship as a "spiritual daddy." Three of the men were older than 18, but one said he was 17 at the time of the alleged abuse. They allege that Long encouraged them to join the church's elite youth group, so he could groom them for sex; in exchange, they allege, Long gave them money, new cars, housing and took them on exotic trips.

On Sunday, Long vowed to fight the accusations, although his defense was vague and left some congregants puzzled and concerned.

AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

BY JOANNE MCCARTHY
28 Sep, 2010

Retired Maitland Newcastle diocese Catholic priest Dennis Corrigan will appear in court next month to answer charges of allegedly sexually abusing two boys in the Windale area in the 1980s.

Father Corrigan, 68, of Mayfield, was granted bail yesterday after Lake Macquarie police charged him with multiple offences in 1987 and 1988 involving boys aged 10-14.

In a statement released yesterday Maitland Newcastle Bishop Michael Malone informed all diocese priests that Father Corrigan had been charged with ‘‘a number of criminal offences relating to alleged acts of child sexual assault’’.

UNITED STATES
Perez Hilton

[with video]

This is truly, terribly disturbing.

Watch the video (above) to learn yet another dark truth that has emerged about a priest, Father Lawrence C. Murphy, who abused hundreds of vulnerable children at St. John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One of Murphy's victims, Terry Kohut, has broken his silence about the priest, and seeks to sue the Pope for not acting against Father Murphy, due to the Vatican's "policy of secrecy," wherein they "…conceal sexual abuse of children."

UNITED KINGDOM
Catholic Culture

By Diogenes | September 27, 2010

During his visit to the United Kingdom, Pope Benedict XVI met with several victims of sexual abuse. If you looked carefully you could find a few details about the group:

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the five victims, who he said had not signed confidentiality agreements, comprised four women and one man, aged between 40 and 50 with three from London, one from Yorkshire and a Scot. They were not chosen by the Vatican, the local church had "presented" them.

Four women; one man. We don’t have accurate figures on the sex-abuse victims in Great Britain, but in every country for which the statistics are available, 80% or more of those victims have been male.

UNITED STATES
The Word on Employment Law

John Phillips

When it was announced this week that the chairman of the Vatican Bank was under investigation for money laundering, the Vatican said it was “perplexed and astonished.” The Vatican also expressed “maximum confidence” in the chairman. Sound familiar? The Vatican was astonished when the child sex abuse scandal first broke. The Vatican expressed confidence that Catholic priests would never engage in such outrageous conduct.

The bank scandal may divert attention away from the child abuse scandal but not for long. There are too many new allegations, too many adults who finally reveal a childhood destroyed. Unfortunately, I can think of no event in recent history that demonstrates so clearly what happens when people at the top of an organization fail to lead during a crisis.

UNITED STATES
NPR

by Craig Washington

September 27, 2010

Craig Washington is a writer and an HIV-prevention manager for AID Atlanta. He has been HIV-positive for 25 years.

If we learn nothing else from the biggest and messiest black mega-church scandal ever, it is that truth cannot be silenced, no matter how many refuse to speak it or conspire to hush it up. It will find a way to manifest. It does not need to be spoken to reveal itself. So as the story of Bishop Eddie Long swells from Facebook to CNN, engorged by our lust for fallen giants and monsters, let us not lose our heads. Let us learn the lessons that the legion and their leader willfully chose to ignore.

While it is a shock, it should be no surprise to anyone who watched. Long's potent combination of charisma, bling and prosperity gospel, in the tradition of Father Divine, helped him amass considerable wealth and celebrity status. Like several of his white counterparts, Long pandered to the anxieties and desires of his flock at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church with a potent blend of social conservatism, materialistic worship and anti-gay rhetoric.

VATICAN CITY
Rome Reports

[with video]

September 27, 2010. The Archbishop of Valladolid, Spain, Ricardo Blázquez, will be the Apostolic visitator appointed by the Pope to investigate the Regnum Christi, the lay movement founded by Marcial Maciel.

Sources close to the Vatican have confirmed this and within the next few hours will publish an official statement.

Last year Blázquez Archbishop was one of four visitators appointed by the Pope to investigate the Legion of Christ.

BELGIE
RKnieuws

BRUGGE (RKnieuws.net) - Op de bisdombladzijden van Kerk & Leven verschijnt woensdag een interview met Patrick Degrieck, priester van het bisdom Brugge en de enige priester-kerkjurist binnen de ‘Commissie voor de behandeling van klachten van seksueel misbruik in een pastorale relatie’.

Degrieck had een specifieke taak in de commissie. “In een moeilijk dossier nodigde Peter Adriaenssens mij uit om samen met hem een voorgesprek te voeren met een priester die zeer zenuwachtig was om voor de commissie te verschijnen.” Die aanpak werkte. “Het bleek goed te zijn dat ik vooraf als confrater sprak met priesters en hen duidelijk maakte dat we er allemaal baat bij hadden dat de waarheid bekend werd. Meer dan eens betekenden die voorgesprekken kantelmomenten.”

OREGON
The Gardne of Roses: Stories of Abuse and Healing

Virginia Jones

Rain beat a steady drum beat on my skylights on Sunday morning. I wondered if the rain would depress turn out at the One Spirit, On Call event here in Portland, Oregon -- the event inspired by the Vatican document released earlier this year that pronounced both the sexual abuse of children and the ordination of women grave sins against faith. If the rain affected attendance at all it was not evident. Hundreds of women and the men and children in their lives came to the event in the Park Blocks in downtown Portland.

I am a single issue person -- I want to work on ending abuse and healing the wounds in individuals, my Church, and society. I think advocacy on other issues would muddy my waters, but someone had to bring up the issue among such a large gathering of activist Catholics. So I did. I attended the One Spirit, One Call event a clergy abuse survivor and my son and handed out Sackcloth Penance Patches with a prayer for those abused in our Church.

Event organizers structured the program to resemble Mass with a choir, prayers by a nun, Sr. Kathleen Stupfel, Bible readings and even homily like speeches by lay women active in the Church.

GEORGIA
GetReligion

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

CNN.com published 10 — count ‘em, 10 — articles or video clips yesterday about Bishop Eddie Long. If you don’t know who Long is, then you’re like the almost all Americans were one week ago, before the media blitz began with revelations that four young men at Long’s Atlanta-area megachurch were filing lawsuits claiming the minister molested them.

CNN is based in Atlanta, and one of their religion reporters, then on the Godbeat for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote one of my favorite all-time religion stories when he exposed how Long was getting rich off the charity checkbook. Thus, it’s no surprise that CNN has been all over this story.

What’s odd is the media storm that has followed.

Despite all the blustering about Long being one of America’s most-recognizable pastors, I can assure you that even a room full of Christian reporters would have had a difficult time last week identifying Long (or, being that he is a Baptist, exactly what kind of a bishop he is).

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Post

The Bishop Eddie Long affair brings two thoughts to mind. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”; and “There must be a flaw.”

On the first thought, we should not be surprised to hear about sexual misbehavior in our society. In fact, we should expect to see and hear about sexual misconduct because our society promulgates and wallows in high levels of sexual innuendo in media content and in everyday life. Sexually provocative attire and media presentations of sexually explicit materials are quite prevalent in our society. Because we respond to media by acting out what we hear and see, it is not unexpected that we should witness the continuation of sexual misbehavior.

Given the prevalence of sexual information, it is difficult for any individual to go through an entire life without experiencing some sexual misbehavior. We believe that you can begin with Presidents and go all the way down to young boys and girls and find that, somewhere in the course of their lives, there is likely to have been a sexual misstep.

CITTA' DEL VATICANO
Sky

L'Istituto Opere di Religione, meglio noto come Banca Vaticana, avrebbe intenzione di chiudere i conti correnti intestati ai laici. Lo scrive il Corriere della Sera di oggi, lunedì 27. Il gesto sarebbe parte di un'operazione trasparenza avviata dalla Santa Sede e arriva dopo l'inchiesta della procura di Roma che vede coinvolti il presidente Ettore Gotti Tedeschi e il direttore generale Paolo Cipriani, indagati per omissioni legate alla violazione delle norme antiriciclaggio.

"Fonti ai più alti livelli della Santa Sede - scrive il Corriere - parlano di tredici conti 'laici' che il nuovo corso vorrebbe, semplicemente, chiudere: cancellando inoltre la possibilità che altri laici possano mai aprirne in futuro".

ITALIA
Panorama

I conti non tornano nel consiglio di sovrintendenza dello Ior, il cda della banca vaticana. La denuncia che ha portato il presidente Ettore Gotti Tedeschi e il direttore generale Paolo Cipriani a essere indagati è partita dall’istituto che fa capo a uno dei consiglieri dello Ior, Giovanni De Censi. È stato infatti il Credito artigiano, il 14 settembre scorso, a denunciare all’Unità di informazione finanziaria (Uif) della Banca d’Italia la richiesta dello Ior di effettuare due bonifici per 23 milioni di euro in violazione della normativa antiriciclaggio. La denuncia alla Uif ha portato al blocco dell’operazione e, cinque giorni dopo, al sequestro del conto e all’apertura di un fascicolo a carico di Gotti e Cipriani, disposto dalla procura di Roma.

IRELAND
Herald

By Garry O'Sullivan

Monday September 27 2010

Boycotting the Mass in Ireland was always going to be a flop; it's akin to asking people to boycott the GAA on Sunday. In terms of Irish rural politics, parish and pump rule supreme when it comes to God and local heroes.

Jennifer Sleeman (81) had called for the boycott after a letter in a national newspaper received widespread attention. However, the call was unwise and politically naive from a Church point of view.

collapsed

At least 42pc of the population attend weekly Mass, not to prop up the bishops or errant priests, but to fulfill their religious obligation and to pray to their God. If the Catholic Church collapsed in the morning, their faith and the Mass would still continue. Also, many Catholics are at best lukewarm to the idea of women priests, and for good reasons.

BELGIE
Metro Time

(Belga) Het parket van Brugge heeft geen weet van een derde slachtoffer van de Brugse voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe, zoals het weekblad Humo dinsdag bericht.

Volgens Humo heeft Roger Vangheluwe ook zijn nichtje tijdens haar jeugd jarenlang misbruikt. Dit bevestigen verschillende onafhankelijke bronnen aan Humo, maar de vrouw zelf ontkent. Volgens Humo doen er zelfs geruchten de ronde over een vierde slachtoffer, dat ondertussen overleden is. Procureur Jean-Marie Berkvens van het parket van Brugge heeft geen weet van een derde en een vierde slachtoffer.

ROME
CNN

Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI personally told the director of the Vatican Bank that he trusted him and appreciates the work he is doing, the Vatican said Monday, after Italian authorities launched a money-laundering investigation into the bank.

Ettore Tedeschi, the bank head, was among the faithful meeting Benedict Sunday after the pope's weekly Angelus address.

Tedeschi kissed the pope's hand and gave him a copy of his book "Money and Paradise," and they exchanged a few words, the Vatican said.

IRELAND
Galway Bay

September 27, 2010

A priest - and former minister in the Tuam Archdiocese - who was accused of raping a pregnant woman has settled the case out of court.

According to today's Irish Independent, a five-figure sum was paid to settle a High Court civil action.

The rape allegations were withdrawn as part of the settlement agreement.

BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

20 SEPTEMBER 2010 - Vorige vrijdag kwam de Kamercommissie Justitie vervroegd bijeen om te discussiëren over het rapport van de Commissie-Adriaenssens over seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Kerk. Wij geven een overzicht van dit debat, maar we legden ook een aantal vragen voor aan alle Belgische politieke partijen: over de verlenging van de verjaringstermijn; over de oprichting van een parlementaire onderzoekscommissie; over het initiatief van kardinaal Léonard om een Centrum voor Erkenning, Heling en Verzoening op te richten; over de verzwaring van de straffen en over alternatieve straffen zoals verplichte therapie, woonverbod e.d. Alleen de MR antwoordde niet, maar een aantal van hun standpunten was uit het parlementair debat van vorige vrijdag af te leiden. Een overzicht van de antwoorden en enkele bedenkingen.

1. VERLENGING VERJARING
Moet de verjaringstermijn voor seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen worden verlengd?

Nu bedraagt hij 10 jaar en hij start pas als het slachtoffer meerderjarig is. Het verjaringsregime van seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen is uitzonderlijk in het Belgisch strafrecht. De Commissie-Adriaenssens stelde voor om over een mogelijke verlenging van de verjaringstermijn te discussiëren, omdat vele slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in de Kerk die verlenging bepleiten. Moet die verlenging er komen?

BELGIE
hbvl

De afgelopen weken hebben zich tientallen nieuwe slachtoffers gemeld van seksueel misbruik gepleegd door geestelijken. Justitie belooft dat elke klacht, hoe lang geleden de feiten ook werden gepleegd, wordt onderzocht.

Alle nieuwe klachten - het gerecht weigert voorlopig aantallen te noemen - worden gecentraliseerd door magistrate Lieve Pellens op het federale parket. Van daaruit worden de dossiers verder verdeeld onder de bevoegde parketten. Het gaat voornamelijk om oude feiten, maar er zitten ook recentere gevallen bij.

De commissie-Adriaenssens had bij haar ontslag op 24 juni 475 klachten binnen. Het jongste slachtoffer was amper twee toen het misbruik begon.

BELGIE
Katholiek Nederland

Hilversum (Van onze redactie) 13 september 2010 - Het Vaticaan neemt “binnen een redelijke termijn” een beslissing over de toekomst van de wegens misbruik opgestapte bisschop Roger Vangheluwe. Dat heeft André-Joseph Léonard, de aartsbisschop van Mechelen-Brussel, vandaag gezegd op de persconferentie over de nieuwe aanpak van seksueel misbruik door de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk van België.
Misbruik neef

Vangheluwe, de voormalige bisschop van Brugge, trad in april af nadat hij had toegegeven zijn neef in het verleden seksueel te hebben misbruikt. Hij trok zich daarna terug in de trappistenabdij van Westvleteren. Eergisteren kondigde hij aan dat hij de abdij, gelegen in bisdom Brugge, zou gaan verlaten om zich elders terug te trekken.

BELGIE
Kerknieuws

Voormalig bisschop Roger Vangheluwe van Brugge zou niet twee maar drie familieleden seksueel hebben misbruikt. Het zou gaan om twee neefjes én een nichtje, zo meldt het Belgische tijdschrift Humo.

Humo beroept zich op "verschillende, onafhankelijke bronnen". Het tijdschrift schrijft ook dat er geruchten bestaan over een vierde – inmiddels overleden – slachtoffer.

BELGIE
Humo

Roger Vangheluwe, de voormalige bisschop van Brugge, heeft jarenlang ook zijn nichtje seksueel misbruikt. Verschillende onafhankelijke bronnen hebben dat nieuws aan Humo bevestigd. Het nichtje is het derde slachtoffer van de bisschop in zijn eigen familie. En de geruchten over een vierde slachtoffer - dat inmiddels is overleden - nemen toe.

Twee weken geleden viel bij Humo een interessante brief in de bus.

'Geachte, Roger Vangheluwe heeft jarenlang zijn nichtje misbruikt. Ze is hiervoor opgenomen in de Sint-Jozefskliniek in Pittem. De familie vond het beter te zwijgen voor de reputatie van Vangheluwe. Het slachtoffer wenst hiermee absoluut niet naar buiten te komen, maar ik gruwel als ik die vent zijn kop zie. Misschien kunnen jullie op de één of andere manier voorkomen dat iedereen denkt dat hij maar één slachtoffer heeft gemaakt.'

Dat laatste was een foutje. Twee dagen daarvoor was al bekend geraakt dat Roger Vangheluwe ook een tweede neefje seksueel had misbruikt. Maar goed, de briefschrijver beschikte over een bijzonder gedetailleerd verslag van het verblijf van het nichtje in de psychiatrische instelling in Pittem. Daar zou ze zo'n vijf jaar geleden - ze is inmiddels van middelbare leeftijd - maandenlang verbleven hebben vanwege langdurig seksueel misbruik in haar jeugd.

BELGIE
Metro Time

(Belga) Roger Vangheluwe, de vroegere bisschop van Brugge, heeft een derde slachtoffer gemaakt. Dat bericht het weekblad Humo dinsdag. Het zou gaan om een nichtje, dat tijdens haar jeugd jarenlang seksueel misbruikt werd.

Verschillende onafhankelijke bronnen bevestigden het verhaal aan Humo, maar het nichtje zelf ontkent. Een van de bronnen, die een brief schreef om aan te kaarten dat Vangheluwe wel degelijk meerdere slachtoffers maakte, zegt dat ze er "absoluut niet" mee naar buiten wil komen. Volgens de bronnen, die anoniem geciteerd worden, werd het slachtoffer maandenlang in een psychiatrische instelling in Pittem opgenomen. Haar familie zou het misbruik toegedekt hebben nadat het meisje hen op de hoogte had gebracht.

[summary]

It appears that Bishop Roger Vangheluwe, former Bruges bishop, may have a third victim. According to the weekly magazine Humo, it would be a female cousin. Several independent sources confirmed the story to Humo but the cousin has denied it.

PENNSYLVANIA
Lebanon Daily News

The Associated Press
Updated: 09/27/2010

ALLENTOWN, Pa.—Two eastern Pennsylvania priests have been removed from public ministry after church officials received credible sex abuse allegations against them.

The Allentown diocese removed 54-year-old Monsignor Bernard Flanagan and 74-year-old Father Andrew Ulincy from public ministry last week. The diocese announced the removals over the weekend.

The diocese says Flanagan has been accused of abusing a minor about 25 years ago at Reading Central Catholic High School. The diocese did not release any information about Ulincy's accuser, but says the allegations had nothing to do with the parish.

UNITED STATES
Renew America

[with link to Anthony Flagg's lawsuit against Bishop Long]

By Matt C. Abbott

Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., is being sued by four male church members alleging sexual misconduct, among other things. The bishop has vowed to fight the accusations.

Is he being falsely accused? Possibly, but it sure doesn't look good when four persons are making the same, or very similar, allegations. It seems to be a case of the abuse of power — something Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was known for (see here and here).

Yes, Bishop Long is said to be quite wealthy, and that should be taken into account. Follow the money. But we also know that many clergymen, including the late Father Marcial Maciel, have lived scandalous double lives.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Cynthia Tucker

I’ve never been a fan of “Bishop” Eddie Long, who, among other self-aggrandizing moves, has flouted Baptist practice by naming himself a bishop. I have detested his gay-bashing and loathed his narcissistic lifestyle. I’ve doubted the theology of his “prosperity” ministry.

Nothing more aptly describes the way that New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has become a cult of personality — not Jesus Christ’s personality, but Eddie Long’s — than the responses by Long and a few of his congregants to allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation.

In a sermon carried live by TV cameras yesterday, Long very dramatically told his congregation he is “under attack.” From the WaPo:

“Please hear this: I have been accused. I’m under attack. I want you to know that I am not a perfect man, but this thing I’m gon’ fight,” said Long, who also preached a short sermon on surviving painful times.

“I feel like David against Goliath, but I’ve got five rocks, and I haven’t thrown one yet,” the bishop said to roaring applause as he dropped his microphone on the pulpit with a thud, took his wife Vanessa’s hand and left the stage.

If Long were going to compare himself to a Biblical character, he should have chosen Goliath.

GEORGIA
Prime Writer News Network

Sep 27, 2010

Author Amanda Collins

Bishop Eddie Long scandal: Why hasn’t Eddie Long proclaimed his innocence?

Bishop Eddie Long has released a statement through his attorney, dropped out of press conferences, cancelled an appearance on the Tom Joyner show, and when speaking to his congregation on Sunday regarding the looming scandal and four civil lawsuits of sexual coercion, didn’t deny the allegations. Why hasn’t Bishop Eddie Long addressed the allegations head on and flat out denied them? Why hasn’t Eddie Long proclaimed his innocence and stated he is not guilty?

Some have said that they believe Eddie Long is guilty and look to the wording he has used throughout the scandal as evidence. When those in the public spotlight are caught in scandals, they often use a play of words to get out of answering tough questions. Do you remember former president Bill Clinton and the fiasco that ensued? Bill Clinton’s play on words was so great he tried to redefine the meaning of sexual intimacy and sparked a controversy regarding whether oral sex was sexual in nature or not!

LITHONIA (GA)
CBS News

[with video]

(CBS/AP) Despite allegations that he lured four young men into sexual relationships, many of Bishop Eddie Long's followers remain unwavering in their support for him as he pledges to fight the accusations like David fighting Goliath.

Casting himself as the Bible's ultimate underdog, Long went before thousands of faithful supporters at his megachurch Sunday and promised to battle claims in lawsuits filed last week that he abused his "spiritual authority."

"I feel like David against Goliath. But I got five rocks, and I haven't thrown one yet," Long said in his first public remarks since the lawsuits were filed. He stopped short of denying the allegations but implied he was wronged by them.

LITHONIA (GA)
ABC News

[with video]

By STEVE OSUNSAMI and SARAH NETTER
Sept. 27, 2010

A sermon that was supposed to have reassured the congregation of an Atlanta megachurch pastor accused of sex abuse has left some wondering if he said enough to defend himself.

"This is probably the most difficult time in my entire life," Bishop Eddie Long said during the service.

Long, the powerhouse leader of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has been accused of sex abuse by four men, who claim in separate lawsuits that he lavished them with expensive gifts and trips and then forced them when they were teenagers into sexual relationships.

CANADA
Port Hawkesbury Reporter

As most people are aware these days, the Diocese of Antigonish is going through a major financial and credibility crisis following accusation of sexual abuse and the subsequent class action legal and financial settlement.

All of our parishes have had to turn over money to the diocese and we are now in the process of selling off all our assets except for churches and occupied glebe houses. This has been a heart wrenching time for us.

What many people may not know is that the Diocese of Antigonish is the major shareholder in the Casket Printing and Publishing Company of Antigonish and that the board of directors of The Casket recently purchased the adjacent building for around $200,000. We are horrified by this decision. We’re selling off all our assets and they’re buying more? It may make sense from a business point-of-view, but did no one consider the psychological impact of this purchase on us, the people in the diocese?

CANADA
Cape Breton post

Published on September 26th, 2010

Nancy King

SYDNEY — The Diocese of Antigonish’s share in an Antigonish-based community newspaper will be among the assets sold to cover the financial settlement with victims of sexual abuse by its priests.

The Reporter, a weekly newspaper in Port Hawkesbury, published a letter to the editor this week from three residents of Antigonish County, calling upon parishes to put pressure on the diocese to immediately place its stake in Casket Printing and Publishing up for sale.

The letter, signed by Jean Collins, Marion MacNeil and Ben Druhan, notes that parishes have had to turn over money to the diocese and are now in the process of selling off all assets other than churches and occupied glebe houses, a process they described as heart-wrenching.

PENNSYLVANIA
Reading Eagle

By Brett Hambright
Reading Eagle

The Diocese of Allentown has removed two area priests from the ministry based on sexual abuse allegations dating to the 1980s, spokesman Matthew Kerr said Sunday.

One of the priests was a pastor in Reading at the time of his dismissal; the other committed the alleged crime here, Kerr said.

The Rev. Andrew A. Ulincy, 74, who had been pastor at St. Paul's Church on North Ninth Street, abused a minor in 1981 when he was serving in Bethlehem, according to the allegations.

Monsignor Bernard Flanagan, 54, who last served in Shenandoah, was accused of abusing a minor in 1985 when he worked at Central Catholic High School.

CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

SYDNEY, N.S. (CP) — The diocese of Antigonish will sell its share in a community newspaper to help cover its financial settlement with victims of sexual abuse by priests.

Diocese spokesperson Rev. Paul Abbass said the diocese’s 60 per cent share in Casket Printing and Publishing of Antigonish will be put up for sale.

Abbass said the diocese is adding almost weekly to the property and assets that are up for sale.

AUSTRALIA
New South Wales Police Force

Monday, 27 Sep 2010 04:05pm

Police investigating historic child sexual abuse allegations have charged a retired Catholic Priest today with 14 child sex related offences.

Strike Force Georgiana was established in March 2008 by detectives from Lake Macquarie Local Area Command, with the assistance of officers from the Newcastle Local Area Command.

The 68-year-old Mayfield man attended Waratah Police Station by appointment today where he was charged with:
· Sexual intercourse with a child aged over 10 and under 16 (whilst person under authority),
· Eight counts of indecent assault to person under 16 (whilst person under authority), and
· Five counts of acts of indecency to person under 16 (whilst person under authority).

He was granted conditional bail to appear at Newcastle Local Court on 19 October, 2010.

AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

A retired Catholic priest has been charged with sex offences against two boys in Newcastle in the 1980s.

The 68-year-old man from suburban Mayfield on Monday kept an appointment to present himself at a police station, where he was charged with 14 offences related to sex with children at a former convent.

The charges include sexual intercourse with a child aged over 10 and under 16, eight counts of indecent assault on person under 16 and five counts of acts of indecency to person under 16.

AUSTRALIA
Island Crisis (Mauritius)

SYDNEY (BNO NEWS) — A retired Australian Catholic priest was charged on Monday with sexually abusing two young boys some 30 years ago, police said.

Strike Force Georgiana of the New South Wales (NWS) Police Force has been investigating historic child sexual abuse allegations involving a retired Catholic priest. His identity was not immediately released.

The 68-year-old Mayfield man attended the Waratah Police Station, not far from Sydney, on Monday by appointment before he was charged by police. These charges relate to the alleged assault of two males at a former convent in Windale in the 1980s.

AUSTRALIA
ABC News

A retired Catholic priest from the New South Wales Hunter Valley has been charged with 14 child sex offences dating back to the 1980s.

Police from Strikeforce Georgiana, established more than two years ago to investigate child sex abuse within the Church, today arrested the 68-year-old man from Mayfield.

He has been charged with 14 offences including sexual intercourse with a child aged under 16, indecent assault and acts of indecency.

IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A Catholic priest in the Republic of Ireland accused of raping a pregnant woman has paid the alleged victim a five-figure sum to settle a High Court civil action.

The Catholic Church also intends for him to undergo a "specialist assessment" before a decision on his suitability to return to public ministry will be taken.

His superior, the Archbishop of Tuam Dr Michael Neary, asked the priest to step aside after the Irish Independent revealed in October 2005 that the accused priest was continuing to carry out his full range of parish duties, despite the rape allegation.

ITALIA
Il Sole

Donatella Stasio

ROMA
Risale al 30 aprile 2009 la prima "informativa" della Banca d'Italia sullo Ior, per evidenziare le «criticità» di un conto corrente della banca vaticana presso una filiale UniCredit di Roma. Da allora è stato un susseguirsi di note, informative, circolari, in cui si ribadisce lo status di banca extracomunitaria dello Ior ai fini della normativa antiriciclaggio. Fino a quando, il 15 settembre scorso, l'Uif, l'Unità di informazione finanziaria di via Nazionale, ha «sospeso» due bonifici sul conto corrente Ior presso il Credito Artigiano, per complessivi 23 milioni di euro, poi sottoposti a sequestro preventivo dalla Procura di Roma. Non un fulmine a ciel sereno, dunque, ma un epilogo quasi annunciato dopo sedici mesi di attenzione sui rapporti dello Ior con gli istituti di credito italiani.

La bussola è stato il decreto legislativo 231 del 2007, di attuazione della direttiva Ue sull'antiriciclaggio, che, oltre a istituire l'Uif, impone obblighi di trasparenza - semplificati o rafforzati - stabilisce sanzioni per l'«omessa» comunicazione di informazioni su scopo e natura delle operazioni nonché sui soggetti per conto dei quali vengono disposte. Regole che lo Ior dice di voler rispettare, spiegando che se alle parole non sono ancora seguiti i fatti è solo a causa di «errori» ed «equivoci». «Da quando sono stato nominato dal santo padre allo Ior - ha detto ieri il presidente Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, indagato con il direttore generale Paolo Cipriani per omissione degli obblighi di trasparenza - ho cercato di attuare quelle stesse procedure e condizioni di gestione che oggi qualcuno mi accusa di aver violato». E ha aggiunto: «Sono 12 mesi che il santo padre, il segretario di stato e la santa sede sono oggetto di attenzioni a dir poco sorprendenti».

UGANDA
The New Vision

By Francis Emorut

A man, who was yesterday reported dead by some sections of the media, is alive. Samson Mukisa, who had accused pastor Robert Kayanja of Rubaga Miracle Centre Cathedral of sodomising him, was yesterday spotted by New Vision shopping at Quality Supermarket in Lubowa on Entebbe road.

“I had just spoken to my son at 9:00pm, but I was shocked to hear that he was murdered,” Olivia Nansubuga, Mukisa’s mother told New Vision yesterday.

Local media yesterday reported that Mukisa had gone missing from his home in Kajjansi, a Kampala suburb.

ITALIA
ANSA

25 settembre

VERONA - ''Vorresti fermare il prete pedofilo che adesso e' ancora li', accanto ai bambini'': e' questa l'urgenza che sentono le vittime degli abusi sessuali commessi all'interno della Chiesa, per la prima volta riunite pubblicamente oggi a Verona nell'incontro 'Noi vittime dei preti pedofili'. A porte chiuse, nel Palazzo delle Gran Guardia, i partecipanti si sono raccontati le proprie vicissitudini.

''La ragione che sta alla base di questo incontro - dicono - e' far vedere che esistiamo, che non possiamo piu' essere ignorati e che non siamo statistiche, ma esseri umani con famiglie, figli, sentimenti''. Sono state una cinquantina le e-mail di ulteriori denunce ricevute - oltre che da Verona anche da Trento, Savona, Vicenza - dal gruppo promotore 'La Colpa', in vista di questa giornata, spiega Mario Lodi Rizzini, fratello di una delle sordomute dell'Istituto San Provolo di Verona. Si tratta dell'istituto dove - secondo 15 testimonianze autobiografiche dettagliate di ricoverati presenti all'incontro di oggi - tra gli anni '50 e meta' degli anni '80 una ventina di sacerdoti avrebbe abusato continuativamente di piccoli che non potevano sentire o parlare, o nessuna delle due cose assieme. ''Quello che mi ha colpito - aggiunge Rizzini - e' che, quando un laico che lavorava al San Provolo ha confermato quei racconti, ha detto che era una cosa 'normale', che avveniva anche in altri istituti''. ''Ma la prima lettera inviata al vescovo di Verona - prosegue - portava in calce 70 firme di ospiti dell'istituto: quella lettera ha fermato il processo di beatificazione di quel vescovo precedente che viene indicato tra gli abusatori. Adesso e' in corso la costituzione di una commissione che vogliamo laica, perche' non ci fidiamo, e che inviera' il proprio resoconto al Vaticano''. Tra gli ex ospiti dell'istituto Provolo era presente alla Gran Guardia un'unica donna, Antonietta Perbellini, 75 anni, la quale accusa una violenza subita durante una confessione, sulla sedia, da parte di ''un prete che si abbasso' i calzoni''.

[translation]

Pedophilia: victims of priests meeting in Verona, 'Enough is enough'
September 25th

by Antonella Barina

VERONA - " You want to stop the pedophile priest who is still there, near the children": that is the urgency felt by the victims from sexual abuses within the church who for the first time gathered today in Verona at the meeting. 'We are victims of pedophile priests'. Behind closed doors, in the Palazzo delle Gran Guardia, the participants narrated their own stories.

"The reason at the basis of this meeting - they say - is to show we exist, that we can't be ignored and that we are not statistics, but human beings with families, children, feelings". About 50 emails containing additional denunciations were sent there. Besides from the city of Verona, the emails came from the cities of Trento, Savona, Vicenza and from the promoting group 'La Colpa' , said Mario Lodi Rizzini, brother of one of the deaf mutes of the Istituto San Provolo of Verona. That was the Institution where - according to 15 detailed autobiographical reports by former residents present at today meeting - between 1950 and 1985 about 20 priests allegedly abused children who were deaf and/or mute.

"What struck me - Mr. Rizzini said - is that, when a layman who worked at the San Provolo confirmed those reports, he stated it was "normal' and that it happened in other institutions, too". "But the first letter sent to the Bishop of Verona - he continues - was signed by 70 residents in the Istituto San Provolo: it stopped the process for the beatification of the former Bishop who was listed among the abusers. A Commission of lay people is now being formed - we don't trust the clergy - which will send its report to the Vatican". Among the former residents of the Istituto San Provolo who were present at the meeting there was only a 75-year-old woman, Antonietta Perbellini, who claims of having being the victim of sexual violence during confession, on a chair "by a priest who lowered his trousers".

"Now - the woman says - when the priest comes to bless my home I send him away". According to Salvatore Domolo - a former priest who was abused as a child between 8 and 11 years of age and who withdrew from his ministry in 2005 and renounced baptism last year - " we speak only about priests, but we can't hide there are also nuns: women who were abused in childhood have more difficutly to speak out, there is more pressure upon them, they are weaker."

Among the most determined, the parent of a girl who was victim of sexual violence by the clergy. " For those who are still children the road is uphill - he explains. 'He told them if they spoke something very bad would happen and your parents would die. If you find the force to say something, mommy and daddy would have a hard time to think of their friend priest as a bad man and, if the family believes in what said to them, they speak about it with the priest-abuser or with his superiors. Then the isolation starts: the families are accused of being anxious and overprotective, with economical interests, hatred for the Church. If the judicial proceedings start, the accusers are considered the guilty party". According to former priest Domolo, "the gravest thing is that the abuse sends you away from God, for God remains there in silence."

"When I entered the seminary - he tells - I spoke to my spiritual father of the abuses I was a victim of and I found myself confessing the "sin" I commited. When I asked him what to do of the priest who abused me, he answered: absolutely, let's not speak about it, we trust him to the misericordy of God." " I heard it over and over again! The active complicity of the Church - he continues - must be recognized. The thinking was that silence was enough, or transferring the indian pedophile priest to Italy. The truth is that there weren't only the repeated abuses and the scarce control but also the deliberate activity to hide them."

IRELAND
The Irish Times

KITTY HOLLAND

NUMBERS ATTENDING Mass held steady yesterday, and in some places were up on recent weeks, despite a campaign to boycott weekend services, according to the Catholic Communications Office.

There was evidence, however, of sporadic support for the plea by Cork pensioner Jennifer Sleeman (81), from Clonakilty, Co Cork, for women to stay away from Mass in protest at their treatment by the church.

Ms Sleeman said people who did not want to miss Mass could still protest against women’s status as “second-class citizens” in the church by wearing green armbands, of which there were some sightings across the country.

PENNSYLVANIA
WFMZ

Katie Shank | Web Producer

Officials with the Allentown Diocese announced Sunday that two priests have been removed from the ministry for sexual abuse.

The Diocese said Father Ulincy, with St. Paul Church in Reading, is no longer allowed to act publicly as a priest.

PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP

Two priests in the Diocese of Allentown are relieved of their duties after charges of sexual abuse surface more than 20-years after the alleged crimes. Both priests served at parishes in Schuylkill County during their careers.

In a statement from the Diocese of Allentown, a review board found credible allegations of sexual abuse by Monsignor Bernard Flanagan and Father Andrew Ulincy.

Monsignor Flanagan, 54, is the pastor at Annunciation, Saint George and Our Lady of Mount Carmel churches in Shenandoah, and Saint Mary Magdalen church in Lost Creek. He has been a priest for 28 years.

PENNSYLVANIA
Republican Herald

By Amanda Leigh Brozana (Staff Writer abrozana@republicanherald.com)
Published: September 26, 2010

Two Roman Catholic priests, both of whom served in several parishes in Schuylkill County over the past 30 years, have been removed from the ministry after an Allentown Diocesan Review Board found allegations of sexual abuse of minors to be credible.

The removal of Monsignor Bernard Flanagan, 54, who has been serving since 2006 as pastor at Annunciation BVM, St. George and Our Lady of Mount Carmel churches in Shenandoah and St. Mary Magdalen Church, Lost Creek, was announced at the 8:30 a.m. Sunday Mass by The Most Rev. John O. Barres, Bishop of Allentown.

Barres also announced the removal of the Rev. Andrew A. Ulincy, 74, at a 4 p.m. Saturday Mass at St. Paul Church, Reading, where he had been pastor since 1997.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

ELAINE KEOGHANNE LUCEY and

DROGHEDA: WOMEN PLAYED a leading role in at least one Mass yesterday.

At the Augustinian Church in Drogheda, businesswoman and Senator Mary White was invited to speak to the congregation at 1.15pm Mass, while the Communion reflection was written by a young woman parishioner.

They took part at the instigation of Fr Iggy O’Donovan who told the congregation he could not ignore “the elephant in the room” – that it was “women’s boycott Sunday” – and he was welcoming all genders “as we try to be as inclusive as possible”.

He believed there is “nothing in our tradition that excludes women from the fullness of priestly ministry forever”. It was “appropriate that Senator White who is not only a strong advocate of the rights of our senior citizens but is moreover an avid supporter of the rights of women”, should speak, he said.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

Five women give their view

YVONNE EGAN

Kilkenny city

I think it might do good if priests were allowed to marry, yes. I do think they should be allowed to and if women were allowed to become priests that could improve things, but I am sure there are better ways of protesting than missing Mass.

JILL MURRAY

Marino, Dublin

I think the protest and the boycott is a good idea. I think women are treated as second-class citizens by the church and I know all religions are patriarchal, but I think it’s important to stand up and demand change

CATHERINE WILEY

Castlebar, Co Mayo

I think it’s outrageous to suggest missing Mass. I don’t think you should ever, ever, ever miss Mass and it’s divisive and insulting to call on the faithful few to do so. To miss Mass would be like turning your back on Jesus Christ. The Church needs women more than ever now. Women are making progress and we will get more equality, but in our own good time.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

BARRY ROCHE and LOUISE ROSEINGRAVE Clonakilty, Co Cork

PROTEST LEADER: THE 81-YEAR-OLD grandmother, who called on women to boycott Mass at the weekend in protest at the Catholic Church’s treatment of women, spent yesterday at her home with her family while also taking some time in private, praying for change within the Catholic Church.

In a campaign that became a major talking point in the church, Jennifer Sleeman from Clonakilty in West Cork called last August for a weekend boycott of Mass by women “to let the Vatican and the Irish church know that women are tired of being treated as second-class citizens.” Ms Sleeman, a convert to Catholicism from Presbyterianism 54 years ago, absented herself from Mass in Clonakilty yesterday.

She agreed to speak to The Irish Times from her home on Saturday night but said she would not do any media interviews yesterday.

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As Bishop Eddie Long vowed to fight allegations that he coerced four teen boys into sexual relationships, his wife, Vanessa Bishop Long, stood quietly by his side.

The "Tammy Wynette" model is a staple of crisis management for the rich and powerful, especially when facing allegations of a sexual nature. Otherwise, Long's aggressive riposte from the pulpit Sunday morning was notably atypical.

By going on offense, Long's remarks were somewhat reminiscent of then-President Bill Clinton's famous finger wag assuring the country he "did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." First lady Hillary Clinton stood by her man, she , claiming the president was the victim of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

IOWA
Telegraph Herald

BY MARY NEVANS-PEDERSON TH STAFF WRITER

The lives of two former Dubuque women are intertwined in the new book "Benita: Prey for Him" -- one woman told her story and the other wrote about it.

Benita Kane Kirschbaum, 77, bares her soul in the publish-on-demand book, recounting her 20-year sexual and emotional entanglement with a Catholic priest, which started when she was a fatherless, 15-year-old school girl.

Intrigued by her long-kept secrets, her childhood friend and author Virginia Tranel offered to write about the trauma and its aftermath.

The result is a narrative based on interviews, letters, reports and long-repressed memories, with reconstructed scenes and dialogue "designed to capture the spirit of those events," Tranel explained.

CITTA' DEL VATICANO
La Repubblica

Fonti della Santa Sede riferiscono di un "incontro al baciamano, davanti a molti testimoni", e lo definiscono "un modo per sottolineare pubblicamente la vicinanza e il sostegno del Pontefice". Gotti Tedeschi -insieme al direttore dello Io, Cipriani- è indagato dalla Procura di Roma per omissioni legate alla normativa anti-riciclaggio

CITTA' DEL VATICANO - Viene interpretato dai più in Vaticano come una "evidente attestazione di stima e fiducia" da parte del Papa per il presidente dello Ior Ettore Gotti Tedeschi 1, in questi giorni sotto inchiesta 2, il breve incontro che i due hanno avuto questa mattina. "L'incontro al baciamano, davanti a molti testimoni - osservano fonti riservate - è stato chiaramente un modo per sottolineare pubblicamente, a soli cinque giorni dalla notizia dell'indagine avviata dalla Procura di Roma, la vicinanza e il sostegno da parte del Pontefice all'economista e banchiere scelto pochi mesi fa per guidare l'Istituto Opere religiose 3 in un percorso di totale e irreversibile trasparenza".

Benedetto XVI ha ricevuto Gotti Tedeschi dopo la preghiera dell'Angelus a Castelgandolfo. L'economista era accompagnato dalla moglie e ha presentato al Pontefice il libro Denaro e paradiso. I cattolici e l'economia globale, da lui scritto con Rino Cammilleri con una prefazione del segratario di Stato, cardinale Tarcisio Bertone.

ITALIA
Le Repubblica

di Piergiorgio Odifreddi

L’ineffabile Benedetto XVI si è affrettato a testimoniare la sua fiducia a Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, presidente dello Ior e indagato dagli inizi della settimana per questioni di riciclaggio. E l’altrettanto ineffabile banchiere ha ricambiato il favore regalando al Papa il suo ultimo libro, intitolato Denaro e Paradiso (fiscale?). Chissà se i due si sono fatti una risata, o hanno preferito fare le corna e sperare che tutto si acquieti?

Certo i problemi finanziari della Chiesa hanno una venerabile storia, lunga quanto la sua. Come raccontano gli Atti degli Apostoli, risalgono infatti a uno dei primi “miracoli” di Pietro, quando il primo Papa fece cadere stecchiti i due coniugi Anania e Saffira, rei di non aver versato alla comunità l’intero ricavato della vendita di un loro podere, così che “un grande timore si diffuse in tutta la Chiesa e in quanti venivano a sapere queste cose”.

Un edificante episodio, questo, a proposito del quale l’Edizione Ufficiale C.E.I. ha da dire soltanto che “per la prima volta la comunità cristiana è chiamata Chiesa”. E non, invece, che esso rivela come fin dai primordi quella “comunità chiamata Chiesa” avesse incominciato a incamerare con la forza i beni dei Cristiani, inaugurando un business le cui modalità erano che “quanti possedevano campi o case li vendevano, portavano l’importo di ciò che era stato venduto, e lo deponevano ai piedi degli apostoli”.

UNITED STATES
BBC News

One of the most powerful independent church leaders in the US says he will fight allegations that he coerced young men into sexual relationships.

Four young men have filed lawsuits against Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bishop Long told a congregation that he was not a perfect man but he would fight the allegations against him.

ROME
AFP

ROME — Pope Benedict XVI met Sunday with the head of the Vatican bank in a show of support for the banker despite Italian authorities investigating him as part of a money laundering probe, ANSA news agency reported.

The pope received bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and his wife at his Castel Gandolfo residence outside Rome, the news agency said.

"It is an obvious sign of his respect and confidence. The meeting in front of numerous witnesses publicly demonstrated in a clear manner the pope's closeness and support to the banker chosen to lead the IOR towards complete transparency," ANSA quoted a Vatican source as saying.

PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call

By Scott Kraus, OF THE MORNING CALL

4:33 p.m. EDT, September 26, 2010

The Diocese of Allentown has removed two priests from ministry activities after determining that both face credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor dating back more than two decades.

In an official statement, the Diocese announced that it had removed the following two men from ministry:

Father Andrew A. Ulincy, 74, who had been pastor at St. Paul Church in Reading since 1997. Ulincy's other assignments included stints at Marian High School, Tamaqua; St. Joseph Church, Jim Thorpe; Assumption B.V.M. Church, Mahanoy City; SS. Simon and Jude Church, Bethlehem; St. Michael Church, Lansford; St. Joseph Church, Frackville; and Holy Rosary Church, Reading. The Diocesan Review Board found credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor from 1981.

Monsignor Bernard Flanagan, 54, who had been pastor at Annunciation, St. George and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Churches in Shenandoah and St. Mary Magdalen Church, Lost Creek since 2006. Flanagan was ordained in 1982. In 28 years as a priest he has served at SS. Peter and Paul Church, Lehighton; St. Anne Church, Bethlehem; Reading Central Catholic High School; St. Jerome Church, Tamaqua; Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville; Mary Queen of Peace Church, Pottsville; and Our Lady Help of Christians Church, Allentown; before being assigned to Shenandoah. During his years in education, he was in residence at St. Paul Church and St. Catharine of Siena Church, Reading and St. Mary Church, St. Clair. The Diocesan Review Board found credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor dating back approximately 25 years.

LITHONIA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Staff reports
For the AJC

This is a transcript of Bishop Eddie Long's 8 a.m. sermon at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia on Sunday.

Good morning New Birth. And good morning to all our other guests.

And I would be remiss not to say good morning to the world.

You all may be seated in the presence of the Lord.

I do want to remind folk that we're here at 8 every Sunday morning. Every Sunday morning.

And I'll be here next week.

LITHONIA (GA)
11 Alive

Lithonia, GA -- Parishioners and church visitors had strong reactions to Bishop Eddie Long's first public comments since he was accused of sexual abuse by four young men in civil lawsuits filed last week.

Many church members voiced their support for Bishop Long after Sunday's early morning service, which drew national media attention.

"It was amazing," said member Anne Wilkerson. "It just brought chills over my body. He made it clear that this thing is not him." ...

"He seemed like he avoided the subject," said another man who attended the early service. "He said what he wanted to say and what he wanted to get out there. I don't think he said anything."

LITHONIA (GA)
The Associated Press

By ERRIN HAINES (AP)

LITHONIA, Ga. — The famed pastor of a Georgia megachurch said Sunday that he will fight allegations that he lured young men into sexual relationships, stressing that he'd be back to lead the church the next week.

Addressing a New Birth Missionary Baptist Church sanctuary packed with thousands, Bishop Eddie Long neither discussed specifics of the lawsuits filed against him nor flatly denied the accusations. But he drew thunderous applause when he addressed his flock publicly for the first time since the first lawsuits were filed several days ago. ...

About 100 people waited at the doors of the church more than an hour before the first service. Some held signs of support, while others prayed for their embattled leader. A small group sang the hymn "White as Snow" while outside.

Members in their seats clapped and swayed as the service began around 8 a.m., with several people with microphones singing on stage. Later in the service, hundreds began dancing and chanting, "Jesus, Jesus." A small group of young people held Apple iPads high over their heads, with the screens scrolling white letters against a black background reading, "It's time to praise him."

LITHONIA (GA)
Guardian (United Kingdom)

Andrew Clark in New York
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 26 September 2010

The scandal-tainted pastor of a vast Atlanta megachurch was cheered to the rafters by a 10,000-strong congregation today as he took to the pulpit with a vow to fight accusations that he took sexual advantage of four teenage men in his flock.

Bishop Eddie Long, a vigorous advocate of sexual abstinence who once described homosexuality as a "spiritual abortion", leads one of America's largest and most powerful black churches, the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia.

Renowned for his expensive lifestyle and celebrity connections, Long this week faced lawsuits claiming that he lured young men into sexual relationships with cash, jewellery and electronics at a youth academy billed as a "rite of passage" for males. Mobile phone photos have surfaced, allegedly sent by Long to the young men, which depict the 57-year-old pastor posing in front of a bathroom mirror in tight-fitting muscle shirts and cycling shorts.

LITHONIA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Gracie Bonds Staples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Speaking to his congregation Sunday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Bishop Eddie Long likened his fight against sex allegations to David and Goliath, saying, "I have five rocks, and I haven't thrown one yet."

Here's a look other scriptural references he made, all from King James Bible:

Psalm 34:19: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but Lord delivereth him out of them all.”

Psalms 23:4-6: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; they rod and they staff comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Louis Cilia

The Pope’s historic four-day visit to Britain came to an end last Sunday. Against all expectations, it was a success as he attracted large and eager crowds wherever he went. The size and enthusiasm of the throngs gathered to acclaim him and hear his words in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and finally Birmingham appeared to astonish everyone; even the Pope’s many detractors who had eagerly looked forward to a PR disaster for the Church as it stumbled from one debacle to another were surprised.

The sex abuse scandals by Catholic priests in many countries, including the Church’s very heartlands, have had devastating effects. The Church’s former unique moral standing worldwide has been shaken to its very foundations and to such an extent that it will take many years before it can reclaim it again. To do so it needs to reform itself root and branch.

For the immediate future there are a number of questions that need to be asked and answered. The most pressing are: Will vocations continue to shrink? Will Church membership keep on declining? Will the expected fall in Church revenue as a result of a substantial drop in Mass attendances, widespread disenchantment with the Church and general disinterest in its activities bring about an unparalleled organisational and institutional crisis which will further impede the Church from effectively carrying out its worldwide mission with consequent negative results on its many religious, educational and social interests?

IRELAND
The Irish Times

KITTY HOLLAND

Numbers attending Mass held steady today, and in some places were up on recent weeks, despite a call for a boycott, according to priests and bishops who spoke to The Irish Times .

Catholics were urged not to go to Mass today by Jennifer Sleeman (81), from Clonakilty, Co Cork, in protest at the Church's treatment of women.

Ms Sleeman said she wanted to let the Vatican and the Irish church know "women are tired of being treated as second-class citizens" and she called on the Catholic women of Ireland to "join your sisters on Sunday, September 26th. On that one day, boycott Mass. Stay at home and pray for change.

FRANCE
Digital Journal

Michael Cosgrove

Many countries have had to come to terms with major scandals involving the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests and their subsequent cover-up by the Church, but that has not been the case for France.

America, Italy, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Belgium and many others, the list of countries whose Catholic Churches have seen their reputations reduced to tatters by pedophile practices – often on an almost institutional scale – is long and painful to read. Most of those countries have also witnessed greater or lesser amounts of Church as well as tacit state protection being offered to those priests involved.

Most of the major details concerning the extent and nature of pedophilia within the Catholic Church in the countries concerned are well-known and don’t need to be listed here. Suffice it to say that many thousands of priests have been involved over many years.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Rory Callinan From: The Australian September 27, 2010

THE former head of a Catholic order knew there were issues with an alleged pedophile priest in 1991.

The church leader had discussed him receiving therapy, according to an official letter obtained by The Australian.

The correspondence sheds new light on who knew about the abuse and how it was dealt with and whether those involved suffered any consequence as a result.

Former priest Peter Chalk remained a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart order from 1987 to the mid-1990s in Japan, despite him facing allegations he had abused children in Melbourne in the 1970s.

LITHONIA (GA)
Orlando Sentinel

A spirited Eddie Long, pastor of the Atlanta-area New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, today addressed the scandal that has resulted from allegations that he coerced four young men into sex.

Long, a 57-year-old married father of four, said he would fight the allegations at the 8 a.m. service at the packed church, which seats about 8,000, in a sermon on the theme “How to handle painful and difficult situations.”

The sermon was broadcast via several live streams, including those on Atlanta NBC affiliate 11Alive.com and BET.com.

LITHONIA (GA)
CNN

Georgia pastor Eddie Long took to the pulpit to tell his side of the story on Sunday, days after four lawsuits were filed claiming he coerced young males into sexual relationships.

Speaking to the massive congregation packed into the Atlanta-area New Birth Missionary Baptist Church for an 8 a.m. service, Long said that "this is probably the most difficult time" of his entire life, but he intends to fight the allegations against him.

He said his first responsibility was his family, and the members of his Atlanta-area church. However, he added that he would be "remiss" not to address "the world."

LITHONIA (GA)
ABC News

[with video]

By KEVIN DOLAK
Sept. 26, 2010

Bishop Eddie Long, the pastor of a megachurch in Georgia who has been accused of luring several boys into sexual relationships, defended himself to a congregation on Sunday.

After thanking his supporters and acknowledging his responsibility to his family in his sermon, Long addressed the controversy.

"There have been allegations and attacks made on me. I have never in my life portrayed myself as a perfect man. But I am not the man that's being portrayed on the television. That's not me."

"I am not gonna try this case in the media, it will be tried in the court of justice," he said.

LITHONIA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Craig Schneider and Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bishop Eddie Long faced his congregation and the media this morning for 20 minutes to address allegations he took advantage, sexually, of young men who at the time were looking to the preacher for friendship and guidance. Below is a live, minute-by-minute report by AJC reporters and photographers at the church. See photos here. Read the full AP story here.

10:08 a.m. Bishop Eddie Long's press conference was brief. He did not take questions. His wife was at his side. Here's what he did say: "On the advice of counsel, I am not going to address the allegations and the attacks. I want this to be dealt with in the court of justice not the court of public opinion. I am going to fight. Fight very vigorously. Things New Birth has stood for … we will continue to do."

10:07 a.m. Bishop Eddie Long at the podium addressing the media. Reiterates that he will fight the allegations.

UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

(RNS) Atlanta-area megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long has decried the "false allegations" lodged against him by three young men who filed suit over alleged sexual misconduct.

"The charges against me and New Birth are false," said Long, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., in a Thursday (Sept. 23) statement. "I have devoted my life to helping others and these false allegations hurt me deeply."

Long said he could not elaborate, on the advice of his lawyers, but would address his congregation on Sunday.

LITHONIA (GA)
Los Angeles Times

From CNN

September 26, 2010

Georgia pastor Eddie Long, accused of coercing young males into sexual relationships, told his congregation Sunday that "this is probably the most difficult time" of his entire life, but that he intends to fight the allegations against him.

He said his first responsibility was his family, and the some 25,000 members of the Atlanta-area New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. However, he joked that he would be "remiss" not to address "the world."

"I've been accused, I'm under attack. I want you to know, as I said earlier, that I am not a perfect man," he said. "But this thing, I'm going to fight."

LITHONIA (GA)
WSB

LITHONIA, Ga. -- Famed mega-church pastor Eddie Long ended his silence in the wake of sexual abuse claims, in which several young men accused him of using his position and power to coerce them into sex.

Long said he realized that many have been waiting for him to speak, but he first needed to address his family and his church family. He addressed the congregation of New Birth Missionary Church at the Sunday 8 a.m. service.

He said he felt like he was under attack, like David against Goliath. "This thing, I'm gonna fight," said Long. "I feel like David against Goliath. I've got 5 rocks, I haven't thrown one yet."

LITHONIA (GA)
The Associated Press

By ERRIN HAINES (AP)

LITHONIA, Ga. — The pastor of a Georgia megachurch says that he will fight allegations that he lured young men into sexual relationships and that he is not the man being portrayed in the media.

Bishop Eddie Long told a congregation of thousands on Sunday that he has been accused and is under attack. He says "I am not a perfect man, but this thing I'm going to fight."

His statement was met by loud cheers and applause.

ITALIE
NOS (Nederland)

In Verona in Italië zijn slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik door priesters voor het eerst bij elkaar gekomen. Het onderwerp ligt in Italië gevoelig en weinig mensen durven met hun verhaal naar buiten te komen.

Slechts enkele tientallen gevallen zijn in de openbaarheid gekomen. In Verona riep een handvol slachtoffers op het misbruik te beschouwen als een misdaad tegen de menselijkheid. Nu ontlopen veel pedofielen in Italië hun straf omdat het misbruik na tien jaar verjaard is.

BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

26 september 2010

Justitie kreeg de voorbije twee weken 52 nieuwe meldingen binnen van slachtoffers die seksueel misbruikt zijn door een geestelijke.

Sinds Peter Adriaenssens zijn choquerende eindrapport van de commissie-Adriaenssens voorstelde, twee weken geleden, regent het bij Justitie opnieuw klachten over seksueel misbruik. De commissie zelf bestaat intussen niet meer, maar het rapport heeft blijkbaar nog heel wat slachtoffers over de drempel kunnen halen om met hun verhaal naar buiten te komen. Bovendien drongen de voorbije weken zowel minister van Justitie Stefaan De Clerck (CD&V) als de Doornikse bisschop Guy Harpigny er bij de slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik op aan om met hun klachten bij Justitie te gaan aankloppen.

LITHONIA (GA)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By Craig Schneider and Shelia M. Poole
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bishop Eddie Long is facing his congregation and the media this morning to address allegations he took advantage, sexually, of young men who at the time were looking to the preacher for friendship and guidance. Below is a live, minute-by-minute report by AJC reporters and photographers at the church. See photos here.

9:11 a.m. This is also live on Channel 2 Action News TV and web cast from New Birth.

9:10 a.m. More from Long: "This is difficult for everybody. This is probably the most diffucilt time in my life. Want to talk to you about how to handle painful and difficult situations. And start with scripture from Psalms 34:19. Y'all did know I was going to use my Bible today. I was just going to take a few moments. But I gotta talk to my family." Long reads: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord dilevers him out of all of them. Above all this church, the church of the living God and all that is precious and holy at this moment."

LITHONIA (GA)
Washington Post

By ERRIN HAINES
The Associated Press
Sunday, September 26, 2010; 9:10 AM

LITHONIA, Ga. -- The pastor of a Georgia megachurch accused of luring young men into sexual relationships says "I'll be here next week" for church services.

Bishop Eddie Long told a congregation of thousands Sunday that services were held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church each week, and that he planned to preside the next week.

Long says he realized people had been waiting on him to speak since four young men filed lawsuits accusing him of luring them into the relationships with gifts and travel.

LONDEN
KerkNet

LONDEN (KerkNet) – “Paus Benedictus XVI hoorde tijdens zijn ontmoeting met slachtoffers van misbruik wat zij meemaakten en welke impact dit had op hun leven. Hij bedankte onze commissie voor de organisatie van dat gesprek en hij sprak zijn waardering uit voor onze inzet.” Dat zegt Bill Kilgallon, voorzitter van de National Catholic Safeguarding Commission (NCSC). Kilgallon was vorige week aanwezig op de ontmoeting van de paus in St Peter’s Residence (Vauxhall, Londen) met verantwoordelijken voor de strijd tegen misbruik in de katholieke Kerk. De paus had kort daarvoor gesproken met slachtoffers van misbruik. “Benedictus XVI was heel sterk geïnteresseerd in onze basisprincipes: onafhankelijkheid in elk stadium, de nood aan professionele expertise en de noodzaak van een nauwe samenwerking met justitie en de welzijnssector. Hij was bijzonder lovend over ons werk.”

UNITED STATES
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Compiled by Pieter Schultz, information professional & theologian

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NEWS SELECTION

•Bishop Eddie Long Teen Sex Abuse Scandal: Cellphone Pictures Leaked (Photos) [US; HipHopRX] http://bit.ly/bTzp0P
•’Homohatende dominee VS misbruikte jongens’ [US; NOS] http://bit.ly/bduv83
•Barnes Cancels Fundraiser Hosted by Accused Pastor [US; 13WMAZ.com] http://bit.ly/d9pb9L
•Male parishioners allege Atlanta minister coerced sex / By Larry Copeland [US; USATODAY.com] http://usat.ly/9ONAXf

UNITED STATES/IRELAND
Irish Central

By CATHY HAYES, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, September 26, 2010

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition in the US has called for support for the boycott of all Sunday masses in Ireland.

The group said it was taking the stance “because the boycott is rooted in a response to the sexual abuse scandal and justice for women."

Coalition chairwoman Kristine Ward said this Sunday presented “an opportunity for Catholics in a quiet, private absence from their pew in their Catholic parish to open a slit for the piercing of the darkness. No rabble rousing is needed only silence . . . Out of the void, God created.”

UNITED KINGDOM
Mail

By Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 10:57 PM on 25th September 2010

The Pope’s visit to Britain came under fresh scrutiny last night after it was revealed that multi-millionaires funded a significant proportion of the trip and were granted a coveted private audience with the Pontiff.

Insiders said the bulk of the £6.5 million raised so far by the Catholic Church to finance the visit came from businessmen including JCB boss Sir Anthony Bamford.

During the four-day visit, many of the donors met Benedict XVI at a series of gatherings, one of which took place just before Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

ATLANTA (GA)
Sky Valley Chronicle

(NATIONAL) -- A new report out of Atlanta says megachurch pastor Eddie Long, now under fire in a sex scandal, was mentored as a young preacher by another Atlanta minister with a sordid past.

WSB radio in Atlanta reports that the Trinity Foundation, a watchdog organization which monitors clergymen like Long, says the late “Bishop” Earl Paulk mentored Long as a young pastor.

When WSB Radio asked Ole Anthony of the foundation about Eddie Long and the three lawsuits filed by three former members of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Anthony said he was shocked but added, "But his mentor was Earl Paulk."