Abuse Tracker

LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Weekly

By Dennis Romero
Tue., Jan. 31 2012

​Looks like the boys in the station had quite a laugh over firefighter Anthony Almeida's legal claims that he was abused by a Catholic priest.

And now the Los Angeles Fire Department must pay nearly $500,000 because officials failed to stop the razzing.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced:

The Los Angeles City Fire Department will pay $494,150 and implement widespread anti-harassment training to settle federal charges of discrimination ...

The EEOC in L.A. says "fellow firefighters at his station" ... "employed deeply offensive comments of a sexual and religious nature" after learning that he had filed suit against the church alleging abuse by a priest:

... Several coworkers mocked him for that, using explicit and offensive religious and sexual epithets.

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

[with video]

Written by
Melissa Holmes

BUFFALO, NY -- Father Secundo Casarotto, the priest from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Buffalo accused of sexually assaulting two women, is reportedly in Italy.

This comes a day after a second accuser came forward in the case of Father Secundo Casarotto, saying she made the allegations to the Buffalo Diocese in 2008, and nothing was done about it.

CHILE
La Segunda

El filósofo José Andrés Murillo -quien fuera una de las víctimas de abusos por parte del condenado ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima- aseguró a "La Segunda" que, tras la reunión que sostuvo con el obispo uruguayo, Carlos María Collazzi , está esperanzado de que la Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón sea disuelta.

Monseñor Collazi, en su calidad de visitador canónico nombrado por el Vaticano, finalizó el lunes sus labores, que se desarrollaron en dos etapas: Del 4 al 8 de diciembre de 2011, y posteriormente del 25 al 27 de enero de 2012. Su misión era verificar la eclesialidad de los procesos formativos y la transparencia de la administración económica de esa Pía Unión, fundada por Karadima. Según informaron en el Arzobispado, a través de un comunicado, hará llegar "en los próximos días" al arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati "las conclusiones y recomendaciones que él estime oportunas respecto de su visita". A su vez, Ezzati remitirá los antecedentes a la Santa Sede.

WEST VIRGINIA
WPXI

By AMANDA IACONE
The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. —

All adult West Virginians would be required to report suspected sexual abuse to the police under a bill working its way through the Legislature.

The Senate unanimously passed the measure Monday, sending it for consideration by the House. The bill also would add coaches and camp staff to the list of professions required to report physical abuse and neglect.

A bill introduced in the House also would expand reporting requirements but stops short of placing the responsibility on all adults. The House bill would provide funding for prevention programs.

MISSISSIPPI
Cottonmouth

File this one under "H" for hypocrite.

Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) has introduced "The Mississippi Child Protection Act of 2012" today, which is almost identical to bills he has filed in the past. In that bill, Gunn seeks to make it illegal to not report suspected child sex abuse to authorities within 48 hours of gaining knowledge of it.

Why is that hypocritical? Well, Gunn became aware sometime in the last 18 months of allegations that the children's music minister at his church, Morrison Heights Baptist in Clinton, had molested young boys. According to some, Gunn then went on to try to quiet those reporting the alleged crimes. He then went even further, instructing the members of his deacon committee (of which he is chairman) to not cooperate with law enforcement investigating the now-indicted abuse cases against the minister.

TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A Tarrant County man claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was sexually abused as a minor by a priest who taught religion at Nolan High School and served as an assistant pastor at All Saints Catholic Church in Fort Worth. In the lawsuit, a John Doe says that from about 1982 to 1987, when he was a minor, he was sexually abused by Father William Paiz of the Claretian Order in the rectories of All Saints Catholic Church, St. George Church and other places.

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Times

Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jan 31, 2012

Fox 16 reports that David Pierce, the former Baptist music minister in Benton who pleaded guilty to sexual indecency with a child in 2009, will be released on parole.

David Koon wrote a cover story for us about this case. He victimized scores of boys over a couple of decades at the First Baptist Church of Benton. There was an outpouring of support for him when he was arrested and many asked for leniency on account of his age, health, dangers to child molesters in prison and his good works.

ARKANSAS
KTHV

Written by
Lindsey Tugman

BENTON, Ark. (KTHV) - A Benton music minister convicted of sexually abusing children is granted parole, but with stipulations.

David Pierce has to seek residency outside the state and if he ever returns to Arkansas he cannot live within 50 miles of Saline County.

At this time it is unknown when he'll be released. Again, he must first find housing outside the state and then that state must accept him under their parole program.

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Online

A former Benton music minister who plead guilty in 2009 to sexual indecency with children is to be released on parole, according to multiple news reports.

The date when David Pierce is to be released has not been disclosed. According to reports, he must first find a state willing to accept his residence under its parole program.The reports also say that if Pierce chooses to return to Arkansas, he may not live within 50 miles of Saline County or have contact with the victims or their families.

Pierce, who was 56 at the time of his conviction, was formerly a music minister at Benton's First Baptist Church for 29 years until he was fired following the investigation. Pierce plead guilty in 2009 to 54 counts of sexual indecency with children. He was convicted in August 2009 by the Saline County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

BENTON (AR)
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

BENTON, Ark. (ABP) – A former music minister at an Arkansas Baptist church convicted of sexually abusing children has been granted parole, according to media sources.

David Pierce, 59, won release from prison after serving two years and four months of a 10-year sentence for four counts of sexual indecency with a child. The cases involved three now-adult boys who claimed abuse by Pierce, whom they regarded a spiritual mentor at First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.

Pierce was originally charged with 54 counts of sexual indecency with multiple boys active in youth choirs during his 29 years as music minister at the 2,500-member congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but he accepted a plea bargain rather than stand trial. The Saline County prosecutor said he accepted the deal to spare victims the trauma of testifying in court.

One of those victims, who blogs anonymously at Descent from Darkness, wrote Jan. 31 that he expected the news and thought he was prepared to handle it, but he was wrong.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

Should allegations against priests not charged in Archdiocese sex abuse case be allowed as evidence?

January 31, 2012
By Eric Walter

The upcoming trial of three Philadelphia priests accused of sexually abusing young boys is gaining a response from NewsWorks readers.

On Monday, Judge Teresa Sarmina upheld her previous ruling that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to be a witness. There had been some question that the 88-year-old mans's significant memory loss would render his testimony unreliable.

Sarmina also announced she would decide within the week whether prosecutors may introduce abuse allegations against priests who are not charged in the case.

A reader identified as Dr. McHugh said, "As a Catholic physician who has met many who have been sexually abused by priests, I hope that all possible evidence is allowed to be used in the upcoming trial, to let it be known how dysfunctional the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have been."

NewsWorks reader GBullough said further, "Whatever side the ruling comes down on, the prosecutor has already done a great service by bringing the evidence into the light."

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:21 p.m. EST, January 31, 2012
WATERBURY—
A priest who was a former top aide in the Catholic Diocese of Hartford testified Tuesday that he arranged treatment in 1979 for a sexually abusive priest but said he has no knowledge of the church ever doing anything for the priest's victims.

Father Gene Gianelli also testified that he decided to keep the name of the church institute where the priest was being treated from the mother of two abused brothers because he was afraid she could become "a pest."

"I will not let this woman know where Father is receiving treatment," Gianelli wrote in a March 21, 1979, memo to Archbishop John F. Whealon. "She could become a pest."

Gianelli, who was Whealon's secretary from 1972 to 1982, was called as a witness in Superior Court Tuesday by a now-adult, former altar boy who claims in a lawsuit that the Diocese of Hartford was negligent throught the late 1970s and early 1980s by failing to stop his abuse.

WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 31, 2012
By Jason Berry

Steeped in the writings of Camus, Kierkegaard, Simone Weil and Emerson, Peter Isely put his career as a therapist on the line in 1993 when he identified himself as a victim of clerical sex abuse and criticized Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who at the time was lionized by NCR, Commonweal and The New Yorker as a progressive leader of a post-Vatican II church. Weakland had a victim assistance program, Project Benjamin, of which Isely was deeply suspicious.

Born in Fond du Lac, Wis., Isley and a twin brother -- the youngest of eight siblings -- were 9 months old when their father, a realtor and contractor, died in a 1961 automobile accident. The family moved into a smaller house and struggled financially. Daily Mass at St. Joseph Parish School shaped his boyhood. “The community at St. Joe’s raised me,” he told writer Marie Rohde for a recent Milwaukee Magazine profile. On scholarship at the Capuchin-run St. Lawrence Seminary High School, he was popular with peers, an academic star and a sexual target of the principal: Fr. Gale Leifeld sexually assaulted Isely and 38 other boys Isely has spoken with. All thought they were alone. Two committed suicide.

After earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Isely won a scholarship to Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. As he wrestled with meanings of the Holocaust, a course on the psychology of secrecy spurred him to confront Leifeld’s weight upon his past. Back in Milwaukee, after another degree and establishing a therapy practice, he bristled as Weakland responded to early news coverage of clergy abuse cover-ups by promoting Project Benjamin, a therapy program to reconcile victims and church.

MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 31, 2012
By Jason Berry

Dead Catholics have a vested interest in reducing settlements to clergy abuse survivors in Milwaukee, thanks to a shift of $55.6 million on the church balance sheets by then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan in 2008.

Dolan’s move in the twilight of his seven-year tenure in Milwaukee has emerged as a major issue in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, which his successor, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, filed last February. One expert who has done extensive research on diocesan financial statements has described the move as “a shell game.”

Listecki approved Chapter 11 protection from creditors in order to reduce the settlement claims of sexual victims of priests from incidents that occurred long before the tenure of either Listecki or Dolan, who currently is the archbishop of New York as well as a newly named cardinal.

In contrast to the clamor of victims, the 500,000 souls spread across 1,000 acres of sacred soil in Milwaukee are silent. “The Cemetery Care Claimants include deceased persons with no direct voice in these bankruptcy proceedings ... [but] a straightforward expectation -- that the graves, crypts and mausoleums will be maintained forever,” the church asserted in a motion filed Nov. 26.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

Commentary by Susan Matthews

In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, parishes are separate and distinct entities . The pastor is the ultimate decision-maker for the parish and parish school. However, those pastors take a vow of obedience to their Bishop. It’s confusing and very convenient for Archdiocesan finances, their legal team and the Office for Catholic Education.

Parishes and their schools are completely separate from one another and the archdiocese if you’re an elementary school teacher and you want to seek unionization. They are also separate if you’d like to hold the archdiocese accountable for negligence of its elementary school students in regard to child sex abuse.

But if you’re a pastor or a teacher whose school is closing, you must follow the rules of the Archdiocesan Office for Catholic education. Not so separate now. Hmm. See if you can figure it out based on the communications below:

1) “In all of the newly formed elementary schools the pastors will still be the employers, not the Archdiocese. That arrangement does not change even if we’re talking about a regional school that involves a number of parishes. The ultimate decision-making regarding employment would be done by the pastors. The governance model for each regional school is to be decided upon by all of the pastors involved. It would ultimately be their decision in each unique school as to how hiring takes place. The pastors would also identify who is responsible for making hiring decisions at the local level.” – statement from the Archdiocesan Office for Communication.

CHILE
Bio Bio

Publicado por Erasmo Tauran

En su testimonio otorgado a La Radio, el ex seminarista y ahora obispo protestante el obispo protestante Mauricio Pulgar denunció que fue víctima de abusos sexuales y psicológicos por parte de miembros de la Iglesia Católica en la Región de Valparaíso.

El vocero de la Conferencia Episcopal, Jaime Coiro, insistió en que apenas las autoridades eclesiásticas reciban los antecedentes oficiales, se iniciará una investigación al respecto, atribuyendo el desconocimiento, a que las personas que deben tomar los procedimientos correspondientes, se encuentran de vacaciones.

ITALIA
YouTube

[video]

Quando bisogna denunciare un prete pedofilo?

ROMA
Blitz

di Alessandro Camilli

ROMA – Il prete, la nobildonna e l’intellettuale di sinistra. Sono tre delle vittime del Madoff dei Parioli ascoltate ieri (30 gennaio) dai magistrati che indagano sulla gigantesca truffa. Francesco Maria Ricci, monsignore appartenente alla congregazione per le Cause dei Santi, ha investito 1,6 milioni di euro nel vortice delle operazioni offshore di Gianfranco Lande. Claudia Ruspoli, principessa, ci ha rimesso “appena” 230 mila euro e David Riondino, “canto, suono, faccio produzioni”, circa 450mila. Dopo di loro, oggi 31 gennaio, è stato il turno di Sabina Guzzanti. Ascoltata dai magistrati ha detto: “Ho perso almeno 150mila dei 537mila euro, frutto del mio lavoro, che nell’arco di dieci anni avevo affidato alla Eim di Roberto Torregiani ma, al di là dell’aspetto economico, l’intera vicenda mi ha provocato un senso di insicurezza e di angoscia anche nei confronti dei miei familiari che hanno in buona parte perso i loro risparmi. Mi sono sentita un’imbecille, sensazione che non fa mai bene”. Anche se, a sentire i diversi racconti, non dovrebbe essere lei quella con la palma dell’imbecille.

CITTA DEL VATICANO
TM News

Città del Vaticano, 31 gen. (TMNews) - Rispondendo a domande di giornalisti a proposito dell'articolo pubblicato sul 'Corriere della Sera' di questa mattina con il titolo: "Dalla congregazione dei Santi 1.6 milioni al 'Madoff dei Parioli'", il portavoce vaticano, Federico Lombardi, ha precisato quanto che "il rev. Francesco Maria Ricci, di cui si parla nell'articolo, è un religioso domenicano, che opera per conto del suo Ordine. Egli non appartiene in alcun modo alla Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. Occorre infatti notare che Postulazioni e Postulatori sono 'clienti' della Congregazione, a cui si rivolgono per promuovere le cause di cui si occupano, ma non fanno assolutamente parte della Congregazione. Bisogna quindi ribadire la totale estraneità della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, del suo Prefetto, Card. Amato, e di tutti i suoi Officiali, alla vicenda di cui ci parla nell'articolo in questione".

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 31 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today released a communique in response to questions from journalists about an article published in today's edition of the Italian newspaper "Corriere dell Sera" entitled "Dalla Congregazione dei Santi 1.6 milioni al 'Madoff dei Parioli'" (1.6 Million from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to the 'Madoff of the Parioli'"). The text of the communique is given below.

"Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, who is mentioned in the article, is a Dominican religious who works on behalf of his order. He does not in any way belong to the Congregation for the Causes of Saint. It must be made clear that Postulators are 'clients' of the Congregation, with which they interact in order to promote the causes they are handling, but they are by no means part of the Congregation. It is important, then, to highlight the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, its prefect Cardinal Amato and its officials are not involved in any way with the events about which the article speaks".

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jan. 31, 2012 NCR Today

Distancing itself from yet another financial scandal, the Vatican this morning insisted that an Italian cleric who allegedly invested some $2 million in a ponzi scheme run by an Italian financier known as the “Madoff of Parioli” is not, in fact, a Vatican official, and thus the Vatican has nothing to do with the story.

Italy’s leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, carried a story in its Jan. 31 edition, under the headline “From the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: 1.6 million for the Madoff of Parioli.” In essence, the story implied that the Vatican's department for saints was involved because an Italian cleric who got caught up in the swindle, Dominican Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, is responsible for various sainthood causes for the Dominicans and therefore interacts with the Vatican.

The story reports that the Dominican, Ricci, had invested slightly over $2 million in a financial services operation run by financier Gainfranco Lande, who was arrested last April and charged with several counts of fraud. At this stage, Lande’s ponzi scheme is estimated to have wiped out the savings of a roster of elite Roman investors to the tune of roughly $300 million.

The details on Ricci’s investment emerged from an on-going civil investigation of Lande by Italian prosecutors. The story did not clarify where Ricci got the $2 million he invested with Lande.

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz
News Religion Reporter

A second woman has stepped forward to allege inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances by a Buffalo priest.

A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo acknowledged this week that it has received a second independent complaint regarding the Rev. Secondo Casarotto, the former pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church on Court Street.

Casarotto was removed from his pastorate Jan. 14 after Bishop Edward U. Kmiec learned that the priest was accused in a Buffalo police report of groping a former parishioner inside the rectory.

Casarotto told Buffalo police the sexual contact was consensual, and the priest was not charged with a crime.

BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW ) – There is a second allegation of sexual misconduct against Father Secundo Casarotto of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. This woman said she made a call, and sent a letter about the complaint in 2008 - but nothing was done.

Diocese officials said they had no record of this 2008 complaint until Monday. An employee came forward admitting that they took the call, but never passed along the information.

According to Diocese procedure, when employees take a complaint of this nature they are supposed to pass it on to the Safe Environment office or the Victim Assistance Coordinator. Neither of those actions were taken in this case.

NEDERLAND
L1

Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer wil dat er meer onderzoek wordt gedaan naar seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk. Het gaat om de partijen PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het onderzoek dat de commissie-Deetman deed naar het misbruik binnen de kerk. Volgens een aantal partijen zijn zaken zoals misbruik van meisjes en mishandeling onderbelicht gebleven. Ook slachtoffer-organisatie KLOKK is voor verder onderzoek. Regeringspartijen

NEDERLAND
Samenwerken

Minister Opstelten (VenJ) en staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (VWS) gaan een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik instellen. De Taskforce zal mede toezien op de uitvoering van het actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling ‘Kinderen veilig’ [2012-2016].

Opstelten en Veldhuijzen van Zanten kondigen in een reactie aan de Tweede Kamer op het rapport van de Commissie seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk (de Commissie Deetman) onder andere de oprichting aan van een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik. Veldhuijzen van Zanten heeft het actieplan ‘Kinderen veilig’ [2012-2016] in december 2011 al met de Tweede Kamer besproken. Het plan bevat maatregelen voor verbetering van de preventie, signalering, het stoppen en beperken van de schadelijke gevolgen van kindermishandeling.

NEDERLAND
DePers

De rooms-katholieke kerk frustreert onderzoeken naar seksueel misbruik. Bisdommen en congregaties schuiven hun verantwoordelijkheid af, stelt de Koepel Landelijk Overleg Kerkelijk Kindermisbruik (Klokk) dinsdag in het AD.

Al 75 slachtoffers hebben volgens de koepel een klacht ingediend over frustratie van onderzoeken. Juridisch medewerker Maud Kips zegt in de krant dat bisschoppen en oversten 'vrijwel standaard' zeggen dat zij in hun archieven geen enkele aanwijzing vinden dat de klacht op waarheid berust. "En als het bewijs overduidelijk is, zeggen zij niet aansprakelijk te zijn."

NEDERLAND
Trouw

Vandaag debatteert de Tweede Kamer over het eind vorig jaar gepresenteerde eindrapport van de commissie-Deetman, die seksueel misbruik binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk onderzocht. Van 'parlementaire enquête' tot 'klein aanvullend onderzoek'. Over de vraag hoe de politiek een gevolg moet geven aan het werk van de commissie-Deetman lopen de meningen in Den Haag uiteen.

"Het is een onderwerp met een enorme maatschappelijke impact, maar tot nu toe hebben we het vooral gehad over wat er allemaal mis is gegaan bij de rooms-katholieke kerk. Er is voor vandaag nog geen debat geweest over de rol van de overheid, of over hoe het kabinet nu eigenlijk tegen de zaak aan kijkt.

NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Mike Knellinger on January 30, 2012

Whenever a lawmaker stiffens penalties against child predators, our children are safer from abuse. We applaud Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia's tough new criminal bills and hope that other lawmakers in the state follow her lead.

We also support SB118, introduced by Senator Lisa Curtis, a bill that lengthens the civil statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse until the victim is age 50. We always hope and work towards the complete elimination of both civil and criminal statutes of limitations, but any law that makes it safer for crime victims to come forward, expose perpetrators, and seek justice in the court system is a positive step towards child safety and victim healing.

IRELAND
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — An Irish court has sentenced a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who served time for molesting children in California to three years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Oliver O'Grady was arrested in Dublin in December 2010 after leaving a computer containing pornographic images of children on a flight from Amsterdam.

O'Grady worked in northern California from 1971 until 1993, when he was arrested for abusing two brothers. He served seven years in prison and was deported to his native Ireland in 2000.

He was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 2006 documentary "Deliver Us From Evil."

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

[with audio]

Written by
Melissa Holmes

BUFFALO, NY -- A second accuser has come forward in the case of Father Secundo Casarotto, but in a shocking twist, the Buffalo Diocese admits she made the allegations in 2008, and nothing was done about it.

Father Secundo was removed from St. Anthony of Padua church in early January after an investigation into inappropriate contact with a female parishioner back in 2009. The 70-year-old was a priest there for more than 25 years. Monday night a spokesman for the diocese said when that story came to light another parishioner stepped forward, saying in 2008 she called the diocese and sent a registered letter to file a report about Father Secundo. The diocese says it has no idea if it ever got that letter, and the employee she spoke with admitted Monday, he didn't do anything about her phone call.

"There's a human element in all of this and people make mistakes. People make improper judgments. The only thing that we can do at this point is learn from that obviously but also but at the same time make sure it doesn't happen again," says Kevin Keenan, spokesman for the Buffalo Diocese.

IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Zachary K. Johnson
Record Staff Writer

January 31, 2012

STOCKTON - A notorious pedophile who preyed on children while a priest in the Diocese of Stockton before serving seven years in California prison is headed for three more years behind bars, this time in his native Ireland.

Defrocked and deported when released from an Ione prison in 2000, Oliver O'Grady found himself in trouble with the law again in 2010, when authorities reported he possessed thousands of pornographic images and videos of children on computers and other electronic devices.

Some of the confiscated pornography depicted victims as young as 2 years old, according to the Irish Times newspaper.

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

January 30, 2012

SNAPwisconsin.com

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT 414.336.8575

The Tomah Journal reports that Michael L. Delaney, a former Wisconsin pastor, was arrested on January 27th for repeated acts of sexual assault against a child and child enticement. The Tomah police department has confirmed that Delaney was still a pastor at the time he committed the reported sexual assaults.

As a pastor Delaney was provided access to families and children throughout his community. It is possible that there are additional victims who have not yet come forward to authorities. The Tomah police have indicated that this investigation is ongoing; therefore it is imperative that anyone who has information concerning the sexual assault of children by Delaney contact law enforcement officials immediately.

Michael Delaney is also reported to have had a prior charge of child sexual abuse in the state of Arizona. In addition to being a pastor he was employed as an over-the-road truck driver who would have come into contact with children throughout the country.

IRELAND
The Journal

IRELAND MAY RE-OPEN an embassy in the Vatican whenever the public finances recover, the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

Gilmore has acknowledged that the closure of the Holy See embassy – which the government estimates will save it €845,000 a year – could be reversed whenever the State can afford to reopen such an embassy.

“The government will continue to review our diplomatic network and it may be that, as public finances recover, we will at some time in the future be able to reopen a modest resident embassy to the Holy See,” Gilmore told FG backbencher Pat Deering.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tuesday January 31 2012

The Doctrine of Infallibility is not something a Labour leader can invoke to dismiss an argument.

In the row over the closure of Ireland's Vatican embassy, Eamon Gilmore, must envy Pope Benedict when it comes to fending off the protests by Fine Gael backbenchers pressing him to reverse the decision.

One wonders why they are not turning the screws on the Taoiseach, Mr Kenny, who has been the most severe critic of the church in recent history.

Do they regard Mr Gilmore as a softer touch?

IRELAND
The Irish Times

DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent

THE NEW papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles John Brown, is expected to arrive in the country today and will present his credentials to President Michael D Higgins in mid-February.

The Manhattan-born former monsignor has worked at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1994 and was ordained as titular Archbishop of Aquileia by Pope Benedict XVI on January 6th.

The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has issued an invitation to Pope Benedict to visit Ireland on the occasion of the International Eucharistic Congress later this year, and it is understood this is under consideration.

IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Michael Brennan Deputy Political Editor

Tuesday January 31 2012

FINE Gael backbenchers are increasing the pressure on Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore to reverse his decision to shut Ireland's Vatican embassy.

It comes as the Pope's new representative to Ireland, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles J Brown, is due to arrive in Dublin today.

Archbishop Brown is filling the position left vacant after the previous Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, was recalled to Rome last summer in response to Taoiseach Enda Kenny's criticism of the Vatican's approach in dealing with clerical sexual abuse.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

THE father of a man who claimed he was abused by a priest as a boy has told a court he saw no reason to worry about his son's well-being.

Alexander Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in Cheadle for 14 years, is currently on trial accused of abusing eight boys over a 20-year period.

One alleged victim, giving evidence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, claimed Walsh befriended him and indecently assaulted him in a number of ways on several occasions.

He told the jury that Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, near Rugeley, plied him with alcohol.

NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MARY JO LAYTON AND COLLEEN DISKIN
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

[roster of defendants]

In the past three years, 23 teachers, coaches and school officials in North Jersey have been charged with or convicted of sex crimes against children. Three have been arrested this month alone.

Statewide, nearly a dozen teachers or coaches have made headlines since the beginning of December, accused of everything from videotaping boys showering in a school locker room to having sex with teens they were chaperoning on a field trip.

"The details of some of these cases are really disturbing," said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

The roster of cases includes a math teacher from Hasbrouck Heights who was sentenced to probation after exchanging 11,000 sexually explicit emails with a teenage girl at his high school and a Hackensack soccer trainer who went to prison after sexually assaulting an 11-year-old student. In Teaneck, a basketball coach admitted to authorities he collected naked photos of his players.

The cases come amid the sex scandals at Penn State, Syracuse University’s basketball program and the Amateur Athletic Union. It is happening years after similar scandals rocked the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, setting off a national public discussion about trusted leaders accused of disturbing acts against children.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
UPI

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The judge in a trial involving priests accused of sexual abuse Monday reaffirmed her ruling a former Archdiocese of Philadelphia leader is competent to testify.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom, "I'll adhere to my original ruling" in the trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling pedophile priests, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The defense has claimed 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, formerly the head of the Archdiocese, is senile and unable to remember anything about the past two decades.

ALABAMA
CBS 42

[with video]

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WIAT) - Jason Lee now lives out of state, but he will be at the parole hearing for Donald Corley tomorrow morning in Montgomery. For Lee, every day is a reminder of what happened decades ago involving the former scout leader, church leader, and mentor who was convicted of sexually abusing him and two other children.

"I wake up every day and I have to say okay- I'm not who I was then. I'm not going to believe anything he told me. I'm going to be my own person. I am an adult now," said Lee.

It is that impact on Jason Lee's life, and those of other victims, that spawned a movement to keep Corley locked up: the 30-is-30 campaign.

"Three boys pressed charges. He received a total of 30 years in jail. That's 10 years per child. That's 10 years for me that he's in jail for. I'm worth more than 10 years, I can't change the law, I can't change the sentence he was given, but I'll be damned if I'm going to willingly let him get out before he has served his full ten years for me," said Lee.

PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily News

Calvary Baptist Church in State College and the newly formed Beyond the Silence will host a presentation “Beyond the Betrayal: Healing from Sexual Abuse,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the church at 1250 University Drive, State College.

The presentation will feature Victoria Kepler Didato, director/founder of the Child Sexual Abuse Institute of Ohio. A State College native, Didato is recipient of Penn State’s Alumni Recognition Award for her book “One in Four” and for her work in the field of child sexual abuse.

The session is open to the public. It will include topics such as how sexual abuse affects the brain, body and spirit, reading the signs of sexual abuse, and the impact on victims, families, community and the culture at large.

TOMAH (WI)
LaCrosse Tribune

Brittany Linenberg | Tomah Journal | Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

TOMAH - Police have accused a former pastor of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child.

Michael L. Delaney, 64, of Tomah, was arrested Friday.

Authorities say he targeted the same victim over an extended period while he was employed as an over-the-road trucker, according to a statement released by the Tomah Police Department.

It wasn't immediately clear where Delaney was a pastor, but police confirmed the alleged assaults occurred while he was a practicing minister. They said he is no longer a pastor.

MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

by Conrad Wilson, Minnesota Public Radio
January 31, 2012

St. Cloud, Minn. — For at least the last 10 years, Catholic dioceses across the country have created lists of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

The lists have long been kept private by church officials. But over the last decade, dioceses in San Diego, Chicago, Boston and other cities have released such lists, largely under pressure.

None of the six dioceses in Minnesota have yet published the names of the priests credibly accused. But some want that to change.

Among them is St. Paul Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is well-known for representing victims and alleged victims of sexual abuse. As part of a settlement he reached last year with St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, the abbey released the names of 18 monks credibly accused of sexual abuse or misconduct.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua was so bewildered when prosecutors questioned him last month that he couldn't recognize a longtime aide and struggled "to the point of tears" to recall how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled child sex-abuse allegations, a new court filing says.

In the motion filed Thursday, lawyers for the aide, Msgr. William Lynn, argue that Bevilacqua's replies and demeanor prove he was unfit to testify and that his testimony should not be introduced at Lynn's trial on endangerment and conspiracy charges.

The motion from lawyers Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy offered the first public glimpse of the historic but private hearing, when attorneys grilled the 88-year-old prelate over two days.

Their motion doesn't quote the cardinal; the filing says the lawyers were not given transcripts. Still they cast Bevilacqua, who led the Archdiocese for 15 years, with an indelible image: as a sad, forgetful old man.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

He is 88, ailing, "moderately senile," and remembers nothing about the last two decades.

Retired Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, however, remains legally competent to testify at the forthcoming trial of three priests accused of sexually abusing young boys, a Philadelphia judge ruled Monday.

"I'll adhere to my original ruling," Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Thomas A. Bergstrom, attorney for Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling a pedophile priest to continue preying on children by transferring him to another parish.

Sarmina first ruled Bevilacqua legally competent in late November after a two-day private hearing at which the cardinal, who retired in 2003, was questioned by the judge, Bergstrom, and a prosecutor. Bergstrom subsequently renewed his motion to disqualify Bevilacqua from testifying.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MENSAH M. DEAN
Philadelphia Daily News
deanm@phillynews.com 215-854-5949

ATTORNEYS preparing for the trial of Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys - or allowing the abuse - made their final arguments yesterday regarding what evidence will be admissible at trial.

Prosecutors want to be able to tell jurors about the sexual misdeeds of 27 former Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests never charged criminally.

They contend that defendant Monsignor William Lynn allowed some of those men to remain in the priesthood and around vulnerable children when he served as secretary for clergy, from 1992 to 2004.

IOWA
Peoria Journal Star

By RYAN J. FOLEY
The Associated Press

Posted Jan 30, 2012

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa —

Federal bankruptcy officials in Iowa were bailed out of the llama business Monday, two weeks after they unwittingly got into it.

In a highly unusual proceeding, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Kilburg approved the "fire sale" of 18 llamas seized Jan. 16 from Ryan Patrick Scott, a self-proclaimed priest who accumulated a litany of financial problems and aliases as he bounced from Wisconsin to North Dakota to Illinois to Iowa in the last two decades.

The herd was immediately auctioned off for $7,500, and will go to the Iowa llama farmers who have been caring for them under federal supervision.

Authorities took control of the animals after Scott filed for bankruptcy in Iowa, where he led a religious community housed in a former county mental health institution in Independence. His group, which consists of a handful of followers and is disavowed by the Catholic Church, raised llamas and sold wool on the side before abandonin g the property. Scott left behind a similar operation last year in Galesburg, Ill., where a judge ordered his business to pay a former follower $161,000 for failing to pay back loans.

BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

Posted by: Eli George

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Though it previously appeared only one woman had made a complaint against a Buffalo priest, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese confirmed to News 4 on Monday another woman made a complaint against Father Secondo Casarotto back in 2008.

Father Casarotto worked at St. Anthony of Padua in downtown Buffalo until he was recently put on paid administrative leave after a woman made public her claim of sexual abuse dating from 2009. Diocese spokesman Kevin Keenan had told News 4's Luke Moretti that there was only one allegation of abuse, but that changed on Monday.

In a statement, Keenan told News 4 that around two weeks ago, after the woman had come forward, a second woman called the Catholic Center to say she had reported inappropriate behavior by Father Casarotto in 2008. An exhaustive search turned up no report of the certified letter or receipt the woman said she had sent. The Diocese went one step further, and interviewed all employees who may have handled the report, and found none were familiar with the incident.

IRELAND
The Irish Times

A FORMER priest and convicted child abuser has been jailed for three years for possession of large amounts of child pornography.

Oliver O’Grady (66) had thousands of explicit images of children stored on computers and USB drives, some depicting victims as young as two. Gardaí also found more than six hours of child pornography videos and more than 500 pages of online discussions on the subject of child pornography.

O’Grady, Charlemont House, Dublin, was sentenced to 14 years in California for abusing children while a priest. He was deported to Ireland in 2001 after serving seven years of his sentence.

ROME
Towards Healing and Renewal

Church leaders from across the world come to Rome to relaunch their commitment to the safeguarding of the vulnerable with a new global initiative: “Towards Healing and Renewal”

Bishops and Religious Superiors from across the world will come to Rome in February for the launch of the Catholic Church’s global initiative on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

Towards Healing and Renewal is being offered by the Gregorian University in Rome and consists of a major symposium followed by the launch of a multi-institution e-learning centre which will run for the next three years – the Center for the Protection of Children based in Munich, Germany. Delegates for the symposium will come from 110 Bishops’ Conferences and also be superiors of 30 Religious Orders, making this a truly international gathering focusing on safeguarding by the Catholic Church.

This initiative has the support of several Vatican Congregations as well as the Secretary of State and the symposium, which will run from February 6-9, will have speakers from all continents in recognition of the global nature of safeguarding the vulnerable. The speakers include the testimony of a victim of abuse, who will address the delegates about the need for victims to be heard and how to effect positive change. Full details of the symposium and the speakers are available on the website www.thr.unigre.it.

Following the 2011 circular letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to Bishops’ Conferences requiring all Dioceses in the world to develop guidelines within the next year on the handling of all abuse allegations, the symposium will play a significant role in enabling Bishops and major religious superiors to move towards creating a consistent global response. Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, will give the opening address at the Symposium conference, and representatives from the CDF have had a very active role in giving shape to Towards Healing and Renewal.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 30, 2012 by Susan Matthews

In light of all that has happened – clergy child sex abuse, priests with pornograhy, the hearings, the school closings, the embezzlement and so much more – let’s get out to support victims, protect children, demand transparency and renew our Church! Pray and protest for the future of the Philadelphia Catholic Church.

Please join Sister Maureen Turlish and many others during the First Friday Vigil on February 3 from noon to 1 p.m. in front of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan offices at 222 North 17th Street in center city.

All are welcome to participate in prayer, picketing and protest.

WISCONSIN
News 8000

TOMAH, Wis. -- A former truck driver and pastor from Tomah faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a child for an extended period of time.

64-year-old Michael Delaney was appeared in court Monday on possible charges of sexual assault of a child, repeated acts of sexual assault of the same child, and child enticement.

Tomah Police say the the abuse is alleged to have happened in Monroe County and other parts of the United States.

IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
News 10

Written by
Paul Janes

DUBLIN, IRELAND - A former Stockton priest who had been jailed then deported to Ireland for two counts of child molestation, was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for possession of child pornography.

Oliver O'Grady, 66, was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after 65,000 graphic images of children were discovered on a laptop he left behind on a plane in Amsterdam, according to an article on Newstalk.ie.

According to the Lodi News Sentinel, O'Grady had served at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi from 1971-1978, and at parishes in Stockton, Turlock , Hughson and San Andreas from 1979 through his time of arrest in 1993.

IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on January 30, 2012

One of the most notorious serial child molesting Catholic clerics in California history has apparently been jailed in Ireland for child porn.

Oliver O'Grady sexually assaulted boys and girls in and around Stockton for years. High ranking Catholic officials, including then-Bishop Roger Mahony (who went on to head the nation's largest archdiocese for years), knew of or suspected his heinous crimes. For years, they ignored or concealed those crimes. And who knows how many innocent lives were devastated as a result.

We applaud law enforcement for catching and prosecuting O'Grady. He clearly remains a danger to kids. We hope he's put behind bars for the rest of his life. And we hope that every single Catholic employee - current or former, high ranking or low level, in the US, Ireland or the Netherlands - who kept silent about O'Grady's crimes will find the courage to "come clean," admit wrongdoing, apologize to his victims, and share what they know with police and prosecutors.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 30, 2012

This morning, a Philadelphia judge ruled again that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua will testify in the upcoming clergy sex abuse and cover up trial involving Msgr. Lynn.

We are grateful this judge is standing by her conviction that Bevilacqua will have to testify. For far too long, too many Catholic officials have feigned illnesses and memory lapses’ to avoid facing tough questions, in open court, under oath, about their role in concealing clergy sex crimes.

NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News

Sun-News report

Two bills to combat child abuse introduced by Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Do-a Ana, cleared the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Thursday evening.

They are SB58, which defines criminal sexual penetration of a child under 5 as "aggravated criminal sexual penetration," making it eligible for a life sentence; and SB59, which makes the murder of a child under 13 with an aggravating circumstance eligible for life in prison without the possibility of parole, the toughest sentence available in New Mexico.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 30, 2012
By Elizabeth Fiedler

Lawyers in the Philadelphia Archdiocese child sexual abuse case faced off in court Monday. The Judge upheld her previous ruling that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to be a witness. Also at the pre-trial hearing, the judge vowed to decide by Monday another major matter.

Monsignor William Lynn is accused of child endangerment and conspiracy for allegedly transferring priests accused of sexual abuse.

Prosecutors say if they're allowed to introduce abuse allegations against priests who are not charged in the case, they will show Lynn continued a tradition in the Archdiocese of hiding or ignoring possible abuse.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City's newest investigator of abuse in the Catholic Church said the rules are changing and investigators are casting a broader net.

Diocesan investigator Jenifer Valenti was appointed local sexual abuse investigator last summer as the priest abuse scandal ravaged the church.

Valenti said investigators don't plan to limit investigations to just reports of abuse. They're also going to look into suspicions of abuse.

"The Diocese is taking the position that we want to look into things that seem suspicious before we, somebody, has to report abuse," Valenti said. "Those behaviors may point to predators."

INDIA
Times of India

NEW DELHI: A man who claimed to be a tantrik was arrested on Sunday for allegedly trying to rape a woman and rob her of jewellery in the Govindpuri area of southeast Delhi. The accused, Nand Lal Gupta, is a priest at a temple in Tughlakabad Extension. "The woman approached him for treatment of pain in her hand, but he allegedly tried to assault her sexually," said Ajay Chaudhry, addl CP, southeast.

KATY (TX)
Ultimate Katy

by Cody Tucker | January 30, 2012

The Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests/Clergy will hold its next meeting on Feb. 2.

SNAP is now available to any victims of abuse, whether it's at the hands of coaches, scout leaders, teachers, relatives or others.

The group meets on the first Saturday of every month in Conference Area A, Classroom A on the second floor at Christus St. Catherine Hospital, located at 701 S. Fry in Katy.

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A quick footnote to flesh out something I said in my first posting today: I stated that the U.S. Catholic bishops' current righteous crusade against the Obama administration vis-a-vis contraceptive coverage asks us--unbelievable!--to imagine that the U.S. Catholic bishops and their right-wing religious and political allies are trustworthy moral guides at this moment of history.

And I'd like now to cite two points of evidence that should, I would argue, give pause to think for anyone inclined to give the bishops the benefit of the doubts as they beat their warm drums to place a Republican in the White House:

1. In the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, a trial date has just been set for Bishop Robert Finn, who is under criminal indictment for failure to report suspected child abuse to criminal authorities in the case of Father Shawn Ratigan.
2. And in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, where the former secretary for clergy, Monsignor William J. Lynn, is also under criminal indictment on similar charges, and where the district attorney has just contended that the diocese kept a priest in ministry four decades after it knew of his sadomachostic activity with youngsters, the archdiocese has just been labeled an "unindicted co-conspirator" in Lynn's trial.

As the bishops go on the political warpath right now, and as Catholics of the right and center line up behind them, it might be important to keep those two pieces of information in mind--if one really does care about the moral standing and moral credibility of Catholic teaching in the public square.

DEUTSCHLAND
Redemptoristen der Provinz St. Clemens

Seit 2003 ist Herr Hermann-Josef Merzbach, Direktor des Amtsgerichts Leverkusen, externer Beauftragter der Redemptoristen zur Untersuchung von Vorfällen sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger. Seinen ersten Zwischenbericht hat der Orden im Sommer 2010 veröffentlicht. Jetzt hat Herr Merzbach einen zweiten Zwischenbericht vorgelegt.

Herr Merzbach hat für seine Untersuchungen einen weitgefassten Auftrag erhalten. Gegenstand seiner Untersuchung sind alle Meldungen von Verdacht auf sexuellem Missbrauch an Minderjährigen im gesamten Bereich der seelsorglichen und pädagogischen Tätigkeit in Verantwortung der Redemptoristen der früheren Kölner Ordensprovinz. Dieser Auftrag umfasst Orte vor allem im Westen und Norden Deutschlands sowie im Grenzbereich der Niederlande (Glanerbrück/NL bei Gronau).

SAN ANTONIO (TX)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio

[public notice]

[letter to parishioners]

The Archdiocese of San Antonio is unconditionally committed to the protection of children and youth within our community. In order to assure the children and youth are protected from harm, it has been mandated that all adults who minister to children must receive abuse prevention education. It is also mandated that all children and youth enrolled in religious education or in Catholic Schools be trained in abuse prevention. The archdiocese has developed Safe Environment Training for children, youth, and adults.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio cannot protect all children and youth alone; it is important that all Catholics ensure that we are following the mandate of Jesus, and “Let the little children come to me.” All adults, including parents, are encouraged to receive Safe Environment Training at your local parish or Catholic School. Children and youth need trusted and loving adults in whom they can confide any concern or fear.

NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Melissa Grace AND Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, January 30, 2012

A church bookkeeper was busted Monday for breaking the Eighth Commandment in a huge way by stealing more than $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York, officials said.

Mild-mannered Anita Collins pulled off the scam by billing the church for non-existent services and funneling the dough into accounts she controlled, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. ...

Adding insult to injury, this is not the first time Collins has been accused of embezzling funds.

Collins’ rap sheet lists two arrests for larceny before she began working eight years ago at the archdiocesan headquarters on First Ave. in Manhattan, sources said.

Church officials, however, had no idea of Collins’ crooked past because she wasn’t required to undergo a criminal background check, sources said.

NEW YORK
YNN

[video]

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. -- A former employee of the New York Archdiocese is accused of stealing about $1 million. The Archdiocese reported the theft to a Manhattan District Attorney back in December 2011.

Anita Collins is accused of manipulating the accounts payable system in the Department of Education Finance Office. Collins had been an employee of the Archdiocese since 2003 until her termination on December 6, 2011.

NEW YORK
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — An Archdiocese of New York clerk has been arrested on charges of manipulating the church's accounts payable system to steal more than $1 million in education money.

Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Monday that Anita Collins wrote checks to herself or a relative but recorded them as payments to legitimate vendors.

The archdiocese says its staff and outside auditors spotted the theft and alerted prosecutors.

Collins has a prior grand larceny conviction from 1999. She was sentenced to community service and five years' probation.

NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN and KATE TAYLOR

Published: January 30, 2012

The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday arrested a Bronx woman who is accused of stealing more than $1 million from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York when she worked in the archdiocese’s finance office, law enforcement officials and church leaders said.

The woman, Anita Collins, 67, had been previously convicted of grand larceny in one case and had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in another case, but the archdiocese said it did not know of those legal troubles when she was hired, because she did not undergo a background check.

Ms. Collins worked at the headquarters of the archdiocese, at 1011 First Avenue in Manhattan, for more than eight years, first in accounts payable for the education finance office, and then for the chancery, the main office that manages the archdiocese’s extensive finances.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The judge in an alleged clergy abuse case (see related story) has again rejected a defense motion to prohibit the testimony of retired Philadelphia cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua on competency grounds, even though the defense contends that Bevilacqua can’t accurately remember many of his own actions during the last two decades.

The judge ordered Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s testimony preserved — videotaped — in late November after finding the cardinal competent despite suffering from dementia and cancer (see previous story).

But after hearing his testimony, defense attorneys for defendant Msgr. William Lynn renewed the competency issue, arguing that Belivacqua couldn’t even identify Msgr. Lynn — his Secretary for Clergy for over a decade — or remember his own previous testimony.

NEW YORK
The New York Post

By JOSE MARTINEZ

Last Updated: 12:09 PM, January 30, 2012

A 67-year-old Bronx woman who worked as an accounts payable clerk was busted today after authorities accused her of embezzling more than $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York.

Anita Collins worked in the Archdiocese's Manhattan headquarters and never informed her bosses that she'd been previously convicted of grand larceny in another case in 1999 when she worked for a temp agency.

The church never did a background check on Collins.

Joe Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese, said church officials reported to the Manhattan DA's office last month that they had "uncovered what we initially believed to be the theft of at least $350,000."

UNITED STATES
NewsHounds

Posted by Priscilla -1.80pc on January 30, 2012

Fr. Jonathan Morris' upward mobility shows that he's quite the mover. While he seems like your average parish priest, he is hardly that. In 2002 he was ordained as a priest in the wealthy and secretive Legionaries of Christ which was founded by the disgraced Fr. Marcel Maciel. By 2005, in addition to a cushy assignment as the rector of the Legionaries' seminary in Rome, Morris had joined Fox News. He subsequently left the Legion and ended up at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral in the theater district of NYC and not in some poor church in the outer boroughs. So he's got a daytime job and he's doing all right. I joked, in an earlier post, about how his friendship with NY Archbishop Dolan shows how he has friends in high places. It seems that that he has another friend in another very high place - no, not "the big guy" in heaven, but the "big guy" at God's own network, Fox News. Could it be that Roger Ailes hearts Fr. Morris? Hmmm.....

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Despite defense claims that Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua is senile and remembers nothing about the past two decades, a Philadelphia judge this morning reaffirmed her ruling that the former head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia competent to testify in the trial of three priests accused of sexually abusing young boys.

"I'll adhere to my original ruling," Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom, attorney for Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling a pedophile priest to continue preying upon children by transferring him after he was accused.

Sarmina left open the question of whether the 88-year-old Bevilacqua's testimony would be in person, or a replay of parts of the video transcript of two days of private questioning last November at the Cardinal's residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Weekly

A Philadelphia judge has ruled—again—that retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to stand trial in a Philadelphia clergy rape/torture case, of which much information, including a grand jury report, was released last winter.

Bevilacqua will likely serve as a witness in the trial of his longtime aide Monsignor William Lynn, 88, who awaits trial not on abusing children, but on conspiring to keep abusive pedophiles in the ministry, and therefore endangering those children. Lynn’s defense is set to argue that Lynn took orders from Bevilacqua. Lynn’s lawyer has previously stated that Bevilacqua threw him “under the bus.” Prosecutors are calling the entire archdiocese an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KGAN

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A Philadelphia judge has again ruled that a retired Roman Catholic cardinal with dementia is competent and could become a trial witness.

Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn say 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH'-kwah) no longer recognizes his longtime aide, Lynn. They say Bevilacqua remembers little if anything about his 10 appearances before a grand jury in 2003 and 2004.

Lynn is the former secretary for clergy. He awaits trial on charges he endangered children and conspired with others to keep accused pedophiles in ministry.

Defense lawyers argue that he took orders from Bevilacqua. But they say the cardinal's failing memory deprives them of meaningful cross-examination.

UNITED STATES
massmachusetts.com

[video]

Pope Benedict XVI and three other high-ranking Vatican officials were named as defendants in a Complaint filed on September 13, 2011, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Amsterdam. The unprecedented action was initiated by the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy. They charged the Vatican officials with covering up and “allowing the rape, sexual violence, and torture” of children. They want the Court to investigate the matter, which they say amounts to “crimes against humanity.” On September 14, 2011, the “Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests,” (SNAP), held a press conference in Baltimore, MD, in front of the Roman Catholic archdiocese’s headquarters, at Mulberry and Cathedral Streets. SNAP’s Director, David Lorenz, shared his views on the case. To learn more, go to: www.snapnetwork.org and http and www.boston.com

ROME
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- Representatives of most of the world's bishops' conferences and 30 religious orders will meet in Rome in early February to launch a global initiative aimed at improving efforts to stop clerical sexual abuse and better protect children and vulnerable adults.

The conference, "Toward Healing and Renewal," will be held Feb. 6-9 at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University and is being supported by the Vatican Secretariat of State and several other Vatican offices.

U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with priests accused of abuse, will give the opening address. Other speakers include: a victim of abuse; mental health professionals who have worked in the areas of prevention and treatment; and bishops from different parts of the world, who will talk about responses to the abuse crisis in their countries.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 30, 2012
By Shannon McDonald

In what's expected to be the last hearing date before the trial begins, Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn will return to court today as prosecutors argue for the use of evidence of other alleged sex abuse by priests.

Lynn has been charged with covering up abuse by relocating parish priests who've been accused of sexually abusing children. He was named in a grand jury report with a teacher and three priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Update, 10:30 a.m. Closing arguments in the evidence hearing wrapped up quickly, with the District Attorney's office claiming inaction by officials like Lynn emboldened priests to continue their abuse.

Lynn's attorney countered the argument, saying Lynn had finished his role as clergy secretary before some of the allegations surfaced.

A decision will come by next Monday.

SEATTLE (WA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

--blast Washington’s attorney general’s move to limit damages in civil lawsuits against state officials, and
-- endorse a proposal to make clergy “mandatory reporters” of suspected child sex crimes.
They will also praise a woman who was repeatedly molested as a child by a convicted sex offender and just reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Washington officials.

WHEN
Monday, Jan. 30 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the King County courthouse, corner of 4th Ave. and James Street in downtown Seattle WA

ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 30, 2012

The Alabama parole board tomorrow will consider paroling a serial child predator, Charles Donald Corley, who manipulated and assaulted children through both a Boy Scout troop and a Methodist church. The board should err on the side of the safety of kids and keep Corley behind bars.

It’s a simple choice really: does the state protect several vulnerable children or help one devious criminal? We urge the board to ask this simple question: Why take the risk?

Some may accuse us of being “vengeful.” We believe we are just being prudent. If a pickpocket gets out of prison and steals another wallet, that’s unfortunate but not tragic. Child sex crimes, however, are devastating. They leave decades of depression, anxiety, isolation, shame, confusion and self-blame in their wake. Why gamble that yet another innocent child be so severely damaged?

FRANCE
Get Religion

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday had a story about a 71-year-old atheist’s rather curious legal battle against the Catholic Church in France. Rene LeBouvier has taken the church to court over its refusal to let him “nullify” his baptism:

LeBouvier grew up in that world and says his mother once hoped he’d become a priest. But his views began to change in the 1970s, when he was introduced to free thinkers. As he didn’t believe in God anymore, he thought it would be more honest to leave the church. So he wrote to his diocese and asked to be un-baptized.

“They sent me a copy of my records, and in the margins next to my name, they wrote that I had chosen to leave the church,” he says. ...

OK, the story just utterly confuses me. LeBouvier has already left the church. And he doesn’t deny he was baptized. Is he asking the court to force the church to rewrite history? Again, he was baptized into the Christian faith. He has since renounced the faith. The church records both that he was baptized into the faith and that he chose to leave the church.

I’m not sure if the article simply needs to explain the oddities of French law more or if the story just fell down on the explanation of how Christian sacraments work.

The article apparently equates asking the church to strike the name from baptismal records with something called “de-baptism,” without quite explaining why it’s called that

IRELAND
Newstalk

A defrocked paedophile priest has been jailed for 3 years after Gardai found evidence of 65,000 graphic images of children on his laptop.

Oliver O’Grady used to live at Charlemont House in Dublin 2.

He admitted 3 counts of possession of child pornography after leaving his computer on a flight from Amsterdam.

He was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Mr. O’Grady was a priest in the US for 30 years before being convicted of abusing 2 children in California.

MINNESOTA
Child Protection News

Written on January 27, 2012 by Patrick Noaker

One of the pillars of justice to which I have dedicated my career is meaningful access to the court systems for all. Even those with mental conditions that make it difficult for the justice system to embrace. Often this fight is about removing barriers that keep people out of the courts. Recently, I had the honor of arguing in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court on one of these issues. The case before the Minnesota Supreme Court involved a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by the well-known sexual abuser Fr. Thomas Adamson. As a reaction to the trauma of being sexually assaulted by his parish priest, the boy developed amnesia for the sexual abuse. The traumatic memories then flooded back years later.

This type of amnesia is not common in the general population, but is more common in people who have been traumatized like combat veterans, child abuse victims, Holocaust survivors, and war refugees. There has been much discussion in the fields of psychology and psychiatry about this amnesia, commonly referred to as repressed memory. In our case, the issue was whether to allow persons who have experienced repressed memory to have access to courts. Can criminal or civil cases be prosecuted when a person experiences repressed memory? I advocate the position that all people should be given access to Minnesota courts – no matter what mental or physical condition they suffer from. The above Minnesota Lawyer article summarizes the arguments to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

MALTA
Times of Malta

A mistake in a charge sheet which led to a defrocked priest being cleared of rape was at the centre of an appeal yesterday as legal arguments were exchanged over the error.

The mistake had emerged during the proceedings against three priests, which were held behind closed doors. A victim testified he had been raped at the St Joseph Home in Ħamrun when the charge gave the location of the crime as having been a home in Marfa.

The former priest, Francesco Scerri, also known as Godwin, was convicted of abusing boys about 20 years ago and jailed for five years, while a second former priest, Carmel Pulis, received a six-year jail sentence for also abusing boys. A third member of the same Order, Brother Joseph Bonnett, who had been facing the same charges, passed away last January, aged 63, during the proceedings.

NEDERLAND
Ee Telegraaf

DEN BOSCH - Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester. Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

De Kruijf vroeg in november aan de bisschop om een tijd van bezinning om persoonlijke redenen. Hij was naar eigen zeggen „zoekende naar zijn plek in de kerk.” De bisschop gaf hem die ruimte en onthief hem van zijn taken in Wijchen.

NEDERLAND
RTL

Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester. Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

NEDERLAND
Gazet van Antwerpen

In Nederland wil een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer (van volksvertegenwoordigers) - van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks - dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke Kerk en de rol van de overheid.

De SP wil dat het onderzoek uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

NEDERLAND
Leeuwarder Courant

AMSTERDAM - Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof dat oud-minister Wim Deetman weliswaar goed werk heeft geleverd, maar dat nog zaken onderbelicht zijn gebleven, zoals mishandeling en de positie van vrouwen. Ook PvdA en PVV vinden dat er nog te weinig is gekeken naar de situatie van meisjes.

NEDERLAND
Pow! Ned

De SP vindt dat er verder onderzoek nodig is naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. Uiteindelijk zou dat moeten uitmonden in een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede kunnen worden gehoord.

SP-Tweede Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei dat in het tv-programma Buitenhof. De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. PvdA en GroenLinks waren eerder ook voorstander van een enquête.

NEDERLAND
Almere Vandaag

AMSTERDAM - Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof dat oud-minister Wim Deetman weliswaar goed werk heeft geleverd, maar dat nog zaken onderbelicht zijn gebleven, zoals mishandeling en de positie van vrouwen. Ook PvdA en PVV vinden dat er nog te weinig is gekeken naar de situatie van meisjes.

NEDERLAND
Nu

DEN BOSCH - Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester.

Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

door Peter Zantingh

De SP wil dat een parlementaire enquête wordt ingesteld naar het misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk. Dat zei SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen vandaag in het televisieprogramma Buitenhof.

In de onderzoeken die tot nu toe zijn gedaan naar het seksueel misbruik is volgens haar geen oog geweest voor mishandeling en de rol van vrouwen. Ook kan met een parlementaire enquête volgens haar het probleem worden verholpen dat veel zaken niet meer te bewijzen zijn doordat dossiers zijn vernietigd.

NEDERLAND
BNR

Door Thijs Baas

29 January 2012

Er moet nader onderzoek komen naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid.

Dat onderzoek zou moeten leiden tot een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede moeten worden verhoord. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen meldde dat zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof.

CANADA
Prince Albert Daily Herald

Published on January 30, 2012

Keely Dakin

The truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is coming to Prince Albert this week. From Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, hearings will be held at the Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre.

Residential Schools have a 150-year history in Canada and the purpose of the hearings, according the TRC of Canada, is to bear witness to those years and to give a voice to the people who went through them.

The intent of the hearings is to give a space in which to air the violence and the hurt that is still felt by so many people. The hope is that by doing so, all Canadians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal will be able to move forward into a healthier future.

ALABAMA
Birmingham News

By Birmingham News editorial board

History and research have shown that pedophiles -- serial offenders who sexually abuse children -- often repeat their terrible crimes even after being caught or serving time in prison.

Of late, there have been some high-profile cases which support that conclusion, most notably that of Daniel M. Acker Jr., the retired Shelby County fourth-grade teacher who has been charged with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Police say Acker has confessed to molesting more than 20 young girls over his 25-year teaching career. Acker was accused of molestation in 1991 and was suspended with pay, but the Shelby County Board of Education reinstated him to his teaching position after a Shelby County grand jury failed to indict the teacher.

Charles Donald Corley also is a serial molester who was convicted of sexually abusing three boys in 1995 and sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Yet, Corley is coming up for parole on Tuesday. Authorities say Corley left a trail of abuse over three decades -- the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

VATICAN CITY — An Italian television program about the transfer of a whistle-blowing Roman Catholic prelate has caused consternation at the Vatican and prompted speculation about a power struggle among senior clerics in the church.

Broadcast Wednesday evening on the private network La7, the program centered on confidential allegations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò that he had made enemies within the Curia and beyond after rooting out corruption and financial mismanagement in the Vatican City administration.

The program showed several confidential letters written by Archbishop Viganò early last year to Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. In the letters, Archbishop Viganò, who was then the second-ranking official in the part of the Curia that administers Vatican City, asked to be allowed to continue cleaning up the Holy See’s financial affairs.

Instead, he was removed from his post and named the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States.

The host of the television program, Gianluigi Nuzzi, said in an interview: “I’ve never heard of a top cleric who reveals episodes of corruption directly to the pope; it’s a first. And what happens? He is stopped from pursuing his objectives and gets sent away from the Holy See.”

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 29, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Priests who sexually abuse children may get shuffled around – but don’t mess around with archdiocesan money. Where is all the talk of forgiveness for Anita Guzzardi? Hopefully, the leadership will audit their morals and money a bit better moving forward. I’m not holding my breath for transparency regarding either.

UNITED STATES
CNN

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
updated 12:08 PM EST, Sun January 29, 2012

(CNN) -- Advocates and therapists for survivors of male sex abuse say the recent scandals at Penn State and elsewhere may help men who were abused as children, and boys being abused today, step out of the shadows and get the support they deserve.

They also hope society can become better educated about the issue.

"The allegations have kick-started a public dialogue about sexual violence and the community's responsibility," says Jennifer Marsh, who directs hotlines at RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. "It's a conversation we have to have and can't shy away from."

If increased Web traffic and calls to hotlines are any indication, the tide for men and boys may, in fact, be turning. ...

Calls to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) also have gone up, both locally and nationally, by 20% to 30% since the recent wave of stories broke, says David Clohessy, the organization's executive director.

NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

AMSTERDAM - Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid.

De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant

DEN HAAG - De Socialistische Partij (SP) vindt dat er verder onderzoek nodig is naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. Uiteindelijk zou dat moeten uitmonden in een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede kunnen worden gehoord.

SP-Tweede Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei dat zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof. De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. PvdA en GroenLinks waren eerder ook voorstander van een enquête.

NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

The Socialist Party believes that further research into Catholic church sex abuse in the Netherlands and the role played by the government is necessary. The research should eventually result in a parliamentary inquiry, in which witnesses can be heard under oath.

SP MP Sharon Gesthuizen made these statements on Sunday in current affairs television programme Buitenhof. Parliament will discuss the Deetman Commission’s report on church sex abuse on Tuesday.

Ms Gesthuizen says former minister Wim Deetman has done a good job, but argues that some issues have received insufficient attention, such as the abuse and the position of women. She also wants further research into the question of how the abuse could go on for such a long period and on such a large scale, and what the government’s role has been.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The controversy began with the episode of "The Untouchables" on La7: how the Holy See investigated the incidents cited by the current nuncio to the United States

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

There is an episode that was not related in the debate that has gone on for days now about the accusations made by then Secretary of the Governorate, Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò, appointed nuncio to the United States, after writing dramatic letters to the Pope and the Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, in which he speaks of episodes of "corruption" in the Vatican. The prelate's private letters - a story revealed by Vatican Insider last June 26 - addressed to Benedict XVI and his chief collaborator, were exhibited by the journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi during the episode of the investigative television program on La7, called "Gli intoccabili"("The Untouchables").

In those letters, Viganò, who had by then received news of the Pope's decision to appoint him as nuncio to the United States, distanced him (by promoting him) from the Governorate after less than two years and after undeniable results of morale-boosting and spending cuts, he claimed to be the victim of a plot, also involving some anonymous articles published in "Il Giornale", and he named the names and surnames of its instigators, citing as the ultimate instigator Msgr. Paul Nicolini, delegate for the administrative-managerial areas of the Vatican Museums.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Times

Sunday, 29. January 2012

A Belgian priest working in Austria has apologised over the fact that he published the names of people in his congregation who left his flock so they could avoid paying the local church taxes.

Eight names from the congregation of 2000 in Sitzendorf an der Schmida in Austria were published in the local church newsletter sparking heated debate in the country.

Father Nicolaas Janssens, 51, Originally from Belgium who then trained in Aachen in Germany before starting work as a parish priest in Austria has now said that he is sorry for the row that he caused.

NEDERLAND
Metro

De SP wil dat een parlementaire enquête wordt ingesteld naar het misbruik in de rooms katholieke kerk. Dat zei SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zondag in het televisieprogramma Buitenhof.

In de onderzoeken die tot nu toe zijn gedaan naar het seksueel misbruik is volgens haar geen oog geweest voor mishandeling en de rol van vrouwen. Ook kan met een parlementaire enquête volgens haar het probleem worden verholpen dat veel zaken niet meer te bewijzen zijn doordat dossiers zijn vernietigd.

NEDERLAND
ED

AMSTERDAM - De SP wil dat er verder onderzoek nodig is naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. Uiteindelijk zou dat moeten uitmonden in een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede kunnen worden gehoord.

SP-Tweede Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei dat zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof. De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk.

FRANCE
WNYC

Sunday, January 29, 2012

By Eleanor Beardsley

In France, an elderly man is fighting to make a formal break with the Catholic Church. He's taken the church to court over its refusal to let him nullify his baptism, and the case could have far-reaching effects.

Seventy-one-year-old Rene LeBouvier's parents and brother are buried in a churchyard in the tiny village of Fleury in northwest France. He himself was baptized in the Romanesque stone church and attended mass here as a boy.

LeBouvier says this rural area is still conservative and very Catholic, but nothing like it used to be. Back then, he says, you couldn't even get credit at the bakery if you didn't go to mass every Sunday.

LeBouvier grew up in that world, and says his mother once hoped he'd become a priest. But he says his views began to change in the 1970s, when he was introduced to free thinkers. As he didn't believe in God anymore, he thought it would be more honest to leave the church. So he wrote to his diocese and asked to be un-baptized.

AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

TENNIS great Margaret Court claims homosexuality is often the result of sexual abuse.

Amid a growing backlash over her opposition to same-sex marriage, the three-time Wimbledon champion told The Sunday Mail "many, many" gay and lesbian people she knew of had "been abused" and this had led to their sexual orientation.

Court, a senior minister at Perth's Victory Life Centre, has already sparked fury among gay and equal rights activists for recent comments, including that the push for gay marriage was trying "to legitimise what God calls abominable sexual practices".

Mental health advocate Chris Tanti accused her of "spreading misery" and putting young gay people at risk of suicide with what he called her anti-gay comments, amid calls for her name to be removed from centre court at Melbourne Park.

BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

A church elder who police identified as the second-ranking official of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, 213 Vermont St., was arrested Friday on a charge of first-degree sexual abuse for an alleged incident with a 6-year-old girl at the church this past Dec. 16.

Detectives accused Abel Poloche, 60, of Chenango Street, of inappropriately touching the girl while she sat on his lap inside the church.

He was taken into custody by Sex Offense Squad detectives about 7:45 p. m. Friday at his home.

ALABAMA
The Birmingham News

By Joey Kennedy -- The Birmingham News

Molester Charles Donald Corley is up for parole on Tuesday.

There's no way child molester Charles Donald Corley will be paroled Tuesday. Right?

Jason Lee and his friends are going to make sure of that, and their hard, courageous campaign is an important public service for Alabama.

Don Corley is the worst kind of human being. For decades, he used his position of trust as a respected Boy Scout leader and church leader to prey on boys and sexually abuse them.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph Tanfani
Inquirer Staff Writer

As an employee of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Anita Guzzardi, was considered a trusted servant of the church. Once, she headed an office that tried to restore the faith of strayed Catholics.

In her time off, she liked to play the slots at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City and to take vacations, using her American Express card.

And for years, Guzzardi paid those credit card bills by checks from the archdiocese - nearly $1 million in all, according to sources familiar with a continuing investigation by the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

The alleged embezzlement went on for at least six years, but no one in the church caught it, sources said. Instead, it was discovered by a fraud investigator with American Express who wondered why the archdiocese was ringing up charges at a casino.

AUSTRIA/VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The bishops talk to Rome about the danger of a schism following the ‘Appeal to disobedience’ by Father Hellmut Schüller

Guido Horst
Rome

Monday afternoon (23rd of January), in the Vatican there was a meeting between the top figures of the Austrian Episcopal Conference and the representatives of the Roman Dicasteries to discuss the movement led by Hellmut Schüller.

This movement is supported roughly by three hundred clerics and it openly disobeys the Roman Catholic Church with theories bordering on heresy, moreover now it wants to spread abroad creating an international net open to priests of other nations and continents.

For Pope Benedict and the Roman Curia it is time to take action against this separatist movement. Schüller himself, in several interviews, did not deny his will to disengage from Rome and he added that there are priests from other countries like France, Germany and Australia wanting to join the initiative.

MISSOURI
Missourinet

January 27, 2012 By Jessica Machetta

A trial date has been set for the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese and Bishop Robert Finn on charges they failed to report suspected child sex abuse to authorities.

HAWAII
HawaiiNewsNow

By Jim Mendoza

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The question surrounding Marc Alexander's sudden resignation as Hawaii's homeless coordinator has been why?

On January 5, Gov. Neil Abercrombie attributed Alexander's departure to a need to "tend to personal matters."

In a letter to Hawaii News Now, Alexander admitted he resigned over an affair.

"I resigned when the news of an affair I had with a consenting adult woman, while I was an ordained member of the Catholic priesthood, became public," he said.

DELAWARE
Philadelphia Inquirer

December 20, 2011|By Jeremy Roebuck, Inquirer Staff Writer

WILMINGTON - A sex-abuse lawsuit that prompted the suspension of a Glenside priest this year has been withdrawn amid questions over his accuser's credibility.

The civil case against Msgr. Michael Flood, 71, fell apart during a deposition last week of the South Jersey man, 48, who sued the priest and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia three years ago.

The man - identified in court filings as "John Broe #1" - had alleged that he had been abused dozens of times in the 1970s while a ninth grader at what was then Bishop John Neumann Catholic High School in South Philadelphia, where Flood was a religion teacher.

HAWAII
Catholic News Agency

By Benjamin Mann

Honolulu, Hawaii, Jan 27, 2011 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Bishop Larry R. Silva of Honolulu, Hawaii says he was “shocked and extremely disappointed” to discover that his second-in-command at the diocese, Fr. Marc Alexander, was leaving his ministry for a post he had already accepted in the administration of Governor Neil Abercrombie.

“He was a well respected priest,” Bishop Silva told CNA on Jan. 26. “This news has been quite devastating to many.”

Fr. Alexander, who had served as a diocesan priest for 25 years, told Bishop Silva on Jan. 16 that he had lined up a job as the governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, and would be leaving the responsibilities he had taken on during the past five years as Bishop Silva's Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

Holy See Considers Legal Action Against TV Station

by EDWARD PENTIN
01/27/2012

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has threatened legal action against an Italian television station for using “questionable journalistic methods” in a program that alleged a former senior Vatican official had been transferred against his will after complaining about internal corruption.

The program, called The Untouchables and broadcast on the channel La 7 on Wednesday night, showed several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, then-deputy governor of Vatican City and now apostolic nuncio to the United States, sent to superiors, including Pope Benedict XVI, last year.

In one letter to the Holy Father, Archbishop Viganò, who was responsible for maintaining much of the city state’s infrastructure, claims he is a victim of a smear campaign launched by other Vatican officials after he had made extensive efforts to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures. He also resisted efforts to transfer him, citing his efforts to root out malpractice.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 27, 2012
By Vanessa Martinez for NewsWorks

(Warning: This story includes graphic details of alleged sexual crimes.)

Three young women took to a Criminal Justice Center witness stand on Thursday to divulge the details of a darkened childhood.

Courtney Wilson, the 56-year-old former church deacon at the Remnant Church of God 7th Day on Ogontz Avenue, has been charged with two counts of rape, aggravated assault, terroristic threats, two counts of statutory sexual assault and a series of other charges.

In December, five women reported Wilson to the police, alleging sexual abuse that occurred repeatedly between 1997 and 2005 when they were minors. The women, now in their 20s, were affiliated with the church, located at 7708 Ogontz Ave., during the alleged abuse.

His preliminary hearing on those charges was held Thursday.

SOUTH BEND (IN)
WSBT

By MARGARET FOSMOE
South Bend Tribune

5:59 p.m. EST, January 27, 2012
SOUTH BEND — In the wake of the Penn State scandal, University of Notre Dame President the Rev. John I. Jenkins recently sent an e-mail to students and employees reminding them of their obligation to report cases of suspected abuse and other questionable conduct.

The priest wrote that he has given a great deal of thought to news stories about Penn State’s alleged failure to respond promptly to alleged cases of child abuse, and that the possibility of serious failures gives those at Notre Dame the chance to take steps to prevent transgressions here.

He also referred to the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. “In my reflection, I cannot but connect what is alleged to have occurred at Penn State with the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Both involved the abuse of minors, and both seemed to include a failure by some to report behavior and by others in authority to respond appropriately,” he said.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
NBC San Diego

By Sarah Grieco

A Las Vegas pastor who has been accused of sexually assaulting three girls in a Nevada congregation was ordered to be extradited from San Diego on Friday.

Otis Henderson, 55, also known to some as Otis Holland, was turned into U.S. Marshals in San Diego by the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday.

On Friday, San Diego Superior Court Judge David Szumowski ordered him to be held without bail, while Henderson’s extradition is pending.

SAN DIEGO (CA)
KFMB

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A former Las Vegas-area pastor accused of sexually assaulting at least three young girls in his congregation waived extradition to Nevada Friday and will be returned there to face assault and child abuse charges.

Otis Henderson, also known as Otis Holland, had been the subject of an international manhunt since June 2010 and was featured in the Jan. 20 episode of the television show, "America's Most Wanted."

After the show aired, authorities received a tip from a viewer that Henderson might be living in Tijuana.

NAPERVILLE (IL)
WLS

[with video]

January 27, 2012 (NAPERVILLE, Ill.) (WLS) -- A former pastor and college professor was sentenced late today to six months in jail, probation and counseling for repeatedly molesting a girl from Naperville.

Sixty-four-year-old James French pleaded guilty to one felony sexual abuse charge last October.

Three other charges were thrown out in exchange for that plea.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

January 29, 2012
As Cardinal Francis George prepares to retire in the next few years and hand over the reins of the Archdiocese of Chicago to a successor, he is looking to Wall Street and the achievement of one particular predecessor to ensure the church's long-term financial viability and leave a legacy of his own.

On Wednesday, the archdiocese earned a top rating from the Moody's firm, a typical prerequisite to selling private bonds. A bond sale is a maneuver to improve cash flow that was used by Cardinal George Mundelein nearly a century ago. The Moody's report was based on a proposed offering of $151.5 million in bonds.

Citing strict federal regulations imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission that preclude discussion of a pending bond sale, no church official, including George, will confirm that bonds will be issued. The Moody's report also points out that the rating does not mean a sale is guaranteed.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

A prosecutor calling the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia an unindicted co-conspirator in child sexual abuse is an overdue rebuke of systemic church sickness.

During a pretrial hearing involving a priest and a former priest accused of pedophilia and a monsignor charged with "conspiring with priests and church officials to keep priests accused of sex abuse in ministry and parishioners in the dark," the judge asked if prosecutors consider the archdiocese an unindicted co-conspirator, The Associated Press reports.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Cipolletti replied, "Certainly. It's not like there aren't other people (in the archdiocese) involved. There absolutely are."

"Other people" include 63 Philly priests named in a 2005 grand jury report on pedophilia but not charged due to "legal time limits."

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

7:23 p.m. EST, January 27, 2012
WATERBURY — In its effort to defend itself from an accusation of sexual abuse by one of its priests, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hartford collided in court Friday with one of the unflinchingly obedient Catholic families that form its core.

The retired parents of an altar boy took the witness stand and described the day they were shaken by their by-then grown son's disclosure that a priest, known to the family for years, abused him and his best friend while the boys attended a diocesan grammar school in Derby.

The now-adult altar boy is identified as Jacob Doe in his negligence suit against the diocese. His father is a former church deacon. His mother is a former parish nurse.

The parents testified in Superior Court about the day three years ago when their son flew to the Virginia Beach home where they had retired. He told them he was traveling on business. In reality, he had decided to sue the church and wanted to tell his parents of the abuse in private. They said he waited to deliver the news until his parents had completed their volunteer shifts at a Virginia Beach soup kitchen.

NEW JERSEY
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An Ohio man who alleges he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest in the early 1970s but repressed all memory of the assaults is using the "late discovery" feature of New Jersey's child endangerment law to sue the Diocese of Camden.

Mark Bryson, 50, who lives near Cincinnati, alleges that the Rev. Joseph E. Shannon assaulted him multiple times when he was a first grader at St. Anthony of Padua School in Camden.

In a suit filed Friday in U.S. District Court, Bryson says he left the school after first grade and "repressed all memory" of the assaults until last February, when he learned that a registered sex offender had moved into his neighborhood.

CHILE
Bio Bio

Viernes 27 enero 2012 | 19:49

Publicado por Pamela Hidalgo | La Información es de Ignacia Saiz

Fiscal judicial Gutiérrez recomienda confirmar sobreseimiento definitivo en Caso Karadima
Uno de los denunciantes del sacerdote Fernando Karadima, Juan Carlos Cruz, está recolectando firmas a través de Internet para pedir al Vaticano que se sancione y destituya de sus cargos a cuatro obispos que habrían sido cómplices de los abusos sexuales de Karadima.

El abogado y denunciante del ex párroco del bosque, Juan Carlos Cruz, inició hace algunas semanas una recolección de firmas a través de un sitio de peticiones en internet para entregar una carta al Vaticano.

LOUISIANA
The Advertiser

Written by
Nicholas Persac

A federal grand jury indicted this week a former Lafayette youth minister who allegedly posed as a 14-year-old girl on the Internet to swindle nude photographs from boys.

Eric Michael Manuel, 22, of Lafayette, is a former youth minister at St. Thomas More High School, and he currently owns Half Black Media. Manuel is now charged in a 20-count indictment with 18 counts of production of child pornography and two counts of using a facility in interstate commerce to persuade a minor to engage in criminal sexual acts, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley's office.

For the production of child pornography charge, Manuel faces between 15 and 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, Finley said in the release. If convicted of using a facility in interstate commerce to persuade a minor to engage in criminal sexual acts, Manuel faces between 10 years and life in prison.

CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Fri., Jan. 27 2012

​Over the past couple of weeks, I've received numerous taunting emails from pendejos associated with JSerra Catholic High School over Ricardo Aldana, the school's beloved Spanish teacher who was arrested this past December for molesting a 14-year-old student. They insisted that Aldana was innocent, and that DA Tony Rackaukas would file no charges--oh, and that the victim was a ho.

Well, they're gonna sing a different tune this weekend: Aldana has been charged with seven counts of lewd acts on a child.

In a press release issued today, the DA said Aldana began grooming the girl when she was 13 years old, a perversion that culminated with Aldana "driving the victim to his Dana Point residence and sneaking her into his bedroom to avoid being seen by his roommates." Once there, Aldana "engag[ed] in substantial unlawful sex acts with" the victim.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholic Culture

January 27, 2012

Although the Philadelphia archdiocese is not a defendant in the sex-abuse case, a Pennsylvania judge has ordered the archdiocese to prepare for a trial in March.

The case against Msgr. William Lynn involves his work in handling clergy assignments for the archdiocese. Prosecutors have referred to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as an “unindicted conspirator” in the case, and Msgr. Lynn’s defense has suggested that the accused priest was carrying out policies approved by his clerical superiors.

At a January 26 hearing, Judge Teresa Sarmina ordered lawyers for the archdiocese to provide detailed records of Msgr. Lynn’s office correspondence, including his consultations with archdiocesan lawyers. An attorney for the archdiocese said that the Church might resist further disclosures. “We are not a party to that battle,” he said of the Lynn case.

CANADA
Globe and Mail

Sylvia Stead — Public Editor
Globe and Mail Blog

Posted on Friday, January 27, 2012

In Friday’s paper we ran an ad with the words “Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ Given to President Warren S. Jeffs”. Some readers wondered why such an ad appeared in The Globe and Mail. We do review ads, but unfortunately this one was not caught.

Mr. Jeffs, as you may know, is a polygamist sect leader in the United States who was convicted last year of sexually assaulting two children, one of whom was one of his child brides.

The ad, which was due to run again, has been cancelled.

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:33 p.m. EST, January 27, 2012
WATERBURY — A man who says a priest molested him when he was 13 years old testified Friday that the priest warned him that people would believe he was gay if he ever reported the abuse.

"When I would resist, he would say, 'People will think you are gay if you bring this out,'" the victim said.

The victim, whose name has been withheld in court papers, appeared as a witness for another victim, identified as Jacob Doe, who is bringing the first sexual abuse complaint to go to trial against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford.

Doe and his friend, who also has a suit that claims he was molested, were best friends and students together at St. Mary's School in Derby in the early 1980s. Both claim they were repeatedly abused by the Rev. Ivan Ferguson, who ran the diocesan school. Ferguson died in 2002.

UNITED STATES
Bloomberg

By Mary Johnson Jan 23, 2012

The Vatican recently finished an exhaustive, three-year inquest, the kind it reserves for its gravest problems. The subject: “American apostolic women religious,” commonly known as nuns.

Almost 400 religious institutions throughout the U.S. were studied as part of this “apostolic visitation,” and a final, confidential report on the nuns’ activities was submitted to the Vatican in December.

Why investigate nuns? Because, Vatican officials said, they were concerned for the sisters’ welfare. But as a former nun -- I left the convent in 1997 after 20 years as a sister in New York, Rome, Washington and Winnipeg, Canada -- I know what the church leaders won’t publicly admit: American nuns frighten them.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Times

A priest has named and shamed those of his congregation who left the church last year. Eight names from the congregation of 2000 in Sitzendorf an der Schmida in Austria were read out to the remaining church goers. The priest has been condemned by prominent members of the church and even data protectionists.

Father Nicolaas Janssens revealed the full names to his congregation of those who had withdrawn their membership to the church, with the "black sheep" describing the experience as being "sent to the pillory". The priest has now apologised for his actions, saying that he never meant to hurt anyone and Mayor Leopold Hummel has also protected the priest. "There will be no disadvantage to those who have been revealed. We are not so conservative here," he explained.

Jessen’s superior, Dean Christian Blauensteiner has also shown his support. "The priest has apologised many times. The strong reaction has had a real effect on him," the dean explained. The revealing of the names was described simply as "not wise".

AUSTRIA
National Catholic Reporter

by Tom Gallagher on Jan. 27, 2012 NCR Today

Here's a new form of evangelization: Publish the names of all the Catholics who have formally left the church.

A pastor in an Austrian church did exactly that. What was he thinking?

NEDERLAND
Katholiek Nieuwsblad

door Jan Peeters

Gaat het ooit nog goed komen tussen slachtoffers en katholieke Kerk? Het vertrouwen lijkt voorgoed naar de knoppen.

"De opvattingen in de Kamer [over seks met minderjarigen –red.] zijn ook erg veranderd", leek PvdA-Tweede-Kamerlid Khadija Arib zich quasi terloops te laten ontvallen. Ze nam vorige week deel aan de hoorzitting over het misbruikrapport van de commissie Deetman. De soms rumoerige slachtoffers op de publieke tribune lieten haar ermee wegkomen. Want als het in de jaren tachtig aan de PvdA, VVD, D66 en een aantal andere partijen had gelegen was het wettelijk verbod op seks met kinderen helemaal opgeheven. Het is precies dat wat Arib terloops leek te willen neutraliseren.

UNITED STATES
Big Think

Adam Lee on January 27, 2012

In 2009, the Roman Catholic church convened an "apostolic visitation" - a sort of modern-day auto-da-fe - a rare step taken when the Vatican feels that a church-affiliated institution has gone seriously astray. The church officials in charge of the investigation conducted interviews at almost 400 religious institutions throughout the U.S., and this month, they submitted their final report, whose contents as of now are still secret.

What is this pervasive evil within the church that the Vatican is so determined to combat? If you guessed "priests who rape children with the knowledge and complicity of their superiors", you're thinking like a normal, decent human being, which of course makes you wrong. No, the real subject of the report is something far worse: the Vatican is worried that its nuns are becoming too feminist!

As this earlier news report says, the all-male Catholic hierarchy is upset that American nuns aren't hewing sufficiently to the church line on teachings like gay rights and the restriction of the priesthood to men. Cardinal Franc Rode, who launched the apostolic visitation, said that they were displaying a worrisome "feminist spirit". And those concerns appear to be well-founded, given that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group representing liberal American nuns, is almost ten times larger than the conservative Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. Some orders have openly refused to cooperate with the inquisition.

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Catholic Insider

The annual report for the Boston Archdiocese was released yesterday amidst much hoopla over the “balanced budget.” There is good news in the report, in that parish collections rose by 4.5% and the archdiocese appears to be on stronger financial footing than in recent years.

But what is not so clear from the reports is the extent to which costs may have been shifted around and money has been moved or redirected from other entities in order to achieve the “balanced budget.” One example: the Clergy Funds, which provides health, welfare, and retirement benefits for 683 Boston priests–285 senior priests and 438 active priests.

A look at the 2011 annual report for the Clergy Funds shows they paid $13.5M in benefits and spent $2.3M in administrative expenses to do so. For every $1 in benefits paid, they spend 17 cents to administer the benefits, or about $3,357 in administrative costs for each priest receiving some benefits.

LUXEMBURG
Kerknieuws

Het Luxemburgse gerecht ontving in de afgelopen tijd 39 meldingen van seksueel misbruik door rooms-katholieke geestelijken, maar er zullen geen priesters worden vervolgd: alle gevallen van misbruik zijn verjaard.

Dat meldt de Luxemburgse krant Luxemburger Wort. De slachtoffers van het misbruik zijn hier inmiddels over geïnformeerd.

VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jan. 27, 2012 All Things Catholic

We already knew that Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, named by Pope Benedict XVI in October as his new nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States, seriously rocked the boat in his brief but tumultuous run as the No. 2 official in the government of the Vatican city-state from 2009 to 2011.

What we didn't know until this week, however, was just how vigorously Viganò had campaigned to be allowed to finish the financial house-cleaning he started. As it turns out, the pope's new man in Washington is something of a whistle-blower.

Viganò, 71, who has degrees in both civil and canon law, is a veteran Vatican diplomat who took over what amounts to the chief of staff position in the Vatican city-state in July 2009. He quickly earned a reputation as a take-no-prisoners financial reformer, reportedly turning a $10.5 million deficit into a $44 million surplus in one year alone by insisting on centralized accounting procedures and strict accountability for cost overruns.

No good deed, of course, ever goes unpunished, making it natural that Viganò's efforts produced fierce backlash among some mid-level managers in the various Vatican fiefdoms. They were long accustomed to being accountable only to God and the pope -- and in both cases, that accountability was fairly nominal.

MALTA
Times of Malta

Godwin Scerri, the defrocked priest, who the Courts jailed five years after they found him guilty of abusing boys in his care, should also be found guilty of rape, Philip Galea Farrugia, for the Attorney General, insisted this morning.

Making submissions in the AG's appeal against the Magistrate's decision to acquit Mr Scerri of rape, Dr Galea Farrugia said there was no real contestation that the rape took place.

Mr Scerri was cleared of the rape charge only because it had happened in one place when the charge sheet listed that it happened at another.

Lawyer Patrick Valentino, who is appearing for the victims, asked Mr Justice David Scicluna for the case to be heard rather quickly because the victims already had to wait a long time for justice in the Magistrates Court. There were 77 sittings, with the prosecution closing its case after seven. Twenty-seven of the other sittings were deferments at the request of the defence team.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 26, 2012

Church officials have allegedly reformed, right? Then explain this: For decades, when a priest from diocese “A” was accused or suspended or arrested or charged or convicted in diocese “B”, rarely (if ever) did Bishop “A” disclose the news to his flock.

So police in diocese “A” had to build their case alone, with little or no help (and usually opposition) from church authorities. And no one in diocese “B” was warned about the cleric. Their kids suffered in shame, silence and self-blame, instead of being asked “Did that priest hurt you?” and getting help promptly.

That pattern continues to be played out today. In Colorado, on Sunday, Fr. Robert Manning was suspended. He’s the target of a child sex abuse investigation.

Manning is a St. Louis priest. He was ordained here. He worked in at least three parishes here. Yet Archbishop Carlson, as best we can tell, has been silent about

SOUTH DAKOTA
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 26, 2012

How about a little good news: It looks like South Dakota lawmakers are working to undo a terrible wrong.

The South Dakota House of Representatives is considering a bill that will abolish the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. If passed, the law will be in direct rebuttal to a 2010 law that SHORTENED the civil statute of limitations and was deliberately written to silence Native American victims of abuse.

Testimony is scheduled next week, and lawmakers will hear from dozens of South Dakota victims, many of whom were physically and sexually abused in Church-run “orphanages” for Native American kids. (I put the word “orphanages” in quotes because living at the schools was mandatory for children in many reservations across the state.) You can read more about some of the schools here. According to the church’s own documents, abuse at the schools had been prevalent for decades.

Canada had similar institutions – many run by the same religious orders as the schools in North Dakota – but in response to the horrific abuses, the Canadian Government started a special government commission dedicated to the healing of Indian school victims, shining a light on the crimes that took place, and holding responsible parties accountable.

VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

The current nuncio to Washington cannot stand having been driven out of Rome. And he is reacting against his archenemy, Cardinal Bertone. He has many supporters in the curia. And the pope is getting caught in the fray

VATICAN CITY, January 26, 2012 – The two texts reproduced in their entirety further below are:

– a letter dated July 7, 2011 to Benedict XVI from then secretary general of the governorate of Vatican City-State, Carlo Maria Viganò, now the nuncio in the United States, made public during the broadcast of the television program "The untouchables" on the evening of January 25, on the Italian channel "la 7";

– the statement released on January 26, with regard to this same broadcast, by the director of the Vatican press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi.

Viganò's letter to Benedict XVI was the showpiece of this episode of "The untouchables." It was exhibited together with a sheaf of other letters also written by Viganò to the pope and to secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone. It is logical to presume that the copies of these letters came to the producer of the broadcast, Gianluigi Nuzzi,, directly or indirectly, from the sender rather than from the recipients. The statement from Fr. Lombardi expresses "disappointment over the release of confidential documents," but does not accuse anyone.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

ANOTHER man has explained how he was allegedly sexually abused as a boy by a priest at a North Staffordshire boarding school.

Eight men from across the Midlands claim they were abused by Catholic priest Alexander Bede Walsh, below, over a 20-year period between 1974 and 1994.

The 58-year-old is currently on trial charged with 27 offences of indecency, buggery and indecent assault.

Incidents are said to have taken place across Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Coventry, including at Cotton College, in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

OOSTENRIJK
Trouw (Nederland)

Robin de Wever − 26/01/12, 16:07

Het bisdom van Wenen verontschuldigt zich voor het publiceren van een lijst met kerkverlaters. Een priester plaatste de lijst onlangs in de krant van het bisdom.

In een verklaring vraagt het aartsbisdom om vergeving en wijst het erop dat de publicatie indruist tegen regels van de kerk en de staat. De priester, die werkt in een dorp ten noorden van Wenen, zou al tijdens een mis boete hebben gedaan. Aan slachtoffers heeft hij een excuusbrief gestuurd.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

January 26, 2012| By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Will he say the lawyers made him do it? Did they?

The questions form a key subplot in the forthcoming trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official accused of making decisions that enabled priests to sexually abuse children.

On Thursday, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina took a step toward answering them. She ordered the archdiocese to be ready March 26, the first day of Lynn's conspiracy and child-endangerment trial, to turn over what could be hundreds or thousands of private records detailing Lynn's communications with church lawyers about sex-abuse claims between 1992 and 2004, when he was secretary for clergy.

"That gives you two full months to get it done," the judge told Robert E. Welsh, a lawyer for the archdiocese.

Lynn is accused of assigning the Rev. James J. Brennan and a former priest, Edward Avery, to parishes in the 1990s where each allegedly molested a boy. All three men have pleaded

VATICAN CITY
Eyewitness News (South Africa)

Reuters

The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal on Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts.

The show "The Untouchables" on the respected private television network La 7 on Wednesday night showed what it said were several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was then deputy-governor of Vatican City, sent to superiors, including Pope Benedict, in 2011 about the corruption.

The Vatican issued a statement on Thursday criticising the "methods" used in the journalistic investigation. But it confirmed that the letters were authentic by expressing "sadness over the publication of reserved documents."

As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the tiny city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.

MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

By Monica Brady-Myerov

BOSTON — The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston says it’s no longer in “financial freefall.”

The finances of the archdiocese have stabilized, according to its annual report released Thursday. The church has a balanced budget and its assets have increased $31 million to $563 million. The increase is due primarily to investments.

Church collections increased 3 percent last year and the enrollment decline in Catholic schools has slowed to its lowest rate in 10 years.

The archdiocese also reports it spent $1.7 million last year to settle 23 legal claims arising from sexual abuse by clergy. The money came from real estate property sales, rental income and insurance funds.

PHOENIX (AZ)
My Fox Phoenix

[with video]

PHOENIX - A Phoenix man arrested in a sexual exploitation case involving juveniles has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Maricopa County prosecutors say 26-year-old Christian Salvador Turcios entered his plea Thursday. His next court date is an initial pretrial conference and no date has been set yet.

Turcios was jailed on suspicion of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, child molesting and unlawful surreptitious video recording. He was ordered held without bond Jan. 10.

MEXICO
U-T San Diego

Written by
Sandra Dibble

TIJUANA — Days after being featured on the television show “America’s Most Wanted,” a fugitive pastor from Henderson, Nev., was captured Wednesday by Mexican authorities in Tijuana. Otis Holland, 55, is accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls in his parish who came to him for counseling.

Holland’s arrest took place thanks to a tip from a viewer of the program’s Jan. 20 episode, authorities said. On Wednesday, the information reached the U.S. Marshal’s Office in San Diego, which in turn contacted members of Baja California’s State Preventive Police. They arrested him that same day, and turned him over to U.S. authorities.

“It was a fantastic operation on both sides of the border, it couldn’t have gone smoother,” said Omar Castillo, a member of the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force.

Alfredo Arenas, chief liaison officer for the Baja California state police, said Holland was detained outside a house in Tijuana’s Zona Norte, a neighborhood near the U.S. border. Holland had been living there by himself, and had not been there for long, Arenas said: “He had a couple of suitcases, the clothes were still inside.”

MASSACHUSETTS
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston

Parish Offertory Increases; Catholic Schools See Growth

www.bostoncatholic.org

(Braintree, Massachusetts) January 26, 2012…The Archdiocese of Boston today released its annual financial report for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2011. The report identifies key financial performance measures, including its financial position and changes in net assets during the most recent fiscal year. The full report is available on the Archdiocese’s website (http://www.bostoncatholic.org/annualreport) together with the audited financial statements of Archdiocesan related organizations. The report should be read in conjunction with the recently issued 2012 Budget, which focuses on Central Ministries.

The report provides a comprehensive review of the Archdiocese’s assets, liabilities and financial activities. Included are the audited financial statements of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a Corporation Sole (the “Corporation Sole”), encompassing the activities of the parishes, central operations, the endowment fund, and the general insurance fund. The report also includes an accounting of payments for sexual abuse settlements and related expenses and the sources of these funds.

Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley stated that “The Archdiocese of Boston has greatly benefitted by the financial management of recent years that has achieved and sustained a balanced budget. The stabilization of our finances has led to increased confidence among our many generous benefactors, who provide us the means to invest in our parishes, schools, evangelization and the important mission of serving the poor and those in need. We are aware that there remain challenges to be addressed, but are encouraged by the progress being made in rebuilding our local Church. Going forward, we will maintain our commitment to be a sign of the presence of the Lord to the Catholics of the Archdiocese and the wider community. “

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Patricia Wen and Martin Finucane
| Globe Staff
January 27, 2012

Parishioners at Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of Boston are boosting their donations to financially strapped parishes, according to the annual financial report released yesterday by the archdiocese.

The report shows that parish collections and other fund-raising rose by about 4.5 percent, after several years of being flat or declining. In the budget year that ended in June, Catholics in the pews gave about $146.6 million to their parishes, compared with $140.3 million the year before. Meanwhile, church officials said Mass attendance remained relatively flat.

“Ordinary people are digging deeper into their pockets,’’ said John Straub, executive director of finance and operations for central ministries for the archdiocese.

NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal

By Albuquerque Journal Editorial Board
on Fri, Jan 27, 2012

Archbishop Robert Fortune Sanchez was interred Thursday, ending a chapter in New Mexico history that featured both great hope and a great fall.

The life and death of Sanchez in many ways mirrors Aristotle’s tragic hero, like Oedipus of ancient Greece or Samson of The Bible. Remember that a hero in this sense does not mean a superman, but the protagonist of a story.

Though from humble beginnings, Sanchez rose to a position of high status and responsibility. He was not perfect, and his downfall involved both errors of judgment and character flaws. His fall was not based entirely on his own actions and his punishment was great — loss of position and a life of solitude, ending in death in a place in Albuquerque for people with Alzheimer’s disease — though some would argue his punishment should have been harsher.

While many were seriously harmed, the outcome was not without seeds of hope: The Archdiocese of Santa Fe pioneered a serious policy for dealing with a problem that had been swept under the rug by the Roman Catholic Church in many places — though the problem is in no way unique to the church. And the scandal increased awareness of the problem of child sexual abuse in America.

NEVADA
KTNV

[with video]

By Drew Karedes

Henderson, NV (KTNV) -- An international manhunt ends with a Las Vegas pastor arrested in Mexico and families of his alleged victims even more angry than before.

Investigators say Otis Holland used religion to sexually abuse teenage girls.

Holland is now in federal custody, awaiting extradition in San Diego. The 55-year-old was arrested after a tip that he had been living in a church in downtown Tijuana.

Holland had previously been arrested in Southern Nevada in December of 2010 and had appeared in court.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

DA: Church knew of 'sick' letter written 30 years ago by priest about teenage brothers on sadomasochistic outing

A letter detailing incidents of sexual abuse and sadomasochism at the hands of priests, written 30 years ago, could help prove that church officials turned a blind eye to molestation.

Prosecutors are asking that the letter - which the The Archdiocese of Philadelphia allegedly learned about in 1968 - be used in the trial of William J. Lynn, the archdiocese's former secretary for clergy.

The letter was said to contain details about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing in which a boy, 15, was strung up and flogged in the woods by his brothers, aged 17 and 18.
Prosecutors say the letter will help them prove that Lynn's actions regarding two other priests, facing trial with him, are part of a long-term pattern or practice by the church of protecting abusive clergy and hiding their conduct from parishioners.

UNITED KINGDOM
Tamworth Herald

A CATHOLIC priest perpetrated a catalogue of sexual abuse against young boys – including children from Coleshill – who were in awe of his "revered and trusted" status within the community, a court heard.

Jurors at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court were told that Alexander Bede Walsh abused eight boys while working at Roman Catholic establishments in Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Coventry between 1975 and 1994.

Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, Lichfield, Staffordshire, denies a total of 27 offences of indecency, buggery and indecent assault.

Opening the case against the 58-year-old, prosecutor Robert Price alleged that one of the victims was abused after being plied with alcohol during what purported to be a private communion ceremony.

COLORADO SPRINGS (CO)
The Gazette

RYAN MAYE HANDY
THE GAZETTE

Members of an advocate group for victims of priest sexual abuse met in front of the headquarters of the Archidiocese of St. Louis Thursday afternoon to demand answers about Rev. Charles Robert Manning of Colorado Springs.

The group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), is a national organization that acts as a watch-dog for sexual assault crimes brought against religious leaders. It wants Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis to clear up ambiguities in Manning’s history with the Catholic church after learning that Manning is being investigated in a sexual assault case in Colorado.

Manning, formerly of three St. Louis Catholic parishes, came to St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Colorado Springs in 2007. At a Saturday mass, Rev. Rafael Torres-Rico told the congregation that allegations of sexual assault on a minor have been brought against Manning.

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By DAVE ALTIMARI, daltimar@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

7:17 p.m. EST, January 26, 2012

WATERBURY -—
They were 8th-grade altar boys at St. Mary's Church in Derby, best buddies since grammar school, mesmorized by "Father Ivan" who treated them like adults and offered sleepovers at the rectory.

Now they are together again, both suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hartford for transferring a known pedophile priest to their school only months after he finished "treatment" in Massachusetts.

The case of Jacob Doe entered its third day in Waterbury Superior Court Thursday. The plaintiff and his childhood friend, known as Matthew Doe in court papers, testified before a six-member jury.

In sometimes very emotional testimony the men, now in their mid-40's, told similar stories. They met the late Rev. Ivan Ferguson when he began working at the school affiliated with the St. Mary the Immaculate Conception Church in Derby. Both boys were altar boys and testified they immediately liked Ferguson when he showed up there in 1980.

NEVADA
Los Vegas Sun

By Aida Ahmed

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012

A former Las Vegas pastor accused of having sex with underage girls was detained in Mexico Wednesday night, Henderson Police said.

Otis Holland, 55, fled the Henderson area in June after police issued an arrest warrant on 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under 16, one count of child abuse and conspiracy to commit a crime, police said.

Holland was recently featured on the TV show “America’s Most Wanted,” and the U.S. Marshals Service received a tip from a viewer.

Marshals worked with Mexican National Police to apprehend Holland without incident at about 10 p.m. Wednesday in Tijuana, according to Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Javier Jimenez.

MEXICO
Reuters

MEXICO CITY | Thu Jan 26, 2012

(Reuters) - Mexican police have arrested a Las Vegas pastor who they said was hiding out in Tijuana after being accused of sexually abusing several minors in the United States.

Otis Holland, 55, had tried to flee a house in the border city but was captured by officers who had surrounded the area, senior local police official Alfredo Arenas said on Thursday

"This type of crime has no place in society. We will not let such cruel acts as those committed by this person go unpunished," Arenas said in a statement. "Our work is done ... now we hope he'll be punished with all the weight of the law."

VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

The Vatican has responded angrily to an Italian television report about alleged corruption inside the Vatican, charging that the broadcast used “questionable journalistic methods” and presented a biased and oversimplified version of the facts.

Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Vatican press office, said that the show Gli intoccabili (“The Untouchables”) gave a warped view of Vatican affairs, continuing a pattern of “biased coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.” The Vatican hinted that legal action could be taken against the La7 network that broadcast the report.

The televised report had showed a letter to Pope Benedict XVI from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former secretary of the Vatican city-state governorate, in which the prelate argued that he should not be appointed apostolic nuncio to the US Archbishop Vigano told the Pontiff that he had worked to stop corruption in Vatican business dealings, and his departure from the Vatican administration would “cause confusion and dismay among those who believed it was possible to correct the many problems of corruption and waste.”

FLORIDA
CBS Miami

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The Broward Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that a church youth pastor in Lauderdale Lakes has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a boy.

Jeffrey London, 48, was arrested at his home Wednesday night. The alleged victim in the case said he lived with London for more than a decade and he was repeatedly abused during that time.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim alleged the battery happened twice a week and that London would buy the victim a video game. As the victim got older, London allegedly offered money in exchange for sexual acts, according to BSO.

FLORIDA
New Times

By Matthew Hendley
Thu., Jan. 26 2012

​Youth pastor Jeffery London was arrested last night at his Lauderdale Lake home on suspicion of sexual abusing a boy for about a decade, and now becomes the second Broward youth pastor to be arrested this week on molestation charges.

London, 48, was arrested shortly after returning home from conducting bible study at the Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Police say the alleged victim's mother left him to live with London when he was 8 years old because she was "facing hard financial times."

For the next decade, police say London sexually abused the boy, while the two were living together.

IOWA
Courier

By KRISTIN GUESS, kristin.guess@wcfcourier.com | Posted: Thursday, January 26, 2012

WAVERLY, Iowa --- A 67-year-old Eldora resident would like to suppress evidence related to his arrest for allegedly having a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old he met online.

Dennis Brown, a pastor, is charged with third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony. He was arrested at his summer residence in Eldora in July and taken to the Bremer County Jail.

Brown also has a home in Verona, Va.

According to authorities, Brown performed a sex act with the victim in May after allegedly making a connection on the Internet. He admitted meeting the teenager in Waverly, according to court documents

NEVADA
America's Most Wanted

Charismatic and cunning, Las Vegas Pastor Otis Holland is on the run after members of his church between the ages of 13 and 16 accused him of sexual abuse. The revelation of Holland's relationship with his young parishioners has opened a Pandora's box that has left Holland's entire congregation stunned and shamed. Thankfully, an alert AMW tipster gave authorities the information they needed to track Holland down.

NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Doug McMurdo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The former pastor of a Las Vegas church was arrested in Mexico on multiple sexual assault charges involving minors Wednesday.

Otis Holland, 55, of Henderson, fled Southern Nevada in June after Henderson police issued an arrest warrant alleging 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under 16 years old, one count of child abuse and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime, according to Henderson police spokesman Keith Paul.

A tipster alerted the U.S. Marshal's Service after Holland's case was profiled on the "America's Most Wanted" television program.

NEVADA
8NewsNow

By Stephen Jackson, Online News Editor

HENDERSON, Nev. -- A Las Vegas-pastor wanted on charges of having sex with underage girls was captured in Mexico on Wednesday night.

Fifty-five-year-old Otis Holland allegedly fled the Henderson area after an arrest warrant was issued for him on 11 counts of sexual assault of a victim under 16, one count of child abuse and conspiracy to commit a crime.

Holland's case was recently featured on America's Most Wanted. A tip from someone who watched the show lead to his arrest.

ST. LOUIS (MO)
CBS St. Louis

Brian Kelly

January 26, 2012

ST. LOUIS (KMOX)-Local clergy abuse victims are accusing St. Louis’ Archbishop of sitting on the sidelines Colorado police investigate a sex abuse allegation levied there against a priest who used to work here.

Father Charles Manning, who used to work at parishes in Bridgeton, Glencoe and Imperial was suspended from his St. Gabriel the Archangel parish in Colorado Springs last weekend, while police investigate an allegation that he sexually abused a minor. Even though no charges have been filed and there are no allegations against him in St. Louis, Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests Director David Clohessy believes Archbishop Robert Carlson should be pro-active, “Anytime a priest is suspended because of child sex abuse allegations, but especially when there’s a pending police investigation, Catholic officials have a civic duty, plus a moral duty, to aggressively seek out any other victims, witnesses, whistleblowers.”

Clohessy was asked if he knows if the Archbishop is helping police in their investigation, behind the scenes, “We’ve seen no evidence that he has and the easiest way, of course, to help is to simply use church bulletins, church websites, church pulpits to let parishioners know that Fr. Manning has been accused and suspended and let them know there is, in fact, a pending criminal investigation.

UNITED STATES
The Irish Times

JASON BERRY

RITE AND REASON: IN 2005 parishioners of St James in the farm belt town of Kansas, Ohio, recoiled when Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair, facing a tight budget, closed the parish, steering them to one several miles away. They filed an appeal to the Vatican. It failed.

Then they sued in a local county court, arguing that the bishop was a trustee but parishioners owned the property. The state sided with the bishop. “We spent $100,000 in legal fees,” said parishioner Virginia Hull. “Bishop Blair paid his lawyers with $77,957 from our parish account.” Blair had the church demolished.

Canon law says a parish is “a juridic person”. But that “person”, like an olden slave, does not own itself. The bishop does. Nevertheless, a federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts barred the bishop there from razing a church deemed a historic landmark. Parish ownership is unresolved in American law.

A US Catholic parish has closed on average once a week for the last 20 years. Many bishops have sold churches to plug deficits, or pay for abuse cases caused by their negligence or their predecessors’.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 26, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The trial of Bishop Robert W. Finn and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., the first bishop and diocese to face criminal charges in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis, has been set for September.

Finn and the diocese were charged in October by a grand jury in Jackson County, Mo., with separate counts of failing to report suspected child abuse in the case of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a diocesan priest who was arrested last May for child pornography.

Lawyers for Finn and the diocese met with Jackson County Judge John Torrence on Thursday to set a Sept. 24 trial date in the case. Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
News-Press

Associated Press
January 26, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri Catholic bishop will go to trial in September on a misdemeanor charge that he and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese failed to report suspicions of child sexual abuse by a priest.

Bishop Robert Finn is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 24. A pretrial conference is scheduled before Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence on March 27.

The charges against Finn and the diocese stem from claims that the diocese waited five months before telling police about pornographic photos of children found on a priest's computer.

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune reporter

January 26, 2012
Seeking to replenish coffers that have covered the costs of construction, clergy misconduct and parish operations, the Archdiocese of Chicago is exploring a number of options to raise more money, including the sale of private bonds to investors.

Though no church official will confirm that the archdiocese plans to sell bonds, theMoody'srating service on Wednesday night gave the Archdiocese of Chicago its top rating for a proposed sale of $151.5 million, the typical precursor to issuing bonds.

But Moody'salso says a sale is not guaranteed, and church officials insist no decision has been made. If the archdiocese proceeds with a bond sale, it would be the first time since Cardinal George Mundelein sold bonds to finance a construction boom in the early 20th century.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A September trial date was set Thursday morning in Jackson County Court for Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on charges they failed to report suspected child sex abuse to authorities.

The next pre-trial conference is scheduled for March 27 and the trial is scheduled to go forward Sept. 24.

Finn and the diocese pleaded not guilty after a grand jury indicted them for failing to report alleged child pornography involving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, who faces federal and state charges of child pornography possession, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

GERMANY
The Local

A Catholic priest found guilty of over 250 charges of sexual abuse towards young boys has been sentenced to six years in prison, a German court announced on Thursday.

The 46-year-old from Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, was found guilty of abusing three boys aged between nine and 15. He was spared a longer sentence because he admitted to 250 of the 280 suspected cases.

Of the reported incidents, 214 were classified by the court as serious sexual abuse, while the remaining 36 were classified simply as sexual abuse.

“He has systematically violated the trust that is bestowed upon Catholic priests,” said the Judge Manfred Teiwes.

GERMANY
Expatica

A German court jailed a Roman Catholic priest for six years Thursday after convicting him of 250 counts of sexually abusing three boys over a seven-year period, an official said.

The 46-year-old priest, who was arrested in July, admitted during the trial to sexually abusing the boys, aged nine to 15, whose families the priest knew, a court spokesman said.

"Due to the high number of cases of sexual abuse, many of which were cases of aggravated abuse, he was handed a total sentence of six years," the spokesman said.

WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

With new evidence Walworth County DA brings criminal charges against minister for failure to report abuse

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT 414.336.8575

The Lake Geneva News reports that Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss will file criminal charges for a third time against Joseph R. Fultz. Fultz is a former minister of Grace Evangelical Church who is being charged with failure to report child abuse or neglect. Fultz is facing five counts of failure to report because he is alleged to have had knowledge that children in his church were being sexually assaulted and he failed to notify law enforcement officials.

Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss is to be commended for his persistence in holding Fultz accountable with new evidence, despite the previous dismissal of charges by Judge Robert Kennedy. Koss remains undeterred, and for good reason: “I think it’s crucial that those who watch over the welfare of children, know there have been sexual assaults, and are mandated reporters, follow the law so kids are safe”.

Wisconsin law requires that professionals working with or responsible for the well being of children are mandated to report child abuse and neglect. Koss is to be commended for steadfastly pursuing charges against this once trusted member of the community who was charged with watching over children in his care.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

Prosecutors in the high-profile abuse cases in Philadelphia are revealing that their cases may be more about their open distaste for the Catholic Church than their desire for justice for abused children.

In a hearing on Tuesday (1/24/12), Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington (a so-called "Chief of Special Investigations") actually asserted the following to the presiding judge:

"Time and time and time again, [Catholic officials] lie to victims because they are not concerned about the victims; they are just concerned about the almighty dollar and mother Church."

Blessington's remark was made after Monday's hearing where another Assistant District Attorney, Mark Cipolletti, claimed:

"The archdiocese was supplying [an accused ex-priest] with an endless amount of victims … It was a willful blindness."

VATICAN CITY
The Times Leader

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Thursday defended its transfer of a top official to Washington after he exposed alleged corruption in the awarding of Holy See contracts.

The Vatican also warned that it could take legal action against a TV show that reported on the case. The Italian investigative news program, “The Untouchables,” showed letters from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano to Pope Benedict XVI begging not to be transferred after exposing corruption costing the Vatican millions of euros (dollars).

Vigano was removed in October as the No. 2 administrator of the Vatican city-state and was named the pope’s ambassador to Washington. While the job is highly prestigious, the posting took Vigano far from headquarters and out of the running for the Vatican’s top administrative job, which carries with it the rank of cardinal.

The Vatican statement said Vigano was given one of the most important roles in Vatican diplomacy, citing this as proof of Benedict’s “unquestionable respect and trust” in him.
The statement did not respond to specific allegations aired Wednesday night on the news show on the private La7 network. It criticized “questionable journalistic methods” such as revealing confidential documents and complained that information was presented “in a superficial and biased manner.”

MISSISSIPPI
The Clarion-Ledger

Mississippi corrections officials say a man accused of killing a Catholic priest and setting off in his car on a Disney vacation has been found dead in a prison cell of an apparent suicide.

Jeremy Wayne Manieri, 33, was charged with shooting the Rev. Ed Everitt of Hammond, La., in July 2011 at a beach house in Waveland, Miss.

Manieri's attorney, Brian Alexander, confirmed that he was found dead early Thursday morning. Manieri was being held at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County.

Manieri was a handy man at the house used by a group of Catholic priests as a beach retreat. Prosecutors said he shot Everitt with the priest's own gun.

Manieri had claimed he shot Everitt after he passed out from alcohol and marijuana use and found the priest fondling him. But investigators had charged robbery was the motive because when Manieri was arrested in Florida authorities said he had the priest's car, gun and wallet.

IRELAND
Irish Examiner

By Cormac O’Keeffe

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) has moved a step closer towards launching an investigation into the Garda handling of cases criticised in the Cloyne report.

Following six months of discussions with the Murphy Commission, the GSOC has recently received the full, unredacted, or unedited, version of their report into the Catholic diocese.

A spokesman for the GSOC said yesterday: "We have now received the full unredacted version of the report and the commission is now examining its contents." He declined to make any further comment until this process was completed.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

A Jackson County judge set a September date for the trial of Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic diocese in the case of whether they failed to report suspected child sex abuse to authorities.

Lawyers for Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph met with Judge John Torrence this morning. Torrence set March 27 as the next pre-trial conference, when the court expects to deal with motions filed by the defense.

Finn and the diocese have pleaded not guilty. Their trial now is scheduled for Sept. 24.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Philly Post

By Tim Whitaker 1/26/2012

“They’re rats and they’re wimps.”

That’s what William Brennan, a lawyer representing a local priest who allegedly abused a 14-year-old in the 1990s while receiving monthly church stipends despite having already been accused of abuse, recently called the nuns who ratted out his client.

The nuns in question, if you can imagine such a thing, turned on the priest, who was living in a church residence with young men and throwing loud parties.

The nuns ratted him out to the archdiocese. But they also made it clear they didn’t want it disclosed that they were the informants.

Which means not only were they rats. They were wimps too.

And that’s the very point the priest’s lawyer was making. Nuns or no nuns, you can’t trust anyone who’s a rat and a wimp.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Independent

The highest representatives of the Austrian Catholic Church gathered with Vatican officials to speak about a group of priests who declared themselves "disobedient", it has emerged.

The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper revealed yesterday (Weds) that Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn and two other members of the Conference of Austrian Bishops, went to Rome on Monday to meet with clergymen in the Vatican. The paper claimed that the gathering was organised to discuss how to react to the increasing acclaim among Austrians for the demands of Helmut Schüller’s Preachers’ Initiative.

Schüller – who was president of Caritas Austria for some years before withdrawing to Probstdorf in Lower Austria to head the local parish – presented the guidelines of his movement half a year ago. He said the Preachers’ Initiative wanted the Vatican to allow Austrian priests to give Holy Communion to divorced people. The rebellious group also want female priests in the Catholic Church and an abolition of celibacy.

AUSTRIA
Austrian Independent

The highest representatives of the Austrian Catholic Church gathered with Vatican officials to speak about a group of priests who declared themselves "disobedient", it has emerged.

The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper revealed yesterday (Weds) that Viennese Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn and two other members of the Conference of Austrian Bishops, went to Rome on Monday to meet with clergymen in the Vatican. The paper claimed that the gathering was organised to discuss how to react to the increasing acclaim among Austrians for the demands of Helmut Schüller’s Preachers’ Initiative.

Schüller – who was president of Caritas Austria for some years before withdrawing to Probstdorf in Lower Austria to head the local parish – presented the guidelines of his movement half a year ago. He said the Preachers’ Initiative wanted the Vatican to allow Austrian priests to give Holy Communion to divorced people. The rebellious group also want female priests in the Catholic Church and an abolition of celibacy.

SOUTH DAKOTA
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Hello,

We need your help here in South Dakota. HB 1218 http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2012/Bill.aspx?Bill=1218 will be before the House Judiciary Committee next week, either Wednesday or Friday.

We will have a positive date later today. As you can see Representative Hickey has garnered many co-sponsors.

The help we need is sending messages to those members of the committee whose names are listed here. The message needs to encourage support for HB 1218 in a positive way. So many of these kind folks receive “nasty” emails on a daily basis, we do not want to be confrontational in any way.

IRELAND
National Catholic Reporter

by Eugene Cullen Kennedy on Jan. 19, 2012 Bulletins from the Human Side

In a story likely to be unsurpassed as what psychologists term an "unobtrusive measure" of what is wrong with the Catholic church in Ireland, its venerable national seminary at Maynooth has decided, according to The Irish Catholic, to "separate the seminary environment from the wider university community."

Perhaps it is modeled on the new television series "Alcatraz," in which ghostly former inmates return to the famous prison that is now a cold and empty symbol of the golden age of isolating big-time gangsters like Al Capone from the world they might harm. It was called "the Rock," a nickname given to many seminaries that flourished in a roughly parallel golden age of isolating small-fry seminarians from the world that might harm them.

That was the pre-Vatican II world in which seminarians were prepared for working among men and women by such spurn-the-world spiritual ideals as the famous one from the Imitation of Christ: "As often as I have been among men, I have returned less a man."

IRELAND
Vatican Insider

Postcards, petitions, and protests - many citizens want their country’s representative to stay at the Holy See

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

A Catholic wave has come crashing down on the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. In Dublin, 100,000 postcards were sent to the head of government in protest at the closure of the Irish Embassy to the Holy See. Two months ago, Ireland downgraded its representation in the Holy See from resident to non-resident.

The website of the international movement "We Are Church" reported a statement made by the Jesuit essayist, Fr. Brian Lennon, published in the Italian Jesuit monthly magazine Popoli. Fr. Lennon warned that “the government has got the time frame wrong: it was in 1998 that Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Congregation for the Clergy, told the Irish bishops that the Vatican’s policy was to protect priests when they were accused.” According to the Government, this occurred within the last three years. “While it is a regrettable inaccuracy in such an important statement by the government, the minister’s words probably reflect the general indignation aroused by the revelations of the Cloyne Report,” Fr. Brian Lennon observed.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 26 JAN 2012 (VIS) - At midday today the Holy See Press Office published a note written by its director, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., concerning a television programme, "Gli intoccabili", transmitted yesterday evening by Italy's "La7" television network. Fr. Lombardi highlights the "questionable journalistic methods" with which the programme was made, and his "disappointment at the revelation of reserved documents", noting that such things often form part of the "biased coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church".

The Holy See Press Office director then turns to focus on two considerations "which were not given space in the course of the debate". Firstly "the activities of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano as secretary general of the Governorate of Vatican City State certainly had many positive aspects, as he contributed to the efforts being made to ensure administrative rigour, economisation and the improvement of what was a difficult overall economic situation. ... However, a fairer evaluation would have taken account of the trends of the market, the investment criteria adopted over recent years, and other important circumstances. ... Certain accusations - some very serious - made during the course of the programme, especially those concerning the members of the Finance and Management Committee of the Governorate and the Secretariat of State, will lead both the Secretariat of State and the Governorate to adopt all measures (including if necessary legal measures) to protect the honour of morally upright and highly professional people who serve the Church, the Pope and the common good. In any case, the positive criteria of correct and transparent management which inspired Archbishop Vigano certainly continue to guide the current directors of the Governorate. ... This is in keeping with the policy to which the Holy See is committed of increasing transparency and attentively monitoring of economic activities".

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge today heard more disturbing evidence — including some admissions — of priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who sexually assaulted boys and physically hurt children but still were allowed to continue their service, and their abuse.

The prosecution alleges these “prior bad acts” show a pattern of conduct by the church that contributed to the criminal conduct of defendant Msgr. William Lynn.

Some of the cases cited in court — about 30 in all — date back to the 1960s, but in many of those cases the priests continued to serve for decades. Among the allegations is that predator priests in some cases preyed on numerous children, in unspeakable ways.

CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino

La trasmissione televisiva "Gli intoccabili" andata in onda ieri sera, accompagnata dall’abituale contorno di articoli e commenti può essere oggetto di molteplici considerazioni, a cominciare dalla discutibilità del metodo e degli espedienti giornalistici con cui è stata realizzata, per continuare con l’amarezza per la diffusione di documenti riservati. Ma non è di questo che ora vogliamo principalmente parlare, essendo oggi tutto ciò fin troppo abituale, sia come metodo generale, sia come stile di informazione faziosa nei confronti del Vaticano e della Chiesa cattolica. Proponiamo piuttosto due semplici considerazioni che non hanno trovato spazio nel dibattito.

La prima. L’azione svolta da mons. Viganò come Segretario Generale del Governatorato ha certamente avuto aspetti molto positivi, contribuendo ad una gestione caratterizzata dalla ricerca del rigore amministrativo, del risparmio e del raddrizzamento di una situazione economica complessiva difficile. Questi risultati, ottenuti durante la Presidenza del card. Lajolo, sono chiari e non sono negati da nessuno. Una valutazione più adeguata richiederebbe tuttavia di tener conto dell’andamento dei mercati e dei criteri degli investimenti nel corso degli ultimi anni, ricordare anche altre circostanze importanti, come i risultati notevolissimi dell’attività dei Musei Vaticani, con flusso accresciuto di pubblico e orari di apertura più ampi, ricordare le finalità non puramente economiche ma di supporto della missione della Chiesa universale da parte dello Stato della Città del Vaticano che sono motivo di spese anche notevoli, e così via. Alcune accuse poi – anche molto gravi – fatte nel corso della trasmissione, in particolare quelle nei confronti dei membri del Comitato Finanza e Gestione del Governatorato e della Segreteria di Stato di Sua Santità, impegnano la Segreteria di Stato stessa e il Governatorato a perseguire tutte le vie opportune, se necessario legali, per garantire l’onorabilità di persone moralmente integre e di riconosciuta professionalità, che servono lealmente la Chiesa, il Papa e il bene comune.

AUSTRIA
The Associated Press

VIENNA (AP) — The Vienna archdiocese has apologized for the publication of a list of people who have formally left the Roman Catholic church.

A statement says those affected have been asked "for forgiveness," noting making the names public "is not allowed by state or church rules."

The statement was issued Thursday after a priest in a village north of Vienna listed local church-leavers in the diocese newspaper. The archdiocese says the priest has since "apologized in the form of a Mass and has written those affected a letter" of apology.

DEUTSCHLAND
op-online

Braunschweig - Weil er über Jahre mehrere Jungen sexuell missbraucht hat, muss ein katholischer Priester aus Salzgitter für sechs Jahre ins Gefängnis. Er soll sich 250 Mal vergriffen haben.

Der 46-Jährige habe sich in 250 Fällen an drei 9 bis 15 Jahre alten Jungen vergangen, urteilte das Landgericht Braunschweig am Donnerstag.

NEDERLAND
Tubantia

OOTMARSUM - Hij blijft shockeren en confronteren. De Ootmarsumse kunstenaar Frans Houben stelt op allerlei mogelijke manieren het seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk aan de kaak. Zij nieuwste uiting voor de galerie aan de Oldenzaalsestraat is een glasgebakken kruis met een corpus ernaast en een bord met de tekst: Vol verlangen ging ik toen hangen, nu: 2012 jaar later heb ik een dikke vette kater.

Hiermee stelt hij dat de kruisiging van Jezus Christus niets heeft gebracht. Volgens velen in Ootmarsum overschrijdt Houben daarmee de grens van het betamelijke. Omdat hij Jezus aan het kruis in zijn protest betrekt, zou er sprake zijn van godslastering. Houben is zich echter van geen kwaad bewust.

BELGIE
Vandaag

De deskundigen van de Kamercommissie Seksueel Misbruik in de Kerk moeten nagaan of ook een schaderegeling mogelijk is voor slachtoffers van verjaard seksueel misbruik in de sportsector en in de medische wereld. Dat vindt minister van Justitie Annemie Turtelboom (Open Vld).

Ze antwoordde zopas op een vraag van CD&V-fractieleider Raf Terwingen. Hij wees erop dat vele slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik dat door niet-geestelijken is gepleegd, zich gediscrimineerd voelen omdat zij geen schadevergoeding meer kunnen krijgen als hun feiten verjaard zijn. Slachtoffers van geestelijken kunnen dit wel, dank zij het akkoord dat de Kerk met de Kamercommissie Seksueel Misbruik sloot.

TOLEDO (OH)
NorthwestOhio

TOLEDO -- A Toledo priest is appealing a judge's decision to deny him a new trial.

Published reports say in a notice of appeal filed Monday, Rev. Gerald Robinson claims his constitutional rights were violated because police documents that could have helped his defense attorneys were misfiled and not discovered until years after his trial.

VATICAN CITY
AFP

VATICAN CITY — A top Vatican official who is now the envoy to Washington denounced corruption and waste in the management of the Holy See in letters to Pope Benedict XVI, Italian media reported on Wednesday.

Carlo Maria Vigano was secretary general of the governorate of the Vatican -- the person in charge of the administration -- until October, when he was named ambassador to the United States in what was seen as a demotion.

In extracts from the letters published in Corriere della Sera and Libero, Vigano said he had faced a "disastrous" situation when he became head of the governorate in 2009 and said his transfer to Washington was "punishment".

"My transfer is causing disarray and discouragement among those who believed it was possible to resolve the numerous situations of corruption and waste" in the Vatican, he reportedly said in one letter to the pope in March 2011.

CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

GUELPH Former Hamilton Catholic priest James Boudreau has pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Boudreau, a 68-year-old bald, heavy-set man, wearing silver-rimmed glasses, stood beside his lawyer Roger Yachetti as he pleaded guilty in Guelph’s provincial court to two sexual assaults.

He will be sentenced April 13.

Court was told Boudreau, now retired, took advantage of a young man’s friendship and another’s interest in the clergy when he sexually assaulted the two in the 1980s.

GERMANY
Monsters and Critics

Braunschweig, Germany - A German court convicted a priest Thursday of sexually abusing three boys and sent him jail for six years in one of the worst recent abuse cases to come to light in Germany's Catholic Church.

The 46-year-old man, whose name was withheld under privacy guidelines for media, was convicted in Braunschweig on 214 aggravated counts of sex with a minor and 36 lesser counts of the same charge.

The court heard the parish priest abused the children during youth camps.

'He exploited the trust of their parents,' said Judge Manfred Teiwes as he passed sentence. The defendant admitted the charges after a plea bargain at the start of the trial fixing an upper limit on the sentence.

GERMANY
The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — A German court has convicted a Roman Catholic priest of some 250 counts of sexually abusing children over a several-year period and sentenced him to six years in prison.

German news agency dapd reported that the state court in Braunschweig on Thursday convicted the priest, who was found guilty of abusing three boys aged 9 to 15 between 2004 and 2011.

The 46-year-old priest, who wasn't identified, was arrested in July after one victim told his mother what had happened. He admitted the abuse when he went on trial Jan. 13.

He also faces church disciplinary proceedings.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced Wednesday that a Kansas City-area pastor has been placed on administrative leave.

The Rev. Robert Finn said the Rev. Matthew Bartulica has been restricted from public ministry. He has been the pastor at St. Cyril Parish in Sugar Creek, Mo.

In a press release, the diocese said information came to the Ombudsman that prompted Finn and the Independent Review Board to "invoke a strict application of all diocesan policies and procedures."

SUGAR CREEK (CO)
The Examiner

Posted Jan 25, 2012

Sugar Creek, MO —

A Sugar Creek pastor has been placed on administrative leave.

The Rev. Matthew Bartulica had served as pastor for St. Cyril Parish in Sugar Creek for about six months before the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph placed him on administrative leave earlier this week.

On Wednesday, the diocese said in a press release that information came to the Ombudsman that prompted Bishop Robert Finn and the Independent Review Board to “invoke a strict application of all diocesan policies and procedures.”

In the wake of the church’s recent sex scandal, Finn appointed the ombudsman as an independent public liaison to field and investigate any reports of suspicious or inappropriate behavior. The church said it would not comment about the nature of the information involving Bartulica until more facts were known.

CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer

Published 11:28 p.m., Wednesday, January 25, 2012

For the past five years Rod Khattabi's work as a federal agent has taken him through the sewers of child pornography, the degradation of teenage prostitutes and the horrific sexual abuse of Haitian and South African children in humanitarian programs.

Each time, Khattabi has come back with evidence to arrest and convict people like Edgardo Sensi, who with his girlfriend made child pornography of sexual encounters with the woman's 8-year old daughter in Fairfield County; Corey Davis, of New York; Theodore Briggs, of Norwalk, for running separate prostitution rings involving teenage girls; Douglas Perlitz, who admitted abusing Haitian street boys in a program he designed to feed, educate and clothe them; and Jessie Osmun, a Peace Corps volunteer from Milford, now under arrest for abusing girls as young as 4 in a South African HIV-encampment.

"I've put narcotics traffickers, money launderers and gun runners behind bars and that feels good," Khattabi said. "But being able to build a case against a sexual abuser and knowing that you may have saved a child ... there's no better feeling than that. You feel like you made a difference."

AUSTRALIA
Clan.org

The Greens MP David Shoebridge has produced a consultation paper regarding a proposed legal reform which will make it easier for victims of sexual abuse to seek fair compensation from the Catholic Church.

David Shoebridge Greens MP is asking interested parties to read this consultation paper and put in submissions based on the ten consultation questions.

Please understand this is not about you writing your personal story, it is a chance to comment on the consultation paper only and you need to answer the 10 questions.

Click HERE to view the consultation paper

NEDERLAND
Klokk

Als we alles op een rijtje zetten, dan staat de zaak van seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk totaal op zijn kop. In ons huidig Nederlands Strafrecht wordt de verdachte als dader gestraft. Wat ondenkbaar is, is dat de verdachte bepaald welke regels en normen aanwezig zijn betreffende het onderzoek naar ´zijn daderschap´ en als veroordeelde dader nooit kan bepalen welke straf of boete hij/zij krijgt.

De kerk zag in begin 2010 de bui al hangen en nam ogenblikkelijk veel initiatieven. Bij te grote publiciteit, vond de kerk – waarom juist de kerk?- het noodzakelijk dit onafhankelijk te laten onderzoeken. De kerk stelde een onafhankelijke commissie in, de commissie Deetman. En daarover wil ik alleen maar kwijt dat mijn gevoelens van onafhankelijkheid bij de commissie Deetman volledig aanwezig was. Alleen mocht de commissie alleen dat onderzoeken wat de kerk – de daders- aan opdracht hadden meegegeven. Het is dan zo simpel om jezelf in dat onderzoek te beschermen.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

A letter written by a Philadelphia priest four decades ago about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing could help prove that church officials endangered children 30 years later, a prosecutor contended Wednesday.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia learned about the letter in 1968, but allowed the Rev. John Mulholland to work and minister at parishes across the region until 2002, Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen said.

"It shows that they put blinders on," Sorensen told Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

Prosecutors want to be allowed to tell jurors about decades-old conduct by Mulholland, who no longer is a priest, and dozens of other priests during the March trial for William J. Lynn, the archdiocese's former secretary for clergy. They say the evidence will help them prove that Lynn's actions regarding two other priests, facing trial with him, are part of a long-term pattern or practice by the church of protecting abusive clergy and hiding their conduct from parishioners.

UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

A TEENAGER was so upset after being sexually abused by a priest that he tried to kill himself, a court heard.

The alleged victim is one of eight people who have come forward to claim they were abused by Alexander Bede Walsh as youngsters. The alleged abuse is said to have taken place over 20 years between 1974 and 1994.

Walsh, aged 58, is currently on trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court facing 27 charges including indecent assault and indecency.

Yesterday, jurors heard from one alleged victim who claimed he went to stay with Walsh when he worked at Cotton College in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

IRELAND
Irish Catholic

Senior Vatican officials will hear first hand of the experiences of Irish abuse victims at a major conference in Rome early next month aimed at ensuring better Church guidelines worldwide to ensure abuse allegations are handled properly.

Marie Collins, who was abused by Dublin priest Fr Paul McGennis, was one of the first people to come forward on how the Church failed to respond properly to her abuse.

She was instrumental in the Government's decision to set up the Murphy Commission. She will speak of her experiences before Church leaders from all over the globe as well as senior Vatican officials such as Cardinal William Levada.

Irish Church leaders will also be among the delegates. The Conference of Religious in Ireland (Cori) -- which represents more than 9,000 women and men religious -- will be represented by Sr Marianne O'Connor.

VATICAN CITY
IOL News (South Africa)

January 26 2012
By NICOLE WINFIELD

An Italian news programme has obtained letters from a top Vatican official to the pope in which he begs not to be transferred after exposing corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts that cost the Holy See millions of euros (dollars).

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was removed in October as the No 2 administrator of the Vatican city-state and was named the pope's ambassador to Washington. While the job is highly prestigious, the posting took Vigano far from headquarters and out of the running for the Vatican's top administrative job, which carries with it the rank of cardinal.

The investigative news programme “The Untouchables” on the private La7 network broadcast a series of letters Vigano sent Pope Benedict XVI and the secretary of state last year in which he claimed to have exposed corruption and abuse of office in the running of the Vatican's administration.

Vigano said he corrected them during his two years as secretary-general of the Vatican city-state, the Vatican department that is responsible for everything from maintaining the pope's gardens to running the Vatican Museums.

VATICAN CITY
AGI

(AGI) Vatican City - The Italian bishops call for "a renewed support by the ecclesial community to paedophilia victims".

They ask that the issue of sexual abuse of underage children by members of the church be addressed "with a spirit of justice, first of all showing great consideration for the victims of such abuses and also focusing on the training of future priests". CEI spokesman, monsignor Domenico Pompili, said so, reporting on the works of the permanent episcopal council, under way in Rome. . .

AUSTRALIA
Waverley Leader

by Tim Michell

AN Oakleigh family is praying they have not been victims of a three-month smokescreen as the State Government prepares to release a report into vulnerable children on Friday.

Chrissie and Anthony Foster, who have campaigned for a Royal Commission into sex abuse in the Catholic Church, are awaiting the results of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry.

Ms Foster said they hoped adding the terms of reference relating to church sexual abuses to an existing inquiry was not simply a stalling tactic.

“We’re hopeful that it’s not just a delaying tactic and we can get the response we’re after.”

In October last year, the government announced the inquiry would include an examination of the reporting of alleged abuses by Victorian churches and whether it should be made mandatory.

UNITED STATES
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press

Updated 01:22 p.m., Wednesday, January 25, 2012

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University has prompted state lawmakers across the nation to take another look at laws designed to protect children and punish child predators.

Thirty-eight legislatures are back in session this month, most for the first time since retired assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged in November with child sex abuse and two school officials were charged with failing to properly report abuse allegations. At least 12 states are considering mandatory reporting legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and more are expected to craft bills as their sessions get into full swing.

In addition to measures to improve the reporting of suspected child sex abuse, bills have been drafted across the country that would increase or even eliminate the statutes of limitations for bringing criminal or civil cases against alleged abusers.

WISCONSIN
Lake Geneva News

Rob Ireland

January 25, 2012 |
ELKHORN — A judge twice dismissing criminal charges against a former Walworth minister hasn't dissuaded the District Attorney's Office from pursuing the case.

On Monday, Walworth County District Attorney Phil Koss filed, for the third time, a criminal complaint against Joseph R. Fultz, who was the minister at Grace Evangelical Church.

Fultz is accused of having knowledge, but not reporting to law enforcement, sexual assaults that occurred between young boys at his church, at Faith Christian School and at the Abbey Resort. Fultz is not accused of having direct inappropriate contact with children.

UNITED KINGDOM
Grantham Journal

Published on Thursday 26 January 2012

A Church of England priest has been arrested by Sussex Police investigating historic allegations of sexual abuse on young boys in the late 1980s.

Semi-retired Father Wilkie Denford, 76, was held with an unnamed 68-year-old man who worked as an organist in the Lewes area of East Sussex, sources confirmed.

Both were arrested by Sussex Police child protection detectives on November 3 on suspicion of sexually abusing two young boys at locations in West Sussex in 1988.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The prosecution presents evidence of decades of what it calls “prior bad acts” it hopes to present in the clergy abuse trial. Authorities say this shows a pattern of ignoring abuse and protecting ‘predator priests’ long before the crimes allegedly committed in this case. Authorities allege the motive was money.

The prosecution has cited countless instances in which Archdiocesan officials were aware of alleged abuse by dozens of priests over decades, even cases in which priests admitted abuse, but allegedly the Archdiocese failed to act, often until the threat of a leak or legal action.

One prosecutor has told the court that was the concern of the Archdiocese. Another prosecutor told the court that church officials were not concerned about victims. They were concerned about liability, the almighty dollar, mother church.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A letter written by a Philadelphia priest four decades ago about teenage brothers on a sadomasochistic outing could help prove that church officials endangered children 30 years later, a prosecutor contended Wednesday.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia learned about the letter in 1968, but allowed the former Rev. John Mulholland to work and minister at parishes across the region until 2002, Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen said.

"It shows that they put blinders on," Sorensen told Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

Prosecutors want to be allowed to tell jurors about decades-old conduct by Mulholland and dozens of other priests during the March trial for William J. Lynn, the archdiocese's former secretary for clergy. They say the evidence will help them prove that Lynn's actions regarding two other priests, facing trial with him, are part of a long-term pattern or practice by the church of protecting abusive clergy and hiding their conduct from parishioners.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV

By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager - email

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
A Catholic priest in the Sugar Creek area has been placed on administrative leave and removed from the ministry.

Bishop Robert Finn said in a statement that information from the ombudsman of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph had prompted "a strict application of all diocesan policies and procedures."

Finn emphasized that the investigation is the preliminary stages.

"The diocese urges everyone to understand that further information only can be made available once the facts are known," Finn said in the statement.

The diocese identified the priest in their statement, but KCTV5 is not doing so because he has not been charged or sued civilly.

UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 25, 2012

From the Office of Keep Your Trap Shut, You Pesky Victims’ Activists:

Pope Benedict yesterday espoused the virtues of silence:

By remaining silent, we allow the other person to speak, to express him or herself, and we avoid being tied simply to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested.

Ah, the irony. I am honestly surprised I didn’t receive a signed copy of the speech in the mail with a gift-wrapped roll of duct tape.

Here’s my favorite:

The most authentic communication takes place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
SNAP Wisconsin

The Philadelphia Daily News reported today on developments in the upcoming trial of Monsignor William Lynn. Lynn, the secretary for clergy under cardinal Belivacqua, is charged with endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy for his role in transferring known sex offending clerics into unsuspecting parishes.

Philadelphia prosecutors appeared before Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina and attempted to persuade her to allow into evidence earlier reports of child sex crimes against dozens of priests from the archdiocese. Prosecutors believe that these reports of childhood sexual assault, made during Lynn’s tenure as secretary of clergy, clearly demonstrate a pattern of behavior by Monsignor Lynn.

Lynn, as secretary of the clergy in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, was responsible for investigating reports of clergy sexual assault. He is the highest ranking Catholic cleric in the United States to face trial for his role in knowingly providing priest predators with continued access to children. He is being tried with Fr. James Brennan who is reported to have raped a 14 year old altar boy, Fr. Charles Engelhardt, and former priest Edward Avery. Engelhardt and Avery are each charged with raping a 10 year old boy.

UNITED STATES
The Huffington Post

Danielle Tumminio

This January marks the 10th anniversary of the clergy sex abuse scandal that rocked the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. What began as a series of news reports in the Boston Globe about six Roman Catholic priests and the cover-up arranged by Cardinal Law led to accusations against Christian leaders across the United States and internationally.

Ten years after the scandal erupted, clergy sexual abuse has been reported everywhere from Austria to Australia, and while it remains the case that only a small percentage of Christian clergy perpetrate sexual abuse, the effects of this small number of individuals is felt, at some level, by every Christian and by clergy trying to understand what the scandal means for them as leaders.

While they don't make news headlines, the majority of priests and pastors across denominations do not commit abuse, and this group of individuals take their vocation very seriously. They dedicate their lives to bringing Christianity's hope to their communities, to allowing God's light to permeate the darkness.

What effect, then, has the sexual abuse scandal in the Church had on them?

Clergy realize that one of the most prominent ramifications of the scandal is the way in which the safety of the Church is no longer assumed. Ten years ago, many people, including clergy, assumed the church was a safe place for all people, including children, just as prior to Sept. 11, a certain amount of airport security was assumed in the United States that we no longer take for granted, as we remove our shoes at security checkpoints, stand in full-body scanners and submit to questioning by TSA officials. Likewise, clergy ordained prior to the sex abuse scandal remember a time when the Church was an assumed safe place. Today, that assumption is not made in the same way.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Lawyer: Church official threw monsignor ‘under the bus’ amid child sex accusations in Philly

By Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — An indicted Catholic church official is showing signs he won’t take the fall alone for the priest abuse scandal in Philadelphia, with his lawyer saying Wednesday that a successor threw him “under the bus.”

Monsignor William Lynn, 61, is the only official from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia facing trial for allegedly failing to remove accused predators from the priesthood. He served as secretary of clergy from 1992 to 2004.

Defense lawyers argue that Lynn took orders from then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and other superiors in the church hierarchy.

Prosecutors hope to include dozens of old abuse allegations to show a pattern of conduct at the trial, which is scheduled to start in late March and last several months.

CHILE
La Tercera

por Angélica Baeza Palavecino - 25/01/2012

Fernando Karadima fue dado de alta ayer a las 15.45 horas, luego de haber ingresado el sábado por la tarde al Hospital Clínico de la UC tras sufrir un shock glicémico.

La información fue confirmada por su abogado Cristián Muga, quien indicó a La Tercera que se encuentra en buen estado de salud y estable.

MISSOURI
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS

Bishop Robert Finn has placed a priest in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese on administrative leave and restricted him from public ministry, the diocese confirmed today.

“In recent weeks, information came to the Ombudsman that prompted Bishop Finn and the Independent Review Board to invoke a strict application of all diocesan policies and procedures,” the diocese said in a statement.

The diocese announced the action at the priest’s church Sunday but provided no further details about the case or what the allegations involved.

“While this investigation is in a preliminary phase, the diocese urges everyone to understand that further information only can be made available once the facts are known,” the statement said.

CANADA
Guelph Mercury

GUELPH —Former Catholic priest James Boudreau took advantage of a young man’s friendship and another’s interest in the clergy when he sexually assaulted the two in the 1980s, a city courtroom heard Wednesday.

The 68-year-old bald, heavy-set man, wearing silver-rimmed glasses stood beside his lawyer Roger Yachetti as he pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults in Guelph’s provincial court.

Boudreau served as pastor at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, on Victoria Road North, from 1978 to 1985. He went on to work at six other Ontario churches, including Kitchener’s St. John’s Catholic Church.

CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 25, 2012

Let’s hope Fr. Boudreau is put behind bars for a long time so no more kids are hurt. Let’s also hope that others who saw, suspected or suffered his crimes will step forward, get help, expose wrongdoers and start healing.

His bishop must personally go to each parish where Boudreau worked, begging anyone with suspicions or information about his crimes to step forward and call law enforcement. Anything short of that is irresponsible.

NEW YORK
Observer-Dispatch

By ROCCO LaDUCA
Observer-Dispatch

Posted Jan 25, 2012

UTICA —

Whenever the collection was taken at the Church of the Sacred Heart and St. Mary Our Lady of Czestochowa in New York Mills, the parishioners believed their charity was going to benefit the church.

Instead, the money went to help their longtime pastor, the Rev. Valentine Krul, live a better a life, including buying a condominium in Florida, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, Krul, 61, of Forestport, pleaded guilty in Oneida County Court to second-degree grand larceny for stealing more than $87,000 from the church between October 2008 and January 2011.

Krul was taken into custody after his plea to begin serving six months in Oneida County jail, where he once worked as chaplain for the Sheriff’s Office.

BELGIE
Klokk

Tegen de achtergrond van het seksueel kindermisbruik door de bisschop van Brugge Roger Vangheluwe werd bij het aantreden van de nieuwe aartsbisschop André-Joseph Léonard door hem nadrukkelijk beloofd dat seksueel kindermisbruik in een pastorale relatie van dan af altijd zou worden aangegeven bij justitie. Hij baseerde zich daarbij op een officieuze richtlijn van het Vaticaan die reageerde op het stilzwijgen van Benedictus XVI op Pasen 2010. Die werd gepubliceerd op de public relations website van het Vaticaan: ‘Gids voor het verstaan van de basisprocedure van de congregatie van de geloofsleer betreffende beschuldigingen van seksueel misbruik’ (http://www.vatican.va/ressources/resources_guide-CDF-procedures_en.html).

CALIFORNIA
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

The Los Angeles Daily Journal, a publication serving the law community, has reported that a leading Los Angeles abuse victim attorney, Raymond P. Boucher, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

At the time that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles paid out $660 million to 508 alleged abuse victims in July of 2007, Boucher was representing as many as 245 plaintiffs who were suing the Catholic Church.

The Journal cites "lengthy divorce proceedings" as the cause for the bankruptcy filing. Although Boucher and his wife made their divorce final in 2008, they continue to dispute over money issues.

The Journal reveals some eye-opening numbers related to the earnings Boucher may have garnered from clergy settlements in recent years.

NEW YORK
WKTV

By JOLEEN FERRIS

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - A longtime priest in the Village of New York Mills was in Oneida County Court in Utica on Wednesday, where he admitted to taking money from the church's bank account for his own use.

Father Valentine Krul pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree grand larceny, facing five years probation with the first six months spent in the Oneida County Jail.

Father Valentine, as he was known by many in the community, was actually the chaplain for the Oneida County Sheriff's Department for more than 20 years. A priest for 34 years, he had been assigned to St. Mary's Church in New York Mills for the past 17 years.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

[with video]

PHILADELPHIA - Prosecutors in the church abuse case will be in court Wednesday morning pushing to include some 30 child endangerment cases as part of the trial against Monsignor William Lynn.

Lynn is accused of keeping priests around who were suspected of abusing children.

Lynn's defense lawyers argue that he was only doing what Cardinal Bevilaqua told him to do.

CONNECTICUT
Valley Independent Sentinel

by STAFF | Jan 25, 2012

A 43-year-old man testified that he was molested in the 1980s by a priest who was assigned to a grammar school in Derby, the Hartford Courant reported Tuesday (Jan. 24).

The victim, identified only as “Jacob Doe,” took the stand during the first day of a trial in a civil lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford.

The lawsuit claims the Archdiocese knew that the priest, Ivan Ferguson, was a pedophile, but kept transferring to different assignments when complaints arose.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABC News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA January 25, 2012 (AP)

Will a Catholic monsignor be left to defend the sins of the Philadelphia archdiocese in the child sex-abuse scandal?

A judge Wednesday may rule on whether prosecutors can use dozens of old priest-abuse allegations at Monsignor William Lynn's upcoming child-endangerment trial.

Defense lawyers insist Lynn should only be tried for his oversight of the priest and ex-priest on trial with him on rape charges.

CITTA DEL VATICANO
Libero

Beatissimo Padre, un mio trasferimento in questo momento provocherebbe smarrimento e scoramento in quanti hanno creduto fosse possibile risanare tante situazioni di corruzione e prevaricazione da tempo radicate nella gestione delle diverse Direzioni (del governatorato, l’amministrazione vaticana, nda)». È il 27 marzo del 2011. A rivolgersi in termini così drammatici direttamente a Benedetto XVI, denunciando privilegi, corrutele e zone opache Oltretevere, è un sacerdote di primo piano. Carlo Maria Viganò, un monsignore che viene incaricato nell’estate del 2009 su fiducia del Santo Padre a controllare tutti gli appalti e le forniture del Vaticano. La sua opera di tagli e pulizia dà fastidio. Tanto che finisce vittima di una congiura per bloccare l’opera di pulizia che aveva avviato. Da novembre Viganò è stato rimosso. È diventando nunzio apostolico a Washington negli Stati Uniti, andando a ricoprire la più prestigiosa rappresentanza diplomatica della Santa Sede nel mondo.

CITTA DEL VATICANO
Blitz

di Alessandro Camilli

CITTÀ DEL VATICANO – Rimuovereste voi dall’incarico un amministratore che in un anno ha portato i vostri conti da meno 8 milioni di euro a più 34? Probabilmente no, ma le vie del Signore, oltre che infinite, sono anche imperscrutabili. E così a monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò è stata tolta la guida della struttura che gestisce gli appalti e le forniture del più piccolo e, in proporzione, potente Stato della Terra: il Vaticano. In realtà però in questa vicenda il Signore con la “s” maiuscola c’entra poco o niente. I motivi dell’affidamento ad altro, prestigioso per carità, incarico di Viganò sono molto più prosaici: nella sua opera di risanamento forse ha scoperto un sistema di malaffare e corruzione noto e diffuso, pestando i piedi a personaggi molto più potenti di lui.

VATICAN CITY
Times of Malta

A top Vatican official who is now the envoy to Washington denounced corruption and waste in the Holy See in a series of letters to Pope Benedict XVI, Italian media reported today.

Carlo Maria Vigano was secretary general of the governorate of the Vatican -- the person in charge of the administration -- until October, when he was named ambassador to the United States in what was seen as a demotion.

In extracts from the letters published in Corriere della Sera and Libero, Vigano said he had faced a "disastrous" situation when he became head of the governorate in 2009 and said his transfer to Washington was "punishment".

"My transfer is causing disarray and discouragement among those who believed it was possible to resolve the numerous situations of corruption and waste" in the Vatican, he said in one letter to the pope in March 2011.

VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe

January 25, 2012

VATICAN CITY—The Vatican says it has no comment on a media report that an Italian prelate was transferred to Washington as papal ambassador after he wrote to the pope complaining about corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts.

The allegation is carried in a report, being televised Wednesday night, by Gian Luigi Nuzzi, author of a 2009 book outlining the shady dealings by the Vatican bank.

BELGIE
Reformatorisch Dagblad

BRUSSEL (ANP) – Bij de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk in België zijn opnieuw huiszoekingen verricht in verband met het grootscheepse onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik. De politie voerde maandag een 30-tal huiszoekingen uit bij ordes, congregaties en kloostergemeenschappen in Oost- en West-Vlaanderen en Brabant, maakte justitie dinsdag bekend.

Volgens Vlaamse media zijn een kleine honderd persoonlijke dossiers van mogelijk verdachte geestelijken meegenomen. Vorige week waren er een reeks huiszoekingen in de bisdommen.

BELGIE
De Redactie

Politie en gerecht hebben gisteren opnieuw een 30-tal huiszoekingen uitgevoerd in het kader van het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik in de kerk. Daarbij zijn een kleine honderd persoonlijke dossiers van geestelijken in beslag genomen.

De huiszoekingen vonden plaats bij 15 verschillende ordes, congregaties en kloostergemeenschappen in de provincies Oost- en West-Vlaanderen en Brabant. Vorige week waren er al gelijkaardige huiszoekingen bij de verschillende bisdommen in ons land (foto boven).

ITALIA
Pianetanews

«Corruzione». La parola è sinonimo di malaffare e degrado morale. Ma se a pronunciarla è un altissimo prelato vicino al Papa, come rivela questa sera «Gli intoccabili », il programma d’inchiesta del giornalista Gian Luigi Nuzzi che va in onda su La7, allora vengono i brividi. Il suo nome: Carlo Maria Viganò, fino a qualche mese fa segretario generale del governatorato del Vaticano, la struttura che gestisce gli appalti e le forniture del più piccolo e potente Stato della Terra. «Corruzione» è proprio il termine che quel monsignore usa per descrivere in una clamorosa lettera a Benedetto XVI l’incredibile situazione che si è trovato davanti dopo aver assunto nel luglio del 2009 il delicatissimo incarico. Una bomba sganciata nelle stanze del potere vaticano il 27 marzo del 2011, nell’estremo tentativo di sventare una manovra di corridoio che culminerà con la sua rimozione.

ITALIA
Corriere della Sera

Gianluigi Nuzzi torna in prima serata. Il giornalista, che ama le inchieste, costruirà in ognuna delle puntate un’indagine su fenomeni legati alla criminalità organizzata, alla corruzione politica e all’illegalità. Stasera Nuzzi si occupa di un tema su cui ha scritto anche un libro: gli affari del Vaticano.

VATICAN CITY
ABC News (United States)

VATICAN CITY January 25, 2012 (AP)

The Vatican says it has no comment on a media report that an Italian prelate was transferred to Washington as papal ambassador after he wrote to the pope complaining about corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts.

The allegation is carried in a report, being televised Wednesday night, by Gian Luigi Nuzzi, author of a 2009 book outlining the shady dealings by the Vatican bank.

A report in Corriere della Sera on Wednesday said Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano used the term "corruption" in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI to explain the difficulties he faced in his position as secretary-general of the Vatican city-state.

IRELAND
The Associated Press

DUBLIN (AP) — A defrocked Irish priest who was extradited from Brazil with British help has appeared in a Dublin court charged with 55 counts of sexually abusing 18 children.

The judge ordered 72-year-old Peter Kennedy held without bail Wednesday in Dublin's Cloverhill Prison until his next court appearance Feb. 8.

Kennedy fled to England in 2002 after his accusers told police he had molested them when they were children from 1968 to 1984.

The church removed Kennedy from the priesthood in 2003 by which time he had emigrated to Brazil using his British passport. The church that year paid one of Kennedy's accusers euro325,000 ($425,000) in damages, the biggest abuse settlement reported in Ireland.

BELGIE
Nieuws

[video]

Het gerecht heeft opnieuw huiszoekingen verricht in het onderzoek naar seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. Speurders zijn gisteren binnengevallen bij een 30-tal kloosterordes en congregaties. Maar ook bij de paters Oblaten in Blanden vielen ze binnen.

MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot-Ledger

By Roy J. Harris Jr.

Jan. 25, is not a particularly remarkable day for most journalists, except among the top editors of America’s newspapers and news websites.

It is the deadline for submitting entries for the Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious awards for U.S. journalism, dating to 1917. That’s 95 years of honoring great reporting, along with accomplishment in arts and letters acknowledged by the non-journalism branch of the prizes.

As it happens, I’m in Los Angeles talking today to classes at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism. My topic: what I consider the best example of Pulitzer-winning team investigative reporting since Watergate. That reporting, in the Boston Globe, began running 10 years ago this month.

On Jan. 6, 2002, the Globe first vividly documented the Catholic Church hierarchy’s cover-up of priests who sexually abused young parishioners – igniting a scandal still resonating around the U.S. and the world. Rightly, most of the anniversary’s attention so far has focused on the progress made by abuse victims and their families, and the way the issue still resonates within the Church.

NEW MEXICO
El Defensor Chieftain

by Staff | January 25, 2012

Socorroans are mourning the loss of a native son, the much-revered, first New Mexico-born archbishop of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Rev. Robert Fortune Sanchez, who once played baseball on the dirt grounds of Mt. Carmel Catholic School as Bobby Sanchez.

A simple purple and black wreath on the doors of San Miguel Mission over the weekend reminded parishioners and other passers-by that the former archbishop was very much a respected and beloved member of this community.

His onetime classmates at Mt. Carmel held a vigil last Friday night, after learning of his death earlier that day, gathering in front of the historic mission church, now closed for renovations.

NEW MEXICO
El Defensor Chieftain

The Rev. Robert Fortune Sanchez became a state hero in 1974 when he was ordained as the first New Mexico-born Archbishop of Santa Fe and the first Hispanic in the nation to hold the post.

He resigned in disgrace in 1993 as part of a sex scandal that took a heavy toll on the church.

The ordination of Sanchez, then 40, as the nation’s youngest archbishop drew 14,000 jubilant New Mexicans to the Pit at the University of New Mexico.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Prosecutors and defense lawyers in the forthcoming child endangerment trial of a Philadelphia cleric sparred for a second day Tuesday over whether jurors should hear how the monsignor and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia responded to dozens of claims of priests sexually abusing children.

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn, who is accused of making decisions that enabled two priests to molest boys in the 1990s, say letting prosecutors bring up allegations against 27 other priests not charged in the case would be unfair and irrelevant.

They also contend that as the archdiocese's secretary for clergy between 1992 and 2004, Lynn supervised 800 priests but did not have unilateral authority to reassign them, order them into treatment, or remove them from ministry.

Those decisions fell to his superiors, in particular Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, the attorneys said, and were often dictated by broader church policies about how to handle abuse allegations.

NORTHERN IRELAND
UTV

A convicted paedophile priest from Lisburn has been granted compassionate bail for 24 hours to allow him to attend the funeral of a family member.

James Martin Donaghy, 53, has been in custody since December 15 - when he was convicted by a jury of a litany of sex crimes against two altar boys and a trainee priest over a period of 17 years.

During his trial, Belfast Crown Court heard how Donaghy had told one of his victims that a priest's vow of celibacy was "only man-made rules and it's up to your conscience".

BELGIE
Knack

Er werden opnieuw op 31 locaties, bij ordes, congregaties en kloostergemeenschappen, huiszoekingen gedaan.

Gisteren voerde het federaal parket huiszoekingen uit op 31 locaties: bij ordes, congregaties en kloostergemeenschappen. De huiszoekingen kaderen in het onderzoek naar schuldig verzuim binnen de kerk, dat mogelijk sowieso verjaard zou kunnen zijn.