PHOENIX (AZ)
KOLD
PHOENIX An attorney says a former top official in the Phoenix Catholic diocese will be cleared of allegations of sexual improprieties.
Attorney Michael Manning says the allegation against Monsignor Dale Fushek (FYOO'-shek)is baseless and a source of disappointment for Fushek.
Fushek is the pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa and the founder of large youth group.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted placed Fushek on leave after an attorney notified the diocese that a client claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985.
An attorney for the accuser says his client's claim is true and that he will continue to pursue the case.
NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger
Friday, December 31, 2004
BY MARGARET McHUGH
Star-Ledger Staff
A suspended priest charged with molesting teenage boys while working in Morris County had been blackballed 10 years ago by the Archdiocese of Newark when church officials determined he had committed "sexual misconduct" against two males, an archdiocesan spokesman said yesterday.
Richard Mieliwocki, 58, left the Catholic church and became a social worker, continuing to deal with young men. He avoided having his license suspended in 1999 for inappropriate behavior by agreeing to weekly monitoring for three years, a consent order showed.
Mieliwocki's past only now is catching up to him, and his case shows how someone with a checkered history can move from job to job without detection. Two of his employers said they knew nothing of the allegations against Mieliwocki when they hired him.
"He went under the radar screen, and he's been passed along and passed along. There's something unconscionable about that," said the Rev. Joseph Hennen, director of the Daytop Village drug-treatment center in Mendham. Authorities say Mieliwocki victimized four of the center's residents.
Newark Archdiocesan spokesman Jim Goodness revealed yesterday that Mieliwocki was removed from duty in February 1994 after the archdiocese found credence in two men's claims that Mieliwocki abused them beginning in 1988 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Berkshire Eagle
SPRINGFIELD -- A Western Massachusetts priest who once served in Williamstown has been removed from the ministry after he was accused of molesting a teenager in the 1970s.
The Rev. Michael H. Devlin, 62, was most recently chaplain at Providence Place in Holyoke. He was suspended in October after his alleged victim told the diocese's Review Board that he was abused. After the panel investigated the claims, Bishop Timothy McDonnell decided to permanently suspend Devlin earlier this month.
Laura Failla Reilly, the church's victim advocate, would not give many details of the allegation Wednesday. She said Devlin is accused of molesting a teenager several times while he was affiliated with St. Thomas' Parish in West Springfield and at All Souls' Parish in Springfield.
Devlin became the pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Williamstown in 1985. The Southworth Street church had 1,000 members at the time. He succeeded the Rev. Alfred C. Graves.
MESA (AZ)
azcentral.com
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 31, 2004 12:00 AM
A Mesa church in crisis rallied behind a suspended priest Thursday, packing a forum to learn more about the allegations against Monsignor Dale Fushek.
While most parishioners attending the forum and Mass at St. Timothy's Catholic Church said they support Fushek, others were reserving judgment until more is known about a man's allegation that Fushek watched as another priest molested him in 1985.
"It's all lies. Anyone who knows Monsignor Dale knows it's lies," said Janet Maneke, who passed out "I support Monsignor Dale" buttons before the Mass. "We love Monsignor Dale. He's touched a lot of lives and done a lot of good."
Parishioner Frank Casa said he was so impressed by Fushek while attending a retreat in Mexico that he encouraged parishes in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., to adopt Fushek's Life Teen youth ministry.
But Casa said he is preparing himself for the worst-case scenario while hoping Fushek is eventually cleared of wrongdoing.
"I think we're all desperately hoping that this is not for real," Casa said. "On the other hand, there must be good reason to put him on administrative leave."
CANADA
Anglican Journal
STAFF
Police in South Delta, B.C., have seized “sensitive material” from the office of an Anglican youth pastor from Tsawwassen, B.C., who is currently in jail in Baja Peninsula, Mexico, over allegations of child sexual abuse.
Last July 15, Mexican authorities arrested Brad Firth, supervisor of youth activities at St. David’s church, for the alleged sexual assault in 2001 of a 14-year-old boy who attended a Bible camp at a church in the city of Ensenada. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Firth was in Mexico with a team of teens and and
adults from the diocese who went to Tijuana to help a church-run orphanage.
‘Our concern is for the protection of our children and to ensure a fair trial we are trying to be as responsible with the information as possible, and everyone in the congregation is called to do the same.’
Rev. Paul Woehrle, rector of St. David’s church, said that members of his congregation have been “traumatized” by recent media reports about Mr. Firth’s arrest and the seizure of material from his offices. He told Anglican Journal that concerns were raised over the fact that newspapers had carried photographs of Mr. Firth showing him with some children and youth of the community.
WILBRAHAM (MA)
Republican
Friday, December 31, 2004
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
WILBRAHAM - The planned construction of eight homes on Tinkham Road means neighbors and some athletic teams will lose a neighborhood recreation oasis where the homes will be built.
But while some neighbors hate to see the 4.79 acres across from the entrance to Minnechaug Regional High School developed, they are taking some solace in the belief that their property values will rise as a result of the construction.
"It was a great place for kids and dogs to run around, and many teams practiced there as well," said Sheila R. Albertson, whose 3 Edward St. home faces the property being developed by town resident and contractor Anthony Carnevale.
Her neighbor Armand A. Zolla said he has enjoyed 38 years of the undeveloped land and practice fields in front of his home.
But, he said, "Time marches on. Development was inevitable."
The land was sold for $750,000 recently as part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield's $7.75 million settlement of clergy sexual abuse suits.
MINNESOTA
The Day
Published on 12/31/2004
Minneapolis — Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis has barred the Legionaries of Christ religious order from working in the archdiocese and prohibited its associated lay movement Regnum Christi from using archdiocesan property or parishes for its activities.
The conservative Legionaries are a favorite of Pope John Paul II, but the order has been criticized by former seminarians and others for being too rigid, secretive and competitive with other officials within the Roman Catholic Church. Also, its founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel of Mexico, has been accused of sexual abuse — allegations the religious order has denied.
Flynn notified parishes of his decision in a Nov. 23 letter that was made public a month later by a group critical of the religious order. Dennis McGrath, a spokesman for the archdiocese, confirmed the letter's authenticity. The Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, enacted a similar ban in 2002, said Robin Miller, a spokeswoman for the Columbus diocese.
PHOENIX (AZ)
KOLD
PHOENIX A recent audit shows the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix is following sex-abuse prevention policies.
The examination assessed compliance with the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The Phoenix diocese had a half dozen priests and former priests indicted on sexual abuse charges in 2003.
Auditors who examined the Phoenix diocese in early December found Bishop Thomas Olmsted has a policy for meeting with victims of sex abuse but hasn't had to do so.
No allegations were made between the latest audit and one conducted in November 2003.
GARY (IN)
Post-Tribune
Dec. 31, 2004
By Jon Seidel / Post-Tribune staff writer
A national group that defends victims of sexual abuse by priests has demanded an explanation from the Gary Diocese for the length of an investigation of a Michigan City priest.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, sent a letter Thursday to Bishop Dale Melczek of the Diocese of Gary and to Bishop Thomas Wenski of the Diocese of Orlando to ask why it took eight months for them to respond to allegations made against the Rev. Richard Emerson.
About two weeks ago, Melczek announced that Emerson, 52, a Hammond native, would be placed on administrative leave from his position as pastor of Michigan City’s Notre Dame parish because allegations of sexual abuse made against him were judged to be credible.
Emerson has been accused of engaging in sexual activity with a minor while working as a priest in the Orlando Diocese during the 1980s.
The Rev. Brian Chadwick, the communications director for the Gary diocese, said no criminal charges have been filed against Emerson, although authorities in both Indiana and Florida have been informed. Emerson is restrained from public ministry or contact with minors pending a Vatican review, the diocese said earlier in a news release.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by Gustavo Arellano
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve written a few stories about the Diocese of Orange sex-abuse scandal this year—31, actually. Most of them were well-researched, hard-hitting exposés critical of a church leadership that for decades refused to acknowledge the priestly pedophilia problem in Catholic Orange County. Some stories drew national attention, such as my piece about Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown’s purchase of a $1.1 million manse for himself near South Coast Plaza. Others ran under the headlines "All Aboard the Pedo-Train!" and "Hide the Buggering Priests!" or examined a mural at St. Joseph’s in Santa Ana I lovingly refer to as "Boner Jesus."
It’s a living.
Anyways, it’s been tough covering an imploding Church, and not just because of the barrage of angry Catholic e-mails and phone messages. Shortly after I began the series, my parents took me aside. They’re barely English-literate, but someone had apparently translated my "King of County Pedophiles" story for them, the article in which I excerpted a police report detailing how Father Eleuterio Ramos allowed three strangers in a San Diego motel room to blindfold a 14-year-old boy, then watched as they savagely gang-raped the teenager.
My parents have never been the most devout of Catholics—papi rarely attends Mass, and I can’t remember the last time mami took the Eucharist. Nevertheless, they ordered me to sit one night and yelled at me for a good hour. Orthodox or not, they’re Mexican Catholics, and insulting the Church in our culture is as serious a sin as saluting the American flag. Why write badly about the Church? they demanded. Why bash God?
OHIO
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
12/29/2004 9:36:13 PM
Two local support groups for clergy sex abuse victims say a convicted priest is not living up to his probation, and they want the judge to do something about it.
In July, Father Thomas Kuhn was sentenced to five years of supervised probation for public indecency and providing alcohol to minors while he worked as a Dayton-area priest.
But the groups voice of the faithful and survivors network of those abused say the former Elder High School principal has violated his parole several times.
MESA (AZ)
azcentral.com
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 30, 2004 12:00 AM
Staff members at St. Timothy's Parish in Mesa were shocked upon learning that their pastor was placed on administrative leave Wednesday pending the outcome of an investigation but remain confident he will be cleared.
Tears welled in the eyes of the parish's gift shop manager when she was asked her reaction to allegations of a sexual nature leveled against Monsignor Dale Fushek.
"It's shocking and saddening," Virginia West said. "It is a sad time, but we're very loyal to Monsignor (Fushek), and we will stand behind him."
Fushek, the parish's pastor for 20 years, was placed on administrative leave by the Diocese of Phoenix when allegations surfaced involving a 14-year-old from two decades ago.
The Rev. Carlos Gomez, the associate pastor, said a question-and-answer session will be held after tonight's 7 o'clock Mass.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Becky Pallack and Sarah Garrecht Gassen
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A North Side clinical therapist and charter school director is in jail, charged with having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old patient since August.
Richard E. Giberti, 42, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department. He is in jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.
He can no longer work at a school, including TLC Charter School, which he opened in 2001.
The victim's mother reported Giberti to deputies after she discovered sexually explicit e-mails between Giberti and her daughter Tuesday morning, Barkman said.
The teen told her mother she was having a sexual relationship with Giberti, who had been her therapist since August. The Sheriff's Department would not reveal the specific type of counseling Giberti was providing the teen. ...
Before he became a therapist, Giberti had careers as a pastor and businessman, according to a résumé posted online on the TLC Charter Schools Web site.
He was a pastor of the Shining Light Assembly, a church in Maine, from 1990 to 1996. He provided therapy, including a weekly adolescent support group, at the church.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 7:37 am EST December 30, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A former nun who taught at a Catholic school in Holyoke, Mass., during the 1970s is one of four clergy members and a Boy Scout leader named in a sex abuse lawsuit filed by five men.
One of the plaintiffs -- all of whom filed the suit anonymously under the name John Doe -- says he had a two-year sexual relationship with ex-nun Mary Jane Vidnansky. The man says she told him she became pregnant and had an abortion during their relationship. Vidnansky, who was once a member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph, taught at Mater Dolorosa School in Holyoke.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs says she left the order in the mid-1970s.
Attorney Carmen Durso says his client has pictures of Vidnanski that were taken in his bedroom, a lock of her hair and a report card that she signed.
"He ended the relationship when he started to become interested in people his own age," Durso told the Republican newspaper of Springfield. "He said she pursued him. He's really been shattered by the whole experience.
Vidnansky could not be reached for comment by the newspaper. A telephone listing for her could not immediately be found on Thursday.
MESA (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Kristina Davis, Tribune
A popular Mesa priest who founded the nation’s largest Roman Catholic youth organization has been placed on administrative leave while church officials investigate claims he knew about sexual misconduct involving a teen 20 years ago, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix announced Wednesday.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa, is prohibited from priestly duties while investigators look into claims that he knew about sexual abuse at the church and was present during one of the incidents.
Attorney Frank Verderame notified church officials Dec. 22 that a former parishioner claimed to have recovered repressed memories of sexual molestation by the Rev. Mark Lehman, who served 10 years in prison for molesting students in the late 1980s at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School in Phoenix.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
(Published: December 29, 2004)
FAIRBANKS - A man filed a lawsuit in Bethel this week that claims he was sexually abused by two priests while serving in Western Alaska villages during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Revs. Segundo Llorente and Francis Nawn, both deceased, are named as the assailants of the plaintiff, identified as Jack Doe 1.
According to the lawsuit, the man is a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Sheldon's Point, now known as Nunam Iqua. He claims he and others were sexually abused as children.
Named as defendants are the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province; and the Society of Jesus, Alaska.
Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa is representing the plaintiff. He also is representing dozens of others in lawsuits filed on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by two other Jesuit priests, the late Rev. Jules Convert and the Rev. Jim Poole, 81, founder of Catholic radio station KNOM in Nome.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
The Associated Press
WORCESTER, Mass.— Five people who claim they were molested by priests have filed lawsuits against the Worcester Diocese, which this month sought to dismiss or limit other sexual abuse suits.
Four men and a woman claim in the suits filed Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court that they were assaulted in the 1960s and 70s, according to their attorney, Carmen Durso.
A sixth suit filed Tuesday against the diocese claims a layperson hired by a priest assaulted a boy. All are seeking unspecified damages.
A spokesman for the diocese did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Locke hasn't ruled yet on a diocese motion to dismiss or limit lawsuits filed by a dozen men who claimed they were molested by priests.
WORCESTER (MA)
Capital News 9
12/29/2004 10:43 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff
Five people who claim they were molested by priests have filed lawsuits against the Worcester Diocese.
Four men and a woman allege they were assaulted in the 1960s
and 1970s. Attorney Carmen Durso said a sixth suit filed against the diocese claims a layperson hired by a priest assaulted a boy.
Earlier this month, the diocese sought to dismiss or limit other sexual abuse suits. Diocese lawyers cited First Amendment protections of religion and a 1971 state law that had limited the amount of liability that charitable institutions could face.
Durso said the church should not be allowed to limit the size of the payouts because the abuse of children and shifting priests from parish to parish was not part of its charitable function.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Fred Alvarez, Times Staff Writer
Two brothers have filed suit against the Franciscan Friars of California and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, alleging sexual abuse by two priests at a Santa Barbara seminary.
The suit alleges that the brothers, now 22 and 25, were repeatedly molested while members of the boys choir at St. Anthony's Seminary from 1989 to 1994.
The suit, filed Dec. 15 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, identified the seminary priests as Robert Van Handel and Gerald Heather.
Van Handel was convicted of child abuse in 1994, sentenced to eight years in prison and now lives in Santa Cruz as a registered sex offender, according to the lawsuit and court records. Heather is reportedly living overseas.
According to the suit, the Friars and the archdiocese allowed Van Handel to establish and oversee the boys choir at St. Anthony's despite knowing the threat he posed to children. To date, 16 victims allegedly abused by Van Handel have been identified in Santa Barbara, the lawsuit said.
UNITED STATES
FindLaw
By MARCI HAMILTON
hamilton02@aol.com
----
Thursday, Dec. 30, 2004
At the beginning of 2004, the legal system seemed to offer little, if any, recourse for clergy abuse victims. However, I am happy to report that, over the course of the year, the legal situation changed, at least to some extent - leaving victims with genuine reasons for optimism about the future.
In this column, I will contrast the state of affairs with respect to legal recourse for clergy abuse victims, at the beginning of 2004, with the state of affairs now. I will also sketch what still needs to be done if we are to truly afford victims some justice for the grievous harms they suffered, and if we are to do our best to deter future victimization.
The State of Affairs in January 2004
Here was the legal situation at the start of this year:
The situation in civil court was mixed, and dire in some states. Some state courts had held that a victim could not bring a civil cause of action involving sexual abuse by clergy against a religious institution - claiming wrongly that the First Amendment created a defense to such liability.
Similarly, various states, such as Massachusetts and New Jersey, had laws on the books permitting nonprofit institutions such as churches to avoid liability for the tortious acts of their employees or volunteers. As I discussed in a previous column, there was a time when charitable immunity was the prevailing rule. It has been on the wane almost since it first appeared, though, because it runs counter to the deep-seated American belief in holding those who harm others responsible for their conduct. Nevertheless, some states still retain the doctrine, and when they do, it drastically reduces potential liability for the Church, even for abuse that it was well aware of, and not only did not stop, but actually facilitated.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Thursday, December 30, 2004
By STEPHANIE BARRY
sbarry@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - In a first for the region, a former nun is among local clergy accused of sexually abusing minors in a suit filed yesterday by five men.
The suit targeting the former nun, three priests and a former Boy Scout leader was filed in Hampden Superior Court the same day the local Catholic diocese removed the Rev. Michael H. Devlin, 62, from ministry in an unrelated case following molestation allegations.
The suit, filed anonymously under the names John Doe, also accuses the Springfield Roman Catholic Diocese of conspiring to cover up the abuse, which allegedly began decades ago.
All but former nun Mary Jane Vidnansky have previously been named in sexual abuse lawsuits. Two deceased priests - J. Roy Jenness and Thomas J. O'Connor - also are named in the lawsuit along with the Rev. Alfred C. Graves, former Boy Scout leader Bruce A. Mooney, the Boy Scouts of America and the diocese.
One of five John Does behind yesterday's claim said the nun, once a member of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph who taught at Mater Dolorosa School in Holyoke, became pregnant during a two-year sexual relationship in the mid-1970s.
A lawyer for the men said Vidnansky told the alleged victim she had had an abortion and left the order in 1976. He also said the plaintiff provided an old report card signed by Vidnansky, photographs of the woman he says were shot in his bedroom and a lock of her hair.
ALASKA
Anchorage Daily News
By NICOLE TSONG
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 30, 2004)
A popular Jesuit priest -- the country's first Roman Catholic priest to serve in a state Legislature -- and his successor at a parish in Sheldon Point are accused in a lawsuit of separately molesting the same boy there beginning in the 1950s.
The plaintiff says in the civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Bethel Superior Court that the Rev. Segundo Llorente molested him four times in 1956 and 1957, when he was 6 and 7 years old. He also accuses the Rev. Francis Nawn of abusing him at least five times when he was a teenager. Both men are deceased.
The plaintiff, who is identified in court papers as Jack Doe 1, seeks unspecified monetary damages from the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska Jesuits and the Jesuit province in Oregon, which is historically affiliated with the Fairbanks diocese. The lawsuit accuses the diocese and the Jesuits of knowing about the priests' sexual misconduct, of shifting them from parish to parish to conceal their activities and of "harboring them within the protective cloak of the church."
Ronnie Rosenberg, director of human resources for the Fairbanks diocese, said she has found no indication that anyone complained about Nawn or Llorente while they served the diocese.
"From what I can see of any records -- and I have been through just about every file in this building that would make sense to look at -- no, we were not aware of these sorts of allegations," she said.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
One of three women to contact the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese alleging she suffered abuse at the hands of the priest who founded KNOM radio in Nome, the Rev. James Poole, has reached a monetary settlement with the diocese and the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province.
Patricia Hess of Anchorage, represented by Fairbanks attorney Bill Satterberg, signed off on the undisclosed settlement agreement Dec. 13.
Hess, who now lives in Anchorage, said she was a teenager living in Nome when she was sexually molested by Poole.
She went public, offering her story, name and photograph to the media last spring after another woman, listed under the pseudonym Jane Doe, filed a lawsuit against Poole. Jane Doe stated she had been sexually molested by the priest more than 100 times from 1978 to 1984, starting when she was 10 years old. Hess said she saw Poole's face on television and memories started flooding back.
Satterberg said the Dec. 13 agreement with Hess was done privately and his client has decided to keep the settlement confidential.
PHOENIX (AZ)
azcentral.com
Joseph A. Reaves
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 29, 2004 04:45 PM
Monsignor Dale Fushek, founder of the nation's largest Roman Catholic youth organization, was placed on administrative leave Wednesday while his superiors investigate an allegation of a sexual nature brought by a former parishioner.
A spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix confirmed for The Arizona Republic that an attorney representing the parishioner alerted church leaders to the allegations Tuesday. "An allegation was brought to us by an attorney whose client claims a repressed memory involving Msgr. Dale Fushek," said Mary Jo West, communications director for the diocese.
"We have not received a claim or demand for money. We're investigating the matter." advertisement
Fushek's attorney, Michael Manning, said the diocese routinely puts priests on administrative leave while church officials investigate allegations. In this case, Manning said, he was certain Fushek was innocent.
"I know from speaking with him that there is absolutely no grounds for these allegations," Manning said.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
WORCESTER— New civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by six priests of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, three of whom have not been accused previously in legal action, were filed Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court.
The suits name the Rev. John J. Bagley, former diocesan chancellor, who was removed in 2002 by former Bishop Daniel P. Reilly after another allegation was made; the Rev. Raymond P. Messier and the Rev. Henry S. Banach, who have civil suits involving other allegations pending against them; the Rev. Leo J. O’Neil, who is now retired; and the Rev. Bernard R. Reilley and Monsignor Michael L. Carney, both of whom are deceased. The suits were filed by Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso.
The suits list the following allegations:
Rev. Bagley, now of Hyannis, allegedly assaulted a male victim in 1963 when he was assigned to Christ the King parish in Worcester. The alleged victim was about 15 at the time.
Rev. Bagley was pastor of St. Mary’s Church in North Grafton when he was removed from ministry in 2002 by Bishop Reilly after the bishop received another allegation of sexual abuse involving an underage youth who said he was sexually assaulted in 1967 at Christ the King parish.
Rev. O’Neil, now retired, was assigned to St. Joseph Church in Barre in 1975 when he allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old boy, then an orphan living at the Stetson Home for Boys in the same town.
Monsignor Carney, who died in 1981, was assigned to St. Andrew the Apostle Church in Worcester in 1977 and 1978 when he allegedly sexually abused a 15-year-old boy.
Rev. Reilley, who died in 1990, allegedly sexually assaulted a girl in Worcester. A woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by Rev. Reilley in her Worcester home starting in 1952 when she was about 2 and continuing until about 1958.
Rev. Banach allegedly abused a boy age 12 or 13 in 1976 and 1977 when he was assigned to St. Hedwig parish in Southbridge. He is retired and living in Worcester. He has been accused of sexual abuse by three other men in a pending civil suit.
Rev. Messier allegedly abused a boy about age 12 in 1976 and 1977 when he was serving at St. Joan of Arc parish in Worcester. The alleged assault happened at the priest’s Charlton home.
Rev. Messier was pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Athol and St. Peter’s parish in Petersham when he was removed from ministry in 2002 by Bishop Reilly after another allegation was made. He is now living in Charlton. He has been accused by three other men in a pending civil suit.
The filing of these suits comes at a time when lawyers for alleged victims and the Worcester Diocese have been working to settle suits that were filed in 2002 and 2003.
James Gavin Reardon, lawyer for the Worcester Diocese, said he has not seen the new lawsuits and cannot comment. He added, however, that the new allegations will be turned over to the office of District Attorney John J. Conte.
Mr. Reardon said Mr. Durso frequently releases his lawsuits to the media before they are received by the diocese, which makes it difficult for the diocese to comment. He said that the lawsuits will be “answered in due course” within the courts.
Mr. Durso said he is filing these suits before the end of the year to protect the legal rights of his clients under the statute of limitations laws of the state. The lawsuits all state the alleged victims did not make the connection between past abuse and difficulties in their lives until about 2002.
He said had the diocese chosen to sit down and settle the suits out of court, further legal action might not have been necessary. “We could have had mediation talks,” he said.
Mr. Durso has been critical of the diocese for failing to hold settlement talks on the pending lawsuits and said the diocese’s settlement figures, which range from $3,000 to $7,500, are the lowest being offered in the United States and the world. The diocese has said the suits they have offered to settle for these sums lack merit.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray Telegram & Gazette Staff
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— A retired priest accused of sexually assaulting a child may undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.
The Rev. John J. Szantyr, 73, of Waterbury, Conn., is awaiting trial in Central District Court on four counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14. The charges date back to the mid-1980s, when Rev. Szantyr was assigned to Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish on Ward Street. The sexual assaults are alleged to have occurred on various dates from June 1, 1985, to Dec. 12, 1987. The alleged victim, a boy, is now in his late 20s.
The criminal complaints against Rev. Szantyr were issued in 2003, after the alleged victim told investigators the man he knew as “Father John” touched him in an indecent manner when he was a child attending Our Lady of Czestochowa and Rev. Szantyr was a priest assigned to the parish.
A preliminary psychological examination of Rev. Szantyr by a court-designated forensic psychologist was conducted Dec. 16 at the request of Assistant District Attorney Joseph J. Reilly III, according to court records. The case was continued to Feb. 17 for a hearing to determine whether a further evaluation is in order and, if so, whether it should be done on an inpatient or outpatient basis, sources said.
In his written motion for the preliminary evaluation conducted earlier this month, Mr. Reilly said Rev. Szantyr’s lawyer, Edward P. Ryan Jr., had provided him with documentation that called into question Rev. Szantyr’s competency to stand trial.
NEW YORK
Beliefnet
By Ivan Gale
Religion News Service
NEW YORK, Dec. 29 - On a recent Wednesday evening at St. Anselm's School in Brooklyn, more than 60 church volunteers, teachers and coaches sat quietly watching a video in a basement meeting room. Subway trains passed beneath the building, periodically rumbling the floor. Suddenly, the room let out a collective gasp.
Onscreen, "Karl," a convicted pedophile, had just admitted molesting 500 young girls before being caught.
The video, "A Time to Protect God's Children," is part of a required workshop for all employees and volunteers of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn who interact with children. In the aftermath of the priest sexual abuse scandal--in which the Brooklyn Diocese was hit with a $300 million sex abuse lawsuit--the Catholic Church is implementing the sexual abuse prevention training, called Virtus, in Brooklyn and 94 other dioceses across the country.
The Virtus training is part of reforms adopted by Catholic bishops in 2002, which include establishing "safe environment" education programs. While Virtus is the most popular, some dioceses have created their own training sessions or bought other programs elsewhere.
Church leaders say the video and training have been received favorably. But they have also sparked indignation, disgust, even painful disclosures by audience members who were victimized in their youth. Victims groups welcome the training, but also say it is fundamentally a move to protect the Catholic Church from financial liability. Others cast doubts on whether it will have much effect.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Boston.com
December 29, 2004
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- A western Massachusetts priest has been removed from ministry after he was accused of molesting a teenager in the 1970s.
The Rev. Michael H. Devlin, 62, was most recently chaplain at Providence Place in Holyoke. He was suspended in October after his alleged victim told the diocese's Review Board that he was abused. After the panel investigated the person's claims, Bishop Timothy McDonnell decided to permanently suspend Devlin earlier this month.
Laura Failla Reilly, the church's victim advocate, would not give many details of the allegation Wednesday. She said Devlin is accused of molesting a teenager several times while he was preaching at St. Thomas Parish in West Springfield and at All Souls Parish in Springfield.
Reilly said Devlin is currently staying with relatives who live out of state. She said he has denied the allegations against him.
DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com
POSTED: 2:46 pm MST December 29, 2004
For the Most Rev. Jose Horacio Gomez, becoming Roman Catholic archbishop of San Antonio will be a homecoming of sorts.
Rev. Jose Horacio Gomez of Denver was picked to become the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Antonio.
Pope John Paul II on Wednesday named Gomez -- an auxiliary bishop in Denver -- to succeed retiring Archbishop Patrick Flores, Texas' top Catholic clergyman for 25 years.
A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Gomez worked at San Antonio's Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church from 1987 to 1999. And his grandparents were married at San Fernando Cathedral, the historic downtown church that dates to the 1730s. ...
In 2000, a man held the archbishop and his longtime secretary hostage for nine hours with what he claimed to be a homemade grenade. When the case went to trial, it was difficult to tell whether Flores was a witness for the prosecution or defense, "because he was so compassionate about the guy who tried to kill him," said the Rev. Virgil Elizondo, former rector of San Fernando Cathedral.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests complained that Flores' compassion did not extend to sex abuse victims, despite his frequent apologies for not doing more to protect children against abuse by clergy.
The archdiocese announced earlier this year that it paid more than $5.2 million over a 52-year period in settlements and counseling connected with sexual abuse of minors. It documented allegations against 20 priests by 58 victims.
BOSTON (MA)
The Boston Phoenix
BY DEIRDRE FULTON
When the priest at her childhood parish, in Rhode Island, was convicted of child molestation, personal anguish and conflict led Mary Healey-Conlon to dig deeper into the scandal that rocked both her church and her faith. Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-up in the Catholic Church, a new documentary about the clergy sex-abuse crisis, is the result of her quest — a project driven by her private attempt to cope and to heal.
The film, which Healey-Conlon co-produced with Boston resident Louise Rosen, includes chilling testimony from a perpetrator priest who describes his abhorrent actions, and from a former abuse victim who later became a priest — and a children’s-rights crusader — himself. The stories are so powerful that Healey-Conlon has arranged to have counselors available for audience members at next week’s screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre.
In a phone interview with the Phoenix, the filmmakers talked about why society needs Holy Water-Gate to better understand the crisis, while victims need it to make sure the heat stays on the Catholic Church.
Q: What do you think this film adds to general understanding of the abuse scandal?
Mary Healey-Conlon: My hope is that it will certainly deepen the discussion and will also explain some of the dimensions of how this was allowed to happen, and the depths to which survivors still suffer. But most importantly, I think it’s important for people to see and hear some of the faces behind the stuff they’ve read about but never seen. So in terms of their experience of a film, the fact that they get to see a perpetrator on camera whose statements speak so directly about the institutional mindset is very important.
RHODE ISLAND
YubaNet.com
By: University of Rhode Island
Published: Dec 29, 2004
Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church will premiere at the Coolidge Movie Theater, Brookline, Mass. on Monday, Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. The hour-long documentary was written, directed and produced by Warren, R.I. resident Mary Healey-Conlon, now a lecturer in communications and film studies at the University of Rhode Island. She has just been notified that she has won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. Prior recipients include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Ken Burns.
Motivated by abuse victims whose stories were being rejected and whose motives were being questioned, the independent filmmaker, who had worked as a legal assistant on behalf of some of the victims, picked up her camera in 1999 and began filming.
Five years and $180,000 of personal debt later, Healey-Conlon finished editing the documentary last June. Holy Water-Gate has been sold to television channels in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, and Denmark. Negotiations are underway for French, German, and U.S. broadcasts.
One of the first images in Healey-Conlon’s documentary is a photo of her grandfather, Jim Healey, receiving a blessing, as he became one of the first ordained deacons in the Catholic Church in Rhode Island. Healey was a communicant of St. Matthews Church in Cranston where Father James Silva was pastor.
Silva, Rhode Islanders would only learn years later, was sexually abusing children. The Diocese of Providence transferred the priest to 12 different parishes during the next 16 years where the pattern of abuse continued.
ST. BERNARD (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer
ST. BERNARD - A man who serves as a storefront minister here and a bus driver for Princeton schools faces federal child-pornography charges, federal officials said today.
Robert Elms, 49, also known as Father Dominic Elms of St. Mary's Traditional Catholic Church, surrendered today to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Cincinnati. A federal criminal complaint charges him with possessing and distributing child pornography.
A U.S. District Magistrate Judge ordered Elms jailed without bond awaiting a hearing Thursday afternoon. Officials did not disclose where he was jailed.
It remained unclear if Elms is an ordained minister, but he is not affiliated with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, authorities said. Elms had worked as a bus driver for Princeton City Schools for 14 years and was placed on a medical leave today after school officials received a report he was sick.
The charges against Elms stem from German authorities' investigation of a child pornography operation there a year ago, officials said. Immigration investigators in Virginia traced e-mails to Elms, then forwarded information to the Cincinnati immigration officials, court records indicated.
CINCINNATI (OH)
ChannelCincinnati.com
POSTED: 5:21 pm EST December 28, 2004
UPDATED: 7:30 am EST December 29, 2004
CINCINNATI -- The Princeton school bus driver and minister busted on child porn charges may be guilty of even more shocking crimes, News 5's Emily Longnecker reports.
Robert Elms, who calls himself Father Dominic Elms, reportedly told authorities he's had sexual encounters with about 12 people under 18 years old over the past 20 years.
Those reports also say Elms' most recent encounter happened just two weeks ago with two young boys from his parish and a student at Princeton High School.
Elms, 49, had been a bus driver for the Princeton City Schools for 14 years. According to the district, someone called Tuesday requesting medical leave for him.
"At no time has anyone come forward in the past to make an accusation against this particular bus driver," said Chris Gramke, Princeton schools spokeman
NEVADA
Review-Journal
By GLENN PUIT
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Six years before his 2002 arrest for the sexual abuse of five boys, former Henderson priest Mark Roberts was in trouble with church leaders over an incident involving a young man, according to a civil deposition Roberts gave earlier this year.
Around 1996, Roberts said, he was the subject of a church investigation into accusations he inappropriately touched a young man in a shower. The young man was homeless and had requested help washing his clothes, and Roberts took the young man to some apartments where Roberts was staying.
"I asked him to take off his clothes, I would go wash them for him in the washing machine, and that he could take a shower. ... I bought him a scrub brush for his back and different shampoo and different things that he wanted," Roberts said.
"The door of the bathroom was ajar, and so I went inside and I started washing him," Roberts said.
Roberts said the young man reported the incident to then-Vicar General Patrick Leary, who placed Roberts on administrative leave as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church in Henderson.
Roberts denied the accusations, and he threatened to appeal any discipline to the church's highest officials in Rome.
DOUGLAS (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Dec. 29, 2004 12:00 AM
A Douglas pastor has been arrested in the reputed molestation of a 6-year-old Florida boy in 1996 and admitted to sexually abusing children in North Carolina and Michigan, authorities said Tuesday.
Robert Armand Enerson, 54, was booked into Cochise County Jail on Monday night on three charges of lewd assault on a child, said Lt. Carlos Guido Jr., a Douglas Police Department spokesman. Enerson, a pastor at the First Assembly of God in Douglas for two years, will be jailed pending extradition to Polk County, Fla., authorities said.
"Obviously we're continuing the investigation to see if there are additional victims," Guido said. advertisement
An affidavit prepared by Polk County investigators alleges that Enerson molested a boy repeatedly for about a week while serving as a pastor at the New Life Assembly of God in Wahneta, Fla., in 1996. The accuser, now 15, said Enerson entered a bedroom where the boy was playing video games and stroked the child's penis, according to the affidavit.
FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel
By Amy L. Edwards | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted December 29, 2004
A church pastor accused of molesting a Polk County boy eight years ago and suspected of having sexual relations with two boys in other states was arrested Monday in Arizona, authorities said.
Robert A. Enersen, 54, now pastor of the First Assembly of God church in Douglas, Ariz., faces three counts of lewd assault on a child and is being held in an Arizona jail without bail, a Polk County Sheriff's Office report said.
Enersen conducted youth services for about two months in 1996 at New Life Assembly of God in Wahneta, a small town south of Winter Haven, but he was not on staff at the church. Investigators said Enersen and the victim knew each other outside the church.
In October, a boy who is now 15 told Polk detectives that Enersen inappropriately touched him on numerous occasions in November 1996, the report said.
The boy told detectives he didn't initially report the lewd acts because "he was afraid of the suspect due to the size of the suspect," authorities said.
FLORIDA
Local 6
POSTED: 5:49 am EST December 29, 2004
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- An Arizona church pastor accused of molesting a Florida boy eight years ago has been arrested, authorities said.
Robert A. Enersen, 54, pastor of the First Assembly of God church in Douglas, Ariz., faces three counts of lewd assault on a child and is being held in an Arizona jail without bail after his Monday arrest, a Polk County (Fla.) sheriff's report said.
The charges also include accusations from boys in Michigan and North Carolina.
A representative with the Assemblies of God national headquarters said Tuesday the organization was not aware of Enersen's arrest. He does not have any prior documented cases of misconduct in his file, the representative said.
Enersen conducted youth services for about two months in 1996 at New Life Assembly of God in Wahneta, Fla., a small town south of Winter Haven, Fla.
BARTOW (FL)
The Ledger
By Lauren Glenn
The Ledger
lauren.glenn@theledger.com
BARTOW -- Arizona police arrested a former Wahneta youth pastor Monday on charges he molested a 6-year-old Polk County boy in 1996 and possibly abused other boys in Michigan and North Carolina.
Robert Enersen, 54, who now lives in Douglas, Ariz., faces three charges of lewd assault on a child.
According to a Polk County Sheriff's Office report, Enersen admitted to molesting the Polk County boy on several occasions.
Enersen also admitted to molesting a 10-year-old boy in North Carolina several times. He continued abusing the boy until he turned 17, according to the report.
Police also have accused Enersen of sexually abusing a Michigan boy. At the time of the alleged abuse in Polk County, Enersen, then 46, served as pastor at New Life Assembly of God in Wahneta, conducting youth services for about two months.
SYRACUSE (UT)
KUTV
Dec 28, 2004 10:36 am US/Mountain
A Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Primary teacher already charged with fondling four young Syracuse girls is now charged in the abuse of four additional girls.
Aaron Marcos Montoya, 32, is now charged with nine counts of aggravated child sexual abuse and another possible victim will be interviewed Tuesday.
Police say the new abuse allegations occurred in Montoya's home, his car, and at Pineview Reservoir.
The newly discovered alleged victims range in age from 3 to 11.
None of the allegations are connected to Montoya's job as a bailiff at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office has placed Montoya on administrative leave.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported by: 9News
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
12/28/2004 11:08:17 PM
A Tri-state minister is behind bars without bond and faces child sex abuse charges.
The St. Bernard man, who is also a school bus driver, is accused of abusing one of the students in his care.
"We hope that the parents say as vigilant as possible with their kids, I mean there's nothing more important in the world than the safety of your children," said John Estep, mayor of St. Bernard.
That's the message Estep has for parents after an international child pornography ring investigation led to an arrest in this Tri-state community.
Federal law enforcement officers working with local police arrested Robert Elms, 49, on December 21 after they found computers containing child pornography at his storefront church on Tower Avenue.
Elms is charged with possessing and distributing child pornography.
"They found computers and other evidence of child pornography," said Lieutenant Bill Ungruhe, of the St. Bernard police department.
A photograph from the website for "St. Mary's Traditional Catholic Church," identifies Elms as "Father Dominic."
NEW ORLEANS (LA)
The Times-Picayune
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
By Bruce Nolan
Staff writer
Key local Catholic clergy for the first time Tuesday joined former victims of sexual abuse and their families in a public prayer service that supported victims and chastised some bishops who "frustrate" victims' search for justice.
The late afternoon ceremony drew about two dozen men and women to the front of Notre Dame Seminary where they joined in prayer, singing and a shared symbolic meal. Most participants were members of the local chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a group of childhood sexual abuse victims and their relatives.
But they were joined by the Rev. William Maestri, the spokesman for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and the Rev. Pat Williams, the seminary's rector, prominent members of an archdiocese that has been accused by some of being insufficiently aggressive in responding to the sex-abuse crisis. Maestri and Williams prayed and sang with the group during the 15-minute event.
Archbishop Alfred Hughes would have attended, but was visiting family in the Boston area over the holidays, Maestri said.
EDINBURG (TX)
The Monitor
December 29,2004
James Osborne
The Monitor
EDINBURG — The Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office underwent renewed criticism Tuesday for its handling of sexual abuse cases involving priests from the Diocese of Brownsville.
The local chapter of Call to Action, a Chicago-based group of self-described progressive Catholics, staged a press conference outside the Hidalgo County courthouse calling for District Attorney Rene Guerra to extradite the Rev. Basil Onyia, the Nigerian priest accused of sexually abusing a mentally retarded teenage girl in San Juan. Onyia fled to his native Nigeria in 2001, shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest by the Pharr Police Department.
The girl’s family filed a lawsuit against the diocese, which was settled out of court.
"We … are here to express our continuing outrage and dissatisfaction with the lack of efforts to prosecute and hold perpetrators of several sexual abuse and sexual exploitation cases," said CTA President David Saavedra in a written statement.
NEW BEDFORD (MA)
Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter12/29/2004
NEW BEDFORD -- Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh is ready to tackle another year of criminal cases.
But before he does, he recently took a look back at the past year during a wide-ranging interview with a Herald News reporter, concerning issues ranging from budgetary constraints put on his office to the high-profile cases of pedophile ex-priest James Porter and notorious convicted cult killer Carl Drew.
Church plagued by sex abuse scandals
Walsh, who has been at the forefront of the Roman Catholic Church abuse scandal, pushed hard this past year to keep Porter behind bars for good.
Porter was set to be released this past January after serving 10 years in prison for molesting dozens of young boys during his tenure as a Diocese of Fall River priest.
But Walsh halted that release by filing a sexually dangerous person petition against Porter with the Superior Court. Instead of being released, Porter was held at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater and had to attend a week’s worth of emotionally charged testimony at a probable cause hearing to determine whether the commonwealth could go forward with a civil commitment trial.
ALASKA
News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER
Staff Writer
The number of priests accused of sexual abuse decades ago in Western Alaska doubled Tuesday when a man filed a civil lawsuit in Bethel Superior Court.
The suit claims the two priests sexually abused the anonymous accuser at two different times while serving as missionaries in villages along Alaska's west coast and the lower Yukon River during the 1950s and 1960s.
The Rev. Segundo Llorente and Francis Nawn, both deceased, are named as the assailants of plaintiff Jack Doe 1. The suit claims the man, who is a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Sheldon's Point, now known as Nunam Iqua, was sexually abused as a child along with others.
The suit names the Catholic Bishop of Northern Alaska; the Society of Jesus, Oregon Province; and the Society of Jesus, Alaska, as defendants.
Anchorage attorney Ken Roosa is representing Jack Doe 1 and dozens of others in suits filed on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by two other Jesuit priests--the late Rev. Jules Convert and the Rev. Jim Poole, 81, founder of Catholic radio station KNOM in Nome.
The Independent
28 December 2004
Timothy McVeigh didn't do it. Nor did Monica Lewinsky. Tony Blair said he'd done it even though he hadn't - and eventually got someone else (Patricia Hewitt) to do it for him. For different reasons, none of these three offered an adequate apology for doing wrong - and the world, it seems, is a poorer place because of it.
Apology has never been the buzz word of the therapeutic community. Psychologists have preferred to focus on the healing benefits of forgiving and letting go. That could all change in 2005, however, with the publication in March of an authoritative new book claiming that the apology is "one of the most profound interactions that can occur between people".
Arguing that forgiveness inevitably follows an effective apology and is impossible without it, Professor Aaron Lazare, Dean of the University of Massachusetts medical school and the author of On Apology, says saying sorry has the power "to heal humiliations, free the mind from deep-seated guilt, remove the desire for vengeance, and restore broken relationships". ...
Another common pseudo-apology uses the conditional to avoid taking full responsibility for what has happened. Cardinal Edward Egan, of New York, qualified the apology he delivered at the height of the Catholic Church's paedophile crisis, three times in a sentence: "If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry." Few were reassured.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Reuters
By Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - First came the sex scandal. Then there were lawsuits. Now there are bankruptcies.
And some economic analysts believe this could be just the beginning of the financial fallout from widespread charges of clerical sexual abuse within the U.S. Catholic Church.
Nearly 11,000 people have accused priests of child sexual abuse from 1950 through 2002, according to a church-commissioned study released this year. There could be thousands more who have not yet come forward.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has acknowledged this as its worst scandal and vowed to "heal the hurt that has happened," in the words of departing conference president Bishop Wilton Gregory.
The question is how to pay for it.
"Even without the sex abuse scandal, the Catholic Church was in deep financial difficulty," said Charles Zech, an economics professor at Villanova University who monitors church finances.
CAMDEN (NJ)
Courier-Post
By JIM WALSH
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
Bishop Joseph A. Galante, who arrived here this year as the spiritual leader of South Jersey's Catholics, is preparing to learn more about his new home.
"In January, I want to start getting out and meeting people in the parishes," says Galante, 66, who formerly was the No. 2 cleric in the Dallas diocese. "I'm hoping to do it three nights a week, just to listen to people's concerns."
No schedule has yet been set for the sessions, which will also allow Galante to meet with local priests, nuns and other church personnel.
Galante was installed April 30 as the seventh bishop of the Camden Diocese, which serves some 458,000 Catholics. He succeeded Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who left in 2003 to head the Brooklyn Diocese.
"I've probably never been happier in my life," said Galante, a native of Philadelphia who now is close to family members and to his longtime vacation home in North Wildwood. "I love the people here and I've been very warmly welcomed."
In fact, Galante draws cautious approval from a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a group that often is critical of church policies.
"He certainly seems to be trying," says Barbara Polesir, a Cherry Hill woman who represents the group's South Jersey chapter. "He has met with a number of survivors and he seems to be trying to see their point of view.
"So far, nothing concrete has been done, but I still believe he will be better (than previous bishops)," Polesir said.
In a sermon at his installation Mass, Galante apologized to victims of clergy abuse. But he also strongly defended priests who had done no wrong, saying they represent the bulk of the clergy.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
The Press-Enterprise
12:34 AM PST on Tuesday, December 28, 2004
By JOHN F. BERRY / The Press-Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO - A jury found a San Bernardino pastor not guilty of one charge of lewd acts on a child Monday and could not reach a decision on the other, court officials said.
John Pepe Molia, 69, was arrested in 2002 and charged with the molestation of two underage sisters from his First Assembly of God Church congregation in San Bernardino.
"My client maintained his innocence throughout," Rajan Maline, Molia's attorney, said Monday. "The jury saw it his way."
Deputy District Attorney Jane Templeton was on vacation when the jury returned Monday.
Her boss, Supervising Deputy District Attorney Dwight Moore, said Monday that he is unsure whether the district attorney's office will retry the charge that resulted in a hung jury. Moore said jurors voted 7-5 in favor of guilt on that charge.
SAN BERNARDINO (CA)
San Bernardino County Sun
By JOE NELSON, Staff Writer
A former San Bernardino church pastor was found not guilty Monday in San Bernardino Superior Court on one count of child molestation, while his jury deadlocked on another identical count.
John Molia, 69, of San Bernardino will return to court Jan. 26 to find out if prosecutors will dismiss the remaining charge or go to bat.
Deputy District Attorney Jane Templeton, who prosecuted Molia, was out of the office Monday and not present when the jury returned with its verdict after four days of deliberations. Supervising Deputy District Attorney Dwight Moore filled in.
It was unclear Monday if county prosecutors will proceed with the case.
Molia was charged in March 2003 with two counts of lewd acts on a child for the alleged molestations of two sisters, now 20 and 22, between October 1991 and October 1997. The sisters were members of Molia's Samoan congregation at the Revived Samoan Assembly of God in San Bernardino and also close family friends.
BRITAIN
Web India 123
London | December 24, 2004 7:32:51 AM IST
London, Dec 23 : A former Muslim cleric of Pakistani origin has been jailed for 10 years for raping and sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in a mosque where he was teaching.
Manzoor Hussain, 42, of Bristol was convicted of one offence of rape and four of indecent assault. The offences took place at a mosque in the city between July 1996 and March the following year.
At the time of the offences, Hussain was the imam at the mosque in Lower Cheltenham Place.
The Exeter Crown Court was told the girl had kept the attacks secret for six years because she did not think she would be believed.
Sentencing Hussein at Exeter Crown Court, Judge Graham Cottle said: "You were an elder in the community and a man to be revered and respected by children you taught.
BRITAIN
Scotsman
By Chris Court, PA
A jury considering charges of rape and indecent assault by a former Muslim cleric on a 12-year-old girl at a mosque will continue to consider its verdicts tomorrow.
The panel deliberated for just over three hours at Exeter Crown Court today before Judge Graham Cottle sent them home for the night.
The accused, 42-year-old Manzoor Hussain of Ashley Road, Bristol, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of rape and four charges of indecent assault on the girl between July 1996 and March 1997 at the mosque in Bristol.
The girl, now 21, has told the jury she was indecently assaulted and raped by Hussain when she attended classes at the mosque to learn the Koran.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Sun-Sentinel
By Anne-Marie O'Connor
Los Angeles Times
Posted December 27 2004
"Churches always give me such a feeling of peace," says Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar as he strides through a Catholic house of worship in Los Angeles. "Sometimes I wish I was a believer. Imagine coming to a place where you kneel down, recount all of your sins, and you are pardoned. Imagine how wonderful that would be. It is a marvelous invention."
The unburdening of a long-held secret and its mortal consequences is a central thread of his latest film, Bad Education, a drama fueled by sexual tensions in the Catholic Church that stars Gael Garcia Bernal as the "homme fatale."
For Almodóvar, Bad Education is something of a dark departure, a foray into film noir that he says is informed by the hard-boiled style of dated cinematic police thrillers as well as by the more ponderous meditations on power in The Godfather.
"The idea of the Mafia is something very close to the church, and I'm not the first to allude to that. If you remember, in The Godfather you see the power of the Church and the Vatican. In The Godfather, the church is treated like a kind of Mafia," says Almodóvar.
With a story driven by the transgressions of a pederast priest, Bad Education is "not exactly autobiographical," says the 52-year-old Almodóvar -- but it does draw on memories of his boyhood church school, where he said a priest molested a score of his classmates.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw Telegram & Gazette Staff
kshaw@telegram.com
As Christians through Central Massachusetts celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on this Christmas Day, area clergy are urging people to revisit the story of Jesus Christ’s birth, look into the manger where he was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago and find the real meaning of that event.
A number of area priests and ministers commented this week on Christmas from their perspective. ...
The Rev. Bruce Teague, graduate of College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, and Catholic chaplain at Amherst College, said the Christmas story is the story of Emmanuel, which means God with us.
“The divine story has become an only too human story. The Christmas narratives describes miraculous events: angels appearing to Mary, Magi from the East and those who are barren bearing fruit. But we also hear the joy of a woman giving birth. A child being born. A God being born as a human, vulnerable, fragile child. God is born into a living human history rooted in a family tree. We see a family forced to become refugees to protect their child.”
“God has become human so that God has embraced all of humanity, all of its weaknesses and vulnerabilities that nothing human is alien to God. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. It is our task as Christians to begin to see God in all, particularly those who are poor and outcasts. For those of us who have been victimized by clergy sexual abuse — God, too, has become a victim,” he said.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Dan Sheehan
Of The Morning Call
The Lehigh Valley's year began with a killing and advanced through an increasingly dismal shuffle of homicides, scandals, sinkholes, lawsuits, catastrophic floods and horrific car wrecks.
There were bright spots, of course, in 2004. Economic development boosters celebrated as camera giant Olympus America announced it would move its headquarters from New York to the Lehigh Valley in 2006, bringing hundreds of corporate jobs. ...
Fallout from the sexual abuse scandals that have afflicted the Catholic Church in recent years settled in the Valley. Since January, 11 current and former priests from the Diocese of Allentown have been accused of abuse in lawsuits filed in Lehigh, Berks and Schuylkill counties. The suits remain in litigation.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
Republican
Sunday, December 26, 2004
1. Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre retires abruptly, citing health reasons, on Feb. 11, a day after The Republican confronts him with allegations he molested two boys decades ago. He later becomes the first Catholic U.S. bishop indicted on sexual-abuse charges, but the district attorney declines to prosecute, citing the statute of limitations.
PHOENIX (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
Out of the shadows of Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien’s troubled tenure in leading the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix came Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted in December 2003.
A year into his job as the Vatican’s top agent in the Valley, Olmsted reflects a buoyant spirit and unassailable confidence that his stern, uncompromising approach — unflagging obedience to Rome — has restored trust across farflung parishes. Olmsted also believes he has put priests on notice that misconduct won’t be tolerated.
"Holiness" and "integrity" were words Olmsted, 57, used often in an interview late last week in his chancery office as he reflected on his first year as the shepherd for an estimated half-million Catholics across central and most of northern Arizona. He was installed Dec. 20, 2003, taking the symbolic crozier, or staff, and calling himself a "steward of hope and a servant of unity."
The Vatican’s choice of the Kansas native and bishop of Wichita came as a surprise. He was largely unknown, and the announcement of his name on Nov. 25, 2003, sent diocesan Catholics to their computer keyboards, searching Internet sites to find out what to expect. They found a man with heartland roots and strong credentials in administrative and teaching work in Rome and Ohio before being tapped as a bishop in 1999.
"The greatest challenge for me is to be faithful every day to Christ and to the mission he gives us," Olmsted said. Not the task of getting to the bottom of the priest sexual abuse scandals, not trying to get nominal Catholics back into the pews, not trying to find more priests so additional parishes can be developed.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Des Moines Register
By REKHA BASU
REGISTER COLUMNIST
December 26, 2004
So many unpleasant things have been done in the name of religion this year that some people were left wondering where God was. ...
• While the Davenport Catholic Diocese grappled with priest-abuse allegations, Father David Hitch of St. Mary's parish in Tipton showed he wouldn't be just another mouthpiece for the institution, that he stood with victims and for accountability. Hitch, whose own brother was one of the alleged victims, was quoted in this paper saying, "Personally, I wouldn't mind if the diocese had to stand trial for a case or two. . . . It may take going to trial for the people of the diocese to understand what the victims have been going through."
David Clohessy is executive director for the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and calls Hitch "amazing."
"It's extremely unusual for a priest to criticize a bishop, much less a diocese," he said, noting other statements Hitch had made. He called Davenport "the best example of where Catholic lay people stood with victims and helped make a big settlement. In the majority of cases, lay Catholics are bystanders, and in a few cases they work against the victims."
NEW BRITAIN (CT)
Hartford Courant
December 24, 2004
NEW BRITAIN -- Roman Kramek, the Polish priest accused of sexually assaulting a teenage New Britain girl during a counseling session two years ago, has pleaded guilty in exchange for a nine-month prison sentence and 10 years of probation. The Rev. Kramek's courtroom plea brings this case to a legal conclusion of sorts. Yet it is still something short of a resolution.
The Rev. Kramek is due for sentencing Feb. 17. Before authorizing this plea deal, the court should require the Rev. Kramek to publicly acknowledge wrongdoing and apologize to his victim.
Finally, after serving his sentence, the Rev. Kramek is likely to face deportation to Poland. The Hartford archdiocese should ensure that his home diocese is aware of his disgrace. Only when the Rev. Kramek has publicly admitted the full extent of his betrayal - and he is defrocked - can this case be considered resolved.
Since his release from jail on bond two years ago, the Rev. Kramek has been surrounded by a fervent corps of supporters. Even after his appearance in Superior Court on Tuesday (and despite his own confession after the arrest), these supporters steadfastly maintain the Rev. Kramek's innocence.
KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By BILL TAMMEUS
The Kansas City Star
When Tom Fox became editor of theAbuse Tracker in 1980, he never imagined what he now sees in the Catholic Church.
Back then Pope John Paul II was relatively new at the Vatican. Fox says he thought “that this was a great time when I could … really look at issues of the world — where Christianity is really practiced. We'd be focused outside on all the major faith issues, the major social justice issues, the mercy issues, the preaching issues. What I had not anticipated was that we were just entering into a kind of retrenchment” within the church.
But the church was “just beginning to turn inward,” says Fox, who will leave the Kansas City-based independent publication Jan. 1 after spending eight years as publisher.
Under this pope, he says, the church began to see the world “as evil, as basically flawed. The counterpoint to that is that the church is impeccable. What that led to very quickly was an inability of the church to be self-reflective.”
As that happened, Fox says, he began to get calls and letters from people in the church in pain, people who thought their voices were being stilled, scholars the Vatican was forbidding to teach in Catholic settings, even people who alleged sexual abuse by priests.
So Fox changed his original NCR agenda to let the publication focus on those stories. The independent weekly was writing about abusive priests as early as 1985 — more than 15 years before it became a national scandal noticed by the secular press.
“In 1986,” Fox says, “we wrote a front-page editorial saying there is now clearly a dual pattern, not only of the abuse but of the cover-up, and it was happening all over the place.
SYRACUSE (UT)
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
A Mormon children's gospel teacher charged with fondling four young Syracuse girls - some of them as they prayed or colored religious pictures - is now suspected of sexually abusing four other young girls, prosecutors said Friday.
Aaron Marcos Montoya, 32, was charged Wednesday in Davis County with five counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, first-degree felonies that carry mandatory prison terms of five years to life.
On Thursday, police interviewed four more alleged victims who came forward following news reports about Montoya's arrest.
Deputy Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said that after interviewing the new set of alleged victims, police hustled to prepare a probable cause statement to ensure Montoya would not bail out of the Davis County Jail, where he has been since his arrest on Tuesday.
Rawlings said Friday that he anticipated Montoya's initial bail amount of $100,000 would be doubled by these fresh allegations, which should keep him behind bars.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
St. Augustine Cathedral and the crumbling walls and buildings that surround it are slated for a $4 million makeover.
Financing for restoring the Downtown cathedral is being handled by a private group that calls itself Friends of St. Augustine's and has stepped in to raise funds and oversee the restoration.
The group will operate in a way similar to Patronato San Xavier, which was founded in 1978 as a nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation of Mission San Xavier del Bac.
"We are hoping that people of all faiths will come forward and help us," said Rosie P. Garcia, a 51-year-old Sunnyside High School teacher who is chairwoman of the new group's nine-member board of directors. ...
But attorneys for a majority of the plaintiffs in the pending legal actions are critical.
Tucson attorney Lynne M. Cadigan, who with law partner Kim E. Williamson is representing plaintiffs in 18 of the 22 lawsuits, called the funding plans a clear manipulation of the legal system.
CONCORD (CA)
Modesto Bee
The Associated Press
Last Updated: December 25, 2004, 06:15:18 AM PST
CONCORD, Calif. (AP) - A Roman Catholic religious order has agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle lawsuits brought by three former students who were sexually abused by counselors and teachers at an elite private school in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The largest of the three settlements, at $4 million, would be one of the biggest in California for a plaintiff in a clergy sexual abuse case, attorneys and victims advocates said Friday.
The abuse occurred when the plaintiffs, now in their 30s and 40s, attended the Concord school operated by the Christian Brothers religious order. One man said a teacher molested him on a school-sponsored ski trip, and another said a counselor molested him at a retreat in Napa.
The third man says another counselor repeatedly molested him during off-campus sessions. The order had transferred the abuser to Concord even though he was known to have had relationships with "sexual overtones" at another school, according to a 1968 letter from a Christian Brothers provincial leader that the order turned over as part of the lawsuit.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Post
By Kimball Perry
Post staff reporter
Because they didn't report their allegations until after the statute of limitations had expired, 22 people who accused former Elder High principal Father Lawrence Strittmatter of sex abuse cannot proceed with lawsuits.
That was Thursday's ruling by the Cincinnati-based Ohio First District Court of Appeals in upholding earlier rulings by four Hamilton County judges.
Those four Common Pleas Court Judges -- Melba Marsh, Robert Ruehlman, Thomas Crush and David Davis -- threw out separate lawsuits brought by Strittmatter's accusers, saying the suits were filed after the two-year statute of limitations on such cases.
Those who sued accused Strittmatter of sexually abusing them when they were students at Elder or Our Lady of Victory Parish and School. The suits noted Strittmatter's abuse lasted from 1961 until at least 1987. Their suits were filed between May and November 2003.
MISSOURI
News-Leader
The Missouri Supreme Court's decision to allow a child sex abuse case from the 1970s to go to trial came down to plain English.
Lawyers for the Rev. Thomas Graham argued that the statute of limitations had run out and that there was no way he could get a fair trial. Memories have faded; witnesses have died.
A state appeals court, however, agreed with prosecutors. Missouri law says there is no deadline to file charges for crimes punishable by death or life in prison, which include sodomy. The Supreme Court, in declining to take the case, agreed with the appeals court.
The decision is technically right. It also is philosophically correct.
It may take years before a sexual-abuse victim is willing to step forward and confront the adult who betrayed his or her trust. When an institution stands behind that adult, it is even more difficult for the victim to find the courage to seek justice.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Milton J. Valencia TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER— The inmate accused of killing defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan in prison claimed in court yesterday that prison guards have interfered with his case, read his mail and listened to phone conversations, depriving him of his right to access to a lawyer.
Joseph L. Druce submitted a motion through his lawyer seeking to have the case dismissed on the grounds of interference. Superior Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman did not comment on the motion yesterday, but urged Mr. Druce’s court-appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance, to make arrangements with the superintendent of the state prison in Walpole, where Mr. Druce is being held, to assure the defendant that his rights are being preserved.
Mr. LaChance did not argue on behalf of Mr. Druce’s motion, but did say that his client has been so obsessed with the concern jail guards are reading his mail and monitoring his telephone conversations that he has difficulty communicating with him to prepare for the trial.
Mr. Druce has been moved to several prisons since the Aug. 23, 2003, killing of Mr. Geoghan, who was incarcerated for fondling a 10-year-old boy. Mr. Geoghan had been at the center of the Boston Archdiocese sex-abuse scandal. Mr. Druce, 38, was serving a life sentence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley for the 1998 murder of a gay man.
Mr. Druce allegedly attacked Mr. Geoghan in his cell after jamming the door shut to prevent anyone from intervening. He allegedly told investigators after Mr. Geoghan’s death that he killed the former priest “to save the children.”
Mr. LaChance has informed the court that he plans an insanity defense, and has won approval to subpoena Mr. Druce’s medical records, as well as records compiled in a state investigation into the killing.
A report by a three-member commission found that failures in the inmate classification system, disciplinary procedures and internal investigative processes in the state Department of Correction contributed to circumstances leading to the killing of Mr. Geoghan.
Yesterday, Mr. LaChance notified the court that several of the records he has obtained through subpoenas have been sent to the clerk’s office for review by the district attorney’s office. However, Judge Hillman, acting on a request by Mr. LaChance, immediately sealed those records outside the view of the defense and the prosecution.
Mr. Druce complained in court yesterday that he is being harassed by jail guards pushing for him to enter a guilty plea rather than allow sensitive information — such as records in the investigative report, called the Delaney report — to be released at trial.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
THE Catholic hierarchy will have to find up to €50m over the next 10 years to compensate sex abuse victims, pay for their counselling services and fund a revamped and expanded child protection service, the Irish Independent has learned.
The news comes as a €10m trust set up by the bishops using insurance funds is expected to run out within the next 12 months because of abuse payouts.
The result is that each of the 26 dioceses in the country will have to draw increasingly on their own resources to maintain the fund.
How they do this will be left up to each bishop, but the sale of property is certain to be one source of funds while there could also be special collections from churchgoers.
Already the Diocese of Killaloe has drawn on money raised by the sale of land around the bishop's house to make a contribution in the region of €40,000 to the trust.
WINCHESTER (MA)
Reading Advocate
Thursday, December 23, 2004
On Thursday, Dec. 2 the Winchester Area Voice of the Faithful welcomed noted theologian and author Fr. Donald B Cozzens, Ph.D., to a special meeting at St. Eulalia's Church in Winchester. About 100 people were in attendance.
Cozzens was ordained in 1965. He is currently writer-in-residence at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio where he teaches in the religious studies department. He has been trained as a pastoral theologian and psychologist, earned an MA from Notre Dame and a doctorate in psychology from Kent State. Cozzens has spoken on many radio and television programs as well as at meetings around the world.
Cozzens is the author of two award-winning and best-selling books, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" (Paulist Press, 2000), which was translated into more than 6 languages, and "Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church" (Liturgical Press, 2002). "The Changing Face of the Priesthood" was written after 20 years of research. Cozzens's new book, "Faith That Dares to Speak" (Liturgical Press 2004) has an entire chapter devoted to Voice of the Faithful. The theme of Cozzens's talk was that the Roman Catholic Church is the last feudal system in the West and that its response to the clergy sexual abuse crisis was consistent with its feudal structure, namely to protect resources by secrecy and denial. Cozzens believes that the role of the laity is to challenge the Church to have accountability and transparency. According to Cozzens, Voice of the Faithful has shown the courage and maturity to speak truth to power.
Cozzens further stated that the scandal of clergy sexual abuse has touched priests, bishops and laity. For priests, the crisis has meant the collapse of respect. Some priests have shrunk their worlds to the boundaries of their parishes, while others fear false accusations of sexual misconduct. Bishops have far too often been loyal toward the Church hierarchy, their fellow bishops, and the whole institutional Church, rather than the most vulnerable - the victims of abuse - which is required by the Gospel.
EVERETT (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EVERETT, Wash. -- A judge has dropped a sexual abuse charge against a pastor's 14-year-old son, ruling that the chief prosecution witness, a 5-year-old girl, was not competent to testify.
Judge Thomas J. Wynne halted the trial Thursday in Juvenile Court after more than three days of testimony by more than a dozen witnesses before a packed courtroom.
Pastor Paul A. Stoot Sr. of Greater Trinity Missionary Baptist Church began a campaign to change state law after his son, 13 at the time, was questioned by a police detective for more than two hours in January without the teenager's parents or a defense lawyer present.
The boy was charged with first-degree molestation by improperly touching the girl, age 3 at the time, while she was staying with his family in the summer of 2002.
Police said the teenager confessed, but last month Judge Ronald C. Castleberry barred the use of his statement as evidence, ruling that it was coerced and that the boy did not understand his rights.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Sun
By ANABELLE GARAY
Associated Press Writer
12/24/2004
PHOENIX -- The retired Catholic bishop who was convicted in a fatal hit-and-run has completed half of the community service hours he was ordered to perform as part of his sentence.
Bishop Thomas O'Brien, former leader of the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, was halfway through the required 1,000 community service hours by last week, said diocese spokeswoman Mary Jo West.
O'Brien has kept regular weekly appointments at a hospital and nursing home, ministering to patients and residents, West said. ...
O'Brien resigned in June 2003 after police arrested him on suspicion of striking 43-year-old pedestrian Jim Reed with his car and leaving the scene of the accident.
Shortly before his arrest, O'Brien had signed an agreement with the prosecutor's office that protected him from any potential charges of criminal cover-up related to allegations of abuse by clergy.
In the agreement, O'Brien acknowledged that priests accused of sexual misconduct had been allowed to work with children and were sometimes transferred to other parishes without the knowledge of supervisors or parishioners.
BALTIMORE (MD)
The Charleston Gazette
BALTIMORE (AP) -- In a Dec. 22 story about the defrocking of a priest for sexual abuse, The Associated Press erroneously reported the chronology of the case involving Maurice Blackwell. He was not returned to his parish after acknowledging a relationship with a teenager.
Blackwell was accused of sexually abusing Dontee Stokes in 1993 at his parish in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The priest denied the allegation, was given psychological treatment and allowed to return to his parish. Subsequently, a second person accused Blackwell of abusing him in the early 1970s. Blackwell acknowledged a relationship had occurred with that person, and the archdiocese removed him from the ministry in 1998.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by Gustavo Arellano
Now that the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal is officially settled—a Dec. 6 conference disclosed the total at a record-breaking $100 million—pundits will speak of winners and losers. You’ll hear of Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown, the church’s reputation, NAMBLA. But here are five winners and five losers that won’t get as much coverage:
THE WINNERS
Manly & McGuire: The Costa Mesa-based law firm primarily deals with real-estate law but represented 30 of the 87 cases against the Orange diocese. The tenacity of its three lead employees—attorneys John Manly (nicknamed "Mad Dog" Manly by church lawyers), Ryan DiMaria and monk-turned-researcher Patrick Wall—ensured that the settlement included the public release of priest-personnel files victims claim will show church complicity in their molestations. Thanks to their bulldog reputation, Manly, DiMaria and Wall are pursuing similar cases across the country. Next giant to slay: the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
Judge Jim Gray: In 2001, Gray ordered the Orange and Los Angeles dioceses to pay DiMaria $5.2 million for abuse he alleged at the hands of Michael Harris, the former principal of Mater Dei and Santa Margarita high schools. At the time, it was the largest single-plaintiff, pretrial settlement in the history of the Catholic Church. More significantly, Gray forced Brown to disclose psychological records that diagnosed Harris with a sexual attraction to young boys. DiMaria vs. Harris came before the Boston archdiocese sex scandal and established a precedent for every priestly molestation case since.
SEATTLE (WA)
Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
The majority on a prestigious citizen review panel has signed an alarming letter to Seattle Archbishop Alex Brunett highly critical of his approach to dealing with the reality of child sexual abuse by priests.
After studying the allegations of priests abusing children in the Seattle Archdiocese, seven of the 10 members of the Case Review Board endorsed the letter. Board member Mike McKay, former U.S. attorney, said Brunett's approach "suggests a lack of diligence."
The board chairman, retired King County Superior Court Judge Terrence Carroll, said Brunett had shown a "tendency to minimize things" on the child abuse issue. McKay said the archbishop tried to blunt the tenor of the board's final report and even refused to publish it until the members threatened to resign in protest. The letter said Brunett was trying to silence "disagreements or potentially unfavorable analyses of Archdiocesan actions."
These allegations are appalling.
HONG KONG
The Star
HONG KONG (AP) - A former Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in the 1970s in Hong Kong walked free Friday after a judge dropped the case, saying it would be impossible to have a fair trial over the decades-old matter.
Government prosecutor Steve Chui said the victim, now 42, was very disappointed with the ruling.
"He was very emotional and was crying,'' Chui said, adding that the Department of Justice will study the ruling before considering whether to appeal.
District Court Judge Patrick Li accepted the arguments by the lawyer of former Hong Kong priest Stanislaus Lee that the defendant could not get a fair trial because evidence had been destroyed, and potential witnesses had died or could not recall what happened.
Lee, 53, was accused of four counts of indecent assault for sexually abusing the boy in 1975-1977.
The judge granted the defense's request for a "permanent stay of proceedings'' to end the trial.
FLORIDA
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Staff Report
Last update: December 24, 2004
An Indiana priest who served one year at St. Peter's Catholic Church in DeLand has been placed on administrative leave after a church panel found "credible evidence" to support sexual misconduct allegations against him.
The case against the Rev. Richard Emerson, associate pastor of St. Peter's for one year beginning in January 1990, has now been turned over to a Vatican group to advise the bishop in Gary, Ind., how to proceed.
Emerson could not be reached for comment.
The case against him stems from a sexual abuse complaint lodged with the Orlando diocese in May, according to diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati. Church officials turned over the information to the State Attorney's Office in Orlando and the Gary diocese where Emerson has worked for most of the last 28 years.
A 29-year-old man complained Emerson had abused him for seven years, beginning when he was 11, according to a June 10 diocesan letter to the state attorney quoted Thursday by the Orlando Sentinel.
Emerson worked at three Central Florida churches from 1987 to 1991 so he could be close to his ailing parents, Gary Diocese spokesman Brian Olszewski said.
NEW YORK
Newsday
BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY
STAFF WRITER
December 24, 2004
Barry Ryan, the suspended and ailing Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to repeatedly molesting a 6-year-old Suffolk boy, said yesterday that he looks forward to his own imminent death as he was sentenced in Suffolk County Court.
Ryan, 56, of Palm City, Fla., is suffering from advanced liver cancer and has just a few months to live, doctors have said.
The boy's family often let Ryan stay with them soon after he was diagnosed with cancer, and he admitted that he repaid the kindness shown to him by doing "this terrible thing."
He told the father of his victim that he begs for the family's forgiveness as he sat in a wheelchair in Judge Ralph Gazzillo's Riverhead courtroom, flanked by attorneys.
Gazzillo, who delivered an impassioned assessment of the case from the bench, said no case "has been more disturbing nor more troubling than this."
Gazzillo gave Ryan to the negotiated sentence of 2 years.
But Ryan is not expected to see the inside of a prison, said Rosamaria Abbate, the Suffolk prosecutor who handled the case. His terminal illness may take his life before the date he is supposed to go into custody, which Gazzillo set for July 7, 2005.
NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger
Thursday, December 23, 2004
BY JOHN P. MARTIN AND KATE COSCARELLI
Star-Ledger Staff
After several years of debate, U.S. judges in New Jersey have enacted a rule to require courts to record whenever documents are sealed and courtrooms are closed to the public in civil matters.
Supporters hailed the change as an important step in maintaing public access to the workings of the justice system. Parties typically ask the court to seal records or courtrooms because they want to prevent the release of sensitive or damaging information.
Tracking such sealings or courtroom closures had been nearly impossible in New Jersey, where roughly three dozen federal judges preside over thousands of cases in courthouses in Newark, Trenton and Camden.
But as early as next month -- when a public comment period ends -- the federal court in New Jersey will maintain and post a report on its Web site detailing the cases that involve sealings and closures.
The rule also requires New Jersey's federal judges to explain why they are approving such actions. ...
The issue has been percolating since the early 1990s, but drew newfound attention in the wake of corporate and clergy sex abuse scandals, Drake University Law School Professor Laurie Doré said.
SOUTH DAKOTA
KELOLAND
A federal judge has dropped a retired bishop from a lawsuit filed by a Florida woman who claims she was molested by a Roman Catholic priest in the 1960s.
US District Judge Lawrence Piersol has granted a motion by Bishop Paul V. Dudley to dismiss for the plaintiff's failure to state a claim.
The sexual-abuse lawsuit will continue against the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Reverend Bruce MacArthur.
In February, Piersol dropped current Sioux Falls Bishop Robert Carlson from the suit.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Katherine Seligman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, December 24, 2004
Three former students at De La Salle High School in Concord who say they were sexually abused by counselors or teachers have received $6.3 million to settle three lawsuits against the Catholic order that operates the school, attorneys and plaintiffs said Thursday.
The former students, all now in their 30s and 40s, say the alleged abuse by members of the Christian Brothers Order happened during the mid-1970s to early '80s. One man says a teacher molested him on a school-sanctioned ski trip, and a second says a counselor abused him at a youth retreat in Napa.
In a third case, a former student says a different counselor repeatedly molested him during sessions off campus. The Christian Brothers order, which runs the prestigious private school, had transferred that counselor to Concord despite knowing that he had relationships with "sexual overtones" at another school, according to a 1968 letter from a Christian Brothers provincial leader that came to light after the lawsuit was filed.
"His behavior around me was as if he was entitled to touch me at any time, " said plaintiff Chris Barbour, 41. He said the counselor had molested him during sessions that he had sought out as a result of an earlier incidence of sexual abuse unconnected to the Christian Brothers.
IRELAND
Wicklow People
The Wicklow priest cleared of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl says he is preparing for 'the happiest Christmas I'll ever have'.
Fr. Chris Conroy (71) of 10 Rocky Road, Wicklow, was found not guilty of the offence at Wicklow Circuit Court by a unanimous decision of the jury on Friday.
He told the Wicklow People this week that he had suffered over the last two years but said he never worried for a minute. If he had not been exonerated, he said it would have been 'the biggest travesty of justice'.
'Here was an innoce