CANADA
Anglican Journal
SOLANGE DE SANTIS
STAFF WRITER
May 31, 2005 - The federal government's move toward awarding compensation to all former native residential school students won't have an immediate financial impact on the Anglican Church of Canada, according to church officials.
However, the church praised the announcement as an important step forward toward justice for those who attended the schools and a positive development in relations with Canada's indigenous peoples.
"For a long time, our primary goal has been healing and reconciliation – healing for those whose lives have been damaged by their residential schools experience and reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal persons in our church and in society," said Archdeacon Jim Boyles, the general secretary of General Synod, the church's governing body.
AMITE (LA)
The Times-Picayune
5/31/2005, 3:03 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
AMITE, La. (AP) — At least some of the six people being held in the Tangipahoa Parish jail on charges tied to an alleged sex abuse ring at a church will be moved to other lockups, following an attack on one of the accused, authorities said Monday.
Nicole Bernard, who recently was returned from Ohio to face an aggravated rape charge, was placed in a cell by herself after a group of female inmates attacked her Friday night. Authorities speculated that the attack was triggered by allegations of sexual abuse of children at the now-defunct Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula.
On Monday, authorities decided to move some of the accused to other jails, said Laura Covington, a spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish sheriff. She said the names of the prisoners that would be moved, along with their new locations, would not be released until the transfers are complete.
Covington said moving the prisoners for security reasons had been discussed before the attack on Bernard because of a lack of space in the jail to give each prisoner a single cell.
CANADA
Anglican Journal
MARITES N. SISON
STAFF WRITER
Mississauga, Ont.
Two years after securing a residential schools agreement with the federal government that limits liability, the national church is signaling that it would like to reopen the agreement to allow claimants the opportunity to sue for loss of language and culture.
Under the current agreement – the first reached by a Canadian denomination with the government – former students whose claims are validated in an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process are compensated for physical and sexual abuse, but they must sign a full release preventing them from seeking further compensation from the government or the church.
Saying that he believes “the time has come to change our policy and accept a partial release” in resolving native residential school claims, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, secured the permission of Council of General Synod (CoGS) to determine whether this would be “acceptable” to dioceses.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - The Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not rehear the case of a defrocked Roman Catholic priest, after it threw out convictions last month that he exposed himself to boys in a restroom at a St. Louis grade school where he worked as a counselor.
The court had ordered James Beine, 63, to be freed on appeal bond on May 6, but he voluntarily remained in jail while legal proceedings continued because he feared for his safety if he left, his lawyer has said.
A phone call to the Department of Corrections to determine Beine's status was not immediately returned.
Beine was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse, and in the mid-1990s the St. Louis archdiocese paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier. He was formally removed from the priesthood earlier this month.
National
By JASON BERRY
The Vatican’s announcement May 20 that Legionaries of Christ founder Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado will face no canonical trial for numerous accusations of sexually abusing seminarians put a spotlight on the new papacy of Benedict XVI, raising questions and drawing harsh criticism from victims.
In many circles, the announcement, widely distributed by the Legionaries, was seen as the Vatican’s way of saying “case closed” on the questions surrounding Maciel and the accusations of sexual abuse first made public by a group of former seminarians and, in recent months, by a growing number of other alleged victims.
Four days after that initial announcement, however, NCR learned that the original statement on the matter was issued not by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has jurisdiction over priest sex abuse cases, but by the Vatican Secretariat of State, which is run by Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a vocal supporter of the Legionaries and a longtime friend of Maciel.
Whether that fact makes any difference in the eventual disposition of the case against Maciel is unclear. The revelation, however, at least clouds the picture and hints at potentially differing agendas within the church’s highest bureaucracy. For while the Secretariat of State said that there is no canonical proceeding, nor is one expected in the future, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at least until recently, was engaged in an extensive investigation that was characterized as preliminary to any canonical action.
BOISE (ID)
KTVB
10:41 AM MDT on Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Associated Press
BOISE -- Members of a national group calling itself SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, will be in Boise Tuesday.
SNAP director David Clohessy says he wants to try to deliver a letter to Bishop Michael Driscoll urging him to talk more about sexual abuse allegations in Idaho.
Driscoll is the leader of the Roman Catholic church in Idaho.
National
Issue Date: June 3, 2005
Maciel scandal won't go away
If Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the religious order the Legionaries of Christ, were a priest in the United States, he would not be permitted in active ministry.
Some may not consider the U.S. norms ideal, but the crisis caused by the sex abuse scandal and the concomitant crisis of authority in the church demand bold and determined measures. Few cases have generated the notoriety and challenge to the church’s integrity and credibility that the Maciel case has. Maciel was warmly praised by the late Pope John Paul II and, by all accounts, was able to raise enormous amounts of money that have gone to establishing a religious empire in a short time.
Clergy sex abuse victims the world over who have heard pious words and statements of resolve from the hierarchy were waiting to see if the church at the highest levels would discontinue the practice of protecting priests at all costs and do a thorough investigation of the charges against Maciel, as well as a thorough accounting of its findings.
So, when the news reports said that the Vatican had apparently dropped the investigation, had not launched a formal canonical procedure in response to allegations, and that it had no plans to do so, many saw the development as a stinging disappointment. The announcement raised far more questions than it answered. The lack of resolution to the case eventually could be far more damaging to the church’s credibility than the jolt of bad news that might issue from a thorough airing of the case against Maciel.
As it turns out, however, the real problem may not be any decision by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but rather papal palace intrigue involving an old friend of Maciel and the willingness of the Legionaries to mislead the world and allow the misconception to stand until a reporter happened to ask the right question of the right person.
National
News goes on, uninterrupted by one’s stroll through a garden. And so it was last week when the reports began surfacing that the Holy See had determined that no canonical action would be brought in the sexual abuse accusations against the Mexican priest Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the religious order the Legionaries of Christ.
It appeared for several days that that was the story -- investigation over, case closed.
But Jason Berry, the writer who broke the story of the sex abuse scandal in the United States and who has written an important and engaging book about Maciel, had spent time recently in Mexico interviewing people about Maciel. Those interviews included a number of people who had been recently questioned by a Vatican investigator looking into long-standing abuse charges against the priest. What Jason knew, and subsequently reported, was that there is far more to the story than one would get from either news releases or the Legionaries’ Web site. Jason was just putting the finishing touches on a story about his reporting in Mexico when the Vatican announcement broke.
Most of you know John Allen as a brilliant explainer of the sometimes confusing and inaccessible world of the Vatican. At the service of that brilliance is old-fashioned reporting, dogged pursuit of facts and details. In the case of the Maciel story, John just kept reporting and interviewing and questioning until it became clear from his vantage point that there was more to the story than the simple declarations of the Legion and even the confirmations of the Vatican press office.
HOUSTON (TX)
Houston Chronicle
The Vatican has sought the intervention of the U.S. State Department to declare Pope Benedict XVI immune from a sexual abuse lawsuit filed here, according to court documents.
A church official contacted the State Department May 20, asking it to notify a Houston federal court of the pope's immunity as the head of a foreign state, according to the defense motion. Vatican attorneys requested a delay on the matter Thursday.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which also was named as a defendant in the suit, could not be reached for comment Friday.
CANADA
CBC News
WebPosted May 31 2005 07:09 AM NDT
CBC News
GANDER — A Roman Catholic priest in central Newfoundland has been found not guilty of sexual assault.
The priest, who was charged last August with one count of sexual assault and three counts of common assault, was acquitted Monday in Gander.
The priest cannot be identified because of a court order.
Provincial Court judge Gloria Harding said the fact that the woman waited six months after the alleged first incident to call the police was troublesome.
The judge also found it troublesome that, after three of the alleged incidents, the complainant had willingly posed for pictures with the priest, where the pair were smiling with their arms around each other.
The priest said the ordeal has strengthened his faith.
AUSTRALIA
ninemsn
GRAHAM DAVIS: They're called the silent lambs — silent because they've kept their stories to themselves for so long, lambs because as children they were meant to be protected from predators in the Christian flock, but weren't.
SIMON THOMAS: I was the little sheep that needed help — and I'm one of thousands, probably — and they didn't come back to look after me properly.
GRAHAM DAVIS: We've met Simon Thomas before, in a Sunday report I did back in 2002 on the child abuse crisis in the Jehovah's Witnesses.
SIMON THOMAS: I remember that the first time he actually touched me and did something to me, I just, that was a real, it was a real life-changing moment.
GRAHAM DAVIS: Simon Thomas was 12 when he fell prey to this man — Robert Souter. Even when Souter admitted his crimes to church elders, he was allowed to continue as a Jehovah's Witness. He also continued to molest other children. Nearly three years on, Simon is joined by another of those victims. Only now is John Dingham able to confront his own demons, given alcohol and molested by Robert Souter when he was just 13.
CANADA
Canada NewsWire
OTTAWA, May 30 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime
Minister and Minister responsible for Indian Residential Schools Resolution
Canada, the Honourable Irwin Cotler, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada, and the Honourable Andy Scott, Minister of Indian Affairs and
Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status
Indians, today announced the appointment of the Honourable Frank Iacobucci as
the Government's Representative to lead discussions toward a fair and lasting
resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools.
"We need to make important changes to our approach in order to resolve
the often tragic legacy of Indian residential schools, and to settle the
outstanding claims of former students in a more timely way" said Minister
McLellan. "The work of the Assembly of First Nations, in particular, has been
instrumental in helping to highlight the need to recognize the residential
school experience of all former students. We have today signed a Political
Agreement with the Assembly of First Nations that sets out its key role in the
discussions to be led by Mr. Iacobucci" added the Minister.
The Political Agreement outlines the basis on which the Government of
Canada will work with the Assembly of First Nations on issues related to
resolution of the Indian residential schools legacy.
AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
Kate Uebergang, tribunal reporter
31may05
A SECRETIVE international society linked to the occult is using Victoria's religious tolerance laws to sue a Melbourne anti-child abuse activist.
Ordo Templi Orientis has started a suit against psychologist Reina Michaelson over internet claims it is a pedophile cult.
Documents submitted to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal claim Dr Michaelson wrote an internet article linking the society to pedophilia, satanic rituals, and animal and child sacrifices.
Ordo Templi Orientis national officer David Bottrill and member Brent Gray claim Dr Michaelson has vilified and misrepresented the society, which has a base in Gardenvale.
"What is contained on the website could incite hatred and lead to violence against members of the OTO," they said.
Dr Michaelson, who won a Young Australian of the Year award in 1997 for founding the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program, said she was not the author but could attest to the article's truth.
"The document . . . that is the subject of the complaint describes the illegal ritual abuse of a young man," she said in a letter to the Equal Opportunity Commission, which referred the society's complaint to the tribunal.
Dr Michaelson, who also runs Bravehearts Victoria, said the society's text, The Book of the Law, advocated illegal activities.
ANCHORAGE (AK)
Anchorage Daily News
By LISA DEMER
Anchorage Daily News
Published: May 31st, 2005
Last Modified: May 31st, 2005 at 02:27 AM
Almost a month after a sensational, hidden-camera television report showing an Anchorage priest seeking sex, the bizarre case of the Rev. Robert Bester remains unresolved. An investigation by the Anchorage Archdiocese is on hold, and a lawsuit is pending. But Bester's parish is moving on -- even if some churchgoers have been left wondering about the oddly behaving priest who served them for less than a year.
The abrupt departure of Bester, a retired Catholic priest from northern Minnesota, stems from an accusation by an unemployed Anchorage man that Bester wanted sex and offered him money and a construction job. The man, Fred May, secretly recorded two of the conversations with the help of a local television station.
The grainy, black-and-white video showing the priest talking dirty aired on KTVA Channel 11 in early May during the key ratings period.
May, who said he was scared by Bester's claim to also be "Dracula," agreed recently to be interviewed about his encounters with the priest.
GREAT FALLS (MT)
Tribune
By KIM SKORNOGOSKI
Tribune Staff Writer
A sexual assault victim recently sued the Great Falls man convicted of the crime, saying his acts caused physical pain and emotional distress and led to counseling and lost wages.
Roger Earl Cathel, 40, was given a one-year deferred sentence in December 2003 for the charges of sexual assault and indecent exposure. He was ordered to do community service, complete treatment and pay for his victim's counseling. ...
Her lawyer, Mark McLaverty, said sex crime victims suing their attackers isn't new. The Catholic priest scandals are a good example.
"The cases that I've handled have been settled prior to being filed," he said.
IRELAND
One in Four
By John Breslin - Irish Examiner
A Statute of limitations should be placed on criminal proceedings taken against those accused of sexual abuse, one of the country’s leading defence barristers told a conference this weekend.
Patrick Gageby, who has defended individuals accused of sex crimes sometimes decades old, said it may be time for the Government to step in and draw a line in the sand. Mr Gageby suggested a limit of 15 years, adding that all civil cases are subject to time limits, except ironically those relating to claims of sexual abuse.
Speaking at theAbuse Tracker Prosecutors Conference, the defence barrister said there were inherent dangers in old cases, where the key witnesses have inaccurate, faded, changed or intruded memories and where there was little additional or corroborating evidence. In too many cases, a jury trial can turn in to a "pure beauty contest." "Who do you like more, who's the more attractive? Who exactly is telling the truth? It comes down to body movements, gestures and the like," Mr Gageby said.
EATONVILLE (FL)
Sun-Sentinel
By Christopher Sherman
Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 17 2005
EATONVILLE -- Four more women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against a minister arrested Friday on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment, police said Monday.
Lura Williams, 71, an itinerant preacher who built a church in Eatonville in 1969 after initially sermonizing from a tent on the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and Wymore Road, turned himself in to police Friday.
A member of his World Wide Revival Center told Eatonville police that Williams, known at the church as Bishop Williams, asked her to come to the church April 26 to discuss some programs.
In a recreational vehicle parked behind the church, a report said, Williams lured the woman to the back, pushed her onto the bed and raped her. She broke away once, then was pushed down again until she was eventually able to escape, according to a police affidavit filed for the arrest warrant.
Williams faced charges for another sexual-assault allegation in 2000, but that case was dropped, Eatonville police Capt. Gene Arrington said. Police were still researching why that case was dropped.
EATONVILLE (FL)
WFTV
POSTED: 6:45 am EDT May 16, 2005
UPDATED: 5:47 pm EDT May 16, 2005
EATONVILLE, Fla. -- Eyewitness News has discovered several more victims have come forward claiming a prominent Central Florida pastor raped them.
The list of potential victims continues to grow. Five people, so far, have accused bishop Lura Williams of sex crimes, including one woman who says he raped her over and over when she was only 11 years old.
In the tiny town of Eatonville, this stunning case has grown even more disturbing. A man of the cloth is accused of unspeakable acts and at least one alleged victim wasn't even in her teens.
The woman, now 41, told investigators Williams would take her into wooded areas in Sanford and have his way. She has only come forward now after watching the story on Channel 9.
Williams is in jail with no bond, accused of raping a congregant just last month. Monday, police impounded the RV where the woman says the 71-year-old pastor attacked her on April 26. She said Williams invited her over to talk church business, but instead forced her to have sex.
NEW ZEALAND
Stuff
30 May 2005
By ANNA CHALMERS
Berhampore Children's Home sex abuse complainants are hopeful of a resolution after meeting Presbyterian Support.
The agency has changed tack in its handling of the former residents' allegations of sexual and physical abuse by justice of the peace Walter Lake, who headed the Wellington orphanage.
At least 14 former residents went to police last year with claims they were sexually abused during the 1950s and 60s by Lake, who was made an OBE for social services in 1986. He died last November, aged 84, just before police were to charge him with sex offences.
Allegations of abuse involving Lake have continued to surface, with three siblings telling The Dominion Post last week that they had suffered sexual and physical abuse for years while at the home.
Complainants and Presbyterian Support representatives met on Friday, after the agency agreed to discuss compensation. They issued a joint statement yesterday saying they were pleased with progress, but would make no further comment "in the interests of sustaining a constructive climate for discussions".
SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Monday, May 30, 2005
Archbishop William Levada's move to Rome this summer will offer the former San Francisco prelate little respite from the clergy sex abuse crisis in the American Catholic Church.
Levada's new job as Pope Benedict XVI's chief doctrinal watchdog includes leading the Vatican's investigation of hundreds of ordained clergymen suspended from public ministry amid allegations they had sexually abused children.
Anne Burke, the former head of the U.S. bishops'Abuse Tracker Review Board set up to study the abuse crisis, said Levada's new office is overwhelmed with a backlog of some 700 cases.
"Rome has not been set up for these kind of (church) trials,'' said Burke, a state appeals court judge in Illinois.
Burke said U.S. bishops are largely responsible for the backlog because they have not provided adequate information to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which decides whether to permanently suspend, defrock or otherwise discipline accused clerics.
HAMMOND (LA)
The Times-Picayune
5/28/2005, 10:45 p.m. CT
The Associated Press
HAMMOND, La. (AP) — A woman accused of being part of a group that allegedly abused children and animals within the walls of a now-defunct Ponchatoula church was beaten by other female inmates at the Tangipahoa Parish jail, sheriff's deputies said.
Nicole Bernard, who recently was returned from Ohio to face an aggravated rape charge, was placed in a cell by herself after the Friday night attack.
Chief Deputy Dennis Pevey said several female prisoners apparently were angry at Bernard because of her alleged involvement in the abuse of children.
"It's hard to keep them separated and the other inmates they kind of retaliated," Pevey said. "It's like that's the only offense that somebody can do where known criminals in jail have a problem with. It's OK to be a thief or a burglar, but if you commit a crime against children and (other inmates) say, 'Hey you crossed the line.'"
Prison officials said they would do what they can to keep all the suspects in the case safe. Six of eight suspects are in the parish jail and two others are in the Livingston Parish jail.
ROME
Press Esc
Contributed by Ugo Lancione, Vatican Correspondent
Sunday, 29 May 2005
The pope is facing new accusations that he 'faked' an investigation into child abuse by a leader of an influential Roman Catholic order to show the world that he was taking tough stance against offenders in order to get himself elected the leader of the Catholic Church.
The disgraced pontiff Bendedict XVI is accused of opening an investigation into the conduct of the alleged serial molester and leader of the Legionnaires of Christ Marcial Maciel in December last year but promptly dropping the investigation after being elected as the pope last month.
The pope last week claimed immunity from prosecution against charges of obstructing the course of justice stemming from secret letter, obtained by the respected British newspaper Observer, that the then Cardinal Ratzinger sent to every Catholic bishop asserting the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to ten years after the victims reached adulthood.
It is believed that the immunity claim is also an attempt to ward of any criminal investigation in the Vatican itself after the Police in Rome busted a pedophile ring run by Roman Catholic priests last week.
"When Ratzinger stepped up the investigation of Maciel, dispensing a priest around the world to take the alleged victims' statements, it seemed that he was positioning himself to be the next pope, shoring up his anti-molester credentials." Mark Oppenheimer wrote in the New Haven Advocate. "And now, no sooner does he become pope than he decides to close down a fruitful investigation into a man accused of being a serial molester of young seminarians."
TUCSON (AZ)
KVOA
Three brothers in Yuma who say they were repeatedly raped by a priest will each receive at least $600,000 under terms outlined in revised bankruptcy documents filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.
The brothers and other victims of clergy sexual abuse who have claims against the diocese could be paid from a total pot of more than $20 million, according to the revised bankruptcy reorganization plan. The amended statement and Chapter 11 plan were filed late Thursday in federal court.
Exactly how many plaintiffs will be dividing the money remains unclear. The Bankruptcy Court has logged 103 claims against the diocese, but they must be approved by the court as valid before claimants are eligible to receive any settlement money. A committee of tort claimants filed a motion Friday disputing 74 of the claims.
OHIO
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Dan Horn
Enquirer staff writer
Child-abuse victims and Catholic bishops are bracing for a battle in the Ohio legislature that neither side wants.
The anticipated dispute is over a child-protection bill that would allow victims to sue the church in decades-old clergy-abuse cases, most of which are too old to take to court under existing law.
Victims' groups favor the change and the church opposes it.
Both sides agree an ugly showdown in the Ohio House of Representatives, which is considering the bill this month, could hurt everyone involved.
Victims fear a protracted fight in the House could lead to a watered-down version of the bill, and the last thing church officials want is another public confrontation with people who accuse them of mishandling abusive priests.
"It's very difficult," said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. "We're being accused of not being pastoral in our approach to this."
But a battle may be inevitable.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Ohio News Network
Maurice Jackson, pastor of the New Generation Church in Northeast Columbus, was arrested Friday and charged with gross sexual imposition, and corrupting a minor.
The charges stem from allegations that he sexually molested a little girl. The victim's mother says that Jackson repeatedly molested her daughter over a four-year period, starting when she was seven years old.
CALIFORNIA
The Orange County Register
By ANDREW GALVIN
The Orange County Register
Michael Patrick Driscoll didn't go into the priesthood to become a personnel manager. He didn't expect that his career path would include supervising some of the worst priest-pedophiles in Orange County's history.
But in the early years of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, that was his job. From 1976 to 1987, as the diocese's chancellor, Driscoll oversaw personnel matters involving priests. Personnel files released by the diocese over the past two weeks show that Driscoll participated in numerous decisions that gave accused priests the opportunity to remain in ministry.
Driscoll, who today is the bishop of the Diocese of Boise, Idaho, has repeatedly apologized for his role in those decisions. Most recently, on May 5, he admitted that his priorities were "horribly misplaced" when he dealt with allegations of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.
"It is hard for me to understand today how we could not have seen what was happening to the children," Driscoll wrote in a statement posted on the Boise diocese's Web site. "People who know me well know how much I love children. They know that I would never hurt anyone intentionally, especially children."
People who know Driscoll say he is a warm, generous man, an exceptional speaker devoted to his religious calling. During his years in Orange County, he was a champion of the poor. Every Christmas, the rotund Driscoll donned a Santa Claus suit to distribute gifts to disadvantaged children.
SOUTH AFRICA
Vaal Weekly
VaalRand Police's swift action on Monday led to the arrest of two priests in Evaton West.
This is after they were implicated in the rape of a little girl that had apparently endured the abuse from January of this year.
The victim is a learner at a Primary School in Palm Springs. Apparently the girl confessed to her parents after it was discovered that she came home late every day.
Vaal Weekly was told that following the girl's confession after a stint of 'forceful' persuasion from her parents, it was discovered that she is being fetched daily from the school by the pastor who then takes her to the bushes and violates her.
This shocking news comes on the heels of information that the pastor's friend, who also happens to be the man of the robe, once helped himself to the girl by raping her. Stunned members of the community expressed shock that religious leaders are being accused of this ghastly deed.
PRESCOTT (AZ)
Arizona Daily Sun
05/28/2005
PRESCOTT (AP) -- A felony warrant has been issued for the arrest of a rabbi accused of child molestation and sexual abuse, authorities said.
Yavapai County prosecutors said David Lipman, 55, faces 11 counts of child molestation and five counts of sexual abuse that stem from an investigation involving two girls, ages 16 and 14.
Prescott Justice Court Judge Arthur Markham signed a warrant Thursday for Lipman's arrest.
City police received a call on May 13 from a Child Protective Services employee who reported possible sexual abuse of two girls.
That prompted a criminal investigation against Lipman, who admitted to inappropriate touching, according to Prescott Police Det. Robert Peoples.
Lipman was placed on administrative leave Monday from Temple B'rith Shalom, where he has been rabbi since April 2002 of a congregation with about 300 members.
MAINE
Sun Journal
By Bonnie Washuk, Staff Writer
Saturday, May 28,2005
Editor's note: The Sun Journal does not publish the names of people accused of crimes if those accusations do not result in criminal charges. For that reason, no names released by the state's Attorney General's Office have been included in this article. The list of names is available through the Attorney General's Office.
AUGUSTA - In 1952, a 10-year-old altar boy at a Lewiston church was sent to see a priest at the church.
According to documents released Friday by the Maine Attorney General's Office, the priest took advantage of the boy.
He kissed him and had oral sex with him.
Soon it was happening two or three times a week in the church's sacristy, according to the documents. Each time it happened, the priest paid the boy $5, telling him the money was payment for him not talking.
Years later, after the boy had grown, he told authorities of the abuse, saying that during the four years it was happening, there was no one he could tell since it was his parents who had sent him to the priest to talk about sex.
The allegation is one of dozens accusing a total of 21 Maine priests and brothers - now all dead - of sexually abusing children.
The documents are a compilation of statements from the Maine Roman Catholic diocese, letters from victims and reports from prosecutors, lawyers and the Attorney General's Office.
None of the cases was ever proven in court because, by the time authorities learned of them, the statute of limitations prevented prosecution, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin. In the early '90s, state lawmakers removed the statute of limitations for new sex abuse cases.
The documents were released Friday based on a Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling ordering the Attorney General's Office to turn over the records, which included the names of the priests and brothers, and the churches where they served. Nine of them - eight priests and one brother - had been assigned to churches in central and western Maine.
The court also ordered that the names of the victims and their families not be released.
The ruling came after the Portland Press Herald asked the court for the documents, Robbin said.
BOISE (ID)
Idaho Statesman
Statesman staff
Edition Date: 05-28-2005
A national organization that supports people abused by clergy will come to Boise next week to talk about Idaho Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll's handling of cases of sexual misconduct.
David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday near the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise office at 303 Federal Way. The exact location hasn't been set.
SNAP has criticized Driscoll's handling of priest abuse cases when he was chancellor at the Diocese of Orange in California in the 1970s and 1980s.
KENTUCKY
Cincinnati Post
Post staff report
Convicted child molester and defrocked priest Earl Bierman is scheduled to go before the Kentucky Parole Board in July to ask for release from his 20-year prison sentence a year and a half early.
He was sentenced in 1993, and with time earned for good behavior, is supposed to complete his sentence in December 2006.
Bierman, 73, was a late addition to the list of inmates the parole board has scheduled for hearings in July, said Campbell Commonwealth Attorney Jack Porter.
Porter said he didn't know why Bierman, who was given a serve-out order by the parole board in 1997, was granted a hearing and wanted more information about his status before taking a position on the request for early release.
Parole officials weren't immediately available for comment on Friday night, so the basis for Bierman's hearing wasn't known. During a previous hearing before the board in 1997, he complained of health problems.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
By GREGORY D. KESICH and JOHN RICHARDSON, Staff Writers
Twenty now deceased Roman Catholic priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children were identified by the Maine Attorney General's office Friday, in compliance with a court order.
The names and supporting documents detail complaints of abuse ranging from the 1930s to the 1970s, in Maine communities from Fort Kent to South Berwick. Some of the priests are named by a single accuser, others by as many as 13.
The allegations were made against 16 priests of the Diocese of Portland, two Jesuits and two Dominican priests. There is also an allegation against one Dominican brother.
The list of the priests is accompanied by letters and statements of victims and witnesses, whose names have been blacked out in the records. Many tell of the emotional pain of childhood abuse that lasts long into adulthood.
IOWA
KWQC
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Davenport will unveil a monument next month that is dedicated to the dozens of men and women who were sexually molested by eastern Iowa priests in the last 50 years. Bishop William Franklin will lead the blessing on June 20th of the Millstone Marker. Church officials say it's a symbol intended to show respect for the victims and promote healing in the wake of a scandal that roiled the diocese and its parishioners for the last three years. The marker was created as part of the settlement reached with abuse victims last fall.
UTAH
The Arizona Republic
Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
May. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
Land, housing and assets belonging to the nation's largest polygamous community and estimated to be worth more than $100 million were temporarily frozen Friday by a Utah court.
The ruling effectively wrests financial power of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who for years has controlled the school district, municipal government and most of the property in the isolated towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.
Judge Robert Adkins temporarily froze a trust fund for the church and suspended Jeffs and five other trustees, saying he found sufficient evidence that they committed a breach of faith by selling property to church insiders for less than market value. advertisement ...
"For the past two years, I've worked with the Utah attorney general on a coordinated effort to investigate all credible allegations of child abuse, sexual exploitation, welfare fraud, tax evasion and other financial wrongdoing. The events of this week show we are making good progress."
DENISON (IA)
The Daily Nonpareil
TOM MCMAHON, Staff Writer
05/27/2005
DENISON - Two additional sexual abuse charges were filed against Kelly Binning Thursday.
Denison Police Chief Rod Bradley said Binning, 38, of Denison, is alleged to have sexually abused a 4- and 5- year-old girl, both of whom were being cared for in a home day care center operated by his wife. ...
During the time period listed on the May 13 charge, Binning had owned a computer business in Denison. He later sold the business and became the pastor of Glory Hill Worship Center, now located in Arion.
AMITE (LA)
The Advocate
By VIC COUVILLION
Special to The Advocate
AMITE -- Judge Robert Morrison of the 21st Judicial District Court denied bail early Friday for Nicole Bernard, 36, who is charged with aggravated rape in connection with the Hosanna Church sex crime case that has been developing over the past several weeks.
Joyce Jackson, assistant warden of the Tangipahoa Parish Jail, said that Morrison had denied a bail request from Bernard about 8:30 a.m. Friday.
The hearing was not held in open court, and Morrison issued his ruling over the telephone.
Twenty-First Judicial District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said judges do not customarily comment on bond hearings.
Perrilloux said bond is almost never granted in capital cases.
TUCSON (AZ)
KOLD
TUCSON, Ariz. Three Yuma brothers who say they were repeatedly raped by a priest will each receive at least 600-thousand dollars.
The cash payout is outlined in revised bankruptcy documents filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.
The brothers and other victims of clergy sexual abuse who have valid claims against the diocese could be paid from a total pot of more than 20 (m) million dollars.
The amended statement and Chapter eleven plan were filed late Thursday in federal court.
Exactly how many plaintiffs will be dividing the total pot of money remains unclear.
MAINE
Boston Globe
May 27, 2005
AUGUSTA, Maine -- The state attorney general's office on Friday released more than 100 pages of documents relating to allegations of sexual abuse of minors involving 21 deceased Roman Catholic clergy.
The documents had been screened to eliminate names of alleged victims and witnesses. They included diocesan records, investigative reports and other material.
The documents were made public in response to an April ruling by the Maine supreme court. In that split decision, the court ruled 4-3 that the attorney general must release the files to Blethen Maine Newspapers, owner of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel newspapers.
Blethen Maine Newspapers filed a Maine Freedom of Access request with the attorney general in 2002 seeking records pertaining to the attorney general's investigation of alleged sexual abuse by priests who are now deceased.
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by Gustavo Arellano
At the beginning of this year, local victims of priestly pedophilia expected The Orange County Register to destroy the Diocese of Orange for good. After all, 2003 was a banner year for the daily, a year in which the Register consistently scooped its competitors in exposing the pederast-coddling sins of church officials. Some of its more shocking revelations included:
•Register opinion writer Steven Greenhut disclosing in his July 20 Sunday column the case of Father Cesar Salazar, whom diocesan officials refused to remove from St. Joseph’s in Santa Ana despite the discovery of child pornography on his computer. They finally did after the public uproar that followed the publication of Greenhut’s piece.
•Reporter Jim Hinch’s Sept. 14 story on how Mater Dei High School officials never reported to law-enforcement agencies allegations of student molestations at the hands of the Santa Ana parochial school’s teachers and sports coaches.
•A two-part, front-page Register exposé based on a police report in which Father Eleuterio Ramos admitted to molesting at least 25 boys during his tenure in the Orange diocese from 1976 to 1986.
But as the Orange diocese sex-abuse scandal nears its disgraceful end—Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown has agreed to pay $100 million to 87 victims of his child-raping employees, the largest clerical sex-abuse settlement in Catholic Church history—some sex-abuse victims are furious at the Register. When victims needed Orange County’s paper of record the most, they say, the Register failed them.
TUCSON (AZ)
Fox 11
05:20 PM MST on Friday, May 27, 2005
Arizona Daily Star
Victims of sexual abuse by clergy with valid claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson could be paid from a pot of more than $20 million.
A revised "amended disclosure statement" that accompanies the diocese's federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorgnization plan was filed late Thursday in federal court.
The revised statement says the diocese's minimum contribution to settlements with victims is $15.7 million, with additional money contributions possible as the diocese continues to pursue settlements with insurers.
A previous disclosure statement had proposed capping the settlement contribution at $20 million, but that ceiling limit was removed in the new document.
Creditors have until Tuesday to file objections to the new statements. A hearing in front of federal bankruptcy judge James M. Marlar is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
VIRGINIA
The Free-Lance Star
By JESSICA ALLEN
There are several reasons why Jonathan Watson doesn't go to church.
He cites the Catholic sex-abuse scandal. Plus, he says people can be spiritual without joining a particular religious organization. Then, there's his desire for tangible evidence that there's one correct path.
"Basically, I'm more of a practical person who needs proof," Watson said. "They say it's more of a leap of faith, and I couldn't make that leap."
The 26-year-old Fredericksburg resident and engineer is among a sizable number of young adults professing an interest in spirituality, but not necessarily in organized religion, according to a couple of recent surveys.
The studies by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute and Reboot, a Jewish networking group, focused on college-age young people and how they see life's mysteries with and without participating in a religious institution.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
May 28, 2005
Clergy-Abuse Victims Group Urges D.A. to Investigate Orange Diocese
By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer
Armed with newly released church documents, advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse asked the Orange County district attorney Friday to open an investigation into whether Roman Catholic officials acted criminally by covering for molesting priests and failing to report their crimes to authorities.
"We ask you to protect kids by setting an example for those who would protect child molesters," wrote three officials of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in a letter to Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas.
More than 11,000 pages of documents were released over the past two weeks as part of a record $100-million settlement between the Diocese of Orange and 90 alleged victims of molestation.
The documents show that church officials moved known molesters from parish to parish and diocese to diocese, never told parishioners that a sexual predator was in their midst and never told authorities about the crimes.
SAN JOSE (CA)
San Francisco Chronicle
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Two former altar boys who say they were sexually abused by a San Jose priest in the 1970s may seek punitive damages against the Archdiocese of San Francisco, an Alameda County judge tentatively ruled Friday.
When made final by Superior Court Judge Ronald Sabraw, the order could put new pressure on the archdiocese to settle dozens of negligence claims still pending for the actions of local church leaders before Archbishop William Levada's 1995 arrival in San Francisco.
The judge's tentative ruling involves one of 18 lawsuits claiming negligent supervision of the late Rev. Joseph Pritchard, the former pastor of St. Martin of Tours parish in San Jose.
Last month, a San Francisco jury awarded four other plaintiffs nearly $6 million for sexual abuse inflicted by Pritchard, who died in 1988.
That judgment came on top of another $437,000 award in March stemming from sexual misconduct by the San Jose priest.
SPOKANE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane said Friday it does not own 81 parish churches and nearly 100 other assets - and cannot use them to pay alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests.
The diocese filed documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court challenging the assertion by alleged victims that Bishop William Skylstad owns the 81 churches, 16 schools, one high school and 79 other Catholic assets in the sprawling region.
The diocese, which faces lawsuits filed by 58 alleged victims, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December, listing assets of $11.1 million and liabilities of $81.3 million - the vast majority being sexual abuse claims.
The diocese has asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to rule that Skylstad only controls the roughly $11 million worth of assets that belong specifically to the diocese.
"We are trying to resolve this Chapter 11 in a way that compensates those harmed by the church in the past," said Shaun Cross, an attorney for the diocese.
MAINE
The Bangor Daily News
Saturday, May 28, 2005 - Bangor Daily News
Editor's Note: The Bangor Daily News will continue to review the circumstances of individual priests identified in Friday's release of information by the Maine Attorney General, but at this time will not publish the list of priests in its entirety. The newspaper believes it would be inappropriate to publish the names of individuals who have been the subject of unsubstantiated allegations that in most cases can never be proved.
BY JUDY HARRISON
OF THE NEWS STAFF
AUGUSTA - The Maine Attorney General's Office on Friday released investigative files containing complaints of sexual abuse against 21 dead priests who worked in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland at the time the alleged abuse occurred.
In a split decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court last month ruled 4-3 that the documents be released to the media and the public. The names and information that would identify the alleged victims, their family members and friends were blacked out.
The complaints ranged from a priest's attempt to fondle a boy at the age of 13 to multiple victims stating that priests had touched their genitals to some priests allegedly forcing children to touch their penises.
One victim reported that when she was 6 years old, a priest who visited her in the hospital after she had had an appendectomy moved her to an empty storage room and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
The diocese opposed the release of the information because most of the allegations were never substantiated, some of them were made anonymously and a majority of the priests had died years before the incidents were reported.
BOISE (ID)
The Olympian
The Idaho Statesman
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho's Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Driscoll, who recently apologized for permitting priests to remain in a California ministry after they had victimized children, failed to remove a Boise deacon after he was told the FBI was investigating the clergyman for allegedly viewing child pornography.
Driscoll had known of the investigation nine months before the church notified members of St. Mary's parish in Boise, where Deacon Rapelyea Howell served, according to the Los Angeles Times and Idaho Statesman newspapers.
The 65-year-old leader of Idaho's 144,000 Catholics was told June 1 of last year that Howell was accused by authorities of viewing Internet child pornography between June and September 2002 when he worked for Casey Family Programs, a Seattle-based foster child counseling service that has an office in Boise.
The foundation monitors computer use by employees and was alerted to suspicious activity by software that tracks keyword searches and Web site visits. After putting Howell, 48, on administrative leave from the job he had held for 12 years, Casey officials turned Howell's hard drive over to the FBI and fired him on Oct. 11, 2002.
NEW YORK
The Journal News
By GARY STERN
gstern@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: May 27, 2005)
Three years after Monsignor Charles Kavanagh was removed from his high-profile ministry, taken down by an accusation of long-ago misconduct, more than 200 supporters came out last night to give him a hug, wish him a happy birthday and remind him that they feel he was hung out to dry.
Kavanagh was the Archdiocese of New York's vicar of development, raising millions of dollars for the church, when he was prohibited from acting as a priest three years ago this week. He was accused by a former seminarian of pursuing a romantic, sexually charged relationship with him two decades before.
Ever since, Kavanagh's supporters have been outraged that he was dismissed with no timetable for a possible appeal or a resolution to his case. In addition to losing his spot as chief fundraiser, he lost his pulpit at St. Raymond's Church in the Bronx.
"As is often said, justice delayed is justice denied," said John Dearie, the former state assemblyman and a close friend of Kavanagh who hosted last night's party. "This man gave 40 years of his life to reaching out, supporting people, so now we want to show our ongoing support for him."
PONCHATOULA (LA)
The Advocate
By The Associated Press
PONCHATOULA -- The suspected core members of a group that allegedly abused children and animals within the walls of a now-defunct church have been arrested and the next major step will be to send the case to a state prosecutor, authorities say.
Nine people have been arrested in connection with alleged activities at the Hosanna Church, a once-bustling house of worship that dwindled to a handful of members -- some implicated in allegations of sexually abusing children and animals -- before it closed in 2003.
"Right now, it's still in the fact-finding mode," District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said. "It's a law enforcement issue, but when they're done, they package it and the case file is sent to us."
Perrilloux will have 60 days from the time of the arrests to present the case to a grand jury.
PONCHATOULA (LA)
The Advocate
PONCHATOULA -- Investigators interviewed witnesses and went through volumes of evidence Thursday as they worked to piece together a Ponchatoula church's alleged occult rituals that included devil-worship and sex with children and animals.
A FBI evidence team wrapped up its search at the Hosanna Church on Southwest Railroad Avenue, the location where most of the alleged child abuse occurred, said Laura Covington, spokeswoman for the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office.
Investigators have not said what they found as they dug pits on the church grounds, other than construction debris and an old carpet.
Covington said that as of midweek, no additional arrest warrants or search warrants were pending in the investigation. Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards has said that there are at least 100 people detectives plan to interview and has not ruled out more arrests.
ITALY
AGI
(AGI) - Palermo, Italy, May 24 - "Today's operation once again highlighted what we have been reporting for some time: the social danger of the paedo-pornography phenomenon", stated, Giovanni Arena, chairman of Telefono Arcobaleno, the association which had pressed the charges which ended in the blitz in Syracuse, investigating 186 people in all of Italy, including three priests. Arena highlights: "It is not a coincidence that there are representatives of the Church, educators and public administrators among the investigated. Individuals who, also for professional reasons, paradoxically can be in contact with children every day." According to Arena the broadness of the phenomenon should make us think on the "necessity of regulations that safeguard minors even more. A concrete need, and I think that what happened a few days ago in Verona confirms our thought: the trial against a man on whose computer investigators found 82,634 files with paedo-pornographic content downloaded from an internet site and 33 videotapes of the same kind. The suspect struck a deal, ending his legal issue with a payment of 3,000 euro and returning home without a criminal record because the current law does not expect a mention of the sentence, even though Telefono Arcobaleno (who had tracked down and reported the man) sued for damages in a criminal court."
ITALY
AGI
(AGI) - Syracuse, May 24 - They were in contact with children and were supposed to educate them, take care of them, and instead they were part of a paedophile organisation that was broken today in an operation around Italy. Twenty-seven people who worked with minors were arrested, including three priests from Palermo, Verbania, and Bolzano, and an educator in Palermo. 186 searches were down around Italy, as part of an investigation of the Syracuse prosecutor's office. The investigation was based on a website that could be seen by using a password, without an index page. The site showed sexual abuse of children between four and eight years of age. The investigations were done by the Syracuse investigations unit, coordinated by prosecutors Giuseppe Toscano, Antonio Nicastro and Mariella Cavallo. (AGI) .
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
by GUSTAVO ARELLANO
Pope John Paul II knew. Many shocking stories of priestly sex abuse and their subsequent cover-ups are emerging from the once-secret Diocese of Orange priest personnel files. On May 17, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered their release as part of the record-breaking $100 million settlement reached between the Orange diocese and victims of its pedophilic employees.
But from the more than 10,000 pages of documents, by far the most damning account is found in merely four pages: Pope John Paul II knew.
The disturbing revelation is included in the papers of Father Andrew Christian Andersen, who pleaded guilty in 1986 to 26 counts of molesting four boys while working at St. Bonaventure in Huntington Beach. One item is an August 10, 1987, note by Monsignor Oscar Rizzato, then the Secretariat of State for the Vatican, to the Orange diocese. The Secretariat of State, as the Vatican’s website describes it, is the arm of the Holy See’s bureaucracy “which works most closely with the Supreme Pontiff in the exercise of his universal mission.”
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly
When I imagine working on the Register’s editorial page, I think of alchemists—the Renaissance “scientists” who believed it was possible (as they put it) to “conglutinate” objects, to turn one thing into another. I think specifically of the story of Leonard Turneisser, who in 1677 is reported to have “turned an Iron Nail heated in the fire, and immersed in Oyl, into Gold; done at Rome the 20th day of November after Dinner.” ...
Two days later, and the Register was feeling pretty good about itself. On May 19, it reported that Mater Dei High School choir director Thomas Hodgman and a Placentia priest named John E. Ruhl confessed to sexual misconduct to Orange Diocese officials—more than a decade ago.
Was this revelation the result of dogged investigation? Mmmmm, no.
What the Register did was attend a press conference, hold out its hand, and receive documents related to the Diocese of Orange sex scandal, documents released May 17 following an LA superior court judge’s order.
Understandably, and in the kind of hushed tones one normally expects from professional wrestlers, the Register congratulated itself, saying it was “publishing these papers to give a fuller picture of how the church handled those accused of molestation.”
GREEN BAY (WI)
Press-Gazette
By Andy Nelesen
anelesen@greenbaypressgazette.com
A Brown County judge accepted a 62-year-old priest’s bid to plead insanity and ordered him to undergo a mental examination in a case charging him with child molestation.
Brown County Circuit Court Judge J.D. McKay also “categorically denied” the Rev. Donald Buzanowski’s bid to bar media coverage of pre-trial hearings. McKay’s ruling made moot a motion to intervene filed by Joe Thornton, a lawyer representing the Green Bay Press-Gazette and WLUK, Channel 11.
“There is no justification, no precedent this court is aware of to make such a ruling,” McKay said in denying efforts to bar the media.
Buzanowski faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while Buzanowski served as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay
Buzanowski remains in custody in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail. As part of his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Buzanowski will have to submit to a psychological evaluation to determine whether he understood right from wrong when he allegedly touched the boy and whether he was able to conform to the rules of society.
The results of that exam are due July 8.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Post-Crescent
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — A Brown County judge accepted a 62-year-old priest’s bid to plead insanity and ordered him to undergo a mental examination in a case charging him with child molestation.
Judge J.D. McKay also “categorically denied” the Rev. Donald Buzanowski’s bid to bar media coverage of pretrial hearings. McKay’s ruling made moot a motion to intervene filed by Joe Thornton, an attorney representing the Green Bay Press-Gazette and WLUK-TV, Channel 11.
Buzanowski faces two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child. He is accused of fondling a 10-year-old boy in 1988 while Buzanowski served as a counselor at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic School in Green Bay.
Buzanowski remains in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
As part of his plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, Buzanowski will have to submit to a psychological evaluation to determine whether he understood right from wrong when he allegedly touched the boy and whether he was able to conform to the rules of society.
CANADA
CBC News
WebPosted May 27 2005 07:04 AM NDT
CBC News
CORNER BROOK — The Roman Catholic bishop in Corner Brook says he is confident that Catholics elsewhere will pitch in to help raise money to keep churches and parish halls.
Bishop Douglas Crosby says the Diocese of St. George's is appealing to other diocese in the province – as well as Catholic organizations outside the province – for financial help.
To cover a $13-million settlement finalized this week with the victims of Father Kevin Bennett, the Diocese of St. George's will need to sell some of its properties.
Crosby is hoping to raise between $4 million and $6 million over the next 10 months.
Donations will allow the diocese to keep some of its assets, says Crosby, who adds that some donations are already coming in.
SEWARD (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star
BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Seward resident Arlen Meyer, excommunicated from St. John Lutheran Church in March, has been reinstated to full membership by a vote of the congregation.
The Rev. Mark Cutler read from a prepared statement Thursday that said, in part, that "the congregation in meeting assembled has removed the excommunication placed on Arlen and has restored him to Christian fellowship in this congregation."
Meyer, retired from teaching after a long career at St. John Lutheran School, was the subject of a 2002 Nebraska State Patrol investigation into acts of alleged sexual misconduct against students.
He has never been criminally charged, but Congregational Chairman Ray Huebschman said in March that a count of written ballots at a special church meeting resulted in "a clear majority" favoring excommunication.
The statement quoted by Cutler Thursday, which also cited "evidence of repentance," will be handed out this weekend to the 1,100 people who usually attend four services at Seward's largest church.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
May 27, 2005
BY SHAMUS TOOMEY Staff Reporter
For the first time in 14 years, the Archdiocese of Chicago is laying off workers at its downtown headquarters as it fights to close an ongoing, multimillion-dollar budget deficit.
Church officials said Thursday that 40 positions will be cut by July at the pastoral center on East Superior, which is home to about 600 employees. Some of the jobs will be erased through early retirements and attrition, but the remainder will be layoffs, officials said.
It's all part of the ongoing struggle facing the local Catholic church, which has had to ship millions of dollars to struggling parishes to keep them afloat, depleting the budget of its pastoral center.
The financial woes have been exacerbated by legal claims paid out to victims of sexual abuse by priests, including the $18.2 million paid to settle claims in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2004. But church officials said the budget woes surfaced before the claims were paid, and the abuse settlements are not the predominant reason for the struggles.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Steven Krueger | May 27, 2005
IT WAS a year ago this week that a fleet of FedEx trucks delivered the devastating news to thousands of faithful Catholics in the Archdiocese of Boston -- their churches were slated to be closed. Over the past year the destructive track of downsizing has created immeasurable pain in the lives of countless Catholics and their communities. Few have gone unscathed, including Archbishop Sean O'Malley himself. We have every reason to believe this history will repeat itself if the archdiocese does not change its course.
The former flagship of the Catholic Church in America, the Boston Archdiocese, continues to sink. Already facing a slow but gradual long-term decline, the archdiocese needed to embark on a course of hope and healing after being stricken with the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The settlements in December 2003 provided that opportunity. Regrettably, a flawed top-down reconfiguration process has put us into a steeper downward spiral and refractured an already broken trust.
There is cause for alarm that goes beyond declining Mass attendance, a priest shortage, budget and program cuts, and other objective measures. At a time when creative and vibrant solutions are needed, the archdiocese is stuck in the same old ways -- diminishing hope and alienating those it needs most for its survival and growth, the faithful parishioners. The mission of the church is the ultimate casualty.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
May 27, 2005, 4:15 AM
DETROIT (AP) -- The Vatican has defrocked a priest who served in several parishes in metropolitan Detroit and has barred eight others from the ministry, the Archdiocese of Detroit says.
The nine priests have been on leave since allegations of sexual abuse surfaced, said Auxiliary Bishop Walter Hurley.
"The final decision ... basically confirms the original decisions made by the cardinal," said Hurley, who is Cardinal Adam Maida's delegate on issues of clergy misconduct.
The archdiocese is awaiting Vatican review of 14 other cases, including four priests who requested church trials, the Detroit Free Press said Friday.
The Vatican defrocked, or "laicized," Robert Quane, 60, who served at nine parishes in the Detroit area, including St. Francis of Assisi in New Haven, St. Raymond in Detroit and St. Ronald in Macomb County's Clinton Township.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
By Martin Snapp
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Father George Crespin, the longtime priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church who took early retirement in February after being accused of sexual abuse, has been cleared of all charges by a formal review authorized by Oakland Diocese Bishop Allen Vigneron.
The Catholic Voice, the official publication of the Diocese, reported that parishioners at St. Joseph gave Crespin a standing ovation when he returned to work at the Berkeley church this past Saturday. He expressed his relief and joy at returning to active ministry. Since the allegation was made, he has been unable to celebrate Mass or perform other priestly duties.
"We're very grateful that this process is completed," said Father Jayson Landeza, who has been acting administrator at the parish during Crespin's absence. "We at St. Joseph had confidence that the process would exonerate him."
Crespin was unavailable for comment, but Landeza said the retired pastor planned to stay in residence at St. Joseph. Since he was removed from ministry, the parish has rallied around him and held a town hall meeting with diocesan representatives Feb. 15, where they expressed their grief at his sudden departure.
VATICAN CITY
Chicago Sun-Times
May 27, 2005
BY FRANCES D'EMILIO
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican said this week there was no investigation under way of allegations that the Mexican founder of a conservative religious order sexually abused seminarians more than 30 years ago, and the Holy See had no plans to bring a church trial against the priest.
The Legionaries of Christ said last week that the Vatican had notified them about the status of the case involving the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degallado. In the late 1990s, nine former seminarians alleged Maciel had abused them when they were young boys or teenagers in Roman Catholic seminaries in Spain and Italy. The alleged abuse was in the 1940s-1960s.
Maciel, 85, has denied the allegations and said his accusers plotted to defame him.
''There is no investigation under way, and it is not foreseen that there will be one in the future,'' a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said.
Earlier this year, news reports surfaced that the Vatican had reopened the sexual abuse case against Maciel. But Vatican officials at the time said the reports resulted from a misunderstanding.
ROME
PressEsc
Contributed by Ugo Lancione, Vatican Correspondent
Friday, 27 May 2005
A Catholic rights group is pressing the Italian police to press criminal charges after the authorities in Rome last week busted a massive child abuse ring run by Catholic priests.
Catholics Against Chid Abuse (CACA) wants the police to arrest Pope Benedict XVI and charge with aiding and abetting sexual abuse of children and obstructing the course of justice by covering up crimes against children by other priests.
In May 2001 the Cardinal sent a secret letter, obtain by the respected British newspaper Observer, to every Catholic bishop asserting the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood.
CACA asserts that this constitutes a blatant obstruction of justice and the Pope should stand trial for the alleged crime.
CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle
Henry K. Lee
Thursday, May 26, 2005
The pastor of St. Joseph the Worker parish has been cleared of decades- old sexual-abuse allegations, an Oakland Diocese official said Wednesday.
In a letter to parishioners Sunday, Bishop Allen Vigneron wrote that officials "found that it is insufficient to support the allegation made against" the Rev. George Crespin, who is returning as pastor emeritus.
Crespin was put on leave and retired in February after being accused by "a young adult" of sexual abuse in the 1980s.
By Martin Snapp
BERKELEY (CA)
Contra Costa Times
STAFF WRITER
Father George Crespin, the longtime priest at St. Joseph the Worker Church who took early retirement in February after being accused of sexual abuse, has been cleared of all charges by a formal review authorized by Oakland Diocese Bishop Allen Vigneron.
The Catholic Voice, the official publication of the diocese, reported that parishioners at St. Joseph gave Crespin a standing ovation when he returned to work last Saturday. He expressed his relief and joy at returning to active ministry. Since the allegation was made, he has been unable to celebrate Mass or perform other priestly duties.
"We're very grateful that this process is completed," said Father Jayson Landeza, who has been acting administrator at the parish during Crespin's absence. "We at St. Joseph had confidence that the process would exonerate him."
Crespin was unavailable for comment, but Landeza said the retired pastor planned to stay in residence at St. Joseph. Since he was removed from ministry, the parish has rallied around him and held a town hall meeting with diocesan representatives Feb. 15, where they expressed their grief at his sudden departure.
CANADA
Canoe
CORNER BROOK, Nfld. (CP) - Sexual abuse victims of a Newfoundland priest have accepted $13 million in compensation from the Roman Catholic diocese where he worked.
Individual compensation for the 36 people ranges from a low of $75,000 dollars to a high of $1 million. Greg Stack, a lawyer for most of the abuse victims, said they had the choice of either accepting the offer or letting the diocese of St. George's go into bankruptcy.
Bishop Douglas Crosby said he's grateful the victims have seen fit to vote in favour of the offer.
Diocese officials said they will need to sell some of their assets to pay for the compensation deal.
They have appealed to parishioners, and are accepting contributions from other dioceses.
Rev. Kevin Bennett admitted his guilt and was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing 36 boys over a period of nearly 20 years while he worked in the diocese.
PONCHATOULA (LA)
The Advocate
By BRETT TROXLER
btroxler@wbrz.com
2theadvocate.com staff
From a report by WBRZ's Ben Lemoine benl@wbrz.com
Tangipahoa Sheriff Daniel Edwards said Wednesday he believes members of the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula used toys to lure children to have sex.
In total nine people have been arrested in connection with what police are calling a sex cult.
"It would not surprise me if there had been the use of puppets and things in order to make the children feel comfortable and what not to be able to perpetuate these types of crimes," Edwards said. "It would not surprise me."
According to a search warrant 36-year-old Nicole Bernard, who was arrested on a charge of aggravated rape, "openly stated (a 5-year-old) had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by members of her family and the cult since birth."
She said she had evidence secured in a storage facility in Ohio.
PONCHATOULA (LA)
Ohio News Network
Witnesses told police that people dressed in black clothing stood inside pentagrams and performed blood rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals at a now-closed church.
A woman whose phone call to police started the investigation was arrested last week in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on a charge that she raped her daughter. Authorities left with Nicole Bernard from Columbus on Wednesday for Louisiana after she gave up her right to a hearing on whether she should be extradited.
Police searched a storage unit in Columbus after Bernard told them it contained evidence. Officers took mattresses, videos and nine garbage bags full of costumes from the storage facility, according to a search warrant.
A message seeking comment was left for Bernard's attorney in Columbus, Bob Bernard.
AUSTRALIA
The Mercury
By GAVIN LOWER
26may05
A FORMER caretaker of a church camp yesterday pleaded guilty to sexually abusing four brothers from a family he befriended about 30 years ago.
The Supreme Court in Hobart heard that Philip Davies Sims, 53, sexually abused the boys, including twins, between 1978 and 1986. Each boy was abused over a period of between 12 and 24 months.
Prosecutor Mike Stoddart said the abuse happened when the boys stayed with Sims at the Uniting Church camp caretaker's house at Seven Mile Beach.
"I submit his behaviour has been a most severe breach of trust given his position in the church and the trust invested in him by the [boys'] family," Mr Stoddart said.
Sims, of Seven Mile Beach Rd, Seven Mile Beach, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and three counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 17.
SCOTLAND
Telegraph
The Right Reverend Roderick Wright, the former Roman Catholic Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, who died on Tuesday aged 64, scandalised the Church in 1996 when he ran off with his housekeeper, Kathleen MacPhee, a divorced mother of three children whom he had met at Lourdes; it later emerged that he was also the father of a son by another parishioner.
In September 1996 Wright was reported to have disappeared. He was, in fact, moving secretly from Bishop's House, Oban, to a hired cottage at Kendal, in the Lake District, there to set up home with Mrs MacPhee while he prepared to release a statement announcing his resignation.
When the couple heard, on the radio, of his "disappearance", Wright telephoned the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Keith O'Brien. Wright fixed a meeting with the Archbishop of Glasgow, Cardinal Thomas Winning, to tender his resignation. He maintained later that not only had he come clean about his relationship with Mrs MacPhee, but confessed to Winning a previous relationship with another woman, Joanna Whibley, which had resulted in a son. Winning helped Wright to compose a letter of resignation to Pope John Paul II, and made public a statement by Wright tendering his resignation because of his liaison with Kathleen MacPhee. If Wright had confessed to his relationship with Joanna Whibley, Winning kept silent.
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
WWLP
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS (WWLP) - A group representing people who claim abuse by members of the catholic clergy delivered a letter to Springfield’s bishop on Tuesday. They say the public deserves to know where Bishop Dupre is and they also want to see him formally removed from the priesthood. Members of Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests showed up at the bishop's door on Tuesday to hand him that letter, and show him another they've addressed to the pope. They think it's wrong that Dupre, who's been indicted on charges of molesting 2 boys, is somewhere out in the world, potentially unsupervised, where they say he could abuse more victims.
ROMANIA
Ananova
Parishers in a Romanian village are protesting about their new priest - because he allegedly had sex in a church.
Villagers at Rastoaca, in Vrancea county, organised a street demonstration and stopped priest Marian Trusca from entering their church.
Parishioner Dumitru Chirita told Evenimentul Zilei newspaper: "We can never accept this man as our priest.
"We know he was transferred for disciplinary reasons from another village because he had sex on the altar with the school's secretary."
The priest denies the allegations but the villagers are adamant and church officials are now reviewing the appointment.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - A judge has halted proceedings in nearly three dozen sex-abuse lawsuits filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh until the state Supreme Court issues an opinion regarding Pennsylvania's statute of limitations.
Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. did not rule on the diocese's request to dismiss the 35 sex-abuse cases, but last week did grant the diocese's request to halt the proceedings.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs objected to the stay because it allows the diocese to not turn over records related to the cases.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(May 26, 2005) — A Catholic priest whom the Diocese of Rochester once restricted from contact with children pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to possession of child pornography.
The Rev. Michael Volino, 41, admitted that last year he had child pornography on a diocesan computer. In his guilty plea to a single felony count, Volino admitted only to possessing more than three pornographic images, but federal prosecutors contend that he had more than 600.
The difference could be crucial to Volino's sentence, because sentences can be increased if there are more than 600 images.
In 2002, diocese officials asked Volino to attend a Maryland-based psychiatric center for priests because of concerns about his "maturity and development," Bishop Matthew Clark said in an earlier interview. Counselors recommended that the diocese ensure that Volino was not alone with children, a restriction the diocese maintained it followed. (Clark said the diocese did err by allowing Volino to teach at St. John the Evangelist Church in Greece; the center recommended that he be prohibited from work in schools.)
ASHTABULA (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
By M.R. Kropko
The Associated Press
ASHTABULA, Ohio - In this tight-knit northeast Ohio city, the death of Carolyn Clark on Mother's Day weekend was story enough: Police said her estranged husband beat her head with the stock of a rifle in front of the youngest five of their 13 children.
But then talk intensified as news spread about legal papers Carolyn Clark had filed in a custody dispute she won a few days before her death, accusing leaders of the couple's church of sexual and physical abuse against members, including children. Clark said she was trying to get her young children away from the church, which she accused of brainwashing her husband and older children.
Now prosecutors are investigating whether the Apostolic Church Body of Jesus Christ of the Newborn Assembly had any role in her death. Social services officials are looking into the abuse allegations.
"This murder happened, and it might have kicked over a rock and there's some sunlight shining down now," Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas L. Sartini said.
OREGON
The Oregonian
Thursday, May 26, 2005
STEVE WOODWARD
All 389,000 Roman Catholic parishioners in Western Oregon soon may find themselves defendants in their archdiocese's legal fight to keep parish property from being used to pay sexual-abuse settlements.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris said in a Wednesday hearing that she was leaning toward converting the property litigation into a rare class action at the end of July.
"I've never had a class action before in my 21 years as a bankruptcy judge," Perris said, as she and several bankruptcy lawyers thumbed through their copies of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, puzzling over the class-action rules.
Rather than name every parishioner individually, a class action would enable the committee representing sex-abuse plaintiffs to sue the volunteer parishioners on behalf of all parishioners. The so-called adversary proceeding, which is similar to a lawsuit, would be meant strictly to answer the question of who owns the property in the archdiocese's 124 parishes and three high schools: the archdiocese or the parishes.
Who owns $600 million in real estate, investments and cash has been a central issue since the Archdiocese of Portland became the nation's first to file for bankruptcy in the wake of lawsuits alleging clergy sexual abuse.
PONCHATOULA (LA)
Beacon Journal
Associated Press
PONCHATOULA, La. - Witnesses told police that people dressed in black clothing stood inside pentagrams and performed blood rituals involving the sexual abuse of children and animals at a now-closed church.
A woman whose phone call to police started the investigation was arrested last week in suburban Columbus, Ohio, on a charge that she raped her daughter. Authorities left with Nicole Bernard from Columbus on Wednesday for Louisiana after she gave up her right to a hearing on whether she should be extradited.
Police searched a storage unit in Columbus after Bernard told them it contained evidence. Officers took mattresses, videos and nine garbage bags full of costumes from the storage facility, according to a search warrant.
A message seeking comment was left for Bernard's attorney in Columbus, Bob Bernard.
Eight other people, including the church's pastor and an ex-sheriff's deputy, have been arrested in connection with the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula, a once-bustling house of worship that was reduced to a handful of members in recent years before closing in 2003. A dozen or more additional people could be involved, authorities said.
LONG ISLAND (NY)
Newsday
BY RITA CIOLLI
STAFF WRITER
May 26, 2005
Demanding an apology from Msgr. John Alesandro for failing to help sexual abuse victims who complained to him about predatory priests, about 40 people protested outside St. Dominic's Church in Oyster Bay Wednesday night where the former Diocese of Rockville Centre top official is now pastor.
"As Christians, we are supposed to forgive and we would do that if he showed any kind of remorse," Pat Cuomo of Northport said. "An apology is in order to my brother and the other victims and he needs to own up to his responsibility in the scandal."
The group stayed outside the rectory for about 45-50 minutes, some holding posters reading, "Monsignor, it's time to confess," and "Monsignor Thou Shalt Not Lie."
Andrew Cuomo, who lives in Milwaukee and flew in Wednesday for the demonstration, said the late Rev. Robert D. Huneke began abusing him in 1972 when he was a 14-year-old who had been recommended to the priest for counseling. Huneke had been named in lawsuits accusing him and other priests with sexual abuse.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Newsday
May 25, 2005, 10:33 PM EDT
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography on his computer.
The Rev. Michael Volino, 41, admitted in U.S. District Court to one count of possessing more than three explicit images.
Volino was arrested in March after a Diocese of Rochester technician found the pornographic material while repairing his computer. Federal prosecutors said more than 600 images were found.
Volino will be in home confinement until his Sept. 8 sentencing. He faces probation to 10 years in prison.
He served at St. John the Evangelist Church in the Rochester suburb of Greece beginning in 2002.
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
Sometimes, saying "I'm sorry" isn't nearly enough. The release last week of papers revealing that church leaders in Orange County concealed, denied and enabled sexual molestation by priests for decades neither brings the matter to psychological closure nor speeds healing. Instead, it should spur some church leaders to step down, while forcing others — most notably, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony — to finally disclose the church's complicity in the scandal.
Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, formerly a diocesan official in Orange County and now the bishop of Boise, Idaho, posted a preemptive apology on his website before the release of the papers. As The Times reported Wednesday, disagreement about whether he is redeemed or should resign has given Catholics one more thing to be divided about. In either case, church officials will have to do much more to help heal the community — and they should start by releasing all documents related to the abuse cases.
The 10,000 pages of documents released by the diocese confirmed critics' worst suspicions. Bishop of Orange Tod D. Brown has been more forthright about the scandal than many of his colleagues (although it should be pointed out that these papers were released to comply with a court settlement). Mahony, in contrast, has waged an unseemly struggle to keep key personnel records from the grand jury and plaintiffs' lawyers.
WINCHESTER (MA)
Burlington Union
By Christopher Rocchio/ Staff Writer
Thursday, May 26, 2005
At the beginning of weekly meetings for the Winchester chapter of the Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), Bob Morris asks those in attendance at St. Eulalia's Church in Winchester how many were from different parishes and communities. Several weeks ago he stopped this practice, mainly because so many people were raising their hands.
"Even though we're here at St. Eulalia's, we have always drawn people outside the parish," said Morris.
The Winchester VOTF affiliate recently celebrated its three-year anniversary. Like their weekly meetings, the event had a good turnout of people reminiscing about what the organization has meant to them. The VOTF is centered around three goals: To support survivors of clergy abuse, support priests of integrity and shape structural change in the church.
"The mission statement is to provide a prayerful voice attentive to the spirit through which the faithful can actively participate in the governance and guidance of the church," said Morris.
The VOTF originated in January 2002, when Boston-based newspapers began running articles on a daily basis about the burgeoning Catholic church sexual abuse scandal. Morris said many of the cases involved priests and bishops who allowed abuse to happen, finding quick-fixes, like shuffling the offenders to different parishes or dioceses. While it was not known as the VOTF at the time, the first meeting occurred at St. John the Evangelist in Wellesley Hills.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, May 26, 2005 - Updated: 04:51 AM EST
A group of Boston-area Catholics has started a unique scholarship fund to help pay for clergy sexual-abuse victims to attend a national survivors conference.
BishopAccountability.org, the largest online archive on the crisis in the Catholic Church, is soliciting donations for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
SNAP's third annual conference will be held June 10 to 12 in Chicago, but not all victims can afford the roughly $500 airfare, registration fee and hotel expense.
``What strikes me again and again is the nearly superhuman strength it takes for survivors to come forward and risk public humiliation,'' said Anne Barrett Doyle, one of the Web site's directors.
``Without their courage, the scandal would never have been exposed.''
CANADA
CBC
WebPosted May 26 2005 08:01 AM NDT
CBC News
CORNER BROOK — The victims of Father Kevin Bennett have accepted a $13-million compensation offer from the Roman Catholic diocese of St. George's.
Bennett was convicted in 1990 of molesting 36 boys while he served in parishes in the diocese.
Kevin Bennett was convicted in 1990 of sexually abusing 36 boys in parishes where he had served.
The victims fought their case for compensation to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The package involves 39 men, including two additional victims of Bennett and a man who had been molested by one other priest.
Greg Stack, the lawyer who represents most of the sexual-abuse victims, says his clients really had only two choices: accept the offer or let the diocese go into bankruptcy.
"None of the victims [is] jumping up and down with joy but certainly everyone hopes that this is going to be the end of it, and hopes the debts will be retired in an orderly fashion," Stack says.
"It was accepted, because the alternative is probably a little bit worse in terms of time. The time limits of payments would be delayed a year or two … The complexity and the administrative costs would be a lot, [and] that would consume a lot more of the funds."
IRELAND
One in Four
Martin Wall - Irish Times
Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has written to Minister for Finance Brian Cowen seeking to break the deadlock over the establishment of a planned fast-track investigation into how the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin managed child abuse claims against priests.
The Department of Justice has reached agreement on the inquiry with groups representing victims and submitted proposals to the Department of Finance last February. However, there has been no progress since then.
The new inquiry, which would come under the Government's new powers to establish commissions of investigations into matters of public interest, would examine how the diocese handled cases of alleged child abuse against priests. According to informed sources it would look, for example, into whether the Archdiocese moved priests around against whom allegations had been made.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Wednesday May 25th 2005
ONE of the victims of paedophile priest Fr Ivan Payne has hit out at the Government for delays in setting up the fast-track investigation into how the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin managed child abuse claims against priests.
Andrew Madden said it was no longer acceptable that victims were waiting almost three years after Justice Minister Michael McDowell promised an inquiry.
Mr Madden, who in 1994 became the first clerical child sex abuse victim to go public, said despite the fact he and others had numerous meetings with the Department of Justice, there had been no progress.
The new inquiry, which is set to come under the Government's new powers to establish commissions of investigations into matters of public interest, is set to examine in detail how allegations of clerical child sexual abuse were handled.
While it has emerged that Mr McDowell has written to Finance Minister Brian Cowen on the setting up of the probe, Mr Madden said victims were fed up waiting.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Gary Craig
Staff writer
(May 25, 2005) — A Catholic priest today pleaded guilty to the possession of child pornography found on his computer at the Diocese of Rochester.
The Rev. Michael Volino, 41, admitted that in October he possessed child pornography on the computer.
The child pornography was discovered by a technology specialist at the Diocese of Rochester who was repairing Volino's computer, according to the FBI. Officials at the diocese then contacted authorities.
Volino had been a priest at St. John the Evangelist Church of Greece, 2400 W. Ridge Road, since 2002.
Volino will remain confined to an area home until he is sentenced in September. The maximum sentence for the crime is 10 years but federal prosecutors say that federal sentencing guidelines establish a sentence between 46 and 57 months. Volino's lawyer, John Parrinello, plans to argue that the guidelines instead suggest a sentence between 15 and 21 months.
ROCHESTER (NY)
WHEC
Father Michael Volino pleaded guilty Wednesday to possessing child pornography and now faces possible jail time. Volino, who was a priest at St. John The Evangelist Church in Greece, appeared in federal court with his attorney John Parrinello, his parents and friends.
In court he answered numerous questions from the judge before he signed his plea agreement. Most of the time it was "yes, your honor." Or "yes, sir."
The plea closes another chapter in the church's ongoing problem with priests who have fallen from grace.
The diocese information technology officer discovered the child pornography images on Volino’s computer. The diocese then turned over the computer to the FBI. The plea agreement says there were more than 600 pictures of boys under the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit activity. “Father Volino accepted responsibility for his conduct. He has continually expressed remorse for engaging in the conduct that he did. And he is fully resolved that nothing like this will ever happen again in his lifetime,” said Parrinello.
The maximum sentence is ten years in prison and/or a $250,000.00 fine.