IRELAND
One in Four
THE Catholic archdiocese of Dublin is to begin recruiting up to 200 "representatives" to implement a new national child protection policy in every parish.
The policy has yet to be approved by the Vatican, but Church leaders are keen to implement the policy as soon as possible. Dublin and other dioceses want to ensure that it can be put in place as soon as approval is given.
Church leaders are known to be anxious that Rome approves the policy before publication of the report of the inquiry into clerical sex abuse in the diocese of Ferns, which is thought likely to be published some time in next month.
MIAMI (FL)
The Ledger
The Associated Press
MIAMI
A woman who claims she was molested by a priest after she turned to the Archdiocese of Miami for help while pregnant as a teenager has sued and is seeking more than $10 million over the incident that allegedly occurred more than three decades ago.
The suit, filed Friday in Miami-Dade circuit court, names the archdiocese and Catholic Charities as defendants. No priest is named in the suit.
The incident allegedly took place around 1970, when the woman was about 14; the suit did not specify exact times or ages. The suit alleges she went to a clinic operated by the archdiocese for a pregnancy test and was sexually abused by a priest.
After the alleged assault, she claims of contemplating suicide, and later terminated the pregnancy rather than having the baby and giving it up for adoption as she originally intended, according to the suit. Because the pregnancy was terminated in its fifth month - long after visiting the clinic - she was unable to bear children, the suit said.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist discusses reactions to the priest abuse scandal.
John Grogan: Hi, John Grogan here.... Welcome. I'll be happy to take your questions in just a minute here.
John Grogan: Today, my column centers on the response of area Catholics to the clergy sex-abuse scandal. I was surprised at the depth of emotion in so many of the responses.
leatherj5: I'm now living in North Carolina. I'm also Catholic. I heard about the Grand Jury’s letter and saw the list of local priest being made public. What do you think will happen to the local diocese within the next 3-6 months if anything?
John Grogan: That's a good question. Realistically, I don't expect too much to happen in the next several months. Because of the statute of limitations there will be no criminal charges against any of these offenders, and the state Supreme Court just ruled out the possibility of more civil actions.
michele: Why are you surprised? I'm not!
John Grogan: Well, not really surprised at the level of outrage and anger. But in the past when I have written about the transgressions of the Church, I've always received a good dose of scolding from devout Catholics who accuse me of Catholic-bashing who say I'm looking for an excuse to damage the Church. This time I received some 250 responses and not ONE made that argument.
MISSOURI
Times Newspapers
by Don Corrigan
Kirkwood police are investigating allegations made by a former Vianney High School student body president, Bryan Bacon, that he was sexually abused by Brother William Mueller at the school in 1985.
Bacon, a Kirkwood resident, filed a lawsuit against Mueller, Vianney and the Marianist Order earlier this month. Bacon's lawsuit is one of several that have been filed across the country involving Mueller, who has taught students in Pueblo, Colo.; San Antonio, Tex.; and St. Mary's High School in St. Louis, where he served as the principal from 1981 to 1983.
Bacon's lawsuit accuses Marianist officials of knowing that Mueller had a history of abusing children, but that they failed to remove him. Mueller had spent several months in 1984 at a treatment center, the Servants of the Paraclete Center in New Mexico, before being assigned to Vianney.
MIAMI (FL)
Local 10
POSTED: 11:20 am EDT September 30, 2005
MIAMI -- Another lawsuit has been filed against the Archdiocese of Miami in connection with alleged sexual abuse of a child by a priest.
The suit alleges that in the early 1970s, a pregnant 14-year-old girl went to a church-run clinic for help in giving her unborn baby up for adoption. She says she was sent to a priest for counseling, and that while she was in his office at the now-closed clinic, he pulled down her pants and underwear and used his fingers to penetrate her vagina until a nurse walked into the room.
The woman says that she left the clinic severely traumatized, considered suicide, and concealed her pregnancy for several months. She said when she was five months pregnant, her mother forced her to go to New York to terminate the pregnancy. The procedure left her unable to have children, according to her lawyers.
The woman is being represented by Jeff Herman of Herman and Mermelstein in Miami.
The suit is seeking a jury trial and more than $10 million in damages.
FLORIDA
First Coast News
By JEFF BRUMLEY
The Florida Times-Union
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- The Catholic Diocese of Orlando and the Jacksonville-based Diocese of St. Augustine paid a combined $1.5 million in May to settle sexual abuse claims involving two priests who molested three altar boys "countless times" during the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to an attorney for the victims.
Diocesan officials deliberately ignored the actions of the Revs. Vernon F. Uhran and Hubert Reason while their abuses were occurring, said the victims' Miami-based lawyer, Adam Horowitz.
Reason is deceased and Uhran is living in the Orlando area but is no longer in active ministry, Horowitz said.
The settlement remained a secret on the First Coast until it was referred to in a Sept. 12 news release announcing the filing of two new sexual molestation lawsuits against the Orlando Diocese.
HUDSON (WI)
Pioneer Press
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
The Rev. Ryan Erickson likely would have been charged with killing two men in 2002 at a Hudson, Wis., funeral home as well as sexual abuse of a minor and possession of child pornography.
But Erickson hanged himself outside his Wisconsin church last December.
On Monday, prosecutors will lay out the case against Erickson in a private hearing in a St. Croix County courtroom.
District Attorney Eric Johnson and Hudson Police Chief Dick Trende declined to talk about the details Thursday, but they said a strong case will be presented placing Erickson at the funeral home at the time of the fatal shootings.
"I think the case is fairly compelling," Johnson said. "I don't know if it will solve it. If the testimony meets the probable cause standard, I think it will provide some closure."
Neither Johnson nor Trende would reveal specifics, but sources with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on the condition that their names not be used said Erickson engaged in sex with a boy younger than 15. The sources also said the priest gave alcohol to minors and possessed child pornography involving boys, some of which included bondage.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | September 30, 2005
BOSTON --A defrocked Catholic priest who already served three years in a New Hampshire prison for sexually abusing a child pleaded guilty Friday to sexually abusing five other boys, and was sentenced to eight to 11 years in prison.
Robert Burns, 56, was indicted in April on six counts of raping of a child under 16, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He pleaded guilty to all 13 counts.
During the hearing, Burns apologized to his victims -- who were all boys age 10 and under when the abuse began -- to the people in the two Boston parishes he served and his fellow priests.
"I can't undue the harm that I've done, but I am determined to live the rest of my life with integrity," he said. "I am deeply, profoundly sorry."
NEW YORK
The State
RACHEL ZOLL
Associated Press
NEW YORK - A top Jesuit official is raising objections about an upcoming Vatican document that's expected to reinforce Roman Catholic teaching that gays are not welcome in the priesthood, while some U.S. leaders of men's religious orders are considering a trip to Rome to express their opposition.
The Rev. Gerald Chojnacki, head of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, said in a letter to his priests that he was asking bishops to tell Vatican officials who are drafting the policy "of the great harm this will cause many good priests and the Catholic faithful."
Chojnacki wrote in the letter, dated Monday, that he had participated in the funerals of several gay Jesuit clergy over the last few years.
"I find it insulting to demean their memory and their years of service by even hinting that they were unfit for priesthood because of their sexual orientation," he wrote.
Chojnacki said he would be working with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, which represents leaders of religious orders in the United States including the Jesuits, Franciscans and others, and with bishops to fight "for the opportunity of a gay person to say yes to God's call in celibate service of priesthood and chaste religious life."
WILMINGTON (DE)
6 ABC
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Sept. 30, 2005 - Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, have acknowledged that a priest convicted of indecent assault on two teenage boys in 1982 was reinstated to ministry the same year.
As recently as 2002, the Reverend Robert Hermley was serving at the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement complex in Ogletown.
Diocese officials say their policy since 1985 has been that no priest with credible allegations should be allowed to work in active ministry.
Officials said yesterday that they needed time to look into the facts surrounding Hermley's ministry.
WILMINGTON (DE)
6 ABC
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Sept. 30, 2005 - Officials with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, have acknowledged that a priest convicted of indecent assault on two teenage boys in 1982 was reinstated to ministry the same year.
As recently as 2002, the Reverend Robert Hermley was serving at the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement complex in Ogletown.
Diocese officials say their policy since 1985 has been that no priest with credible allegations should be allowed to work in active ministry.
Officials said yesterday that they needed time to look into the facts surrounding Hermley's ministry.
TOLEDO (OH)
Ohio News Network
Sep 30, 2005, 10:29 AM EDT
A new trial date has been set for a former Toledo priest accused of killing a nun 25 years ago.
A Lucas County judge scheduled the trial to begin next April 17th.
The Reverend Gerald Robinson is accused of strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a 1980 Easter weekend killing that investigators have described as ritualistic. The priest and the nun had worked together at a hospital.
WORCESTER (MA)
Fitchburg Sentinel
By J.J. Huggins
WORCESTER -- The attorney representing the inmate charged with killing defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan played a tape in court Thursday, showing prison guards pulling the murder suspect from the victim's cell after the beating death.
Joseph Druce is charged with murder in connection to the Aug. 23, 2003 killing.
The clips, taken from surveillance cameras inside the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, show the guards pull Druce on the ground from Geoghan's cell, face first.
On the tape, the guards strap Druce's hands behind his back, then four of them escort him to another area inside the prison.
Druce's attorney, John LaChance, played the tape at Worcester Superior Court Thursday.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston.com
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | September 30, 2005
BOSTON --A defrocked Catholic priest who already served three years in a New Hampshire prison for sexually abusing a child was expected to plead guilty Friday to sexually abusing five other children.
Robert Burns was indicted in April on six counts of raping of a child under 16, and seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
The five victims were all boys who were under 10 when the abuse began, according to the Suffolk District Attorney's office. The abuse allegedly took place from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, while Burns was a priest at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston and at St. Mary's in the Charlestown neighborhood.
Burns' attorney, Timothy P. O'Neill, said Burns has intended to plead guilty since he was charged almost six months ago, although he pleaded innocent at his arraignment.
HUDSON (WI)
WCCO
(AP) Hudson, Wis. A prosecutor says he will present "strong circumstantial evidence" next week that a Catholic priest killed a funeral home director and an intern more than three years ago.
St. Croix County District Attorney Eric Johnson told The Associated Press the evidence, which he said will include a motive but no murder weapon, will be presented during a so-called John Doe hearing behind closed doors before Circuit Judge Eric Lundell.
Lundell will rule whether evidence gathered by police provides probable cause that the late Rev. Ryan Erickson killed the two victims at their funeral home and committed other crimes, Johnson said. He said the hearing is expected to last three days and involve 15 witnesses, both men and women and people of all ages.
"I think the case is fairly compelling," Johnson said. "I don't know if it will solve it. If the testimony meets the probable cause standard, I think it will provide some closure."
BROOMALL (PA)
News of Delaware County
By Amy A. Winnemore and Dan Russo, STAFF WRITERS 09/29/2005
BROOMALL - At St. Pius X Church in Broomall, Rev. Paul Castellani's homily Sunday, like many across the Philadelphia Archdiocese, addressed the recent grand jury report on sex abuse in the church.
Parishioners listened quietly, as the priest began by solemnly acknowledging that he, like all others humans, sins. He then spoke about the great tragedy of the sins committed by those exposed in the report and apologized to abuse victims. He closed by criticizing the institutional and societal conditions that perpetuate such wrongdoing.
Tess Colaiezzi, a member of St. Anastasia in Newtown Square, said she was surprised to hear that a former priest at her parish, Rev. John H. Mulholland, 66, was named in the report, and was cited for abusing a boy while assigned there.
"I think our kids were in CCD when he was in our parish," said Colaiezzi. "It just makes me mad," she says. "They should have been arrested."
PENNSYLVANIA
News of Delaware County
By Brigette ReDavid, MANAGING EDITOR 09/29/2005
As a Catholic, I am rocked to the core by the alleged abuses within my church released last week in a Grand Jury report.
Imagine my shock when I realized the priest who baptized my daughter stands accused of pedophilia?
Philadelphia District Attorney Lynn Abraham says she regrets that the statute of limitations ran out and these priests cannot be charged for the sexual assaults they allegedly committed.
It's understandable. That's what Abraham does. She goes after the bad guys and brings them to justice. After years of covering trials and hearings, I understand how dedicated many police officers and district attorneys are to that.
All of the alleged assaults are heinous acts. In churches throughout Delaware County on Sunday, priests apologized for the sins of their fathers. Cardinal Rigali's letter was welcomed by parishioners who don't want this shrugged off, no matter how hard it is to swallow.
For me, this is a bitter pill.
CANADA
Edmonton Sun
NEWMARKET -- A pastor who said he was doing "God's work" when he blindfolded and handcuffed a teenager, then sexually assaulted him on videotape was sent to jail yesterday.
Roscoe Lim, 27, a former youth pastor at the Markham Christian Community Church, was sentenced to 14 months plus three years' probation for sexual assault and luring over the Internet.
His name will also be entered into theAbuse Tracker Sex Offender's Registry. After he pleaded guilty to the charges, a third charge of production of child pornography was dropped.
"This was a shameful and profound breach of trust," said Justice Joseph Kenkel.
Court heard that Lim, who is diagnosed as a pedophile, met a 15-year-old boy at a church function. He developed a relationship with him over an Internet chat line where he "groomed" the boy under the guise of doing "God's work," often praying with him and offering to be his "brother in Christ," or his "beloved commander."
UNITED STATES
Houston Voice
Friday, September 30, 2005
Richard J. Rosendall
THE VATICAN’S RECENT decision to purge Catholic seminaries of gay men makes me think of Groucho Marx’s line, “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” In truth, the church’s authoritarianism drove me away years before I was ready to deal with my sexuality.
Leaving the church, however, can be easier than making it leave you. Family tradition, rituals instilled early, the music and images and stories — they can exert a lasting emotional pull long after you have rejected the core beliefs.
This personal awareness tempers my irreverence when I wonder with exasperation what it would take for diehard gay Catholics to get the message that they are not welcome. Belonging to a family or a church that doesn’t want you may be painful, but that doesn’t make it any easier to turn your back.
It is supremely ironic that a key hallmark of the life of Jesus of Nazareth was his affinity for and kindness toward outcasts: the tax collectors, the adulterous woman, the Good Samaritan. He admonished against judging others, decried as hypocrisy public displays of prayer, and declared that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
OREGON
News-Register
Published: September 29, 2005
By KATIE WILLSON
Of the News-Register
Judge Cal Tichenor sentenced a former school teacher and church pastor Tuesday to an additional 11 years in prison for repeatedly sexually abusing an adopted daughter over a two-year period when the family lived in Hopewell.
David Gilmore, 40, was sentenced to 19 years in prison by a Marion County judge in June for abusing the same daughter while the family lived in St. Paul.
Under an agreement negotiated with prosecutors, Gilmore pleaded guilty in Yamhill County to one count each of first-degree sexual penetration and first-degree sex abuse, both Measure 11 offenses carrying long mandatory minimums. In exchange, six other counts were dropped.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Friday, September 30, 2005
By Rebekah Scott, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dozens of pending clergy sex-abuse lawsuits against Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania have passed into a legal limbo following a state Supreme Court ruling this week.
Advocates for both sides say many of the 100-plus lawsuits still outstanding statewide likely will be dismissed.
"This is a setback for public safety, a victory for child molesters and a relief for duplicitous bishops," said David Clohessy, national director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The "setback" is a state Supreme Court decision announced Wednesday in Harrisburg in which the court refused to hear an appeal of a Superior Court decision made in March.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Review
By: Bernard J. Scally 09/29/2005
Released a week ago, the Philadelphia Grand Jury's report leaves almost no parish untouched by the 63 accused priests listed. Each generation of parishioners have probably come into contact with the accused; not only in their own parishes but in their high schools as well.
Some of those parishes include: St. John the Baptist, St. Josephat's, Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), Roman Catholic High School, Kennedy-Kenrick and their predecessors Archbishop Kennedy and Bishop Kenrick, and Archbishop Carroll and it's formerly separated Boys and Girls Schools.
Some residents, while in shock, believe that the report is "Catholic bashing" overblown by the media. Others confront the report with a sense of realism.
"I am appalled and sickened, if it is true, about Cardinals Krol and Bevilacqua covering up the scandal," said one resident. The report, which has taken 3 years to complete, follows some priests careers back to the 1950s. Many of the accused in the community were long time residents of their parish, especially St. John the Baptist where two of the accused lived for almost 20 years.
Many in the community are not surprised at finding the name of Rev. James Dux on the list of the accused.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Daily Times
By TIMOTHY LOGUE, tlogue@delcotimes.com 09/29/2005
Cardinal Justin Rigali probably got what he expected when he invited priests to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary Tuesday to pray and sound off about the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked his archdiocese. "I was hoping for an honest exchange, and that definitely happened," said the Rev. J. Thomas Heron of St. Gabriel Church in Norwood. "To use Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, there was evidence of a house divided."
After prayer and remarks by the cardinal, those in attendance were invited to ask questions and offer opinions about a grand jury’s findings of sexual abuse by 63 priests and Rigali’s response to them.
"It wasn’t a debate, but I would say both sides were heard to some degree of satisfaction," said the Rev. Joseph J. Meehan of St. Eugene Church in the Primos section of Upper Darby. "To his credit, the cardinal set himself up to receive criticism, and he accepted it."
Of the 300-plus priests who attended the meeting, about a dozen stepped up to a podium set up in the middle of seminary pews to speak their piece. A few had less-than-flattering words for Rigali, who has criticized the grand jury findings while maintaining the archdiocese never made concerted efforts to cover up the abuse of hundreds of children by dozens of priests.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Dan Sheehan
Of The Morning Call
Weariness and dismay were starkly evident in Juliann Bortz's voice Thursday as she reflected on this week's state Supreme Court ruling on clergy abuse, a decision that seems to have dashed the hopes of victims seeking to bring their attackers to account despite the passage of time.
The court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that denied a bid to expand the ability to sue dioceses. Plaintiffs in the case, which targeted the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, wanted to reset the clock on the state's statute of limitations, giving victims of old abuse cases a renewed chance to pursue lawsuits.
The decision protects Pennsylvania's dioceses and other organizations from what could have been financially crippling civil judgments. That includes 10 lawsuits against the Allentown Diocese being pursued in Lehigh County.
''They're too powerful,'' said Bortz, an abuse victims advocate from Lower Macungie Township, painting the Catholic Church hierarchy as the ultimate version of an unbeatable city hall: a bureaucracy without accountability, swatting away citizens seeking redress.
UNITED STATES
Arizona Daily Wildcat
By Ella Peterson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday, September 30, 2005
Gays, liberals and proponents of equal rights are already railing against the imminent Vatican instructions banning gay men from entering seminaries. However, this ban has been well-received by certain conservative priests, some of whom claim that the restriction on gay seminarians is "for their own good."
Just as church authorities once banned epileptics from the priesthood, they assert that years of studying in the presence of only other men would be too much of a strain on the celibacy of a homosexual man.
Apparently, according to the esteemed clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, everyone knows that sexual orientation has a tremendous effect on the control of one's sexual impulses, and gay men cannot be expected to make such an intense commitment of faith as celibacy.
PHOENIXVILLE (PA)
Phoenixville News
By KARIN WILLIAMS, kwilliams@phoenixvillenews.com 09/30/2005
PHOENIXVILLE - Father John Newns held an open discussion session at St. Ann's Church Thursday for parishioners to express their thoughts and feelings on the recent release of the Grand Jury report on priest sexual abuse.
Because of the emotional nature of the topic, the names of parishioners who participated in the forum are being withheld.
Newns began the session by telling the crowd of about 45 people that he was there to listen.
"The first duty of love is to listen," he said.
Newns opened the floor, and a woman stood to speak.
She said she has been consumed with the events surrounding the release of the report, and has been left feeling physically ill.
"I feel that if I could just sit and cry, I would flood the earth, and all my rage would be gone," she said.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
BY BETH MILLER AND STEVEN CHURCH / The News Journal
09/30/2005A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to indecent assault on two teenage boys in 1982, while on the staff at Padua Academy in Wilmington, was reinstated to ministry the same year and as recently as 2002 was serving at the Little Sisters of the Poor retirement complex in Ogletown, officials acknowledged Thursday.
Diocese of Wilmington officials say their policy since 1985 has been that no priest with credible allegations should be allowed to work in active ministry here. Thursday, they said they needed time to look into the facts surrounding the ministry of the Rev. Robert L. Hermley, 78, now of Childs, Md., who is a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, an autonomous religious order within the diocese.
Hermley was arrested in 1982 in Trevose, Pa., while watching X-rated movies at a local drive-in theater with two Philadelphia boys, ages 13 and 14. Nineteen pornographic magazines also were found in the car. Hermley, who at the time was director of college guidance at Padua, an all-girls high school, pleaded guilty to indecent assault. Charges of indecent exposure, corrupting minors and open lewdness were dropped. Hermley was given three years' probation by a Bucks County, Pa., judge and released into the custody of his religious order, which reinstated him into ministry and assigned him to duty in Vienna, Va.
UNITED STATES
New York Blade
By ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG
Friday, September 30, 2005
Father James, a gay Catholic priest living in California, isn’t sure if the Vatican’s planned ban on gay men in seminaries will affect his position but the psychological effect, he says, is the same.
“It’s like having your family reject you,” he told the Blade in a telephone interview. “You feel a call to service as a priest, then you find a document that says anybody like you is unfit to do the work you’re called to do. It hurts.”
Father James asked that his identity be protected because some “self-appointed watchdogs” scour the Internet looking for gay priests to report to the bishop.
Anxiety among gay priests has intensified since reports emerged that the Vatican is planning to ban gay seminarians. The details on who would be excluded or how it could be enforced are still unknown. The announcement came shortly before church officials began visits to American seminaries to question students on a range of topics, including whether they know of any gays in their seminary. The move to remove gays amounts to scapegoating for the church’s sex abuse crisis, critics have argued.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Daily Times
The sex-abuse scandal currently engulfing the Archdiocese of Philadelphia smoldered for decades before erupting in the conflagration contained in the 400-plus pages of a scathing report issued by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. It is not going to go away overnight.
That point now should be abundantly clear to the man who heads the archdiocese, and its 1.5-million member flock. Even if it was not at the time the bombshell report was released.
Some of the faithful are questioning their faith. They are stunned, disappointed and outraged at the scope of the scandal, the way the archdiocese handled it, and its response to the grand jury report.
They want answers.
Monday night they went looking for Cardinal Rigali. They found him at Villanova University, at a previously scheduled speech on Catholic higher education.
The cardinal spoke for 90 minutes, often touching on "human dignity." But some of those who attended had other lessons in mind. And they turned the cardinal’s own words against him.
One woman indicated the cardinal mentioning human dignity "put me over the edge" in the wake of the report that detailed hundreds of cases of child sexual abuse at the hands of priests, and overwhelming evidence that archdiocesan leaders covered up the situation, in some instances actually enabling it through a policy of removing problem priests and relocating them to other parishes.
NEWTON (MA)
Boston Globe
September 30, 2005
AFTER VANDALS smeared swastikas on the door of the Adams Street synagogue in 1997, the Rev. Walter Cuenin got 300 people out of the pews at Sunday Mass and marched them up the street to show his support for his Jewish neighbors. This was an early sign of the dynamic, innovative, and inclusive leadership he would demonstrate as he led Our Lady, Help of Christians parish in Newton through the turmoil of the sexual abuse scandal, the worst crisis in the history of the Catholic church in Boston.
Now he is gone, forced out by Archbishop Sean O'Malley on trivial accusations of financial impropriety. And my family, parishioners at Our Lady's for the last seven or eight years, feel bereft, empty, and deeply angered. We, and hundreds of others, have lost a leader who energized our spiritual lives and gave my spouse, children, and me a nurturing home in the Catholic faith.
Like many Catholics, we were looking for a church that was spiritually vibrant and accessible to the many Catholics who feel estranged from the faith, including gay people, the divorced, and the remarried. As a hymn sung often at Mass proclaimed, ''All are welcome in this place."
Cardinal Bernard Law appointed Cuenin to the pastorship in 1993 when Our Lady's grand 112-year-old church had fallen into disrepair. Cuenin led a $4 million campaign to restore the church to its earlier splendor. He assembled an 11-person staff to educate the children and guide the ministries that would meet after Mass or in the evenings. He made sure that strong, independent lay people were elected to the pastoral council and finance council to monitor and advise on parish operations.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Villanovan
By Jane Donahue
Published: Friday, September 30, 2005
Philadelphia Catholics faced 418 pages of a grisly report detailing five decades of alleged abuse of young parishioners by priests as the grand jury last week ended its investigation of the archdiocese's handling of abuse complaints.
The investigation, operated by the District Attorney of the City of Philadelphia, has been the longest running grand jury inquiry into clergy sexual abuse. The group has been at work since April 2002.
The 40-month effort investigated the cases of 63 priests in the archdiocese who, the grand jury report said, had inappropriate sexual contact with girls and boys. They said the 63 priests had assaulted multiple victims, one assaulting more than 20 boys.
The report blamed Cardinal John Krol and Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, among others, for suppressing knowledge of acts committed by clergy in the Philadelphia area for years. The report accused church officials of relocating the priests rather than removing them from ministry, thus exposing them to larger numbers of children in the archdiocese.
"As an Augustinian priest I am saddened and dismayed by many of the things that have come to light," wrote the Rev. Thomas Martin, O.S.A., professor of theology and director of the Augustinian Institute at Villanova. "It seems to suggest a gross abdication of responsibility on the part of the bishops-they 'protected' their priests but they failed to protect their people!"
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Villanovan
By Ashley Augello
Justin Cardinal Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, spoke in the Connelly Center on Monday night about Catholic higher education and the Church in the world of the future. What was intended as a reflection on the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes, which translates into "joy and hope," turned into an open forum on the recently released grand jury report about sexual abuse by priests and the alleged cover-up by the Philadelphia archdiocese. In the question-and-answer forum following the speech, Rigali faced heated questions about the sexual abuse scandal. The most contentious of the questions came from audience member Judy Gray, who noted that Rigali used the term "human dignity" 37 times in his speech and asked how it could be applied to his support of "criminal cardinals who have protected oral and anal rape.""I will have to leave that judgment up to God," Rigali said.
"I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will," she said. "You're a phony." A youth minister urged Rigali to meet with youths who are dealing with the problems caused by the report. "It's been a rough week," she said.
"It's been a rough three and a half years. We need to heal. Our youth needs to heal. You need to hear this youth. They're hurting and disillusioned." Rigali agreed that work had to be done, stating that the young people may be "struck down but not held down," and that "Christian hope is greater than dejection."
He did not specifically commit to meeting with any youth. The heated questions ceased when Father Dobbin asked that the remainder of the questions be focused on the "topic at hand."
LEXINGTON (KY)
Beacon Journal
Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. - An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to killing a former Lexington priest who was convicted of sexual abuse.
Prosecutors said Jason Anthony Russell, 28, killed Joseph Pilger, 78, after he found the retired priest masturbating while looking at a photograph of Russell's 6-year-old son.
Russell, of Ironton, Ohio, pleaded guilty to murder, burglary and theft by unlawful taking on Thursday. Prosecutors recommended he serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Russell is scheduled to be sentenced by Fayette Circuit Judge Gary Payne next month.
HUDSON (WI)
Pioneer Press
BY KEVIN HARTER
Pioneer Press
The Rev. Ryan Erickson likely would have been charged with killing two men in 2002 at a Hudson, Wis., funeral home as well as sexual abuse of a minor and possession of child pornography.
But Erickson hanged himself outside his Wisconsin church last December.
On Monday, prosecutors will lay out the case against Erickson in a private hearing in a St. Croix County courtroom.
District Attorney Eric Johnson and Hudson Police Chief Dick Trende declined to talk about the details Thursday, but they said a strong case will be presented placing Erickson at the funeral home at the time of the slayings.
"I think the case is fairly compelling," Johnson said. "I don't know if it will solve it. If the testimony meets the probable cause standard, I think it will provide some closure."
UNITED STATES
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 30, 2005
Responding to reports that the Vatican may be close to releasing a directive to exclude most gay candidates from entering the priesthood, leaders of Roman Catholic men's religious orders in the United States are planning to travel to Rome to voice their objections in person.
The trip is one of the steps by leaders of Catholic religious orders to try to reassure priests and seminarians who have been rattled by news of a possible Vatican ban on the ordination of gay men.
Word of the trip, which has not been scheduled, was in an internal letter sent on Monday to leaders of religious orders from the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, the key American coordinating body for more than 250 leaders of Catholic religious orders, like the Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits. The letter was provided to The New York Times by a member of a religious order who said he was pleased by the superiors' actions.
In addition, at least two leaders of Jesuit provinces have written to their priests and seminarians reassuring them that their sexual orientation is not an issue as long as they remain celibate and chaste.
UNITED STATES
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
September 29, 2005
Not surprisingly, there are still some priests and laypersons who assert that homosexuality was and is not a factor in the clergy sex abuse scandal.
I don't know whether to blame political correctness or just plain denial for this misguided notion.
In a recent news story, Father Charles Bouchard, president of Aquinas Institute of Theology, is quoted as saying:
Some people do feel homosexuality would disqualify a student. I hope we can provide evidence that should not be the case.
We don't want to make it look like it's just a question if someone is gay or straight. But whether they have the ability to live celibate and be effective ministers.
I think it might be relevant in as much as that it answers some people's question that possibly there is a link between homosexuality and pedophilea [sic]. I don't think that link exists, so I'm not afraid of that question.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Bernadette McKenzie Kutufaris
Like many Catholics in the Philadelphia area, I felt a stream of mixed emotions last week when Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham released the grand jury report detailing the sexual abuse of many children by priests from the archdiocese. I hastily found the documents online and read through them, afraid of what and whom I would find in the 400 pages. It was to my great dismay that I found a handful of priests listed that I did indeed know. I was even further dismayed when reading about the alleged actions of the retired cardinal.
Indeed, I was sickened. My faith was momentarily rocked off its axis. I found myself questioning all that I had been raised with and experienced in my short 28 years of life.
On Sunday, my family and I arrived at our church, St. Francis of Assisi in Springfield, Delaware County, and sat among the many parishioners who were looking for answers. The need felt in that church that morning was glaring. The priest celebrating Mass met our needs, feelings and questions head on. He addressed our concerns in the most passionate, heartfelt homily. I left that church with a renewed sense of faith and spirit. My concerns and the concerns of the congregation were addressed.
I come from a long line of Irish Catholics. I am one of five children of two devout Catholic parents. I received a Catholic education from preschool to college. In my lifetime, I was blessed with a miracle, one that led to the canonization of a saint. After I spent a few years battling a debilitating spinal-cord disease, the sisters (Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales) in my parish initiated a novena - the recitation of prayers over nine days - to their foundress, Leonie Aviat. A few days into the novena, I experienced a reversal of pain and of the debilitating effects of the disease. I went on to live a normal and healthy life. Because of my upbringing and this experience, I have seen the goodness of God. I have come in contact with and spent time with many priests from a variety of orders who are wonderful holy men, among them, Pope John Paul II.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Catholic Standard & Times
Cardinal Justin Rigali
Over the past week, we Catholics have come face to face with evil. We saw that, in our own Church, troubled priests, to whom we looked as ministers of sacramental grace, as collaborators in ministry and indeed as friends, had committed despicable acts of evil upon our most innocent and precious members, our children.
This knowledge, and the depravity of the acts detailed in the Philadelphia Grand Jury Report, affects me deeply. I grieve for the pain and humiliation victims of clergy sexual abuse have suffered.
To them I say, once again, with a heavy heart: I apologize to you personally. Your suffering is borne by all Catholics. All believers stand with you for support and are united with you in prayer. These words are meant to be first steps of healing, which I pray you will receive through the grace of God.
The Archdiocese stands ready to assist you in humble service. I am willing to meet with you as I have met with others. Our Victims Assistance Coordinators offer both spiritual and mental health services. Any victim or those who wish to report an allegation of abuse — which will be communicated immediately to civil authorities — may contact an assistance coordinator at 215-587-3880 or PhilaVAC@adphila.org.
Many years ago I dedicated my life as a priest of Jesus, the High Priest, to serve Him and His Church, the people of God. Today I acknowledge the betrayal of abusive priests, as do so many dedicated priests here in the Archdiocese. These good and faithful servants of our Lord feel especially hurt. I know they have endured uncharitable comments or perhaps silent stares of condemnation from some members of the community. I extend my fraternal admiration for all the selfless service they render. They strive for personal holiness as they lead the people entrusted to their care to a deeper relationship of love with our Lord Jesus. To them I say with a full heart: thank you for all you do and are.
OREGON
The Register-Guard
By Jeff Wright
The Register-Guard
Published: Thursday, September 29, 2005
Seventy-nine-year-old Marvel Kunkle is going to court, and she's not happy about it.
Kunkle, a self-described "cradle Catholic," has attended St. Peter Catholic Church in west Eugene for 40 years. Because she's among the 390,000 Catholics who live in Western Oregon, she's also a defendant in the Archdiocese of Portland's bankruptcy case.
In a legal maneuver, the archdiocese in July listed all 390,000 parishioners as class-action defendants in the bankruptcy filing, made last year as the church struggled to respond to more than 200 claims of sexual abuse by priests.
Kunkle and every other local Catholic has until Monday to formally "opt out" of the class action. But few have, in part because of a Catch-22: Attorneys for alleged abuse victims have said they probably will name any parishioner who opts out as an individual defendant.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Pittsburgh Catholic
by: Pittsburgh Catholic Staff
PHILADELPHIA — In a 76-page response, Philadelphia archdiocesan attorneys described a grand jury report on local clergy sexual abuse of children as “a vile, mean-spirited diatribe against the church” and “a sensationalized, lurid and tabloid-like presentation of events that transpired years ago, which is neither fair nor accurate.”
After a three-year investigation, the grand jury issued a 423-page report Sept. 21 that said retired Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, former bishop of Pittsburgh, and his predecessor, the late Cardinal John Krol, along with their top aides, “all abdicated their duty to protect children. They concealed priests’ sexual abuses instead of exposing them. ... There is no doubt that these officials engaged in a continuous, concerted campaign of cover-up over the priests’ sexual offenses.”
The archdiocesan response, however, said the content of the grand jury report “is nothing more than an attempt to convict in the court of public opinion those whom it does not indict in a court of law.”
After its investigation, the grand jury announced that no criminal actions would be filed as too many years had passed and applicable statutes of limitations had expired.
LEXINGTON (KY)
Lex 18
The man accused of killing a retired priest who was also a convicted sex offender pleaded guilty to the crime in a Lexington courtroom Thursday.
Jason Anthony Russell, 26, admitted killing Joseph Pilger, 78, who was found dead in his Lexington home in December 2003. The Fayette County Coroner's office ruled Pilger died from multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
Russell, convicted in July 1997 of robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery, had finished a prison sentence just two months before the killing, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Lisa Lamb said.
Pilger pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in 1995 for abusing three brothers and their cousin in 1968 and 1969, when he was their pastor in Morganfield in western Kentucky. The victims were younger than 15 and serving as altar boys at the parish.
UNITED STATES
Myrtle Beach Sun
RACHEL ZOLL
Associated Press
On the recruitment poster, a young Roman Catholic priest in full cassock stands before a black backdrop gripping a cross in one hand and a rosary in the other. A halo of light surrounds him, but his expression is far from angelic. He stares grimly at the ground, his eyes obscured by dark sunglasses.
The poster is a takeoff on ads for the movie "The Matrix" and was developed by a youth minister in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to send a message about enrolling in seminary: Priests, like the Keanu Reeves character in the film, fight for good in a tough world.
Yet, over the last three years of the clergy sex abuse crisis, priests have come to be identified by some in the public with the dark side of human behavior. U.S. bishops have responded by transforming their child protection policies and removing accused clergy from church work.
WORCESTER (MA)
WPRI
WORCESTER, Mass. A judge gets a look today at how prison guards handled the inmate charged with killing pedophile priest John Geoghan.
At a hearing in Worcester Superior Court today, a defense attorney for Joseph Druce played snippets of video recorded by cameras at the state prison in Shirley.
One scene shows about ten guards trying to open the door to the cell where Druce had allegedly strangled Goeghan. The door had been jammed with a book and nail clippers. When it is finally pried open, guards are seen dragging Druce from the cell and pinning him face down on the floor.
NEWTON (MA)
Newton Tab
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Why do bad things happen to good people?
It's one of the central questions we look to our religious leaders to for answers. It's also a question many are struggling to answer this week following Father Walter Cuenin's forced resignation from Newton's most vibrant parish.
Cuenin was - make that, still is - one of our most beloved religious leaders, a rare public figure who had few, if any, detractors in the city. It's hard to imagine a priest more perfectly suited for Newton: highly intelligent; welcoming to our diversity; able to rub elbows with the city's elite as well as its blue-collar residents; and willing to stand up for his beliefs - even when that meant challenging church leaders and rules which demean women and gays.
But as for why this happened to Cuenin, we may never receive any more satisfying answer the question than did Job in the Old Testament. The church is by no means a democracy, and is under no obligation to say more than it chooses.
So we are left to speculate. The official reasons given by the archdiocese seem patently absurd. That Cuenin was among the first to call for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law was a likely factor. His differences with the church's stance on homosexuality, especially on the very weekend when the archdiocese was organizing a push to ban gay marriage, are suspect.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Marie Szaniszlo
Thursday, September 29, 2005
The Rev. Walter Cuenin, who was pressured to resign last week from his Newton parish, has one thing in common with 19 other Archdiocese of Boston clerics forced from their parishes in the past three years: He signed a letter calling for the resignation of Bernard Cardinal Law.
The popular, outspoken priest was among 58 clerics who called on Law to step down because he had transferred priests who were known child molesters from parish to parish instead of alerting parents and police.
Of the 40 clerics who did not belong to religious orders or have outside jobs such as chaplain or academic, at least 20 have been transferred to other parishes, saw their parishes closed by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, or retired or resigned in an effort to spare their parishes from being shuttered, according to the Council of Parishes, a group opposed to the closings.
``We believe there are even more cases of pressure and payback, but what is clear from what we already know is a pattern of intimidation by the hierarchy of this archdiocese, beginning with Archbishop Sean O'Malley and possibly going beyond, to Rome,'' where Law now heads one of the Vatican's four basilicas, said Peter Borre, a council spokesman.
O'Malley's spokesman has said the archbishop asked for Cuenin's resignation from Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton because the priest accepted a car and a stipend from his parish in excess of the amount allowed by the archdiocese.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Forward
By E.J. KESSLER
September 30, 2005
Philadelphia's "tough cookie" Jewish district attorney is feuding with the Catholic Church over a report her office issued last week alleging five decades of child sexual abuse by priests in the local archdiocese.
The district attorney, Lynne Abraham, released the 418-page grand jury report, the culmination of a 40-month investigation, at a September 21 press conference. The report did not charge any individual priests with crimes, noting that the statute of limitations had expired, but it described in graphic detail how at least 63 priests and perhaps many more abused "hundreds of child victims." It also charged that a "cover-up" by archdiocese officials at all levels led to abusive priests being "left quietly in place or 'recycled' to unsuspecting new parishes — vastly expanding the number of children who were abused," in addition to hindering prosecutions.
"[I]n its callous, calculating manner, the Archdiocese 'handling' of the abuse scandal was at least as immoral as the abuse itself," the report asserts.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese, at a press conference the same day, pushed back ferociously, with an attorney for the church, William Sasso, calling the report "incredibly biased and anti-Catholic."
The abuse report also is proving embarrassing for Pennsylvania's junior senator, Rick Santorum, a Republican. Santorum, a staunchly conservative Catholic, has spoken out strongly against priest pedophilia in liberal states such as Massachusetts.
DENVER (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Felix Doligosa Jr., Rocky Mountain News
September 29, 2005
Alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests went to the Denver District Attorney's office Wednesday and sought a grand jury investigation into the Archdiocese of Denver.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and Robert Kinney Jr., who sued the church Wednesday over sexual abuse charges, held a rally at the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Office Building.
"Everything is backwards," said Barbara Blaine, president of SNAP. "Everyone went to the bishop to report sexual abuse, and not the police. The crimes should be investigated by law enforcement."
Ten civil lawsuits claiming sexual abuse have been filed against the Archdiocese of Denver involving the Rev. Harold Robert White. Lawsuits also have been been filed over molestation allegations against the Rev. Leonard A. Abercrombie and Brother William Mueller.
In the district attorney's office, Blaine dropped off two heavy black notebooks containing the Philadelphia grand jury report on the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The 423-page report of the Philadelphia church was released last week and listed 63 cases of child sexual abuse by priests. Blaine also provided a letter and the names of four more priests in Denver she said are suspected of sexual abuse.
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, September 29, 2005
The state Supreme Court Tuesday upheld a Superior Court ruling throwing out 17 child sexual abuse cases against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on the grounds that they violate the statute of limitations.
"It's a temporary victory for child molesters," said Marie Whitehead, Philadelphia chapter director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "We want to eliminate statutes of limitations for criminal child assault."
UNITES STATES
Raw Story
By Nancy Goldstein | RAW STORY COLUMNIST
In a sign of the rich cultural interchange wrought by our global economy, this month’s Chutzpah Award goes to…the Catholic Church.
A report from the Philadelphia grand jury released earlier this month is just the latest of 11 investigations into dioceses in the last three years. Like those that have come before, it finds that leaders at the highest levels of the church concealed the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests for decades. Rather than expose themselves to expensive lawsuits or negative publicity, they kept abusive priests active, often moving them from parish to parish, and hid their crimes from the public, parishioners, and the police.
In addition to documenting assaults by more than 60 priests, the Philadelphia report alleges a cover-up by the late Cardinal John Krol, the former archbishop of Philadelphia, and his successor, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqu, who “retired” in 2003.
A series of technicalities makes it impossible for the perpetrators of these crimes or those who covered up for them liable. No charges can be brought against a diocese because it is “an unincorporated association rather than a corporation.” In other cases, statutes of limitations have lapsed.
DUBUQUE (IA)
Des Moines Register
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque will turn over more than 200 documents about priests named in three sexual abuse lawsuits.
The priests are accused of sexually abusing young people from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Federal magistrate John Jarvey will review the documents to determine whether they can be used in the lawsuits, a court order issued last week said.
Waterloo attorneys Chad Swanson and Tom Staack asked the court to compel the diocese to turn over the documents. The diocese objected, citing protections under the First Amendment, the Iowa Constitution, victim privacy and third-party privileges.
MUNDELEIN (IL)
NBC 5
POSTED: 6:43 pm CDT September 28, 2005
UPDATED: 11:39 pm CDT September 28, 2005
MUNDELEIN, Ill. -- Some residents of north suburban Mundelein expressed concern about some Roman Catholic priests who have been permanently removed from public ministry.
NBC5's Mary Ann Ahern reported that while the church ruled the allegations of sex abuse against the priests are credible, they do not have to register as sex offenders since they never faced any criminal charges. In most cases, the allegations are more than 10 years old. The church refuses to kick the priests out, but they are monitored by the church.
Archdiocesan officials decline to say how many priests removed from ministry live at the Cardinal Stritch Retreat House, located at St. Mary On The Lake Seminary -- and what their restriction are.
While Mundelein police have contacted the archdiocese, the police said legally, the church doesn't have to tell them anything because there were no criminal charges.
Housing the priests at the retreat house was initially considered a temporary situation while the church investigated the allegations. This week, Cardinal Francis George has permanently removed 11 priests, some who will remain at Mundelein.
SEATTLE (WA)
KGW
09/29/2005
Associated Press
Nine men have filed a complaint against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle in King County Superior Court, saying they suffered sexual and physical abuse at an orphanage and high school overseen by the archdiocese.
The complaint, dated Wednesday, names a half-dozen priests who worked at Briscoe Memorial School in Kent and O'Dea High School in Seattle between 1950 and 1979.
"Abuses were systemic and pervasive," the complaint said. "Boys were constantly subjected to appalling acts of physical violence and sexual abuse."
Those acts included forced sex and being beaten with fishing rods in the shower, the complaint said.
TAMPA (FL)
St. Petersburg Times
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 29, 2005
TAMPA - Two more lawsuits have been filed against Tampa's Mary Help of Christians School, accusing a priest and a music teacher of sexually abusing boys in their care.
Eight suits have been filed since 2002 accusing priests or teachers of child molestation. The latest two were filed Tuesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court.
One says the plaintiff, now a man, enrolled in the school in 1980 for the sixth grade. On 20 or more occasions starting in September 1982, a music teacher sexually abused him by fondling, kissing and having sex with him, the suit says.
At least once, another teacher caught the music teacher abusing the plaintiff and began to argue with him, the suit says. But the school never disciplined the music teacher.
NEWTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | September 29, 2005
In a rare decision to comment on the workings of the Roman Catholic Church, a group of non-Catholic clergy in Newton criticized Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley yesterday for the ouster of the Rev. Walter H. Cuenin.
Cuenin resigned as pastor last week from Our Lady Help of Christians Church amid allegations of financial improprieties. The decision drew strong negative reactions from the parish.
The Newton Clergy Interfaith Association, which represents more than 40 places of worship in the city, released a strongly worded statement supporting Cuenin, whom they called a ''beloved and trusted pastor."
''The grounds given by the Archdiocese of Boston for his dismissal are spurious at best," the statement said. ''While Bishop O'Malley has the power and the right to remove a priest from a parish, his moral authority to do so is clearly compromised by this punitive action."
NEWTON (MA)
Daily News Tribune
By Bernie Smith / Daily News Staff
Thursday, September 29, 2005
NEWTON -- Supporters of Rev. Walter Cuenin are expected to march Sunday at Archbishop Sean O'Malley's residence at the Boston Chancery in protest to the removal of the popular pastor and archdiocesan critic.
Cuenin, who had been the pastor of the Our Lady's Help of Christians Church since 1993, has been forced to resign his post amid accusations of financial mismanagement, a charge his supporters dispute.
The archdiocese has alleged Cuenin accepted monthly stipends in excess of what is permissible by its rules, and was improperly given use of a parish-leashed car. Cuenin has agreed to reimburse the parish between $75,000 and $85,000, even though the parish's own finance council approved his earnings and the archdiocese never objected in the past.
MAINE
Portland Press Herald
By From staff and news services,
An 80-year-old priest who was removed from the ministry because of accusations that he sexually abused minors in Maine has died in Lithuania, the Portland Diocese said Wednesday.
Raymond Lauzon died Monday following a brief illness. At Lauzon's request, his funeral and burial took place in Lithuania on Tuesday. Word of his death was sent to the Portland Diocese from the Franciscan Province of St. Casimir in Lithuania.
Lauzon's name surfaced publicly as the Portland Diocese and others around the country confronted a wave of sexual-abuse allegations spanning recent decades.
PENNSYLVANIA
Avon Grove Sun
By:Michael Crist 09/29/2005
The leaders of the Philadelphia Archdiocese - including two former archbishops - actively concealed sexual abuse by priests for decades, but no criminal charges can be brought against the church or its priests because of the constraints of state law, according to grand jury findings released last week.
Following the nation's longest-running grand jury probe into priest abuse, the scathing report documents assaults on minors by more than 60 priests since 1967, and alleges that former archbishops Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and Cardinal John Krol covered up the abuse.
PORTLAND (ME)
WMTW
POSTED: 5:47 am EDT September 29, 2005
UPDATED: 6:32 am EDT September 29, 2005
PORTLAND, Maine -- An 80-year-old former Portland priest who was removed from the ministry due to accusations of sexually abusing minors in Maine has died in Lithuania.
The Portland Diocese said Raymond Lauzon died Monday following a brief illness. Word of his death was sent to the diocese from the Franciscan Province of St. Casimir in Lithuania.
At Lauzon's request, his funeral and burial took place in Lithuania the following day.
During the 1990s, several civil suits were brought against Lauzon alleging he abused children in the 1970s and 1980s. Church leaders, hoping to protect the church from scandal, defended him fiercely and Lauzon himself denied the allegations.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Christian Wire Service
PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 28 /Christian Wire Service/ -- The release of the Grand Jury Report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Philadelphia Diocese highlights the danger of having homosexuals serving in the ministry, a pro-family group said today. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) reviewed the over 400-page report and found that of the 28 'Selected Case Studies" listed in the report the victims of 23 priests were males ranging in age from 11-18 and the victims of two priests were both male and female. This review also reveals the efforts by media to downplay the overall presence of male victims and concentrate on the three priests whose victims were strictly female and the two that victimized both male and female teens.
VIRGINIA
LifeSite
FRONT ROYAL, VA, September 28, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Human Life International President Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer has released a strongly worded statement praising reports that Pope Benedict is about to release, through a Vatican Congregation, a document noting men with homosexual orientation are not to be admitted to the priesthood.
PORTLAND (ME)
Boston.com
September 28, 2005
PORTLAND, Maine --An 80-year-old former priest who was removed from the ministry due to accusations of sexually abusing minors in Maine has died in Lithuania, the Portland Diocese said Wednesday.
Raymond Lauzon died on Monday following a brief illness. At Lauzon's request, his funeral and burial took place in Lithuania the following day. Word of his death was sent to the Roman Catholic diocese from the Franciscan Province of St. Casimir in Lithuania.
Lauzon's name surfaced publicly as the Portland Diocese and others around the country confronted a wave of child sexual abuse allegations spanning recent decades.
For 15 years, Lauzon conducted a ministry in a thrift shop in Portland's waterfront district. He also was assigned to a number of other parishes throughout Maine, and in 1990 he joined a Franciscan monastery in Kennebunk.
During the 1990s, several civil suits were brought against Lauzon alleging he abused children in the 1970s and 1980s. Church leaders, hoping to protect the church from scandal, defended him fiercely and Lauzon denied the allegations.
CANADA
Catholic News Service
By Joseph Sinasac
Catholic News Service
CORNWALL, Ontario (CNS) -- A Canadian bishops' task force recommended banning priests and pastoral staffers convicted of sexual abuse from any public church ministry for the rest of their lives.
The long-anticipated report on how Canada's bishops are dealing with clergy sexual abuse called on all bishops to publicly and individually commit themselves to a strict method of dealing with the problem. It also called for public reporting on how the church is doing in its battle to eradicate abuse.
The bishops have been asked to forward their comments on the report to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops headquarters in Ottawa. Comments will be presented to the bishops' permanent council in March; a final protocol will be voted on by all bishops.
Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Bishop Eugene Tremblay of Amos, Quebec, co-chairmen the 10-member task force, presented their report Sept. 22 to the annual meeting of bishops in Cornwall. The task force was created in 2002 in the wake of the clergy sex abuse scandal that engulfed the Catholic Church in the United States.
SOUTH BEND (IN)
The Observer
By Maddie Hanna
Published: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Speculation about the release of a Vatican document containing restrictions barring homosexuals from entering the priesthood has stirred debate and emotions both across the nation and at Notre Dame.
The restrictions, which would require Vatican representatives to investigate the 229 U.S. seminaries for "evidence of homosexuality," have been reported by news agencies but not been officially confirmed. But R. Scott Appleby, director of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and an expert on the Catholic Church's recent sexual abuse scandals, called this possible move by the Vatican "sadly punitive."
"If a gay man feels called to the priesthood, [under the proposed new ruling] he must dissemble, or even lie, about his sexual orientation," Appleby said. "In a sense, the Church would be complicit in a lie."
This, Appleby said, would create an "unhealthy" and repressive climate like the one present in seminaries during the highly publicized scandals of recent years.
"We know how that's an unhealthy situation," Appleby said. "It can even backfire."
The reason for the Vatican's statement stemmed from "the concern that some seminaries in the U.S. are becoming a haven for homosexuals," Appleby said. "And the feeling on the part of some people that heterosexuals are intimidated from entering the seminary, or feel uncomfortable, because it's a gay climate."
Theology professor Father Richard McBrien agreed with the idea that a gay climate exists in seminaries. He said the Church's sexual abuse scandals were a major contributing factor to the proposed restrictions.
"The U.S. cardinals themselves asked for this investigation of seminaries in April 2002, at the height of the sexual abuse scandal," McBrien said. "At the time - and since - there were a number of charges, mainly from ultra-conservative Catholics, that homosexuals in the priesthood were responsible for the sexual abuse, 80 percent of whose victims were boys."
ROME
NPR
by Colin Fogarty
Morning Edition, September 28, 2005 · San Francisco Archbishop William Levada is in his first few weeks as the prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, a position last occupied by Pope Benedict. Levada is the highest-ranking American at the Vatican. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Colin Fogarty reports.
CENTERVILLE (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Benjamin Kline
Dayton Daily News
CENTERVILLE | The Franciscan order of the Roman Catholic Church is investigating sexual misconduct allegations against the Rev. John Turnbull, 76, a former pastor of St. Francis of Assisi parish in Centerville.
Worshippers heard the news when the Rev. Tom Schmidt, the current pastor, read an official letter at Masses Sept. 10 and 11. A similar letter was read at Holy Family parish at Oldenburg, Ind., where Turnbull has been working the past three years. Toni Cashnelli, spokeswoman for the Franciscans' St. John the Baptist province, Cincinnati, said the accuser is a man who says he was abused while a parochial school student at Streator, Ill., during the late 1970s. The Diocese of Peoria has been informed of the allegation, she said.
No other abuse accusations have been brought but the order welcomes any information, the letter stated. Friar Jim Van Vurst (who can be reached at (513) 721-4700, Ext. 3214) is taking all reports.
Turnbull had pastor or associate pastor jobs at Lafayette, Ind.; Peoria, Fort Wayne and Batesville, Ind., Streator and Cincinnati before he was assigned to the Centerville parish in 1993-2002.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Herald
By Stacy St. Clair
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The Chicago Archdiocese has found a home in Mundelein for several newly defrocked priests accused of sexual misconduct with minors.
Catholic church officials declined to release exact numbers, but they confirm some of the punished clergymen have been staying on the University of St. Mary of the Lake seminary campus since allegations arose against them. The rest are living in private residences or nursing homes.
A victims advocacy group condemns the decision, saying the archdiocese has not warned residents that the men — who the church believes sexually harmed minors — have moved into the area. Cardinal Francis George also has refused to release the priests’ names, a move critics say could make it easier for them to prey upon children.
“He has a duty to reveal their names to unsuspecting people in the neighborhood,” said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests. “There’s no way these men are monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
DUNEDIN (FL)
St. Petersburg Times
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published September 22, 2005
DUNEDIN - A 50-year-old Dunedin man who supervised teens at a local Catholic church has been arrested on charges that he offered one boy $100 to perform a sex act, Pinellas County sheriff's officials said Wednesday.
The boy, who was doing court-ordered community service at the church, rebuffed the advances, but detectives are investigating whether William Forte had or tried to have inappropriate relations with other juveniles, said sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen.
Forte was employed at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Dunedin as a facility manager, according to a spokeswoman with the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg.
Sheriff's officials said Forte also supervised the community service program at the church where he worked.
This is not the first time Forte has been accused of illicit behavior with teens. In 1992, Polk County deputies accused him of showing teens pornography, providing them with alcohol and paying them for sex, records show. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and received six months' probation.
DUNEDIN (FL)
News4Jax.com
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- A church employee is accused of soliciting sex in Dunedin.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's office reports that detectives are investigating whether William Forte had or tried to have inappropriate relations with juveniles.
A teenage boy said Forte offered him money to perform a sex act.
A spokeswoman with the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg said Forte worked at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Sheriff's officials said Forte also supervised the community service program at the church where he worked.
Records show that Forte has pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and received six months' probation in 1992.
DUNEDIN (FL)
St. Petersburg Times
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published September 27, 2005
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church hired a man now charged with making a lewd proposition to a teenager before seeing the results of his background check, diocesan officials said Monday.
Once received, the check showed William Forte of Dunedin had an arrest record. In 1992, he had been charged in Polk County with showing pornography to six teens, giving them alcohol and paying them for sex. He ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and received six months' probation.
That revelation did not doom Forte's hiring in 2003 as a facilities manager at the Dunedin church, said Vicki Well Bedard, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of St. Petersburg.
"(Forte) was able to assuage their concerns," Bedard said. "They felt his explanation was adequate, and the charges were more than 10 years old. ... They felt satisfied that the case was blown out of portion."
SCOTLAND
Scotsman
Church leaders have said they are to investigate a priest who admitted buying bondage items on the internet.
The Reverend Kenny Macaulay, of St Augustine's Episcopal church in Dumbarton, confessed he had already "raised a few eyebrows" in the community.
He told the Daily Record newspaper he had bought several items from the eBay website, including bondage gear.
A spokesman for the Scottish Episcopal Church said: "The Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway is presently on holiday, but he will obviously be fully briefed on his return and it will be for him to decide what action to take from there.
"Any kind of allegations are taken seriously and will be looked into."
UNITES STATES
International Herald Tribune
By Amy Welborn The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2005
FORT WAYNE, Indiana This week, teams of examiners, led by Edwin O'Brien, archbishop for the U.S. military, are beginning a visitation of all 229 Catholic seminaries in the United States. Judging by press accounts, the effort is all about uncovering and expelling homosexuals - a purge, simply put.
In truth, it's about far more than homosexuality. And it's badly needed.
When you read through the set of questions to be asked of all seminary administrators, faculty and students, you find that there is exactly one question on that issue: "Is there evidence of homosexuality?"
Along with the resurrection of warnings against "particular friendships," that makes two sentences in a document that is 11 pages long and covers a lot of territory: What are the seminary's standards for admission? Is the seminary's spiritual life vibrant and rooted in Catholic tradition? Are seminarians capable of intellectual dialogue with contemporary society?
FLORIDA
The Times-Union
By JEFF BRUMLEY, The Times-Union
The Catholic Diocese of Orlando and the Jacksonville-based Diocese of St. Augustine paid a combined $1.5 million in May to settle sexual abuse claims involving two priests who molested three altar boys "countless times" during the late 1960s and early 1970s, according to an attorney for the victims.
Diocesan officials deliberately ignored the actions of the Revs. Vernon F. Uhran and Hubert Reason while their abuses were occurring, said the victims' Miami-based lawyer, Adam Horowitz.
Reason is deceased and Uhran is living in the Orlando area but is no longer in active ministry, Horowitz said.
The settlement remained a secret on the First Coast until it was referred to in a Sept. 12 news release announcing the filing of two new sexual molestation lawsuits against the Orlando Diocese.
Those lawsuits seek a total of $10 million on behalf of two additional former child victims of Uhran.
DUNEDIN (FL)
St. Petersburg Times
A Times Editorial
Published September 28, 2005
What good is it to check the background of a potential employee if you hire the individual before getting the results of the checks?
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Dunedin apparently thought it was important to do background checks on people who applied for jobs at the church. The process was in place to perform the checks.
But then the church turned the process into a useless exercise. In 2003, the church simply didn't wait for the results when filling the job of facilities manager. Now it is paying a heavy price.
Our Lady of Lourdes went ahead and offered the job of facilities manager to William Forte. That was the church's first mistake. Then it compounded the error when, after the background check revealed an arrest record, church officials trusted Forte's explanation that the charges amounted to nothing. We'll hazard a guess that a big percentage of people with arrest records would deny their guilt, especially to their employer. Forte did do something wrong, and what he did should have kept him from getting the job at Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1992, Forte was charged with six counts of showing obscene materials to minors, six counts of soliciting for prostitution and seven counts of giving liquor to minors. The charges followed allegations by six teenagers and an investigation by the Polk County Sheriff's Office. The teens told authorities that over a two-year period, they visited Forte in his home, where he gave them drinks made from vodka and orange juice, showed them pornographic movies and paid them for sex acts.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
365Gay.com
Posted: September 27, 2005 9:00 pm ET
(St Louis, Missouri) "Are you, or have you ever been, a homosexual?" That is the question that Vatican investigators began asking this week at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.
The seminary is the first in the country to face the scrutiny of inquisitors in their investigation of gays in American seminaries.
The president of Aquinas, Father Charles Bouchard, said he is opposed to the line of questioning but has no choice but to allow the investigators to probe students.
"Some people do feel homosexuality would disqualify a student. I hope we can provide evidence that should not be the case," he told a news conference.
DENVER (CO)
9 News
DENVER - The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, is calling on the Denver Archdiocese to publicly reveal the names of church leaders who have abused children.
SNAP members handed out flyers Tuesday, outside the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The group is encouraging parishioners to call Archbishop Charles Chaput and urge him to post the names of known sexual predators on the church website.
"This is not about vengeance. This is not about a witch hunt. This is about protecting children and we believe that should be the priority of this Archdiocese" said SNAP President Barbara Blaine.
ST. JOSEPH (MO)
TheKansasCityChannel.com
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- The name of a priest who died in 2002 will be removed temporarily from the chapel at a Boy Scout camp, at the request of people who allege that the Rev. Sylvester Hoppe had sexually abused them years ago.
According to a news release issued by the Pony Express Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the board of directors voted Monday to make the change at Camp Geiger "pending further information regarding accusations of abuse" made against the priest.
Hoppe, ordained in 1946, served parishes throughout northwest Missouri and was active in Scouting for 75 years. The chapel at the camp in St. Joseph was named for him in 1999.
"Father Hoppe loved Scouting," council president Bill McMurray said in a statement. "It is our belief that if Father Hoppe were alive today, he would have been the first to request the removal of his name from the chapel because he never would have wanted this controversy to negatively impact Scouting or the youth in our council."
NEWTON (MA)
Newton Tab
By Bernie Smith/ Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of supporters of Rev. Walter Cuenin are expected to march this Sunday on Archbishop Sean O'Malley's residence at the Boston Chancery in protest to the removal of the popular pastor and archdiocesan critic.
Cuenin, who had been the pastor of the Our Lady's Help of Christians Church since 1993, has been forced to resign his post amid accusations of financial mismanagement, a charge his supporters dispute.
The archdiocese has alleged Cuenin accepted monthly stipends in excess of what is permissible by its rules, and was improperly given use of a parish-leashed car. Cuenin accepted the archdiocese's decision, and has called on his supporters to accept it as well.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Post-Gazette
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Three advocates for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests met with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. yesterday, asking for a grand jury investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The meeting came on the heels of a Philadelphia grand jury report that castigated the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for past failure to remove such priests, though the cases were too old to prosecute.
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a national group, pointed out that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, archbishop of Philadelphia from 1988 to 2003, was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1983 to 1988.
"Only the most naive would believe that abuse, deceit and cover-up in Pittsburgh's Catholic hierarchy suddenly and magically ended with Bevilacqua's departure," said a letter that activists presented to Zappala. They held a news conference outside the courthouse after earlier leafletting outside St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland, and Zappala invited them in.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
Tribune-Review
By Jason Cato
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
No evidence has turned up of former Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua hiding sexual abuses by priests in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County's top prosecutor said Tuesday, so there's no reason to launch an investigation like the one in Philadelphia that found Bevilacqua had concealed abuses in that archdiocese.
Should information surface otherwise, his office is prepared to investigate, said Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
Zappala met for more than an hour yesterday with members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- or SNAP -- at his Downtown office. Members urged him to conduct his own grand-jury investigation into any potential wrongdoing in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
"We're convinced there are dozens and dozens of men and women who have been abused in this diocese who have not come forward," said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, following his meeting with Zappala.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
WTAE
PITTSBURGH -- At two local events Tuesday, clergy molestation victims will urge the Allegheny County district attorney to convene a grand jury in the wake of last week's Philadelphia grand jury report on sex abuse (contains explicit material).
SNAP -- the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests -- wants local Catholics to read what they called a "scathing report."
The group will gather on Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. outside St. Paul's Cathedral, and at 2:15 p.m. outside the City-County building/Allegheny County District Attorney's Office.
As Catholics enter Mass, victims will hand out flyers urging parishioners to read the Philadelphia grand jury report, ask friends and family if they were hurt by abusive Pittsburgh area clergy, report any suspicions or information about sex crimes by priests and nuns to police, and call state lawmakers and insist on legislative reforms that would prevent future abuse. After a news conference, victims will try to hand-deliver a letter to prosecutors urging Allegheny County District Attorney to convene a similar grand jury investigation into the Pittsburgh diocese, and publicly call on victims and witnesses to come forward.
UNITED STATES
National
By WILLIAM V. D’ANTONIO
Our research teams have carried out four surveys of American Catholics. The first survey in the spring of 1987 was carried out in anticipation of Pope John Paul II’s second visit to the United States. Our fourth survey was carried out following his death just after this past Easter and coincident with the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the papacy as Benedict XVI. The four surveys were carried out by the Gallup Organization in six-year intervals, always in the weeks immediately following Easter. This 18-year time period has enabled us to track trends of change as well as areas of relative stability in the beliefs, practices and attitudes of American Catholics.
One of the major concerns we had as we awaited the results of this survey was the impact of the sexual abuse scandal first exposed in 2002, a scandal that continues to occupy church officials and laity alike around the country. We wondered how this scandal might affect the attitudes and commitments of Catholics. Several of the essays to follow will make clear that this scandal has had little measurable impact. The patterns of beliefs and commitments we reported in our story in NCR in October 1999 have been quite stable.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
Cardinal Justin Rigali doesn't see the value in everyone reading the grand jury report documenting decades of child sexual abuse perpetuated by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
He really doesn't see the value in Catholic families reading it.
It would all be too painful. The 418-page report is just too "graphic" for Catholics to be exposed to. So many unpleasant details.
"I don't think it's of value to families," he told The Inquirer last week.
Not of value? He's kidding, right? He can't be serious.
After decades of church secrecy, cover-ups, deceit and stonewalling, the cardinal's response to this institutional mortal sin is... ?
Look away from the light, O faithful. Don thy blinders!
Unbelievable.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Centre Daily
How can they get away with it?
That's the natural, frustrated reaction to the scathing, Philadelphia grand jury report released last week on decades of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
Despite findings that dozens of clergy committed hundreds of sexual assaults against children - attacks that church leaders later covered up - the grand jury and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham concluded that no one can be brought to justice.
Statute limits and gaps in state law preclude any charges against the clergy or their superiors, the grand jury said.
If only the abusive priests and Archdiocese of Philadelphia officials had parked illegally.
How's that?
Well, the Philadelphia Parking Authority is on a drive to collect more than $8 million in unpaid parking tickets.
SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
Nine men have filed a lawsuit alleging a long-standing pattern of sexual and physical abuse against emotionally vulnerable boys at a Roman Catholic orphanage and high school overseen by the Seattle Archdiocese.
Between 1950 and 1979, the suit says, priests at Briscoe Memorial School in Kent and O'Dea High School in Seattle beat and raped youngsters. A half-dozen priests are named.
"Abuses were systemic and pervasive," the suit says. "Boys were constantly subjected to appalling acts of physical violence and sexual abuse."
A spokesman for the archdiocese did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. However, in response to previous allegations about Briscoe, the archdiocese has denied responsibility, pointing out that the New York-based teaching order Christian Brothers Institute had sole possession and management of the school, which closed in 1970.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Operation Rescue
As previously reported, we wrote to Archbishop O'Malley about Father Walter Cuenin and his parish's "Gay Pride Parade" participation--for the third consecutive year! The archbishop was "very disturbed by the information," according to a letter from Bishop Lennon. Well, apparently action has been taken--it's about time!--and Father Cuenin has been removed from his pastorate.
Father Cuenin read a statement at yesterday's Mass. He said in the statement that he was removed for leasing a car in violation of archdiocesan policy(!). No comment from the archdiocese, but Bishop Lennon's letter implies what the real reason was. Hopefully, the Archdiocese will clarify this.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | September 28, 2005
In an indication that a Newton pastor's position on gay rights may have played a role in his ouster, a conservative website has posted a letter from a top archdiocesan official saying that Roman Catholic Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley had been ''very disturbed" by an accusation that the pastor had invited parishioners to consider marching in a gay-rights parade in Boston last spring.
O'Malley's spokesman said last night he could not authenticate the letter, which is posted on the website of the antiabortion organization Operation Rescue Boston, but he insisted that the archbishop sought the resignation of the Rev. Walter H. Cuenin from his post as pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians Church in Newton solely because of financial improprieties, and not because of church politics.
''I can't vouch for this letter's authenticity, but it doesn't change the dynamics of what happened here, which is that Father Cuenin broke archdiocesan policy, and by virtue of his agreeing to reimburse us, he obviously concurs," said the spokesman, Terrence C. Donilon. ''Seventy-five thousand dollars is a lot of money, and we cannot ignore the financial piece of this. We cannot allow one pastor to operate under a separate set of guidelines or rules."
IOWA CITY (IA)
Press-Citizen
By The Associated Press
A former Roman Catholic Bishop accused of sexually abusing minors as a priest and principal in Iowa City wants the judge assigned to his case replaced.
Attorneys for former Bishop Lawrence Soens, who retired as Bishop in the Sioux City Diocese in 1998, is defending allegations in at least two lawsuits that he molested minors 40 years ago while serving as principal at Regina High School.
Through his lawyer, Soens has denied the allegations, which accuse him of ordering students to private meetings in his principal's office where he engaged in improper sexual conduct.
In motions filed recently in Scott County District Court, Soens seeks to have Judge C.H. Pelton disqualified and a new judge appointed to the cases.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Tom Ferrick Jr.
Inquirer Columnist
The archdiocese's campaign to discredit the Philadelphia grand jury's report on priests who sexually abused children has landed with a thud.
No one is buying it.
Not the public. Not most Roman Catholic clergy. More important, not the 1.4 million-plus Catholics in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
They do not believe the grand jury convened by District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham was a biased, vile, anti-Catholic Inquisition, to summarize the church's lawyers' line.
They do not believe Cardinal Justin Rigali's assertion that the church has reformed and has in place the procedures to assure this never happens again.
They are not placated by Rigali's mea culpa letter that was circulated or read in parishes over the weekend.
They are furious at the five dozen priest/abusers revealed in last week's grand jury report.
But they correctly see this as two tales intertwined: one about human frailty, the other about the institutional failings.
Which makes them even angrier at the diocesan hierarchy - including Cardinals John Krol and Anthony J. Bevilacqua - for their handling of the cases, also known as the cover-up.
As one Catholic I talked to aptly put it: "The cardinals didn't attack the kids, but they drove the getaway cars."
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By David O'Reilly and Jim Remsen
Inquirer Staff Writers
Three hundred priests of the Philadelphia Archdiocese met yesterday with Cardinal Justin Rigali, a 90-minute conclave at which some challenged his defense of the previous archbishops named in a grand jury report on clergy sex abuse.
Priests attending the meeting at the chapel of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood said afterward that Rigali told them that "mistakes were made" by the archdiocese in its handling of abusers and victims.
But, "nobody's perfect... . No one is without sin," Rigali reportedly added. His remarks, which echoed those he has made since the report was issued one week ago, reportedly irked some of the priests, who told him so.
One pastor took to the microphone to say he was "greatly disappointed in the archdiocese's weak and deplor