The Boston Phoenix
The Roman Catholic Church, which for the last 20 years or so has taken so many wrong-headed positions on social issues, has just made another disastrous mistake: as expected, it has reinforced and extended its ban on gay men — even if they are celibate — becoming priests.
On a simple but nevertheless very real level, the idea is absurd. The Catholic Church, for almost 1600 years, has either discouraged or forbidden its priests from marrying. It has always denied women ordination. As a result, it bars women from its most powerful administrative roles. It is no surprise, then, that the Church is without a doubt the world’s largest gay bureaucracy. As Damian Thompson, a devout Catholic, wrote recently in England’s arch-traditional Spectator (no doubt with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek): "In addition to being Europe’s smallest state, the Vatican also boasts the highest proportion of homosexuals per square foot."
It is impossible to escape the conclusion that the ban is a rebuke — if not an outright condemnation — of the years of service and devotion that gay priests living and dead have faithfully rendered to their church. Even the memories of such conservative icons as the late cardinals O’Connell, Spellman, and Wright (who may or may not have been faithful to their vows of celibacy but who would certainly today be recognized or outed as being gay) are devalued.
PEORIA (IL)
WQAD
PEORIA, Ill. New allegations of sexual abuse in the Peoria Catholic Diocese are based on incidents dating back to the 1950s.
Civil lawsuits filed today in Peoria accuse five priests and a nun of abuse. The nine alleged victims -- now ages 39 to 55 -- say they were as young as six and as old as 18 when the abuses happened.
The diocese says three of the priests were removed from active ministries in 2002 after allegations of abuse were made.
One of the accused priests called the allegations preposterous. The diocese says he was removed in the 1980s, but it was not related to abuse allegations.
IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
The child abuse allegation, which has led to former Bishop of Galway Dr Eamon Casey standing aside from active ministry in an English parish, was made by a woman now living in the UK who has made similar unproven allegations against others in the past.
It is also understood she has endured bouts of ill-health over recent years.
The middle-aged woman, who is believed to have known Dr Casey most of her life, made the allegation for the first time last week concerning an incident she claimed took place over three decades ago in Ireland.
Her allegation was conveyed to a person in the south of Ireland who had been designated to deal with such claims. The child protection office in the southern English Catholic diocese of Arundel and Brighton, where Dr Casey has been serving as a curate, was contacted immediately and Dr Casey was informed.
CANADA
Anglican Journal
STAFF
The Anglican Church of Canada’s Indian residential schools settlement fund, with a goal of $25 million, remains on target, having collected $16.8 million as of the third quarter of 2005, according to General Synod’s financial office in Toronto.
The church’s 30 dioceses and General Synod, the national office, began in 2003 to contribute to the fund. It pays damages to claimants who are able to prove they suffered sexual or physical abuse at Anglican-run schools that were part of a nationwide system of boarding schools for native children. As of Oct. 17, 2005, a total of $6.6 million had been paid to claimants.
VATICAN CITY
New Zealand Herald
01.12.05
VATICAN CITY - Catholic liberals have slammed the Vatican's decision to bar "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies from the priesthood in the first major ruling by Pope Benedict XVI.
Opponents have said the ruling could trigger a witch-hunt and force gay clergy underground but Catholic leaders stressed it was merely emphasising the need for all candidates for the priesthood to be mature enough to control their sexuality.
The document said that practising homosexuals, those with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or those who support "gay culture" should be weeded out by bishops and principals of theological colleges.
However, the "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education said that candidates who had experienced homosexual leanings during a passing phase could be ordained if they had clearly overcome them for at least three years.
Conservatives argued the reform is necessary as theological colleges in the West have adopted an increasingly relaxed attitude to homosexuality, reflecting changes in social attitudes.
IOWA CITY (IA)
WQAD
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- More allegations of sexual abuse have been made against a priest who was in the Davenport Diocese and later became the bishop of Sioux City.
Seven men claim they were sexually assaulted by former Bishop Lawrence Soens. They want to settle their cases through mediation rather than the courts.
The men's attorney, Craig Levein, says the cases were turned over to attorneys for the diocese and Soens last week. The diocese acknowledged receiving the cases, but says church officials and attorneys haven't had time to investigate.
The cases are the latest allegations against Soens, who is already defending himself in state court against lawsuits filed by two other victims.
CHICAGO (IL)
Editor & Publisher
By E&P Staff
Published: November 30, 2005 5:30 PM ET
CHICAGO Gay men are being portrayed inaccurately and unfairly in coverage of the Vatican's guidance on the role of gay men in the Roman Catholic Church, theAbuse Tracker Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) says in an "open letter to the news industry."
"Some of those reports have included references to sexual 'preferences,' and reporting without verification parishioner statements that most of the priests involved in the Church's sex-abuse scandal were gay," the letter, addressed to "fellow journalists," states. "Also, factually incorrect opinions that assert a cause-and-effect link between gay men and pedophilia are being reported without challenge."
The letter is signed by NLGJAAbuse Tracker President Eric Hegedus, a page designer for the New York Post, and the association's executive director, Pamela Strother.
UNITED STATES
Myrtle Beach Sun
RICHARD N. OSTLING
Associated Press
U.S. Roman Catholic leaders praised the contributions of celibate gay priests in response to a new Vatican pronouncement against homosexuals in the priesthood, a move that could imply some dioceses and religious orders want flexibility in applying church policy.
Two key American statements - one from the president of the U.S. bishops and the other representing religious orders - quickly followed the Vatican's "instruction" on gay clergy and supported it on several points: Priests should uphold the church's teaching against gay sex, personally maintain a celibate lifestyle and avoid support for "the so-called 'gay culture'."
The potential question involves what happens to candidates who meet those requirements but also have a continuing gay orientation.
The decree, released Tuesday by the Vatican's education agency with approval from Pope Benedict XVI, applies worldwide but is crucial for the United States, where clerical sex abuse crisis erupted and the gay rights movement is strong.
ROME
LifeSite
ROME, November 30, 2005 (CWNews.com/LifeSiteNews.com) - A Vatican consultant, in an interview with the I Media news service, has observed that the Church has always taught that homosexuals should not become priests, since they suffer from a "structural incoherence" in their approach to human sexuality. The question of whether homosexual men should become priests has been raised repeatedly by Church leaders, and always answered negatively said Msgr. Tony Anatrella, a French Jesuit who is a consultant to the Pontifical Council on the Family. The French priest-psychologist cited decisions by the Council of Paris in 819, and the 3rd and 4th Lateran Councils in 1169 and 1215.
Writing in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, in an article that appeared alongside the newly released instruction on homosexuality and the priesthood, Msgr. Anatrella wrote that the new Vatican Instruction barring homosexuals from Catholic seminaries was necessary because "homosexuality has become an increasingly worrisome problem," adding that the acceptance of homosexuality could have a "destabilizing" effect on the lives of individuals and on society at large.
Msgr. Anatrella said that homosexuality is "a tendency and not an identity." The Catholic Church, he argued, has a duty to warn against the acceptance of an "incomplete and immature" approach to human sexuality.
Spirit Daily
It was not the way it should have been released. For weeks now, there have been leaks about the contents of the Vatican instruction on homosexuals in the priesthood, which stripped it of its drama and thus some of its power.
But all is well that ends well and the crux of the media spin after official dissemination Tuesday seems to be that it is a tough document.
"The Vatican's long-awaited new guidelines on homosexual seminarians were released yesterday, barring even celibate homosexuals from seminary," reported The Washington Times, while liberal newspapers, citing upset in the gay community, went into a bit of apoplexy.
In an especially ironic twist, The Boston Globe -- which first and gleefully exposed the scandal of sex abuse -- now complains that homosexuals, who were responsible for an estimated 81 percent of that abuse, should not be singled out.
Herald Sun
Reuters
01dec05
THE Vatican newspaper says homosexuality risked "destabilising people and society", had no social or moral value and could never match the importance of a relationship between a man and a woman.
The remarks were contained in a long commentary published yesterday to accompany the official release of a long-awaited document that restricted the access of homosexual men to the Roman Catholic priesthood.
The article by Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French Jesuit and psychologist, said homosexuality could not be considered an acceptable moral alternative to heterosexuality.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
David Quinn
Religious Affairs Correspondent
ANGRY members of Ireland's gay community branded a controversial Vatican document as "homophobic".
The document bans homosexuals who have been sexually active over the last three years from becoming priests.
Editor of Gay Community News Brian Finnegan accused the Church of trying to shift the blame for the paedophile scandals on to homosexuals.
But, this has been strongly denied by president of the national seminary Mgr Dermot Farrell.
He said the document makes "no connection between homosexuality and paedophilia," and that he personally did not believe there was any connection.
IRELAND
RTE News
30 November 2005 20:06
The former Bishop of Galway, Dr Eamon Casey, has withdrawn from active ministry in West Sussex in England.
The Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, Dr Kieran Conry said Dr Casey ceased working in the parish of Hayward's Heath after an allegation appeared to have been made in Ireland against him.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Bishop Conry said he was told about the apparent allegation by a child protection officer in England who had been given information from Ireland.
IRELAND
Online.ie
A colleague of Dr Eamon Casey has said details of the allegation which led to him stepping down from clerical duties in England last week are still unclear.
Kieron Conry, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, told RTE radio today that a child protection officer had informed him of an allegation made in Ireland against the former Bishop of Galway, but that Dr Casey had yet to be contacted by the authorities.
"My information from him is that the police have not approached him. There has been no formal allegation made to him," he said. After the claim, Fr Casey had withdrawn from ministry and gone to live in private accommodation.
"He has been very cooperative. In light of what appears to be an allegation he has withdrawn," he said.
Bishop Conry said he would "wait and see" what develops, and that he did not feel it was appropriate to make further inquiries until a formal allegation was presented by the authorities. After speaking to Dr Casey some days ago, Mr Conry did not believe he had any plans to return to Ireland.
IRELAND
Online.ie
The Catholic Primate of Ireland has refused to comment on media reports about an allegation made against the former Bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey.
Reports this morning said Dr Casey had stood aside from his ministry in England and was planning to return to Ireland to contest the allegation.
The reports contained no detail about the allegation in question.
HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
By Tom Finnegan
tfinnegan@starbulletin.com
LIHUE » A Hawaii man who recently received an apology and court settlement from a Catholic priest who molested him 29 years ago was arrested and charged yesterday with raping a girl nine years ago.
Eugene Saulibio, a 44-year-old father of three, was arrested by Kauai detectives at his Aiea home and charged with four counts of first-degree sexual assault. If convicted, each felony count carries a maximum 20-year sentence.
On Nov. 8, in a highly publicized court settlement of Saulibio's civil lawsuit, the Rev. Joseph Bukoski III and his order, the Fathers of Sacred Hearts, apologized for Bukoski's sexual abuse of Saulibio in 1976.
According to Kauai police, the charges against Saulibio stem from assaults in 1996, when the then-14-year-old girl was on vacation and staying in Saulibio's former Kauai home. She was friends with one of Saulibio's relatives, and was assaulted while staying there, police said.
IRELAND
RTE News
30 November 2005 17:00
The Catholic Primate of All-Ireland, Archbishop Seán Brady, has said the Church will publish its new guidelines on child protection before Christmas.
The Archbishop and a delegation of bishops briefed the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan, on the guidelines this morning.
Dr Brady said the Church was actively seeking a chairperson to oversee the implementation of its new child protection policy.
Herald Sun
Reuters
01dec05
THE Vatican newspaper says homosexuality risked "destabilising people and society", had no social or moral value and could never match the importance of a relationship between a man and a woman.
The remarks were contained in a long commentary published yesterday to accompany the official release of a long-awaited document that restricted the access of homosexual men to the Roman Catholic priesthood.
The article by Monsignor Tony Anatrella, a French Jesuit and psychologist, said homosexuality could not be considered an acceptable moral alternative to heterosexuality.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
30/11/05
By Harry McGee, Political Editor
STATE inquires into sexual abuse of children by priests in the Ferns Diocese has cost the State a total of €2.4 million to date.
Tánaiste and Health Minster Mary Harney has informed Labour Party finance spokeswoman Joan Burton that the costs of the inquiries into abuse in the Diocese had reached €2,379,264 as of this month.
However, invoices for legal representation have also been received from the Diocese of Ferns and from one other individual.
The Government has not made a decision on the contentious matter of paying costs to the Diocese.
Ms Harney said the Cabinet had sought the advice of the Attorney General on the matter and would make a final decision “in due course.”
IRELAND
Irish Independent
PERPLEXING paradoxes underlie Vatican guidelines reaffirming the ban on active homosexuals and “supporters of gay culture” becoming priests.
Redolent of an edict from another era, it appears to equate homosexuality with paedophilia, a cancer plaguing the Church as evidenced by the damning report on the scandal of clerical child abuse in Co Wexford.
Not surprisingly, the gay community is outraged over the thrust of the document, describing it as a blatant bid to scapegoat them for the problems besetting the church.
Objecting to its language and tone, they see it as “hateful” and “hurtful”.
Most of all, they resent the Vatican’s claim that homosexuality obstructs gay people from having what it calls a “correct” relationship with men and women.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
Sarah Murphy
THE Diocese of Ferns is facing a compensation bill of €5m in the coming year due to ongoing clerical sex abuse claims, the Irish Independent has learned.
It was revealed at the closed Annual General meeting of the diocese's finance committee in Enniscorthy last night that their compensation bill has risen by 50pc on last year's settlements, which totalled €2.8m in 17 cases.
The Church is currently in active negotiations with the Department of Education over the sale of St Peter's seminary in Wexford town, which is currently being used by Carlow Institute of Technology as an outreach centre.
The sale of the Bishop's Palace, which is conservatively estimated to be worth between €1m and €2m, is also now a distinct possibility.
The 19th century Bishop's Palace at Summerhillpalace was bought by the diocese from the Devereauxs, a prominent sea merchant family,in the latter half of the 1800s as it was believed at the time to give the best views of Wexford Harbour. Four bishops have lived there.
IRELAND
One in Four
Former Bishop of Galway Dr Eamon Casey is to return to Ireland from the UK to contest an allegation made against him in Ireland which emerged recently.
Mass-goers at Our Lady of Fatima church in Staplefield, west Sussex, were told on Sunday that Dr Casey (known there as Fr Casey) had stood aside from ministry and moved to another premises owned by the diocese of Arundel and Brighton to prepare for his return to Ireland to deal with the allegation.
No details of the allegation were available yesterday from the diocese of Arundel and Brighton, to which Dr Casey has been attached since 1998. A spokesman said yesterday he believed it "dates back some time". He said the former bishop was returning to Ireland so he could "clear his name".
One in Four
In the first major ruling of his seven-month papacy, Pope Benedict has reaffirmed unambiguously and unapologetically Catholic Church teaching on the incompatibility of the priesthood with practising homosexuality and its prohibition from the priesthood on those who "show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture".
The much-leaked Instruction from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education will be welcomed by many who will find comfort in the unwavering assertion of old certainties. But for many Catholics, in Ireland and throughout the world, the document will cause much soul-searching and even pain as, once again, their church stigmatises brothers, sisters and friends in gay relationships as moral outcasts living in "grave sin".
For what matters as much as the precise rules governing the accession to Holy Orders, in the end a matter for the church alone, is what the church is saying about homosexuality as a human phenomenon. In reinforcing the prejudices that have made up a social climate traditionally deeply hostile to equal treatment of gays the church contributes to perpetuate discrimination even as yesterday's Instruction explicitly condemns it.
IRELAND
One in Four
The most likely outcome to the Vatican's instruction on homosexuals and the priesthood will be to damage further the authority of the papacy, writes Religious Affairs Correspondent Patsy McGarry
There is, the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us, a time for everything under heaven. "A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted"
Following yesterday's publication - finally - of the Vatican's much-leaked Instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies, considering their admission to seminary and to Holy Orders, let us be grateful. For it is time.
IRELAND
One in Four
One in Four, the national charity that supports women and men who have experienced sexual abuse and/or sexual violence, today called upon the Vatican to make a clear statement that demonstrates their understanding that there is no link between clerical paedophilia and homosexuality. The Charity is concerned that the Roman Catholic Church continues to “blame” recent clerical sexual abuse scandals on homosexuality, therefore deflecting from and denying the institutional failure that is in fact responsible for clerical sexual abuse.
Speaking today, Colm O'Gorman, Director of One in Four, said, “Who the Roman Catholic Church or any other faith chooses to ordain to ministry is appropriately a matter for them, our only concern is that any admission to ministry should centrally consider child protection. We are concerned that the Vatican has thus far failed to respond to the findings of the Ferns Report which held the Vatican responsible in part for clerical sexual abuse in the Diocese of Ferns, instead we have seen comment upon issues as diverse as Harry Potter and now the ordination of homosexuals.”
SANTA FE (NM)
KOBTV
Last Update: 11/30/2005 10:10:49 AM
By: Associated Press
SANTA FE (AP) - Archbishop Michael Sheehan says there isn’t a lot of new teaching in a Vatican policy statement designed to keep men with deep-seated homosexual tendencies from becoming priests.
The Vatican document was officially released Tuesday. It’s the first major policy statement of Pope Benedict’s papacy.
WISCONSIN
KSTP
Updated: 11/29/2005 09:33:43 PM
Recently released video of the Hudson Police Department’s interviews with Father Ryan Erickson reveal a disturbed priest who admitted to having prior suicidal thoughts.
Hudson police interviewed Erickson for three hours about the murder of two men at a local funeral home. Erickson denied involvement in their deaths, but was later found guilty in a trial conducted after he committed suicide.
Erickson seemed visibly shaken toward the end of his interview. When a detective asked him if he was upset he was considered a suspect, he replied “Well, I’m nervous that I would be considered a suspect because I really am not. I mean, I know that I didn’t kill them and it bothers me there might be evidence that points to the fact I did.”
The New Republic
by Michael Sean Winters
Only at TNR Online | Post date 11.30.05
he unfortunately named (and unfortunately issued) Vatican document "Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders" is the first major document of Pope Benedict XVI's reign, but it has occasioned a very old Catholic pastime: finding ways to misinterpret, twist, or just plain ignore a Vatican ruling.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the archbishop of Westminster, adopted the most straightforward approach: pretending that the Vatican didn't mean to say what it just said. The English cardinal issued a statement that said, "The Instruction is not saying that men of homosexual orientation are not welcome in the priesthood." In fact, the entire point of the document is to say that homosexuals are not welcome in the priesthood.
The Swiss Bishops' Conference tried a slightly different maneuver: focusing on the dicta. The Vatican document contains much high falutin' language about the priest conforming himself to Christ, alongside its bigoted and arcane notions about human sexuality; and the Swiss bishops chose to emphasize the former while downplaying the latter. "At the heart of our reflections on becoming a priest," they wrote (translation mine), "there is no question of sexual orientation but instead the responsibility to follow Christ in a coherent manner." Okay, I can live with that.
FAIRBANKS (AK)
Anchorage Daily News
The Associated Press
Published: November 30, 2005
Last Modified: November 30, 2005 at 04:44 AM
FAIRBANKS -- The bishop of the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese published an open letter apologizing to victims of sexual abuse by church representatives.
In a full-page advertisement Sunday in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Bishop Donald Kettler offered to work toward bringing healing to those harmed by child sexual abuse and to update the diocese's efforts to prevent abuse from happening again.
"For any actions contrary to the mission of the Catholic Church by representatives of the Diocese of Fairbanks, I am sincerely sorry and will pray and work for the emotional and spiritual healing of those affected," Kettler wrote in the letter.
FORT WAYNE (IN)
News-Sentinel
I am in full support of the recent statement on Criteria for the Discernment concerning Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders.
The Church bears the serious responsibility of establishing criteria concerning who should be admitted to the seminary and ordained to the priesthood, and who should be helped to some other vocation in life. Recent events have shown when the Church does not do this well, the pastoral care of souls suffers, the parishes are torn apart and the people lose confidence in the leadership of that Church.
The priest calls his people to a life of holiness and they rightly expect that he, himself, is living such a life, both in public when they see him and in private when they do not.
AUSTRALIA
Online Catholics
By Alan Gill
About eight years ago a former British child migrant, who had been raised in the notorious Christian Brothers’ orphanage known as Boys’ Town, Bindoon, sent me a clipping from a Perth newspaper which he clearly found shocking, and expected me to be suitably horrified as well.
The article told the story of a priest, then working among AIDS sufferers and other disadvantaged people in the north-western corner of the state, who had “outed” himself as gay.
I was, indeed, surprised by the article, though not quite in the way my correspondent intended. On glancing at the photo which formed part of the clipping I recognised the features of a man whom I not only knew well, but had formally received me into the Catholic Church – after 40-odd years as a moderately high church Anglican – some three or four years earlier.
The article took pains to say that the MSC priest was celibate – indeed, it quoted him as saying he had not had sex for 15 years; all of which my correspondent in Perth seemed to have overlooked.
WASHINGTON (DC)
U.S. Newswire
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a letter fromAbuse Tracker Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association President Eric Hegedus, and Executive Director Pamela Strother:
Dear Fellow Journalists:
Today, Tuesday, November 29th, the Vatican issued new guidance to its dioceses on the role of gay men in the Catholic Church. Members of theAbuse Tracker Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) have noticed a number of inaccurate and unfair portrayals of gay men in the reporting of this document, which has been widely leaked in advance of today's release date. Some of those reports have included references to sexual "preferences," and reporting without verification parishioner statements that most of the priests involved in the Church's sex-abuse scandal were gay. Also, factually incorrect opinions that assert a cause-and- effect link between gay men and pedophilia are being reported without challenge.
As journalists and leaders of NLGJA, we acknowledge our job to report assertions by Catholic officials that the presence of gay clergy has resulted in sexual abuse cases, and even stated beliefs that link pedophilia and gay men. However, if similar statements were made about other minority and stigmatized groups, reporters and editors would feel obliged to find sources to challenge those allegations, and to otherwise provide factual information to do so. NLGJA urges that the same professional standards be applied to stories concerning lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
In addition, it's important to point out that the term "sexual preference" implies that sexuality -- whether heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual -- is the result of a conscious choice. That is a politically charged suggestion. In order to be accurate and neutral, journalists should use terms such as "sexual orientation," "sexuality" or "sexual identity" as appropriate.
PlanetOut
by Wayne Besen
November 29, 2005
A new Vatican "instruction" on gay priests says the Catholic Church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years. But practicing homosexuals, those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred. In essence, the Vatican has adopted an "ex-gay" viewpoint, stealing a page from evangelical Christianity.
The Vatican is completely out of touch with reality. There is no such thing as "overcoming homosexual tendencies." However, people can bury themselves deep in the closet, which is what the Vatican is ordering priests to do.
All sexuality -- homo or hetero -- is "deep-seated," so the Vatican's document is essentially meaningless. What it really is is a gag order meant to crush dissent within the church. What the church unrealistically seeks is an official, ironclad position that sweeps disagreement under the carpet while making church sexual abuse scandals vanish.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Caroline O’Doherty
GAY rights activists have accused the Vatican of incitement to hatred in an official Catholic Church directive banning homosexuals and their supporters from the priesthood.
The “Instruction” issued from Rome yesterday excludes from seminaries “those who practice homosexuality, show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture.”
It restates the Church view that homosexual practices are “intrinsically immoral and contrary to natural law.” The only concession it makes is to candidates for the priesthood who have “overcome” their homosexual tendencies at least three years before ordination.
Eoin Collins, director of policy change with the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, said the order was “invidious” and harked back to a time when it was believed homosexuality was a problematic condition that could be cured.
PBS
A directive released by the Vatican Tuesday banned practicing homosexuals, men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies and those who support gay culture from entering the Catholic priesthood. After a background report, two Catholic priests with differing views on the announcement discuss the implications.
ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.30.2005
Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas on Tuesday praised a Vatican document that bars gay men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from entering the priesthood as a succinct summary of church teaching on homosexuality.
But he added that it's unclear whether timing of the document was a response to the increasingly high-profile debate over gay rights, or to the sexual-abuse crisis of priests abusing children in the United States, or a response to something else. The document applies to Catholics worldwide, not just those in the United States.
"It's worded very abstractly. But this is a significant issue today in the culture and in some ways it's time for the church to articulate its position," said Kicanas, chairman of the communications committee for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and former rector of Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Ill..
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
November 30, 2005
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano will stand by gay priests as long as they stay celibate and teach that "homosexual activity is immoral."
The Vatican, in an announcement Tuesday, said the worldwide Catholic Church won't ordain men who are active homosexuals, have "deep-seated tendencies" or support "gay culture."
In response, Matano said the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington would obey the instruction in regard to men in seminaries, but won't question Vermont's 82 current priests.
"For those ordained and who find themselves with a homosexual tendency, it should be noted that this does not affect the validity of Holy Orders," Matano said in a statement. "Priests are expected to be celibate and to teach that homosexual activity is immoral. If a homosexually inclined priest is celibate, faithfully conveying church teaching, this instruction places no added burden upon him."
DALLAS (TX)
The Dallas Morning News
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News
In the Dallas area, as in the nation, Catholics were deeply divided about Tuesday's Vatican ruling that men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be allowed to become priests.
For Bob Rowland, a conservative Catholic, the first major policy statement under Pope Benedict XVI was long overdue.
"The success of the new directive rests on the rapid application of decisive punishment for disobedience," said Mr. Rowland, a technical writer and retired Air Force officer in Irving.
But for Victor Kralisz, president of Dignity Dallas, a group of about 70 openly gay Catholics, the document is "a very sad business that undermines the good work and dedicated lives of a huge number of gay priests in this country and around the world."
Spotlighting News
Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop John M. D'Arcy of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington. Chester Gillis, professor and chairman of the theology department at Georgetown University. Peter Tatchell, member of OutRage!, gay rights group.
They all have something in common, their view on the directive given by the Vatican, currently headed by Pope Benedict XVI, concerning recommended Catholic attitude toward homosexuality within church ranks.
Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, considers that according to the new Vatican directive, the first major policy statement since Pope Benedict XVI became Pope, men that are attracted to the same sex can be ordained as priests as long as they control their impulses and are not "consumed by" them. Below is a fragment of the interview he gave to The Washington Post:
"I think one of the telling sentences in the document is the phrase that the candidate's entire life of sacred ministry must be 'animated by a gift of his whole person to the church and by an authentic pastoral charity. If that becomes paramount in his ministry, even though he might have a homosexual orientation, then he can minister and he can minister celibately and chastely.'"
UNITED STATES
EiTB24
The Vatican's tougher stand on homosexuality has divided American Catholics, with some welcoming it as a renewal of a Church plagued by scandal and others warning it would further alienate Catholic leaders.
Reflecting the divisions foreseen by some churchmen and scholars, a Catholic priest in Arizona announced his resignation because of "aggressive anti-gay positions" at the Vatican and the U.S. Church.
"I could no longer stay in that institution with any amount of integrity," Rev. Leonard Walker, 58, told the Arizona Republic after resigning from the Queen of Peace Church.
Apparently trying to defuse controversy over the eight-page Vatican document officially released on Tuesday, the president of the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, Bishop William S. Skylstad, said priests with "homosexual inclinations" can be good priests and should not fear discussing the issue.
NEW YORK
New York Newsday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER; This story was supplemented with wire service reports.
November 30, 2005
As a long-awaited Vatican document prohibiting the ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" was released yesterday, a Mesa, Ariz., priest resigned in protest, while U.S. bishops offered differing views on whether it was a de facto ban.
Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said psychologically mature gay candidates who showed themselves capable of lifelong celibacy and selflessness would still pass muster.
"I think there has been an overreaction to the document," he said in an interview. "There's nothing really new in it. The focus is on discerning a man's affective maturity and his ability to live out of a sense of authentic pastoral charity."
Other Catholic leaders, including Bishops William Murphy of Rockville Centre and Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, said the document clearly restates the church's long-standing bar on homosexual priests, which both said they already applied. "Documents of the Holy See from 1961 on have repeated cautionary admonitions about accepting known homosexual men into the seminary to study for the priesthood," Murphy said in a written statement.
COLORADO
The Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
November 30, 2005
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput praised as "common sense" a Vatican document that greatly restricts homosexuals from the clergy, but he stopped short of saying he would categorically bar all seminary applicants who continue to experience same-sex attractions.
"It falls to every bishop - supported by seminary rectors and formation teams - to examine and discern the suitability of every candidate for priesthood on a case-by-case basis that respects the dignity of the individual," Chaput wrote in Tuesday's Denver Catholic Register. Chaput oversees two Denver seminaries that have 94 men enrolled.
The long-awaited Vatican document, released Tuesday in its official English translation, definitively bars from the priesthood practicing homosexuals, those who support the gay culture and those with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
However, many church leaders, including Chaput, appear to regard another passage as much less black and white. It identifies "transitory" homosexual tendencies arising from, for example, delayed adolescence.
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Peter Smith
psmith@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
While a new Vatican document says men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" should not be priests, Archdiocese of Louisville officials say each applicant will be evaluated carefully and not by a "checklist, a litmus test, or simple yes or no questions."
The document, released by the Vatican yesterday after years of preparation, says those with a "transitory problem" with homosexuality may be ordained if they have overcome it for at least three years.
It states that those who support the "gay culture," which is not defined, should not be priests.
The document does not have the force of church law.
Supporters say the document brings the priest-preparation process in line with Roman Catholic teachings, which say homosexuality is a disorder.
Gay.com
Christopher Curtis, GAY.COM/PlanetOut.com Network
Wednesday 30 November, 2005 10:19
After many weeks of leaks and speculation, the Vatican on Tuesday published its instruction on gays in the clergy.
The document has angered LGBT rights advocates and prompted one US priest to resign in protest.
Men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies should not be ordained, according to the nine-page document, but those with a "transitory problem" can be ordained if they have overcome their feelings for three years.
Pope Benedict XVI approved the instruction August 31st, making it one of the first major documents he has approved for publication since being elected pope April 19th.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Margaret Ramirez and Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune news services contributed to this report
Published November 30, 2005
The Vatican issued a long-awaited document Tuesday on the explosive issue of homosexuality in the priesthood, but the document banning men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" added more heat than light to the controversy.
In fact, several scholars said that the text of the document--which largely restates long-standing Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality--matters less than its timing and prominence. It marks the first major policy statement since Pope Benedict XVI took office in April, and it comes at a time when Vatican officials are inspecting U.S. seminaries, while the sexual abuse scandal still reverberates in the church.
Almost immediately, there was heated debate and stark disagreement about the potential impact of the document in Catholic seminaries, to whom the "instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education is addressed.
Yahoo! News
By Joan Garry
I was raised Catholic. I never sat in a classroom without a crucifix on the wall. Catholic grammar school, Catholic high school and Catholic college. I sang Kumbaya while playing my guitar at Folk Mass.
I sang at my dad's funeral, too, with his barbershop chorus. The song was Be Not Afraid. For one person in the church that dark day, the song was filled with irony. The priest who said the Mass was under scrutiny for sexual abuse allegations. Not long after the funeral, he was gone.
There is no question that Pope Benedict XVI has a big mess on his hands. People are calling it a sex abuse scandal, but let's be honest - it's about abuse of power.
And now we also have an element of emotional abuse as seminarians all across the USA assess Tuesday's final mandate from the pope. When will they knock on my door? What will they ask? What will I say?
PUEBLO (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com
PUEBLO, Colo. -- A sexual abuse lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pueblo was the first to name a former priest who committed suicide following allegations he molested a teenager.
Andrew A. Burke, a pastor at St. Piux X in Pueblo, left the ministry around 1973 due to a "psycho-sexual behavior disorder," according to the lawsuit.
Burke shot himself in the heart Sept. 21, coroner's officials said. His wife found him dead in their yard. He was holding a newly-purchased gun that still had the price tag on it.
Last year officials of the diocese told police a prisoner alleged that in the 1970s, Burke would make him strip down to his underwear, blindfold him, tickle him, then take a wet towel from a freezer and lay it across his chest.
The man alleged Burke then would masturbate or straddle him while rubbing his genitals against him, sometimes giving him alcohol.
Wisonsin State Journal
Bill Wineke Wisconsin State Journal
The Vatican on Tuesday issued its long-awaited statement on gay priests, and the statement may raise more questions than it answers.
This is what it says:
"The church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so- called 'gay culture.' "
The first requirement is hardly controversial. The Catholic Church requires a celibate priesthood, so it stands to reason that it also will not admit to seminary or to holy orders those who practice heterosexuality. If you want to have sex, you can't be a priest.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
The Vatican yesterday released a long-awaited document stating that the Roman Catholic Church will bar openly gay men, or men with marked homosexual tendencies, from becoming priests.
The Vatican believes the proliferation of actively gay priests is one cause of the sexual abuse scandal that has engulfed the church in recent years, because many of the victims were teenagers and not pre-pubescent children.
Phil Saviano, formerly of East Douglas, said the Vatican is merely establishing a “don’t ask, don’t tell” atmosphere that will allow more cover for abusive priests. Mr. Saviano received a settlement from the Worcester Diocese after he alleged abuse by the Rev. David Holley during the 1960s at St. Denis Church in East Douglas. Rev. Holley is now in jail in New Mexico after pleading guilty to abusing boys in that state.
Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus, who until coming to Worcester in 2004 was rector of Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Rhode Island, is away this week and was unavailable for comment on the document, according to Raymond L. Delisle, diocesan spokesman.
Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, commented that sexual orientation is now widely discussed and that the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education expressed “Christian realism” about what the church expects in candidates for priesthood. “This realism understands the challenges of our time,” he said in a statement.
The bishop said it is “not acceptable if a candidate practices homosexuality or, whether active or not, if he identifies himself principally by a homosexual inclination or orientation.” He added that a candidate for priesthood should also not support the “gay culture,” or be “so concerned with homosexual issues that he cannot sincerely represent the Church’s teaching on homosexuality,” he said.
Mr. Saviano, a founder of the New England Chapter of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said that as a gay man he finds the Vatican’s directive
“highly insulting.”
He said: “The problem to be addressed is not sexual orientation, but bad behavior. And the biggest problem has been bishops who perpetuate the bad behavior by covering it up, instead of enforcing consequences.
“If the Vatican is serious about cleaning house, and sending a positive message to parishioners, it should start with the bishops who coddled and protected abusers for decades and put thousands of children in harm’s way.”
Mr. Saviano, who has led support groups, said 40 percent of those coming to meetings are female victims of clergy sexual abuse. The number of women and girls abused by clergy has been vastly underreported, he said.
“How will a ban on gay priests protect little girls?” he said. “What is the message to victims of priests like Father Robert Kelley, who admits to having molested over 50 young girls in the Worcester Diocese?”
George “Skip” Shea of Uxbridge, who is married with children, said he will address the “gay issue” in his one-man show called “Catholic (Surviving Abuse and Other Dead End Roads)” scheduled Saturday at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.
“How can this be a gay issue? The obvious answer is it isn’t a gay issue,” he said. He said he has attended support meetings where he was the only man present. The others were women. Mr. Shea settled a lawsuit with the Worcester Diocese within the last year after he made allegations that he was sexually abused starting at age 11 by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar and Rev. Robert Shauris at St. Mary’s Parish, Uxbridge, during the 1970s.
“So if we are going to ban homosexuals from the priesthood, using their logic, I guess we should ban heterosexuals too, as there are a staggering number of female victims.
“And further continuing with their logic, maybe they should just ban men, as that is the only true common denominator, and let women run the church for a while,” he said.
The Rev. Richard McBrien, a theologian and professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the causes of the sexual abuse crisis “are far deeper than the existence of gay priests.” He described the “two elephants in the living room” as obligatory celibacy for priests and the church’s teaching on human sexuality in general.
Bernadette Brooten, Kraft-Hiatt professor of Christian studies at Brandeis University who trained as a Catholic theologian, said the Catholic Church since the Middle Ages has put more weight on same-sex issues, rather than looking at causes or issues related to sexual abuse.
Ms. Brooten said the church has avoided discussion of women who are abused by priests. A vulnerable woman may seek out a priest for counseling that results in an inappropriate sexual relationship.
“The woman has no recourse in the church, and they don’t get anywhere in the courts,” she said. Such relationships, she said, are dealt with severely by doctors and psychologists.
She said it appears the hierarchy of the Catholic Church is continuing a long-standing pattern of avoiding important issues of abuse, while concentrating on homosexuality.
“Galileo lives,” said Boston lawyer Carmen L. Durso, a College of the Holy Cross graduate who has represented clergy sexual abuse victims in Worcester and throughout the state. “Once again the church has decided to ignore science.”
Gay men and women do not choose to be homosexual, Mr. Durso said, but they are “destined by their DNA.”
He cited an examination of American clergy done by the Rev. Donald Cozzens in his 2000 book, “The Changing Face of the Priesthood.” Rev. Cozzens suggested that half of the diocesan priests in the United States are homosexual, while estimates for priests in religious orders are about 60 percent.
FALL RIVER (MA)
Providence Journal
By C. EUGENE EMERY JR.
Journal Staff Writer
FALL RIVER -- The Diocese of Fall River has said it will offer professional counseling to parishioners who feel they need it in the wake of this week's sentencing of Father Stephen A. Fernandes, 55, on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography.
A statement released by the diocese says Bishop George Coleman "is concerned, first and foremost, for the parishioners of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in New Bedford, where Father Fernandes was serving at the time of his arrest, as well as for the people of other parishes where he served."
Fernandes was sentenced to serve eight mouths at the Duke's County House of Correction on Martha's Vineyard and will be eligible for parole in three months. Investigators found about 650 pictures and 114 videos on his laptop of children engaging in sex acts.
Fernandes remains on administrative leave, as he has since his arrest a year ago. While on leave, he is not allowed to function as a priest.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
First published: Wednesday, November 30, 2005
One of the teens who slept with former teacher Beth Geisel described his 42-year-old instructor as "a friend to have sex with" while appearing on "Inside Edition," a syndicated tabloid magazine television show, on Monday.
The teen, identified only as Michael, said he had sex with Geisel 10 or 11 times. His mother, identified as Tina Marie, said, "Never in a million years would I expect my son to have sex with his teacher."
Earlier this year, Geisel was found in a car in Cohoes with a 17-year-old.
An investigation showed the teacher had sex with students at Christian Brothers Academy, including a 16-year-old.
Geisel eventually pleaded guilty to third-degree rape. Last week, during her sentencing, Albany County Court Judge Stephen W. Herrick said she crossed the line from "teacher to consort," but also said she was as much a victim as the teens. Herrick said Geisel was a vulnerable woman who was being used and passed around.
ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
By Richard Wronski
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 30, 2005
A judge will be asked to revoke the probation of a convicted sex offender found volunteering at a Mt. Prospect church where children attended preschool, officials said Tuesday.
Gregg A. Bornhoeft, 49, is scheduled to appear in Cook County court Dec. 9 on a charge of violating a provision of the Sex Offenders Registration Act, which prohibits offenders from working at or associating with any facility or program involving children.
Bornhoeft was a volunteer until last month at Community Presbyterian Church, 407 N. Main St., doing part-time electrical and carpentry work, said Cmdr. John Palcu of the sheriff's sex offender unit.
He also was undergoing counseling with the church's pastor, Rev. Gregory Rykse.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
First published: Wednesday, November 30, 2005
ALBANY -- Clergy sex abuse victims, family members and friends parked themselves outside Bishop Howard Hubbard's office on Tuesday for a 12-hour vigil.
"We are here for those who have not received justice, who the diocese, up to this moment, have refused to deal with," said vigil organizer Mark Lyman, of the Albany chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "Because victims of clergy sexual abuse have been left out in the cold for too long."
He pulled a rented Ryder truck up to the 40 N. Lake Ave. Pastoral Center. Inside was a picnic table, chairs and lights. Despite rain, protesters hunkered down for the long haul.
They carted blue portable folding chairs, hand-lettered posters and coolers. Pizza arrived later, as did police dogs and two city officers on horseback.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Agostino Bono
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A Vatican document putting restrictions on admitting homosexuals to seminaries and ordaining them to the priesthood has drawn both praise and criticism from U.S. bishops and seminary officials.
While some praised it as a reaffirmation of church teaching on sexual morality and the need to assure the commitment to celibacy by candidates to the Latin-rite priesthood, others said the document is also hurtful to priests and seminarians who are homosexual and celibate.
Several bishops and seminary administrators said that the criteria in the Vatican document about judging homosexuals is already compatible with what is being done in the United States and noted that the document does not offer any specific procedures for screening seminarians, leaving bishops and religious superiors with flexibility in applying the criteria.
AUSTRALIA
Online Catholics
By Alan Gill
About eight years ago a former British child migrant, who had been raised in the notorious Christian Brothers’ orphanage known as Boys’ Town, Bindoon, sent me a clipping from a Perth newspaper which he clearly found shocking, and expected me to be suitably horrified as well.
The article told the story of a priest, then working among AIDS sufferers and other disadvantaged people in the north-western corner of the state, who had “outed” himself as gay.
I was, indeed, surprised by the article, though not quite in the way my correspondent intended. On glancing at the photo which formed part of the clipping I recognised the features of a man whom I not only knew well, but had formally received me into the Catholic Church – after 40-odd years as a moderately high church Anglican – some three or four years earlier.
The article took pains to say that the MSC priest was celibate – indeed, it quoted him as saying he had not had sex for 15 years; all of which my correspondent in Perth seemed to have overlooked.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent and Richard Owen in Rome
A VATICAN ruling on homosexuals entering the priesthood received a surprising welcome from leading Roman Catholics in Britain yesterday after it became clear that it was not as severe as had been feared. However, gay pressure groups and liberal Catholics were critical.
Senior Catholics said that the ruling showed a slight softening of Pope Benedict XVI’s hard line against gays. The instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Education said that ordination was not permissible for men with “deep-seated” gay tendencies but was permissible for those who could show they had overcome “transitory” homosexuality for three years. It does not apply to those already ordained.
The instruction was welcomed by moderates because it is not an outright ban on all men of homosexual orientation, celibate or not, but it will disappoint traditionalists because it does not call homosexuality a “tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil”, a phrase used by the Pope in his previous post as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac MurphyO’Connor, said: “A priest is primarily a witness to Jesus Christ. Anything that detracts from this impedes that witness.
DENVER (CO)
9 News
DENVER (AP) - A Denver prosecutor says he can't bring charges in six recent complaints by men accusing priests of sexually abusing them as children.
District Attorney Mitch Morrissey says the alleged attacks happened too long ago and outside Denver. But he's keeping the complaints on file because the men could be called as witnesses if new allegations surface.
State law allows criminal charges in child sex-abuse cases until the alleged victim turns 28.
Morrissey can prosecute only cases in the city and county of Denver. Morrissey's spokeswoman, Lynn Kimbrough, says the recent reports came from Sterling, Estes Park, Hugo and Englewood.
UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 30/11/2005)
A long-awaited Vatican document that bars men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies from the priesthood was officially published yesterday in the first major ruling of Pope Benedict XVI's reign.
The document, which has been widely leaked, earned the fierce opprobrium of liberals who said that it could trigger a witch-hunt and force gay clergy underground.
But Roman Catholic leaders in Britain played down its impact, saying that it was merely emphasising the need for all candidates for the priesthood to be mature enough to control their sexuality.
The document said that practising homosexuals, those with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or those who supported "gay culture" should be weeded out by bishops and principals of theological colleges.
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Warren Wolfe, Star Tribune
Last update: November 29, 2005 at 9:07 PM
The key to enforcing a new Vatican document that bars homosexuals from entering seminaries or the priesthood could hinge on interpreting the phrase "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies."
"It's a new term for us, and it's going to take awhile to figure out exactly what it means, how to measure it," the Rev. David Kohner said Tuesday, hours after the Vatican officially released the document. A copy of it was widely disseminated last week.
As director of spiritual formation at St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Kohner is one of the people the Vatican says are responsible for enforcing the teaching.
The instruction from the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education says the church "may not admit to the seminary and Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, show profoundly deep-rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture."
AUSTIN (TX)
American-Statesman
By Eileen E. Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
A long-awaited Vatican document that gives instructions on seminary admission standards for gay men does not decree an outright ban on homosexual clergy and upholds traditional church teaching, Catholic officials say.
But the Vatican's guidelines have spurred an angry response from some Catholics and have prompted one Austin priest to consider leaving the priesthood.
After reading the Vatican's instructions on seminary admission standards for gay men, formally issued Tuesday, the Rev. John Markey, an Austinite, said he is considering taking a leave of absence from his Dominican Order. Markey, who is gay, said the rules paint the church hierarchy as 'cynical and cowardly.'
The document, leaked last week and officially released Tuesday, instructs church leaders to ban from seminaries sexually active gay men as well as those who "present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."
Those are the guidelines the Rev. Arturo Cepeda, vocations director for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, said the church has followed all along.
But the Rev. John Markey, a Dominican Order priest who lives in Austin, said he smells a witch hunt.
The document, he said, reflects a "cynical and cowardly" church hierarchy bent on purging gay people from the church or at least silencing them.
Star-Ledger
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
BY JEFF DIAMANT AND MARK MUELLER
Star-Ledger Staff
At the nation's second-largest Catholic seminary, Mount St. Mary's in Maryland, Monsignor Steven Rohlfs is blunt about the kind of men who will be accepted to study for the priesthood.
Straight men.
Homosexuals, with all due respect, need not apply.
Rohlfs said it has been that way at Mount St. Mary's -- and at other big seminaries across the nation -- for at least three years now, since the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church prompted seminaries to re-examine how they recruit, accept and train candidates for the priesthood.
Which is why Rohlfs was a bit surprised by all the drama surrounding yesterday's release of Vatican guidelines barring most gay men from becoming priests.
"It's just not that much of an issue to us because the matter has already been addressed," said Rohlfs, the seminary's rector. "I think in the vast majority of seminaries that's the case."
ANCHORAGE (AK)
KTUU
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - by Megan Baldino
Anchorage, Alaska - Two more men have added their names to a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by former Anchorage priest, Monsignor Francis Murphy.
According to the complaint, Joseph Doe II says in 1964, when he was 15, Murphy rubbed the teen’s body with lubricant. In the complaint, Joseph Doe III claims he was fondled by Murphy on at least three separate occasions. Both join Joseph Doe I in the lawsuit and the victims are seeking more than $100,000 in damages.
FLORIDA
St. Petersburg Times
By TAMARA LUSH and WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published November 30, 2005
Within hours of issuing a document that bars openly gay men from entering the Catholic priesthood, the Vatican on Tuesday defended the new policy, saying that homosexuality is a "sexual tendency not an identity."
Conservatives say this new policy may help reverse the "gay culture" of many U.S. seminaries, while liberal critics say the restrictions will create morale problems among clergy and lead to an even greater priest shortage in the United States.
"I'm afraid all it will do is make the closet bigger in the church," said Father Steve Rosczewski, a gay man who officiates services at the Holy Spirit Ecumenical Catholic Church in Largo after being dismissed as parish priest at a church in St. Petersburg.
The Rev. Len Plazewski, director of vocations for the Diocese of St. Petersburg, said he believes the Vatican document reflects standards already in place in most U.S. seminaries.
ROME
Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer
ROME — The Vatican on Tuesday formally released instructions that block actively gay men from the priesthood, a long-anticipated document that already has opened a debate over how it will be applied and whether it will have a healing, or detrimental, effect on the Roman Catholic Church.
Church conservatives are applauding the document for taking a strong stance against what many see as an immoral "gay subculture" within seminaries and church life, and for establishing clearer restrictions on who is suitable to become a priest.
But liberals said they feared the rules would be used to keep qualified men out of a depleted priesthood because of their sexual identity, even when celibate.
This is the first major instruction to be issued by Pope Benedict XVI, and the fact that it focused on homosexuality reflected the German pontiff's concern over morals he sees being eroded by Western secular culture.
Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, author of the eight-page document as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, said Tuesday that it was crucial for the church to speak out now.
CONNECTICUT
Hartford Courant
November 30, 2005
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR, Courant Staff Writer
Gay leaders denounced the Vatican's policy that would ban homosexuals from seminaries and the priesthood, while Roman Catholic Church leaders said the instructions published Tuesday were a clarification and "restatement" of existing policy.
"God is neither sexist nor homophobic," said Frank O'Gorman of People of Faith for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights. "Sexual maturity, not sexual orientation, should be the criteria."
The Vatican guidelines would bar men "who are actively homosexual or show deeply seated homosexual tendencies," and who "support gay culture or are so concerned with homosexual issues that he cannot sincerely represent the church's teaching on sexuality," said Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Men who for three years have "clearly overcome" homosexual tendencies that were a "transitory problem" during adolescence can be eligible to become priests, according to the instructions, which were approved by Pope Benedict XVI and released by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education.
Boston Globe
By Bernadette J. Brooten | November 30, 2005
IF THE VATICAN aims to prevent clergy sexual abuse by barring gay men from the priesthood, it is profoundly misguided. Most strikingly, the latest Vatican statement doesn't ever name clergy sexual abuse as a problem. Instead, the Vatican refers ever so obliquely to the ''contemporary world," which must mean ''a world in which even priests have sex with boys."
The Vatican needs to address head-on the dual problem of priests abusing their power and their bishops protecting them. Otherwise, Catholics and non-Catholics will live with shaken confidence in the Roman Catholic Church, an important social institution by any measure. This document diverts attention away from Catholic bishops who have worked mightily to avoid just settlements with sexual abuse survivors, to open their financial records, or to include clergy as mandated reporters of child sexual abuse.
By defining homosexuality as the problem, the Vatican also masks the fact that numerous priests have had, and are having, sexual relations with adult women. Unlike therapists or physicians, priests are not usually legally prohibited from having sexual relations with the women whom they counsel. Women whose trust priests have betrayed have rarely been able to sue for damages, and the media have therefore seldom reported their stories.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 30, 2005 12:00 AM
The Phoenix Diocese will make no changes to the way it chooses priest candidates because its practices already are in line with a Vatican document banning gay men from seminaries, the diocese's vocations director said Tuesday.
"The bishop is not going to ask me to change anything," said the Rev. Don Kline, vocations director for six years for the diocese.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, in a brief written statement, said he "welcomed" the document, which the Vatican released Tuesday. It rejects candidates who are "actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture." advertisement
The document offers no specifics on how dioceses, religious orders or seminaries should implement its conclusions.
DENVER (CO0
Denver Post
By Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writer
For the 94 men studying for the priesthood at Denver's two Roman Catholic seminaries, a long-awaited Vatican document released Tuesday barring the ordination of active homosexuals is a confirmation of sorts.
The two seminaries - which over the past few years have attracted national attention and scores of candidates for their philosophy of staying faithful to church teachings - employ an intense screening process.
It is a process "very much in accord" with the new document, said the Rev. Michael Glenn, rector of St. John Vianney Seminary, which opened in 1999.
"I don't think this document changes in any way the way our seminary is going to function," Glenn said Tuesday. "We have a great respect for the human person. But we are also very careful and discerning of all the aspects that make them who they are."
VATICAN CITY
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Victor L. Simpson
The Associated Press
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican defended a policy statement designed to keep men with ''deep-seated'' homosexual tendencies from becoming priests, but said there would be no crackdown on gays who are already ordained.
The Vatican document, the first major policy statement of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy, was officially released Tuesday after being leaked earlier. Conservatives have said it may help reverse the ''gay culture'' of many U.S. seminaries, while liberal critics complain the restrictions will create morale problems among clergy and lead to an even greater priest shortage in the United States.
Matt Foreman of America'sAbuse Tracker Gay and Lesbian Task Force called the document ''appalling,'' saying it was an affront to thousands of gay priests. He accused the Vatican of ''a calculated campaign to blame gay men for the church's own criminal conduct in fostering and covering up decades of sex abuse.''
Bishop George H. Niederauer, leader of Utah's 200,000 Catholics, and Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, were unavailable for comment. Several other priests contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune did not return phone calls.
FORT WAYNE (IN)
The Journal Gazette
By Kelly Soderlund
The Journal Gazette
The bishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Roman Catholic Diocese says he has long been following a new policy adopted by the Vatican that says men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies should not be ordained as priests.
Although Bishop John D’Arcy wouldn’t comment on how many gay candidates he has turned away, he said Tuesday during a news conference that it’s been his practice since becoming a bishop 20 years ago not to ordain those he believes cannot overcome their homosexuality, or who support gay culture.
“I do know that it has been a problem for some time,” D’Arcy said. “I think that in this diocese it’s been my policy since I came because of my experience in the seminary and my convictions and reading the documents. I think it’s been more of a problem in the seminaries than people realize.”
LOUISVILLE (KY)
The Courier-Journal
By Jason Riley
jriley@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Dozens of plaintiffs who filed claims alleging that they were sexually abused at Catholic orphanages and schools have asked that the Archdiocese of Louisville be dismissed from the lawsuits.
The requests, which will be heard in several different courts on Monday, are an effort to focus the 49 lawsuits on the group the plaintiffs consider responsible for the alleged abuse: the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.
"The day-to-day operations of that orphanage, the welfare of those children, were entrusted to the Sisters of Charity," said William McMurry, an attorney representing most of the plaintiffs.
The motions, filed Monday, also request that Catholic Charities of Louisville, a social service agency of the archdiocese, be dismissed from the lawsuits.
CHARLESTON (SC)
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, November 29, 2005 - Today the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education released a much-awaited Instruction concerning the admission of men to the priesthood who exhibit homosexual tendencies. In an official statement the Most Reverend Robert J. Baker, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, greeted the release as a timely affirmation of his Pastoral Letter, "The Redemption of our Bodies" (May 29, 2005).
Bishop Baker's statement follows:
The document released today by the Holy See, entitled "Instruction on the Criteria for Vocational Discernment with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders" is both timely and necessary. It reiterates the constant teaching of the Catholic Church through the ages and reinforces teachings given in my recent Pastoral Letter, entitled "The Redemption of Our Bodies."
We wish to underline at the outset the pastoral concern of the Church to the people discussed in this instruction and the importance of extending to them understanding and friendship. As the Church has compassion upon all people, it sees the person suffering from same-sex attraction no less than anyone else as a child of God. "We, as a Christian community, should reach out to those suffering from a homo-erotic inclination so that they may be surrounded by the love of friendship. Those who suffer from a homosexual orientation should not be abandoned to loneliness or despair" ("The Redemption of Our Bodies").
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
November 30, 2005
BY the Rev. THOMAS J. O'BRIEN, SJ
I am coming out as a gay, chaste Jesuit priest because it hurts too much not to.
I deeply love the church and the Jesuits.
I have experienced unconditional love from Cardinal Adam Maida in granting me permission to function as a priest in this archdiocese.
I have experienced unconditional love from my Jesuit brothers -- especially those who know me well.
I have experienced unconditional love from my friends and family.
Being a priest in the Society of Jesus has been a joy for me.
DETROIT (MI)
Detroit Free Press
November 30, 2005
BY DAVID CRUMM and JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
A long-awaited Vatican document on homosexuality contains as many questions as answers about the church's effort to bar sexually active gay men from the priesthood, said Catholics who read the text released Tuesday.
"The worst thing about this document is that it's vague and uses phrases that people just don't use today, so it's hard to understand what they're even talking about," said the Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit based in California who is an expert on the structure of the church. "Who uses a phrase like 'homosexual tendencies' except a document like this? And what does it mean?
"Conservatives will be able to interpret this statement as saying that all gays should be thrown out of seminaries. Or other bishops can interpret it as saying that homosexuals still can be ordained, if they're ready for a celibate life."
The key phrase in the document, issued by the Vatican agency that oversees Catholic schools, states that church leaders "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/30/2005
The Vatican affirmed Tuesday its position that homosexual acts are grave sins, "intrinsically immoral," and no one who practices them or supports the "gay culture" should be ordained to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church.
Opportunity was acknowledged, though, for those with "transitory" homosexual tendencies if they have been overcome for at least three years before ordination.
The instruction, released by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, had been leaked by an Italian Catholic news agency about a week ago. Its content came as no great surprise.
SCRANTON (PA)
The Citizens Voice
By:Mike Race 11/30/2005
SCRANTON - A federal judge has ordered the Diocese of Scranton to disclose new information in a civil suit involving sexual abuse allegations against the Rev. Albert M. Liberatore.
Father Liberatore pleaded guilty last year to nine criminal counts in two jurisdictions stemming from a sexual relationship he had with a then-teenaged altar boy while serving at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Duryea. The civil suit, filed a year ago, seeks damages against the diocese and several of its officials for allegedly failing to act once they learned of the abuse.
Since the suit was filed, lawyers for the diocese and the victim - identified in court papers only as "John Doe" - have been tussling over how much information the diocese must provide about its knowledge of Father Liberatore's actions and his treatment by a psychologist.
OMAHA (NE)
Sioux City Journal
OMAHA (AP) -- A Douglas County district court judge has declared that repressed memories are not reliable enough for filing claims of sexual abuse years after an alleged incident at Boys Town.
On Monday, Judge Sandra Dougherty ruled that Todd Rivers of Omaha could not present expert testimony that Rivers had repressed memories of abuse.
In his lawsuit, Rivers said a priest molested him in the 1980s.
Rivers' expert, Dougherty said, did not prove that such a diagnosis is scientifically valid.
Even if the memories do exist, the condition may not apply to Rivers, Dougherty said.
Rivers alleges that the Rev. James Kelly of Girls and Boys Town made him drop his pants during confession and re-enact how he would masturbate. Rivers also alleged that Kelly touched his crotch after he pulled up his pants.
Rivers said he didn't remember the incident until he "recovered" it in a dream nearly 20 years later, in 2002.
VERMONT
Times Argus
November 30, 2005
By Kevin O'Connor Rutland Herald
Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano will stand by gay priests as long as they stay celibate and teach that "homosexual activity is immoral."
The Vatican, in an announcement Tuesday, said the worldwide Catholic Church won't ordain men who are active homosexuals, have "deep-seated tendencies" or support "gay culture."
In response, Matano said the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington would obey the instruction in regard to men in seminaries, but won't question Vermont's 82 current priests.
"For those ordained and who find themselves with a homosexual tendency, it should be noted that this does not affect the validity of Holy Orders," Matano said in a statement. "Priests are expected to be celibate and to teach that homosexual activity is immoral. If a homosexually inclined priest is celibate, faithfully conveying church teaching, this instruction places no added burden upon him."
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News
DETROIT Sacred Heart Major Seminary officials hailed the long-awaited Vatican document released Tuesday that reaffirmed the church's ban on practicing homosexual priests and required those considering the vocation with such tendencies to overcome them three years prior to ordination.
"It"s going to be an enormous help, said the Rev. Steven Boguslawski, rector and president of the Archdiocese of Detroit seminary. We will study this document seriously and will critique our own admissions processes and formulation policies.
The document, released by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, says it cannot admit to the seminary men who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture
OREGON
The Oregonian
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
ASHBEL S. GREEN
A former Jesuit High School student who claimed that a teacher molested him in the 1980s has settled his lawsuit for $95,000.
The anonymous plaintiff, who sued under the initials "J.T.," settled with the school as well as the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, the Northwest branch of the Catholic religious order commonly known as the Jesuits.
The Rev. John Schwartz, whom J.T. accused of sexual abuse, was a Jesuit priest who taught at the school.
Schwartz, who left the school in 1987, denies wrongdoing.
Schwartz is no longer a member of the Jesuits and was working as a parish priest in Marin County in the Archdiocese of San Francisco when J.T. filed his suit in Multnomah County in October.
NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
The Roman Catholic Church's declaration Tuesday that men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" shouldn't become priests is drawing praise from traditionalists who believe gay sex is a sin and alarm from critics who think the church has gone too far.
The long-awaited document - which sets a standard seen by many as far more restrictive than what has been in force for decades at the nation's seminaries - also bans from the priesthood men who support the "gay culture" and reaffirms the church's prohibition against practicing homosexuals.
"Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women," said the document, issued by the Vatican's Conference for Catholic Education. "One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies."
HAWAII
Honolulu Advertiser
By Curtis Lum and Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writers
A 44-year-old O'ahu man who recently settled a molestation lawsuit against a Catholic priest was arrested yesterday on charges that he sexually assaulted a minor girl in 1996.
Eugene Saulibio was indicted Nov. 21 by a Kaua'i grand jury on four counts of first-degree sexual assault. A bench warrant was issued for his arrest last Wednesday and state sheriff's deputies arrested him yesterday morning at his 'Aiea home.
Saulibio was flown to Kaua'i, posted $80,000 bail, and returned to O'ahu. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Kaua'i Circuit Court tomorrow.
FORT WAYNE (IN)
News-Sentinel
By Nicole Lee
nlee@news-sentinel.com
A document released by the Vatican today has, as expected, ignited further debate on the stance of the Roman Catholic Church regarding homosexual men and the priesthood.
The question remains, however: Will the document ultimately bridge or create further schisms within Catholicism?
Bishop John D’Arcy of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend is expected to discuss the document at an 11:30 a.m. press conference held at the Archbishop Noll Center.
The document, released by the Congregation for Catholic Education, a regulatory body for seminaries and schools, was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on Aug. 31.
MARTHA'S VINEYARD (MA)
Boston Herald
By Laurel J. Sweet
Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - Updated: 12:12 PM EST
Prince Bader Al-Saud, meet the Rev. Stephen Fernandes.
Fernandes, 55, a New Bedford Catholic priest convicted of child pornography charges, was sentenced yesterday to eight months in the “country club” of cans — the tony Dukes County Jail and House of Correction on Martha’s Vineyard.
At Fernandes’ request, and over the staunch objection of Bristol District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr., Barnstable Superior Court Judge Robert Kane banished the pervert priest to the island retreat that earlier this month became the new home of Al-Saud, a 23-year-old Saudi royal who pleaded guilty to motor vehicle homicide while drunken driving.
“It’s sickening,” an outraged Walsh said yesterday. “Could we do anything more for this defendant (Fernandes)? Why don’t we get him a computer while we’re at it?”
Fernandes stockpiled on the rectory computer hundreds of images and videos with sound effects of young boys undressing and having sex. The Our Lady of Fatima Church priest also pretended to be a girl online so that a teenage boy would frolic nude for him in front of a camera. He will be eligible for parole in three months.
GEORGIA
Cedartown Standard
11/29/05
By JONATHAN INGRAM, Standard Staff Writer
The International Communion of Charismatic Churches (ICCC) College of Bishops elected Bishop David Huskins as their new presiding bishop at a meeting in Rome on Nov. 17 and 18.
Huskins, who serves as Bishop over the Fellowship of Vineyard Harvester Churches, a nationwide fellowship that includes Cedar Lake Christian Center, had been serving as vice president of the ICCC. He will now assume the helm of the largest charismatic ecclesiastical order of bishops in the world.
“My goal is to seek to bring integrity and accountability back to the office of Presiding Bishop,” said Huskins. ...
The ICCC College of Bishops met under a cloud of accusation surrounding its former Presiding Archbishop Earl Paulk.
Paulk was asked by the group recently to resign after allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct surfaced from longtime staff members and close associates of Paulk, who all alleged his patterns of abuse had continued for many years.
VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- New Vatican norms aim to bar from the priesthood men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies, not those who may have experienced and overcome transitory episodes, a Vatican official said.
Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, head of the Congregation for Catholic Education, strongly defended the document in an interview with Vatican Radio Nov. 29, the day it was officially released at the Vatican. Vatican Radio posted the transcript of the interview.
Cardinal Grocholewski said the document's distinction between deep-seated and transitory homosexual tendencies was important.
"Obviously, if we speak of deep-seated tendencies, this means that on the other hand there can also be transitory tendencies or transitory cases that do not constitute an obstacle," he said. "For example, some curiosity during adolescence; or accidental circumstances in a state of drunkenness; or particular circumstances, like someone who was in prison for many years."
The Guardian
Staff and agencies
Tuesday November 29, 2005
The Vatican today published its long-awaited statement on homosexuals and the priesthood, affirming that those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies should not be ordained.
The document also bans supporters of gay culture from entering the priesthood, but says that men who have "overcome" their homosexuality for at least three years would be accepted as priests.
The instruction from the Vatican does not affect men who are already priests but only those entering seminaries to prepare for the priesthood. Gay rights groups say this may force new clergy members to hide their homosexuality, burying the issue rather than confronting it.
Pope Benedict XVI approved the document at the end of August, but it was only officially released after it was leaked on an Italian Catholic news agency website last week.
The document confirms the Catholic church's view that deep-seated homosexual tendencies are "objectively disordered" and "grave sins". It also says heads of seminaries have a serious duty to see to it that candidates for the priesthood do not "present disturbances of a sexual nature which are incompatible with the priesthood".
Critics say the instruction may alienate gay men who would make excellent priests and would be able to honour their vow of celibacy.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
David Quinn
NORA Wall, the ex-nun who had her life sentence for rape quashed six years ago, is applying to the Court of Criminal Appeal for a certificate declaring a Miscarriage of Justice.
Her case appears before the court on Thursday and if she obtains the certificate, the way will be cleared for her to sue the State.
In 1999, Ms Wall sensationally became the first woman in the history of the State to be found guilty of rape. She also became the first person of either sex to receive a life sentence for the offence.
The sentence was quashed after just four days when it emerged that a key prosecution witness had given evidence despite an instruction from the Director for Public Prosecution that she not be permitted to do so. A number of other errors in their June 1999 trial also emerged.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
In February 1998 a number of men who had been abused by John Hannon, a former Franciscan Brother at the primary school they attended in Clara, Co Offaly, gathered in Tullamore District Court to see Hannon sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 16 sample charges from an original total of 39, which included 28 counts of indecent assault, nine of buggery and two of attempted buggery.
Those men looked that day to the court for justice. They sought a response from this State to the crimes to which they had been subjected at a primary school run by the Third Order of St Francis, the so-called Brothers of the West. What they had not known was that the State was only too aware of the former Brother Hannon's propensity to abuse children, both boys and girls.
Files from the period show that both the congregation and the Department of Education were informed of allegations at Hannon's former school in Clifden, Co Galway and that there were concerns at a third school in Cummer, Co Galway.
IRELAND
One in Four
THE Franciscan Brothers are expected to agree to repay the State some of the hundreds of thousands of euro it cost to compensate two men for sexual abuse they suffered as schoolboys.
The State, through the Department of Education, initially accepted liability for the men’s ordeal at the hands of former Franciscan John Hannon, as the department had been made aware of complaints against him before he went on to commit abuse at a midlands primary school in the 1970s.
Awards running to six figure sums were made to each man and substantial legal costs were incurred, all of which was met by the department.
However, the State Claims Agency (SCA) has since taken over the case file, and is demanding the Brothers pay their share.
NEBRASKA
World-Herald
BY TODD COOPER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
A Douglas County District judge has declared the notion of repressed memory unscientific and unreliable - effectively gutting a former Boys Town student's lawsuit claiming that a priest molested him in the 1980s.
In an order filed Monday, Judge Sandra Dougherty ruled that Todd Rivers of Omaha could not present expert testimony that he had repressed memories of abuse. She said Rivers' expert had not proved that such a diagnosis is scientifically valid.
But even if repressed memories do exist, Dougherty said, she questions whether such a diagnosis applied to Rivers.
Rivers alleges that the Rev. James Kelly made him drop his pants during confession and re-enact how he would masturbate. Rivers alleged that Kelly touched his crotch after he pulled up his pants.
The Australian
Jill Rowbotham, Religious affairs writer
November 30, 2005
THE Vatican has warned young homosexual Catholics who want to be priests against hiding their sexual preferences in order to enter the church.
"It would be gravely dishonest for a candidate to hide his own homosexuality in order to proceed, despite everything, towards ordination," say long-awaited instructions released yesterday.
The sternly worded document, authorised by the Pope, said "such a deceitful attitude" contradicted the required personality of a priest, which should be characterised by a "spirit of truth, loyalty and openness".
Details in the document have been leaked in recent months, so it was no surprise that one key condition for eligibility was that a candidate should have been celibate for three years before being ordained a deacon. It also reminded prospective candidates that their own feeling of vocation was secondary to other considerations.
CANADA
CBC News
Last updated Nov 28 2005 01:40 PM NST
A Roman Catholic priest has been found not guilty on a charge of sexual assault.
Ambrose Hynes, 60, was charged last June, after a former altar boy claimed Hynes had assaulted him more than 20 years ago.
The complainant was 12 years old at the time.
Hynes was the parish priest in St. Anne's parish, in the Codroy Valley.
In his decision, Supreme Court judge Alan Seaborn said he does not disbelieve the evidence of either the former altar boy or of Hynes.
The Age
By Michael B. Kelly
November 29, 2005
THOSE red-blooded heterosexuals in the Vatican have finally done it. After decades of increasingly shrill condemnations of homosexuality, they have actually banned gay priests. You almost wonder what took them so long.
A document expected to be issued in Rome this week by the Congregation of Catholic Education intensifies the church's stance against gay priests. The document, reported to have been approved by Pope Benedict XVI on August 31, prohibits from the priesthood active homosexuals, those judged to have deep-seated homosexual tendencies and those who support "gay culture".
The Italian newspaper Il Giornale recently quoted the document as saying the church should avoid discriminating against gays, but it could not ordain them. For a priest, it said, homosexuality represents "a situation that impedes the building of correct relationships with men and women".
BARNSTABLE (MA)
Providence Journal
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, November 29, 2005
BY C. EUGENE EMERY JR.
Journal Staff Writer
The Rev. Stephen A. Fernandes, the 55-year-old New Bedford priest who pleaded guilty in September to child-pornography possession and distribution charges, was sentenced in Superior Court yesterday to eight months at the Duke's County House of Correction on Martha's Vineyard.
He will be eligible for parole in three months.
Bristol County District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. said his office had sought a three-year sentence after investigators found about 650 pictures and 114 videos on his laptop computer of children engaging in sex acts.
They were discovered after Father Fernandes took the computer to a Fall River repair shop because it was running slowly. A technician at DEG Associates found the movies and pictures and the company notified the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River, which passed word on to Walsh's office.
BARNSTABLE
The Herald News
Gregg M. Miliote, Herald News Staff Reporter 11/29/2005
BARNSTABLE -- A Diocese of Fall River priest was sentenced to eight months in jail Monday, two months after pleading guilty to storing hundreds of child pornography images on a computer and coercing a 16-year-old boy into filming himself performing a sex act.
Father Stephen A. Fernandes, 55, was charged with possession and distribution of child pornography and posing a child in a state of nudity.
Fernandes stored child pornography on his computer and used an online instant messenger service to pretend he was a 19-year-old woman in a successful effort to coerce a boy to perform a filmed sex act.
He will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from jail.
BARNSTABLE (MA)
WHDH
BARNSTABLE (AP) -- A Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to child pornography charges earlier this year will spend eight months in prison.
The Reverend Stephen Fernandes was suspended from his post as pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in New Bedford last year.
In court this past September, he admitted to charges of storing hundreds of images of children engaging in sexual acts on his computer.
WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times
By Peyton Whitely
Seattle Times Eastside bureau
A man accused of taking part in a five-year pattern of child rape on the Sammamish Plateau turned himself in to authorities Monday and is being held in the King County Jail.
Justin Kirkland, 20, was booked at the jail in downtown Seattle shortly before 3 a.m. and is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail, according to jail records.
Kirkland was charged Dec. 23, 2004, in King County Superior Court with first-degree child rape in connection with incidents that allegedly took place between 1998 and 2003 at a home in the 21500 block of Southeast 39th Street that police said was being used as a "religious home," according to charging papers. Other accounts have described it as part of a breakaway sect of the Catholic Church.
The charge was brought after an investigation that began when a woman told Bellevue police in April 2004 that her son had been sexually abused while at the home, court records indicate.
The woman told police the home was the location of a religious cult where only males were allowed to live, the charging papers say. She said she was allowed to visit her son only twice a year.
Kath.net
A comment by Dr. Gerard J. M. van den Aardweg, psychologist: "Candidates for the priesthood should be well-balanced heterosexual men"
1. In the end, the American scandals of priests abusing youngsters and even children –to remember: in 20% of the cases the victims were prepubescents, mostly boys- could not be disguised any longer, as it is a present-day social-psychological law that such practices go on relentlessly until the ecclesiastical authorities have to capitulate to the pressure of publicity. This is not specifically an American law; we have several times been witnesses of its operation in Holland (and other European countries) too, concerning prominent priests, even in the case of a bishop.
In fact, everyone could know for quite a time what was happening and how it eventually would end, but those priests who discretely warned their bishop or seminarians functioning as “bell ringers” within their seminary were usually silenced, made suspect, or intimidated. So, shameful as it is, the present, still half-hearted, cleaning up has been cranked up by the media, thus from the outside, revealing a generalized neglect of duty on the part of the bishops and their counsel, a few laudable ones excepted. Alas, alas, alas, much more is at stake than a neglect of duty regarding the ominous homosexualization within the Church.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
BY CARA BUCKLEY
cbuckley@herald.com
True to Catholic tradition, Joe Mele marched a crucifix to the altar ahead of the priest this past Sunday, rang the Sanctus bell at the right times and pressed a wine-filled chalice to the lips of the faithful during Communion, solemnly intoning the words ``the blood of Christ.''
But when asked what he thought about the Vatican, which is expected to issue an edict today barring most gay seminarians, Mele, 58, arched a bushy eyebrow and wryly asked, ``Who?''
Hard feelings toward the Vatican run strong among congregants at the weekly services held by Dignity USA, a national organization for gay and lesbian Catholics that is not recognized by the Archdiocese of Miami, nor, at a national level, by the Roman Catholic Church.
Mele is one of 40 or so members of the group's Fort Lauderdale chapter. Like them, he struggled with the Vatican's hard line against homosexuality, before reaching the heartfelt conclusion that he was entitled to practice his faith as a homosexual, regardless of what the church's highest earthly authority said.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
BY CARA BUCKLEY
cbuckley@herald.com
True to Catholic tradition, Joe Mele marched a crucifix to the altar ahead of the priest this past Sunday, rang the Sanctus bell at the right times and pressed a wine-filled chalice to the lips of the faithful during Communion, solemnly intoning the words ``the blood of Christ.''
But when asked what he thought about the Vatican, which is expected to issue an edict today barring most gay seminarians, Mele, 58, arched a bushy eyebrow and wryly asked, ``Who?''
Hard feelings toward the Vatican run strong among congregants at the weekly services held by Dignity USA, a national organization for gay and lesbian Catholics that is not recognized by the Archdiocese of Miami, nor, at a national level, by the Roman Catholic Church.
Mele is one of 40 or so members of the group's Fort Lauderdale chapter. Like them, he struggled with the Vatican's hard line against homosexuality, before reaching the heartfelt conclusion that he was entitled to practice his faith as a homosexual, regardless of what the church's highest earthly authority said.
San Francisco Chronicle
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Roman Catholic priests and seminary students with "homosexual inclinations" can be good priests and should not fear discussing the issue with their superiors, Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement scheduled for release this morning.
As head of church leadership in the United States, Skylstad sets the tone for how Vatican edicts are carried out in this country.
Skylstad made the statements in a news release timed to today's planned release in the Vatican of a document called an "instruction" that clarifies the church's stand on whether gay men can enter the priesthood.
The Vatican instruction -- according to a leaked copy posted on the Catholic World News Web site -- prohibits the ordination of men to the priesthood who "are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture."
VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
By Philip Pullella | November 29, 2005
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the first major ruling of Pope Benedict's reign, the Vatican on Tuesday imposed restrictions on homosexuals entering the Catholic priesthood, saying men must first overcome any "transitory" gay tendencies.
The ruling came in a long-awaited eight-page document that has already sparked controversy after widespread leaks in the past few weeks.
Its strict line on the place of gays in the clergy has won praise from conservatives and condemnation from liberals, and set off heated debate beyond the Catholic Church by confronting an issue that has divided Christian congregations worldwide.
The document says practising homosexuals should be barred from entering the priesthood along with men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies and those who support gay culture.
The "instruction" by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education makes a distinction between deep-seated homosexual tendencies and "the expression of a transitory problem."
ALASKA
Fairanks News-Miner
By MARY BETH SMETZER, Staff Writer
The bishop of the Fairbanks Catholic Diocese published an open letter in Sunday's newspaper apologizing to victims of sexual abuse by church representatives.
The Bishop Donald Kettler reaffirmed his promise to bring healing to those harmed by child sexual abuse and to update the diocese's efforts to prevent abuse from happening in the future.
"For any actions contrary to the mission of the Catholic Church by representatives of the Diocese of Fairbanks, I am sincerely sorry and will pray and work for the emotional and spiritual healing of those affected," Kettler wrote in the letter, which appeared in a full-page ad in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
In a telephone interview Monday, Kettler said he decided to write the letter, addressed to "the People living in the Diocese of Fairbanks," because the diocese now has something to tell people about educational efforts being made to prevent future abuse.
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com
WORCESTER— The trial of the man charged in the prison slaying of defrocked pedophile priest John J. Geoghan has been postponed until Jan. 9.
Jury selection in the case of Joseph L. Druce was slated to begin yesterday in Worcester Superior Court, but was put off because of a scheduling conflict involving a defense witness, according to Mr. Druce’s appointed lawyer, John H. LaChance. Mr. Druce, 40, is charged with murder in the Aug. 23, 2003, strangulation and beating death of the 68-year-old Mr. Geoghan in his cell at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on the Lancaster-Shirley line.
Mr. LaChance is raising an insanity defense on his client’s behalf, maintaining Mr. Druce was not criminally responsible for his actions. Under Massachusetts law, a person accused of a crime may be found not guilty by reason of mental illness if a trier of fact determines that the accused suffered from a mental disease or defect at the time of the offense that substantially affected the defendant’s ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct or to control his or her behavior.
At the time of the killing, Mr. Geoghan was serving a sentence of 9 to 10 years for molesting a 10-year-old boy. Mr. Druce was serving a life sentence for the 1988 murder of a man he believed was gay. He raised an unsuccessful insanity defense in that case.
Mr. Druce, who has publicly identified himself as a childhood victim of sexual abuse, allegedly confessed to the killing of Mr. Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese. A state police detective testified during a September hearing in the case that Mr. Druce told him he killed the ex-priest because “ ‘he was talking about getting out and skinning other children, and I just couldn’t let that happen.’ ”
Detective David Napolitano said Mr. Druce told him he snuck into the defrocked priest’s cell, jammed the cell door with a book and a pair of nail clippers, knocked Mr. Geoghan to the floor and strangled him with a pair of socks. The detective’s testimony came during a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence that was later denied by Judge Timothy S. Hillman.
Mr. LaChance said Mr. Druce’s trial had to be postponed because an expert witness for the defense would otherwise not have been available to testify. The trial, which will include testimony about Mr. Druce’s mental state from expert witnesses for both the defense and prosecution, is expected to last about two weeks.
Mr. Druce remains in custody in the health services unit at the state prison in Walpole after recently swallowing a piece of television cable in what authorities said was an apparent suicide attempt.
MESA (AZ)
KVOA
MESA, Ariz. The Roman Catholic pastor of Mesa's Queen of Peace Church has resigned in protest of the church's tougher and what he calls "hostile" stand against gays in the priesthood.
The Reverend Leonard Walker's departure comes before the Vatican's formal release today of a document expressly barring homosexuals and those with homosexual tendencies from entering seminaries.
Walker, who is homosexual, says his own sexuality is not the issue.
BOSTON (MA)
Christian News Wire
BOSTON, Nov. 29 /Christian Wire Service/ -– "The clergy sex abuse scandal exposed the Church to a deep rooted internal problem which Pope Benedict XVI could not ignore," said former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Raymond L. Flynn. "Significant and decisive reforms were demanded by Catholics throughout the United States. In fact, two dramatic new changes have taken hold, pedophile priests will be turned over to the police for prosecution and men with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies will no longer be ordained. Both of these policy changes will ultimately make the Catholic Church stronger."
"The new policy is in place, the Pope did what he said was needed to be done. Hopefully a sad chapter has ended and its now time for faithful Catholics to support the changes and move on. In this advent season, let the healing begin," said Flynn.
WASHINGTON (DC)
U.S. Newswire
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Spokane Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the Instruction of the Holy See on the admission of men with deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies to seminaries and to Holy Orders "a timely document."
The document, titled "Instruction on the Criteria for Vocational Discernment with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders," is signed by Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and was issued on November 29.
In his statement on the release of the Instruction, Bishop Skylstad said, "We live in an era when the issue of sexual orientation is much discussed." He went on to say that the Church affirms "the dignity of all human beings and the respect that should be shown all people irrespective of sexual orientation," while also teaching that "God has given this gift (of sexuality) to humanity to bring about a loving relationship between a man and a woman in the lifelong union of a marriage open to the creation of new life."
Bishop Skylstad said that, in the Instruction, "the Congregation for Catholic Education is exercising a Christian realism about what is expected in candidates for the priesthood. This realism understands the challenges of our time."
SOUTH CAROLINA
The Sun News
By Kelly Marshall
The Sun News
A former Murrells Inlet minister already facing accusations of molesting children in Georgetown County was arrested Thursday in Williamsburg County and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
Troy Taylor, 36, of Murrells Inlet, also faces a charge of second-degree criminal sexual misconduct with a minor and two counts of lewd act on a minor because of previous accusations.
He was released from the Williamsburg County jail Thursday on a $50,000 cash surety bond, a jail official said.
Taylor is being represented by lawyer Scott Joye, who has said Taylor is not guilty.
It is the fourth time since 2003 Taylor has been charged with molestation-related counts.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Neans McSweeney, South-East Correspondent
THE Diocese of Ferns is to consider selling the Bishop’s Palace as it struggles to meet mounting clerical sexual abuse compensation claims.
Diocesan spokesman Fr John Carroll last night confirmed the future use of assets owned by the Church would be discussed at a special meeting of the 10-member Diocesan Finance Committee tonight in Enniscorthy.
“The bishop will address the diocesan AGM. Included in that will be discussion on child sexual abuse claims and how they will be financed.
“The situation regarding the future use of non-parish fixed assets is on the agenda. We would hope to be in a position to issue a statement to parishes on Sunday and a media statement will follow,” Fr Carroll said.
The Bishop’s Palace, an imposing, two-storey building across from St Peter’s College on the edge of Wexford town, would fetch more than €2 million, according to local auctioneers.
Four bishops have lived in the building at Summerhill over the years, chief among them, Dr Brendan Comiskey, the former Bishop of Ferns who resigned over his handling of clerical sexual abuse in the diocese.
BBC News
The Vatican has published long-awaited guidelines which reaffirm that active homosexuals and "supporters of gay culture" may not become priests.
But it treats homosexuality as a "tendency", not an orientation, and says those who have overcome it can begin training to take holy orders.
At least three years must pass between "overcoming [a] transitory problem" and ordination as a deacon, the rules say.
All Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy, regardless of orientation.
The guidelines make no reference to current priests, but only to men about to join a seminary.
MESA (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 29, 2005 12:00 AM
A Catholic priest in Mesa has resigned as a pastor because of "aggressive anti-gay positions" coming from the pope in Rome and bishop in Phoenix.
The Rev. Leonard Walker, 58, who as pastor was chief executive of Queen of Peace church, is the first priest in the Phoenix Diocese to resign over church treatment of gay men, specifically a new Vatican document aimed at keeping gay men out of the priesthood.
Walker declined to disclose his sexual orientation, but he said he was no longer comfortable "wearing the uniform" of the priesthood. advertisement
"It's like a Jew wearing a Nazi uniform," Walker said. "I could no longer stay in that institution with any amount of integrity."
His decision comes on the eve of the release of an instruction from the Vatican that limits entrance into seminaries primarily to heterosexual men.
VATICAN CITY
Tracy Press
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY — Victims of sexual abuse by a former California priest brought a letter to the Vatican on Monday asking Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to all victims of clergy abuse and dismiss any official involved in covering up the scandal.
The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest, lawyer and longtime advocate for sex abuse victims, briefly entered one of the Vatican’s gates to deliver the letter, which also asks the pope to instruct bishops to cooperate in the investigation of suspected abuse cases.
“I just put it in a blue box up there. I didn’t know what else to do,” Doyle told The Associated Press after delivering the letter.
AUSTRALIA
Townsville Bulletin
By Luke Sayer
29nov05
A FAILED priest who preyed on teenage boys for more than a decade pleaded guilty to a string of child-sex offences yesterday.
Paul Ronald Goldsmith, 60, who now lives in the Hobart suburb of Lenah Valley, molested 20 boys between 1976 and 1987 at his homes at Ulverstone and Port Sorell in Tasmania's North-West and on camping trips around the state.
He also attacked boys while coaching athletics at Marist Regional College in Burnie.
In the Supreme Court in Burnie he pleaded guilty to four counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 years, one count of aggravated sexual assault, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse and 36 counts of indecent assault.
BARNSTABLE (MA)
Boston.com
November 28, 2005
BARNSTABLE, Mass. --A Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to storing hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer and coercing a 16-year-old boy into filming himself performing a sex act was sentenced Monday to eight months in jail.
Prosecutors had recommended a three-year prison sentence for the Rev. Stephen A. Fernandes, 55, who was suspended as pastor of Our Lady Fatima Church in New Bedford.
Bristol District Attorney Paul Walsh criticized Superior Court Judge Robert Kane for handing Fernandes a lighter sentence. He will serve the eight-month sentence at a jail on Martha's Vineyard and is eligible for parole in three months.
"The court may see this as a victimless crime, but I don't," Walsh said in a written statement. "When I look at the terrible pictures of more than 500 kids, I see 500 victims."
The Day
By TOM TEEPEN
Published on 11/28/2005
If you are of a mischievous mind, you could have good sport with parts of the recently leaked Vatican policy on homosexuality and the priesthood.
The policy is still officially only pending but, by common account, it apparently is settled and inevitable, along the lines of a recently leaked document.
To no one's surprise — key points had been publicly bandied about at least for months — the Roman Catholic Church will forbid ordination to all but the small number of putatively gay applicants who can convince church authorities that any homosexual occasion in their life was at least three years in the past and only a muddled, fleeting attraction and that the candidate can live a celibate life henceforth indifferent, if not outright antagonistic, to “gay culture,” whatever that may be.
Together, these points build a very high bar indeed, as plainly was meant to be the case. In erecting that bar, the church effectively buys into the hoary canard — discredited in experience and in research — that links homosexuality and pedophilia.
MichNews
By J. Grant Swank, Jr.
MichNews.com
Nov 25, 2005
Society’s whims change. Political correctness is not divine revelation. Trends come and go. But according to the Christian, the Word of God does not change. It is eternal. Therefore, its truths cannot bend according to fads and fancies.
Therefore, when the Roman Catholic Church gives forth with the divine truth regarding homosexuality, then it is in league with the everlasting.
According to Meghan Clyne of the New York Sun: "A new document refining the Vatican's position on homosexuals in the priesthood will place greater pressure on American bishops, seminary rectors, and local clergy, and may inflame tensions among leaders of the Catholic Church in America, observers said yesterday.
"Despite criticism from some quarters, those supportive of the document's stipulations said it might also result in more careful attention being paid to the process by which young men become priests, ultimately proving beneficial to the church."
The worldwide church is forever in the process of cleansing. Hopefully the Holy Spirit and not mere church councils and opinions of mankind order such cleansing. When it comes to Christian ethics, the Scripture is the only guide reliable.
COVINGTON (KY)
Cincinnati Enquirer
The lawyers finally can cite a number - though not the final number - of claimed sex-abuse victims in a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington. Last week's deadline established there are 373 potential claimants for compensation. Although that number will likely drop, it should speed a settlement of a related federal lawsuit to force insurers to pay their part of the $120 million settlement.
A few claimants from other cities seem to have mistakenly applied for payouts from Covington Diocese. Ineligible claimants will be excluded. Plaintiffs, insurers and the diocese should quickly weed out false claims, clear up unknowns and award fair compensation so victims and the diocese can heal and move on.
The attorneys say a settlement with the insurance companies is already close. A firmer number helps. Plaintiffs' lead attorney Stan Chesley had estimated the number of victims could reach as high as 1,000, while church officials reported priests had abused 205 people since the 1950s. But in June the class action was expanded also to include victims abused by lay people employed by the diocese. About 60 claimants chose not to join the class action. If added to the 373, the total rises to 433.
In contrast, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's $3 million victim-compensation fund initially drew 134 claimants. Besides the vast difference in dollar amounts for the two funds, Cincinnati's was not a class-action settlement, but rather established as part of a no-contest plea deal to five misdemeanor charges of failing to report a felony.
The Covington Diocese agreed to pay up to $40 million for any sex abuse cases not covered by insurance policies. If the full $120 million were paid out, it would make this church sex-abuse settlement the largest in the nation, but given the lower number of claimants, payouts are likely to total well short of the cap.
Daily Illini
By Eric Naing
Published: Monday, November 28, 2005
A Vatican decree, to be issued on Nov. 29, aims to rid the Catholic Church of priests who have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or "support so-called gay culture." If so, then why is the new pope running around in Gucci sunglasses, red Prada loafers and shiny sequin vestments?
The Catholic Church has been plagued by scandal and charges of corruption. Here I was thinking that the problem was pedophilia and a corrupt Catholic leadership that did nothing to stop it, but I guess I was mistaken. At least according to the Vatican, the real problem all along was with those dastardly homosexuals.
According to the decree, which was leaked to the press last week, men who display so-called homosexual tendencies or even support homosexuality would not be allowed into seminaries. Those with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must remain celibate for three years until they are allowed to become deacons.
Many critics have noted that it will be exceedingly difficult to actually enforce such a decree. The Rev. Eugene Lauer of theAbuse Tracker Pastoral Life Center told the News & Observer: "I have no idea how they will apply it. It will be just a nightmare."
And there very well may be Church leaders and Vatican officials who themselves are homosexuals. Considering the loose definition of "homosexual tendencies," anyone could he accused of being gay. As the Rev. Donald Cozzens of John Carroll University warns, "the hunters may turn out to be the hunted."
Take, for example, Pope Benedict XVI. Judging by his fashion sense, he seems to have fully embraced the concepts of high fashion and true fabulousness. Shunning the tailors who have dressed popes for more than 200 years, this chic Catholic has turned to a much younger fashion house, which, according to Newsweek, "has provided the pope with dazzling new vestments (some with shimmering, sequinlike details)."
This fashionista father has also been seen sporting a pair of Gucci sunglasses and bright red Prada loafers while cruising around in his Popemobile. Seriously, who does the Pope think he is in those red shoes and sequins robes, Judy Garland? Liberace?
Scripps Howard News Service
By DAVID YOUNT
Scripps Howard News Service
28-NOV-05
The Vatican's new directives on seminary reform, if followed strictly, will discourage capable gay men from studying for the priesthood. Worse, the directives fail to confront the church's real problem, which has bankrupted dioceses and cost many millions of dollars paid to victims of child abuse by clergy.
That problem is pedophilia, which must not be confused with homosexuality. Pedophiles are sexual predators, attracted to boys, girls or both. A pedophile can be either straight, gay or bisexual.
By contrast, ordinary gays and straights are capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. They have consciences. Whereas pedophiles are sociopaths, blissfully unaware of doing any harm. They can be almost infinitely patient, "grooming" an intended victim for many months before molesting the child.
A tendency toward pedophilia is not easily unmasked or tested. Pedophiles suffer from cognitive dissonance, a distorted view of reality, producing simultaneously held beliefs that are inconsistent, producing conflict between belief and behavior.
There is no indication that there are more pedophiles entering the Catholic priesthood than exist, proportionally, in the general population.
VATICAN CITY
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By ARIEL DAVID
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VATICAN CITY -- Victims of sexual abuse by a former California priest brought a letter to the Vatican on Monday asking Pope Benedict XVI to apologize to all victims of clergy abuse and dismiss any official involved in covering up the scandal.
The Rev. Thomas Doyle, a Dominican priest, lawyer and longtime advocate for sex abuse victims, briefly entered one of the Vatican's gates to deliver the letter, which also asks the pope to instruct bishops to cooperate in the investigation of suspected abuse cases.
"I just put it in a blue box up there, I didn't know what else to do," Doyle told The Associated Press after delivering the letter.
The appeal was signed by Ann Jyono and Nancy Sloan, two victims of defrocked Irish priest Oliver O'Grady, who admitted molesting as many as 25 children while a parish priest in Northern California. He served seven years in prison for abusing two brothers and was deported to Ireland in 2001.
WORCESTER (MA)
Boston.com
November 28, 2005
WORCESTER, Mass. --The trial for the alleged killer of pedophile priest John Geoghan has been delayed until January because of a scheduling conflict involving a witness.
Jury selection had been scheduled to begin Monday in the murder trial of Joseph Druce, a prison inmate accused of beating and strangling Geoghan inside the former priest's cell at the state's highest-security prison.
The trial is now scheduled to begin Jan. 9 because of a scheduling conflict with a psychiatrist scheduled to testify for the defense.
A new judge was also appointed to oversee the trial. Superior Court Judge Francis Fecteau will replace Judge Timothy Hillman, who has been appointed to the federal bench.
Investigators have said Druce made a detailed confession after Geoghan's body was found inside his cell at the Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley in August 2003. The 68-year-old Geoghan, a central figure in the clergy sex abuse scandal, was in prison for molesting a 10-year-old boy.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
THE Catholic diocese of Ferns may still be forced to sell the bishop's house in Wexford town due to ongoing claims against the Church involving clerical sexual abuse.
The annual general meeting of the diocese is to take place in Co Wexford tomorrow night when it is expected that the fixed assets to be sold to meet claims will be made public.
A total of €2.8m has been paid to 17 victims to date, the Church claims, and, with a string of other cases pending, the hierarchy continues to consider the sale of the bishop's house.
A vast amount of the sum already paid out by the Church involves legal fees.
The sale of the residence, which is worth between €1m and €2m, was first mooted at a finance committee meeting last year.
Denver Post
A new edict from the Vatican makes it clear that homosexuals are not welcome to join the Roman Catholic priesthood, but the document from Pope Benedict XVI seems studiously nuanced - it makes a distinction between homosexual acts and personal tendencies - leaving room in the priesthood for gay men who maintain celibacy.
The document to be officially unveiled next week is a response to the church's ongoing sex abuse scandal, in which hundreds of men have claimed they were molested by priests when they were boys.
The document released by the Catholic news agency in Italy is loaded with questionable assumptions - for example, its consideration of homosexuality as a "transitory problem" to be overcome with abstention. It sets an arbitrary three years from the time "adolescent" acts may have occurred to the time when it's OK to become a priest.
The rules implicitly blame the sex scandals on gay priests, overlooking any heterosexual abuses and cover-ups condoned by church leaders, saying, "One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies."
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist
Dear Lord,
It's me, back once again, to offer my post-Thanksgiving prayer of gratitude.
As a newspaper columnist, I depend on a steady parade of clowns and curmudgeons, buffoons and bullies, prevaricators and panderers, lechers and leeches, to keep the material flowing.
And, believe me, 2005 has been one nonstop turkey shoot. As I say often, "I couldn't make this stuff up."
So as I pause today to eat one final microwaved dish of Thanksgiving leftovers, let me bow my head to offer my deep and heartfelt appreciation for all the plump, wide-eyed turkeys you sent my way. Oh, where to begin?
Why not with State Rep. Daylin Leach, the Upper Merion Democrat who thought it would be the height of hilarity to crack jokes on his Web site about middle-aged men preying on minor girls for sex. Fish in a barrel, Lord; fish in a barrel.
Thank you for Robert Baldwin, the self-employed engineer from Blue Bell arrested after a Philly-bound flight on which he allegedly harassed a black couple sitting in front of him in first class, muttering racial epithets and kicking their seats.
Thank you for Cardinal Justin Rigali, the only American cardinal to celebrate Mass in Rome with disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, a central figure in the clergy sex cover-up.
Slay the messenger
Thank you for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's lawyers slamming District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham as anti-Catholic for doing her job.
WORCESTER (MA)
WPRI
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) -- Jury selection is scheduled to begin today for the trial of Joseph Druce, the state prison inmate charged with the murder of defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan (GAY’-ghen).
Investigators have said that Druce made a detailed confession after Geoghan was found strangled and beaten in his cell at Souza-Baranowski prison in Shirley in August 2003.
The 68-year-old ex-priest was serving a sentence for sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy. He was one of the key figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal that rocked the Boston archdiocese.
VATICAN CITY
WOI
VATICAN CITY Victims who suffered abuse at the hands of a former priest are asking for a meeting with Pope Benedict.
The Reverend Thomas Doyle made the request in a letter today. He's a Dominican priest, lawyer and advocate for sex abuse victims.
The letter also asks the pope to apologize to all victims of clergy abuse and to dismiss any officials involved in covering up the scandal.
The letter was signed by two victims of defrocked Irish priest Oliver O'Grady. He admits molesting as many as 25 children while he was a parish priest in California.
ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News
The Catholic Diocese of Erie is complying with the rules established by bishops to prevent and respond to sexual abuse of children, according to an annual audit.
A self audit determined that, for the third year in a row, the diocese was in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, according to a news release.
The charter, established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002, calls for yearly audits to ensure that dioceses are meeting its provisions. The charter contains procedures for addressing abuse allegations, for reconciliation, healing and accountability, and to prevent future abuse.
The Erie diocese's first two audits were done by an independent team from the Gavin Group Inc. of Boston, which directed the process this year. The diocese was allowed to do the self audit because of successful findings the past two years, according to the release.
The Ball State Daily News
Jonathan Titchenal
November 28, 2005
It’s official. According to the Vatican, your priest will be straight, will act straight and will not support gay-related things in any way — or else.
According to a Tuesday Associated Press article, the Vatican is set to issue a document which states that the Roman Catholic Church, “while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.”
Let me repeat that. Not only can you not be a priest if you are gay, you aren’t allowed to join the club if you even act gay or support anything in any way related to gay things.
The document went on to say: “Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies.”
Where, exactly, is the “deeply respecting” in this?
SPRINGFIELD (MA)
The Republican
Monday, November 28, 2005
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
A local priest who was abused by his parish priest as a minor and a local clergy abuse activist have embarked on a campaign to support legislation to remove the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children.
The Rev. Bruce N. Teague, a Springfield Diocesan priest who has worked as a chaplain in Boston the past few years, and Peter C. Pollard, the head of the Greater Springfield chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said they hope the state Legislature will act on the issue within the next year or so.
They said a combination of the current law in which criminal charges of child sex abuse have to be filed within 15 years of the crime and the fact that most victims of child sexual abuse are not ready to initiate accusations until their mid-40s allows for many abusers to escape accountability and to continue to abuse.
Cincinnati Enquirer
By Jessica Brown
Enquirer staff writer
Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Catholics continue to debate the role of homosexuals in the church as the Vatican prepares to release rules Tuesday to limit the ability of gay men to become priests.
Some Catholics said they did not have a problem with gay priests, as long as they remained chaste.
Others said they believe gay men should be banned from the seminary because their sexual preferences conflict with the Bible.
Some went further, saying most priests accused of molesting teenage boys were homosexual. That, they said, should be the rationale for continuing to limit gays' access to the priesthood.
Regardless of their views, most Catholics were glad the Vatican is addressing the issue because it will bring some clarity to the hotly debated subject.
FREMONT (CA)
Inside Bay Area
By Jonathan Jones, STAFF WRITER
The Rev. Tim Stier, former pastor of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Fremont, spent more than 25 years ministering to local parishioners as a priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland.
Now, Stier is in exile.
He's still a priest, and he insists he is not leaving the church. But now he is living with his parents in Oakland, is no longer active in the diocese and is openly challenging the church on celibacy, the ordination of women and the lack of responsibility of bishops for their roles during the abuse scandal.
Stier said he hopes to send a signal of public solidarity with "those who have no voice in the church," including victims of clergy abuse, gays and lesbians, and divorced Catholics.
The decision to no longer represent the Diocese of Oakland was precipitated by diocese officials' failure to address — or discuss — the underlying causes of the priest shortage
BRAZIL
Sydney Morning Herald
By Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro and John Hooper in Rome
November 29, 2005
A GROWING sex abuse scandal is rocking the world's largest national Catholic congregation.
A Brazilian priest has been given a long jail sentence after a court heard extracts from a diary that read like a pedophile priest's how-to manual. A magazine earlier published evidence that, according to estimates by Vatican investigators, one in 10 of Brazil's priests was involved in some form of sexual misdemeanour.
The signs of abuse in a country that is home to about 125 million Catholics will be of particular concern to the church hierarchy. Until now Catholic leaders comforted themselves with the belief that, no matter how battered its reputation in rich nations such as the US, the church continued to be held in high esteem in the developing world.
Regina Soares Jurkwicz, author of Unveiling the Politics of Silence: Sexual Abuse of Women by Priests in Brazil, said the nation could now be facing a problem of even greater dimensions than that uncovered in the US in 2002.
AUSTRALIA
The Mercury
By LUKE SAYER
29nov05
A FAILED priest who preyed on teenage boys for more than a decade pleaded guilty to a string of child-sex offences yesterday.
Paul Ronald Goldsmith, 60, who now lives in the Hobart suburb of Lenah Valley, molested 20 boys between 1976 and 1987 at his homes at Ulverstone and Port Sorell in Tasmania's North-West and on camping trips around the state.
He also attacked boys while coaching athletics at Marist Regional College in Burnie.
In the Supreme Court in Burnie he pleaded guilty to four counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 years, one count of aggravated sexual assault, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse and 36 counts of indecent assault.
Hobart-born Goldsmith trained as a priest but was never ordained.
IRELAND
The Irish Times
Liam Reid, Political Reporter
The State has begun a legal action against the Franciscan Brothers order to force it to pay a proportion of a compensation bill to two men abused by a Franciscan brother at a primary school in the 1970s.
The unprecedented move marks a tougher approach by the State towards church authorities and orders in relation to abuse compensation claims that are not covered by the controversial indemnity deal. The new approach has been instigated by the State Claims Agency, which in September took over the handling of 200 compensation claims from victims of child abuse, mostly relating to primary and secondary schools.
"The State Claims Agency will be protecting the interests of the taxpayer in ensuring that they are not paying out in respect of abuse claims where the abuse has been by committed by members of religious orders, congregations and the church generally," a spokesman for the agency told The Irish Times.
He confirmed that as part of this approach the agency was now pursuing the Franciscan Brothers for costs in relation to compensation claims involving a former brother, John Hannon, who served eight years for child sexual abuse at two schools in the 1970s and 1980s. It was the first time the State had initiated such proceedings against a religious order, he said. The State has admitted partial liability, as the Department of Education was aware of complaints dating back to the early 1970s against Hannon before the two men were abused as boys in Co Offaly. It has now made six-figure compensation payments to both.
UXBRIDGE (MA)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By Kathleen A. Shaw TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
kshaw@telegram.com
UXBRIDGE— George “Skip” Shea will be taking his one-man multimedia show — “Catholic (Surviving Abuse and Other Dead End Roads)” — to New York City this weekend.
Mr. Shea, who settled a suit against the Catholic Diocese of Worcester in which he alleged that he was sexually abused by the Rev. Thomas H. Teczar and the Rev. Robert Shauris during the 1970s at St. Mary Parish in Uxbridge, will debut his production at the Bowery Poetry Club at 9 p.m. Saturday.
His intent is to reach out to a general audience to “change the way we look at the clergy abuse scandal that has rocked the country and the world.” He recently presented the performance at the center for peaceful living in Uxbridge. The local production was a profound personal experience because for the first time, he told his story to people in his own town. It is now time to move to a wider audience, he said.
Mr. Shea wants to take what he calls “an unprecedented look” into the mind and soul of a survivor. He will include his original artwork, poetry and a rant about what it was like growing up Irish and Catholic in a small mill town while keeping the dark secret of his sexual abuse by priests. He no longer is a member of the Catholic Church.
His artwork has been exhibited in a number of places, including the center for peaceful living gallery in Uxbridge, the Culture of Peace touring exhibit with a group of national and international artists and poets; and in “Miraculous: Contemporary Exvotos Paintings,” exhibited at ChezTGN in Brooklyn, N.Y.
He has used his poetry to cope with the abuse he has experienced.
An excerpt from “1971” —
My right hand extended finger tips just out of reach of the door
my left hand trying to pull his left arm from around my waist
his right hand over my mouth whispering
with liquor on his breath
with tobacco on his breath
God doesn’t want to see you cry
God doesn’t want to see you cry
and the collar he wore made it true
Mr. Shea said he was abused by the priests starting in 1971.
“I think it is important to point out — which is something I think gets lost — it’s not only the horror of the physical abuse, but the horror of the mental abuse,” he said.
“God and the guilt that the Catholic Church already ascribes to a kid is magnified by these priests,” he said. The effect of both God and the guilt eventually created the path his life would take, he said.
Because he believed he could tell no one about the abuse, he carried the secret.
“The absolutely terrifying moment when it began, eventually turned to acceptance that this was my role with these members of the church. This secret was what I was here for. They had me believing that. Somewhere in me I knew that was completely wrong. But these men were priests and had a direct line to God. It was impossible for me to reconcile as a kid,” he said.
Mr. Shea said he was 11 when he was first abused by Rev. Teczar at St. Mary Church, and it continued until Rev. Teczar was reassigned in 1972. The next priest into the parish was Rev. Shauris. This priest continued the abuse until about 1977, or shortly after Mr. Shea received the sacrament of Confirmation, he said.
Rev. Teczar, who currently faces criminal charges alleging he sexually abused a boy in Texas, and Rev. Shauris were placed on leave several years ago by the diocese after allegations of sexual abuse of minors were made.
Mr. Shea said he also did yardwork at the House of Affirmation in Whitinsville, where he described further abuse but could not name the abusers. “It was years later that I discovered that there was some sort of networking happening. I often wondered why I was targeted and not others,” he said. The House of Affirmation’s executive director was the Rev. Thomas A. Kane, who was assigned to St. Mary before Rev. Teczar.
The diocese settled Mr. Shea’s suit for $10,000 about a year ago. He said the diocese has clung to the state’s charitable immunity law to avoid paying more to victims. “I thought this was so little until I found out other victims in this diocese got even less,” he said.
The abuse took its toll on Mr. Shea. He turned to drugs and alcohol. “I’ve been sober now for seven years. It has strained my relationships. It has had a profound effect on my ex-wife and present wife and all of the children involved because they had an active alcoholic in their lives. I’ve attempted suicide. I’ve been put in a daily outpatient mental health program. I could go on and on,” he said.
He is still haunted by the death of his daughter Shawna, a twin who died in a car accident a few years ago. “She was 16. I had only been sober for 13 months. That is all she ever had of a sober Dad. I don’t know how to reconcile that. The drinking served its purpose in burying the history of my abuse, but look at everything else that was lost with it. I don’t lay all of the blame of that on the church. I figured it out. I got sober. But not soon enough,” he said. He credits his therapist at Riverside in Upton with saving his life and helping him get on a healthier path.
The show also has helped in his healing, he said. “I have been an artist my entire life. As I looked back on a lot of it, I could see that it was a tremendous and healthy way of coping,” he said. But it took a long time for him to explain to others why he was doing the poetry and art and what it was really all about. “I wanted them to know, and was simultaneously terrified they would find out. Doing the show, I am giving my voice a chance to be heard and to eliminate the secret,” he said. The show is a way of “deconstructing” the entire episode in his early life. “Then I can rebuild it the way I want it to be.”
Mr. Shea, who has become active in helping other clergy abuse victims in the diocese, has been a regular at the demonstrations being held at the College of the Holy Cross, organized by the Rev. Robert L. Hoatson of the Newark, N.J., Diocese, to get the name of the Millard Art Center changed. Rev. Hoatson is acting on behalf of Patricia A. Cahill of Lancaster, Pa., who said she was sexually abused by the priest for whom the center is named. Mr. Shea also worked with Daniel E. Dick of Worcester, the victim support coordinator for Worcester Voice of the Faithful.
Mr. Shea said he has met twice with Bishop Robert J. McManus. “We have had some good moments and some bad. But in speaking from my experience, he has been good to me. I have tried not to be an adversary, and he has tried the same,” Mr. Shea said. While the bishop has responded to him on a personal level, Mr. Shea said he does not understand what is happening at an institutional level in the church.
“I still don’t see the kind of outreach that could truly help heal. They may have to deal with some angry people, but they should understand that. I think a genuine public display of concern is still warranted. We were talking about a program like this, but that seems to be going nowhere presently,” he said.
Mr. Shea said he believes the bishop still “has to toe a party line.”
“That’s his job. It seems to be the same everywhere, so I won’t lay all of the blame at his feet. I believe he is doing what he is told to do,” he said.
Art and poetry for Mr. Shea were his ways of coping. “It has saved my life,” he said.
During the showing of his work in Uxbridge, he met Marshall and Judy Cohan, who helped him bring the show to New York. They were at Martha’s Vineyard at the time, and he knew their daughter, he said. “They thought the message was so powerful that they became patrons. I am incredibly grateful to them. Their faith in me and this project means the world to me.”
While Mr. Shea’s own healing will continue and he will continue his work on behalf of other victims, he hopes his show will give them hope to move on. His advice to victims of sexual abuse is to not wait as long as he did to get help. He didn’t go public about the abuse suffered until this year. “The path ain’t easy, and it is a lot of difficult work, but it is worth it. I am not a good example of being the healthiest survivor. Part of why I am doing this is because we have lost some folks,” he said.
“The only way they could cope was by checking out,” he said. He will not judge badly those who commit suicide because he understands the pain, but he said he hopes by “showing my messed-up, angry art and reading my messed-up, angry poetry, others will say, ‘Well if he can find a way to work with this path, so can I,’ ” Mr. Shea said.
There are many ways of coping, he said. For some it might be growing a beautiful garden. Others help to organize survivors meetings. “It can come from just taking a walk. Whatever. My message is to try to learn to live again. Try is the most important word in the sentence,” he said.
Tickets for “Catholic (Surviving Abuse and Other Dead End Roads)” are $10 and available online at www.virtuous.com and at the Bowery Poetry Club on the night of the event. The Bowery Poetry Club ( www.bowerypoetry.com) is at 308 Bowery St. in New York City.
UNITED STATES
The New York Times
NEELA BANERJEE and KATIE ZEZIMA
Published: November 28, 2005
Grappling with the implications of a Vatican directive issued last week that would bar most gay men from seminaries, Roman Catholics at several parishes around the country yesterday offered sharply contrasting interpretations of its impact on the priesthood, on the potential for sex abuse by clergy members and on the church itself.
More than three dozen interviews at churches in Los Angeles and around Boston, Washington and Austin, Tex., underscored that Catholics were as divided as the rest of the country in their attitudes about gay men and lesbians. Roughly half the Catholics interviewed praised the Vatican document as upholding church teachings, which consider homosexuality "objectively disordered." But just as many parishioners criticized it as unfair to gay men, saying that a priest's commitment to celibacy should be the issue, not his sexual orientation.
Similarly, some Catholics said that because the majority of victims in the scandals involving sexually abusive priests were boys, barring gay men from the priesthood would reduce the likelihood of such abuse in the future. But others said there was no link between homosexuality and pedophilia, especially many parishioners in Boston, an archdiocese profoundly affected by the sexual abuse scandal.
OSWEGO (NY)
Press & Sun-Bulletin
BY NANCY DOOLING
Press & Sun-Bulletin
An Episcopal parish in Owego has been without its long time rector for nearly six months while church leadership in Syracuse pursues an investigation into allegations of misuse of money at St. Paul's Church.
David Bollinger, St. Paul's rector for more than 20 years, said central New York diocesan officials broke into his personal bank account using identity theft and that Bishop Gladstone Adams' allegations of financial impropriety against him are without merit.
Bollinger also said the investigation is being conducted in retaliation for Bollinger's claim that the diocese mishandled a decades-old allegation of sexual abuse from a former parishioner against another rector.
MASSACHUSETTS
Salem News
By Alan Burke
Staff writer
At the depths of the scandal, the news could not have been worse for Catholic Charities. Priests were guilty of abusing children, and Cardinal Bernard Law, the region's spiritual father, had known about it and done little to stop it.
The outrage touched many churchgoers. And it threatened to taint anything connected to the church, including Catholic Charities, an organization that serves the needy regardless of their religion, while relying on the donations of ordinary people here on the North Shore to cover a vital 13 to 15 percent of its local expenses.
Today, as a new Christmas season begins, Virginia Doocy, the agency's North Shore director, says the collection plate still is not as full as it was before the scandal.
So far this year, donations to Catholic Charities North are $50,000 short of what they were in 2001, the year before the priest abuse scandal exploded.
247Gay.com
11.27.05
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has called on the nation's media to carefully examine the implications of a leaked Vatican document that seeks to bar gay men from becoming seminarians and priests.
On Wednesday, Nov. 22, an Italian Catholic news Web site called Adista leaked a copy of "Instruction Concerning The Criteria Of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons With Homosexual Tendencies In View Of Their Admission To Seminaries And Holy Orders." The document, which Vatican officials have said will be released Nov. 29, says that the Catholic Church "cannot admit to seminary or holy orders those who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture."
VIGOROUS QUESTIONING, SCRUTINY OF DOCUMENT'S CLAIMS
"This is a situation with tremendous potential for inaccurate and even defamatory coverage," said GLAAD President Neil Giuliano. "And while coverage to date has been generally good, there have been incidents where media have presented without basic scrutiny the Vatican's latest attempt to scapegoat honorable gay priests for the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church."
PHILIPPINES
Manila Standard
By Jaime Pilapil
IF the entry of homosexual priests is a big no-no for the Catholic Church ministry, womanizers and those with too much “machismo” are equally banned from being ordained as priests.
“If homosexuals are no longer allowed to enter the seminary, then those who are too macho or well-known womanizers are equally not allowed to,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said over a radio interview on dzRV, a Catholic-run network.
Cruz said those filled with “machismo” are not good candidates for priesthood, and would most probably create scandals during their parochial ministry. “Womanizers or macho males would only victimize female church workers.”
Cruz gave this warning after Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Clergy, earlier said that his office will abide by the Vatican directive banning the entry of homosexuals to the seminary and their ordination to priesthood.
Meanwhile, Cruz defended Pasig Bishop Francisco San Diego, who was accused by a group of laymen for womanizing and living lavishly.
“It is impossible for Bishop San Diego to be dishonest on money. What he built was not his. On the sex scandal, he is already 70 years old. Whatever you do with it, it will not do any damage. In fact, he is limping already,” Cruz told reporters.
PHILIPPINES
Manila Standard
PASIG Bishop Francisco San Diego yesterday broke his silence over an allegation that he was having an illicit affair with a church benefactor. He said a “disobedient priest” might be behind the smear campaign.
“This is an absolute lie. Someone is accusing me of an immorality. This accuser might be the one doing it. There is a priest who is disobedient. If he wants, he could transfer to another diocese or choose his own bishop,” San Diego said on dzRV, a Catholic-run radio.
San Diego did not name the priest who allegedly fed the information last week to a group of Catholic laymen, the Crusaders of the Diocese of Pasig (CDP).
The 70-year-old San Diego said he sent a letter to Papal Nuncio Antonio Franco and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo denying allegations of womanizing and living an extravagant lifestyle.
“I told the nuncio that the allegations are all lies. If I indulged in womanizing, I should have done it when I was younger. I have been a bishop for 22 years and 42 years as a priest. I am already 70 years old. After establishing my reputation, how could I destroy it? In my lifetime, I have never disobeyed my superior.”
IRELAND
One in Four
The Taoiseach has not recognised that for many who stood by the Republic, it was necessary to clash with the Catholic Church, writes Jaime Hyland.
The Taoiseach's opinion article in last Friday's Irish Times is worrying.
He seems to have entirely misread the demands of those who have called for an end to the special relationship between the church and the State. He defends both institutions against accusations that no one is making, while ignoring completely the seriousness of what has happened in Ireland over the past couple of weeks, and its implications for his representative role as Taoiseach.
He is adamant that both he personally and the Government have worked hard on child abuse, but nobody seems to be arguing with him on that.
Indeed, he and his Government have been almost universally commended on finally starting a process of investigation that may lead to the uncovering of the greatest child-protection scandal in the history of the State.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Repubolic
Nov. 27, 2005 12:00 AM
Ed Montini
No one charged with a crime in Arizona is "innocent until proven guilty," especially if he is a priest. Not after all the arrests, all the lawsuits, all the news reports.
A suspect may be presumed innocent in a courtroom, but out in the world it's pretty much just the opposite.
We live in a county where the most popular politician is a sheriff who revels in making life miserable for those in his jails. When told once that two-thirds of his inmates are pretrial defendants who are "presumed innocent" he said, "They are criminals. We don't run a first-class and a second-class section." He's been re-elected three times. advertisement
In civics classes, American children learn a principle of justice described by writer Sir William Blackstone, who said, "It is better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."
Outside of school, we no longer seem to believe that there are innocents.
Last week, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas announced that his office had filed a 10-count criminal complaint against Monsignor Dale Fushek accusing him of indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault against five boys and two young men in the 1980s. The complaint listing the misdemeanor charges described a series of lurid encounters alleged to have taken place between Fushek and the boys while he was pastor of St. Timothy's Church in Mesa.
Fushek's attorney, Michael Manning, said that the incidents "never happened" and that Fushek will fight them at trial.
NEWARK (NJ)
The Star-Ledger
Sunday, November 27, 2005
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
He left the Catholic priesthood in 1998, he said, because he was tired of shielding his identity as a gay man from a church that condemns homosexuality.
The Rev. Mariano Gargiulo, now an Episcopal priest in the Newark Archdiocese involved in a long-term relationship, said he believes an expected Vatican edict this week banning most gay men from entering the seminary also will force many priests from the clergy.
Gargiulo, who said he remains friends with dozens of gay Catholic priests from his days in the Archdiocese of Newark, predicted the ruling, while not applying to current priests, will heighten tensions within the church.
LOWELL (MA)
Boston.com
November 26, 2005
LOWELL, Mass. --Two 20-year-old women have filed a lawsuit in Lowell Superior Court alleging that their father, a Catholic priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Lowell, has refused to acknowledge them as his daughters and has subjected them to physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
The Rev. Lucien Richard has acknowledged that he is the twins' father, but denies allegations that he rejected and abused them.
When the twins were young, the order was told that Richard had fathered the two girls and about the alleged abuse. Nevertheless, the order continued to support Richard as a priest and "failed to take steps to terminate or reduce his abuse," according to the lawsuit.
The twins, whose only address is listed in court documents as Hampshire County, are suing Richard and the Oblates for more than $200,000, according to court documents.
BURLINGTON (KY)
ChallengerNYK
BURLINGTON - There are more than 370 potential plaintiffs in a class-action sex abuse lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, attorneys said Monday, but that number may drop before a settlement is finalized.
Among the 373 preliminary claims filed by Sunday's deadline, some are from people who previously settled, while others are from people who were allegedly abused at churches in other dioceses, attorneys said.
"For example, we got one from a man who was out of state," said Bob Steinberg, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. "Obviously, he won't be eligible."
The figure was released during a short hearing in the case Monday in Boone County Circuit Court in Burlington. It was the first time a rough number of possible plaintiffs had been attached to the case.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Newsinferno
Date Published: November 26, 2005
Source: Newsinferno News Staff
Monsignor Dale Fushek, the former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, has been arrested on charges he fondled boys and young men and questioned them about their sex lives while pretending to be conducting confessions.
As vicar general, the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop, Fushek, 53, is one of the highest-ranking priests to be implicated in the widespread sex scandal that just won’t go away.
He has been charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. Since each charge is a misdemeanor, Fushek faces a total of three years and nine months in jail.
Fushek has been placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring until his arraignment on December 6. He also had to surrender his passport and was ordered not have contact with anyone under age 18.
AUSTRALIA
The Sunday Mail
PAUL WESTON
27nov05
GOLD Coast pensioner Richard "Tommy" Campion has a horrifying, clear picture of what his lawyers believe will be one of the worst cases of child abuse in an Australian orphanage.
His nightmares have led him to write a five-page letter to the Anglican Church in which he graphically details the sadistic treatment he and fellow orphans suffered at the church's North Coast Children's Home at Lismore in northern NSW in the 1950s.
The instances of "cowardly physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse from the staff, clergymen and matron" have been corroborated by many other victims who contacted Mr Campion's Brisbane lawyer, Simon Harrison.
As part of his campaign to gain an apology and compensation for the victims, Mr Campion, 58, agreed to be photographed outside the grounds of the home this week. He later asked the new owners' permission to visit the old dormitories.
ALABAMA
Montgomery Advertiser
By Alvin Benn
Montgomery Advertiser
Alex Sherlock, forced to resign as an active Catholic priest in the wake of sexual abuse claims against him, was a Biblical scholar and a superb fundraiser, said those who remember him fondly.
Sherlock's body was found at his house in Mobile on Wednesday. Authorities said his death was from natural causes. He was 65.
While friends and relatives attended a funeral for him in Mobile on Friday, a former member of his Montgomery congregation and a fellow priest who attended the same seminary described Sherlock in positive terms.
"In the time I knew him, he was a great guy and a great minister," said Carl Barranco of St. Peter's Catholic Church. "It was most unfortunate to have heard about his past."
WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette
WORCESTER — Deacon Anthony R. Surozenski has been appointed by Bishop Robert J. McManus as interim director of the Diaconate of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester.
He was assistant director of formation for the program and his wife, Alice, is coordinator of diaconal family activities.
He is filling a vacancy left by the Rev. James J. Aquino, who headed the program until he was placed on administrative leave late last month by the bishop. The move came after public disclosure that Rev. Aquino had been detained by vice squad police officers in Las Vegas, who alleged he had committed a public lewd act with another man.
He was initially cited for lewd conduct and giving false information, but was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct after doing 50 hours of community service and getting counseling.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
By Bill Bird
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS
JOLIET — A one-time high school teacher and Aurora-area church youth leader will surrender to authorities early next year to begin serving a jail sentence for sexually molesting two teenage boys at his former home in Naperville.
Lloyd D. Jones, 44, of Michigan City, Ind., will serve six months in Will County Jail beginning Jan. 6 for abusing the youths in 2002 and 2004.
At the time of the molestations, Jones lived in the 2800 block of Gypsum Circle, on Naperville's far southwest side.
He pleaded guilty April 14 in Will County Circuit Court to two felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Judge Carla Alessio-Goode this month sentenced Jones to jail, followed by four years of probation. Jones also must register with state police as a convicted sex offender.
Jones is a former drafting teacher at Kennedy High School on Chicago's southwest side. He also was a volunteer youth leader at Calvary Church in Aurora.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
from staff reports
JOLIET — The head of the panel that reviews allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet resigned after two brothers accused him of molesting them.
Dr. James Carger, a clinical psychologist from Riverside, stepped down from the Diocesan Review Board on Sept. 28 when the brothers reported the accusations to the diocese. Carger has denied the allegations.
Carger was appointed to the review board in 2002 and named chairman in May 2003, said Sister Judith Davies, diocese chancellor.
The Daily Dispatch
We've long been told that two wrongs don't make a right. And no amount of wrongheadedness can make the world right, either.
The Catholic Church has dropped a Brazilian singer who promoted condom use in an anti-AIDS campaign from the lineup of next month's benefit Christmas concert at the Vatican. Daniela Mercury was dismissed because her statements in the public health campaign went “against the moral doctrine of the church,” said Eligio Ermeti, a spokesman for the agency organizing the event.
There's no doubt that is true. The Catholic Church disapproves of contraceptives - and, of course, premarital sex - so telling someone to use a condom flies in the face of the church's beliefs. And we suppose it is unsurprising, though unnecessarily rigid, for the church to drop Mercury from its performance.
However, the Vatican felt the move was necessary because of the crass actions of American singer Lauryn Hill two years ago at the same concert. Hill deviated from the script to criticize the church and its leaders over much-publicized child sex abuse by certain Catholic priests.
It is impossible to defend the church in the sex abuse allegations. Evidence clearly shows that some priests abused young parishioners, and that the church often took action to cover up the abuse while keeping the rogue priests in service.
CANADA
Toronto Star
Nov. 26, 2005. 01:00 AM
LYNDA HURST
FEATURE WRITER
A new Vatican instruction on banning homosexual men from entering the priesthood won't be officially released until Tuesday, but its leaked contents are being condemned on a wide range of fronts by a wide range of critics.
They say it is:
Hypocritical, given that repeated studies show that 25 to 50 per cent of already ordained Catholic priests are homosexual — some celibate, some not.
A smokescreen, targeting gay clergy for the sexual abuse scandals that rocked the U.S. church in 2002, while covering up the hierarchy's failure to deal with them.
Scientifically out-of-date, ignoring evidence that sexual orientation is innate, and continuing to teach that "the psychological genesis of homosexuality remains largely unexplained."
Lamentably short-sighted. The number of new priests is in free fall and more than half the rest, at least in North America, are past retirement age.
BRAZIL
Mail & Guardian
26 November 2005 09:42
A growing sex-abuse scandal is rocking the world's largest national congregation of Catholics. This week, a Brazilian priest was given a lengthy jail sentence after a court heard extracts from a diary that read like a paedophile priest's how-to manual. A magazine earlier published evidence that, according to estimates by Vatican investigators, one in 10 of Brazil's priests is involved in some form of sexual misdemeanour.
The signs of abuse in a country that is home to about 125-million Catholics will be of particular concern to the church hierarchy. Until now, Catholic leaders have comforted themselves with the belief that, no matter how battered its reputation in rich nations such as the United States, the church continued to be held in high esteem in the developing world.
Next week, the Vatican is expected to publish formally details of a clampdown on the recruitment of gay priests aimed at quelling concerns that the church has become a refuge for paedophiles. However, in Brazil many of the claims relate to heterosexual abuse.
Regina Soares Jurkwicz, author of Unveiling the Politics of Silence: Sexual Abuse of Women by Priests in Brazil, said the South American country could now be facing a problem of even greater dimensions than that uncovered in the US in 2002.
GREENWICH (CT)
Greenwich Citizen
By PATRICIA Mc CORMACK
mailto:pmccormack@bcnnew.com
An early Thanksgiving present of an unusual sort was bestowed on the Stanwich School Board of Trustees Friday when the Diocese of Bridgeport sold 25 acres of its property to the school for what is believed to be $15 million. That is what the Catholic diocese headed by the Most Rev. William Lori, bishop of Bridgeport, had been asking for the land that abuts 17 acres owned by St. Agnes Church at 247 Stanwich Road. The diocese needs the money to help pay off a $21 million recent settlement with victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Disclosure of the sale to the school rather than to unnamed developers who had been in the running was greeted with joy by the school founder, Pat Young. "We are just very excited," she said. It means for the first time the school, founded in 1998, will actually own land. The highly thought of coeducational independent school now goes to grade nine. Classes are held in leased space at Greenwich Reform Synagogue near St. Agnes Church and at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Riverside.
What the school paid for the parcel remains in limbo. Neither buyer nor seller disclosed the price tag. However, the amount of money that changed hands will be open to public view when the property transfer is recorded in official land transfer records of the Town of Greenwich. Stanwich has a student body of 350. At the synagogue location, students in grades K to 6 are taught. Students in grades 7 to 9 are taught at the Riverside location.
CALIFORNIA
Times Leader
By CHRIS KNAP Knight Ridder Newspapers
SANTA ANA, Calif. — In bright sunlight, Patrick Wall walked in darkness.
Lost in the secular world.
After 11 years as a Benedictine monk — six as a priest — he had renounced his vows and left St. John’s Abbey.
Disheartened by sexually abusive monks, restricted by rigid superiors and convinced his vow of celibacy would fail, Wall finally won his freedom from the Rule of Benedict.
It was the scariest possible outcome for a man who once considered the abbey his life.
At St. John’s, everything was provided: food, clothing, health care, cars. Now he had none of those.
His training was in Latin and Italian, in divine texts and church history. Now it seemed of little use.
“When you leave the monastery you are completely disconnected,” Wall says. “You have no idea where you are going to go, what you are going to do, or even if you can fit in.”
WHEATON (IL)
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
staff writer
WHEATON — A newspaper is asking a DuPage County judge to unseal a secret deposition given in August by Joliet Diocese Bishop Joseph Imesch for a sexual-abuse lawsuit against the diocese and a former Joliet priest.
The Chicago Tribune is arguing that First Amendment rights trump the diocese's claims that it needs to protect the identities of alleged victims.
"The public interest in litigation relating to allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests is great," Tribune attorney Don Craven wrote to the court. "Questions are raised about faith in local priests, faith in the governance structure of the Catholic Church, and faith in the judicial system, civil and criminal, to respond to these allegations of wrongdoing."
Imesch testified under oath for several hours Aug. 11. The transcript of that deposition, however, is sealed from public view by order of DuPage County Judge Stephen Culliton.
Culliton is presiding over a Glen Ellyn man's lawsuit against the diocese and former priest Ed Stefanich, who was defrocked after being convicted of sexually abusing a Woodridge girl in the 1980s.
To date, this is the only civil lawsuit against the Joliet Diocese that has not been tossed out of court because of when the alleged molestations occurred. The man claims he only recently recalled the abuse alleged to have happened 35 years ago, and repressed memory claims are exempt from the statute of limitations.
LOWELL (MA)
Lowell Sun
By LISA REDMOND, Sun Staff
LOWELL -- Theadora and Alexandra Peterson say their father abused and rejected them years ago.
Their father just happens to be a priest.
The twins, now 20, have filed a lawsuit in Lowell Superior Court alleging that Rev. Lucien Richard, a priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Lowell, has refused to acknowledge them as his daughters, yet subjected them to physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
Richard admits he fathered the girls during an affair with a college student two decades ago, but denies allegations that he rejected and abused them.
When the twins were young, the Oblates were advised that Richard had fathered the two girls and about the alleged abuse. Nevertheless, the community continued to support Richard as a priest and “failed to take steps to terminate or reduce his abuse,” according to the lawsuit.
CANADA
Nunatsiaq nEWS
JIM BELL
Three of Canada’s regional Inuit organizations are praising a $2 billion comprehensive settlement deal for aboriginal residential school survivors that Anne McLellan, the deputy prime minister, announced at a press conference in Ottawa this past Wednesday.
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the Inuvialuit Regional Council, and the Makivik Corp. all said this week that they support the agreement, which offers compensation to all Inuit, Métis and First Nations survivors of residential schools associated with the federal government.
The deal is partly based on a report done by the Assembly of First Nations in the fall of 2004, which sought to find ways of fixing the federal government’s ailing dispute resolution plan for residential school survivors.
CANADA
Arizona Daily Sun
KELOWNA, British Columbia (AP) -- Indigenous leaders came to this former frontier town Thursday to hash out with Canadian officials a multibillion-dollar plan to fight poverty and disease on native reserves and settle damage claims for mistreatment.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, participating in the two-day summit along with the premiers of Canada's 13 provinces and territories, got a jump on talks Wednesday by proposing a $1.7 billion payment for aboriginal victims of sexual and psychological abuse during forced Christian schooling.
Some 100,000 children were required to attend such residential schools over the past century, and the sad history of their abuse has long been cited by Indian leaders as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on reserves.
CANADA
CCN Matthews
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Nov. 23, 2005) - In response to today's government announcement regarding an Agreement in Principle toward a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools, The United Church of Canada has released the following statement:
The United Church of Canada welcomes the Agreement in Principle on a comprehensive resolution package for former students of Indian Residential Schools announced this morning by the Government of Canada and the Assembly of First Nations.
The agreement is the result of a negotiation process launched under the Political Accord of May 30, which appointed the Hon. Frank Iacobucci as the federal negotiator and mandated him to recommend a lasting and fair resolution package. The negotiations included the federal government, the Assembly of First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations, the churches, and legal counsel for former students.
The United Church is pleased that the resolution package not only addresses the issues of compensation to former students for the common experience of attending the schools and compensation for individual abuses, but also provides resources for healing programs, a truth and reconciliation process, and commemoration. The United Church is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the agreement.
CANADA
The B.C. Catholic
By DEBORAH GYAPONG
OTTAWA (CCN) – An offer by 41 Catholic religious orders and dioceses is included in a historic Nov. 23 agreement-in-principle to settle Indian residential schools abuse claims.
“This is a total, complete, comprehensive settlement of everything involved with residential schools,” said Saskatoon lawyer Rod Donlevy, who represented the 41 Catholic entities in the negotiations. “This is a good thing for everybody.”
“Residential schools is an issue that’s been tearing up people for years,” he told CCN in a telephone interview from his office after the announcement.
CANADA
Metro News
The federal government is offering $2 billion in reparation payments to ease the plight of aboriginals who fell prey to rape, beatings and emotional abuse in church-run residential schools.
Though the agreement in principle must still be approved by the courts, native leaders and government officials said the compensation package will help mitigate what one called “the terrible and tragic legacy of our shared past.”
“Today is an historic milestone on the path towards reconciliation and healing for the thousands of First Nation individuals who have suffered and who continue to suffer from the effects of residential schools abuse,” said Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel
11/25/2005 Ed Langlois
Sex-abuse claimants will get paid much sooner, and possibly more, if they accept a reorganization plan set out by the Archdiocese of Portland last week.
Waiting for resolution in a dispute over parish and school ownership will delay payment of claims perhaps for years. And if the archdiocese prevails, the compensation will be only about half as much as under last week’s proposal.
The likely pool of funds to pay disputed compensatory claims would shrink from $40.5 million to $21.5 million, says a disclosure statement filed by the archdiocese.
In the statement, the archdiocese said engaging the property dispute is in no one’s best interest, since the case could take years to go through appeals.
The archdiocese’s plan “provides the best opportunity for the claimants to receive compensation for their claims without delay,” said archdiocesan attorney Tom Stilley, adding that claims that cannot be settled in the process can still be filed in District Court.
PORTLAND (OR)
Catholic Sentinel
11/25/2005 Archbishop John Vlazny
Advent is as long as it can possibly be this year — four full weeks. It all begins on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. Advent, that wonderful season of hope, provides us with a time to celebrate quietly and purposefully the coming of the Lord Jesus among his people. Advent is a time of great expectation. It is a time when the prophets speak to us in Scripture about the one who comes with justice and peace. Parents see expectation in the faces of their children. We all long to teach them about the birth of Jesus as they wait for the coming of Santa Claus.
Last year in Advent I heard about the situation in Ireland back in the 17th century when the English armies were occupying the country. The King’s army had been sent to suppress the “Roman” religion of the Irish peasants. Priests were outlaws. They were all forced to minister on the run and celebrate the sacraments in secret.
But the Irish were not easily intimidated. When Christmas came, they placed burning candles in their windows and left their doors unlocked. The occupation troops were suspicious and wanted to know what this was all about. The people explained that the candles were lighted and the doors left open so that Mary and Joseph, looking for a place to stay on Christmas Eve, would find their way to their homes where they would be welcome. Of course the English thought this was just another silly “superstition” and they let it go. But the lighted candles were really a signal to any priest in hiding that this was a “safe” house where he could come in and offer Mass on that most holy night. ...
On the first Wednesday of Advent, Nov. 30, we shall be observing our first Ember Day of the new liturgical year. This is a time I have asked all the Catholics of western Oregon to set aside for prayer and fasting. Our intention once again is for the healing of the victims of child sexual abuse by clergy and their eventual reconciliation with the church. We pray too for our perseverance in continuing the evangelizing mission of the church, in spite of all the obstacles and distractions.
The unremitting anxiety, unexpected longevity and mounting frustration that have accompanied the scandal have made life challenging for all of us. We like to be in control. Clearly we are not in control this time. When you stop to think about it, a major problem of the human family right from the very beginning was its desire to be in control, to be like gods. That’s what led to the downfall of Adam and Eve. It can lead to our downfall as well.
CANADA
The Province
Friday, November 25, 2005
For years, First Nations people in Canada have endured a silent pain. A pain that no one can possibly understand unless you have been there.
The federal government's agreement to compensate those who attended residential school shows a little more understanding to why we have so many problems in modern society.
Money is the only means by which modern-day government can try to deal with the pain and suffering of those lost in the cities, homes and their own cultures.
The sad reality is the products and services that the money will provide will be temporary.
CANADA
Western
By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Church leaders have heralded as historic a $2-billion package aimed at compensating tens of thousands of Aboriginal people who were forced into residential schools.
"I agree with the Assembly of First NationsAbuse Tracker Chief Phil Fontaine that this truly is a historic moment, a moment for the ages for sure," said Providence Sister Gloria Keylor, spokesperson for a coalition of 41 religious communities with a stake in the residential schools debacle.
"I think this is a fair package. I think it is a package that will bring closure to the past. That's our prayer, that this will bring closure to the past and allow us to open a new door to the future."
CANADA
Kamloops This Week
By DALE BASS
Staff reporter
Nov 25 2005
As the First Nations community celebrated a settlement package announced by the federal government for residential school survivors, Evelyn Camille wasn't feeling very satisfied.
The survivor of the Kamloops Residential School said she is unhappy the agreement-in-principle doesn't help the families of survivors who have died.
"They still matter," she said of those who are ineligible because of death. "Their children should continue to fight for their rights because what happened affected everyone in the family. They've also had to live with what happened to their parents."
Camille lived at the Kamloops school run by the Roman Catholic Church from 1945 to 1955 and said she endured many indignities. Her braids were cut, she was doused in a chemical "to supposedly kill bugs," beaten and sexually assaulted. The insistence by school staff that the children only speak English and adhere to non-First Nations customs "took our language and our culture."
CANADA
Liberal.ca
November 25, 2005
The Government of Canada has reached an Agreement in Principle with the Assembly of First Nations, legal representatives of former students of Indian residential schools and representatives of the churches involved in running those schools regarding a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian residential schools.
The agreement, which still requires court approval, includes a $1.9-billion payment package as well as a variety of measures to help abused Aboriginals and their families with healing and reconciliation.
“It is my sincere belief, and that of the Government of Canada, that all of these elements taken together will promote reconciliation and the resolution of the Indian residential school legacy,” said Public Security Minister Anne McLellan.
CANADA
The Anglican Church of Canada
For Action:
Prayer support for Residential Schools negotiations
That this Council of General Synod, with the full support of the Plan B Task Force, call the church to prayer on behalf of all those involved in the negotiations between the Honourable Frank Iacobucci, legal counsel for former students, the Assembly of First Nations, and legal counsel and others representing Church entities, that these negotiations will result in a fair and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in Canada.
Rationale:
On May 30th, 2005, the Government of Canada announced the appointment of the Honourable Frank Iacobucci as the Government’s negotiator to lead discussions toward a just and lasting resolution of the legacy of Indian Residential Schools (see Appendix 1). At the same time, the Government of Canada signed a Political Agreement with the Assembly of First Nations, naming the AFN as playing a key role in the negotiations (see Appendix 2).
JOLIET (IL)
CBS 2
(AP) JOLIET The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet says a clinical psychologist who reviewed sexual abuse complaints against its priests has resigned after himself being accused of molesting two boys nearly 30 years ago.
The psychologist, James Carger of Riverside, has denied the allegations, but says he resigned to avoid impeding the work of the Diocesan Review Committee. Carger has led that committee since May of 2003.
MARYLAND
Catonsville Times
A Woodlawn minister with an international following has been arrested in connection with five cases of alleged child abuse that date between June 2001 and July 2004.
Gerald Fitroy Griffith, 39, of the 1300 block of Peach Tree Court in Bowie, was taken into custody on an arrest warrant Nov. 15 at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Baltimore County police said.
He is charged with sexual abuse to a minor, perverted practice, sodomy, a number of other sex offenses and assault, according to county police.
New York Post
November 25, 2005 -- STOCKHOLM — U.S. Anglican Bishop Gene Robinson, who is gay, said yesterday that a new Vatican document barring homosexuals from becoming priests unless they've resisted their sexual tendencies for three years will force people to sin — by lying.
"It's very clear that if you want to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church and you know you're gay, you have to lie about it," said Robinson. Post Wire Services
UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star
A CATHOLIC college sent two priests to work at the same church in West Cumbria, despite both admitting that they had sexually abused young boys.
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire dispatched Father Piers Grant-Ferris and Father Gregory Peter Carroll to Our Lady and St Michael’s Church in Workington after becoming aware of their indecent behaviour.
Father Carroll, now 66, was suspended in 1987 after admitting his crimes to the school’s headmaster.
He was sent to Workington, where he worked as parish priest for 14 years from 1987. Carroll was jailed for four years in September for sexually abusing boys.
Now it has been revealed that Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, who served in Workington between 1978 and 1989, had also abused boys at Ampleforth a decade before.
Los Angeles Times
Steve Lopez
The Vatican has spoken, and once again we can only marvel.
If you've got "deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or practice a "gay culture," the church says, don't bother knocking on the seminary door.
Unless, of course, your "transitory" homosexual tendencies have been driven into submission and "overcome" for at least three years.
I'm not sure how to translate any of this, but let me try.
If you have short-rooted gay tendencies rather than the deep-rooted variety, enjoy the theater but don't get carried away, or if you're capable of living in denial for periods of three years or longer, grab a robe and a pair of sandals and let's talk.
Frankly, I can't tell whether this is a sign of progress or further retreat into the Dark Ages. Church leaders might have been better off continuing to pretend there were no gays in the priesthood, or they could have stuck with the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that's made for hundreds of years' worth of comfortable hypocrisy.
Los Angeles Times
By R. John Kinkel, R. JOHN KINKEL, a former priest, teaches sociology at Baker College in Michigan and is the author of "Chaos in the Catholic Church" (Xlibris, 2005).
THE CATHOLIC Church seems to be unraveling at an astonishing rate. The latest threat to its future comes next week, when the Vatican's Congregation on Catholic Education officially begins scapegoating gay priests — believed to make up 30% or more of the U.S. Catholic clergy — for its sex abuse scandals.
That's when the Vatican has said it will issue regulations banning men who are actively homosexual or have "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from the priesthood. Catholic seminarians — priests in training — who say they are gay will be ordained, under the new rules, only if they have not had sex with another man for four years..
As a former priest who left the church to marry and raise a family, I am sadly sympathetic to gay priests who may quit rather than put up with these absurd and unenforceable homophobic requirements for ordination.
Isn't it enough that the church insists on a celibacy vow? Must it now also insist — for gays only — on celibacy even before entering the priesthood?
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Blade
By LOU CHIBBARO, JR.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Gays involved with a group that conducts controversial online sting operations against adult men who solicit sex from underage teenagers of both sexes are calling on the gay community to take a more visible stand against the sexual exploitation of children and teens.
Perverted Justice, the group some have criticized as vigilante, participated in a Nov. 4 nationwide broadcast of the weekly program “Dateline NBC,” which used hidden cameras to show men arriving at a house in Fairfax County, Va., for that they believed were meetings with underage teens of both sexes for sexual encounters.
Instead, much to their shock and horror, they were greeted by “Dateline NBC” reporter Chris Hansen, who informed them that the “teens” between the ages of 12 and 15 with whom they thought they were about to have a sexual tryst were actually adults members of a group called Perverted Justice. ...
Among those ensnared the Fairfax sting was 55-year-old Rabbi David Kaye, who worked for a national youth group in Rockville, Md. Kaye, believing he was exchanging messages with a 13-year-old male, sent the “teen” a nude photo of himself, Hansen reported.
He also offered to perform oral sex on the youth. The adult who impersonated the teen accepted Kaye’s offer, according to transcripts of instant messages between Kaye and the fictitious minor.
The “teen” then invited Kaye to his house, saying his mother was deceased and his father was away on a trip. When Kaye arrived, he was greeted by Hansen, who began pressing him with questions about why he came to the house to have sex with a 13-year-old.
Several hidden television cameras recorded the encounter between Kaye and Hansen. “Dateline NBC” reported that even before the episode aired, Kaye resigned from his job at the Institute for Jewish Leaders & Values. He also reported finding online a photo of Kaye with two other rabbis later convicted of sexual misconduct.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
11/25/2005
When Catholic Church officials refuse to release the names of priests who molested children, they call it "privileged information."
Everyone else knows it for what it really is: old-fashioned stonewalling.
Committing grievous crimes and then covering them up for decades doesn't bestow privilege on anyone. So it would best if the secret keepers stopped pretending their stand is based on high-minded principle.
Victims and their families, naturally, view this tragedy a betrayal of trust, as dramatically shown in a recent series of News Journal articles. Unfortunately, in Delaware the legal system failed them too.
MONTGOMERY (AL)
WFSA
Nov 24, 2005, 10:56 PM EST
A former well known and controversial priest at Montgomery's St. Peters Catholic Church is dead.
The Archdiocese of Mobile confirms Alexander Sherlock was found dead at his Mobile home Tuesday morning.
The cause of death is not known, but the Archdiocese says Sherlock had been battling cirrhosis of the liver.
Sherlock had been a well-respected priest in Mobile and in Montgomery who often spoke out against the sex-abuse cases rocking the catholic church.
Eventually he resigned from the church admitting he sexually abused at least three minors while serving in Mobile.
CANADA
The Times
From David Charter in Washington
CANADA announced yesterday that it will pay Can$2 billion (£1 billion) to former pupils of government boarding schools that were set up to “Christianise” the children of native Indians but which are blamed for decades of physical and emotional abuse.
About 80,000 Canadian aborigines will qualify for a share of the biggest pay-out in the country’s history, which marks a fresh attempt by the Government to atone for systematically trying to strip native children of their language and culture over a period of 70 years.
Native leaders said that the money should be just the first step towards redressing a national tragedy that had left generations spiritually bereft and fuelled deep and continuing social problems.
Canada’s 700,000-strong indigenous communities, known as the First Nations, suffer epidemic rates of alcoholism, drug addiction and sexual abuse.
UTAH
Salt Lake Tribune
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it follows state laws - which vary across the country - on reporting child sexual abuse.
But a jury in Washington state, where the law does not require clergy to report sex-abuse cases, has nevertheless ordered the church to pay at least $2.5 million to two sisters who contend that local church leaders failed to help them when they reported being abused by their stepfather.
It is the first time that a Washington jury has held a religious organization liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress for failing to either report child sexual abuse or to urge the victim to report it to authorities. The LDS Church plans to appeal.
The jurors apparently believed that when religious leaders are in positions where they counsel members of their congregations in such serious matters as sexual abuse, they must do more than strictly adhere to the letter of the law. We agree. They have a responsibility to report the abuse, even when reporting is not required.
ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published November 25, 2005
A clinical psychologist who reviewed sexual abuse complaints for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet has resigned amid allegations that he molested two brothers when he worked for the DuPage County Health Department almost 30 years ago.
Dr. James Carger of Riverside resigned immediately after the allegations surfaced in September but vehemently denies that any abuse took place. "There is no truth to it at all," he said.
Carger resigned, he said, because he did not want to impede the work of the Diocesan Review Committee, a volunteer panel that assesses the credibility of abuse allegations against priests. No criminal charges have been brought against him, and no civil lawsuit has been filed.
Kevin Tretter, 31, and Thomas Tretter, 32, contend that Carger molested them during government-subsidized counseling in 1979 shortly after their mother filed for divorce. Carger's work was not connected with the church at that time.
Catholic World News
Nov. 22 (CWNews.com) - The following is an unofficial translation by CWN of the full Vatican document.
Congregation for Catholic Education
Instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies, considering their admission to seminary and to Holy Orders
Introduction
Following the teaching of Vatican II and, in particular, the decree Optatam Totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published different documents to promote an adequate formation integral of future priests, offering guidance and precise norms regarding their several aspects. In the meantime also the Synod of Bishops in 1999 reflected on the formation of priests in the present circumstances, with the intent to bring to fulfillment the conciliar doctrine on the subject and to render it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, John Paul II published the post-Synodic apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis.
CANADA
Kenora Daily Miner
By Mike Aiken
Miner and News
Thursday November 24, 2005
“There’s both happiness and sorrow,” said residential school survivor Louis Cameron.
After learning about the news of a compensation award from the federal government, the Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) First Nation band member said he was happy the wait was over, but sad for the memory of all his family members, who didn’t live long enough to hear it for themselves.
Elder Julia Keewatin of Grassy Narrows agreed. Speaking through an interpreter, she said, “Since the announcement of reparations, many people have died. Do it now, before any more of our people die.”
On Wednesday morning, the federal government announced it would spend $2 billion to compensate those who attended residential schools. An initial award of $10,000 would be distributed to those who simply attended, with another $3,000 for each year of attendance.
The decision does not preclude further action for those who claim for physical or sexual abuse, said Kenora lawyer Doug Keshen, who was at the negotiating table Sunday, when the deal was reached.
JOLIET (IL)
The Beacon News
By Bill Bird
STAFF WRITER
JOLIET — A one-time high school teacher and Aurora-area church youth leader will surrender to authorities early next year to begin serving a jail sentence for sexually molesting two teen-age boys at his former home in Naperville.
Lloyd D. Jones, 44, of Michigan City, Ind., will serve six months in Will County Jail beginning Jan. 6 for abusing the youths in 2002 and 2004.
At the time of the molestations, Jones lived in the 2800 block of Gypsum Circle, on Naperville's far southwest side.
He pleaded guilty April 14 in Will County Circuit Court to two felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Judge Carla Alessio-Goode this month sentenced Jones to jail, followed by four years of probation. Jones also must register with Illinois State Police as a convicted sex offender.
Jones is a former drafting teacher at Kennedy High School on Chicago's southwest side. He also was a volunteer youth leader at Calvary Church in Aurora.
WASHINGTON
King County Journal
2005-11-25
by Noel S. Brady
Journal Reporter
The shadowy history of an Eastside church, recognized by many as a cult, has come into focus with new charges of child molestation and an admission by one former member that he molested an 8-year-old boy.
Steven A. Belzak told King County prosecutors that he began sexually abusing an 8-year-old boy at a home in Sammamish for male members of the Tridentine Latin Rite Church. In his confession, he said the abuse went on for three years, beginning in 2000.
Another church member, 20-year-old Justin Kirkland, is charged with first-degree child rape and first-degree child molestation. And last week prosecutors charged a third man, Michael W. Muratore, 21, with first-degree child molestation.
Kirkland and Muratore remain at large, and investigators believe the so-called cult that reared them is protecting them from prosecution.
``It's most likely that the cult is shielding or hiding them,'' said King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart. ``This breakaway group is not recognized by the (Roman Catholic) church. They're a cult.''
VATICAN CITY
IOL
November 24 2005 at 02:37AM
Vatican City - A new Vatican document on homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood has touched off a storm of criticism from those who say the church is missing the point and using gays as scapegoats for its sex scandals.
The document, which says the church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years, is due to be released officially next week.
But it said practising homosexuals and those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred, a stand which was welcomed by conservatives both in the Catholic Church and in other religions.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Star-Gazette
By MICHAEL ZEIGLER
Gannett News Service
November 25, 2005
ROCHESTER - A judge reserved decision Wednesday on a request to dismiss charges that a Roman Catholic priest molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he'll decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when Sewar was pastor of Church of the Annunciation in Rochester.
The accuser, now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in Sewar's private quarters in the church rectory.
Sewar's lawyer, John F. Speranza, asked Elliott to dismiss the charges on the ground that a document filed by police to bring Sewar to court was legally defective. The document is supposed to be called an accusatory instrument but was titled warrant application.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet
Timothy Radcliffe
The long-awaited Vatican document on homosexuality in the priesthood, due to be published next week, has been substantially leaked. Here the former Master of the Dominicans assesses what it has to say about gay men and their suitability for holy orders
TWO WEEKS AGO I was in Nova Scotia, giving a retreat for the bishops and priests of eastern Canada. A priest sent up a piece of paper with a question that he was too shy to ask publicly: “Will this document on the admission of gays to the priesthood mean that I am not welcome anymore? Does it mean that people like me are second-class priests?” I have heard this same question, in one form or another, from priests all over the world. The forthcoming Vatican document on homosexuality and the priesthood (see page 40) is the focus of intense anxiety, which is why we must attend to exactly what it says.
There are two principles to bear in mind: first, we must give it as positive an interpretation as possible. This is not a matter of putting a positive spin on documents but of trying to discern what are the true intentions of the authors. Our media are filled with accusation and this document will be denounced as another attack on gay people. This denunciation also occurs within the Church. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has often given tendentious interpretations of the writings of theologians. Theologians, in turn, give the most negative possible interpretation to Vatican documents. Nothing good can come from Rome! As a Church we must find another way of listening to each other, which really attends to what is said. Justice and truthfulness demand this.
Posted: Thursday, Nov 24, 2005 - 09:38:54 am PST
By KEITH KINNAIRD
News editor
IDAHO
Bonner County Daily Bee
SANDPOINT -- A ruling was put off Wednesday in a case of a Sagle man accused of failing to register as a sex offender in Idaho after being convicted of a misdemeanor offense in Washington.
Judge Barbara Buchanan heard argument from attorneys on both sides of the case during a preliminary hearing, but opted to issue a written ruling after she's had a chance to pore over Idaho and Washington's registration requirements.
"This situation is way too important to make a decision today," she said.
Barry Lee Johnson, the 51-year-old pastor of New Song Bible Church, is accused of failing to register as a sex offender after moving to Idaho in the mid-1990s. Johnson, according to Prosecutor Phil Robinson, was convicted in 1992 of communicating with a minor for immoral purposes in Benton County, Wash.
The offense was classified as a gross misdemeanor. Johnson's Coeur d'Alene attorney, Clark Peterson, argued the crime his client was convicted of in Washington is not substantially comparable to anything in the list of offenses in Idaho that warrant registration. Moreover, the state of Washington did not require Johnson to register as a sex offender at the time of his conviction, he said.
IRELAND
One in Four
The Catholic Church might appear to be facing its gravest and most desperate hour. Not so.
Historian JF Loughlin of Catholic Encyclopaedia fame wrote of the challenges that confronted Pope Adrian VI upon his investiture in 1522: “His Holiness had to reform a court that thrived on corruption and detested the name of reform.”
In his first major address to his Christian flock, Pope Adrian launched a scathing attack on the Church, which was rocked by scandals of all sorts. He declared: “So much had vice become the accepted norm that those who are polluted are no longer aware of the stench. I ask you, my brethren, where will it end?”
He warned that if God permitted the persecution of the Church it was because of the sins of men, and especially those of prelates and clergy. Among the sins that Adrian listed was sexual abuse of children by men of the cloth.
IRELAND
One in Four
Public want Cardinal and bishop to face courts
Eight out of 10 Irish people believe Cardinal Desmond Connell and Bishop Brendan Comiskey should stand trial for failing to protect child abuse victims.
A new survey for the Star found that the public strongly feels that in the wake of the Ferns Inquiry into sex abuse by priests, all senior clerics who covered up for child abusing colleagues should face the rigours of the law.
NEW JERSEY
Spirit Daily
HAMMONTON, N.J. -- A New Jersey high school teacher [and alleged locutionist] is under arrest, charged by the federal government with possessing child pornography. Michael McColgan, 34, is a religion teacher and a coach at St. Joseph High School in Hammonton. The FBI said that McColgan sent child pornography to an undercover agent while talking in an online chat room. They later raided his Blackwood home and found 40 images of child pornography on his computer. McColgan is not only a religion teacher, but he is also a coach of golf, soccer and bowling. Students found it hard to believe McColgan would be accused of such a crime. "Shocking. Very shocking. He had to be the most holy man I ever knew," said one student. "He was such an influence on us.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Dustin Lemmon
The Catholic Diocese of Davenport is considering the future of Monsignor Drake Shafer and whether he’s suitable for ministry.
Shafer, the diocese’s vicar general, has denied the allegations made by a West Burlington, Iowa, man, who is identified in court records as “John Doe.” The abuse allegation is the only one against Shafer in his 30 years as a priest.
According to a diocese press release issued Tuesday, a review board met with Shafer, his attorney, his accuser, the accuser’s attorney and several witnesses Nov. 5.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/23/2005
An advocacy group for victims of priest sex abuse is calling for a criminal investigation into whether the Rev. Thomas Graham, convicted in August of sodomy, broke the law by living too close to a Shrewsbury day-care center.
Graham's lawyer says his client did not break the law and was complying with the conditions of his bond, which ordered him to stay at Regina Cleri, a home for retired priests on South Laclede Station Road.
On Aug. 31, a St. Louis jury found Graham guilty of sodomizing a young boy in the rectory of the Old Cathedral sometime in the late 1970s.
Under Missouri law, a person convicted of certain sexual offenses, including statutory or forcible rape, statutory or forcible sodomy and child molestation, is forbidden from living within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility.
IRELAND
One in Four
The church shelters child molesters and accused child molesters, writes Jason Berry
The Ferns report raises a question: should the Vatican enjoy the exemptions of international law in its handling of clergy sex offenders? Would diplomatic correspondence between the papal nuncios in Dublin and their Vatican superiors shed light on possibly illegal strategies? Such questions have relevance in light of the church's canon law system.
It can penalise priests who abuse, yet is hopelessly compromised.
Consider Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State. This autumn Cardinal Sodano invited Fr Marcial Maciel - who faces 20 allegations of paedophilia - to a prestigious religious conference at Lucca in Italy.
The cardinal has a history of helping the disgraced Mexican founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a religious congregation with a house of studies at Leopardstown in Dublin. Cardinal Sodano pressured Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to halt a 1998 canon law case seeking Fr Maciel's excommunication. It was initiated by eight former legionaries at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
IRELAND
One in Four
The Residential Institutions Redress Board (RIRB) has been criticised for not being more vigorous in alerting people to the fact that its closing date for compensation applications to the board is December 15th.
Questions have also been raised about reports that the average settlements have dropped from €78,000 to €76,500.
Tom Cronin, of the Irish Survivors of Institutional Abuse group, said there were still former residents who were not aware they were entitled to compensation and who were unaware their legal and other costs would be covered if they applied to the board. He knew such people.
IRELAND
One in Four
Things are rarely as simple as they seem. Today most people probably agree that as soon as an allegation of child abuse is made against someone, that person should be suspended from their job while an investigation takes place.
The trouble is, even if the person is cleared, lasting damage will have been done to his or her reputation. Frankly, it would be better to be suspected of murder than of child abuse.
With this kind of thinking in mind, it has been decided in Britain that teachers accused of child abuse will not be automatically suspended while an investigation takes place.
One of the teachers' unions has said staff must be given more protection against "false and malicious claims which are destroying careers and reputations".
What of priests? Should they be automatically suspended or not?
BRAZIL
The Union Tribune
By Raymond Colitt
REUTERS
10:38 a.m. November 23, 2005
BRASILIA, Brazil – A Brazilian court has sentenced a Catholic priest to 14 years and eight months in prison for his second pedophilia conviction amid concern of a looming child abuse scandal in the world's largest Catholic country.
Father Tarcisio Tadeu Spricigo was convicted of sexually abusing two boys in the city of Anapolis, in the central Brazilian state of Goias, a local court said Wednesday.
"He enticed needy children with money and promises to help with their homework," the sentencing judge, Ana Maria Rosa, told Reuters.
The incidents involved a 13-year-old altar boy, who lived in the parish house with Spricigo between 2001 and 2002, and a 5-year-old boy, Rosa said.
CANADA
The Chronicle Herald
By JENNIFER STEWART Staff Reporter and The Canadian Press
It is difficult to put a dollar amount on the abuse and cultural genocide thousands of native children suffered at residential schools across Canada, survivor Noel Knockwood said Wednesday in Dartmouth.
The 73-year-old is a former student at the Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia. He said the more than $2 billion in payments and healing programs the federal government is proposing for survivors isn’t enough, but it’s a start.
"It’s pretty difficult to measure a cultural loss and it is rather hard to put a dollar figure on any kind of an issue such as that," Mr. Knockwood said. "Regardless, it’s a start and it might be the beginning of something a little bit better."
The settlement, announced in Ottawa on Wednesday, has yet to be approved in court, but if it is, the survivors of rapes, beatings and cultural isolation would likely be paid by the end of next year. Most survivors now average 60 years old and many are sick or dying.
AUSTRALIA
The Australian
November 25, 2005
AT a time when a significant group of thinkers in the Catholic Church are seriously searching for ways to make priestly vocations more user friendly, others are on a witch-hunt to make them less attractive to a core group ideally suited to the lifestyle: gay men.
Indeed, there must certainly be a significant group of Australian priests and brothers busily praying for divine protection from the church's latest crusade to rid its parish of the hordes of homosexuals its own princes only recently encouraged.
For it is only 10 years or so since some Sydney seminarians were being told not to worry about their homosexuality. Like married and even women priests, the progressives asserted, homosexuality would be overtly, rather than covertly, accepted as an optional priestly lifestyle. I understand that policy relaxation has recently been abandoned, in Sydney seminaries at least.
In the meantime, the wise men at the Vatican who ordered, and are carrying out a purge of homosexual - celibate and active - men appear to have confused homosexuality with pedophilia and sexual abuse. In their zeal to correct and avoid the sins of their past, they have set upon a group particularly well suited to the extraordinary counter-culture that the priesthood is. That is to say, a life without women and children.
VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A long-awaited Vatican document drew a sharp line against priestly ordination of homosexuals, but in the process raised a series of delicate questions for church leaders and seminary officials.
The six-page instruction, prepared by the Congregation for Catholic Education, said the church cannot ordain men who are active homosexuals, who have "deeply rooted" homosexual tendencies or who support the "gay culture." Those who have overcome "transitory" homosexual tendencies, however, could be ordained, it said.
The document, expected to be released at the Vatican in late November, was published online Nov. 22 by an Italian news agency.
ROME
LifeSite
By John-Henry Westen
ROME, November 23, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The leak of what has been confirmed by various sources as the Vatican document barring from entering the Catholic priesthood men who are homosexual, has spurred comments from various leaders within the Catholic church. Some of those comments have exposed the commentators as willingly and resolutely opposed to the Catholic teaching on the matter of homosexuality and the priesthood.
In addition, faithful Catholics both within the hierarchy and among the laity have spoken up to defend the Vatican's statements, despite animosity from the media guardians of political correctness.
Apart from the usual anti-Catholic groups, which to no-one's surprise used the leaked document as yet another opportunity to bash the Church, Catholic priests opposed to the Vatican stand have publicly exposed their dissent from Christian moral teaching. In addition to Rochester, NY, Bishop Matthew H. Clark, and Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, the former international leader of the Dominican Order, who came out against the long-standing Vatican position in recent weeks (see coverage http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111406.html ), the controversial Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has, through the diocesan spokesman, not surprisingly also come out against Catholic teaching as re-emphasized by the Vatican document.
AUSTRALIA
Catholic News
A Melbourne Christian Brother has admitted he sexually assaulted 10 students at a Catholic high school in Melbourne more than 30 years ago.
The Age reports that Peter John Toomey, then a teacher at Trinity Regional College in Brunswick, would order his victims, aged 11 and 12, to sit on his knee while he fondled them.
The County Court heard that Toomey would also watch his pupils change for swimming and sports classes, and two victims recalled his students being made to line up naked — inspected on the basis they were "being checked for mud".
Toomey, now 56, of Brunswick, yesterday pleaded guilty to 10 counts of indecent assault in the 1970s. One victim regarded Toomey as "a cruel figure" who would strap the boys "for almost anything".
CANADA
ABC
Reporter: David Mark
TONY EASTLEY: The Canadian Government has announced a $2.2 billion compensation package for children who were taken from their families and educated in church run schools.
Around 90,000 people will be eligible for the compensation, receiving a minimum of $11,500 plus an extra $3,000 for every year they spent in the residential schools.
Many who claim they suffered psychological and sexual abuse at the schools will receive much larger packages.
The package is being hailed by Canada's Indigenous community for bringing comfort and a sense of victory for the survivors of the residential schools, most of which were shut down by the mid 1970's.
CANADA
Edmonton Sun
By BROOKES MERRITT, EDMONTON SUN
Former students of notoriously abusive residential schools for aboriginal children are leery of Paul Martin's $4-billion compensation promise, and wonder if it's just pre-election posturing.
And they worry the federal package might overshadow the other guilty parties in this whole ordeal - the churches who ran the schools.
The package is expected to provide any child who attended a residential school - whether or not they were the victim of sexual or physical abuse - with $10,000 for their first year at the school, and $3,000 for every year after that.
"No amount of money can bring back what was taken from us," said Mel Buffalo, head of the Indian Association of Alberta.
UNITED STATES
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 24, 2005
A day after the disclosure of a new Vatican directive that deters most gay men from joining the priesthood, some priests say they are shocked by one easily overlooked clause. It says that spiritual directors and confessors in seminaries "have the duty to dissuade" any candidates "who show deep-seated homosexual tendencies" from joining the priesthood.
These priests said this would turn the confessional and spiritual counseling sessions, which seminarians previously regarded as private and supportive meetings, into a tool for weeding gay men out of seminaries.
"The relationship between a seminarian and his confessor or his spiritual director should not be about enforcing church documents, but to serve as spiritual guides," said the Rev. Michael Herman, a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago who has recently publicly identified himself as gay in order to speak out against the Vatican's action.
"They've gone so far as to say your confessor's and spiritual adviser's role is to talk you out of" becoming a priest, Father Herman said.
PHILIPPINES
Daily Star
BY GILBERT BAYORAN
A pastor and his wife charged for the molestation of a 16-year-old high school student, and a Bago resident accused of raping his niece, were arrested separately in the upland areas of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, the police said yesterday.
Nabbed by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Moises Nifras in Brgy. Prosperidad, San Carlos City on Nov. 22 were Efren Tachado, 41, a pastor of the Christian and Ministry Alliance, and his wife, Shalem, 39.
Senior Inspector Victorino Romanillos, acting police chief of San Carlos, yesterday said the Tachado couple was charged in court for three counts of sexual abuse, under Section 5(b), Article 3 of RA 7610.
Police investigations show that the victim who was staying at the house of the couple, was allegedly molested twice by Efren on Jan. 29 and Feb. 14 this year.
MENDHAM (NJ)
Observer-Tribune
MENDHAM — A former Catholic priest who served as a social worker at the Daytop drug rehabilitation center and faces charges of sexually abusing children, doesn’t have the “makeup to sexually abuse anyone,” his defense attorney said on Monday.
The former priest, Richard J. Mieliwocki, 58, of Madison, faces five to 10 years in prison for endangering the welfare of a child and 18 months for criminal sexual contact.
Mieliwocki was charged in 2004 with the abuse of four boys at the Daytop facility located off Route 24 in Mendham. Mieliwocki’s attorney, Thomas C. Pluciennik of Morris Plains, rejected a plea offer in October and said he is waiting for crucial criminal information or “discovery,” to help prepare for trial.
“This is my third request for discovery from the prosecutor’s office. We aren’t going anywhere in this case until I receive discovery. This will be an interesting case when it goes to trial,” Pluciennik said.
ROME
The Guardian
John Hooper in Rome
Thursday November 24, 2005
The Guardian
Gay activists reacted with dismay yesterday to a document, endorsed by the Pope, telling Roman Catholic seminaries worldwide they had a duty to weed out homosexual candidates for the priesthood.
The only exceptions allowed were for those with "homosexual tendencies" that were "merely the expression of a transitory problem such as ... uncompleted adolescence". And candidates would need to show such urges had been "clearly overcome" years before being ordained.
The guidelines, stricter than earlier reported, were welcomed by conservative Catholics. George Weigel, a leading American lay theologian, said the church was obliged "to make sure the men it ordains are capable of living lives of celibate chastity".
Campaigners said the uncompromising policy would pave the way for more sex abuse. Richard Kirker, general secretary of Britain's Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said it would encourage candidates to deny their sexual orientation during selection. In the US, Joe Solomonese, of the Human Rights Campaign, said: "When the church should be taking responsibility for the harm created by a devastating sex abuse scandal, they are instead using gay people as scapegoats."
VATICAN CITY
Cape Times
November 24, 2005
By Philip Pullella
Vatican City: A new Vatican document on homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood has touched off a storm of criticism from those who say the church is missing the point and using gays as scapegoats for its sex scandals.
The document, which says the church can admit those who have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years, is due to be released officially next week.
But it said practising homosexuals and those with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred, a stand which was welcomed by conservatives both in the Catholic Church and in other religions.
"This looks like a diversionary tactic to deflect public attention away from the Vatican's real problem which is child sex abuse by clergy," said Peter Tatchell of the British gay pressure group OutRage!
"The Pope should be tackling paedophiles within the church, not witch-hunting gay people," he said.
CHICAGO (IL)
All American Patriots
CHICAGO, Nov. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Catholics worldwide have reacted angrily to the leaked text of the Vatican's "Instruction Concerning the Criteria of Vocational Discernment Regarding Persons With Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to Seminaries and Holy Orders."
New Ways Ministry USA, the US Rainbow Sash Movement, and the Roman Catholic Caucus of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement, based in London, UK have issued a joint reaction claiming that the document says everything and nothing, raising more questions than answers.
What is now assumed to be the definitive text appeared two days ago on the website of Adista, a progressive Catholic news agency in Rome, with a headline, "Ethical Cleansing."
The "Instruction" was signed by the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (CCE), Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, and its Secretary, Canadian Archbishop Michael Miller, on November 4. The document received approval from Pope Benedict XVI on August 31, then ordering its publication. The text has been prepared jointly by the CCE and the Congregation for Divine Worship & the Discipline of the Sacraments. Significantly, the Vatican's department dealing with religious communities, as well as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, do not appear to have had prime roles in its formulation.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Michael Zeigler
Staff writer
(November 24, 2005) — A judge reserved decision Wednesday on a request to dismiss charges that a Roman Catholic priest molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he would decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when Sewar was pastor of Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street.
The alleged victim, now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in the church rectory.
Sewar's attorney, John F. Speranza, asked Elliott to dismiss the charges on the ground that a document filed by police to bring Sewar to court was defective. The document is supposed to be called an accusatory instrument but was titled "warrant application."
UNITED STATES
The Detroit News
By Richard N. Ostling / AP Religion Writer
A new Vatican decree against gays in the priesthood has brought mixed reactions from U.S. Roman Catholic observers, with some seeing notable benefits and others predicting morale problems and a worsening clergy shortage.
The decree, approved by Pope Benedict XVI, is set for release next week. The Italian text was leaked Tuesday, and a Vatican official confirmed its accuracy to The Associated Press.
It says men should not be admitted to seminaries or ordained as priests if they practice homosexuality, have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or "support so-called gay culture." Those with only "transitory" homosexual tendencies must be celibate three years before being ordained as deacons, the step before priesthood.
Some observers said it will be difficult to define what is meant by "deeply rooted" or "transitory" tendencies.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald
November 25, 2005
Page 1 of 3 | Single page
Despite the Vatican's new ban on gay priests, the Catholic Church's struggle with homosexuality is far from over, writes Linda Morris.
BEFORE a Catholic seminarian becomes a deacon, the penultimate step towards priesthood, he makes a vow of chastity. In the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, Strathfield, the candidate makes an oath of fidelity to live a life in union with the church and then, wearing a white alb, pledges before the altar:
"I [name], standing here before God and this community, acting with my own free will, declare I will undertake the commitment of celibacy for the rest of my life to serve God and his people through the sacrament of Holy Orders."
The vow has such solemn, binding force in the Catholic Church that the priest can break his vows of chastity only by receiving a formal annulment.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported and Web Produced by:
Laure Quinlivan
Photographed by: Phil Drechsler
Updated: 11/22/05 19:22:27
(ANCHOR)
VICTIMS OF PRIEST SEXUAL ABUSE ARE PRESSING FOR A CHANGE IN OHIO LAW THEY SAY WILL BETTER PROTECT CHILDREN AND HOLD CHURCH LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE.
OHIO SENATORS HAVE ALREADY PASSED THE BILL, AND TODAY THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TOOK ACTION.
THE I-TEAM'S LAURE QUINLIVAN HAS AN EXCLUSIVE REPORT WITH A LOCAL MAN WHO MADE THE TRIP TO COLUMBUS.
(Laure Quinlivan on set)
TODAY IS THE FIRST TIME THIS 38-YEAR OLD WEST SIDER HAS SPOKEN IN PUBLIC ABOUT HIS ABUSE. HIS WIFE IS ACTIVE IN CHURCH AND HIS KIDS ATTEND CATHOLIC SCHOOL. BUT HE CAN NO LONGER STOMACH CHURCH LEADERS WHO HE BELIEVES ARE FAILING TO PROTECT CHILDREN.
AUSTRALIA
Catholic News
Professor Neil Ormerod of the Australian Catholic University has said that the instruction banning practising homosexuals from admission to Catholic seminaries is not as radical as earlier drafts and would likely have little impact on recruitment practices.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Pope Benedict has approved the instruction, which was leaked early yesterday on the internet before next week's official release and will be sent to seminaries around the world.
"Most of all it still seems to me a negative response to the sexual abuse crisis in our church," Professor Ormerod told the paper.
"What it is doing is presenting a position consistent with the church's teaching on homosexuality," he said. "They are asking for a commitment on the part of seminary candidates to respect the church's teaching."
PHOENIX (AZ)
Monsters and Critics
Nov 23, 2005, 14:34 GMT
PHOENIX, AZ, United States (UPI) -- A Roman Catholic priest in Phoenix who founded an international organization for young people 20 years ago has been charged with molesting teenage boys.
Monsignor Dale Fushek was arrested Monday. He was released on bail and required to wear an electronic monitor and to stay away from anyone under the age of 18.
Fushek faces 10 misdemeanor counts, including indecent exposure, endangering a minor and assaults on teenagers and young men. He denies the charges.
PHOENIX (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
November 23, 2005
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, a Catholic, didn’t flinch Monday when he compared the two past Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix bishops and their levels of cooperation in prosecuting priests.
The one with the Midas touch is Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, who arrived in December 2003 to replace Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien, who led the diocese for 21 years.
At a news conference about the 10-count indictment of one-time vicar-general and Mesa priest Monsignor Dale Fushek, Thomas praised the help his office had gotten under Olmsted’s leadership.
"It is striking contrast from the behavior of the prior bishop and his regime of stonewalling and avoiding responsibility for the crimes committed on his watch," Thomas said.
O’Brien was an adversary to former County Attorney Richard Romley, who threatened to charge O’Brien with obstruction of justice unless O’Brien was more forthcoming about decades of misconduct and the reassignment of priests accused of abuse from one parish to another.
ARIZONA
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths and Mike Branom
Tribune
November 22, 2005
Monsignor Dale Fushek, a dynamic, fiercely popular East Valley Catholic leader once eyed as the next Phoenix Diocese bishop, was arrested Monday on 10 charges of sexual misconduct with men and boys.
Fushek, 53, is the highest-ranking official in the Phoenix Diocese accused of sexual misbehavior. Under Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien, he held the No. 2 leadership role as vicar general.
He also is co-founder of Life Teen, the largest international Catholic program for youth, headquartered in Mesa. It reaches more than 125,000 young people in 950 parishes in 18 countries.
"This is like seeing Mary’s Jesus crucified," said Yvonne Gefroh, a parishioner of St. Timothy’s Catholic Community in Mesa, where Fushek served for more than 20 years. She and a couple of hundred others came to a special Mass at the church Monday night to pray for him. Some wore buttons reading, "I support Msgr. Dale."
SOUTH CAROLINA
The Sun News
By Kelly Marshall
The Sun News
A former Murrells Inlet minister who was indicted last year on two charges of molesting boys was arrested Tuesday on an additional charge of second-degree criminal sexual misconduct with a minor.
Troy Taylor, 36, who led Low Country Community Church in Murrells Inlet, surrendered Tuesday afternoon at the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, said Sheriff's Office spokesman Neil Johnson.
A bond hearing will be today at the Georgetown County jail, Johnson said.
Taylor's lawyer, Scott Joye, said his client has maintained his innocence on all charges.
"I can't comment, other than to say that Troy has maintained all along that he is not guilty of these charges," Joye said. "He is going to await his day in court."
MESA (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
November 23, 2005
By 2003, Monsignor Dale Fushek’s star was rising so fast, the Tribune named the Mesa priest one of the "10 People to Watch" in the coming years. It may have been prophetic. The pastor of the dynamic St. Timothy’s Catholic Community was preaching to 8,000 a weekend.
He had just gained the coveted monsignor title and had been been advanced to vicar-general for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. He oversaw construction of the stately Diocesan Pastoral Center. He co-founded the international Catholic youth program, Life Teen, and launched the highly
respected Paz de Cristo homeless kitchen and ministry in Mesa.
He designed the worship service for Pope John Paul II’s Mass in Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium in 1987, then chaperoned Mother Teresa in 1989 in her Valley search for a Missionaries of Charity house site.
And it looked as if Fushek, with his sparkling credentials and personable gifts, was the heir-apparent for bishop appointed by the pope for this diocese.
It was not to be.
Now, the 53-year-old priest is under house arrest in his Phoenix apartment, ordered to have no contact with youth, stripped of his passport, and no longer holding an assignment in the diocese.
ROCHESTER (NY)
Democrat & Chronicle
Michael Zeigler
Staff writer
(November 23, 2005) — A judge reserved decision today on a request by a Roman Catholic priest to dismiss charges that he molested a 14-year-old boy at a Rochester church.
Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott said he'll decide Dec. 21 whether misdemeanor charges of third-degree sexual abuse and forcible touching should stand against the Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 54.
Sewar, who is on sabbatical from St. John the Evangelist Church in Spencerport, is charged with molesting the boy from 1999 to 2001 when he was pastor of Church of the Annunciation on Norton Street.
The alleged victim, who is now 20, claimed Sewar touched his clothed genitals about 50 times while he and Sewar watched baseball on a big-screen television in Sewar's private quarters in the church rectory.
Beliefnet
By Fr. Gerard Thomas
The recently leaked Instruction concerning the entrance of gay men into seminaries and religious orders was far worse than what I had expected.
Contrary to some media reports that focused on the Vatican’s banning of "sexually active" gay men from the seminaries (anyone--straight or gay--who enters the seminary must be celibate) and stories that zeroed in on "transitory" gays (another way of speaking about basically straight men), the document has a far simpler and more wide-ranging goal: the banning of any man who understands himself as gay. The document explicitly bars those who have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies.”
This is about as broad a ban as you could imagine.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
The continued backlash from the Fr James Aquino scenario continues to grow. Catholics who are and have been faithful to Worcester Bishops have now no room for accommodations. The sad reality that protection of the clergy, and reputation of the Worcester Dioceses comes before what is known to be wrong and inexcusable actions have deluded any chance for reunification of the dioceses.
Some faithful have questioned the ability of Bishop Robert McManus to run the dioceses of Worcester, while others have sought his removal.
The sad reality of the Worcester dioceses remain as such. The Worcester dioceses has paid the lowest clergy abuse settlements in the nation. Clergy abuse victims who the Worcester diocese publicly states were treated with dignity and respect, report being terrorized by Attorney Joanne Goulka of the law office of Griffin and Goulka who represents Travelers Insurance company.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The man who handcuffed himself to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony's chair during Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in June was sentenced to 30 days of picking up trash.
James C. Robertson, 58, of Los Angeles pleaded no contest to disturbing a religious service. He was ordered to stay at least 300 yards from Mahony, the cathedral and the Los Angeles Archdiocese's headquarters.
Robertson, who is suing the archdiocese for failing to protect him from two allegedly abusive Catholic brothers, is picking up trash in lieu of 45 days in jail. He was also placed on three years' probation.
ROME
The Seattle Times
By Daniel Williams and Alan Cooperman
The Washington Post
ROME — The Vatican is ordering seminaries to bar candidates for the priesthood who "practice homosexuality," have "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" or support "gay culture," according to a document published Tuesday by Adista, a Catholic news agency in Rome.
The long-awaited instruction to seminary directors was scheduled for official release next week. It has been the subject of numerous leaks that have sparked intense debate and led some Catholic leaders, including the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to defend the place of celibate gay priests in the church. But until Tuesday, a full text had not been published.
"The church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture," said the five-page document, which a Vatican official said appeared to be the authentic, final version.
The instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Vatican department in charge of seminaries, is not entirely new. Previous Vatican documents dating back to 1961 have called homosexuality an "intrinsically disordered" condition and have declared gays ineligible for ordination.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Des Moines Register
By SHIRLEY RAGSDALE
REGISTER RELIGION EDITOR
November 23, 2005
The top administrative officer for the Davenport Catholic Diocese, accused of child sexual abuse, is seeking to return to duties as a priest.
The Davenport diocese said Tuesday it has empaneled a special 10-member review board to consider the request of Monsignor Drake Shafer .
Shafer was vicar general, second in command in the diocese, when a West Burlington man sued him and the diocese alleging the priest sexually assaulted him in the 1970s. Identified only as John Doe, the plaintiff said he was 14 or 15 at the time.
An April 2002 e-mail Shafer sent to the victim was read in a court hearing on March 19, 2004 . In the message, Shafer said he was drunk on the night in question and apologized for hurting the victim.
"I did not intend to abuse you that night or any other," the e-mail said.
Shafer denied the allegations, but later settled the lawsuit. The diocese also settled with the victim as part of a $9 million settlement in 2004 with several plaintiffs.
VATICAN CITY
USA Today
By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
A leaked version of an upcoming Vatican document says men with a homosexual orientation should be denied training for the Roman Catholic priesthood unless they can prove they've been celibate for at least three years and promise to teach Catholic doctrine that gay sex is always wrong.
Seminaries should refuse admission to sexually active gay men or those who "support so-called gay culture," according to a version of the document published Tuesday by the Italian Catholic news service Adista. The Associated Press says an official for the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education authenticated the version scheduled for release next Tuesday.
The document, which has been in the works since 1974, is intended to guide bishops and seminary directors on choosing, training and ordaining priests. Pope Benedict XVI signed off on it in August, according to the AP, but the document doesn't have the standing of an infallible teaching.
The church teaches that people with a homosexual orientation deserve love and respect but that gay sex is "intrinsically disordered."
ROME
The New York Times
By IAN FISHER and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 23, 2005
ROME, Nov. 22 - A new Vatican document excludes from the priesthood most gay men, with few exceptions, banning in strong and specific language candidates "who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called 'gay culture.' "
The long-awaited document, which has leaked out in sections over the last few months, was published Tuesday in Italian by an Italian Catholic Web site, AdistaOnline.it.
The document appears to allow ordination only for candidates who experienced "transitory" homosexual tendencies that were "clearly overcome" at least three years before ordination as a deacon, the last step before priesthood. It does not define "overcome." Several critics worried that that language would make it nearly impossible for men who believe their basic orientation is gay - but who are celibate - to become priests.
The anticipation of the document has divided Catholics, especially in the United States, igniting contentious debate over whether this is an appropriate response to the recent sex scandals and whether celibate gay men can still be good priests.
VATICAN CITY
Bishop Accountability
CONCERNING THE CRITERIA OF VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT REGARDING PERSONS WITH HOMOSEXUAL TENDENCIES IN VIEW OF THEIR ADMISSION TO SEMINARIES AND HOLY ORDERS
INTRODUCTION
In continuity with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and, in particular, with the decree Optatam totius on priestly formation, the Congregation for Catholic Education has published various documents to promote an adequate integral formation of future priests, offering guidelines and precise norms concerning its different aspects. The Synod of Bishops in 1990 also reflected on priestly formation in the current circumstances, with the intention of complementing the conciliar teaching on this issue and make it more explicit and incisive in the contemporary world. Following this Synod, Pope John Paul II published the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis.
In light of this rich teaching, the present Instruction does not intend to dwell on all the issues in the affective or sexual realm that require attentive discernment throughout the entire period of formation. It contains norms regarding a particular issue, made more urgent by the current situation, and that is the admission or not to Seminaries and Holy Orders of candidates that have deep-seated homosexual tendencies.
CANADA
CTV
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The federal government is set to compensate thousands of people who suffered abuse and cultural isolation in native residential schools.
Sources say the price tag could top $4 billion for a deal that would see Ottawa offer lump-sum payments to about 86,000 surviving students or descendants of those who have died.
Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan is expected to join native leaders for a news conference today.
It's the latest in a whopping list of Liberal funding announcements as MPs prepare to hit the election campaign trail next week.
And it's in addition to at least $4 billion to be committed to fight aboriginal poverty when the prime minister attends a first ministers summit later this week in Kelowna, B.C.
TRINIDAD
Trinidad News
Mark Bassant mbassant@trinidadexpress.com
Wednesday, November 23rd 2005
WELL known Trinidadian pastor Gerald Fitzroy Griffith faces 17 counts of sexual abuse after he was arrested last week in Maryland, Baltimore while waiting to board a flight to London from the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Public information officer Michael Hill of the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) told the Express that Griffith, 39, faces the following sexual charges: three counts of sexual abuse of a minor, five counts of second degree assault, five counts of fourth degree sexual offence, one count of third degree sexual offence, one count of second degree sexual offence, one count of perverted practice and one count of sodomy.
If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in jail.
The charges were all laid by Detective Charles Allan of the Family Crimes Division attached to the BCPD.
They involved four male victims ages 16-23 and one 19-year-old female victim.
ROME
Boston Globe
By Tracy Wilkinson and Maria De Cristofaro, Los Angeles Times | November 23, 2005
ROME -- Men who have ''deep-rooted homosexual tendencies" or who sustain a ''gay culture" may not be trained to become Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican says in a new document posted yesterday on a Catholic news website.
However, the church says, if a man had ''transitory" homosexual tendencies that have been ''overcome" for at least three years, he may be admitted to a seminary, the school that trains priests.
The document was quickly criticized by some gay rights sympathizers, who say the church does not understand homosexuality.
Many details of the document had leaked out in advance of the Vatican's official release of the new instructions, scheduled for Nov. 29, most recently in the daily newspaper Il Giornale of Milan nearly two weeks ago. But the Internet publication yesterday by Adista, an Italian Catholic news service, represented the first time the document in its entirety has been disclosed.
The new instructions are basically a reaffirmation of the church's long-standing ban on ordaining active gays into the priesthood. They repeat a 1961 condemnation of homosexual acts but provide more specific guidelines that were ordered partly in response to the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the church.
COLORADO
Denver Post
A former student at a Roman Catholic school in Sterling filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the Denver archdiocese of turning a blind eye to child sexual abuse that took place decades ago, the 12th such lawsuit against the archdiocese in recent months.
The plaintiff, identified only as John Doe No. 2, alleges that former priest Harold Robert White sexually abused him in 1968 in a darkened storage room at St. Anthony's Catholic School while he helped White set up tables and chairs for a church event.
The lawsuit filed in Denver District Court alleges that the archdiocese continued to give White unfettered access to altar boys and other children despite being alerted to allegations against him as early as the 1960s.
An archdiocesan spokeswoman said the archdiocese takes seriously any sex abuse allegation and responds "with care for all those involved."
VATICAN CITY
Malaysia Star
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Practising homosexuals should be barred from entering the Roman Catholic priesthood, the Vatican says, taking a strict line on the place of gays in the clergy, an issue that has divided the faithful worldwide.
An eagerly awaited Vatican document said the Church would also bar men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies and those who support gay culture but would admit those who clearly overcame homosexual tendencies for at least three years.
Key excerpts from the official English-language version of the document, to be issued next week, were read to Reuters late on Tuesday by a Vatican prelate in possession of the document.
The document reinforces standing policy that many in the Church believe has not been properly enforced. Its urgency has been highlighted by the 2002 sexual abuse scandal in the United States, which involved mostly abuse of teenage boys by priests.
LEWISBURG (PA)
The Daily Item
November 23, 2005
By Karen Blackledge
The Daily Item
LEWISBURG — The Rev. Patrick Shannon loved his parishioners and would want them to persevere in faith, the Most Rev. Kevin Rhoades, bishop of the Harrisburg Diocese, said during a healing Mass Tuesday evening in Sacred Heart of Jesus Church.
The Rev. Shannon was recently removed as priest of Sacred Heart and of St. George's Mission in Mifflinburg after letters were received by the Harrisburg Diocese and the Oblates about an alleged sexual incident involving the priest and a juvenile about 32 years ago or when the priest would have been about 33.
"We need to pray for Father Shannon, his accuser and the Oblate superior," the Rev. Rhoades told a crowded church where many parishoners stood. "We need to support one another in faith, hope and charity."
Before the Mass, Jo Odronic of Lewisburg echoed the mood of many in the congregation about their priest of the past 12 years.
When the announcement came after Mass about two weeks ago of the Rev. Shannon's removal, she said "My heart went right to my throat and my whole body went stiff. I could feel my face drop and the rest of the day was ruined. I couldn't get a grip on myself. I felt we had lost a leader. I was a sheep without a shepherd. We didn't have a chance to say goodbye to him."
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/23/2005
Whether the perpetrator was a priest, a baby sitter, a teacher, a family member or a total stranger, victims of child sexual abuse need help to recover from the trauma, experts say.
"The fact is, with trauma -- you can only keep it down so long without its presenting itself somehow in your life," said Valerie Marek, executive director of Survivors of Abuse in Recovery, a nonprofit agency that offers counseling and support to those who have been abused.
Victims -- the ones who are becoming healthier survivors -- say so, too.
WASHINGTON (DC)
New York Sun
By MEGHAN CLYNE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
November 23, 2005
WASHINGTON - A new document refining the Vatican's position on homosexuals in the priesthood will place greater pressure on American bishops, seminary rectors, and local clergy, and may inflame tensions among leaders of the Catholic Church in America, observers said yesterday.
Despite criticism from some quarters, those supportive of the document's stipulations said it might also result in more careful attention being paid to the process by which young men become priests, ultimately proving beneficial to the church.
The document, first made public by an Italian Catholic news agency, Anista, was issued by the church's Congregation for Catholic Education, a group of cardinals and bishops whose responsibilities include overseeing the training of new priests. It provides "instruction concerning the criteria of vocational discernment regarding persons with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to seminaries and holy orders," and won praise from some orthodox Catholics as an important affirmation of central church teaching on the matter of homosexuality.
VATICAN CITY
Albany Times Union
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press
Last updated: 11:18 p.m., Tuesday, November 22, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.
Advertisement
A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.
Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.
Critics of the policy warned that, if enforced, it will likely result in seminarians lying about their orientation and will decrease the already dwindling number of priests in the United States. Estimates of the percentage of gays in U.S. seminaries and the priesthood range from 25 percent to 50 percent, according to a research review by the Rev. Donald Cozzens, an author of "The Changing Face of the Priesthood."
ROME
The Day
By TRACY WILKINSON
& MARIA DE CRISTOFARO
& LOS ANGELES TIMES
Published on 11/23/2005
Rome— Men who have “deep-rooted homosexual tendencies” or who sustain a “gay culture” may not be trained to become Roman Catholic priests, the Vatican says in a new document posted Tuesday on a Catholic news Web site.
However, the church says, if a man had “transitory” homosexual tendencies that have been “overcome” for at least three years, he may be admitted to a seminary, the school that trains priests.
The document was quickly criticized by some gay rights sympathizers, who say the church does not understand homosexuality.
The new instructions are basically a reaffirmation of the church's long-standing ban on ordaining active gays into the priesthood. They repeat a 1961 condemnation of homosexual acts but provide more specific guidelines that were ordered partly in response to the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the church.
VATICAN CITY
Dominican Today
VATICAN CITY.– The Vatican is toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood, specifying in a new document that even men with "transitory" homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.
A long-awaited "Instruction," due to be released next week, was posted Tuesday on the Internet by the Italian Catholic news agency Adista. A church official who has read the document confirmed its authenticity; he asked that his name not be used because the piece has not been published by the Vatican.
Conservative Roman Catholics who have decried the "gay subculture" in seminaries will likely applaud the policy because it clarifies what the Vatican expects of seminarians and their administrators.
WASHINGTON
The News Tribune
The Associated Press
Published: November 23rd, 2005 02:30 AM
Two college-age sisters have been awarded $4.2 million in a lawsuit against the Mormon church, a judgment prompted partly by the way a bishop dealt with sexual abuse committed by their stepfather while they were children.
Jessica Cavalieri, 24, and her younger sister, Ashley Cavalieri, 19, were abused at their home in suburban Federal Way during the 1990s. The decision Friday by a King County Superior Court jury could be a landmark in sexual abuse litigation against religious institutions in Washington state, lawyers said.
It’s the first sex-abuse verdict by a jury in a lawsuit against a church in the state and could affect settlements in other abuse cases, including those against the Roman Catholic Church, said Timothy Kosnoff, a lawyer for the Cavalieris.
“The size of the verdict is particularly newsworthy. I think the jury is making a statement,” Kosnoff said.
James Rogers, a lawyer who has represented people claiming they were abused by Catholic priests, agreed.
The Mormon Church would “aggressively pursue an appeal,” said Gordon Conger, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Toledo Blade
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - "Where was the outcry? Where was the outrage?" asked Mike Chakers yesterday as he stood next to his two adult sons.
Both, he told the Ohio House Judiciary Committee, were sexually abused by the same Cincinnati priest more than 20 years ago, and he said he's still listening for the outrage from the Catholic Church.
"My youngest son confided in me not long ago that his first sexual experience when he was just a young boy came literally at the hands of a priest," Mr. Chakers said. "How terribly sick and perverted."
More than 100 people, many of them claiming to be victims of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy, attended a day-long hearing to voice support for a bill establishing a one-time, one-year window to revive civil cases for which the statute of limitations has long expired.
They told the committee that the bill is about receiving an overdue apology, getting justice, restoring self-respect, and publicly exposing accused members of the clergy. But they also admit that sometimes it's about money.
VATICAN CITY
Napa Valley Register
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, November 23, 2005 1:08 AM PST
VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican says homosexuals who are sexually active or support "gay culture" are unwelcome in the priesthood unless they have overcome their homosexual tendencies for at least three years, according to a church document posted on the Internet by an Italian Catholic news agency.
The long-awaited document is scheduled to be released by the Vatican on Nov. 29. A church official who has read the document confirmed the authenticity of the Internet posting by the Adista news agency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the document has not yet been officially released by the Vatican.
The document said that "the church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."
"Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies," it said.
SEATTLE (WA)
The Olympian
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- Two college-age sisters have been awarded $4.2 million in a lawsuit against the Mormon Church, a judgment prompted partly by the way a bishop dealt with sexual abuse committed by their stepfather while they were children.
Jessica Cavalieri, 24, and her younger sister, Ashley Cavalieri, were abused at their home in suburban Federal Way during the 1990s. The decision Friday by a King County Superior Court jury could be a landmark in sexual abuse litigation against religious institutions in Washington state, lawyers said.
It's the first sex abuse verdict by a jury in a lawsuit against a church in the state and could affect settlements in other abuse cases, including those against the Roman Catholic Church, said Timothy D. Kosnoff, a lawyer for the Cavalieris.
VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
November 22, 2005
VATICAN CITY --The Vatican says homosexuals who are sexually active or support "gay culture" are unwelcome in the priesthood unless they have overcome their homosexual tendencies for at least three years, according to a church document posted on the Internet by an Italian Catholic news agency.
The long-awaited document is scheduled to be released by the Vatican on Nov. 29. A church official who has read the document confirmed the authenticity of the Internet posting by the Adista news agency. He spoke on condition of anonymity because the document has not yet been officially released by the Vatican.
The document said that "the church, while deeply respecting the people in question, cannot admit to the seminary and the sacred orders those who practice homosexuality, present deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture."
"Those people find themselves, in fact, in a situation that presents a grave obstacle to a correct relationship with men and women. One cannot ignore the negative consequences that can stem from the ordination of people with deeply rooted homosexual tendencies," it said.
AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au
By Amy Coopes
November 22, 2005
A NEW South Wales priest excommunicated from the Catholic Church has been stripped of his holy orders and responsibilities by the Pope because of his association with William Kamm's religious sect.
Kamm, known to his followers as The Little Pebble, was last month jailed for at least three-and-a-half years for indecently assaulting a then 15-year-old member of his outlawed Order of St Charbel, at Cambewarra, near Nowra on the south coast.
Malcolm Broussard, who has been with the sect for 20 years, is a self-proclaimed bishop and major superior residing in the Cambewarra community known as Gethsemene.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
ALBANY -- Having sex with a teenager was improper, unethical and illegal, a judge said Monday as he sentenced a former Christian Brothers Academy writing instructor to jail.
"You crossed the line from teacher to consort, something that is totally unacceptable in our society," Judge Stephen W. Herrick told Sandra Beth Geisel during a brief hearing in Albany County Court.
Not only will Geisel, 42, never teach children again, her conviction as a sex offender will follow her always, Herrick said.
But the judge also blamed the 16-year-old and other students at the exclusive Colonie Catholic high school for manipulating Geisel's lack of self-esteem and tendency toward alcohol abuse to get what they wanted from her.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Michelle Roberts
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.22.2005
PHOENIX - The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on misdemeanor charges alleging he fondled teenage boys and young men and asked detailed questions about sex misrepresented as part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure.
All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months total.
BOSTON (MA)
Newsday
BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER
November 22, 2005
A federal prosecutor has ended a probe of the protection of sexually abusive priests by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston without seeking indictments of former top officials, including William Murphy, now bishop of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned as Boston archbishop almost three years ago.
In lieu of criminal prosecutions, U.S. Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said he has reached an unprecedented agreement with the archdiocese, imposing intensive training and public disclosure requirements.
"In many ways I share the frustration that many have expressed about the conduct of decisionmakers of the Archdiocese of Boston," Sullivan said in an interview yesterday.
"But the bottom line is I think this settlement will have a much greater benefit going forward than a successful prosecution, with the consequences of maybe a fine for the organization, if we were successful."
The settlement ends a nearly two-year federal investigation that targeted Murphy's role on May 12, 1999, in certifying that a now-retired Boston priest had nothing in his background to disqualify him from a job as a federal military chaplain. At the time Murphy signed the document, the church had several memos warning about the Rev. William J. Scanlan's infatuation with boys, as well as other signs of instability.
PHOENIX (AZ)
USA Today
PHOENIX (AP) — The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.
At his initial court appearance, Fushek was placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring. He also was ordered to surrender his passport and not have contact with anyone under age 18. Fushek's arraignment was set for Dec. 6.
CALIFORNIA
The Mercury News
Associated Press
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, Calif. - A Porterville minister accused of sexually abusing two teenage parishioners fell 400 feet to his death at Moro Rock, aAbuse Tracker Park Service official said Monday.
The Rev. Santos Teixeira's fall Sunday was under "uncertain circumstances," requiring the Park Service to notify the FBI of its investigation, said Alexandra Picavet, a SequoiaAbuse Tracker Park spokeswoman.
Picavet said park investigators have yet to determine the manner of death and cautioned it was standard procedure to notify the FBI about the case, which occurred on federal land.
Teixeira, 56, fell to his death late Sunday afternoon from the summit of Moro Rock, a 6,500-foot-tall granite dome. Picavet said a person believed to be a parishioner and other bystanders were in the area, adding those eyewitnesses have been interviewed.
Teixeira's family has asked the Park Service to look into the pastor's death, Picavet said. A telephone number for the family could not be located.
ALBANY (NY)
Troy Record
Robert Cristo, The Record 11/22/2005
ALBANY - A former Christian Brothers Academy teacher was sentenced to six months behind bars Monday. At the same time, the judge in the case said her underage victim wasn't totally innocent for his role in the sex scandal that drew national attention.
With time already served, Sandra Beth Geisel, 42, of Latham, is expected to spend another month behind bars on charges she recently pleaded guilty to - one count of rape for having numerous sexual encounters with one of her 16-year-old male students.
Upon release, Geisel will then spend the next 10 years on probation. She must register as a sex offender and will have to attend a court-mandated substance abuse program.
Geisel has been behind bars ever since her bail was revoked in August after she was arrested on DWI charges.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
The News Times
By Karen Ali
THE NEWS-TIMES
BRIDGEPORT — A Brookfield lawyer won a $10.9 million verdict on behalf of a former Bridgeport man who says he was abused by a landscaper at St. Theresa's Church in Trumbull more than 30 years ago.
Helen L. McGonigle, the lawyer who represented 47-year-old Michael Powel, called the judgment "wonderful." Yet she is not sure whether she will be able to collect the money from the landscaper, Carlo D. Fabbozzi.
"It's certainly validation for Michael Powel. It's just going to be a question of what we can get," McGonigle said.
Fabbozzi, who did not show up for his Superior Court trial, has claimed he has a small checking account, has exhausted his savings, and is living off Social Security and odd jobs.
BOSTON (MA)
The New York Times
By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: November 22, 2005
Federal prosecutors have ended a criminal investigation into whether the Catholic Church covered up complaints against a priest in Boston, a case that focused on the central role played by a prelate who is now the bishop of Long Island.
Prosecutors in Boston announced on Friday that they would not indict anyone. But in return for the government's dropping the case, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston agreed to adopt new safeguards to prevent sex abuse.
Critics accused the prosecutors of letting the church and the bishop off easy.Abuse Tracker groups like Bishop Accountability and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests called the safeguards insufficient and said the case should have gone to trial.
The prosecutors were considering charging the archdiocese with giving the government false information in the background-check form that the bishop, William F. Murphy, sent in 1999 recommending a priest's appointment as a military chaplain.
Bishop Murphy, who was vicar general in Boston at the time, marked "no" to the form's question "Do you have any adverse information?" about the priest. The bishop also sent a letter, described as a "testimonial" for the applicant, calling him "a priest in good standing."
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By GARY SOULSMAN
The News Journal
11/22/2005
Soccer coach Jeff Weyl remembers when he was the only adult present as his seventh- and eighth-graders practiced their drills.
That's no longer possible at St. Matthew Catholic School in Newport.
For the past two years, because of the sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the church, Weyl consistently calls on other adults to attend practice.
PHOENIX (AZ)
USA Today
PHOENIX (AP) — The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.
At his initial court appearance, Fushek was placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring. He also was ordered to surrender his passport and not have contact with anyone under age 18. Fushek's arraignment was set for Dec. 6.
PHOENIX (AZ)
USA Today
PHOENIX (AP) — The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.
At his initial court appearance, Fushek was placed under house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic ankle bracelet for monitoring. He also was ordered to surrender his passport and not have contact with anyone under age 18. Fushek's arraignment was set for Dec. 6.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 22, 2005 12:00 AM
Monsignor Dale Fushek, once one of the most popular and powerful priests in the Phoenix Diocese, was accused Monday of sexual misconduct with teenage boys and young men.
In announcing Fushek's arrest on 10 misdemeanor criminal counts, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said, "It's troubling any time a person in a position of public trust violates that."
Thomas said the investigation is continuing and that more serious charges are possible.
Fushek, 53, is accused of indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault involving five minors and two young adult men.
His attorney, Michael Manning, said Fushek insists the incidents "never happened" and will fight the charges. . The teenage boys and young men appear to have been associated with Life Teen, a popular youth ministry that Fushek founded in 1985. Authorities say the incidents occurred from 1984 to 1994 and took place at St. Timothy Church in Mesa. Fushek was an influential and well-liked pastor there for 20 years.
COVINGTON (KY)
The Cincinnati Post
By Paul A. Long
Post staff reporter
With more than 370 people seeking their share of a $120 million fund created from the settlement of a class-action lawsuit against the Diocese of Covington, attorneys now must go through the laborious process of validating those claims.
That will mean meeting with people to listen to their stories of alleged abuse at the hands of diocesan priests and employees, then trying to determine where they fit into a matrix established to quantify their abuse and put a dollar figure on it.
The plan calls for payments of $5,000 to as much as $450,000 for extraordinary cases.
During a hearing Monday in Boone Circuit Court, attorneys told Special Judge John Potter they had received 373 claim forms, the first time a specific number was put on the class-action lawsuit alleging that diocesan officials perpetrated a decades-long cover-up of the sexual abuse of children by priests and other church employees. Nov. 10 was the deadline for people who wanted to make claims in the class-action.
ALASKA
KTUU
Monday, November 21, 2005 - by Megan Baldino • Watch the video...
Warning: Some of the content of the story is graphic in nature and not suitable for children.
Anchorage, Alaska - She came forward as Jane Doe I, suing the Catholic Church and Rev. James E. Poole, claiming he sexually abused her as a child. The lawsuit settled for around $1 million. But much of the case was under a gag order, including the deposition of Father Poole. But with the permission of Elsie Boudrea, formerly Jane Doe I, the public will hear Poole's disturbing admissions.
For decades he was one of the most popular priests in Alaska. Father Jim Poole was the radio priest, responsible for starting KNOM in Nome and preaching the gospel of the Lord across Western Alaska. Now in his 80s, he sits accused of sexually abusing five women when they were children. Poole has been stripped of his priestly responsibilities in Fairbanks.
Attorney John Manley asked the questions in an interview with Poole. Manley has handled hundreds of clergy sex abuse cases across the country, including in Alaska. The deposition was taken in September 2004 and up until now, no one has seen it. The case Jane Doe I v. Father Jim Poole had been placed under a gag order. In it was damaging admissions given by Poole himself.
“He said there had been some allegations and that he wanted to know whether or not I had ever indulged in French kissing with Elsie, and I said yes,” said Poole.
In the deposition, Poole admits again and again to French kissing Boudreau when she was a child visiting her family in Nome. But he claims it was never sexual.
WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times
By Bob Young
Seattle Times staff reporter
In a decision that could reverberate through clergy sexual-abuse cases everywhere, a King County Superior Court jury has awarded $4.2 million to two sisters who were sexually abused for years by their stepfather, a Mormon priest.
The civil jury found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon church, liable for intentional misconduct and negligence and ordered the church to pay most of the award. The remainder of the award would be paid by the girls' abuser, Peter N. Taylor, who is no longer their stepfather or a priest.
"The size of the verdict is particularly newsworthy. I think the jury is making a statement," said Timothy Kosnoff, a lawyer for the girls who were abused in their Federal Way home during the 1990s.
Kosnoff said the verdict, handed down late Friday afternoon, was the first sexual-abuse decision against a church in Washington state. He said it could affect settlement values in abuse cases against the Catholic Church here and in other states.
PHOENIX (AZ)
San Francisco Chronicle
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
Monday, November 21, 2005
(11-21) 16:11 PST PHOENIX (AP) --
The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and young men and asked them prying questions about their sex lives that he pretended were part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, 53, becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure. All are misdemeanors, punishable by no more than three years and nine months in all.
Fushek "used a relationship of trust to perform criminal acts, including but not limited to sexual activities, improper sexual discussions and physical contact, upon vulnerable minor and adult victims," prosecutors said in court papers.
Prosecutors said Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa or on property belonging to the church. The alleged victims were seven young men and boys.
Fushek resigned as pastor of St. Timothy's in April after someone claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985. He has denied the allegations and remains on administrative leave.
His attorney, Michael Manning, was out of the country and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Los Angeles (CA)
Yahoo!
Monday November 21, 5:30 pm ET
WHEN: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
TIME: 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
213 637 7000
WHO: Representatives from three different groups, Anchorhold
Affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, Stones of Silence and
Survivors of Silence will gather at the Archdiocese office TO
DELIVER A LETTER TO Cardinal Roger Mahony.
WHY: These groups have come together to ask the Cardinal to respond
to a number of important issues relating to the clergy sexual
abuse cases here in Los Angeles.
The recent incident involving survivors being physically bullied outside of a local Catholic Church has brought these representatives together asking the Cardinal to direct all Archdiocese Churches to openly decry the recent violence against victims and supporters of clergy sexual abuse.
PHOENIX (AZ)
Catholic World News
Phoenix, Nov. 21 (CWNews.com) - Msgr. Dale Fushek, the fouder of the popular LifeTeen youth program, was arrested today in Mesa, the Arizona Republic has reported. He will face several charges of assault, indecent exposure, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
KansasCity.com
JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - For nearly three months after his conviction for sexually abusing a boy in the 1970s, a retired Roman Catholic priest lived in a retirement home next to a child-care facility in St. Louis County, apparently in violation of state law.
On Monday, the St. Louis Archdiocese said it has moved the Rev. Thomas Graham to a different facility, away from children.
The announcement came after the activist group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) revealed earlier Monday that Graham was living at the Regina Cleri retirement home in Shrewsbury, a suburb of St. Louis.
The Berry Patch child-care facility is separated from the retirement home by a wooded area, but is on the same sprawling property as the retirement home. State law forbids convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or child-care facility.
MANDEVILLE (LA)
Slidell Sentry-News
BY SUZANNE LE BRETON
ST. TAMMANY NEWS
MANDEVILLE - The former priest at a Mandeville church was arrested Sunday evening after he was found in a restroom stall with another man at a truck stop in St. Charles Parish.
According to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne, the Rev. Dean Robins, 57, 337 Bentolino Drive, Kenner, admitted to conducting crime against nature. He and Marbin Tursios, 35, of 184 Riverbend Drive, St. Rose, were found in a single stall at the St. Rose Travel Center "engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct."
CONNECTICUT
Journal Inquirer
By Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer November 21, 2005
Insurance companies will pay more than half the $22 million that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford has agreed to pay to 43 people who alleged that priests sexually abused them, an archdiocesan spokesman says.
The rest of the money will come from the archdiocese's self-insurance fund and from its savings, according to the spokesman, the Rev. John P. Gatzak.
"It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that the self-insurance and savings come, at one time or another, from the generosity of parishioners," Gatzak said last week. "The church is the people of God."
And money spent for one purpose can't be spent for something else, he acknowledged.
But Gatzak said no Catholic schools will be closed or otherwise affected by the settlement -- and that it won't cause the closing or merger of any parishes.
CONNECTICUT
Journal Inquirer
By Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer November 21, 2005
When Monsignor Edward J. Reardon died in 1991, more than 200 parishioners and dozens of clergy gathered for his funeral at St. James Roman Catholic Church in Manchester, where he had served as pastor for 13 years before his retirement in 1976.
Before coming to the Manchester parish, Reardon had served from 1950 to 1963 as pastor at St. Bernard Church in Enfield.
But 14 years after his death, Reardon's name has come back into the news in a very different context.
The Archdiocese of Hartford last month named him as one of 14 priests against whom child sexual-abuse allegations had been made. Those allegations led the archdiocese to agree to pay a total of $22 million to 43 people.
Hartford lawyer Hubert J. Santos represented Reardon's accuser. Contacted by telephone, Santos said he would ask his client about the possibility of an interview with the Journal Inquirer. But a subsequent call to Santos' office wasn't returned.
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Guardian
Monday November 21, 2005 9:16 PM
PHOENIX (AP) - The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday on charges he fondled boys and asked them questions about sex that he misrepresented as being part of confession.
Monsignor Dale Fushek becomes one of the highest-ranking priests to be charged in the sex scandal that has engulfed the church. The vicar general is the highest-ranking administrator of a diocese next to the bishop.
Fushek was charged with three counts of assault, five of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two of indecent exposure.
Fushek ``used a relationship of trust to perform criminal acts, including but not limited to sexual activities, improper sexual discussions and physical contact, upon vulnerable minor and adult victims,'' prosecutors said in court papers.
Prosecutors said Fushek committed the acts between 1984 and 1994 at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa or on property belonging to the church. The alleged victims were seven young men and boys.
Mother Jones
Unlike some Catholics of a certain age, who moan that the sex abuse scandal that burst onto the front pages almost four years ago shattered their faith in the presumed purity of priests, I didn’t grow up with the notion of priests as saints. Those in my acquaintance ate too much, smoked like stacks, bet on horses, and earned our allegiance, or didn’t, by the quality of their hearts. Saints, in any case, were dead, and I was vaguely aware of my own childish hubris in aspiring to be one. It was much later that I realized many of the saints weren’t even saints, in the colloquial sense of the word. As if to underscore that fact, in the midst of the scandal, in 2002 Pope John Paul II canonized a man who not only wrestled with devils, flagellated himself to bleeding, fasted to the point of collapse, and bore the stigmata but was also accused of having had sexual dalliances with women and of pomading his hair, perfuming his body, and wearing makeup. The Vatican once forbade Padre Pio, or Saint Pio da Pietrelcina as he is now called, from teaching teenage boys and hearing the confessions of women.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Exclusive
Mark Branagan
PUPILS at a leading Roman Catholic school suffered decades of abuse from at least six paedophiles following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to call in police at the beginning of the scandal.
Hume, the future Cardinal and guiding light of Catholicism in Britain, was Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire when he received a complaint from parents in 1975 about Father Piers Grant-Ferris, the son of a Tory peer.
It was alleged that Grant-Ferris – son of the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord Harvington – had "inappropriately touched" a boy at Ampleforth College's former prep school, Gilling Castle.
Hume dealt with the matter internally by moving Grant-Ferris from Gilling Castle, where he was second year form master, to Workington parish in Cumbria.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A monk has been warned he will probably be jailed after admitting 20 counts of indecent assault on young schoolboys.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 71, taught at Gilling Castle Preparatory School, a feeder for Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire, in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Benedictine monk was arrested after a police investigation into Ampleforth Abbey, which is linked to the college.
At Leeds Crown Court Grant-Ferris denied six other counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency.
UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror
A MONK who taught at a leading Catholic prep school faces jail after admitting indecently assaulting 15 pupils.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, admitted 20 charges involving boys under 12 and 13 between 1966 and 1975 but denied seven other charges, which the prosecution accepted.
Judge Ian Dobkin said there was a high probability he would go to jail.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
EVIDENCE of widespread child sex abuse by priests has mushroomed over the past few years and has rightly shaken the faith of the global community of Roman Catholics, not in God but in their own clergy.
The latest manifestation of this is the case of Piers Grant-Ferris, respected priest and schoolmaster at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, who used his position of responsibility to abuse young boys on a regular basis.
The case is shocking, however, not only in Grant-Ferris's exploitation of the opportunities which his job gave him, but also for the way in which his crimes were apparently covered up by Church authorities.
The fact that the then abbot of Ampleforth was Basil Hume, who later became head of the Church in England and Wales, is of particular concern. Doubly so, given the police belief that senior college staff were aware of Grant-
Ferris's activities when he was sent away to work as a priest in Workington, and the fact that other members of the Ampleforth community went on to abuse pupils in later years.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
EVIDENCE of widespread child sex abuse by priests has mushroomed over the past few years and has rightly shaken the faith of the global community of Roman Catholics, not in God but in their own clergy.
The latest manifestation of this is the case of Piers Grant-Ferris, respected priest and schoolmaster at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, who used his position of responsibility to abuse young boys on a regular basis.
The case is shocking, however, not only in Grant-Ferris's exploitation of the opportunities which his job gave him, but also for the way in which his crimes were apparently covered up by Church authorities.
The fact that the then abbot of Ampleforth was Basil Hume, who later became head of the Church in England and Wales, is of particular concern. Doubly so, given the police belief that senior college staff were aware of Grant-
Ferris's activities when he was sent away to work as a priest in Workington, and the fact that other members of the Ampleforth community went on to abuse pupils in later years.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
POLICE investigations into crimes from years gone by are never easy – and in this case were complicated by the setting of one of England's leading Roman Catholic schools presided over by an order of Benedictine monks.
More than 30 officers, plus social workers, were involved in the 15-month inquiry at Ampleforth.
Ampleforth College – motto God Protect Him – is buried in the countryside near Helmsley. Old boys include Cardinal Basil Hume, Andrew Parker-Bowles, Rupert Everett, the Today TV programme presenter Edward Stourton, and Philip Lawrence, the murdered head of St George's RC School in Maida Vale, London.
There had been a case against a monk in 1996, and the school's former finance chief was jailed in 2000 for downloading child porn, but there seemed no cause for further concern until 2002 when a complaint was referred to them about housemaster Christian Shore.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
POLICE investigations into crimes from years gone by are never easy – and in this case were complicated by the setting of one of England's leading Roman Catholic schools presided over by an order of Benedictine monks.
More than 30 officers, plus social workers, were involved in the 15-month inquiry at Ampleforth.
Ampleforth College – motto God Protect Him – is buried in the countryside near Helmsley. Old boys include Cardinal Basil Hume, Andrew Parker-Bowles, Rupert Everett, the Today TV programme presenter Edward Stourton, and Philip Lawrence, the murdered head of St George's RC School in Maida Vale, London.
There had been a case against a monk in 1996, and the school's former finance chief was jailed in 2000 for downloading child porn, but there seemed no cause for further concern until 2002 when a complaint was referred to them about housemaster Christian Shore.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
By Andrew Norfolk
A PRIEST from one of Britain’s leading Roman Catholic families yesterday admitted 20 offences of sexual abuse against boys at Ampleforth College near York.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 15 boys, all aged under 12, during a nine-year period when he was a teacher at Gilling Castle, Ampleforth’s prep school.
Grant-Ferris, a Benedictine monk at Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, was told by the judge at Leeds Crown Court that he faces jail, even though his crimes were committed more than 30 years ago.
The priest, a former Irish Guards officer and a keen mountaineer, is the son of the late Lord Harvington, who as Sir Robert Grant-Ferris was a Conservative MP for 31 years and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Lord Harvington, a wartime fighter pilot, was regarded as the voice of the Vatican in Westminster.
COVINGTON (KY)
The Cincinnati Post
By Paul Long
Post staff reporter
More than 370 people have filed claim forms saying they were abused in the past decades by priests and employees of the Diocese of Covington, and they are seeking to be part of a class-action settlement.
Lawyers for the diocese and the class today told Special Judge John Potter in Boone Circuit Court they had 373 submissions as of the Nov. 10 deadline.
None has been checked out, and a few are obviously invalid - such as the claims of abuse in another diocese - but attorneys expect most are legitimate.
"A significant number, we're not going to have any questions that they are valid," said Carrie Huff, a Chicago attorney who represents the Diocese of Covington. "I don't think we'll have a problem with many of these claims."
PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Jim Walsh
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 21, 2005 11:33 AM
A charismatic priest who once held a high position with the Diocese of Phoenix was arrested this morning.
Monsignor Dale Fushek, once the highly popular, magnetic pastor of St. Timothy's Catholic Church in Mesa, was being booked at the Madison Street Jail, according to Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Fushek founded Life Teen, a popular Catholic youth ministry that swept the nation, in 1995. He also served as vicar general under former Bishop Thomas O'Brien. advertisement
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
By Thomas Caywood
Monday, November 21, 2005 - Updated: 10:51 AM EST
Hundreds of Newton Catholics – already seeing red over the ouster of their popular priest – yesterday tried wearing it.
Several busloads of Our Lady Help of Christians parishioners, outraged by the removal last month of their pastor, the Rev. Walter Cuenin, showed up for Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston decked out in scarlet outfits in protest. ...
“He clearly violated archdiocese policy,” church spokesman Terrence Donlan said, adding, “We certainly appreciate the heartache people are feeling. He was a beloved pastor.”
But outraged parishioners claim Cuenin got the heave-ho for signing a letter critical of the archdiocese’s handling of the clergy abuse scandal and because he openly ministered to gays. As he closed the Mass, the Rev. John Connolly Jr. recognized the crowd of red-clad protesters packing the pews. He thanked them for coming and said, “We know this is not an easy time for you.”
PHOENIX (AZ)
KOLD
PHOENIX A former top official in the Phoenix Catholic diocese was arrested today.
Word of the arrest of Monsignor Dale Fushek _ co-founder of a large youth group and former Number Two man in the Phoenix diocese _ comes from the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
A spokesman for the office declines to give details pending a 1:30 p-m news conference.
It was announced in April that Fushek was resigning as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa amid allegations of sexual improprieties.
In a letter to parishioners, Fushek denied the allegations against him but said he resigned in order to protect his parishioners from the "ordeal."
PHOENIX (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
Associated Press
November 21, 2005
PHOENIX - The former vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was arrested Monday. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which disclosed the arrest and scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon, would not immediately say what Monsignor Dale Fushek was accused of.
Fushek resigned as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa in April after someone claimed to have recovered a repressed memory involving sexual improprieties by Fushek in 1985.
ALBANY (NY)
Capital News 9
Updated: 11/21/2005 11:16 AM
By: The Associated Press
The former CBA teacher charged with raping an underage student will be out of jail next month.
Sandra Beth Geisel, 42, was sentenced to six months in jail on one count of rape. The sentence includes time already served. She was originally charged with three counts, but that was reduced under a plea agreement that was worked out with the District Attorney's office.
The mother of four was fired from her teaching job at Christian Brothers Academy in June, after police caught her with a 17-year-old student.
By John L. Allen, Jr.
National
A Brazilian newsmagazine has reported that two priests recently convicted for sexual abuse of minor boys kept diaries of their experiences, often featuring graphic sexual details, as well as in one instance a set of "rules" for selecting victims -- such as that the target be a young male from a poor family and preferably without a father.
The magazine also names two other Brazilian priests recently arrested for abuse of minors, including one caught in early November in a hotel room in northeastern Brazil with four young boys. In that case, the priest has denied charges of abuse.
The Brazilian newsmagazine Istoè, a nationally circulated newsweekly, published these findings on Nov. 16, suggesting that they represent a broad pattern of sexual misconduct among Brazilian clergy. The Istoè report was given prominent treatment Nov. 21 in Corriere della Sera, the leading Italian daily newspaper.
Corriere della Sera's coverage suggested that sexual abuse of minors by priests is no longer a phenomenon associated largely with the United States, pointing to scandals in England, France, Croatia and Ireland, in addition to Brazil.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Ian Cobain
Saturday November 19, 2005
The Guardian
Ampleforth College, the country's most celebrated Roman Catholic public school, is facing a series of lawsuits after it emerged that dozens of boys were sexually abused there over a 30-year period.
A number of former pupils who were abused by monks who taught at the college are preparing to take action.
Ampleforth is at the centre of the most serious child sex scandal that the Roman Catholic church has faced in England and Wales, after police discovered that Cardinal Basil Hume failed to alert them to abuse, both while he was Abbot of Ampleforth and after he became Archbishop of Westminster.
Police say they discovered clear evidence that Cardinal Hume became aware of abuse as early as 1975, but chose not to contact them or social services. They believe that the subsequent two decades of assaults on pupils at Ampleforth and its prep school might have been avoided if he had alerted the statutory authorities.
ALBANY (NY)
North Country Gazette
ALBANY--Sandra "Beth" Geisel could be home for Christmas.
The former English teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, charged with raping one of her willing underage male students, will be sentenced Monday, Nov. 21 in Albany County Court by Judge Stephen Herrick.
Sandra 'Beth" Geisel, 42, of Latham, pleaded guilty in September to having sex with a 16-year-old student at the Colonie Catholic prep school.
As part of the deal reached in September between prosecutors and her attorney, Donald Kinsella, Geisel will be sentenced to six months of jail time. She will be required to register as a sex offender, will be placed on probation for 10 years and be required to undergo alcohol and mental health counseling. Geisel will only have to serve two thirds of the sentence or 120 days with time credited for good behavior meaning that with credit for the time she has served in Albany County Jail since her arrest in for DWI in August that she will be out of jail next month. She waived her right to an appeal.
ALBANY (NY)
Newswatch 50
A former Catholic school English teacher arrested for having sex with a 16-year-old student will be sentenced today in Albany.
Under a plea deal, 42-year-old Sandra Beth Geisel will be sentenced to 6 months in jail. She'll also have to register as a sex offender and will be on probation for 10 years.
The mother of 4 was fired from her teaching job at Christian Brothers Academy in Albany in June, after police caught her with a 17-year-old student.
During the investigation, a 16-year-old boy came forward and said he had sexual intercourse with Geisel on 2 occasions, leading to the charges against her.
GRENADA
Caribbean News Net
by Kishawn Thomas
Caribbean Net News Grenada Correspondent
Email: kishawnthomas@hotmail.com
Monday, November 21, 2005
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada: The Christian community in Grenada was shocked on Thursday after receiving news of the arrest of a Baltimore County, Maryland, pastor on sexual abuse charges.
Gerald Griffith, who visited Grenada on two occasions after Hurricane Ivan, opened the eyes of many here who attended his crusades. But despite the bad news many believe that Pastor Griffith is innocent.
Caribbean Net News understands that Baltimore County police have arrested Griffith, 39, and charged him with several counts of child abuse.
Police said they were contacted by the victims about alleged sexual abuse. It was noted that an investigation found that Griffith was sexually abusing the victims during counselling sessions in the church office.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/21/2005
Rae Stabosz hates the pain caused by the clergy sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church -- the pain of victims, the pain of priests, the pain of devout parishioners.
The 56-year-old mother of nine, who is a member of Holy Family parish near Newark and president of Catholic Scholars of Delaware, sees the anguish from many angles.
She has a friend who is a priest and was relieved of his ministry for one charge. She has other friends who have been victims of sexual harassment and sexual abuse. Other friends are ministering faithfully -- day in, day out.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/21/2005
When priests sexually abused kids like John Dougherty, Doug McClure and Tom English, the damage they did extended far beyond those boys.
They damaged the boys' futures, too -- their marriages, their friendships, their families, their faith in God, their trust in people. The effects can extend for generations.
"Abuse destroys relationships," said psychologist Diane Langberg in her book "On the Threshold of Hope," written for survivors of sexual abuse and their loved ones. "Instead of being known, we are hidden. Instead of being loved, we are used. Instead of having a voice, we are silenced. ... Relationships become painful, frightening, chaotic places."
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/21/2005
Father Edward B. Carley walked into the fourth-grade classroom at St. Ann's Catholic School in Wilmington and 10-year-old Johnny Dougherty felt a surge of hope.
The nuns had prepared the class for the visit from two new priests at the parish -- Carley and the Rev. Paul Fallers. And John thought it a most welcome change to have a man at the front of the classroom.
"It was like Jesus was coming through the door," he said.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/21/2005
The sexual abuse of children -- no matter who commits the crime -- can twist the lives of survivors and leave them with chronic psychological and physical problems, experts say. And when children are abused by a trusted person -- a parent, a teacher, a doctor, a minister -- the effects are compounded.
The secrecy, isolation, emotional manipulation, and mental, physical and spiritual anguish all take their toll.
Abuse by a parent is the hardest on kids, said Dr. Mark Borer, a Dover psychiatrist with almost 20 years of experience in treating victims, including children, adolescents and adults. Next-hardest is abuse from a special cadre of people.
MILWAUKEE (WI)
WBAY
MILWAUKEE Three women who allege they were sexually abused by nuns planned to hand out flyers this morning to parishioners after Mass at St. John Cathedral in Milwaukee.
The women are members of the group called SNAP, or Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
The group is urging others who have been abused by nuns to come forward.
It is also calling on Archbishop Timothy Dolan to order the superiors of religious orders of the archdiocese to report all information of abuse no matter when the incidents took place.
BOSTON (MA)
CBS 4
(CBS4) BOSTON From now on, the federal government is going to keep closer tabs on the Boston archdiocese and its priests.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has cut an unprecedented deal with the archdiocese. It requires extensive background information on priests who want to work as government chaplains and the government will keep an eye on the Archdiocese Child Protection Program.
In exchange, the archdiocese won't be held criminally responsible for not revealing sexual abuse allegations about a priest who was transferred to California in 1999.
Advocates for church sex abuse victims aren't happy.
"The U.S. attorney has cut a toothless deal," said Anne Barrett Boyle, of bishopaccountability.org. "He believes this agreement will result ultimately in greater protection for children than indictments would have. Sadly, evidence suggests he is wrong."
Los Angeles Times
By Jason Berry, Jason Berry's books include "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" and, with Gerald Renner, "Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II."
CONSERVATIVE Catholics rejoiced at the election of Pope Benedict XVI because, as a cardinal, he had famously decried "moral relativism."
Now, however, the pope appears to be backtracking and, worse yet, he is tolerating a scandalous moral relativism by the Vatican secretary of state.
In 1986, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent a global letter to bishops denouncing homosexuality as a "moral disorder." The language was harsh, much to the delight of conservatives.
But now that Ratzinger is pope, the church says that homosexual seminarians are to be treated with "respect and delicacy" if they are chaste, according to the newspaper Il Giornale, quoting from a leaked copy of a recently completed Vatican document on homosexuals in the seminary. That's a reasonable position, albeit a retreat from Ratzinger's denouncement of gays in 1986.
Perhaps more troubling for conservatives should be the pope's tolerance of the behavior of the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Six years ago, Sodano persuaded Ratzinger to halt a canon law case seeking the excommunication of a friend of his, an alleged pedophile, Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ order in Mexico.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By STEVEN CHURCH
The News Journal
11/20/2005
When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a study of priest abuse in 2002, America's bishops began searching through the "secret archives" they are required to keep on every Roman Catholic priest under their authority.
The goal was to count the number of priests who had "credible allegations" of abuse made against them from 1950 through 2003.
One of the largest religious orders in Delaware, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, searched their confidential files to put together a list of names. The head of the order, the Rev. Joseph G. Morrissey, then sent the initials of one or more priests, along with their dates of birth, to researchers at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
OREGON
The Oregonian
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Desperate times require desperate measures, and if you think bankruptcy was the full measure of the Portland Archdiocese's desperation, I have a brief addendum.
Lawyers for the Archdiocese . . .
Wait. I best be more specific, as the Archdiocese has five different law firms involved in bankruptcy negotiations, five firms that generated $5.38 million in legal fees through October.
Archdiocese lawyers at Sussman Shank filed a brief last week, begging U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Elizabeth Perris to rule quickly on church assets.
At issue is whether $600 million or more in church property belongs not to the Archdiocese but to the individual parishes, thus placing it beyond the reach of the "creditors," the men and women who say they were repeatedly abused as children by Catholic priests.
Although that property is deeded in the name of the Portland Archbishop, a "corporation sole," lawyers contend the real estate is being held in trust for the parishes, a cozy arrangement under "canon law" that is guaranteed by the First Amendment and protected from the bankruptcy court.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Pasadena Star-News
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - An attorney for a Roman Catholic priest expected to stand trial next week on child molestation charges said his client had molested 13 boys more than 20 years ago.
The lawyer for Michael Wempe made the admission Friday during a hearing in a criminal case in which the former priest is accused of molesting a boy when he was chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Defense attorneys Leonard Levine and Donald Steier opted to acknowledge previous clergy abuse in hopes of limiting damaging testimony about old cases.
Jurors probably "will say to themselves, `We don't care. We are not going to find him guilty for what he did 20 years ago,"' Levine told the court.
Wempe, 64, has pleaded not guilty to five charges that he sexually abused a boy over a five-year period.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
November 20, 2005
Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and BishopAccountability.org, a national group that collects documents pertaining to the clergy sexual-abuse scandal, yesterday criticized as ''toothless" a deal reached by US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston on Friday. The agreement will require intensive scrutiny of local priests who seek to work as federal chaplains and mandate that the archdiocese publicly report assessments of its child protection programs. But Ann Hagan Webb, cocoordinator of SNAP, said the agreement, which spares the Catholic Church a federal criminal indictment, fails to hold the church accountable, allows the church control of its own audits, and thus, too much leeway. Anne Barrett Doyle, codirector of the Internet group, added that a criminal trial and indictments would have provided a greater sense of security for children.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By DAVID F. LEDFORD, Executive Editor
11/20/2005
The case of Barry Lamb illustrates how the Catholic Church's Wilmington Diocese has handled allegations of sexual abuse since the 1950s. Lamb was 15 in 1985 when he told church officials that the Rev. Edward Dudzinski had sexually abused him while on a trip to Virginia. Dudzinski was removed as an associate pastor at St. Mary Magdalen parish in Fairfax.
The church helped Lamb get counseling. It did not report Dudzinski to police, nor did it help arrange for Lamb and his parents to speak with authorities.
"They said, 'You are not planning on having him arrested, are you, and causing any legal problems for us?' " Lamb recalled.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By STEVEN CHURCH
The News Journal
11/20/2005
Michael Schulte remembers being in the family bomb shelter at the height of the Cold War when he told his parish priest about being raped as a middle school student.
Father Douglas W. Dempster had come to Schulte's New Castle County home in the Milltown development of Sherwood Park to investigate the teenager's claim that a Roman Catholic priest had sodomized him during overnight trips to Philadelphia and Virginia.
Schulte had kept the sexual assault secret for two years, until the day he saw his attacker get out of a car with a young boy from his neighborhood. When Schulte finally came forward, church officials didn't call police or hire a counselor for him. It was the early 1960s, and those tactics would not become standard until 2002 -- when the abuse scandal in Boston became national news.
DELAWARE
The News Journal
By GARY SOULSMAN
The News Journal
11/20/2005
Altar server Brian O'Shaughnessy is the image of innocence as he carries the cross in for worship at St. Catherine of Siena, near Prices Corner.
It's a Saturday Mass and the 11-year-old also prepares the table for Holy Communion.
Altar servers are lay assistants to clergy and help with worship chores such as carrying candles and holding the missal, a liturgical book with texts for the celebration of Mass.
BOSTON (MA)
Bishop Accountability
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
November 18, 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/18/
archdiocese_prosecutors_agree_to_deal_over_withheld_information/
[Links to the cited documents, which are publicly filed, have been provided by BishopAccountability.org. We have made additional redactions to the documents to keep confidential the name of an alleged victim and the name of a patient. We have also redacted the accused priest's social security number.]
BOSTON --The Boston Archdiocese on Friday agreed to increase openness about its priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest without revealing an allegation he'd "fooled around with kids."
The church was accused of withholding information about the Rev. William Scanlan from federal authorities when Scanlan became a chaplain at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation without bringing charges against the archdiocese, if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements.
PROVIDENCE (RI)
Boston Globe
Correction: Because of an editing error, a story in Tuesday's City & Region section about abuse charges against a priest, the Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, who had served in Providence, misidentified the defendants in a lawsuit by the teenager who accused Cote of sexually abusing him. The teenager is suing Cote, the Dominican order, and the Archdiocese of Washington.
ORMOND BEACH (FL)
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
By JIM HAUG
Business Writer
Last update: November 19, 2005
ORMOND BEACH -- The Voice of the Faithful began in 2002 when Roman Catholics in Massachusetts met in a church basement to vent their anger over the sex abuse scandals.
The group has since grown to 30,000 members with chapters in every state. A local chapter has just formed but without the endorsement of the Catholic Diocese of Orlando.
Ten members representing parishes in Volusia and Flagler counties had their first meeting at the Ormond Beach Public Library because they were not allowed to use church property or use the church bulletins to make announcements.
No explanation was given, but member Rose Keane surmised that "(church leaders) see us in opposition. We aim to rebuild the church, not tear it down."
The Diocese of Orlando declined to comment for this story. On an informal and individual level, "there has been a lot of support from the clergy," said Bob Keane, a member of the local chapter.
SAN DIEGO (CA)
Union-Tribune
By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 19, 2005
A judge has lifted a 2½-year-old order freezing several lawsuits accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego of condoning or ignoring staff members who sexually abused children over the past few decades.
The move is a first step toward getting the claims of sexual abuse before juries, said a lawyer for people who say they were abused by priests and others who worked for the San Diego diocese.
"The judge has made it clear these cases are going to trial," lawyer Irwin Zalkin said.
Micheal Webb, a lawyer for the San Diego diocese, said the judge's order is narrow and only allows limited litigation.
WALTHAM (MA)
Bishop Accountability
Waltham MA - Nov 19, 2005 -- Today, one day after the US Attorney in Boston announced the first settlement ever between federal prosecutors and the Catholic Church, BishopAccountability.org announced that it has posted online 16 hard-to-find church documents related to the federal probe.
These documents include the federal form falsified by Bishop William Murphy, now head of the Rockville Centre NY diocese. Bishop Murphy was accused of withholding adverse information on a government document, which is a federal offense.
The newly posted documents are from the "secret files" that Murphy kept when he was Vicar General of the Boston archdiocese. The files include an account of the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl by accused Boston priest William J. Scanlan.
The new postings also include Cardinal Law's deceitful reassurance that Scanlan was fit for a military chaplaincy. Law wrote that the priest "had nothing in his background which would render him unsuitable to work with minor children."
WASHINGTON
Whidbey News Times
By Jessie Stensland
Nov 19 2005
Barry Ashwell, former pastor of St. Augustine Parish in Oak Harbor, was defrocked by Pope Benedict XVI over child sexual abuse allegations, the Archdiocese of Seattle announced this week.
Ashwell, 62, could not be reached for comment, but he has adamantly denied any wrongdoing in the past. Ashwell was pastor of St. Augustine from 1978 to 2000.
Greg Magnoni, spokesman for the Archdiocese, said Ashwell was dismissed from the clerical state, or laicized, which means he can no longer function in any way as a priest. He’s not allowed to perform last rites, marriages or other sacraments.
Under federal law, Ashwell will retain his retirement plan.
The Archdiocese placed Ashwell on administrative leave in September 2001 after an initial allegation of sexual abuse.
Magnoni said four men have accused Ashwell of sexually abusing them as children. The Archdiocese has settled one lawsuit involving Ashwell and two others are pending. Three of the alleged incidents occurred in the 1970s, before Ashwell came to Oak Harbor.
BOSTON (MA)
PRNewswire
BOSTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States Attorney's Office and
the Archdiocese of Boston have entered an agreement to resolve allegations
that the Archdiocese knowingly provided false information to the federal
government regarding one of its priests. The agreement, which is the first of
its kind in the nation, imposes rigorous disclosure and reporting requirements
for priests applying for federal service as chaplains, new reporting
requirements for Archdiocesan personnel suspected of committing federal
crimes, enhanced internal and external auditing of the Archdiocese's programs
for the protection of children, and pathbreaking work to evaluate the
effectiveness of programs designed to protect children in religious and
educational settings.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Jeffrey G. Hughes, Special
Agent in Charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector
General for the Northeast Field Office; and Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent
in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England, announced
today that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a Corporation Sole
("Archdiocese of Boston"), entered into an agreement today to resolve
allegations that the Archdiocese knowingly provided false information to the
Office of Personnel Management in response to a background investigation of a
priest who had been hired as a Veterans Affairs ("VA") chaplain.
REDWOOD CITY (CA)
Los Angeles Times
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A former church youth director was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on charges he molested two teenage boys.
Christopher Fouts, 27, has pleaded not guilty to five felony charges.
The alleged attacks occurred between January and June while Fouts served as the director of Middle School Ministries at Redwood City's Peninsula Covenant Church, prosecutors said. The victims are ages 13 and 14.
PORTLAND (OR)
The Seattle Times
By The Associated Press
PORTLAND — A disbarred Virginia lawyer has been sentenced to 37 months in prison after he falsely claimed to have been abused by a now-deceased Catholic priest.
Thomas E. Smolka, 57, attempted to defraud the Portland Archdiocese by claiming he had been abused as a child by the late Rev. Maurice Grammond in Oregon.
Grammond is accused of abusing more than 50 children in several Oregon parishes and is a focal point of lawsuits filed against the Catholic church.
Smolka, a former Virginia Beach lawyer, fled his home state after pleading guilty in Richmond to federal charges for having defrauded 17 clients out of at least $110,000 by taking retainers but failing to deliver legal services.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Lawyers for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony say they will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a court order forcing the archdiocese to disclose the confidential personnel files of two former priests accused of child molestation.
The state Supreme Court let stand without comment an appellate court order that the archbishop must give the documents to a grand jury.
The church argued that disclosure would represent government infringement on religious freedom, but the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled in July that the file release "will not result in excessive [government] entanglement."
In a letter dated Thursday, attorney Jeffrey S. Koenig asked the appellate court to delay its final order while the church appeals to the highest court.
"If the privileged documents are turned over to the grand jury, our efforts to obtain further appellate review will be rendered moot," he wrote in a two-page letter to Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein.
STEBBINS (AK)
Los Angeles Times
By William Lobdell, Times Staff Writer
STEBBINS, Alaska — Joseph Lundowski is not the only Catholic missionary accused of molesting Eskimo children on St. Michael Island during the 1960s and '70s.
Four Alaska native women alleged in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that Anton Smario sexually abused them as young girls in Stebbins and St. Michael parishes.
Now 84, Smario denies any sexual misconduct, although he said he had been naked in front of the girls who came to his catechism classes.
Smario and Lundowski, who is accused of molesting 40 Eskimo boys, lived in the villages for seven years, beginning in 1968. Though not ordained clerics, they stayed in the rectories and performed nearly the same duties as priests, according to villagers.
Smario said that at the time he served in Alaska, he was a lay member of the Franciscan order. Working in Anchorage, he said he met Father George Endal, who offered him volunteer work at the two St. Michael Island parishes.
CONNECTICUT
WTNH
(WTNH, Nov. 18, 2005 6:03 PM ) _ He's accused of sexually molesting a former altar boy. Now, years later, Father Daniel McSheffery is being forced to answer to those allegations. It was captured in a taped deposition that has been obtained by News Channel 8.
by News Channel 8 investigator Alan Cohn
The lawyer representing Father McSheffery is furious that we have this video tape. The alleged victim in this case isn't just suing McSheffery, he wants him prosecuted criminally.
"What is your name?"
"Daniel McSheffery."
It's hard to believe, says one of the alleged victims of Father Daniel McSheffery, this is the same man. The same 6'4" charismatic priest that used to deliver sermons from the pulpit of Saint Augustine's Church in North Branford.
"He had this big booming voice and he seemed like a really confident man of God."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The attorney for a former Los Angeles priest admitted Friday that his client had molested 13 boys in the 1970s and 1980s, an unusual public acknowledgment of guilt in the hundreds of sexual abuse cases against the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
Michael Edwin Wempe's lawyer made the admission during a hearing in a criminal case accusing the former priest of molesting another boy in the 1990s when he was chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
The lawyer did so for strategic reasons in an attempt to limit damaging testimony about old abuse cases while he continues to fight the current charges. Wempe's case is being watched closely because he is one of three priests accused of molesting children after Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, responding to abuse complaints, sent him to therapy and returned him to ministry.
The archdiocese has been sued by more than 560 people for allegedly failing to protect children from abuse, but the cases have long been mired in settlement talks and only a handful of the allegations have been tested in court.
The Wempe case has a tangled history: The former priest was originally charged with 42 counts stemming from decades-old molestations, one of which involved two brothers. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that the California law allowing prosecution of old child abuse cases violated the statute of limitations, and the charges were dismissed.
ST. MICHAEL (AK)
KTLA
By William Lobdell
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2005
ST. MICHAEL, Alaska — Peter "Packy" Kobuk has to walk past the old Catholic church to get almost anywhere. To fill a drum of heating oil. To take his children to school. To wash his clothes at the only laundromat in this Eskimo village of 370.
"I think about burning it down, but I have to block that out," says Kobuk, 46. "It all comes back to me right away each time I have to see it."
The decaying wood-frame building also haunts John Lockwood, a married father of nine. Its bell tower, which rises above the village's 90 plywood shacks and prefabricated houses, is one of the first landmarks he sees when returning home in a longboat from hunting seals in the Bering Sea.
"It brings back a lot," says Lockwood, whose weathered face reflects a life spent in the Alaska outdoors. "He did all those bad things to us little kids there, and no one did nothing to stop it."
Even after 30 years, the men can't shake their memories of the late Joseph Lundowski, a volunteer Catholic missionary who arrived in their village in 1968.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Daily News
Associated Press
The nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese asked an appeals court not to release the confidential personnel files of two former priests accused of sex abuse, despite a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this week that gave prosecutors access to the documents.
In a letter filed Friday with the 2nd District Court of Appeal, attorney Jeffrey S. Koenig said the Archdiocese of Los Angeles plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case within the next few weeks.
"If the privileged documents are turned over to the grand jury, our efforts to obtain further ... review will be rendered moot," the letter said.
Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman, didn't immediately return a call Friday, nor did other attorneys for the archdiocese.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Denise Lavoie, AP Legal Affairs Writer | November 18, 2005
BOSTON --The Boston Archdiocese on Friday agreed to increase openness about its priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with federal prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest without revealing an allegation he'd "fooled around with kids."
The church was accused of withholding information about the Rev. William Scanlan from federal authorities when Scanlan became a chaplain at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation without bringing charges against the archdiocese, if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements.
Under the deal, the church is required to provide background information on priests in the military, the VA and federal prisons to federal prosecutors. The church must also provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
BOSTON (MA)
Mercury News
By Denise Lavoie
Associated Press
The Boston Archdiocese avoided federal charges Friday by agreeing to be more open about priests' backgrounds as part of a settlement with prosecutors investigating whether the church transferred a priest to a Menlo Park Veterans Affairs hospital without revealing accusations that he ``fooled around with kids.''
The church was accused of withholding information from federal authorities about the Rev. William Scanlan when he became a Veterans Affairs chaplain at the Peninsula hospital in 1999.
U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan agreed to end a grand jury investigation if the church agreed to new reforms and reporting requirements.
Department of Veterans Affairs and San Francisco archdiocese officials have said they were never told about sex abuse claims against Scanlan from the late 1980s or that he had been ordered into psychiatric treatment. Scanlan also occasionally celebrated Mass in Redwood City, but retired in 2002 and apparently moved back to the East Coast.
Under the deal, the church is required to provide background information on priests in the military, the Veterans Affairs and federal prisons. It also must provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
The Boston archdiocese said in a statement that it is pleased with the settlement and ``has consistently maintained that there was no basis for a criminal prosecution.''
OREGON
The Oregonian
Saturday, November 19, 2005
NOELLE CROMBIE
Thomas Edward Smolka may have been on the lam during the nine months he was in Oregon in 2003 and 2004, but that didn't mean he wasn't busy.
Smolka, 58, dreamed up a raft of scams, from filing claims with an airline for lost luggage to getting prescription drugs at a discount using a dead veteran's identity, according to federal prosecutors. But it was posing as a victim of sex abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest that landed him in trouble with federal authorities.
When deputy U.S. marshals traced him to a Pearl District loft, they discovered Smolka had done extensive research into priest sex abuse cases in Oregon and especially on Oregon's most notorious priest pedophile, the Rev. Maurice Grammond. Authorities say Smolka had checked out more than 30 case files on clergy abuse from the Multnomah County Circuit Court, and he had a handbook for sex abuse victims.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Anna Brown sentenced Smolka to three years in prison for mail and bank fraud and fraudulent use of a Social Security number.
The sentence was at the high end of federal sentencing guidelines, though Brown said she considered handing down an even higher sentence given what she called the "reprehensible" nature of the fraud he committed.
CANADA
Ottawa Sun
By MARK BELLIS
CORNWALL -- A dozen applicants have been granted standing at an inquiry into allegations of systemic sexual abuse in Cornwall.
The long-awaited inquiry into allegations of abuse at the hands of priests, lawyers and doctors in Cornwall is set to begin early next year.
Police spent years trying to get to the bottom of the claims in an investigation named Project Truth. But of 15 men charged, only one was convicted. Two of the 14 groups or individuals who applied for standing at the inquiry were denied yesterday.
Justice Normand Glaude said the estate of Ken Seguin will not be allowed standing, noting the Ministry of Correctional Services, Seguin's former employer, can represent him.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By George Weigel
Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, is almost certainly going to get himself in hot water with the U.S. Bishops Conference Office of Child and Youth Protection. That's entirely to his credit.
In the midst of the Long Lent of 2002, the conference passed a "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" (which was revised and reissued this last June). Article 12 of the charter requires dioceses to "maintain 'safe environment' programs...to be conducted cooperatively with parents, civil authorities, educators, and community organizations." The charter also specifies that these programs "be in accord with Catholic moral principles."
More than a few parents in more than a few dioceses have raised serious questions about whether many of these programs meet that standard. Bishop Vasa evidently agrees. In a recent pastoral letter, he listed the questions he thought needed to be answered before he was prepared to implement Article 12 of the Charter:
"Are such programs effective? Do such programs impose an unduly burdensome responsibility on very young children to protect themselves, rather than insisting that parents take such training and take on the primary responsibility for protecting their children? Where do these programs come from? Is it true that Planned Parenthood has a hand [in] or at least a huge influence on many of them? Is it true that other groups, actively promoting early sexual activity for children, promote these programs in association with their own perverse agendas?
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KFOR
LOS ANGELES California's Supreme Court has given a boost to the Los Angeles District Attorney's effort to see the personnel files of two ex-priests accused of sexual molestation.
The high court refused to overturn a lower court ruling that orders Cardinal Roger Mahony to release the records.
But the three-year battle in the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese may not be over. An attorney for the former priests says he may appeal to the U-S Supreme Court. Mahony has argued that opening the files would violate the church's constitutional right of religious freedom.
UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News
12:00 AM CST on Friday, November 18, 2005
The U.S. Catholic bishops wrapped up their fall meeting yesterday in Washington after two days of closed-door sessions. Traditionally, the bishops don't discuss the substance of these meetings, but it's a fair guess that the fallout from the ongoing sex abuse scandal was on the secret agenda.
Recent major developments in the abuse story haven't gotten much play nationally, but they offer more sobering evidence about this crisis. In September, a Philadelphia grand jury issued a scathing report from its three-year investigation into the role that city's archdiocese played in aiding and abetting the rape of hundreds of children by pederast priests. The report placed blame "all the way to the top" – to the city's past two cardinal archbishops.
A stunnedAbuse Tracker editorialized that if ordinary Catholic males had shown the same indifference to the welfare of children as the city's Catholic leadership did, they'd be in jail.
WILMINGTON (DE)
The News Journal
By STEVEN CHURCH and BETH MILLER
The News Journal
11/18/2005
A Navy officer sued Archmere Academy and the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington on Thursday, claiming he was sexually molested by a priest while he was an Archmere student in the mid-1980s.
In his federal lawsuit, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell, 37, of Quantico, Va., said the Rev. Edward Smith sexually abused him while they were on ski trips in Vermont in 1984 and 1985. At the time, Smith was an English teacher at Archmere and later went on to serve as treasurer of the Claymont school's board of trustees from 1997 until 2001, according to Archmere officials.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
CAMPAIGNER Colm O'Gorman said the Taoiseach had expressed a "sense of disappointment and betrayal" over the church child abuse saga.
The leader of the One in Four group said Mr Ahern expressed upset: "Not just in relation to clerical sexual abuse, but the failure to prevent that abuse once people had been properly alerted to it."
Mr O'Gorman met the Taoiseach, his advisers, and Minister of State for Children Brian Lenihan at Government Buildings yesterday.
Afterwards Mr O'Gorman was at pains to point out that that he knew of no differences between the Taoiseach and himself in relation to the need for the institutional church to be held fully accountable for the abuse which happened in Ferns and elsewhere.
He said as a first step he believed the three all party Oireachtas committees dealing with the key areas of Health and Children, Education, and Justice Equality and Law Reform should now examine in detail the contents of the Ferns report.
MESA (AZ)
Tucson Citizen
The Associated Press
MESA – A Catholic priest will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty yesterday of sexually abusing boys in his Arizona parishes.
His trial also included testimony from four Indiana men who said they were molested by the priest years before.
Jurors found the Rev. Paul LeBrun guilty after three weeks of testimony. LeBrun, 49, has been jailed since 2003, and now faces 81 to 110 years in prison.
Although he has been stripped of his priestly duties, LeBrun remains a member of the Catholic clergy.
The Diocese of Phoenix released a statement yesterday afternoon calling the process “a long and arduous journey for all involved in this case.” The statement said the diocese hopes the trial’s end brings “closure, healing and reconciliation.”
UNITED STATES
Washington Blade
By ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG
Friday, November 18, 2005
A group of Catholic priests has created a new organization to support gay clergy and parishioners, just days before the Vatican is expected to announce a formal ban on gays entering into the priesthood.
The Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported that the document articulating the ban is to be released on Nov. 29, apparently confirming long circulated rumors.
The eight-page document is called, “Instruction on the criteria for determining the vocation of candidates with homosexual tendencies who stand to be admitted to the priesthood and the sacred orders,” according to the Italian newspaper’s report.
“The church may not admit to the priesthood those who practice homosexuality, present deeply-rooted homosexual tendencies, or support so-called ‘gay culture,’” the document will say, according to Il Giornale.
PENNSYLVANIA
WNEP
Friday, November 18, UDPATED: 4:47 p.m.
By Norm Jones
A Roman Catholic priest from our area has been stripped of his pastoral duties after allegations of sexual misconduct with a child.
Father Patrick Shannon has been removed from duties at churches in Lewisburg and Mifflinburg and people in Union County are shocked.
While Fr. Shannon served Sacred Heart Church in Lewisburg and St. George Mission Church in Mifflinburg he apparently had skeletons in his closet from more than three decades ago.
The leaders of his religious order in Philadelphia said Friday they received a letter describing the alleged sexual abuse. The church investigated, found the allegations believable, then removed him from his duties last week.
UNITED KINGDOM
Croydon Guardian
By Court reporter
A Hindu priest, serving a 12-year jail term after a jury convicted him of twice raping a worshipper, has had his appeal against the convictions thrown out.
Ramanathan Somanathan, 42, of Colvin Road, Thornton Heath, claimed evidence from two women of his sexual advances to them should never have been heard by the jury.
In a test case on the use of "bad character" evidence in criminal trials, his lawyers argued the judge's decision to allow the women's evidence made his convictions unsafe.
However, Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting at London's Appeal Court with Mr Justice Bell and Mrs Justice Dobbs, said Somanathan could have no complaint and dismissed his appeal last Friday.
UNITED KINGDOM
icSouthlondon
Nov 18 2005
A HINDU priest serving nine years for raping a woman from his temple has had his appeal against the conviction thrown out.
Ramanathan Somanathan, 42, of Colvin Road, Thornton Heath, lodged an appeal against the guilty verdict at his trial, saying that the jury heard evidence from two women about sexual advances he made towards them which made the conviction unsafe.
However, Lord Justice Kennedy, sitting at London's Appeal Court with Mr Justice Bell and Mrs Justice Dobbs, threw the case out saying Somanathan could have no valid complaint.
MESA (AZ)
East Valley Tribune
By Gary Grado, Tribune
November 18, 2005
A Mesa jury convicted an Indiana priest Thursday of molesting young boys while he worked at West Valley parishes from 1986 to 1991.
The Rev. Paul Le Brun, 49, is the first of nine priests to be tried on sexual offenses they were indicted on in 2003 after a yearlong investigation into sexual misconduct in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.
Le Brun faces 81 to 111 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 13.
A 12-count grand jury indictment alleged that Le Brun molested six boys while he was at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Tolleson and St. John Vianney Parish in Goodyear.
Deputy Maricopa County attorney Rachel Mitchell said four other men from Indiana whose allegations weren’t part of the indictment also testified against Le Brun.
IRELAND
Ms. Magazine
A panel convened by the Irish government has released a report outlining failures by both the Roman Catholic Church and the state to protect children from sexual abuse over a 40-year period, provoking ire and leading to calls for an end to the close church-state relationship that characterizes Irish public life, reports the New York Times. The nearly 300-page “Ferns Report” is the result of a three-year investigation into 100 claims of sexual abuse against 21 priests in the Ferns diocese. According to the Times, the report has been widely praised by victims’ advocacy groups for breaking the tradition of silence with its analysis of the failures of both the Church and the government to address allegations of sexual abuse.
The Times reports that 95 percent of Irish elementary schools receive state funds while they are run by the Catholic Church. The report outlines the failure of the police and public health officials to respond adequately to allegations of abuse, given the influence the Church has in Irish society. The Ferns report also notes the influence of the Vatican on the failure of the Irish Church to adequately respond to the allegations, reports the Times.
MASSACHUSETTS
Natick Bulletin & Tab
By Mary Kate Dubuss/ Staff Writer
Friday, November 18, 2005
Every Sunday, Terence McKiernan leaves his Natick home before dawn, so he can attend the 8 a.m. Mass at an East Longmeadow church. Though the trip to the parish of St. Michael's in western Massachusetts takes him an hour and a half each way, McKiernan says it is one of the only places he can go these days.
"It's gotten really hard to go to Mass, unless I feel the guy is courageous," McKiernan said.
His respect for Rev. Jim Scahill is rooted in the priest's own battle against the Springfield Archdiocese. He was the only pastor who spoke out and refused to send collection money on to the archdiocese when it kept a convicted child molester - Richard Lavigne - on the payroll.
Like many Catholics, McKiernan has struggled on many fronts since the sexual abuse crisis broke in 2002. He wanted to work on behalf on the scores of victims who were abused by children, which is now what he does as a full-time job.
His goal is to answer the "Watergate questions - what the bishops knew and when they knew it," through the examination of internal and public documents.
BOSTON (MA)
TheBostonChannel.com
POSTED: 1:18 pm EST November 18, 2005
UPDATED: 1:25 pm EST November 18, 2005
BOSTON -- The Archdiocese of Boston on Friday agreed to reforms and new reporting requirements in a settlement with federal prosecutors who were investigating charges that the church provided false information about an abusive chaplain.
The church was accused of withholding information from the U.S. Attorney's office in 1999 about a Veteran's Administration Chaplain who allegedly abused boys.
Under the deal, which U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan's office said was the first of its kind in the nation, Sullivan agreed not to bring charges against the archdiocese if the church agreed to the new reporting requirements.
The church is now required to provide background information on priests in the military, the VA and federal prisons to federal prosecutors. The church must also provide detailed information about chaplain candidates, audit its policies for child protection, promptly report allegations of abuse and implement other anti-abuse programs and internal controls.
The archdiocese released a statement saying it was pleased with the resolution of the case.
"The Archdiocese has consistently maintained that there was no basis for a criminal prosecution," the statement said. "By reaching a resolution and avoiding a prolonged and costly dispute, we can devote our energies and resources toward the advancement of our goal of protecting children and fulfilling the Church's mission in this Archdiocese."
BOSTON (MA)
UPI
BOSTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors and Boston Catholic officials resolved allegations the diocese lied about a priest who was applying to be a Veterans Affairs chaplain.
Boston archdiocesan officials are accused of "knowingly providing false information" in May 1999 to the federal Office of Personnel Management in response to a background check of a VA priest.
Further, the archdiocese failed to properly notify the priest's VA supervisor of a new allegation of sexual misconduct in May 2000, prosecutors said Friday.
The archdiocese agreed to numerous remedial measures, including giving detailed background information to prosecutors on all priests serving as chaplains in the military, Veterans Affairs and federal prisons.
BRIDGEPORT (CT)
PRNewswire
BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- A 47-year-old Florida man,
Michael J. Powel, won a $10.9 million dollar judgment in Connecticut Superior
Court against a former maintenance worker for the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Bridgeport, Carlo D. Fabbozzi. The jury agreed Fabbozzi repeatedly molested
Powel between the ages of 9 and 13. Fabbozzi, now 78, was in his mid-40s at
the time. The abuse took place in the late 60s and early 1970s on church
property.
Powel repressed his painful memories of the abuse by Fabbozzi until year
2000, only to regain them while recuperating from removal of a life
threatening malignant brain tumor. More than 68 scientific studies support
the existence of full or partial repression, otherwise known as dissociative
amnesia, following trauma like childhood sexual abuse.
Powel's account of the molestations was corroborated by the testimony of
two other male victims. After initially defending the claims and invoking the
Fifth Amendment privilege of self-incrimination as to his involvement in child
molestations, Fabbozzi failed to appear at trial electing not to contest the
claims. In July, 2000 a jury of four men and two women, four of whom were
Roman Catholic, returned a verdict of $5 million dollars ($2 million economic,
$3 million non-economic damages) and authorized the award of punitive damages.
With the punitive damages, interest and costs assessed by Judge Edward F.
Stodolink, the judgment totals $10,937,538.80.
IRELAND
One in Four
Lawyers representing US clerical child sex abuse victims have indicated they may initiate multi-million-dollar lawsuits against Irish dioceses that trained paedophile priests.
They say that if a test case against an Irish diocese, probably Cashel and Emly, is successful, other cases will follow.
Manly & Maguire, a California law firm which has handled hundreds of clerical abuse cases, has said it is currently putting a test case together under Californian contract law. Other law firms are expected to follow suit after recent disclosures that 18 Irish priests are facing abuse charges in California.
According to attorney Patrick Wall, Manly & Maguire will argue Irish seminaries were hired by US dioceses to train priests and were negligent in their duties. He said the students in Irish seminaries were already "quasi-employees" of US dioceses and that the Irish seminaries had a legal duty to inform the US dioceses about any potential paedophiles.
IRELAND
One in Four
Seanad Report:
The Government should contact the Papal Nuncio and demand that the Vatican issue a view on the Ferns report, Joe O'Toole (Ind) said.
Given that the report was the worst they had seen on a Catholic diocese on the issue of child sex abuse, it was unacceptable that there had been an absolute silence from Rome.
"As the leader of the Irish diplomatic corps in the Vatican, the Irish Papal Nuncio should recognise that he has a role to play in this regard. We need to hear from him on this matter."
IRELAND
One in Four
THE STATE has been told it must investigate the handling of clerical sex abuse claims in the diocese of Elphin, writes David Quinn.The call from Colm O'Gorman, the head of victim-support group One in Four, came after it emerged that the Bishop of Elphin, Dr Christopher Jones, knew about a sex-abuse allegation against one of his priests three years ago.
He only asked him to stand aside from his ministry last month following consultations with the Health Service Executive.
Mr O'Gorman said: "A case like this suggests that the diocese isn't properly abiding by the 1996 framework document" - which outlines how bishops should deal with such allegations. "The case demands an investigation by the State into how the diocese is dealing with sex abuse allegations generally."
IRELAND
One in Four
It is interesting to note just how many commentators and public representatives have told us in recent days that while there had been a "special relationship" between the Irish State and the Roman Catholic hierarchy, that relationship is now largely a matter of history, writes Colm O'Gorman
But is it really? It may be true that no member of the current Cabinet has responsibility for clearing legislation through the Archbishop's Palace, as was the case for many decades, but does the fact that such a blatant corruption of our democratic process no longer exists mean that we have become a more independent republican democracy, or does the State and its citizens continue to show undue deference to the church?
I was in Wexford last Thursday, meeting with many of those directly affected by the issues dealt with in the Ferns report. I was contacted at 4.30pm by a journalist seeking my response to an Taoiseach's "robust defence" of the Catholic Church. My initial reaction was one of disbelief.
Our Taoiseach rarely, if ever, seriously misjudges public opinion and while he had never condemned the Vatican for its role in Ferns, I never expected that he would defend or seek to somehow excuse that appalling failure by suggesting that it should be somehow judged in the context of the great amount of good the church has done in the past.
I was amazed to hear the elected leader of this republican democracy, the head of a Government which derives its powers not from Rome, but from us individually and collectively as citizens, fail to roundly condemn the institutional church, but instead rise to its defence.
IRELAND
One in Four
Approximately 100 lay Catholics took part in a one-hour protest outside the residence of the Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, in Armagh yesterday.
Calling for justice for priests "victimised by bishops" because they expressed concern about inappropriate behaviour by other clergy, the group handed in a letter for Dr Brady, with whom they are seeking a meeting.
They carried placards reading: "We will not accept any more injustice from the bishops in the light of recent disclosures" and "Justice for all priests who protect youth". Group spokesman Roger Kennedy, from Cashel, Co Tipperary, said they travelled to Armagh from all over Ireland, with some journeying by a bus from Limerick and picking up people on the way.
IRELAND
One in Four
Gardaí have sent a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions following further sexual abuse complaints against a number of Brothers of Charity by former residents of the order's home at Lota in Glanmire outside Cork city.
According to a Garda source, complaints and allegations of sexual abuse made by 14 former residents have been forwarded to the DPP in respect of a number of retired Brothers who worked at the home between the 1950s and 1970s.
Gardaí have interviewed three surviving Brothers about the allegations and have travelled to Britain to meet at least one of them. It is understood the Brothers of Charity have co-operated fully with the Garda inquiry.
IRELAND
One in Four
Bertie Ahern and the leader of a sex-abuse victims’ charity held a tough-talking showdown yesterday over the scandal of paedophile priests.
One in Four boss Colm O’Gorman said he vented “his sense of outrage” over the Taoiseach’s description of the Ferns Report as “disappointing”.
And he described his audience with Mr Ahern and Minister for Children Brian Lenihan at Government Buildings yesterday as “constructive”.
IRELAND
One in Four
Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney has had talks with her Northern counterpart about the Government's audit on child protection measures in Catholic dioceses which cross the Border.
The meeting between Ms Harney and Minister Shaun Woodward took place in Belfast last Tuesday. It has also emerged that a meeting on the issue between Department of Health officials and the Department of Health and Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland took place on November 8th last.
Meanwhile, a meeting at Government Buildings in Dublin yesterday between the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and representatives of the One in Four group was described later as "very, very amicable, constructive, and very helpful" by Colm O'Gorman, the One in Four director.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Cleveland Jewish News
By: MATTHEW E. BERGER JTA
An official with an educational program for Jewish high school students has resigned after allegedly searching the Internet for liaisons with underage boys and sending naked pictures of himself.
Rabbi David Kaye resigned from Panim on Oct. 31, several days before being featured on “Dateline NBC” seeking a sexual encounter with an underage boy he met in a chat room.
“He told me he was going to be on a program on national TV that would identify him engaging in inappropriate behavior,” said Rabbi Sid Schwarz, founder and president of Washington-based Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.
Panim has never received a complaint against Kaye, and he is not accused of doing anything wrong in relation to his work there. But the incident is likely to revive concerns about the possibility of sexual misconduct between rabbis and other Jewish officials who have contact with minors.
ALBANY (NY)
Albany Times Union
First published: Friday, November 18, 2005
John Aretakis, the controversial attorney who has carved a niche representing people who say they've been abused by priests, confirmed to Inside Politics Thursday he has "not ruled out" challenging Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, next year.
Aretakis, 45, a self-described "life-long Democrat," said he has been approached several times over the past year by people asking if he'd consider a run against Bruno. He didn't say who. But interest in him intensified, he said, after a number of Republican losses on Election Day in Bruno's district raised murmurs the senator's power may be ebbing.
"This is not a subject that I myself have thought about or broached," Aretakis said. "I have always believed that the moment when I entered politics would be the moment I would sell everything that's good about myself."
ALCOA (TN)
WVLT
Alcoa, Blount County (WVLT) - A Tennessee organization wants Catholic Church leaders to make public the names of priests found to have sexually abused children.
Our Blount County Bureau Chief Stephen McLamb has more on what these people are asking.
Knoxville Diocese officials say they've identified one priest but will not release his name because like the victims, they say, he, too has rights.
Members of the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or "SNAP," were outside Alcoa's Lady of Fatima Church with a man who says he was abused during the mid and late 1960's by a priest assigned then to the Blount County area.
"There has to be other victims, other people who haven't come forward, haven't reached out for the help they want or need, thinking maybe they're still alone," says Mike Hitch, who says he was allegedly abused by priest.
IRELAND
New Ross Echo
The catalogue of abuse drawn up by the Ferns inquiry of over 100 allegations of clerical sexual abuse against children by priests operating within the Diocese of Ferns could have run into far greater numbers had the Inquiry investigated all of the clergy operating within the Diocese.
Speaking at a public meeting held on Thursday night, founder of One in Four, Mr. Colm O’ Gorman spoke of the frustration of many victims of abuse who contacted the organisation in 2002 on learning that the Ferns Inquiry had interpreted one of its terms of reference in a way that excluded from investigation a number of the religious operating within the diocese.
Addressing some 19 people who attended the meeting in the Talbot Hotel in Wexford, Mr. O’ Gorman said that the Ferns Inquiry’s interpretation of the words ‘operating under the aegis of the Diocese’ had excluded religious orders, seminarians and priests ordained outside the parish from investigation.
“There’s a term of reference in it,” said Mr. O’ Gorman, “that says the inquiry is to investigate complaints, allegations and suspicions of clerical sex abuse made against priests operating under the aegis of the diocese of Ferns.
IRELAND
New Ross Echo
Mary Frances Ryan
She was speaking during a debate on the Ferns Report in Dáil Éireann last Wednesday.
Ms. McDonnell claimed the Catholic Church’s record was such that the State could not accept that it would be truthful or capable of self-regulation.
She said that in a democracy all views could be heard but that there should be no special relationship; that this extremely influential relationship should end absolutely.
“The Church is neither democratic nor accountable. In many ways it is a secret organisation,” said Ms. O’Donnell.
She described the deference shown to the Church as the “root cause of society’s failure to stop the Church’s systematic maladministration and dereliction of duty to protect children”.
IRELAND
New Ross Echo
Welcoming the recommendations set out in the Ferns Report for dealing with issues arising in the area of child protection, several councillors at the monthly Wexford Corporation meeting questioned whether the Department of Health will put in place the funding necessary to see that these are enacted.
“There has been an appalling shadow over the Diocese of Ferns for too many years,” said Cllr. Joe Ryan, “but what we now need to do is ensure that the recommendations concerning child protection are acted upon.
“These recommend-ations should not just be applied to the Catholic Church, they also need to be applied to all the other organisations operating within areas where children are concerned.
PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News
By RAMONA SMITH
smithra@phillynews.com
Yvette Odom's friend had barely moved into Odom's house with five of her children when Odom heard allegations of sexual abuse against the director of a gospel group in which the women sang.
The first night the family moved in, Odom's friend's teenage daughter came to the kitchen and told the two women that choir director Otis Joseph had molested her, Odom said yesterday in Common Pleas Court.
The 17-year-old "said that Otis had come downstairs to her bedroom" when the family still lived in his West Oak Lane home, said Odom. The teen said Joseph had climbed into bed with her and "tried to engage her in a sexual act," Odom testified at Joseph's trial on charges of sexually assaulting that girl and two of her sisters between August and October 2003.
"[She] was upset. She just kept saying, 'I don't believe it. I'm just glad to be out of there,' " said Odom, who, with her husband, took in the friend and her children for a few weeks in fall 2003, after they had left Joseph's house.
Later, Odom said, a younger daughter interrupted a phone conversation between the two women with more bad news: "Mommy, Otis did this [abused her] to me."
The Daily News is withholding the names of the three sisters and their mother because the newspaper does not identify the alleged victims of sex crimes.
Joseph, 29, once a rising star in gospel-music circles in the city, was dismissed as choir director at West Oak Lane Church of God and later at Bright Hope Baptist Church, as sexual-abuse allegations began to surface.
MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun
By Nick Shields
Sun reporter
Originally published November 17, 2005
A pastor at a Baltimore County church has been charged with sexually abusing teenagers during counseling sessions, police said yesterday.
Gerald Fitroy Griffith, a pastor in the Woodlawn area, was charged with multiple counts of child abuse and sexual abuse of a minor, and with several other sex offenses, according to Baltimore County police.
Griffith, 39, of Bowie, who has traveled internationally with his ministry, was arrested Tuesday while waiting to board a previously scheduled flight to London at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, police said.
After five people contacted police about alleged sexual abuse, police began an investigation that led to a warrant being issued for Griffith's arrest.
GREENWICH (CT)
Greenwich Time
By Keach Hagey and Hoa Nguyen
Staff Writers
Published November 18 2005
The Diocese of Bridgeport sold 25 acres to Stanwich School yesterday, ending the school's more than seven-year search for a permanent home while generating money the diocese says it will use to pay off a 2003 settlement reached with victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Diocese and school officials inked the deal yesterday for the undeveloped parcel on Stanwich Road adjacent to St. Agnes Church and Greenwich Reform Synagogue, where the school now leases space. Diocese and school officials declined to disclose the sale price. When the diocese put the property up for sale last year, the asking price was $15 million.
Diocese officials said they needed to sell the land to cover the cost of a $21 million settlement reached two years ago and which has since been paid to victims of sexual abuse.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
In an attempt to delude the actions his actions exposed by the media, to which most believe were wrong, Bishop McManus used the Worcester Dioceses, Catholic Free Press to further explain his position in the Fr Aquino case.
This comes after failing to address numerous media inquires, letters and telephone calls in request of explanation of the "new information"
Bishop McManus has failed to address any reasoning for the failed lines of communication, his lack of investigational procedures in the Aquino case and most of all his absence from admission of his sins.
How can the leader of the dioceses confirm he failed without taking full responsibility.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Tidings
Editor's note: What documents are being sought by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as it investigates allegations of sexual abuse? Which documents are involved in the settlement of abuse lawsuits? Why does the Archdiocese continue to assert that certain documents are confidential?
The answers to these questions are straightforward enough, but have been confused by some, including members of the local media. In an effort to set the record straight, attorneys for the Archdiocese recently sat down with The Tidings and explained the documents issue.
"The first thing that people need to be clear about is that there are two separate legal processes going on," said Michael Hennigan, lead attorney for the Archdiocese. "One is civil and the other is criminal."
LOS ANGELES (CA)
The Tidings
Editor's note: What documents are being sought by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as it investigates allegations of sexual abuse? Which documents are involved in the settlement of abuse lawsuits? Why does the Archdiocese continue to assert that certain documents are confidential?
The answers to these questions are straightforward enough, but have been confused by some, including members of the local media. In an effort to set the record straight, attorneys for the Archdiocese recently sat down with The Tidings and explained the documents issue.
"The first thing that people need to be clear about is that there are two separate legal processes going on," said Michael Hennigan, lead attorney for the Archdiocese. "One is civil and the other is criminal."
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By George Weigel
Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, is almost certainly going to get himself in hot water with the U.S. Bishops Conference Office of Child and Youth Protection. That's entirely to his credit.
In the midst of the Long Lent of 2002, the conference passed a "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" (which was revised and reissued this last June). Article 12 of the charter requires dioceses to "maintain 'safe environment' programs...to be conducted cooperatively with parents, civil authorities, educators, and community organizations." The charter also specifies that these programs "be in accord with Catholic moral principles."
More than a few parents in more than a few dioceses have raised serious questions about whether many of these programs meet that standard. Bishop Vasa evidently agrees. In a recent pastoral letter, he listed the questions he thought needed to be answered before he was prepared to implement Article 12 of the Charter:
"Are such programs effective? Do such programs impose an unduly burdensome responsibility on very young children to protect themselves, rather than insisting that parents take such training and take on the primary responsibility for protecting their children? Where do these programs come from? Is it true that Planned Parenthood has a hand [in] or at least a huge influence on many of them? Is it true that other groups, actively promoting early sexual activity for children, promote these programs in association with their own perverse agendas?
WILMINGTON (DE)
Newszap
By Drew Volturo, Delaware State News
WILMINGTON — A U.S. Navy commander filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging that he was sexually molested by a priest while attending a Claymont Catholic school in the 1980s and began pushing for legislation to extend the time limit for victims to bring civil suits in Delaware.
In a 23-page suit filed in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth J. Whitwell said the Rev. Edward J. Smith molested him during two ski trips to Killington, Vt., in 1984-85, when he was a student at Archmere Academy.
However, Mr. Whitwell said Thursday that the abuse went far beyond the two alleged incidents, lasting for nine years.
“I was a typical victim, a quiet, shy, 14-year-old freshman,” said Mr. Whitwell, wearing a Navy dress uniform with his wife Amy by his side.
“He carved me out of the pack, so to speak. He befriended me by paying attention to me. He was my religion teacher and befriended my family.”
ALCOA (TN)
Knoxville Sentinel
By ROBERT WILSON, rlwilson2594@msn.com
November 18, 2005
ALCOA - SNAP of Tennessee on Thursday exhibited its chain of alleged sexual abuse victims outside a Roman Catholic church to call attention to what the organization says is a wide-scale cover-up of abuse cases across Tennessee.
SNAP is the acronym of a national organization that stands for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
As part of its media event Thursday, SNAP of Tennessee exhibited a chain that had purple plastic silhouettes of people - some named, others shown as John Does - who the group says they have documented as victims of sexual abuse by priests in Tennessee.
The Tennessee chapter's current campaign, "Breaking the Silence in Tennessee," seeks to identify both predator priests and their victims and to persuade the church to reveal what SNAP State Director Susan Vance says is a "secret list" of priests who have committed acts of sexual abuse.
MESA (AZ)
WNDU
Story filed by NewsCenter16 Reporter
Stephanie Stang
Mesa, AZ - A jury in Mesa, Arizona convicted Father Paul Lebrun on six counts, in the sexual molestation of young boys Thursday.
Lebrun shook his head as the verdicts were read aloud; a trusted priest, now a convicted child molester.
“During the trial I felt he didn't think they would find him guilty. He never once didn't smile,” said one of the victim’s mothers.
The Michiana community knows Lebrun from his years at the Little Flower Church in South Bend, during the 1990's. Indiana State Police investigated allegations of abuse here, but because of statute of limitations, no charges were filed.
Lebrun later moved to Arizona where he was accused of molesting six young boys from his church. During the trial four Indiana men testified.
“He said throughout this process was in the hands of God,” said Kenneth Huls, Lebrun’s attorney.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
11/17/2005
The man never wanted to be first to come forward about his sexual abuse at the hands of a Catholic priest decades ago.
"All along I said I didn't want to be the first person," the 43-year-old emphasized Thursday, the day the Rev. Thomas Graham was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Cowed by pain, shame and fear, he said, he had waited for others to step forward - and was ready to support them.
But during a search for his biological father's grave, he happened upon the church where Graham was then serving and saw him surrounded by adults and children. That prompted the man to report his abuse to the St. Louis Archdiocese in 1994. The church said later it could not substantiate the claim.
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