LOUISVILLE (KY)
Leading the Charge
Staff and agencies
31 January, 2006
By BRETT BARROUQUERE, 7 minutes ago
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A judge approved a settlement of up to $85 million Tuesday between sexual abuse victims and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington, one of the largest deals the church has reached with U.S. parishioners who were molested by clergy.
"Contrary to what might be the case in other dioceses, the court believes that this professed desire is genuine and played a significant role in the diocese‘s decision," Potter wrote in his 15-page ruling.
The diocese had originally agreed to pay up to $120 million to abuse victims, saying it would pay out $40 million and its insurance companies would pay up to $80 million, which would have made it the largest church sex abuse settlement in the country.
The diocese, based in Covington just south of Cincinnati, sued its self-insurance plan to force it to contribute its share to the settlement fund. That case settled in January.
NEW JERSEY
Star-Ledger
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
For almost a decade after he was barred from serving as a Catholic priest for sexually abusing minors, James Hanley lived in a senior citizens housing complex on Day Street in Paterson.
But his move last month to a bigger apartment on McBride Avenue across town has his new neighbors questioning whether the church should have alerted residents and police to his presence.
Church officials said they didn't know until last weekend that Hanley had moved, but even if they had, they said, they would not have said anything.
"He's a civil individual now. He's not a priest," Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli said yesterday. "He's been laicized. That's the furthest the church can go -- to basically disconnect someone from the priesthood."
On McBride Avenue, where Hanley lives in the upstairs apartment of a two-story house, his new neighbors had strongly different views.
BARABOO (WI)
Baraboo News Republic
By Brian Bridgeford
BARABOO - A judge brought closure to an unsuccessful defamation suit by Baraboo priest Father Gerald Vosen against a Janesville family last week.
As part of the agreement approved in Rock County Circuit Court Friday, the family will not demand thousands of dollars in legal fees as their lawyer proposed, said Patrick K. McDonald, Vosen's attorney.
In August, a jury rejected Vosen's contention that Peter L. Arnold and his parents, Nancy and LeLand Arnold, defamed him when they claimed Peter was abused by Vosen between 1989 and 1991, while in fifth and sixth grades. They said abuse took place while Vosen was a priest at St. John Vianney Catholic Church and school in Janesville, according to court records.
Vosen has maintained his innocence.
DETROIT (MI)
National
By DENNIS CODAY
A year late and under some pressure from the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit has submitted his resignation “from the office of auxiliary bishop to Cardinal [Adam] Maida.”
Gumbleton turned 75 in January 2005 and should have submitted a letter of resignation at that time. But he didn’t.
Instead he wrote the Congregation for Bishops asking that he be allowed to serve as long as he was healthy. The congregation deemed the request unacceptable, and on Jan. 21, after a year of correspondence with the congregation, Gumbleton submitted his resignation. ...
Gumbleton made headlines last month when he lobbied Ohio legislators to extend statute of limitations provisions for cases of sexual abuse of minors, legislation opposed by the Ohio Catholic bishops’ conference. Several other state bishops’ conferences, including Michigan’s, oppose similar legislation in their states.
While in Ohio, Gumbleton revealed that as a teenage seminarian, he was abused by a priest.
He has said his resignation is not related to either his revelation or his support for the statute of limitations legislation.
PATERSON (NJ)
NorthJersey.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
The Paterson Diocese, facing questions about why a defrocked priest and admitted child molester is living quietly and unsupervised in a residential neighborhood, promised Monday to review the matter and consider whether it needs to take additional steps to monitor rogue ex-priests.
"I believe we do have a moral obligation to look into this," said the Rev. James T. Mahoney, the vicar general and No. 2 official in the Roman Catholic diocese. "I know of no family that would be comfortable with a sexual abuser living near them."
But as the diocese mulled the issue, some of James T. Hanley's victims began taking matters into their own hands. Mahoney's statement came one day after the victims blanketed Hanley's Paterson neighborhood with leaflets describing his case. They said Monday that was just the beginning.
"He will be looking over his shoulder as long as he is still alive," Ray Skettini said. "Someone has to do it. The church has washed their hands of this."
WALTHAM (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | January 31, 2006
The Rev. Walter H. Cuenin, the popular pastor of a vibrant Newton parish who was forced to resign over a contested allegation of financial impropriety, is being appointed by the Archdiocese of Boston as Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University.
The appointment, by Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, could reduce some of the controversy over Cuenin's treatment by the archdiocese; the Brandeis appointment is considered desirable by the priest's supporters, because of his longtime interest in Catholic-Jewish relations. Two previous occupants of the Brandeis chaplaincy, the late Rev. Robert W. Bullock and the Rev. David C. Michael, have played major roles in shaping the archdiocese's relationship with the Jewish community in Greater Boston.
Cuenin, 60, said he is delighted with the appointment.
''I'm very excited about it, and I'm looking forward to working with the students and faculty at the university," Cuenin said. ''It's a way of being involved in the Jewish community, as I have been for many years, and of working with the Catholic community on that campus."
Cuenin has been living and assisting at St. Julia Parish in Weston since his resignation in September from the job he had held for 12 years, pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton. The archdiocese said Cuenin violated church rules through the use of a leased Honda Accord and excessive payments for saying Mass. The parish's lay leaders, who had approved the payments, said the accusations were ''unfair and unjust."
Some Catholics believe that Cuenin was punished for his role as a leader of priests critical of archdiocesan management and his support for gay rights; the archdiocese denies that politics played any role in Cuenin's ouster.
The Archdiocese of Boston had no immediate comment.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The man whose accusations could finally land admitted molester Michael Edwin Wempe in jail took the witness stand Monday and testified that he hid his abuse by the priest from everybody, even his mother.
The 26-year-old man, identified in court only as Jayson B., said that, at first, he thought it was normal that the priest touched his genitals. "It was Father Mike," he testified. "It was really difficult to think that anything he did could be wrong."
But he became disturbed when the abuse escalated to oral copulation, said Jayson B., who wept through most of his testimony.
"I said, 'What are you doing?' " Jayson B. testified. "And he said that I was a special boy and he loves me."
Wempe is accused of molesting Jayson B. from 1990 to 1995, beginning when Jayson B. was 11, while the priest was working as a chaplain at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
VIRGINIA
Culpeper Star Exponent
Liz Mitchell - Staff Writer
Culpeper Star Exponent
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
For 18 years, Liz Bailey felt she was alone.
Now she is the second person to come forward with charges of sexual abuse against Charles Shifflett, the 54-year-old pastor of First Baptist Church of Culpeper.
Bailey, 35, was a member of Shifflett’s former church, Calvary Baptist, and student at its K-12 school where he was principal.
In October 2005, the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation of Shifflett, prompted by a church member who aired concerns about how the school was run, according to Sgt. Jim Fox.
The ongoing investigation has landed Shifflett in Culpeper County Jail three times this month on charges of child injury, endangerment and indecent liberties.
The past two jail bookings resulted when Chad Robison, 29, and Bailey took out arrest warrants claiming Shifflett victimized them when they attended his school.
OAKLAND (CA)
Alameda Times-Star
By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland has laid off 17 administrative employees in its chancery offices to help cover a $1.2 million budget deficit.
Church officials say the deficit was caused in part by costs related to a $23 million loan the diocese took out last year to pay settlements in sexual abuse cases.
All 17 eliminated positions are in the main diocese offices on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, who serves as diocesan spokesman.
Friday's layoffs did not directly affect Catholic schools or cemeteries run by the diocese, the Catholic Voice church newspaper or Catholic Charities, which all run under separate operating budgets from that of the chancery offices.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2006
BY KAREN HAWKINS ASSOCIATED PRESS
An apologetic Cardinal Francis George met Monday evening with parishioners of a West Side church that was home to a priest now charged with molesting two boys, and many parents took the opportunity to lash out at how the archdiocese handled the affair.
"I'm glad to be with you, but I'm sorry to be with you because this occurrence is one that shames me certainly," George told several dozen people gathered at St. Agatha Church for a nearly two-hour meeting.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005, and they confirmed Monday they're looking into more allegations.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha several days before he was charged, but parents at Monday's meeting repeatedly questioned George about why McCormack was not removed sooner.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 30, 2006, 11:01 PM CST
As authorities investigated a new allegation that a West Side priest repeatedly abused a minor, Cardinal Francis George on Monday night faced angry parishioners at the church the priest once led.
"I'm sorry to be with you because this occasion is one that shames me certainly," George said.
The crowd of more than 200 at St. Agatha Catholic Church hammered him with the same question again and again about the abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack that date back to 2000: Why didn't we know sooner?
The emotional meeting came on the same day that another allegation against Rev. Daniel McCormack surfaced, at least the fifth in less than two weeks.
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
January 31, 2006
Three bills before the legislature would put churches and nonprofits embroiled in sex-abuse cases on an even bigger hook when it comes to damages and the statute of limitations.
A bill introduced Friday by Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, would allow sex-abuse lawsuits even against a dead person.
"The whole premise behind (these bills) would allow people to bring up charges even on an old incident," said Sen. Paula Sandoval, D-Denver, who co-sponsored a house bill with Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver.
The legislation comes at a time of heightened concern about clergy abuse. The Catholic Church in Colorado is facing more than two dozen lawsuits alleging that church officials knew of sexual-abuse allegations against priests but failed to protect children.
MIAMI (FL)
Miami Herald
By JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A Catholic priest suspended by the Archdiocese of Miami because of sexual-abuse allegations has filed a defamation lawsuit against an attorney representing one of his accusers.
The Rev. Alvaro Guichard, 65, claims lawyer Jeffrey Herman defamed him at a Sept. 22, 2004, press conference, when the attorney announced settlements of several sex-abuse lawsuits against the archdiocese -- some involving Guichard.
Herman recently moved to dismiss Guichard's defamation suit, filed in November in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.
Herman allowed Guichard to stay at the press conference after Guichard crashed the gathering at Herman's Aventura law office. An ensuing confrontation nearly resulted in fisticuffs between Guichard and the brother of one of the priest's alleged victims.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
12:12 AM PST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, a former Inland priest and twice-convicted child molester, apologized Monday to the children he abused during his nearly 20 years as a Catholic cleric.
"To those I have been involved with, I am genuinely sorry for their problems, for those I've known and the unknown," says Edward Anthony Rodrigue, standing outside his room at a downtown San Bernardino motel. A twice-convicted child molester, Rodrigue has lived at the motel since being paroled from prison on Wednesday.
"To those I have been involved with, I am genuinely sorry for their problems, for those I've known and the unknown," Rodrigue, 69, said standing outside his room at a downtown San Bernardino motel, where he has lived since being paroled from prison on Wednesday. "It upsets me that there are a few (accusers) that I don't know."
Rodrigue has spent the last 8½ years behind bars, after he pleaded no contest to molesting an 11-year-old, developmentally disabled boy in Highland. Rodrigue had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Rodrigue told detectives he molested five or six boys annually while a priest, according to a copy of a 1997 San Bernardino County sheriff's report.
INDIANA
Indianapolis Star
By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com
A group that supports sex abuse victims says it will ask hundreds of priests in the Indianapolis archdiocese to warn their congregations about a priest now facing six abuse lawsuits.
The latest, filed Monday on behalf of anonymous plaintiff John Doe KW, alleges the Rev. Harry Monroe abused a teenage boy at St. Paul's parish in Tell City from 1983-84.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis and the parish were named as defendants, too.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says it will write priests this week to ask that they warn their flocks that Monroe, now 57 and believed to be living in Tennessee, could return to familiar places. The letter also asserts that Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein has done too little to warn those parishes.
Monroe served in Tell City, Terre Haute and three Indianapolis parishes -- St. Monica, St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Catherine.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 31, 2006
BY LISA DONOVAN AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Cardinal Francis George was peppered with the same question again and again Monday night: Why would a priest interrogated by police about allegations of child molestation be allowed to continue teaching and ministering at a Roman Catholic church and school?
The head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, George told the approximately 300 gathered at St. Agatha Catholic Church, 3147 W. Douglas, for about two hours that he was sorry -- that he should have done more to make sure the Rev. Daniel McCormack abided by a church order not be be alone with children.
"I'm truly sorry you had as a pastor ... a person who was accused of being a child molester," George said, describing the allegations against McCormack, if true, as "destructive of the soul and destructive of the church."
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 31, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI AND FRANK MAIN Staff Reporters
Another Chicago boy Monday told Chicago Police and prosecutors that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Roman Catholic priest who was charged earlier this month with molesting two boys at St. Agatha Parish in North Lawndale.
The boy, 11, who attends a Chicago public school and not St. Agatha's parochial school, told authorities that McCormack abused him and gave him gifts, a law enforcement source said, adding, "What he was saying was consistent with the other" allegations against the priest.
On Jan. 21, prosecutors charged McCormack with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly fondling the genitals of two boys -- an 8-year-old (now 11) from Willowbrook on two occasions in December 2003 when they were alone in St. Agatha Church after mass, and a 9-year-old (now 13) who claims the priest molested him two to three times a month from September 2001 to January 2005.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Monterey County Herald
By LINDA DEUTSCH
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - A man who claims he was sexually abused by a priest in the 1990s cried for most of three hours on the witness stand Monday, declaring at one point, ''I didn't want anyone to know about this.''
The 26-year-old witness, identified as Jayson B., described five instances of sexual abuse he said Michael Wempe subjected him to. He said they took place about a year apart, once at Wempe's office at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other times in parking garages in Wempe's car.
He said he didn't tell anyone what had happened, adding Wempe's long-standing relationship with his family made him a figure of trust.
''It was Father Mike. It was difficult to think anything he could do was wrong,'' he testified during his second day on the witness stand.
Wempe has admitted molesting 13 other boys in the 1970s and '80s, including Jayson's two brothers, but cannot be tried in those cases because the statute of limitations has expired. He has denied molesting Jayson B., however, and his lawyers say the man fabricated the charges in an effort to seek vengeance for his brothers.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Jeff Coen and David Heinzmann contributed to this report
Published January 31, 2006
As authorities investigated a new allegation that a West Side priest repeatedly abused a minor, Cardinal Francis George on Monday night faced angry parishioners at the church the priest once led.
"I'm sorry to be with you because this occasion is one that shames me certainly," George said.
The crowd of more than 200 at St. Agatha Catholic Church hammered him with the same question again and again about the abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack that date back to 2000: Why didn't we know sooner?
The emotional meeting came on the same day that another allegation against McCormack surfaced, at least the fifth in less than two weeks.
The latest abuse occurred over the last 24 months and happened repeatedly, said Jeff Anderson, the lawyer for the latest alleged victim.
Neither Anderson nor law enforcement officials would rule out the possibility that some of the alleged abuse took place while McCormack was being monitored by the Chicago Catholic Archdiocese. The archdiocese appointed a priest to monitor McCormack's contact with children at the rectory after the first allegation was made against him in August.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Lisa Donovan and Frank Main
Special to the Daily Southtown
Cardinal Francis George was peppered with the same question again and again Monday night: Why would a priest interrogated by police about allegations of child molestation be allowed to continue teaching and ministering at a Roman Catholic school?
The head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, George told the approximately 300 gathered at St. Agatha Catholic Church on the West Side that he was sorry — that he should have done more to make sure Rev. Daniel McCormack abided by a church order not be alone with children.
"I'm truly sorry you had as a pastor ... a person who was accused of being child molester," George said, describing the allegations against McCormack — if true — as "destructive of the soul and destructive of the church."
There are 750 families in the parish at 3147 W. Douglas, which includes Our Lady of the West Side School. Most at the meeting offered tense but polite reverence to George as he met for more than two hours with them about the abuse allegations dating back five years.
CHICAGO (IL)
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
By Cathleen Falsani and Frank Main
Special to the Daily Southtown
Another Chicago boy Monday told Chicago police and prosecutors that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Roman Catholic priest who was charged earlier this month with molesting two boys at St. Agatha Parish in North Lawndale.
The boy, 11, who attends a Chicago public school, told authorities that McCormack abused him and gave him gifts, a law enforcement source said.
On Jan. 21, prosecutors charged McCormack with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly fondling the genitals of two boys — an 8- and a 9-year-old.The 11-year-old boy and his parents took their allegations to police and prosecutors Monday with their attorney, Jeff Anderson of Minnesota, who is probably the preeminent lawyer in the nation representing alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse.
In the last 20 years, Anderson has sued more than half of the Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States.
Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the Chicago archdiocese, said Monday evening that church officials had not yet been contacted by the family of the 11-year-old boy or by his attorney, Anderson. "We want him to come forward and everyone else to come forward," Dwyer said.
DENVER (CO)
TheDenverChannel.com
DENVER -- Colorado's three Roman Catholic Bishops issued a joint statement criticizing a measure that would lift the statute of limitation for child sexual abuse lawsuits for two years.
"On a matter as ugly and grave as the sexual abuse of minors, exactly the same civil and criminal penalties, financial damages, time frames for litigation and statutes of limitations should apply against both public and private institutions and their agents," the statement said issued Monday said.
It was signed by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Bishop Arthur Tafoya of Pueblo.
Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald and House Majority Leader Alice Madden introduced their measure Friday making it easier for victims to sue the church and other private groups by extending the statute of limitations in cases in which an institution or another person could be held "vicariously liable" for a perpetrator's acts.
MIAMI (FL)
Herald-Tribune
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- A Catholic priest suspended by the Archdiocese of Miami because of sexual-abuse allegations says he was defamed by one of his accusers' attorneys.
The Rev. Alvaro Guichard, 65, is suing Jeffrey Herman for statements made during a Sept. 22, 2004 news conference at Herman's office in Aventura. At the conference, Herman was announcing settlements involving the archdiocese and several sex-abuuse lawsuits. Guichard showed up unexpectedly, which started a verbal argument.
Guichard claimed he was defamed when Herman said "you raped and sodomized their family member."
The priest responded by saying all lawsuits against him are false.
"This (defamation) suit creates an opportunity to publicly litigate the claims even though the Archdiocese of Miami already settled the lawsuits," Herman said.
WORCESTER (MA)
Worcester Voice
On January 26, 2006 Worcester Superior Court Judge, Jeffrey Locke held a status conference in regards to clergy abuse cases still hanging in limbo within the Worcester Superior court dockets.
During the status hearing of January 26, 2006 a motion to dismiss under rule 12 was presented by the defendant in the Chesnis v Law et al case, Judge Locke has taken the motion under advisement.
A Hearing on a motion to dismiss, presented by the defendants on rule 12 was scheduled for July 27, 2006 in the case of Doe No 101 v Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester. Boston Attorney Carmen Durso represent the plaintiff.
ARLINGTON (VA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 8:45 am EST January 30, 2006
UPDATED: 4:16 pm EST January 30, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. -- A volunteer pastor charged with sexually abusing a patient at an assisted living center in Arlington, Va., will remain behind bars.
Richard O'Brian, 69, appeared in Arlington General District Court Monday but did not enter a plea. But his defense attorney, Daniel Dorsey told News4 reporter Tracee Wilkins his client is innocent until proven guilty.
Dorsey told the judge that his client was not a flight risk, but the judge decided to hold O'Brian without bond.
O'Brian is charged with aggravated sexual battery, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and not more than a $100,000 fine.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Steve MIller Reporting
ssmiller@cbs.com
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- Yet another boy has come forward to say he was molested by a priest from St. Agatha's Catholic Church on the West Side.
Sources tell Newsradio 780 that the boy is 11 years old.
His attorney Jeff Anderson says he took the boy and his parents to talk with investigators from the Cook County State's Attorney's office.
And that office confirms that.
This centers on accusations by the boy that Father Daniel McCormack molested him - more than once - in the past two years.
Anderson read a statement from the boy's mother.
OAKLAND (CA)
Inside Bay Area
By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND-The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland laid off 17 administrative employees Friday to help cover a $1.2 million budget deficit, caused in part by costs related to a huge loan the diocese took out last year to pay settlements in sexual abuse cases.
All of the 17 eliminated positions are in the main diocese administrative offices on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, who serves as spokesman for the diocese. The layoffs do not directly affect Catholic schools run by the diocese, cemeteries, the Catholic Voice church newspaper or Catholic Charities, which all run under separate operating budgets from that of the diocese offices.
"We regret the difficulty and pain these decisions will inevitably cause some of our employees ...," the Rev. George Mockel, a vicar general of the diocese, said in a prepared statement. "But unfortunately in light of limited financial resources, these decisions became necessary."
Five of the eliminated positions are part-time, 12 are full-time, Wiesner said. Three of the full-timers took voluntary severance packages.
INDIANAPOLIS (IN)
The News-Sentinel
KEN KUSMER
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - A sixth man has accused a former Roman Catholic priest of molesting him more than 20 years ago at an Indiana parish, and a victims' advocacy group asked current priests to warn their parishioners that the alleged molester still poses a threat.
A lawsuit that was to be filed Monday in Marion Superior Court alleged Harry Monroe abused a boy while assigned to St. Paul Parish in the Ohio River town of Tell City before the Archdiocese of Indianapolis stripped Monroe of his ministry in 1984.
It is the sixth case naming Monroe and the archdiocese as defendants in the past five months. In two of the cases, the plaintiffs allege the abuse occurred while they were minors at the Tell City parish, one of the most remote locations in the 39-county archdiocese.
"This was an act of sacrificing these rural kids to this predatory priest, which is just outrageous," the plaintiffs' attorney, Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn., said in a telephone interview.
CHICAGO (IL)
ABC 7
By Sarah Schulte
January 30, 2006 - Another victim came forward Monday with new accusations against Father Daniel McCormack. A lawyer for a young boy says Father McCormack molested him more than once.
The Chicago priest is already charged with two counts of criminal sexual abuse. These new accusations were made public Monday by the boy's lawyer, Jeff Anderson. Anderson is well known for representing victims of sexual abuse by priests.
Anderson has filed a report with the police and state attorney's office but apparently has not contacted the archdiocese. The archdiocese says until that happens, and until they get more information from police, they will not comment on the specific abuse allegations.
"He's hurting and scared," said Anderson.
Attorney Jeff Anderson is talking about his latest client, a boy who says he was also abused by Father Dan McCormack. The latest allegation against the priest came to light after the boy told his mother about the abuse this past weekend.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES More emotional testimony in Los Angeles from a man who says he was molested a decade ago by ex-priest Michael Wempe (WEMP'-ee).
The 26-year-old accuser described sexual abuse he says took place in the 1990s in Wempe's office and car.
As he burst into tears, the witness declared: "I didn't want anyone to know about this."
Asked why he didn't tell anyone, he said the practice became routine and he couldn't convince himself it was wrong, because Wempe was a trusted priest.
MALTA
malta Today
Matthew Vella
The Gozo Curia has stated it has followed “normal procedures” according to directives from the Congregation of Rome with respect to accusations of child sexual abuse by a Nadur priest who has fled Gozo in the wake of investigations.
In a letter to MaltaToday, Reverend Anton Refalo, the Curia’s public relations officer, said it was not true the Gozo Church had not taken action on serious accusations of sexual abuse mentioned in this newspaper.
Refalo categorically denied that Bishop Nikol G. Cauchi had admitted seminarians who were known to be paedophiles against the better advice of the seminary rector.
Last week this newspaper reported that a Gozitan diocesan priest from the Nadur parish had fled to the United States after complaints of alleged child sex abuse by the priest were referred to the Curia for investigation.
UNITED STATES
Counterpunch
By MICHAEL CARMICHAEL
Is Judge Samuel Alito a member of Opus Dei?
If so, does it matter? If it matters, why?
A Senate staffer confirmed that the Judiciary Committee received numerous "notes and letters" stating that Judge Samuel Alito is a member of Opus Dei.
A controversial Catholic organization*, Opus Dei is now widely known from the bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, a novel by American author Dan Brown, soon to be a major film starring Tom Hanks that will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
In 1928, a Catholic priest who acquired a doctorate in law, Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei in Spain. Escrivá's juridical attitude to religious doctrine permeates Opus Dei and is the source of its attraction to members of the legal profession. Opus Dei received massive political support after the fascist victory in the Spanish Civil War. Generalissimo Francisco Franco protected and fostered conservative elements within Opus Dei by appointing eight ministers to powerful positions in his government. In Spain, Opus Dei is still regarded as a potent political force. In 2002, Escrivá was canonized.
Why, then, is an Alito membership in Opus Dei of major significance? In addition to his activist record on the federal bench and his conservative ideology, Alito is deemed to be a menace to the balance of power as well as the constitutional rights of Americans. Judge Alito's affiliation with Opus Dei may be a factor in the strident opposition from Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, both progressive Roman Catholics who do not approve of the influence of religious dogma on political ideology. The majority of Americans believe in the separation of church and state, while many religious conservatives such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell would transform America into a theocratic state. Robertson and Falwell are staunch supporters of Judge Alito. ...
In a perceptive article titled "Holy Warriors," Sidney Blumenthal, a former advisor to President Clinton, ascribed Bush's narrow victory over Kerry directly to the political impact of the Ratzinger letter. During his long career at the Vatican, Former Cardinal Ratzinger's decisive handling of complicated problems had become a matter of record. His official investigation of the priestly child abuse scandal involving Catholic clerics gave him the knowledge and understanding of the political and legal dynamics prevalent in Bush's America.
During 2002 and 2003, Former Cardinal Ratzinger had been the Prefect of The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In previous centuries, the CDF was known as the Inquisition. In his official capacity as Prefect, he was largely responsible for the Vatican's ecclesiastical investigation into thousands of cases of priestly child sexual abuse. Former Cardinal Ratzinger's handling of that scandal has been the subject of substantial analysis and criticism.
At the height of the scandal, Former Cardinal Ratzinger wrote a letter that altered official procedure by reserving all cases of priestly child sexual abuse to the CDF. Prior to Former Cardinal Ratzinger's letter, cases of priestly sexual abuse were not restrained in the exclusive purview of the CDF. Attorneys for victims of priestly child sexual abuse in Texas argued in court that Former Cardinal Ratzinger's letter was an obstruction of justice. In a public statement, Former Cardinal Ratzinger told the Catholic News Service, "Less than one percent of priests are guilty of acts of this type." Many Catholics view this statement as callous and an attempt to cover-up the scandal. Former Cardinal Ratzinger's apparent indifference to the scandal shocked many Catholics. Many members of the College of Cardinals harkened to his message of minimizing the importance of the scandal. One Cardinal attempted to place the blame for the scandal on America's reputation for excessive litigation. He stated that attorneys were merely seeking "to make money" from the scandal. In 2005 shortly after his election to the papacy, Cardinal Ratzinger appeared to promise to make amends for earlier miscalculations in handling the charges of priestly child sexual abuse when he made a public commitment to 'attend' to the scandal. How he intends to resolve the scandal remains to be seen.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES An alleged sex abuse victim of ex-priest Michael Wempe will be back in a Los Angeles courtroom this morning to testify against the former clergyman.
The 26-year-old identified in court as Jayson-B recounted two instances of abuse during his testimony on Friday. At one point he burst into tears and declared that he hates the former priest for getting close to his family, and then abusing him.
Wempe's defense acknowledges that he abused two of Jayson's brothers, but he can't be tried for those instances because of time limits on prosecution.
But the crimes that Jayson alleges do fall within the statute of limitations.
MALTA
Malta Today
I have been entrusted by Bishop Nikol G. Cauchi to clarify that the report on the anonymous email which appeared in MaltaToday, 22 January 2006, contains several false allegations about the bishop’s actions.
He categorically denies that at any time, seminarians known to be paedophiles where admitted to the Gozo Seminary, and never has the bishop accepted this sort of candidate against the advise of the rector, as has been alleged in the report.
It is not true that the Church in Gozo did not take any action, when there were serious accusations about the sexual abuse that was reported.
When anyone reported accusations on such cases to the ecclesiastical authorities these were advised to refer the case to the Response Team which was established to investigate what would have happened. However nobody was kept from taking action or any other measure as permitted by the law.
With respect to the case mentioned in the e-mail, the normal procedures were followed according to the directives of the Congregation of Rome.
Rev. Anton Refalo,
PRO – Gozo Curia
JERSEY CITY (NJ)
Jersey Journal
Monday, January 30, 2006
By MARTINA BRENDEL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Congregants of St. John's Baptist Church in Jersey City are demanding answers from church leaders about the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against the pastor that may cost the church more than $100,000.
Three members of the congregation walked out during the Rev. Sammie Lee Hawkins's sermon yesterday, while dozens more remained inside, signing a petition calling for a mediated discussion about the issue between church leaders and congregants.
"The people of St. John's know what's going on and we want answers," said Darreth Millers, a board member for 12 years who was among the three who walked out yesterday, and helped spread the word about the petition. "The sad part is that the people who should be giving answers haven't been giving them."
Millers said the purpose of the petition was to convince the pastor and the board to talk about the lawsuit and what it means to the congregation.
"You can't treat us like you'd treat a dog, just because you're the pastor," Millers said. "You have to respect people and give them answers."
NEW JERSEY
Ashbury Park Press
BY A. SCOTT FERGUSON
STAFF WRITER
As Martin Krupnick stood before 50 prosecutors, police officers and supporters of the proposed Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center last week, he wished that they were celebrating the groundbreaking for the new building, or better, the official ribbon cutting.
Instead, Krupnick, a psychologist and chairman of the Friends of the Monmouth County Child Advocacy Center Inc., told the audience at the meeting in Freehold Township that the group would set a goal of 14 months to raise the remaining money to build the state-of-the-art center in Freehold Township.
In the past 20 years, more law enforcement agencies have turned to child advocacy centers as a way to better deal with children who are physically, sexually or mentally abused by adults.
"This will provide them with a comfortable and therapeutic environment instead of shuffling them from one agency to another," the Rev. John Bambrick, a pastor at St. Thomas More Roman Catholic Church in Manalapan and a survivor of childhood abuse, said during the meeting. Krupnick's organization so far has raised about $700,000 of the $6 million needed to construct the 16,000-square-foot building on land donated by the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders on Kozloski Drive and Burlington Road in Freehold Township.
PATERSON (NJ)
The Star-Ledger
Monday, January 30, 2006
BY JULIA M. SCOTT
Star-Ledger Staff
Families living on a street in Paterson said they were surprised to learn yesterday that their new neighbor was the man at the center of the state's most notorious case of clergy sex abuse.
The former Rev. James Hanley, who had been living in the two- story house a month, was featured on yellow fliers containing his photo and a warning: "Child sex abuser alert!"
Hanley, who admitted in 2003 to molesting 16 boys as part of a lawsuit that led to a $5 million settlement paid by the Paterson diocese -- the largest by a state diocese -- suddenly drove up as leaflets were being passed out. He jumped out of his car and told the crowd he lied about molesting as many boys as he did, according to media reports.
"If that's what it takes," said Hanley, 70, in a televised newscast. "I was under oath but in order to get it off my back and to get the money you wanted, I said, 'Yes.'"
TUCSON (AZ)
The Arizona Republic
Associated Press
Jan. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
TUCSON - All 74 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will be legally separated by the end of February as the church rebuilds from bankruptcy caused by a slew of priest sexual-abuse lawsuits.
Each parish will incorporate and take legal title to its property, transferring it from the diocese.
The legal separation doesn't mean they'll be run as standalone operations, however. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will sit on each parish board, as will diocesan Moderator of the Curia Al Schifano and the pastor of each church. The five-person boards will be rounded out with two lay members. advertisement
Kicanas called the move a "new dawn" for the diocese.
But some parishioners already are expressing doubts about the arrangement, which they say leaves power with the diocese and isn't inclusive.
"I would have hoped ... for a more democratic church, and that's not what it has turned out to be," said Tucson Catholic Kenn Block, a retiree. "Ownership is on a local level but control is vested in three members with clerical collars. That also means each board is majority male."
LOMA LINDA (CA)
Daily Bulletin
By Kelly Rush, Staff Writer
LOMA LINDA - Outspoken survivors of sexual abuse by clergy, and the message they spread, have not always been welcome at Catholic churches.
They've been spit upon, yelled at and cursed, they said.
In contrast, the reception afforded Sunday to members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church in Loma Linda wasn't particularly harsh.
Only one person called police, who briefly showed up and then left, and just a handful of others refused fliers or stopped to chastise the group giving out information about a former Ontario priest and convicted child molester who used to lead the congregation.
Edward Anthony Rodrigue, known as Father Tony to some, was let out of state prison last week and was expected to be living in San Bernardino, according to a family member. Rodrigue served eight and a half years of a 10-year sentence for sexually abusing an 11-year-old developmentally disabled boy in Highland.
CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
12:20 AM PST on Monday, January 30, 2006
By SHARON McNARY / The Press-Enterprise
Pat Olivas spent Sunday morning warning worshippers that a former priest convicted of child molestation was living nearby after his release last week from prison.
Olivas, 40, handed fliers to drivers leaving Mass at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Loma Linda.
The fliers depict Edward Anthony Rodrigue, whom Olivas accuses in a lawsuit of molesting him while a priest at St. George Catholic Church in Ontario in the late 1970s.
Meanwhile, inside St. Joseph the Worker Church, the Rev. Ignatius Rodrigues warned attendees at the 11 a.m. Mass to watch for the man they knew as "Father Tony."
PATERSON (NJ)
Daily Record
PATERSON -- James T. Hanley, former priest and admitted child molester, walked toward some of his victims with the kind of anger you might expect from a man who has been wronged. Maybe he was trying to be the old Jim Hanley, his voice loud, telling some victims that they were to blame for what happened decades ago when he was pastor of St. Joseph's parish in Mendham.
Some of his victims say that's the way he was when he was a pastor and they were children.
Now, they are men, a little too old to be bullied that way, and they were handing out "child molester alert" fliers on Sunday along McBride Avenue in Paterson, where Hanley recently moved.
Hanley stopped his car and walked toward victims holding a news conference. The man who has admitted molesting children at various parishes apparently didn't like the bad publicity he's been getting over the past few years. He put his face inches from the father of one of his victims.
'You're a liar'
"You're a liar," Hanley, 69, yelled at Lou Serrano of Mendham, whose son Mark was abused by Hanley and has become a victim's advocate.
"You raped my son," Lou Serrano replied.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2006
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Cardinal Francis George said he hopes for healing when he meets today with parishioners at a Chicago church reeling from allegations a popular priest abused two young boys.
George said he plans to listen when he visits St. Agatha, 3147 W. Douglas.
"I want to come and be with them, and encourage them, and then hear what they would like to talk about," he said Sunday. "They're certainly in my concerns and in my prayers. ... You can't heal without some sense of truth, so we'll, we'll explore that together."
The Rev. Daniel McCormack is charged with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he fondled one boy multiple times while they were both in the rectory beginning in September 2001, when the boy was 9, until January 2005, when he was 12. McCormack is also charged with fondling another boy, then 8, on two occasions in December 2003 while alone with him after mass.
PATERSON (NJ)
phillyburbs.com
The Associated Press
PATERSON. N.J. - Several men who claim they were molested as boys by Roman Catholic priests came to a city neighborhood Sunday to warn residents about one of the clerics, who has recently moved into the area. They eventually were confronted by the priest, who said he had abused some children during his career but claimed the protesters had exaggerated his actions.
Many of the men claim they were abused from 1968 to 1982 by James T. Hanley, who served at three northern New Jersey parishes. Hanley was removed from the priesthood in 2002, 17 years after church officials learned of complaints against him.
The men, along with several supporters from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), were distributing fliers that detailed their accusations against Hanley when he drove by and saw them, the Daily Record of Parsippany reported.
Hanley then walked toward the group and came face-to-face with Lou Serrano of Mendham, whose son is among those who say Hanley abused them. Hanley angrily told Lou Serrano "you're a liar," but soon admitted having had sexual contact with Serrano's son, Mark, although Hanley said he never forced himself on the youth.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 30, 2006
The choir sang hymns proclaiming God does not abandon the faithful.
The bishop preached a homily stressing God's power to cast out evil.
The priest sat quietly until his time came to remind parishioners he was there to help them heal.
But not once during mass at St. Agatha Catholic Church in Chicago on Sunday did celebrants utter the name of Rev. Daniel McCormack, the priest removed from the pulpit more than a week ago when Cook County prosecutors charged him with sexually abusing two children.
"You may not be ready today to talk," said Rev. Tom Walsh, acting pastor of St. Agatha, 3151 W. Douglas Blvd. "Maybe there's some anger and some fear and some doubt in you. But you will be someday. Believe me. And we all need to ... That's what the healing process is all about."
As counselors hovered in the back of the sanctuary to meet with parishioners and victims advocates demonstrated outside, Auxiliary Bishop John Manz celebrated mass--a gesture intended to show parishioners that the archdiocese had not turned its back on the 112-year-old North Lawndale parish.
PATERSON (NJ)
WCBS
Mary Calvi
Reporting
(CBS) PATERSON, N.J. What began as a quiet picket turned into an angry confrontation on Sunday in Paterson.
Victims who say they were sexually abused by a priest were protesting the fact that their abuser had moved into the neighborhood.
The last thing they expected happened.
The admitted abuser confronted them.
Now a defrocked priest, James Hanley admitted to the sexual abuse of more than a dozen boys in the Paterson Roman Catholic Diocese from 1968 to 1982.
Then on Sunday, in front of news cameras from all over the area, Hanley stepped back into their lives, breaking up the protest. Some of those boys, who are now adults, and their families confronted the man in a bizarre scene that looked like it belonged in the movie of the week.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Kristyn Hartman
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO Cardinal Francis George is set to meet tonight with parishioners from St. Agatha Catholic Church, the site of controversy since its priest was accused of sexual abuse.
The 7 p.m. meeting will be closed to media, CBS 2’s Kristyn Hartman reports. Parishioners will have the opportunity to talk to George about their concerns.
What George needs is courage, critics say.
"We need Cardinal George to step up up to the plate and to take the courage to remove predators when he thinks there is a possibility that there could be true allegations,” said Barbara Blaine, of Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, which handed out worksheets Sunday in protest of the accused priest.
The West side church's Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys at St. Agatha Catholic Church. A third later made allegations against him.
ORLANDO (FL)
Asbury Park Press
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ORLANDO, Fla. — A woman has sued the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and the Diocese of Orlando for $5 million, alleging that a priest who transferred from New Jersey to Florida sexually assaulted her.
The woman, identified in court papers as "Jane Doe," claims the Rev. Wladyslaw Gorak broke into her house in Lakeland in October 2004 and overpowered her, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Orlando. She said she told religious officials that Gorak was harassing and stalking her, but they allegedly ignored her pleas for help.
Gorak was arrested last year on charges of burglary with an assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery.
The woman's attorney, Adam Horowitz of Miami, said Gorak's superiors in New Jersey should have known and warned others that Gorak, 49, was a potential problem when it let him work in Florida in 2004. Police reports obtained by Horowitz show that in 2001 a female parishioner in Newark also accused Gorak of stalking.
But James Goodness, a spokesman for the Newark archdiocese, and Carol Brinati, a spokeswoman for the Orlando diocese, both said the dioceses knew of no previous complaints about Gorak. Brinati said the diocese removed Gorak when allegations of wrongdoing surfaced.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By MARIANNE GARVEY
January 29, 2006 -- A man who claims he and his brother were sexually abused by a Catholic priest three decades ago is outraged their alleged attacker will receive no jail time in another child-molestation case.
"I don't know how he's not behind bars," said Bob Lambert of Rev. Joseph Byrns, who was on trial in Brooklyn for allegedly sodomizing an 11-year-old altar boy but pleaded guilty last Monday to misdemeanor child endangerment to avoid jail.
Lambert, 50, said Byrns, 63, preyed on him and his younger brother Tim when Byrns served at St. Anastasia in Douglaston, Queens. Lambert was 14 and Tim 12 at the time. When Bob Lambert came forward with his dark secret in 1997, he learned Tim had suffered the same fate.
ARIZONA
Yuma Sun
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
Jan 28, 2006, 11:44 pm
Critical testimony and newly discovered facts in the case of Donald David Frei, a Yuma man sentenced to prison for child abuse, could overturn his conviction, said his attorney.
The 26-page petition for post conviction relief, a document asking Yuma County Superior Court to dismiss the case against Frei, alleges inappropriate relationships among some of the key figures involved in the case, among them accusations that a detective investigating the case and the mother of the victim were romantically involved.
The document, filed by Frei's attorney, Dale Wren, also asserts that the trial prosecutor served on the pastoral council of a Yuma Catholic church that, just the year before, had to pay a large monetary settlement to Frei to resolve a sexual abuse claim.
MALTA
Independent
by Daphne Caruana Galizia
Where there is true separation of Church and State, in the hearts and minds of the people as well as in their legal and political system, priests are not viewed as being above or beyond the law, and nor is the Church seen as a State within a State, with the right to deal with its own criminals as it deems fit or not at all. As long as I live, I will never understand why, in 2006, the Catholic Church in Malta has been permitted to assume the right to investigate criminal acts performed by Catholic priests or by lay workers who operate under its auspices, to the apparent exclusion of intervention by the police, and with the seeming collusion of an indifferent government.
More so, I will never understand how the citizens of this country continue to accept such forms of abuse of the democratic process without so much as a whisper, unless it is because they have been indoctrinated from birth to understand, sometimes even against their better judgement, that the laws of the Catholic Church take precedence over the laws of the land and the principles of democracy. If so, then we have no right to condemn the Muslims who defend the regime of sharia, wherein the laws of their religion are also the laws of the State, because our thinking is remarkably similar and secularism has had to be forced upon us.
It is a reflection of our lack of sophistication in these matters that, when our children tell us that they have been fiddled about with by a priest or a doctrine instructor, we don’t head for Police Headquarters in Floriana, but for the Curia across the road. This is roughly equivalent to going to the headmaster when your child tells you that he has been fondled by a teacher, and letting the buck stop there instead of filing a police report.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 29, 2006
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI Religion Reporter
Somberly, in a voice tempered by pain and contrition, Cardinal Francis George for more than an hour Saturday afternoon answered questions from reporters for the first time about the Rev. Daniel McCormack, a Chicago priest who was charged last week with sexually abusing two boys.
“The sins of priests and bishops destroy the church,” George said quietly, his eyes cast down at the podium standing between him and phalanx of reporters at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago’s Pastoral Center on East Superior. “That is what we’re seeing.”
The cardinal-archbishop praised a nun for coming forward with an allegation against McCormack from 2000, expressed grief for the priest’s wounded flock and acknowledged inadequacies in the way priest’s case was handled.
“I’m worried,” he said. “I’m worried about the children. I’m worried about a lot of things.”
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Prompted by debate over whether Catholic officials waited too long to remove a Chicago priest accused of sex abuse, a national watchdog panel plans to discuss whether current guidelines adequately address cases where the alleged victim chooses to deal exclusively with law enforcement.
Critics say Rev. Daniel McCormack should have been suspended in September from St. Agatha Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., after police received an initial allegation that he had sexually abused a child. Police and prosecutors concluded then that the evidence was not strong enough to charge the priest.
Instead of removing McCormack, the archdiocese told Rev. Tom Walsh, a priest who temporarily lived with McCormack, that an "unfounded allegation" had been reported and asked Walsh to make sure McCormack did not invite children into the rectory, communications director Colleen Dolan said Friday.
McCormack was not removed from ministry until after police arrested him Jan. 20 in a different abuse allegation.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Andrew Wang contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Cardinal Francis George said the process for protecting children from abuse fell apart when allegations first surfaced against Rev. Daniel McCormack in 2000, enabling the priest to stay behind the pulpit for too long.
"I think we failed in certain instances to respond adequately," George said at a news conference Saturday. "I think there are reasons why we did. It wasn't ill will. There was certainly no cover-up on our part. ... We didn't find out enough. We didn't find out quickly enough."
George put the blame on people who did not follow protocol in 2000 and on other procedures that prevented the archdiocese from removing McCormack from ministry.
"Each time you hope it's not true. And more often than not it turns out to be true," George said. "In this case the process couldn't work."
George intends to ask America's Catholic bishops to revise the 2002 guidelines on handling sex-abuse allegations, which did not address cases when victims or their families bypass church authorities and report only to law-enforcement agencies.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters David Heinzmann and Jeff Coen contributed to this report
Published January 29, 2006
Prompted by debate over whether Catholic officials waited too long to remove a Chicago priest accused of sex abuse, a national watchdog panel plans to discuss whether current guidelines adequately address cases where the alleged victim chooses to deal exclusively with law enforcement.
Critics say Rev. Daniel McCormack should have been suspended in September from St. Agatha Church, 3147 W. Douglas Blvd., when police received an initial allegation that he had sexually abused a child. Police concluded then that the evidence was not strong enough to charge the priest.
Instead of removing McCormack, the archdiocese told Rev. Tom Walsh, a priest who temporarily lived with McCormack, that an "unfounded allegation" had been reported and asked Walsh to make sure McCormack did not invite children into the rectory, communications director Colleen Dolan said Friday.
McCormack was not removed from ministry until after police arrested him Jan. 20 in a different abuse allegation.
The archdiocese said it could not pursue its own inquiry into the first case because police and prosecutors did not share any details of the complaint or subsequent investigation. The family of the accuser also declined to speak with church officials.
NEW JERSEY
NorthJersey.com
Sunday, January 29, 2006
By JOHN CHADWICK
STAFF WRITER
James Hanley still has the gregarious personality his young victims found so disarming.
Standing on a Paterson street, he is the picture of bonhomie, telling stories, cracking jokes and playfully barking, "Get outta here" to an elderly female friend who had pulled up in a car and shouted, "You staying out of trouble?"
It has been almost three years since Hanley was forced from the priesthood. Yet he wears a cross, attends Mass and has a bumper sticker on his Toyota Camry: "My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter."
"If anything, the Lord has said ... 'Don't worry, I'll stand by you,' " he said.
But even divine intervention can't undo his past.
James Thomas Hanley is the most notorious clerical sex abuser in northern New Jersey.
CHICAGO (IL)
Quad-City Times
By The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — A day after being released from a hospital, Cardinal Francis George said Saturday had he known several months ago what he knows now regarding a priest charged with molesting two boys, he would have found a way to remove him from a West Side parish.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha Church several days before he was charged, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has said.
But some critics have questioned why McCormack was allowed to remain at the church. The archdiocese has acknowledged that one of the charges stems from an allegation of sexual abuse that was first made in August.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
January 28, 2006
BY CARLA K. JOHNSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
A day after being released from a hospital, Cardinal Francis George said Saturday had he known several months ago what he knows now regarding a priest charged with molesting two boys, he would have found a way to remove him from a West Side parish.
"Had I known then what I think I know now, we would have perhaps found some way to take him out," George said.
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was charged Jan. 21 with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Prosecutors say he repeatedly molested two boys between 2001 and 2005.
McCormack was suspended and removed from St. Agatha Church several days before he was charged, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has said.
But some critics have questioned why McCormack was allowed to remain at the church. The archdiocese has acknowledged that one of the charges stems from an allegation of sexual abuse that was first made in August.
TUCSON (AZ)
KPHO
TUCSON, Ariz. All 74 parishes in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson will be legally separated by the end of February.
The move comes as the church rebuilds from bankruptcy caused by a slew of priest sexual-abuse lawsuits.
Each parish will incorporate and take legal title to its property. But that doesn't mean they'll be run as standalone operations.
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas will sit on each parish board along with two other priests. The five-person boards will be rounded out with two lay members.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
Mary Frances Bragiel Reporting
CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- Cardinal Francis George says it's necessary to have a public conversation regarding the charges of sexual abuse against Rev. Daniel McCormack.
WBBM Newsradio 780's Mary Frances Bragiel reports Saturday, the day after the cardinal was released from a hospital after dizziness from an inner ear imbalance. He told reporters he is feeling much better.
The priest is charged with molesting two boys at St. Agatha's Church on the West Side. For the delay in removing the priest, George stopped shy of blaming the Archdiocese but did admit the process in reporting the alledged abuse was not followed. He said the victim needed to come forward to the Office of Professional Responsibility within the Archdioces. That did not happen.
And without credible evidence, the cardinal says he could only have him monitored by another priest and not removed from the ministry.
George wouldn't say if he believed McCormick was guilty.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Jay Levine
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO Cardinal Francis George said Saturday that when allegations first arose against a priest who was later charged with abusing children, there was insufficient evidence to take action against him.
But, as CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, George said: “Had I known then what I know now, I think I would have tried to find some way to take him out. But the way isn’t clear in the code. In order to take somebody out permanently or even to take him out for the purpose of investigation, you have to be sure that you’re not violating the law.”
The Rev. Daniel McCormack was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys at St. Agatha Church, at 3147 W. Douglas Blvd. A third later made allegations against him.?8
GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By GAYLE WHITE
Published on: 01/29/06
Facing major surgery and embroiled in his fourth sex scandal, Bishop Earl Paulk stood confidently in the pulpit of his 7,700-seat south DeKalb cathedral in late October.
Only a few hundred worshippers occupied the maroon seats on the main floor of Chapel Hill Harvester Church. Sections of the semi-circular sanctuary were roped off so congregants would sit near the front for the television cameras. The ceiling rose majestically over two almost empty balconies.
Norma, Paulk's wife of six decades, sat to his right.
But gone were some of his most faithful followers.
They had helped Paulk, 78, build his little church into a flock of 12,000 that caught the attention of presidents. Then they had stood by him as the church hemorrhaged members and money after two scandals that drew national attention.
They had believed him when he denied allegations of adultery and child molestation by saying his accusers were under demonic influence.
Now, they are his accusers.
Cindy Hall, 44, was the first baby born into the church that Paulk founded in 1960. In 2003, she burst into tears over dinner and told her husband, Greg, "We have to get out of there." She says Paulk coerced her into an 11-year affair that included having sex with his brother.
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 28, 2006 12:00 AM
Arizona's Lutheran bishop has resigned after admitting he engaged in sexual misconduct with a woman.
Since 2001, Michael Neils, 56, had served as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America-Grand Canyon Synod. It covers Arizona and Las Vegas.
Neils also resigned as an ordained minister.
He is the second Lutheran bishop to resign after admitting sexual misconduct. In 1996, the bishop in North Carolina quit after he admitted to sexual misconduct with a woman.
OHIO
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
BISHOP Frederick F. Campbell followed church policy by permanently removing the Rev. Samuel E. Ritchey from the ministry once a review board determined an abuse complaint was credible.
Ritchey was a priest at Lancaster and Bremen parishes in the 1980s. He also was a teacher at Fisher Catholic High School.
A complaint alleging Ritchey sexually abused a minor in 1977 was reported to Victim's Assistance Coordinator Monsignor Stephan J. Moloney. Ritchey was a teacher at Fisher Catholic High School from 1975 to 1982.
The diocese placed Ritchey on administrative leave two days after the complaint was lodged.
This incident is the first time someone has come forward to accuse Ritchey of abuse, according to the diocese.
Church members undoubtedly will have questions and concerns they want the church hierarchy to address. They will have an opportunity Feb. 6 when Moloney will be at St. Bernadette Church's parish office in Lancaster to talk to people and offer assistance.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A priest facing allegations of child rape has stood down as chairman of governors at a Birmingham school.
Canon John Herve, was suspended from his duties as parish priest at St Agatha with St Barnabas in Sparkbrook, after being arrested this month.
He is currently on police bail while investigations continue into the alleged rape of a child under 16.
The city council confirmed on Saturday he has left his post on Ladypool Primary School's board of governors.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Union-Tribune
By Linda Deutsch
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:38 p.m. January 27, 2006
LOS ANGELES – A young man who was allegedly molested by ex-priest Michael Wempe testified Friday about two instances of abuse, declaring “I hate Wempe!” and bursting into tears on the witness stand.
The 26-year-old, identified in court as Jayson B., cried and sighed intermittently for over an hour as he related his feelings and detailed the alleged abuse.
“Why do you hate him?” asked Deputy District Attorney Todd Hicks.
“He used his relationship with our family and the trust we had in him and my vulnerability to abuse me,” said the witness.
Jayson was preceded to the stand by his older brother, Mark.
AUSTRALIA
The Advertiser
Nigel Hunt
29jan06
THE Catholic Church has moved to assure victims of sexual abuse their legal fees will continue to be paid following confusion created by a new policy document.
Catholic diocese of Adelaide Director of Professional Standards Sue Cain yesterday said there would be no change to the existing system under which cases were assessed individually and all legal fees paid "in many cases".
This was despite a revised Towards Healing principles and procedures guidelines document provided to lawyers representing abuse victims stating otherwise.
The document says "as support persons are not remunerated for their role in the process, no legal fees are payable to support persons who are legal practitioners".
CROWN POINT (IL)
The Times
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, January 28, 2006 12:03 AM CST
Times Staff Report
CROWN POINT | A Chicago priest accused of sexually abusing children has co-celebrated Masses at St. Mary's Church, but the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gary is not investigating the visits.
The Rev. Brian Chadwick, a diocese spokesman, confirmed Thursday that in recent years the Rev. Daniel J. McCormack has helped celebrate baptism and first holy communion Mass at the Crown Point church involving local family members who attend St. Mary's.
Chadwick said the diocese has procedures in place to handle claims that are made, but does not have reason to investigate in this instance.
VIRGINIA
The Virginian-Pilot
By DEIRDRE FERNANDES, The Virginian-Pilot
January 28, 2006
RICHMOND — Clergy would have to report child abuse cases to authorities if a bill that barely escaped a Senate committee Friday becomes law.
Two days after police charged a Newport News pastor with contributing to the delinquency of three minor girls and obstructing justice by urging someone else to keep quiet about the alleged sexual abuse, the Senate debated whether to require clergy to speak out.
Under the bill, ministers, priests, rabbis and imams would be placed in the same category as teachers, doctors, police officers and social workers who are required to call in cases of suspected child abuse and neglect. Those who fail to do so within 72 hours could be fined up to $500.
SB253 passed the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee by an 8-6 vote.
The purpose is, “to have more people looking out for our children,” said Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax, a bill sponsor.
TUCSON (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.28.2006
Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas is calling it a "new dawn" for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson — all 74 parishes are expected to be separate financial entities by the end of February.
Already 67 of the diocese's parishes have incorporated, a move that occurred after the diocese settled pending sexual-abuse litigation and emerged from federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September.
The parishes are separate entities, but Kicanas will sit on all 74 parish boards along with two other clerics — diocesan Moderator of the Curia Al Schifano and the pastor of each church. The five-member parish boards include two lay people; one serves a three-year term, the other a two-year term.
Critics already say the boards have an imbalance of power.
CHICAGO (IL)
CBS 2
Jay Levine
Reporting
(CBS) CHICAGO The Rev. Daniel McCormack, who was arrested last week and charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two young boys, and a third later made allegations against him.
But CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has learned that the Cook County state's attorney's office has received contact from a former classmate of McCormack's at Niles College, a pipeline for candidates bound for the priesthood at the seminary in Mundelein.
That former classmate claims that when both he and McCormack were students at Niles College in 1988, he awoke to find his pants pulled down and McCormack standing over him.
Levine has spoken to both the alleged victim and a classmate that victim confided in at the time. Both have asked to remain anonymous, but they confirm the incident recounted for us by others as well.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KTVO
LOS ANGELES Emotional testimony in Los Angeles against a former priest on trial for sexual abuse.
A 26-year-old man identified as Jayson B cried and shouted that he hated Michael Wempe (WEMP'-ee). The witness said he was fondled twice by the clergyman.
The former priest has admitted he molested 13 boys in the 1970s and '80s but has not been tried in those cases because of a Supreme Court ruling barring extension of the statute of limitations on old cases. The alleged victim's brothers were affected by the ruling.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
The 26-year-old man at the center of retired priest Michael Wempe's sexual abuse trial testified Friday that Wempe fondled him in the early 1990s, several years after the priest had been treated for pedophilia and Cardinal Roger M. Mahony had returned him to the ministry.
The man, identified in court as Jayson B., said Wempe molested him twice when he was 11 and 12 as he sat on the priest's lap using a computer in Wempe's office at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Wempe was a chaplain.
"He at first had a hand on my waist, and eventually moved it to my crotch area," Jayson B. testified, fighting back tears as he spoke for much of his two hours on the stand. "Eventually, he moved his hand from the outside of my pants to underneath and had his hand on my crotch underneath my shorts."
Wempe, 66, faces 16 years in prison if convicted of lewd conduct and oral copulation with Jayson B. He has admitted through his lawyer that he molested Jayson's two older brothers and 11 other boys in the 1970s and 1980s, but has denied sexually abusing Jayson.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
By ROBERTO SANTIAGO, JAY WEAVER AND WANDA DEMARZO
rsantiago@MiamiHerald.com
Father Neil Doherty would slip something into his victims' drinks to make them sleepy. Then, when they were unconscious, the Catholic priest would assault them, according to documents released Friday.
The Archdiocese of Miami was aware of the priest's history, but instead of removing him, it moved him around -- to different parishes or Catholic agencies, according to attorney Jeffrey Herman, who has filed a $25-million lawsuit on behalf of a Margate man, and is preparing lawsuits for other victims, he said.
''They were also victims of [Rev.] Neil Doherty,'' said Herman, of Miami.
Herman represents five men who claim Doherty molested them while he was a priest.
Doherty, 62, now retired, was denied bond Friday -- a day after Broward Sheriff's deputies charged him with two counts of sexual battery on a child, two counts of indecent assault and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation.
DENVER (CO)
Denver Post
By Mike McPhee
Denver Post Staff Writer
A Larimer County district judge ruled Friday that the public will not be shut out of court hearings for a Fort Collins Catholic priest charged with sexual abuse of a male parishioner.
Timothy Evans, 43, who served as a priest and then pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Fort Collins from 1998 to 2002, is charged with four felonies: two counts of sexual abuse of a child by a person in a position of trust, one count of a pattern of sexual abuse, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
His attorneys, Erik Fischer and David Mestas, had filed a motion to close a preliminary hearing Friday, to which The Denver Post and the Fort Collins Coloradoan objected. Judge Jolene Blair denied the motion, citing the newspapers' objections.
Because of new information that surfaced recently, Blair agreed to a request
by Fischer to continue the preliminary hearing until March 7. Evans, who was ordained in 1993 but stripped of his priestly functions in 2003, remains free on bond.
FORT COLLINS (CO)
The Coloradoan
By SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com
The public will be allowed to attend an upcoming hearing in the case of a former Fort Collins Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting a child, a judge ruled Friday.
District Court Judge Jolene Blair rejected a motion by lawyers for Timothy Evans, 43, who argued that allowing the public and media into a pretrial hearing could violate his right to a fair trial. She didn't comment on her reasoning.
The motion to close the preliminary hearing was opposed by the Fort Collins Coloradoan and The Denver Post, who argued that barring the public from the pretrial hearing would be an extreme step not supported by evidence. Lawyers for the two papers argued that the defense had other less drastic means to protect Evans' fair-trial rights.
David Mestas, one of Evans' defense attorneys, said he was not surprised by Blair's ruling.
"It's a pretty drastic move for a judge to make," he said, adding that he and his co-counsel, Erik Fischer, worry that the public has been influenced by news regarding the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal.
ARLINGTON (VA)
WAVY
ARLINGTON, Va. A volunteer pastor charged with sexually abusing a patient at an assisted living center has made a brief appearance in court.
Arlington County Police charged 69-year-old Richard O'Brien with aggravated sexual battery. They say he had sexual contact with an elderly patient who couldn't give consent.
O'Brien was arrested yesterday at his home in Annandale. He's being held without bond in the Arlington County jail.
Officials with the rehab center say O'Brien told them he was a priest with the Catholic Apostolic Church. But officials with the independent church say O'Brien hasn't been associated with the church for ten years.
FORT COLLINS (CO)
Rocky Mountain News
By Deborah Frazier, Rocky Mountain News
January 27, 2006
FORT COLLINS — A preliminary hearing for a former Fort Collins Catholic priest was postponed today until March 7.
The Rev. Timothy Evans, who appeared before Larimer County District Court Judge Jolene Blair, is charged with two counts of sexual abuse on a child by a person in a position of trust, one count of pattern of abuse, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All are felonies.
Evans was removed from the ministry at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in 2002. He was arrested in 2004 when the charges were filed.
COLORADO
The Coloradoan
By SARA REED
SaraReed@coloradoan.com
Prosecution and defense attorneys in the case of a former priest accused of sexually assaulting a child have asked for additional time to discuss the possibility of a plea agreement.
Timothy Evans, 43, faces two counts of sexual assault on a child by a person in position of trust, one count of sexual assault on a child — pattern of abuse and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from incidents alleged to have occurred during his time at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 5450 S. Lemay Ave., where he served from 1998 to 2002.
Evans was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday morning during which time District Court Judge Jolene Blair was to decide whether there was enough evidence to send the case to trial. But the hearing was delayed at the request of both sides.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
By Wanda J. DeMarzo
wdemarzo@MiamiHerald
A former priest accused of sexually abusing a young boy nearly a decade ago was denied bond at a hearing this morning.
The Rev. Neil Doherty, 62, is charged with two counts of sexual battery on a child, two counts of indecent assault and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation.
There is no bond on the sexual battery charges.
Jeffrey Herman, the Miami-based attorney for the alleged victim, plans to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. at the Broward County Main Jail, 555 S.E. First Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Herman represents five men who claim Doherty molested them while he was a priest.
FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel
Mark I. Pinsky | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted January 27, 2006
A former Lakeland woman sued the Catholic Diocese of Orlando on Thursday, saying a senior pastor ignored her pleas to do something about an associate pastor who was harassing and stalking her and eventually was charged with attacking her.
Wladyslaw Gorak, a Polish immigrant also known as Walter Fisher, was arrested last year and charged with burglary with an assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery in connection with the October 2004 attack at the woman's Lakeland home.
The suit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, says Gorak broke into her house, overpowered her and ripped her clothes.
Gorak had been transferred to Central Florida in late 2003 from the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where a parishioner also accused him of stalking, the suit and police reports said. The suit says the dioceses should have known Gorak was unfit for service.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
KESQ
LOS ANGELES An alleged sexual abuse victim of ex-priest Michael Wempe will testify today in the Los Angeles courtroom where his brother delivered teary testimony yesterday afternoon.
The victim is identified in court only as Jayson. He alleges that Wempe molested him in the 1990s.
Jayson's brother, known as Mark-B, was questioned yesterday. He said Wempe molested him too, along with a third brother Lee. Wempe can't be tried for those alleged abuses because they fall outside the court's statute of limitations. But Jayson's don't.
UNITED KINGDOM
Times & Star
Published on 27/01/2006
A FORMER Workington priest jailed for sexually abusing young boys will be re-interviewed by town detectives following a new complaint.
The news comes less than two weeks after Father Gregory Carroll, 66, had his four-year sentence shortened by a year by the Criminal Appeal Court.
He was sentenced in September for abusing 10 boys under the age of 15 while he was teaching at the junior house of Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire from 1973 to 1983.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
A MONK who abused 15 boys as young as eight over a decade while a master at a leading Roman Catholic boarding school has been jailed for two years.
Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, son of Tory Peer Lord Harvington, was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years and banned from working with children indefinitely.
His conviction yesterday at Leeds Crown Court ends a two-year investigation into abuse at Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, following a decision by former Abbot Basil Hume not to involve police in a complaint against Grant-Ferris in 1975.
UNITED KINGDOM
Yorkshire Post Today
Mark Branagan
With his Guards officer's dashing good looks, his athlete's energy and smooth flattering manner, no-one really knew what Tory peer's son Piers Grant-Ferris was doing at Ampleforth College.
A highly respected monk and teacher, he was also a celebrated mountaineer who in later life would face near death on the Andes.
The only son of leading public figure Lord Harvington – a personal friend of Margaret Thatcher – he had a spotless family name.
Commissioned into the Irish Guards, Grant-Ferris seemed poised for the sort of brilliant career carved out his by father, a former Deputy Speaker during Ted Heath's government and a member of a prominent English Roman Catholic family.
So pupils wondered why he suddenly retreated from the world. In a place where the 40-something Abbot Basil Hume was regarded as a youthful figure, the only explanation was a vague rumour – that Grant-Ferris had been traumatised by a car crash in which two young women died.
UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News
A monk has been jailed for two years 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.
Sentencing him at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, judge Ian Dobkin said his crimes were "dire in many respects".
UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
By Andrew Norfolk
A MONK from a leading Roman Catholic family was jailed for two years yesterday after admitting 20 offences of indecent assault against 15 young boys at Ampleforth College.
Father Piers Grant-Ferris, 72, whose offences were committed more than 30 years ago, was given a prison sentence even though the court was presented with 3,500 letters and cards from his supporters.
Grant-Ferris, a Benedictine monk at Ampleforth Abbey, North Yorkshire, was a form master at Gilling Castle, the college’s prep school, when the abuse happened between 1966 and 1975. His victims, now in their forties and fifties, were pupils aged between 8 and 10 at the time.
It emerged during the police investigation that Cardinal Basil Hume was the Abbot of Ampleforth in 1975 when concerns about Grant-Ferris were first raised by the parents of one boy. He removed the monk from further contact with pupils and sent him to work at a parish in Cumbria, but decided not to report his offending to the police.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida are expected to meet soon regarding his future at St. Leo's Catholic Church and the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Gumbleton, one of Metro Detroit's longest-serving and politically outspoken priests, has offered his resignation as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Gumbleton's resignation follows a Vatican mandate that requires bishops to resign their offices at the age of 75. Gumbleton turned 76 Thursday. ...
Earlier this month, Gumbleton revealed he was abused by a priest when he was a student at Sacred Heart Seminary 60 years ago. Gumbleton made the announcement Jan. 12 to voice his support for legislation pending in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York which would extend the statute of limitations of one year for those seeking to file lawsuit over alleged incidents by priests.
ARIZONA
KPHO
(AP) -- Friends of the former pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Community Church are trying to raise $100,000 within two weeks for his legal defense.
Monsignor Dale Fushek was arrested Nov. 21 and has pleaded innocent to 10 misdemeanor sexual misconduct charges and remains under house arrest in Phoenix. Fushek, 53, is a co-defendant in a civil lawsuit filed a year ago by an alleged victim in a separate incident.
Citing the urgent need for $100,000, supporters have distributed fliers noting that the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix would pay none of Fushek's legal costs "until he is found innocent." Diocesan attorney Michael Haran said Thursday the diocese would not cover any criminal defense costs, but it would pay civil trial costs if Fushek wins that case.
FLORIDA
The Ledger
By Cary McMullen
The Ledger
THE NEWS
A $5 million lawsuit was filed against the Catholic Diocese of Orlando Thursday by a former Lakeland resident in connection with an alleged assault by a former Lakeland priest.
The lawsuit was filed in Circuit Court in Orlando on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe. The suit claims that the diocese was negligent in failing to protect Doe from Wladyslaw Gorak, also known as Walter Fisher, who was a parochial vicar, or assistant pastor, at Church of the Resurrection from February to December 2004.
BACKGROUND
Gorak was arrested in May 2005 on charges of burglary with assault, false imprisonment, aggravated stalking and battery. According to a report from Lakeland police, he forced his way into a woman's home in October 2004, threw her to the floor and tore some of her clothes off. He remains in jail awaiting trial.
The suit named as defendants the Diocese of Orlando, which has jurisdiction over parishes in Polk County, and the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., where Gorak was a priest before coming to Lakeland. It claims the archdiocese failed to disclose that Gorak was implicated in a previous stalking incident in New Jersey and that the Orlando diocese ignored Doe's complaints that Gorak was harassing her.
LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times
By Jean Guccione, Times Staff Writer
Within minutes of taking the witness stand, one of Father Michael Wempe's sexual abuse victims burst into tears Thursday, gazing at a picture of his son, then 4, seated on the priest's lap at a Christmas gathering.
"I can't believe I did that," the witness, identified only as Mark B., said Thursday, wiping his eyes. "I put my son on the lap of a pedophile."
Wempe, on trial for allegedly molesting Mark B.'s youngest brother, met the family in the 1970s when they attended St. Jude Catholic Church in Westlake Village, Mark B. testified.
"He was a person of great importance to my family. We didn't know a lot of people when we moved to Westlake Village," he said. "He became a surrogate father, not just a spiritual father."
Mark B. said he recalled Wempe fondly until spring 2001, when the priest was invited to his younger brother Lee's wedding. Suddenly, he said, memories fell into place of the motorcycle rides when Wempe fondled him, and the camping trip when the priest snuggled up to him in bed.
ARLINGTON (VA)
NBC 4
POSTED: 6:48 pm EST January 26, 2006
UPDATED: 7:24 pm EST January 26, 2006
ARLINGTON, Va. -- A volunteer clergyman has been arrested and charged with sexual battery in Arlington County.
On Sunday, an employee of an assisted-living facility in the 3700 block of Lee Highway in the Cherrydale neighborhood reported that she saw the suspect --a volunteer at the facility -- have sexual contact with an adult female resident of the facility, police said.
Richard P. O'Brian, 69, was taken into custody at his home in Annandale, police said. He is charged with one count of aggravated sexual battery, punishable by up to 20 years in jail and not more than a $100,000 fine.
FLORIDA
Miami Herald
BY WANDA J. DeMARZO, JAY WEAVER AND JENNIFER LEBOVICH
jlebovich@MiamiHerald.com
The Broward Sheriff's Office on Thursday arrested a former priest who had served parishes in South Florida for three decades on charges he sexually abused a young boy.
The Rev. Neil Doherty, 62, is the first Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Miami to be charged with sexual battery on a minor younger than 12.
Alleged victims of Doherty have been coming forward ever since the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002.
Broward authorities began investigating the latest case after the victim filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Miami, accusing it of allowing the priest to serve at a Margate parish despite having settled an earlier lawsuit invo