ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 28, 2006, 3:32 PM CST
A Minnesota man who says he was abused more than 30 years ago by a priest in Downers Grove filed suit today, demanding that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet publicly name all clergy accused of abuse since 1950, including the one who allegedly victimized him.
The suit, filed in DuPage County court in Wheaton, seeks an injunction that would force the diocese to release the names of at least 27 credibly accused priests -- dead or alive -- as well as documentation of the allegations made against them.
George Knotek, 52, who now lives in Minneapolis, said he wants to protect children who are in danger of abuse because the church has not released to law enforcement officials the names and files of accused clergy.
Knotek said he also wishes to speak on behalf of those who have been molested by priests in the Joliet Diocese and who he maintained are re-victimized by church leaders when they come forward.
CHICAGO (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
TARA BURGHART
Associated Press
CHICAGO - A class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday against the Diocese of Joliet seeks to force Roman Catholic officials there to release the names of all priests accused of sexually abusing children.
The lead plaintiff is a man who says his family's priest at Divine Savior Church in Downer's Grove abused him in 1970. George Knotek said he was 16 when he approached the priest for advice on entering the seminary, but instead the Rev. Donald Pock gave him alcohol to drink and sexually abused him, creating "a nightmare that has lasted for years."
Pock died in 2004. Knotek said the response of church officials to his complaints - which started in the early 1970s - has been hurtful and insufficient, even though a brother who is a priest has tried to help him.
Tom Kerber, a spokesman for the Diocese of Joliet, said it would not have any immediate comment on the lawsuit. Joliet is about 30 miles southwest of Chicago.
BOSTON (MA)
The Guardian
Tuesday February 28, 2006 9:01 PM
By JAY LINDSAY
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Archdiocese still hasn't implemented key reforms promised three years ago in its plan to prevent the sexual abuse of children by church personnel, according to the state attorney general's office.
In a letter to a church committee, Attorney General Tom Reilly's office criticized the failure of the Roman Catholic archdiocese to devise a system that tracks abusive priests. It also said the archdiocese hadn't implemented sexual abuse prevention programs for adolescents and teens in its schools and religious education programs.
The lack of followthrough ``have us questioning the archdiocese's commitment and whether it learned any lessons at all from the tragedy that led us to issue our report in 2003,'' according to the letter from Alice Moore, chief of the attorney general's Public Protection Bureau.
Kelly Lynch, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said Archbishop Sean O'Malley is committed to protecting children from abusers. ``He continues to recognize that, while much has been accomplished, more must be done,'' she said.
ERIE (PA)
Erie Times-News
By Dana Massing
dana.massing@timesnews.com
Closed doors.
Secret proceedings.
A ruling that will decide the future of a priest accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male student.
The clergy sex-abuse trial of New York Monsignor Charles Kavanagh is coming to the Catholic Diocese of Erie. But don't expect to find a seat in a courtroom where you can listen to testimony from the defendant and his accuser.
Such church trials aren't open to the public. At the most, you'll hear the verdict after it's decided by a panel of canon law judges.
"Once the decision is made, it will be made public," said Monsignor Tom McSweeney, diocesan spokesman
However, the months-long process leading to it will be "private and confidential," he said.
PORTLAND (ME)
Boston.com
By Clarke Canfield, Associated Press Writer | February 28, 2006
PORTLAND, Maine --The Vatican has removed two Maine priests and upheld restrictions on a third following an investigation into accusations that they sexually abused minors, church officials said Tuesday.
The Vatican has imposed its most severe punishment by defrocking Christian Roy, 57, and John Shorty, 58, said Bishop Richard Malone of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. That means they are permanently removed from the clergy, will not receive a pension or health benefits from the church, and are prohibited from celebrating Mass.
The Vatican also determined that restrictions placed on John Audibert, 65, will remain in effect, Malone said at a press conference at the church's offices. Audibert is still an ordained priest, but is prohibited from wearing clerical clothes or presenting himself as a priest, having unsupervised contact with minors or celebrating Mass in a church.
"I'm sincerely hopeful this information and further information of this kind will bring some measure of justice and healing and closure to victims," Malone said.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By MARTHA DELLER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH — The trial of a 56-year-old Fort Worth man accused of molesting at least five boys while he was pastor of the Westside Victory Baptist Church began Tuesday in Tarrant County’s Criminal District Court No. 4.
Larry Nuell Neathery firmly answered not guilty Tuesday morning as prosecutor Mitch Poe read five multi-county indictments accusing the former pastor of committing felony sexual assault against five boys, including three of his grandsons and two neighbors, over a six-year period.
In opening statements, prosecutor Rebecca McIntire described how Neathery "groomed" boys who had either absent or ill fathers, gradually enticing them into relationships where he molested them in his church office and his home. He then swore them to secrecy, she said.
"He wrapped himself in the cloak of the church," McIntire said, leading the boys to believe that church members would side with him if they accused him of molesting them.
CHICAGO (IL)
National
By ROBERT McCLORY
When Cardinal Francis George returned home to Chicago in late January after a trip to Rome, New Zealand and Thailand, he was confronted with perhaps the biggest challenge since he arrived here in 1997. It was an almost perfect storm -- a conjunction of allegation, accusation and acrimony, the sort of thing every U.S. bishop has been dreading since 2002 and that George, vice president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, had avoided until now.
First there was the arrest of Fr. Dan McCormack, 37, the popular pastor of St. Agatha Parish. He was accused Jan 21 of fondling two boys, now 11 and 13. This was not, like most accusations of the past, about something that happened 15 to 35 years ago. The alleged abuse had occurred between 2000 and 2005, even after the bishops’ 2002 zero-tolerance charter in Dallas, a document of which George himself had been a chief architect.
McCormack had been under suspicion and was questioned by police last August. However, the archdiocese left him in place at his parish, telling him not to be alone with children and assigning another priest to monitor him. Evidence indicates that McCormack may have continued to abuse children between August and December. He was removed from St. Agatha Jan. 21 after he was criminally charged.
ROME
Catholic News Service
By John Thavis
Catholic News Service
ROME (CNS) -- Supporters of the sainthood cause of Father Michael McGivney are hoping that he will become the first American-born parish priest to be canonized.
A new biography is introducing a wider audience to the 19th-century priest -- and may also help restore respect for the many good priests in the United States, said one of the book's authors.
Julie M. Fenster, a historian who co-wrote "Parish Priest: Father Michael McGivney and American Catholicism," spoke about the book to U.S. priests and seminarians Feb. 27 at Rome's Pontifical North American College.
At a time when the image of the U.S. priest has been damaged by sexual abuse committed by a small minority of clergy, the book chronicles the good work of a priest who, after founding the Knights of Columbus, worked as a simple pastor until his death at age 38.
"I'm hoping this book might act as a gyroscope to reset some of the balance for people whose only exposure to parish priests is out of those headlines" on sexual abuse, Fenster said in an interview.
CANADA
The Vancouver Sun
Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, February 28, 2006
A B.C. man charged with indecently assaulting a mentally disabled resident at a Catholic group home in the late 1970s has continued to work with children at a Vancouver high school and churches in the U.S., despite admitting the abuse years ago.
Robert Gordon Viens, 50, was charged in May 2004 after Burnaby RCMP received complaints from two former residents of the L'Arche community in Burnaby that he had sexually assaulted them in the late 1970s. L'Arche is a residential community for mentally disabled residents that opened in 1974.
Viens, who now lives in Bellingham, faces two counts of indecent assault against a mentally disabled man, as well as one count of buggery and one of gross indecency for actions between Nov. 1, 1977, and Sept. 30, 1980.
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal
Written by Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Tuesday, 28 February 2006
Raton clergyman accused of abusing 14-year-old.
The Rev. George Silva, 73, arrested by the FBI last week in Raton, appeared in U.S. District Court Monday on charges of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old boy, was placed on house arrest at La Posada Halfway House in Albuquerque, KRQE-TV Channel 13 is reporting on its Web site.
Silva had been pastor of St. Patrick/St. Joseph Catholic Church in Raton before being put on administrative leave last June after a sexual misconduct allegation, according to a story in the Albuquerque Journal.
Silva was indicted last Wednesday by a federal grand jury on four criminal counts in connection with transporting a boy under the age of 16 from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity in those countries, according to The Associated Press.
The indictment was unsealed on Friday, the AP reported.
AUSTRALIA
ABC
Tuesday, 28 February 2006. 17:07 (AEDT)Tuesday, 28 February 2006. 16:07 (ACST)Tuesday, 28 February 2006. 16:07 (AEST)Tuesday, 28 February 2006. 17:07 (ACDT)Tuesday, 28 February 2006. 14:07 (AWST)
The Catholic Church has refused to launch an investigation into paedophile activity on the north-west coast of Tasmania.
Child protection advocates made the request after a 70-year-old priest and teacher, Roger Michael Bellemore, was convicted of assaulting four boys at Burnie's Marist College in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The Archbishop of Hobart, Adrian Doyle, says investigating criminal activity is a matter for police.
"I think they've got the experience and they've got the expertise to carry out these investigations," he said.
ZIMBABWE
African News Dimension
February 28, 2006,
By Andnetwork.com
AN Anglican Church priest facing allegations of indecently assaulting a 14 yearold girl, who is a boarder at a school run by the church, has been granted $3 million bail.
Pearson Chikombe (28), who works and stays at St Gabriel High School in Bulawayo, was ordered to reside at his new address, Number 5 Mupane Lane, Newton West and should not go to his workplace until the matter has been finalised.
He was remanded to his trial date which has been set for 14 March.
He was further ordered not to interfere with State witnesses and to surrender his travel documents if he has any.
When he initially appeared in court before Mr Cephas Masaka Sibanda, he was remanded in custody so that alternative accommodation could be found before the issue of bail could be considered.
The State case against him is that on 29 January, Chikombe called the complainant, who was within the school yard and asked her if she had ever been to a chapel.He allegedly told her to go and wait by the chapel door so that he could show her around.
CALIFORNIA
Santa Barbara News-Press
MELISSA EVANS
February 26, 2006 7:27 AM
The cross that fell from the building where Roman Catholic priest Mario Cimmarrusti once lived sits among the sparse remnants of St. Anthony's Seminary: old trophies, yearbooks, a wood desk with names etched underneath. These and other artifacts were tucked in a storage trailer on the lawn outside the Santa Barbara Mission when the Franciscan Friars sold the 19th century stone seminary last June.
The emotional memories, particularly for boys who went to the school in the late 1960s, are harder to catalog. Even harder to tuck away.
They will re-emerge in an Oakland courtroom March 6 when a lawsuit filed by one of those students, known only as John Doe 39, is expected to go to trial. He sued the priest's religious order, the Franciscans, over alleged sexual abuse in the late 1960s. Eight similar lawsuits involving the Rev. Cimmarrusti, who was the focal figure of campus life during his time at the all-boys high school, are also pending in Southern California.
ILLINOIS
Pontiac Daily Leader
By Sheila Shelton/Staff Reporter
A priest that served two separate Livingston County Catholic parishes for several years has been asked to step down from public ministry.
Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria has asked the Rev. William Virtue to step down because of recent allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Virtue was currently serving as administrator at St. Theresa in Earlville and the allegations date back nearly 25 years ago, according to a Diocese press release.
JUNEAU (AK)
Watertown Daily Times
By Diane Graff of the Daily Times staff
JUNEAU - A former Beaver Dam priest made his initial appearance in Dodge County Court Friday on numerous sexual assault charges. The charges stem from incidents that occurred about 40 years ago while the man was a Catholic priest at the Beaver Dam hospital.
Bruce Duncan MacArthur, 84, appeared before Judge Andrew Bissonnette on two counts of sexual intercourse with a child, four counts of indecent behavior with a child and one count of attempted indecent behavior with a child.
The offenses occurred back in the mid-1960s with three different girls all under the age of 18 at the time.
The judge set bail at $10,000 cash. MacArthur's attorney, Alexander Flynn, had argued for a lesser amount because of the defendant's age and ill health.
MISSOURI
Missourian
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
From staff and wire reports
A former Cape Girardeau priest has been dismissed from his post in the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese following an investigation of sexual misconduct allegations.
The diocese said in a news release Monday that Monsignor Stephen Schneider violated the diocese's standards of conduct for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor and that he will no longer function as a priest.
Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese told parishioners at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Joplin, Mo., where Schneider was assigned, that Schneider had been relieved of all duties as pastor at the church.
The allegations were first brought before the diocese in December. According to the news release, diocesan officials then notified law enforcement.
CANADA
London Free Press
Tue, February 28, 2006
By FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES
SIMCOE -- A former Port Dover priest now in London pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing two former altar boys.
Konstanty Przybylski, 56, was released on bail after his plea, to be sentenced later.
Norfolk Crown Attorney John Ayre said the first victim said assaults began in 1995 with various sexual acts taking place in Przybylski's home attached to St. Cecilia's and on a Chicago trip.
BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe
By Michael Paulson, Globe Staff | February 28, 2006
Four years after the clergy sexual abuse crisis exploded, the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has yet to put in place some key parts of its plan to detect and prevent abuse of children by church personnel, according to a top aide to state Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly.
The archdiocese, like most dioceses around the country, has yet to come up with a method for overseeing or tracking the whereabouts of allegedly abusive priests, and has not completed sexual-abuse prevention programs for all children, according to a letter from Alice E. Moore, chief of the Public Protection Bureau at the attorney general's office.
Moore also charged that church officials have declined to provide even their own advisers with basic statistical information that would show how many priests have been accused of abuse and how those allegations have been handled.
''As we reviewed the draft report, it became clear that there are still several major gaps in implementation and oversight of the new policies and procedures that have us questioning the archdiocese's commitment and whether it learned any lessons at all from the tragedy that led us to issue our report in 2003," Moore wrote in the letter, received by the archdiocese yesterday.
KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Beth Musgrave
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
A judge at the center of a controversial $200 million diet drug settlement has resigned rather than face disciplinary action for profiting from the settlement and increasing fees and expenses for lawyers and a friend involved in the case.
Joseph "Jay" Bamberger resigned from his position as senior status judge Friday, according to the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission, which released a public reprimand of Bamberger yesterday.
Bamberger's actions, mostly involving a settlement over the diet drug fen-phen, "shocked the conscience of the Commission," the reprimand said. ...
This is not the first time Bamberger's connection to Modlin has been questioned. Each time the relationship came under scrutiny, Bamberger stepped down from the case before an investigation could be completed.
In 2003 lawyers for the Diocese of Covington asked that Bamberger be removed from a high-profile priest sexual abuse case because of his relationship with Modlin, who was a consultant for Chesley, who represented the victims. Bamberger retired before the state Supreme Court issued a decision in the matter.
TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News
07:23 AM CST on Tuesday, February 28, 2006
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
Catholic Church officials have reversed course and suspended a priest who is accused of molesting at least three girls and three young women in the Fort Worth Diocese.
The Rev. Joseph Tu – cited as an example of U.S. bishops' failure to fully enforce "zero tolerance" discipline reforms – is on leave while his superiors investigate the latest child abuse allegation to come to light.
"Father Tu continues to deny the allegations, and this is not an admission of guilt," Galveston-Houston Archdiocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said Monday. She said that his religious order, the Dominicans, made the suspension after hearing concerns from her boss, Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza.
MISSOURI
The Joplin Globe
Jeff Lehr
Globe Staff Writer
2/28/06
The Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau has relieved a Joplin priest of his parish duties in light of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Bishop John J. Leibrecht came to Joplin on Sunday to inform parishioners at St. Peter's Catholic Church that Monsignor Stephen Schneider has been relieved of all diocesan duties after an investigation of an allegation that was brought to the diocese's attention in December.
Schneider, 61, had served as pastor of St. Peter the Apostle Parish since August of last year.
"He will no longer function as a priest," Leibrecht told the Globe in a telephone interview Monday.
IRELAND
The Blanket
Anthony McIntyre • Fourthwrite
A global phenomenon, they are read about everyday and everywhere. Like the fictional world from the Charlton Heston movie, Omega Man, our planet seems to be in the grip of a human pestilence; on this occasion far removed from the comfort of the cinema, by a plague of priests chanting 'boys, boys.' The prevalence of clerical abuse is such that it is tempting to visualise a plethora of paedophile orchards where priests are hanging from every tree - not by the neck, regrettably. ...
People who subscribe to various forms of this bunkum have nevertheless benefited from it to the point that they have for long being easily able to pass themselves off as leading moral guardians in supposedly secular societies, where the executive, legislature and judiciary behaved like the three wise monkeys, neither seeing, hearing nor speaking of the enormous phallic moral guardian that stalked our children. The priest class with its knowledge of Latin, must have thought it had hit the jackpot and won a boys bonanza, when few stopped to ask the all important question 'quis custodiet custodies?' Like the frightened worshippers of some Aztec God, Ireland licentiously offered its children to the most lecherous of men. Can the country really claim to need the Ferns Report to serve as a wake up call? For long, many of its citizens seemed prepared to die peacefully in bed rather than get up and confront what was going on their midst.
For all its undoubted ability to magnetise the media, Judge Frank Murphy's 271-page report is hardly any more shocking than what has passed before. Learning that priests are abusing children is as commonplace as being told there is a violent conflict in the Middle East. It has figured in our daily reading activity for so long, it is now hard to recall a time when newspapers did not feature stories about priests abusing children. If an Irish Times headline that 'More details emerge of sexual abuse cases involving priests' is supposed to shock us, the paper's management may hope shock stories and sales are not correlated. Irish society and its children will be fortunate if the Ferns Report does not become the gatherer of the dust it helped raise, once matters settle down. Time alone will tell if the point has been reached for what one columnist described as 'a landmark in the history of the Catholic Church in Ireland.'
JOPLIN (MO)
News-Leader
Associated Press
Joplin — A Roman Catholic priest in Joplin has been relieved of all duties after the church said he violated the diocese's standards of conduct for alleged sexual misconduct with a minor.
Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Catholic Diocese told parishioners at St. Peter the Apostle Church that Monsignor Stephen Schneider had been relieved of all duties as pastor at the Joplin church.
No charges have been filed. The bishop, who appeared at weekend services at the church, said a law enforcement investigation had concluded the allegation, which was not detailed, did not warrant criminal prosecution.
But Leibrecht said church policy was violated.
ROME
Catholic News
Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal-designate William Levada has said that a priest who publicly announces he is homosexual makes it difficult for people to see the priest as representing Christ. ...
Referring first to "the tragic problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy," the cardinal-designate said, "thanks be to God, it is now possible to say that the measures taken by the bishops on behalf of the church have put into place a comprehensive program of education, prevention and care for victims, as well as measures to ensure that abusive clergy are not returned to ministry."
"One of the more immediate challenges facing seminaries," he said, is the implementation of the Congregation for Catholic Education's November instruction that men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" should not be admitted to the seminary or ordained to the priesthood.
OHIO
The Post
by Emily Vance
Staff Writer
ev295603@ohiou.edu
A Columbus-area woman has come forward and reported being raped by a priest at Christ the King University Parish in Athens almost 40 years ago.
Carol Zamonski, 42, reported the rape to Athens Police Department two weeks ago.
The Rev. Robert Marrer, was assigned to Christ the King Parish, 75 Stewart St., from 1996 to 1970, according to a news release from the Diocese of Steubenville.
Marrer left the priesthood in 1971 and died in 1996, according to the release.
Monsignor Gerald Calovini, communications director for the Steubenville Diocese, declined to comment.
The incident happened between 1966 and 1969, when Zamonski was between three and six years old, according to a police report.
During those years, her family rented property on Stewart Street that was owned by the church while her father was a doctoral student at Ohio University, Zamonski said.
Her parents became good friends with Marrer and often accepted his offers to baby-sit Zamonski, who was the oldest of three children, she said.
IRELAND
One in Four
A retired priest who is standing trial on sex charges yesterday admitted that he had kissed and embraced the complainant once, but denied that there was any sexual element to it.
Canon Denis Forde, aged 73, of The Presbytery, Dunmanway, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to four indecent assault charges.
Mary Morgan who helped out in the sacristy of the Church of the Incarnation at Grange, Douglas, Cork, said she was sexually assaulted on four occasions by the priest when she was in her early twenties.
Forde told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that he was totally flabbergasted when gardai arrived at the church in Dunmanway in May 2002 as he was preparing for Mass and arrested him. The priest was then questioned in Clonakilty garda station about the sexual assault allegations, which date back to the early 1980s.
UNITED STATES
The Star-Ledger
Monday, February 27, 2006
BY EILEEN P. FLYNN
It has been two years since the Catholic Church in the United States issued a report about the sexual abuse of minors by priests. Church authorities acknowledged that more than 10,000 victim-survivors had credibly accused more than 4,000 priests of abuse over a period of 50 years. Bishop Wilton Gregory, then president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said known offenders were not in ministry any longer, adding, "The terrible history recorded here today is history."
Catholics wanted to believe that new policies would bring needed changes and that the church was truly committed to putting the scandal behind it.
The bishops pledged themselves to transparency and accountability, and Catholics tried to overcome the temptation to distrust the church's leadership. Yes, the numbers of abusers and abused were dreadful, but two years ago Catholics wanted to be hopeful about the future.
However, careful attention to recent news accounts from dioceses all across the United States shows that the policies and procedures put in place to make churches safe environments for young people contain loopholes that still leave children at risk.
At the height of the scandal, bishops appointed review boards to assist them in evaluating charges against priests, and the bishops established a national review board to oversee compliance with policies throughout the country. It seemed as if the laity were finally collaborating in a meaningful way with the bishops, but this conclusion is optimistic. Lay boards are advisory in nature, and it is up to the bishop who appoints members to boards to accept or reject their advice.
WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter
Seattle-area attorneys Michael Pfau, left, and Timothy Kosnoff represent most of the sex-abuse victims who've sued the Catholic Church in Seattle and Spokane.
One is the product of a Catholic home, parochial schools and a Jesuit college. He's cool-headed and analytical, speaking in measured tones.
The other is the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Russia. He's demonstrative, advocating for clients in passionate torrents.
Together, Seattle-area attorneys Michael Pfau and Timothy Kosnoff represent the vast majority of sex-abuse victims who've sued the Roman Catholic Church in Seattle and in Spokane, where the diocese has filed for bankruptcy.
Their work as a team began just three years ago but already has been highly successful, including a recent settlement proposal from the Spokane Diocese that goes beyond a sizable dollar amount.
IOWA
Des Moines Register
A retired priest accused of sexually abusing boys has filed a lawsuit against a group that provides aid to retired clergy.
The Rev. Francis Bass, named in several lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, filed a lawsuit this week in Scott County District Court against the Priests' Aid Society. He claims the society is responsible for paying his medical and dental expenses.
According to the lawsuit, the society told Bass on Sept. 28, 2004, he was no longer a member and that it no longer would pay his Medicare supplemental insurance.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicag Tribune
By Johnathon E. Briggs and Jamie Francisco
Tribune staff reporters
Published February 27, 2006
As they prepared Sunday for the season of Lent, area Catholics rebuffed a call by an advocacy group for Cardinal Francis George to resign in the wake of reports that he ignored a review board's advice to remove a priest accused of sexually abusing three boys.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called for George's resignation Saturday after learning that a church-appointed review board made an informal recommendation that the Archdiocese of Chicago remove Rev. Daniel McCormack from St. Agatha Church on the West Side in October, about three months before McCormack's arrest in January on molestation charges.
Archdiocesan spokesman Jim Dwyer said that at the time George felt the review board's advice was "premature given the lack of firsthand information."
"He has said since then that we should have been more aggressive in getting firsthand information," said Dwyer, adding that the archdiocese has taken measures to improve its protocols. "[SNAP] has no authority to ask anybody to resign."
George, who presided over Sunday mass at St. Michael Archangel Church on the South Side, did not address the controversy. Instead, he focused parishioners on the meaning of Lent, a 40-day period of soul-searching and repentance that begins on Ash Wednesday.
COLORADO
Longmont FYI
By Colleen Slevin
The Associated Press
DENVER — Colorado lawmakers are considering following California’s lead and allowing victims of alleged sex abuse to file lawsuits years after the fact — a move the Roman Catholic Church says could weaken its ministry and hurt parishioners.
State Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat and a Catholic, wants to suspend the statute of limitations for two years — a year longer than in California — and allow people who say they were sexually abused at private institutions to file suit even if the alleged abuser is dead.
In California, a one-year statute suspension led to about 800 lawsuits against the Catholic Church, including more than 500 against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
“I’m a personal witness to lives being saved because of this law, which allowed victims to have recourse through the courts,” said Katherine Freberg, an attorney representing dozens of people who filed claims in California. Many of her cases were settled — including 33 in a $38 million deal with the Diocese of Orange in Orange County — but others against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are still pending.
MENDHAM (NJ)
Daily Record
People may not want to discuss politics and religion at parties, but that doesn't stop those issues from intersecting.
That happened last week. The scene was St. Joseph's Church in Mendham, and the players were Bishop Arthur Serratelli of the Paterson Diocese and a group called Voice of the Faithful.
The bishop's visit was advertised in advance, and many in the parish were looking forward to it. So was the Voice of the Faithful, a support group for those who have been abused by Catholic priests.
Word circulated that the group planned a "protest" when the bishop arrived. Why? The group says all it wants to do is discuss its concerns with the bishop, who is relatively new. Since the sexual abuse scandal was, or is, national news, that's not an outlandish request.
CHICAGO (IL)
WBBM
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A group of anti-abuse activists that has been increasingly critical of Francis Cardinal George is now calling upon him to resign as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Chicago.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese said the Cardinal has no intention of resigning.
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) President and founder Barbara Blaine said the problem in the way the Archdiocese has addressed accusations of sexual misconduct by priests is not the system, but Cardinal George himself.
"He is irresponsible, deceptive and secretive," Blaine said. "Based upon that we believe that Cardinal George should step down."
Blaine claimed that Cardinal George "places the reputation of individual priests above the safety of Catholic children."
WACO (TX)
Tribune-Herald
By Cindy V. Culp Tribune-Herald staff writer
Sunday, February 26, 2006
With a degree in divinity, Meredith Jones is more tuned in to religious issues than most. But even she was startled by what she heard while hosting a support group meeting for sexual abuse victims.
As the women talked about their experiences and struggles, one suddenly blurted out that she felt like she was going to hell because of what had happened to her. The revelation opened a floodgate of emotions, Jones said, and it soon became clear that the women were desperate to talk about faith issues.
“I call it an existential crisis,” Jones said. “They come to a point where they are very, very confused about who God is in their life, but they still want to use faith as a healing tool.”
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
February 26, 2006
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter
Angry activists demanded Saturday that Cardinal Francis George resign as head of the Chicago Archdiocese for failing to aggressively investigate child sex abuse allegations against several priests, including the Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"He's clearly shown kids don't come first in his eyes," said Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the advocacy group calling for George to step down.
It's the first time the national group has asked a Roman Catholic cardinal or bishop to resign.
But the drastic step is justified because George hasn't moved to protect children who have reported being molested by priests, Blaine said, specifically citing complaints against McCormack.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Bill McClellan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/26/2006
When Father Robert Osborne was ordained in the Marianist order 51 years ago, the bells of St. Mary were still ringing in the hearts of Roman Catholics and Bing Crosby was the perfect guy to play the role of a priest - charming, caring and cheerfully serving the Lord by serving His people. There are those who say that Osborne was that sort of priest.
"My dad died when I was 13," said Doug Schoen, who is now a radiologist. "I was one of six boys. My oldest brother was 15, the youngest was 18 months."
The oldest brother went to Vianney and worked as a bus boy at Bartolino's South on Lindbergh Boulevard. One evening one of his teachers was there having dinner with Osborne, who was then the pastor at Our Lady of the Pillar.
The teacher must have told the priest about the family's plight, because Osborne soon called the mother. He wanted to help. He hired the mother as a secretary, and then he helped her get a better job. He became a surrogate father to the boys. He took them on trips - Rome, Mexico City, tours of Civil War battlefields. Sometimes he'd take two or three of the boys, sometimes just one. Every one of the six boys graduated from college.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Associated Press
Published February 26, 2006
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford said Friday that a now-deceased priest accused of abusing a teen in 1969 never was under the diocese's direction.
Rev. Theodore Feely was a member of the Franciscan order and did not work for the diocese, spokesman Owen Phelps said in a statement. Diocese officials first learned of abuse allegations against Feely four years ago, Phelps said. Feely died in 1991.
Both the diocese and the Chicago-based Conventual Franciscans of St. Bonaventure Province were named in the lawsuit filed Thursday by Donald Bondick of Rockford.
Bondick accuses Feely of raping him in 1969 when he was 13.
At a news conference, Bondick said Feely worked with young people and youth sports at his family's church, St. Anthony of Padua in Rockford. Feely also was a friend of the family who watched Chicago Bears games with Bondick's father at the family's home, Bondick said.
PEORIA (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Associated Press
Published February 26, 2006
PEORIA -- A Roman Catholic priest from central Illinois who recently was accused of sexual abuse nearly 25 years ago denies the allegation but has agreed to step down from public ministry, the Peoria diocese said.
The abuse allegedly occurred while Rev. William Virtue served in the Joliet diocese, but Peoria diocese officials provided no further details "out of respect for the privacy of the individuals involved."
A spokeswoman for the Peoria diocese declined to comment further Friday. A spokesman for the Joliet diocese was at a funeral Friday and unavailable to comment, his office said.
Virtue, 57, has served in about 10 central Illinois churches since joining the Peoria diocese in 1988 and most recently was administrator of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Earlville, north of Ottawa.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Sunday, February 26, 2006
An advocacy group called for Cardinal Francis George to resign Saturday in the wake of reports that the top official of the Archdiocese of Chicago ignored for months a review board's advice to remove a priest accused of molesting three boys.
An archdiocese spokesman said George acknowledges the church-appointed review board gave the advice, but the recommendation was informal. The cardinal will not step down, the spokesman said Saturday.
The review board's recommendation to the archdiocese came in October, months before the January arrest of the Rev. Daniel McCormack and his removal from St. Agatha Church on Chicago's West Side, said Diane Jackson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Saturday's call for George's resignation was the first time the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has called for a cardinal or a bishop to step down, said SNAP president Barbara Blaine.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By CARLA K. JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Published February 25, 2006, 3:25 PM CST
An advocacy group called for Cardinal Francis George to resign Saturday in the wake of reports that the top official of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago ignored for months a review board's advice to remove a priest accused of molesting three boys.
An archdiocese spokesman said Cardinal George acknowledges the church-appointed review board gave the advice, but the recommendation was informal. The cardinal will not step down, the spokesman said Saturday.
The review board's recommendation to the archdiocese came in October, months before the January arrest of the Rev. Daniel McCormack and his removal from St. Agatha Church on Chicago's West Side, said Diane Jackson, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Saturday's call for Cardinal George's resignation was the first time the national Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has called for a cardinal or a bishop to step down, said SNAP President Barbara Blaine.
"The national leadership of SNAP has never taken this extreme position before and obviously we don't do it lightly," Blaine said. "Cardinal George has been secretive, deceptive and irresponsible."
CHICAGO (IL)
NBC 5
CHICAGO -- Cardinal Francis George had been advised months ago to remove a priest now accused of molesting three boys, according to a report in Friday’s Sun Times newspaper.
The paper said a review board at the archdiocese advised the cardinal to remove the Rev. Daniel McCormack last October, but the cardinal ignored their advice.
A spokesperson for the archdiocese confirms the board gave the cardinal what they call “interim advice,” but claims there was no formal recommendation.
CHICAGO (IL)
Janesville Gazette
(Published Saturday, February 25, 2006)
Associated Press
CHICAGO - A Jesuit order of Roman Catholic priests apologized Friday to two men who were abused by one of its priests four decades ago.
A jury in Wisconsin found retired Chicago-area Rev. Donald McGuire, 75, guilty late Thursday of molesting the two men when they were high school students in 1967 and 1968.
McGuire, a member of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, taught at Loyola Academy in Wilmette from 1966 to 1970, and both of his accusers were students at the Jesuit-run school during that period.
The two, who now live outside Illinois, have said McGuire molested them on the Loyola campus, as well as at a house in Fontana, Wis., during retreats to the Lake Geneva, Wis., resort area north of Chicago.
PHOENIX (AZ)
KOLD
PHOENIX Monsignor Dale Fushek (FYOO'-shek) won't have to live under house arrest or electronic monitoring before his trial for misdemeanor criminal counts of sexual misconduct.
Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman ruled yesterday that Fushek appeared to be complying with the court's pretrial conditions.
Goodman then removed requirements that Fushek wear an electronic- monitoring device and stay under house arrest 24 hours a day.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By M. Daniel Gibbard
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 25, 2006
A review board will resume proceedings that could lead to the removal from the priesthood of Rev. Donald McGuire, who was convicted Thursday of molesting two Loyola Academy boys in the 1960s, a Jesuit leader said Friday.
Rev. Edward Schmidt, who has the final say on McGuire's fate, said he expects the review to be fairly quick.
"The board will then make a recommendation to me on his status, which could mean permanent removal from the ministry," said Schmidt, the head of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus. "Of course we're praying for him, as we pray for the claimants and everyone involved. We want the right thing to happen here."
McGuire, 75, was convicted late Thursday by a jury in Elkhorn, Wis., of five felony counts of indecent behavior with a child during retreats to the Lake Geneva area in 1967 and '68.
CHICAGO (IL)
Renew America
Matt C. Abbott
February 24, 2006
Catholic attorney Sheila Parkhill, who for the past few years has been gathering information and evidence to eventually expose a clergy pedophile ring in the Chicago area, received an online greeting card from unknown individuals expressing concern for her and her husband's safety.
She took it as a threat.
"I responded to the e-mail, but it bounced back," says Parkhill. "I also contacted the company from which the e-card came, asking if there was any way to find out who sent it, but they said there really is no way to know."
The ring, known as The Boys' Club, was likely connected to the unsolved 1984 murder of Chicago professor and choir director Francis Pellegrini, who was found brutally stabbed to death just a day before a scheduled meeting with the then Chicago archdiocese vicar for priests.
The ring has been alluded to by priest-novelist-columnist Andrew Greeley — an acquaintance of Pellegrini — in his 1999 non-fiction book Furthermore! Memories of a Parish Priest (page 80):
ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic
Cary Aspinwall
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 24, 2006 06:00 PM
Monsignor Dale Fushek won't have to live under house arrest or electronic monitoring before his trial for misdemeanor criminal counts of sexual misconduct.
Justice Samuel Goodman ruled Friday that Fushek appeared to be complying with the court's pretrial conditions, so he removed requirements that Fushek wear an electronic monitoring device and stay under house arrest 24 hours a day.
Fushek, who resigned as pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church in Mesa last year, was charged in November with 10 misdemeanor criminal counts of sexual misconduct. He is accused of indecent exposure, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and assault involving five minors and two young adult men from 1984 to 1994 at St. Timothy, where Fushek was an influential and well-liked pastor for 20 years. advertisement
Fushek, 53, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
SYRACUSE (NY)
News 10 Now
Updated: 2/24/2006 2:20 PM
By: News 10 Now Staff
Indictments were handed up today against Jaree Jones. Jones is a former pastor of the Refuge Temple. He is accused of sexually attacking a teen several times following youth group sessions after church.
Now he's charged with rape in the second degree, criminal sexual act in the second and endangering the welfare of a child. Jones was also in court Friday morning for a bail hearing. Bail was set for $10,000.
Jones was also arrested last month on an outstanding warrant in Connecticut for sexual abuse in Waterbury in 2000. Jones will be back in court February 28th. At that time, he'll answer whether or not he will provide the court with a DNA sample to submit as evidence.
SYRACUSE (NY)
WCAX
SYRACUSE, N.Y. A Syracuse pastor was arraigned in Onondaga County Court today on three counts of second-degree rape.
Jones -- pastor of the Refuge Temple in Syracuse -- was charged in November with criminal sexual act and rape after a 15-year-old girl told police he'd raped her several times between May 2004 and March 2005 at his home and at the church.
Jones also faces felony charges of sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor on warrants issued in Waterbury, Connecticut.
AUSTIN (TX)
American Statesman
South Austin pastor Rodolfo Sosa was charged with a second count of indecency with a child Friday after police spoke to a second underage parishioner who accused Sosa of fondling him. Police have said Sosa is a pastor at the Ciudad del Refugio Church.
Sosa, 48, was charged with the first count of indecency by contact last week. During an interview with police, the person making the complaint said another boy also had been fondled. Police then contacted his mother and obtained a statement from the child, a police affidavit said.
According to the affidavit, the boy said Sosa took him to a vacant apartment in the complex where Sosa worked and fondled him. The incidents occurred between last August and January. The charges, second-degree felonies, carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.
EARLVILLE (IL)
The Times
JONATHAN BILYK, jonb@mywebtimes.com, 431-4063
EARLVILLE -- A Roman Catholic priest who has ministered at churches in La Salle County and throughout Central Illinois for almost two decades has resigned as administrator at St. Theresa Church in Earlville after allegations surfaced of sexual misconduct with a minor about 25 years ago.
The Rev. William Virtue, acting at the request of Peoria Diocese Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, stepped down as leader of the small parish church in northern La Salle County, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Diocese of Peoria.
Virtue, who has served as administrator at St. Theresa since 2005, had ministered previously at the Earlville church from 1996 to 1999 and at Sacred Heart Church in Granville and St. Theresa Church in Cedar Point in 1992, in addition to six other ministry assignments in the diocese since 1988.
While the accusation of sexual misconduct with a minor was made recently, the diocese said the allegations deal with a matter that occurred while Virtue was serving as a priest in the Joliet Diocese about 25 years ago.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
Associated Press
ROCKFORD, Ill. - The Catholic Diocese of Rockford said Friday that a now deceased priest accused of abusing a teen in 1969 never was under the diocese's direction.
The Rev. Theodore Feely was a member of the Franciscan order and did not work for the diocese, spokesman Owen Phelps said in a statement. Diocese officials first learned of abuse allegations against Feely four years ago, Phelps said.
Feely died in 1991.
Both the diocese and the Chicago-based Conventual Franciscans of St. Bonaventure Province were named in the lawsuit filed in Winnebago County Circuit Court Thursday by Donald Bondick of Rockford.
Bondick accuses Feely of raping him in 1969 when he was 13. His lawsuit seeks more than $50,000.
CHICAGO (IL)
The New York Times
By GRETCHEN RUETHLING
Published: February 25, 2006
CHICAGO, Feb. 24 — A review board of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago advised Cardinal Francis George to remove a priest accused of molesting young boys three months before he was arrested and removed from ministry, according to the state's top child welfare agency official.
The official, Bryan Samuels, director of the Department of Children and Family Services, said Friday in a telephone interview that the archdiocese refused to follow the board's advice to remove the priest, the Rev. Daniel McCormack. Father McCormack of St. Agatha Catholic Church was removed from ministry last month when he was charged with sexually abusing three boys. One boy says he was abused as recently as December.
Mr. Samuels said the board made its recommendation in October, but he would not elaborate. The board's action was reported by WBBM-TV, CBS 2 News, here on Wednesday night.
Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said he could not confirm or deny the report of the board's recommendation. "It's my understanding that it wasn't an official recommendation," he said.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/24/2006
Another St. John Vianney High School student has come forward with complaints of "inappropriate behavior" by the Rev. Robert Osborne, Kirkwood police and the Marianists said Friday afternoon.
Osborne temporarily stepped down as president of Vianney on Tuesday, after the father of a teen sued him, Vianney and the Marianists claiming Osborne had used his position to gain the boy's trust, then "sexually, physically and emotionally" abused him.
Osborne has repeatedly denied those allegations.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Rockford Register Star
ROCKFORD — The Catholic Diocese of Rockford said Friday that a now-deceased priest accused of abusing a teen in 1969 never was under the diocese’s direction.
The Rev. Ted Feely was a member of the Franciscan order and did not work for the diocese, spokesman Owen Phelps said in a statement. Diocese officials first learned of abuse allegations against Feely four years ago, Phelps said.
Feely died in 1991.
The diocese and the Chicago-based Conventual Franciscans of St. Bonaventure Province were named in the lawsuit filed Thursday in Winnebago County Circuit Court by Donald Bondick of Rockford.
Bondick accuses Feely of raping him in 1969 when he was 13. His lawsuit seeks more than $50,000.
SCRANTON (PA)
Times Leader
By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@leader.net
Though its welcome in the Diocese of Scranton was revoked, its land sold, and two of its priests faded from public view after settling a sexual abuse lawsuit, The Society of St. John has re-emerged in cyberspace, claiming a chapel in Paraguay, a post office box in Kansas and a phone number from Pittston.
The society originally came to the diocese with former Bishop James Timlin’s blessing in 1998, eventually settling in Shohola, Pike County. It promised a “Catholic city on the hill,” a new Catholic college and a return to the Latin Mass accompanied by choral chants.
But the society slid deep into debt, and two founding members, The Rev. Carlos Urrutigoity and Eric Ensey, were accused of plying underage boys with alcohol and sexually molesting them. No criminal charges were filed but a man identified as John Doe filed a federal lawsuit that was settled last year by the various defendants with payments totaling about $400,000, including $200,000 from the diocese. The priests’ attorney stressed the settlement was not an admission of guilt.
After Bishop Joseph Martino replaced the retiring Timlin, he “suppressed” the society in November 2004, essentially revoking Timlin’s initial approval that allowed it to operate in the diocese. The Shohola property, about 1,000 acres, was sold, and a diocese press release stated the transaction “was the full payment of the loan” arranged by Timlin. The diocese had guaranteed a $2.6 million loan to help the debt-ridden society.
PEORIA (IL)
Peoria Journal Star
Saturday, February 25, 2006
By MICHAEL MILLER
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Catholic officials were not aware of any sexual abuse allegations against a priest when he transferred into the Diocese of Peoria in the mid-1980s, according to a diocesan statement.
The Rev. William Virtue, 57, has been removed from public ministry by the Catholic Diocese of Peoria over recent allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor, the diocese announced Thursday. The alleged incidents occurred "nearly 25 years ago" when he was a priest in the Diocese of Joliet, according to a diocesan statement.
The Peoria diocese did not say who made the claims or whether the allegations had been reported to police.
Virtue served at Sacre Coeur Catholic Church in Creve Coeur in 1990-1991 and oversaw the Diocese of Peoria deacons program at that time. He also was assigned to St. Joseph's Home in Lacon in 1991.
PEORIA (IL)
The Herald News
By Ted Slowik
staff writer
PEORIA — A theologian, priest and author has been removed from ministry after being accused of sexually abusing a boy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet about 25 years ago.
The Rev. William Dennis Virtue, 57, denies the allegation, but has agreed to step down from public ministry, the Peoria Catholic Diocese said. Virtue has served in about 10 central Illinois churches since joining the Peoria Diocese in 1988 and most recently was administrator of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Earlville, northwest of Ottawa.
Virtue also had served at three parishes in the Rockford Diocese, and until two weeks ago was parochial administrator of St. James Church in Lee, a town in Lee County.
"We were notified by the Peoria Diocese on Feb. 13, at which time we rescinded his priestly faculties. He was told to vacate the premises by the next morning," said Owen Phelps, spokesman for the Rockford Diocese.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
February 25, 2006
BY SUE ONTIVEROS SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
It's a pretty sad day for a Catholic when you breathe a sigh of relief that the charges facing a priest revolve around taking liberties with money, not children.
That's where we find ourselves these days in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and it's not good.
Certainly, for me, when the Sun-Times broke the story last weekend that the archdiocese had accepted the resignation of the Rev. Mark Sorvillo as pastor of St. Margaret Mary parish because of "apparent financial irregularities," it was another news story involving my faith. Last Sunday night, when things settled down, I had to admit this is a lot more than just a news story to me.
You see, for about 12 years, Father Mark has been my family's pastor.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By MAX B. BAKER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH - State District Judge Len Wade has agreed to release documents from the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese concerning clerics accused of abusing children, but only after he reviews the records, removing information that would identify accusers and church lay workers.
Information about the six clerics' personal finances, as well as their medical and mental-health treatment, will not be included in the records that Wade plans to release to attorneys representing the accusers or to the news media, Wade said Thursday.
Wade did not decide how to handle the records of the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen of Houston. Tu has been accused of having inappropriate contact with several girls and young women while working at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Arlington. He is the only one of the accused clerics still actively involved in the ministry.
Wade didn't indicate how soon the records will be released because he plans to review every page. Attorneys involved said the files apparently include about 600 pages of employment records.
NEW YORK
Albany Times Union
First published: Saturday, February 25, 2006
In 14 pages of patient, almost exhaustive, legal detail, the highest court in New York explained the other day why more than three dozen people who say they were victims of sexually abusive Roman Catholic priests can't go to court to seek the appropriate damages. Simply stated, they waited too long.
One of the complainants, a former student at a parochial school in Utica, says he was abused from 1963 to 1970. The others, 42 people in all, recounted abuses that they said were inflicted upon them by 13 different priests in the Brooklyn diocese between 1960 and 1985.
That makes it too late to seek justice for what has all the appearances of what the Court of Appeals calls the deplorable acts of countless priests. Injuries are compounded by a law that requires suits to be filed within three years of an alleged incident or before the person suing turns 21, whichever is later. That's too rigid and too brief.
DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times
By Dustin Lemmon |
A retired Davenport priest named in several lawsuits for allegedly sexually abusing young boys has filed a suit of his own against the Priests’ Aid Society of the Diocese of Davenport.
The Rev. Francis Bass filed the suit in Scott County District Court this week claiming the Priests’ Aid Society is responsible for paying his medical and dental expenses. The society provides aid to retired priests.
According to the lawsuit, the society told Bass that he was no longer a member and that it no longer would pay his Medicare supplemental insurance on Sept. 28, 2004. In the suit, Bass claims he has paid more than $10,000 out-of-pocket since Oct. 31, 2004.
The lawsuit claims there is nothing in the society’s bylaws that allow it to forfeit his benefits.
Bass, 83, of Davenport, retired from the priesthood in 1990 and paid dues to the society annually. He had been a member of the society since 1968.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
KOBTV
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A 73-year-old Raton priest accused of sexual misconduct with a minor made his initial appearance Friday in US Magistrate Court in Albuquerque.
A federal grand jury indicted the Reverend George Silva this week. The indictment charges him with four counts involving transporting a boy under the age of 16 from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity.
The indictment alleges the acts were committed last June.
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe placed Silva on restricted status. That means he’s forbidden to participate in any public ministry, cannot wear clerical attire and cannot present himself publicly as a priest.
DENVER (CO)
CBS 4
By Colleen Slevin, AP Writer
(AP) DENVER Colorado lawmakers are considering following California's lead and allowing victims of alleged sex abuse to file lawsuits years after the fact -- a move the Roman Catholic Church says could weaken its ministry and hurt parishioners.
State Sen. Joan Fitz-Gerald, a Democrat and a Catholic, wants to suspend the statute of limitations for two years -- a year longer than California -- and allow people who say they were sexually abused at private institutions to file suit even if the alleged abuser is dead.
In California, a one-year statute suspension led to about 800 lawsuits against the Catholic Church, including more than 500 against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
"I'm personal witness to lives being saved because of this law, which allowed victims to have recourse through the courts," said Katherine Freberg, an attorney representing dozens of people who filed claims in California. Many of her cases were settled -- including 33 in a $38 million deal with the Diocese of Orange in Orange County -- but others against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles are still pending.
TULSA (OK)
KOTV
A protest at Tulsa's Catholic Diocese office erupts in a heated confrontation. News on 6 anchor Terry Hood tells us both sides want the same goal, but disagree on how to get there.
They're called SNAP - or the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Mary Grant was abused when she was 13, and she heads SNAP's California office. "Bishops promises and policies on papers don't protect kids. Real action is what protects kids."
She's with Kelly Kirk, who says he was abused by a Tulsa priest in the 1970s. Together, they're taking a letter addressed to Bishop Edward Slattery to Tulsa's Chancery office.
Bishop Slattery was recently named to serve on a national sex abuse committee, and SNAP is asking him to reach out to other potential victims. They want Slattery to publish the names of priests accused of sexual abuse, and visit each parish where a molester worked.
DALLAS (TX)
The Baptist Standard
By John Hall
Texas Baptist Communications
DALLAS—A support group for abuse victims has asked the Baptist General Convention of Texas to publish its list of ministers involved in clergy sexual misconduct.
Miguel Prats, Texas coordinator for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and Other Clergy, said the convention is allowing ministers who have committed child abuse in one congregation to serve in other churches by not publishing its list of clergy members involved in sexual misconduct.
The BGCT keeps a confidential list of individuals who are reported by a church for sexual misconduct, including child molestation and extramarital affairs. Designated individuals from churches can write and find out if specific people are on the list, but they cannot find out why a person was reported.
BGCT staff members have publicized how the list works at numerous conferences and meetings across the state and on the Internet. The overwhelming majority of people on the list are there because of sexual misconduct between two adults, not for inappropriate action with minors, said Jan Daehnert, BGCT congregational leadership team interim director.
NORWICH (CT)
Norwich Bulletin
By GREG SMITH
Norwich Bulletin
NORWICH -- The mother of a young girl alleging molestation at the hands of a longtime Norwich pastor cried during her daughter's interview with Norwich police in November.
Visibly shaken, the woman revealed her own complaints of inappropriate touching by former Norwich Assembly of God pastor Charles Johnson Jr., police documents released Thursday reveal.
The church at the time had dealt internally with those accusations -- quietly convincing Johnson to resign in 2002, after 22 years at the church.
Johnson, who now works at Electric Boat, was charged this week with two counts of risk of injury to a minor and first-degree sexual assault for two alleged incidents involving the girl, who was 11 or 12 at the time.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Review
by Joseph Kenny, Review Staff Writer
St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood and the Marianists are dealing with allegations of sexual abuse filed against the school’s president.
Marianist Father Robert Osborne has temporarily left the position following a lawsuit filed Feb. 21 by the father of a student against him, the school and the Marianists.
Father Osborne addressed students at an assembly, telling them that the allegations that he improperly touched a teen while he was a student at the school are "completely unfounded."
Larry Keller, principal of the school, will handle the duties of the president while an investigation is completed by Marianist officials.
Diane Guerra, a Marianist spokeswoman, said the order is following its sexual abuse policy. "We would ask anyone to step down temporarily until an investigation is completed," she said.
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque Journal
Associated Press
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe said Thursday a former Raton priest accused of sexual misconduct with a minor has been arrested.
Wayne Pribble, the victim's assistance coordinator for the Albuquerque-based Roman Catholic archdiocese, said the FBI informed the archdiocese that the Rev. George Silva had been arrested Thursday afternoon in Raton.
FBI spokesman Bill Elwell confirmed that the priest was arrested but couldn't comment further. The arrest followed an indictment issued Wednesday by a grand jury, but a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Albuquerque said the document was not immediately available.
Silva had been placed on restricted status last year after the archdiocese's internal investigation found "credible evidence'' to support the allegation.
Restricted status means he is forbidden to participate in any public ministry, cannot wear clerical attire and cannot present himself publicly as a priest, Pribble said.
RATON (NM)
The New Mexican
By Anne Constable | The New Mexican
February 24, 2006
The Rev. George Silva, 73, formerly a priest at two Catholic parishes in Raton, was arrested Thursday by FBI agents on charges of sexual misconduct involving a minor.
A federal grand jury in Albuquerque indicted Silva on Wednesday on four counts involving transporting a boy under the age of 16 from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity.
The allegations against Silva were first reported to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe last June,. The allegations set in motion its Sexual Abuse Policy, an archdiocese news release says.
The archdiocese informed law-enforcement authorities of the charges and immediately placed Silva on administrative leave pending results of an internal investigation.
The archdiocese says it found "credible evidence" to support the allegations, and Silva was placed on restricted status, meaning he was not permitted to carry out priestly duties or even to wear clerical attire. According to Dr. Wayne Pribble, the victim's assistance coordinator for the archdiocese, Silva continued to live in Raton, where he was arrested.
IOWA
Quad-City Times
By Bishop William E. Franklin |
On Feb. 2, I met with people of Concerned Catholics of the Davenport Diocese, Iowa City; Catholics for Spiritual Healing of Grand Mound; and Iowa SNAP, groups representing victims sexually abused by priests. We bishops from three of the four Iowa dioceses and a representative of the fourth bishop met with this group. We met with them at their request and felt the meeting was productive.
Last week in the Quad-City Times, persons from these groups publicly accused me of lying about whether an investigation took place regarding retired Bishop Lawrence Soens who previously served as a priest in the Diocese of Davenport.
I would have no reason to purposely lie about anything much less an investigation in which a report had already been turned over to attorneys. All I can say is that I have not been an active participant in any investigation and had forgotten that it had taken place almost four years ago. If my forgetfulness has offended anyone, I am sorry.
The Diocese of Davenport has received several allegations of sexual abuse against Lawrence Soens stemming from his service as principal of Regina High School from 1959-1967. There has never been a full-scale Canonical investigation performed, nor does the Diocese of Davenport have the right or authority to perform such an investigation. The reports of sexual abuse against Bishop Soens have been sent to the Papal Nunciature to the United States for its recommendations and only the Vatican can take any action against him.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
Times
by Don Corrigan
Rev. Robert Osborne, the president of St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood, temporarily stepped aside as the school's head administrator on Tuesday after a lawsuit accused him of inappropriate physical touching and sexual behavior with a student.
Osborne expressed shock and disbelief at the allegations. The 73-year-old Marianist priest denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the lawsuit.
"The majority of predators profess their innocence in these situations," said David Clohessy, a spokesperson for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). "If Father Osborne was shocked, it would only be because his superiors did not fully inform him of the allegations made against him earlier as this has unfolded.
"I do know that a lot of people at Vianney and in the community are in shock," added Clohessy. "It's so hard for people to accept that a good teacher and a good administrator can also be a predator."
AUSTRALIA
The Mercury
By GAVIN LOWER
Law Reporter
25feb06
SCHOOL authority prevented four boys from speaking out about being sexually abused by a priest more than 30 years ago, a court was told yesterday.
Crown prosecutor Michael Stoddart said the boys could not complain about the priest's behaviour because of the harsh regime they were under at Marist College in Burnie.
"How could these children have challenged the authority?" Mr Stoddart told the jury in his closing address in the trial of Roger Michael Bellemore.
"They're told not to say anything by Father Bellemore."
Mr Bellemore, 70, has pleaded not guilty to four charges of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 17.
SCOTLAND
The Herald
ROBBIE DINWOODIE, Chief Scottish Political Correspondent February 24 2006
The lord advocate, who has this week insisted on his unquestioned right to make decisions about prosecutions in Scotland, will next week face a challenge to his powers in the Court of Session.
A Glasgow man who claims he suffered sex abuse at a List D school in the 1960s is seeking a judicial review of Colin Boyd's decision two years ago not to prosecute the teacher who he says was his attacker.
It is believed to be the first time such a challenge has been made in court over a decision by the lord advocate not to prosecute a case. ...
But the lord advocate will face a challenge next week from lawyers acting for Emile Szula, 52, from Townhead in Glasgow. He was at St Ninian's School in Stirlingshire between 1964 and 1966. The List D school, now closed, was run by the De La Salle order of monks.
Michael John Murphy, then known as Brother Benedict, was convicted at the High Court in Edinburgh in June 2003 of assault charges, while two teachers, Charles McKenna and James McKinstrey, were convicted of sexual abuse charges. The charges involved many boys at the school and covered the period from 1957 to 1981.
However, sex abuse charges were never brought against a fourth accused, in spite of a dozen victims claiming that he attacked them. Mr Szula claims he was sexually assaulted by this teacher on a weekly basis and is challenging the lord advocate's decision, made in June 2004, not to prosecute the former teacher.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Crystal Yednak, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Margaret Ramirez contributed to this report
Published February 24, 2006
A 50-year-old man filed a lawsuit against the Rockford Catholic Diocese and the Conventual Franciscans on Thursday, alleging that a Franciscan priest raped him when he was 13 years old.
Donald Bondick alleges in the suit filed in Winnebago County that Rev. Theodore Feely sexually abused him in 1969 when he was a boy. Feely, who died in 1991, was a priest at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Rockford, and close with Bondick's family.
The lawsuit alleges the diocese, which covers northwestern Illinois and Kane and McHenry Counties, did not do enough to protect children from Feely.
A spokeswoman for the diocese said church officials would not have an immediate response to the lawsuit Thursday.
Bondick said that a month after the rape took place, he went to a different parish for confession and told the priest in the confessional about Feely. The priest pulled him out of the confessional and told him he was making blasphemous statements, Bondick said Thursday.
MARYLAND
The Jeffersonian
02/23/06
By Bryan P. Sears
A former Lutherville-area community association president and church volunteer stands charged with attempting to intimidate witnesses who were to testify against him in a child sex-abuse case earlier this year.
Michael Martin, a former president of the Pine Valley-Valleywood Association, faces four charges related to attempting to intimidate an employee of the Baltimore County Police Department. That employee was scheduled to testify against Martin last month in a child sexual-abuse case.
Martin pleaded guilty on Jan. 18 to fondling a pre-teen girl. He faces one year in jail on the sex-offense conviction and could be ordered to register as a child sex offender. Sentencing, scheduled for March, could be delayed as a result of the new charges.
IRELAND
Irish Independent
John Cooney
Religious Affairs Specialist
DUBLIN Archbishop Diarmuid Martin will return to Rome to take up a senior position in the Curia within six months.
Informed sources in the Vatican say he will be replaced as Archbishop of Dublin by his deputy Bishop Eamonn Walsh.
Archbishop Martin's departure will constitute part of Pope Benedict XVI's far-ranging reform of the Curia, the Catholic Church's central administration, which is due to take place later this year. ...
This timetable would give Archbishop Martin, who is less than two years in the job as Primate of Ireland, enough time to cooperate with the initial work of the Government's Commission of Investigation into clerical child sexual abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.
By the summer, when the Investigation will have begun its work in camera, and is getting down to the horrendous details of abuse of children, the media-skilled Dr Martin would have also laid the foundations for children's catechetical and adult education campaigns.
LEON (IA)
Des Moines Register
TOM ALEX
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
February 24, 2006
Leon, Ia. - A Davis City man's hope for reinstatement in his religious community could be damaged if he is forced to wear an electronic monitor under Iowa's sex-offender registry law, a church leader testified Thursday.
Scott Smith, 36, refuses to wear the device as ordered by the Department of Corrections. Smith was a leader in the Brotherhood of Christ when he was charged in 2003 with sexual abuse and indecent contact with two teenage girls.
Brotherhood of Christ believers once claimed the Soviet Union would unleash a weapon to wipe out the Kansas City, Mo., area and everything else within 50 miles. Police have said about 50 members live with the church's leader, Ron Livingston, on about 520 acres east of Lamoni.
WACO (TX)
American Baptist Press
By Ken Camp
Published February 23, 2006
WACO, Texas (ABP) – Sexual misconduct occurs among ministers at a rate higher than among other trusted professions such as doctors and lawyers, Joe Trull told ministers at an ethics conference at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary.
At its heart, sexual abuse among clergy represents betrayal by a minister who abuses the trust of a vulnerable and wounded person, said Trull, a retired ethics professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Trull participated in a panel discussion on clergy sexual abuse during the conference, sponsored by the Christian Ethics Today Foundation.
“Clergy sexual exploitation is not primarily about sex. It is an abuse of power expressed in a highly destructive sexual manner,” Trull said.
While pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church have captured much of the media attention, clergy sexual abuse is “not just a Roman Catholic problem,” he said.
Several studies during the last 25 years across denominational lines have demonstrated consistent results -- about 10 percent to 12 percent of ministers acknowledged they engaged in sexual intercourse with church members, and roughly one-fourth to one-third admitted to sexually inappropriate behavior, he noted. In more than 90 percent of the cases of sexual abuse in Protestant churches, the misconduct occurs between a male minister and female church member.
PEORIA (IL)
CBS 2
(AP) PEORIA, Ill. The Roman Catholic bishop of Peoria says he is asking a priest in Earlville to step down from the public ministry because of allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor nearly 25 years ago.
Bishop Daniel Jenky has asked Father William Virtue, administrator at St. Teresa's Church, not to function as a priest in any public capacity. That means he is no longer to wear clerical garb or the Roman collar, and is not to use the titles "Father" or "Reverend."
Jenky said that at the time of the abuse mentioned in the allegation, Virtue was a priest in the Diocese of Joliet. The bishop also said the Diocese of Peoria was not aware of any allegations against Virtue when the priest moved there in 1988.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
By Rev. Thomas J. Reese, SJ
First of two parts; 14th in a series.
For those who have been following the sexual abuse crisis in the American Catholic Church since the mid-1980s, the reports by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and theAbuse Tracker Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People provided confirmation of hunches and the destruction of myths. At the same time, they left many questions unanswered.
The myths have been promoted by people on both sides of the debate --- those who want to beat up on the church and those who want to downplay the crisis. But what are the facts reported in this study of sexual abuse in the church between 1950 and 2002?
Myths About the Priests
Myth: Less than 1 percent of the clergy are involved in sexual abuse. Fact: 4,392 priests, or 4 percent of the total number of members of the Catholic clergy between 1950 and 2002, have had allegations made against them.
ST. LOUIS (MO)
KSDK
created: 2/23/2006 10:10:51 PM
updated: 2/23/2006 11:35:59 PM
St. Louis County Judge Carol Whittington has had a change of heart on whether the family suing the president of Vianney High School can remain anonymous.
Wednesday, Judge Whittington signed an order after John Doe 26, and his son, John Doe, filed suit against Father Robert Osborne, the president of St. John Vianney High School in Kirkwood. The suit alleges that Father Osborne sexually touched the student.
The judge first ordered that the anonymity must end. But Kenneth Chackes, the attorney for the family, countered with a request the order be rescinded. Chackes says publicizing the family's name would subject the teenager to ridicule and humiliation in the community.
However, an attorney who has represented several priests in similar cases, says it would be good to shine daylight on this case. Attorney James Martin says the family has already been through a previous sex abuse case, and publicity would do little damage.
RATON (NM)
TheNewMexicoChannel.com
POSTED: 11:07 pm MST February 23, 2006
UPDATED: 11:34 pm MST February 23, 2006
According to police, a Raton priest has been arrested on accusations of sexual abuse.
On Thursday, police arrested Father George Silva, a priest at Saint Patrick Church and Saint Joseph Church in Raton.
Police said the allegations of abuse extend from June 2005.
Action 7 News spoke with a handful of parishioners and received mixed responses.
George Dominguez said he has a lot of doubt after the arrest.
"I don't know what to say about that," Dominguez said. "I feel a little betrayed by him I guess."
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson And Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
February 24, 2006
Insisting she has nothing to hide, Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald on Thursday released more than 1,000 pages of documents she says absolve her of suspicion that she's out to get the Catholic Church.
"Unfortunately, recent allegations have impugned my motivation for introducing Senate Bill 143 to such a degree that I will waive confidentiality and release these privileged documents," Fitz-Gerald said in a news release.
Her decision followed open records requests by radio talk show host and attorney Dan Caplis and the Rocky Mountain News for correspondence and other documents relating to the bill. Fitz-Gerald, D- Coal Creek Canyon, allowed a review of the material for about 90 minutes at her Senate office Thursday.
Fitz-Gerald has come under fire from Caplis and, in more veiled terms, from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput over her bill.
SB 143, which is pending in the full Senate, would open a two- year window allowing the filing of sex abuse lawsuits against nonprofit organizations and churches that otherwise would be beyond the statute of limitations. The Denver Archdiocese faces 24 such lawsuits filed since last summer.
CANADA
London Free Press
Fri, February 24, 2006
By CP
CHATHAM -- A hearing into sexual abuse charges against a retired Chatham priest was set for April 18.
Crown attorney Paul Bailey and Charles Sylvestre's defence lawyer, Andrew Bradie, agreed on the hearing date yesterday.
Sylvestre faces 45 charges of sexual assault against 35 women.
Four alleged victims came forward earlier this month.
The charges relate to when Sylvestre was a priest at various parishes in the Diocese of London -- including Chatham, Pain Court, Sarnia, London and Windsor -- between 1954 and 1985.
ROCKFORD (IL)
Rockford Register Star
By Edith C. Webster
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
ROCKFORD — A Rockford man who says a now-deceased priest abused him when he was 13 years old filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Catholic Diocese of Rockford.
In a suit seeking damages in excess of $50,000, Donald Bondick says he was repeatedly abused by the Rev. Ted Feeley.
The abuse allegedly took place in 1969, when Feeley was a priest at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Rockford.
“He was a friend, a mentor and someone I looked up to,” the retired postal worker said. “I kept silent for 33 years. After depression, suicide attempts and addictions — it’s a hard road.”
The lawsuit is new, but the allegations were made public in 2002, when St. Anthony parishioners were told about claims against Feeley made by two men.
FORT WORTH (TX)
WFAA
12:00 AM CST on Friday, February 24, 2006
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News
A Tarrant County judge agreed Thursday to unseal some Fort Worth Catholic Diocese records about several priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children.
State District Judge Len Wade acted at the request of The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The newspapers argued that the records were public because the diocese had surrendered them during litigation with alleged victims of one priest.
Judge Wade oversaw that litigation – which ended last year with a $4.15 million settlement – and had sealed the records at the diocese's request.
Church representatives didn't respond to questions about Thursday's decision, although the judge indicated that he expected an appeal. Releasing the records would violate the priests' privacy rights and chill the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion, church attorneys have argued.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
By Dan Lavoie
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD NEWS
JOLIET — Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch said he is "deeply hurt" by Daily Southtown columnist Tim Placher's assertion that the diocese cannot move beyond its history of sexual abuse with Imesch at the helm.
Placher says he was abused in 1979 by the Rev. Richard Ruffalo at the priest's home in Las Vegas. In a Thursday column, Placher made his allegation against Ruffalo and criticized Imesch's handling of abusive priests.
For years, Imesch has been criticized by victims' advocates who say he has had a slow and coldhearted response to dozens of sexual abuse allegations in the diocese. He also transferred several priests accused of sexual abuse to new ministries where they had opportunities to molest more children.
Imesch — who took over the diocese the same summer in 1979 when Placher alleges the abuse occurred — accused Placher of timing his revelation to exact the most personal damage against the bishop.
JOLIET (IL)
The Herald News
By Joe Hosey
staff writer
JOLIET — Tim Placher, a music teacher, newspaper columnist and lifelong Joliet resident, said the reaction has been positive since he alleged Thursday in a Daily Southtown piece that he was abused as a teen at the hands of a now-deceased priest while on a trip to Las Vegas.
Placher said the priest, the Rev. Richard Ruffalo, first took notice of him when he was a fifth-grader at the Cathedral of St. Raymond's. Years later, Ruffalo maneuvered to take Placher to Las Vegas with two other youths, Placher disclosed Thursday. Ruffalo died in 1997.
Once in Las Vegas, Placher said, Ruffalo got him drunk and molested him.
"So far, there's about 50 e-mails that I received and every single one of them is positive and supportive and angry with the diocese and the bishop," Placher said Thursday.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
Published February 24, 2006
Archdiocesan officials said they would let civil authorities take the lead as the Department of Children and Family Services reviews at least five new child-abuse allegations against Rev. Daniel McCormack.
"We've been asked to stay out of the way until they complete their investigation, until they go through the court proceedings," Jim Dwyer, spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, said Thursday. "We will cooperate fully and do nothing to jeopardize the investigation. When it takes its course, we will then follow up with the canonical process."
Church officials confirmed Thursday that McCormack had officially resigned as pastor of St. Agatha after he was removed from ministry by the archdiocese last month.
The case has prompted church officials to revise their sexual-abuse policy and work more closely with DCFS to determine whether priests should be removed from ministry.
ELKHORN (WI)
Chicago Tribune
By M. Daniel Gibbard
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 24, 2006
ELKHORN, Wis. -- A jury found Rev. Donald McGuire, a well-known Chicago Jesuit, guilty late Thursday of molesting two teenage Loyola Academy students in Wisconsin in the 1960s.
Walworth County Circuit Judge James Carlson sent the jury of eight men and four women out about 3:30 p.m. They reached a verdict late Thursday in a case that is unusual because it's being tried in a different state than the one where most of the alleged abuse occurred.
McGuire, 75, who now lives in a Jesuit home in Hyde Park, did not take the stand during the weeklong trial.
During closing arguments Thursday, defense attorney Gerald Boyle tried to paint the two accusers as opportunists who were trying to cash in on a civil lawsuit filed in Illinois against the Jesuits.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By MAX B. BAKER
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH - State District Judge Len Wade agreed Thursday to release documents from the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese concerning clerics accused of abusing children, but only after he reviews the records, removing information that would identify accusers and church lay workers.
Information about the six clerics' personal finances, as well as their medical and mental-health treatment, will not be included in the records that Wade plans to release to attorneys representing the accusers or to the news media, Wade said.
Wade did not decide how to handle the records of the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen of Houston. He has been accused of having inappropriate contact with several girls and young women while working at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Arlington. He is the only one of the accused clerics still actively involved in the ministry.
Wade didn't indicate how soon the records will be released because he plans to review every page. Attorneys involved said the files apparently include about 600 pages of employment records.
UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
By Frances Gibb
A former headmaster of a Roman Catholic junior day school was ordered to pay £43,000 damages plus interest yesterday for sexually abusing a pupil.
The headmaster, also a priest, was found to have abused the boy in separate incidents that involved removing his clothing, fondling his genitals and videoing him and other boys taking a shower.
The High Court, in London, was told that the victim, then aged 9 and 10, had tried to take his own life by tying string around a balustrade and jumping from the landing; he had, later in life, suffered psychiatric and sexual problems, leading to delinquency.
FORT WORTH (TX)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas - A Tarrant County judge has agreed to release some church documents concerning six priests accused of sexual abuse.
State District Judge Len Wade said Thursday that he will first review the 600 pages of records to remove information identifying the accusers and church lay workers. He also said he will withhold information related to the priests' health and finances.
The records of the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese were sealed last year as part of a lawsuit. In that suit, two men accused the Rev. Thomas Teczar of abusing them in Ranger when they were boys in the 1990s. The diocese settled the case last year for $4.15 million, but denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and Teczar continues to assert his innocence.
The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram requested that the diocesan records be unsealed. They argued that the records were public because the diocese had surrendered them during the Teczar case.
Paul Watler, an att