SUNNYVALE (CA)
CBS 5
03/31/06 1:50 PST
SUNNYVALE (BCN)
Police arrested a priest Thursday on suspicion of raping a 29-year-old Oregon woman in a Sunnyvale motel room.
Police booked the Rev. Randy Benas in Santa Clara County jail after questioning the priest Thursday.
According to the Sunnyvale Police Department, the 29-year-old woman from Grants Pass, Oregon had been corresponding with the priest for over a year.
UNITED STATES
The Washington Times
By Julia Duin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 31, 2006
Sex-abuse accusations against the nation's priests were down last year, but the flood of millions of dollars in payouts more than tripled and shows no signs of stopping, the United States' Roman Catholic bishops said yesterday.
"It is disheartening to us bishops, as it must be to all Catholics, to find that there are still some allegations of abuse by clerics against today's children and young people," Bishop William S. Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said during the release of the conference's annual report on sex-abuse statistics.
The report, commissioned in 2002 by the USCCB's Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, tracks what the country's 195 Catholic dioceses are doing to end a sex-abuse crisis that has involved 12,537 youths -- mostly boys and young men -- and 4,827 priests.
UTICA (NY)
Observer-Dispatch
Friday, Mar 31, 2006
Rocco LaDuca
Observer-Dispatch
UTICA — After a defrocked priest was found guilty Thursday of approaching two young teens to pose for naked pictures in Rome last summer, prosecutors emphasized how harmful child pornography can be.
James Tamburrino argued during his trial this week that he never realized how young one of the 15-year-old boys was when he took sexually explicit pictures of him, and that he only arranged to meet the other boy after police made him call Tamburrino.
After considering Tamburrino's defense of entrapment, an Oneida County Court jury felt otherwise and found Tamburrino guilty of using a child in a sexual performance, attempting to use a child in a sexual performance, possessing a sexual performance by a child and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
FLORIDA
CBS 47
Last Update: 3/30/2006 4:46:29 PM
The Episcopal Church Diocese in Florida has been slapped with a five million dollar lawsuit.
A woman who grew up in Jacksonville says she was molested several times by her priest. That priest was allegedly Father Joseph Noll. The woman claims the acts happened at St. Stephen's Church in 1969, a church which no longer exists in Jacksonville.
The alleges victim says it started when she was 11 and that the priest locked the door, showed pictures of naked men, undressed and fondled her. She even alleges that the priest made inappropriate use of ceremonial candle.
The plaintiff says she suffered permanent psychological, emotional and physical injuries.
TEXAS
San Angelo Standard-Times
By BRYAN RUSSELL, brussell@sastandardtimes.com or 659-8264
March 31, 2006
A 2006 report by the United State Conference of Catholic Bishops found the Catholic Diocese of San Angelo to be in full compliance with the church's Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
More than 190 dioceses and eparchies in the United States were audited between July and December of 2005 to ensure compliance with the charter. The charter was drafted in 2002, when allegations of sexual abuse by clergy began surfacing around the country.
''I very pleased with the report that came out on our diocese,'' said the Most Rev. Michael Pfeifer of the San Angelo diocese. ''I think we're on the right track. The message we want to give is that we have a deep concern and care for the children. They're the most precious gift God has given us.
''I've worked hours on this issue,'' he continued. ''It's like taking on a whole new job, but it's an effort to show parents we're doing our best to make a safe environment for our children.''
COLORADO
The Coloradoan
Natalie Costanza-Chavez
A scene on a black-and-white film reel captures the ploy - a policeman grabs a bad guy on a city street, a crowd peers at a pile of evidence spilling from a satchel, and the "caught" points dramatically to the sky as if to say - wild-eyed - "Look! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a bomb!" Everyone turns to look and the guilty ducks away, self-satisfied and smug.
Deflection. We expect it at the movies, from small children, at magic shows. It is, however, a surprise when the highest echelons of Colorado's Catholic Conference use it at the expense of people who have been abused by bad priests and at the expense of all Colorado Catholics by making their institution look even worse.
The church is arguing two bills (one in the House and one in the Senate) that would make it easier for victims of priests to sue the church are anti-Catholic and unfair. Their initial argument? That public schools aren't held to the same standard.
Is this how it went? A group of the Catholic powerful sat in a room discussing a strategy to keep the church safe from paying out potentially devastating amounts of money - and someone floated the idea of attacking the public schools as notorious enablers of sexual abuse?
COLUMBUS (OH)
Toledo Blade
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Two lawsuits claiming several House Republicans illegally plotted behind closed doors were filed yesterday seeking to invalidate a vote that killed a proposal to allow lawsuits in child sexual-abuse cases dating back 35 years.
"Participating in the legislative process has been personally devastating and a rude awakening. We never stood a chance," said Claudia Vercellotti, Toledo coordinator for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
Judge John Connor of Franklin County Common Pleas Court, whom House Speaker Jon Husted (R., Kettering) had suggested should resign or be impeached just weeks ago for his lenient sentencing of a sex offender, declined to issue an injunction preventing Gov. Bob Taft from signing the bill. He set a hearing for May 2.
Christy Miller and Dan Frondorf, both of Cincinnati, and Ms. Vercellotti, all of whom claim to have been abused by priests or other representatives of the Catholic Church, contended Mr. Husted met with a majority of House Judiciary Committee members Tuesday in violation of Ohio's open-meetings law.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire Public Radio
Reported by Josh Rogers on Friday, March 31, 2006.
listen: No audio currently available. Order on CD (pdf).
A long-delayed audit of the Roman Catholic diocese of Manchester found the church has made some progress toward protecting children from sexual abuse. But many basic problems remain
WASHINGTON (DC)
WQAD
WASHINGTON The head of a lay watchdog panel created by Roman Catholic bishops says a key reform adopted to protect children from clergy sex abuse is insufficient.
Patricia Ewers of theAbuse Tracker Review Board made her comments yesterday as the U-S Conference of Catholic Bishops released results of its audit of child protection policies.
Ewers says the audit's shortcomings are especially clear in its review of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The archdiocese was found to be in full compliance, but it had failed to remove an accused priest from church work for four months last year until he was criminally charged.
CINCINNATI (OH)
Cincinnati Post
Post staff report
The Archdiocese of Cincinnati is not in full compliance with church rules on the protection of young people, according to a national report issued Thursday.
The archdiocese - which reported the non-compliance a month ago in its newspaper, the Catholic Telegraph - cites a change in the interpretation of the specific rule it violated. The archdiocese was in compliance with all the rules in the 2003 and 2004 reports.
But on Thursday, it was cited as one of 22 dioceses in the country not in full compliance in the 2005 Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The charter was part of the national review process that theAbuse Tracker Conference of Catholic Bishops implemented in 2002 to deal with the church's growing scandal of sexual abuse by its priests.
Cases arising from the scandal locally culminated in a $3 million settlement with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati in 2003 and an $85 million settlement of a class-action suit with the Diocese of Covington last year.
CONCORD (NH)
Portsmouth Herald
By Beverley Wang
Associated Press
CONCORD - New Hampshire’s Roman Catholic Diocese must step up training and screening of church employees and volunteers who work with children and keep better track of people, according to an independent audit released Thursday.
The diocese does not have a standard for ensuring everyone working in a parish camp, school or church has completed a criminal background check and child-abuse prevention training. It also doesn’t regularly check whether a staffer is a registered sex offender. There’s also no consistent method for keeping accurate personnel records, auditors concluded.
"The diocese’s inability to ensure that all personnel are adequately and timely screened could afford potential perpetrators access to minors," said the report by KPMG International, an audit, tax and advisory firm.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Eagle-Tribune
Yesterday's release of the state's first audit of the Manchester Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse prevention efforts raises once again the question of why the church allows John B. McCormack to continue as bishop. His central role in the clergy sex-abuse scandal taints the moral authority of his position. He should do the right thing and resign.
As a top deputy to the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law, McCormack was a key enabler of the massive and prolonged mistreatment of children, the revelation of which so shook and disgusted the region, the nation and the world. Assigned to "investigate" abuse charges against priests, he accepted their denials of sexual involvement with children at face value, put too much faith in their potential for rehabilitation, and worst of all, participated in shuffling abusive priests off to other parishes, where they preyed on new crops of victims.
MANCHESTER (NH)
Boston.com
By The Associated Press | March 30, 2006
Key dates in the state's investigation of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester:
-- February 2002: Attorney general's office begins criminal investigation of the diocese.
-- December 2002: State prosecutors settle with diocese, averting criminal charges. Settlement terms call for annual audits of the church's sexual-abuse prevention policies.
-- May 2004: After months of legal wrangling between the state and church over the scope and cost of the audits, the church asks a judge to force the state to begin its first audit.
-- March 2005: Siding with the state, a judge orders the church to submit to a thorough audit of its policies and to split the cost of it with the state.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader
By J.M. HIRSCH
Associated Press
Thursday, Mar. 30, 2006
Concord – The state's Roman Catholic diocese has made progress toward protecting minors from sexual abuse, but many deficiencies remain, including a failure to ensure criminal background checks have been done on staffers who work with children, according to a long-delayed audit of the church's sexual abuse prevention strategies released Thursday.
The diocese also has failed to determine which workers and volunteers even need to be checked, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said. The problem needs to be dealt with immediately, she said.
"There's still significant work that remains for the diocese to do and in some respects the level of compliance is disappointing," she said at a news conference. "The fundamental problem seems to be a failure to take responsibility at the top of the diocese."
DES MOINES (IA)
Radio Iowa
by Stella Shaffer
The Des Moines Catholic Diocese gets a favorable review from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its third annual audit.
Ann Marie Cox, a spokeswoman for the diocese, says the diocese is found to be in compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. She says it's confirmation that the Bishop and diocese are doing all they can to follow the guidelines for protecting children, protecting them, and trying to prevent sexual abuse by clergy. She says a sign of that may be the fact that 2005 brought just one complaint of a child abused by a clergy member, and it was an incident that happened more than two decades ago.
It's been a "monumental effort" on the part of the diocese, she says, and across the country. The Des Moines diocese has adopted a program that helps teach coaches, teachers, parents and others learn what their role is in protecting children. The goal is to shield children from all the burden of resisting abuse, and teaching others to make sure there aren't opportunities to prey on children.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 31, 2006; Page A03
The financial costs of the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church rose dramatically in 2005, even as the number of new allegations fell, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said yesterday.
Releasing an annual report on their efforts to prevent abuse of minors by priests, the bishops said U.S. dioceses spent $399 million last year on legal settlements with sex abuse victims and $68 million on lawyers' fees, psychological counseling and related expenses -- about three times more than they paid in 2004.
The church's cumulative expenditures on sex abuse claims in the United States are approaching $1.5 billion. The tally of known victims has topped 12,500. The number of priests and deacons who have been credibly accused since 1950 is close to 5,000.
In releasing the blizzard of statistics, Catholic Church officials and their academic consultants put a generally positive gloss on the data, suggesting that the worst of the crisis is over.
CHARLOTTE (NC)
Charlotte Observer
WASHINGTON - Figures released Thursday by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops show the unrelenting toll of the clergy sex abuse crisis: 783 new credible claims last year, most of which date back decades, and costs of nearly $467 million.
While researchers who analyzed 50 years of data on molestation claims concluded the number of new cases is declining, the church is still paying a heavy price for predatory clergy.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte issued a news release Thursday saying that it received no new allegations of sexual misconduct with children during the reporting period for the 2005 audit.
The diocese reported that it provided $14,215 in ongoing financial assistance to, or on behalf of, victims, all for counseling services. None of the church workers against whom an allegation was made is in active ministry. The Charlotte-based diocese is not releasing the number of victims or dates of their cases so as not to identify victims.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Boston Globe
By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | March 31, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The church sexual abuse crisis cost Catholic dioceses and religious institutes nearly $467 million last year in settlements to victims, legal expenses, therapy, and training, a staggering amount in the aftermath of the abuse scandal that surfaced in 2002, according to an independent audit released yesterday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The data, collected by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, also showed that 783 new and credible allegations of sexual abuse by clergy were reported last year, down from 1,092 allegations reported in 2004 and bringing the total number of accusations to more than 12,000 nationwide since 1950.
While the number of allegations is decreasing, the financial cost to the church increased over the last year due to some large settlements paid in 2005, said Teresa M. Kettelkamp, director of the USCCB's Office of Child and Youth Protection. The church paid more than $399 million last year in settlements alone, and spent $67 million more on therapy for victims, legal fees, and counseling for offenders, according to the data.
WASHINGTON
The News Tribune
STEVE MAYNARD; The News Tribune
Published: March 31st, 2006 01:00 AM
The Catholic archdiocese covering Tacoma and all of Western Washington reported Thursday that its costs for dealing with clergy sex abuse cases soared by nearly 50 percent – about $8 million – last year.
As a result, the church dipped into a reserve fund for the first time to help pay abuse costs.
The total spent by the Archdiocese of Seattle on clergy sex abuse since 1987 increased to $26 million last year as cases were settled and new accusations surfaced.
The archdiocese tapped its reserve fund because cumulative costs in sex abuse cases exceeded its self-insurance program, said spokesman Greg Magnoni.
RENO (NV)
Gazette-Journal
MARTHA BELLISLE
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 3/31/2006
While a survey found there were 783 new credible claims of sexual abuse by clergy against minors in 2005, the Diocese of Reno received no new allegations during that period, its spokesman said Thursday.
Nationwide, dioceses and religious institutions paid almost $400 million in settlements for claims in 2005, according to a survey released Thursday by Roman Catholic officials. In Reno, the diocese paid $35,150 in settlements last year, said Brother Matthew Cunningham, church spokesman.
In addition to legal settlements, the diocese paid $8,000 in 2005 for therapy for victims, Cunningham said.
The highest percentage of payments gone to programs directed toward child safety, he said. Last year, the diocese spent $52,920 for child safety, background checks and fingerprinting for volunteers and workers, as well as child education, among other programs, he said.
"The bigger thing for us is to make sure our parishes provide the numbers for victims advocates," Cunningham said. "We are continuing to do training for adults and are trying to make sure these things get out to parishes, to remind people that if there's a problem, here's what you do."
GREEN BAY (WI)
Press-Gazette
By Jean Peerenboom
jpeerenb@greenbaypressgazette.com
The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay recorded a third consecutive year of compliance with national standards for keeping children safe in 2005, at the same time that the national church revealed that it received 783 more complaints of sex abuse by clergy.
Green Bay's on-site audit was requested by Bishop David Zubik, who is in Rome this week, and a diocesan spokesman said the voluntary step was evidence of local efforts to keep children safe.
"He didn't have to do that," said Tony Kuick, director of communications. "We could have just done the paperwork."
The two independent auditors were former FBI agents from The Gavin Group, an independent, non-church organization based in Winthrop, Mass., Kuick said. The group has been auditing dioceses across the country for the past three years.
GREEN BAY (WI)
Appleton Post-Crescent
By Jean Peerenboom
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
GREEN BAY — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay recorded a third consecutive year of compliance with national standards for keeping children safe in 2005.
At the same time, the church revealed that it received 783 more complaints of sex abuse by clergy nationwide.
Green Bay's on-site audit was requested by Bishop David Zubik, who is in Rome this week, and a diocesan spokesman said the voluntary step was evidence of local efforts to keep children safe.
"He didn't have to do that," said Tony Kuick, director of communications. "We could have just done the paperwork."
The two independent auditors were former FBI agents from The Gavin Group, an independent, nonchurch organization based in Winthrop, Mass., Kuick said. The group has been auditing dioceses across the country for the past three years.
ST. PAUL (MN)
KTSP
Updated: 03/30/2006 09:43:03 PM
ST. PAUL (AP) - The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is among about two dozen dioceses around the county that don't meet church child-protection guidelines, according to a new audit by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The diocese has lagged in offering "safe-environment training" to all children in its parish programs and schools, according to the audit released on Thursday.
Archdiocese officials said they weren't surprised by the findings. While a few pilot programs are in place, more widespread training in the schools and parishes is scheduled to begin this fall.
"We're piloting these programs in about 10 parishes right now," said Sister Fran Donnelly, the archdiocese's parish life director. "We'll have parents' meetings before school starts this fall, and they'll be implemented during the school year of 2006-07.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
By ERIC MOSKOWITZ
Monitor staff
March 31. 2006 8:00AM
Although a state audit of the Diocese of Manchester uncovered no unreported cases of sexual abuse, auditors revealed a case of a priest who might have used a parish computer to access child pornography.
The auditing firm KPMG reviewed the diocese's compliance with the terms of a 2002 agreement that spared the New Hampshire Catholic Church from criminal charges. In reviewing the screening and training of priests, KPMG identified one priest who used a parish computer to visit pornographic websites - and to possibly access child pornography - despite medical orders that he be kept away from computers because of past behavior, the audit said.
As a result of the audit, diocese officials came forward to the state in late June 2005 about the priest's behavior, said Will Delker, a senior assistant attorney general.
The state is investigating whether the reporting delay violated state law about reporting child abuse or the terms of the 2002 agreement, which holds the church to stricter terms, Delker said.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
March 31. 2006 8:00AM
The state attorney general's office says the Diocese of Manchester must fix problems in its program for preventing sexual abuse by church personnel. In a letter to Bishop John McCormack, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte cites deficiencies that "undermine some of the core principles of the agreement":
• Lack of oversight. The state says the diocese has been ineffective in enforcing compliance with the agreement and its own policies. "This ineffectiveness has resulted in repeated missed deadlines . . . incomplete training, incomplete written acknowledgements, lack of background checks and unfilled positions," Ayotte wrote.
• Inconsistent compliance.Ayotte cited one parish in which "only 16 percent of employees of volunteers who worked with children had a sex offender registry check completed."
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Concord Monitor
By ERIC MOSKOWITZ
Monitor staff
March 31. 2006 8:00AM
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester has failed to ensure that priests, employees and volunteers who work with children have passed criminal background checks or attended training aimed at preventing and identifying abuse, a state audit of the church revealed.
The audit, released yesterday, identified flaws in the Catholic Church's attempt to live up to the terms of the agreement it reached with the state in 2002, a deal that enabled the church to avoid criminal charges of child endangerment despite decades of protecting abusive priests in its handling of sexual-abuse allegations.
The church has taken some important steps to protect children in the three-plus years since the agreement, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said. But the deficiencies named in the audit - which was delayed nearly a year-and-a-half by a protest from the diocese over the terms and cost - must be addressed immediately. The church has 30 days to come up with a plan to fix the problems or risk facing legal action from the state, said Ayotte, who blamed Bishop John McCormack's administration.
"The fundamental problem appears to be a failure to take responsibility at the top of the diocese," said Ayotte, who submitted the inch-thick audit report to the church earlier this week with a letter listing the specific findings that need to be addressed.
SANTA FE (NM)
The Albuquerque Tribune
By Associated Press
March 30, 2006
A teenage boy is seeking unspecified damages from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, alleging he was sexually abused by a priest last year.
The teen's lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, names as defendants Archbishop Michael Sheehan and George S. Silva, a former Raton priest indicted by a federal grand jury last month on four counts involving transporting a minor from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity.
The teen, identified only as John Doe, suffered physical injury, emotional distress, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, lost wages and expenses for medical care and counseling, the lawsuit said.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Agostino Bono
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although child sex abuse allegations against Catholic clergy may continue, there is a marked decrease in the number of cases that have occurred in recent years, said a report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Most of the recent allegations concern events that took place decades ago, it said in a supplemental report to its mammoth study of the nature and scope of the U.S. clergy sex abuse crisis.
The original study, covering the years 1950-2002, was released in 2004 and commissioned by the U.S. bishops'Abuse Tracker Review Board. The supplemental study contained further analysis of the same data and was released in Washington March 30 along with the 2005 audit of how the U.S. church is applying its sex abuse prevention policies.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic News Service
By Jerry Filteau
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops need to step to a new level in assessing their programs and policies to protect children and prevent clerical sex abuse, the head of the bishops'Abuse Tracker Review Board said March 30.
"The present audit process is insufficient," Patricia O'Donnell Ewers, the board's chairwoman, told journalists gathered at Washington'sAbuse Tracker Press Club for the public release of the 2005 audits of the sex abuse responsiveness of dioceses and male religious orders.
The process must move from seeing whether dioceses have requisite policies and programs in place to assessing how effectively those policies and programs are being implemented, she said.
The board, a 13-member panel of prominent lay Catholics, was established by the bishops in 2002 to monitor the compliance of dioceses with the provisions of the bishops' "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People." One of its tasks is to review annual audits of diocesan child protection and sex abuse response policies and programs and make recommendations to the bishops for improvements in those areas.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Beacon Journal
CARRIE SPENCER GHOSE
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Victims of sexual abuse by priests sued Thursday to stop the state from enacting the abuse reporting bill that lawmakers sent to Gov. Bob Taft a day earlier, saying critical changes were crafted in what the victims called an illegal secret meeting.
The House deleted a provision allowing lawsuits over 35-year-old abuse cases before passing the bill Wednesday, and the Senate reluctantly agreed to the change. Taft intends to sign the bill - unless the lawsuit ties it up, spokesman Mark Rickel said.
Three members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said they were kept out of negotiations leading to the cut that hurts them directly.
Their two lawsuits, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, say Republican members of a House committee met illegally Monday with Speaker Jon Husted and another GOP member, Rep. Bill Seitz, while a guard kept the victims out of the room.
"Every time the door opened we could see them in there, but we had no access," said Claudia Vercellotti, a victim from Toledo.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
OregonLive
3/30/2006, 4:53 p.m. PT
By J.M. HIRSCH
The Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Efforts by the state's Roman Catholic diocese to protect minors from sexual abuse have failed to make sure all workers, volunteers and clergy have passed criminal background checks, according to a newly released state audit.
While the Diocese of Manchester has made some progress implementing steps to protect children, the background checks issue is something that must be addressed immediately, Attorney General Kelly Ayotte said Thursday.
"There's still significant work that remains for the diocese to do and in some respects the level of compliance is disappointing," she said at a news conference. "The fundamental problem appears to be a failure to take responsibility at the top of the diocese."
SPOKANE (WA)
KGW
03/31/2006
By JOHN K. WILEY / Associated Press
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane and one of its main insurance carriers have agreed to a $5.25 million settlement in a dispute over coverage of clergy sex abuse claims.
The proposed settlement with General Insurance Co. of America, a subsidiary of Safeco Insurance, must be approved by federal district court and bankruptcy court judges, Shaun Cross, a lawyer representing the diocese, said Thursday.
"This proposed settlement will bring an end to the diocese's legal disagreement with General about whether or not the company is obligated to provide insurance coverage for allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in the diocese," Cross said.
Paul Hollie, a Safeco spokesman in Seattle, confirmed details of the settlement announced by Cross, but said he could not make additional comments Thursday.
WASHINGTON (DC)
The New York Times
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: March 31, 2006
WASHINGTON, March 30 — A total of 783 new accusations of priests' sexual abuse were received by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops last year, with about 13 percent of the cases dating from 1990 or later, the bishops reported Thursday.
In issuing its third annual audit intended to assess efforts to prevent such abuse, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops emphasized that accusations had declined from the 1,092 reported in 2004.
The bishops also said that as a result of a provision they adopted in 2002 under a toughened policy, 94.5 percent of children in Catholic schools and Sunday school classes had been educated on keeping themselves safe from abuse, an increase from 51 percent the year before.
The survey said 87 percent of the new accusations involved abuse that occurred before 1990, some of it as early as 1950. Only nine accusations concerned abuse last year.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
Concord – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester still has not fully implemented child protection policies it promised to enact under the agreement it struck with the state in 2002 to avoid criminal prosecution for child endangerment, an independent auditor’s report released yesterday revealed.
Auditors found instances where church personnel who work directly with children had not received required training in child sexual abuse policies and had not even had their names checked against on-line sexual offender registries or undergone other criminal background checks.
“That’s basic information that I would expect that parents would want to make sure gets done for anyone who works with children,” state Attorney General Kelly A. Ayotte said at a news conference.
“Overall, this audit demonstrates that, while the diocese has taken some important steps by establishing policies and programs to protect children, there is still significant work that remains for the diocese to do. And, in some respects, the level of compliance is disappointing,” Ayotte continued.
FARGO (ND)
In-Forum
By Sherri Richards, The Forum
Published Friday, March 31, 2006
The Diocese of Fargo is one of 22 U.S. Catholic dioceses not in full compliance with a national church abuse prevention policy.
A November 2005 audit found the diocese did not meet the requirement for safe environment training.
Results of the audit were released Thursday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Diocese of Crookston, Minn., and the Diocese of Bismarck were in full compliance.
The Fargo diocese does have a training program in place, but all of the training had not been completed at the time of the audit, said the Rev. Gregory Schlesselmann, vicar general of the Fargo diocese.
“Part of the reason is it’s on ongoing process,” Schlesselmann said.
VERMONT
Rutland Herald
March 31, 2006
By KEVIN O'CONNOR Herald Staff
Vermont's Catholic Church is one of 11.5 percent of the nation's dioceses that have yet to fully comply with all provisions of a toughened sex abuse policy, an independent report said Thursday.
Bishop Salvatore Matano said the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington is one article away from compliance with the "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" adopted by U.S. bishops four years ago at the height of a priest misconduct scandal.
The diocese still is working on "safe environment training," having completed programs in all 17 of its Catholic schools and hoping to finish in the state's 130 parishes by June 30.
The church also is reviewing its background checks on all its employees, said Kevin Scully, diocesan director of Safe Environment Programs.
WASHINGTON (DC)
The Seattle Times
By Rachell Zoll
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — New figures released Thursday by the nation's Roman Catholic bishops show the toll of the clergy sex-abuse crisis: 783 new credible claims last year, most of which date back decades, and costs of nearly $467 million.
While researchers who analyzed 50 years of data on molestation claims concluded the number of new cases is declining, the church is still paying a heavy price for predatory clergy.
The abuse problem was already known to have cost dioceses more than $1 billion since 1950, including some expenses paid last year. Still, Teresa Kettelkamp, director of the bishops' Office of Child and Youth Protection, said the total abuse-related expenses shelled out in 2005 were likely the largest for a single year.
The total number of accusations against Catholic clergy stands at more than 12,000 since 1950.
SIOUX CITY (IA)
Sioux City Journal
The Diocese of Sioux City settled 19 sexual abuse claims against priests in 2005 for more than $1.8 million.
The diocese settled the claims for $1,835,000, of which 69 percent was covered by insurance. The diocese paid $457,500 of the costs and George McFadden, $96,250. McFadden was named in all but one of the claims.
The diocese settled 11 claims in 2004 for $805,000.
Since 2003, 28 lawsuits have been filed against the diocese, all but one of them naming McFadden. Five of them are pending, 22 were settled and the remaining one was dismissed by a judge, a decision now on appeal. Now retired, McFadden has been stripped of his priestly duties, and the Vatican has ordered him not to present himself as a priest.
In a news release Thursday, the diocese announced that it has been found in full compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. The ruling was made by the Gavin Group, a national research organization that has audited U.S. dioceses for the past three years
MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press
BY STEVE SCOTT
Pioneer Press
Months of local controversy over proposed sex-abuse prevention programs in the Roman Catholic Church have left the Twin Cities archdiocese out of compliance with the U.S. bishops' child-protection guidelines, according to a national report released Thursday.
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was one of 22 U.S. dioceses — out of 191 surveyed — not fully meeting requirements of the bishops' guidelines, which require that dioceses offer "safe-environment" programs to all children, parents, educators, staff and clergy to help prevent abuse.
Foes complain some programs amount to inappropriate sex education that usurps parents' rights.
"The delay at this point is that parents are rightly sensitive about this,'' said the Rev. Kevin McDonough, the archdiocese's chief of staff. "We think parents not only have the right but the responsibility to be the primary educators of their kids.''
The archdiocese has trained its clergy, staff and educators and is completing training for all volunteers who may have contact with children in its parishes and schools.
But since last fall, some parents have besieged the archdiocese with complaints about a proposed "safe-touch" program, particularly one called Talking About Touching, intended for Catholic grade-schoolers in kindergarten through fourth grade. Different programs are planned for middle school and high school students.
DETROIT (MI)
The Detroit News
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News
The Archdiocese of Detroit is one of only 13 Catholic dioceses in the nation out of compliance with a new rule to train and educate children, youths, parents, priests, ministers and educators in the prevention of sexual abuse of children.
An audit by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops released Thursday determined that 88.5 percent of 191 dioceses or eparchies -- the Eastern Orthodox equivalent of a diocese -- are in compliance with the training mandate, adopted by the bishops in 2002.
Ned McGrath, director of the Department of Communication for the Archdiocese, said a factor in the lack of compliance is the archdiocese thought it had three years from when it developed a program to complete all training. In fact, it was required to complete training by Dec. 31, 2005.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Canton Repository
Friday, March 31, 2006 Advertisement
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Victims of sexual abuse by priests sued Thursday to stop the state from enacting the abuse reporting bill that lawmakers sent to Gov. Bob Taft a day earlier, saying critical changes were crafted in what the victims called an illegal secret meeting.
The House deleted a provision allowing lawsuits over 35-year-old abuse cases before passing the bill Wednesday, and the Senate reluctantly agreed to the change. Taft intends to sign the bill — unless the lawsuit ties it up, spokesman Mark Rickel said.
Three members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said they were kept out of negotiations leading to the cut that hurts them directly.
Their two lawsuits, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, say Republican members of a House committee met illegally Monday with Speaker Jon Husted and another GOP member, Rep. Bill Seitz, while a guard kept the victims out of the room.
“Every time the door opened we could see them in there, but we had no access,” said Claudia Vercellotti, a victim from Toledo.
COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
March 31, 2006
Six priests were reported as alleged sexual abusers to Catholic Church authorities in Colorado in 2005; all of the incidents are at least several decades old and some happened outside the state.
The data were reported as part of an annual survey on sexual abuse released Thursday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The survey showed that U.S. dioceses reported 783 credible allegations of sexual abuse against children last year, a 28 percent decline from the year before, according to the survey, compiled by a department at Georgetown University, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.
The survey was first commissioned in 2002 by Catholic bishops as part of an annual accountability program on sexual abuse allegations, called the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The survey found that 87 percent of the national allegations involved incidents that happened before 1990. Nine allegations, or 1 percent, involved victims who were minors in 2005, according to the survey.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Belleville News-Democrat
RACHEL ZOLL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The head of a lay watchdog panel created by Roman Catholic bishops says a key reform the prelates adopted to protect children from clergy sex abuse is insufficient.
Patricia Ewers, chairwoman of theAbuse Tracker Review Board, said annual audits by a private firm that checks whether child protection programs are in place should be expanded to measure whether the polices are effective.
Her comments came Thursday as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released results of the third annual audit of child protection policies in the 195 American dioceses.
Auditors found that 88.5 percent of dioceses had put in place full safeguards for children, as required by the bishops' reforms. However, 104 dioceses conducted a "self-audit." In previous years, teams from the Gavin Group, led by former FBI agent William Gavin, had conducted onsite audits in all participating dioceses.
CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Manya A. Brachear
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 31, 2006
The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago will hire investigators to comb seminary files for evidence of sexual misconduct by priests before they were ordained, Chancellor Jimmy Lago said in an interview Thursday.
"I don't expect to find misconduct in those files," Lago said. "If there is misconduct in them, it would be a priest that would not be in ministry. The issue is to make sure that's the case."
The need to examine personnel and seminary files in all dioceses was echoed by U.S. Catholic bishops' national lay watchdog panel, which on Thursday released results of its third annual audit of dioceses' policies to protect children.
Patricia Ewers, chairwoman of theAbuse Tracker Review Board, urged all bishops to compile personnel and seminary records for all living priests "and have them available to the appropriate authorities." She also asked that bishops be made aware of abuse allegations as soon as they surface.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Dayton Daily News
From Staff and Wire Reports
COLUMBUS | Victims of sexual abuse by priests sued Thursday to stop the state from enacting the abuse reporting bill that lawmakers sent to Gov. Bob Taft a day earlier, saying critical changes were crafted in what the victims called an illegal secret meeting.
The House deleted a provision allowing lawsuits over 35-year-old abuse cases before passing the bill Wednesday, and the Senate reluctantly agreed to the change.
Taft intends to sign the bill — unless the lawsuit ties it up, spokesman Mark Rickel said.
Three members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said they were kept out of negotiations leading to the cut.
GRAND RAPIDS (MI)
Press
Thursday, March 30, 2006
By Charles Honey
Press Religion Editor
GRAND RAPIDS -- Four years after the sexual abuse scandal rocked Catholic Churches in West Michigan and elsewhere, more than 28,000 local church personnel, volunteers and young people have been trained to prevent more children from being molested, according to a report released today.
An annual audit of U.S. dioceses shows the Grand Rapids Catholic Diocese spent $35,000 on abuse-prevention programs last year, a $10,000 increase from 2004.
However, the diocese also shelled out $52,500 on counseling for abuse victims and related legal fees, according to the report by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Another $35,000 was spent on counseling and support for clergy who have been dismissed for abuse.
For the third consecutive year, the audit found the 11-county diocese in full compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People adopted by U.S. bishops. The report said no new abuse allegations were made against local priests last year.
UNITED STATES
The Tidings
At their meeting in Dallas in 2002, the bishops of the United States stated as policy:
"…that for even a single act of sexual abuse of a minor --- whenever it occurred --- which is admitted or established after an appropriate process in accord with canon law, the offending priest or deacon is to be permanently removed from ministry and, if warranted, dismissed from the clerical state."
This is what is commonly referred to as "zero tolerance." Does this mean that any priest who is accused anywhere in the United States by anyone will be removed from ministry? Many priests feared that they might be at the mercy of every accuser.
However, that is not what has happened. A number of priests have been accused, but they have not been removed from ministry because the accusation was not credible.
The policy requires that an accused priest either admits to the accusation or that it be verified by appropriate evidence. In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, this means that if a priest denies an allegation of abuse, it will be examined by a thorough investigation. Many of the investigators used have worked for the FBI.
UTICA (NY)
Newsday
March 30, 2006, 2:06 PM EST
UTICA, N.Y. (AP) _ A defrocked priest was found guilty Thursday of taking nude photos of underage boys.
An Oneida County Court jury found James Tamburrino, 38, of Rome, guilty of charges including the use of a child in a sexual performance, attempting to use a child in a sexual performance, possessing a sexual performance by a child and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Tamburrino was accused of taking naked pictures of a 15-year-old boy in July and then approaching another 15-year-old boy to arrange a meeting to take erotic pictures of him, as well.
Defense attorney Pal Lengyel-Leahu had argued that Tamburrino believed one of the boys was older than 17 when he took naked photographs of the 15-year-old in a Rome motel last summer. Lengyel-Leahu said Tamburrino arranged to meet the second boy only after police made the teen call Tamburrino.
ARLINGTON (VA)
Catholic Herald
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 3/30/06)
Introduction
In his Feb. 17, 2005, letter to Catholics of the diocese, Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde wrote, “In keeping with the commitments we have made in the Charter and by our policy, annual reports on child protection efforts and victim outreach are a critical component to the framework we have put in place to heighten the safety of children under our care.”
The diocese was established in 1974 and encompasses 21 counties and seven cities in the northern tier of Virginia. The diocese consists of 67 parishes and 39 Catholic elementary and secondary schools, 155 diocesan priests, 73 religious priests, 58 deacons, and serves a population of over 400,000 registered Catholics. A total of 891 priests have served in the diocese since it was established. Bishop Loverde was installed as the third Bishop of Arlington, on March 25, 1999.
Background, 1974-2004
In accord with the Child Protection Policy, the diocese and its Advisory Board for Child Protection shall give an annual public report of the status of the Diocesan child protection activities, including any allegations of sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington. On Feb. 19, 2004, the diocese issued its “Report on the History of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Clergy of the Diocese of Arlington, 1974-2004,” in which all cases of sexual abuse of minors by clergy reported to the diocese since the diocese’s founding in 1974 were reported.
FLORIDA
WAWS
Last Update: 3/30/2006 11:07:39 AM
A five million dollar lawsuit will be filed against the Episcopal Church based on sexual abuse allegations involving a former Jacksonville priest and a minor.
Miami law firm Herman and Mermelstein will handle the suit against the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.
According to the suit, back in 1969 Father Joseph Noll molested a girl under the age of 12. The suit says Father Noll was a former pastor at St. Stephen's in Jacksonville.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Catholic Explorer
By Agostino Bono - Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although child sex abuse allegations against Catholic clergy may continue, there is a marked decrease in the number of cases that have occurred in recent years, said a report by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
Most of the recent allegations concern events that took place decades ago, it said in a supplemental report to its mammoth study of the nature and scope of the U.S. clergy sex abuse crisis.
The original study, covering the years 1950-2002, was released in 2004 and commissioned by the U.S. bishops'Abuse Tracker Review Board. The supplemental study contained further analysis of the same data and was released in Washington March 30 along with the 2005 audit of how the U.S. church is applying its sex abuse prevention policies.
"The decrease in sexual abuse cases is a true representation of the overall phenomenon," said the John Jay supplemental report.
"Even if more cases are reported, they will be based primarily on abuse that occurred years before," it said.
A major reason for this is that people often have been waiting for many years before reporting abuse by a clergyman, it said.
WASHINGTON (DC)
Yahoo! News
By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer
WASHINGTON - The nation's Roman Catholic leaders received 783 new claims of sex abuse by clergy in 2005, with most of the allegations involving cases that are decades old.
The new claims, reported Thursday, bring the total number of accusations against Catholic clergy to more than 12,000 since 1950.
The latest figures were released as part of the third audit the bishops have conducted to restore trust in their leadership after abuse allegations soared in 2002. Church leaders, however, drew criticism for changing how this latest review was conducted.
In the first two annual audits, all 195 dioceses received an onsite visit. During the most recent review, 104 dioceses were allowed to fill out a questionnaire instead while auditors visited the others.
All three audits were conducted by the Gavin Group, a private firm that employed teams comprised mainly of former FBI agents.
ILLINOIS
Mundelein Review
BY JULIE MURPHY
STAFF WRITER
Mundelein Police Chief Ray Rose is one of several members serving on an Ad Hoc committee created by the Archdiocese of Chicago that will review the "retrospective 'lessons learned' audit" conducted by Defenbaugh and Associates.
The independent audit examined the Archdiocese's handling of the allegations of sexual abuse with a minor against Father Daniel McCormack and Father Joseph Bennett.
Archdiocese spokesman Jim Dwyer said the committee will advise the Archdiocese on the implementation of the recommendations.
"We assembled a good group to perform an independent review," he said. "We want to maintain the momentum of the report."
Dwyer said the group assembled, which includes children's welfare advocates, a circuit court judge, an attorney who represents victims of sexual abuse, the vice chair of Catholic Charities, a financial analyst and a news and information officer for Notre Dame, was chosen for its diversity and commitment to see that Archdiocese policies are properly implemented.
WICHITA (KS)
Wichita Eagle
Robert Larson, a longtime priest in the Catholic Diocese of Wichita who admitted molesting altar boys in the 1980s, was released from Lansing Correctional Facility on Wednesday after serving five years in prison.
Larson, 76, was transferred to the Harvey County Jail, where he will stay until a judge determines whether probable cause exists to have the former priest declared a sexual predator.
Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline filed a petition in Harvey County last week seeking that declaration. State law allows offenders who are designated sexual predators to be held in state mental hospitals to undergo treatment indefinitely, even after their prison sentences are up.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure that he is not put in a position to re-offend," said Whitney Watson, a spokesman for Kline.
Larson pleaded guilty in 2001 in Harvey County District Court to abusing three altar boys and a 19-year-old man while he was pastor at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Newton in the mid-1980s. As part of a plea agreement which was offered to Larson in 2001 by then-Harvey County Attorney Matt Treaster, the state agreed not declare Larson a sexual predator.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
The New Mexican
By Andy Lenderman The New Mexican
March 30, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE — A boy who claims his former priest sexually abused him has sued the priest, the Rev. George S. Silva, in U.S. District Court.
The civil suit filed Wednesday also names Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan and the Archdiocese of Santa Fe as defendants.
The boy, identified as John Doe in court records, once served as an altar boy in the St. Patrick’s /St. Joseph’s Parish in Raton, where Silva served, according to the civil complaint . The boy was younger than age 16 at the time, a separate criminal indictment says.
After gaining his family’s trust, Silva took the boy on a religious pilgrimage to Lisbon, Portugal, last June and performed a “non-consensual sexual act” on him in a hotel room there, according to the complaint.
At the time, the complaint reads, Silva had control of the boy’s passport, airline tickets and money.
CINCINNATI (OH)
The Cincinnati Post
Post staff report
A former chaplain of Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading has been removed from the priesthood by the Vatican.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati reported Wednesday that the Rev. Thomas Brunner's petition for laicization from the priesthood was approved by Pope Benedict XVI.
Laicization means a priest may no longer function as such.
Brunner was removed as pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Troy in September 2003 because of a new church law that said a priest who has offended against a child can't continue in ministry.
SPOKANE (WA)
The Oregonian
Thursday, March 30, 2006
SPOKANE -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane is so strapped for cash that it has stopped paying its lawyers, even as its complicated bankruptcy case enters a critical stage.
The diocese sought bankruptcy protection because of claims filed by people who contend they were sexually abused by priests.
The diocese for the past 16 months has paid both its own legal bills and the bills of lawyers for victims, and is running out of money even as the two sides try to settle.
"I'm very concerned, obviously, about the fact that frankly every month this debtor goes further and further in the hole in terms of cash," U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams said during a hearing this week.
"That's a fact of life that is getting worse every single month and I ask myself periodically, you know, how many churches are we going to have to sell just because we can't get to plan confirmation?" Williams said.
Williams wondered whether churches or other diocese assets may have to be sold just to pay the mounting costs of the case.
UTICA (NY)
Observer-Dispatch
Thursday, Mar 30, 2006
Rocco LaDuca
Observer-Dispatch
UTICA — An Oneida County Court jury could decide today if a defrocked priest is guilty of approaching two 15-year-old boys to pose for sexual photographs in Rome.
The jury began deliberating late Wednesday afternoon following two days of trial testimony in which one boy described posing for pictures that James Tamburrino took, while the other recalled the encounters that led police to Tamburrino.
In their closing arguments Wednesday, attorneys for both sides left the jury with two different pictures of Tamburrino's actions involving the two boys in July.
Tamburrino, 38, of Pilmore Drive, is charged with using a child in a sexual performance, attempting to use a child in a sexual performance, possessing a sexual performance by a child and two misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
UNITED STATES
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By RACHEL ZOLL
AP RELIGION WRITER
The nation's Roman Catholic bishops have undergone another audit to see if they are complying with the U.S. church's toughened sex abuse policy, though not all the dioceses have been visited by investigators.
And critics say results of the audit, scheduled for release Thursday in Washington, D.C., are not a true measure of the bishops' commitment to their own policies.
The bishops hired investigators to determine whether dioceses are implementing the national policy church leaders adopted in 2002 at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal. But the auditors from the Gavin Group, a private firm led by a former FBI agent, were not asked to judge whether the programs are effective.
Also, church leaders changed how the review was conducted.
In the first two annual reviews, all 195 dioceses received an onsite visit. During the most recent review, dioceses that had been judged compliant two years in a row were allowed to fill out a questionnaire instead.
PITTSBURGH (PA)
KDKA
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A Homestead pastor accused of sexually abusing a teen he was counseling over three-year period is expected in court today for a preliminary hearing.
The Rev. Duane Youngblood of the Higher Call World Outreach Church in Homestead turned himself into police March 16.
According to police reports, the victim’s mother sent the then 15-year-old boy to Youngblood for counseling, after she read his journal that he was sexually assautled by an older cousin.
CROSSVILLE (TN)
WVLT
Crossville, Cumberland County (WVLT) - There was no doubt a big surprise for a Cumberland County minister as he walked out of a hearing at the old courthouse where he was met by sheriff's deputies waiting for him with a warrant for sexual battery by an authority figure.
Benji Dale Persinger is accused of inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl at his home in Crossville.
Volunteer TV's Eric Waddell was there when Persinger was arrested behind the old Cumberland County Courthouse.
Persinger wasn't shy as sheriff's deputies and TV cameras surrounded him Wednesday. He claims, among other things, that he's innocent.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Toledo Blade
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Ohio House members navigated photographs of children and chants of "Shame on you" yesterday shortly before a majority of them voted against opening a one-time, one-year window for the filing of lawsuits for child molestation that occurred as long as 35 years ago.
Amid finger-pointing and allegations of deal-making, the Ohio Senate soon finished the job, voting 18-13 to accept the House changes and forward the bill to Gov. Bob Taft, who plans to sign it. The Senate had unanimously and emotionally approved the bill with the window attached a year ago.
The bill now contains an untried civil registry. Victims of past abuse could seek a court order to place an accused sex offender's name on the public list, regardless of whether the person has been convicted or charged with a crime. Those placed on the list would be treated much like sex offenders who are required to register their whereabouts.
"The defeat came in a 12-hour period," said Barbara Blaine, a Toledo native and president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests. "This half-baked, last-minute scheme is unconstitutional. It won't stand up in court. This registry is a shallow, empty promise that will provide no measure of protection for children or justice for victims."
CONCORD (NH)
Boston.com
By J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press Writer | March 29, 2006
CONCORD, N.H. --More than three years after a landmark agreement between the state and New Hampshire's Roman Catholic diocese mandated annual audits of the church's sexual-abuse prevention strategies, the results of the first audit are in.
The audits were a key part of a 2002 settlement between the state and the diocese that ended a criminal investigation of whether church officials knew priests were molesting children, but failed to protect them over a period of decades.
But the audits have been delayed as state and church officials sparred over their scope and who would pay for them. The attorney general's office was expected to release the audit results Thursday.
The state sought a comprehensive audit that evaluated the effectiveness of the diocese's new policies, many of which were implemented following accusations several years ago that church officials nationwide had failed to protect children.
CANADA
Canada.com
Tara Brautigam, Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
CORNWALL, Ont. (CP) - Alleged child abuse victims should not take the stand at an eastern Ontario inquiry into the handling of such accusations because it would effectively retry a retired priest, a lawyer argued Wednesday.
"For them to come here and now make a criminal accusation against our client and to leave it at that without more would not be a full inquiry," said Giuseppe Cipriano, a lawyer for Rev. Charles MacDonald.
The retired priest was accused of being part of a group of pedophiles that allegedly victimized children for decades, but charges against him were stayed in May 2002 after a judge ruled his right to a speedy trial had been violated.
A lengthy police investigation in the 1990s concluded that there was no evidence of a pedophile ring.
ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
TheNewMexicoChannel.com
POSTED: 8:10 pm MST March 29, 2006
UPDATED: 8:31 pm MST March 29, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A teenage boy is seeking unspecified damages from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The boy -- identified only as John Doe -- alleges he was sexually abused by a Raton priest last year.
The lawsuit also names as defendants Archbishop Michael Sheehan and former Raton priest George Silva.
Silva was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on four counts involving transporting a minor from New Mexico to France and Portugal for criminal and illicit sexual activity.
The lawsuit alleges the boy suffered physical injury, emotional distress, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, lost wages and expenses for medical care and counseling, the lawsuit said.
BOSTON (MA)
Transcript
By David L. Harris/ Staff Writer
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Just weeks after a former Catholic Memorial chaplain was defrocked amid allegations that he sexually abused at least three students in the early 1980s, more allegations are coming forward.
The Rev. Robert Hoatson, a former teacher and assistant headmaster at CM from 1981 to 1985, said Frederick Ryan kept a "Wall of Fame" bulletin board in his residence at the chancery that showcased hundreds of student-athletes in various states of dress and undress.
But that’s not all. "After football games, he [Ryan] would massage athletes’ backs while they were showering," Hoatson told the Transcript.
Another victim has corroborated Hoaston’s account.
Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley defrocked Ryan two weeks ago while current CM President Brother James MacDonald has said all of the alleged abuse took place outside of the school.
But Hoatson maintains some of the abuse occurred on school property and was more extensive than has ever been reported. He also said he warned the administration about Ryan back in the 1980s.
OHIO
Dayton Daily News
By Tom Beyerlein
Dayton Daily News
For the second time in a month, the Vatican has announced the forced removal of a priest with Dayton-area ties who was credibly accused of child sexual abuse.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati said Wednesday that the Vatican approved what amounts to the forced resignation of Thomas Brunner, former pastor of Miami County's largest Catholic church, St. Patrick in Troy. The Vatican announced similar action against Lawrence Strittmatter this month.
In the 1980s, several women in the Cincinnati area accused Brunner of molesting them as minors, and he didn't deny it. Under the rules of the time, the archdiocese transferred him to another post after he underwent psychological tests and counseling. He came to Troy in 1995.
Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk suspended Brunner with pay from St. Patrick in September 2003 under the U.S. bishops' new zero-tolerance rule. He has not been permitted to serve as a priest.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Reginald Fields
Plain Dealer Bureau
Columbus- The Ohio House saved its busiest day of the year for its last day before a short break, moving a slew of bills on Wednesday that could affect high-profile issues such as taxes, clergy sex abuse and bad mortgage deals.
A $2.8 million budget correction bill won final passage and heads to Gov. Bob Taft's desk. Among scores of provisions, the bill allows Cuyahoga County to seek a cigarette tax to benefit the arts and appropriates $665 million for schools construction statewide.
The day got off to an emotional and bizarre start as people who said they were sexually abused by priests as children lined the main doorway into the House chamber, shouting and calling lawmakers names like "coward."
They were upset that House Speaker Jon Husted had removed a provision in a bill that would have allowed victims a one-year window to file lawsuits seeking monetary damages against clergy for alleged abuse from up to 35 years ago.
Most lawmakers ducked through another door behind an area where lobbyists and media were standing. Husted, Republican of Kettering, avoided the area altogether, taking a side door into the chamber.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
The victims of sexual abuse were dealt a huge setback in the Ohio Statehouse on Tuesday when a controversial provision of a proposed child protection law was dropped.
The 35-year "look back" period would have let victims file suits as much as 35 years after abuse occurred for a period of one year, but the provision did not survive a subcommittee vote. Under the statute of limitations, victims of abuse have two years past their 18th birthday to sue their abusers. Instead, Senate Bill 17 allows victims to go to court to place their abusers on a registry of sexual offenders to let others know of an abuser's past.
That's a positive gesture, but it does not do enough to hold abusers and institutions that may have protected them accountable for sexual abuse committed years ago.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
In a legislative staredown over whether to allow victims to file lawsuits for old instances of child sex abuse, the Senate blinked first and the Roman Catholic Church won.
A reluctant Senate gave final approval yesterday to a Housepassed bill that requires church officials to report suspected instances of abuse and creates an Internet registry of unconvicted sex offenders who are found liable in a civil case.
After heavy lobbying by Ohio Catholic bishops, the House stripped a provision that would have given victims a one-year window, or look-back, to file a lawsuit for child sex abuse that occurred as long ago as 35 years.
"I have never felt more ashamed of my church than I do today," said Rep. Chris Redfern of Catawba Island, a Catholic and chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. House Democrats tried to return the look-back provision to Senate Bill 17, but majority Republicans defeated it in a party-line vote.
IRELAND
Irish Examiner
By Rónán Mullen
A FEW years ago I took part in a Late Late Show discussion about child sexual abuse and the Catholic Church. On the show that night were Fr Brian D’Arcy and a number of people who had suffered abuse by Catholic priests.
Fr D’Arcy had to leave immediately after the show but, on our way out to the hospitality suite, he spoke to one of the abuse victims in a voice of great familiarity and intensity. “Won’t you mind yourself?” he pleaded.
Chatting to me afterwards, the person in question commented on ‘how upset’ Fr Brian seemed to be. “Do you know him well?” I asked. The person didn’t know him at all, it turned out.
On one level, Fr D’Arcy’s obvious compassion was commendable. But I was left wondering, nevertheless. Was this man a hyper-emoter, a man far too in touch with his touchy-feely side, too ready to feel everybody’s pain? How was it that he was never to be found on the unpopular side of a controversial argument, that he never defended his Church against unfair criticism, and that the only people he criticised over the years were erstwhile authority figures such as Cardinal Daly or the Vatican - people who were, by then, easy to criticise.
However, a lot of people have great time for Fr D’Arcy. He is, by all accounts, a compassionate man who has been of great support to many people over the years. Like many priests, he has been there for people at crucial moments and they will not forget it. Nor should they.
NEW YORK
New York Post
By ALEX GINSBERG
March 29, 2006 -- A pervy priest who pleaded guilty to child endangerment in connection with the sodomy of an 11-year-old Brooklyn altar boy was sentenced to three years' probation yesterday.
The Rev. Joseph Byrns, 63, who pleaded guilty to the charge in January in exchange for the slap on the wrist, also was told by Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Robert Collini that he's banned from working with or having any unsupervised contact with children.
UNITED STATES
National
By JOE FEUERHERD
Washington
In a series of emotional hearings taking place in state capitols across the country, clergy sex abuse victims and church lobbyists both say they want justice, though there’s no consensus on what that might look like or how to get there.
Proposals in more than a dozen states would eliminate or temporarily suspend the statute of limitations on child abuse. Laws vary by jurisdiction, but typically forbid civil suits against alleged abusers and those who covered-up their crimes several years after the victim reaches age 18. Statute of limitations restrictions on criminal prosecutions tend to be more open-ended, but are also the subject of scrutiny in legislatures across the country.
Legislative fights are hottest in Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts and Ohio. Other states where legislation has been introduced include Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
On one side are abuse victims and their advocates, who argue that restrictions on civil suits involving child abuse reward molesters and the abettors who covered up their crimes. “The incentive is backwards,” said David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “With this reform every agency dealing with kids will be forced to work harder to prevent abuse and respond pastorally when abuse happens; without it, it’s in their self-interest to stonewall, lie, hide and intimidate,” said Clohessy. “In every realm of human behavior the threat of negative consequences deters recklessness.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
The state Attorney General’s office tomorrow will release the results of its first annual audit of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.
The audit will reveal how effective the diocese’s polices are in protecting children and whether it is complying with the terms of the 2002 agreement the diocese reached with the state to avoid criminal prosecution for its handling of child sexual abuse in the past.
In striking the agreement, the diocese acknowledged it failed to protect children from sexually abusive priests. The alleged abuses date from the 1930s through the 1980s.
The diocese agreed to submit to annual audits by the Attorney General’s office through 2007 as one condition of the agreement.
CANADA
Ottawa Citizen
Tara Brautigam, The Canadian Press
Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
CORNWALL - An inquiry probing how public institutions responded to historical allegations of child sexual abuse does not have the authority to issue recommendations to the Catholic Church, a lawyer for the diocese said yesterday.
The Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese doesn't want to be considered a "public institution" as is spelled out in the terms of reference established for the inquiry last year by the Ontario government, said lawyer David Sherriff-Scott.
Considering the diocese a public institution just because it provides services to the poor and downtrodden would be unfair and would distract the inquiry from its true mandate, Mr. Sherriff-Scott told commissioner Normand Glaude.
The inquiry is investigating the handling of long-standing allegations of child sexual abuse in Cornwall.
CHICAGO (IL)
Philippine News
Ted Regencia, Mar 29, 2006
CHICAGO, IL – In an effort to stem an ongoing abuse controversy, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago released on March 21 the result of an investigation, which named 55 diocesan priests who are facing “substantiated allegations” of abuse.
One of them is now deceased Filipino priest Fr. Albert Tanghal
The names of the priests are listed in the archdiocese’s website www.archidiocese-chgo.org. Details of the allegations, which date as far back as 1950, were not made public.
At the Tuesday press conference, Francis Cardinal George endured sharp questions by the media, and offered his apology, "for the tragedy of allowing children to be in the presence of a priest against whom a current accusation of sexual abuse had been made.” “I am most truly sorry," the cardinal said on TV.
Fr. Tanghal, who was ordained in 1991, was last known to have served St. John Vianney Parish, located in the northwest Chicago suburb of Northlake, and which has a significant number of Filipino churchgoers.
PENNSYLVANIA
The Morning Call
By Kathleen Parrish
and Daniel Patrick Sheehan Of The Morning Call
In the years after his 1988 conviction for molesting a child, the Rev. Thomas J. Bender lived and worked at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Easton, home to a school and a popular youth center.
Serving out probation, barred from saying Mass and other priestly functions, he worked in the parish office — a situation that lasted until Bishop Edward Cullen took charge of the Allentown Catholic Diocese in 1998 and removed him as part of a revision of policies on troubled clergy.
Bender, 72, a one-time pastor whose priesthood was essentially nullified two years ago, was arrested March 21 on Long Island, N.Y. He is accused of traveling there to have sex with a 14-year-old online pen pal who turned out to be an undercover detective. In instant messages and e-mails, Bender said he ''wanted to spank the 14-year-old male on various parts of his nude body,'' according to court documents.
Though Bender was never accused of improper behavior during his time at St. Anthony's, critics say the assignment exemplifies how dioceses often dealt with abusive priests before the explosion of the clergy abuse scandal in 1998 — by moving them into new parishes where they continued to have access to children.
JOLIET (IL)
Chicago Tribune
By Lolly Bowean
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 29, 2006
A Catholic priest who was placed on leave last month amid allegations that he sexually abused a boy more than 20 years ago while serving at a church in Mokena, has formally denied the allegations in a letter to former parishioners, officials said.
Rev. James Burnett, who had served at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet from 2002 until he was placed on administrative leave in February, wrote the letter last week that was copied and distributed as an insert to the Joliet church's Sunday bulletin, officials said.
In his letter, Burnett thanks parishioners for their support and prayers.
"I am innocent of all the accusations that have been made against me, and I know that that innocence will prevail," he wrote.
"The many days since my departure have been dark, some darker than others," he wrote. "I do believe deeply in the power of prayer, and I do believe that your prayers will bring this situation to a happy conclusion."
Last month a 34-year-old man who now lives in Phoenix came forward with allegations against Burnett.
CALIFORNIA
Contra Costa Times
By Sophia Kazmi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
DUBLIN - Bishop Allen Vigneron on Tuesday night delivered the last of the apologies for those abused by priests of the Oakland Diocese.
After a two-year tour of the diocese, the service at St. Raymond Catholic Church was the 21st apology service presided over by the bishop -- and the last. It was intended for those who could not make one of the other services, or who were not ready to come forward when Vigneron was at their parish.
"I am here with you to acknowledge past failings," the bishop told the audience at the start of his homily.
Vigneron has traveled throughout the East Bay, with stops at churches in Antioch, Castro Valley, Richmond and other cities.
Before the bishop began his homily, members from the Survivors Network for People Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, held a vigil and passed out fliers that said the diocese is not providing all the names of priests involved in alleged abuses.
COLUMBUS (OH)
The Columbus Dispatch
Catherine Candisky and Jim Siegel
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Victims of sex abuse by priests were livid yesterday after majority Republicans in the Ohio House closed a oneyear window that would have allowed the victims to sue for abuse that occurred up to 35 years ago.
Packing a Statehouse hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, the victims accused GOP leaders of caving to pressure from the Roman Catholic Church, which successfully lobbied for an Internet registry for sexually abusive priests.
"The influence of the Catholic Conference is so much greater than ours; that’s what it comes down to," said Barbara Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Dayton Daily News
Staff and Wire Reports
COLUMBUS | State lawmakers dropped a proposal Tuesday to allow victims of sexual abuse to file lawsuits in cases up to 35 years old.
Victims' advocates lambasted House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, for striking what they see as the bill's most important provision, which would have allowed a one-year window for abuse victims who missed the lawsuit deadline to sue.
Husted said leaders were unable to reach a compromise that satisfied church officials and a victims' support network.
The change was among revisions to a bill that the House Judiciary Committee approved Tuesday. The House is expected to pass the bill. Senate President Bill Harris, R-Ashland, said the Senate likely would agree with the changes.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Cincinnati Enquirer
BY JON CRAIG | ENQUIRER COLUMBUS BUREAU AND DAN HORN
COLUMBUS - State legislators dropped a proposal Tuesday that would have allowed victims of sexual abuse to sue their abusers up to 35 years after the offense.
The provision, strongly opposed by the Catholic Church, was the most controversial part of a proposed child protection law.
Church officials said the provision was unfair and probably unconstitutional, while victims' advocates viewed it as the best way to hold priests and the church accountable for decades-old abuse claims.
The proposed 35-year "look-back period" had survived nearly a year of political debate and lobbying, but it didn't survive Tuesday's vote of the House Judiciary Committee.
Committee members voted 7-3 to remove the provision before sending the child protection bill to the full House for a vote, possibly as early as today.
CHICAGO (IL)
National
By JOE FEUERHERD
Eighteen Chicago archdiocese “accused priest abusers” live at church-owned facilities under an “honor code” system where their activities and whereabouts are largely unsupervised. Some have regular access to children and other vulnerable people, such as nursing home residents.
Those are among the findings of a 58-page report commissioned by Cardinal Francis George following revelations that a prominent parish pastor was allowed to remain in ministry for more than four months following allegations of sexual abuse. The priest, Fr. Daniel McCormack, served as pastor of St. Agatha Parish on Chicago’s west side and as a coach and teacher at the parochial school it shares with two other parishes.
Following the August accusation against McCormack, George rejected a recommendation from an archdiocesan review board that the priest be removed as pastor of St. Agatha. Instead, another priest -- who lived at the rectory but whose ministerial duties were elsewhere -- was assigned to act as a “monitor” for the accused priest.
COLUMBUS (OH)
Dayton Daily News
By Shaheen Samavati
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | Terry Staub of Kettering didn't tell anyone she was sexually abused by a priest when she was in first grade. More than four decades passed before she reported the abuse. Under Ohio law that was too late to take civil action.
But now she and other members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are afraid that the provision could be stripped from the bill before a committee vote scheduled for today.
The group's president, Barbara Blaine, was not optimistic after she met with House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Kettering, on Monday. Her group is concerned the committee might remove a one-year window for the filing of civil claims stemming from abuse occurring more than 35 years ago.
IRELAND
Catholic World News
Mar. 28 (CWNews.com) - The Irish government has established a commission to investigate sexual abuse of children in the Dublin archdiocese.
The commission, to be headed by Judge Yvonne Murphy, will look into the handling of sex-abuse complaints by Church leaders in Dublin. It will also be authorized to investigate any other Irish diocese where there are reports that Church leaders have not followed the guidelines established by the Irish bishops for handling such complaints.
The commission will examine sex-abuse complaints lodged against the clergy of Dublin between 1975 and 2004, and look for "any evidence of attempts on the part of those authorities to obstruct, prevent or interfere with the proper investigation of such complaints."
COLUMBUS (OH)
NBC4i
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Lawmakers are dropping a proposal to allow lawsuits by victims of clergy sexual abuse that happened up to 35 years ago, the Ohio House leader said Tuesday.
Victims of child sex abuse said they were disappointed Tuesday after a house committee changed Senate Bill 17 -- designed to protect children, NBC 4's Lauren Crowner reported.
The bill was approved by the Senate and would allow people abused by priests to have up to 20 years to report the abuse after it happened. But, the House Judiciary Committee changed the time limit to 12 years.
Victims said they were also looking for a provision which would have allowed a one-year window for victims who missed the lawsuit deadline to sue for alleged abuse
OHIO
Columbus Dispatch
Associated Press
Tuesday, March 28, 2006 7:25 PM
State lawmakers today dropped a proposal to allow victims of sexual abuse by clergy to file lawsuits in cases up to 35 years old.
Victims' advocates lambasted House Speaker Jon Husted for striking what they see as the bill's most important provision, which would have allowed a one-year window for victims who missed the lawsuit deadline to sue for alleged abuse.
Husted said leaders were unable to reach a compromise that suits church officials and an outspoken victims' support network, whose members descended on the Statehouse the past two days bearing laminated photos of themselves at the ages they were abused.
The change was among bill revisions approved today by the House Judiciary Committee and headed for expected passage in a vote of the full House on Wednesday. Senate President Bill Harris said the Senate likely would agree with the changes.
OHIO
WCPO
Reported by: Laure Quinlivan
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
Photographed by: 9News
First posted: 3/28/2006 7:19:52 PM
Last Updated: 3/28/2006 10:34:41 PM
9News Anchor:
Victims of child sexual abuse are scrambling Tuesday night to resurrect a key provision in a bill Ohio House members are expected to vote on Wednesday.
On Tuesday Republicans killed the bill's one-year window to allow victims to file civil suits against their abusers.
9News' I-Team reporter Laure Quinlivan was in Columbus and has the latest.
CANADA
Toronto Star
Mar. 28, 2006. 07:00 PM
CANADIAN PRESS
CORNWALL, Ont. — A public inquiry probing how public institutions responded to historical allegations of child sexual abuse does not have the authority to issue recommendations to the Catholic Church, a lawyer for the local diocese said Tuesday.
The Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese doesn’t want to be considered a “public institution” as is spelled out in the terms of reference established for the inquiry last year by the Ontario government, said lawyer David Sherriff-Scott.
Considering the diocese a public institution just because it provides services to the poor and downtrodden would be unfair and would distract the inquiry from its true mandate, Sherriff-Scott told Commissioner Normand Glaude.
“If I interpreted every charitable organization that held itself out in the public domain as providing services on behalf of the public — Big Brothers, Big Sisters, athletic organizations, health charities — every one of them would be, on that argument, a public institution,” he argued.
WISCONSIN
GM Today
By AL DUNN - GM Today Staff
March 28, 2006
In a charged hearing, Russell Roelke, a 45-year-old former West Bend youth ministry director originally charged with four counts of child sex crimes, was sentenced Monday to a 14-year prison term by Washington County Circuit Judge Annette Ziegler.
Under sentencing guidelines, Roelke will serve three years in the state prison system and the remainder under extended supervision.
After the sentence was passed, with audible moans emanating from the large contingent of his supporters, Roelke’s mother collapsed inside the courtroom and was attended to by West Bend paramedics. She was able to walk out of the courtroom later with assistance.
Roelke had earlier entered guilty pleas to two counts, one of use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime and one of possession of child pornography. A former youth ministry director at Fifth Avenue Methodist Church in West Bend, Roelke had also been charged with child enticement and exposing a child to harmful material, but Washington County Assistant District Attorney Holly Bunch had agreed to dismiss those charges as part of a plea agreement.
CHICAGO (IL)
National
Chicago Cardinal Francis George acknowledges responsibility for the fiasco that evolved out of what is supposed to be that archdiocese’s child abuse prevention program.
He is right to do so. But we are left wondering what he means by that.
The details (see story) are damning: A high-profile priest known to some archdiocesan officials as a potential abuser since his seminary days was allowed to remain in parish service for four months after additional, and current, allegations of abuse were brought against him. Amazingly, in addition to his duties as parish pastor, Fr. Daniel McCormack continued to serve as a parochial school teacher and sports coach. Meanwhile, the priest appointed to “mind” McCormack was rarely present at the parish and had virtually no training regarding what such “minding” might entail.
MALAWI
IOL
March 28 2006 at 03:48PM
Blantyre - Police in the southern African country of Malawi have arrested a priest for ordering 15 women to strip while he conducted "special prayers" for them, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The priest from the Bible Believers, one of several Pentecostal churches that have mushroomed in the country, was arrested in the central Salima district after one of the women filed a complaint, Moyenda Chitimbe said.
Chitimbe said the priest asked the women to disrobe while he conducted "special prayers," adding that the "women obliged and remained naked while the pastor gazed at their nudity."
ILLINOIS
Daily Southtown
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
By Ted Slowik
A Joliet pastor is publicly declaring that he's innocent of a claim that he sexually abused a boy at a Mokena parish more than 25 years ago.
The Rev. James Burnett wrote to parishioners at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in a letter distributed in parish bulletins last weekend.
"I am innocent of all the accusations that have been made against me, and I know that innocence will prevail," Burnett wrote.
Joliet Bishop Joseph Imesch placed Burnett on administrative leave Feb. 7, the day that Dan Shanahan, 34, of Phoenix, Ariz., publicly accused Burnett of repeatedly molesting him, beginning when Shanahan was 8 in 1978. Shanahan claims that some of the abuse occurred in a confessional at St. Mary Church in Mokena.