ABUSE TRACKER

LOS ANGELES (CA)
LA Weekly

By Dennis Romero
Tue., Jan. 31 2012

​Looks like the boys in the station had quite a laugh over firefighter Anthony Almeida’s legal claims that he was abused by a Catholic priest.

And now the Los Angeles Fire Department must pay nearly $500,000 because officials failed to stop the razzing.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced:

The Los Angeles City Fire Department will pay $494,150 and implement widespread anti-harassment training to settle federal charges of discrimination …

The EEOC in L.A. says “fellow firefighters at his station” … “employed deeply offensive comments of a sexual and religious nature” after learning that he had filed suit against the church alleging abuse by a priest:

… Several coworkers mocked him for that, using explicit and offensive religious and sexual epithets.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

[with video]

Written by
Melissa Holmes

BUFFALO, NY — Father Secundo Casarotto, the priest from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Buffalo accused of sexually assaulting two women, is reportedly in Italy.

This comes a day after a second accuser came forward in the case of Father Secundo Casarotto, saying she made the allegations to the Buffalo Diocese in 2008, and nothing was done about it.

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CHILE
La Segunda

El filósofo José Andrés Murillo -quien fuera una de las víctimas de abusos por parte del condenado ex párroco de El Bosque, Fernando Karadima- aseguró a “La Segunda” que, tras la reunión que sostuvo con el obispo uruguayo, Carlos María Collazzi , está esperanzado de que la Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón sea disuelta.

Monseñor Collazi, en su calidad de visitador canónico nombrado por el Vaticano, finalizó el lunes sus labores, que se desarrollaron en dos etapas: Del 4 al 8 de diciembre de 2011, y posteriormente del 25 al 27 de enero de 2012. Su misión era verificar la eclesialidad de los procesos formativos y la transparencia de la administración económica de esa Pía Unión, fundada por Karadima. Según informaron en el Arzobispado, a través de un comunicado, hará llegar “en los próximos días” al arzobispo Ricardo Ezzati “las conclusiones y recomendaciones que él estime oportunas respecto de su visita”. A su vez, Ezzati remitirá los antecedentes a la Santa Sede.

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WEST VIRGINIA
WPXI

By AMANDA IACONE
The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. —

All adult West Virginians would be required to report suspected sexual abuse to the police under a bill working its way through the Legislature.

The Senate unanimously passed the measure Monday, sending it for consideration by the House. The bill also would add coaches and camp staff to the list of professions required to report physical abuse and neglect.

A bill introduced in the House also would expand reporting requirements but stops short of placing the responsibility on all adults. The House bill would provide funding for prevention programs.

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MISSISSIPPI
Cottonmouth

File this one under “H” for hypocrite.

Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) has introduced “The Mississippi Child Protection Act of 2012” today, which is almost identical to bills he has filed in the past. In that bill, Gunn seeks to make it illegal to not report suspected child sex abuse to authorities within 48 hours of gaining knowledge of it.

Why is that hypocritical? Well, Gunn became aware sometime in the last 18 months of allegations that the children’s music minister at his church, Morrison Heights Baptist in Clinton, had molested young boys. According to some, Gunn then went on to try to quiet those reporting the alleged crimes. He then went even further, instructing the members of his deacon committee (of which he is chairman) to not cooperate with law enforcement investigating the now-indicted abuse cases against the minister.

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TEXAS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

A Tarrant County man claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was sexually abused as a minor by a priest who taught religion at Nolan High School and served as an assistant pastor at All Saints Catholic Church in Fort Worth. In the lawsuit, a John Doe says that from about 1982 to 1987, when he was a minor, he was sexually abused by Father William Paiz of the Claretian Order in the rectories of All Saints Catholic Church, St. George Church and other places.

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ARKANSAS
Arkansas Times

Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jan 31, 2012

Fox 16 reports that David Pierce, the former Baptist music minister in Benton who pleaded guilty to sexual indecency with a child in 2009, will be released on parole.

David Koon wrote a cover story for us about this case. He victimized scores of boys over a couple of decades at the First Baptist Church of Benton. There was an outpouring of support for him when he was arrested and many asked for leniency on account of his age, health, dangers to child molesters in prison and his good works.

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ARKANSAS
KTHV

Written by
Lindsey Tugman

BENTON, Ark. (KTHV) – A Benton music minister convicted of sexually abusing children is granted parole, but with stipulations.

David Pierce has to seek residency outside the state and if he ever returns to Arkansas he cannot live within 50 miles of Saline County.

At this time it is unknown when he’ll be released. Again, he must first find housing outside the state and then that state must accept him under their parole program.

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ARKANSAS
Arkansas Online

A former Benton music minister who plead guilty in 2009 to sexual indecency with children is to be released on parole, according to multiple news reports.

The date when David Pierce is to be released has not been disclosed. According to reports, he must first find a state willing to accept his residence under its parole program.The reports also say that if Pierce chooses to return to Arkansas, he may not live within 50 miles of Saline County or have contact with the victims or their families.

Pierce, who was 56 at the time of his conviction, was formerly a music minister at Benton’s First Baptist Church for 29 years until he was fired following the investigation. Pierce plead guilty in 2009 to 54 counts of sexual indecency with children. He was convicted in August 2009 by the Saline County Circuit Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

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BENTON (AR)
Associated Baptist Press

By Bob Allen

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

BENTON, Ark. (ABP) – A former music minister at an Arkansas Baptist church convicted of sexually abusing children has been granted parole, according to media sources.

David Pierce, 59, won release from prison after serving two years and four months of a 10-year sentence for four counts of sexual indecency with a child. The cases involved three now-adult boys who claimed abuse by Pierce, whom they regarded a spiritual mentor at First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark.

Pierce was originally charged with 54 counts of sexual indecency with multiple boys active in youth choirs during his 29 years as music minister at the 2,500-member congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but he accepted a plea bargain rather than stand trial. The Saline County prosecutor said he accepted the deal to spare victims the trauma of testifying in court.

One of those victims, who blogs anonymously at Descent from Darkness, wrote Jan. 31 that he expected the news and thought he was prepared to handle it, but he was wrong.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

Should allegations against priests not charged in Archdiocese sex abuse case be allowed as evidence?

January 31, 2012
By Eric Walter

The upcoming trial of three Philadelphia priests accused of sexually abusing young boys is gaining a response from NewsWorks readers.

On Monday, Judge Teresa Sarmina upheld her previous ruling that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to be a witness. There had been some question that the 88-year-old mans’s significant memory loss would render his testimony unreliable.

Sarmina also announced she would decide within the week whether prosecutors may introduce abuse allegations against priests who are not charged in the case.

A reader identified as Dr. McHugh said, “As a Catholic physician who has met many who have been sexually abused by priests, I hope that all possible evidence is allowed to be used in the upcoming trial, to let it be known how dysfunctional the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church have been.”

NewsWorks reader GBullough said further, “Whatever side the ruling comes down on, the prosecutor has already done a great service by bringing the evidence into the light.”

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, emahony@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:21 p.m. EST, January 31, 2012
WATERBURY—
A priest who was a former top aide in the Catholic Diocese of Hartford testified Tuesday that he arranged treatment in 1979 for a sexually abusive priest but said he has no knowledge of the church ever doing anything for the priest’s victims.

Father Gene Gianelli also testified that he decided to keep the name of the church institute where the priest was being treated from the mother of two abused brothers because he was afraid she could become “a pest.”

“I will not let this woman know where Father is receiving treatment,” Gianelli wrote in a March 21, 1979, memo to Archbishop John F. Whealon. “She could become a pest.”

Gianelli, who was Whealon’s secretary from 1972 to 1982, was called as a witness in Superior Court Tuesday by a now-adult, former altar boy who claims in a lawsuit that the Diocese of Hartford was negligent throught the late 1970s and early 1980s by failing to stop his abuse.

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WISCONSIN
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 31, 2012
By Jason Berry

Steeped in the writings of Camus, Kierkegaard, Simone Weil and Emerson, Peter Isely put his career as a therapist on the line in 1993 when he identified himself as a victim of clerical sex abuse and criticized Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, who at the time was lionized by NCR, Commonweal and The New Yorker as a progressive leader of a post-Vatican II church. Weakland had a victim assistance program, Project Benjamin, of which Isely was deeply suspicious.

Born in Fond du Lac, Wis., Isley and a twin brother — the youngest of eight siblings — were 9 months old when their father, a realtor and contractor, died in a 1961 automobile accident. The family moved into a smaller house and struggled financially. Daily Mass at St. Joseph Parish School shaped his boyhood. “The community at St. Joe’s raised me,” he told writer Marie Rohde for a recent Milwaukee Magazine profile. On scholarship at the Capuchin-run St. Lawrence Seminary High School, he was popular with peers, an academic star and a sexual target of the principal: Fr. Gale Leifeld sexually assaulted Isely and 38 other boys Isely has spoken with. All thought they were alone. Two committed suicide.

After earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Isely won a scholarship to Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. As he wrestled with meanings of the Holocaust, a course on the psychology of secrecy spurred him to confront Leifeld’s weight upon his past. Back in Milwaukee, after another degree and establishing a therapy practice, he bristled as Weakland responded to early news coverage of clergy abuse cover-ups by promoting Project Benjamin, a therapy program to reconcile victims and church.

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MILWAUKEE (WI)
National Catholic Reporter

Jan. 31, 2012
By Jason Berry

Dead Catholics have a vested interest in reducing settlements to clergy abuse survivors in Milwaukee, thanks to a shift of $55.6 million on the church balance sheets by then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan in 2008.

Dolan’s move in the twilight of his seven-year tenure in Milwaukee has emerged as a major issue in the archdiocese’s bankruptcy, which his successor, Archbishop Jerome Listecki, filed last February. One expert who has done extensive research on diocesan financial statements has described the move as “a shell game.”

Listecki approved Chapter 11 protection from creditors in order to reduce the settlement claims of sexual victims of priests from incidents that occurred long before the tenure of either Listecki or Dolan, who currently is the archbishop of New York as well as a newly named cardinal.

In contrast to the clamor of victims, the 500,000 souls spread across 1,000 acres of sacred soil in Milwaukee are silent. “The Cemetery Care Claimants include deceased persons with no direct voice in these bankruptcy proceedings … [but] a straightforward expectation — that the graves, crypts and mausoleums will be maintained forever,” the church asserted in a motion filed Nov. 26.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

Commentary by Susan Matthews

In the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, parishes are separate and distinct entities . The pastor is the ultimate decision-maker for the parish and parish school. However, those pastors take a vow of obedience to their Bishop. It’s confusing and very convenient for Archdiocesan finances, their legal team and the Office for Catholic Education.

Parishes and their schools are completely separate from one another and the archdiocese if you’re an elementary school teacher and you want to seek unionization. They are also separate if you’d like to hold the archdiocese accountable for negligence of its elementary school students in regard to child sex abuse.

But if you’re a pastor or a teacher whose school is closing, you must follow the rules of the Archdiocesan Office for Catholic education. Not so separate now. Hmm. See if you can figure it out based on the communications below:

1) “In all of the newly formed elementary schools the pastors will still be the employers, not the Archdiocese. That arrangement does not change even if we’re talking about a regional school that involves a number of parishes. The ultimate decision-making regarding employment would be done by the pastors. The governance model for each regional school is to be decided upon by all of the pastors involved. It would ultimately be their decision in each unique school as to how hiring takes place. The pastors would also identify who is responsible for making hiring decisions at the local level.” – statement from the Archdiocesan Office for Communication.

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CHILE
Bio Bio

Publicado por Erasmo Tauran

En su testimonio otorgado a La Radio, el ex seminarista y ahora obispo protestante el obispo protestante Mauricio Pulgar denunció que fue víctima de abusos sexuales y psicológicos por parte de miembros de la Iglesia Católica en la Región de Valparaíso.

El vocero de la Conferencia Episcopal, Jaime Coiro, insistió en que apenas las autoridades eclesiásticas reciban los antecedentes oficiales, se iniciará una investigación al respecto, atribuyendo el desconocimiento, a que las personas que deben tomar los procedimientos correspondientes, se encuentran de vacaciones.

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ITALIA
YouTube

Quando bisogna denunciare un prete pedofilo?

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ROMA
Blitz

di Alessandro Camilli

ROMA – Il prete, la nobildonna e l’intellettuale di sinistra. Sono tre delle vittime del Madoff dei Parioli ascoltate ieri (30 gennaio) dai magistrati che indagano sulla gigantesca truffa. Francesco Maria Ricci, monsignore appartenente alla congregazione per le Cause dei Santi, ha investito 1,6 milioni di euro nel vortice delle operazioni offshore di Gianfranco Lande. Claudia Ruspoli, principessa, ci ha rimesso “appena” 230 mila euro e David Riondino, “canto, suono, faccio produzioni”, circa 450mila. Dopo di loro, oggi 31 gennaio, è stato il turno di Sabina Guzzanti. Ascoltata dai magistrati ha detto: “Ho perso almeno 150mila dei 537mila euro, frutto del mio lavoro, che nell’arco di dieci anni avevo affidato alla Eim di Roberto Torregiani ma, al di là dell’aspetto economico, l’intera vicenda mi ha provocato un senso di insicurezza e di angoscia anche nei confronti dei miei familiari che hanno in buona parte perso i loro risparmi. Mi sono sentita un’imbecille, sensazione che non fa mai bene”. Anche se, a sentire i diversi racconti, non dovrebbe essere lei quella con la palma dell’imbecille.

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CITTA DEL VATICANO
TM News

Città del Vaticano, 31 gen. (TMNews) – Rispondendo a domande di giornalisti a proposito dell’articolo pubblicato sul ‘Corriere della Sera’ di questa mattina con il titolo: “Dalla congregazione dei Santi 1.6 milioni al ‘Madoff dei Parioli'”, il portavoce vaticano, Federico Lombardi, ha precisato quanto che “il rev. Francesco Maria Ricci, di cui si parla nell’articolo, è un religioso domenicano, che opera per conto del suo Ordine. Egli non appartiene in alcun modo alla Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. Occorre infatti notare che Postulazioni e Postulatori sono ‘clienti’ della Congregazione, a cui si rivolgono per promuovere le cause di cui si occupano, ma non fanno assolutamente parte della Congregazione. Bisogna quindi ribadire la totale estraneità della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, del suo Prefetto, Card. Amato, e di tutti i suoi Officiali, alla vicenda di cui ci parla nell’articolo in questione”.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, 31 JAN 2012 (VIS) – Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today released a communique in response to questions from journalists about an article published in today’s edition of the Italian newspaper “Corriere dell Sera” entitled “Dalla Congregazione dei Santi 1.6 milioni al ‘Madoff dei Parioli'” (1.6 Million from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to the ‘Madoff of the Parioli'”). The text of the communique is given below.

“Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, who is mentioned in the article, is a Dominican religious who works on behalf of his order. He does not in any way belong to the Congregation for the Causes of Saint. It must be made clear that Postulators are ‘clients’ of the Congregation, with which they interact in order to promote the causes they are handling, but they are by no means part of the Congregation. It is important, then, to highlight the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, its prefect Cardinal Amato and its officials are not involved in any way with the events about which the article speaks”.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jan. 31, 2012 NCR Today

Distancing itself from yet another financial scandal, the Vatican this morning insisted that an Italian cleric who allegedly invested some $2 million in a ponzi scheme run by an Italian financier known as the “Madoff of Parioli” is not, in fact, a Vatican official, and thus the Vatican has nothing to do with the story.

Italy’s leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, carried a story in its Jan. 31 edition, under the headline “From the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: 1.6 million for the Madoff of Parioli.” In essence, the story implied that the Vatican’s department for saints was involved because an Italian cleric who got caught up in the swindle, Dominican Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, is responsible for various sainthood causes for the Dominicans and therefore interacts with the Vatican.

The story reports that the Dominican, Ricci, had invested slightly over $2 million in a financial services operation run by financier Gainfranco Lande, who was arrested last April and charged with several counts of fraud. At this stage, Lande’s ponzi scheme is estimated to have wiped out the savings of a roster of elite Roman investors to the tune of roughly $300 million.

The details on Ricci’s investment emerged from an on-going civil investigation of Lande by Italian prosecutors. The story did not clarify where Ricci got the $2 million he invested with Lande.

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BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News

By Jay Tokasz
News Religion Reporter

A second woman has stepped forward to allege inappropriate and unwanted sexual advances by a Buffalo priest.

A spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo acknowledged this week that it has received a second independent complaint regarding the Rev. Secondo Casarotto, the former pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church on Court Street.

Casarotto was removed from his pastorate Jan. 14 after Bishop Edward U. Kmiec learned that the priest was accused in a Buffalo police report of groping a former parishioner inside the rectory.

Casarotto told Buffalo police the sexual contact was consensual, and the priest was not charged with a crime.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WKBW

[with video]

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW ) – There is a second allegation of sexual misconduct against Father Secundo Casarotto of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church. This woman said she made a call, and sent a letter about the complaint in 2008 – but nothing was done.

Diocese officials said they had no record of this 2008 complaint until Monday. An employee came forward admitting that they took the call, but never passed along the information.

According to Diocese procedure, when employees take a complaint of this nature they are supposed to pass it on to the Safe Environment office or the Victim Assistance Coordinator. Neither of those actions were taken in this case.

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NEDERLAND
L1

Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer wil dat er meer onderzoek wordt gedaan naar seksueel misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk. Het gaat om de partijen PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het onderzoek dat de commissie-Deetman deed naar het misbruik binnen de kerk. Volgens een aantal partijen zijn zaken zoals misbruik van meisjes en mishandeling onderbelicht gebleven. Ook slachtoffer-organisatie KLOKK is voor verder onderzoek. Regeringspartijen

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NEDERLAND
Samenwerken

Minister Opstelten (VenJ) en staatssecretaris Veldhuijzen van Zanten (VWS) gaan een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik instellen. De Taskforce zal mede toezien op de uitvoering van het actieplan aanpak kindermishandeling ‘Kinderen veilig’ [2012-2016].

Opstelten en Veldhuijzen van Zanten kondigen in een reactie aan de Tweede Kamer op het rapport van de Commissie seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen in de Rooms-Katholieke Kerk (de Commissie Deetman) onder andere de oprichting aan van een Taskforce kindermishandeling en seksueel misbruik. Veldhuijzen van Zanten heeft het actieplan ‘Kinderen veilig’ [2012-2016] in december 2011 al met de Tweede Kamer besproken. Het plan bevat maatregelen voor verbetering van de preventie, signalering, het stoppen en beperken van de schadelijke gevolgen van kindermishandeling.

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NEDERLAND
DePers

De rooms-katholieke kerk frustreert onderzoeken naar seksueel misbruik. Bisdommen en congregaties schuiven hun verantwoordelijkheid af, stelt de Koepel Landelijk Overleg Kerkelijk Kindermisbruik (Klokk) dinsdag in het AD.

Al 75 slachtoffers hebben volgens de koepel een klacht ingediend over frustratie van onderzoeken. Juridisch medewerker Maud Kips zegt in de krant dat bisschoppen en oversten ‘vrijwel standaard’ zeggen dat zij in hun archieven geen enkele aanwijzing vinden dat de klacht op waarheid berust. “En als het bewijs overduidelijk is, zeggen zij niet aansprakelijk te zijn.”

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NEDERLAND
Trouw

Vandaag debatteert de Tweede Kamer over het eind vorig jaar gepresenteerde eindrapport van de commissie-Deetman, die seksueel misbruik binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk onderzocht. Van ‘parlementaire enquête’ tot ‘klein aanvullend onderzoek’. Over de vraag hoe de politiek een gevolg moet geven aan het werk van de commissie-Deetman lopen de meningen in Den Haag uiteen.

“Het is een onderwerp met een enorme maatschappelijke impact, maar tot nu toe hebben we het vooral gehad over wat er allemaal mis is gegaan bij de rooms-katholieke kerk. Er is voor vandaag nog geen debat geweest over de rol van de overheid, of over hoe het kabinet nu eigenlijk tegen de zaak aan kijkt.

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NEW MEXICO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Mike Knellinger on January 30, 2012

Whenever a lawmaker stiffens penalties against child predators, our children are safer from abuse. We applaud Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia’s tough new criminal bills and hope that other lawmakers in the state follow her lead.

We also support SB118, introduced by Senator Lisa Curtis, a bill that lengthens the civil statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse until the victim is age 50. We always hope and work towards the complete elimination of both civil and criminal statutes of limitations, but any law that makes it safer for crime victims to come forward, expose perpetrators, and seek justice in the court system is a positive step towards child safety and victim healing.

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IRELAND
The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — An Irish court has sentenced a defrocked Roman Catholic priest who served time for molesting children in California to three years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Oliver O’Grady was arrested in Dublin in December 2010 after leaving a computer containing pornographic images of children on a flight from Amsterdam.

O’Grady worked in northern California from 1971 until 1993, when he was arrested for abusing two brothers. He served seven years in prison and was deported to his native Ireland in 2000.

He was the subject of the Academy Award-nominated 2006 documentary “Deliver Us From Evil.”

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BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ

[with audio]

Written by
Melissa Holmes

BUFFALO, NY — A second accuser has come forward in the case of Father Secundo Casarotto, but in a shocking twist, the Buffalo Diocese admits she made the allegations in 2008, and nothing was done about it.

Father Secundo was removed from St. Anthony of Padua church in early January after an investigation into inappropriate contact with a female parishioner back in 2009. The 70-year-old was a priest there for more than 25 years. Monday night a spokesman for the diocese said when that story came to light another parishioner stepped forward, saying in 2008 she called the diocese and sent a registered letter to file a report about Father Secundo. The diocese says it has no idea if it ever got that letter, and the employee she spoke with admitted Monday, he didn’t do anything about her phone call.

“There’s a human element in all of this and people make mistakes. People make improper judgments. The only thing that we can do at this point is learn from that obviously but also but at the same time make sure it doesn’t happen again,” says Kevin Keenan, spokesman for the Buffalo Diocese.

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IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
The Record

By Zachary K. Johnson
Record Staff Writer

January 31, 2012

STOCKTON – A notorious pedophile who preyed on children while a priest in the Diocese of Stockton before serving seven years in California prison is headed for three more years behind bars, this time in his native Ireland.

Defrocked and deported when released from an Ione prison in 2000, Oliver O’Grady found himself in trouble with the law again in 2010, when authorities reported he possessed thousands of pornographic images and videos of children on computers and other electronic devices.

Some of the confiscated pornography depicted victims as young as 2 years old, according to the Irish Times newspaper.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

January 30, 2012

SNAPwisconsin.com

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director

CONTACT 414.336.8575

The Tomah Journal reports that Michael L. Delaney, a former Wisconsin pastor, was arrested on January 27th for repeated acts of sexual assault against a child and child enticement. The Tomah police department has confirmed that Delaney was still a pastor at the time he committed the reported sexual assaults.

As a pastor Delaney was provided access to families and children throughout his community. It is possible that there are additional victims who have not yet come forward to authorities. The Tomah police have indicated that this investigation is ongoing; therefore it is imperative that anyone who has information concerning the sexual assault of children by Delaney contact law enforcement officials immediately.

Michael Delaney is also reported to have had a prior charge of child sexual abuse in the state of Arizona. In addition to being a pastor he was employed as an over-the-road truck driver who would have come into contact with children throughout the country.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.

IRELAND
The Journal

IRELAND MAY RE-OPEN an embassy in the Vatican whenever the public finances recover, the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

Gilmore has acknowledged that the closure of the Holy See embassy – which the government estimates will save it €845,000 a year – could be reversed whenever the State can afford to reopen such an embassy.

“The government will continue to review our diplomatic network and it may be that, as public finances recover, we will at some time in the future be able to reopen a modest resident embassy to the Holy See,” Gilmore told FG backbencher Pat Deering.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Tuesday January 31 2012

The Doctrine of Infallibility is not something a Labour leader can invoke to dismiss an argument.

In the row over the closure of Ireland’s Vatican embassy, Eamon Gilmore, must envy Pope Benedict when it comes to fending off the protests by Fine Gael backbenchers pressing him to reverse the decision.

One wonders why they are not turning the screws on the Taoiseach, Mr Kenny, who has been the most severe critic of the church in recent history.

Do they regard Mr Gilmore as a softer touch?

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN, Political Correspondent

THE NEW papal nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles John Brown, is expected to arrive in the country today and will present his credentials to President Michael D Higgins in mid-February.

The Manhattan-born former monsignor has worked at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1994 and was ordained as titular Archbishop of Aquileia by Pope Benedict XVI on January 6th.

The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has issued an invitation to Pope Benedict to visit Ireland on the occasion of the International Eucharistic Congress later this year, and it is understood this is under consideration.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Michael Brennan Deputy Political Editor

Tuesday January 31 2012

FINE Gael backbenchers are increasing the pressure on Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore to reverse his decision to shut Ireland’s Vatican embassy.

It comes as the Pope’s new representative to Ireland, Papal Nuncio Archbishop Charles J Brown, is due to arrive in Dublin today.

Archbishop Brown is filling the position left vacant after the previous Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, was recalled to Rome last summer in response to Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s criticism of the Vatican’s approach in dealing with clerical sexual abuse.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Sentinel

THE father of a man who claimed he was abused by a priest as a boy has told a court he saw no reason to worry about his son’s well-being.

Alexander Bede Walsh, who served as a Catholic priest in Cheadle for 14 years, is currently on trial accused of abusing eight boys over a 20-year period.

One alleged victim, giving evidence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, claimed Walsh befriended him and indecently assaulted him in a number of ways on several occasions.

He told the jury that Walsh, of Church Lane, Abbots Bromley, near Rugeley, plied him with alcohol.

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NEW JERSEY
The Record

BY MARY JO LAYTON AND COLLEEN DISKIN
STAFF WRITERS
The Record

[roster of defendants]

In the past three years, 23 teachers, coaches and school officials in North Jersey have been charged with or convicted of sex crimes against children. Three have been arrested this month alone.

Statewide, nearly a dozen teachers or coaches have made headlines since the beginning of December, accused of everything from videotaping boys showering in a school locker room to having sex with teens they were chaperoning on a field trip.

“The details of some of these cases are really disturbing,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

The roster of cases includes a math teacher from Hasbrouck Heights who was sentenced to probation after exchanging 11,000 sexually explicit emails with a teenage girl at his high school and a Hackensack soccer trainer who went to prison after sexually assaulting an 11-year-old student. In Teaneck, a basketball coach admitted to authorities he collected naked photos of his players.

The cases come amid the sex scandals at Penn State, Syracuse University’s basketball program and the Amateur Athletic Union. It is happening years after similar scandals rocked the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America, setting off a national public discussion about trusted leaders accused of disturbing acts against children.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
UPI

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 30 (UPI) — The judge in a trial involving priests accused of sexual abuse Monday reaffirmed her ruling a former Archdiocese of Philadelphia leader is competent to testify.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom, “I’ll adhere to my original ruling” in the trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling pedophile priests, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The defense has claimed 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, formerly the head of the Archdiocese, is senile and unable to remember anything about the past two decades.

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ALABAMA
CBS 42

[with video]

HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WIAT) – Jason Lee now lives out of state, but he will be at the parole hearing for Donald Corley tomorrow morning in Montgomery. For Lee, every day is a reminder of what happened decades ago involving the former scout leader, church leader, and mentor who was convicted of sexually abusing him and two other children.

“I wake up every day and I have to say okay- I’m not who I was then. I’m not going to believe anything he told me. I’m going to be my own person. I am an adult now,” said Lee.

It is that impact on Jason Lee’s life, and those of other victims, that spawned a movement to keep Corley locked up: the 30-is-30 campaign.

“Three boys pressed charges. He received a total of 30 years in jail. That’s 10 years per child. That’s 10 years for me that he’s in jail for. I’m worth more than 10 years, I can’t change the law, I can’t change the sentence he was given, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to willingly let him get out before he has served his full ten years for me,” said Lee.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Centre Daily News

Calvary Baptist Church in State College and the newly formed Beyond the Silence will host a presentation “Beyond the Betrayal: Healing from Sexual Abuse,” from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at the church at 1250 University Drive, State College.

The presentation will feature Victoria Kepler Didato, director/founder of the Child Sexual Abuse Institute of Ohio. A State College native, Didato is recipient of Penn State’s Alumni Recognition Award for her book “One in Four” and for her work in the field of child sexual abuse.

The session is open to the public. It will include topics such as how sexual abuse affects the brain, body and spirit, reading the signs of sexual abuse, and the impact on victims, families, community and the culture at large.

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TOMAH (WI)
LaCrosse Tribune

Brittany Linenberg | Tomah Journal | Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2012

TOMAH – Police have accused a former pastor of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child.

Michael L. Delaney, 64, of Tomah, was arrested Friday.

Authorities say he targeted the same victim over an extended period while he was employed as an over-the-road trucker, according to a statement released by the Tomah Police Department.

It wasn’t immediately clear where Delaney was a pastor, but police confirmed the alleged assaults occurred while he was a practicing minister. They said he is no longer a pastor.

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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio

[with audio]

by Conrad Wilson, Minnesota Public Radio
January 31, 2012

St. Cloud, Minn. — For at least the last 10 years, Catholic dioceses across the country have created lists of priests credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

The lists have long been kept private by church officials. But over the last decade, dioceses in San Diego, Chicago, Boston and other cities have released such lists, largely under pressure.

None of the six dioceses in Minnesota have yet published the names of the priests credibly accused. But some want that to change.

Among them is St. Paul Attorney Jeff Anderson, who is well-known for representing victims and alleged victims of sexual abuse. As part of a settlement he reached last year with St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, the abbey released the names of 18 monks credibly accused of sexual abuse or misconduct.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua was so bewildered when prosecutors questioned him last month that he couldn’t recognize a longtime aide and struggled “to the point of tears” to recall how the Archdiocese of Philadelphia handled child sex-abuse allegations, a new court filing says.

In the motion filed Thursday, lawyers for the aide, Msgr. William Lynn, argue that Bevilacqua’s replies and demeanor prove he was unfit to testify and that his testimony should not be introduced at Lynn’s trial on endangerment and conspiracy charges.

The motion from lawyers Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy offered the first public glimpse of the historic but private hearing, when attorneys grilled the 88-year-old prelate over two days.

Their motion doesn’t quote the cardinal; the filing says the lawyers were not given transcripts. Still they cast Bevilacqua, who led the Archdiocese for 15 years, with an indelible image: as a sad, forgetful old man.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

He is 88, ailing, “moderately senile,” and remembers nothing about the last two decades.

Retired Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, however, remains legally competent to testify at the forthcoming trial of three priests accused of sexually abusing young boys, a Philadelphia judge ruled Monday.

“I’ll adhere to my original ruling,” Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told Thomas A. Bergstrom, attorney for Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling a pedophile priest to continue preying on children by transferring him to another parish.

Sarmina first ruled Bevilacqua legally competent in late November after a two-day private hearing at which the cardinal, who retired in 2003, was questioned by the judge, Bergstrom, and a prosecutor. Bergstrom subsequently renewed his motion to disqualify Bevilacqua from testifying.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Daily News

BY MENSAH M. DEAN
Philadelphia Daily News
deanm@phillynews.com 215-854-5949

ATTORNEYS preparing for the trial of Catholic priests accused of sexually abusing altar boys – or allowing the abuse – made their final arguments yesterday regarding what evidence will be admissible at trial.

Prosecutors want to be able to tell jurors about the sexual misdeeds of 27 former Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests never charged criminally.

They contend that defendant Monsignor William Lynn allowed some of those men to remain in the priesthood and around vulnerable children when he served as secretary for clergy, from 1992 to 2004.

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IOWA
Peoria Journal Star

By RYAN J. FOLEY
The Associated Press

Posted Jan 30, 2012

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa —

Federal bankruptcy officials in Iowa were bailed out of the llama business Monday, two weeks after they unwittingly got into it.

In a highly unusual proceeding, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Kilburg approved the “fire sale” of 18 llamas seized Jan. 16 from Ryan Patrick Scott, a self-proclaimed priest who accumulated a litany of financial problems and aliases as he bounced from Wisconsin to North Dakota to Illinois to Iowa in the last two decades.

The herd was immediately auctioned off for $7,500, and will go to the Iowa llama farmers who have been caring for them under federal supervision.

Authorities took control of the animals after Scott filed for bankruptcy in Iowa, where he led a religious community housed in a former county mental health institution in Independence. His group, which consists of a handful of followers and is disavowed by the Catholic Church, raised llamas and sold wool on the side before abandonin g the property. Scott left behind a similar operation last year in Galesburg, Ill., where a judge ordered his business to pay a former follower $161,000 for failing to pay back loans.

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BUFFALO (NY)
WIVB

Posted by: Eli George

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Though it previously appeared only one woman had made a complaint against a Buffalo priest, the Buffalo Catholic Diocese confirmed to News 4 on Monday another woman made a complaint against Father Secondo Casarotto back in 2008.

Father Casarotto worked at St. Anthony of Padua in downtown Buffalo until he was recently put on paid administrative leave after a woman made public her claim of sexual abuse dating from 2009. Diocese spokesman Kevin Keenan had told News 4’s Luke Moretti that there was only one allegation of abuse, but that changed on Monday.

In a statement, Keenan told News 4 that around two weeks ago, after the woman had come forward, a second woman called the Catholic Center to say she had reported inappropriate behavior by Father Casarotto in 2008. An exhaustive search turned up no report of the certified letter or receipt the woman said she had sent. The Diocese went one step further, and interviewed all employees who may have handled the report, and found none were familiar with the incident.

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IRELAND
The Irish Times

A FORMER priest and convicted child abuser has been jailed for three years for possession of large amounts of child pornography.

Oliver O’Grady (66) had thousands of explicit images of children stored on computers and USB drives, some depicting victims as young as two. Gardaí also found more than six hours of child pornography videos and more than 500 pages of online discussions on the subject of child pornography.

O’Grady, Charlemont House, Dublin, was sentenced to 14 years in California for abusing children while a priest. He was deported to Ireland in 2001 after serving seven years of his sentence.

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ROME
Towards Healing and Renewal

Church leaders from across the world come to Rome to relaunch their commitment to the safeguarding of the vulnerable with a new global initiative: “Towards Healing and Renewal”

Bishops and Religious Superiors from across the world will come to Rome in February for the launch of the Catholic Church’s global initiative on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

Towards Healing and Renewal is being offered by the Gregorian University in Rome and consists of a major symposium followed by the launch of a multi-institution e-learning centre which will run for the next three years – the Center for the Protection of Children based in Munich, Germany. Delegates for the symposium will come from 110 Bishops’ Conferences and also be superiors of 30 Religious Orders, making this a truly international gathering focusing on safeguarding by the Catholic Church.

This initiative has the support of several Vatican Congregations as well as the Secretary of State and the symposium, which will run from February 6-9, will have speakers from all continents in recognition of the global nature of safeguarding the vulnerable. The speakers include the testimony of a victim of abuse, who will address the delegates about the need for victims to be heard and how to effect positive change. Full details of the symposium and the speakers are available on the website www.thr.unigre.it.

Following the 2011 circular letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to Bishops’ Conferences requiring all Dioceses in the world to develop guidelines within the next year on the handling of all abuse allegations, the symposium will play a significant role in enabling Bishops and major religious superiors to move towards creating a consistent global response. Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, will give the opening address at the Symposium conference, and representatives from the CDF have had a very active role in giving shape to Towards Healing and Renewal.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 30, 2012 by Susan Matthews

In light of all that has happened – clergy child sex abuse, priests with pornograhy, the hearings, the school closings, the embezzlement and so much more – let’s get out to support victims, protect children, demand transparency and renew our Church! Pray and protest for the future of the Philadelphia Catholic Church.

Please join Sister Maureen Turlish and many others during the First Friday Vigil on February 3 from noon to 1 p.m. in front of the Philadelphia Archdiocesan offices at 222 North 17th Street in center city.

All are welcome to participate in prayer, picketing and protest.

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WISCONSIN
News 8000

TOMAH, Wis. — A former truck driver and pastor from Tomah faces charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a child for an extended period of time.

64-year-old Michael Delaney was appeared in court Monday on possible charges of sexual assault of a child, repeated acts of sexual assault of the same child, and child enticement.

Tomah Police say the the abuse is alleged to have happened in Monroe County and other parts of the United States.

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IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
News 10

Written by
Paul Janes

DUBLIN, IRELAND – A former Stockton priest who had been jailed then deported to Ireland for two counts of child molestation, was sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for possession of child pornography.

Oliver O’Grady, 66, was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after 65,000 graphic images of children were discovered on a laptop he left behind on a plane in Amsterdam, according to an article on Newstalk.ie.

According to the Lodi News Sentinel, O’Grady had served at St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Lodi from 1971-1978, and at parishes in Stockton, Turlock , Hughson and San Andreas from 1979 through his time of arrest in 1993.

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IRELAND/CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on January 30, 2012

One of the most notorious serial child molesting Catholic clerics in California history has apparently been jailed in Ireland for child porn.

Oliver O’Grady sexually assaulted boys and girls in and around Stockton for years. High ranking Catholic officials, including then-Bishop Roger Mahony (who went on to head the nation’s largest archdiocese for years), knew of or suspected his heinous crimes. For years, they ignored or concealed those crimes. And who knows how many innocent lives were devastated as a result.

We applaud law enforcement for catching and prosecuting O’Grady. He clearly remains a danger to kids. We hope he’s put behind bars for the rest of his life. And we hope that every single Catholic employee – current or former, high ranking or low level, in the US, Ireland or the Netherlands – who kept silent about O’Grady’s crimes will find the courage to “come clean,” admit wrongdoing, apologize to his victims, and share what they know with police and prosecutors.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on January 30, 2012

This morning, a Philadelphia judge ruled again that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua will testify in the upcoming clergy sex abuse and cover up trial involving Msgr. Lynn.

We are grateful this judge is standing by her conviction that Bevilacqua will have to testify. For far too long, too many Catholic officials have feigned illnesses and memory lapses’ to avoid facing tough questions, in open court, under oath, about their role in concealing clergy sex crimes.

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NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News

Sun-News report

Two bills to combat child abuse introduced by Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia, D-Do-a Ana, cleared the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Thursday evening.

They are SB58, which defines criminal sexual penetration of a child under 5 as “aggravated criminal sexual penetration,” making it eligible for a life sentence; and SB59, which makes the murder of a child under 13 with an aggravating circumstance eligible for life in prison without the possibility of parole, the toughest sentence available in New Mexico.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 30, 2012
By Elizabeth Fiedler

Lawyers in the Philadelphia Archdiocese child sexual abuse case faced off in court Monday. The Judge upheld her previous ruling that retired Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to be a witness. Also at the pre-trial hearing, the judge vowed to decide by Monday another major matter.

Monsignor William Lynn is accused of child endangerment and conspiracy for allegedly transferring priests accused of sexual abuse.

Prosecutors say if they’re allowed to introduce abuse allegations against priests who are not charged in the case, they will show Lynn continued a tradition in the Archdiocese of hiding or ignoring possible abuse.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City’s newest investigator of abuse in the Catholic Church said the rules are changing and investigators are casting a broader net.

Diocesan investigator Jenifer Valenti was appointed local sexual abuse investigator last summer as the priest abuse scandal ravaged the church.

Valenti said investigators don’t plan to limit investigations to just reports of abuse. They’re also going to look into suspicions of abuse.

“The Diocese is taking the position that we want to look into things that seem suspicious before we, somebody, has to report abuse,” Valenti said. “Those behaviors may point to predators.”

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INDIA
Times of India

NEW DELHI: A man who claimed to be a tantrik was arrested on Sunday for allegedly trying to rape a woman and rob her of jewellery in the Govindpuri area of southeast Delhi. The accused, Nand Lal Gupta, is a priest at a temple in Tughlakabad Extension. “The woman approached him for treatment of pain in her hand, but he allegedly tried to assault her sexually,” said Ajay Chaudhry, addl CP, southeast.

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KATY (TX)
Ultimate Katy

by Cody Tucker | January 30, 2012

The Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests/Clergy will hold its next meeting on Feb. 2.

SNAP is now available to any victims of abuse, whether it’s at the hands of coaches, scout leaders, teachers, relatives or others.

The group meets on the first Saturday of every month in Conference Area A, Classroom A on the second floor at Christus St. Catherine Hospital, located at 701 S. Fry in Katy.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

A quick footnote to flesh out something I said in my first posting today: I stated that the U.S. Catholic bishops’ current righteous crusade against the Obama administration vis-a-vis contraceptive coverage asks us–unbelievable!–to imagine that the U.S. Catholic bishops and their right-wing religious and political allies are trustworthy moral guides at this moment of history.

And I’d like now to cite two points of evidence that should, I would argue, give pause to think for anyone inclined to give the bishops the benefit of the doubts as they beat their warm drums to place a Republican in the White House:

1. In the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, a trial date has just been set for Bishop Robert Finn, who is under criminal indictment for failure to report suspected child abuse to criminal authorities in the case of Father Shawn Ratigan.
2. And in the archdiocese of Philadelphia, where the former secretary for clergy, Monsignor William J. Lynn, is also under criminal indictment on similar charges, and where the district attorney has just contended that the diocese kept a priest in ministry four decades after it knew of his sadomachostic activity with youngsters, the archdiocese has just been labeled an “unindicted co-conspirator” in Lynn’s trial.

As the bishops go on the political warpath right now, and as Catholics of the right and center line up behind them, it might be important to keep those two pieces of information in mind–if one really does care about the moral standing and moral credibility of Catholic teaching in the public square.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Redemptoristen der Provinz St. Clemens

Seit 2003 ist Herr Hermann-Josef Merzbach, Direktor des Amtsgerichts Leverkusen, externer Beauftragter der Redemptoristen zur Untersuchung von Vorfällen sexuellen Missbrauchs Minderjähriger. Seinen ersten Zwischenbericht hat der Orden im Sommer 2010 veröffentlicht. Jetzt hat Herr Merzbach einen zweiten Zwischenbericht vorgelegt.

Herr Merzbach hat für seine Untersuchungen einen weitgefassten Auftrag erhalten. Gegenstand seiner Untersuchung sind alle Meldungen von Verdacht auf sexuellem Missbrauch an Minderjährigen im gesamten Bereich der seelsorglichen und pädagogischen Tätigkeit in Verantwortung der Redemptoristen der früheren Kölner Ordensprovinz. Dieser Auftrag umfasst Orte vor allem im Westen und Norden Deutschlands sowie im Grenzbereich der Niederlande (Glanerbrück/NL bei Gronau).

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SAN ANTONIO (TX)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio

[public notice]

[letter to parishioners]

The Archdiocese of San Antonio is unconditionally committed to the protection of children and youth within our community. In order to assure the children and youth are protected from harm, it has been mandated that all adults who minister to children must receive abuse prevention education. It is also mandated that all children and youth enrolled in religious education or in Catholic Schools be trained in abuse prevention. The archdiocese has developed Safe Environment Training for children, youth, and adults.

The Archdiocese of San Antonio cannot protect all children and youth alone; it is important that all Catholics ensure that we are following the mandate of Jesus, and “Let the little children come to me.” All adults, including parents, are encouraged to receive Safe Environment Training at your local parish or Catholic School. Children and youth need trusted and loving adults in whom they can confide any concern or fear.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Melissa Grace AND Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, January 30, 2012

A church bookkeeper was busted Monday for breaking the Eighth Commandment in a huge way by stealing more than $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York, officials said.

Mild-mannered Anita Collins pulled off the scam by billing the church for non-existent services and funneling the dough into accounts she controlled, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. …

Adding insult to injury, this is not the first time Collins has been accused of embezzling funds.

Collins’ rap sheet lists two arrests for larceny before she began working eight years ago at the archdiocesan headquarters on First Ave. in Manhattan, sources said.

Church officials, however, had no idea of Collins’ crooked past because she wasn’t required to undergo a criminal background check, sources said.

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NEW YORK
YNN

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — A former employee of the New York Archdiocese is accused of stealing about $1 million. The Archdiocese reported the theft to a Manhattan District Attorney back in December 2011.

Anita Collins is accused of manipulating the accounts payable system in the Department of Education Finance Office. Collins had been an employee of the Archdiocese since 2003 until her termination on December 6, 2011.

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NEW YORK
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — An Archdiocese of New York clerk has been arrested on charges of manipulating the church’s accounts payable system to steal more than $1 million in education money.

Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said Monday that Anita Collins wrote checks to herself or a relative but recorded them as payments to legitimate vendors.

The archdiocese says its staff and outside auditors spotted the theft and alerted prosecutors.

Collins has a prior grand larceny conviction from 1999. She was sentenced to community service and five years’ probation.

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NEW YORK
The New York Times

By SHARON OTTERMAN and KATE TAYLOR

Published: January 30, 2012

The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Monday arrested a Bronx woman who is accused of stealing more than $1 million from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York when she worked in the archdiocese’s finance office, law enforcement officials and church leaders said.

The woman, Anita Collins, 67, had been previously convicted of grand larceny in one case and had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in another case, but the archdiocese said it did not know of those legal troubles when she was hired, because she did not undergo a background check.

Ms. Collins worked at the headquarters of the archdiocese, at 1011 First Avenue in Manhattan, for more than eight years, first in accounts payable for the education finance office, and then for the chancery, the main office that manages the archdiocese’s extensive finances.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Tony Hanson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The judge in an alleged clergy abuse case (see related story) has again rejected a defense motion to prohibit the testimony of retired Philadelphia cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua on competency grounds, even though the defense contends that Bevilacqua can’t accurately remember many of his own actions during the last two decades.

The judge ordered Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s testimony preserved — videotaped — in late November after finding the cardinal competent despite suffering from dementia and cancer (see previous story).

But after hearing his testimony, defense attorneys for defendant Msgr. William Lynn renewed the competency issue, arguing that Belivacqua couldn’t even identify Msgr. Lynn — his Secretary for Clergy for over a decade — or remember his own previous testimony.

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NEW YORK
The New York Post

By JOSE MARTINEZ

Last Updated: 12:09 PM, January 30, 2012

A 67-year-old Bronx woman who worked as an accounts payable clerk was busted today after authorities accused her of embezzling more than $1 million from the Archdiocese of New York.

Anita Collins worked in the Archdiocese’s Manhattan headquarters and never informed her bosses that she’d been previously convicted of grand larceny in another case in 1999 when she worked for a temp agency.

The church never did a background check on Collins.

Joe Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese, said church officials reported to the Manhattan DA’s office last month that they had “uncovered what we initially believed to be the theft of at least $350,000.”

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UNITED STATES
NewsHounds

Posted by Priscilla -1.80pc on January 30, 2012

Fr. Jonathan Morris’ upward mobility shows that he’s quite the mover. While he seems like your average parish priest, he is hardly that. In 2002 he was ordained as a priest in the wealthy and secretive Legionaries of Christ which was founded by the disgraced Fr. Marcel Maciel. By 2005, in addition to a cushy assignment as the rector of the Legionaries’ seminary in Rome, Morris had joined Fox News. He subsequently left the Legion and ended up at Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the theater district of NYC and not in some poor church in the outer boroughs. So he’s got a daytime job and he’s doing all right. I joked, in an earlier post, about how his friendship with NY Archbishop Dolan shows how he has friends in high places. It seems that that he has another friend in another very high place – no, not “the big guy” in heaven, but the “big guy” at God’s own network, Fox News. Could it be that Roger Ailes hearts Fr. Morris? Hmmm…..

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Despite defense claims that Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua is senile and remembers nothing about the past two decades, a Philadelphia judge this morning reaffirmed her ruling that the former head of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia competent to testify in the trial of three priests accused of sexually abusing young boys.

“I’ll adhere to my original ruling,” Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina told defense attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom, attorney for Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former church official accused of enabling a pedophile priest to continue preying upon children by transferring him after he was accused.

Sarmina left open the question of whether the 88-year-old Bevilacqua’s testimony would be in person, or a replay of parts of the video transcript of two days of private questioning last November at the Cardinal’s residence at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Weekly

A Philadelphia judge has ruled—again—that retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua is competent to stand trial in a Philadelphia clergy rape/torture case, of which much information, including a grand jury report, was released last winter.

Bevilacqua will likely serve as a witness in the trial of his longtime aide Monsignor William Lynn, 88, who awaits trial not on abusing children, but on conspiring to keep abusive pedophiles in the ministry, and therefore endangering those children. Lynn’s defense is set to argue that Lynn took orders from Bevilacqua. Lynn’s lawyer has previously stated that Bevilacqua threw him “under the bus.” Prosecutors are calling the entire archdiocese an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
KGAN

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia judge has again ruled that a retired Roman Catholic cardinal with dementia is competent and could become a trial witness.

Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn say 88-year-old Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua (beh-vih-LAH’-kwah) no longer recognizes his longtime aide, Lynn. They say Bevilacqua remembers little if anything about his 10 appearances before a grand jury in 2003 and 2004.

Lynn is the former secretary for clergy. He awaits trial on charges he endangered children and conspired with others to keep accused pedophiles in ministry.

Defense lawyers argue that he took orders from Bevilacqua. But they say the cardinal’s failing memory deprives them of meaningful cross-examination.

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UNITED STATES
massmachusetts.com

Pope Benedict XVI and three other high-ranking Vatican officials were named as defendants in a Complaint filed on September 13, 2011, with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Amsterdam. The unprecedented action was initiated by the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy. They charged the Vatican officials with covering up and “allowing the rape, sexual violence, and torture” of children. They want the Court to investigate the matter, which they say amounts to “crimes against humanity.” On September 14, 2011, the “Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests,” (SNAP), held a press conference in Baltimore, MD, in front of the Roman Catholic archdiocese’s headquarters, at Mulberry and Cathedral Streets. SNAP’s Director, David Lorenz, shared his views on the case. To learn more, go to: www.snapnetwork.org and http and www.boston.com

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CHILE
La Tercera

El viernes recién pasado terminó la visita canónica ordenada por el Vaticano, a la Unión Sacerdotal, realizada por monseñor Carlos María Collazzi, en el marco de la sentencia de la Santa Sede contra el ex párroco Fernando Karadima, considerado culpable por abusos sexuales reiterados.

De acuerdo a un comunicado emitido por el Arzobispado, se indicó que el obispo de Mercedes, Uruguay, realizó una visita a la Unión Sacerdotal del Sagrado Corazón; “sugerida al Arzobispo de Santiago por la Congregación para la Doctrina de la Fe, de la Santa Sede”.

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ROME
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) — Representatives of most of the world’s bishops’ conferences and 30 religious orders will meet in Rome in early February to launch a global initiative aimed at improving efforts to stop clerical sexual abuse and better protect children and vulnerable adults.

The conference, “Toward Healing and Renewal,” will be held Feb. 6-9 at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University and is being supported by the Vatican Secretariat of State and several other Vatican offices.

U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with priests accused of abuse, will give the opening address. Other speakers include: a victim of abuse; mental health professionals who have worked in the areas of prevention and treatment; and bishops from different parts of the world, who will talk about responses to the abuse crisis in their countries.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Newsworks

January 30, 2012
By Shannon McDonald

In what’s expected to be the last hearing date before the trial begins, Philadelphia Monsignor William Lynn will return to court today as prosecutors argue for the use of evidence of other alleged sex abuse by priests.

Lynn has been charged with covering up abuse by relocating parish priests who’ve been accused of sexually abusing children. He was named in a grand jury report with a teacher and three priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Update, 10:30 a.m. Closing arguments in the evidence hearing wrapped up quickly, with the District Attorney’s office claiming inaction by officials like Lynn emboldened priests to continue their abuse.

Lynn’s attorney countered the argument, saying Lynn had finished his role as clergy secretary before some of the allegations surfaced.

A decision will come by next Monday.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and their supporters will

–blast Washington’s attorney general’s move to limit damages in civil lawsuits against state officials, and
— endorse a proposal to make clergy “mandatory reporters” of suspected child sex crimes.
They will also praise a woman who was repeatedly molested as a child by a convicted sex offender and just reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Washington officials.

WHEN
Monday, Jan. 30 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE
Outside the King County courthouse, corner of 4th Ave. and James Street in downtown Seattle WA

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ALABAMA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on January 30, 2012

The Alabama parole board tomorrow will consider paroling a serial child predator, Charles Donald Corley, who manipulated and assaulted children through both a Boy Scout troop and a Methodist church. The board should err on the side of the safety of kids and keep Corley behind bars.

It’s a simple choice really: does the state protect several vulnerable children or help one devious criminal? We urge the board to ask this simple question: Why take the risk?

Some may accuse us of being “vengeful.” We believe we are just being prudent. If a pickpocket gets out of prison and steals another wallet, that’s unfortunate but not tragic. Child sex crimes, however, are devastating. They leave decades of depression, anxiety, isolation, shame, confusion and self-blame in their wake. Why gamble that yet another innocent child be so severely damaged?

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FRANCE
Get Religion

NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday had a story about a 71-year-old atheist’s rather curious legal battle against the Catholic Church in France. Rene LeBouvier has taken the church to court over its refusal to let him “nullify” his baptism:

LeBouvier grew up in that world and says his mother once hoped he’d become a priest. But his views began to change in the 1970s, when he was introduced to free thinkers. As he didn’t believe in God anymore, he thought it would be more honest to leave the church. So he wrote to his diocese and asked to be un-baptized.

“They sent me a copy of my records, and in the margins next to my name, they wrote that I had chosen to leave the church,” he says. …

OK, the story just utterly confuses me. LeBouvier has already left the church. And he doesn’t deny he was baptized. Is he asking the court to force the church to rewrite history? Again, he was baptized into the Christian faith. He has since renounced the faith. The church records both that he was baptized into the faith and that he chose to leave the church.

I’m not sure if the article simply needs to explain the oddities of French law more or if the story just fell down on the explanation of how Christian sacraments work.

The article apparently equates asking the church to strike the name from baptismal records with something called “de-baptism,” without quite explaining why it’s called that

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IRELAND
Newstalk

A defrocked paedophile priest has been jailed for 3 years after Gardai found evidence of 65,000 graphic images of children on his laptop.

Oliver O’Grady used to live at Charlemont House in Dublin 2.

He admitted 3 counts of possession of child pornography after leaving his computer on a flight from Amsterdam.

He was sentenced at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Mr. O’Grady was a priest in the US for 30 years before being convicted of abusing 2 children in California.

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MINNESOTA
Child Protection News

Written on January 27, 2012 by Patrick Noaker

One of the pillars of justice to which I have dedicated my career is meaningful access to the court systems for all. Even those with mental conditions that make it difficult for the justice system to embrace. Often this fight is about removing barriers that keep people out of the courts. Recently, I had the honor of arguing in front of the Minnesota Supreme Court on one of these issues. The case before the Minnesota Supreme Court involved a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by the well-known sexual abuser Fr. Thomas Adamson. As a reaction to the trauma of being sexually assaulted by his parish priest, the boy developed amnesia for the sexual abuse. The traumatic memories then flooded back years later.

This type of amnesia is not common in the general population, but is more common in people who have been traumatized like combat veterans, child abuse victims, Holocaust survivors, and war refugees. There has been much discussion in the fields of psychology and psychiatry about this amnesia, commonly referred to as repressed memory. In our case, the issue was whether to allow persons who have experienced repressed memory to have access to courts. Can criminal or civil cases be prosecuted when a person experiences repressed memory? I advocate the position that all people should be given access to Minnesota courts – no matter what mental or physical condition they suffer from. The above Minnesota Lawyer article summarizes the arguments to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

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MALTA
Times of Malta

A mistake in a charge sheet which led to a defrocked priest being cleared of rape was at the centre of an appeal yesterday as legal arguments were exchanged over the error.

The mistake had emerged during the proceedings against three priests, which were held behind closed doors. A victim testified he had been raped at the St Joseph Home in Ħamrun when the charge gave the location of the crime as having been a home in Marfa.

The former priest, Francesco Scerri, also known as Godwin, was convicted of abusing boys about 20 years ago and jailed for five years, while a second former priest, Carmel Pulis, received a six-year jail sentence for also abusing boys. A third member of the same Order, Brother Joseph Bonnett, who had been facing the same charges, passed away last January, aged 63, during the proceedings.

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NEDERLAND
Ee Telegraaf

DEN BOSCH – Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester. Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

De Kruijf vroeg in november aan de bisschop om een tijd van bezinning om persoonlijke redenen. Hij was naar eigen zeggen „zoekende naar zijn plek in de kerk.” De bisschop gaf hem die ruimte en onthief hem van zijn taken in Wijchen.

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NEDERLAND
RTL

Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester. Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

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NEDERLAND
Gazet van Antwerpen

In Nederland wil een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer (van volksvertegenwoordigers) – van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks – dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke Kerk en de rol van de overheid.

De SP wil dat het onderzoek uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

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NEDERLAND
Leeuwarder Courant

AMSTERDAM – Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof dat oud-minister Wim Deetman weliswaar goed werk heeft geleverd, maar dat nog zaken onderbelicht zijn gebleven, zoals mishandeling en de positie van vrouwen. Ook PvdA en PVV vinden dat er nog te weinig is gekeken naar de situatie van meisjes.

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NEDERLAND
Pow! Ned

De SP vindt dat er verder onderzoek nodig is naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. Uiteindelijk zou dat moeten uitmonden in een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede kunnen worden gehoord.

SP-Tweede Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei dat in het tv-programma Buitenhof. De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. PvdA en GroenLinks waren eerder ook voorstander van een enquête.

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NEDERLAND
Almere Vandaag

AMSTERDAM – Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof dat oud-minister Wim Deetman weliswaar goed werk heeft geleverd, maar dat nog zaken onderbelicht zijn gebleven, zoals mishandeling en de positie van vrouwen. Ook PvdA en PVV vinden dat er nog te weinig is gekeken naar de situatie van meisjes.

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NEDERLAND
Nu

DEN BOSCH – Pastoor-deken Rudy de Kruijf uit Wijchen heeft aan het bisdom Den Bosch laten weten niet verder te willen gaan als priester.

Hij wil de celibataire levensstaat niet langer als leidraad nemen voor zijn leven, zo maakte het bisdom zondag bekend.

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NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

door Peter Zantingh

De SP wil dat een parlementaire enquête wordt ingesteld naar het misbruik in de rooms-katholieke kerk. Dat zei SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen vandaag in het televisieprogramma Buitenhof.

In de onderzoeken die tot nu toe zijn gedaan naar het seksueel misbruik is volgens haar geen oog geweest voor mishandeling en de rol van vrouwen. Ook kan met een parlementaire enquête volgens haar het probleem worden verholpen dat veel zaken niet meer te bewijzen zijn doordat dossiers zijn vernietigd.

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NEDERLAND
BNR

Door Thijs Baas

29 January 2012

Er moet nader onderzoek komen naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid.

Dat onderzoek zou moeten leiden tot een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede moeten worden verhoord. SP-Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen meldde dat zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof.

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CANADA
Prince Albert Daily Herald

Published on January 30, 2012

Keely Dakin

The truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is coming to Prince Albert this week. From Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, hearings will be held at the Prince Albert Indian and Métis Friendship Centre.

Residential Schools have a 150-year history in Canada and the purpose of the hearings, according the TRC of Canada, is to bear witness to those years and to give a voice to the people who went through them.

The intent of the hearings is to give a space in which to air the violence and the hurt that is still felt by so many people. The hope is that by doing so, all Canadians, aboriginal and non-aboriginal will be able to move forward into a healthier future.

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ALABAMA
Birmingham News

By Birmingham News editorial board

History and research have shown that pedophiles — serial offenders who sexually abuse children — often repeat their terrible crimes even after being caught or serving time in prison.

Of late, there have been some high-profile cases which support that conclusion, most notably that of Daniel M. Acker Jr., the retired Shelby County fourth-grade teacher who has been charged with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse. Police say Acker has confessed to molesting more than 20 young girls over his 25-year teaching career. Acker was accused of molestation in 1991 and was suspended with pay, but the Shelby County Board of Education reinstated him to his teaching position after a Shelby County grand jury failed to indict the teacher.

Charles Donald Corley also is a serial molester who was convicted of sexually abusing three boys in 1995 and sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Yet, Corley is coming up for parole on Tuesday. Authorities say Corley left a trail of abuse over three decades — the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

VATICAN CITY — An Italian television program about the transfer of a whistle-blowing Roman Catholic prelate has caused consternation at the Vatican and prompted speculation about a power struggle among senior clerics in the church.

Broadcast Wednesday evening on the private network La7, the program centered on confidential allegations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò that he had made enemies within the Curia and beyond after rooting out corruption and financial mismanagement in the Vatican City administration.

The program showed several confidential letters written by Archbishop Viganò early last year to Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. In the letters, Archbishop Viganò, who was then the second-ranking official in the part of the Curia that administers Vatican City, asked to be allowed to continue cleaning up the Holy See’s financial affairs.

Instead, he was removed from his post and named the papal nuncio, or ambassador, to the United States.

The host of the television program, Gianluigi Nuzzi, said in an interview: “I’ve never heard of a top cleric who reveals episodes of corruption directly to the pope; it’s a first. And what happens? He is stopped from pursuing his objectives and gets sent away from the Holy See.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

January 29, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Priests who sexually abuse children may get shuffled around – but don’t mess around with archdiocesan money. Where is all the talk of forgiveness for Anita Guzzardi? Hopefully, the leadership will audit their morals and money a bit better moving forward. I’m not holding my breath for transparency regarding either.

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UNITED STATES
CNN

By Jessica Ravitz, CNN
updated 12:08 PM EST, Sun January 29, 2012

(CNN) — Advocates and therapists for survivors of male sex abuse say the recent scandals at Penn State and elsewhere may help men who were abused as children, and boys being abused today, step out of the shadows and get the support they deserve.

They also hope society can become better educated about the issue.

“The allegations have kick-started a public dialogue about sexual violence and the community’s responsibility,” says Jennifer Marsh, who directs hotlines at RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. “It’s a conversation we have to have and can’t shy away from.”

If increased Web traffic and calls to hotlines are any indication, the tide for men and boys may, in fact, be turning. …

Calls to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) also have gone up, both locally and nationally, by 20% to 30% since the recent wave of stories broke, says David Clohessy, the organization’s executive director.

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NEDERLAND
de Gelderlander

AMSTERDAM – Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer van PvdA, PVV, SP en GroenLinks wil dat er meer onderzoek gedaan wordt naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid.

De SP wil dat het uiteindelijk uitmondt in een parlementaire enquête. Dat is het zwaarste middel van de Tweede Kamer omdat getuigen onder ede worden verhoord.

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NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant

DEN HAAG – De Socialistische Partij (SP) vindt dat er verder onderzoek nodig is naar het misbruik binnen de katholieke kerk en de rol van de overheid. Uiteindelijk zou dat moeten uitmonden in een parlementaire enquête, waarbij getuigen onder ede kunnen worden gehoord.

SP-Tweede Kamerlid Sharon Gesthuizen zei dat zondag in het tv-programma Buitenhof. De Kamer praat dinsdag over het rapport van de commissie-Deetman naar het seksueel misbruik binnen de kerk. PvdA en GroenLinks waren eerder ook voorstander van een enquête.

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

The Socialist Party believes that further research into Catholic church sex abuse in the Netherlands and the role played by the government is necessary. The research should eventually result in a parliamentary inquiry, in which witnesses can be heard under oath.

SP MP Sharon Gesthuizen made these statements on Sunday in current affairs television programme Buitenhof. Parliament will discuss the Deetman Commission’s report on church sex abuse on Tuesday.

Ms Gesthuizen says former minister Wim Deetman has done a good job, but argues that some issues have received insufficient attention, such as the abuse and the position of women. She also wants further research into the question of how the abuse could go on for such a long period and on such a large scale, and what the government’s role has been.

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