ABUSE TRACKER

KANSAS CITY (MO)
San Francisco Chronicle

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has to provide prosecutors with information about the diocese’s investigation into past reports of priests accused of abusing children, a Jackson County judge has ruled.

Jackson County Circuit Judge John M. Torrence, who is overseeing a case against Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese, also said in a ruling Wednesday that the diocese must turn over documents from the independent investigation into the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan that the diocese commissioned.

Ratigan has pleaded not guilty to state and federal child pornography charges and remains jailed.

Finn and the diocese are charged with misdemeanor failure to report suspected abuse to the state after learning of suspected child pornography on Ratigan’s computer. Finn has acknowledged learning about the photos in December 2010, six months before Ratigan was arrested. The trial is scheduled for September.

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VIRGINIA
The Palm Beach Post

By LARRY O’DELL
The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. —

A woman who claims a priest repeatedly molested her during a more than two-year exorcism has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, its bishop and an anti-abortion ministry that employed the exorcist.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Arlington County Circuit Court, seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

According to the complaint, the Warren County woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, then president of Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc., for spiritual help in February 2008. The lawsuit says Euteneuer knew that the woman, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, believed she needed exorcism. He told her that her case was “severe” and had her sign an agreement promising full cooperation, the complaint says.

The plaintiff alleges that Euteneuer’s sessions with her frequently involved inappropriate touching and directing her to undress. The complaint says Euteneur explained passionate kisses as “blowing the Holy Spirit” into her.

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NETHERLANDS
Radio Netherlands

A Roman Catholic brother administered a deadly overdose of medication to 37 severely handicapped boys at a home for the disabled in the Netherlands 60 years ago, the Dutch public prosecution office has confirmed. On the heels of a castration scandal in the church this spring, a deeply macabre cold case has been solved.

Murder, manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. Thirty-seven counts. Those are the charges that would have been brought against Brother Andreas if he were still alive and if the statue of limitations had not expired.

The public prosecutor in the Dutch city of Roermond reports that Andreas, who belonged to a congregation called the Brothers of the Holy Joseph, put the permanently bedridden boys to death one by one, shortly after they arrived at the home between 1952 and 1954.

No regrets
The public prosecutor’s report, released this morning finally clarifies a sharp spike in deaths during that period at the Saint Joseph’s home in the tiny southern hamlet of Heel.

Brother Andreas himself wrote in his memoirs that he had acted with the permission of his brother superior at Saint Joseph’s, and in his writings he never expressed any regrets, according to the prosecutor’s report.

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VATICAN CITY
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

John Hooper in Vatican City
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 June 2012

On the ceiling of the conference room in the Vatican bank, there is a big, round allegorical painting.

There is the Virgin Mary somewhat improbably wearing a papal tiara and holding a model of a church. There is another holy lady offering the mother of Jesus a gold plate laden with crowns, a gold chain and an honorific decoration. In the background, Neptune is emerging from the sea on a chariot, while in the foreground there is snake winding its way through a patch of mushrooms.

Baffled? Well, what did you expect? This is the heart of what, until Thursday, was the most secret building in the “city of secrets” – the premises of an institution that has attracted more speculation, suspicion and sinister insinuation than almost any on earth.

Addressing a restricted number of correspondents on the first-ever press visit to the Vatican bank, its managing director, Paolo Cipriani, could scarcely be expected to recall its involvement with Banco Ambrosiano – whose boss, Roberto Calvi, was found lifeless and dangling by the neck under Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 – or the claim by Holocaust survivors that the bank took in gold looted by wartime Croatian fascists. He merely alluded briskly to “that veil, that shadow that comes from the past”, and then plunged back into an account of the bank’s efforts to satisfy international requirements on transparency.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The Vatican Bank has opened up to the media in an effort to appear more transparent, amid a scandal surrounding the Vatican’s financial affairs.

In a briefing to journalists, director Paolo Cipriani said the bank wanted to dispel “myths”, including that it runs secret bank accounts.

In May, the bank sacked its president, who said he was being punished for seeking greater transparency.

Earlier this year, leaks hinted at Vatican rifts about the bank’s running.

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VATICAN CITY
The Associated Press

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican bank, one of the most secretive institutions in the secrecy-obsessed Vatican, opened itself up to a little external scrutiny Thursday in a bid to show it’s serious about fighting money-laundering and being more financially transparent.

During a nearly three-hour power-point presentation to a few dozen journalists, the bank’s director, Paolo Cipriani, highlighted the peculiar nature of the Institute for Religious Works, the institute’s official name, and stressed its internal and external financial controls.

But more importantly, he sought to refute media allegations that the institution has been less than cooperative with requests for financial information from banks such as JPMorgan and Italian authorities.

At one point, Cipriani displayed a letter from Italy’s financial police thanking him for his “timely and exhaustive response” in signaling a suspect transaction to them even before the Vatican’s new anti-money laundering law went into effect last year. And he described in detail the exhaustive checks carried out by the institute to ensure that the money that comes into and out of its accounts is clean.

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PORTUGAL
DN Portugal

[Summary: A pastor has expressed shock and hurt that a catechist in his parish is accused of abusing children.]

O pároco da igreja de Aveiras de Cima, na Azambuja, mostrou-se hoje “surpreendido, chocado e magoado” pela detenção de um catequista daquela paróquia, suspeito de abusar sexualmente de crianças.

O tribunal do Cartaxo ordenou hoje a prisão preventiva de homem suspeito de abusar sexualmente de crianças a quem ministrava catequese na capela de Casais de Lagoa, na paróquia de Aveiras de Baixo.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Jun. 28, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis will have to grant prosecutors access to a range of files regarding his diocese’s response to previous accusations of clergy abuse, a county judge ordered Thursday.

According to the decision, Bishop Robert Finn and his Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese will have to turn over notes and other documents from a diocesan investigation into their handling of the case of diocesan priest Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who was arrested last year for possession of child pornography.

They will also have to grant prosecutors access to diocesan files regarding its handling of five other priests who had previously been accused of abuse.

Both Finn and the diocese face trial this September in Jackson County, Mo., over separate criminal misdemeanor charges of failure to report suspected child abuse concerning their actions in the Ratigan case.

News of the latest order from County Judge John Torrence comes almost a week after the first conviction of a diocesan administrator on a charge of child endangerment for his role in reassigning clergy accused of abuse in his archdiocese.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By TONY RIZZO
The Kansas City Star

Local Catholic officials must hand over information about past priest abuse investigations to Jackson County prosecutors, according to a judge overseeing the current case against Bishop Robert Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The diocese also must turn over its notes and other documents from an independent investigation it commissioned former U.S. attorney Todd Graves to conduct into the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, the judge ruled. Ratigan is facing child pornography charges in state and federal court.

Finn and the diocese are nearing trial on misdemeanor charges related to the handling of allegations against Ratigan.

In his ruling released Wednesday, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence said that information about the diocesan investigations into alleged misconduct regarding five other priests was “relevant and material” to the state’s pending case. Because sensitive and confidential information likely is contained in that information, the judge said he would impose a protective order to limit access to those files to attorneys and staff directly involved in the case.

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SAN JOSE (CA)
San Jose Inside

Posted by Christopher Schumb on Thursday, June 28, 2012

San Jose attorney Christopher Schumb will write a bi-weekly column for San Jose Inside focusing on the biggest cases and legal disputes in Santa Clara County. This is his first column.—Editor

If you have seen all the media vans parked in front of the Criminal Courthouse on Hedding Street, it’s not for a location shoot of Law and Order. The media is there for the courtroom drama unfolding in the trial of William Lynch. Mr. Lynch alleges that he was a victim of horrific child abuse by a Catholic priest, Father Jerold Lindner, in 1975.

Mr. Lynch settled a civil suit he filed against Father Lindner and the church over a decade ago. In 2010, Mr. Lynch allegedly went to Father Lindner’s retirement home, and attacked the 67-year-old retired priest. From the outset, it was clear that Mr. Lynch’s agenda was to publicize the alleged abuse he, his brother and several other boys allegedly suffered at the hands of Father Lindner.

The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office filed felony assault and elder abuse charges against Mr. Lynch. The trial has not gone smoothly. Before the trial began, Judge David Cena ruled that allegations of child abuse would be admissible to attack Father Lindner’s credibility. However, the scope of his exam on this issue must be brief so as not to consume an undue amount of time, because it was a peripheral issue. Deputy District Attorney Vickie Gemetti, who is very well respected by criminal attorneys—both prosecutors and defense—made a tactical decision to defuse the abuse allegations by playing, as part of her opening statement, a tape recording of an interview in which Lynch detailed the alleged sexual abuse. The jury was in tears after hearing the tape, and the defense attorneys asked that Judge Cena modify his previous ruling limiting the scope of the questioning about the alleged sexual abuse because Ms. Gemetti had “opened the door” by playing the tape. Judge Cena agreed, and the defense was then allowed to extensively cross-exam Father Lindner about the abuse allegations.

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VATICAN CITY
Bloomberg Businessweek

By Flavia Rotondi and Chiara Vasarri on June 28, 2012

The Vatican Bank has increased efforts to comply with international rules to control money laundering and is committed to transparency, Paolo Cipriani, director general of the Institute for the Works of Religion, said today in Rome.

“We have stepped up anti-money laundering controls to protect the reputation of the Holy See, remove the veil and shadow of the past” when the IOR was known as one of the world’s most secretive banks, Cipriani said today at the first- ever briefing with reporters inside the bank in Vatican city. “There are no secret numbered accounts here,” Cipriani said.

The Vatican bank has 33,000 accounts with assets of around 6 billion euros ($7.5 billion), Cipriani said today. The bank’s cash machines allow users to operate in Latin.

Set up in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage the Vatican’s finances, the bank, known as the IOR from its Italian initials, is controlled by the pontiff and has recently been at the center of several financial scandals. Cipriani and his former boss, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, were placed under investigation by Italian prosecutors in a probe in 2010 for allegedly omitting data from some wire transfers from an Italian account.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, June 28 (Reuters) – The Vatican bank, attempting to project a new image of transparency ahead of a decision by EU financial authorities next month, lifted its veil of secrecy on Thursday by allowing journalists to visit the institution for the first time.

The tour came one month after the bank’s president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was ousted by the board of the bank, in a move he said was aimed at stopping his efforts to make the bank more transparent. The Vatican said he was just a bad manager.

It also followed allegations by Italian magistrates that the bank may have been involved in money laundering, which the Vatican denies.

“We have nothing to hide,” said Paolo Cipriani, director-general of the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).

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VIRGINIA
USA Today

By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

A‏ Virginia woman claims in a $5.3 million lawsuit that a priest repeatedly molested her over a two-year period during what was supposed to be an exorcism.

The plaintiff, identified in court paper only as Jane Doe, filed the suit earlier this month against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., its bishop and an anti-abortion ministry that employed the exorcist.

She is seeking $5.3 million in damages, the Associated Press reports.

The complaint alleges that she went to Rev. Thomas Euteneuer in 2008 to seek spiritual help and that he called her case “severe.”

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TEXAS
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler

The “victory” of Father Frank Pavone in his appeal to Rome illustrates something seriously wrong with the ordinary application of canon law.

The word “victory” belongs in quotation marks above because we don’t know whether the Congregation for Clergy accepted all, or even most, of Father Pavone’s canonical argument. The text of the Vatican decision has not been released. Therein lies the problem.

Priests for Life has claimed vindication for the group’s president, happily announcing that “Father Pavone is not now nor has ever been suspended.” But that is the answer to a question no one was asking. The Diocese of Amarillo put things in a different perspective, issuing a brief statement from Bishop Patrick Zurek, which can be quoted in full:

In its decree of May 18, 2012, the Congregation for the Clergy has sustained Father Frank A. Pavone’s appeal of his suspension from ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo and his appointment from me on October 4, 2011 as Chaplain of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in Channing, Texas. Father Pavone is to continue his ministry as chaplain until further notice. As a gesture of good will, I will grant permission to him in individual cases, based upon their merits, to participate in pro-life events with the provision that he and I must be in agreement beforehand as to his role and function.
All other matters are outside the purview of this statement.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Echo

A retired Church of England priest has been charged with sex attacks on 18 girls and boys dating back 50 years, including Hampshire.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, is accused of committing 38 offences over an 11-year period between 1962 and 1973.

The charges follow a nine-month inquiry by detectives into allegations of child sex abuse in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Rideout, of Filching Close, Wannock, Polegate, East Sussex, will appear on bail at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court on July 16.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: A native of Ecuador, Arzube was ordained in Los Angeles, California, at age 36. He was known throughout his career to be an advocate for Mexican Americans in Los Angeles. He was elevated to Auxilliary Bishop of the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1971. In 2003 Arzube was accused of having molested an 11 year-old boy in 1975 and 1976. He admitted in a 2006 deposition to training altar boys in his bedroom, but denied molesting anyone. A civil lawsuit against the archdiocese related to the accusation against him was part of a massive settlement in the summer of 2007. Arzube died in December, 2007.

Ordained: 1954
Incardinated: Los Angeles
Ordained Bishop: March 25, 1971
Retired: June 1, 1993
Died: Dec. 25, 2007

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NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

[met video]

door Peter Zantingh

De rechtbank heeft vandaag bepaald dat pedofielenvereniging Martijn verboden moet worden. Het OM had gevraagd om een verbod en een ontbinding omdat de vereniging ‘in strijd is met de openbare orde en goede zeden’.

Het verbod geldt per direct; mocht Martijn in beroep gaan, dan betekent dat niet dat de vereniging zijn bestaan daarmee nog kan oprekken. Het is volgens de rechtbank in Assen niet toe te staan dat Martijn seksuele relaties tussen volwassenen en kinderen verheerlijkt. Dat is een inbreuk op de rechten van het kind. De Tweede Kamer maakte zich al langere tijd sterk voor een verbod.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Bilgrimage

Drawing on his wide legal expertise, Jerry Slevin has sent another critically important statement about the recent Philadelphia trial and what remains still to be done. What follows is Jerry’s statement:

APOLOGISTS’ RECENT “SPIN EFFORTS”:

Almost a year and a half ago, Philly’s Cardinal Rigali suddenly suspended three dozen priests of the Philadelphia Catholic Archdiocese (Philly AD) on perceived suspicion of sexual misconduct with children. Over half of these priests’ cases were “news” to Rigali’s lay child protection review board chairwoman. Over a dozen of these cases still remain open under Archbishop Chaput at the Philly AD. These remaining suspected priests are apparently still generally unmonitored and may yet be possible risks for defenseless Philly children. Yet, the Philly AD’s newly convicted felon, Monsignor Lynn, had barely broken in his new prison mattress when the Catholic bishops’ spin-machine went into over-drive to try to whitewash Lynn’s criminal trial’s findings and almost to suggest that an “abuse free” Philly AD had arrived.

The U. S. Catholic bishops’ occasionally unofficial mouthpiece, Bill Donohue, exclaimed here that the alleged “witch-hunt” against the Philly AD had failed with Msgr. Lynn’s conviction. According to Bill Donohue, the “witch-hunt” against the Philly AD was initiated in 2001 by former Philly District Attorney (DA), Lynne Abraham, who is of the Jewish faith, with her purportedly biased pursuit of Philly Catholic clergy. Bill Donohue claimed pointedly, gratuitously and irrelevantly that DA Abraham investigated priests, but not rabbis and others. Bill has previously made similar seemingly anti-Semitic diversionary allusions to her alleged religious bias against Catholic clergy as a factor in her investigation of Philly predatory priests.

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TEXAS
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Posted: June 28, 2012

By KAREN SMITH WELCH
MORRIS NEWS SERVICE

AMARILLO ­— A Vatican ruling allows anti-abortion activist the Rev. Frank Pavone to perform religious services outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo, but he must have permission to participate in pro-life activities, his bishop said Wednesday.

Priests for Life, the New York nonprofit led by Pavone, declared Wednesday the Vatican’s Congregation of the Clergy upheld Pavone’s appeal of restrictions placed on him last September by Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek.

But the organization shed no light on the details of the ruling.

Zurek said the ruling “makes it clear I am free to restore him to full religious ministry, if I wish. … But he must have my permission for anything in regard to work in pro-life, and in particular Priests for Life, because that is where the issue arose to begin with.”

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NIEDERLANDE
News4Press

Ein Verein, der sich in den Niederlanden für sexuelle Beziehungen zwischen Kinder und Erwachsenen einsetzte, ist verboten worden. Die Organisation wurde 1982 gegründet und hatte rund 60 Mitglieder. Martijn-Präsident Marthijn Uittenbogaard Foto bei einer Pressekonferenz im März 2012 macht den Eindruck eines netten Nachbarn von nebenan. Dieser Nachbar ist jedoch Pädofilen-Unterstützer der schlimmsten Art. Die Pädophilen-Vereinigung “Martijn” wurde jetzt endlich verboten. Das zuständige Gericht in Assen im Nordosten des Landes ordnete am Mittwoch die Auflösung der rund 60 Mitglieder starken Organisation an. Ob allerdings mit dem Urteil auch die Löschung der Homepage verbunden ist, ist nicht bekannt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Die “VatiLeaks”-Affäre erschüttert den Vatikan, nun spricht erstmals ein deutscher Kardinal klare Worte: Rainer Maria Woelki prangert Geldwäsche, Korruption und Vorteilsnahme im Kirchenstaat an. Dass der wiederverheiratete Horst Seehofer vom Papst die Kommunion erhalten hat, verteidigt er.

Hamburg – Der Berliner Erzbischof Rainer Maria Woelki fordert “einen Prozess der Selbstreinigung” in der katholischen Kirche. Damit hat sich erstmals ein deutscher Kardinal im Zusammenhang mit der “VatiLeaks”-Affäre geäußert. Und er nimmt harte Worte in den Mund: In der “Zeit” spricht Woelki von Geldwäsche, Korruption und Vorteilsnahme im Vatikan. Er bezeichnete es als besonders ärgerlich, wenn “im Raum der Kirche eine Bank schlecht agiert oder sogar Geldwäsche passiert und finanzielle Unregelmäßigkeiten geschehen. Das darf bei uns keinen Ort haben.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Die katholische Kirche ändert ihre Meinung – was ja nicht so häufig passiert: Weltbild soll nun doch nicht verkauft werden. Der Verlag war wegen des Vertriebs erotischer und esoterischer Titel ins Gerede gekommen und soll jetzt in eine Stiftung umgewandelt werden.

Würzburg/Hamburg – Ach Du lieber Gott! Erotik! Esoterik! Wegen des Vorwurfs, der Weltbild-Verlag führe zu viele Titel aus diesen eher kirchenfernen Themenkreisen im Angebot, hatte die Deutsche Bischofskonferenz beschlossen, das Unternehmen zu verkaufen. Doch der “Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung” zufolge wird die Verlagsgruppe nun doch nicht verkauft, sondern von der katholischen Kirche in eine gemeinnützige Stiftung umgewandelt. Das bestätigte am Mittwoch der Vorsitzende der Geschäftsführung des Verlags, Carel Halff.

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VATIKAN
Frankfurter Allgemeine

25.06.2012 · Im Vatikan weiß niemand, wem er noch vertrauen kann. Der Papst ist das Opfer einer Intrige, weil er der klerikalen Vertuschung den Kampf angesagt hat. Selbst um sein Leben wird gefürchtet.

Von Daniel Deckers

aum eine Institution birgt so viele Mysterien wie die katholische Kirche, kaum ein Gemeinwesen so viele Rätsel wie der Vatikanstaat. Doch das alleine ist nicht der Grund, weshalb die Paläste rings um St. Peter noch heute eine ideale Projektionsfläche für Phantasien jeder Art über Macht, Geld und Sex sind. Denn wie die Vergangenheit bietet auch die Gegenwart Verschwörungstheoretikern, Medienleuten und Romanautoren mehr Stoff als genug. Ausgerechnet jenen Schöngeist auf dem Stuhl Petri, der als Benedikt XVI. der „Entweltlichung“ der Kirche das Wort redet, hat die Weltlichkeit der Kirche nun so brutal eingeholt, dass manche um das Leben des Papstes fürchten.

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

[with video]

By Sarah Bloom

SPOTSYLVANIA, VA (WWBT) –
61-year-old Edward Zottoli has been charged with five sex related crimes after deputies said he had a naked sleep over with a teen he was supposed to be mentoring from church.

Investigators said a 14-year-old teen and his brother went to Zottoli’s home for an overnight counseling session.

“I think he was just kind of a mentor to the children in the church, the adolescent boys in the church,” said Cpt. Mike Harvey with the Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office.

Instead, detectives said Zottoli, known as “Brother Ed” to the kids, assaulted the 14-year-old.

Harvey said while one of the brothers was asleep on the couch, Zottoli asked the 14-year-old to get into bed with him. Harvey said the teen claimed Zottoli was naked at the time, asked the teen for a massage, and that then Zottoli sexually assaulted the teen twice. They say Zottoli also asked the teen to perform sexual acts on him.

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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa

VATICAN CITY, June 28, 2012 – The pope’s “butler,” Paolo Gabriele, remains in custody as the only suspect in the crime. At the moment, it is one of aggravated theft. The investigative commission of cardinals that is working in parallel with the Vatican magistracy is continuing its hearings.

It is not known how long it will take for the two investigations to the reach a conclusion. But this does not mean that the so-called “Vatileaks” case has not already had an impact on the life of that particular organism which is the Roman curia.

Far from it. Some consequences, in fact, can already be identified in the short term, while others can be conjectured in the medium and long term.

OPUS DEI AND THE UNITED STATES

To begin with, in just a few weeks there has been an increase in the curia of the visible role of Opus Dei, which already numbers, in the organizational structure, the secretary of the pontifical council for legislative texts (Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, of the clergy of Obra), the secretary of the congregation for the clergy (Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta, of the priestly fraternity of the Holy Cross, connected to Opus) and the secretary of the prefecture of economic affairs (Monsignor Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda).

The head of the investigative commission of cardinals, in fact, is Cardinal Julián Herranz, a member of Opus Dei and former president of the same dicastery as Arrieta.

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UNITED STATES
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)

Disgraced former priest accused of repeatedly molesting woman during two-year EXORCISM

By Snejana Farberov

A Virginia woman filed a lawsuit claiming that a former priest whom she approached for spiritual help after becoming convinced that she was possessed by the devil repeatedly molested her during a more than two-year exorcism.

The lawsuit filed earlier this month against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, its bishop and an anti-abortion ministry that employed the exorcist seeks $5.35million in damages.

According to the complaint, the Warren County woman, identified as ‘Jane Doe,’ went to the Reverent Thomas Euteneuer, then president of Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc (HLI) – one of the nation’s biggest anti-abortion groups – for spiritual guidance in February of 2008.

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NEDERLAND
Dagblad De Limburger

Het bisdom Roermond zegt te betreuren dat er in de jaren vijftig geen aangifte is gedaan van de 37 verdachte sterfgevallen in zwakzinnigeninstelling Sint Joseph in Heel. Het bisdom stelt dat in een verklaring die donderdag op internet wordt geplaatst. Justitie noemt de houding van het bisdom in de jaren vijftig ‘onaanvaardbaar’.

Heel
Niki van der Naald, Hans Goossen en Paul Bots

In ieder geval eind jaren vijftig was bij het bisdom bekend dat er in Heel kinderen zijn omgekomen onder verdachte omstandigheden. De zaak werd destijds intern gehouden. Ook de congregatie waar Sint Joseph onder viel, hield de kwestie stil. Beide instellingen kunnen niet vervolgd worden voor het verzwijgen van de kwestie. De zaak is verjaard, en in de jaren vijftig konden instellingen nog niet voor de rechter gedaagd worden.

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NEDERLAND
Dagblad De Limburg

[Justie Rapport]

[met video]

Justitie ziet de in 1997 overleden broeder Andreas als verdachte in de kwestie rond 37 opvallende sterfgevallen onder jongens in de Heelse zwakzinnigeninstelling Sint Joseph. Een groot deel van de jongens stierf in de jaren 1952-1954 in het zogeheten Gerarduspaviljoen dat Andreas onder zijn hoede had.

Heel
Van onze verslaggevers

Als de zaak niet verjaard was, en de broeder niet was overleden, was het strafrechtelijk feitenonderzoek van justitie voldoende aanleiding geweest om een opsporingsonderzoek naar Andreas te starten, concludeert justitie. De broeder zou dan als verdachte worden aangemerkt voor misdrijven die in ernst varieren van moord tot het niet-helpen van patiënten in nood. Justitie gaat er vanuit dat een groot deel van de jongens een onnatuurlijke dood is gestorven, maar kan niet zeggen om hoeveel gevallen het precies gaat. Oorspronkelijk is steeds sprake geweest van 34 verdachte overlijdens bij minderjarige jongens. Justitie telt daar echter drie namen van overleden jongens tussen de 18 en 21 jaar bij op, omdat in de jaren vijftig mensen pas vanaf hun 21e meerderjarig waren.

Niet alleen de broeder wordt door justitie als verdachte gekenmerkt. Ook toenmalig instellingsarts Guus Verstraelen zou in een nader opsporingsonderzoek verdachte zijn geworden als de zaak niet verjaard was, stelt justitie. De arts uitte eind jaren vijftig en eind jaren zestig openlijke twijfels over de door hemzelf afgegeven verklaringen van natuurlijke dood. Onderzoek naar Verstraelen zou zich dan ook richten op het plegen van valsheid in geschrifte.

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NEDERLAND
NRC Handelsblad

door Joep Dohmen

In het katholieke gesticht Sint Joseph in Heel zijn tussen juni 1952 en januari 1954 vermoedelijk 37 gehandicapte minderjarige jongens om het leven gebracht, mogelijk met een overdosis medicijnen. Dat heeft het Openbaar Ministerie in Roermond vanochtend bekendgemaakt. Het zijn de zwaarste feiten die tot nu toe bekend zijn geworden in het twee jaar voortdurende misbruikschandaal in de R.K.-Kerk.

Bij de dood van de jongens zouden de broeder die de kinderen verzorgde, de instellingsarts en de leiding betrokken zijn geweest. De broeder, Andreas, zou zich schuldig gemaakt hebben aan moord, doodslag of dood door schuld. Hij handelde, schreef hij in zijn memoires, met toestemming van zijn oversten en heeft daar “nooit spijt van gehad”. De instellingsarts gaf valse overlijdensverklaringen af waarin stond dat de kinderen een natuurlijke dood waren gestorven. De feiten zijn in 1972 verjaard; de meeste betrokkenen, onder wie broeder en arts, zijn overleden.

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

A retired Church of England priest from East Sussex has been charged with committing 38 sexual offences against 18 children and young teenagers.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, of Filching Close, Wannock, is alleged to have committed the offences between 1962 and 1973 in Crawley, London and Hampshire.

He was arrested at his home in March following a nine-month investigation and charged on Wednesday night.

He will appear before Mid Sussex magistrates on 16 July.

A total of 36 of the 38 alleged offences are of indecent assault on girls and boys in their early teens, Sussex Police said.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Independent

By George Jackson and Trevor McBride

Thursday June 28 2012

A Donegal priest said his life had been “devastated” by allegations of indecent assault against a 14-year-old girl, after being cleared of the charges yesterday.

Fr Eugene Boland, originally from Moville in Co Donegal, was found not guilty of five counts of indecent assault at Derry Crown Court.

He had denied claims that he inappropriately touched the teenage girl in the parochial house at St Joseph’s parish in the Galliagh area of Derry between June 1990 and June 1992.

The girl wept in court as the verdicts were read out after almost four hours of jury deliberation over the course of two days.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Thursday 28 June 2012

Monsignor Eamon Martin has said the acquittal of Fr Eugene Boland brings “ great relief to many people.”

A jury at Derry Crown Court yesterday found Father Eugene Boland (66), not guilty by majority verdict on all five charges of indecent assault on the girl of around 14 years old in the parochial house of St Joseph’s Church, Galliagh between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992.

In a statement issued last night Monsignor Martin, Diocesan Administrator for the Diocese of Derry, said: “After a public trial, before a Judge and a Jury, Father Eugene Boland, a priest of the Diocese of Derry, has been acquitted of all charges made against him. Fr. Boland has always denied these charges and, at the start of the investigation, the Diocese of Derry emphasised his entitlement to a presumption of innocence.

“Fr. Boland’s acquittal understandably brings great relief to many people. In different ways the whole process has been very difficult for everyone involved. Through its pastoral and other support systems, the diocese seeks to reach out to anyone who has been affected by this case.

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VIRGINIA
Northern Virginia Daily

By Sally Voth — svoth@nvdaily.com

An international Catholic organization based in Front Royal is being sued by a woman who claims its former president repeatedly sexually molested her while performing exorcisms.

Fairfax attorney Demetrios C. Pikrallidas filed the complaint on behalf of an unidentified woman on June 19 in Arlington County Circuit Court. “Jane Doe” is seeking $5.35 million against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, its bishop, the Most Rev. Paul S. Loverde, and Human Life International Inc. and Human Life International Endowment Inc., both of 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal.

The complaint accuses HLI’s former president, the Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, of abusing Doe during the course of more than two years. It also says he snuck visits to her on a family vacation to Hawaii, burned her diary and brought her to work at HLI.

Euteneuer worked for HLI from 2000 until August 2010, the organization’s communications director, Stephen Phelan, said Wednesday afternoon. HLI and the Diocese of Arlington on Wednesday distanced themselves from the priest.

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SALINA (KS)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina – The Register

Written by Bishop Edward Weisenburger

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

At the recent U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting, we received good news about the U.S. Church’s efforts to create a safe environment for youth and children. The report was produced by the National Review Board with much of the conclusions drawn from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice report, an extensive study by a non-Catholic legal institute on the origins and extent of sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church. While the study noted that there will always be more to achieve and we must remain ever-vigilant, it concludes that we have done immense good in a very short period of time. Certain points are worth noting:

• The victims of sexual abuse who have come forward reveal that the vast majority of abuse arose in the 1960s, peaked in the 1970s and declined sharply in the 1980s — a period of time mirroring a breakdown of sexual ethics in our culture. Even victims coming forward today are largely voicing allegations from that time period. While it is good news to know that the majority of this illegal and sinful behavior is behind us, we cannot drop our guard. We must remain vigilant. Also, it is important to note that there is still much work to be done to bring healing to the victims from that era.

• Prior to the U.S. bishops’ 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth, the Church largely responded in a legal manner, which did not help victims. Today the Church’s response is far more pastoral and therapeutic. A wide range of resources are offered victims to assist with their healing.

• Prior to the 2002 charter, approximately 77 dioceses had policies and procedures in place to respond to allegations of sexual misconduct. Today all 195 dioceses in the U.S. have policies and procedures, along with codes of conduct for clergy, employees and volunteers. Each diocese has a review board to advise the bishop on allegations and procedures, and confidential settlements have been abolished except when requested by the victim. Dioceses are required to report allegations of sexual abuse of minors to public authorities and to cooperate with police investigations. The Holy See has made possible procedures to remove offending clergy from the clerical state more quickly, and a “zero-tolerance” policy related to offenders has been implemented.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jamie Tripp Utitus/Parental Guidance

When Todd Kostrub, of Surf City, LBI, finally came to terms with the years of abuse that he suffered under the hands of a Franciscan Clergyman, he spoke to his family and brother-in-law who was a Seargent in the NJ State Police. He was 31. The police went to clergyman, Brother Munn of Holy Assumption Church in Roebling.

Surprisingly, when Brother Munn was detained, he confessed to everything, even particular instances of abuse that Todd had managed to block out after all these years.Todd was surprised by the confession, to say the least. But something even more surprising happened a few hours after Munn was detained. Munn was released.

According to a N.J. statute, a victim of abuse has to report the incident two years from the day they turn 18. In order to stop this predator, Kostrub would need to have reported the abuse 11 years earlier. That would mean about a day after the abuse stopped and Kostrub left for college, give or take a few hours,he would have needed to march down to the station and file a report.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – Four Corners

[with video]

By Geoff Thompson and Mary Ann Jolley

Updated June 28, 2012

The Catholic Church says its response to cases of child sex abuse should be compassionate, that abusers should be brought to justice and that concealing the truth is unjust to victims.

But does it follow those principles?

Coming up, Four Corners reporter Geoff Thompson investigates a shocking case of abuse involving many children, committed over several years. The abuse in itself is horrifying, the impact on the victims devastating, but perhaps the most alarming revelation is the fact that the Church turned a blind eye to the priest’s crimes. Four Corners asks why, despite clear evidence of abuse, the Church allowed him to move from parish to parish, apparently without alerting the police. The program reveals that even now the Church will not admit the full extent of what it knew about the priest’s activities.

The program also tells the story of the young men and their families, whose lives were devastated by the abuse. And details how the crimes committed led to the early death of several victims.

“It would have been no different if he had taken a gun and shot him, it just took longer.” Relative of an abused child

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UNITED STATES
Sun-Sentinel

There’s been a great deal of sensational news lately concerning pedophiles in the United States. The common denominator is these individuals preyed upon children while religious and educational institutions established upon foundations of trust and morality ignored or covered-up such disgusting and illegal behavior.

The most sensational: the trial of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach,. He was convicted last week on 45 of 48 counts for sexually abusing several young boys over a number of years while they attended camps sponsored by Sandusky’s Second Mile charitable organization at Penn State.

The riveting testimony at his trial from several victims not only showed that Sandusky, who had worked most of his career under legendary Coach Joe Paterno, and one of the nation’s most lucrative and revered football programs in the county, abused these boys on the Penn State campus, but that university officials failed to act on them when sexual abuse reports were made.

A second child abuse trial that did not receive as much national attention also concluded last week in Philadelphia. A jury on Friday convicted Catholic Monsignor William Lynnhim of felony for refusing to challenge his cardinal and stop the cover-up of child sex abuse by priests.

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VIRGINIA
NBC 12

[with video]

SPOTSYLVANIA, VA (WWBT) –
The pastor at Christian Outreach Tabernacle said his church was shaken after allegations a church member abused one of the teens at the church.

“We are devastated,” responded youth pastor, Mark Gallimore. “Obviously our feelings are devastated.”

Deputies arrested Edward Zottoli, of Spotsylvania, after charging him with five sex related charges. They said Zottoli, who goes by “Brother Ed”, slept naked with a 14-year-old boy from the church, asked for a massage, forced the teen to perform sexual acts on him and sexually assaulted the teen twice.

Deputies believe the abuse was contained to one night.

Pastor Norm Gallimore said he learned about what happened when Zottoli called him, reportedly two days after the incident, but before he reportedly turned himself in to authorities.

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JOLIET (IL)
Naperville Sun

BY JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media jseidel@suntimes.com June 27, 2012 7:32PM

Updated: June 27, 2012

New allegations of sexual abuse are being leveled at a former priest from the Diocese of Joliet already accused of molesting several young boys in the 1970s.

Terence Breen sued Lawrence Gibbs and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Will County Circuit Court this week. He claims Gibbs gave several young boys alcohol and pornography during a retreat at a Wisconsin cabin in 1977, had them play games, swim and perform other activities naked.

And he said Gibbs took him into a cabin bedroom to molest him in 1978.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Joliet didn’t return a call seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

Gibbs has already been named as a defendant in three civil lawsuits alleging he sexually abused two boys from Lombard and one from Lockport while serving as a parish priest in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were settled in the late 1990s for undisclosed sums. No criminal charges were filed.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Argus

A retired Church of England priest has been charged with sex attacks on 18 girls and boys dating back 50 years.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, is accused of committing 38 offences over an 11-year period between 1962 and 1973.

The charges follow a nine-month inquiry by Sussex Police detectives into allegations of child sex abuse in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Rideout, of Filching Close, Wannock, Polegate, East Sussex, will appear on bail at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court on July 16.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Bexhill-on-Sea Observer

Published on Thursday 28 June 2012

A RETIRED Anglican priest who was once a head of governors at a Bexhill school has been charged with a string of sex offences against children.

Gordon Trevor Rideout, 73, of Filching Close, Wannock, was charged with 38 sexual offences against 18 young girls and boys on Wednesday June 27.

Thirty-six of the alleged offences are of indecent assault on girls and boys in their early teens. Thirty-one are alleged to have been committed at an address in Crawley, and one in Barkingside, Essex, between 1962 and 1968, and four are alleged to have taken place at an address in Middle Wallop, Hampshire, between 1971 and 1973.

The other two alleged offences are of attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl in Crawley between 1962 and 1966.

Rideout, who was chair of governors at St Mary’s special school as well as a governor at Bishop Bell School in Eastbourne, been arrested on March 6.

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CALIFORNIA
Oakland Tribune

By Tracey Kaplan @mercurynews.comcontracostatimes.com
Posted: 06/27/2012

The receptionist heard the priest call for help and saw someone hit him a couple of times — but she can’t identify the assailant.

The only other eyewitness in the San Jose priest-beating trial said she saw suspected assailant Will Lynch pacing and screaming that the cleric had ”ruined his life” by molesting him and his brother as children. But it’s unclear whether that witness actually saw Lynch hit the priest because she has given three different accounts of the incident — including a new version during her testimony Wednesday.

With the prosecution winding up its case, the outcome of the trial could turn on how the panel regards the testimony of those two former employees at the priest’s retirement center — receptionist Carol Santos and health care coordinator Mary Margaret Eden.

The two women are among the six witnesses prosecutor Vicki Gemetti has called to the stand since the trial started last week — including a wireless expert and three law enforcement officers.

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UNITED STATES
Jersey Journal

Thursday, June 28, 2012

By Rev. Alexander Santora/For the Jersey Journal

When ever I hear or read comments by Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, I am reminded of the boy who yelled “fire” in the crowded movie theater again and again.

Donohue finds a Catholic conspiracy under every rock. But when he defends the Church in the ongoing sex abuse trials and tribulations, I think he’s made the right call. If there were only one case of clergy sexual abuse, it would be tragic. That there were thousands substantiated coupled with the lax oversight by some bishops in the U.S. has damaged the church’s reputation.

For nearly two decades beginning in the early 1980’s, reporting of abuses by clergy began to mushroom and there were some attempts by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to address the problems, but they were not uniform.

Not until Boston’s cases exploded in 2002 did the bishops enact a national policy.

So ten years ago this month, the U.S. Bishops adopted “The Charter for the Protection of Children,” which stipulated that no clergyman with even one credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor could function publicly, thus the zero tolerance policy.

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IRELAND
The Southern Star

By  EMER CONNOLLY Saturday June 30th, 2012

A FORMER priest has admitted the attempted rape of a young girl and the sexual assault of her brother in West Cork, more than 30 years ago.

John Calnan (73), of the Presbytery, 35 Paul Street, Cork, pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of the girl between January 1st, 1980 and April 30th, 1980 in West Cork. She was aged seven at the time.

Calnan also admitted three counts of sexually assaulting the girl between October 25th, 1976 and October 24th, 1979.

He further admitted one count of sexual assault on the girl’s brother between August 10th, 1975 and October 9th, 1979. The victim was aged between nine and 12 at the time.

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UNITED KINGDOM
London 24

Thursday, June 28, 2012

A retired Church of England priest has been charged with child sex abuse in east London.

A victim was allegedly assaulted in a house in Barkingside between 1962 and 1968.

Canon Gordon Rideout faces 37 other paedophile offences dating back to between 1962 and 1973.

He is charged in total with 36 counts of abusing boys and girls in their early teens.

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UNITED KINGDOM
ITV News

A retired Church of England priest has been charged with sex attacks on 18 girls and boys dating back 50 years.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, is accused of committing 38 offences over an 11-year period between 1962 and 1973.

The charges follow a nine-month inquiry by Sussex Police detectives into allegations of child sex abuse in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Rideout, of Filching Close, Wannock, Polegate, East Sussex, will appear on bail at Mid Sussex Magistrates’ Court on July 16.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Guardian

11:19am Thursday 28th June 2012 in News By Dominic Sutton

A RETIRED priest has been charged with 38 sexual offences against 18 children.

Canon Gordon Rideout, 73, of Filching Close, Wannock, Polegate, East Sussex has been on bail since his arrest on March 6, but was charged with the offences yesterday (June 27).

A total of 36 of the offences are of indecent assault alleged to have been committed on boys and girls in their early teens between 1962 and 1973.

One of those charges relates to an alleged offence which took place in Barkingside in the 1960s. The other charges relate to addresses in Crawley and Hampshire.

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AUSTRIA
The Irish Times

THE CATHOLIC Church in Austria has laid down the law to its rebel priests by telling them they cannot support a reform manifesto criticised by Pope Benedict and stay in an administrative post.

One priest said he had already stepped down from the post of deacon rather than renounce the Call to Disobedience manifesto, that challenges church teaching on topics such as women’s ordination and offering Communion to non-Catholics.

Another priest had withdrawn his support for the campaign and kept his job, a church spokesman said yesterday, while two or three more had yet to decide.

The manifesto’s demands, which issue from a reform group called Priests’ Initiative, have been echoed by some Catholic groups and clerics in Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the United States.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
The Irish Times

GEORGE JACKSON

A Catholic priest who is originally from Moville, Co Donegal, has been found not guilty at the crown court in Derry of five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl 20 years ago.

Fr Eugene Boland (66), the parochial house, Killyclogher Road, Omagh, was found not guilty yesterday of the charges by majority verdicts. He had denied claims he had indecently assaulted the girl in the parochial house at St Joseph’s parish in the Galliagh area of Derry between June 1990 and June 1992 when he was the then parish administrator.

The verdicts followed an eight-day trial before Judge Stephen Fowler and almost four hours of deliberation over two days by the jury. Following the verdicts, the complainant wept in court.

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JOLIET (IL)
CBS Chicago

JOLIET, Ill. (STMW) – New allegations of sexual abuse are being leveled at a former priest from the Diocese of Joliet already accused of molesting several young boys in the 1970s.

Terence Breen sued Lawrence Gibbs and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet in Will County Circuit Court this week. He claims Gibbs gave several young boys alcohol and pornography during a retreat at a Wisconsin cabin in 1977, had them play games, swim and perform other activities naked.

And he said Gibbs took him into a cabin bedroom to molest him in 1978.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Joliet didn’t return a call seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.

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BELGIE
HLN

Het Centrum voor Arbitrage inzake Seksueel Misbruik heeft reeds 238 dossiers ontvangen van slachtoffers van seksueel misbruik in een pastorale relatie. Dat bleek in de Opvolgingscommissie Seksueel Misbruik in de Kamer. Verslaggever Renaat Landuyt (sp.a) vermoedt dat nog een 150 slachtoffers zich zullen melden tegen de einddatum eind oktober van dit jaar.

Een dozijn dossiers werden aan de aanvragers overgemaakt voor een reactie op de opmerking van de stichting Dignity, die door de bisschoppen en religieuze oversten opgericht werd om in hun naam op te treden in de procedure. Daarna kan de Permanente Arbitragekamer (PAK) een poging tot verzoening opstarten.

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CLEVELAND (OH)
National Catholic Reporter

Jun. 27, 2012
By Brian Roewe

Full restoration continues to inch closer for 11 shuttered parishes in Cleveland.

Bishop Richard G. Lennon announced Wednesday afternoon the names of pastors and opening dates for five of the 11 parishes that successfully appealed their closure to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy in early March. A 12th parish required restoration in name only.

The new pastors and assignments are:
•Rev. Gary Chmura, St. Adalbert parish in Cleveland, effective July 2;
•Rev. A. Jonathon Zingales, St. John the Baptist parish in Akron, effective July 2;
•Rev. Eric Orzech, St. Casimir parish in Cleveland, effective July 9;
•Rev. Joseph Hilinski, St. Barbara parish in Cleveland, effective July 16;
•Rev. Joseph Workman, St. James parish in Lakewood, effective July 23.

Assignments for the remaining six parishes are forthcoming, according to a diocesan statement. Each priest will determine the date for the opening Mass at their new parish homes, though a source told NCR the first Mass at St. Barbara is expected to be celebrated July 22 at 11 a.m.

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ARLINGTON (VA)
CBS DC

RICHMOND, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — A woman who claims Rev. Thomas Euteneuer repeatedly molested her during a more than two-year exorcism has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, its bishop and an anti-abortion ministry that employed the exorcist.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Arlington County Circuit Court, seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

According to the complaint, the Warren County woman went to Euteneuer, then president of Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc., for spiritual help in February 2008. The lawsuit says Euteneuer knew that the woman, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, believed she needed exorcism. He told her that her case was “severe” and had her sign an agreement promising full cooperation, the complaint says.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

A San Francisco man accused of assaulting a priest at the Los Gatos Sacred Heart Jesuit Center more than two years ago yelled at the cleric that he had molested him, a health-care employee who once worked at the facility testified Wednesday.

Defendant William Lynch “seemed agitated,” said retired worker Mary Margaret Eden. He “was still upset with Father [Jerold] Lindner … was still screaming, saying that he molested him.” Eden said Lynch tried to re-enter the parlor area where the alleged attack on the priest took place, but she prevented him from doing so.

Eden said she then told Lynch that receptionist Carol Santos, now retired, was calling 911. Eden then saw Lynch go out the front doors of the center’s main building and down the steps, she testified.

Lynch is standing trial for the alleged May 10, 2010 attack on Lindner. The defendant faces one count of felony assault with intent to cause great bodily injury and one count of elder abuse under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

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CALIFORNIA
The Associated Press

By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The priest accused of molesting children has “pleaded the fifth.” The judge has stricken his testimony and denials of abuse from the trial record. Three of the priest’s alleged victims are no longer allowed to testify. And the man on trial for beating the priest he says raped him will be limited in what he can tell the jury when called to the witness stand.

Still, after several emergency meetings in chambers, traded barbs of professional misconduct, and defense demands for a mistrial stemming from the priest’s alleged false testimony, Judge David Cena for the first time in nearly a week convened trial on time and without legal rancor Wednesday.

William Lynch, 44, is charged with assaulting retired Catholic priest Jerold Lindner on May 10, 2010, at a Los Gatos home for priests accused and convicted of sexual misconduct. Lynch claims Lindner raped him and his brother during a 1975 camping trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Lynch was 7 years old, and his brother was three years younger at the time. The brothers earlier settled a lawsuit over the allegations for $625,000.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
RTE News

Father Eugene Boland, 66, has been found not guilty of five charges of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl over 20 years ago.

Fr Eugene Boland, Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh had denied committing the charges in the parochial house and at St Joseph’s Church, Galliagh, Co Derry between 1990 and 1992.

After four hours of deliberations by the Jury yesterday and today, Fr Boland was found not guilty of the five charges that he inappropriately touched the complainant between June 1990 and June 1992.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Michael D’Antonio

After months of testimony and deliberations the Philadelphia jurors who found Msgr. William Lynn guilty of child endangerment did more than any Vatican official has ever done to address the problem of sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. This was made possible by the simple fact that the men and women of the jury confronted him as a peer, in a system that confers equal rights and responsibilities upon all.

Those who wonder why the Church has been unable to halt the rolling catastrophe of sexual abuse claims need only consider the difference between the American system of law and Catholic justice. Within the Church, ordained men are regarded a special creatures with extra-human powers. They alone conduct the sacraments, such as communion and reconciliation (confession) and they alone can ascend through the clerical ranks to become bishops, cardinals and popes. Their superior status culminates in the pope’s claim of infallibility, which places certain of his statements on a par with the voice of God.

Inside the institutional Church, ordination opens the doors to a brotherhood of men who have officially forsworn sex, marriage and children, and embrace the Church as their main source of emotional, spiritual and even financial support. This sacrifice makes many feel entitled to special treatment, and while they may not always get it from laypeople they generally receive it from each other. To put it crudely: priests give priests a lot of breaks. This is why complaints about sexual abuse were so often covered-up and resolved by sending “father” to another post. None of the men in charge wanted to discipline a brother.

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CALIFORNIA
The Sacramento Bee

By PAUL ELIAS
Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, Jun. 27, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO — Jurors in the trial of a California man accused of beating a priest he says molested him are hearing the abuse allegations.

Mary Eden, a health-care worker at the retirement home where the Rev. Jerold Lindner lived, testified Wednesday that she witnessed defendant William Lynch punch Lindner twice and scream that Lindner had raped him and his brother and ruined their lives.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Washington Post

Victims group urges Philadelphia archbishop to defrock convicted priest, Monsignor William Lynn

By David Gibson| Religion News Service, Updated: Wednesday, June 27

The leading advocacy group for victims of sexual abuse by clergy is urging Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput to defrock the priest convicted last week of shielding other clerics who preyed on children. But laicizing Monsignor William Lynn is not as simple as it sounds.

Lynn oversaw clergy assignments in the Philadelphia archdiocese for a decade and is the first high-ranking church official ever found guilty of covering up for abuse, not committing it.

Lynn, 61, was convicted on one charge of child endangerment and was acquitted of conspiracy and a second endangerment charge after a closely watched three-month trial. He is in custody and could face up to seven years behind bars when he is sentenced on Aug. 13.

The request by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, came in a letter sent Wednesday (June 27) to Chaput. It highlights the unusual challenge of what punishment the church should levy on Lynn, if any.

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ARLINGTON (VA)
NBC Washington

A woman who claims a priest repeatedly molested her during a more than two-year exorcism has filed a lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, its bishop and an anti-abortion ministry that employed the exorcist.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Arlington County Circuit Court, seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

According to the complaint, the Warren County woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneur, then president of Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc., for spiritual help in February 2008.

The lawsuit says Euteneur knew that the woman, identified in court papers by the pseudonym Jane Doe, believed she needed exorcism. He told her that her case was “severe” and had her sign an agreement promising full cooperation, the complaint says.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

by Edward Pentin Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The supervisory board of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), popularly known as the Vatican Bank, held its first meeting today since the board issued a vote of no confidence in former president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi last month.

The meeting, in which members discussed the selection of Gotti’s successor, took place a day before the IOR receives a large group of journalists at its offices as part of efforts, initiated by Pope Benedict XVI, to increase transparency.

In a communique published this afternoon, the Vatican announced the board had “two very useful meetings for sharing information and proposals both regarding day to day management as well as the universal criteria of professionalism and experience that are called for in light of the choice of [the Bank’s] new president.”

The statement said one of the meetings involved the board reporting to a supervisory commission of cardinals, chaired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY, June 27 (Reuters) – The board of the Vatican bank met on Wednesday to start the hunt for a new president to replace Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was unceremoniously ousted last month.

The Vatican said the board, which is made up of outside lay experts, had met to “identify the universally recognised criteria of professionalism and experience” needed for the job.

The board includes Carl Anderson, the American head of the international charity group Knights of Columbus, Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, formerly a top executive at Deutsche Bank, Manuel Soto Serrano of Banco Santander and Antonio Maria Marocco, a prominent Italian notary.

Former Bundesbank head Hans Tietmeyer has denied Italian media reports that he was a candidate to become the next head of the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR).

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LAS VEGAS (NV)
KSNV

[with video]

Reported by: Elizabeth Donatelli
Email: EDonatelli@Mynews3.com

LAS VEGAS (KSNV & MyNews3) — A lawsuit filed against a catholic friar who was accused of sexually abusing a young boy while he was stationed in Las Vegas is over.

It was settled out of court for money and information. News 3’s Elizabeth Donatelli spoke with the former church leader and has that story.

The diocese of Las Vegas, which was also named in the suit, issued a statement back in 2011 saying they were not aware of previous allegations.

The following was read during mass at St. Christopher’s parish in March of 2011 when the Diocese of Las Vegas was made aware of the allegation against Brother Tom Thing who was temporarily assigned to the Diocese for a period of time in the early 1980’s. The Diocese was not aware of any allegations or misconduct by Brother Thing prior to or during his time in Las Vegas.

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TEXAS
Amarillo Globe-News

By KAREN SMITH WELCH
karen.welch@amarillo.com

A Roman Catholic priest restricted to ministry within the Diocese of Amarillo appears to have won a loosening of the restraints placed on him by his bishop.

The Congregation of the Clergy at the Vatican has overturned Amarillo Bishop Patrick J. Zurek’s decision to prevent the Rev. Frank Pavone from performing religious services outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Amarillo, according to information from both sides in the dispute.

But a statement from Zurek said Pavone still must continue “until further notice” his ministry as chaplain of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ at Prayer Town, near Channing, and the two must agree, in advance, about Pavone’s participation in pro-life events.

Pavone has been operating since September under restrictions placed upon him by Zurek, who raised questions about the finances of Priests for Life, a New York anti-abortion nonprofit, and affiliated organizations directed by Pavone.

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CALIFORNIA
Oakland Tribune

By Tracey Kaplan
@mercurynews.com
mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/27/2012

Judge David A. Cena, two hours into Wednesday’s deliberations, summarily and abruptly ordered the public out of the Will Lynch assault trial courtoom. Only the jury remained, along with the mystery of what legal housekeeping the judge needed to do with such immediacy.

In many such situations, a judge will want to query jurors about whether anyone on the panel violated his orders and researched the controversial case thru media reports or in other ways. It’s also possible that Cena is contemplating replacing a sitting juror with an alternate.

However, 15 minutes later when the public was allowed back in, the judge gave a stern warning to onlookers about them having absolutely no contact with any juror — regardless of how innocent that contact might seem.

“Don’t even say, “So what do you think about the 49ers moving to Santa Clara?”’ said Cena, giving an example that illustrated how no topic with a juror is allowed. “If you do, I will not hesitate to eject anyone no matter how innocent the contact.” The judge did not explain exactly what caused him to clear the courtroom or why he made that particular warning to the returning gallery.

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AUSTRIA
Reuters

By Michael Shields

VIENNA | Wed Jun 27, 2012

(Reuters) – Austria’s Roman Catholic Church has laid down the law to its rebel priests by telling them they could not support a reform manifesto criticized by Pope Benedict and stay in an administrative post.

One priest told Reuters he had already stepped down from the post of deacon rather than renounce the “Call to Disobedience” manifesto that challenges Church teaching on taboo topics such as women’s ordination and offering communion to non-Catholics.

Another priest had withdrawn his support for the reform campaign and kept his job, a Church spokesman said on Wednesday.

He added that two or three more have yet to decide whether to withdraw their support from the manifesto from a reform group called “Priests’ Initiative” whose demands have been echoed by some Catholic groups and clerics in Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the United States.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, 27 June 2012 (VIS) – Below is the text of the communique released late this morning by the Press Office of the Holy See:

“This morning there was a meeting of the Board of Superintendence of the Institute for Works of Religion, currently composed of Vice President Dr. Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz, Dr. Carl Albert Anderson, Dr. Antonio Maria Marocco, and Dr. Manuel Soto Serrano.

Following that meeting, the Board reported to the Commission of Cardinals, presided over by Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

These two meetings were very useful for sharing information and proposals both regarding day to day management as well as the universal criteria of professionalism and experience that are called for in light of the choice of a new president for the Board of Superintendence.

Pope Benedict XVI is closely following the situation of the Institute for Works of Religion and is being constantly briefed by the Cardinal Secretary of State.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on June 27, 2012

June 27, 2012

Dear Archbishop Chaput;

We are leaders of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Our mission is to protect the vulnerable and heal the wounded.

We are writing you today with a simple and straightforward request about Monsignor William Lynn. He has been tried. He has been convicted. He should be defrocked.

This is not about being vindictive. It’s about being prudent. It’s about trying to reverse decades or centuries of self-serving secrecy in child sex abuse cases by thousands of Catholic officials. It’s about sending the most clear and severe message possible to current and future church employees who ignore, conceal and enable heinous crimes against kids. That message should be a “no brainer” – if you protect predators and hurt kids by hiding known and suspected crimes, you will be out of a job.

Sadly, even now, that message is virtually never sent. With only a handful of exceptions, Catholic staffers who act recklessly, callously and deceitfully with the safety of kids are virtually never disciplined by officials like you. So sadly, the same hurtful patterns of complicity – that have been so thoroughly exposed, so extensively documented and so widely criticized – continue.

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NEDERLAND
de Volkskrant

Door: Marjan van den Berg − 27/06/12

De vereniging voor pedofielen, Martijn, is vanochtend door de rechtbank in Assen verboden. Is dat goed nieuws, of een bedrieglijke bescherming voor kinderen? .

Uit de uitspraak van de rechtbank Assen:
‘(…)De Vereniging Martijn creëert of draagt daarmee bij aan het bestaan van een subcultuur waarbinnen seksuele handelingen tussen volwassenen en kinderen als normaal en acceptabel gelden. Daarmee tast de Vereniging Martijn de rechten van kinderen aan. De bescherming van de seksuele integriteit van kinderen vormt onmiskenbaar één van de meest wezenlijke beginselen van onze rechtsorde.’

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[SNAP’s letter to Archbishop Chaput]

Posted by David Clohessy on June 27, 2012

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging Philadelphia’s Catholic archbishop to start defrocking a high-ranking church official who was convicted last week of endangering children by refusing to report known and suspected child sex crimes.

Leaders of SNAP are writing Archbishop Charles Chaput asking him to initiate the process of “laicizing” Msgr. William Lynn. On Friday, Lynn became the first American Catholic staffer ever found guilty of enabling predator priests to be quietly sent to unsuspecting parishes where they molested again.

Since the jury verdict, Chaput has given no indication as to whether he plans to discipline Lynn.

“No reasonable person can deny that, for more than a decade, Msgr. Lynn ignored, concealed and enabled child sex crimes,” says SNAP’s letter. “Lynn repeatedly refused, in dozens of cases, to call police even once about known or suspected child sex crimes.”

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UNITED STATES
The Deacon’s Bench

June 27, 2012 By Deacon Greg Kandra

That’s the statement being put out by Priests for Life:

We are happy to announce that the Vatican has upheld Father Frank Pavone’s appeal and has declared that Father Pavone is not now nor has ever been suspended. Father Pavone remains a priest in good standing all over the world.

We were confident all along that a just decision would be made by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy. While we fully agree that Bishop Zurek has rightful authority over the priests of his diocese, we also see the urgent need for Father Pavone to be allowed to conduct his priestly ministry outside the diocese of Amarillo for the good of the pro-life movement.

However, last week, Bishop Zurek had this to say:

In its decree of May 18, 2012, the Congregation for the Clergy has sustained Father Frank A. Pavone’s appeal of his suspension from ministry outside the Diocese of Amarillo and his appointment from me on October 4, 2011 as Chaplain of the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in Channing, Texas. Father Pavone is to continue his ministry as chaplain until further notice. As a gesture of good will, I will grant permission to him in individual cases, based upon their merits, to participate in pro-life events with the provision that he and I must be in agreement beforehand as to his role and function.

All other matters are outside the purview of this statement.

Amarillo, Texas, June 20, 2012

+Most Rev. Patrick J. Zurek, STL, DD
Bishop of Amarillo

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Karen Polesir on June 26, 2012

We believe Msgr. Lynn being behind bars is just, and helps end current cover ups and deter future ones, both inside and outside the church.

Before making a decision next week about his fate, we hope the judge does thorough research into the hundreds of predator priests who’ve crossed or been sent across national boundaries. We hope she bases her ruling on the past behavior – not future promises – of Catholic officials.

We’re less concerned about the short term and more concerned about the long term. What we really want is for Lynn to get the maximum sentence and for prosecutors to retry Fr. Brennan and pursue other charges against other complicit staff in the hierarchy. That’s the best way, we feel, to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded and expose the truth.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican bank’s supervisory council has met and reported to the commission overseeing the bank’s activities, led by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

The first board meeting since the vote of no-confidence in the Vatican bank’s (IOR) former president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi on 24 May, took place today. Current members of the board include Vice-President, Ronaldo Hermann Schmitz who acts as interim president, Carl Anderson, Antonio Maria Marocco and Manuel Soto Serrano.

One of the themes of the meeting, a communiqué explains, is “the identification of internationally recognised criteria for professionalism and experience, ahead of the selection of the bank’s new president.”

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NEDERLAND
Ruard Ganzevoort blogt

De vereniging Martijn is omstreden, daarmee is niets te veel gezegd. De club is gericht op de acceptatie van (seksuele) relaties tussen ouderen en kinderen. Het CDA grijpt de veroordeling van de voorzitter wegens het bezit van kinderporno aan om op een verbod aan te dringen. Het is echter zeer de vraag of dat verstandig is. Voor de strijd tegen seksueel misbruik kon het wel eens averechts werken.

De discussie over pedoseksualiteit is in de loop van de jaren een paar keer totaal verschoven (zie mijn artikel ‘tussen trauma en tolerantie‘ voor die ontwikkeling binnen de kerken). In de jaren zeventig en tachtig werd vooral gestreefd naar tolerantie en begrip. Het taboe moest doorbroken worden. De voortrekkers van deze tolerantie meenden zelfs dat het grootste probleem de reactie van de maatschappij is en niet de seksuele contacten zelf. Twintig jaar later is van dat streven naar acceptatie weinig over. Bijna niemand durft het op te nemen voor pedoseksualiteit.

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ARLINGTON (VA)
Fox 8

June 27, 2012, by Joe Borlik

RICHMOND, Va. — A woman who claims a priest molested her during a more than two-year exorcism is suing the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

The lawsuit in Arlington County Circuit Court also names Bishop Paul Loverde and Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc. as defendants. It seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

The complaint said the woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneur in 2008 for spiritual help. Euteneur was president of HLI, an anti-abortion ministry, and also performed exorcisms.

The lawsuit claims Euteneur’s sessions with the woman frequently involved inappropriate touching and directing her to undress. The complaint said Euteneur explained passionate kisses as “blowing the Holy Spirit” into her

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Derry Journal

Published on Wednesday 27 June 2012

A priest cleared of indecently assaulting a teenage girl has said the allegation had “a devastating impact” on his life.

A jury at Derry Crown Court found Father Eugene Boland (66), of Parochial House, Killyclogher Road, Omagh not guilty by majority verdict on all five charges of indecent assault on the girl of around 14 years old in the parochial house of St Joseph’s Church, Galliagh between June 28, 1990 and June 30, 1992. There were cheers from Fr Boland’s supporters as the verdict was delivered following an eight day trial and several hours of deliberation by the jury of four men and eight women.

In a statement read on the cleric’s behalf by solicitor Kevin McGuigan outside Derry courthouse, Fr Boland said he now hopes to return to his ministry which was suspended by the Catholic Church when the allegations first arose two years ago.

“As a result of the allegation I have had to step back from my ministry as a priest. I have been a priest for 42 years and look forward to returning to my ministry as soon as possible with my reputation and good name restored.”

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A Donegal-born priest has been cleared of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl in a parochial house in Galliagh, Londonderry, 20 years ago.

Fr Eugene Boland, of Killyclogher Road in Omagh, was acquitted of all five charges by a jury at Londonderry Crown Court after an eight-day trial.

Two women who clapped and cheered after the verdict were warned they could face contempt of court proceedings

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

Two Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies found a bloodied, bruised and lacerated priest when they arrived at the Los Gatos Sacred Heart Jesuit Center in May 2010 following a 911 call reporting an assault.

Deputies Rick Chaeff and Jonathan Seaton took the stand Tuesday afternoon during the trial of William Lynch, a San Francisco man accused of beating Rev. Jerold Lindner, who the defendant claims raped and sodomized him and his younger brother while on camping trips to the Santa Cruz Mountains in 1975.

Chaeff’s account came after prosecutor Vicki Gemetti showed him several photographs of Lindner depicting injuries to the right side of his face, back of his head, his left ear, and his thigh area.

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CALIFORNIA
Patch

By Sheila Sanchez

After Tuesday’s deliberations in the William Lynch Los Gatos priest-beating trial, defense attorneys Pat Harris and Paul Mones walked out of the San Jose Hall of Justice to challenge the testimony by a Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy.

On the witness stand, Rick Chaeff testified that Father Jerold Lindner had suffered several bruises and one laceration above his left eye that bled heavily. However, Harris said he believed the injury to be minor and amounted to one cut.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
De Redactie (Belgie)

[Summary: Criminal neglect. Why a decision taken by a court in Philadelphia is important to victims of sexual abuse in Belgium]

“Monsignor William J. Lynn, de voormalige rechterhand van kardinaal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, werd vrijdag 22 juni 2012 in Philadelphia schuldig bevonden aan het in gevaar brengen van kinderen en wordt zo officieel de eerste vertegenwoordiger van de Katholieke kerk in de Verenigde Staten die veroordeeld werd wegens het verzwijgen van seksueel misbruik door priesters waarvoor hij verantwoordelijk was. Hij riskeert 3,5 tot 7 jaar cel.

Het verdict wordt door zowel het Openbaar Ministerie als door de slachtofferorganisaties in de VS als een keerpunt beschouwd in de benadering van schandalen rond seksueel misbruik die de Katholieke Kerk sinds jaren belasten. Belgische slachtoffers voelen het precies zo aan.

Dit alles kadert binnen een jarenlange strijd voor gerechtigheid met als doel de kerkelijke oversten verantwoordelijk te stellen voor het verstoppen en verzwijgen van bewijsmateriaal en het stiekem en schaamteloos verplaatsen van pedofiele priesters naar parochies of instellingen die het verleden van de daders niet kennen. Waar ze echter onbezwaard kunnen hervallen in hun oude gewoontes en opnieuw een gevaar vormen voor kinderen waarmee ze in contact komen.

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VENTNOR (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Amy S. Rosenberg
Inquirer Staff Writer

VENTNOR, N.J. – The sight of elderly Catholic priests rocking in wicker chairs outside the grand oceanfront home on Princeton Avenue has been a familiar part of this seaside town for nearly a half-century.

But that era is about to come to an abrupt close after an order by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput to shut the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s 19-room vacation home at the Shore by Saturday and put it up for sale.

“It’s not listed with a broker yet, but will be soon,” archdiocesan spokesman Kenneth Gavin said of the property at 114 S. Princeton, which stretches a full block along the Boardwalk and is assessed at $6.2 million.

The retired priests who had planned a stay at Villa St. Joseph by the Sea were recently told that their reservations would be canceled as of Saturday, the end of the archdiocese’s fiscal year. Facing a $17 million operating deficit and a price tag of at least $11.6 million for its response to the 2011 Philadelphia grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, the archdiocese has been engaged in massive restructuring, cost-cutting, and selling of assets.

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DEUTSCHLAND
SVZ

Keine besonderen Geschenke für den Lieblingsministranten, kein gemeinsames Duschen von Kindern und Betreuern im Zeltlager, keine “herausgehobenen, intensiven freundschaftlichen Beziehungen” zwischen Erziehern und Schutzbefohlenen. Nach dem Missbrauchsskandal, der seit 2010 die katholische Kirche bundesweit erschütterte, setzt das katholische Erzbistum Hamburg verstärkt auf Vorbeugung.

Erzbischof Werner Thissen, zu dessen Diözese auch die 40 000 Mecklenburger Katholiken zählen, hat eine “Präventionsordnung” erlassen, die künftig in allen 95 Pfarrgemeinden, den 315 Sozialeinrichtungen und 24 Schulen seines Bistums gelten soll. Gestern wurde sie in Hamburg der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt. Für Vorpommern, das in der katholischen Kirche zum Erzbistum Berlin gehört, hatte Erzbischof Rainer Maria Kardinal Woelki bereits im April ein Dokument in Kraft gesetzt.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Eine Präventionsordnung des Hamburger Erzbistums soll Übergriffe auf Kinder und Jugendliche verhindern. Mehr als 6000 haupt- und ehrenamtliche Mitarbeiter müssen an zweitägigen Schulungen teilnehmen. Von Edgar S. Hasse

Tausende haupt- und ehrenamtliche Mitarbeiter des Erzbistums Hamburg werden in den nächsten Monaten zwei Tage lang geschult, um sexuellem Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche vorzubeugen. Die Schulungen gehören zur Strategie einer jetzt von Erzbischof Werner Thissen in Kraft gesetzten kircheninternen Präventionsordnung. Damit zieht das Erzbistum Hamburg Konsequenzen aus den Missbrauchsfällen bei Kindern, Jugendlichen und erwachsenen Schutzbefohlenen.

Nach Angaben von Domkapitular und Personalchef Ansgar Thim wurde inzwischen ein Priester wegen Missbrauchsverdachts suspendiert. Zwei weitere Verfahren werden derzeit im Vatikan geprüft. Den Geistlichen droht möglicherweise die Rückversetzung in den Laienstand.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

“Wir hören oft den Satz „Kinder sind unsere Zukunft“. Ich möchte den Satz etwas umformulieren: Kinder sind unsere Gegenwart.” (Zitat Generalvikar Holkenbrink”)

– ein gewagtes Zitat aus dem Bistum Trier, wenn man bedenkt, dass mehrere Priester, denen sexueller Missbrauch vorgeworfen wird, die sexualisierte Gewalt angewandt haben oder sich im Besitz kinderpornografischen Materials befanden, im Bistum Trier weiterhin Sakramente spenden, Messen zelebrieren, in Alten- und Pflegeheimen sowie in Krankenhäusern als “Seelsorger” arbeiten dürfen und tagtäglich Kontakt zu unseren Kindern und Jugendlichen haben…

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DEUTSCHLAND
Welt

Der Missbrauchsbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, hat den Bundestag zur schnellen Umsetzung des “Gesetzes zur Stärkung der Rechte von Opfern sexuellen Missbrauchs” (StORMG) aufgefordert. “Beim StORMG läuft uns die Zeit davon”, sagte er. Der Entwurf liege bereits seit Ende 2011 im Rechtsausschuss. Rörig sagte, die Verjährungsfristen von nur drei Jahren liefen für zivilrechtliche Schadenersatzansprüche weiter. “Ich befürchte, dass es in dieser Legislaturperiode eher nicht mehr klappt.” Rörig forderte ein breites gesellschaftliches Bündnis gegen sexuelle Gewalt. “Ich möchte, dass man mit dem Thema genauso ernsthaft umgeht wie mit den Gefahren für Kinder im Straßenverkehr”, sagte Rörig.

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SCHWEIZ
20 Minuten

Der ehemalige katholische Pfarrer von Aadorf TG wurde wegen sexueller Handlungen mit einem Kind verurteilt. Mehrere weitere Teilverfahren wurden eingestellt.

Die Thurgauer Staatsanwaltschaft hat gegen den ehemaligen katholischen Pfarrer von Aadorf einen Strafbefehl wegen sexueller Handlungen mit Kindern erlassen. Mehrere Teilverfahren wurden eingestellt. Der Schweizer sass 2010 einen Monat in Untersuchungshaft.

Die umfangreiche Untersuchung hätten bestätigt, dass es in der Zeit von 1999 bis 2010 zwischen dem Beschuldigten und mehreren Jugendlichen zu körperlichen Kontakten gekommen sei, heisst es in der Mitteilung der Thurgauer Staatsanwaltschaft vom Mittwoch.

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CALIFORNIA
KYPost

SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange settled a clergy abuse lawsuit for $2 million on the day of trial, an attorney for the plaintiff said.

The settlement was reached at 9:30 p.m. Monday after hours of negotiations, attorney Vince Finaldi said.

It resolves a civil lawsuit filed by a 41-year-old decorated Air Force combat pilot who alleged that former Monsignor Michael Harris molested him in 1986, when he was a student at Mater Dei Catholic High School and Harris was principal there.

Harris has never been charged criminally and denies the allegations. His attorney, James Ingram, did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

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ALASKA
Alaska Dispatch

Alex DeMarban | Jun 26, 2012

Heart-wrenching rates of Alaska Native children witness domestic or sexual violence, and many are victims themselves, troubling facts that mean the cycle of abuse is poised to continue, experts say.

That’s one of the takeaways from a newly published database called Healthy Native Families: Preventing Violence At All Ages. It’s a warehouse of information harvested from recent reports that drills down on the problem among Alaska Natives statewide.

Consider:
•Native mothers of 3-year-olds are eight times more likely than non-Natives to report that their child had witnessed violence or abuse, according to a 2009 state survey. …

Elsie Boudreau, a survivor of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest, works with abused Native children at Providence Hospital in Anchorage. A Yup’ik, she provides cultural education and support for child abuse victims and families as part of a response team that includes police, social workers and others.

She said Alaska Native children are disproportionately seen at the program, known as Alaska Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Services, or Alaska CARES. Of 900 children who received services last year, 40 percent were Alaska Natives.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer

After five nights of solitary confinement at Philadelphia’s largest prison, Msgr. William J. Lynn has hope for a brief respite before he is sentenced to up to seven years for his role in the Catholic Church sex-abuse case.

Following an often-tense hour-long hearing, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina on Tuesday conditionally approved releasing the 61-year-old cleric to house arrest at the Northeast Philadelphia home of an in-law until he is sentenced on Aug. 13.

But Sarmina delayed Lynn’s release until a July 5 hearing while lawyers research her questions about options if he were to flee.

Lynn might have to remain at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility even after July 5, prosecutors said, because of an inmate waiting list for the electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets used to ensure that someone on house arrest stays put.

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ARLINGTON (VA)
WAVY

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A woman who claims a priest molested her during a more than two-year exorcism is suing the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.

The lawsuit in Arlington County Circuit Court also names Bishop Paul Loverde and Front Royal-based Human Life International Inc. as defendants. It seeks more than $5.3 million in damages.

The complaint says the woman went to the Rev. Thomas Euteneur (ET’-en-our) in 2008 for spiritual help. Euteneur was president of HLI, an anti-abortion ministry, and also performed exorcisms.

According to the lawsuit, Euteneur’s sessions with the woman frequently involved inappropriate touching and directing her to undress. The complaint says Euteneur explained passionate kisses as “blowing the Holy Spirit” into her.

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ITALY
Forbes

By Avi Jorisch

Italian prosecutors have now detained the former head of the Vatican’s bank after searching his home and former office for suspected criminal behavior. Catholics and followers of the Holy See will be disappointed to learn that the Vatican’s bank appears to be embroiled in yet another financial scandal. After a number of very embarrassing episodes in recent years, the Pope pledged to comply with international standards on illicit finance and clean up the bank’s image. The European Union has an important role to play in helping the Vatican mitigate risk and come into full compliance; the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), set up by the G-7 to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, has a responsibility as well.

The Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), commonly referred to as the Vatican Bank, is a privately held financial institution located inside Vatican City. Founded in 1942, the IOR’s role is to safeguard and administer property intended for works of religion or charity. The bank accepts deposits only from top Church officials and entities, according to Italian legal scholar Settimio Caridi. It is run by a president but overseen by five cardinals who report directly to the Vatican and the Vatican’s secretary of state. Because so little is known about the bank’s daily operations and transactions, it has often been called “the most secret bank in the world.”

The bank’s president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, a well-known and well-regarded figure throughout European banking and social circles, was effectively sacked when the board passed a unanimous “no-confidence” vote in late May. Hired in 2009 with the hope that he would clear the IOR’s reputation, he was fired, according to the Vatican announcement, because he failed to fulfill the “primary functions of his office.” Tedeschi echoed this when he told prosecutors that he came to the office only two days a week, spending the vast majority of his time as the head of Spain’s Banco Santander office in Milan.

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UNITED STATES
Ventura County Star

By Martin Schram

Posted June 26, 2012

Like planets and stars, two huge news masses with much in common hurtled for years through their independent orbits until — in a happening far more rare than a lunar eclipse — they unpredictably came into perfect alignment last Friday.

In the same news cycle on the same day in the same state, two juries announced two guilty verdicts in two totally unrelated court cases that were both rooted in the same shameful subject: the sexual abuse of children by trusted iconic figures of institutional authority.

One case was the focus of monumental news coverage, and it may be the only verdict you really know about: Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State University assistant football coach and founder of a celebrated program helping disadvantaged boys, was convicted of 45 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys.

But it was the other case that was of truly monumental significance, historically, legally, culturally and ecclesiastically. For the first time in the United States, a senior official of the Roman Catholic Church was convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests he supervised.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Dallas Morning News

The conviction of Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator at Penn State, took place on the very same day last week that a jury in Philadelphia delivered a devastating verdict against the Catholic Church. Both cases involved sex abuse of minors by men whose horrific crimes, to a great degree, were facilitated by an institutional failure to protect vulnerable children.

Sandusky, for understandable reasons, received the national headlines. But the case in Philadelphia merits equal, if not greater, attention because it represents the first time that a senior official of the Catholic Church was held responsible for the abuse carried out by priests under his supervision.

The conviction of Monsignor William Lynn on a single charge of endangering a child was rightly hailed as a significant victory by victims of abuse by priests and their advocates, who for years have complained that the Catholic Church itself was often complicit in the crimes. As secretary for clergy at the Philadelphia archdiocese, historically one of the most important in the country, Lynn was like many church administrators in that he knew the histories of abusive priests and yet did nothing to prevent them from preying on children.

The significance of the verdict in Philadelphia, however, does not end with Lynn’s conviction. Evidence produced in the case offers indisputable proof that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, an ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church and the head of the Philadelphia Archdiocese from 1988 to 2003, was equally guilty of endangering children.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

by Brian Roewe on Jun. 26, 2012 NCR Today

For the time being, Msgr. William Lynn will remain in jail.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina has given conditional approval to release the 61-year-old convicted priest to house arrest, but the final decision will wait until lawyers can research what would happen should Lynn attempt to flee.

That plan could keep Lynn jailed until at least July 5.

The former secretary of clergy for the Philadelphia archdiocese was convicted on one of three charges — one count of child endangerment — brought against him for his role in supervising priests accused of abuse, and was acquitted on charges of conspiracy and another count of child endangerment.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
My Fox Philly

By Kristen Byrne

PHILADELPHIA –
A decision has yet to be made on whether a Roman Catholic official convicted of child endangerment will be released on house arrest until his sentencing hearing.

Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina indicated she might release Monsignor William Lynn on house arrest while he awaits sentencing if the Vatican agrees they will not harbor him in the event he flees the country.

Lynn’s defense insists he’s not a flight risk and want him on house arrest while he awaits his sentencing. His passport was surrendered to the court on Tuesday.

“Get the hell out of here, he’s not going to the Vatican,” defense attorney Tom Bergstrom said after the hearing. “That’s ridiculous.”

The prosecution argued for Lynn to stay in jail, citing an article that 35 priests have fled during criminal cases. However, most of these were before their criminal trial.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina wants Msgr. William J. Lynn to sign an extradition waiver before she’ll consider letting him out of jail on house arrest.

The judge told lawyers in the case that she’s worried about the monsignor fleeing the Commonwealth to hide out at the Vatican. If the monsignor wants to get out of jail, he’ll have to sign the extradition waiver first. Then if he subsequently becomes a fugitive and is captured on Vatican soil, he cannot legally fight extradition back to the U.S.

Sounds like a plot for a TV potboiler, right? But the judge was serious, and so Lynn agreed to the request. The judge was crabbier than usual as she repeatedly lit into defense lawyer Jeff Lindy for mistakenly telling her last week that the monsignor does not have a passport. He does, although on Tuesday, the monsignor handed his passport over to the judge before he went back to jail.

The judge got things started at the hearing over house arrest by telling lawyers on both sides of the case that she wanted them to be civil.

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CALIFORNIA
Mercury News

By Tracey Kaplan
tkaplan@mercurynews.com
mercurynews.com

Posted: 06/26/2012

A wireless communications expert this morning testified Will Lynch’s cell phone made a number of calls from near a Jesuit retirement center the day he allegedly beat a priest.

Jim Cook said Lynch’s cell phone made eight calls from the Los Gatos-Campbell area, in the area of the Sacred Heart center, on the same day when Rev. Jerold Lindner was attacked, May 10, 2010.

The calls were made between 2:36 p.m. and 3:04 p.m., Cook said. Earlier in the day, the phone was used to call the center from San Francisco, where Lynch lives.

On cross of the prosecution’s Modesto-based wireless expert, Lynch’s lead attorney Pat Harris went on the attack.

First, he asked how much Cook was being paid, a standard question typically lobbed by both sides.

Cook said $175 an hour, or a little over $6,000.

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CALIFORNIA
KGO

Amy Hollyfield

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — There was another legal setback Tuesday morning for the man charged with assaulting a priest he claims molested him and his brother as children. William Lynch’s attorneys had asked for a mistrial but the motion was denied.

Lynch’s parents apparently sighed as the judge announced the decision and they were scolded by the bailiff for reacting in court.

Lynch is on trial for felony assault. He is accused of beating Father Jerry Lindner, who he says repeatedly raped him as a child.

The district attorney’s office put Lindner on the stand last week, but not before telling jurors that he would likely lie and deny the molestation. The priest did just that. The defense then asked for a mistrial, calling it perjury. Monday, the prosecution argued it was only being honest and upfront with the court. The judge said that the defense can’t prove with 100 percent certainty that Lindner lied because he was never charged nor convicted of molestation.

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BERLIN (CT)
The Hartford Courant

By DAVID OWENS, dowens@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

5:00 p.m. EDT, June 26, 2012

BERLIN —
A priest already facing felony charges that he engaged in sexual talk with young boys is facing additional charges, including possession of child pornography and four more case of the priest having sexually charged conversations with young boys.

The new charges arose out of searches of the hard drives of the Rev. Michael Miller’s three computers, which were seized by police at the time of Miller’s initial arrest on July 12, 2011.

Police said a search by forensic examiners at the New Britain police department turned up evidence of chats via Facebook with two 16-year-old boys, a 17-year-old boy, three 15-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy. Police focused their efforts on the Facebook chats with the boys younger than 16.

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NEW JERSEY
NJ.com

By Jamie Tripp Utitus/Parental Guidance

When Todd Kostrub, of Surf City, LBI, finally came to terms with the years of abuse that he suffered under the hands of a Franciscan Clergyman, he spoke to his family and brother-in-law who was a Seargent in the NJ State Police. He was 31. The police went to clergyman, Brother Munn of Holy Assumption Church in Roebling.

Surprisingly, when Brother Munn was detained, he confessed to everything, even particular instances of abuse that Todd had managed to block out after all these years.Todd was surprised by the confession, to say the least. But something even more surprising happened a few hours after Munn was detained. Munn was released.

According to a N.J. statute, a victim of abuse has to report the incident two years from the day they turn 18. In order to stop this predator, Kostrub would need to have reported the abuse 11 years earlier. That would mean about a day after the abuse stopped and Kostrub left for college, give or take a few hours,he would have needed to march down to the station and file a report.

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