ABUSE TRACKER

CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Published 08:38 p.m., Friday, July 20, 2012

By Michael P. Mayko

HARTFORD — Twenty-two lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of 23 Haitian boys who claim they were sexually abused by Douglas Perlitz will meet their first legal test on Aug. 7.

U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny set aside that afternoon to hear oral arguments from a small army of defense lawyers seeking to dismiss the cases on various legal grounds.

On that day Chatigny will listen to arguments from both sides, ask questions and request written legal briefs. He could write a decision by early next year.

An attempt to settle the cases failed during an all-day session July 9 in Boston.

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NEW YORK
The Journal News

Written by
Terence Corcoran and Ken Valenti

Brother James Liguori, the former president of Iona College in New Rochelle and a current top administrator at Fordham’s Westchester campus, has resigned amid accusations that he sexually abused a teenage boy in 1969, Fordham officials announced in a statement Friday night.

“On Thursday, July 19, 2012, Fordham University learned that an advocacy group has claimed a lawsuit alleging child abuse was filed in 2008 against Brother James A. Liguori, associate vice president and executive director for Fordham Westchester,” the statement read. “Brother Liguori passed a criminal background check in fall 2011, when he was hired by Fordham. University officials began investigating immediately, and on Friday, July 20, Brother Liguori submitted his resignation, effective immediately.”

A network of sex-abuse victims announced Thursday that a California man had accused Liguori of sexually abusing him. The alleged victim, who lives in Orange County, Calif., claimed that Liguori abused him in 1969 at the Cardinal Farley Military Academy in Rhinebeck, N.Y., according to a release from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Liguori is a member of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, and it was the religious order’s bankruptcy case, filed last year as the order’s assets were being drained by sex-abuse cases, that opened the window for the case to emerge, according to Joelle Casteix, SNAP’s western regional director.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

Defense claims teen rape accuser of Hasidic leader Nechemya Weberman is seeking ‘revenge’

By Oren Yaniv/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A teenager accused a prominent Hasidic leader of raping her only after she learned he persuaded her father to secretly record her having sex with a boyfriend, defense lawyers argued Wednesday.

The explosive allegation was made in Brooklyn Supreme Court as the trial date for the Satmar leader, Nechemya Weberman, 53, was set for the end of October.

“There is a motive of revenge,” defense lawyer George Farkas said when asking to introduce the sex tape evidence at trial.

“I haven’t seen the video, but I heard it’s very explicit,” a source said.

Prosecutors acknowledged the tape was shown to them and that the case against the boyfriend was eventually dropped. They note that Weberman accompanied the father to the district attorney’s office in 2010 to make an allegation of statutory rape.

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UNITED STATES
Toledo Blade

BY NOLAN ROSENKRANS
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo is to be on the NPR show Fresh Air next week.

He follows a leader of an organization representing 80 percent of American Catholic nuns. As a guest , she discussed a Vatican review of the nuns organization. The bishop is a leader of the review.

The interview by Fresh Air host Terry Gross with Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, was broadcast Tuesday. It focused on the organization’s response to the findings of a two-year “doctrinal assessment” of the nuns group.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Eastbourne Herald

Published on Saturday 21 July 2012

A LEADING evangelist from Eastbourne has been criticised for urging a victim of sex abuse within the church not to go to police.

Ian Jackson (pictured) told victim Lina Barnes she should not report the man who abused her as a young girl and he would not support her if she involved the police and in court proceedings.

Lina, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she had sought spiritual help from Ian Jackson for the historic sexual abuse at the hands of former preacher and author Allan Cundick but has been let down by both him and the church.

In a series of emails to Lina Barnes, Mr Jackson said, “I am not prepared to give you any support in relation to the involvement of the police and court proceedings.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Deborah Bell

A 24-year-old man, who says he was the victim of a sexual assault when he was only 12 years old, told Perth Amboy police on July 5 what happened to him.

Two weeks later, the police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office made an arrest.

Jeffrey Mackintosh, 46, now of Phillipsburg, was arrested at his home Thursday and charged aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, and endangering the welfare of a child, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

In 2000, police said, Mackintosh was a youth pastor at the Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church, then located on King Street in Perth Amboy.

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NEW JERSEY
CBS New York

MIDDLESEX, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A former youth pastor was charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy years ago.

Jeffrey Mackintosh, 46, of Phillipsburg faces sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child charges.

Mackintosh was arrested after the alleged victim – now an adult – approached the Perth Amboy Police Department this month.

Investigators believe Mackintosh assaulted the boy during the year 2000 when he was a youth pastor at Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church.

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NEW JERSEY
MyCentralJersey

MIDDLESEX COUNTY — A former Perth Amboy youth pastor has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy multiple times more than a decade ago.

Jeffrey Mackintosh, 46, of Dinah Drive, Phillipsburg was arrested at his home 9:15 p.m. Thursday, and charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Perth Amboy Acting Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz.

Mackintosh, who works as a computer technician, is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $100,000 bail, with no 10 percent down payment.

He was arrested during an investigation by Investigator Gregory Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Perth Amboy Detective Pete Boulieris which began July 5, 2012, after the 12-year-old boy, who is now an adult, contacted the Perth Amboy Police Department.

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NEW JERSEY
WABC

PERTH AMBOY, New Jersey (WABC) — The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office says a former youth pastor has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy on numerous occasions more than a decade ago.

Police say 46-year-old Jeffrey Mackintosh was arrested Thursday night at his Phillipsburg home.

He faces charges of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Mackintosh is in custody on $150,000 bail and it’s not clear if he has a lawyer.

Prosecutors say the child victim, who is now an adult, contacted the Perth Amboy authorities on July 5 to report the abuse.

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ALASKA
San Antonio Express-News

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks has scheduled an August mass to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Officials say Bishop Donald Kettler will celebrate a mass of thanksgiving at 10 a.m. Aug. 12 at Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Pope John XXIII officially established the diocese on Aug. 8, 1962, but officials say the history of the church in Alaska stretches back to the 18th century.

The diocese covers 400,000-square miles including multiple Alaska Native villages.

The church filed for bankruptcy after numerous claims of clerical sexual abuse, reaching a bankruptcy settlement with more than 300 victims.

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NEW YORK
The Ram

By CONNOR RYAN
NEWS EDITOR

Br. James A. Liguori, associate vice president and executive director of Fordham’s Westchester campus and former president of Iona College, submitted resignation today, after being linked to a child sex abuse lawsuit in a claim released by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) Thursday.

“Br. Liguori passed a criminal background check in fall 2011, when he was hired by Fordham, University officials began investigating immediately, and on Friday, July 20, Br. Liguori submitted his resignation, effective immediately,” Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University, said in a statement. “The University takes any claim of abuse with the utmost seriousness. Fordham’s primary concern is always for the victim in such cases — it could not be otherwise. I know that you keep anyone who has been so victimized in your thoughts and prayers.”

The suit charges that Liguori sexually abused a boy, now identified as John Doe, in 1969 while Doe was a student at the Cardinal Farley Military Academy in New York, according to the statement. The Irish Christian Brothers, a New Rochelle-based Catholic order (now known as the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers), ran the school at the time of the alleged abuse. Liguori is a member of the order.

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CHILE
Big Pond News (Australia)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Chilean authorities will investigate 61 schools in the country’s capital for possible child sex abuse, the attorney general has announced, in the latest government step to address a sharp rise in reports of such crimes.

Attorney-General Sabas Chahuan said on Friday his office will look at 49 schools in eastern Santiago and 12 on city’s west side. Several teachers have recently been accused of sexually molesting children at schools in affluent neighbourhoods in the eastern part of Santiago. …

Pinera also urged lawmakers to review and fast-track about 100 bills before Congress that could protect children against sexual abuse. Under new measures, young sex abuse victims will need only to provide a video-recorded statement once so they can avoid the stress of repeatedly having to retell their painful episodes.

The president said the sex offender database would be fully functioning from August.

Chile is one of South America’s most strongly conservative nations in social matters. The Roman Catholic Church retains a firm influence in society, although in recent years it has been hit by scandals in which priests have been accused of molesting children.

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CANADA
The Windsor Star

By Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star July 21, 2012

A victim of convicted pedophile Rev. William Hodgson Marshall – who was scheduled to enter a plea Friday to two new counts of sexual abuse – said he is frustrated the case was delayed.

Marshall, 90, appeared briefly by video from the Joyceville Institution, near Kingston, but only to hear his lawyer Andrew Bradie ask that the matter be put over so that he has time to discuss new developments with his client. Ontario Court Justice Lloyd Dean set Sept. 4 as the next court date.

“I feel upset. Victims are kept in the dark,” said Patrick McMahon, 44, who was sexually assaulted at age 13 by Marshall and who was in court Friday hoping to see the Catholic priest plead guilty to two cases involving victims from Saskatoon. “I find it very frustrating. The justice system is all about delay, delay, delay.

“It doesn’t give any satisfaction to victims.”

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ILLINOIS
WLS

BRIDGEVIEW (WLS) – A former Buddhist priest was ordered held on $5 million bond Friday, charged with fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while he belonged to a west suburban temple.

Camnong Boa-Ubol, 62, was charged with one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault and Cook County Judge Peter Felice ordered him held on $5 million Friday, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin said.

Boa-Ubol was a Buddhist priest who lived and worked at the Wat Dhammaram Temple in Stickney Township when he fathered the child, according to a May 2012 release from the Cook County Sheriff’s office.

In a 2009 lawsuit, the woman and her daughter claimed Boa-Ubol sexually assaulted and battered her at the temple between July 1998 and May 1999.

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CONNECTICUT
Stamford Advocate

Associated Press

Updated 06:40 p.m., Friday, July 20, 2012
NEW HAVEN — A former Greenwich priest should be sent to prison for about a year for obstructing an investigation into his personal use of church money, federal prosecutors said.

Michael Moynihan, who resigned in 2007 as pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish, is to be sentenced Monday in New Haven after pleading guilty last year to obstructing a federal investigation. Moynihan wants to be spared prison time, according to prosecutors.

“There is simply no excuse for a religious leader to knowingly lie and provide false documentation when an effort is being made to uncover facts surrounding off-the-book accounts,” prosecutors wrote in court papers Wednesday. “The court should reject the notion that religious leaders or other types of white collar professionals should be sentenced more lightly than the powerless because, for the former, the embarrassment of conviction alone is more devastating than it would be for those who have enjoyed fewer advantages in life.”

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DEUTSCHLAND
netzwerkB

Norbert Denef befindet sich im 43. Tag seines Hungerstreiks. Er setzt seinen Hungerstreik fort.

Sowohl die Wortlosigkeit der SPD am 13. Juni 2012 (siehe Pressemitteilung vom 11. Juli 2012 http://netzwerkb.org/2012/07/13/hungerstreik-tag-36-es-geht-um-unsere-kinder/) als auch die Ereignisse im Bundestag am 19. Juli 2012 (siehe Pressemitteilung vom 20. Juli 2012,

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SACRAMENTO (CA)
The Record Searchlight

SACRAMENTO — The preliminary hearing for a suspended Redding priest charged with seven felony counts of child molestation was continued today for the second time until Sept. 7, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County district attorney’s office said.

That hearing had been scheduled for last month, but was continued then until today.

The Rev. Uriel Ojeda, 32, was arrested Nov. 30, 2011, after surrendering to law enforcement officials in Sacramento County. The allegations came to light when the diocese received a complaint from a parishioner’s family.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS News

Philly DA seeks 7-year sentence for Monsignor William Lynn, priest convicted of felony child endangerment

By Paula Reid Topi

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia District Attorney is seeking seven years in prison for Monsignor William Lynn, the Archdioceses of Philadelphia official convicted of felony child endangerment.

The District Attorney filed a motion today arguing that the maximum sentence of seven years is the only way to impress upon Lynn that, “[T]he protection of children trumps the reputation of abusers and the institution that harbors them.”

Lynn was convicted on June 22. He is the first American church official who has not actually abused children to be convicted of endangering the welfare of a child in a jury trial and subsequently incarcerated.

Lynn’s lawyers have asked the court to show leniency. They argue that Msgr. Lynn poses no danger to the public and has been sufficiently rehabilitated during the legal ordeal, which began in 2002.

Advocates for survivors of sex abuse want to see Lynn jailed. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), released a statement saying that Lynn still poses a threat to public safety. SNAP argues that Lynn put “hundreds” of children at risk by helping “perhaps dozens of predators stay hidden, employed, and around kids.”

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CALIFORNIA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[court record]

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 20, 2012

Late yesterday, the California Second Appellate District Court ruled that Los Angeles Archdiocese officials cannot block the release of confidential priest files of 25 known, admitted, or jailed child molesting clerics.

The files were a part of the Archdiocese’s 2007 $660 million settlement with more than 500 alleged victims of child sex abuse. Legal maneuverings by lawyers for the Archdiocese and the accused priests have held up the release of the files for five years.

We are thrilled that hundreds of pages of long-secret church records about pedophile priests will soon be released. Kids are safest when citizens know more, not less, about dangerous child molesters. The public will also be able to learn what church officials knew about predator clerics and when they knew it. That will help ensure some accountability and justice for people who recklessly put kids in danger.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Berger’s Beat

July 19, 2012 7:32 pm | Author: Jerry Berger
Beginning Aug 7, the largest group of America’s nuns, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, meets at the Millennium Hotel downtown. Outside, with picket signs and childhood photos, members of SNAP will protest what they call LCWR’s “nearly complete refusal to deal with past child sex crimes and cover-ups by its nuns or prevent future ones.” No one has a solid estimate of how many Catholic sisters have molested kids, SNAP says, but at least one local nun, Sr. Judith Fisher, was sued for abusing a girl for seven years. That case was settled out of court in 2004. SNAP board chair Steve Theisen of Iowa is spearheading the demonstration.

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CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Examiner

By: Bay City News | 07/20/12

Santa Clara County prosecutors Friday officially announced their decision not to re-file misdemeanor charges against William Lynch for beating Fr. Jerold Lindner, who Lynch claims molested him more than three decades ago.

Deputy District Attorney Vikki Gemetti on Friday morning formally told Judge David Cena of her office’s decision.

Cena responded by saying that the charges were dismissed and Lynch’s bail released.

“It does put an exclamation point on the case,” said Lynch’s attorney Pat Harris.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Msgr. William J. Lynn is evil, conniving and remorseless and deserves nothing but the maximum term in state prison for allowing Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests to sexually abuse children, prosecutors argued Friday.

“Every workday he woke up, went to his office and there pursued a deliberate, orchestrated plan that shielded and enabled child rapists,” Assistant District Attorneys Mariana Sorensen and Patrick Blessington wrote in a sentencing memo.

Lynn, 61, faces up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Tuesday by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

A former top aide to Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, Lynn last month became the first Catholic church official convicted for enabling clergy sex abuse.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

July 20, 2012 by Susan Matthews

According to a Catholics4Change reader this was posted on the Web site of Epiphany Parish in Philadelphia. It appeared in the July 15th parish bulletin and was written by Father John Pidgeon, the pastor.

“Lifting the statute of limitations and opening a window in which victims can sue is a topic that must be given serious consideration. If this is the way to best protect victims and provide justice for those harmed, then I am all for it. While I am not fully convinced that this is the answer, I do find a major flaw in the argument that lifting the statute of limitations and opening a window for civil lawsuits would unfairly target the Catholic Church. Such an argument is like a driver who is pulled over for speeding saying to the police officer, “Its not fair that you pulled me over and not the others”. Other institutions may very well have similar problems like us but to claim we are being unfairly singled out is like the high school student caught cheating complaining that it’s not fair he was caught while others who were cheating were not. Some get caught and others do not.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L Allen Jr on Jul. 20, 2012 All Things Catholic

For sure, I’m no Nostradamus. To cite just one example of my failures as a prognosticator, in 1999 I published a biography of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger containing four reasons why his election as pope was improbable. We’re now, of course, into the eighth year of his reign.

A month ago, however, I finally got one right.

On June 22, previewing an evaluation of the Vatican’s financial transparency by Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body, I wrote: “The report is probably destined to trigger confusing and conflicting headlines about how well the Vatican did.”

On cue, these headlines ran shortly after the report’s release on Wednesday, July 18:
•Associated Press: “Vatican passes key financial transparency test”
•AGI: “Moneyval flunks the Vatican”
•L’Espresso: “Moneyval passes the Vatican”
•RTE: “Serious failings identified in Vatican Bank”
•Sunday Times: “Report cites progress in Vatican anti-money laundering efforts”

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CANADA
Windsor Star

WINDSOR – A victim of convicted pedophile Rev. William Hodgson Marshall — who was scheduled to enter a plea Friday to two new counts of sexual abuse — said he is frustrated the case was delayed.

Marshall. 90. appeared briefly by video from the Joyeceville Institution, near Kingston, but only to hear his lawyer Andrew Bradie ask that the matter be put over so that he has time to discuss new developments with his client. Ontario Court Justice Lloyd Dean set Sept. 4 as the next court date.

“I feel upset. Victims are kept in the dark,” said Patrick McMahon, 44, who was sexually assaulted at age 13 by Marshall and who was in court Friday hoping to see the Catholic priest plead guilty to two cases involving victims from Saskatoon. “I find it very frustrating. The justice system is all about delay, delay, delay.

“It doesn’t give any satisfaction to victims.”

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SPOKANE (WA)
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 20, 2012
By Tom Gallagher

The Spokane, Wash., diocese recently announced that a new settlement had been reached with respect to current, pending claims of sexual abuse. The settlement culminates almost a decade of complex litigation and a 2004 bankruptcy filing that cost the diocese $48 million.

A major complication involved the Morning Star Boys’ Ranch, which once had elements of control in favor of the diocese in its governance documents. In reality, the ranch operated on its own and was led for decades by Fr. Joseph Weitensteiner, who himself has been accused of sexual abuse. Prior to the 2004 bankruptcy, the ranch was legally separated from the diocese.

A critical issue post-bankruptcy was how to fund future claims against the diocese and, specifically, some two-dozen unresolved claims filed by former Morning Star Boys’ Ranch residents. The future claims fund was woefully underfunded and was collateralized by practically all of the real estate of the parishes and their schools. A funding default would have triggered the foreclosure of parishes and schools.

With the new settlement, the diocese and parishes agreed to put $1.5 million toward the future claims fund. There will be no foreclosures. All appeals will be withdrawn.

How did all this come about?

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VATIKAN
Handelsblatt

Vatikanstadt. Der Vatikan kann trotz einer Reformoffensive den Makel undurchsichtiger Finanzgeschäfte nicht abstreifen. Fachleute des Europarats kommen in einem am Mittwoch vorgelegten Bericht zu dem Ergebnis, dass der Heilige Stuhl den internationalen Standards zur Bekämpfung von Geldwäsche, Terrorismusfinanzierung und Steuerflucht noch längst nicht gerecht wird.

Dazu seien weitere bedeutende Schritte erforderlich, befindet der Expertenausschuss Moneyval. Der Ausschuss vergibt in zentralen Punkten vergibt schlechte Noten an die skandalumwitterte Vatikanbank IOR. Von den insgesamt 16 Schlüsselkriterien für transparente Finanzgeschäfte würden sieben noch nicht erfüllt.

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CONNECTICUT
Caribbean 360

CONNECTICUT, USA, Friday July 20, 2012 – A former pupil of a school for disadvantaged youth in Cap-Haitien, Haiti has joined 22 other former students in filing a lawsuit against a Jesuit priest now living in Massachusetts, and others, alleging the defendants did nothing to prevent the school’s former director from sexually abusing them over a 10-year period.

In a civil complaint filed this week in federal court in Connecticut, a Haitian national, now in his early 20s, says the Reverend Paul E. Carrier; Fairfield University in Connecticut, and other defendants, are liable for the abuse he suffered from Douglas Perlitz, 42, former director of Project Pierre Toussaint in Cap-Haitien, Haiti.

The Haitian man’s complaint claims that Carrier, a former Fairfield chaplain; the university, and other defendants, ¬established the school, provided its funding, and ignored signs of Perlitz’s actions.

A lawyer for the university, ¬Stanley A. Twardy Jr., said Fairfield expects to be cleared.

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UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

Sister Pat Farrel, president of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious breaks the silence in a radio interview with NPR. The world moves on and doctrine cannot remain static she says

Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva
Rome

It seemed like a coincidence to many but the day after a change of guard was announced in the leadership of the Holy Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – Cardinal Levada was substituted by Cardinal Müller – nuns of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious (LCWR), the association which represents 80% of women religious in the U.S. and which is preparing a national assembly to be held in August have broken their silence and agreed to talk about their placement under the supervision of an external commissioner.

Neither was it a coincidence that the first one to speak was President Pat Farrel, number two of the Dubuque Franciscan Sisters Congregation in Iowa, in an interview with National Public Radio in one of its most popular programmes. The nun reiterated the association’s official response to the Vatican’s “unfounded” accusations which could potentially be destructive to the continuation of their mission. But she went further, saying: “There are issues about which we think there’s a need for a genuine dialogue, and there doesn’t seem to be a climate of that in the church right now.”

Sister Farrel highlighted one fundamental question: is it possible to be part of the Church but be in favour of dialogue and discussion? “Questions there are much less black and white because human realities are much less black and white. That’s where we spend our days.” “I think one of our deepest hopes is that in the way we manage the balancing beam in the position we’re in, if we can make any headways in helping to create a safe and respectful environment where church leaders along with rank-and-file members can raise questions openly and search for truth freely, with very complex and swiftly changing issues in our day, that would be our hope. But the climate is not there. And this mandate coming from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith putting us in a position of being under the control of certain bishops that is not a dialogue. If anything, it appears to be shutting down dialogue.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

After 13 weeks of covering the archdiocese sex abuse trial, I was summoned for jury duty on Monday, July 9.

I reported to the first floor of the Criminal Justice Center at 8:15 a.m., figuring I would be there just for the day. Usually the court staff start laughing the minute they find out I’m a reporter, and they’re still laughing when they show me the door.

But they must have been desperate. I was shipped upstairs to Courtroom 1002, where the Hon. Judge Earl W. Trent Jr. presided. He asked a few questions about whether I thought I could be an impartial juror. I said I honestly didn’t know. Well, the judge said, when you go out to report a story, aren’t you supposed to be impartial? I try to be, I said.

To my amazement, I was chosen as Juror No. 9, given an official ID badge, and told to report to court the following morning. After a lifetime of being an observer, I was suddenly in a position to have a direct impact on somebody’s life. Terique Powell, 21, of Northeast Philadelphia, was facing a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 5 to 10 years in an armed robbery case.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

[Part 1]

Ralph Cipriano

Taleah Grimmage, Juror No. 7, has finally explained why that not guilty verdict on the conspiracy charge against Msgr. Lynn left her with knots in her stomach.

Every juror believed Lynn was part of a conspiracy at the archdiocese, Juror No. 7 explained in an email posted on this website. It just wasn’t the conspiracy that the prosecutors thought was there.

In subsequent emails, Grimmage elaborated on her complicated views about Msgr. Lynn. Yes he was just a “yes man,” she said, but he was also the guy left holding the bag for the archdiocese.

I’d like to publicly thank Taleah for providing invaluable insights into jury deliberations. Here’s what she posted about the conspiracy verdict:

Hi everyone, This is Taleah Grimmage (Juror #7). I stated before that my stomach was in knots about the conspiracy charge because, almost every single juror believed that there was a conspiracy. We just didn’t believe that the conspiracy was to endanger children.

I specifically requested that the foreman send out a question (which he did) asking if the result of a conspiracy was that a child was endangered, did the endangerment also have to be the intent. Judge Sarmina told us that it did, which made it nearly impossible to convict, with the elements that we were given of conspiracy.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog

Ralph Cipriano

Msgr. William J. Lynn poses “no danger to the public,” his defense lawyers argue, so putting him away for a maximum prison term of seven years would amount to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

On Tuesday, Lynn will stand before Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, and be sentenced for his June 22 conviction on a third-degree felony of endangering the welfare of a child. He is facing a prison term of between 3 1/2 to 7 years. Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington has already said that the prosecution will seek the maximum sentence of seven years for Msgr. Lynn.

Lynn’s defense team, however, argued in a sentencing memo filed Wednesday that Lynn has never touched a child, and that “no reported Pennsylvania case has ever dealt with a situation where an individual had been convicted of EWOC [endangering the welfare of children] without ever knowing the child that he or she was accused of endangering.”

“Msgr. Lynn has never harbored any intent to harm a child,” Lynn’s lawyers argued. “To the contrary, letters from friends, teachers, fellow priests, nuns and family members extol Msgr. Lynn’s love and respect for children and their safety, offering in supporting innumerable examples of the care and protection he showed the children he has come across.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

Lawyers for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest convicted of child endangerment urged a judge Thursday to spare him from prison, arguing that Msgr. William J. Lynn poses no public threat, has led a life of service, and has already endured unprecedented “shaming and vilification.”

Two-thirds of Pennsylvanians sentenced for the same felony since 1996 spent only months in county jails or were freed on supervised release, the lawyers said. They said Lynn, a priest for 36 years, deserves the same break.

“A sentence of time served, probation, work release, or house arrest would ensure that Msgr. Lynn can still use his priestly gifts to improve the lives of those around him,” lawyers Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy said in their filing.

Lynn, a longtime aide to the late Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, faces up to seven years in state prison when he is sentenced Tuesday by Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Ann M. McCarron never forgot being sexually abused by her pediatrician from the time she was 7 until she was 12 years old, but she never told anyone about it until she was in her 30s, after years of therapy.

Believing that she would go to jail if she spoke out, she tucked it in the back of her mind and followed a path of self-destructive behavior, including drinking vodka until she passed out.

“I was scared silent and I was numb,” said Ms. McCarron, who is now 49 and the associate athletic director at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

David K. O’Regan, 62, of Spencer, also blocked out for 40 years detailed memories of being abused at age 11 by a priest, until the bombardment of media reports surrounding the Boston clergy scandal forced him to face his past. He opened up for the first time, at age 52, to his wife.

“I didn’t think anyone would believe me. I didn’t believe it,” said Mr. O’Regan, who is a victim’s advocate for the Worcester chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

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FRANKRIJK
De Standaard

Een 68-jarige priester uit het noorden van Frankrijk is beschuldigd van verkrachting van en seksueel geweld op minderjarigen van 15 jaar. Hij is ook in preventieve hechtenis genomen. .

De geestelijke heeft de hem aangewreven feiten bekend. Ze zouden zich hebben afgespeeld in de regio Rijsel en Duinkerken, vanaf de jaren zeventig tot de beginjaren van de huidige eeuw. Er is een tiental slachtoffers bekend.

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NEDERLAND
Den Bosch Dichtbij

Stel, je bent priester en toegewijd aan de katholieke kerk. Je stelt je hele leven in dienst van God, Jezus en iedereen uit de kerststal. Je gelooft in het goede van mensen, bent al bijna 50 jaar samen met de liefde van leven en samen wil je de mooie kanten van de kerk en het geloof verspreiden. En dan ineens word je door diezelfde kerk er gewoon uitgeflikkerd. Nee, je krijgt nog 1 kans: je geliefde na 50 jaar dumpen.

Het overkomt priester Jan Peijnenburg uit Eindhoven. Peijnenburg mag van het bisdom Den Bosch niet meer voorgaan in de katholieke kerk omdat hij samenwoont met een vrouw. Een 81-jarige man mag niet zijn liefde geven aan een 86-jarige vrouw. Dan hebben ze natuurlijk ook seks en dat mag niet. Bah, vies. Want je lichaam behoort alleen God toe. En je zult je dus als priester moeten houden aan het celibaat. Dat doet Jan Peijnenburg niet en dus geeft de kerk hem een keuze. Of hij verlaat zijn geliefde Threes van Dijk, of hij wordt uit het ambt gezet. Dat terwijl andere priesters in het verleden aan piemeltjes mochten zitten of erger en alleen werden overgeplaatst.

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BELGIE
Het Nieuwsblad

BREE – Kapelaan Jürgen Soetens behoort niet meer tot de parochie van Bree. De 38-jarige priester was graag gezien in de noordoostelijke gemeente. Met zijn jonge leeftijd en enthousiasme maakte hij de mensen opnieuw warm voor de Kerk, maar hij heeft de dekenij van Bree al verlaten en verblijft terug in Zottegem, de plaats waar hij vandaan komt. De reden van zijn vertrek is simpel: het celibataire leven viel hem te zwaar.

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NEDERLAND
Nieuwslog

“Een vrouw als priester is net zo erg als sexueel misbruik van kinderen”? Is dit een belediging voor alle vrouwen?

Laten we ons nou eens afvragen wie het hier mee eens zijn. Persoonlijk zal ik niemand de kerk injagen maar eerder aanmoedigen eruit te stappen al was het alleen maar om de leugens. De claim dat vrouwen die priester willen worden vergeleken worden met de ernst van seksueel misbruik van kinderen gaat naar mijn idee alle perken te buiten. Een vrouw is evengoed in staat om een bijbel verhaal op te dragen, en als het komt tot het bespreken van (Katholieke) familie kwesties dan zou ik liever een vrouw tegenover me hebben dan een man met een tijdbom tussen zijn benen. Wat voor mensen zijn het eens met de paus? Wie in de wereld vindt dat een vrouw als priester net zo erg is als seksueel misbruik van kinderen? Wat een God vergeten quote.

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MASSACHUSETTS
outpatient clinic

Skip Shea

Lately I’ve found myself listening to Sports Talk Radio in Boston. Being a sports fan from New England is almost a natural. Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and Bruins are all legendary teams. At least to us. Much like politics here, which most consider a contact sport. Although they should never mix, just as Mayor Menino and try not to laugh as he tries to pronounce Wes Wekler. Res Wreckler?

The real no-no’s in pleasant conversation are politics and religion. Which seems to be true as the silence from all of the politicians when the clergy sexual abuse scandal broke in Boston ten years ago still echoes. And I mean all politicians, from both parties. There were no profiles in courage.

Which brings me to Penn State. I spent a good part of the afternoon today listening to WEEI’s The Big Show with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley as they fended off a lot of Penn State apologists. Who sounded awfully similar to the Catholic Church apologists.

Serial child abuser Sandusky is in jail for life now and Joe Paterno is dead. Time to move on. Others who may have facilitated the cover-up are still being investigated like Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. More justice will be served by the actual guilty parties. Time to move on. And leave statutes and football alone.

Or

Serial child abuser John Goeghan and Cardinal Law has moved to Rome. Time to move on. We are investigating it. Time to move on. And leave all the good priests alone. Stop Catholic bashing.

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NEW YORK
Patch

By Michael Woyton

A lawsuit has been filed in New York courts accusing former Iona College President Brother James Liguori of sex abuse and a subsequent cover up.

Joelle Casteix, western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), posted a media statement outlining the accusations Thursday.

According of Casteix, the suit charges the victim, known as “John Doe,” was allegedly sexually abused by Liguori in 1969. At the time, the boy was at a Cardinal Farley Military Academy, which is run by the Irish Christian Brothers, in New York.

“Doe,” who now lives in Orange County, CA, reported his alleged abuse to church officials there in 2008.

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IRELAND
The Score

[with video of the Enda Kenny speech]

TODAY MARKS EXACTLY a year since Taoiseach Enda Kenny stood up in a sparsely populated Dáil chamber to deliver one of the most significant speeches in the history of the State.

In a landmark address, Kenny outlined his views on the publication of the Cloyne report which had investigated and exposed how church authorities had dealt with allegations of abuse in the Cork diocese.

The report outlined how 19 priests abused dozens of children between 1996 and 2009 and it accused those in authority at the diocese of gross negligence for not doing enough to address the issue.

Kenny said the “heartbreaking” revelations contained in the report showed “the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominates the Vatican today” and was hugely scathing of the church’s treatment of victims of sexual abuse at the hands of members of the clergy.

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WISCONSIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

July 19, 2012

An Outagamie County judge has dismissed a $700,000 judgment against the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay and ordered a new trial, citing juror bias in a landmark trial involving clergy sex abuse.

Outagamie Judge Nancy Krueger said a juror failed to divulge before or during the trial that she suspected the accused priest of inappropriate contact with her own brother and that she had a close friendship with a member of the plaintiffs’ extended family.

“The overriding emphasis of this Court must be on the integrity of the justice and jury system – and the right of all parties to a fair and impartial trial,” Krueger said in the ruling filed late Wednesday. “If even one juror harbors a material prejudice, the right to an impartial jury has been impaired,” she said.

The jury in May found that the diocese had defrauded brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield by placing now-defrocked Father John Patrick Feeney into their parish in the 1970s without telling members about his sexual history involving children. But concerns about the juror’s impartiality were raised by two fellow jurors who’d had conversations with her outside the courthouse after the verdict.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Matthew Walberg, Chicago Tribune reporter

July 20, 2012

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted and impregnated by a Buddhist monk as a teenager more than a decade ago in the southwest suburbs agonized for years about telling her story to authorities.

Two years ago she filed a lawsuit against Camnong Boa-Ubol, but to maintain her child’s privacy, she did not want to pursue criminal charges.

But after the Tribune wrote of the woman’s lawsuit last year in a story about abuse allegations against several monks, a victims rights group persuaded her to seek criminal action against Boa-Ubol. On Thursday, Boa-Ubol, 62, who had left the Chicago area several years ago, was returned here and charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, officials said.

The alleged crime occurred at the Wat Dhammaram temple in unincorporated Stickney Township. The woman was 15 when she became pregnant. In her lawsuit, she alleged that she was 14 when Boa-Ubol began a nearly yearlong pattern of abuse that resulted in her pregnancy.

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YAKIMA (WA)
Yakima Herald-Republic

By Pat Muir
Yakima Herald-Republic

The Catholic Diocese of Yakima agreed last month to pay $205,000 to a woman who sued over sexual abuse she said took place at the hands of a Jesuit priest in the 1970s.

The woman, identified as M.P. in the suit filed in April 2010 in Yakima County Superior Court, settled last year with the Jesuits for $288,000. Both suits stem from abuse she said occurred in 1977 when she was 8 years old at St. Joseph’s Parish, which was run by the Jesuits until last summer. The priest in question, Francis Duffy, had been accused of molesting girls in Oregon before he was transferred to Yakima, where he served until 1989. He died in 1992.

The woman’s lawyer, Bryan Smith of Tamaki Law Offices in Yakima, hailed the settlement as an overdue acknowledgment of responsibility. Previously, he said, the diocese had placed all of the blame for Duffy’s abuse on the Jesuits.

“The Yakima Diocese had not acknowledged any type of responsibility for Father Duffy despite the fact he preached in this town under their supervision for 20 years,” Smith said.

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MINNESOTA
Pioneer Press

A former student sued St. John’s Abbey for fraud Thursday, July 19, alleging the religious order knew one of its members had been accused of sexual abuse as early as 1958, yet let him continue teaching.

The lawsuit was filed in Stearns County by a former St. John’s Prep student who claims he was sexually abused by the Rev. Allen Tarlton in the 1980s.

Tarlton was an English teacher at the Minnesota school.

According to the St. Cloud Times, the lawsuit alleges at least three abbots knew of the allegations against Tarlton but put him in teaching roles at St. John’s Prep and at other locations in other states and the Bahamas.

A message left Thursday with the abbey was not returned.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By LAURA ITALIANO

A Manhattan judge today chided prosecutors for offering only 4 1/2 years prison to an allegedly embezzling former clerk for the Diocese of New York, calling the $1 million embezzlement “not only a crime, but a sin.”

“How come you went down?” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Lewis Bart Stone asked after prosecutors announced their latest rock-bottom offer — 4 1/2 to 9 years prison — for accused accounts payable clerk Anita Collins.

Back in April, prosecutors had said they’d go no lower than six years prison for Collins, 69, who is charged with taking the money over the course of seven years, filling her Schuylerville, Bronx, apartment with Bloomingdales furniture, Belleek China and pricey Madam Alexander dolls.

“This is a woman who has stolen more than a million dollars from a not-for-profit religious organization,” the judge told prosecutors.

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CANADA
Hamilton Spectator

The Ministry of the Attorney General is likely looking at ways to justify a controversial legal resolution that permitted a charged priest to leave Hamilton for Brazil, says a legal expert.

The more time it takes for the ministry to investigate the case of Rev. Jose Silva, the less chance it has been able to justify it, Alan Young, an associate professor of the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University told the Spectator.

Young was commenting on the ongoing ministry investigation of an unusual deal between the Hamilton Crown Attorney’s Office and a defence counsel that permitted Silva, 34, to return to his native Brazil without facing prosecution for a sexual assault charge. Silva left Hamilton May 4. A countrywide warrant was put in place that would see the charge proceed in the event Silva retuned to Canada.

“We know the deal is unusual and it cries out for some justification. The reality is they (ministry officials) understand the general public would not support a deal of this nature.

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FLORIDA
WFTV

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. —

The Department of Children and Families ordered a Lake County day care that was connected to one of several sexual abuse investigations involving the same man to be shut down.

Detectives said Kenneth Hagins used to work for Pat’s Kidz World day care in Eustis, as well as Sunrise Arc Group Homes. Detectives also said he was a youth pastor.

WFTV’s Berndt Petersen confronted one Hagins’ former bosseswho said Hagins was quickly put on leave once the allegations surfaced. …

They also plan to visit a Eustis church where they believe Hagins is a youth pastor.

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NEW YORK
Talk of the Sound

By Robert Cox on Thu, 07/19/2012

A California man has filed a lawsuit claiming he was sexually abused by Brother James A. LiguoriBrother James A. Liguori in 1969 when the boy at a Cardinal Farley Military Academy in New York. The school was run by the Irish Christian Brothers, a New Rochelle-based Catholic religious order. Brother Liguori is a member of the order and served up until 2011 as President of Iona College.

According to a press statement issued by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), an independent, confidential network of survivors of religious sexual abuse and their supporters, the man reported his abuse to church officials in Orange County, CA in 2008. Catholic staffers, including Bishop Tod Brown, met with him and, in emails, a lawyer for the diocese said that she believed his allegations.

The Irish Christian Brothers, however, claimed that the allegations were “without merit” and took no action against Liguori who was, at the time, of the victim’s report, the president of Iona College in New Rochelle.

Iona College has issued a statement:

Through an Internet posting, we recently learned of a lawsuit alleging child abuse by former President, Brother James A. Liguori whose employment at the College concluded on September 26, 2011. The College has not seen the lawsuit and therefore cannot comment at this time; instead, it refers questions about the suit to the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers North America. Our heartfelt sympathy and prayers are in support of any victim of sex abuse and their family.

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RALEIGH (NC)
News & Observer

RALEIGH — More than two years after filing charges, authorities have dropped the child molestation case against Catholic priest Edgar Sepulveda.

Sepulveda’s suspension from his duties remains in place pending the completion of a Catholic Diocese of Raleigh investigation, in accordance with its procedures and those of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

Sepulveda was initially arrested in January 2010 on one count of second degree sexual offense and one count of misdemeanor sexual battery in Brunswick County, S.C., where he was visiting church members in May 2009. Sepulveda, then a resident of Beulaville and pastor of Maria Reina de las Americas Parish in Mount Olive, was first investigated when allegations surfaced in September, according to a news release posted on the diocese website.

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UNITED STATES
KTUL

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) – The leader of the New York-based Orthodox Church in America has resigned amid questions about whether he failed to report an allegation of a rape by a priest to church officials or law enforcement.

The church issued a statement from Washington Archbishop Metropolitan Jonah saying he submitted his resignation July 6. The letter from Jonah had come at the request of the Holy Synod of Bishops. Jonah did not refer to the rape allegation.

The church issued a three-page statement July 16. It said Jonah had failed to report to authorities a 2010 rape allegation involving an unidentified priest. It said an investigation of the allegation was being performed by the church.

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NEW YORK
My Fox New York

By FRANCISCO BERNARD, MyFoxNY.com –

MYFOXNY.COM –
A man who claims he was sexually abused by the former president of Iona College is filing a lawsuit.

The victim, known only as John Doe, has filed a sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) reports the man claimed to have been sexually abused in 1969 by Brother James Liguori when he was at the Cardinal Farley Military Academy, run by the Irish Christian Brothers, a New Rochelle-based Catholic religious order.

The victim now lives in Orange County, California and says reported his abuse to church officials in California in 2008.

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NEW YORK
Poughkeepsie Journal

Sex abuse claim filed in connection to former Rhinecliff military academy

Brother James Liguori, the former president of Iona College, has been accused of child sex abuse in a court filing, a network of abuse victims announced today.

The alleged victim, an Orange County, Calif. man, accuses Liguori of abusing him in 1969 at the Cardinal Farley Military Academy in Rhinecliff, according to a release from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The academy closed in 1970, according to Poughkeepsie Journal archives.

Liguori is a member of the Christian Brothers, and it was the religious order’s bankruptcy case, filed last year as the Christian Brothers assets were being drained by sex abuse cases, that opened the window for the case to emerge, said Joelle Casteix, western regional director for SNAP.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The New York Times

By ERIK ECKHOLM

Published: July 19, 2012

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn of Philadelphia, the first senior official in the Roman Catholic Church in the United States to be convicted of failing to prevent child sex abuse by priests under his supervision, asked on Thursday that he be spared prison, arguing that a lengthy sentence “would be merely cruel and unusual.”

On June 22, after a landmark trial revealed efforts by the Philadelphia Archdiocese to conceal evidence of abuses, Monsignor Lynn was convicted on one count of endangering a child, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years. His bail was revoked and he has been in jail while awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

“Monsignor Lynn has never harbored any intent to harm a child,” wrote his lawyers, Thomas Bergstrom and Jeff Lindy, in a memo to Judge M. Teresa Sarmina of Common Pleas Court, and a lengthy incarceration “would serve no purpose at all.”

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PENNSYLVANIA
Montgomery Media

By Bradley Schlegel
bschlegel@journalregister.com

The decision to declare the Rev. Leonard Peterson suitable for ministry was made through the lens of protecting the children of parishioners.

That’s according to a member of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Child and Youth Protection, who spoke Tuesday night to parishioners of the St. Maria Goretti Parish.

During an open forum on the standards of ministerial behavior, Leslie Gomez told the audience that the investigation into 37 priests accused of various abuse charges of children was not disclosed to protect the privacy of the priests and the alleged victims.

The process was not treated like a legal matter, according to Gomez, an investigator working on behalf of the archdiocese and a former child abuse prosecutor for the Philadelphia District Attorney.

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DAVENPORT (IA)
Quad-City Times

• Brian Wellner

In a motion filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, a woman claims she was abused as a child by three Diocese of Davenport priests.

The victim, who brought her allegations after bankruptcy proceedings involving the diocese were already under way and has received a settlement, alleges that the diocese is failing to comply with its non-monetary bankruptcy requirements and requests a hearing, according to the filing.

One of those requirements is to identify on its website accused priests whom the diocese deems “credible.”

The victim claims the chairperson of the diocese review board found her “credible” and that the board told her in a letter it believed her case, even though it will not identify the priests, the filing states.

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NEW JERSEY
Patch

By Daniel Nee

The Brick Township priest arrested last weekend for two sex offenses is now out on bail.

Fr. Marukudiyil C. Velan, 64, had been in jail since last Saturday following his arrest on two counts of criminal sexual contact and a single count of endangering the welfare of a child. His bail had been set at $75,000 cash but later changed to $100,000 with a 10 percent bond option.

A source confirmed he was bailed out Thursday. He was no longer listed in inmate records at the Ocean County Jail as of 2:30 p.m.

It was not immediately known who posted Velan’s bail or where he would be staying. Brick Patch is awaiting a statement from the Diocese of Trenton which will provide more details.

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COLORADO
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on July 19, 2012

A guilty plea will help Fr. Manning’s suffering victim. But it will also protect the reputations of Manning’s church supervisors and peers who we strongly suspect hid suspicions of his misdeeds.

With a possible plea deal next month, it’s more crucial than ever that people who saw, suspected or suffered Manning’s crimes speak up. Otherwise, he gets little or no jail time and may be able to hurt even more children.

Very often accused child molesting clerics claim or exaggerate health problems to win sympathy and lighter sentences.

If Fr. Manning does plead guilty, we hope this prosecutor will hang tough and insist on disclosing as much as possible about wrongdoing by this priest, his bishop and other church staff.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Dustin Racioppi
@dracioppi

TOMS RIVER — The popular Brick priest who was arrested last weekend on sexual assault charges is free on bail today, according to Ocean County Jail records.

It is not clear who posted the bail for the priest, Marukudiyil Velan, more commonly referred to as Father Chris. When he was arrested on Saturday, his bail was set at $75,000 with the option to post 10 percent. However, the jail listed his bond set at $100,000 with an option to post 10 percent.

The Asbury Park Press asked the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office for a photo of the suspect, but it declined. State law allows authorities discretion in releasing suspect photos, but they often refuse to do so, saying media publicity could affect their ability to select a jury.

The jail would not disclose the bail source or when it was posted. He was listed in jail records as an inmate Wednesday evening, but by Thursday the records said he had bonded out.

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SPAIN
Spiegel

By Helene Zuber in Madrid

Until into the 1990s, doctors and nuns in Spain allegedly stole newborn babies and sold them to couples hoping to adopt. The vast scope of this lucrative baby-snatching network is only now coming to light as courts heed victims’ calls for investigations and possible trials.

It’s been a year since María Luisa Torres was reunited with her daughter. She gave birth to the girl in a Madrid hospital, but then the baby was taken away from her.

“For almost 30 years, I saw my child in the faces of people on the street,” says Torres in a gravelly voice. But on a summer day last month, it is indeed the face of her daughter Pilar that emerges from a stream of pedestrians on the main shopping street in San Fernando de Henares, a town near Madrid. She has big, brown eyes and a pale complexion, and her face is framed by perfectly trimmed bangs and long hair dyed a mix of black, violet and red. …

This specter of a Spanish national Catholicism even survived Franco’s death in 1975. Nuns, especially members of the Hijas de la Caridad, or Daughters of Charity, whose training was more religious than intellectual, worked in the maternity wards of hospitals and in baby nurseries. They blindly obeyed their mothers superior and priests who, in turn, decided who deserved a child and who didn’t. As a result, what were generally young or unmarried women became victims of baby theft. After all, the reasoning went, according to the Church’s teachings, these mothers were living “in sin.”

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CALIFORNIA
Jehovahs-Witness.net

WT recently settled out-of-court with 5 victims of JW serial molester. Court documents now available to post on any website

On May 20, 2010, a lawsuit was filed in San Diego, California. Defendant, the Watchtower of NY, settled out-of-court for an unknown amount of money with the Plaintiffs just weeks before the Candace Conti trial began at the end of May 2012 in Oakland, California. The law firm representing the five Plaintifs in this case was

Irwin Zalkin
The Zalkin Law Firm, P.C.
12555 High Bluff Drive, Suite 260
San Diego, CA 92130
(858) 259-3011 (800) 617-2622

The Case NO is: 37-2010-00092450-CU-PO-CTL.

The names of the Plaintiffs are listed as John Dorman, Individually, and Joel Gamboa, Individually.The Defendants were the La Jolla Congregation, the Linda Vista Congregation, JWs supervisory organization (Watchtower of NY) and a number of it’s agents in the two congregations. Also, the perpetrator was a Defendant.

A short profile about the Perpetrator, Gonzalo Campos:

Gonzalo Campos was raised by his mother, a JW. He was 17 when he was baptized as a JW minister in 1980 and became a publisher. In 1982, when Campos was 19, the body of elders of the La Jolla Congregation discussed a molestation accusation made against him by a child and his mother in the La Jolla congregation to various congregation elders.

The elders assigned two of their own elders to investigate. They did not form a judicial committee because Campos denied the complaint and there were not the required “two witnesses” to the molestation as the only witness was the victim. Nothing further was done.

Around 1983, Campos, when he was 20, was conducting a Bible study with a boy, age 6. Campos molested this boy until he was 8.Campos was made a ministerial servant in 1988 although during the years 1986-1988, there had been dealings with him over accusations of molestation. He was “reproved” sometime during those years, yet he was made a MS in 1988. Apparently Campos did everything he was supposed to do because in 1993 he was made an elder. Campos was disfellowshipped June 9, 1995 and reinstated, April 21, 2000. He presently resides in Mexico, address known because he was deposed in Zona Rio, TIJUANA B.C. Mexico on September 2, 2011.

The court documents reveal that Campos molested at least seven children, six male and one female and tried to molest two more. Plaintiff’s attorney said that Campos is a serial molester.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on July 19, 2012

If Msgr. Lynn has “endured unprecedented public scrutiny, shaming and vilification,” it’s because for years he repeatedly engaged in unprecedented, shameful deceit, callousness and recklessness about children’s safety.

Once again, a high ranking Catholic cleric is saying ‘I’m different from and better than the rest of you.’ Once again, a top church official wants special treatment, even though he basically putting children – hundreds of them – in harm’s way and helping perhaps dozens of predators stay hidden, employed and around kids.

Lynn does pose a threat to public safety. Behind bars, he can’t shred evidence, intimidate victims, discredit whistleblowers, threaten witnesses, deceive parishioners, fabricate alibis or take any of the other steps Catholic officials take to keep clergy sex crimes hidden.

Lynn’s alleged career of “service” was, in fact, a life dedicate to climbing the church’s corporate ladder, and acting deceptively and irresponsibly to protect his job and reputation and the reputations of his supervisors and peers.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 19, 2012
By Phyllis Zagano

Distances and demographics combine to tell the story.

Three-quarters the size of the United States, Australia is mainly uninhabited except along its coastline. While the U.S. shelters close to 313 million people, latest Australian census statistics report only 22 million persons on the continent’s nearly 3 million square miles.

Australia’s Christians — mainly descendants of 18th-century British settlers and Irish convicts, and of later émigrés from Germany and Italy — comprise 61 percent of the population. Australia’s newest immigrants continue arriving from the United Kingdom and Italy, but also from New Zealand, China, India, Vietnam and the Phillippines. …

Many Australian Catholics who remain — who have not shifted to “no religion” — are disaffected and are speaking out. Catholics for Renewal, Catholics for Ministry, Australian Reforming Catholics, and Catalyst for Renewal are among the more active groups, with other pockets of upset operating around the country.

Fewer than 200 Australian men are studying for the priesthood, and statisticians contend that within 10 years more than half the priests will be foreign-born — perhaps not much different when Irish and Scots clergy followed their countrymen, except the new foreign-born are not native speakers of English.

Bishop William Morris (CNS/Diocese of Toowoomba)Against this backdrop — more non-Christians, disaffected Catholics, fewer priests and religious — play out the stories of three resigned bishops: Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (born 1937), Toowoomba Bishop William Morris (born 1943), and Canberra Auxiliary Bishop Patrick Power (born 1942). All three wanted to talk about the elephants in the episcopal palaces. All three found it rough going. All three resigned, more or quite less voluntarily.

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COLORADO
The Gazette

July 19, 2012

BENZEL
THE GAZETTE

Former priest Charles Robert Manning, 77, waived a pre-trial hearing Thursday on child sex counts and will consider plea bargain, an attorney said.

Manning, formerly of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church, 8755 Scarborough Drive,

in Colorado Springs, was suspended in January amid claims he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy.

Manning’s attorney, Richard Bednarski, said in court that Manning is mulling a guilty plea. His return date is 9 a.m. Aug. 23.

Prosecutor David Kalicki said he was unable to discuss terms of plea offer. Bednarski declined to comment after the hearing.

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COLORADO
KKTV

A Catholic priest accused of sexual contact with a teenager will return to court Thursday morning.

Father Charles “Robert” Manning is charged with three counts of counts of sex assault on a child by one in a position of trust, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and two counts of sexual exploitation of children. Besides accusations of sexual assault, Manning is also accused of providing alcohol and marijuana to juveniles.

Parishioners of St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church were stunned in January when allegations against Manning emerged. Manning was suspended from his duties while the Colorado Springs Police Department and the diocese conducted an investigation.

Manning turned himself in on May 22.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Blaine on July 19, 2012

We are grateful to the brave survivors who spoke out about Camnong Boa Ubol and the abuse they suffered at his hands. Without their courage, he would likely still be victimizing young girls without regret or repercussion. Now that he has been extradited back to Chicago where these crimes occurred, we hope that he will be held without bail.

Now, more than ever, we urge anyone who may have seen, suspected, or suffered crimes at the hands of this monk to come forward and make a report to police. Any detail, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, could be the difference between keeping this dangerous predator away from kids or letting him back out onto the street.

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NEW YORK
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Joelle Casteix on July 19, 2012

A man who says he was sexually abused by the former president of Iona College has filed a sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit in the New York courts.

The suit charges that the victim, known as John Doe, was sexually abused by Brother James Liguori in 1969 when the boy at a Cardinal Farley Military Academy in New York. Liguori is a member of and the school was run by the Irish Christian Brothers, a New Rochelle-based Catholic religious order.

Doe now lives in Orange County, California, and reported his abuse to church officials there in 2008. Catholic staffers, including Bishop Tod Brown, met with him and, in emails, a lawyer for the diocese said that she believed his allegations.

The Irish Christian Brothers, however, claimed that Doe’s allegations were “without merit,” so they took no action against Liguori. At the time of the victim’s report, Ligouri was the president of Iona College in New Rochelle. He retired in 2011.

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BELGIEN
BRF

In Zukunft kann ein belgischer Richter einem verurteilten Pädophilen verbieten, in der Nähe seiner Opfer zu wohnen. Kammerabgeordnete haben einem entsprechenden Gesetzesvorschlag zugestimmt.

Dem Gesetzentwurf liegen Empfehlungen des parlamentarischen Ausschusses zum Thema “sexueller Missbrauch” zugrunde. Da ein Wohnverbot einen besonders großen Eingriff darstellt, muss ein Richter sein Urteil äußerst gut begründen.

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VATIKAN
der Standard (Osterreich)

Neues von der fortschreitenden römischen Selbstbeschädigung

Der Vorgang ist so selten, dass der deutschsprachige “L’Osservatore Romano” gar keine Rubrik dafür kennt. Daher wurde der Rausschmiss (korrekte Bezeichnung: Amtsenthebung) des slowakischen Erzbischofs Robert Bezak fälschlich unter “Rücktritte” veröffentlicht. Dabei hatte sich der junge Bischof gerade dazu – trotz massiven Drucks der Nuntiatur – nicht überreden lassen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
MissBiT

Gesegnet seien die Opfer, denen man glaubte, was ihnen widerfuhr.
Gesegnet seien die Trittbrettfahrer, denen man ebenfalls Glauben schenkte.
Gesegnet sei aber auch der Bischof von Trier, Dr. Stephan Ackermann, sein “Missbrauchsbeauftragter” Peter Rütten und das Generalvikariat des Bistums Trier: denn sie wissen offensichtlich nicht mehr, was sie tun.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Catholics4Change

July 19, 2012 by Susan Matthews

Throw away the key or give him sympathy? I’m surprised by how many in the pews tell me they’d prefer the former. They also wish he had the company of all the others involved in the coverup.

When Msgr. Lynn put institutional interests before the safety of children, he sentenced several children to a life of cruel and unusual punishment. – Susan

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

July 19, 2012

Barney Zwartz

THE state MP who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in the 1990s says the Catholic Church was not ”fair dinkum” then and nor is it now about the state inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious institutions.

Lower house Speaker Ken Smith said yesterday that he had no confidence in Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart or his predecessor, Cardinal George Pell, ”because they knew about these things and were not prepared to do anything”.

At a seminar in the city to help victims prepare submissions to the inquiry, the Liberal member for Bass told The Age: ”I dealt with Gerry Cudmore [then the Melbourne vicar-general] and he was trying to cover his arse. I don’t think he was fair dinkum.”

So was the church fair dinkum today? ”No. I think [Archbishop Hart] is just trying to keep things smooth, and that’s sad.”

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times

By FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter fmain@suntimes.com July 19, 2012

A Buddhist priest was extradited Thursday from Alaska for questioning in the sexual assault of a teenage girl in Cook County, sheriff’s authorities said.

Camnong Bual Ubol, who once lived and worked at Wat Dhammaram Temple in Stickney Township, has been arrested on a Cook County sheriff’s police warrant for aggravated criminal sexual assault.

Last October, the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests asked the sheriff’s police to investigate allegations that Ubol, 61, was responsible for fathering a child with a then-15-year-old girl while he worked at the Wat Dhammaram Temple. A paternity test allegedly showed he fathered a child with the girl.

Authorities learned that Ubol had moved to Anchorage, Alaska, and the FBI arrested him on the Cook County warrant. He arrived at O’Hare Airport at about 5 a.m. Thursday in the custody of sheriff’s officers.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

Posted: Thu, 19 Jul 2012

A landmark hearing at the Supreme Court in London on Monday will consider who is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse by Catholic priests.

The case is being brought by 170 men who allege that they were sexually and physically abused at a Roman Catholic children’s home.

The High Court at Leeds and the Court of Appeal have already decided that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough is responsible for compensating victims of child abuse at the St William’s children’s home, Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, between 1960 and 1992.

In December 2003 James Redmond Carragher, the former Principal of St William’s children’s home was found guilty of 7 counts of buggery and 14 counts of indecent assault against 22 boys, some as young as 12. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. He had earlier served a seven year sentence imposed in 1993 for indecent assaults, taking photographs of young boys and importing videos mainly of children, between 1985 and 1992.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelpha Inquirer

[with poll: Should Msgr. Lynn get some time in prison?]

By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Lawyers for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia priest convicted of child endangerment today urged a judge to spare him from prison, arguing that Msgr. William J. Lynn poses no danger to the public, has led a life of service and already endured unprecedented “public scrutiny, shaming and vilification.”

Their motion, filed in advance of Lynn’s sentencing next week, also notes that two-thirds of the Pennsylvanians sentenced for the same felony since 1996 have received county prison terms or less.

Lynn deserves the same, they said.

“A sentence of time-served, probation, work release or house arrest would ensure that Msgr. Lynn can still use his priestly gifts to improve the lives of those around him,” lawyers Thomas Bergstrom and Jeffrey Lindy said in their filing.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
ABC News

By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA July 19, 2012 (AP)

The first U.S. church official convicted of endangering children in the priest-abuse scandal hopes for a sentence of house arrest or probation.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia awaits sentencing Tuesday.

He’s the former secretary for clergy at the city’s Roman Catholic archdiocese, and handled priest assignments and abuse complaints.

The 61-year-old Lynn faces up to seven years in prison after a jury convicted him last month of felony endangerment.

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AUSTRALIA
National Catholic Reporter

Jul. 19, 2012
By Phyllis Zagano

MELBOURNE and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Ten days in Australia isn’t nearly enough, except to find that the church is alive and kicking.

Mostly kicking.

My first-time-ever trip to Melbourne and Sydney in mid-May was as guest of Garratt Publishing, which publishes Australian editions of my books Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future (with Gary Macy and William T. Ditewig) and Women in Ministry: Emerging Questions about the Diaconate. Garratt sponsored conferences and talks, and introduced me both in person and on various radio programs to an alive and questioning church.

The issues in the Australian church are such that I might as well have been in the United States. Except instead of a “Fortnight of Freedom,” the Australian bishops are supporting “A Year of Grace” from Pentecost 2012 to Pentecost 2013. In their program, every single brochure, video, Web page and mailing talks about Jesus Christ. It seems the bishops — or at least the staff of the bishops’ conference — have their “messaging” under control.

The visit was full of surprises. Following the example of several U.S. donors who had purchased and sent the book Women Deacons to every U.S. diocesan ordinary and auxiliary, Australia’s Catholics for Renewal group sent copies of the book to 42 Australian Catholic bishops and auxiliaries. The cover letter asked for a “broadening of the role of women in ministry.”

Whether Catholics for Renewal has started a new conversation remains to be seen. There are but a relative handful of deacons in Australia. Would the bishops support adding women to the mix? One indication: They’ve just elected conservative Melbourne Bishop Denis J. Hart as their conference president. Hart, said to be a protégé of Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell, succeeded Pell as bishop of Melbourne in 2001. Hart, vice chairman of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, may be best remembered locally in Melbourne for telling a badgering sex-abuse victim, “Go to hell, bitch,” after she knocked on his door in the middle of the night in 2004. Without “recalling” his exact words, Hart apologized in court several years later.

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WISCONSIN
Minnesota Public Radio

July 19, 2012

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Wednesday ordered a new trial for the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay in a civil fraud lawsuit brought by two childhood victims of clergy abuse.

In an 11-page decision, Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger threw out a $700,000 verdict a jury awarded to two brothers, now adults, in May. Krueger outlined information a jury should have expressed to the court before the fraud trial, WLUK-TV reported.

An attorney for the diocese had argued a retrial is necessary because jurors who made the award had expressed concerns about possible bias by one of the jury members.

“Whether these thoughts were just suspicions or a verified fact, they would affect her impartiality,” the judge wrote.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

Published: July 18, 2012

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is mostly compliant with international transparency and anti-money-laundering standards, but its bank still lags in monitoring suspicious activities or carrying out sufficient due diligence, according to a report issued Wednesday backed by the Council of Europe.

Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, a Vatican official, on Wednesday put a positive spin on a report that was critical of the Vatican’s bank.

The 241-page report by Moneyval, a committee of financial experts that evaluates measures to combat money-laundering and terrorist financing, praised the Holy See for having come “a long way in a very short period of time” but also noted that “further important issues still need addressing in order to demonstrate that fully effective regime has been instituted in practice.”

The Vatican, whose secretive bank has been embroiled in scandals in the past, acknowledged on Wednesday that the reform process would take time but pledged to pursue change in its efforts to present a more modern — and open — image of its guarded financial institutions.

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VATICAN CITY
The Telegraph

[MONEYVAL’s first evaluation report on the Holy See – Council of Europe]

The Vatican has passed a key test on meeting financial transparency standards, but has received poor grades on its new watchdog’s ability to prevent money laundering.

By Nick Squires, in Vatican City
7:00AM BST 19 Jul 2012

The Council of Europe on Wednesday released a report that marked a milestone in the Holy See’s efforts to shed its reputation as a shady tax haven long mired in secrecy and scandal.

The report showed the Vatican had received compliant or largely compliant grades on nine of the 16 “key and core” internationally recognised recommendations to fight money laundering and terrorist financing.

But seven other areas were found lacking, particularly its anti-terror finance measures and the Vatican’s financial oversight agency, created amid much fanfare in 2010 to try to respond to international demands for greater fiscal transparency to win a place on the “white list” of financially transparent countries.

The report found the agency had yet to conduct any inspections, and that its role, authority and independence needed clarification. The so-called Moneyval committee praised the Holy See for making so much progress in a short amount of time, but said more needs to be done. “We take both the praise and criticism contained in the report with seriousness,” said Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, undersecretary of state and the head of the Vatican delegation to the Moneyval committee

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NEW YORK
The Village Voice

By Candace WheelerWed., Jul. 18 2012

It turns out there is insurance coverage for sexual abuse and molestation.

This was brought to our attention by last week’s Daily News article that claimed that in the wake of so many recent sex abuse scandals, the city is requiring all contractors who come into contact with youth to carry abuse and molestation insurance coverage so that insurance companies would carry the cost of abuse claims rather than taxpayers. But that’s only partially true.

It’s only the New York City Housing Authority that requires the coverage, which receives federal not local funding. We asked NYCHA about this and we received this reply…

The New York City Housing Authority requires General Liability Insurance with the addition of Abuse and Molestation insurance for sporting events, recreation and educational services; Community Operations’ human services (organizations providing services to special populations, such as people with diminished capacity and/or mobility; infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and seniors, among others), and transportation services.

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CHILE
Washington Post

Chile’s president announces measures to combat child sex abuse after recent spike in reports

By Associated Press, Published: July 18

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s president announced measures Wednesday to combat child abuse, responding to a popular outcry over an increase in reports of such crimes in one of Latin America’s most socially conservative countries.

The government already banned convicted pedophiles from working near children last month under a new law that also requires those convicted of sexually abusing minors or of child pornography to be registered in a database.

President Sebastian Pinera said Wednesday the database will be fully working starting in August. He also said Chile will toughen penalties on convicted pedophiles, increase the forensic institute budget by $1.6 million and create a children’s ombudsman to protect their rights.

“With sadness and indignation we’ve heard serious reports in the past weeks of sex abuse by adults who had the responsibility to educate them, to protect them but who instead threatened against that which is most sacred in our children” Pinera said at a news conference.

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AUSTRALIA
The Armidale Express

A POLICE taskforce will investigate allegations of sexual abuse of young boys by the former priest known as ‘Father F’.

The man was the subject of a ‘Four Corners’ report earlier this month and is alleged to have abused several boys in the Armidale and Parramatta dioceses during the 1980s. He currently lives in Armidale.

A police spokewoman confirmed on Wednesday that Strike Force Glenroe had been established to investigate the claims.

“The NSW Police Force can confirm Strike Force Glenroe has been formed to review all relevant material,” she said.

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INDIANA/NEW MEXICO
Journal and Courier

Written by
David Smith

A defrocked priest who recently signed an out-of-court agreement not to work with or around youths spent years as a mental health counselor in Lafayette, including a job counseling adolescents and sex offenders.

This week, three former Lafayette employers of Charles “Chuck” Cichanowicz say they never received any complaints about his behavior during a 20-year period spanning 1989 to 2009.

Those years in Lafayette came after Cichanowicz’ tenure as a Franciscan friar for two churches in the Diocese of Gallup, N.M.

Cichanowicz, now living outside West Lafayette, recently reached out-of-court settlements with three Navajo men who claimed they were sexually abused by him when they were teens in the 1980s. The alleged victims claim they suffered mental anguish and other problems later in life as a result of the abuse. Neither Cichanowicz nor the other defendants, including the Catholic church and Franciscan order, admitted wrongdoing.

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APPLETON (WI)
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Written by
Jim Collar
Gannett Wisconsin Media

APPLETON — The Catholic Diocese of Green Bay gets another day in court.

A judge on Wednesday granted a new trial to the diocese out of concern that a juror’s potential bias against the church compromised the civil lawsuit won in May by two childhood victims of clergy sexual assault.

Outagamie Judge Nancy Krueger made the ruling in a 12-page written decision that erased a $700,000 jury verdict awarded to brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield. Jurors deliberated for about five hours before returning the verdict in the Merryfields’ favor.

The brothers filed the civil fraud case in 2008. They claimed the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney had a history of sexual misconduct when it installed him as a priest at Freedom’s St. Nicholas Church and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

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CONNECTICUT
CT Post

Michael P. Mayko

HARTFORD — A failed first attempt at settling nearly two dozen cases seeking hundreds of millions for 23 Haitian street boys who claim they were abused by Douglas Perlitz while enrolled in his school led a federal judge to schedule a conference Friday on how to proceed.

U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny ordered lawyers representing the plaintiffs and the 21 defendants to appear before him Friday to schedule pre-trial motions and hearings as well as discuss any pending concerns.

His decision came after receiving a report that a full-day mediation session involving all the parties on July 9 “was not successful.”

On Tuesday, Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer who specializes in sexual abuse cases against the clergy and Steven Errante of New Haven filed a 22nd federal suit seeking $20 million in damages each from Perlitz; the Rev. Paul Carrier, Perlitz’s Fairfield University mentor who helped him create the Project Pierre Toussaint program in Cap-Haitien; Fairfield University; the Haiti Fund, Project Pierre Toussaint’s fund raising arm; the Order of Malta, a worldwide Catholic Charity; Hope Carter, a New Canaan philanthropist and 15 others.

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NEW JERSEY
Asbury Park Press

Written by
Dustin Racioppi
@dracioppi

The image in Melissa Thomson’s head when she thinks of her favorite priest, “Father Chris,” sitting in a county jail cell is enough to make her sick. The whole thing has made her sick.

“The thing about him, is he’s a very happy guy and he won’t hesitate to hug you or kiss you,” Thomson said of Father Chris, a native of India whose name is listed on court complaints as Marukudiyil Velan and in Diocese of Trenton literature as Velanmarukudiyil Christudas. “And the only thing I can think of is this was misconstrued.”

The police reports on Velan, 64, show alleged actions beyond misinterpretation. Velan, who has been with the Church of the Visitation on Mantoloking Road as a visiting priest since 2001, was visiting a family of the parish on Friday. According to criminal complaints against him, Velan “knowingly” touched and rubbed the genitals of a 13-year-old boy and walked behind the mother, reached around her neck, into her shirt and grabbed her right breast.

He was arrested on Saturday and has been sitting in Ocean County Jail in Toms River since. His bail is set at $75,000 and he was ordered to surrender his passport. The Asbury Park Press asked the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office for a photo of the suspect, but it declined. State law allows authorities discretion in releasing suspect photos, but they often refuse to do so, saying media publicity could affect their ability to select a jury.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

[MONEYVAL’s first evaluation report on the Holy See – Council of Europe]By Dario Thuburn (AFP)

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Wednesday promised to redouble efforts against money laundering as it fights off a dark history after a Council of Europe report hailed recent progress but urged tighter controls.

“The report released today is not an end, but a milestone in our continuing efforts,” the Holy See’s Under Secretary of State Ettore Balestrero, who headed the Vatican’s delegation to the Council of Europe, told reporters.

“We obviously wish to strengthen the overall system,” he said.

Balestrero said the report’s recommendations would be addressed “expeditiously and giving proof of effectiveness” and the Vatican will have to put together a progress report on compliance by July next year.

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WISCONSIN
SNAP Wisconsin

Statement by John Pilmaier, SNAP Wisconsin Director
CONTACT: 414.336.8575

Judge Nancy Krueger approved a motion today granting the Diocese of Green Bay a new trial after a jury found the diocese guilty of fraud for transferring known child sex predator Fr. John Patrick Feeney into an unsuspecting parish where he went on to sexually assault additional children. The diocese argued that a member of the jury was biased and therefore they should be granted a new trial.

Todd and Troy Merryfield filed the historic lawsuit after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that such cases could go forward if church officials committed fraud by placing known sex offending clerics into parishes, schools, or other institutions where they had continued access to children. The Merryfield brothers were sexually assaulted by Feeney after the diocese placed the cleric into their parish knowing he was a danger to children.

The Merryfield brothers are to be commended for their bravery and courage in coming forward, holding diocesan officials accountable for their dangerous and reckless behavior, and working to keep our children safe. Their courage stands in stark contrast to the behavior of Green Bay diocesan officials who continue to deny responsibility for the sex offending clerics they protected and enabled.

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NEW JERSEY
The Village Voice

By James King
Wed., Jul. 18 2012

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but a Catholic priest is accused of sexual misconduct. In what can be seen as a slight change of pace for the church, only one of the alleged victims is a child.

Authorities in New Jersey arrested 64-year-old Father Velanmarukudiyil J. Christudas — known to his flock as “Father Chris” — on Saturday after one of his female parishioners claimed he sexually abused her and her child at their home the previous day.

Details of the alleged assault are unknown, and the Ocean County District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to our request for more information.

Christudas, according to the Dicoese of Trenton, has been relieved of his priestly duties as authorities continue to investigate the alleged attack.

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NEW JERSEY
Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton

The Diocese of Trenton was informed today by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office that Benedictine Father Velanmarukudiyil J. Christudas, who has been serving as an adjunct priest in Visitation Parish, Brick, since 2001, was arrested July 14, 2012 on several charges of sexual misconduct. Father Christudas was formally charged July 16 on one count of sexual misconduct involving an adult; one count of sexual misconduct involving a minor, and one count of endangerment of a minor.

Father Christudas is a member of the Camaldolese Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict (India Saccidananda Ashram, Shantivanam, Tamilnadu) serving in the Diocese of Trenton with the permission of the Prior General of the Camaldolese Congregation, Dom Bernadino Cozzarini, O.S.B.Cam. Visitation Parish has been his only assignment in the Diocese. Prior to his arrival in the Diocese of Trenton, Father Christudas served in India, Australia and California.

Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. has withdrawn Father Christudas’ faculties to minister in the Diocese of Trenton while the charges against him are being fully investigated and addressed by law enforcement authorities. The Bishop has pledged the diocese’s full cooperation with this process. Bishop O’Connell has reached out to inform Father Christudas’ Prior General of the charges against the priest, and his status in the Diocese of Trenton.

Our Victims’ Assistance coordinator has been made available to those impacted by these troubling allegations, and the diocese will provide whatever support possible. The Bishop has asked all members of the diocesan family to pray for all concerned, especially the victims.

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WISCONSIN
WHBY

The Green Bay Catholic Diocese will get a new trial, after a jury found that church officials committed fraud, by transferring a priest without telling parishioners about child sex abuse allegations.

Todd and Troy Merryfield filed the lawsuit, because former priest John Feeney molested them, after he was transferred.

Judge Nancy Krueger ruled today that a juror’s comments, wondering if Feeney also abused her brother, showed that she was biased against the church.

Attorney John Peterson represents the Merryfields. He says he’s disappointed by the ruling.

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DEUTSCHLAND
taz

Norbert Denef aus Scharbeutz ist seit über 40 Tagen im Hungerstreik gegen die Verjährung von Sexualstraftaten. Er kämpft für die Anerkennung der Opfer.Interview: Ilka Kreutzträger

Protest vor dem Reichstag: Norbert Denef am 36. Tag seines Hungerstreiks. Bild: dpa

taz: Herr Denef, Sie haben seit dem 8. Juni nur Wasser, Tee und Gemüsewasser zu sich genommen – wie geht es Ihnen?

Norbert Denef: Man müsste eigentlich die Politiker fragen, wie es denen geht, wenn sie in 20, 30 Jahren den Kindern erklären müssen: Wir hätten damals die Chance gehabt, die Verjährungsfristen aufzuheben, wir haben es nicht getan, ihr müsst weiter schweigen.

Sie wurden selbst jahrelang sexuell missbraucht – wie fühlt es sich an, wenn diese Taten strafrechtlich verjähren?

Das Schwierigste ist die Ausgrenzung durch die Gesellschaft, wenn man darüber spricht. Ich habe 1993 im Familienkreis mein Schweigen gebrochen und werde bis zum heutigen Tag ausgegrenzt. Und diese Ausgrenzung spüre ich in der ganzen Gesellschaft – es will einfach niemand wissen.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

[Ex-Lansdale Catholic coach charged in school’s sex-abuse hoaxes – Philadelphia Inquirer]

Posted by Barbara Dorris on July 18, 2012

What a dreadfully mean-spirited person. We hope he gets therapy. Even more, we hope he gets the maximum penalty possible, to hopefully deter anyone else from acting so irresponsibly and hatefully.

We feel very sorry for those who were wrongly accused by this sick, sick man. And we hope he will never again be around children.

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APPLETON (WI)
Fox 11

APPLETON – A new trial has been ordered in the case of two priest abuse victims who sued the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.

In a written order released Wednesday, Outagamie County judge Nancy Krueger threw out a verdict awarding $700,000 to Todd and Troy Merryfield. A jury awarded the damages to the brothers in May after a weeklong trial. Former priest John Feeney was convicted in 2004 of sexually assaulting the brothers 26 years earlier, while Feeney worked as a priest in Freedom. The brothers later sued the diocese for fraud, arguing it repeatedly transferred Feeney to other parishes without telling parishioners about his history of abuse.

Tuesday, lawyers for the diocese argued the verdict should be thrown out because one of the jurors was biased against the diocese. They claimed the juror made biased statements to other jurors after the verdict, saying she was suspicious her brother may have also been an abuse victim of Feeney. The juror later met with Krueger to explain her statements.

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APPLETON (WI)
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Written by
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

APPLETON – An Outagamie County judge today granted a new trial to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, concluding a member of the jury that ruled in favor of two childhood victims of sexual assault by a priest was biased.

Judge Nancy Krueger made the ruling a 12-page written decision released this afternoon in the lawsuit brought by brothers Todd and Troy Merryfield.

“The overriding emphasis of this court must be on the integrity of the justice and jury system – and the result of all parties to a fair and impartial trial,” she wrote. “If even one juror harbors a material prejudice, the right to an impartial jury has been impaired.”

The brothers claimed the diocese knew the Rev. John Feeney had a history of sexual misconduct when it installed him as a priest at Freedom’s St. Nicholas Church and falsely portrayed him as safe even though church officials knew he was a danger to children.

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The Under- Secretary for Relations with States and head of the Holy See delegation to the plenary session in Strasbourg, Mgr. Ettore Balestrero gives the Holy See’s interpretation of Moneyval’s findings

Vatican Insider staff
Rome

Speaking in Strasbourg about the outcome of Moneyval’s assessment of the Vatican anti-money laundering system, Mgr. Ettore Balestrero Under- Secretary for Relations with States and head of the Holy See delegation to the plenary session in Strasbourg, said “in short, our aim is to strengthen the system as a whole.”

“There are seven areas within the 16 GAFI Recommendations for the tough but necessary fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism that require special attention,” he explained.

Balestrero told journalists that “the report published today does not therefore mark the end but is a milestone in our relentless efforts to combine moral commitment with technical excellence.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Moneyval report on Holy See has been published. It seems to comply or broadly comply with nine out of the sixteen most important recommendations made

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

This morning, Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s committee of experts on the evaluation of anti-money laundering measures and the financing of terrorism published the report on the Holy See which was discussed last 4 July during the general assembly. The document recognises that the Holy See has “come a long way in a very short period of time and many of the building blocks of an AML/CFT regime are now formally in place. But further important issues still need addressing in order to demonstrate that a fully effective regime has been instituted in practice.”

Of the 45 international recommendations made by the GAFI, considered applicable in this specific case the Holy See was judged to be not in line or partially in line with 23 of the recommendations (51%) and in line or broadly in line with the remaining 22 (49%). Out of the 16 recommendations considered core and therefore the most important, the Vatican was found to be compliant or broadly in line with nine and so will have to work on the remaining seven.

The Vatican was judged to be broadly in line with the 16 key recommendations for areas such as money laundering, confiscation measures, privacy laws, documentation, mutual legal assistance, criminal convictions for the financing of terrorism, international cooperation and so on. The Vatican was also found to be implementing conventions correctly. However it emerged that it did not fulfil or only partially fulfilled customer due diligence requirements, assessment of suspect operations, supervision and monitoring, other forms of cooperation, the implementation of UN instruments and the freezing and confiscation of terrorist assets.

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

As the “horror story” of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky unfolded at trial this past week, I thought about the boys of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. They too hold horror stories about sexual abuse inflicted on them by someone they trusted and revered, church minister John Langworthy.

That was twenty years ago, and prominent pastor Jack Graham was at the helm of Prestonwood at the time. He still is.

Graham and other Prestonwood leaders were told about abuse allegations against Langworthy, but they kept it quiet. Amy Smith, a former Prestonwood intern, said that Langworthy even confessed to church leaders about “molesting boys in the church,” but that Prestonwood leaders didn’t go to the police. They simply “dismissed” Langworthy and got him off their own church-turf, but they didn’t act to protect other kids or to prevent Langworthy from moving on to other churches . . . which Langworthy did.

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AUSTRALIA
The Standard

BY CLARE QUIRK

19 Jul, 2012

A visiting priest says no matter how horrible the crime is, what’s said in confession could never be reported to police.

A parliamentary committee into child sex abuse in the church is asking for submissions on whether rules on mandatory reporting of offences against children should be imposed on the confessional.

The guide asks to what extent should the reporting of suspicions of abuse be circumscribed by laws, customs and ethical codes of regions, for example, should the sacrament of the Catholic confessional remain sacrosanct in these circumstances.

Mudgee priest Garry McKeown is one of 180 priests in Warrnambool for the National Council of Priests in Australia convention and said, as far as he knew, in the history of the church there had never been a time when a priest had divulged what had happened in confession.

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