A digest of links to media coverage of clergy abuse. For recent coverage listed in this blog, read the full article in the newspaper or other media source by clicking “Read original article.” For earlier coverage, click the title to read the original article.
UNITED STATES/AUSTRALIA
YouTube
Published on Sep 22, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish
David Clohessy, a member of SNAP – the survivors network for those Abused by Priests speaks to Al Jazeera from St. Louis, Missouri in the U.S.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
CALIFORNIA
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 23, 2012
Convicted priest named in new sex abuse lawsuit
Young girl was molested in San Andreas CA parish
She is the latest of former cleric’s dozens of victims
Deported from US, he’s now in Irish prison for child porn
“Come forward and report abuse,” victims’ group begs
Anyone born after 1977 still has legal rights, they say
Another alleged victim of a notorious Stockton Catholic predator priest, who was convicted of and deported for child sex crimes, has filed a sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit in San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The woman, Jane Doe 51, charges that she was sexually abused by ex-cleric Oliver O’Grady in 1991-1992, when she was 11 and 12 years old. According to the suit, the abuse took place at St. Andrew’s parish in San Andreas.
Members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, think that this may not be the last O’Grady victim to come forward.
“How many more O’Grady victims are suffering in silence?” said Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach, SNAP’s volunteer Western Regional Director. “O’Grady destroyed children across Stockton, yet his bosses did little to protect children – and even less to help victims. I fear there may be many more victims who don’t know they have rights to seek justice.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
LYNN (MA)
Boston Globe
By Gal Tziperman Lotan
Globe Correspondent
September 23, 2012
A Lynn Roman Catholic priest was placed on paid administrative leave Friday because of an accusation of sexual abuse of a child, the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement today.
The Rev. James E. Gaudreau, 69, arrived at St. Joseph Parish in 1984 as the Spanish apostolate for the Lynn area and became the church’s pastor in 1993, Archdiocese spokeswoman Kellyanne Dignan said in a phone interview.
The alleged abuse occurred in 2006, but the Archdiocese was only notified recently, the statement said.
Dignan declined to release the age of the child or other details.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
LYNN (MA)
WCVB
LYNN, Mass. —
The Archdiocese of Boston announced Sunday that it has placed Rev. James E. Gaudreau on administrative leave of absence as a result of receiving an allegation of sexual abuse of a child.
Gaudreau is the pastor at St. Joseph’s in Lynn. The archdiocese said the alleged conduct occurred in 2006 and was recently reported to them.
Police were immediately notified to investigate the complaint. As a result, the Archdiocese placed Gaudreau on leave pending the outcome.
The Archdiocese said they will work to resolve the case as expeditiously as possible and in a manner that is fair to all parties.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
LYNN (MA)
The Republic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 23, 2012
BOSTON — The Archdiocese of Boston has placed a Roman Catholic priest in Lynn on leave because of an allegation that he sexually abused a child in 2006.
The archdiocese released a statement Sunday saying the Rev. James Gaudreau will remain on an administrative leave of absence pending the outcome of an archdiocese investigation. Gaudreau is the pastor of St. Joseph Parish.
Church officials say the allegation was only recently reported to the archdiocese, and they have notified police.
Gaudreau couldn’t be reached Sunday. An operator for a call service for the St. Joseph rectory declined to take a message.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
LYNN (MA)
CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) – A priest from Lynn is facing allegations of child sex abuse.
The Archdiocese of Boston announced Sunday that Rev. James E. Gaudreau of St. Joseph’s in Lynn is alleged to have abused a child in 2006. The incident was only recently reported to the church.
The Archdiocese says they notified the police and have begun an investigation into the complaint.
Gaudreau has since been placed on leave.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
DEUTSCHLAND
Domradio
Das Bundesverwaltungsgericht in Leipzig wird sich am 26. September mit der Möglichkeit eines teilweisen Austritts aus der katholischen Kirche befassen. Der emeritierte Freiburger Kirchenrechtler Hartmut Zapp hatte 2007 seinen Austritt aus der katholischen Kirche „als Körperschaft öffentlichen Rechts“ erklärt und keine Kirchensteuern mehr gezahlt. Gleichzeitig betonte er jedoch, er verstehe sich weiterhin als gläubiges Mitglied der Kirche. Dies will die katholische Kirche nicht akzeptieren. Im Hintergrund des seit 2007 anhängigen Rechtstreits steht Zapps Kritik an der Verwaltungspraxis von Kirchensteuererhebung und Kirchenaustritt in Deutschland. Er argumentiert, die deutschen Bischöfe ignorierten weltkirchliche Regelungen. Der Vatikan habe 2006 klargestellt, dass ein vor staatlicher Stelle erklärter Austritt nicht für eine Exkommunikation, also die Aberkennung aller kirchlichen Rechte, ausreiche. Dies sehen die deutschen Bischöfe anders. Mittlerweile gibt es bundesweit mindestens zwei weitere Streitfälle um einen teilweisen Kirchenaustritt. Zapp hatte mit seiner Klage in erster Instanz Recht erhalten. Der Verwaltungsgerichtshof Baden-Württemberg entschied dann aber im Sinn der Kirche und stellte im Mai 2010 fest, dass ein teilweiser Kirchenaustritt unzulässig sei: Eine Austrittserklärung könne nicht auf den staatlichen Rechtskreis beschränkt werden.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
POLEN
20 Minuten
von Simone Kubli – Ein katholischer Priester musste sich rechtfertigen, nachdem Fotos eines bizarren Initiationsrituals an seiner Schule in Lubin aufgetaucht waren. Nichts ist, wie es scheint. Oder doch?
Der erste Eindruck täuscht: Die Bilder zeigen keine obszönen Sexpraktiken, die hier ein kurzgeschorener Mann im Kreise hübscher Blondinen sitzend über sich ergehen lässt. Nein, der Rohrstock auf seinen Beinen ist keine Peitsche. Der weisse Schaum, den die Mädchen von seinen Knien lecken, ist kein Schlagrahm. Demzufolge ist in der Dose, die auch kein Dildo ist, auch kein Schlagrahm drin.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
DEUTSCHLAND
Duckhome
Geschrieben von
Jochen Hoff
Sonntag, 23. September 2012
Es ist schön, dass es laut einer offiziellen Untersuchung in Australien seit 1990 nur noch wenige Missbrauchsfälle durch Mitarbeiter und Priester der katholischen Kirche gegeben hat. Wie glaubwürdig das angesichts der zugegebenen mindestens 620 Fälle aus den vergangen Jahrzehnten ist bleibt dem Urteil des Lesers selbst überlassen.
In den USA ist der katholische Bischof von Kansas City (Bundesstaat Missouri), Robert Finn, zu einer zweijährigen Bewährungsstrafe verurteilt worden, weil er die Polizei monatelang nicht über ihm vorliegende Hinweise informiert, wonach ein Priester möglicherweise Kinder sexuell missbraucht habe. Gleichzeitig wurde in Deutschland der Blogger Jochen Hoff auch in zweiter Instanz wegen Schmähkritik verurteilt weil er mit harten aber ehrlichen Worten darauf hingewiesen hatte das der Regensburger Bischof Müller den Kindesmissbrauch des Pfarrers von Riekhofen erst ermöglicht und damit unterstützt hatte, weil er diesen nach seinem ersten Kindesmissbrauch wieder in der Kinder und Jugendarbeit eingesetzt hat.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
TOLEDO (OH)
New York Daily News
Justice Story: Killer priest murders nun in chapel sacristy, leaves demonic stab pattern over her heart
By David J. Krajicek / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Sunday, September 23, 2012
The nun’s killer left behind a pointed message.
Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, was murdered on the morning before Easter in 1980, an ungodly act on Holy Saturday. Her body was found in the chapel sacristy at Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio.
She had been confronted by her killer as she prepared for that day’s services. Pahl was choked to death’s door, jabbed mercilessly with a letter opener, and then sexually violated. She was found with an altar cloth shrouding her torso.
It was a ritual murder with hallmarks of pathological rage.
Among 31 stab wounds, nine punctures over her heart formed the outline of an inverted Crucifix, a demonic symbol. She had been stripped below the waist and defiled with a cross.
The homicide was unthinkable. Who would do such a thing to an elderly nun?
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
AUSTRALIA
God Discussion
[with video]
Australian Roman Catholic Church admits to 600 child sex abuse victims — SNAP says it’s time for Catholic abusers and enablers to be treated like criminals, not with favoritism
Al Jazeera reports that Australia’s Roman Catholic Church has confirmed that more than 600 children have been sexually abused by its priests since the 1930s in the state of Victoria. The archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, described the figures as “horrific and shameful.”
The child abuse scandals and coverups have caused concern worldwide. In Belgium, there were at least 300 victims and it was reported that a former head of the church advised a victim not to go public. Thousands of abuse cases became public in Ireland, and one report found that four archbishops effectively turned a blind eye to the problem for almost 30 years. There was outrage in the United States when it was discovered that church officials were covering up abuse by two priests in Boston by moving them from post to post. These are just a few of the incidents reported over the past few years. …
David Clohessy, a member of SNAP — the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests — commented about the Church’s admission of Australian abuse.
“We are grateful that so many victims in Australia have spoken up and are continuing to speak up,” Clohessy said. “We do believe that these figures [the 600 admitted by the Church] are very low. It would be naive to assume that Church officials who have worked for decades to conceal the abuse would suddenly do a complete reversal and be totally forthcoming. We think that many more kids in Australia have been abused and frankly, are still being abused. We’re not very impressed with the Church hierarchy’s response so far.”
Clohessy thinks that the parliamentary inquiry is a positive influence. “Church officials oftentimes, in a crisis like this, appoint their own panel to investigate. We think those are, just frankly, a diversion and a waste of time. There’s a much better chance at getting to the truth if governmental bodies investigate. But beyond that, there also has to be criminal prosecution, not just of the predator priests, but of each and every current and former Catholic official who knew of or suspected the crimes and hid them. Only then will there really be reform in the Church and will kids be safer. We have to go after the higher-ups, not just the child molester clerics themselves.”
Al Jazeera asked Clohessy what bothers him the most, after all these years. Clohessy is disturbed by each abuse case that SNAP receives and added, “What is the most problematic or the most troubling to me personally is that we still do see a lot of secular officials who treat Catholic officials with kid gloves and with favoritism and with special treatment. Let’s face it. Many of these highly respected, highly educated bishops are in fact acting like criminals and they need to be treated that way. We need to see police and prosecutors and governmental authorities coming down on these complicit church officials like a ton of bricks; otherwise, the crimes and the cover-ups simply continue.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
DEUTSCHLAND
Echo
Kirche – Evangelische Gemeinde Mörfelden stellt Schutzkonzept gegen sexuelle Übergriffe auf Kinder und Jugendliche vor
MÖRFELDEN.
Ein Jahr lang arbeitete die evangelische Gemeinde Mörfelden an ihrem Schutzkonzept gegen sexualisierte Gewalt an Kindern und Jugendlichen. Mit den Sommermonaten begann die Umsetzung. „Wir wollen damit Verantwortung übernehmen“, erklärt Pfarrerin Andrea Schätzler-Weber. Es sei wichtig, die Augen vor möglichen sexuellen Übergriffen nicht zu verschließen und die Kinder bestmöglich zu schützen.
Aufgestellt wurde das Konzept vom Kinder- und Jugendausschuss der Gemeinde, in dem Pfarrerin Barbara Schindler und Herbert Böhnke federführend mitarbeiteten. Professionelle Unterstützung kam vom Verein Wildwasser, der von sexuellem Missbrauch Betroffenen und deren Angehörigen Hilfe anbietet. Nachdem die Walldorfer Kirchengemeinde ihr Konzept zum Jahresanfang fertigstellte, haben nun beide evangelischen Gemeinden ein Präventionskonzept.
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ROME
RTE News
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has attended an address by Pope Benedict with his European political allies in Italy.
The meeting was a group event and did not involve any exchange between Mr Kenny and the Pope.
Pope Benedict addressed the delegation briefly saying the authentic progress of human society cannot forgo policies aimed at protecting and promoting marriage.
It is understood that the meeting at Castel Gandolfo did not involve any exchange between the Taoiseach and the Pope.
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CALIFORNIA
What They Knew
“Dedicated to the Men in Black who protect their fellow brothers from law enforcement.”
This week has continued another horrid month for the California Province of the Society of Jesus. That poor California Province Public Relations Director is earning his paycheck this year…
But his job is nothing compared to that of the Sensitive Incidents Team (SIT) of the California Province. Now skipping past the numerous puns about “SIT-ting on evidence” or “abbreviated SIT because thats usually what they do and never call the police.” They are the “SWAT Team for Jesuit Child Sex Abuse” and they have been busy. First we had the summer of Jerold Lindner SJ. With the total of victims at over 8 between the San Jose and Sacramento areas, there is the William Farrington SJ “sensitive incident”. Thanks to the work of these dedicated Jesuit “ninjas” we will never know how many other abusers this group has hid in the shadows from legitimate criminal investigation.
Occasionally, we here at What They Knew get criticized for being anti-clerical and giving the impression that there are no good Jesuits. That is simply not true. There are a many Jesuits who do wonderful things and you can read about them on the numerous Jesuit websites the Society has paid very good money for. Also of note there are a few very good Jesuits who abhor the abuse of children, despise their corrupt Superiors and detest the cover-up / code of silence. These anonymous Jesuit priests toil thanklessly to get the truth out at huge risk and help us get documents and assist this website as a means of change for an organization they believe would be restored minus the criminal element within. But more from them later.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
National Catholic Register
by BISHOP R. DANIEL CONLON
09/22/2012
Stories in the news over the past year have shown the horrific reality of something Catholics learned when the clergy sexual-abuse crisis rocked the Church in the United States — the sexual abuse of children is a much larger problem than most people realize, one that has destroyed countless innocent lives and, sadly, does not receive the attention it deserves until a “big name” is involved.
One out of four females and one out of six males are abused before they reach the age of 18.
Society still has not come fully to terms with the sweeping scope of this problem and the reality that so many people are living with the pain it has caused.
Victims of abuse — from within their churches, their schools and even their families — carry heavy burdens of crippling shame. This sometimes results in “self-treatment” to deaden the pain with drugs and alcohol. There can be difficulties with relationships, trusting others or managing anger.
Sadly, many lose their faith in God and even end their own lives.
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AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
The victims of sexual abuse say they felt stripped bare, humiliated, embarrassed, bullied, belittled and disbelieved, JUDY COURTIN writes
Valiant gentlemen,
Let us survey the vantage of the field
Call for some men of sound direction
Let’s want no discipline, make no delay,
For, lords, to-morrow is a busy day.
– Shakespeare, Richard III
The Catholic Church is nervous and preparing for battle. Legal fortifications are being erected, especially around the Sydney and Melbourne Archdioceses. Opening arguments for the defence are in position and the hierarchy is hunkering down.
Perhaps, like King Richard, the clergy offenders and their protectors are collectively dreaming of the ghosts of their victims – those who have survived and those who have died prematurely.
As Archbishop George Cardinal Pell and Archbishop Denis Hart plan their ecclesiastical battle strategy, or perhaps it is a strategy for self-survival, it is apparent they are trying to distance and isolate themselves and their archdioceses from the rest of the Catholic Church in Australia.
Calls for a Royal Commission in NSW are escalating and the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other organisations is looming.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
TULSA (OK)
Tulsa World
By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer
Published: 9/23/2012
Victory Christian Center leaders began encouraging their congregation to speak up about sexual abuse this weekend following charges involving sexual crimes against children at the church and a two-week lapse in reporting the allegations to police, according to a church statement.
In addition, Victory Christian officials provided to the World a detailed account of the two weeks before police were notified.
The message to the congregation comes after the church fired two staff members who were later charged with child sex crimes and five other staff members were charged with failure to report child abuse. Police said last week that their investigation has revealed more possible victims with a possibility for a third suspect, but parents of new possible victims have not cooperated.
In her statement Saturday to her congregation during weekend services, Victory Christian Senior Pastor Sharon Daugherty said she has grieved about the situation and encouraged anyone with knowledge of child abuse to report it to authorities.
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ILLINOIS
Herald-News
By Bob Okon bokon@stmedianetwork.com September 22, 2012
WATSEKA — Talk to people in Watseka about the Rev. F. Lee Ryan, and you hear that he’s a great guy.
“Father is well liked by everybody in this town,” said Gary Cahoe while cutting hair at his downtown barber shop. “I don’t think you would hear anything bad about him.”
“He’s very caring,” said Lonnie Dirks, bereavement, community outreach and crisis intervention coordinator for Iroquois Memorial Hospice. She has worked with some of the same shut-ins who Ryan has seen as a priest during his 20 years as a pastor at St. Edmund’s Parish in Watseka.
“He’s fun. That’s one reason everyone likes him,” Dirks said. “He’s very positive. You ask him to be somewhere, and he’s there.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
UNITED STATES
Catholic Online
By Deacon Keith Fournier
9/22/2012
Bishop Kevin Vann’s appointment means that one more foundation stone is in place in a critical – and rapidly growing – Diocese in the United States of America. Benedict the Builder continues to fortify the Church with living stones. When this papacy is recounted in history, Pope benedict XVI’s apostolic work will be credited with having re-secured the Catholic Church in a time of trial so that she could inaugurate the new missionary age of the Third Millennium. His appointment of Bishops is key to that entire undertaking.
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – In the wake of the announcement of Bishop James Conley’s appointment to Lincoln, Nebraska we hear another announcement of good news, Bishops Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, will soon be the fourth bishop of Orange, California.
Benedict the Builder is placing the Foundation stones in place upon which will be built a firm foundation for the Church in the United States. She is being secured and made ready for the challenges we face. From the beginning of his service to the Church, Pope Benedict XVI has been about rebuilding the Church.
When this papacy is recounted in history, Pope benedict XVI’s apostolic work will be credited with having re-secured the Catholic Church in a time of trial so that she could inaugurate the new missionary age of the Third Millennium. His appointment of Bishops is key to that entire undertaking.
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ROME
Vatican Insider
Ireland’s Prime Minister , who attacked the Vatican in a July 2011 speech over its failure to protect children, attended a papal audience but the pope did not greet him or any other leader present
Gerard O’Connell
Rome
Ireland’s Prime Minister (Taoiseach), Enda Kenny, attended a papal audience with other European political leaders linked to the internationalCentrist Democratic movement at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo this morning, September 22, but the Pope did not greet him or any of the other political leaders present.
Pope Benedict spoke to group of some 100 political leaders from across the globe on the need for ethics in economics, and the importance of defending human life -from conception to natural death, and marriage.
The Italian politician, Ferdinando Casini, greeted the Pope on behalf of the whole group, and presented him with a book.
Given the group’s size, nobody had imagined that Benedict XVI would greet them all individually, but it had been expected that he would shake hands with the European Prime Ministers, including Ireland’s Enda Kenny, who was seated on the front row alongside the Greek Prime Minister. This did not happen.
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ILLINOIS
Daily Journal
By Dennis Yohnka
dyohnka@daily-journal.com
815-937-3384
While a group of parishioners at St. Edmund Catholic Church in Watseka support the Rev. Lee Ryan, their embattled former pastor, they are not offering vocal support out of concern it will hurt his chances to return to the ministry.
Kankakee attorney Leonard Sacks is also supportive of Ryan, and he has no qualms about speaking up.
“In my opinion, [Ryan] is being thrown under the bus in an attempt to give the impression that the church is coming down hard on abusers,” Sacks said in an interview Friday
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ILLINOIS
Daily Journal
By Dennis Yohnka
dyohnka@daily-journal.com
815-937-3384
Last week’s on-again, off-again reinstatement of the Rev. Lee Ryan, former pastor of St. Edmund Catholic Church in Watseka, reopened the emotional wounds of a parish.
It also brought a new voice into a generally stifled discussion of the priest’s innocence or guilt — a matter that will never come to a real courtroom.
Ryan, 79, was removed from the ministry in May 2010, based on claims of sexual abuse filed by a Florida man, now 52.
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ROME/IRELAND
New Statesman
Enda Kenny must acknowledge the damage done by the Catholic Church to Ireland
By Aaron Vallely Published 22 September 2012
Ireland’s very own bronze-haired, twinkly-eyed Taoiseach Enda Kenny is today meeting Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. As to what should be on his lips is anyone’s guess. One hopes that he is mindful of our history, and that his smile does not take precedence over the articulation of anger felt by our – although economically burdened – still optimistic people and that he makes the Catholic Church acknowledge the irrevocable damage inflicted by them and their institution head-on, face to face.
“A society of albanised peasants,” was the damning depiction of 1960s Ireland declared by the late writer, Sean O’Faolain. Run, as he said we were then, by a completely obscurantist, repressive, regressive and uncultivated church, it was theocracy that managed the holy land of Ireland. And it was here, as in other places, that politics and religion have had an incestuous relationship. Ireland is a wicked example of what can go wrong.
While most of the west in the 19th century was industrialised and urbanised, Ireland remained an impoverished Catholic society, shackled with arrested development, where the men of the holy cloth had the last word not only in sermon, but on all sorts of policy, public and social. The Catholic Church was the alpha and the omega. There was deep attachment to land and faith, tradition and ritual. The modernisation of Ireland, however, inevitably would be in opposition to religion. Television, the sexual revolution and globalisation, all contributed fiercely. It was the sex scandals, though, that would be the killer element in the implosion of the church.
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ROME
Irish Times
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has met with Pope Benedict XVI in Rome.
The Fine Gael leader’s meeting with the Pontiff is his first since he castigated the Vatican for its inaction in dealing with the issue of child abuse in Ireland.
He is in Rome as part of a two-day meeting of the Centrist Democrats International group hosted by the Italian leader, Mario Monti.
The group is affiliated with the European People’s Party, of which Fine Gael is a member.
Mr Kenny was among a group of European political leaders who met Pope Benedict at his residence at Castel Gandolfo.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ROME
Newstalk
A meeting is underway between the Taoiseach and Pope Benedict this afternoon for the first time since Mr Kenny launched a fierce attack on the Vatican’s record on handling clerical child sex abuse.
Enda Kenny has insisted he’s not at all uncomfortable about today’s encounter with the Pope – which is part of a visit by a group of centre right politicians.
In his July 2011 speech, the Taoiseach accused the Vatican of dysfunction and elitism in its failure to tackle the clerical abuse problem.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
ROME
Irish Examiner
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has met Pope Benedict for the first time since he attacked the Vatican’s record on clerical child sex abuse in a Dáil speech last year.
Mr Kenny was part of a delegation of centre-right politicians who visited to the pontiff’s summer residence near Rome.
The Taoiseach declined to comment on the meeting following the short encounter.
He is in Rome as part of a two-day meeting of the Centrist Democrats International group hosted by the Italian leader, Mario Monti.
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ROME
RTE News
Taoiseach Enda Kenny declined to comment following his meeting with Pope Benedict at his residence at Castel Gandolfo near Rome.
A Government spokesperson said Mr Kenny met the Pontiff and that they exchanged pleasantries.
This is the first encounter since Mr Kenny strongly criticised the Vatican’s response to child sex abuse in the Dáil.
At that time, Mr Kenny spoke about what he called the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominates the Vatican today.
Mr Kenny met with the Pontiff as part of a delegation representing centre-right political parties from around the world.
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IRELAND
Irish Independent
By Michael Kelly
Saturday September 22 2012
[Enda Kenny’s speech that criticized the Vatican]
ENDA Kenny will certainly not be the most high-profile of European leaders meeting Pope Benedict this afternoon. However, despite never having met before, both men have been on opposite sides of a very public spat.
Today’s meeting at the Pope’s summer residence will be the first time an Irish government minister has met the head of the Catholic Church since a series of high-profile clerical-abuse reports were published. The encounter, albeit brief, is also an opportunity to look forward to a relationship built on mutual respect.
Mr Kenny’s 2011 speech excoriating the Vatican’s handling of abuse marked a decisive turning point in church-State relations. Never before had a Taoiseach spoken of the Vatican in such stark terms.
Accusing it of adopting a “calculated, withering position” on abuse in the wake of the Cloyne Report, the Taoiseach undoubtedly captured the public mood.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.
OHIO
Greek Reporter
By A. Papapostolou on September 21, 2012
A Greek Orthodox priest in Ohio has been arrested on charges including attempted rape after allegedly trying to arrange to have sex with boys, police said.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said in a release the Rev. Patrick Hughes, 56, was arrested at 7 p.m. Tuesday when he arrived at a location where he thought he was going to meet two boys, ages 9 and 14, for a sexual encounter, The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday.
Hughes, acting dean at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Columbus, had posted a notice on an adult website “indicative of someone looking for sexual relations with children,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. A detective assigned to the county Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force responded to the post and set up the meeting.
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GERMANY
The Eponymous Flower
Edit: you’ll possibly remember the St. Polten, Austria debacle which closed a seminary and involved a corrective suspension of two priests both its Rector, Father Ulrich Kuechl and the Sub-regent, Doctor Wolfgang Rothe. Kreuz.net has learned that Father Rothe is being reassigned to a parish by the Old Liberal Cardinal of Munich. We think the double standard in this matter will continue and the Liberal regime which abets such outrages will facilitate the “clean up” while the Church itself will continue to suffer their poor management and bad faith.
Germany. The priest who stumbled into a homosexual scandal, the Ex-subregent of St. Polten in Austria, Father Wolfgang Rothe, is going to be a Parish Vicar in Munich. The Old Liberal Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising has signed the decree of appointment on July 9th. Father Rothe will assume the position in September. He is the Parish Vicar in a Munich Parish organization “Transfituration of Christ — St. Micheal”. He was last active as a chaplain in a convalescent home.
It’s been an interesting summer for reassignments and such. Bishop Finn of Kansas City was recently tried and found guilty for the misdemeanor offense of “failing to report child abuse”. This was widely hailed by many as a symbol of the clergy’s protected status and the continuing corruption in the Church. There were a few bloggers even on the traditional side who uncritically accepted the New York Times, professional victim side of all this.
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NEW YORK
CT Post
In the halls of the New York State Assembly, there’s a scandal going on. In a case of the alleged sexual harassment of two female staffers by Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver authorized a secret settlement payment in excess of $100,000.
According Mr. Silver: the payment was made on the advice of counsel that it would be better to settle than to go to trial; the payment was kept secret in deference to the alleged victims’ request for confidential mediation; the decision to bypass the Assembly’s bipartisan ethics committee was made to protect the identity of the complainants.
According to Gloria Allred and Kevin Mintzer, lawyers representing Lopez’s complainants, Silver’s “truthiness” leaves room for debate. …
From 1950-2002, the Catholic Church alone paid out $572,507,094 in partial restitution to victims of its coverups. How much more in taxes and tithes will it take?
What isn’t being gotten in “it must not get out that it does happen here” school of denial is that Vito Lopez is an old-school predator: he targets women.
Ask yourself: when have you heard of girls being molested, raped, by pedophile priests? Indeed, the recent spate of high-profile cases have all headlined the sexual abuse of boys. In a society as open to homophobic suggestion as ours, by ignoring victimized girls, we’ve been encouraged to link the pedophilia of priests to homosexuality.
“Of course it happens to girls. I’m one of them,” says Barbara Blaine, founder of SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Blaine was 12 when a priest raped her.
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MINNESOTA
Minnesota Public Radio
by Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
September 21, 2012
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Authorities in Ramsey County have charged a priest in St. Paul with molesting a young boy in his parish, and exposing himself to another.
Curtis Wehmeyer, 47, is accused of sexual contact two years ago with a 12-year-old boy and the boy’s older brother, who was 14 at the time of alleged sexual misconduct. The boys attended the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul.
Wehmeyer was arrested in June. He faces three counts of sexual misconduct. The criminal complaint details incidents during the summer of 2010 in a camper trailer in the parking lot at the church and on a camping trip at Big Sandy Lake near Aitkin.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the boys’ mother came to authorities earlier this summer. The mother reported Wehmeyer had allegedly touched the younger boy inappropriately. The complaint also says he offered the boys drugs and alcohol and showed them porn.
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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
THE Catholic Church has cleared a priest accused of raping breakaway Anglican Archbishop John Hepworth more than 40 years ago to resume parish duties.
Monsignor Ian Dempsey has resumed duties at the Hallett Cove and Brighton parishes, despite an ongoing police sex-crimes investigation, The Australian reported today.
Vicar-General Philip Marshall defended the decision to allow Monsignor Dempsey to resume ministry on the basis an independent investigation by Michael Abbott QC last year found no substance to the allegations.
The Advertiser revealed earlier this month that the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adam Kimber, was considering whether to lay charges against Monsignor Dempsey.
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FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Bill Hanna
billhanna@star-telegram.com
Bishop Kevin W. Vann, who led the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth through a difficult period of settling sex abuse cases and oversaw massive growth of the 28-county diocese during his seven-year tenure, is leaving to become the bishop in Orange, Calif.
Pope Benedict XVI named Vann to the new position, which he will take over in December.
Vann, 61, was installed as the third bishop in Fort Worth in July 2005, just one day after the death of Bishop Joseph P. Delaney. He will become the fourth bishop of the Orange Diocese, which, with an estimated 1.3 million Catholics, is the 10th-largest and fastest-growing Catholic diocese in the country.
One of his tasks will be overseeing the transformation of the Crystal Cathedral, the former home of evangelist Rev. Robert Schuller, into the spiritual and administrative headquarters of the Orange Diocese.
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IRELAND
Irish Central
By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Saturday, September 22, 2012
A former Papal Nuncio left Ireland under a cloud after vast sums of South American funded money were found in his bank account.
Archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi left Dublin and the Vatican’s diplomatic service in 1989 after investigations into his financial affairs.
The Irish Times reports that the money originated in South America where Alibrandi had served as Papal Nuncio to Chile from 1961.
He led the Chilean delegation to the second Vatican Council, which opened in October 1962.
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ORANGE (CA)
KPCC
New Bishop Kevin Vann surprised everyone in the crowd at the Marywood Pastoral Center in Orange by speaking to them in Spanish.
He even made a few jokes, taking off one of his very Texan black cowboy boots and showing them to the cameras. They’re embroidered with his initials and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Bishop Vann — who has been a priest for 30 years — said he has no specific plans yet for the Diocese of Orange. But he expressed his desire to work with the local Catholic community, including departing Bishop Tod Brown, to learn the ropes.
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ROCHESTER (NY)
Star-Gazette
Bishop Matthew H. Clark announced Friday morning that his resignation from the Diocese of Rochester was accepted by the Pope.
At a news conference, Clark delivered the news and was joined by the new Apostolic Administrator for Rochester, Bishop Robert J. Cunningham of Syracuse. Cunningham will lead the Diocese of Rochester until a permanent replacement is named. The Rochester diocese includes Tompkins, Tioga, Chemung. Steuben and eight other Finger Lakes region counties.
“It’s important to remember that the work of the church goes on,” Cunningham said.
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ROCHESTER (NY)
The Citizen
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday officially accepted the resignation of Matthew Clark, the longtime bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, and Syracuse Bishop Robert Cunningham was named as a temporary replacement.
According to a news release from the Diocese of Rochester, Cunningham has been appointed as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese until a new bishop is named. He will continue to lead the Diocese of Syracuse during the transition.
Clark submitted his resignation July 15, his 75th birthday, as required by church law. Clark was the eighth bishop of Rochester, serving from 1979 until Friday. The diocese said Clark’s tenure was second to only the diocese’s first bishop, Bernard McQuaid.
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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times
By Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times
September 22, 2012
A Texas bishop was appointed Friday to lead the fastest-growing Catholic parish in the nation, Pope Benedict XVI announced.
Kevin W. Vann, 61, will succeed Tod Brown as the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange at a formal ceremony in December. Brown, who has been leader of the Orange County diocese since 1998, reached the Vatican’s mandatory retirement age of 75 last November.
“Bishop Vann enjoys an enviable record of success and I am exceedingly pleased by his appointment,” Brown said at a news conference in Orange.
The diocese, he said, has accomplished much in the 14 years since he has been bishop, but “much work remains to be done.”
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CALIFORNIA
What They Knew
[with video]
The Jesuits are back in the news again. This time the California Province is being implicated in the death of one of their own, a fellow Jesuit who was sexually abused and forced to live with his abusers at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Los Gatos. Thanks to the courage and dedication of John Chevedden the story is finally getting out and hopefully his brother’s death will be properly investigated. With the offer of a $5,000 reward for information regarding his brother’s mysterious death, John is offering a way out for some Jesuit in the California Province. Here is a chance to come clean, do what Jesus would and get enough for a new start after the Society.
Anyone with information about Jim Chevedden’s death should contact the family at truthforjim@yahoo.com
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OSTERREICH
Der Standard
Thomas Neuhold, 31. August 2012
Salzburger Historiker verlangen eine einheitliche Regelung zur Entschädigung von Heimkindern. Der Missbrauch war “gesellschaftlicher Konsens” und die “Verantwortungskette” war lang
Salzburg – Voraussichtlich im Oktober werden die Salzburger Universitäts-Historiker Ingrid Bauer, Tina Kubek und Robert Hoffmann ihre Forschungsergebnisse zur Situation der Heim- und Pflegekinder im Land Salzburg von 1945 bis in die 1980er-Jahre vorlegen. Die Studie entsteht im Auftrag der Landesregierung. “Das Land ist von sich aus aktiv geworden und an das Institut für Geschichte herangetreten”, lobt Bauer die Sozialabteilung. In manchen Bundesländern habe die Forschung noch nicht einmal begonnen.
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OSTERREICH
Tiroler Tageszeitung
Wien – Bis weit ins letzte Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts hinein waren die Kinder- und Jugendheime in Österreich „Zentren der Gewalttätigkeit und des sexuellen Missbrauchs“. Zu diesem Befund kommt der österreichische Journalist und Sachbuchautor Hans Weiss in seinem Buch „Tatort Kinderheim“, das am Montagabend in der Wiener Hauptbücherei präsentiert wird. Bei einigen Heimen habe es sich um regelrechte „Kindergulags“ gehandelt, hält Weiss fest.
Der mit Titeln wie „Bittere Pillen“, „Schwarzbuch Markenfirmen – Die Machenschaften der Weltkonzerne“ und „Schwarzbuch Landwirtschaft“ bekanntgewordene Autor hat für sein aktuelles Werk die Vorgänge in 135 Heimen und Internaten untersucht. Mit 45 Zöglingen, die psychische, körperliche und sexuelle Gewalt erlebt haben, hat Weiss persönlich gesprochen. Weiss hat auch Täter und Täterinnen mit den wider sie erhobenen Vorwürfen konfrontiert. Zusätzlich zu seinen eigenen Recherchen lässt er bereits andernorts erschienene journalistische Arbeiten und gedruckte Erinnerungen Betroffener in seinen Bericht einfließen.
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OSTERREICH
Der Standard
Zudem sollen auch Landesorganisationen Heimkinder beschäftigt haben – Bericht des Landeskontrollamtes aus dem Jahr 1977 dokumentiert Vorgänge
Innsbruck – In der Causa um Zwangsarbeit von Heimkindern der Tiroler Landeserziehungsanstalt St. Martin in Schwaz sind weitere Details bekanntgeworden. Auch das Land Tirol und das Bundesheer soll die Mädchen für sich arbeiten haben lassen, berichtete die “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (TT) in ihrer Sonntagsausgabe. Das gehe aus einem Landeskontrollamtsbericht aus dem Jahr 1977 hervor, der unter anderem die Vorgänge in der heimeigenen Lohnwäscherei dokumentiere.
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VATICAN CITY
Chiesa
They are the cardinals, the bishops, the priests whom Benedict XVI has wanted to add to the participants in the upcoming synod. Three of them are from Opus Dei. And another three from Communion and Liberation
VATICAN CITY, September 22, 2012 – In recent days, another 36 names have been made public of churchmen whom Benedict XVI has called to be part of the thirteenth general assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will be held from October 7-28 on the theme: “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith.”
The names are those of 12 cardinals, 20 archbishops and bishops, 4 priests.
They will be added to the synod fathers elected by the episcopal conferences of the whole world and by the union of superiors general of the religious orders (who in any case must be approved by the Holy See and the official list of which has not yet been published), and also to the members of the assembly by right, like the secretary general of the synod and the dicastery heads of the Roman curia.
The leadership figures of the synod have also been appointed by the pope. Like the three presidents delegate, cardinals John Tong Hon, bishop of Hong Kong, Francisco Robles Ortega, archbishop of Guadalajara in Mexico, and Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Like the presenter general, Cardinal Donald William Wuerl, archbishop of Washington in the United States. And like the special secretary, Pierre-Marie Carré, archbishop of Montpellier in France.
Scanning the list of synod fathers appointed directly by the pope, one encounters names of churchmen who have been selected out of institutional propriety (like cardinal dean Angelo Sodano) or because they head important ecclesial organisms that include regional or continental episcopal conferences.
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AUSTRALIA
ABC News
Anti-child abuse campaigner Chrissie Foster who is fighting for change within the Catholic system discusses the tragic story of her daughters, who were abused over a number of years by members of the clergy.
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AUSTRALIA
Sky Valley Chronicle
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA CONFIRMS HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN ABUSED BY CLERGY
(MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA) — In yet another horrific tale of child sexual abuse at the hands of clergy, the Roman Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has confirmed that more than 600 children have been sexually abused by priests going back to the 1930s.
According to published reports, the number of confirmed abuse cases within the church were released to a state investigation into the handling of abuse cases by religious and non-government organizations.
In the release of information church officials said the 620 cases went back 80 years but the majority of cases took place between the 1960s and the 1980s.
A report by The Saturday Age (theage.com) newspaper in Victoria says all but 13 of the cases were before 1990.
The four Victorian dioceses of the church gave a joint report on the abuse cases to the State Parliament inquiry on Friday.
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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times
By Geetha Pillai
September 22, 2012
The Roman Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has admitted to hundreds of child sex abuse cases by church officials, including priests and church workers, dating back to the 1930s.
In a submission to a Victorian parliamentary inquiry, the church confirmed it knew of 620 cases of sexual abuse. Another 45 cases are being investigated by church authorities.
The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, described the numbers as “shocking and shameful” and extended the full cooperation of the church to the inquiry.
“We have been open about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere,” said Hart.
“It is shocking and shameful that this abuse, with its dramatic impact on those who were abused and their families, was committed by Catholic priests, religious and church workers.
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AUSTRALIA
The Telegraph (United Kingdom)
The Catholic Church in the Australian state of Victoria has revealed its clergy were responsible for more than 600 “shameful and shocking” cases of child sexual abuse dating back to the 1930s.
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
9:19AM BST 22 Sep 2012
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, said the figures were “horrific” – though campaigners said the number of victims could be as high as 10,000.
The church has revealed to a parliamentary inquiry that its complaints department has upheld 618 complaints of abuse in the past sixteen years. The inquiry was announced after it emerged that 40 victims in the state had committed suicide.
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CHILLICOTHE (OH)
Chillicothe Gazette
CHILLICOTHE –A Washington Court House man who was found guilty of nine sex abuse charges from the 1990s involving children likely will appeal his conviction.
Just after noon Friday, the jury in the trial of Gary W. Freeland, 61, returned guilty verdicts on four counts of rape, two counts of felonious sexual penetration, and three counts of gross sexual imposition.
Judge Wm. Jhan Corzine ordered a victim-impact statement, but not a presentencing investigation.
“I don’t really see the point in a PSI when life in prison is a sentence for a number of these offenses,” Corzine said in court, adding he doesn’t want to waste resources.
Sentencing has been tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 5 in Ross County Common Pleas Court. Corzine noted sentencing will be complicated since the laws have changed and some of the charges no longer exist in the form they did when the crimes took place in 1994 and 1995.
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OHIO
Chillicothe Gazette
Written by
Jona Ison
Gazette Staff Writer
CHILLICOTHE — After a judge dismissed five of 14 sexual abuse charges against a Washington Court House man, the jury began deliberating on the remaining charges on Thursday afternoon.
Gary W. Freeland, 61, took the stand on Thursday in Ross County Common Pleas Court, offering a “No, sir” to every direct question about sexual conduct alleged to have happened in 1994 and 1995. The testimony came after Freeland’s attorney, Jim Boulger, started the day with a motion to dismiss charges.
Judge Jhan Corzine dismissed the charges after determining the state had failed to provide evidence to back up their elements. The dismissed charges included a rape that was alleged to have happened in a basement bathroom at Tabernacle Baptist Church.
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TULSA (OK)
News On 6
Tami Beyersdoerfer, NewsOn6.com
TULSA, Oklahoma –
The controversy surrounding Victory Christian Center intensified Friday, as the mother of an alleged sexual abuse victim filed a lawsuit against the church, claiming employees willfully concealed allegations of rape on the church campus.
According to the petition, the mother is accusing the megachurch of gross negligence and intentional or reckless infliction of emotional distress, with regard to the way church leaders handled her daughter’s allegation that she was raped on the Victory Christian campus.
The suit claims that Chris Denman, 20, who was arrested and charged with rape and child molestation on September 5, forced the 13-year-old into sexual intercourse and forced her to perform oral sex.
Read the nine-page petition filed by the victim’s mother on Friday.
The mother alleges that the church failed to do a proper investigation into Denman’s background before he was hired to work at the church’s Camp Victory, which is where the mother claims her daughter first met Denman, and then, once notified of the alleged assault, failed to report it to the proper authorities and the parents.
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FORT WORTH (TX)
WFAA
[with video]
by JIM DOUGLAS
Posted on September 21, 2012
FORT WORTH — Bells of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral echoed through downtown Fort Worth at noon Friday, calling parishioners to Mass.
Many arrived with heavy hearts.
“It’s a sad day,” said worshiper Felipa Hernandez. “We love Bishop Vann. Our hearts are with him.”
The news that Pope Benedict XVI has reassigned Bishop Kevin Vann to the Diocese of Orange in southern California had just come in.
In fact, Bishop Vann was already in California as congregants in North Texas lifted prayers for him.
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TULSA (OK)
Tulsa World
By JARREL WADE World Staff Writer
Published: 9/22/2012
The mother of a 13-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by an employee at Victory Christian Center filed a lawsuit against the church Friday claiming church officials blamed the girl for her involvement in an attempted cover-up, court records show.
The lawsuit, filed in Tulsa County District Court, claims the church intentionally inflicted emotional distress by not reporting the alleged crime to police or the victim’s parents for about two weeks after learning of the assault.
“Rather than contacting the appropriate authorities, defendant (Victory Christian Center) chose to conduct its own ‘investigation’ with the ultimate purpose of doing damage control as opposed to protecting” the victim, according to the lawsuit.
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FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
Bishop Kevin Vann in Fort Worth
May 2005 — Vann, formerly a monsignor in the Springfield, Ill., diocese, is appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to lead the 28-county Fort Worth Diocese, replacing Joseph Delaney, who had been bishop since September 1981.
July 12, 2005 — Delaney, who had been ill for years, dies on the eve of Vann’s ordination as successor.
July 13, 2005 — Vann is installed as third bishop of the dioceses.
February 2006 — The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests delivers a letter to Vann, urging him to call for the Rev. Joseph Tu Ngoc Nguyen’s removal from a Houston parish. Nguyen had formerly worked at an Arlington church, where he was accused of sexual misconduct with six women and girls.
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IRELAND
Irish Times
PADDY AGNEW in Rome
AHEAD OF a brief meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo this morning, Taoiseach Enda Kenny was yesterday unrepentant about his criticism last year of the Holy See’s response to the clerical sex abuse crisis in Ireland.
Complaining in the Dáil about the “dysfunction, disconnection, elitism and narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day”, Mr Kenny suggested that the Holy See had responded to the sex abuse crisis with the “gimlet eye of a canon lawyer”.
Asked by The Irish Times if he would feel “uncomfortable” when meeting the pope this morning for the first time since the July 2011 speech, the Taoiseach said that he was happy to meet him.
“I think that the matter that I raised in the Dáil in regard to the Catholic Church has been beneficial in the sense that it has brought about a new sense of reality. In my dealings with church authorities since then, there has been a realism and an understanding that the scars of the past have to be dealt with and dealt with fully and that we have to put in place foundations for the future which demonstrate the sense of values that we have for our country and for our peo
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IRELAND
Irish Times
PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent
THE FORMER papal nuncio to Ireland archbishop Gaetano Alibrandi left Dublin and the Vatican’s diplomatic service in 1989 after it emerged there were large amounts of unaccounted for money in three Irish bank accounts belonging to him.
The money is believed to have originated in South America. He had been papal nuncio to Chile from 1961 and led the Chilean delegation to the second Vatican Council, which opened in October 1962.
Dr Alibrandi was papal nuncio to Ireland from 1969 and during his 20 years in the Republic he is believed to have been involved in the appointment of 26 Catholic bishops.
The disclosures about the circumstances of his departure from Ireland and the Vatican’s diplomatic service were disclosed in the Dr Garret FitzGerald Memorial Lecture at UCC last night by Seán Donlon, former secretary general at the department of foreign affairs.
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ORANGE (CA)
The Orange County Register
By DOUG IRVING and DANIEL LANGHORNE / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
ORANGE – The incoming bishop of the Diocese of Orange, a North Texas priest with the Virgin of Guadalupe stitched into his boots, promised to “love you and do my best to serve you” as he was introduced Friday.
Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann will succeed Bishop Tod D. Brown, who turned 75 last year and, following tradition, offered his resignation to the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI announced on Friday that Vann would become the fourth bishop of Orange County’s 36-year-old diocese.
Vann said he sees similarities between Orange County and his diocese in North Texas, especially the fast pace of its growth and its diversity. In introducing him as the new bishop, the Diocese of Orange highlighted his work to encourage immigration reform. He also oversaw the construction in Texas of one of the largest Catholic churches in the nation to serve a Vietnamese congregation.
Vann takes over the tenth-largest and fastest-growing diocese in the country and will oversee the development of the Crystal Cathedral into a Catholic cathedral. He also enters a diocese that has struggled for more than a decade with a clergy sex-abuse scandal.
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OHIO
Bucyrus Telegraph Forum
COLUMBUS — A former area priest has been arrested by Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on sex charges.
Patrick Hughes, also known as Rev. Nicholas Hughes, was arrested Wednesday night. Police said he was arrested by the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children task force on suspicion of attempted rape and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Hughes served at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Mansfield. He had lived at St. Theodore House, a small monastery in Galion. He left there in 2009.
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ORANGE (CA)
National Catholic Reporter
Sep. 21, 2012
By Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, 61, to be bishop of Orange, Calif., and accepted the resignation of Bishop Tod D. Brown, 75, who has headed the diocese since 1998.
The pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester, N.Y., 75, and named Bishop Robert J. Cunningham of Syracuse, N.Y., 69, as apostolic administrator of the Rochester diocese until a successor to Clark is named and installed.
The appointments were announced Friday in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Clark celebrated 33 years as Rochester’s bishop and the 50th anniversary of his priestly ordination at a special Mass Sept. 16 at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Rochester. When he turned 75 on July 15, he submitted his resignation, as canon law requires for all bishops.
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UNITED STATES
CBS News
By Julia Dahl
(CBS) NEW YORK – The recent revelations that the Boy Scouts of America have spent years covering up sexual abuse reports against their scout leaders came as no surprise to Professor Marci Hamilton.
“Boy Scouts, the Catholic church, the Citadel, Penn State, the Mormon church – it’s all the identical problem,” says Hamilton, a professor at Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and the author of “God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law.”
“They’ll ignore wrong-doing and bad behavior because it’s in the best interest of the institution not to have bad publicity.”
But the bad publicity has rained down, inserting “pedophile priests” into the lexicon and turning a storied college sports program into a national disgrace. And the tales keep on coming. This week alone, an official at USA Swimming was banned for life from the sport for covering up for a coach who allegedly began a sexual relationship with a swimmer when the girl was 13-years-old; and the leader of a megachurch in Tulsa, Okla. was hit with charges that she knew about sex abuse allegations against former church employees but kept the matter in-house instead of going to police.
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MINNESOTA
KARE
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A St. Paul parish priest is charged with criminal sexual conduct for allegedly molesting children under the age of 16.
Curtis Carl Wehmeyer, 47, faces three separate counts involving sexual acts on two brothers, now ages 15 and 16.
The criminal complaint says Wehmeyer, then priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament, abused the boys inside his camper trailer parked in the church parking lot and on a camping trip.
The victims tell prosecutors that during the summer of 2010 Wehmeyer provided them with alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes, showed them pornographic images and videos on his computer then fondled them and masturbated in front of them.
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MINNESOTA
KMSP
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) –
A St. Paul priest has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy over the past two years. Three charges of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct were filed Thursday against 48-year-old Curtis Wehmeyer following a three-month investigation.
The Church of the Blessed Sacrament learned in June that Reverend Curtis Wehmeyer may have been abusing a boy within the church. The next day the church spoke with the victim, and then contacted St. Paul police who opened an investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, the boy’s mother was the one who reported the alleged abuse to the church on June 21. Wehmeyer was immediately relieved of his duties, and on his way out told the boy’s mother, “(The boy) doesn’t lie. I intend to plead guilty and spare your family the embarrassment.”
The victim, now-14, alleged Wehmeyer gave him alcohol and marijuana and sexually abused him inside a camper parked outside the church. He says his brother was also inside the camper on one occasion, and that Wehmeyer would play pornographic movies and remove his pants.
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MINNESOTA
Star Tribune
Article by: DAVID CHANEN , Star Tribune
Updated: September 21, 2012
A St. Paul priest was charged this week with sexually abusing two boys in his camper trailer on the church’s parking lot in 2010.
Curtis Wehmeyer, 47, was arrested in June after one of the boys told his mother. The boys were 12 and 14 at the time of the alleged abuse, according to the criminal complaint filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court.
Wehmeyer, of Oakdale, was relieved of his duties as pastor at Church of the Blessed Sacrament when he was arrested. The church declined to comment Friday and referred media calls to the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Calls there weren’t immediately returned.
According to the complaint: Wehmeyer brought the boys to his trailer, showed them pornography and gave them alcohol and marijuana. He then allegedly would touch their genitals. One of the boys was molested during a camping trip in Aitkin County, the complaint said.
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MINNESOTA
CBS Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former pastor at a St. Paul parish is being charged with criminal sexual conduct after he was accused of molesting one boy and exposing himself to another.
A criminal complaint says Curtis Carl Wehmeyer was the parish priest at The Church of the Blessed Sacrament. He was removed from duty in June after church officials learned of the allegations.
According to the complaint, a boy told authorities Wehmeyer abused him throughout the summer of 2010, when he was 12. He said Wehmeyer took him to a camper trailer on church grounds and touched him inappropriately while showing him pornography. The complaint says Wehmeyer also exposed himself to another boy, too.
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ORANGE (CA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
The Next Roman Catholic Bishop of Orange Announced: Bishop Kevin W. Vann to Succeed Bishop Tod D. Brown as the Fourth Bishop of Orange
Orange, CA (September 21, 2012) — His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI has announced today that Bishop Kevin W. Vann (61) will succeed Bishop Tod D. Brown as the Bishop of Orange. Bishop Vann, the current Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, will be installed as the fourth Bishop of Orange in December. Bishop Brown was advised of the new appointment by the Papal Nuncio, the official representative of the Holy See for the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.
Bishop Brown, who was appointed the Bishop of Orange on the 30th of June 1998, reached the mandatory retirement age last year and completes 14 years of service as the leader of the tenth largest Roman Catholic Diocese in the United States. The Diocese is comprised of 62 parishes and diocesan centers and has a population of 1.2 million Catholics. …
In response to Bishop Vann’s appointment as his successor, Bishop Brown said:
“The Diocese of Fort Worth has enjoyed a dynamic period of growth and the demands for comprehensive pastoral services there are not unlike those we have experienced, here in the Diocese of Orange. Bishop Vann enjoys an enviable record of success and I am exceedingly pleased by his appointment as my episcopal successor.
“While we have accomplished much in the years since I succeeded Bishop Norman MacFarland, including the recent acquisition of the former Crystal Cathedral and its campus, much work remains to be done. This work will require an administrator with proven skills and a spiritual leader with an abundance of faith. Bishop Kevin Vann has these attributes and much more. We are all blessed by his selection and I assure you – that I will do all I can to help make his transition to this important new responsibility enjoyable and productive.
“I plan to address the Diocese sometime soon and to reflect on the journey we have taken together. For now, the news is not about me – it is about our Diocese of Orange stepping into the future with its dynamic new leader.
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ORANGE (CA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange
[en espanol]
Diocese of Orange, California
21 September 2012
Dear members of the media present today, and all who are here. I am very grateful for your presence and for your welcome. I especially thank Bishop Brown and Msgr. Heher for their wonderful welcome. Bishop Brown and I have known each other for 31 years. He was a priest on the sabbatical program at the North American College in Rome, and I was a newly ordained priest studying canon law. We were in residence at the Casa Santa Maria of the North American College at the time. And, in the same residence, Msgr. Heher and I were studying together during the same time period. When we were younger (!) priests!! And, Bishop Dominic and I have known each other for several years, and he was my guest in Fort Worth last December when we dedicated the new Church of Vietnamese Martyrs in Arlington, Texas, one of the biggest Vietnamese parishes here in the United States. So it is a blessing for me to be with you all here and see familiar faces.
I have learned over the years to try to place each day, every decision in the presence of the Word of God as it starts, to surround me and guide me, and all of us. Today is the feast day of St. Matthew, Apostle and evangelist. The first reading for today’s feast day in the Church’s calendar is from St. Paul to the Ephesians when he says “Brothers and Sisters: I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace: one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
I cannot think of a better section of Sacred Scripture for me, for all of us today, to describe to what we are called as the Body of Christ. One of the many blessings I have learned from the HIspanic people is that the Church called by them as the “Family of God”. And, that, I believe with all my heart is who we are: this is what I have learned from my years in Fort Worth, and from what I have learned about all of you so far from Bishop Brown.
You see, when Bishop or a priest is transferred from one parish to another or one Diocese to another, they leave one family behind and gain another. I have so much to be grateful to God for the people of the Diocese of Fort Worth, and north TExas and beyond. I will miss them very much. But, I promise that as we grow together in this exciting and dynamic time of the Diocese of Orange, I will love you and do my best to serve you, with the Lord’s help. That is one thing I learned in Fort Worth, and what I will live here.
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ORANGE (CA)
Patch
Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, to take over the much more populous Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange from Tod D. Brown, who is retiring after 14 years because he has reached the age of 75.
Brown planned to hold a news conference in Orange at 11:30 a.m. Friday to publicly announce his retirement and introduce the 61-year-old Vann, a native of Springfield, Ill., who became bishop in Fort Worth in July 2005 and soon will be Orange’s fourth bishop.
Before attending seminary in 1976, Vann worked as a medical technologist, according to a biography on the Fort Worth diocese’s website.
After taking over the Fort Worth diocese, Vann issued a stinging rebuke of his predecessor, saying Bishop Joseph Delaney’s handling of sex-abuse allegations against priests was a “huge moral failure.”
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CALIFORNIA
Catholic News Agency
By Carl Bunderson
Washington D.C., Sep 21, 2012 / 09:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas has been named the fourth bishop of Orange, Calif. by Pope Benedict XVI.
Bishop Vann will succeed Bishop Tod D. Brown, who offered his resignation to Pope Benedict earlier this year upon reaching the age limit of 75.
The appointment and resignation were both announced Sept. 21 in Washington, D.C. by Archbishop Carlo M. Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Bishop Vann will shepherd the nation’s tenth largest and fastest growing diocese.
The diocese’s total population is 3.2 million, of whom 41 percent, or 1.3 million, are Catholic.
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GERMANY
Irish Times
DEREK SCALLY
CATHOLIC BISHOPS in Germany have announced plans to effectively excommunicate believers who refuse to pay the country’s controversial church tax.
The “general decree”, effective from September 24th, excludes non-payers from Communion, Confirmation and Confession or belonging to a Catholic congregation. Catholic funerals will also not be possible “if the person who has left the church has not shown any sign of remorse before death”.
The church says non-payment violates an obligation on its members to make a “financial contribution that allows the church to fulfil its role”.
Germany’s church tax has its origins as compensation for church property seized by state authorities in the early 19th century. Two centuries on, the tax, calculated as up to 8 per cent of income tax, raises approximately €5 billion annually for the Catholic Church; the Lutheran church receives €4 billion. It is collected by the state tax authorities and forwarded on to churches for a handling fee.
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GERMANY
The Australian
The Times
September 22, 2012
ROMAN Catholics in Germany who decline to pay the country’s church tax will be denied communion, confession and a religious burial under moves signed by the Pope that, in effect, excommunicate them.
The decree, issued yesterday by Germany’s bishops and approved by Benedict XVI, seeks to end a long-running dispute over the implications for Germany’s 24.6 million Catholics of opting out from a church tax. It will block churchgoers who choose not to pay the optional levy from becoming godparents or belonging to a Roman Catholic congregation.
The church tax, which is collected by provincial authorities and is between 8 per cent and 9 per cent of income depending on the state collecting it, raises almost €5 billion ($6.2bn) a year.
“The declaration of leaving the church before the competent civil authority … is a deliberate and wilful alienation from the church and is a grave offence against the Christian community,” states the decree, which comes into effect this weekend.
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GERMANY
Reuters
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor
PARIS | Fri Sep 21, 2012
PARIS (Reuters)- Germany’s Roman Catholic bishops have decreed that people who opt out of a “church tax” should not be given sacraments and religious burials, getting tougher on worshippers who choose not to pay.
Alarmed by a wave of dissenting Catholics quitting the faith, the bishops issued a decree on Thursday declaring such defection “a serious lapse” and listed a wide range of church activities from which they must be excluded.
Germans officially registered as Catholics, Protestants or Jews pay a religious tax of 8 or 9 percent of their annual tax bill. They can avoid this by declaring to their local tax office that they are leaving their faith community.
The annual total of church leavers, usually around 120,000, rocketed to 181,193 two years ago as revelations about decades of sexual abuse of children by priests shamed the hierarchy and prompted an apology from German-born Pope Benedict.
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CONNECTICUT
Patch
By Jeff Brush
A former priest at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Tariffville was found guilty of a sex assault charge brought against him in 2011.
Reverend Edward Warnakulasuriya, 54, was arrested by the Simsbury Police Department on Aug. 11, 2011 and charged with three counts of fourth degree sexual assault.
A warrant for the arrest of Warnakulasuriya says he touched an 18-year-old male inappropriately after the man had gone to the priest’s residence for confession.
Warnakulasuriya was given a suspended 1-year sentence and 3-years of probation when he appeared before Judge Howard Scheinblum at Enfield Superior Court on Sept. 19.
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KENTUCKY
Daily News
Associated Press
The Kentucky Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt by a Lexington man to withdraw his guilty plea to beating to death a convicted sex offender and retired priest with a pickax.
Judge Michelle M. Keller wrote on Friday that 32-year-old Jason Anthony Russell cannot show he was too incompetent to seek to back out of the agreement with prosecutors within three years of going to prison.
Russell is serving a 30-year sentence at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. His projected release date is Dec. 12, 2033.
He pleaded guilty in 2005 in Lexington to attacking and killing 78-year-old Joseph Pilger, who previously admitted to abusing four boys in western Kentucky in the 1960s when he was a pastor in Sturgis.
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ORANGE (CA)
Orange County Business Journal
By Jane Yu Friday, September 21, 2012
Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann has been named the new head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
Vann will succeed Bishop Tod Brown, who plans to retire in December after 49 years as priest, the last 14 as bishop.
The Diocese of Orange was founded in 1976, when it split from the Los Angeles Archdiocese. It now includes about 1.2 million Catholics here.
Vann has led the Diocese of Fort Worth since 2005. The Texas diocese grew nearly 80% to 710,000 members during his tenure.
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ORANGE (CA)
The Orange County Register
By DOUG IRVING, GREG HARDESTY and DANIEL LANGHORNE / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
BULLETIN:
A Roman Catholic priest in North Texas has been named bishop of the diocese of Orange County, the Associated Press is reporting.
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday announced the appointment of Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann.
The 61-year-old Texas priest takes over for Bishop Tod Brown, who is retiring. Brown is 75.
Vann will be installed in December. He’s led the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth since July 2005. The diocese serves about 710,000 congregants.
——————————
ORANGE – Bishop Tod D. Brown, who has led the Diocese of Orange through explosive growth, historic change and some of the darkest years of its clergy sex-abuse scandal, will announce his retirement on Friday morning.
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ORANGE (CA)
CBS Los Angeles
ORANGE (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest in North Texas has been named bishop of the diocese of Orange, Calif.
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday announced the appointment of Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann.
The 61-year-old Texas priest takes over for Bishop Todd Brown, who is retiring. Brown is 75.
Much of Brown’s tenure was marked by a priest abuse scandal where he agreed to a $100 million settlement for 90 alleged victims.
Vann will be installed in December. He’s led the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth since July 2005. The diocese serves about 710,000 congregants.
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ORANGE COUNTY (CA)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 21, 2012
Today, Bishop Kevin Vann of the Diocese of Fort Worth has been promoted to lead the Diocese of Orange County, CA, replacing outgoing Bishop Tod Brown. Neither of these men have been friends to victims; while Brown actively perpetuated cover-ups and allowed abusive priests to remain in ministry, Vann refused to remove abusive priests or to apologize to victims for the cover-ups perpetrated in his diocese.
In 2006, Bishop Vann called a press conference to apologize to abuse victims for their suffering, but refused to acknowledge that cover-ups had gone on or to take steps to ensure that future cover-ups would not take place. Similarly, only last year, repeated his refusal to acknowledge or apologize for cover-ups when a case against Msgr. James Reilly was settled out of court.
In many cases, the covering-up of abuse can be worse than the actual abuse itself, because it allows a predator continued access and chances to turn more innocent kids into victims of sex abuse. The fact that Bishop Vann has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the pain caused by these cover-ups is telling.
It appears that this move, sadly, is garbage-in garbage-out. We would have hoped that the Vatican would have had the sense to promote a cleric that came from a diocese with a cleaner record or who had actually taken steps to oust predators instead of concealing them.
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FORT WORTH (TX)
Star-Telegram
By Darren Barbee
dbarbee@star-telegram.com
Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann, who led the diocese through a tumultuous period of gut-wrenching exposure of child abuse, is headed west.
Pope Benedict XVI has named Vann, who saw the Fort Worth diocese expand by nearly 80 percent to 700,000 Roman Catholics, as the new bishop of the Orange, California Catholic Diocese. Vann’s new job starts in December.
Vann, 61, was installed as the bishop on in July 2005 after the death of ailing Bishop Joseph Delaney.
Vann will become the fourth bishop of the Orange Diocese. That diocese has an estimated 1.3 million Catholics.
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AUSTRALIA
The Australian
Verity Edwards
From:The Australian
September 22, 2012
THE Catholic Church has cleared priest Ian Dempsey to return to parish duties, despite an ongoing police sex-crimes investigation into allegations he raped former Traditional Anglican Church primate John Hepworth more than 40 years ago.
This comes as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Adam Kimber, considers whether to lay charges against the priest.
Vicar-General Philip Marshall told The Weekend Australian Monsignor Dempsey’s resumption of ministry was justified on the basis of an independent investigation by Michael Abbott QC last year, which found no substance to allegations made by Archbishop Hepworth. “It was now evident that despite the fact the matter was referred to police as long ago as November 2011, it is obvious that any inquiries by police could take some time to be completed,” Father Marshall said.
“His return to ministry, which is founded on his right to the presumption of innocence, does not contravene any of the church’s policies or any civil requirements, therefore there was no reason for him not to resume his parish duties.”
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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, (VIS) – The Holy Father: …
– Appointed Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, U.S.A., as bishop of Orange in California (area 2,025, population 3,037,000, Catholics 1,291,000, priests 269, permanent deacons 96, religious 412), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Tod D. Brown, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.
– Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Rochester, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Matthew H. Clark, upon having reached the age limit.
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UNITED STATES
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
WASHINGTON—Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, Texas, 61, to be bishop of Orange, California, and accepted the resignation of Bishop Tod D. Brown, 75, from the pastoral government of the diocese. The pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Matthew H. Clark of Rochester, New York, 75, from the pastoral governance of the Rochester diocese and named Bishop Robert J. Cunningham of Syracuse, New York, 69, as apostolic administrator of the Rochester diocese until the appointment and installation of a new bishop there.
The appointments were publicized in Washington September 21, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Kevin Vann was born May 10, 1951, in Springfield, Illinois and was ordained a priest for the diocese of Springfield in 1981. He earned a doctorate in canon law in 1985 from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. In the Springfield Diocese he served as associate pastor, pastor, and on the staff of the diocesan tribunal. In 2005, he was named coadjutor bishop of Fort Worth, Texas, to succeed Bishop Joseph Delaney, who died one day before Bishop-designate Vann was ordained bishop.
Bishop Brown, a native of San Francisco, was ordained priest of the Diocese of Monterey-Fresno, California, in 1962. He was named bishop of Boise, Idaho in 1988, and Bishop of Orange in 1998.
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FORT WORTH (TX)
Houston Chronicle
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A Roman Catholic priest in North Texas has been named bishop of the diocese of Orange, Calif.
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday announced the appointment of Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann.
The 61-year-old Texas priest takes over for Bishop Todd Brown, who is retiring. Brown is 75.
Vann will be installed in December. He’s led the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth since July 2005. The diocese serves about 710,000 congregants.
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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The trial of Paolo Gabriele and IT technician Claudio Sciarpelletti begins on 29 September. The two stand trial for their alleged involvement in the Vatican document leak scandal
Vatican Insider staff
Rome
The President of the Tribunal of Vatican City State, Giuseppe Dalla Torre has issued a decree “ruling that the first hearing of the trial of Paolo Gabriele and Claudio Sciarpelletti, will take place at 9.30 a.m. on 29 September. The two accused were sent for trial by the examining magistrate on 13 August,” a statement released by the Holy See Press Office states.
“The hearing – the statement adds – will take place in the audience hall of the Tribunal of Vatican City State. The parties concerned have been notified of the decree.”
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ORANGE (CA)
Whispers in the Loggia
Over recent years, it’s hard to think of a national project on which Bishop Kevin Vann hasn’t been intimately involved.
From serving on the three-member USCCB team that oversaw the Stateside implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus and mediating the bench’s oft-delicate relations with the nation’s Catholic hospitals, to filing suit against the Federal government over the contraceptive mandate of the Obama administration’s sweeping health-care reform, the 61 year-old prelate has cris-crossed considerably more ecclesial turf than the sprawling 28 counties of Northwest Texas he’s overseen since 2005.
Now, however, the latest task comes via Rome… and given its centerpiece, well, it’s worth its weight in Crystal.
This morning, the Pope named the energetic head of the booming Fort Worth church to lead the diocese of Orange, succeeding Bishop Tod Brown at the helm of the 1.3 million-member fold in Los Angeles’ southern suburbs.
Barring an expedited succession in Chicago – the nation’s third-largest diocese, where Cardinal Francis George, 75, is undergoing a fresh round of treatment for a recurrence of cancer – the move will be 2012’s most significant handover of an American see in terms of size.
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CITTA DEL VATICANO
Bolletino
Il Santo Padre ha accettato la rinuncia al governo pastorale della diocesi di Orange in California (U.S.A.), presentata da S.E. Mons. Tod D. Brown, in conformità al can. 401 § 1 del Codice di Diritto Canonico.
Il Papa ha nominato Vescovo di Orange in California (U.S.A.) S.E. Mons. Kevin William Vann, finora Vescovo di Fort Worth (U.S.A.).
S.E. Mons. Kevin William Vann
S.E. Mons. Kevin William Vann è nato a Springfield (Illinois) il 10 maggio 1951. Dopo aver frequentato la Saint Agnes School e la Griffin High School, ha conseguito il Baccellierato in “Tecnologia Medica” alla Millikin University a Decatur (Illinois). Diventato seminarista nel 1976, ha frequentato l’Immaculate Conception Diocesan Seminary a Springfield e poi il Kenrick Seminary a Saint Louis (Missouri). Successivamente ha ottenuto il Dottorato in Diritto Canonico presso l’Angelicum a Roma.
Ordinato sacerdote per la diocesi di Springfield in Illinois il 30 maggio 1981, ha svolto gli incarichi di Vice Parroco della Blessed Sacrament Parish a Springfield (1985-1990); Difensore del Vincolo (1985-1994); Giudice del Tribunale di Appello per la Provincia ecclesiastica di Chicago (1985-1994); Amministratore parrocchiale della Saint Mary Parish a Pittsfield, della Holy Redeemer Parish a Barry e della Holy Family Parish a Greggsville (1989-1990); Parroco della Saint Benedict Parish a Auburn (1990-1992) con responsabilità di Amministratore parrocchiale della Saint Mary Parish a Pawnee (1991); Parroco della Our Lady of Lourdes Parish a Decatur (1992-2001) con responsabilità di Amministratore parrocchiale dell’Our Lady of the Holy Spirit a Mt. Zion (1995), della Saint Isidore Parish a Bethany e della Sacred Heart Parish a Dalton City (1995-1997); Vicario foraneo (1996-2001); Incaricato del Vescovo per la pastorale agli ispanici della diocesi di Springfield (1999-2005); Vicario per il Clero e Parroco della Blessed Sacrament Parish (2001-2005).
Nominato Vescovo Coadiutore di Fort Worth (Texas) il 17 maggio 2005, è succeduto a tale Sede il 12 luglio 2005 ed ha ricevuto la consacrazione episcopale il 13 luglio successivo.
Nel seno della Conferenza Episcopale è Membro del Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance e del Committee on Migration. Inoltre, è l’Episcopal Liaison alla Catholic Health Association.
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AUSTRALIA
Herald Sun
THE Catholic Church has admitted it failed victims of sexual abuse, and says it has upheld 620 cases of criminal child abuse by clergy in the past 16 years.
Four Victorian dioceses combined to make a submission to a State Government inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.
Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart said in a statement the submission, titled Facing the Truth, was open about the church’s failings.
“In Facing the Truth we have been open about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere,” he said.
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AUSTRALIA
CathNews
The Catholic Church in Victoria will today lodge the Church’s submission, titled Facing the Truth, to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations, the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, announced in a media release.
“We will co-operate fully with the Inquiry, and in Facing the Truth, we have been open about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere,” Archbishop Hart said.
“Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has caused deep concern among Catholics and the wider community. It is shameful and shocking that this abuse, with its dramatic impact on those who were abused and their families, was committed by Catholic priests, religious and church workers.
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AUSTRALIA
Failed Messiah
Melbourne Jewry’s roof body, the JCCV, has submitted a self-serving report to a Victorian Parliamentary committee regarding the steps it claims to have taken to combat child sexual abuse and to properly handle allegations of these crimes when they do occur. But a submission made by Jewish alleged victims of these crimes at Chabad’s Yeshivah Centre shows the depth of the child sexual abuse problem in that segment of the Jewish community – including reporting coverups of child rape and sexual abuse carried out by Chabad’s leaders. It also helps to expose the JCCV’s lack of action and its unethical handling of its most senior staff member, now just resigned, who is sleeping with a convicted pedophile. Here are both reports.
Note that many of JCCV’s activities detailed in their submission do not appear to have gone much further than issuing the press releases. Also note that from what I’ve heard over the years from many of the contacts I have in Melbourne, including alleged victims in the Chabad child sex abuse scandal and people close to victims in the Adass scandal from a few years ago, the JCCV did not really follow through on its promises to help victims through its constituent organizations.
The JCCV also had, until last month, an executive director who was sleeping with David Cyprys.
Cyprys is accused of raping and molesting at least 12 children in Chabad’s Yeshivah Centre and/or in related programs. But he also pleaded guilty before this having inappropriate sexual contact with a child. He was allowed to pay a fine and have a conditional release – orchestrated, I’m told, by senior members of the Chabad community.
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AUSTRALIA
Truthdive
Sydney, Sept 21 (ANI): A Catholic Church in Melbourne has admitted it failed to extend support to victims of sexual abuse, and admitted that it was ‘too slow to react’ to the complaints of abuse.
Four Victorian dioceses made a report in response to a Victorian State Government inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations.
According to the Herald Sun, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart said in a statement the report, titled Facing the Truth, was open about the church’s failings.
“In Facing the Truth we have been open about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere,” he said.
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AUSTRALIA
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne
The Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart, announced on behalf of the leaders of the Catholic Church in Victoria that today they would lodge the Church’s submission, Facing the Truth, to the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations.
“We will co-operate fully with the Inquiry, and in Facing the Truth we have been open about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere.
“Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has caused deep concern among Catholics and the wider community. It is shameful and shocking that this abuse, with its dramatic impact on those who were abused and their families, was committed by Catholic priests, religious and church workers.
“In our submission we discuss the Church’s commitment to caring for children, the failures of the Church, and the developments in society’s and the Church’s understanding of the pernicious nature of paedophilia. It includes a detailed chronology from 1961 to today of such developments in the English speaking world.
“The Church, both internationally and in Australia, has continued to review and refine its processes, procedures, and practices. We put the child first, and our refined measures promote the protection of children.
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AUSTRALIA
ABC Ballarat
[with audio]
Father Shane Mackinlay says the Catholic Church of Victoria’s submission to a parliamentary inquiry, which will look into how the church handled child abuse allegations, admits its failure to respond to complaints. The church says it is now facing the truth.
The Catholic Church of Victoria has submitted a document titled ‘Facing the Truth’ to the state parliamentary inquiry into the handling of alleged criminal abuse of children by religious and other organisations.
It says the submission talks about the clergy’s commitment to caring for children and acknowledges its past failures.
A submission co-signed by 32 Ballarat victims details a long list of physical and sexual abuse at the hand of the church.
Father Shane Mackinlay of the Ballarat Diocese admits that the church had its “head in the sand” for a long time.
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AUSTRALIA
ABC News
By Danny Morgan
The Catholic Church in Victoria has confirmed 620 cases of child sexual abuse by clergy since the 1930s.
It is the first time the church has publicly released the figure.
In a submission to a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry, the church revealed the cases of criminal child abuse have been upheld by its own complaint procedure.
It says the cases go back 80 years, but the vast majority relate to abuse in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
Most of the cases reported came from Ballarat and Mortlake, in regional Victoria, and Oakleigh and Rupertswood.
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
By Charisse Ede
From: AAP
September 21, 2012
THE Catholic Church in Victoria says it has upheld more than 600 cases of criminal child abuse by clergy in the past 16 years.
The church says the incidence of abuse has fallen dramatically since “appalling” numbers in the 1960s and 1970s and it has received very few complaints of abuse that has taken place since 1990.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was “shameful and shocking” and the church would fully co-operate with a Victorian parliamentary inquiry on child abuse.
He said the church’s inquiry submission, Facing the Truth, acknowledged the suffering endured by children who had been in the church’s care and the church renewed its apology to them.
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AUSTRALIA
The Age
September 21, 2012
Barney Zwartz
The Catholic Church in Victoria today admitted that it had upheld 620 cases of criminal child abuse by clergy in the past 16 years.
Most of the cases were before 1990, some dating back to the 1930s, the church said in a statement about its submission to the parliamentary inquiry into the handling of child abuse by churches and non-government organisations.
As the church has earlier said it had upheld some 330 cases via the Melbourne Response protocol it launched in 1996, this suggests that the other Victorian dioceses of Ballarat, Sale and Sandhurst (Bendigo) have upheld nearly 300 complaints. This figure has not been released before.
Submissions to the inquiry close today, and public hearings are expected to begin early next month.
The four Victorian dioceses have combined to make one submission, titled Facing the Truth, signed by Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart, Ballarat Bishop Peter Connors, Sale Bishop Christopher Prowse and Sandhurst Bishop Les Tomlinson, plus the state and national heads of Catholic Religious Orders, Sister Helen Toohey and Sister Annette Cunliffe respectively.
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TULSA (OK)
KSWO
TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Tulsa police have arrested a second suspect as an investigation continues into allegations of sexual abuse by former employees at a south Tulsa megachurch.
Police say 23-year-old Israel Shalom Castillo, a former employee at Victory Christian Center, surrendered at the Tulsa County Jail on Thursday morning. He was booked on allegations of making a lewd or indecent proposal to a minor and using a computer to commit a sex crime.
His next court date is Sept. 28 and jail records did not list whether he had an attorney.
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NEW MEXICO
ABQ Journal
By Bill Rodgers / Journal Staff Writer
on Fri, Sep 21, 2012
Parents brought their sons to a church program hoping that they would grow in their faith, but the boys instead got the “nightmare of their lives,” said state District Court Judge Michael Vigil.
Vigil heard from two families whose young boys were sexually abused by 36-year-old Anthony Martinez of Santa Fe while he was a youth program volunteer at Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Church. The father of one victim told Vigil his son, a “loving child with much faith in the Lord,” went from being a good student and athlete to being withdrawn, depressed and suicidal because of Martinez’s actions.
Before sentencing Martinez to the maximum 15-year penalty available under a plea deal for two different sex crime cases, Vigil told the families that he hopes their children can heal.
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TULSA (OK)
WPEC
By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS Associated Press
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A 17,000-member megachurch in south Tulsa has been rattled by allegations that five employees waited two weeks to report the rape of a 13-year-old girl in a campus stairwell, allegedly by a church worker.
Police say the girl is among at least three victims of alleged sex crimes by two former employees of Victory Christian Center who face criminal charges. Investigators say more could surface.
Authorities have also charged five ministry employees for waiting two weeks before reporting to police the alleged rape of the 13-year-old.
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KENTUCKY
Herald-Leader
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears — vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com
A former youth leader at Southland Christian Church’s Danville campus is accused of sending sexual emails and text messages to a 15-year-old girl he met through church.
Jonathan David Hall, 29, of Danville was charged with unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activities.
Hall was arrested Tuesday by the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch as part of an undercover Internet Crimes Against Children investigation, state police said Thursday in a news release.
Police said a search of Hall’s home uncovered nude photos of what appeared to be juvenile girls. Those girls apparently live in at least three other states, police said. The investigation is continuing, and additional charges are pending.
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PENNSYLVANIA
The Tribune-Democrat
Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com
BEDFORD — A Bedford County jury began deliberations late Thursday evening in the sexual assault case of a traveling preacher charged in the April 2, 2009, molestation of an 11-year-old girl.
The Rev. Walter Bradshaw, 63, of Lexington, N.C., faces 24 charges related to the sexual abuse of the girl, now, 15, who along with her mother was befriended by the minister while he was preaching at the Alum Bank God’s Missionary Church.
Bradshaw, a carpenter by trade who conducted revival services for years throughout Pennsylvania, including the Cambria-Somerset region, stopped in Bedford the day of the alleged abuse to visit with the girl and her mother, according to his testimony.
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UNITED STATES
Associated Baptist Church
The sentencing hearing for a former Southern Baptist evangelist convicted of video voyeurism offered a rare public glimpse into the emotional, marital and spiritual impact suffered by victims of sexual abuse by clergy.
News analysis by Bob Allen
Women secretly videotaped while showering or in front of a bathroom vanity in the home of a popular Southern Baptist evangelist compared the experience to rape, while young husbands described anger at being betrayed by a friend they considered a brother in ministry Sept. 14 in a courtroom in Hernando, Miss.
Sammy NuckollsSammy Nuckolls, 33, a former traveling evangelist popular at youth events including summer camps sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and more than $80,000 in fines and restitution after being found guilty on 13 counts of video voyeurism.
Nuckolls was arrested last October while staying in a private home in Gosnell, Ark., during a local church revival where he was preaching. His hostess discovered a hidden camera spy pen set up in a bathroom to photograph her as she prepared to shower.
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