ABUSE TRACKER

NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant

Auteur: Ronnie Vermonden

VELDHOVEN – ‘Wat een overdreven heisa’ en ‘ik heb moeite medeleven te hebben met de pastoor’. Parochianen van de Lambertusparochie in Veldhoven reageerden verdeeld op de commotie over hun pastoor Dominique Donders. Vrijdag kwam de pastoor in het nieuws nadat bekend werd dat er kinderporno op zijn computer was gevonden.

Na de viering zaterdagavond gaf het parochiebestuur een verklaring over alle ophef. Ook het parochiebestuur bleek onaangenaam verrast door het politie-onderzoek naar de pastoor, die op non-actief is gesteld.

‘We maken allemaal fouten’
Het bestuur veroordeelt het hebben van kinderporno, maar vroeg ook om compassie. Volgens Hans Uyl van het parochiebestuur ‘zijn we allemaal mensen met fouten’. “Als de pastoor berouw toont, schenkt God hem vergiffenis. Laten wij dus ook voor hem bidden.”

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NEDERLAND
Omroep Brabant

Auteur: Bert van Doorn

VELDHOVEN – Pastoor Dominique Donders (50) uit Veldhoven, die op non-actief is gezet omdat bij hem kinderporno is aangetroffen, heeft spijt van zijn acties. Dat meldde hij in een persoonlijke brief die zondag op zijn verzoek is voorgelezen in drie parochiekerken. Hij zegt ‘vooral ontzettende spijt heeft van de eventuele zorgen die jonge ouders in onze parochie hebben over hun kinderen’.

De brief is voorgelezen in de parochiekerken Caecilia, Lambertus en St. Jan de Doper. Het bisdom heeft Donders na de vondst van de kinderporno op non-actief gesteld.

Alleen meerderjarige modellen gedownload
Donders heeft in april ongeveer honderd foto’s van ongeveer tien jonge vrouwen gedownload en op zijn computer gezet. Het zou gaat om foto’s van meerderjarige modellen die geen seksuele handelingen zouden verrichten.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ

Today victims and survivors from the National Survivor Advocates Coalition will descend upon Kansas City seeking the resignation of the Bishop Robert Finn. Theresa Torres is a religious studies professor at UMKC. She told our news partners at Channel 9 that Finn isn’t likely to be removed from his post by the Diocese. “It would be very surprising if he was asked to resign,” Torres said. “The pope hasn’t done that in any case so far in which there have been questions.” Two weeks ago Finn was found guilty of failure to report suspicion of child abuse.

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IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

A Catholic Bishop who said he used to think paedophilia was friendship gone too far has apologised.

Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby made the remarks after a church child abuse watchdog revealed he moved two priests from parish-to-parish after allegations were made against them.

In a public letter sent to 24 parishes in east Galway and parts of Roscommon and Offaly, the Bishop admitted he had made a mistake over the transfers and the subsequent paedophilia reference.

“I may have given the general impression that I was somehow minimising the gravity of the criminal activity which we know to be child sexual abuse,” he said.

“This was never my intention and I wish to apologise, especially to all survivors, on this point.

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IRELAND
RTE News

A Co Galway-based Catholic Bishop who moved two priests who abused children to different parishes in the 1990s has apologised for appearing to minimise the gravity of their crimes.

In a weekend message to the diocese of Clonfert, Bishop John Kirby said that it was never his intention to do so in a recent media interview.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s News at One on 5 September, Bishop Kirby said his understanding of paedophilia in the mid-1990s was that it was “a friendship that had gone astray or wrong”.

In a message, published today, the Bishop says that, unfortunately, the words he used on air, when separated from their context, came across negatively.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

September 17, 2012

Barney Zwartz

Former teacher Graeme Sleeman lost his career, health and financial security when he took a stand against a sexually abusive priest in Doveton.

GRAEME Sleeman knew Peter Searson was trouble even before Searson arrived as parish priest of Doveton in 1984. Searson liked to dress in military fatigues, often carried a revolver, and had a bad reputation when it came to money – and sexually abusing children.

The two locked horns immediately when Sleeman, principal of the Holy Family school, told the priest he knew of his reputation and would be watching him, and Searson replied that as priest he was the boss. Their main battleground was bizarre: the sacred Catholic sacrament of confession, where Searson could get the children alone and unsupervised.

“I was concerned about his addiction to confession,” Sleeman recalls.

Peter Searson (bottom row, second from right) and Carmel Rafferty (top row, second from right).

“Sometimes he would get children to sit on his lap, or kneel between his legs.” Later he would help a church investigation into two sexual assaults during confession.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

September 17, 2012

Barney Zwartz

THE Catholic Church’s leading investigator into sexual abuse paid $90,000 out of his own pocket to the former principal of a Catholic school whose career was ruined over his stand against a paedophile priest.

Peter O’Callaghan, QC, has agreed that he made the payments over several years, saying he did so out of compassion for the principal, who had suffered a mental breakdown.

The school involved, Holy Family in Doveton, had as parish priest or assistant priest six sexual abusers.

Mr O’Callaghan, the independent commissioner who examines allegations of abuse made under the Melbourne Archdiocese’s Melbourne Response, said it was the only time he had made such payments, despite having dealt with more than 330 abuse victims. ”It was a one-off. I never did it for anyone else. It was paid for no other reason than to give them [the principal and his wife] assistance,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury
Sep 16 2012

POLICE have finally revealed details of their probe into detectives accused of collusion with the Catholic Church during a paedophile priest case.

Officers who dealt with the hunt for, and trial of, Father James Robinson have been cleared of misconduct by West Midlands Police’s Professional Standards Department.

Robinson was jailed for 21 years in October 2010 for subjecting six boys to decades of horrific abuse.

The evil priest – who worked at parishes across the West Midlands – fled to America in 1985 after a victim went to the police.

The paedophile was living in California in 2009 when he was extradited back to the UK to stand trial.

His victims have repeatedly claimed Robinson was protected by West Midlands Police detectives in the 1980s, saying that they helped him to flee the country.

They also claimed witness statements were destroyed and illicit information passed to the Archdiocese of Birmingham.

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NEDERLAND
Protestantse Kerk

10 september 2012
De ‘Beroepscode en gedragsregels voor predikanten en kerkelijk werkers’ zijn op de website van de Protestantse Kerk te raadplegen.

Pagina-inhoud
De tekst werd in november 2011 door de generale synode vastgesteld. Daaraan werd in april 2012 toegevoegd een ‘Handreiking voor predikanten en kerkelijk werkers voor het gebruik van sociale media’. De voorgestelde wijzigingen zijn nu allemaal verwerkt in één digitaal document (pdf), dat begin september op de website is geplaatst.

Beroepscode en gedragsregels
Het document bestaat uit drie gedeelten. In de beroepscode komen onder meer aan de orde: het leiding geven, pastoraal gedrag, aannemen van giften en de publieke rol van de predikant en de kerkelijk werker. In de gedragsregels gaat het onder meer over de predikant/kerkelijk werker als betrouwbaar persoon, als vertrouwenspersoon, als collega en als participant in allerlei verbanden binnen en buiten de kerk.

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NEDERLAND
Protestantse Kerk

1 Inleiding
Gedragsregels voor een predikant en kerkelijk werker zijn bedoeld om hen te helpen in
hun dienstwerk. Bij de opstelling van de regels is de formulering toegesneden op
gemeentepredikanten en op kerkelijk werkers met een opdracht in het pastoraat. Voor wie
op een ander terrein werkzaam is, zal niet elke regel letterlijk van toepassing zijn en zullen
instanties die worden genoemd (de kerkenraad b.v.) door een andere moeten worden vervangen.
De gedragsregels vloeien voort uit wat in de kerkorde over predikanten en kerkelijk werkers is geschreven en wat in de belofte die bij de aanvaarding van de ambtswerkzaamheden wordt
afgelegd, is vermeld. De kerkorde is zo de basis van de beroepscode. De beroepscode is een toegespitste beschrijving van het werk van een predikant of kerkelijk werker op grond van de kerkorde, waarin de kernmomenten van het dienstwerk en de daarmee gepaard gaande houding beschreven is. Hieronder wordt eerst deze code beschreven en daarna volgen de gedragsregels.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PATSY McGARRY Religious Affairs Correspondent

The Bishop of Clonfert John Kirby has apologised for describing instances of paedophila as “friendship that crossed a boundary line”.

In a “special message” read at Masses in the diocese over the weekend, he said: “I may have given the general impression that I was somehow minimising the gravity of the criminal activity which we know to be child sexual abuse. This was never my intention and I wish to apologise, especially to all survivors, on this point.”

He continued: “The fact is that I reported the allegations to the civil authorities in the 1990s within days of becoming aware of the issue because I knew that crimes may have been committed.

“What I failed to appreciate sufficiently at that time was the addictive and repetitive compulsion of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, my words last week, separated from their context, came across negatively. I am very sorry for any anxiety or embarrassment that I may have caused to people in Clonfert or throughout the country.”

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

The ex-Devon Prep teacher, suspected of sex assault in the 1990s, was working in the Philippines. He is now in supervised therapy.

By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer

The religious order that let one of its priests relocate to the Philippines after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Devon Prep student in the 1990s says it has removed him from active ministry, almost two decades after the attack.

The Rev. Theodore Podson relocated last month to a residential therapy center and “is being submitted to a carefully controlled supervision,” a Rome-based spokesman for the Piarists order said Friday.

The move came after The Inquirer reported that Podson, 64, was working as a priest and promoting himself as a teen mentor 20 years after officials at the Main Line boys school and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia concluded he had sexually abused a minor.

The order’s spokesman, Giorgi Pezza, declined to identify where Podson was transferred but said the setting includes “integral supervision” by superiors in his order.

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AUSTRALIA
J-Wire

September 16, 2012 by J-Wire Staff

A Melbourne journalist has spoken at a forum focusing on the topic “Airing our Dirty Laundry: Child Sexual Abuse in the Media”.

Last year, Melbourne broadsheet The Age’s Jewel Topsfield wrote a story naming community leader Manny Waks as an alleged victim of child sexual abuse at Melbourne’s Yeshivah College. The report gave a name and a face to the victims of the abuse, and was instrumental in enabling other victims to come forward with their stories.

Inevitably the coverage also ignited debate about the way the Jewish community handles child sexual abuse and about Manny’s decision to take his story to the media.

Recently, a capacity audience at Melbourne’s Shira Hadasha heard community leader and anti-child sexual abuse campaigner Manny Waks and The Age Education Editor Topsfield speak at a forum titled Airing Our Dirty Laundry: Child Sexual Abuse in the Media. Senior journalist and former Australian Jewish News Editor Ashley Browne facilitated the forum. Ashley opened the forum with a range of questions to both Waks and Topsfield and the forum was subsequently opened to the floor.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
September 16, 2012

HUNDREDS of people have gathered in Newcastle to call for a royal commission into sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.

Almost 400 people attended the public forum at the Newcastle Panthers club on Sunday, in which people shared their experiences of abuse within the Catholic Church and other organisations.

“We filled the auditorium. We couldn’t have fitted any more,” NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge told AAP.

He said there was a unanimous call for a royal commission to investigate cases of abuse and look at offences which were covered up.

Mr Shoebridge said a royal commission was necessary as it would tackle the “systemic failures” within the church, and other organisations, in a way criminal or civil proceedings could not.

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VENTNOR (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Amy S. Rosenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

VENTNOR, N.J. – With a bid of $4.125 million, Steve and Ilene Berger of Newtown Square won Saturday’s auction of an historic oceanfront seashore villa owned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that played host to decades of vacationing and elderly priests.

The Bergers said they plan to preserve the former St. Joseph’s Villa by the Sea as a family vacation compound for their children and grandchildren, retain longtime caretaker Fran McManus, and have the priests over for an annual party.

First off, a second story porch expansion, a total renovation – and a mezuzah, the ritual parchment placed on doorposts of Jewish homes.

“I feel very blessed to have this home,” said Ilene Berger, who blurted out an incremental $25,000 raise in the bid price to seal the deal for the property. “It’s a very spiritual house.”

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AUSTRALIA
Sydney Morning Herald

September 16, 2012 11

Rachel Browne
Sun-Herald journalist

THE archdiocese of Sydney has produced 100,000 booklets stating the Catholic Church’s position on sexual abuse, which several victims said has added to their trauma.

The 16-page booklet, titled Sexual Abuse, has been distributed to parishes, Catholic agencies and schools.

About 38,000 booklets were given to children to take home from schools in the Sydney archdiocese.

The director of Catholic communications, Katrina Lee, said the booklet was overseen by the archdiocese’s Professional Standards Office and was released in response to claims made by the Greens NSW upper house MP David Shoebridge.

”There has been a lot of consistent misinformation about the issue, so we decided to pull all the information together in one booklet,” she said.

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AUSTRALIA
The Canberra Times

EDITORIAL

The sexual Abuse booklet distributed through Catholic schools by the Archdiocese of Sydney. Photo: David Porter

A man was jailed for a minimum of 33 years on Friday for the callous murder of an innocent couple in their home. He suffocated the husband and wife at the behest of the couple’s adopted son for the fee of $17,000, which would enable him to buy a motorcycle.

This was evil in the extreme, beyond comprehension. But in an attempt to make at least some sense of such heinous, dispassionate taking of life, Supreme Court judge Peter Hidden revealed that the murderer, from a supportive family with an ”unremarkable upbringing”, had at the age of 11 been sexually attacked by a Catholic priest. It was the second time the child had been sexually abused by a person in a position of trust and his ”loving, easy nature” (his mother’s description) was irretrievably lost.

Nobody will know whether the killer would have become capable of such evil had he not been abused, but it’s no great stretch to assume to be the victim of such horror at so early an age was hardly conducive to a balanced personality.

That wicked priest, like the Catholic Church, has a lot to answer for. The victims’ lives were taken, the perpetrators’ lives were ruined and families were shattered.

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BOSTON (MA)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 15, 2012
By Jerry Filteau

BOSTON – Some 450 members of Voice of the Faithful gathered in Boston yesterday (Sept. 14) to mark their 10th anniversary with a conference that featured new calls for deep structural reforms in the church, including election of bishops and ordination of women at least to the diaconate, if not to the priesthood and episcopacy as well.

“Your voice is uniquely American and it is uniquely Catholic,” said Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, keynote speaker at the opening dinner.

Burke, a former chairwoman of the all-lay National Review Board the bishops formed in 2002 to oversee its progress in combating clergy sexual abuse and promoting the protection of children, said the job of doing that is far from over.

“Without your voice, here in the United States everyone’s freedom as a Catholic would be even more threatened. Everyone’s liberty as a disciple would be more contained. We never needed you more,” she said.

“The formation of the Voice of the Faithful established a new American vocabulary for the truth,” she said.

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VENTNOR (NJ)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By Amy S. Rosenberg
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

VENTNOR, N.J. _ A seashore villa owned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that played host to decades of vacationing and elderly priests will go to auction Saturday afternoon.

The winning bid will be subject to final approvals, but real estate and Archdiocese officials have indicated that the cash-strapped Church, led by a cost-cutting Archbishop Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, will be inclined to accept any reasonable bid to unload the historic and tradition-laden property known as St. Joseph’s Villa by the Sea. The property is assessed at $6.2 million.

The auction will be conducted at 1:15 p.m. by the Max Spann agency in the spacious brick-wall surrounded yard of Boardwalk property at 114 S. Princeton Ave. in Ventnor, in a yard that featured religious shrines at either end and a lily pond in the middle. It could easily be transformed into a backyard with a generous swimming pool in its new incarnation, or the property could be subdivided into six lots. Bidders have to present a certified check of $100,000 made out to themselves to register to bid.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

By Alys Francis, ninemsn

Legal sources believe prosecutors may have enough evidence to charge an Adelaide Catholic priest accused of raping Archbishop John Hepworth in the early 1960s.

Senator Nick Xenophon caused a scandal last September when he told Parliament that Ian Dempsey was accused of raping Archbishop John Hepworth, after the Catholic Church refused to suspend him.

Now legal sources have said they believe there is enough evidence to charge Father Dempsey with multiple counts of rape and indecent assault occurring in the 1960s, the Adelaide Advertiser reports.

Police are seeking the legal opinion of Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber QC, after a 10-month investigation into the allegations.

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MISSOURI
St. Joseph News-Press

By Kim Norvell St. Joseph News-Press

The late Rev. Jerry J. Wegenek, a St. Joseph native and former priest in the area, has been named in a civil suit alleging he repeatedly abused a boy in 1966.

The civil suit was filed Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court on behalf of John Doe F.A., who is a 57-year-old man living in Florida. It names the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph as the defendant.

Rev. Wegenek died in February 2011 at age 73.

According to the civil petition, Rev. Wegenek allegedly sexually abused the victim when he was 11 years old at various locations, including church parking lots and in the rectory of either St. Gabriel or St. Patrick Parish in Kansas City, Mo., where he was assigned at the time of the abuse.

Court documents also allege the victim was raped by Rev. Wegenek at an area hotel. He was alleged to have taken the boy to the hotel during a church retreat.

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NEW YORK
New York Daily News

By Michael O’Keeffe / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Friday, September 14, 2012, 9:04 PM

The judge overseeing the Poly Prep sexual-abuse lawsuit urged lawyers for the school and the men who say they were molested by football coach Phil Foglietta to reach a settlement at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court on Friday — and then gave them plenty of time to do so.

U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block, citing scheduling issues, said he won’t hold a hearing until Feb. 11 to determine if the school covered up decades of abuse by Foglietta, preventing the plaintiffs from filing a case before the statute of limitations expired. New York state law requires survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file a case by the time they are 23 years old.

Block ruled last month that portions of the explosive lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 students and two day campers can proceed. Lawyers for the elite private school, which charges up to $36,000 a year for tuition, had argued that the case should be dismissed because the statute of limitations had long expired. But Block’s 40-page ruling said that argument may not be relevant because administrators may have lied about when they first learned that Foglietta, who died in 1998, was a sexual predator.

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AUSTRALIA
Newcastle Herald

The time has arrived for a royal commission to expose the gross abuse of power within the Catholic Church , writes JOANNE McCARTHY.

IT is the list that underscores a tragedy, a roll call of shame with crimes against children at its heart.

It is the genesis of decades of suffering, the silent wrecking ball in our community behind too many broken families, too many lost and shattered lives and too much pain.

It is the list the Catholic church tries to deny, minimise, consign to the past and dispatch as ‘‘ancient history’’, the ugly truth so cruelly dismissed by Australian Bishop Anthony Fisher in 2008 as people ‘‘dwelling crankily on old wounds’’.

It is a list reflecting the church’s offences against children in the Hunter and Central Coast regions since the early 1950s.

Some people are named, others can’t be for legal reasons. Some are dead but are included because documents and court decisions leave little or no doubt about offenders, or knowledge of offenders.

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CHILE
Cooperativa

El ex feligrés de la parroquia de El Bosque Rafael Zanetta acusó de “abusos de poder” y “manipulación de conciencia” del ex párroco de la Iglesia y fiel seguidor de Fernando Karadima, Juan Esteban Morales.

Zanetta, de 25 años, estuvo 10 años en un “sometimiento espiritual”, como denuncia, en la Iglesia enlodada por los abusos sexuales cometidos por el sacerdote Karadima, quien para cometer esos delitos abusó de la confianza de jóvenes que se acercaban a él pensando que era un santo.

Entre los que se acercaron a Karadima está Juan Esteban Morales quien, a juicio de Zanetta cometió “manipulación de concienci

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Today, I spent lunch with my friend and Theater of the Word actor Dave Treadway of Steward Media and I was on a tear, complaining about many things, especially this. “Dave,” I said, “I used to think the liberals in the Church caused all the trouble, until I met the conservatives in the Church. Now I’m getting used to rampant hypocrisy on both sides of the spectrum, from left to right – Catholics who are as bad as I am and worse, regardless of the number of devotions or novenas they pray. I am hurt by, but used to, leftist Catholics who ignore Church teaching and right-wing Catholics who despise the Catechism. I am used to, but hurt by, bad liberal bishops and bad conservative bishops. I am used to, but hurt by, my own infernal sinfulness, which keeps rearing its ugly head again and again.

“But what really bothers me at a fundamental level is how many conservative Catholics there are who are making excuses for rape and child abuse.”

***

To wit (from comboxes, blogs or other published material of the past two weeks) …

In cases where priests molest children, Fr. Benedict Groeschel stated in an interview published in the National Catholic Register, “A lot of the cases, the youngster – 14, 16, 18 – is the seducer.”

As a response to this comment, I posted what I thought was a simple explanation of What Rape Is , pointing out that a 14-year-old, for example, while he or she can act seductively toward an adult, can in no way seduce an adult; pointing out that statutory rape is indeed “rape”, since a minor does not have the capacity to consent to a sex act; and after I did so, the dam burst in little trickles, including a Facebook friend who asserted, “Statutory rape is a legal fiction.” How little I suspected then that this is the attitude of many, if not most, Catholics.

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JOLIET (IL)
Southtown Star

BY BOB OKON

The Diocese of Joliet is not denying that the Rev. F. Lee Ryan had inappropriate sexual relations with a minor.

But Ryan is being returned to the ministry based the Vatican’s interpretation of an obscure tenet of canon law that suggests such conduct can be tolerated if the victim was at least 16.

Except the victim says he was 14 at the time.

And he’s baffled by a decision implying that his age at the time made all the difference.

“I can only tell you that’s what they tell me, but I don’t know what that means,” said the victim, who does not want his identity revealed. “I don’t know canon law from anything. But it seems to me ludicrous and out of sync with what happened.”

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UNITED STATES
Anti-Catholic League

By David Fortwengler

Last basketball season the spectacular play of previously unheralded New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin inspired one of the most popular terms in sports journalism today, “Linsanity.” My shameless efforts to steal from popular culture have finnspired me to use this simple technique to comment on the current scandal in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City led by Bishop Robert Finn.

Finnsanity Begins with Lost Finncome

In 2008 the Kansas City Diocese settled a civil lawsuit brought by 47 plaintiffs who were sexually abused by Kansas City priests. Finn authorized a 10 million dollar settlement and agreed to several non-monetary provisions. Most important to the victims, he promised his “top priority” would be to protect children with rigorous new policies, vigilence, and reform. Would 10 million reasons to do the right thing be enough for a Catholic Bishop to protect kids?

First Finncedent with Ratigan

Shawn Ratigan was ordained a priest in 2004 and there are unconfirmed reports of early complaints about his behavior around minors. The first finndisputed evidence of Ratigan’s finnappropriate behavior around children occurred in May 2010 when Julie Hess, principal of the school at the parish where Ratigan was assigned, was so concerned she notified the diocese in writing.

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CANADA
Global News

Roxanne Stasyszyn, Yukon News : Saturday, September 15, 2012

WHITEHORSE – Malcolm Dawson remembers August as a time of dread, a time when the soap couldn’t wash the colour off his skin before he had to return to the Whitehorse Baptist Mission school.

“It was something like being in jail. I used to play hooky all the time because all I had in school was trouble. I used to wander around and hide in the alleys,” Dawson, now 70, said in an interview.

“I was just a little guy and they’d tell me I was good for nothing and wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

Dawson also remembers scrubbing himself vigorously with soap and water as a kid.

“I was trying to wash the brown off me,” he said.

But these memories are not enough for him to qualify for claims intended for former students who endured severe physical or sexual abuse.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Salem News

BY TOM DALTON STAFF WRITER

A decade ago, as the priest sex abuse scandal rocked the Archdiocese of Boston, media reports appeared about a small group of lay Catholics meeting in the basement of a Wellesley church to share the hurt and anger they felt over the church leadership’s handling of the crisis.

Miles away in Topsfield, Vince and Jolene Guerra heard the news and knew they had to do something.

So they jumped in their car and made the nearly hour-long drive to St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley, where they were moved by gut-wrenching accounts of abuse and by the heartfelt, thought-provoking dialogue with other Catholics. It was a trip they made many times.

It was also a heady time. Media flocked to the meetings. Boston newspapers and TV were there. The national press came.

Inspired by what they heard in Wellesley, the Guerras helped organized the North Shore affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, which held its first meeting, or “listening session” as it was called then, at their home parish, St. Rose of Lima in Topsfield

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

WORCESTER — A physical education teacher and former football coach at Holy Name Central Catholic Junior/Senior High School has been placed on administrative leave after police arrested him during a prostitution sting last Saturday.

Philip O’Neil, 65, of Heroult Road, Worcester, was one of 16 people arrested. He is charged with paying for sexual conduct and was released on personal recognizance. His case was continued to Oct. 12.

“Obviously the administration doesn’t want this to be distracting in the school community, so he’s on leave,” said Raymond L. Delisle, a spokesman for the Worcester Diocese. Mr. Delisle did not know how long the leave would last but said it started Monday.

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TULSA (OK)
NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma –
A Tulsa church responded Friday to questions raised about their handling of allegations of sexual abuse on their campus.

Court records show employees at south Tulsa’s Victory Christian Center waited two weeks before reporting allegations that a man had raped a 13-year-old girl.

An arrest report for Chris Denman, 19, states that the girl told Victory Christian employees on August 15 that she was raped by Denman in a stairwell on the campus. Those employees notified the girl’s parents and police on August 30.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Huffington Post

John Rudolf

A Philadelphia judge on Friday granted a condemned man a rare hearing to weigh whether prosecutors failed to disclose key evidence indicating the true motive behind a grisly killing nearly 30 years ago.

The ruling is a major break for Terry Williams, 46, slated to be the first prisoner in more than 50 years to be executed in Pennsylvania while still appealing his sentence. Attorneys for Williams say his life should be spared due to his traumatic and violent childhood, and the fact that he was sentenced to die for killing a man who sexually abused him and other teenage boys. …

But jurors never heard Williams’ claims that he and Norwood were involved sexually, or that Norwood was implicated in the sexual abuse of underage teenage boys in his church congregation.

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CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Times

A pastor was sentenced Friday to 330 years in prison for sexually assaulting five boys between the ages of 9 and 15 in his Lake Forest apartment between 2007 and 2011.

Oscar D. Perez, 69, was an Apostolic pastor and bishop at Iglesia Antigua, a church that rented space at St. George’s Episcopalian Church in Laguna Hills.

Perez befriended various families at the church, enlisted children to help with church services, and eventually began to invite the victims over to his apartment, sometimes for sleepovers, prosecutors said.

Perez was arrested and charged in the assault of two victims in September 2011 after a boy told his mother of the abuse. Further investigation yielded three more apparent victims.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Seattle PI

SEATTLE — A minister and former foster parent accused of sexually abusing at least 10 young boys pleaded guilty Thursday to a number of charges, including child rape.

Timothy L. Dampier, 39, pleaded guilty to a total of 22 counts involving ten victims between the ages of nine and 17 years old, according to prosecutors.

Dampier had been involved in a number of Seattle-area youth programs at the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, New Hope Baptist Church, Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center, Ruther Child Center, Samuel House, Union Gospel Mission and Seattle Parks and Recreation. He also works as a minister at several Seattle churches, detectives said.

The allegations of abuse came to light after Dampier was hired as a musician at the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in the city’s Central District in April 2011. Prosecutors say he committed the crimes between 1997 and 2011.

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ALASKA
Fairbanks News-Miner

Dermot Cole

The Rev. Pat Bergquist, a Catholic priest from the Fairbanks diocese, is to receive the “Priest of Integrity Award” this weekend from a Catholic group at its Boston conference, recognizing his writings about the clergy sexual abuse scandal in his book “The Long Dark Winter’s Night: Reflections of a Priest in a Time of Pain and Privilege.”

A press release from the Voice of the Faithful says the award “acknowledges specific actions demonstrating the leadership needed in the Catholic Church.”

Bergquist, the former parish priest at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church in Fairbanks, is now pastor at Holy Mary of Guadalupe Parish, Healy; St. Theresa’s Parish, Nenana. He also works with those at Clear Air Force Base and the villages of Tanana and Huslia.

“Bergquist forces readers to reflect on the raw wounds exposed by the scandals with an uncompromising authenticity and brokenness, all within the context of universal truths spoken by prophets, poets, and in iconic passages of Scripture,” said Bill Casey, former VOTF trustee, who nominated Bergquist for the Priest of Integrity Award, the press release said.

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JOLIET (IL)
CNN

JOLIET, Ill (CNN) – A Joliet area priest removed from ministry over a sexual abuse allegation has been reinstated.

Reverend F. Lee Ryan allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy in the 1970s. The now-52-year-old accuser said he and Ryan had a relationship for more than a year.

The man confided in Ryan that he was gay, and things turned sexual as the two became closer. He believed they were dating.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Kansas City, Missouri, resident has filed a lawsuit against the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese claiming that a now-deceased priest sexually abused him over 45 years ago.

In the lawsuit filed on Thursday, the plaintiff – identified only as John Doe, F.A., and now a resident of Florida – claims that Father Jerry Wegenek abused him when he was 11-year-old between 1966 and 1967. The alleged victim says that this was a case of repressed memory, and didn’t remember the alleged abuse until 2010.

Father Wegenek, who died last year and had never been named in a sexual abuse lawsuit, was assigned to St. Gabriel’s and St. Patrick’s parishes during the time of the alleged abuse.

In a statement, the Diocese said that Wegenek was removed from ministry in June of 1994 following an allegation of sexual misconduct with a teenage boy in the 1970′s, but they had not received any allegation of sexual misconduct by him prior to 1994.

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WEST ROXBURY (MA)
The Bulletin

By Zack Huffman
September 13, 2012

A second alleged victim of abuse from Rev. James J. Foley publicly spoke out Monday morning about his experiences for the first time.

Foley Jr., now 60, was assigned to St. Ann’s in Dorchester in 1978 before moving to Holy Name in West Roxbury in 1981.

It was at Holy Name when he was alleged to have had committed abuse.

Later, Foley served in Scituate, Beverly and was in New Mexico when the first allegations of abuse came out in 1999. In that same year, Foley was placed on health leave and was formally banned from ministering to minors by the Boston Archdiocese, which had ordered him back to the Commonwealth.

Since then, Foley’s case has remained in limbo while in the church’s internal legal system. Meanwhile, Foley has reportedly remained on the payroll of the Archdiocese, while maintaining his own law practice.

The second victim, who requested that he not be identified, decided to come forward in case there were any other victims in the Parkway area that were remaining.

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WALTHAM (MA)
BishopAccountability.org

Foley was accused in 1999 of sexually abusing an altar boy (Accuser #1) on one occasion at Holy Name parish and sent for assessment and treatment at Southdown. Foley denied the allegation but was restricted from parish and youth ministry. In 2002, he was accused of criminally abusing many boys at Holy Name, in a letter an informant sent to a local newspaper, which passed the allegation to the archdiocese. In 2011, Foley was accused of repeated sexual abuse of an altar boy (Accuser #2) at Holy Name, from 1984 or 1985 to 1996, beginning at age 11 or 12. Accuser #1 came forward anonymously in 2002. Accuser #2 came forward anonymously in 2012. Below we provide an illustrated assignment record of Foley, who worked in the Boston and Santa Fe archdioceses. Then we offer links to articles about Foley, and an extensive collection of relevant documents.

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UNITED STATES
YubaNet

By: Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2012 – Since the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) filed a formal request for an investigation one year ago to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague alleging that top-ranking Vatican officials are committing crimes against humanity including abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests, hundreds of additional survivors are coming forward.

In this short year the movement of survivors across the globe has grown significantly. SNAP now has members in 67 different countries. Visits to the SNAP website come from 122 countries. “Survivors are creating a worldwide movement in response to crimes by priests that have been committed across the globe,” said CCR lead attorney, Pam Spees.

Survivors have discovered that in spite of coming from different time zones, countries and cultures and even though they speak many different languages, all had similar experiences. SNAP President Barbara Blaine said, “First we were sexually violated and assaulted by priests, nuns, brothers or other authority figures, and then we were betrayed by church officials who enabled and covered up the crimes. Regardless of where they occurred, our experiences are eerily similar.” The insights and mutual support survivors give to each other also challenges survivors to recognize how their healing is intrinsically tied to their efforts to protect others and stop sexual violence.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 14, 2012
By John L Allen Jr

Charles Chaput, whose blunt speech and strong leadership style made him both a celebrated and a controversial figure for almost fifteen years in Denver, was installed as the ninth Archbishop of Philadelphia on September 8, 2011. To say the very least, he’s had a tumultuous first year on the job.

The very day Chaput arrived, he was informed that the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, Anita Guzzardi, had been suspended. She would later plead guilty to embezzling almost $1 million over a decade, to support a gambling addiction. The experience hinted at two constants Chaput has faced — scandal and red ink.

The past twelve months have also brought:
•The trial of Monsignor William Lynn, which ended in the first-ever conviction of a church official not for sexually abusing a minor, but for allegedly covering it up. Lynn was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison, and is behind bars while the case is on appeal.
•Review of the cases of 27 priests suspended after a damning 2011 Grand Jury report on the handing of sex abuse allegations. So far, seven priests have been permanently removed from ministry by Chaput, seven have been reinstated, and one has died, while decisions are pending for the rest.

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WICHITA (KS)
The Wichita Eagle

By Stan Finger
The Wichita Eagle
Published Friday, Sep. 14, 2012, at 4:05 p.m.

James Conley, who was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Wichita, has been named the bishop of Lincoln, Neb., by Pope Benedict XVI.

Conley has spent the past four years as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Denver.

“I am honored, and humbled, by this appointment,” Conley told the Denver Catholic Register. “There is nothing more important for a bishop than the care of souls.”

Conley said he needed to rely on God’s grace “for this great responsibility.”

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UNITED STATES
Joyful Heart Foundation

We’ve all been reminded this week of the solace we found eleven years ago in the communal sense of shock and the shared resolve to heal from the horrible losses we experienced on September 11. No doubt, scars still remain. But together, we faced down our fear, we shored one another up against our new-found sense of vulnerability and shook off the stunning betrayal of our belief that we were safe from attack.

Whether we experienced the impact of 9/11 directly or indirectly, that spirit of mutual support has nurtured much of whatever healing we have achieved both as individuals and as a community.

In many ways, the power of that all-encompassing response to a huge catastrophe like 9/11, which had such devastating consequences for so many, may also hold valuable lessons for individuals who experience trauma on a less spectacular scale.

As we collectively mourned this week for the thousands who died on 9/11 and in the subsequent wars that those attacks unleashed, I was attending a national conference on abuse and trauma, including childhood sexual abuse. And as I sifted through both sad and inspiring memories from eleven years ago, I couldn’t help but wonder how child victims of sexual abuse might also be shored up by such an ongoing validation and community-wide declaration of support and nurturance for the traumatic disruption in their young lives.

But because sexual abuse is most often a private, rather than a public upheaval in a child’s world, children are more likely to find themselves fighting to restore a sense of safety on their own, in silence. And sadly, because of socialized norms of masculinity that discourage boys from disclosing feelings of vulnerability or fear, males who experience childhood sexual abuse may face an even higher hurdle to seeking outside help and support. Imagine the positive difference in the lives of our men, their families and communities if men’s acknowledgement of painful experiences and their expression of a range of deep emotions were encouraged rather than belittled by our cultural standards.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Patch

By Benjamin Paulin

Indecent assault charges have been dropped against a Walpole priest from Blessed Sacrament Church, Emile “Mike” Boutin.

Prosecutors dropped the case, July 31, at Stoughton District Court when the then 21-year-old accuser, who alleged that Boutin had grabbed him inappropriately, refused to testify.

“The alleged victim contacted the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office and communicated that he did not wish to testify at trial and asking that he not be forced to do so. At that time, a Nolle Prosequi was entered in the case, withdrawing the charges from consideration by the court,” Norfolk County DA spokesman David Traub said.

“Police have brought no other charges and there has been no additional information provided that would indicate other charges,” Traub said.

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ST. LOUIS (MO)
Riverfront Times

By Jessica LussenhopFri., Sep. 14 2012

In these jaded times, we’re somewhat accustomed to hearing about sexual misconduct by Catholic priests. Less so from Episcopal priests. After all, they have to live by way fewer crazy rules.

They can have sex, they can marry, they can be gay. Hell, they can even be women, believe it or not.

But one local priest is in hot water because of a letter that was forwarded to several media outlets, including the Riverfront Times. In it, the anonymous author condemned the priest for his side-gig as an erotic photographer.

According to his online bio, Father John Kenneth Blair graduated the University of Missouri-Columbia, Eden Theological Seminary and Lindenwood University. He has a Masters of Divinity and an MA in counseling, and is the “Manager of Spiritual Care and CPE Supervisor for Christian Hospital.” He’s also certified to counsel drug and alcohol addiction sufferers.

The Post-Dispatch broke the story yesterday, seemingly spurred by a letter that was also received by the RFT. The anonymous author starts with a lengthy description of Blair’s credentials, then includes a couple dozen photos of naked and semi-nude women purportedly pulled from Blair’s Model Mayhem account, his Facebook page, and from the artwork page of Shameless Grounds, the sex-positive coffee house in Fox Park.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 14, 2012

Kansas City Catholic officials are now admitting that they kept secret for 18 years about credible child sex abuse allegations against a local priest.

18 years of secrecy. That gives a predator many more opportunities to victimize children, destroy evidence, intimidate victims, threaten witnesses, discredit whistleblowers, fabricate alibis, and escape detection.

Shame on every single current and former church staffer, volunteer and member (and there were likely a dozen or more) who knew of or suspected Fr. Wegenek’s crimes and stayed silent. How do they live with the realization that for years and years, they let a credibly accused child molester live and work among unsuspecting families and probably sexually assault more kids?

We hope every person who was hurt by Fr. Wegenek steps forward. We hope every person who saw, suspected or knew of Fr. Wegenek’s crimes will find the decency to speak up.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 14, 2012

Pope Benedict has accepted the resignation of the Bishop of Lincoln, Fabian Bruskewitz. Given Bruskewitz’s actions over the past decade, we are grateful that he is no longer in his position.

For yrs, Bruskewitz has violated the weak, vague and largely unenforced sex abuse policy. He has publicly admonished the church hierarchy for trying to force bishops to obey it; something Bruskewitz believes is not in its power to do. He has also repeatedly balked at allowing outsiders into his diocese to even look at his abuse policies.

USA Today

Bruskewitz has also been particularly stubborn on releasing the names of predator priests publicly, and has refused multiple requests to make a list available on his diocesan website of priests who have credible accusations of abuse against them.

SNAP

In Bruskewitz’s place, the Vatican has elevated Fr. James Conley to become Lincoln’s next bishop. For the past four years, Fr. Conley has been an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of Denver.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

By ERIN ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

The new bishop of the Lincoln Catholic Diocese, James D. Conley has no plans to change the conservative philosophies and practices established by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.

Conley, auxiliary bishop of Denver, Colo., was named the ninth bishop of the Lincoln diocese Friday. He will assume the role held by Bruskewitz since 1992.

“I have held the Diocese of Lincoln in high esteem, it is rich with vocation, Catholic education and family life. I am not going to mess around with that,” he said during Friday’s press conference announcing his appointment. “I plan to continue to build that up and encourage it.”

With Conley’s assignment, Pope Benedict XVI formally accepted Bruskewitz’s resignation — which he tendered in September 2010 on his 75th birthday, as required by Canon Law.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Patriot-Ledger

GateHouse News Service

Posted Sep 14, 2012 @ 10:00 AM

CANTON —

A man who said a local priest groped him while they were in the Blue Hills Reservation two years ago has refused to testify and the case has been dropped, Norfolk County prosecutors confirmed Friday.

Prosecutors decided not to proceed with charges of indecent assault and battery against the Rev. Emile R. Boutin Jr., 48, of Walpole.

Boutin was a priest at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Walpole and before that, at Immaculate Conception Church in Stoughton. Parishioners knew him as Father Mike.

In June 2010, a 21-year-old man told State Police that he had been touched inappropriately in a wooded area behind the Route 138 Park and Ride lot on the Canton-Milton line. The lot is bordered on three sides by the Blue Hills Reservation, parts of which are a wildlife conservation area.

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LINCOLN (NE)
KLKN

Posted By: KLKN Newsroom
8@klkntv.com

Pope Benedict has named Denver auxiliary bishop James D. Conley the ninth Bishop of Lincoln.

The Pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Lincoln.

Bishop Conley is a native of Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, and a convert to Catholicism. He served as a priest for 23 years before his episcopal ordination, including 10 years of service to the holy father as an official in the Vatican congregation for bishops in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Denver on April 10, 2008. For his episcopal motto, Bishop Conley chose the same motto as the great 19th-century English convert, John Henry Cardinal Newman, “cor ad cor loquitur,” which means “heart speaks to heart.”

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INDIANA
The Message

By RICK JILLSON (Message Editor)

Over the past several weeks, Bishop Charles C. Thompson has touched upon the strategic planning process that is ongoing in the Diocese of Evansville in nearly every homily he has delivered. “This is a challenging time for us, but it can also be a time for opportunity,” he recently told parishioners at St. Rupert Church in Red Brush. “It presents an opportunity to ask ourselves, ‘How do we best serve our people and the Church in the 21st century? How do we learn to use our gifts, talents and resources in new ways that meet the needs of the Church and its people?’”

The answers to these questions are at the very heart of the strategic planning process, which enters a critical new phase in the weeks ahead. Beginning Monday, Sept. 17, a series of seven deanery meetings (one in each diocesan deanery) will take place over a 10-day period. Each meeting will be attended by priests, pastoral life coordinators, deacons and staff members from each parish in the deanery, along with principals of all schools within the deanery, strategic planning committee members and three non-staff members from each parish.

During these meetings, attendees will review the changes being proposed within their deanery and throughout the diocese. These changes include the merging and/or linking of some diocesan churches and schools, as well as a redefined role for some Church properties.

This proposed restructuring is a result of a number of key factors, including:
A shift in our population — as in many other communities, the Diocese of Evansville has experienced a population shift from the city to the suburbs.
Advancements in technology — modern transportation and improvements to roads make it far easier to travel from place to place than in the days when some of our churches and school buildings were constructed. In addition, computers, email and smart phones have dramatically changed the speed and ease with which schools and churches can communicate with families.
A declining number of priests — today, there are 46 active priests serving 69 parishes, and many of these men are nearing retirement age.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
September 15, 201212:00AM

THE Catholic priest leading his diocese’s response to the effects of its own historic child sex abuse says the hurt caused continues to be felt years, and generations, after the crimes themselves.

“The church has failed,” Father Geoff Mulhearn said of the crimes in NSW’s Hunter region. “I can see the pain this abuse has caused.”

For decades leading up to the 1990s, three priests, Vince Ryan, Jim Fletcher and Denis McAlinden, abused young boys and girls in the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle, in the Hunter Valley.

The total number of their victims may be in the hundreds, while more than one of those involved in investigating or responding to these priests’ abuse describes it as “organised crime”. Ryan and Fletcher were ultimately jailed. McAlinden died before charges could be brought.

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CALIFORNIA
Lodi News-Sentinel

Posted: Friday, September 14, 2012

By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Former Lockeford priest Michael Kelly says that he did not sexually abuse a 12-year-old former altar boy in about 2000.

“I am completely and totally innocent of these allegations; they are utterly untrue,” Kelly said in an email to the News-Sentinel from his native Ireland. “Never, ever, did I do anything of the sort to the plaintiff, or to anyone else, for that matter.”

Kelly responded to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Stockton by a 24-year-old man who was an altar boy in San Andreas when Kelly was lead priest there. The suit alleges that Kelly sexually abused the plaintiff more than a decade ago.

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UNITED KINGDOM
DWF

Date: 18/09/12

Andrea Ward and Denise Brosnan consider the potential implications for local authorities following the recent Court of Appeal decision in JGE v Trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust (2012) and ask: will there be an extension of the doctrine of vicarious liability to the relationship between local authorities and foster carers?

Background

The doctrine of vicarious liability establishes that an employer is liable for the tortious acts or omissions of its employees. It is a strict liability principle, in other words, the employer automatically becomes responsible for the employee’s tort without the need for actual fault on the part of the employer. The courts have been extending the range of relationships giving rise to potential vicarious liability.

In November 2011 Mr Justice MacDuff determined as a preliminary issue in the High Court that a Roman Catholic diocese could be vicariously liable for the wrongful acts of one of its priests given the nature and closeness of the relationship between them. The diocese appealed, denying that the priest was in the service of the diocese and that he was at all times following his vocation and calling as a priest. It was denied that the diocese was vicariously liable for the acts or omissions of priests in the diocese: specifically, a priest is the holder of an office, not an employee of the diocese.

Court of Appeal Findings

On appeal, the first instance decision was upheld. In particular, the Court of Appeal found that the relationship between a bishop and a Roman Catholic parish priest was so close in character to that of employer and employee to make it just and fair to hold a diocese vicariously liable for the wrongful acts of one of his priests. In determining whether vicarious liability can be involved in a case of this type, there is a two-stage test. The first stage involves the relationship between the Diocesan Trust (to be equated with the then diocesan bishop) and the parish priest. The second stage involves the connection between that “employment” relationship and the alleged acts of sexual abuse on the part of the parish priest. In this case, the parish priest did not match every facet of being an employee but the result of each of these tests led to the same conclusion that he was more like an employee than an independent contractor. The Court of Appeal was split and did not find it an easy case to decide so an appeal seems probable.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. — Pope Benedict XVI has named Bishop James D. Conley, S.T.L., 57, auxiliary bishop of Denver, the ninth Bishop of Lincoln, Neb., and accepted the resignation of Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz, 77, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Lincoln.

The appointment and resignation were publicized in Washington Sept. 14, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Bishop Conley is a native of Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, and a convert to Catholicism. He served as a priest for 23 years before his episcopal ordination, including 10 years of service to the Holy Father as an official in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop of Denver on April 10, 2008. For his episcopal motto, Bishop Conley chose the same motto as the great 19th-century English convert, John Henry Cardinal Newman, “cor ad cor loquitur,” which means “heart speaks to heart.”

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Nigel Hunt
The Advertiser
September 14, 2012

THE STATE’S top prosecutor is considering whether there is enough evidence to charge Catholic priest Ian Dempsey with the alleged rape of Archbishop John Hepworth.

SA Senator Nick Xenophon caused a scandal last year when he named Father Dempsey in Parliament, after the Adelaide diocese of the Catholic Church had refused to suspend him.

In a major development, legal sources have told The Advertiser police now believe there is enough evidence to charge Father Dempsey with multiple counts of rape and indecent assault arising from incidents that occurred in the 1960s.

The police move to seek a legal opinion from the Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber, QC, on the strength of the evidence gathered in the 10-month investigation indicates the investigation is in its final stages. The sources said Mr Kimber has asked Sexual Crimes Investigation Branch detectives to follow up on several areas. Senior police and Mr Kimber yesterday declined to comment on the status of the investigation.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Lowell Sun

By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.comlowellsun.com
Updated: 09/14/2012

STOUGHTON — Charges have been dropped against a suspended priest, formerly from St. Mary’s Parish in Chelmsford, who was accused of groping a man at a rest area in Canton two years ago.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office officially dropped a charge of indecent assault and battery against “Father Mike,” the Rev. Emile Boutin Jr., 47, on July 29 in Stoughton District Court after Boutin’s accuser refused to testify against the priest, according to Norfolk DA spokesman David Traub.

“The victim asked the commonwealth that he not be compelled to testify,” Traub said.

The 21-year-old victim alleged that Boutin, a co-pastor at the Blessed Sacrament in Walpole, followed him into a wooded area behind the Route 138 Park and Ride lot at about 8:30 a.m. on June 28, 2010, and grabbed him inappropriately while the victim was trying to urinate.

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CALIFORNIA/IRELAND
Irish Central

By
KERRY O’SHEA,
IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Friday, September 14, 2012

Another lawsuit has been filed in California against the Diocese of Stockton, members of the clergy, and the now disgraced Father Michael Kelly for another round of allegations of sexual abuse against children.

The new lawsuit, which comes just months after a settlement of $3.75 million was reached between Fr. Kelly and a separate abuse victim, claims that Fr. Kelly sexually abused a child in the early 2000s.

Included in the lawsuit are Diocese of Stockton, Bishop Steven Blaire, Monsignor Richard Ryan and Father Michael Kelly, a native of Tipperary in Ireland.

Fr Kelly joined the Stockton diocese in 1973 after completing his seminary studies in Thurles, Co. Tipperary. He returned to Ireland after a civil jury had ruled that Fr. Kelly had indeed molested a young boy. Since it was a civil case, Kelly had broken no law by leaving the country.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Croyden Advertiser

A CATHOLIC priest has been arrested after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

Francis Moran, of St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church, in Brook Road, Thornton Heath, was questioned and then bailed by police last Thursday.

In a statement read out during Mass on Sunday, Archbishop Peter Smith informed parishioners that Canon Moran, 52, had been “temporarily withdrawn” from church life and moved away from the parish.

He added: “I want to make it clear that this action does not in any way imply guilt on his part, nor does it constitute Canon Francis’ removal from his office as parish priest.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service

Vatican City, (VIS) – The Holy Father:

– Appointed Bishop James D. Conley, auxiliary of the archdiocese of Denver, U.S.A., as bishop of Lincoln (area 61,732, population 580,826, Catholics 95,584, priests 147, permanent deacons 3, religious 224), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

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CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Karen Florin
Publication: theday.com

Hartford — Mary Howarth Maynard was looking for an apology from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich along with a $1.1 million settlement.

The 48-year-old New London woman, who went public Thursday with the story of her molestation in 1976 at the hands of the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea, will be getting the money, but may never hear the word “sorry” from a church official.

Her civil lawsuit against the diocese, retired Bishop Daniel P. Reilly and Monsignor Thomas Bride was resolved in Superior Court just as a jury assembled for the first day of trial.

The lack of an apology was disappointing, Maynard said, but she did get the satisfaction of confronting Reilly, who had transferred Shea to St. Joseph Church in New London knowing the priest had a history of fondling young girls.

“I told him, ‘Shame on you,’” Maynard said.

Had the case gone to trial, plaintiff’s attorneys Robert I. Reardon Jr. and Kelly E. Reardon would have called Reilly as their first witness and followed up with several other Shea victims.

Reilly, who is 84 years old and lives in a church rectory in Worcester, arrived at the courthouse mid-morning with Bride and appeared relaxed as he sat on the witness stand while an associate from the diocese’s law firm tested the courtroom acoustics and asked practice questions.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Lincoln Journal Star

By ERIN ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

Bishop James D. Conley, S.T.L., 57, auxiliary bishop of Denver, is the new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, replacing Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, who has lead the diocese since 1992.

Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement Friday morning.

Conley is the ninth bishop of the Lincoln Diocese. A formal announcement and introduction of Conley will occur at a press conference at 10 a.m. Friday at the Blessed John XXIII Diocesean Center, 3700 Sheridan Blvd.

Bruskewitz, 77, submitted his letter of resignation to the Pope in September, 2010 when he turned 75, as required by Canon Law.

Conley is a native of Overland Park, Kan., and a convert to Catholicism. He served as a priest for 23 years before his episcopal ordination, including 10 years of service to the Pope as an official in the Vatican Congregation for Bishops in Rome.

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LINCOLN (NE)
Catholic News Agency

Lincoln, Neb., Sep 14, 2012 / 05:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As the Diocese of Lincoln celebrates its 125th anniversary, Bishop James D. Conley has been named the region’s ninth bishop by Pope Benedict XVI.

“He will serve the people of Lincoln with great enthusiasm, strong leadership, and with a deep love for Jesus Christ and the Church,” Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver said in a Sept. 13 statement.

Bishop Conley, who has served as the auxiliary bishop of Denver since 2008, is a Kansas native and was raised Presbyterian.

He will succeed Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz, who has served the diocese for over 20 years and submitted his resignation according to Church procedure upon reaching his 75th birthday in 2010.

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FRANCE
la Montagne

Mis en examen pour viol et agressions sexuelles sur mineur de 15 ans et sur mineurs de plus de quinze ans, un prêtre de Riom, âgé de 43 ans, a été placé en détention provisoire, jeudi 6 septembre, à Saint-Etienne.

Pour ces faits qui se seraient déroulés en Centrafrique entre 2007 et juillet 2010, où il avait été envoyé comme prêtre, il s’est lui-même dénoncé à la justice, sur les recommandations de l’archevêque de Clermont, Mgr Hippolyte Simon. Et ce, en adressant un courrier au procureur de la République de Clermont le 31 janvier 2011, six mois après son retour en France, en juillet 2010.

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FRANKRIJK
RKnieus

PARIJS (RKnieuws.net) – Een priester van het Franse bisdom Clermont is gearresteerd omdat hij zich schuldig maakte aan verkrachting en seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen. De feiten gebeurden tussen 2007 en 2010 in Centraal-Afrika.

De 43-jarige man werd in 1995 priester gewijd. Op 30 juni 2007 werd hij als Fidei Donum priester naar de Centraal-Afrikaanse Republiek gezonden. De priester misbruikte er minstens 3 jongens jonger dan 15 jaar. Hij is opgesloten in de gevangenis van Saint-Etienne.

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RHODE ISLAND
Catholic Culture

CWN – September 14, 2012

A Rhode Island judge has ruled that the niece of Gabrielle Mee does not have legal standing to challenge her late aunt’s will, which left $60 million to the Legion of Christ.

The niece, who according to the ruling “had seen or spoken to her aunt only once in the 46 years before her death,” did “not seek any personal recovery in this litigation.” Instead, she contended that her aunt would not have left the funds to the Legion had she known more about the scandal surrounding Father Marcial Maciel, the order’s founder.

Mee’s husband, a bank director, died in 1985, and four years later the widow came in contact with the Legion. In 1991, according to the ruling, Mee “became a consecrated woman with the Legion of Christ,” after “the Legion of Christ waived its usual consecration requirements to allow Mrs. Mee to expeditiously become a consecrated woman within their religious community.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Rhode Island Superior Court

[A copy of the Rhode Island Superior Court decision involving the Legionaries of Christ.]

DECISION
SILVERSTEIN, J. Before the Court are Defendants‟/Appellees‟ (Defendants) Motions for Summary Judgment, pursuant to Super. R. Civ. P. 56.1 This Decision applies to the three separate, unconsolidated cases captioned above. The Court heard oral argument regarding all three matters together over the course of three days. In the will case (C.A. No. PB 10-1195), Plaintiff/Appellant Mary Lou Dauray is appealing a probate court Order admitting the will of Gabrielle D. Mee, claiming the will was executed under undue influence, fraud, and mistake in

—-

1 Originally, Defendants brought motions to dismiss rather than motions for summary judgment in the civil actions numbered PB 11-2640 and PB 11-2757. These motions have been converted to motions for summary judgment. See Tidewater Realty, LLC v. State, 942 A.2d 986, 992 (R.I. 2008) (providing court may convert motions to dismiss to motions for summary judgment).

—-

the inducement. In the inter vivos gifts case (C.A. No. 11-2640), Ms. Dauray claims the Defendants unduly influenced and fraudulently induced Mrs. Mee into giving approximately $60 million to the Defendants—particularly, the Legion of Christ.2 In the trust case (C.A. No. PB 11-2757), Ms. Dauray alleges that Defendant Bank of America, N.A. (the Bank), as successor-in-interest by merger or otherwise to Fleet National Bank, breached its fiduciary duties as trustee of multiple trusts. Defendants move for summary judgment in all three matters, arguing mainly that Ms. Dauray has not and cannot present any evidence creating a genuine dispute of fact that Defendants did not unduly influence or fraudulently induce Mrs. Mee‟s actions and that the Bank did not breach any fiduciary duties.

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VATICAN CITY
CBS Springfield

[court decision]

Updated: Sep 14, 2012

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) – A U.S. judge has thrown out a lawsuit contesting the will of an elderly widow who gave some $60 million to the disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ.

But Judge Michael Silverstein of Rhode Island Superior Court found evidence that the woman, Gabrielle Mee, had been unduly persuaded to change her trusts and will and give the Legion her money, detailing the process by which the Legion slowly took over control of her finances as she became more deeply involved in the movement.

Pope Benedict XVI took over the Legion in 2010 after a Vatican investigation determined that its founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, lived a double life: he sexually molested seminarians and fathered three children by two women. The pope ordered a wholesale reform of the order after finding serious problems with its very culture, and named a papal delegate to oversee it.

The Maciel scandal has been particularly damaging for the church given that the Mexican-born priest was held up by Pope John Paul II as a model for the faithful, admired for his perceived orthodoxy and ability to bring in money and new seminarians.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

September 13, 2012

By John P. Martin, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Msgr. William J. Lynn will stay in jail, at least for now.

A state appeals court Thursday rejected a bid by the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official to be free on bail while he appeals his historic child-endangerment conviction.

The Superior Court didn’t include an opinion with its order – or even identify which judge made the ruling.

But it effectively adopted the arguments of Philadelphia prosecutors that Lynn’s crime was serious and his sentence long enough to keep him behind bars.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — An appeals court has denied a bid for bail by a Philadelphia monsignor appealing his child-endangerment conviction.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports ( http://bit.ly/QeTZLT) the state Superior Court on Thursday rejected Monsignor William Lynn’s request for bail. His lawyers say he has a good chance of having his case overturned because of alleged trial errors.

Prosecutors argued freeing him on appeal would amount to unfair special treatment.

One of Lynn’s lawyers, Thomas Bergstrom, told the newspaper his defense team would “explore its options” after the ruling.

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UNITED STATES
The Savannah Reporter

By Guy Speckman

Published: Thursday, September 13, 2012

A Ponder The Thought favorite topic was forefront in national news of late with the trial of Bishop Finn in Kansas City. Finn was the first American bishop criminally charged and convicted in a clergy sex abuse scandal for failing to report suspected child abuse. He was found guilty in a non-jury trial and given two years of probation that was suspended and will be wiped from his record if he adheres to a set of conditions that include abuse reporting training and other miniscule tasks.

That last paragraph makes me laugh a little. Can you believe that he is the first ever to be charged? Seems almost incredulous to me.

The important part of this story is that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City – St. Joseph was also originally charged but those charges were dropped as part of Finn’s conviction. My initial reaction is what a joke! The tough talking prosecutors in Kansas City got weak kneed as they approached the finish line and the Catholic Church swept in with their money and bought one more fall guy in Bishop Finn.

I have a good Catholic friend who has devoted his life to teaching kids, much of it in Catholic schools. I respect him and his life’s work. Whenever I write about this he says that there are just as many pedophile newspaper publishers percentage wise in the country as there are priests by percentage. I don’t know if I agree with that, but assuming that to be true, it furthers my point in this case. The Catholic Church has spent over a hundred years moving priests from one community to another when these activities were discovered. Their only corrective action was to take a priest that had molested kids in one area of the country and move him to another area (sometimes only a few miles away), only to repeat the crime. I doubt the Missouri Press Association would cover up a pedophile publisher and ship some guy from St. Joseph to Montana.

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SEATTLE (WA)
Q13 Fox

[with video]

James Lynch
Q13 FOX News reporter

SEATTLE—
In May 2011, one of Timothy Dampier’s victims came forward and told his story — it marked the end of years of abuse Dampier had exterted on children he had contact with.

Dampier has been in jail since then and in court today, as one of his victim’s looked on, he pleaded guilty to 22 counts of child sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

Once a trusted leader in two Seattle churches Dampier had been a respected role model, but now he is viewed as a convicted felon and predatory child molester.

His appearance in court today was part of a plea deal that avoids a trial and ensures his victims won’t have to relive the abuse on the witness stand.

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SEATTLE (WA)
The Seattle Times

By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

A Seattle minister and musician charged last year with the sexual abuse of young boys pleaded guilty Thursday to 22 counts.

Timothy L. Dampier, 39, abused 10 boys between 1997 and 2011, some members of his congregation, other members of youth programs he played a role in, according to the King County Prosecutor’s Office.

His guilty plea is for charges that include: first- and second-degree rape of a child; first-, second- and third-degree child molestation; sexual exploitation of a minor; and possession of child pornography, said Dan Donohoe, prosecutor’s office spokesman.

Dampier has served as a foster parent and worked at the Bellevue Boys & Girls Club, according to court documents. Seattle police say he once worked at Samuel House, a group home in Kent, and the Union Gospel Mission.

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FORT WORTH (TX)
NBC DFW

By Frank Heinz

After more than a decade, a woman is bringing charges of sexual assualt against a Fort Worth pastor.

Crowley police arrested Pastor Darrell Blair Sept. 10 after a woman told them he sexually assaulted her in 2000.

The woman said between the ages of 14 and 18 she was molested four times by Blair. She said she was too afraid to say anything until now.

Blair is a pastor at the New Breed Christian Center on Riverside Drive in Fort Worth.

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UNITED STATES
Real Screen

[film trailer]

Kelly Anderson

Academy Award-winning doc director Alex Gibney (pictured) returns to the Toronto International Film Festival this year, with a film telling the story of a group of deaf men who launched one of the first clerical sex abuse protests in the U.S.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, which was recently announced as a London Film Festival selection, delves into the controversial subject matter of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, focusing on a case first opened by a group of men coming forward after years had passed since they’d been allegedly abused at a school for the deaf in Wisconsin.

The alleged abuse by Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy of more than 100 children over two decades at the school is at the center of Gibney’s doc, which argues that there was a systematic cover up that went all the way to the current Pope, who had received letters concerning Murphy when he’d headed a council overseeing child sex abuse cases as a cardinal. Murphy was never defrocked as a priest and was never criminally charged for sexual abuse, although the priest did admit to abusing children.

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JOLIET (IL)
WLS

September 13, 2012 (JOLIET, Ill.) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet will allow a priest to resume limited duties after the Vatican determined his alleged sexual relationship with a teenager in the 1970s didn’t meet the criteria of a crime under church law at that time.

The diocese said the Rev. F. Lee Ryan will minister to homebound parishionersof St. Edmund Catholic Church in Watseka, south of Kankakee, and St. Joseph Mission in Crescent City. Ryan was removed from the ministry in 2010 because of the allegations.

A 52-year-old Florida man had alleged that he was 14 when he and Ryan began the relationship.

Church officials said the man’s complaint was assessed by a local review board, then sent to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Catholic officials in Rome decided that because of church law in the 1970s, which stated that 14 was the age of consent, Ryan did not commit a serious crime by the church’s standards and could not be permanently removed from ministry, a spokesman for Bishop R. Daniel Conlon said.

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AUSTRALIA
Geelong Advertiser

Danny Lannen | September 14th, 2012

MORE than 500 Geelong region people are believed to have suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of religious and other organisations, it has been revealed.

The figure was disclosed on Thursday as the region was labelled among Victoria’s worst for abuse inflicted by people in positions of trust in churches, schools and orphanages and other institutions.

“Cases from Geelong … some of the situations are appalling,” sexual crimes consultant and former chief of Victoria Police’s sex crimes squad Glenn Davies said.

“Individuals and communities have been re-victimised. Communities have been re-victimised in some instances where parishes had history, and priests had disposition to this sort of behaviour and weren’t removed or were moved around,” Mr Davies said, “and in another sense, with people having to go before a bureaucratic system to tell their story and being let down by another system.

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CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By DAVE ALTIMARI, daltimar@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

5:29 p.m. EDT, September 13, 2012
HARTFORD ——
A New London woman who says she was molested as a child by a now-deceased priest will receive $1.1 million from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Norwich after a retiring Superior Court judge spent his last day on the bench mediating the settlement.

Mary Maynard revealed her identity in court Thursday. She had charged that she was abused by the Rev. Thomas Shea in 1976 when he was pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in New London.

Her lawsuit alleged that diocese officials, including former Bishop Daniel Patrick Reilly, knew that Shea had a history of abuse allegations and moved him from parish to parish. …

As word spread in the courtroom Thursday that a settlement had been reached, Maynard turned to face Reilly, who was sitting no more than 5 feet away at the defense table.

“Shame on you,” she said to Reilly, who did not respond and was quickly led out of court.

“Through this whole process he’s been sitting there laughing and I just couldn’t understand that,” Maynard said. “He never apologized.”

Reilly was at Superior Court in Hartford preparing to testify as the first witness in what was scheduled to be at least a two-week trial when word filtered out of Judge Carl Schuman’s chambers that a settlement was afoot. …

Maynard said she was abused in 1976. Reilly was the bishop at that time. Reardon was planning to introduce hundreds of church documents that showed Reilly and others knew that Shea had been accused of abusing girls for many years yet installed him in a parish that had a girls’ school.

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JOLIET (IL)
Naperville Sun

By Janet Lundquist jlundquist@stmedianetwork.com

The Joliet Diocese is allowing a priest accused of molesting a 14-year-old Joliet boy in the 1970s to return to a limited ministry.

Naperville is in the Joliet Diocese.

In May 2010, after allegations of sexual abuse of a minor surfaced, the Rev. F. Lee Ryan was removed from his ministry at St. Edmund Parish in Watseka and St. Joseph Mission in Crescent City.

A spokesman for Bishop R. Daniel Conlon confirmed by email Wednesday that Ryan will be allowed “very narrow ministry” to homebound parishioners of St. Edmund Parish and St. Joseph Mission.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star

A Florida man who says he repressed memories for most of his adult life of being sexually abused by a priest filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The man, now 57, says he was abused by the Rev. Jerry Joseph Wegenek when he was about 11 years old.

Wegenek died last year at age 73. The suit says he was assigned to St. Gabriel and St. Patrick parishes in Kansas City when the abuse took place, which would have been in the late 1960s.

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MISSOURI
The New York Times

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 14, 2012

After losing its appeals, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has turned over about 180 documents that were subpoenaed by lawyers for a Roman Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse. The Survivors Network had argued that the documents, mostly e-mails, should remain confidential because they contained information about victims. The organization, the nation’s largest advocacy group for victims of clergy sexual abuse, was supported by rape crisis centers, news media outlets and several former prosecutors, but the Missouri Supreme Court upheld a judge’s order to comply.

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JOLIET (IL)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet

September 12, 2012

In late May of 2010 then Bishop J. Peter Sartain of the Diocese of Joliet informed the members of St. Edmund Parish in Watseka, Illinois and St. Joseph Mission in Crescent City, Illinois that their pastor, Father F. Lee Ryan was being placed on administrative leave because of a serious allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, alleged to have been perpetrated many years before.

The case was reviewed by the diocesan Review Committee and subsequently sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, as required by church law. That congregation determined that, under church law in force at the time of the alleged abuse, Father Ryan was not guilty of a grave delict (serious crime) and therefore could not be removed permanently from ministry.

Nevertheless, the local bishop always retains the right and obligation to manage the ministry of the diocese’s clergy for their welfare and the good of the people. After carefully reviewing the case, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, current Bishop of Joliet, has determined that Father Ryan may provide priestly ministry to the homebound parishioners of St. Edmund Parish and St. Joseph Mission, as approved by the current pastor. From time to time Father Ryan may request a review of this arrangement.

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JOLIET (IL)
Catholic Culture

CWN – September 14, 2012

The Diocese of Joliet has issued a statement on Father F. Lee Ryan, a priest permitted to resume limited ministry despite a serious abuse allegation.

In 2010, the priest was “placed on administrative leave because of a serious allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, alleged to have been perpetrated many years before,” according to the statement.

“The case was reviewed by the diocesan Review Committee and subsequently sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, as required by Church law,” the statement continued. “That congregation determined that, under Church law in force at the time of the alleged abuse, Father Ryan was not guilty of a grave delict (serious crime) and therefore could not be removed permanently from ministry.”

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UNITED STATES
YouTube

Trailer for the movie Mea Maxima Culpa Silence in the House of God.

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RHODE ISLAND
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 13, 2012
By Jason Berry

A Rhode Island Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the scandal-ridden Legionaries of Christ that had alleged the religious order defrauded a wealthy widow out of millions of dollars. Yet the judge’s 39-page ruling details dubious fundraising tactics of Legionaries priests and seemingly opens a door for appeal.

“The transfer of millions of dollars worth of assets — through will, trust, and gifts — from a steadfastly spiritual, elderly woman to her trusted but clandestinely dubious spiritual leaders raises a red flag to this Court,” Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein of Providence, R.I., wrote in a summary judgment Sept. 7.

Pope Benedict ordered the scandal-battered Legionaries into a Vatican receivership in 2010, and appointed Cardinal Velasio De Paolis as delegate, or overseer of the order.

Silverstein dismissed the lawsuit against the Legionaries of Christ, Fr. Anthony Bannon and Bank of America on Sept. 7, ruling that Mary Lou Dauray, the niece of the late Gabrielle Mee, lacked the legal standing to sue.

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UNITED STATES
Variety

[movie trailer]

By Justin Chang

An HBO Documentary Films presentation of a Jigsaw production, in association with Wider Films Projects and Below the Radar Films, with the participation of Irish Film Board. Produced by Kristen Vaurio, Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider. Executive producers, Lori Singer, Jessica Kingdon, Sheila Nevins. Co-producer, Sloane Klevin. Directed, written by Alex Gibney.

With: Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Pat Kuehn, Arthur Budzinski, Jeff Anderson, Rembert Weakland, Thomas Doyle, Richard Sipe, Patrick J. Wall, Geoffrey Robertson, Laurie Goodstein, Jason Berry, Robert Mickens, Marco Politi. Voices: Jamey Sheridan, Chris Cooper, Ethan Hawke, John Slattery. Narrator: Alex Gibney. (English, Italian, American Sign Language dialogue)

Weaving a uniquely devastating account of priestly pedophilia into an excoriating indictment of the entire Vatican power structure, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” is an expansive and authoritative study of the widespread practice and concealment of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. Alex Gibney’s typically well-assembled, meticulously researched docu occasionally falters with over-aestheticized reconstructions of his subjects’ experiences, an unnecessary touch in light of their brave, chilling testimony and the horrific scope of the personal and institutional corruption conveyed here. Hard-hitting synthesis of established facts and new interviews merits theatrical exposure before its 2013 HBO airings.

With a staggering arsenal of interviews, documents and archival materials at his disposal, Gibney digs deep into the case of Lawrence Murphy, a priest alleged to have abused more than 200 boys while teaching at St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee from 1950-74. Four alums — Terry Kohut, Gary Smith, Pat Kuehn and Arthur Budzinski — recall in sign language about how Murphy repeatedly molested them well into their teenage years, painting an angry picture of how their disability rendered them especially vulnerable to the misdeeds of a trusted leader and made it even more difficult for them to tell others what was going on.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

September 13 Marks One-Year Anniversary of International Criminal Court Filing on Vatican Officials for Crimes Against Humanity

Posted by Barbara Blaine on September 13, 2012

Since the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) filed a formal request for an investigation one year ago to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague alleging that top-ranking Vatican officials are committing crimes against humanityincluding abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault of children by priests, hundreds of additional survivors are coming forward.

In this short year the movement of survivors across the globe has grown significantly. SNAP now has members in 67 different countries. Visits to the SNAP website come from 122 countries. “Survivors are creating a worldwide movement in response to crimes by priests that have been committed across the globe,” said CCR lead attorney, Pam Spees.

Survivors have discovered that in spite of coming from different time zones, countries and cultures and even though they speak many different languages, all had similar experiences. SNAP President Barbara Blaine said, “First we were sexually violated and assaulted by priests, nuns, brothers or other authority figures, and then we were betrayed by church officials who enabled and covered up the crimes. Regardless of where they occurred, our experiences are eerily similar.” The insights and mutual support survivors give to each other also challenges survivors to recognize how their healing is intrinsically tied to their efforts to protect others and stop sexual violence.

“SNAP members continue to welcome and invite anyone seeking support and information to contact SNAP,” Blaine says, “while we continue to work to hold those who enable and cover up sexual violence and torture to be held accountable.”

Spees says, “We encourage anyone with information about sex crimes and cover ups by church officials to report it to police and to contact us so that we can add it to our complaint.”

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.

MANCHESTER (NH)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 13, 2012

■Two clergy sex cases settle
■Victims urge bishop to do outreach
■On his 1 year anniversary, SNAP prods NH’s top Catholic official
■”Go beyond bare minimum,” group says, “and visit predators’ parishes”
■“And put names of pedophile priests on your website,” support group begs
■SNAP: For kids’ safety & victims’ healing, “it’s the LEAST any Catholic diocese should do”

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, a year after NH’s Catholic bishop was picked, clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will publicly
—disclose that two clergy sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against a NH priest have just settled,
—urge NH’s bishop to aggressively seek out other victims, witnesses, and whistleblowers of this child molesting cleric and others, and
—-beg him to post on his diocesan website – like 30 other bishops have done – the names of proven, admitted and credibly accused pedophile priests (to help protect innocent kids and heal wounded victims).

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday September 13 at 2:15 PM

WHERE
Outside the Manchester Diocese headquarters (“chancery office”’), 153 Ash Street (between Orange and Myrtle) in downtown Manchester.

WHO
Three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a Missouri man whose brother is a predator priest and who is the organization’s long time director

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.

CONNECTICUT
The Hartford Courant

By DAVE ALTIMARI, daltimar@courant.com
The Hartford Courant

2:27 p.m. EDT, September 13, 2012

A New London woman who says she was molested as a child by a now-deceased priest will receive $1.1 million as part of the settlement of her lawsuit with the Norwich Diocese.

The woman, referred to as Jane Doe in court documents, alleged she was abused by Father Thomas Shea in 1976 when he was pastor at St. Joseph’s Church in New London. She alleged that diocese officials, including former Bishop Daniel Patrick Reilly, knew Shea had a history of abuse allegations and moved him from parish to parish.

The settlement was reached Thursday just before the trial was set to start in Hartford Superior Court.

Reilly was in court Thursday morning preparing to testify as the first witness in what was supposed to be at least a two-week trial when word started filtering out of Judge Carl Schuman’s chambers that a settlement was afoot.

Superior Court Judge Robert Holzberg, on his last day as a judge before retiring, met with attorneys from both sides to iron out the last-minute deal.

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.

CONNECTICUT
The Day

By Karen Florin

Publication: theday.com
Published 09/13/2012

Hartford — A New London woman resolved her civil lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Norwich today just as her attorney was set to tell a jury how the late Rev. Thomas W. Shea molested her in 1976.

Mary Maynard, who had previously been known only as Jane Doe, had decided to go public with her story even though she had the right to remain anonymous. Her attorney said, after a judge had announced the $1.1 million settlement, that she wished the public to know there will be no secrets in her life.

A jury had been selected and evidence was to begin in Superior Court in Hartford when the diocese agreed to settle the case. Judge Robert L. Holzberg, who mediated the settlement on his last day of work as a judge, donned a black robe for the last time to announce the 11th-hour agreement from the bench. He is returning to private practice.

The talks began Wednesday afternoon, according to New London attorney Robert I. Reardon Jr., who represents the 49-year-old plaintiff. The outcome remained unresolved this morning, and the jurors assembled at the courthouse as instructed.

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.

JOLIET (IL)
WGN

[with video]

Katie Kormann
WGN News

1:34 p.m. CDT, September 13, 2012
JOLIET, Ill.—
A Joliet area priest removed from ministry over a sexual abuse allegation has been reinstated.

Reverend F. Lee Ryan allegedly had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy in the 1970s. The now-52-year-old accuser said he and Ryan had a relationship for more than a year.

The man confided in Ryan that he was gay, and things turned sexual as the two became closer. He believed they were dating.

The accuser said he did not tell anyone at the time, and it was only two years ago that he told his mother about his relationship with the family’s priest.

His mother spoke to a victims advocate who arranged for him to submit a complaint to the church.

The Vatican cited Canon No. 2359 in the 1917 Code of Canon Law to explain why the priest was not found guilty of violating church law. The code states that a cleric who violates the commandment forbidding adultery, by indecently touching a person under the age of 16, has committed a canonical crime.

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.

MIAMI (FL)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 13, 2012

A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is blasting Miami’s Catholic archbishop for keeping a controversial priest on the job despite two child sex abuse and cover up lawsuits against him. And the priest’s own parishioners have started an on-line petition drive to get him ousted.

Leaders of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are writing Archbishop Thomas Wenski about Fr. Rolando G. Garcia of St. Agatha’s parish in Miami. SNAP is outraged that Wenski is keeping Garcia in the parish, especially because one lawsuit against him has been settled and another is pending.

“It’s supposed to be ‘one strike and you’re out’ when it comes to child molesting Catholic clerics,” said Barbara Dorris, Outreach Director for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. “Wenski is deliberately breaking official church policy and endangering the safety of young lives.”

Last week, Garcia was sued – for the second time – for allegedly abusing a young boy. These alleged crimes took place over at least a year and a half in the 1980s. The victim, referred to in the suit as John Doe 94, also charges that the Miami archdiocesan officials actively hid an earlier abuse allegation against Fr. Garcia.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 13, 2012

Our hearts ache for the betrayed and wounded Catholics of Kansas City who again are learning about a predator priest through sources other than their bishop. Our hearts ache even more of course, for this victim of Fr. Wgenek and any others he may have hurt.

We commend this brave man for exposing this child molesting cleric and helping to shine light on this continuing abuse and cover up crisis. We hope his decision to seek justice in the courts will be healing for him.

Roughly 30 US bishops have posted names predator priest on their diocesan websites. We have repeatedly asked Finn to take this simple, inexpensive and proven step to helping victims heal. He refuses.

Imagine how much safer kids would be and how much better Catholics would feel if Finn took this practical step towards really making children safer and helping victims heal.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims and supporters will publicly
–announce a new child abuse lawsuit naming publicly for the first time a Kansas City priest,
–prod the bishop to post the names of credibly accused predators on diocesan website, and
–urge those who see, suspect or suffer clergy sex crimes and cover ups to keep calling police and prosecutors, not church officials.

WHEN
TODAY ————————Thursday, September 13 at 1:30 p.m.

WHERE
Outside the KC Catholic diocesan chancery office/headquarters, 20 W. 9th Street in downtown KC

WHO
Three-four members of a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis woman who is the organization’s long time outreach director

WHY
Clergy sex abuse victims will announce a new lawsuit naming Fr. Jerry J. Wegenek and the diocese of Kansas City MO as defendants. The suit says that diocesan officials were first warned about Wegenek in 2001 when a Kansas City man reported his abuse to them.

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.

PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

Monica Yant Kinney, Inquirer Columnist

The e-mail was brief and blunt.

“I would be happy to receive good and professional advice, but not when it is delivered as cynically as you have done it,” the writer scolded. “Christians do not speak to others that way.”

That missive is one of a dozen e-mails readers forwarded me from their remarkable electronic conversations with Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. From the moment the conservative yet high-tech cleric arrived to lead the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he made it his policy to connect with his new flock.

The archbishop shared his e-mail address, shepherd@adphila.org, and vowed to respond personally, so Catholics flooded him with concerns about school closings, parish politics, and, of course, the clergy sex-abuse crisis and criminal trials.

In a recent interview with my colleague David O’Reilly, Chaput said he “received more negative mail about clergy” during his first year in Philadelphia “than in all the 23 years I’ve served as bishop.”

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.

KENYA
Standard Digital

By Linah Benyawa

A Catholic priest alleged to have sired a son has been sued in a Mombasa court for neglecting the 13-year-old boy.

Father Josephat Mweu of St. Joseph Allamno Mbiriri social center in Nyeri on Thursday found himself at the Tononoka Children court after one, Cecilia Mbiki instituted a legal suit against him for neglecting the boy who happened to be his biological son.

It is alleged that Fr. Mweu was intimately involved with Mbiki in a village in Kilifi County between 1998 and 1999 where she claims she was staying with her aunt.

In an affidavit of a suit that was filed September 3, Mbiki requested the court to force the priest to recognise and assume fatherhood of the son by paying an upkeep fee of Sh35, 000 per month.

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.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

Walk the Talk for the removal of Bishop Finn.

A silent “Walk” while carrying signs around block of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

What
Holding signs and childhood photos at a press conference and silent walk around the block of the Cathedral, leaders of two organization, concerned Catholics, and concerned citizens will call for the resignation of an area bishop Finn, found guilty of failing to report child porn, and
— show support for survivors
— urge anyone who saw, suspected or suffered the predator’s crimes to call police

When
Sunday, September 16th . Meeting, greeting, gathering at 2:00 PM. Press conference at 2:45PM, and then the Walk.

Where
At the pergola in Barney Allis Plaza, (corner of Central St and W 12th St) Kansas City, Missouri. ( Map & Walk)

Who
Clergy sexual abuse survivors and their supporters and families, Members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Representatives of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC), concerned Catholics, and concerned citizens who are fed up with the leadership in this diocese

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.

JOLIET (IL)
CBS Chicago

JOLIET, Ill. (CBS) — The Roman Catholic bishop in Joliet is allowing an accused predator priest to return to limited ministry, and advocates for priest sex abuse victims are livid over the decision.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, the Rev. F. Lee Ryan was removed a couple of years ago from his ministry at St. Edmund Parish in Watseka and St. Joseph Mission in Crescent City, both in downstate Iroquois County.

Allegations have been deemed credible that he had sexually abused a boy in the 1970s, starting when the boy was 14.

Now, Joliet Bishop Daniel Conlon is allowing Ryan to minister to homebound Roman Catholics.

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
Herald Sun

A RETIRED Catholic priest accused of sexually assaulting four children over two decades has been charged with three more offences that allegedly occurred 10 years earlier.

Finian James Egan, 77, has been charged with indecently assaulting a girl in Leichhardt, in Sydney’s inner west, on three occasions between 1961 and 1962, Downing Centre Local Court heard yesterday.

Egan was charged in May with 17 sexual offences that allegedly occurred between 1972 and 1987 while he was a priest in Sydney and on the Central Coast. He has not entered a plea.

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.

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

His name is René Bruelhart, he is 40 years old and is a Swiss lawyer. The Vatican’s spokesman commented on his recruitment, saying: “We are continuing along the path of transparency”

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

After employing American journalist Greg Burke as Communications Advisor for the Secretary of State, the Vatican has now announced the arrival of another high profile advisor. The Holy See has recruited Fribourg-born Swiss lawyer and anti-money laundering expert, René Bruelhart to further the work being done to get the Vatican in line with international standards. Vatican Radio reported the news today.

“Following the Moneyval report on the Vatican and the Holy See, which received extensive coverage during the month of July, the time is ripe, not for a slackening of commitment, but for renewed efforts to respond to the Report’s recommendations and ever more efficaciously pursue transparency and financial trustworthiness, thus contributing more effectively to the fight against money-laundering. A powerful sign of its commitment to work in this direction is that the Holy See has hired an international expert in Anti-Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) activities,” Vatican Radio reported.

Rene Bruelhart, 40, a lawyer originally from Fribourg, Switzerland, spent eight years as the director of Liechtenstein’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), and is an expert in AML/CFT. As director of Liechtenstein’s FIU, he was also appointed in 2010 as the vice-chair of the Egmont Group, the global network of FIUs. Bruelhart began work this month as a consultant to the Holy See in all matters related to AML/CFT. His arrival does not imply any cuts to the personnel already working on ensuring that the Holy See fulfils Moneyval’s requirements: a taxing task for the Secretariat of State. Bruelhart’s considerable experience in the field should help speed the process of meeting international money laundering regulations up. The Holy See needs to satisfy Moneyval on all the points where it scored unsatisfactory or not completely satisfactory ratings in the committee’s recent report.

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