ABUSE TRACKER

DENVER (CO)
United States Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado

RENO, NEVADA MAN ARRESTED FOR LEWD, INDECENT OR OBSCENE ACTS IN FULL VIEW OF OTHER PASSENGERS ABOARD AN AIRCRAFT

DENVER – Daniel Drinan, age 63, of Reno, Nevada, was arrested Saturday night at Denver International Airport of Lewd, Indecent or Obscene Acts in public aboard an aircraft, U.S. Attorney John Walsh and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Denver Special Agent in Charge James Yacone announced. Drinan was on Southwest Flight 1998 en route from Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) to Denver International Airport (DEN) when he allegedly sexually touched himself in full view of other passengers. Drinan is scheduled to make his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Denver this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Boyd N. Boland, where he will be advised of his rights. The Criminal Complaint was obtained by the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office this morning, September 10, 2012.

According to the affidavit in support of the Criminal Complaint, Drinan was aboard a Southwest Airlines Flight. Southwest offers WiFi internet service to customers for a fee. Drinan connected his laptop computer to the airline’s WiFi service, and began to view pornography. One person in a nearby seat notice the defendant touching himself to the pornography. She waited hoping he would stop, but ultimately had to alert a flight attendant. That flight attendant contacted a male flight attendant who asked Drinan to “put his pants back together.” At the time the male flight attendant talked with Drinan the defendant’s genitalia was totally exposed. Investigators were told that at some points during the conduct that Drinan was trying to use his laptop to conceal his behavior.

If convicted of crimes aboard an aircraft, the defendant faces not more than 90 days in jail and up to a $250,000 fine.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Denver Police Department.

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DENVER (CO)
Huffington Post

A Nevada passenger was arrested Saturday night at Denver International Airport after he was caught by another passenger viewing pornography in-flight and touching himself.

According to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release, Daniel Michael Drinan, 63, of Reno, Nevada was on Southwest Airlines Flight 1998 en route to DIA from Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). While in flight, Drinan used the airline’s WiFi internet service to view pornography and allegedly touched himself in full view of other passengers.

A woman sitting nearby noticed Drinan touching himself and waited to alert someone, hopeful that he would stop but ultimately had to alert a flight attendant.

The male flight attendant told Drinan to “put his pants back together,” and later told prosecutors that Drinan’s genitalia had been totally exposed.

“Investigators were told that at some points during the conduct that Drinan was trying to use his laptop to conceal his behavior,” according to the release.

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DENVER (CO)
The Denver Post

By Joey Bunch and Kristen Leigh Painter
The Denver Postd
enverpost.com

A Reno, Nev., man arrested at Denver International Airport on Saturday for allegedly masturbating while viewing Internet pornography during a flight from Baltimore is a former Roman Catholic priest.

According to a news account 10 years ago, Daniel Michael Drinan was the first priest suspended in an incident involving a minor after the Roman Catholic priest sex- abuse scandal.

A spokesman for the Claretians order in Chicago confirmed Drinan, 63, is a former priest whose last assignment was at the Ridge House, a substance-abuse treatment center for parolees. Records indicate Drinan left the program in April, but the church spokesman would not elaborate.

Records indicate Drinan had previously worked as a priest at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Martindale, Texas, a suburb of Austin. A 2002 article in the Austin American-Statesman said Drinan was removed in April of that year after alleged inappropriate contact with a minor, though an investigation found no evidence of violence or sexual abuse

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Globe

By Brian Ballou
Globe Staff
September 10, 2012

Over the course of a decade, the Rev. Paul LaCharite repeatedly called a young boy into his office at the St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville and sexually assaulted him, prosecutors said in court Monday.

The assaults stopped only after LaCharite, 65, left the church in 2005, but last week the victim went to police and told them about the assaults, said Danielle Stice, a Middlesex prosecutor.

LaCharite was arraigned Monday in Somerville District Court on charges of assault with intent to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. He was arrested Friday afternoon.

“Father LaCharite is devastated by these allegations,” said David Meier, his lawyer, speaking outside the court. Moments earlier, inside the courthouse, Meier pleaded not guilty on his client’s behalf, adding that LaCharite “vehemently” denies the charges.

“The last time he was contacted by the alleged victim, who is now 26, was about two years ago and that was to baptize the alleged victim’s first child,” Meier said.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By FRANK BRUNI

Published: September 10, 2012

Just how flagrant does a pedophile need to be before the people around him contact the police? Just how far beyond seeming to force himself on a boy in a shower or loading up his laptop with photos of little girls’ crotches does he have to go?

In the first instance I’m referring to Jerry Sandusky, whom Penn State officials allowed to continue working with children even after they were told that something was seriously amiss. In the second I’m referring to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a Catholic priest in Missouri whose superiors acted no less despicably.

In May 2010, the principal of a parochial school next door to the parish where Father Ratigan served sent a memorandum to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, as Laurie Goodstein reported in The Times. It flagged his odd behavior, including his habit of instructing children to reach into his pockets for candy.

In December 2010, hundreds of troubling, furtively taken photographs were found on his laptop, according to court testimony given too long after that fact. One showed a toddler’s genitals.

In what jail or prison cell, you might ask, did Father Ratigan spend the first half of 2011? None.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
Phoenix New Times

By Matthew Hendley
Mon., Sep. 10 2012

Dan Whitehead, the former Brophy College Preparatory instructor who was fired from the Jesuit school in November for alleged sexual misconduct with students, was arrested this weekend on sexual-assault and sexual-abuse charges.

Whitehead, 71, was canned after two ex-students told school officials that Whitehead had molested them in the ’80s, but those men said they didn’t want to be involved in a police investigation.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, Phoenix police found several former students to come forward and tell detectives about their encounters with Whitehead.

The first alleged victim a 1989 Brophy graduate, told police that he was 17 when Whitehead asked him and some of his classmates if they would stay at his house while he was away.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
San Francisco Chronicle

PHOENIX (AP) — A $50,000 bond has been set for a former Brophy College Preparatory teacher accused of sexually abusing several students in past years.

Daniel Whitehead was arraigned Monday after being arrested Saturday.

He was fired from the all-male private Catholic school in central Phoenix late last year after two ex-Brophy students who now are adults accused Whitehead of inappropriate sexual advances.

The men say the incidents allegedly occurred in the 1980s when they were teenagers.

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AUSTRALIA
International Business Times

By Vittorio Hernandez | September 11, 2012

The Anglican Church in Newcastle has imposed punishment on four priests for engaging in sexual trysts with a teenage male in the 1970s and 1980s. The New South Wales (NSW) police initially investigated the charges but filed no charges; however, the church held its own probe which led to the defrocking of the clergy.

Reports identified the four Anglican priests, three of whom were defrocked on Monday, as Graeme Lawrence, the former dean of Newcastle, Bruce Hoare, Andrew Duncan and Graeme Sturt. Mr Sturt was banned from performing any ministry function for five years.

The Anglican Diocese of Newcastle, in a statement released on Monday, confirmed that in an internal church inquiry, it found that Mr Duncan had oral sex with a 14-year old male teenager in 1979. Their sexual relationship continued for two years which included masturbation and anal sex.

When the same teenager was 16, he met Mr Lawrence in 1981 at the boy’s home. Their sexual relationship lasted for four years while Mr Lawrence served as dean of Newcastle. Their trysts include regular orgies with an Anglican teacher identified as Gregory Goyette.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

[House of Affirmation – BishopAccountability.org]

Adam Gabbatt and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 September 2012

A gay couple is suing the Catholic church in Massachusetts for allegedly refusing to sell them a mansion out of concern that they would host same-sex weddings at the site.

James Fairbanks and Alain Beret filed their discrimination lawsuit against the Catholic diocese of Worcester in county’s superior court on Monday.

They allege that they were in negotiations to buy Oakhurst, a former retreat center in Northbridge, when church officials suddenly pulled out due to the possibility of same-sex marriage ceremonies being held there. …

Sullivan told the Globe, however, that the church has a policy of not selling properties where Mass has been held to people who plan to host same-sex weddings. The same applied to other developers who planned to use former church properties for things the church deemed inappropriate, such as abortion clinics or bars.

“We wouldn’t sell our churches and our properties to any of a number of things that would reflect badly on the church,” he told the newspaper. “These buildings are sacred to the memory of Catholics.”

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
The Somerville News

On September 10, 2012, in Latest News, by The News Staff

An Episcopal Priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, was arraigned today on assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child charges, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone informed the public today.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston, was arraigned in Somerville District Court on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14. The Commonwealth requested that the defendant bail be set at $25,000 cash bail with conditions the he wear a GPS monitoring device, stay away from victim’s home and work, no unsupervised contact with children under 16, no work or volunteer work with children under 16, and that he cooperate with the church’s disciplinary process. Somerville District Court Judge Maurice Flynn ordered the defendant’s bail set at $10,000 cash bail with the following conditions of release: defendant must stay away from victim’s home and work, have no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 16, surrender his passport, report to probation as deemed appropriate by the Probation Department, not possess any firearms or dangerous weapons, must refrain from excessive use of alcohol or narcotics without prescription, and abide by any and all restraining orders if applicable.

The defendant’s next court date is October 22 for a probable cause hearing.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
RKnieuws

KANSAS (RKnieuws.net) – In de VS is voor het eerst een bisschop tot een voorwaardelijke gevangenisstraf veroordeeld voor het verdoezelen van seksueel misbruik. Dat meldden de Franse krant La Croix en het Nederlandse Katholiek Nieuwsblad vrijdag op hun website.

Bisschop Robert Finn van Kansas City-St. Joseph werd donderdag schuldig bevonden. Hoewel Finn wist van seksueel misbruik door een priester van zijn bisdom, verzuimde hij gedurende meer dan een half jaar Justitie hiervan in kennis te stellen. De geestelijke Shawn Ratigan werd in mei 2011 gearresteerd op beschuldiging van het bezit van kinderporno. Afgelopen maand bekende hij.

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WORCESTER (MA)
CBS News

(CBS/AP) BOSTON – A gay couple from Massachusetts is claiming that Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester refused to sell them a former Catholic retreat center because church officials were concerned they would host gay weddings at the mansion.

James Fairbanks, 59, and Alain Beret, 57, filed suit in Worcester Superior Court for loss of civil rights and dignity and for emotional distress on Monday.

The married couple from Sutton planned to buy Oakhurst, a former Catholic retreat center in Northbridge, and restore it as a place they could live and host a special events business. Oakhurst was also previously used as a “House of Affirmation,” a treatment center for priests with psychological problems, CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston reported.

But the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester ended negotiations in June, and the couple alleged they learned why in an email they inadvertently received in which diocesan Chancellor Thomas Sullivan cited concern “about the potentiality of gay marriages there.”

“If you want from your pulpit to tell your congregants that you are against gay marriage, you have that right. But you don’t have the right to chase me down the street with that,” Beret told CBS radio station WBZ 1030 in Boston. …

But James G. Reardon Jr., an attorney for the diocese, said the diocese stopped negotiations over concerns about whether the buyers could finance the purchase. The email refers only to the possibility of gay weddings being held at the site, not the couple’s sexual orientation, which Reardon said never came up during negotiations.

“It wasn’t a case of discriminating against gay people. We didn’t even know they were gay,” Reardon said.

Reardon said the buyers’ initial financing fell through, and they proposed carving out a 5-acre portion of the property for purchase. But that “made no economic sense to us,” Reardon said, citing various associated costs, including surveying and plot-planning.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The MetroWestDaily News

By Mike Gleason/Daily News staff
The MetroWest Daily News

WORCESTER —

Two men filed suit against the Worcester Diocese of the Catholic Church Monday, claiming the church refused to sell them a Northbridge property because they were gay and could possibly hold gay marriages there.

James Fairbanks and Alain Beret filed a complaint in Worcester Superior Court that claims House of Affirmation, an affiliate of the diocese, illegally discriminated against the couple in declining to sell them Oakhurst, a 44-bedroom Northbridge mansion.

The diocese, though, said the sale was not made because of financial concerns. …

Gavin Reardon, an attorney representing the diocese, said sexual orientation was not the reason the property was not sold.

“The diocese does not see this as discrimination against a gay person,” he said. “This is a case of a failed real estate transaction.”

According to Reardon, there was never a purchase and sale agreement in place.

“No one at the diocese ever asked about the buyer’s sexual orientation,” he said. “They didn’t come up with the financing.”

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
TheMediaReport

Dave Pierre

If anyone needed another example of the New York Times’ obsession with blasting the Catholic Church, one does not need to look further than the paper’s coverage following the guilty verdict of Kansas City–St. Joseph Bishop Robert W. Finn.

One cannot help but wonder when a misdemeanor conviction (with a suspended sentence) has ever resulted in two front-page stories (1, 2) and a breathless editorial in the Grey Lady before.

Indeed, the guilty verdict in the Bishop Finn trial was historic, but a sense of perspective is in order. The diocese delayed in reporting that a priest had lewd photographs of children on his computer. But there is plenty of evidence, either ignored or downplayed by the Times, that Finn took the hit for the failures of the people who worked under him.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Patch

By Chris Orchard

A “pastoral response team” met with parishioners at Saint James Episcopal Church in Somerville Sunday to help the congregation confront news that one of the church’s former priests was arrested and accused of sexually assaulting a child there in the 1990s and 2000s, according to Tracy Sukraw, communications director for the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston, was arrested Friday and arraigned Monday in Somerville District Court on charges of assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office.

According to the district attorney’s office, LaCharite is accused of sexually assaulting a young member of the congregation, who’s now an adult, over the course of about a decade beginning in the 1990s.

LaCharite served as priest of Saint James, in Teele Square, from 1989 to 2005, according to Sukraw. He retired from the priesthood in 2005 but in recent years served as a priest associate in the famous Old North Church in Boston’s North End. Priest associates play a limited role in the congregations and do things like help out with services, Sukraw said.

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CANADA
CBC News

A Roman Catholic priest who faces many sex-related offences has been denied medical treatment by the Government of Nunavut, according to his lawyer.

Eric Dejaeger has been held in solitary confinement at Iqaluit’s Baffin Correctional Centre for the past 19 months. The 65-year old faces 77 charges for offences alleged to have occurred during his time in Igloolik, Nunavut, 30 years ago.

Dejaeger’s lawyer, Malcolm Kempt, was in court Monday. Kempt told the judge that his client suffers from high blood pressure, heart problems and other ailments.

Kempt said an appointment with a heart specialist was cancelled by Nunavut officials because Dejaeger is not a resident of the territory.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
Washington Post

By Jesse Bogan
Religion News Service

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —

He didn’t mention Bishop Robert Finn, shepherd of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. On Thursday, a judge in Jackson County found Finn, 59, guilty of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse, including the fact that Finn knew child pornography was on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who used to be pastor of St. Patrick’s.

But it was clear that Hoye’s caution against judgment and prayers for healing were about Finn and the wounded congregation.

“We pray that the Holy Spirit might move throughout the diocese and grant us consolation and peace,” Hoye said. “We pray for the victims of injustice, those denied rights owed them.”

When the service was over, parishioners were polite but not as subtle about the court ruling.

“Maybe this will get different dioceses and bishops, everybody throughout the religious world, to realize they have a responsibility to basically do what Jesus taught us and that is take care of kids, to respect other lives,” said Steve Burk, 59, a retired Ford assembly line worker who attends Mass throughout the week.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
gmurray@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Two Sutton men filed a lawsuit today accusing Diocese of Worcester officials of unlawfully discriminating against them on the basis of sexual orientation during the course of negotiations for the sale of church property in Northbridge.

James Fairbanks and Alain J. Beret, a married gay couple, allege in their Worcester Superior Court suit that their offer to buy the Oakhurst Conference and Retreat Center, a 44-bedroom mansion in Northbridge, was rejected by church officials solely because they are gay and might have held same-sex weddings on the property.

The diocese has denied the allegation.

Mr. Fairbanks and Mr. Beret said they planned to renovate the aging mansion and turn it into a banquet facility that would host weddings and other events, as well as their personal residence. Owned by House of Affirmation Inc., an affiliate of the diocese, the site at 120 Hill St. in Northbridge was formerly known as the House of Affirmation, a treatment center for pedophile priests that closed in the 1980s.

On June 8, a day after Mr. Fairbanks and Mr. Beret made a revised $550,000 offer for Oakhurst and 6 acres of the 26-acre site, Monsignor Thomas Sullivan sent the following email to the diocesan broker, according to the suit.

“I just went down the hall and discussed it with the bishop. Because of the potentiality of gay marriages there, something you shared with us yesterday, we are not interested in going forward with these buyers. I think they’re shaky anyway.
So, just tell them that we will not accept their revised plan and the Diocese is making new plans for the property. You find the language.” …

Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle referred all questions concerning the lawsuit to James G. Reardon Jr., lawyer for the diocese. Mr. Reardon could not be reached for comment.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Pat Perriello on Sep. 10, 2012 NCR Today

In an Aug. 18 article in The Economist, a detailed review of the finances within the Catholic church in the United States is provided. This excellent article is required reading for anyone interested in getting a sense of how our church conducts its business.

Some of the highlights point out the mismanagement of church finances. Much of that could be due to the fact that no one chooses to become a priest to run a business. Yet in addition to a lack of knowledge and ability, there are also some questionable dealings. For example, money is frequently diverted from its intended uses. The church tends to comingle funds when it suits its purpose and insist all accounts are totally separate when it is to its advantage. Many dioceses have raided priest pension funds to make settlements in the sexual abuse crisis.

A lack of openness pervades church business dealings. In fact, it is only the sexual abuse crisis that has enabled us to know as much as we do of their finances. Bankruptcy proceedings in several dioceses have shone a light on some of these somewhat disturbing practices.

It is also interesting that the church, which complains that its religious liberties are being abridged, is actually benefiting from significant health care subsidies from the federal government. Also, churches have been avoiding collecting money from the faithful and are instead issuing municipal bonds to pay for expansion and renovation projects. In one case, the bishop used the money to buy chancery offices. The bonds are, of course, tax-free to investors so the church gains a subsidy that normally goes to local governments and public sector projects. Thus, American taxpayers are indirectly helping the church deal with the financial settlements in the sex abuse cases.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Banker & Tradesman

[House of Affirmation – BishopAccountability.org]

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester has been sued for sex discrimination after pulling out of a deal to sell a 44-room Northbridge mansion to a gay couple, James Fairbanks and Alain Beret.

Beret and Fairbanks, who are married, had been planning to use the property, called “Oakhurst,” as a wedding resort. The diocese pulled out of the sale when it discovered that gay marriages were to be permitted on the premises. The diocese had formerly used it as a home for pedophile priests.

A chain of emails to the buyers from the diocese’s broker mistakenly included an email from Rev. Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, who had been negotiating on behalf of the diocese. Sullivan wrote: “I just went down the hall and discussed it with the bishop. Because of the potentiality of gay marriages there, something you shared with us yesterday, we are not interested in going forward with these buyers. I think they’re shaky anyway. So, just tell them that we will not accept their revised plan and the diocese is making new plans for the property. You find the language.”

Beret and Fairbanks ‘s attorneys, Carvajal & Nielsen P.C., joined by the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, have filed suit in Worcester Superior Court against the Worcester diocese, claiming discrimination against their clients. Rev. Robert McManus, the bishop for the Worcester diocese, Msgr. Sullivan, and Eastern Alliance Realty LLC of Shrewsbury, the agency for the sale, along with its principals, LiSandra Rodriguez-Pagan and Angel L. Pagan, have also been named as defendants.

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MASSACHUSETTS
WBUR

By Radio Boston Staff September 10, 2012

The Rev. James Foley has been in limbo for more than a decade as the Catholic church’s internal process for dealing with accusations of sex abuse has yet to resolve whether he can remain a priest or not.

Foley was first accused of abuse in 1999, and a second alleged victim made his claim just last year, saying that he was abused when he was 12 or 13 through his graduation from Harvard University.

Both of the alleged victims received a civil settlement from the Archdiocese.

In the meantime, Foley has become a practicing lawyer, running a small office in Lowell while still getting his church salary and benefits.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 10, 2012
By An NCR Editorial

If Bishop Robert W. Finn wanted today to volunteer at a parish in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese to teach a religious education class or chaperone a parish youth group to World Youth Day, he couldn’t do it. Convicted of a misdemeanor charge of failure to report suspected child abuse, Finn wouldn’t pass the background check necessary to work with young people in the Catholic church.

That is, he could not serve in those positions if he were just a layman, deacon or priest. But he is a bishop, and that makes all the difference. And he can, apparently, do anything he wants under church law.

There are two issues at play here: the governance of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese and the integrity of the U.S. bishops as a national conference.

Finn cannot govern the diocese. It is clear to local Catholics he has been largely absent from the day-to-day life of the diocese for almost a year. The chancery offices are in disarray, diocesan personnel feel abandoned, and the clergy are either angry or dumbfounded. From the very first day of his tenure in this diocese, Finn has been a source of division and divisiveness. He does have supporters, but he has never won even a grudging respect from majority of active Catholics.

His timid apology on the day of his trial is telling.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Wicked Local Somerville

By Auditi Guha
Wicked Local Somerville

Posted Sep 10, 2012 @ 12:27 PM

Somerville —

Former priest of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, Rev. Paul A. LaCharite was issued a $10,000 bail Monday morning at his arraignment for child abuse charges in Somerville District Court and denies the charges.

“Father LaCharite is innocent of these charges,” said his defense attorney David Meier to reporters outside the courthouse at 11:45 a.m. as they left. “He is an honest and decent man and he is dedicated to his church and congregation.”

LaCharite, 65, is currently affiliated with the Old North Church in Boston and was arrested Friday on on one count of assault to rape a child under 14 and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

“He’s having a very difficult time,” Meier said. “We intend to vigorously defend these charges.”

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CHILE
La Tercera

por Angélica Baeza Palavecino – 10/09/2012

En mayo se dio inicio a la investigación canónica contra el sacerdote Juan Esteban Morales por dos denuncias por “abuso de poder”, pero sólo en julio el vicario Jaime Ortíz de Lazcano comenzó su indagatoria, la que podría terminar en “un mes”, de acuerdo a fuentes eclesiásticas.

Morales, ex párroco de El Bosque y el sacerdote más cercano a Fernando Karadima, se encuentra fuera de Chile y regresará al país a fines de este mes, momento en el que deberá prestar declaración ante el vicario, quien también indagó el caso de Cristián Precht.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

OK, I’m going to get this out of my system.

Members of my immediate family have been victimized by sexual abuse. I can tell you personally of the pain it causes. I can tell you that when an otherwise good Catholic that I will not identify writes a blog post in which she argues that if an adult has sex with, say, a fourteen year old it’s not CHILD ABUSE because teens are sexual creatures and when priests have sex with them (she argues in so many words) it’s because the kids want it- I want to scream.

When one of the best men I know is thrown into a dark night of the soul, into drinking and weeping over Bishop Finn enabling CHILD ABUSE and members of Finn’s Opus Dei prelature covering up, lying, and making excuses for him and belittling the severity of this abuse – I want to get drunk and weep a bit myself.

When commenters here and elsewhere on the blogosphere are defending Fr. Groeschel’s indefensible defense of abusers, which consisted of blaming the victims for seducing them; and when these same commenters read Bill Donohue’s lies but refuse to read the facts of the case regarding Bishop Finn’s conviction – I want to hit somebody.

And for me this is tied in with everything else.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

[with video]

September 11, 2012

Jane Lee

THEY call themselves the Survivors.

The men, aged in their 40s and 50s, meet about once a month to support each other in a struggle against something they rarely discuss.

All have similar tales of a cycle of physical violence and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of clergy in Catholic schools in Ballarat in the 1970s.

Most of the group’s members were students of St Patrick’s College or St Alipius Christian Brothers Primary School or both, while Robert Best, Edward Dowlan and Gerald Ridsdale, all later convicted paedophiles, were employed there.

Some have received compensation for their ordeal, but many more are still in mediation with the Catholic Church, in a process they say has prolonged their trauma.

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)
CBS St. Louis

Calls for Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation are increasing.

He’s become the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sex abuse scandal.

Soon after a Missouri judge found Bishop Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sex abuse, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled “Bishop Finn Must Go.”

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WORCESTER (MA)
Carvajal & Nielsen

[House of Affirmation – BishopAccountability.org]

Suit Cites Church’s Refusal to Sell Based On Buyers’ Sexual Orientation

WORCESTER, Mass., Sept. 10, 2012 – Carvajal & Nielsen, P.C. announced that the firm has filed a lawsuit today in Worcester Superior Court against the House of Affirmation, Inc., an affiliate of the Worcester Diocese, and others, claiming discrimination against clients James Fairbanks and Alain Beret of Sutton.

The Massachusetts Fair Housing Center (MHFC) is joining Carvajal & Nielsen in filing the suit.

Fairbanks and Beret had been negotiating for the purchase of Oakhurst, a 44-bedroom mansion in Northbridge, but the House of Affirmation, owner of the property, refused to sell the property to them after discovering that the two men are gay and married, and that they would allow gay marriages to take place at Oakhurst.

Defendants named in the suit include the Most Reverend Robert McManus, Bishop for the Worcester Diocese; the Reverend Monsignor Thomas J. Sullivan; the House of Affirmation; Eastern Alliance Realty, LLC of Shrewsbury, the agency for the sale, and its principals, LiSandra Rodriguez-Pagan and Angel L. Pagan.

The four-count suit charges the defendants with discrimination in violation of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 151B, based on their sexual orientation. It seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, compensation for attorneys’ fees and costs, “and any other relief this court deems just and equitable” in a trial by jury.

“Discriminating against a person who is gay is no different than discriminating against a person who is black, Latino, Jewish or female,” Attorney Sergio E. Carvajal, principal of Carvajal & Nielsen, said. “It is wrong and it is illegal.”

While the two men negotiated in good faith, invested thousands of dollars for inspections and even made a $75,000 deposit with their offer to purchase, the Diocese of Worcester pulled out, claiming a change in plans for the property.

However, a thread of e-mails from the diocese’s broker included the following e-mail from Monsignor Sullivan: “I just went down the hall and discussed it with the bishop. Because of the potentiality of gay marriages there, something you shared with us yesterday, we are not interested in going forward with these buyers. I think they’re shaky anyway. So, just tell them that we will not accept their revised plan and the Diocese is making new plans for the property. You find the language.”

Monsignor Sullivan told Fox TV that plans changed because “the loan that they had attempted to get from the bank had failed them” and he told the Telegram & Gazette that the diocese withdrew from the sale because Fairbanks and Beret “couldn’t come up with the money.”

Those statements were made even though Fairbanks and Beret had not yet applied for a loan, because the deal was still being negotiated.

“Monsignor Sullivan’s public statement that the deal fell through because of a lack of financing is false, and damaging to the reputation of our clients,” according to Attorney Arose W. Nielsen, principal of Carvajal & Nielsen. “James and Alain are experienced businessmen with the financial means to purchase the property, and their proposal for the rehabilitation of Oakhurst has been enthusiastically welcomed by town officials.”

Yet the Diocese of Worcester, which formerly used the property as a home for priests who are pedophiles, “appears to have pulled out of the deal because of our clients’ sexual orientation,” Carvajal said. “The law prohibits discrimination on this basis.”

“To date, the Diocese of Worcester has not even apologized to James and Alain,” Nielsen said. “The action by the diocese is not only a setback for our clients and for the town of Northbridge. It is a setback for civil rights in Massachusetts.”

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UNITED STATES
Talk to Action

Frank Cocozzelli

On Thursday, September 6th, Robert Finn, the bishop who heads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri was convicted by a Jackson County court of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

There is no word yet on whether Bishop Finn will be deemed fit to continue to lead the Catholic Church in Kansas City.

Bishop Finn’s conviction stems from the prosecution of Fr. Shawn Ratigan who has since pleaded guilty in Federal Court to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

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UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Several more pieces of valuable commentary on the story of Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City and his conviction last week on charges of having failed to report Father Shawn Ratigan after Finn learned Ratigan had pornographic images of children on his computer:

At Commonweal, Grant Gallicho does excellent work summarizing the Finn case and rebutting the shameful argument of Dr. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League that Finn is innocent (!) and that the Ratigan case does not involve child abuse (!). Gallicho’s posting is long and detailed, and it’s difficult for me to point to a single section that encapsulates the argument. I encourage readers to read the entire piece, just as I also encourage you to refresh your memory of the specifics of the Finn-Ratigan case by clicking on the detailed timeline in Joshua McElwee’s NCR article about the Finn conviction (which Pam Cohen may have compiled and for which she deserves great credit, if that’s the case). And I recommend Laurie Goodstein’s recent summary of the details of the case in New York Times.

Though it’s hard to abstract Gallicho’s extensive and well-argued posting, here’s one excerpt that encapsulates his argument:

But what is he [i.e., Dr. Donohue] thinking when he calls the “condemnations targeting Finn…as unfair as they are contrived”? The man is guilty of not reporting suspected child abuse. He was informed of Ratigan’s disturbing photos of children (children, not teenagers) on December 16, 2010. There is nothing contrived or unfair about condemning his failure to respond adequately to the threat posed by Ratigan. He chose not to forward the case to his own sexual-abuse review board, and to take as gospel the evaluation of one psychiatrist even though his closest advisers were urging him to send Ratigan to another shrink. And when Finn learned Ratigan was not abiding even the light restrictions the bishop had placed on him, what did he do? He gave him a stern talking-to. What would have happened if Msgr. Murphy hadn’t made the decision to tell Capt. Smith the whole truth? We know what Ratigan did in the meantime. He kept looking at God-knows-what online. He heard kids’ confessions. He had parties for kids and their parents, where he apparently continued his work as an amateur pornographer. Because the bishop failed.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Globe

By Brian R. Ballou and Martin Finucane
Globe Staff
September 10, 2012

A Somerville District Court judge this morning set bail at $10,000 for an Episcopal priest after the priest’s arraignment on charges of sexually assaulting a child.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston faces one count of assault with intent to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

The crimes allegedly occurred over a 10-year period at the St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, where LaCharite was assigned from 1989 to 2005, prosecutors said.

The victim is 26 years old now and married, with a 2-year-old daughter.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

Dan Box
From:The Australian
September 11, 2012

NSW police are investigating allegations four Anglican priests, including the former dean of Newcastle, had sex or were involved in group sex sessions with a teenage boy aged as young as 14.

The establishment of the inquiry, which was referred to police by the church itself, means detectives are now involved in two separate investigations into alleged child abuse by church officials in Newcastle during the 1970s and 80s. The second, Strike Force Georgiana, is investigating the Catholic Church and has charged six priests with pedophile abuse.

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WORCESTER (MA)
ABC News

[note: The Oakhurst building formerly was known as the House of Affirmation.]

[House of Affirmation – BishopAccountability.org]

Mass. September 10, 2012 (AP)

A gay couple from Massachusetts has sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester for allegedly refusing to sell them a mansion because church officials were concerned they would host gay weddings at the site.

James Fairbanks and Alain Beret filed their discrimination suit Monday in Worcester Superior Court.

They allege that they were in negotiations to buy Oakhurst, a former retreat center in Northbridge, when church officials suddenly pulled out.

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UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Yesterday I posted a response to Rod Dreher’s American Conservative piece in which I struggled to join in his struggle in a struggling attempt to figure out (while struggling)

What the hell are we going to do now?

… which is to say, how are ordinary people, especially people of faith, supposed to react to sexual abuse in the Church aided and abetted and enabled by bishops – who are the successors to the apostles?

This becomes a pointed question on the heels of Bishop Finn’s conviction and Fr. Groeschel’s wrong-headed statements.

The only thing we can come up with is …

1. Don’t turn clerics or media celebrities into idols – “put not your faith in princes” – even princes of the Church
and
2. Priests and bishops need to shape up.

Now in my blog post I critiqued both of these suggestions. I was wrong in my critique of number two and only half-right in my critique of number one.

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CANADA
The Western Star

George Smith has pleaded guilty 35 of 62 sex-related charges against boys.

The Roman Catholic priest was accused of sexually abusing young males allegedly victimized nine boys during a 20-year period of serving western Newfoundland parishes.

Smith, who last resided in Truro, N.S., turned himself into the RCMP in Corner Brook late last year.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

DAN BOX
From:The Australian
September 10, 20121:34PM

THREE senior Anglican priests, including the former Dean of Newcastle, have been defrocked after allegedly having sex with a teenage boy.

One other priest, as well as an Anglican schoolteacher, has also been disciplined by the Bishop of Newcastle, in central NSW, after alleged involvement in group sex sessions with the boy.

Announcing his decision this afternoon, Bishop Brian Farran said some of the priests had been found to have “engaged in serious sexual misconduct including misconduct when the complainant was a child. Each of them failed to report the misconduct when they were legally obliged to do so.”

An investigation by the Diocese of Newcastle’s Professional Standards Board found one of the four priests, Reverend Andrew Duncan, “engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship” with the boy – named only as M – from the age of 14.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
BBC News

A statement has been read out at Masses in a County Down church in relation to a priest accused of embezzling funds.

Parishioners of St Macartan’s Church, Loughinisland, were told that retired priest Father Conleth Byrne, 78, had been charged with defrauding the church of more than £145,000.

Father Byrne was parish priest at Loughinisland at the time.

The statement said that the diocese of Down and Connor and Father Byrne were co-operating fully with the police.

The statement, read out on Sunday, confirmed that Father Byrne had been charged with dishonestly abusing a position of trust by making payments to a person with the intention of making a gain for himself or another person, or to cause a loss to the parish of Loughinisland.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
The Somerville News

An Episcopal Priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, has been arrested on assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child charges, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello informed the public Friday.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston, was arrested Friday on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10 year long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” District Attorney Leone said. “Our office will continue to prosecute those who harm or exploit children, as they are our most vulnerable victims and most deserving of our protection.”

Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello said, “The Somerville Police Department will continue to work with the District Attorney’s Office as we investigate these serious allegations.”

According to authorities, the victim and his family were long time parishioners at St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville. In the 1990s, beginning when the victim was in elementary school, the defendant, a priest at the church, began inappropriately touching the victim in his office. The defendant’s conduct is alleged to have progressed over a ten year period to include several indecent assault and batteries and assaults with the intent rape a child, with the abuse finally ceasing when the victim was a teenager due to the defendant leaving St. James.

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CANADA
CBC News

The Coroner’s Office in Ontario says it is willing to take another look at the death of a residential school student who died near Kenora more than 40 years ago.

Charlie Wenjack was 12-years-old, back in 1966, when his body was found near the railroad tracks. He was trying to walk hundreds of kilometres home to his father at Marten Falls First Nation.

Wenjack’s death garnered national media attention and was one of the first times ordinary Canadians caught a glimpse of trouble at residential schools. But his family had never seen the results of the inquest, they weren’t allowed to attend.

“No one has ever come to tell my mother why her son had to die,” said Pearl Achneepineskum, Wenjack’s sister. “She still waits to this day.”

CBC News obtained the hand-written copy of the inquest report.

The inquest jury asks, back in 1966, whether the “present Indian education and philosphy” is right. Wenjack’s sister Daisy Munroe said it’s a question still relevant today.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

A chilling documentary about the Vatican’s sexual-abuse scandal gives voice to its victims. Barbie Latza Nadeau got an early look at the film the Holy See doesn’t want you to see.

Even if you think you know the sordid details of the sex scandal concerning predatory priests in the Roman Catholic Church, director Alex Gibney’s Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God is eye-opening.

In fact, it should be compulsory viewing for all Catholics, whether they blame or defend the church, for its clarity and insight into just who holds responsibility for decades of child abuse at the hands of clergy. Gibney does not rely on the usual broad strokes of anti-priest propaganda that has come to define this scandal. Instead, he meticulously attends to the details of the biggest cases, giving voice to the victims and even revealing the rarely heard frustration by the “good priests” who tried to stop the sins of their colleagues.

Gibney opens with scenes that any Catholic will recognize immediately: crisp white dresses of little girls making their first communion, burning candles as altar boys prepare for mass, the haze of smoke so familiar one can almost smell the incense. Then he reveals what’s going on. He uses family movies, faded pictures, and actors to paint a portrait of how innocent children were offered up like sacrificial lambs to known “devils in disguise” by unwitting parents who blindly trusted a church they believed would protect them.

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CANADA
Radio Canada

Des centaines d’Autochtones sont réunis mardi et mercredi à Saskatoon dans le but entre autres de trouver des solutions au nombre jugé trop important d’enfants sous la tutelle de la province.

La Fédération des nations indiennes de la Saskatchewan (FSIN) attend avec impatience la mise en application de changements proposés dans le rapport d’un comité d’experts sur la protection de l’enfance publié en 2010.

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CANADA
Aboriginal Multi-Media Society

By Shari Narine Windspeaker Contributor OTTAWA

The “general language” used by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in its recently released interim report is a disappointment to Clement Chartier, president of the Métis National Council.

“The report itself speaks in general terms. When one reads it, one would not think that Métis generally were excluded (from the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement),” said Chartier. “Canadians, I don’t think, would understand the specifics of this.”

One of the 20 recommendation calls for the parties to the IRSSA “to address the legitimate concerns of the former students who feel unfairly left out.”

In the preamble to Recommendation 12, the TRC discusses hearing from students who attended schools not on the prescribed list or students who attended residential schools but as day scholars. Métis students are not mentioned as a group.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Linda Bock TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
lbock@telegram.com

WORCESTER — Two gay Sutton men plan to file a lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court today against Affirmation Inc., an affiliate of the Diocese of Worcester, and other parties.

Worcester law firm Carvajal & Nielson will hold a press conference at 11:30 this morning at the courthouse, 225 Main St., to make the announcement.

James Fairbanks and Alain Beret, who live in Sutton, were pursuing the purchase of Oakhurst, a 44-bedroom mansion in Northbridge, owned by the Diocese of Worcester. The couple had searched for two years for property for the renovation project, and hoped to turn the estate into a banquet facility. Previously, the pair had transformed mansions in Vermont and Barre into similar businesses.

The asking price of $1.4 million was negotiated to $1 million. On May 18, the pair signed an offer to purchase with a $75,000 deposit.

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CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

August 21, 2012

By Jennifer Delgado, Chicago Tribune reporter

A Cook County man filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and Cardinal Francis George on Tuesday, alleging that a now-deceased Augustinian brother who worked at St. Rita of Cascia High School molested him several times in the late 1970s.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims Brother Christopher J. McCartney, a former high school dean at St. Rita’s, sexually attacked him in the dean’s office when he was a student. The complaint alleges the Archdiocese of Chicago was careless and negligent because it didn’t investigate sexual abuse reports against McCartney while he worked at the all-boys Catholic high school.

However, according to an official with the Augustinians of the Midwest, McCartney, who died in 2002, was employed by the Augustinian religious order that runs the school on Chicago’s South Side, not the archdiocese, as the lawsuit claimed.

An archdiocese spokeswoman declined to comment, saying she hadn’t seen the lawsuit.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Colm Kelpie

Monday September 10 2012

ACCUSATIONS levelled at the head of the church’s child protection watchdog by a bishop were yesterday branded “immensely insulting” by a leading abuse support group.

Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor has apologised and withdrawn an “assertion” he made concerning the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church and its chief executive Ian Elliott.

Bishop Treanor said the matter that arose between the diocese and the board was a procedural issue, which “required attention”.

He said matters were brought to his attention by third parties and were informally raised with the board. It then instigated a formal complaints procedure.

Reports yesterday stated retired Supreme Court Judge Catherine McGuinness was tasked to investigate allegations that Mr Elliott had indulged in spin against the church hierarchy in off-the-record briefings with journalists. She subsequently concluded the accusations were unfounded.

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IRELAND
BBC News

The Bishop of Down and Connor has apologised for an accusation he made against the head of the Catholic Church’s child protection watchdog.

The Sunday Times reported that Bishop Noel Treanor made a complaint that Ian Elliott was briefing journalists against the Catholic Church hierarchy.

An investigation was carried out and a report cleared Mr Elliott of the allegations.

Mr Treanor said he accepted the findings of the report.

A statement, issued by the Down and Connor Diocese on behalf of Dr Treanor said: “The matter which arose between the diocese and the National Board for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCI) was a procedural matter, which required attention.

“It did not in any way affect or interfere with safeguarding practice.

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IRELAND
RTE News

One in Four Director Maeve Lewis has described as “staggering” revelations that the Bishop of Down and Connor made a complaint against the head of the National Council for the Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church.

In a statement, Bishop Noel Treanor said he accepted the findings of a report that found there was no basis for his complaint.

Ian Elliott is head of the Catholic Church’s watchdog, which was set up to monitor and report on how child protection guidelines are being implemented.

But newspaper reports revealed that Mr Elliott was the subject of a complaint last year from a senior member of the Catholic hierarchy.

The Sunday Times reported that Bishop Treanor complained that Mr Elliott was engaging in spin against the church during media briefings.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
YouTube

Published on Sep 7, 2012 by KCPTOnline

BISHOP GUILTY: Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn is found guilty in a Jackson County courtroom of failing to report an abusive priest to state authorities. Finn is the first Catholic bishop in the country convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

PAUL CULLEN

THE CATHOLIC Church has been accused of attempting to muzzle its child protection officer after it emerged that he was the subject of a complaint by a senior bishop.

Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor confirmed yesterday that he had apologised to Ian Elliott, chief executive of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church, over what he termed a “procedural matter”.

One in Four director Maeve Lewis said it was “incredibly insulting” of Bishop Treanor to challenge Mr Elliott’s integrity given the latter’s track record and the balanced reports he had produced into child protection practices in Catholic dioceses. The church was attempting to “muzzle” Mr Elliott, she said.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that the apology was made for accusing Mr Elliott of indulging in spin against the hierarchy during off-the-record briefings with journalists.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / September 10, 2012

James Fairbanks and Alain Beret, married business partners from Sutton, had been searching for the perfect property for nearly two years when they discovered Oakhurst, an aging mansion on 26 beautiful acres in Northbridge. The former retreat center, which was affiliated with the Diocese of Worcester and had been on the market for some time, would be the ideal spot for their next venture: an inn that would host weddings and other big events.

When the Diocese of Worcester unexpectedly dropped out of negotiations with them in June, Fairbanks and Beret were shocked — and flummoxed. Then, they say, a church attorney inadvertently forwarded their broker an e-mail from Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, chancellor of the diocese, advising a church broker that he was no longer interested in selling to Fairbanks and Beret “because of a potentiality of gay marriages” there.

Beret, 59, and Fairbanks, 57, plan to file a lawsuit Monday morning in Worcester Superior Court against Sullivan, the bishop, the church’s real estate agent, and the nonprofit retreat center, the House of Affirmation, alleging they discriminated against Beret and Fairbanks on the basis of sexual orientation in the course of a real estate negotiation, violating state law.

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CANADA/BELGIE
Gazet van Antwerpen

Al zes keer is het proces tegen de eskimo-pater Eric Dejaeger (65) uitgesteld. De openbare aanklager geeft vandaag een overzicht van de 77 klachten van misbruik in Canada.

Of we Dejaeger vandaag te zien krijgen in de rechtszaal in Iqaluit, in het noorden van Canada, is nog maar de vraag. De pater maakt er een gewoonte van om de rechter tegen een lege beklaagdenbank te laten spreken.

Volgens de lokale krant Nunatsiaq News wil de openbare aanklager de 77 klachten samenvoegen tot één gezamenlijke aanklacht. Lieve Halsberghe, de vertegenwoordiger van de slachtoffervereniging SNAP: “Ik weet dat er slachtoffers zijn die nog niet naar buiten durfden komen. Hopelijk doen ze dat nu wel.”

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CANADA
The Chronicle-Herald

September 10, 2012 – By MICHAEL GORMAN Truro Bureau

More than 100 residential school survivors will gather in Dartmouth next week for the Atlantic Regional Indian Residential Schools commemoration event.

Themed From Victim to Survivor, the three-day event at the Dartmouth Holiday Inn from Wednesday to Friday will bring together survivors, their families, members of First Nations communities and non-aboriginal people to learn about the history of the schools and Mi’kmaq culture, and focus on healing and ways to move forward.

“What we’re not trying to do is paint a picture of victims,” said Violet Paul, a member of the event’s organizing committee.

“We’re asking the non-native people to come in to listen to us, to join us and be with us and work with us as we move forward together.”

Planned events include open-forum discussions, sharing circles, sessions focused on traditional Mi’kmaq culture and recognition of survivors. Speakers include Chief Shawn Atleo of Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, a former national chief and residential school survivor, and Justice Murray Sinclair, chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

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UNITED STATES
Spiritual Politics

Mark Silk

Sep 10, 2012

To comprehend the immensity of Bill Donohue’s chutzpah, you need to click right over to dotCommonweal and read Grant Gallicho’s demolition of his defense of convicted Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. And even then, you will miss some of the egegiousness of the president of the Catholic League’s Apologia Pro Finna Sua.

To wit, his declaration that the Catholic League “supports harsh penalties for child sexual abusers, and for those who cover it up.”

Unless, of course, the latter happen to be Catholic bishops. OK, I haven’t searched through the entire corpus of Catholic League press releases to see if Donohue has ever urged that a bishop be harshly penalized for covering up sexual abuse. If anyone finds that he has, I will be happy to do penance.

But for starters, let’s take the grandaddy of the episcopal coverups–that of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law. Let the record show that the Catholic League did not so much as address the culpability of that prince of the church until he resigned his see in December 2002, nearly a year after the Boston Globe began reporting on his malfeasance. Then, what Donohue had to say was:

Most Catholics are greeting the resignation of Cardinal Law with a sigh of relief and sadness. While no one blames Cardinal Law for the entire scandal in the Church, his departure nonetheless represents an important step towards recapturing the trust of the laity. Now the mending process can proceed with alacrity.

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GEORGIA
The Brunswick News

By NIKKI WILEY
The Brunswick News

Andy Chambers is on a mission to prevent child sexual abuse.

He wants to train 3,000 Glynn County adults in recognizing and reporting child sexual abuse because he thinks if 5 percent of the county understands the signs of sexual abuse and how to report it, local children will be better off.

“The belief is that when 5 percent of culture changes behavior, you see a cultural shift,” said Chambers, pastor at Frederica Presbyterian Church on St. Simons Island.

That’s why he’s conducting child sexual abuse prevention training along with the Golden Isles Children’s Center.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Independent

Jonathan Wheeler

An inquiry by the Archbishop of Canterbury has shed further light on the scandal which lies at the heart of the Church of England diocese in Chichester.

Police investigations have uncovered further evidence of sexual crimes against children, which leaves the impression that a paedophile ring has been operating at the highest levels of the diocese for years.

One has to admire the courage of these children – now adults – who have come forward to report such crimes. They should, I hope, be galvanised by the Church’s response as it now seeks to deal with the mess it made of child protection.

Three new arrests of priests from the Chichester diocese this year have provided a backdrop to this historic inquiry – the first for 100 years – by the Archbishop. His report charts child protection failures and a “profoundly negative culture” and says that “fresh and disturbing” evidence keeps coming to the surface about the way abuse claims have been handled in the past. The Archbishop will now oversee all appointments and deal with safeguarding issues, effectively sidelining the diocese’s own efforts. Last May, Baroness Butler-Sloss was asked to produce a report on the growing crisis and she found a disturbing lack of understanding of the seriousness of child abuse which she felt might be reflected elsewhere.

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AUSTRALIA
NEWS.com.au

Newcastle Anglican diocese defrocks retired dean Andrew Duncan and reverends Bruce Hoare and Graeme Lawrence

THREE Anglican priests have been defrocked and several clergy are under investigation over allegations of “serious sexual misconduct” in the Newcastle diocese.

Newcastle Bishop Brian Farran says the Anglican Professional Standards Board (PSB) has considered the conduct of four priests and one lay person.

As a result of the board’s recommendations, Bishop Farran has removed retired dean Andrew Duncan and reverends Bruce Hoare and Graeme Lawrence from holy orders.

Cardiff Rector Graeme Sturt received an order banning him from exercising any ministry for five years, and school teacher Greg Goyette has been banned from holding any office with the church.

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CathNews

Published: September 09, 2012

BY MICHAEL MULLINS

In his homily at St Joseph’s Newtown yesterday, Sydney priest Peter Maher pointed to the role of the “culture of clericalism” in sexual abuse. Publishing the text on his blog, he said there’s an absence of “any form of dialogue that might privilege the victim’s stories. Yet this is the first step in healing and reconciliation”.

[It] has left the vulnerable unprotected and unhealed by a leadership too willing to be hoodwinked by the doctrine of a priesthood that places priests above other human beings and what they call “the good of the church”. …

Church representatives are still trying to address this tragic abuse from a position of power … I think it’s time to be more real and recognise that it is primarily an institutional failure: a failure to recognise that unfettered clerical power created a climate in which on-going abuse could go on unabated.

At v2catholic.com, David Timbs analyses Cardinal Raymond Burke’s exercise of clerical power and his conviction that “external forces of evil have infiltrated and dangerously contaminated ecclesial life”. Timbs’ explanation:

Cardinal Burke’s approach to Law strongly reflects that of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic mentality. Culturally these peoples have been historically and perversely fascinated with and dominated by the power of laws and regulations.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

[with video]

By Giselle Wakatama

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Brian Farran has defrocked three priests over child sex allegations, including a member of the upper echelons of the church.

Bishop Farran has acted on an Anglican Professional Standards Board recommendation to defrock the revered former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence, along with reverends Bruce Hoare and Andrew Duncan.

The board found there was misconduct in relation to several sexual allegations.

Bishop Farran announced the defrockings to the ABC.

“There will be people in Newcastle who will be extraordinarily angry with me, but unfortunately the processes must be followed,” he said.

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UNITED STATES
Screen Daily

10 September, 2012 | By Anthony Kaufman

With the stories of several deaf men in Wisconsin who were sexually abused as children by their priest in the 1970s, documentary-maker Alex Gibney finds a particularly powerful and resonant anchor in which to investigate the injustices perpetuated by the Catholic Church. Indeed, what better way to highlight the Vatican’s appalling culture of silence than by following an opposing group of people who cannot talk?

Mea Maxima Culpa – which translates as “my most grievous fault” in Latin – presents a well-constructed and poignant argument, full of outrage and ample evidence, about the heinous crimes and cover-ups that have taken place in the Catholic Church.

Fortunately, Gibney, an Oscar-winner for Taxi To The Dark Side and maker of Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room, never belabors the cruel irony that he has employed to structure the documentary. Successfully balancing the intimate stories of the deaf men with a wider, investigative expose of global proportions, Gibney has made a powerful and affecting film, which could galvanize audiences, both theatrically in limited release as well as TV outlets around the world. (HBO will broadcast it in 2013.)

There is another more rhetorical reason for focusing on the story of Milwaukee priest Father Lawrence Murphy, and the alumni of the St. John’s School for the Deaf who fought to expose him: According to the documentary, their struggle, which began in the mid-1970s, is the first known public protest against clerical sex abuse in the United States.

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AUSTRALIA
SBS

Several Anglican clergy in Newcastle are under investigation over child sexual allegations.

Three Anglican priests have been defrocked and several clergy are under investigation over allegations of “serious sexual misconduct” in the Newcastle diocese.

Newcastle Bishop Brian Farran says the Anglican Professional Standards Board (PSB) has considered the conduct of four priests and one lay person.

As a result of the board’s recommendations, Bishop Farran has removed retired dean Andrew Duncan and reverends Bruce Hoare and Graeme Lawrence from holy orders.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM

[with audio]

Samantha Donovan reported this story on Monday, September 10, 2012 18:14:00

MARK COLVIN: Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop has defrocked three priests over what he says are “disturbing” allegations of child abuse. The alleged abuse occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. Another priest has been banned from the Ministry for five years.

No charges have been laid but the Professional Standards Board of the Anglican Diocese accepted the alleged victim’s evidence. The alleged victim says he’s relieved that the Bishop of Newcastle has taken action.

Samantha Donovan reports.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: The Professional Standards Board of the Anglican Church of Newcastle accepted that the former dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence and reverends Bruce Hoare and Andrew Duncan engaged in sexual misconduct against the alleged victim, known as M, when he was a teenager.

Newcastle’s Anglican bishop, Brian Farran, admitted it was a difficult decision to defrock the priests.

BRIAN FARRAN: This is a decision is about the misuse of power. And the complainant was originally a younger person. What I’m, what the decision has been, that’s been taken really says is that people cannot misuse power when they are given a position of great privilege and trust.

And so we’re upholding the sense that everybody has to feel safe within the church.

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Graeme Lawrence and another priest Graeme Sturt had challenged the professional standards board investigation in the New South Wales Supreme Court but were unsuccessful. Bishop Farran said the board had accepted that Graeme Sturt played a lesser role in the alleged abuse. He’s banned him from the ministry for five years.

In an exclusive interview with the ABC today Bishop Farran said the investigation had been a long and difficult process.

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AUSTRALIA
ABC News

Newcastle’s Anglican Bishop Brian Farran is today expected to announce he will defrock several priests, including the former Dean of Newcastle, Graeme Lawrence.

The Church’s Professional Standards Board recommended the Bishop defrock Reverend Lawrence, along with Reverend Graeme Sturt, Reverend Bruce Hoare and another priest Andrew Duncan.

The board found there was misconduct in relation to several allegations.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

The Boston Globe today published two articles about the matter of unresolved cases of clergy sexual abuse. The articles were troubling for a number of reasons.

Sexual abuse of children by clergy, in and of itself, is very troubling. It simply should not happen–period. When credible accusations of abuse have come forward and have been verified, priests should be removed from ministry. It seems to BCI that if a priest sexually abuses a child and there is no question as to the veracity of the claim, regardless of the civil or criminal penalties, the priest should also be laicizied. Sexual abuse cases have cost the Catholic Church in the U.s. $3 billion, according to The Economist. Imagine those funds put to use on evangelization, programs to support great priests, saving and maintaining beautiful church buildings destined for the wrecking ball, adult catechesis and faith formation, vocations, seminaries, and building the kingdom of God instead!

But the articles in the Globe were troubling for more reasons beyond even these. It seems to BCI that the cost, time delays, and process for resolving sexual abuse claims are all problematic.

Cost: $22.5 million on salaries and benefits

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UNITED STATES
Press TV (Iran)

Pressure is mounting on the highest ranking U.S. catholic official yet to be convicted of covering up clerical child sex abuse to resign from the church.

Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty Friday of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities, prompting calls for him to step down or be booted from office.

Advocates for the victims of clerical sex abuse have challenged the Vatican directly, calling on the Pope to step in and dismiss Finn from his position as bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.

But despite a growing campaign to force his ouster, church officials have maintained that he isn’t going anywhere – despite the conviction.

“The bishop looks forward to continuing to perform his duties, including carrying out the important obligations placed on him by the court”, diocese spokesman Jack Smith said in a statement.

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UNITED STATES
New Jersey Newsroom

Sunday, 09 September 2012

BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

This week’s news highlighted two different states and two different states of mind within leaders of the American Catholic Church. Both cases involved “canon law” — the body of laws and regulations governing the organization and its members.

In Connecticut, the Archbishop of the Hartford diocese came down hard on Michael DeVito, a priest who last month had participated in his cousin’s same-sex marriage. In Missouri, the bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese got a slap on the wrist after being indicted last year on a charge of failing to protect children.

Canon law was cited in both cases. In Connecticut, it gave the archbishop reason for reprimanding the priest, who had worn his Roman collar and done a reading at the wedding, according to the Hartford Courant. Same sex marriages are contrary to Catholic teaching.

In Missouri, the bishop had violated both canon law and civil law in not reporting the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was found to have hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer. For five months, Finn had protected and covered up for the priest, who took photographs that included a girl’s “naked vagina, upskirt images and images focused on the crotch,” according to the New York Times.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
KFYI

by Ted Houston

A longtime teacher at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix is under arrest, accused of molesting several male students in the 1980s.

According to Phoenix police, Dan Whitehead, 71, was arrested Saturday morning and booked into jail on charges including sexual assault, attempted sexual abuse, furnishing harmful items to a minor, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Last November, Brophy administrators contacted police after the school was contacted by some former students who said Whitehead had touched their private parts while they were visiting him at his home during the time that they were students at the school.

According to the victims, Whitehead had invited them to his house for various reasons, such as for tutoring or to find out about taking care of his house while he was away. While they were there, they said Whitehead showed them pornography and supplied them with alcohol. He then allegedly fondled or attempted to fondle them.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
ABC 15

[with video]

•By: Patrick Lancaster

PHOENIX – A former Brophy College Preparatory teacher who was fired in November 2011 amid allegations of sexual advances from two former students was taken into custody on Saturday.

Dan P. Whitehead, 71, was booked into the Maricopa County Jail, said Phoenix Police Sgt. Tommy Thompson in a news release.

He was charged with Sexual Assault, Attempted Sexual Abuse, Furnishing Harmful Items to a Minor and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.

Thompson said several adult victims and witnesses had come forward to police, which allowed investigators to conduct their investigation into incidents that occurred in the 1980s.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
AZFamily

by Jennifer Thomas
Video report by Crystal Cruz

Posted on September 8, 2012

PHOENIX — A high school math teacher who was fired in November amid sexual misconduct allegations has been arrested on child molestation charges, according to the Phoenix Police Department.

Dan P. Whitehead, 71, was arrested Saturday morning and booked into the Maricopa County Jail.

Whitehead, who is also known as Daniel Whitehead, was charged with one count of sexual assault, two counts of attempted sexual abuse, two counts of furnishing harmful items to a minor and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In November, two former Brophy College Preparatory students who are now adults told school officials that Whitehead had touched them on their private parts against their will while at his home during the 1980s.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
Green Valley News and Sun

Associated Press

Phoenix police say they’ve arrested a former math teacher at Brophy College Preparatory School on child molestation charges.

The Phoenix school fired 71-year-old Dan Whitehead in November after two former students came forward and said he had molested them in the 1980s. The students did not want to contact police.

Phoenix police investigated anyway and said Saturday they were able to find several adult males who said they were victims or witnesses to molestations by Whitehead in the 1980s. Police say Whitehead would invite students home, ply them alcohol and then fondle or try to fondle the boys.

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PHOENIX (AZ)
The Arizona Republic

by Cecilia Chan and Eugene Scott – Sept. 9, 2012
The Republic | azcentral.com

Phoenix police on Saturday arrested a former Brophy College Preparatory teacher on suspicion of sexually abusing several past students.

The arrest came nine months after Daniel Whitehead, 71, was fired from the private Catholic school after two former Brophy students, now adults, accused him of inappropriate sexual advances. Whitehead had been a lay faculty member since 1967.

Whitehead most recently taught math, said Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a Phoenix police spokesman.

Whitehead faces charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual abuse, furnishing harmful items to a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to police.

Brophy Principal Bob Ryan released a statement on Saturday that said the school will continue to cooperate with the police and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in the investigation. …

The 17-acre Jesuit campus on Central Avenue has roughly 1,290 students and 85 teachers, according to the school website. The annual tuition for the current school year is $13,200.

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IRELAND
Vatican Insider

The Catholic bishop of Clonfert has publicly apologised for moving two priests to another parish after they were accused of committing sexual abuse against minors in the 90’s

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

Moving the two priests on to another parish was “a grave mistake”. The decision was completely inadequate given the seriousness of the accusations against him – John Kirby now admits -. “I was not aware at the time of the sinister nature and repeat behaviour of the abuser or of the life-long damage caused to the child,” the Irish bishop said.

So it seems the “unfaithful clergy” crisis has not yet come to an end, as Benedict XVI reiterated in his concluding video message for the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin.

After a thousand-year-old history of loyalty to the Gospel, Ireland and the Irish Catholic Church have “recently been shaken in an appalling way by the revelation of sins committed by priests and consecrated persons against people entrusted to their care.”

The Pope denounced their actions, stating: “Instead of showing them the path towards Christ, towards God, instead of bearing witness to his goodness, they abused people and undermined the credibility of the Church’s message.” Under Benedict XVI, the Holy See’s response to the plague of paedophilia in the Catholic Church of Ireland has been tough.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer

A year after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia passed into his hands, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is arguably within his rights when he avows, “It’s hard to say I love it here.”

Since his installation on Sept. 8, 2011, the drama has been unremitting.

He has: closed nine parishes and 27 schools; laid off 18 percent of the archdiocesan administrative staff and shut down the 117-year-old newspaper to shrink a $17.5 million operating deficit; turned over management of the high schools to a private foundation; sold the cardinal’s mansion and put the retired priests’ Shore villa up for sale; led a fervid religious-freedom crusade against President Obama’s health-care law; seen his chief financial officer convicted of embezzling nearly $1 million; weathered the child-endangerment trial and conviction of the former head of the clergy office; removed seven sexually abusive priests from ministry – and in his words, “It’s still not finished.”

The problems have been so grave that any one of them “would be enough for one year, without being all in one year,” Chaput said recently.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Globe

[CORRECTED ONLINE VERSION – The Boston Globe posted this story online with 1,246 words missing, including the account of the second survivor to accuse Foley. This material appeared in the print edition, but not in the online edition. The incomplete posting also omitted a photo caption which stated that “Cardinal Joseph A. Ratzinger, then head of the Vatican office dealing with sexual abuse and now the pope, recommended that Foley be given an opportunity to defend himself.”

The Globe corrected its online version at approximately 10:25 a.m. on September 9, 2012, to include the omitted material. In order to view the complete article, click on the link above and refresh your browser window.]

September 9, 2012
By Lisa Wangsness

[Excerpt from the omitted portion:]

As the second alleged abuse victim describes it, there were any number of reasons why he didn’t bring an abuse claim to the archdiocese when so many other victims did, in 2002 and 2003. It was a time when he was busy establishing himself in his profession, and in his family life.

He also did not recognize what had happened to him as sexual abuse, he says. He blamed himself for allowing his relationship with Foley to continue for so long, into young adulthood.

But a couple of years ago, the man found himself reading the website of Bishop Accountability, an online archive of the abuse scandal, and came across the first complaint about Foley. It sounded so familiar. [See the material regarding the first allegation in BishopAccountability.org]

Foley had also approached him gradually, he said in an interview with the Globe, asking the then 12- or 13-year-old boy to show him his developing body, including his genitals.

The second alleged victim came from a large, working-class family. He was highly intelligent, and Foley could talk to him about academics in a way his parents couldn’t. The priest lavished him with attention and advice.

“He was like a teacher, he had real power,” the man said. “Especially because I was really believing all the church stuff.”

Foley began to take him into his private room at the Holy Name rectory and molest him, the man said. He cast the sessions as part of confession, saying they were necessary so that “there are no barriers between us.”

The man recalled standing in Foley’s private sitting room in the rectory one afternoon, staring at a closed door to the hallway, as Foley abused him. He was no more than 13.

“If someone even opens that door a crack,” he says he remembers thinking, “they are going to see me standing right here with no clothes on.”

But no one, he says, ever did.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

15 Boston priests facing abuse allegations have awaited a verdict for years, leaving both sides mired in a frustrating legal limbo

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff / September 9, 2012

The Archdiocese of Boston has spent more than $22.5 million since 2000 on salaries and health benefits for clergy awaiting a resolution of their sexual abuse cases from the church’s internal legal system.

The majority of cases, which can determine whether a priest is restored to ministry or cast out for good, have been concluded. But some have sat unresolved for more than a decade. And the cost of supporting accused clergy continues to mount.

The archdiocese attributes the delays in part to the inherently slow penal process in the church’s justice system, known as canon law, and the deluge of cases after the church’s sexual abuse coverup was exposed.

But the long waits have delayed a resolution for both priests and victims, prolonging the crisis.

Fifteen Boston priests who were removed from ministry in 2004 or earlier still await the conclusion of their canonical cases, in the meantime earning as much as $40,000 a year, plus health benefits. One — the Rev. Paul F. Manning, who turns 72 this year — has not worked in the ministry since 1996.

In each of those cases, an archdiocesan investigator has made an initial finding that at least one abuse allegation against the priest appears credible, and the priest has been suspended from public ministry pending the outcome of his canonical proceeding.

Nicholas P. Cafardi, a prominent canon lawyer and professor at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, said that trials conducted by the Catholic Church should not take more than three or four years.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff
September 09, 2012

The Rev. James J. Foley Jr.’s fall from grace came swiftly. In 1999, while on temporary assignment in New Mexico, he was ordered to return home to Boston right away: A former parishioner had accused him of sexual abuse. Within days, Foley was removed from public ministry, then placed on leave.

Thirteen years later, he is a practicing attorney in the secular world — and still on the church’s payroll, having earned about $400,000, plus full health benefits, while his case has languished in the church’s internal legal system.

Foley, now 60, has survived in a kind of purgatorial state for years. The church has not yet decided whether to dismiss him.

Casting himself as an innocent victim of the church’s zero-tolerance policy on sexual abuse, he has fought removal from ministry relentlessly.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Chichester Observer

Published on Sunday 9 September 2012

A retired priest appeared in Chichester Magistrates’ Court on September 5, after being charged with 29 counts of sexual offences against three boys under the age of 16.

Reverend Robert Coles, 71, of Upperton Road, Eastbourne, is alleged to have committed 13 sexual assaults in Chichester on a boy then aged between 15 and 16, from 1982 to 1984, Sussex Police said.

There are a further 16 counts regarding two other boys aged between ten and 13 in West Sussex, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and the Isle of Wight.

Mr Coles will appear in Chichester Crown Court on October 26, and remains on conditional bail until that date.

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IRELAND
Irish Central

By
DARA KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Irish Catholic newspaper has predicted a 75 percent decrease in Ireland over the next 30 years, which means only 450 priests will be serving in Irish parishes by 2042.

According to TheJournal.ie, the figure was reached by examining imminent retirements and current ordination rates. Currently, there are 1,965 priests serving Ireland’s 26 dioceses.

Just 12 men entered the national seminary in Maynooth last month. On average, 50 percent of these men would be expected to drop out of the program.

The president of Maynooth said “massive changes” will be necessary within the church due to the lack of priests.

Right now there are 32 priests under the age of 34 working in Ireland, which is just 1.6 percent of the total number of active priests.

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

Bishop Kirby’s remarks bring into question the kind of man who is called to the priesthood, says Emer O’Kelly

When I was about 12, I was sitting on a crowded bus not paying too much attention, when a voice said: “Sorry, excuse me.” It was a pleasant looking man wearing a dog collar.

He was gesturing to my skirt which was spread a bit wide. “Sorry, Father,” I apologised and tucked it in. “That’s okay,” he said. “I just didn’t want to crush it.” Then, as he sat down, he smiled and said, “Actually, it’s Rector.” And he buried himself in his newspaper.

Back home, I was repeating my embarrassment at my assumption. A friend of my mother’s was there, a retired hospital matron who had spent her working life in England.

She nodded knowingly, “Of course,” she said through pursed lips. “Up to no good. A priest would have sat somewhere else.” The old bag is long dead, but I can’t help wondering how she would have dealt with the scandals in the Catholic Church which have destroyed thousands of lives. Sadly, I think I know.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
God Discussion

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

In Kansas City, Missouri, Bishop Robert Finn, of the Roman Catholic Church, was convicted for not reporting suspected child abuse. He is the highest-ranking American Catholic clergy criminally charged with not reporting child sexual abuse by clergy, as well as found guilty. The jury acquitted him on a second count of not reporting child abuse.

However, Finn will serve two years probation, suspended, and his record will be free of charges if he adheres to conditions that include “mandatory abuse reporting training, setting aside $10,000 in diocese money for abuse victim counseling, and instructing all diocesan agents to report suspected criminal activity involving minors”. Reporters say this is an unprecedented decision by the judge.

The verdicts came after a short nonjury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.

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TUCSON (AZ)
BishopAccountability.org – Assignment Record

Summary of Case: A priest of the Tucson diocese, Robert Trupia was promoted twice during the sixteen years after the first complaint of child sexual abuse was made against him. Reports that Trupia was molesting boys were for years repeatedly dismissed by diocesan officials. Trupia held a number of chancery positions and was named “Monsignor”. He was awarded a scholarship to pursue a doctorate in Canon Law from Catholic University. He taught sex education and ran a “Come and See” program for high school boys considering the priesthood. Trupia is said to have sexually abused at least 30 boys, and was nicknamed “Chicken Hawk” by other priests of the diocese due to his reputation as a child predator. He was finally suspended in 1992 after the mother of an alleged victim appealed to Santa Fe’s Bishop Sanchez in a letter and sent a copy to Tucson’s Bishop Moreno. Trupia threatened to expose the sexual improprieties of high-ranking Tucson diocesan officials if he wasn’t allowed to retire on his own terms. The diocese later called Trupia a “notorious and serial sexual predator” and sought his laicization. He moved to Maryland and worked as a consultant for the Monterey, CA diocese; that contract was terminated in 2001, just after Trupia was arrested on charges of molesting children in AZ in the 1970s. He was jailed but released after one night due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Although he fought it for twelve years, Trupia was laicized in 2004.

Ordained: 1973
Incardinated: Tucson

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UNITED STATES
dotCommonweal

September 8, 2012

Posted by Grant Gallicho

It has never seemed the best hill to die on, but apparently Catholic League president Bill Donohue doesn’t know how to quit defending Bishop Robert Finn, who was found guilty this week of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. (Be sure to read David Gibson’s post on the devastating Times story.) Back in November, Donohue declared that Finn was “an innocent man,” and flew all the way to Kansas City just to show how much he meant it. “In an ideal world,” Donohue claimed, “there would have been no charges whatsoever: there was no complainant and no violation of law.” Yes, and in an ideal world, when a U.S. bishop learns — nearly a decade after the 2002 wave of scandals broke — that one of his priests has crotch shots of kids on his computer, after having learned about a detailed letter of complaint about the guy from a Catholic school principal, the bishop would report the priest to the proper authorities, in accordance with civil and canon law. But that’s not the world Bishop Finn was living in. So now he stands convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. In other words, Finn is not an innocent man. That’s why he issued a statement — both through his lawyer (.doc) and on his own behalf (.doc) — that contains apologetic-sounding words arranged in a way that avoids actually accepting responsibility for his failure to report the pornographer priest Ratigan. (Do yourself a favor and read Mark Silk on that and more here.)

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IRELAND
Irish Independent

He is misguided but Bishop Kirby doesn’t deserve a Chinese whispers campaign, writes Eilis O’Hanlon

Think of it as the Irish bishops’ raffle. Every month they all put their names into a hat, then whoever’s name is drawn out has to say something incredibly stupid to draw the ire of the anti-Catholic brigade and take the heat off the rest for a while.

This week’s losing raffle ticket belonged to Bishop John Kirby of Clonfert who, in the course of apologising for moving two paedophile priests to different parishes in the Nineties where they went on to abuse further victims, tried to explain his decision by saying in retrospect: “I saw it as a friendship that crossed a boundary line.”

His words naturally provoked howls of protest, not only from victims of clerical abuse, who have every right to be outraged, but also from a host of the usual suspects who really should try harder to conceal their glee at fixing another Catholic priest in the firing line lest it start to look as if they’re enjoying the blood sport too much. They wanted Bishop Kirby to resign. They wanted him censured. Some even wanted him sent to jail. How, they demanded to know, could a bishop fail to understand the difference between child abuse and an inappropriate friendship?

The short answer is: of course he knows the difference. He’s not an idiot. When he spoke to Galway Bay FM about the cases in Clonfert which have been brought to light by the internal audit into the handling of child abuse recently carried out by the National Board for Safeguarding Children, that’s exactly what he was talking about: the two specific cases which came to his attention during the period in question: “I literally thought … that if I separated the priest and the youngster, that it was a friendship that crossed the boundary line. I literally thought if I separated them I would have solved the problem. I have learnt sadly since that it was a very different experience.”

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UNITED STATES
SCNow

By: Ellen Meder | SCNow

Published: September 08, 2012

CHERAW, S.C. —
When the movie “The Prince of Tides” debuted in the early 1990s, Dr. Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea’s phone started ringing off the hook.

Frawley-O’Dea is a licensed psychologist, psychoanalyst and trauma specialist who serves as counseling director at the Presbyterian Samaritan Center in Charlotte, N.C. “The Prince of Tides” is the Hollywood version of Pat Conroy’s best selling novel about a dysfunctional South Carolina family with a dark secret to hide.

The connection?

Frawley-O’Dea’s practice deals primarily with patients who suffer from long-repressed memories, so a movie about someone revealing their buried secrets unleashed a flood of memories in Frawley-O’Dea’s patients.

It sounds a little strange but the human mind is a strange place. Frawley-O’Dea said a variety of sensory experiences can trigger memories of childhood trauma that the brain didn’t record normally, and she has seen them come into play many times. In her work with victims of clergy sexual abuse, the smell of incense, the sight of candles at the altar or the sounds of organ music have triggered painful memories of assault.

The concept of repressed traumatic memories has been coming back into the psychoanalytic lexicon during the past two decades, and since 2000 more scientific research has appeared supporting the theories behind it. But the concept remains a source of debate.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By LAURA BAUER and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

Bishop Robert Finn stood before a circuit court judge last week and said he was sorry for the pain that children in his diocese had suffered.

Then, moments before the judge sentenced him to two years of probation for failing to report suspected child abuse, Finn said he was grateful the case was over.

Yet child and family advocates, as well as sexual abuse therapists and investigators, say they don’t want it to be over. They want the impact of Finn’s guilty verdict, and the frank dialogue it has spurred, to create a culture where adults finally stand up for children who can’t speak for themselves.

It’s not just Kansas City, where Finn and other church officials failed to immediately report a priest who took pornographic pictures of young girls.

It’s Philadelphia, where a monsignor was sentenced in July for covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BY JESSE BOGAN • jbogan@post-dispatch.com AND TIM TOWNSEND • ttownsend@post-dispatch.com

KANSAS CITY • Before a Mass started early Friday morning at St. Patrick Parish, the Rev. Justin Hoye pulled an elderly woman to the side and asked her to take her time when reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians to the small congregation.

Hoye planned to frame his homily from the Bible passages.

So when it was time, the woman stood, walked to the front of the chapel, and read slowly from Scripture used worldwide Friday in Roman Catholic churches:

“It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord.”

Hoye went on to preach about judgment, saying people are incapable of admitting the absolute fullness of their own sins.

What he didn’t do was mention Bishop Robert Finn, shepherd of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. On Thursday, a judge in Jackson County found Finn, 59, guilty of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse, including the fact that Finn knew child pornography was on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who used to be pastor of St. Patrick’s.

But it was clear that Hoye’s caution against judgment and prayers for healing were about Finn and the wounded congregation.

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STATE COLLEGE (PA)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

September 8, 2012

The Associated Press

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A new Catholic center on the Penn State campus has been dedicated to Sue Paterno, wife of veteran football coach Joe Paterno.

A local bishop on Saturday blessed the Suzanne Pohland Paterno Catholic Student Faith Center, which then celebrated its first Mass with Sue Paterno and her children and grandchildren in attendance.

The Rev. Joseph Adamec, bishop emeritus of the Altoona-Johnstown diocese, praised Sue Paterno and her late husband for helping to raise money for the $6.5 million center.

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UNITED STATES
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

By Matt Williams and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 September 2012

Pressure is mounting on the highest ranking US catholic official yet to be convicted of covering up clerical child sex abuse to resign from the church.

Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty Friday of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities, prompting calls for him to step down or be booted from office.

Advocates for the victims of clerical sex abuse have challenged the Vatican directly, calling on the Pope to step in and dismiss Finn from his position as bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.

But despite a growing campaign to force his ouster, church officials have maintained that he isn’t going anywhere – despite the conviction.

“The bishop looks forward to continuing to perform his duties, including carrying out the important obligations placed on him by the court,” diocese spokesman Jack Smith said in a statement.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
U.S. Catholic

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

Saturday, September 8, 2012

By Bryan Cones

Today in The New York Times, Laurie Goodstein provides both an excellent summary of the evidence that led to the conviction of Kansas City, Missouri Bishop Robert Finn, noting that he is the first bishop in the U.S. to be held “accountable” for his failure to report a credible allegation of abuse to authorities. That accountablility, limited to a short, suspended term of probation, will leave him with a clean record when it’s completed.

I’m not sure that’s “accountability” for a failure of this magnitude–and if you doubt Finn’s full knowledge of Father Shawn Ratigan’s behavior, just read Goodstein’s account of the submitted testimony that both prosectuion and defense agreed to. What is still lacking is Finn’s canonical accountability. In short, we must wonder why the man is still the bishop of Kansas City.

As canonist and former National Lay Review Board member Nicholas Cafardi points out, both in his interview with U.S. Catholic and in comments to Religion News Service’s David Gibson, there is ample evidence that Finn violated canon law, specifically canon 1389, which provides for removal of a bishop for dereliction of duty. (Recall, for example, that even after Finn had assigned Ratigan to a women’s monastery as chaplain, he still allowed Ratigan to preside at youth event liturgies connected to the monastery.) Since the norms on sex abuse adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 have the force of canon law, and Finn clearly violated them, I see no reason why he shouldn’t be removed on those grounds, as I argued in my August 2010 column.

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OSTERREICH
Katholische Kirche in Osterreich

Neue Website kirchenfinanzierung.katholisch.at legt Finanzgebarung der Kirche in Österreich offen – Gesamteinnahmen liegen bei rund 500 Millionen Euro – Kirchenbeitragshöhe beläuft sich auf 395 Millionen Euro

Wien, 07.09.2012 (KAP/Katholisch.at) Das Gesamtbudget der katholischen Diözesen in Österreich beträgt rund 500 Millionen Euro pro Jahr. Der Kirchenbeitrag macht dabei rund 393 Millionen Euro aus. Rund 107 Millionen Euro an Einnahmen stammen aus Miet- oder Pachteinnahmen und aus staatlichen Leistungen zur Abgeltung von NS-Schäden. Diese Zahlen sowie weitere Kennzahlen zur kirchlichen Finanzgebarung nennt die Website kirchenfinanzierung.katholisch.at. Die seit heute freigeschaltete Seite informiert im Namen der österreichischen Bischofskonferenz über die finanzielle Lage der Kirche, über ihre Einnahmen, aber auch über ihre Ausgaben.

Haupteinnahmequelle für die neun katholischen Diözesen ist demnach der Kirchenbeitrag. Er erbrachte im Jahr 2010 rund 393 Millionen Euro – was einem Anteil von rund 80 Prozent am kirchlichen Gesamtbudget entspricht. Daraus werden laut Website “die Kernaufgaben der Kirche” in den Bereichen Soziales, Bildung, Kultur und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit finanziert.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
WBUR

By The Associated Press September 8, 2012

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — A Boston priest, formerly of St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville, was arrested Friday on sexual assault charges involving a child who was once a parishioner along with his family at the Somerville church, authorities said.

The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, was arrested on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone and Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello said in a news release. They alleged the abuse occurred over a 10-year period, beginning in the 1990s when the child was in elementary school. The victim told authorities this week of the alleged abuse. …

A man who answered a phone number for LaCharite and identified himself as Bruce Shaw said he does not expect LaCharite to be released from police custody until Monday. He said the abuse allegations are false.

“I don’t believe a word of it,” Shaw said.

Shaw said he has been LaCharite’s partner for 31 years and they have been married for six.

He said LaCharite was nothing but kind to the boy, who Shaw said came from a troubled family.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
dotCommonweal

[Stipulation of Testimony – via BishopAccountability.org]

September 8, 2012

Posted by David Gibson

In the New York Times, Laurie Goodstein has the chronology and narrative of the Father Ratigan case in Missouri that led to Thursday’s conviction of Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report a suspect abuser. Most of the facts have been public, but set out like this they tell a devastating story that sounds like it was discovered in a time capsule buried pre-2002.

But it was in December 2010 that Finn and diocesan officials were told about suspected child porn on Ratigan’s laptop — and that news came after they had received repeated warnings about his behavior. Following the pornography discovery, Ratigan attempted suicide. And yet…

He [Ratigan] left messages apologizing to his family for “the harm caused to the children or you.” When he survived, he was sent first to a hospital, and then to Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist in Pennsylvania selected by Bishop Finn. The bishop testified that he was told by the psychiatrist that Father Ratigan was not a risk to children, and had been falsely accused by the school principal.

During this period, two women on staff in diocesan headquarters were urging their superiors to turn Father Ratigan in. Rebecca Summers, then the director of communications, told Monsignor Murphy to call the police, according to the testimony. And Julie Creech, the technology employee, said in a deposition in a related civil suit that she went to see Bishop Finn in his office to make sure he understood what she had seen on the laptop. …

I’m not sure how the bishops can regain their credibility unless Bishop Finn resigns, but in my RNS story on Finn’s fate his spokesman says the bishop intends to stay. The Vatican declined to comment, and Bishop Conlon, the USCCB point man on abuse, reiterated the hierarchy’s commitment to following the civil and canon law requirements that Finn violated.

My sense is that the powers that be are waiting to see how the public and diocese will react. Maybe they will act quickly. Maybe they hope it’ll blow over sufficiently to allow Finn to stay on, or to be “promoted” some place in a couple years to save face.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
My Fox Boston

A former Somerville priest has been arrested amid allegations that he indecently assaulted a child over a span of several years.

Massachusetts officials announced that Reverend Paul A. LaCharite of Boston has been arrested on assault to rape a child and indecent assault and battery on a child charges.

In a press release on Friday, District Attorney Leone explained the allegations.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10 year long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” said District Attorney Leone. …

The diocese released the a statement on Friday night that reads in part:

“The diocese is cooperating fully with the investigation, and is making arrangements for pastoral care for the congregations where Paul LaCharite had affiliations. The Episcopal Church’s canonical disciplinary process has been initiated, and we remain committed to making our congregations safe through transparency, diligence, care for victims and due process. We face this situation with real sorrow and concern for everyone affected.”

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on September 07, 2012

Below is a copy of a letter that leaders of SNAP are sending to Pope Benedict, urging him to step in and punish Bishop Finn following his conviction yesterday on child endangerment charges.

*****
Dear Pope Benedict XVI;

Yesterday, Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of endangering kids by refusing to report suspected child sex crimes to police.

He and his lawyers admitted, in a written court filing, that several top diocesan staff saw, knew about or suspected that Fr. Shawn Ratigan had or created child porn photos of young girls at the parishes where he worked.

The secular justice system has spoken. Now you must act.

When wrongdoing is ignored, wrongdoing is repeated. When top Catholic officials refuse to punish complicit bishops, complicity is encouraged.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer

By David O’Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer

St. Joseph’s University announced Friday that it would acquire the cardinal’s residence on City Avenue from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for $10 million.

The stone mansion, on 8.9 acres, has served as the home of the archbishops of Philadelphia since 1935, when the church bought it for Cardinal Dennis Dougherty for $115,000.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, who assumed leadership of the archdiocese one year ago, put the 16-room residence on the market in January. In June, he reported that the archdiocese faced a $17.5 million operating debt.

Sources said Chaput, a Franciscan Capuchin friar, was not comfortable living in a baronial-style mansion as he was preparing his flock for school and parish closings to trim the deficit. He has also put the retired priests’ summer home in Ventnor, N.J., up for sale, with an estimated value of $6 million.

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CANADA
Metro

REGINA – The head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission says former students at two Metis boarding schools in northern Saskatchewan should be afforded the same recognition as residential school survivors.

Ottawa refuses to place the boarding schools that operated in Timber Bay and Ile-a-la Crosse under the list of facilities approved in the Indian Residential School Agreement.

Chief Commissioner Murray Sinclair says the TRC is even coming back to Saskatchewan for hearings next week to give those Metis a chance to be heard.

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NORTHERN IRELAND
Belfast Telegraph

By Deborah McAleese
Saturday, 8 September 2012

A Catholic priest has been arrested and charged with defrauding his diocese out of almost £150,000 over a two-year period.

Fr Conleth Byrne (78) allegedly made a number of payments to a woman with funds belonging to the Diocese of Down and Connor.

He was parish priest in the village of Loughinisland, Co Down, at the time of the alleged fraud.

Fr Byrne appeared before Downpatrick Magistrates Court and was remanded on bail to appear before the town’s Crown Court next month.

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UNITED STATES
Right Wing Watch

Submitted by Brian Tashman on Fri, 09/07/2012

In another shameful episode of the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue apologism of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Donohue played down the crimes of a Catholic priest, who in August “pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography using girls as young as 2 years old,” and the Bishop who was convicted yesterday of shielding the priest. “The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan,” Donohue said. “Nor did this case involve child pornography.” Following Bishop Robert Finn’s conviction, Donohue claimed that the “chorus of condemnations targeting Bishop Finn” are “as unfair as they are contrived.”

Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.

On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic.

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MISSOURI
The Turner Report

In an order issued today, U. S. District Court Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez rejected a request from a Texas family suing Branson-based Kanakuk for the names and addresses of sexual abuse victims of former Kanakuk camp director Pete Newman.

It was not a complete victory for Kanakuk however. Judge Ramirez ordered Kanakuk to send letters to the parents of Newman’s victims “that advises of the current litigation and provides the contact information for the parties’ attorneys. The parties shall confer regarding the form of the letter, and the final draft or drafts must be submitted to the Court for approval before it is sent.”

The attorneys for the plaintiff had argued that the names were needed to find more information about the patterns of Newman’s abuse and what Kanakuk officials might have known during the decade that Newman had access to the children.

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KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times

Editorial

The verdict was long overdue in the pedophile priest scandal, but a Roman Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking church official found criminally guilty of shielding a priest known to be a threat to children. In a brief nonjury trial, Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., was pronounced guilty on Thursday and sentenced to two years of probation for failing to alert law enforcement authorities about a predatory priest he knew was addicted to taking lewd photos of schoolgirls.

The conviction was evidence of the growing resolve of secular authorities, however belated, to venture up the hierarchical ladder in their search for accountability. The scandal has led to the dismissal and criminal investigation of more than 700 priests, even as their superiors have been spared — despite years of diocesan scheming to buy off victims and rotate rogue priests to new parishes.

Bishop Finn’s conviction was hardly encouraging for the cause of reform, however, since it involved very recent misdeeds — years after church leaders promised tough new policies aimed at preventing cover-ups.

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SOMERVILLE (MA)
Boston Globe

By Melanie Dostis, Globe Correspondent

An Episcopal priest in Somerville was arrested this afternoon on charges of repeated indecent assault of one of his child parishioners over a 10-year period, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said.

Reverend Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston was arrested on one count of assault with intent to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, said the district attorney’s office.

“We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10-year-long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church,” Middlesex District Attorney Gerald T. Leone Jr. said in a statement.

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